After Sonic Generations Modern Shadow Ch.2

Location: The Ark
Time: The Present


As soon as the craft landed, Shadow and Rouge went to the cargo door. Rouge found a panel nearby and opened the door.

“Go,” she whispered.

The two dashed out of the cargo craft and made for a doorway just ahead of them. It opened automatically as they approached and shut behind them. Shadow listened for a moment, and when he did not hear any indication they had been spotted he breathed easier.

“That’s that,” Shadow said.

“Beats fighting your way in, doesn’t it?” Rouge replied with a smirk.

“Hmph,” Shadow answered. He started walking. “The source has to be nearby.”

Rouge shrugged as she caught up to walk beside him. “If it’s always been here, why haven’t you heard it before?”

Shadow shook his head. “G.U.N. must have woken it up somehow.”

“They must have an idea of what it is,” Rouge said. “The Commander is leaving us in the dark for a reason.” She looked over at Shadow. “It could be dangerous.”

“Then I’ll destroy it, like I have anything else that has threatened the planet,” Shadow replied.

“So confident,” Rouge replied.

The lights in the hallway suddenly went out, causing both Shadow and Rouge to come to a stop. It was dark only for a moment, but during that time Shadow felt a tremor pass through the floor, as if the whole space station had shook. Then the lights came back on, but instead of a white glow they were a harsh rad.

“They spotted us!” Rouge replied.

Shadow did not respond right away. There were no G.U.N. troops coming towards them as far as he could tell, and none of the Ark’s countermeasures had activated against them. Had they been spotted? He didn’t think so; something else was going on. A drill, maybe?

He felt another tremor pass through the floor. What was that? Something heavy moving? Something hitting the station? Explosions?

“Shadow!” Rouge exclaimed.

Shadow looked at her. “They’re not coming for us,” he said. He looked down in thought. “Something else is going on.” An idea came to him. “Whoever’s in charge up here might be happy to see us.”

Without another word, he started running through the halls. Rouge called after him in surprise, and when he started using his rocket boots to propel himself through the corridors she took flight to keep up.

“Where are we going?” Rouge asked. “This leads to the command deck!”

“Exactly,” Shadow replied.

“So, what? You’re going to hold whoever’s in charge hostage?” Rouge asked.

Shadow shook his head. “I think the station is under attack,” he replied. He spotted an adjoining hallway ahead. It would still take them to the command deck, but it would pass an observatory window. If something was attacking from the outside, they would be able to see who and what. If they didn’t see anything, then whatever was causing the tremors and alert was already onboard.

He turned down the hallway and slowed as he reached the window looking out into space and down onto Earth below. His eyes scanned across the starry heavens everywhere, but he could see nothing outside the station.

“Whatever it is, it’s on the station already,” Rouge said.

“Yes,” Shadow replied. A dark feeling stirred in his stomach. For this alert and attack to come so soon after they had arrived was unsettling. The presence of whatever was calling him was certainly stronger now that they were on the Ark. Was it possible the source of whatever was calling him sensed him near as well? Were the tremors and the alert its way of responding to his proximity?

The red lights suddenly switched off and the normal white glow of the lights returned. Shadow and Rouge slowed to a stop and looked up at the ceiling.

“A drill?” Rouge suggested.

Shadow waited a minute to respond. There were no more tremors, he realized. If the alert was already over and the tremors had stopped, then G.U.N. must have successfully dealt with the cause.

He shook his head finally. “No,” he said. “Something was happening. But it’s over now.”

Rouge looked at him. “Still planning on storming the command deck?” she asked. There was no teasing to her tone; she was genuinely curious.

“No,” Shadow replied. “If they’re not on alert, then they won’t need our help. They’ll just make a futile attempt to arrest us.” He looked back the way they had come. This close to the source of what was calling him, he could tell it was back that way. “We’ll find the source.”

As soon as he turned around, a wave of dizziness struck him like a surge of the tide. He groaned and instantly dropped to his knees.

“Shadow?!” Rouge exclaimed. Her voice was wavy and seemed to echo, like he was hearing her from down a tunnel. He saw her step in front of him, her face one of shock and concern. Then his vision faded.

He felt as if he was falling, and yet the air seemed still. Around him was only darkness. And yet the presence felt stronger than ever.

