Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ No One is Invincible ❯ We Meet Again ( Chapter 5 )

We Meet Again

By Blue Dragon

AN: Of course, I've tried to correct my most frequent flaws, and I'm starting by writing this chapter in an attempt to eliminate the majority of them. As always, review if there is something wrong . . . or right that I should know about. Future updates of this and other stories will be comparatively slower, as I'm occupied with editing. Thank you for your reviews, I have more than I thought I would. I have decided that this stories' plot will extend beyond the end of Sonic Adventure 2, for purposes of a more solid and less predictable plot.

He had really done it this time. Trying to fight off the cops, trying to resist arrest, and worst of all, laughing about it.

Sonic tried to adjust his eyes to the darkness, but to no avail. It seemed that he wouldn't move even a few feet until at least another half hour. He lifted his head but immediately regretted it, and the throbbing pain at the side of his head was proof of it.

Sonic, the hero, the immeasurably fast, the quick-witted, was hated and a mockery. Now nothing but a common criminal behind rusty bars in a cell . . . now just a scrub.

Indeed, he had really done it this time.

He opened his eyes, but regretted that as well. A single switch had been thrown, and though the exact source of the sound could usually be detected by Sonic, he was in no condition for such action. The light was blaring, and even with his eyes closed, Sonic wondered how he had managed to be in the vicinity of it without tearing up his frontal lobe.

After some serious thought and a mental reminder as to why he helped saved all of these ungrateful whelps in the past, he opened one eye slightly to scan his surroundings.

"Nothing . . . " He always loved the sound of his own voice. "Walls . . . tiles . . . bars . . . that God damn light . . . hmm." He noticed a mirror on the far side of the room, and used it to stare at himself. "And my handsome reflection to keep me company. Someone should be here any minute."

Little did he know that he was his own biggest fan.

"Sonic the Hedgehog! The inquisition has begun!"

It was a voice that he couldn't quite place, and immediately after it was spoken, light blared on from places Sonic hadn't even known existed.

"Sonic the Hedgehog . . . " The voice repeated, and gradually its owner became visible. The man appeared to be a military officer of some sort, and he was stepping downwards from the height of a set of stairs towards Sonic.

"What do you keep saying my name for? I'm here, now what do you want!?" He attempted to lurch himself up, but that throbbing pain in his head told him otherwise.

"You have been accused of theft on a grand scale, assault of an officer, resisting arrest, and destruction to public property."

"What about that car you guys destroyed!?"

"Talk!"

"I'm not saying anything until I get my lawyer in here." Sonic sneered indignantly as he sat further back against wall.

"You aren't in custody, you're in captivity! No one is going to defend your rights right now, boy, you're a prisoner of GUN! Now answer the question!"

"Which was?"

"What was the motive behind your thefts?" The general was becoming more than a little annoyed.

"Does my hair look okay?" Even as a prisoner, he still kept his infamous, smart-alecky attitude.

"Lay off him, general, we have a real smartass on our hands. He'll come clean eventually, though." This was a new voice from another officer who had gone unnoticed by Sonic up to that point.

"We'll be back with more questions, you just think about your answers."

"Well, goodbye to you, too." Sonic muttered after him. Of course, he felt that there wasn't going to be a next time, because Tails was probably on his way as he spoke.

The men left, and Sonic was left in the dim light.

"Tails has never let me down . . . he'll be here, I know it." Sonic struggled a bit against the pain and stood up, he was recovering quickly. "In the meantime, I've gotta figure out a way to bust out of here! No one ever got anything done sleepin' in a jail cell!" He stood up faster and stretched out, after which he began his first attempts at escape.

"Do you think he knows we're watchin' him?" A guard asked. He was watching the hedgehog's efforts from another room through a security camera. His accomplice was busy on the other monitor, sending in data to G. H. Q.

"Yeah, probably. He won't quit though, it ain't his style."

___________

Shadow paced around thoughtfully while Eggman typed in a few more missed keys. They had both met up at the control room of ARK, and they had both jointly developed a plan of action, that of course involved acquisition of chaos emeralds.

The room was continually flashing with multicolored lights from the main control panel. It was the kind of illumination of a large dark area that almost seemed to reach only to a certain point, the type of illumination that let you know how extensive the darkness was.

"The Eclipse Cannon is capable of firing a beam powerful enough to penetrate a planet, you see. Unfortunately, it requires the chaos emeralds to operate." Shadow explained.

"I suppose that's because only those emeralds could produce the energy required for something that powerful?" Eggman confirmed while pacing around with a contemplative glare. His expression was only visible every once in a while, due to the flashing on and off of the control panel.

"Yes, exactly. However, I don't believe that we should have any problems acquiring them . . . " He muttered under his breath. "I shall fulfill my promise to Maria . . . . "

"Shadow?"

"Yes!?" He was caught off guard.

