The Raid on Space Colony ARK

CANNON COUNTDOWN: 1 HOUR 45 MINUTES

"That knucklehead! What was he thinking when he pushed all those buttons?" Sonic asked in a corridor within Space Colony ARK, punching the wall and leaving an out-of-place dustless spot on the metal. "I thought we were toast for sure! That teleporter could have sent us into the vast reaches of space."

"Calm down, Sonikku," Amy sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We all made it here safely, that's all that matters. I am worried about Knuckles if he's really going to try looking for his shards again."

"It won't be safe here for long. This is Eggman's turf, and by now he probably knows we're here. He and Shadow could be anywhere setting up an ambush. And if GUN finds the teleporter in Egg Base Gamma, we're toast," Tails sighed, pulling up a map of the ARK on the Tails Electric. Sonic and Amy looked over his shoulder. "The Eclipse Cannon's control room is located at the center of the colony. If we try to remove the Master Emerald shards directly, it'll sound an alarm. It would take an EMP to shut down its security systems. Sonic, I want you to go to the control panel and use your Chaos Powers to take out power across the weapons district. Then, take the Master Emerald shards. This should depower the cannon."

"Got it!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Amy and I will track down and distract Shadow and Eggman respectively so you can do your job," Tails stated. "Amy distracting Shadow may be risky. But I'm sure Amy can hold out long enough for us to provide backup in that scenario. Based on what happened on Prison Island, Shadow isn't even hostile towards her. My mech should be able to take on Eggman's." Tails stepped forward in the Cyclone. "Alright, is everyone ready?"

"Ready!" Amy exclaimed.

"Sonic, just to double check, you retrieved your Tails Electric from Ata?" Tails asked.

"Yeah! See ya guys after this is all over… and… be careful," Sonic told them, as the three rushed off in separate directions through the maze-like space colony.

CANNON COUNTDOWN: 1 HOUR 26 MINUTES

Knuckles, frustrated at the loss of his shards, scoured Meteor Herd on the outside of the ARK. The metal structures almost seemed like they were trying to replicate Sky Sanctuary. Surprisingly, there was a breathable artificial atmosphere even all the way out there. It was a little daunting being in space, even the real Sky Sanctuary couldn't compare to this feeling of weightlessness and sheer height. But if Sonic could go to space without much of a problem on multiple occasions, Knuckles knew he had to stay brave and face the dangers of the void.

Weaving between falling asteroids and punching strange watery androids that resembled Chaos, Knuckles kept finding shard after shard. All the while, he kept an eye out for Rouge. "Where are you?" He texted her. All that she sent back was a collection of jumbled sentences, letters that didn't string together in any meaningful way. There must have been some sort of interference due to them being in outer space. Knuckles groaned, and put his phone away. He would have to look for her on his own.

Eventually, after finding all the shards he lost, Knuckles saw somebody flying across the sky. "Rouge!" Knuckles called. She looked to him, and lowered from the sky. They stood across from each other on a steel bridge over a pool of a lava-like substance. As soon as she landed, she wobbled forward and nearly fell over. Knuckles caught her before she could fall into the lava. "What's the matter?"

"I did something terrible, Knuckles," she mumbled, wrapping her arms around him to keep herself from falling. "I was supposed to be a double agent, but I ended up helping Eggman blow up Prison Island. I helped him get the Master Emerald shards into the Eclipse Cannon." She sobbed, putting a hand over her mouth. "I had friends there, Knuckles. I had friends on that island. I don't even know if Topaz made it out okay."

"Hey, it's not your fault. It's Eggman's, and we'll make sure your friends are avenged," Knuckles whispered, turning around and walking back to the main body of the colony. "Come on. This is our opportunity to make things right." Rouge stood there, petrified for a moment. Before following Knuckles. "I'm sorry I hurt you before, back in Shamar."

"You really mean it?" Rouge asked. Knuckles nodded. Rouge smiled just a little bit. "You're not that bad, knucklehead." She ran to his side and held his arm.

"Don't call me that."