“Show yourself,” Shadow ordered, orienting himself upright and looking around. “I know you’re here. What are you?”

“Help me.”

The voice was off to his side and he turned to face it. But he was shocked by the words. Help? The voice was tiny. Weak. Childish. The request seemed to almost come as if from a frightened kid. He could not see anyone, however.

“Where are you?” he asked, still looking around. “What do you want?”

“I need help,” the voice replied. Still like a child. It almost sounded like it was about to cry. “I’m so scared. I’m so cold. You’re the one that I’ve been hearing, aren’t you?”

“I’ve been hearing you too,” Shadow said. “Show yourself. If you are harmless, you do not have to fear my power.”

“There is a bad man coming,” the voice said. “Please protect me from him!”

“Who is coming? Who are you?” Shadow asked. “Answer me! I am growing tired of your refusal to answer!”

“Don’t hurt me!” the voice shouted. As if in reply, a red aura surrounded Shadow. “People hurt me when they get angry! Please don’t get angry!”

The red aura was thick, and it made it difficult for Shadow to move. “Tell me your name!” he said in a near growl.

“I thought you would help me!” the voice said. “But you’re just angry like everyone else.”

“Tell me your name and I won’t be angry,” Shadow responded.

The voice paused. In the emptiness of the darkness, Shadow thought he heard stifled breathing, like from someone trying to hide. He turned towards the sound.

“I’m… I’m…” the voice stammered, but it stopped again. “They all call me Soul, but…”

“But what?” Shadow asked. He was getting impatient, and this child’s fear was only slowing things down.

“There was one… he was kind… he was so long ago…” the voice said. “He… he called me…”

The darkness began to fade, and Shadow felt his eyes, his real eyes, opening. “No, don’t go,” he muttered. “What are you?”

“I’m a G.U.N. special agent, but you already knew that.” It was Rouge’s voice.

Shadow blinked and pushed himself to his feet. Though there was not much light, he could tell they were in a small room. Probably a storage or locker room. Rouge was near the door, which was barely cracked open as she peeked out of it.

“Where are we? What happened?” he asked.

“I dragged your heavy sack of a body here when you passed out,” Rouge said. She sounded rather annoyed. “But you can probably answer better than me why.”

Shadow frowned. “I think the… being… contacted me,” he said. “It’s alive. Its name is Soul.”

“Soul?” Rouge asked. He noticed her look down.

Shadow stepped forward. “You know that name,” he said. It wasn’t a question.

“I’ve heard mentions of something called Project Soul,” Rouge said. “I’ve never given it much thought, though. It never seemed important.”

“What have you heard?” Shadow asked.

Rouge shook her head. “Nothing considerable. But it’s a she.” She smirked at him.

Shadow crossed his arms. “It was asking for help. It said there’s a ‘bad man’ coming to get it.”

Rouge shrugged. “None of that means anything to me,” she said. “But now that you’re up, we can go get answers.”

Shadow looked back at where he had been sleeping. His head was sore, he realized. “How long was I unconscious?”

“Hours,” Rouge replied. “You sleep like a rock. And you’re as heavy as one.”

Shadow opened the door and peered out. There were no G.U.N. soldiers anywhere, so he stepped out. “Let’s go,” he said. “We’ve wasted enough time.”

“We?” Rouge asked. “You’re the one that napped on the job. I dragged you here by myself!”

Shadow didn’t reply. However far it was that Rouge had dragged him, he could tell they were closer to Soul. Now that he knew it was aware, he wanted to find it even more. If it was aware and afraid, it could be extremely dangerous. He didn’t know what the red aura was that had surrounded him, but it had been enough to slow him down. Something told him that had only been a fraction of Soul’s power.

The lights went red once more, but Shadow did not slow. It didn’t matter if there was another alert or not; he needed to get to Soul.

A massive crash sounded through the Ark, and Shadow was thrown off of his feet into the wall as the world seemed to suddenly buck and tilt. He dropped to his hands and knees as explosions began to rock the entire station, making it nearly impossible to stand.

“What was that?!” Rouge shouted over the cacophony of vibrating and shattering metal.

Shadow heard another crash, this one from down the hall ahead of them. The air suddenly became a hurricane then, and the next thing he knew he was being pushed by gale-force winds towards the sound.

