Hop To It - Eclipse 17

[Heyu]

Have I mentioned yet that I wasn’t fond of adventure? I’m sure I have. Well I’ll say it again, I do not like adventure.

The last adventure nearly ended with me drowning on dry land because of a water monster named Chaos. While this whole thing with the ARK had been less personally dangerous (if only because I’ve gotten better at it), the stakes were a lot higher, and it was stressful. Knowing that Sonic and his friends weren’t far behind us helped me relax, but I couldn’t bring myself to just… opt out and assume they’d get it done. For one thing, Humi would never allow it.

Anyway. Humi finding out about the adoption and being happy about it was a load off my mind, but my mood quickly dampened again when we started moving deeper into the ARK and started running into more guard robots. Most of them were the same models as G.U.N. drones, though mostly unpainted, but there was a new one that looked eerily like Chaos. How did Gerald even know about those things?

Their stretchy tentacles hurt when they slapped you, were so unpredictable and hard to avoid, and worst of all the fluid they were made of was not water, and it clung to my fur and left me feeling greasy.

I scraped some off as we walked down another flight of stairs, then took my glove off to wring it out. “Revolting. I hope this gunk washes out of my vest…”

Iota beeped behind me. “Query: Is that truly what Chaos looked like?”

“More or less,” I muttered, slipping it back on. “He--it?--was more humanoid. The head’s pretty spot-on. Humi, got any clue how the fluid thing works?”

“Not yet,” she said. With her tongue sticking out, she was currently taking apart the piece of artificial Chaos she snagged. Once the head was broken, the fluid lost cohesion and collapsed, leaving behind a damaged metal skull and spine. “There’s some electrodes up and down the spine.”

“Perhaps the liquid was controlled through electromagnetism.”

“It didn’t look terribly metallic,” I said. But what did I know?

We had to be at least five levels below the surface at this point; the hallways were darker, and I could see stone through the gaps in the metal panels that made of the walls. 

“I don’t know how they built this place,” I said, a little awed despite the situation. “I just can’t get over that we’re actually in space right now.”

“Encyclopedia: According to records, the ARK was built on the planet over the course of five years before being launched into space,” Iota provided.

I stopped, and a second later Humi did as well. We both looked back to give Iota doubtful looks.

I pointed at him. “I don’t think so, chief, that sounds impossible.”

“Maybe they launched the colony part and landed it on the meteor?” Humi suggested.

I raised a finger to refute that--

!!!!!

--and then grabbed my head when a spike of pain lanced through it. “Agh, ow.”

“Whoa, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, packrat.” I waved her off. “It’s probably the stress. Iota, which way?”

“Take the next…” I turned at the next fork before he finished talking. “…Left, correct.”

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

[Mecha]

ERROR

ERROR

Emotional loop detected! Disengage!

ERROR

ERR--

Mecha deleted the alarm going off. It was distracting him. Right now, nothing else mattered but taking care of these intruders. That rat caused nothing but trouble.

But he wasn’t able to beat her when he was whole, and now there were three of them and he was… broken.

The Kiki was still reporting, though the messages had become sparse, limited only to their location. The messages were coming slower, with a sense of reluctance. Mecha was furious.

The Kiki was a product of the Doctor. If it was still capable of thought, it should only be thinking of how to serve Eggman! But the mouse had managed to subvert it somehow. It was still obeying Mecha, but who knew how long that would last?

That blasted mouse…

What was the point of being hooked to the badnik intranet if they weren’t going to listen to his command? Mecha was an elite unit, whether the Doctor treated him like it or not!

…

Yes… Yes, he was, wasn’t he?

Mecha sent a general query to the network, asking for each unit to ping back. The badnik forces on the ARK were limited, and had diminished since arrival… but they were still many.

35 Kiki units, not counting the subverted one…

24 Gohla units…

12 E-1000 units…

ERROR

Mecha pushed the notification away. The Doctor had hardly engaged with the badnik forces this campaign. He wouldn’t miss a few dozen. Yes. Mecha was going to do something right.

