Hop To It - Eclipse 18

[Tails]

Things were looking up! Sonic was navigating the ARK, and Tails had successfully found and destroyed the generator powering the Eclipse Cannon. If they were lucky, they’d save the day with time to spare!

They weren’t lucky. While Tails was doing his job, Eggman came out of nowhere and caught Amy, and with Knuckles off doing his own thing, there wasn’t anyone to save her.

Tails arrived at the research facility--an observatory, he thought, though that wasn’t important right now--and found the mad scientist waiting for him. With the Eggwalker’s guns focused on him and a pistol in Eggman’s hands pointed at Amy’s head, there wasn’t much the fox could do but glare.

“You know what I want, boy,” Eggman growled. “Give me the Emerald, or your little pink friend here will suffer the consequences…”

Amy swallowed harshly, eyes pleading, and Tails grimaced, holding up the walkie-talkie. He had… a chance, here, maybe. Tails had the actual yellow Emerald on him, but Eggman couldn’t know that for sure.

Before he could come up with a convincing farce, the communicator crackled to life on its own.

“Alright Tails, I’ve got the Emerald where we need it! Are you ready?”

Dr. Eggman’s expression shifted. His eyes were hidden behind those glasses but the way his jaw was set might have indicated confusion.

Tails pressed the button to speak. “Alright Sonic, put that Emerald--”

The speaker hissed in his ear, and Tails winced. He looked up and saw Eggman holding his own communicator, waving at him mockingly before speaking into it. “Not so fast, hedgehog. If you want to see your friends again in one piece, you’ll bring that Emerald to me. Come to the research facility. Now.”

“What? Tails? Amy? What’s going--”

Eggman cut the connection and grinned toothily. “Thought you could pull a fast one on me, eh, Prower?”

“Fast is Sonic’s specialty!” Amy blurted out, only to squeak when he pressed the barrel against her head.

“I’m well aware,” Eggman hissed. “But not this time. Not even he can stop me now!”

Behind his cockpit, Tails nervously rubbed the Emerald in his glove box. He couldn’t let him get his hands on it… But would he be able to keep it away from him if he caught on? The Cyclone still wasn’t up to his standards. Would it be able to fight the Eggwalker if it came to that? What about Amy? Maybe--Maybe the correct play was to get Eggman angry enough to shoot him, which would give enough of an opening to open fire. If Amy was smart she’d run for cover the second the gun wasn’t on her, but what if she was too scared to move? What could Tails even say to make Egghead that mad--”

“-krrk- Tails, come in Tails! Urgent, urgent!”

The fox held up his walkie-talkie, surprised, and this time Eggman’s own confusion was unmistakable. “Iota? How are you reaching me? I thought you stayed planetside?”

“Iota…?” Eggman murmured. “How many furry freaks am I dealing with here?”

Ignoring him (probably unwise), Tails listened as the robot answered. “I was going to, but I did not. This is irrelevant. Revelation: I have reunited with Humi and Heyu, and we have discovered something terrible. Mister Heyu is quite shaken.”

“They’re here too?!” Tails shook his head. “Iota, we don’t have time!”

“If you refer to the Eclipse Cannon, worry not. Humi has taken her Emerald back. This should delay the villains long enough to deal with the Bio--”

“WHAT?!” Eggman roared, sending Amy cringing away. He pulled the gun away from her and fired once. The walkie-talkie flew out of Tails’s hand, making his fur stand on end in the process.

The communicator bounced on the floor, in two pieces held together by part of a wire. “..?!..Ta…..Co….i…? T….Liz….!” With these final garbled words, the communicator sputtered and died.

“You think this can stop me?” Eggman hissed, seething. “You think you can make a fool of me by running your petty shell games?”

“What?” Tails asked, trying not to sound afraid. “I didn’t even know they were--”

“Lies!” Eggman slammed his fists on his dashboard. “I’ll hunt them down and take the Emerald back, and if that fails then I’ll stuff as many chaos drives into the cannon as it takes to make it work! But first,” he said, voice dropping low. “Take this!”

The Eggwalker’s guns whined, charging up a big blast. Tails’s eyes widened, since if he was any judge he was preparing an attack that could breach the walls into space, and began preparing his own missiles to contain the blast before it could happen. Thankfully it wasn’t necessary, because Amy found her courage now that she wasn’t in Eggman’s crosshairs and, taking her hammer out of nowhere, swung right for the Eggwalker’s knees.

The machine only suffered scuffed paint, but she managed to knock the leg out from under it, cutting off the weapon’s charge. This also put her in arm’s length to Eggman, and so he grabbed her by the collar and threw her bodily right at Tails, almost knocking him out of his cockpit.

“Amy!”

“Tails, look out!” Amy grabbed the steering wheel and jerked it to the side, just in time for the Cyclone to step out of the way of a missile barrage.

