Thursday, May 19, 2011

1x11 - Still More To Go

Previously on Desperate Hedgehogs...

Amy and Shadow battled it out, but in the end, Shadow got the Chaos Emerald, despite a surprise attack coming from Amy even she did not know she had in her. While Shadow Chaos Controlled himself out of the area, Amy is left stuck in there. Shadow came to find a deactivated Omega, and went to take him to Dr. Eggman right way. While Amy, while trying to find a way out, found Sonic, or so it seems, who had some very mean things to say to Amy, who was then left to cry away at her tears.

Silver finally told Espio who he is, and where he came from. The two formed a relationship fast, connecting through the fact that they were part of the same order, just from different timelines. But now that Espio knows the story, will Silver be able to complete his mission and stop the Iblis Trigger?

Sonic saves Vector and Charmy from an untimely death, and gets a few words of encouragement from the two even after telling them what he had done. They found the Chaos Emerald, but when Sonic tried to get it, he was mysteriously attacked from behind. Who was the mysterious attacker, and what will happen to Vector and Charmy if Silver and Espio don't get to them in time?

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Silver/Sonic

“Hurry Silver!” Espio shouted.

Unfortunately, Silver was definitely not the fastest hedgehog in the world, especially compared to Sonic. But he was having a hard time of keeping up with Espio's fast speed. Silver had no idea Espio was so fast, but then he just assumed being a ninja must require fast reflexes. Espio obviously was not as powerful of a fighter as he was, so he more then makes up for it in his speed.

Still, it didn't make Silver happy he had to run so fast, but the call Espio got from the other team must've been pretty urgent.

“Espio, do you even know where you're going?!” Silver asked, while trying to get enough breath to even say the sentence and continue running.

“Let's just say, I know where they are Silver, trust me,” Espio said.

Silver did just that. He trusted his fellow Warrior Order member just like he trusted all the other members of the order. Maybe Espio just had the power to do this. Silver didn't know, but he decided to just go with it. He wasn't in the mood to question Espio about this. Obviously, something bad was going on with the other team.

“We're almost there,” Espio said.

In the dark room Espio and Silver were running through, they could see some light at the end of it. They continually got closer and closer to the light, until their bodies had become covered by the white light. When Silver and Espio were in the light, they could see Vector and Charmy looking absolutely terrified, along with an unconscious Sonic the Hedgehog.

“What happened?” Silver asked, shocked by what he was seeing.

“L-look out!” Charmy shouted.

Silver and Espio looked behind them and suddenly were attacked from behind by a mysterious figure, as it knocked the both of them towards Sonic, Vector and Charmy. Silver got up just a few seconds after landing, while Espio still struggled to get up. Silver's eyes met the attacker, only finding it to be some strange figure in a black cloak, with its face hidden.

“Huh, what are you?” Silver asked.

Silver noticed the black figure holding a Chaos Emerald, he assumed Sonic, Vector, and Charmy must had found it here. But he could also see the being was about to leave. Silver was not going to let that happen, as he jumped towards the figure and punched it into the wall.

“I don't know who you are, but you're not going anywhere with that emerald!” Silver shouted.

Espio suddenly got up and ran up to Silver to join him in battle. Silver looked at Espio, and Espio looked at him back. They exchanged glances, and the fight began.

The black figure flew to the ceiling and started shooting out these black orbs out of its hands towards Silver and Espio. Silver and Espio dodge them as they both try to climb up to him. Silver flies towards the figure and starts throwing ice blocks at the figure. The black figure punches through all of them, only to be hit in the back by Espio's fist, falling to the ground.

But the black figure regains control, and starts to fly back up before landing on the ground, getting ready for another attack.

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Shadow

A dark room was soon filled with light as Shadow and Omega appeared out of the light after Chaos Controlling all the way back there. It was Eggman's base. Shadow didn't know where they actually were, but when he uses Chaos Control, all he had to do was think of the place he wanted to go to. He wished the lights were on though, why were they not fixed yet?

“Okay, let's get you to the doctor right away,” Shadow said.

“Get what to me?” a very familiar voice asked. Shadow turned around, and despite the lack of lighting, could see that it was Dr. Eggman.

“Master, it's Omega,” Shadow said.

“Hmm, what about Omega? E-123 Omega, is something wrong?”

Eggman waited for a response, but he could see that there was no response coming back towards him. Eggman knew then that something was wrong with Omega, which is what Shadow was going to tell Eggman.