ERR--

Mecha.send…Maintain minimal guard…All other units converge on Sector A5…

One final chance. He had one final chance.

Emotional loop detec--

He was going to make it count.

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

[Knuckles]

He dove to the side, avoiding a steel-toed kick that dented the metal where he’d been standing. He countered with a haymaker. But she just used her own attack to spring back off the ground and into the air.

Fighting a flyer sucked. Knuckles was glad he never fought Tails back in the day if this is what it would have been like. This bat girl was nuts! And she was still acting like the Master Emerald belonged to her!

This scaffolding of unclear purpose wasn’t the ideal battlefield, but it at least leveled the playing field between them; she could fly, but she couldn’t go too high because whatever was keeping breathable air in place only applied about fifty feet up; above that, she couldn’t even get air under her wings to fly. The scaffolding let Knuckles climb up to meet her in her element.

This whole day was getting crazy. That giant ghost in the pyramid was bad enough, but now he was in space in the debris field surrounding the ARK, the Master Emerald pieces had gotten scattered again, and this lousy rat with wings was trying to take what was his again.

“I’d tell you why you can’t win here, knucklehead,” she teased, hovering in the center of the tower. “But I think it’d just go over your head.”

Knuckles snorted. He took a running start and jumped, letting the air flow under his dreads as he fell into a glide. The bat had exactly one second to look surprised before he slammed into her, sending her tumbling back into a metal bar with a shout. “You’re driving me batty!”

“Oh wow--ugh--never heard that one before,” she snarked.

It was the first blow he’d landed the entire fight, but it counted. She tried to fly higher to get away from him, but the pain in her back was slowing her down, and Knuckles climbed after. At the top of the tower, he repeated the move and despite seeing it coming she wasn’t able to avoid it in time. She landed hard on a thin girder running through the center of the scaffolding. Knuckles joined her, panting a little but content that she was worse off than him.

“Alright,” he said sternly. “Stop fooling around and give me back my Emeralds!” He blinked, because she’d said exactly the same thing at the same time.

She got to her feet and stomped a foot. “What are you babbling about? You call yourself a hunter? Attacking a lady like me? Shame on you!”

Knuckles scoffed. “What kind of lady goes around stealing gems anyway?”

Her face screwed up, and the echidna hesitated, because something like desperation crossed over her expression. Then it was gone, a look of indignation replacing it. “Those belong to me--Aaahhh!”

She had stepped forward, possibly to get in his face and try to pickpocket him, but exhaustion and injury made her misstep on the narrow walkway--her heels slipped off the side, and she fell.

Knuckles watched, eyes wide, waiting for her to catch herself. But she didn’t. She tried, he saw her try to flap her wings, but they wouldn’t extend all the way, in too much pain to make the effort.

If that was all, he might’ve let her fall. It was a long drop, but she was a bat and they were in lessened gravity. Except that at some point during their fight, the floor had split open to reveal a pit of molten rock. Why it existed he couldn’t guess at, but that didn’t matter.

“I just know I’m going to regret this…”

Knuckles dove off the walkway after her.

Gliding with someone in his arms was difficult, but he could at least turn a straight fall into an angled one. He caught the bat and they both went tumbling onto one of the tower’s lower levels. They rolled, but he held on, and when they came to a stop, he was sprawled on top of her.

The bat’s eyes were wide, staring at him in disbelief. They stared at each other, way too close, for a long and uncomfortable moment.

Then she kicked him off and he rolled to the side. “Get off! Don’t touch me!”

Knuckles groaned. “Is that any way to thank someone who saved your life? You’re welcome by the way.”

She turned away. “As if. You didn’t do that to save me, you did it to save the Emerald shards.”

Oh right, yeah. He forgot she had those for a second…

She looked at him over her shoulder and smirked in a way that put him on guard. “Unless… you just wanted to hold my hand? Like some kind of creep~?”