" . . . You tell me that you're The Ultimate Life-Form, but from my records, you actually appear to be an archetype. Does that mean that there is a prototype floating around somewhere?"

Shadow thought to himself, carefully, and in a flurry, all of the long forgotten memories flooded back into his brain. He was almost overloaded. The friend, the rival, the ally, the sarcastic lizard, everything that he had said and all that he had done filled his mind. And then he remembered ARK.

" . . . There originally was, but I think he was killed." Shadow elaborated. He didn't appear to be very excited about the realization.

"Good. Then I suppose we should have no opposition."

"Doctor, I believe I have a question for you, as well."

Eggman had been heading towards the back of the room, but turned to face the call.

"Yes? What is it?"

Shadow hesitated. "Doctor, you and I both know that using that cannon will case devastation and destruction to the lives of millions, and possibly billions. You seem to be fine with my plan, why is that?"

Eggman hadn't been asked a question like that. He had been shunned, chased, tormented, accused, and nearly killed multiple times because of his ambitions, but no one had ever really asked him why had them.. They had simply assumed he was pure evil and proceeded to beat the hell out of him.

"I . . . had always wanted to be a scientist. I believed that I could make the world happy through science. However, events led me to give up that dream. It was a trivial one, I later realized. I would do much better using my genius for myself, rather than the ignorant masses who wouldn't appreciate it."

Shadow thought about Gerald, and realized exactly what was being said.

He turned around and headed back towards the main control panel, just as a warning signal flashed through his head. He instantly turned around, only to find a bat floating down from above.

"What the . . . " was all Shadow could utter before she landed on the ground and dusted herself off. She wasn't really hard to see, even in darkness, and the mild glow in her eyes gave the impression that she didn't mind the darkness at all. She tucked her wings in behind her and stood straight, as if preparing to make an important announcement.

"You boys sound like you could use some help . . . "

"How did you get here . . . ?" Shadow asked suspiciously.

She shook her head. "I have my sources."

"How did you know where to find us?" Eggman was getting suspicions of his own, and fingering the ray gun behind him.

"What can I say? I have ears all around the world."

" . . . "

" . . . " Neither Shadow nor Eggman found satisfaction from her answers.

"My name is Rouge the Bat. I'm a world class jewel hunter, and I can help you, if you help me."

Eggman thought for a moment. "I know an island where three emeralds are being kept . . . and it will probably be a three-person job to acquire them all. If you like jewels, then you ought to love these. We can test your skills there, Rouge the Bat." He let go of the gun behind him and allowed it to fall into its hidden holster.

She smiled, eyeing the computer.

Shadow talked to Eggman out the side of his mouth.

"Doctor, who the hell is this person, and what makes you decide to trust her?"

"Don't worry, Shadow. I have a plan."

___________

Knuckles charged for Biolizard and caught him hard in the jaw, after which he immediately recoiled and slid through the dust for another go.

"Ahh!" Biolizard sprawled back. "Surprising, you're definitely stronger than you look. Let's see what else you can do!" Biolizard began a false run to the side. Knuckles coiled up, and within an instant he had uncoiled and thrown a midair kick into the side of his chest, sending Biolizard back into the rock face, still holding the emerald shard.

"Yes, you're pretty strong indeed, Knuckles . . . "

Knuckles slid back a bit, trying to keep confidence. His foot was hurting a bit from kicking him, and his knuckles were definitely aching from punching him, it was like hitting a brick wall. Worse yet, he was still standing. The only person he knew that could withstand a punch like that was . . .

"Come at me again, knucklehead! Or are you on the defensive, now?"

Knuckles abandoned the idea of one powerful punch and kicked up a cloud of dust as he zoomed forward, forcing a flurry of punches.

The sun began to set, taking the afternoon glow with it. It was as if the sun itself was afraid to see the outcome of the brawl.

Biolizard took them all directly, but it seemed as if he had stepped into the punches to reduce force, something that Knuckles decided Sonic would have never thought to do.

"Take this!" Biolizard spun in even deeper and smashed into Knuckles with the back of his tail. It sent him back further than he thought, but Knuckles didn't seem to be harmed by it.

"Hmm. Now I know that you're tougher than you look. But I still can't let you get this emerald shard."

"It's my duty to my people, to everything I stand for, to keep that Master Emerald where it belongs! Give it here, already! I won't let you have that shard!"

"You'll have to fight me for it!" Biolizard swung forward again with a left punch, and immediately went in for a right, that Knuckles was very used to blocking. Knowing this, the prototype faked the punch halfway and came in with a tail swipe instead. After spinning into the air, Biolizard pursued Knuckles, who had expected a pursuit. To counter, he simply splits-kicked his way down and smashed Biolizard into the rock face all over again.

By now, it seemed that Knuckles was winning, but Biolizard wasn't the one panting.