“Master, we kind of split up to look for the emerald, and when I found Omega, he was deactivated for some odd reason,” Shadow explained to Eggman.

Eggman kept the same expression on his face he had when Shadow had come back into the room with Chaos Control. He didn't seem at all worried, but not at all excited either. “Hmm, that's strange. I better take a look at Omega this instant and make sure nothing bad happened to him. Egg Pawns, take Omega to the repair room!”

Suddenly, two red chubby robots came into the room and picked up Omega immediately, not having much trouble seeing where he was. They then quickly ran out of the room, eager to follow the doctor's orders.

“By the way Shadow, do you have the emerald?” Eggman asked.

Shadow nodded, and then said, “I actually found two master.”

Eggman was quite surprised by what Shadow had said. Two emeralds? It must've been his lucky day! “There was another emerald there Shadow?!”

“Yes master, but that was because that pink girl was there looking for the Chaos Emerald, and she was carrying one with her as well. I defeated her, and got her emerald as well.”

Eggman grinned evily, looking to be very enthusiastic about Shadow's lucky find. “Well, the more the better one might say. Very good job Shadow my dear. Place those emeralds in the Emerald Vault, while I go and make sure Omega is okay,” Eggman said.

Eggman began to walk out of the room, until Shadow interrupted the doctor, having something he really wanted to say to him. “Wait master, can I ask you something about my past?”

Eggman just said, “I'm busy Shadow, ask me when I'm done fixing up Omega.” Eggman then left the room, as Shadow looked at the emeralds, and nodded in agreement. The doctor was busy, he had other errands to attend to. It was only natural that he was not his number one priority. Shadow walked out of the room to put the Chaos Emeralds away where they belonged.

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Amy

“Day 7: One week ago, I sat here, staring at the ground, my eyes covered with tears, not knowing what to make of what had just happened. It was appalling. It may have been an illusion, but it was a pretty believable illusion then because I'm hurting just as much as I would if that was the real Sonic talking. Frankly, Sonic would never say anything like that to myself, but it just felt too real to ignore. I don't know why this place is doing all this to me. What did I do to deserve this?

“And Shadow, how could he just have left me here? Didn't he recognize me? Why didn't he feel the slightest need to take me with him? He could've even trapped me with Eggman again, but at least I wouldn't be stuck here, with absolutely no way out. It was just me, and darkness filling the area. I wish he was the one staying here. I wish I had not fainted like that.

“About the battle, it was a pretty even one. But then, I felt this strange energy going through me, and then my hammer saved me from an inevitable death, or severe injury. I don't know what happened there. I keep studying my piko hammer to see if there was anything strange about it, but I can't find a thing that seems odd. Nothing.

“I wonder if Tails and Cream left the mansion by now. I mean, they couldn't have stayed here for a week looking for me. I know it was hard to have me missing before, but Cream is definitely not strong enough to stay here for so long. I think she should be a little more kind to her mom. Her mom only has good intentions after all. It must be really hard for a mother to see Cream go from this sweet innocent rabbit that played by the rules to this adventurous rabbit that wanted to see what the world was. A girl like Cream wouldn't last a minute in the real world. She still has a lot of growing up to do, like I did five years ago.

“I wish I could write this stuff down, since there's so little else to do. Why haven't I died yet? I haven't drank anything in a week, and I'm still alive. Whatever was haunting this mansion must be pretty smart, because this is much worst then death. Maybe if I stay here long enough, I'll get suicidal. But I can't kill myself, there's nothing to kill myself with. I'm doomed, I can't find a way out. Please help me. Please.”

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Silver/Sonic

Silver and Espio find themselves suddenly pushed back after the black figure released punches towards both of them, both equally powerful. Who exactly was this? Whatever it was was for the most part just throwing punches and kicks here and there, combined with flying around and just the usual black orbs that looked like Shadow's chaos powers with black ink poured all over them.

As the black figure was walking over to Silver and Espio, it was about to unleash its last attack to finish off the two. Silver and Espio were struggling to get up, but unfortunately, their bodies were not going to react in time with the black figure right in front of them with its arms high in the air, preparing some attack they had no idea about.

“Not so fast!” A familiar green crocodile shouted right behind the black figure as he was about to throw a punch at it. But when Vector's hand was just about to make contact with the figure, Vector suddenly felt that he was punching through nothing, and quickly pulled his hand back to avoid hitting Silver and Espio. “Huh?”