CANNON COUNTDOWN: 1 HOUR

"Shadow, it would appear we have some unwelcome guests aboard the ARK," Eggman stated over Shadow's communicator. Shadow looked down from the escape pod room's window. "Looks like they got in through the teleporter in Egg Base Gamma."

"My patience is growing thin, doctor," Shadow muttered, holding his wrist to his mouth and speaking directly into the mic. "It's been one blunder after the other with you. YOU left Rouge and I for dead on Prison Island. YOU left the door wide open for Sonic, Tails and Amy to board the colony. YOU will NEVER achieve your ambition of world conquest if these oversights continue."

"When did I say it was just Sonic and his friends?" Eggman asked. "GUN's here, too. They are in the process of raiding the colony, my best guess is that they're under orders to take out everyone aboard— including us." Shadow, shocked, let out a sound that was somewhere between a grunt and a short yell.

"You fool!" Shadow shouted, his head pounding. "Shut down that damn teleporter, NOW!"

"I already did. Now it's time for a little extermination," Eggman sighed. "You have to help, too, so kill them all!" Shadow heard the door open behind him. He spun around, and saw a squad of GUN Soldiers led by that squid Rouge had told him about. They all pointed their guns at him.

"You dare come back to this place after what you did?" Shadow growled. He formed a boomerang made of Chaos Energy. Slinger commanded the squad to fire, but Shadow warped to the other side of the room and dodged all the bullets. All the soldiers closed their eyes at the blinding lights brought on by Chaos Control. All except Slinger. He kept his eye wide open, flashing between every color. His yellow iris was locked on Shadow at every turn as he continued to shoot. But the bullets couldn't keep up with the Ultimate Lifeform as he dodged all around the room. "Very well. Even if I clear out this squad, there are surely backups waiting down in the doctor's base. I may just send your heads back to them as a harbinger of what their army will be reduced to." He jumped into the air and tossed the Chaos Boomerang, slicing off one of Slinger's tentacles. Slinger fell to the ground, bleeding ink. He continued to shoot bullets as Shadow zigzagged between them all.

Shadow reached Slinger, strobe light met strobe light, the squid's burning unyielding rage clashed with the hedgehog's cold unlimited power. "CHAOS CONTROL!" Shadow shouted. He stopped time and summoned a Chaos Spear. Slinger's eye slowly constricted as the Chaos Spear was driven through the glass and into his slimy, nearly liquid eye. It then splattered everywhere, the spear shooting straight through his head and through the heads of all the soldiers directly behind him. Shadow stood there and watched as Slinger and many of the men he took with him fell in slow-motion. Shadow then tore Slinger's head from his body, twirling between all the soldiers in the hallway and shooting rows of bullets in random directions through Slinger's fins. The bullets were practically frozen in time as well due to Chaos Control.

Shadow's Chaos Emerald heart pounded in vengeful anticipation. A feeling of pure closure blotted out any glimmers of guilt for what he was doing. He shoved a suspended GUN Soldier into another, knocking them over into position like dominos. He focused Chaos Control onto certain soldiers and certain bullets to meticulously orchestrate the perfect bloodbath. He caved in the walls with his fists to create the ideal ricochet. He then pulled a fin off of Slinger's head, tied it into a noose, hung the last GUN Soldier whose fate was not sealed before, and slid Slinger's head onto the GUN Soldier's. Shadow skated back to the room he was in before. He wiped Slinger's ink from his gloves, scowled, and snapped his fingers.

Chaos Control ended.

A flash of speeding lead. An ear-wrenching twang of metal impacting metal. Again. A splash of red and pink as vital organs are pierced. Screaming. Sulking. Splattering. A counterplay planned for 50 years and executed in a single second. The strong becoming weak in retribution for their sins against the already weak. Another twang and another few deaths. Dozens of men riddled with dozens of wounds. Dead or almost dead... Shadow's job here may as well have been complete.