"Getting tired? I'm the true Ultimate Life-Form! I take a lickin' and keep on tickin'! I-"

"Stop! You're giving me a migraine, don't pull a `Sonic' on me!"

Biolizard heard this and began to pace around, drawing tiny trails in the dust.

"Alright then, Guardian, another round. Let's see how you avoid punches . . . !" Biolizard ran back at him and began punching forward rapidly with a speed Knuckles didn't expect.

Knuckles huffed in to get all of the breath he could, and began to dodge as many blows as he could from the scaled menace.

When he saw an opening, the echidna went in with a hard roundhouse, just as his opponent slashed up a left splits-kick. The two feet met, and the result was a shockwave that shook both of their legs and sent them flying back in their respective directions.

Biolizard had no trouble landing on his feet. He examined the emerald shard, and began pacing again wile Knuckles recovered.

"You're a worthy fighter . . . and you don't give up . . . continuing this bout would be pointless." Biolizard spun the shard on a clawed finger, and then dropped it in front of him.

"Take it, Knuckles. It's yours."

Knuckles became very wary, Biolizard had it on the ground in front of him, but he appeared to have something ulterior planned. That smirk on his face made it look like he was about to pull a fast one. But then again, this might be the chance he was looking for to get back his shard.

Very carefully, Knuckles approached, and slowly reached down for the shard, his eyes on Biolizard the whole time.

The lizard made a sudden movement, however it was towards the back wall.

"We shall meet again, Knuckles the Echidna . . . unless you get killed."

"Don't you worry about that! I hope you can get stronger than that, because I'll be much tougher within a week!!!" Knuckles wouldn't be happy if he thought that Biolizard left thinking he was the superior one, because he truly did not believe he was. He held the Master Emerald shard close to his body.

"And the next time we meet, `Mr. Ultimate', I'll be sure to be the one to beat YOU! So be ready!" Knuckles continued while shaking the sharp end of the emerald shard at the `fleeing' opponent.

Biolizard launched of into the sky and seemed to come close to flight. "That which doesn't kill me postpones the inevitable." He said simply as he rubbed his wounds and disappeared over a hilltop.

After leaving Knuckles' sight, he continued his plunge downwards towards the split in the rocks where he had kept his escape pod.

"Hmm." He landed without a sound in front of it, the screen was still partially open. Of course, it was only built for two trips: escape and return. The result of that particular flaw in design was that the first trip left it in bad condition, but not so bad that he couldn't return to ARK with it.

"Great, just great. At this rate, I won't be able to use this thing for much longer . . . I need to get back to ARK and build something better. Then . . . I can promise myself that I'll return to Earth. That I'll find my own true purpose." He pulled the battered exterior until the screen opened completely, and jumped in. He pushed the button to establish his pre-programmed destination, and the transport began to rumble as it headed off into the sky.

Gradually, the change in air pressure became more noticeable, the ground became smaller, and the orange sky became completely black.

The transport shook and grew hotter than usual as it took the punishment from the atmosphere, it would definately be incapable of another trip. The surface below began o fill the entire view and the supreme serenity of space washed in as the capsule headed closer to ARK.

For a while, Biolizard listened to the sound of the dying thrusters until there was a clank and a hiss as the inside was pressurized, a coupling was accomplished, and a light flashed. This indicated that he could board ARK.

"Soon enough, I'll be stronger than Shadow ever was . . . and perhaps stronger than he will ever be." He stood and left the now useless pod, re-entering the familiar cool atmosphere of ARK.

_____________

Shadow had left the control room and had been taking walks around ARK to reacquaint himself, but to no avail. The entire section of ARK he was exploring was completely unfamiliar, it was a section he had never been stationed in.

In the darkness, he heard a hissing and a clicking sound, which was something unfamiliar.

"This . . . . is weird." Shadow then listened to the sounds produced by footsteps, but they were stealthy steps. The type of steps that didn't even produce echoes.

"This place of pain actually looks newer than when I found it. It appears as if now it is nothing more than a museum . . . with ghosts of the past haunting me. Where am I? It doesn't feel like ARK." Shadow began a walk towards the end of the hallway where the footsteps were coming from.

He began sliding down the pathway with his hover shoes, and glided to a stop around the end.

He looked down the dark corridor, and then peered down the other side.

For a while, he didn't really see anything or anybody, but then, it finally happened.

Their eyes locked.

Fifty years of hostility and questioned friendship clashed, and two minds of virtually two different worlds began a battle.

The `rivals', the `friends', saw each other.

Biolizard took in every detail of Shadow, every unchanged detail, and Shadow did the same to Biolizard.

Their looks recognized each other as almost equals, rivals, and friends, all at the same time, and all in one second.

"So . . . we meet again." Was all Biolizard muttered before darting down another corridor, with Shadow in hot pursuit.