“What?” Knuckles shook his head, exasperated. “This isn’t a joke!” He huffed. “Think what you want, bat girl. Now hand over the shards!”

She stared at him, then sighed. “I must be out of my mind.” She looked off to the side, expression unreadable.

“What now--huh?”

She dropped her shards at his feet. “Take them. They stink like echidna anyway.”

Taken aback, but only for a moment, Knuckles got to work. “Why’d you steal them in the first place, then?” With a deft hand and an effort of will, Knuckles pressed all the shards together. Energy flowed through them, and they both watched as the pieces arranged themselves and slotted together like a puzzle, until in a final flash of light, the complete Master Emerald stood between them, effortlessly balanced on its point. “Finally…”

“So it’s back together now,” the bat said, a little subdued. It was enough of a departure from her usual breathy tone that Knuckles looked up at her. “What you said back then… this thing can neutralize the Chaos Emeralds, right?”

He nodded, suspicious. “That’s right.”

She bit her lip, eying the gem hungrily. “...Then… you need to take it. It might be the thing that disables the cannon for good.”

“That’s--” Knuckles paused. “That’s right, it would be perfect for the job. I wasn’t even thinking of that.” He had to get the Master Emerald back to Tails. He would know how best to get it into position. “Let me just--there.”

With another application of thought and energy, Knuckles pressed his hand against the Master Emerald, and it shrank to a much more manageable size, only a little bit bigger than the Chaos Emeralds.

“Oh, it can just do that? Useful,” the bat said, smug tone back in place.

Knuckles glared at her. “Wait a minute. Aren’t you working with Eggman? Why do you want to stop the cannon?”

“Are you kidding?” She shrugged in a ‘can you believe this’ sort of gesture. “I don’t want the Earth destroyed! It’s where I keep all my stuff, after all. Now get going. The day’s not going to save itself, hero.”

He didn’t trust her… but nothing she said was wrong, so…

In the back of his head, the voice only Knuckles knew spoke softly, and he grimaced, because it was right. “I’m… sorry, if I hurt you, earlier. Are your wings okay?”

A sense of approval from the Emerald.

The bat looked surprised before schooling her expression. “Me? I’m fine, don’t worry. I just need to--” She flared her wings and winced. “--take it easy for a while. I’ll be back in the sky in a few minutes. You think this is the first time I’ve taken a knock before? Don’t flatter yourself.”

He smirked right back at her. “Oh? Some thief, if you get caught all the time.”

She took the lighthearted insult like a champ, chuckling to herself. She held out her hand. “Rouge.”

Knuckles held that Master Emerald away from her, and she smirked.

“Oh well. Thought it was worth a try.” She folded her hand behind her back. “Get going, hero. I’ll catch up.”

“...Knuckles.”

And with that, he sped off. He needed to get up into the main station somehow.

He was sure Tails had a plan already, but a backup was always a good idea.

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

[Heyu]

“I think I read a graphic novel that had a place like this once.”

Humi climbed out of the Y-Nought and looked around. “Isn’t that just a fancy word for comic book?”

“Yes,” I agreed, “But longer. It’s an important distinction.”

“Query: What was the book?” Iota walked over to a green-tinted glass tube large enough to contain him--or it would have been, if it hadn’t been shattered at some point.

“I think it was Frankenstein.” Though actually it might have been something like Invasion of the Body Snatchers or something old-school B-movie like that. Something spooky and sci-fi, at any rate.

Gerald Robotnik’s biology lab was the most science fiction-y place I’d yet seen on this space colony, and gave off more mad scientist vibes than Doctor Robotnik in his wildest dreams could manage. There were beakers. There were microscopes. There were giant Tesla coils that still gave off sparks every few seconds, and I really didn’t want to think about why they were pointed at one of the broken tubes. Also yes, the tubes. Most of them were broken, but one or two were still intact and filled with liquid.