He stood there and reveled in the exordium to his chef-d'oeuvre. Shadow stepped forward, feeling the bones of the recently deceased crack under his feet like fallen leaves in the greenhouse district. It was as if he was back with Maria when life was good, playing in the artificial autumn's leaves. He ran with this idea. Skipping and twirling, leaping and laughing. He landed on the head of a GUN Soldier who had no idea of what he was getting into that day, crushing his skull. Shadow cackled maniacally, jumping up and down and experiencing pure joy like the child he should have gotten to be. His malicious grin widened and his crazed eyes looked down at the corpse as he was able to truly let go of all composure for the first time. "Chaos… BLAST!" Shadow shouted, creating a red explosion that peeled the skin and melted the flesh off of the bodies around him. He stood in the middle of the red pool. He smirked, calmed himself down, and walked away.

CANNON COUNTDOWN: 50 MINUTES

Tails stepped through the halls of the recreational district of Space Colony ARK. If Eggman was anywhere, he would be somewhere around here biding his time with the many amusements to satiate his short attention span. "Eggman! I'm here. Do you want a rematch or what?!" Tails taunted him. Eggman watched over the security cams from the cannon's control room as Tails explored the facility.

"Ohoho, Tails. I thought my teachings would have lasted through this past year," Eggman chuckled over the intercom. Tails instinctively spun the mech around and shot at the intercom. "You should know by now that I prefer to have other people handle my less-important foes. Shows how much you know." Eggman was now speaking from the other intercom in the room. Tails turned around at the sound of footsteps. It was Shadow.

"No way… you're Shadow, aren't you?!" Tails shouted. Shadow stopped and glared at him. Tails saw the blood dripping from his hands. Tails' eyes widened. "No… that can't be possible! Who did you—?"

"Don't worry, it wasn't any of your friends," Shadow mumbled. "The people I killed would've been happy to do the same to you, so think of it as a favor."

"GUN…" Tails mumbled. He watched as Shadow walked closer. Tails prepared a Volkan Cannon shot. "Stand back! Do you hear me?!"

"Calm down, won't you?" Shadow asked, putting his hands in the air. "I know you. We've never met, but we were supposed to. We were meant to accomplish something very important together." Shadow closed his eyes and smirked. Tails looked on, confused. He called off the shot. "But instead, you've chosen to replace me with your new friend, Sonic… You AND the wise one have been deceived by his lies. This mistake could cost you dearly."

"What are you talking about?!" Tails muttered, thoroughly freaked out. "I don't have any idea who you are, and Sonic and I have been friends since we were little."

"That's what you think," Shadow chuckled. He appeared next to Tails' ear and whispered something. "I see you're still too attached to that fake hedgehog. To the point you're willing to turn away from your responsibilities. That very trait will be your downfall, if not that illness. I would hate to let that disease take away someone so important again. I'll give you until the cannon fires to come around, and then I'll explain everything about your true purpose and what we need to do. Until then… sayonara." In a blast of electric energy, Shadow knocked out the lights. Leaving Tails… and Eggman's security cams… in the dark.

Eggman, frustrated at not knowing for sure if Shadow finished off Tails or not, stormed down the hall in his Egg Walker. Amy snuck through the ARK, hammer in hand in search of Shadow. Eggman turned around a corner, and saw an Artificial Chaos take form from the water in the room. Amy stopped in her tracks as she saw the same thing. Eggman shot its helmet, while it tried to dodge his bullets by hiding its helmet in the water. Amy dashed forward and swung her hammer at the android's helmet wildly. The Artificial Chaos fell, its helmet exploding and its watery body splashing everywhere. The two opposing forces spotted each other without the android in their way, and instantly brandished their weapons. Amy swung her Piko Piko Hammer at Eggman, Eggman pulled out a gun and pointed it at her forehead. Her eyes widened. His Egg Walker sprouted a gloved mechanical hand from its left side and caught the hammer, while another hand appeared from the right side and wagged its finger.

"Ah, ah, young lady," Eggman snickered, as Amy lowered her hammer. "Put that hammer away, you might get hurt." Eggman grinned. "Listen carefully. I want you to send out a distress signal to Sonic and Tails. Gather them both here, quickly, and I'll let you live!"

"Yes sir…" Amy squeaked in fear. She looked down to her Tails Electric, and began to message Sonic and Tails. She smirked a little, knowing Shadow wasn't anywhere to be found. Sonic and Tails would soon be on their way. Eggman underestimated almost all of them, and now they could regroup and gang up on him. "Doctor… you've just made it too easy for me," she thought.