Silver and Espio noticed what Vector had noticed as well. They both slowly got up and tried to find where the figure had went, as it was no longer in front of Vector. But when they looked at the ground, they could see a black circle near where the emerald originally was.

“W-what are you?” Silver asked absolutely astounded.

“I've never seen anything like this,” Espio said, his eyes just staring at what appeared to be the shadow of nothing. The black figure came out of the black circle. The circle disappeared when the black figure was fully back on ground. It looked to be charging for the largest attack. They all didn't know how to react, but Espio and Silver then just decided to quickly charge for another attack.

Just as it seemed the black figure was gonna go in the ground again while still charging its attack, something suddenly punched it in the back, causing it to crash into a wall, its attack canceled. It looked up to see who it was.

“Knuckles!” The Chaotix said in unison.

Silver remembered Knuckles. He was the one that wanted to know who he was first. Knuckles certainly seemed to a bit tough on everyone he had just met. The two of them didn't get to converse much though, he wondered what Knuckles was doing here.

Knuckles seemed to know just exactly how to attack the black figure. Whenever it tried to disappear into the ground, Knuckles always hit it at its stomach to make it come back up. Whenever it tried to unleash some big attack on Knuckles, Knuckles always attacked first and prevented the attack. Perhaps Knuckles had encountered this figure before. Everyone just stared at Knuckles not having much trouble doing what he was doing.

The black figure just laid on the ground. Knuckles stood in front of it holding the Chaos Emerald it had taken. Everyone stared in absolute shock. Knuckles actually got the emerald back. “Espio, catch!” Knuckles said as he threw the emerald towards Espio, who caught it with no problem.

“And as for you, give me back the Master Emerald pieces!” Knuckles shouted. But when Knuckles looked down, he saw that the black figure was no longer there. Knuckles' fact suddenly filled with much frustration. “It got away AGAIN!”

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Shadow

What was he to do now? He wondered if Omega was okay, but the robots would not let Shadow into the room where Eggman was operating on Omega. He had already put the emeralds away. They had four, only three more to go then. Why would the doctor still not tell him what he was planning? Or tell him where exactly he was? Why were the lights still not activated? Maybe Eggman had yet to actually create some sort of power source for this base. But he wondered if four Chaos Emeralds could've just got the job done.

He didn't exactly remember how complicated Chaos Emeralds were though. He hated how he felt so lost, and that he only felt like he was getting somewhere following the doctor. But the longer he stays, the more curious he is about what Eggman is actually up to.

Shadow walked into yet another room. He still could barely see, but he was able to make out some of what he was seeing. Still, he hoped he wouldn't trip over anything.

“Is that you Shadow?” asked a very familiar voice.

“Looks like I stumbled into the wrong room,” Shadow said annoyed. He had entered the prison cell of Rouge the Bat.

“Aww Shadow, why not just stay for a bit? A girl gets lonely in a room where she can't see anything don't you think?” Rouge asked.

Shadow chuckled. He found Rouge's personality both annoying and hilarious. She must've had a huge ego. Shadow didn't feel like it was a good idea to converse with her, as she just seemed so shady. But something about her got him to keep coming back, and he didn't know what it was.

“Fine, I guess I'll humor you,” Shadow said. “But what exactly can we talk about?”

“I don't know, it's just better then sitting here doing nothing.”

Shadow tried to think of something to talk about. He didn't have anything to do either. It wouldn't hurt too much trying to see if she'll tell him anything interesting. “First off, why did you come with me? You had the chance to escape, yet you didn't. Now you're just back to where you started, here in prison.”

“Well, you could say my business with you wasn't done yet.”

Rouge now had Shadow's full attention. So this was about him and not Eggman. “What kind of business are you talking about?”

Rouge smiled, even though she knew that Shadow could not see. “Shadow, do you know where we are?” Rouge asked.

Shadow shook his head and then answered, “No, I think that's obvious considering the fact that I cannot see.”

“I know where we are Shadow. I had to think about it at first, but something about this place felt so familiar. Then I finally figured it out. I would think you would've figured it out way before I did, considering your history with this place.”

Shadow was astounded. Was this girl telling the truth, or just spouting out crap? Shadow tried to think of anything that would've made this place seem familiar, but he still could not come up with anything. “So, are you saying, I've been here before?”

Rouge nodded and said, “If my suspicions are correct, then yes, you have.” Shadow just stood silent, not able to have anything else come out of his mouth at the moment. Rouge thought she'd just say something else to seal the deal. “I'll tell you what Shadow. If you do some things for me, maybe I'll tell you more I know. I mean, you might as well call me an expert on you.”