“Humi don’t touch that,” I said, not even looking.

“I wasn’t gonna!”

“I’m serious, don’t touch anything in here.” I walked past a rack of cubbies labelled ‘specimens’ that were cool to the touch. Leaning in closer, the first drawer has the word ‘malaria’ written on it. “I don’t want any of this stuff disturbed, or we might die.”

I picked up a clipboard, which detailed the results of an experiment to combat pollution by creating a bacteria able to eat toxic metals. It was deemed a failure due to being unable to prevent it from also eating things like copper and iron.

“...Including Iota.”

Iota, speaking of him, had plugged himself into a console next to one of those broken tubes. “Accessing data. Subject 1, earliest prototype, frog basis. Expired after four weeks after muscles grew faster than projected, powderizing the subject’s… bones, when it spasmed in its sleep.” He unplugged himself. “I will not tell Big about this.”

“Good plan,” I agreed. Over in one corner, away from most of the samples and lab equipment, was a setup that looked more at home in a hospital. Three wheeled beds, a heart monitor and a selection of IV stands, and a desk with a hefty computer built in, plus one of those bendy lamps. A curtain was pulled around the last bed in the row; I didn’t feel like looking behind it. There probably wasn’t anything but I didn’t want to gamble on that.

The first bed, right next to the desk, was partially made. One corner of the blanket was folded over, like it was waiting for someone to climb in.

“I wonder how often she was down here,” I mused out loud. There was an elevator right across the hall from this lab. I wondered if Gerald chose this lab just for that reason.

Taking a seat at the desk and turning on the lamp, I pressed the power button. The monitor hummed loudly before turning on, a cloud of dust flowing out of the vents on the side. I wiped the rest off to give the fan some help.

Behind me, Iota plugged into another console; it was hard as always to tell what he was thinking, but his hunched-in body language said he was troubled. Humi was poking around a machine against the wall that I think might have been a centrifuge. There were a couple others, covered in sheets. They were probably fine.

There was a pressure behind my right eye, just like I got from brain freeze. I rubbed my eye with a grunt until it went away. “This really isn’t the time for this.”

Iota looked up. “Pardon?”

I waved him away. “Nothing. Ignore me, talking to myself.”

The computer beeped. Directing my attention back to it, Gerald’s minimal desktop looked back at me.

“Retro, hm.” It was green text on a black screen. The different folders were labeled clearly, at least. “Notes, Projects, Email (Inner), Email (Outer)... No idea what that means, though I can guess.” I wavered between options for a moment, before clicking on Projects. “Alright, Professor, what’s going on?”

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

[Humi]

Why were they here again?

Humi was bored. This lab was the worst lab she’d ever been in, and she’d been in a lot of labs today, half of which were missing two walls. Why couldn’t they have gone to one of Grandpa Eggman’s robot labs?

Eh, whatever. There were still plenty of machines to mess with; no one was going to miss a high-powered motor; she could probably make a drill or something with this. Or a set of helicopter blades for the Y-Nought.

…She couldn’t tinker right now, and her pockets were so full that she’d actually had to shove to get the motor inside. She felt bloated. Humi was bored. All there was to do was tear down tarps and see what was underneath.

An ancient computer with vacuum tubes inside. An AC unit with half its parts missing. A giant mixer, for some reason, why was that in a cloning lab? It was definitely a cloning lab, by the way, she knew what glass tubes like those were used for.

“Ugh.” She leaned against a rack of metal canisters. “This is so dumb. We should be back up top taking apart the weapon, not down here doing whatever we’re doing.” She pulled her Emerald out. “At least they can’t do too much damage without you--huh?”

The Emerald was glowing. They were always glowing, of course, but this was different. It jumped in her hand, pulling her towards something.

She looked over at the others. Heyu was preoccupied, and Iota was still inspecting the tubes. The Emerald pulled insistently, so she followed its directions.