CANNON COUNTDOWN… 45 MINUTES

Sonic stepped up the stairs to the Eclipse Cannon control panel. He took a deep breath. It was really difficult to channel a Chaos Surge, not to mention draining. It was something of a fight-or-flight response, and now he had to perform it on command against a huge cannon. He imagined what would happen if this machine stayed around. He thought about all the destruction it would cause if it wasn't taken out right then and there. "Alright… let's do this," Sonic whispered to himself. As soon as his hands curled into fists, they crackled with blue electricity. It coursed through his quills, through his very veins. He opened his blue eyes, and glared at the Eclipse Cannon.

"Sonic, can you hear me?!" Tails suddenly shouted through the Tails Electric. Sonic's focus broke, and he jolted back a little. He looked to the tablet. "We need to go to the escape pod room. Eggman's holding Amy hostage there!"

"WHAT?!" Sonic cried, immediately running out of the room. "Tell her not to worry… I'll be right there!" Sonic stumbled around a tight corner and ran down the hall. He leapt down into a depression in the floor, Drop Dashing right through a reinforced sliding door.

"Hahaha!" Eggman laughed over the intercoms. "Sonic, I have your little girlfriend in the palm of my hands. Come here now if you want to save her life." Sonic Spin Dashed into a stray GUN Hunter, and drifted around the corner. Grabbing onto a rail on the ceiling, he ziplined down despite the friction burning away at his glove. The cameras turned to watch as Sonic rushed by. One wrong word could cost him Amy, so he remained silent despite his desire to snap at Eggman. He leapt across a vat of a strange green electric liquid, Homing Attacking across GUN Beetles and watching as their remains fell. They were instantly dissolved in the liquid below.

"Sonic, you're too slow!" Eggman shouted over the intercom. Sonic smashed open a glass door to a kind of tube. "If you don't come here, she WILL die!" Sonic hopped into the tube and was sucked through a series of shuttle loops connecting two pieces of the ARK. He was spat out the other side of the tube. He tumbled onto the floor, then vaulted forward over another pool of the green liquid. He wall-jumped off of strange floating blocks that were moving out of smaller vats on the wall.

"Do you have anything you want to say, little miss liability?" Eggman asked Amy.

"Sonic! Please help me!!!" Amy cried, her confidence that Sonic and Tails would stop Eggman in time dwindling. "I love you… I'll always love you! Even if I die. I don't want you to forget that!" Sonic Boosted forward, piercing wall after wall.

"I love you too, Amy!" Sonic shouted, hoping Amy could hear him through the camera's microphones. "I'll save you. I promise. I'll do anything it takes!"

"Anything it takes, eh?" Eggman asked. "We'll see about that once you hear my conditions." Sonic kept running through the ARK.

Knuckles and Rouge wandered through a room in the interior of the ARK, Crazy Gadget. An unstable simulation room that was set to a miniature imitation of a barren galaxy, housing only a few stars and a bunch of floating colored blocks to stand on. "I told you it was THIS switch!" Rouge cried, she and Knuckles scrambling around everywhere to try and find their way out of the room. Gravity was flipping all around as Rouge and Knuckles attempted to find the right setting to progress. "Just stop pulling random levers and listen to me for once! The sooner we get out of this VR, the sooner we reach the stray emerald shards in that room up ahead!!"

"I don't trust you with the laws of gravity!" Knuckles shouted.

"I just spent the better part of a day running around on a bunch of antigravity artificial planetoids," Rouge replied. "What do YOU know about gravity?!"

"I live on a magic floating island!" Knuckles snapped, punching a switch hard. Gravity finally collapsed. A black hole began to form, before Sonic sped through and grabbed onto Knuckles and Rouge. Sonic escaped the isolated simulation room at such velocity that he was unaffected by the simulated black hole, taking Rouge and Knuckles with him into the corridor the two had been trying to reach.