Shadow was about to say something, rejecting her offer as he didn't like to be the dog trying to get the bone that was too high in the air to reach, but Rouge interrupted him and said, “Don't answer yet. Go and take some time to think about it before you say anything stupid.”

Shadow stood for a second, but then eventually walked out of the room, not sure what to think of Rouge's offer. Rouge just smiled, and winked at Shadow as he went away.

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Amy

“Day 32: Gosh, I can't believe it's already been a month. This place is the strangest. Hedgehogs may be able to live at least a week without water and food, but I should've been dead by now. Why am I still alive? And why has my body not gotten skinnier from starvation? This place literally makes no sense. Mother nature certainly doesn't seem to have control over wherever this is.

“I feel like dying would be better though, then to spend eternity just sitting here, not able to see a thing, and do absolutely nothing. I've tried everything to get out of here! I would run for miles and miles and not find a way. I would try to smash the floor with my hammer, hoping to fall through the hole I hoped to create. But nope, nothing worked. I sometimes even prayed. It's getting so hard. I feel like I can go insane the longer I stay here.

“I miss my home. I miss my planet. I miss my best friend. I miss my other friends. I even miss Dr. Eggman! At least when I was in his cell, I had someone to talk to! But in here, it's about the worst it can be. What am I ever going to do? I feel like life is going on in the real world, but here I am unable to live it. I don't deserve this. Why isn't someone like Eggman in here instead? Why does it have to be me?

“If only I was like Sonic or Shadow, and was able to Chaos Control out of here or something. But no, not only was I annoying, but I'm also a normal girl. No wonder Sonic doesn't care to hang out with me. What's the difference between me and all the dozens of other fangirls out there that love him? Nothing. Did I learn my lesson? Can I leave? I guess not.”

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Sonic/Silver

His eye lids slowly opened. He felt quite exhausted, but nonetheless, still energized enough to wake up. Sonic the hedgehog then lifted his head and was in a sitting position, only to find that The Chaotix, Knuckles, and Silver were all staring at him. He looked at them puzzled, looking at them as if he thought they were weirdos. He wondered what they were doing.

“Um, what are you guys doing?” Sonic asked.

As everyone stopped staring and gave Sonic his space, he had remembered why he was asleep. He was knocked out by something, or someone. But who or what was it? He assumed they all knew. He wanted to know what had happened.

“Ugh, what happened?”

“You were knocked unconscious,” Silver told Sonic.

“Oh yeah...but by who?”

“We honestly don't know, but it was some black figure,” Espio said.

Vector had suddenly thought up something he was somewhat thinking before, but couldn't exactly expand on it as he was too busy focusing on the fight that was happening just a few minutes ago. He knew he saw that black figure before, as he saw flashbacks playing in his head.

“Knuckles, that was the guy that stole the Master Emerald!” Vector concluded.

“I know,” Knuckles said. “I saw the guy steal them in front of my own eyes. Since it was black, I just put the two together. Whatever it is, it wants the Master Emerald, and apparently the Chaos Emeralds too. I chased that thing all the way here, and it just keeps slipping away somehow.”

“So, it hit me because it wanted the Chaos Emerald?” Sonic said.

Silver had nodded, and then said, “It had the Chaos Emerald when Espio and I had gotten here. If it weren't for Knuckles, we wouldn't had been able to take it back. It escaped, but who knows where it'll turn up next.”

Sonic just sighed, as the situation seemed to had gotten that much more complicated. An adventure to stop evil never could be the classic stop Dr. Eggman's latest weapon couldn't it? “If I had a nickel for every single thing I've encountered that made this adventure more difficult and annoying, I'd be sleeping on a pile of coins every night almost touching the moon.” Sonic chuckled a bit, as that joke helped lighten his mood a bit.

“Could Eggman have something to do with that thing?” Charmy asked.

“I think we had better go get that guy's attention soon,” Silver said. “We need to find another emerald immediately!” Silver was as determined as he sounded. Things were only getting weirder, and he was ready to get more answers. Being from the future and still not knowing what's going on was frustrating for him.

“I don't know where the next emerald is,” Sonic said. “I feel like going back to GUN would waste a lot of time though.”

Silver knew exactly where to find that emerald though. He held the emerald out so that everyone could see it. He then concentrated on the emerald. Everyone looked at Silver puzzled, not sure what he was trying to do. But then, the emerald projected an image of the area that seemed to be in the canyons.