“Amy, let me--get off, I need to--” Tails shoved his way back to the front, just in time for a bullet to ricochet off the Cyclone’s nose and whiz between his ears. He froze, for a split second of mindless terror, and that was just enough time for Eggman to establish dominance over the situation.

“Stand down, fox boy.” The scientist’s voice dripped with barely suppressed rage. “No one is moving an inch until Sonic gets here with the Emerald.”

“Guess that’s my cue!”

Tails’ terror uncoiled. Sonic was here. Everything would be alright!

Sonic walked in, his usual smirk in place, though his posture was tense. He tossed the fake Emerald from hand to hand, not breaking eye contact with Eggman.

“Sonic…” Amy said softly, just behind Tails’s seat.

“Looking for this, Egghead?” he asked.

The Doctor visibly forced himself to calm down. “About time you showed up, hedgehog. I’m in a bad mood, so if you want any of your friends to survive this, you’re going to listen to me!”

Calm as can be, Sonic replied, “I’m listening, Eggman.”

The Doctor pointed to a spot in the center of the room. “Put the Emerald on the floor, there, and back off!”

Sonic nodded silently, slowly moving to comply.

Tails watched, rapt, desperately trying to keep his face blank. They still had a chance. They could still fool him. They could still--

The instant Sonic stepped into the circle, a glass tube fell into place around him. Tails and Amy gasped. “Sonic!”

Eggman let out a sinister chuckle. “I told you you couldn’t make a fool of me! Did you really think you could trick me with that fake Emerald?!”

Tails’s jaw dropped. “W-What?! But, how did you know--” He clapped a hand over his own mouth, a second too late.

“Because you just told me, boy ‘genius.’ Hohohoho!” Eggman pressed a button, and the room started shuddering. “My plan can still be salvaged, but no matter what else happens today, I’m through with you, rodent! This escape pod will finally put you out of my misery!”

“No!”

Sonic’s face went blank, then he laughed quietly to himself before looking Tails in the eye. “I’m counting on you, Tails. And Amy? Take care of yourself.” He spun the fake Emerald on his finger, almost carelessly.

“Sonic! Don’t--”

“Farewell, Sonic the Hedgehog!” With that final word, Eggman launched the pod.

From the windows, they had a perfect view as the pod flew away into the inky black. Exactly twenty seconds later…

The explosion lit up the space outside for a moment. And if there was a sparkle of light just before detonation, none of them noticed.

“SONIC!” Amy wailed. She pressed her face against the glass, as though if she kept watching she’d see him come flying back to save the day. But he did not.

Eggman allowed himself a small sigh of satisfaction. “Farewell, my admirable adversary…” But there would be time to revel in his victory later, when he’d actually won. “Now… Tails… Where’s the real Emerald?”

Tails looked out the window blankly. Sonic… was… gone?

“My patience grows thin, boy. Give it to me, NOW!”

The fox shook his head. “Sonic… asked me for something. He trusts… trusted me to finish this, and I won’t let him down!”

Eggman scowled. “This is your last chance. Give it to me, and I’ll let you both go.”

“Never!” Tails pushed a button, and his weapons systems unfolded. “You’re going down, for Sonic!”

----------------------------------

[Shadow]

In a disused hallway--they were all disused. No one lived here anymore--Shadow watched out the window as the escape pod exploded.

“Hmph. I guess he was just a regular hedgehog after all.”

No matter. It was one less obstacle. Soon, it would all be over. And then Shadow would… He would…

Well. He would be done. Nothing else mattered.

He wanted to be there when it happened, and time was coming to a close, so he made his way to the Cannon’s core. As he got closer, the chaos energy flowing in and around the mechanism was almost dizzying… although, he couldn’t help but feel like it was off. It was… less than he expected, somehow, not that he knew what to expect really. This had never happened before, after all. Perhaps he was just imagining it; nerves from being so close to completion.

Shadow stepped into the core, and paused. Rouge was there already, eyeing the Chaos Emeralds. Disappointing, but not unexpected.

Still, he gave her a chance to prove him wrong, and waited.

After what seems like a few minutes of wistful gazing, Rouge clasps her hands together and sighs dreamily. “Legend has it that when all seven Chaos Emerald are collected, their power creates a miracle…” She sighs again, much less happily, and her wings droop. “And I was this close to getting the complete set. Oh well. These will have to do.”

So that was her game. Shadow scowled. He stepped further into the room, feeling…

He wasn’t sure what emotion he was feeling right now actually. It wasn’t sharp enough to be anger at the betrayal.

 Rouge reached out to take the gems. “Come to mama…”

“I don’t think so!” Shadow declared.

Rouge jumped so high she actually took flight for a second, and Shadow wondered how it was even possible for her to not hear him; he was wearing hard shoes on a metal floor, and she was a bat. Weren’t they supposed to have good ears? Whatever, that didn’t matter, focus.