"Sonic?! What's going on?!" Knuckles asked, as Sonic set Knuckles and Rouge on their feet. He dashed ahead in the blink of an eye, scampering down the hall.

"Should we follow him?" Rouge asked. "Is he running from something, or—?"

"SONIC!" Eggman shouted over the intercom. "Do you even care about poor innocent Amy at all? I could pull the trigger any moment now, and she'll be gone." Knuckles gasped through Eggman's laughter. Rouge looked to him, shocked.

"We're following him," Knuckles muttered, running after Sonic. Rouge flew close behind.

Sonic arrived at the room Eggman took Amy to. The hall was covered in fresh blood. Too much to be from one person. Maybe it wasn't too late. It appeared GUN had been here already. And not one of their soldiers had left. Did Eggman take them out? The anxious feeling in Sonic's mind grew worse. Sonic let the door open, not wanting to make any sudden movements. However, his involuntarily shaking body made every movement sudden. He took a deep breath as the door opened enough for him to see Tails standing across from Eggman, and Amy standing at the muzzle of Eggman's gun.

"Sonic…" Tails whispered as Sonic stepped forward at a strained, controlled, slow pace. He arrived by Tails' side. "What do we do?"

"Let's see what he wants, Tails," Sonic muttered. He looked Eggman in the eye. "Alright, doctor. I'm here. What do you want from me?" Knuckles and Rouge arrived at the door, Sonic's heart skipped a beat. They both froze as they saw what was unfolding before them.

"I see you've brought reinforcements," Eggman spat, pressing the gun against Amy's head. "How stupid. You thought you could catch me by surprise, didn't you? By bringing some lousy thief and a noisy raging echidna? Well you thought wrong."

"They're not going to try anything," Sonic stated, shooting a glare at Knuckles and Rouge. "Let's settle this, Eggman."

"Very well… I want the red one to drop the Master Emerald shards," Eggman ordered. Sonic, Tails and Rouge glanced to Knuckles. Amy looked him in the eyes. Knuckles growled. "Do as I say! NOW!" Knuckles looked down in defeat. He dropped the shards to the ground.

"Knuckles!" Rouge hissed.

"Now, Sonic… I want you to gather the emerald shards and put them on my side of the room. Then back off," Eggman instructed. Sonic wasted no time. He picked up the shards, and carried them in his arms. Tails watched in fear as he walked towards Eggman.

"Sonic, don't…" Tails hissed. "Sonic!" Sonic placed the shards down and stepped back, when Eggman suddenly hit a button.

"Gotcha!" Eggman exclaimed. A glass case enveloped Sonic.

"Whoa…!" Sonic exclaimed. He could hardly be heard through the glass. Tails and Knuckles charged forward. Eggman shot Knuckles in the knee, making him fall. Everyone else screamed as Eggman pointed the gun at Tails silently.

"Who wants to be next?!" Eggman asked, Rouge running in and covering Knuckles' wound. Amy swung her hammer at Eggman while he was distracted, knocking the gun out of his hand. Amy held the hammer over her head and mentally prepared herself for what she was about to do to Eggman. "Ah ah, Amy. Don't forget about Sonic now." Amy turned around and saw Sonic trying to cut through the glass with a Spin Dash. It wasn't working. "All this effort to fight back, and still it's all the same. With one command, one of you will die tonight."

"SONIC!" Amy screamed, pounding against the glass with her Piko Piko Hammer. At this rate, it felt like her hammer was going to break before the glass. She panted, looking at Sonic through the impenetrable capsule. Tails shot at the capsule to no avail. Eggman sat in his mech and watched. Sonic gave up on breaking out, realizing the capsule was moving down already. "No!" Amy grunted, exhausted as she weakly swung her hammer one more time. With that final impact, a loud sound like a funeral toll sounded. Her arms broke, as did the rings around her wrists. Tails kept shooting, wasting ammo.

"Stop! I don't want you guys to get hurt," Sonic shouted. "Look, I'm counting on you two to finish this. Amy… I love you. Tails… you're my best friend." Sonic smiled at them, tears falling from his eyes. "I wish I had more time to spend with you guys, I wish I had more time at all. But it looks like this is it. Take care of yourselves… Goodbye…" Eggman pressed a button, and the capsule was ejected from the colony. The capsule shot out into space.