It made her weave through shelves and equipment, under curtains, and into an alcove that she hadn’t seen from the center of the room. Embedded into the wall was one giant, metal door with a wheel hatch, covered in caution tape and warning signs.

DANGER, it said. She knew that word.

Humi held the Emerald up, but it was quiet now. This door was all it wanted her to see.

Whatever was behind this door was important. Dangerous, but important. She reached up and turned the hatch.

She’d expected it to be difficult, but with the Emerald held in her tail, it spun smoothly.

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

[Heyu]

Professor Gerald had so many projects. So very many, I don’t know when he slept.

There was probably a search function on this computer, but I couldn’t find it with any of the usual keyboard shortcuts I knew, so I was forced to scroll manually. There were notes about an ancient learning robot, which were interesting but not relevant. Something about studying Chaos Energy, which was actually fascinating; apparently Mobians were naturally suited to the stuff and even generated a small amount in our bodies. Apparently Gerald visited Angel Island at some point to study the Master Emerald directly, only to end up calling the trip early because he felt like he was being watched.

I think I remembered hearing Chaos was sealed in the Master Emerald. Maybe that’s where he got the idea for those awful robots, then.

Finally, near the end, I found the file for Project: Shadow.

And good grief… that poor kid. In these project notes, Gerald tried to write in an objective clinical tone, but it was so, so obvious even through that how much he loved that girl. He dedicated nearly a decade to trying to cure an incurable disease, for a single patient. And while he succeeded in kicking the can further and further down the road, she never got better, she just stopped getting worse.

And then came Shadow, and Gerald stopped trying to hide the affection in his writing. Shadow was apparently at once a little brother and a therapy animal for Maria. Once he entered the picture, she started improving. Little by little, and it eventually plateaued, but the bad days became less bad and the good days became better. This computer must not have been able to support pictures, because I could tell that he’d be spamming them everywhere if he could.

Shadow was hardy and strong, and intended to provide a universal panacea. He was immune to every illness he was exposed to--don’t think about that--and was a universal donor. The illness Maria was suffering from was providing a frustrating roadblock, but the morale boost he gave her was almost worth his existence on its own.

And then…

And then nothing. The file ended with an unprofessional complaint about G.U.N. riding his ass for weapon systems, and an aside about worries that making Shadow a Mobian might cause unforeseen side-effects when donating blood to humans, and then there were no further entries.

I scrolled back to see if I missed something, but there was nothing. Nothing except a conspicuous gap between entry dates shortly before Shadow showed up, and… Actually, now that I was less focused on the Robotnik family drama, it was odd that the Ultimate Lifeform prototype was glossed over the way it was. It was only ever referred to as ‘The Prototype,’ and was terminated after it failed. But how did it fail?

I grunted, leaning back in the chair with a sigh. Why were we even here? I came to Gerald’s lab on the basis that if he created the Eclipse Cannon, he might have put in a failsafe if it fell into enemy hands or something. But there was nothing. Just a footnote about how he made it so powerful that no sane person would ever use it.

Maybe if I’d gone to one of his other labs. He had several after all, for each of his interests. Surely an engineering lab would have more information about a giant weapon?

I’d just… felt a pull. It made sense at the time to come here, but--

!!!!!

The screech of tortured metal rang through the lab, but the pain in my ears was nothing on the migraine that bloomed behind my eyes. I fell out of the chair, it was so bad.

“Mister Heyu?!”

Iota ran over and tried to help me up, but I ended up needing him to carry me. The knot of pain went from incapacitating to merely blinding. This was unbearable. It was like, like…

…Like the headache I got after Emerald visions, but worse in every way.

“Hey guys, I found something really--what’s wrong with him?!”

“Concerned: I don’t know. He just collapsed.”

I bit down on my thumb, just to give me something less painful to focus on. I managed to open one eye, and saw Humi running over. As she approached, the headache eased up, just a little, and I saw the white Emerald wrapped in her tail. “Give it.”

“What?” she asked, skidding to a stop.