“Shadow…” she gasped.

“So this was your plan from the beginning, was it? Or was it an order from the government, spy?”

Shadow hated G.U.N. He hated them. In a world full of rotten people, they were the worst. But he wasn’t stupid. Fifty years had passed, and knowing your enemy was vital to success. His free time had been extremely limited, but Shadow still took the time to research G.U.N. to know what to expect. In most respects, they were the same as before. The same weapons, the same robots; in many ways they were still coasting off of Professor Gerald’s work. But one piece of trivia had stuck in his mind: G.U.N. was mostly human, but they had a tiny number of Mobian agents. The names were censored in front of the public, but they just couldn’t resist giving away a little too much information in the spirit of showing off their inclusivity.

Their most prominent Mobian agent was a woman, and an ‘asset retrieval specialist.’

A thief.

It was far too convenient, wasn’t it? That just when Eggman was hunting for the Emeralds, here comes a professional thief with one in tow. Someone the Doctor had never heard of, and who knew her way around a G.U.N. base.

“I know who you are, Rouge the Bat,” Shadow spat. “Agent of G.U.N.”

Watching her face was an experience, after that announcement. One moment, she was shocked and a little hurt, upset at the accusation. Then, the mask fell away, and a smug smirk was revealed to be underneath.

Despite himself, Shadow smirked back. As… annoyed as he was, over her betrayal, he felt satisfaction in the act of finding her out. Of stopping her in her tracks and saving the plan. And maybe he appreciated that she didn’t try to double down on the lie.

“So you did your homework, is that it?” she snarked. “I would say that’s an invasion of privacy, except…”

“I could say the same thing about you,” Shadow shot back. It wasn’t the best comeback, but--wait. He sensed a trap in her tone. But he couldn’t see it yet…

And then the rest of Rouge’s mask slips, and her expression turns serious. “Things are getting too serious, and I want out. I’m taking my payment and leaving, Shadow.” She took a step closer to the Emeralds, and he tensed. “This cannon absolutely cannot fire again.”

“Yes,” Shadow said. “It will.”

“Eggman is holding the entire world hostage,” Rouge rebutted. “And I know enough to know that it’s not going to work. The world’s leaders aren’t going to get their act together in time, and he’s going to either have to back down or act on his threat, and I have access to all two hundred pages of Eggman’s psychiatric profile. He’s going to fire that weapon. I can’t allow that.”

“It isn’t your choice to make.” It was his.

“Listen to yourself!” Rouge said, getting angry. “What do you even have to gain from this?! What did Eggman promise you?”

Promise him? Ha. “You just lack conviction, you pathetic creature.”

The insult didn’t land. Rouge just quirked an eyebrow and smiled. “Hmmm? Look who’s talking. What about you?”

“What--” Shadow reacted before even realizing that Rouge had thrown something at him, catching it easily. It was a paper folder, unlabeled.

“Sorry about the presentation. It took me so long to find a working printer in this place, I didn’t have time to customize it.~”

“What is this?” Shadow asked, losing patience. He opened the folder, and research documents looked back at him.

“Those are the results of the research project to create the ultimate lifeform,” Rouge said, watching to gauge his reaction. “But if that picture is of the real Project: Shadow…”

Picture? Shadow turned to the next page. Some sort of deformed lizard stared back at him, toothless mouth gaping.

“...If that’s the real Project: Shadow,” she continued, “then who or what is standing in front of me?”

Shadow barely heard her. Reading through the file was… it gave him a headache. Did he already know this? BioLizard. Why did that sound familiar? Did someone mention it once?

…

“-krrk- Shadow! Come in, Shadow!”

He ignored Eggman’s voice, coming from the walkie-talkie, in favor of staring at the picture of the… creature that claimed to be the ultimate lifeform.

“Shadow, I’ve acquired the final Chaos Emerald, but we have problems! One of Sonic’s friends has stolen one!”

What.

Shadow dropped the papers to the floor and glared a hole through Rouge. Her eyes widened, and she barely had time to step aside before he blitzed past her to the Core.

Pink, blue, green, red, other blue… five.

Make them pay.

No. No, no, no no no NO!

Six Emeralds would be devastating. Calm down. This could still work.

No. Nothing less than total destruction will suffice.

Shadow hissed, clenching his eyes shut.

“-krrk- And there’s more! Someone is making for the Eclipse Cannon. We cannot afford more delays. Find them and deal with them!”

Shadow stood there, breathing heavily. He whirled on Rouge. “Where is it?”

She shook her head.

“Don’t lie to me!”

She raised her hands in surrender. “I didn’t take it! Someone else beat me to it, and I have no clue where they are!”