“The station is under attack!” Shadow shouted, turning around. Something had breached the hull, and now air was rocketing towards the exit into the empty vacuum of space.

Rouge was pushing against the wind as well, a few steps ahead of Shadow. “There’s a pressure lock up ahead!” she shouted. She pointed to a panel about twenty feet ahead of them.

Shadow nodded. “Chaos control!” he shouted. He vanished and then reappeared instantly by the controls. He slammed his fist against it, and instantly a massive door slammed shut… between him and Rouge. He got one last glance of her wide, terrified eyes before the doors closed and the insane winds stopped.

“Fool,” Shadow muttered. “Chaos control!” he shouted once again. He vanished and then reappeared, once again in a gale of wind. He spotted Rouge ahead of him. “Back here!” he shouted.

Rouge turned around and spotted him. He held a hand out to the side, and she nodded before she let go of her grip on the wall and flew towards him. She grabbed his hand tightly. As soon he was sure he had a good grip, Shadow once again used chaos control.

The wind was gone. The air was silent. Next to him, Rouge breathed heavily and leaned against the wall. “I thought you were going to leave me,” she said.

Shadow crossed his arms in front of him. “Fool,” he replied. “I don’t betray my allies.”

“Thanks,” Rouge said. “I guess that makes us even this trip.” She smiled and then looked at the pressure lock. “We’ll have to find another way around.”

Shadow nodded. “Yes, but it won’t be as easy now,” he said. “Someone is attacking the Ark. We may have company.”

“Who would attack the Ark?” Rouge asked. “Eggman?”

“Maybe,” Shadow said. “Sonic was pursuing him earlier today.”

“Then we should be ready for a fight if his minions have gotten aboard,” Rouge replied. “Do you know where we’re going? I can find us another route.”

Shadow pointed back down the hall. “Left at the hallway. I can follow Soul’s presence.”

They moved quickly, Shadow gearing up his rocket boots to propel him as quickly as possible and Rouge taking flight instantly. The station shook again as they rounded into the new hallway, the impact still considerable but not enough to throw Shadow off balance this time.

It was not long before they encountered robots and G.U.N. soldiers. When they entered a loading bay, they found the G.U.N. soldiers had taken position behind barriers they had set up in the middle of the hangar. Marching towards them were several robots with egg-shaped bodies and thin, spindly limbs. Their bodies were silver at the top with large orange eyes, red in the middle with yellow triangles coming down from the head, and black at the bottom. On their backs were rocket packs and in their hands were very large laser guns.

“Those are old models!” Rouge announced.

“I’m sure they break as easily as new ones,” Shadow replied, charging towards the oncoming line of eggrobos.  

The eggrobos did not detect Shadow in time. Some turned to face him just before he charged through them, shattering them to bits like firecrackers. After making two passes through the eggrobos, Shadow spun around and unleashed a series of chaos spears into the remainders. Electricity sparked from where the spears pierced their armor and the robots quickly fell over as their eyes faded to darkness.

“Shadow! What are you doing here?!” shouted a soldier. A quick look at the insignia on his shoulder told Shadow he was in charge of this particular group of soldiers.

“I’m here for Soul,” Shadow replied. “Where is it kept?”

“That’s classified information, hedgehog,” the lieutenant replied. “You shouldn’t even be up here.” He looked up and grimaced. “But, uh… help us beat these robots and close the hangar and I might just speak very loudly about its location to one of my men.”

Shadow turned to see more robots coming in through the hangar force field. Among them were more eggrobos, but there were also several other models he was unfamiliar with. There were black robots which were nothing more than round, floating heads, but spinning viciously around them were four spiky maces. Also among the ranks of the new wave were long, serpent-like robots with spikes all along their bodies. Their heads were blue, egg-shaped, and sported wings on their sides.

“I’ll take care of the robots,” Shadow said, stepping towards the new wave. “You and your men close the hangar doors.”

“You speak as if I’m just going to stand idly by,” Rouge said, walking up next to him.

“Agent Rouge?” the lieutenant said, noticing her. Then he smirked. “Seems Shadow had some help getting here.”

“Yes, yes, it was all my doing,” Rouge replied. “You should move quickly, sweetheart. There’ll be more robots on the way.”

“None will get by me,” Shadow growled, picking up speed.