I reached out blindly. “Give me the rock,” I bit out. “Please.”

She frowned deeply, but Iota must have given her a look, because she shoved the gem into my hand, and I immediately held it against my forehead.

Instantly, the headache unravelled. Agony became merely a dull ache, and I fell limp in Iota’s arms.

“Heyu, what happened?!” Humi demanded, sounding worried.

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. The Emerald pulsed in my hand. “But I have an idea. What was that screeching sound?”

Humi blinked. She looked back the way she’d come. “I found a big door, and there’s something weird behind it. Just being in the same room made my fur stand on end.” Her brow furrowed. “...Do you think--”

“Yeah.” I rubbed my head. “Let’s take a look. Bring your mech.”

Between Iota and the Y-Nought, they shoved a bunch of shelves and machines aside to reveal a hidden vault, cracked open just enough for a mouse to slip through. I got on my feet and pulled the door open.

Inside was dark. And damp, which as I understood it was a very bad thing to have on a space station.

We stepped inside and Iota turned on his night vision.

“...Revulsion: Oh dear mother earth.”

“What is it?” Humi asked. She hunkered down behind her windshield, and the Kiki on her mech readied its cannon.

Instead of replying, Iota turned on his flashlights. Beams came from his eyes and lit up a cone of the room. The first thing we saw was the scaly orange flesh.

It was breathing.

We were hushed, as the goodnik swept the lights over the entire… creature. It was immense. Its true size was hard to determine given the way it was curled in on itself as it slept, but its midriff was taller than the three of us stacked on top of each other, Y-Nought included. And it was covered in machinery that dug into its flesh. Tubes and wires sunk beneath its skin, to some unknown purpose.

“This is unnatural,” Iota hissed. He took a step back, hand over his chest. “I… I do not like this. What is it?”

A lightbulb went on in my head. “It’s… the Project Shadow prototype.”

“What?!” Humi shouted, incredulous.

The creature’s breathing hitched, and she covered her mouth.

Much more quietly, she said, “How do you go from giant cyborg lizard to edgy hedgehog?”

I shook my head, not having an answer. My head was pounding.

I felt a pull, and I took a step forward.

Iota grabbed my arm. “Do not approach it!” He swept his lights towards the ceiling, where some of the wires coming out of the beast terminated in faintly glowing glass tubes. “Observe. Chaos drives.”

“They’re feeding it chaos?” Humi guessed.

“No.” I glanced at the Emerald. “It’s feeding the drives.”

I don’t know how I knew that. The Emerald in my hand prodded my brain, and I felt the slightest suggestion of worry.

“The entity is unstable,” Iota said. “It isn’t… It should not be alive. There are no feeding tubes leading into it, and it has been here for decades. Horror: Look, its skin is sloughing off!”

It was, but seconds later new skin replaced it.

“...I suppose the ultimate lifeform wouldn’t need food, would it?” I murmured.

I felt the pull, and reached out. My hand brushed against the creature’s scales--

It noticed me. It was asleep but some part of it felt me touching it, and it noticed me.

HUNGER

Chaos flowed through it, and it sensed the chaos in me, and in the Emerald. It wanted more. It wanted all of it.

RAGE

It could feel its lifeblood being siphoned out, keeping it weak, keeping it asleep. It wanted to wake.

PAIN

Its own body was working against it. Falling apart, only to be replaced. It was agony.

HATE

It wanted all to feel agony as it did.

I jerked back like I was stung. That was not a vision. I didn’t know what it was, but it hurt.

“Oh,” I said. “This isn’t good.”

Iota and Humi exchanged looks. “What did you see?” she asked, nervous.

“I didn’t see anything,” I said gravely. “But I heard a promise.” I held the Emerald up.

Soon…

“...Iota, please tell me you have a way to contact Tails.”

“Nervous: I know the frequency his walkie-talkie is tuned to.”

I held up one of the ones Humi found. “Contact him. Now.”