…They needed all seven. They needed them. Without another source of sufficient chaos, he can’t unlock the Cannon’s true potential, and it wasn’t like there was another source of infinite power on the ARK.

…Shadow found himself looking at the rings around his wrists.

To Rouge, he said, “If you want to live, leave the Emeralds alone.” He turned and stalked away, ready to intercept whoever else was trying to stop him.

“W-Wait!” Rouge shouted as he left. “Do you actually believe you’re the real Shadow?”

He stopped. And scoffed. “Of course.”

She kept going. “Even your memories might not be real, you know.”

What? “That doesn’t matter,” Shadow said. “I am still Shadow.”

Yes. That was correct. He was Shadow. It rang true, and he clung to that feeling. Because the alternative--the very idea, that he wasn’t who he believed? That his own mind couldn’t be trusted? He couldn’t bear thinking about it.

“And I will fulfill my promise to Maria,” he continued. “That’s the only thing that matters to me now.”

---------------------------------

[Eggman]

Meanwhile

Blast it all… that Prower’s mech was too much. The Eggwalker was a masterpiece, like all of his work--well, most of it--but it was slow, and no amount of armor made a difference when your opponent could hit you and you couldn’t hit them.

Still, he gave as good as he got, and as the fight went on he managed to chip away at the fox’s vehicle. If they had time for a long drawn-out battle then Eggman was confident he would eventually win, but there were only minutes left before the deadline. If he didn’t follow through on his threat, his reputation would be ruined, and any attempt to leverage his might would be useless. He didn’t actually want to destroy the world! He was supposed to rule it! He was just going to use the Eclipse Cannon to… maybe carve his face into the earth across the Federation. Yes, that would be fun.

Bah, this was useless! He needed to end this fight, find a way to win, find a way to--

Eggman fired a barrage of bullets, and Tails’s mech stumbled a little as it dodged. The maneuver was rough, and, unseen by either of the furry freaks facing him, the yellow Emerald bounced out the Cyclone’s cockpit.

There it was. Out in the open.

Plans and possibilities raced through his mind, but one presented itself immediately that he found distasteful. But it would work. He had to take a dive.

The next time he got hit, the Eggwalker powered down midstep. Given that they were emotionally compromised after the death of Sonic, they weren’t likely to notice that he did it on purpose when the mech fell and tossed its pilot onto the floor.

Eggma groaned in not-as-false-as-he’d-have-liked pain and fell still on the floor. Tails and Amy held their breaths, before deciding that he was really down.

Fools.

Tails jumped out of the Cyclone and walked over to the ruined communicator. Gingerly, he picked it up and made a half-hearted attempt to put it together before giving up and pressing the button on the side.

“Sonic… I did it.”

Feh. Sentimental nonsense. With their eyes elsewhere, Eggman moved. The Emerald was just. In. Reeeeach… YES!

Now, to quietly get up and leave the room.

The walkie-talkie crackled. “Krrkesome jokrrrktle buddy!”

“Sonic?!”

Eggman huffed. Of course.

Tails scrambled to put the device back together. “Hang on, Sonic, let me just… and right there…!”

“Krrk-ook outside!”

“Look outside?”

Eggman flipped onto his stomach while they were distracted and pulled himself up. Out the window, the Eclipse Cannon was starting to open up again.

“-krrk- You guys have front row seats to me saving the day! That thing won’t know what hit it!”

Oh bother. He still had the fake Emerald. Eggman couldn’t know exactly what would happen if it were put in the Core without having a chance to examine the thing, but if Sonic wanted to do that it wouldn’t be anything good.

He hurried out of the room.

Once he was clear, he pulled out his own communicator. “Shadow! Come in, Shadow!”

---------------------------------

[Heyu]

Meanwhile

“Haven’t you got them yet?”

“Negative. I am unable to reach Tails,” Iota said nervously. “I think… I think I heard Doctor Eggman’s voice on the other end.”

I cursed. Whatever this miasma around the BioLizard that was giving me a headache was, it was getting worse. The Emerald almost wasn’t enough anymore.

“We’ve got to do something,” I said. “Cut its life support or something.”

“I don’t like that,” Humi said, frowning.

“I don’t either,” I admitted. “It feels nasty. But--”

“Regretful: I doubt it will work,” Iota said, walking over to a console. “Based on what I’m able to see, and what scattered information I’ve gathered from the tube consoles, this isn’t life support. These devices are stymying the amphibian’s regeneration. Damaging anything will make it wake up faster.”

“Well then, maybe we can--”

Something crashed in the room behind us. We exchanged a look and ran back into the bio lab.

An army of robots was waiting for us. The crash sound was them breaking down the door to get in. Badniks of every model were arrayed against us. And then, the army parted, letting through one in particular: Mecha Sonic.

The Sonic lookalike glared at us. It pointed one of its fingers right at me, and said:

“This is the end for you.”

And the army surged forward.