"No… NO!" Amy screeched, knowing that wasn't a normal escape pod. She staggered over to the window, Tails watching from afar. "SONIC!" She reached for the capsule weakly.

Inside the capsule, Sonic was starting to black out. Everything was getting hotter as the capsule started to burn up in space. The air was unbreathable. His heart raced, as he thought of any possible way to survive this. The small cracks in the capsule walls became gaping holes, letting all oxygen escape. Sonic grabbed onto the handle on the wall, and held on tight as to not go flying out into space. Then, it hit him.

"Chaos Control…" he thought, experiencing a strange feeling deep within his chest. "Shadow seemed experienced with it. It must be linked to Chaos Energy, right?" A feeling of doubt hit Sonic as he glowed an electric blue. "I could probably teleport using it like he did. But… can I really pull it off?" Sonic shook as the light grew stronger.

All of Sonic's friends watched in devastation from the ARK as the capsule exploded in a blinding light. Eggman put his head down. "Farewell, Sonic. My one true adversary. My son. I wish it didn't have to be this way," Eggman muttered. Amy lurched forward, pounding on the glass with her bare broken hands. Tails watched in shock. Sonic the Hedgehog… reduced to microscopic floating bits in space in an instant. Shadow watched from the greenhouse room as the explosion fizzled out, crossing his arms in indifference.

"Guess he was just a regular hedgehog after all," Shadow mumbled, putting his hand on the glass.

Tails turned to Eggman.

"You monster… I'll never forgive you for this!" Tails hissed. "Sonic's counting on me to end this. Even if he's gone, I won't back down… I won't give up!" Tails charged up a Volkan Cannon shot. Eggman stood his ground.

"And then what, you two-tailed twit?" Eggman asked, reclining in his Egg Walker. He sighed loudly. "Sonic's not going to be there to boss you around next time. He won't be there to save the day! What then?"

"There won't be a next time. Because you're not coming back," Tails replied coldly. He fired the Volkan Cannon rapidly, Eggman controlling the Egg Walker to jump out of the way. Another capsule lowered into place. Tails kept shooting at Eggman, all the bullets either hitting the mech or missing entirely. Tails accidentally shot the capsule. It exploded. Everybody else took cover. Tails kept shooting.

Knuckles grabbed his own leg with both hands and squeezed it. A bright red glow came from underneath his hands as he cried out in pain, and when he took his hands off his leg, the wound was more or less sealed. His leg smoldered for a second. Rouge stepped back, only to jump away from another explosion with Knuckles. Tails kept shooting, kept blowing up the bomb capsules because Eggman was hiding behind them. Finally, Eggman was caught in an explosion. He rocketed over to the side of the room, rolling onto the ground. He didn't move. Tails stood there for a moment in the crater. All fell silent.

A few seconds passed.

"Sonic, I did it…" Tails whispered, hopping out of the Cyclone and looking to the ground. There was a moment where nobody said anything. Eggman, seeing an opportunity to escape while everyone mourned, grabbed the Master Emerald shards and snuck out of the room. Knuckles turned to him.

"Come back here!" Knuckles shouted, chasing after Eggman. He punched down the door, letting everyone out. Knuckles looked both ways, and didn't see Eggman anywhere.

"Do we follow him? Rouge asked, Amy and Tails limping over to them.

"No. You stay here and take care of Amy and Tails," Knuckles ordered. He walked away.

"What about you?! You could help heal their wounds like you did for yourself!" Rouge called.

"It has a better chance of burning them to a crisp, I'm the only one who can survive the technique," Knuckles replied. "I'm going to look for Sonic. He's around here somewhere."

"No! Don't say that!" Rouge snapped. "He's dead, Knuckles. And if you go out there alone, we all might die too! Shadow and Eggman are still out there!" Amy broke down crying. Knuckles turned back to them.

"Sonic isn't dead. He can't be," Knuckles growled. He stormed off stubbornly. "I'll find him. We'll fix things. I won't let it end like this."