The eggrobos targeted Shadow and Rouge immediately. Their lasers came fast, but Shadow and Rouge weaved through their gunfire effortlessly. Because they had the guns and therefore range, Shadow and Rouge targeted the eggrobos first. Shadow fired several chaos spears off at them, destroying several quickly. Rouge moved in close with several of them and delivered powerful axe-kicks to their heads, smashing their bodies in and sending the now-lifeless robots plummeting to the ground.

As soon as the eggrobos were disposed of, Shadow noticed several of the black orb robots—orbinauts, Rouge was calling them—and the long spiny robots—which Rouge referred to as dragonflies—making their way towards the G.U.N. soldiers. The orbinauts spun their maces with blinding speed, knocking away any bullets that came towards them, while the dragonflies flew erratically, never giving the soldiers a clean shot.

“I’ve got them!” Shadow said, rocketing towards the splinter party.

The orbinauts formed themselves into a defensive wall between Shadow and the dragonflies. Shadow fired off several chaos spears, but the deadly maces deflected them. He leaped into the air to come down on top of them. He made sure to move quickly, and before they could swing their maces up to protect themselves from his attack, he rocketed down through several of the orbinauts.

With the way clear, he hurried forward towards the dragonflies that were closing in on the soldiers. They were fast and flew wildly, but a few chaos spears were all it took to bring them down.

With the immediate threat to the soldiers vanquished, Shadow returned to the orbinauts. A few quick maneuvers like before were all it took to bring them down, and soon only scrap metal remained around him.

Rouge had destroyed most of the other robots. Shadow sped over to the fray to wipe up the last of the robots with her.

The hangar doors began to shut, and Shadow turned to face any other robots that might make it through before they closed completely. He could see none coming however, and he stood up straight and put his arms down once he saw there was no more danger.

Then something large came into view just before the doors closed entirely. He got a brief view of something large and red, but beyond that he saw nothing else before the doors slammed shut. Whatever was outside pounded against them repeatedly for several seconds before it appeared to give up.

“That looked mean,” Rouge said in amusement.

“They need to close all of the hangar doors before it finds a way in,” Shadow said. He looked back at the G.U.N. soldiers, who were just coming out of the control room from where they had closed the doors. “How many hangars are still open?” he shouted.

“Most of them,” the lieutenant replied. “This attack came too suddenly for us to respond in time.”

“Eggman has something big outside,” Shadow said.

“Why is he here, anyway?” Rouge asked.

“Most likely he’s after Project Soul,” the lieutenant said. “Apparently an unauthorized contact was made with it a month ago; it would seem the doctor has been snooping around his grandfather’s things again.”

“Then I’ll head off whatever he’s got coming at Soul’s location,” Shadow said. “Where is it?”

The lieutenant cleared his throat. “Well, you didn’t hear it from me, but you should stay away from lab ninety-seven on the fifth level. You know, you’re unauthorized and all that.”

Shadow nodded. “Understood,” he replied.

“You’re so sweet,” Rouge replied, smiling and giving a wink to the lieutenant. “Stay safe.”

“You too, Agent Rouge,” the lieutenant replied. “Good luck, both of you.”

Shadow barely heard the bid of good luck. Now that he knew where he was headed, he powered his rocket boots up as much as he could. Darting through the corridors, he encountered several more of Eggman’s badniks. If they posed a threat or an obstacle, he tore through them like a cannonball through paper. Rouge stayed as close as she could, helping with the badniks if Shadow hadn’t destroyed them already by the time she caught up.

They were on the seventh level, two above where Project Soul was being kept. Shadow figured he could use chaos control to go down through the floors, but that was assuming the corridors below were directly beneath him. Considering the complexity of the Ark’s structure, that was a long assumption, and he decided against taking the risk. As it was, lifts and stairways were not uncommon here.

When he came to a lift, he sped in and waited for Rouge to catch up. She was only a second behind him and she slowed to a stop in the air before putting her feet on the floor.

“Going down?” Rouge quipped, producing a cardkey which she swiped into a slot.

Shadow crossed his arms in front of him and stared at the door of the lift once it closed and their descent began. “Lab ninety-seven is next to a hangar, isn’t it,” he said.

Rouge nodded. “And it’s a safe bet the doors are open,” she said. “Whatever we saw might already be there.”

The doors opened and both of them blasted forward. Shadow’s eyes tracked the numbers of the doors as they passed them and began silently counting down to their arrival at lab ninety-seven.

Ninety-three. Ninety-four. Ninety-five. Ninety-

The wall next to him exploded and something heavy slammed into him. The impact knocked him into the other side of the corridor and he found himself tumbling for several yards down the corridor. When he regained his senses, he leapt to his feet and used his rocket boots to stop himself from going any further.

He got a glimpse of a large, robotic, clawed hand retreating through the breach in the wall, and he snarled. The large robot they had seen earlier had arrived to the hangar already. His eyes darted to his right, and he spotted the door marked ‘Lab 5-97—Restricted Access.’ The robot was literally on the other side of the wall from the lab, and as he had just learned, walls were nothing to this robot.

The robot had to go first. Without a word—taking only a moment to see that Rouge was unconscious behind him but still breathing—he darted forward toward the breach.

The robot was a study in narcissism, plain and simple. Its egg-shaped body had been built and painted to be a giant mech version of the mad doctor; the torso was red, its cuffs were bright yellow, its lower body pitch black, and its face was a chrome cybernetic version of Eggman’s own. Its fingers ended in long, scythe-like claws.

Shadow fired off several chaos spears at the mech. By its sheer size—it had to be well over thirty feet tall—the spears would do little damage. But the mech had turned its attention to the wall between it and Project Soul and he needed to get its focus on him instead. The spears did the job, and the giant robot turned to face Shadow.

“Ah, the Ultimate Lifeform!”

The voice did not come from the mech, and Shadow glanced to his side to see the very recognizable shape of the egg mobile suspended in the air near the hangar force field. Eggman had equipped it with some sort of blacked-out glass dome though, so he could not see the doctor’s face.

“If you leave quickly, you may escape me before I can destroy your mech and come after you,” Shadow growled.

Eggman laughed. “I’ve come too far and used too many resources to leave empty-handed, hedgehog,” he said. “I’m afraid your days of brooding and meaningless threats are at an end. Me-Mech, attack!”

The giant robot’s hands lashed out, its razor-sharp claws extended towards Shadow. A silent command of chaos control teleported him out of the robot’s grasp, and when the hands clamped together where he had been a split second before, he jumped onto the mech’s arm and ran up towards its head. He surged forward, gathering chaos energy in front of him, and slammed the mech’s skull, sending it staggering backwards.

The mech recovered and raised its hands, firing off several pellets from slots in its hands. Shadow teleported at random, disappearing and reappearing continuously so as not to give the mech a clean shot at him. When the pellets struck the walls and floors, they gave off small explosions, and in their large quantities they did a lot of damage to their surroundings.

The mech gave up the pellet shots and moved in closer to Shadow, its claws extended towards him and gnashing furiously. Shadow dashed backwards away from them. He raised his hand to fire off a series of chaos spears, but before he could do so he tripped backwards on debris that had fallen loose from the pellet shots.

The mech unleashed another volley of pellet shots instantly, hoping to catch Shadow off guard. The black hedgehog recovered quickly though, doing a flip to avoid falling over completely and then teleporting once more to avoid the mech’s shots. This time he teleported his way around until he was behind the robot. Raising his hand again, he targeted the mech’s joints and fired off several chaos spears into them.

The mech staggered this time as its joints locked up. Shadow took the moment to charge up chaos energy in his hands, which gave off a vibrant purple glow around his fists. Dashing forward, he delivered a series of his powered-up punches to the back of the mech’s head, leaving it dented and sparking wildly.

The damaged robot spun around and took a swing at Shadow. The swing was wild and fortunately the claws were not aimed towards Shadow; had they been, he would have surely been skewered. Instead, he found the wrist of the mech connecting solidly with his whole body. The next moment, he was flying through the air and headed straight for the wall between him and Project Soul.

He rolled in the air and fired off his rocket boots in an attempt to slow himself. No sooner had he begun though that he realized he would still be striking the wall with painful speed. With only a split second to react, he flung a chaos spear ahead of him. The bolt of energy tore into the wall, leaving a hole just large enough for Shadow to pass through. He passed through, his boots still firing off to slow his flight.

He passed through, and not a second later he had slowed down enough that when he hit the ground he was able to roll and jump back to his feet without any trouble.

Baring his teeth, Shadow dashed forward, flinging another chaos spear ahead of him to open the hole wider so that he could speed through unharmed.

“Time to end this!” Shadow stated angrily, charging up chaos energy around him. The mech was stepping forward to meet him and had raised its fist to deliver a massive blow. Before it could make its punch, Shadow threw his hands forward. “Chaos blast!” he roared. Red energy exploded from his palms, surging forth in a powerful beam that burned its way into the mech’s chest. Shadow maintained the burst of chaos energy for several seconds before letting up.

When he stopped, the mech stood still for a moment. From where Shadow stood, he could look straight through its body to the top of the wall behind it. The metal around the inside of the hole had been melted and fused, so there were no sparks to be seen. But the mech’s eyes had gone dark and, after a moment of what could have been disbelieving shock, it finally fell backward with a resounding clang.

Shadow’s hands dropped to his sides but immediately clenched into fists. “Your turn, doctor,” he snarled, looking up. But Doctor Eggman’s flying pod was no longer in the air above him.

He turned around, facing the wall between him and Project Soul. There he saw the pod, floating by the hole Shadow had made when the mech had thrown him. Eggman was still in the pod, but his two assistant robots, Orbot and Cubot, were returning to it with a large canister held between them.

“Stop right there,” Shadow said, walking towards the pod and the two robots.

Orbot and Cubot froze at Shadow’s voice. “This is not good,” Orbot muttered.

“Oui, ze goose is cooked,” Cubot replied.

“Put that project on the pod you mindless wastes of metal!” Eggman growled, his pod turning towards Shadow.

Shadow began to gather energy in his hands again, once more surrounding them in a glowing purple aura. “Your mech is beaten,” he said. “Without it, how do you plan on surviving me?” He had not blinked once since setting his eyes on the pod and now his unwavering stare lowered into a deadly glare.

Eggman laughed. “Like this,” he chuckled.

The light on the front of the egg mobile suddenly glowed. A split second later, a yellow beam erupted from the light. Shadow raised his hands, projecting the gathered chaos energy around his hands into a shield. Eggman’s laser did not let up however, and as the seconds passed Shadow found his shield disintegrating under the relentless force of the attack.

Suddenly the beam stopped, moments before Shadow’s shield disappeared. Feeling drained, he dropped to one knee and took a deep breath. Despite his fatigue, he looked up and got to his feet, ready to fight.

In front of him was not Eggman’s pod anymore, however. Instead, it seemed he had detached a large chunk of it which included the light that had fired the beam. Shadow turned quickly towards the hangar forcefield, hoping he still had time to stop Eggman before he escaped. However, the pod was mere feet away from safety. Shadow fired off a chaos spear at it, but the egg mobile and its cargo were safely through the force field long before it reached them. When the spear struck the force field, it fizzled out and vanished.

Shadow’s hands wrapped into fists at his sides once more. Despite his best efforts, Eggman had escaped with Soul. What destructive, heartless plans did he have in mind for the being? Would Soul become like Chaos or the Time Eater? A mindless creature of pure power acting on the doctor’s whim?

Shadow closed his eyes. Soul had contacted him before, maybe he could do the same.

No sooner did he think it that he was overcome by dizziness. This time, he fought to remain on his feet and at least semiconscious. He succeeded, and at the same time he could feel Soul’s presence in his mind.

“You didn’t help me,” it said quietly.

“I will,” Shadow said. “Keep calling to me and I will find you. Do whatever you can to resist the doctor. He will only hurt you.”

“I don’t want to hurt anymore,” Soul whispered. “I don’t want to hurt.”

Shadow tried to reassure it he would get it back from Eggman, but before he could Soul’s presence disappeared from his thoughts. All that was left was the damaged hangar around him and the forcefield separating the vacuum of space from his temporary solace.

“Ugh…” came Rouge’s voice behind him. “What did I miss?” she asked.

Shadow looked back at her. She was supporting herself with a hand against the wall near the hole into the hallway with her other hand on her head. “Can you operate a ship back to the planet?”

Rouge nodded slowly. “Yes. Did Eggman get Project Soul?”

“He thinks he has, but he’s on borrowed time at best,” Shadow said, moving towards Rouge. “Let’s go.”