“That's where the next emerald is,” Silver said. Everyone looked generally surprised but pleased at Silver's ability. “Do any of you know where that is?”

“That's Rail Canyon,” Knuckles said.

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Shadow

Was it worth the risk? He wondered if accepting Rouge's deal would be a wise decision or not. Was she trustworthy enough? What if she spilled to the doctor that he was going behind his back? The doctor certainly wouldn't be happy if he heard that Shadow was getting information from other sources. It may be a sign of distrust.

But Shadow couldn't help but feel the doctor was just trying to stall longer and longer from telling him the truth. And who's to know if he was trustworthy as well. He claims to had rescued him, but was that even true? Well, he guessed so since he was resting in the doctor's base. But for what reasons would Eggman keep him around like this?

Shadow entered another room, still not entirely sure where he was heading. It felt like one of the bigger rooms he had been in. He could see in front of him though there was a window. Why would this base have a window? It seemed to had been nighttime as the sky was black and many stars were shining.

Shadow walked over to the window to just try and observe and figure out where this base could actually be. But he was met with quite the surprise when he reached the window.

“We-we're in.....space?” Shadow asked, puzzled. But he was in space, as he was staring down to the blue planet. Why did the doctor take him to space?

Suddenly, something then popped up in Shadow's head. It was a sort of a flashback, at least that's what he thought.

Shadow was in the same room he was standing in at the moment. He was also looking out the window, looking back at an event that already happened. Until he was interrupted by a voice too familiar.

Why so melancholy?” Rouge asked.

Shadow just stood there silent, shrugging off Rouge's question.

That was so unexpected, so unlike you Shadow, to come and rescue me. But your ability to use the Chaos Control certainly comes in handy!” Rouge gave Shadow a small smile after she said that.

Shadow didn't look back at Rouge to see it though. Wanting to keep up his tough image, he said, “Hmph, you know, I didn't come to save you. I came back for the Chaos Emeralds.”

Rouge just kept trying to get something else out of Shadow and then said, “Yeah, yeah! But then again, that's not the whole story is it?”

Shadow put his hand on his head trying to figure out just what that flashback was all about. Looking out the window must have triggered the memory. He certainly wasn't expecting it, but he knew exactly what he wanted to do after seeing it.

Shadow walked out of the room with no hesitation. He seemed to want to take care of something this instant.

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Amy

“Day 366: God help me. I-I, just want it all to end! Why can't it end?! Why can't I just go peacefully if I'm stuck in here forever?! I-I, I just want it to end! I break down crying almost every hour now, and it just f-feels horrible. You can't see anything, you just walk endlessly through all this darkness hoping for the littlest thing that's different. But there's nothing, absolutely nothing, and I can't do anything to get away!

“W-what else can I really say now? W-why am I-I being cursed? It f-feels like I'm in this cage, trapped inside forever shielded away from anything that is required to keep me sane. I'm no longer sane. I don't know how much worst I can get, but nothing about my personality is sane anymore. I-it's something I've never really felt before, and I can't anything to make it go away!”

Amy stopped talking, and just let the tears come out of her eyes. She was done speaking, yelling her helpless cries for help. All she could do now was just cry, and hope that the tears were to drown her sorrow. But in reality, she's waited for so long for a way out and really, there isn't one. She's searched forever and ever, but she couldn't find that way out.

Her face planted straight down at the hard black floor. It felt so smooth, like no one had ever stepped on it. But to Amy, this was a bad thing. She longed for any signs of the outside world, that could help her get out of this black area. But she saw none of that.

Amy got up, still crying her eyes out. She took her hammer, and out of anger, started smashing the floor. She kept on going at it. Each time harder then the last. Dammit, why couldn't she get out of here? Why wouldn't the damn floor break? She kept smashing the floor harder and harder, but still, nothing would budge.

She threw her hammer away, not caring if she couldn't find it later on. She just stood there, and just tried to realize what she was just doing. She was acting like a crazy person. There was nothing worst then that for Amy at the moment. What was she going to do? Why oh why didn't she kill that Shadow in the head? If she had done that, maybe she could've gotten out somehow with the help of a Chaos Emerald.

“Amy?” a voice interrupted as Amy was thinking.

Amy was so shocked to hear someone's voice. She quickly turned around to see who it was. She couldn't exactly make out who it was, but she didn't care who it was. She ran up to the figure and gave it the biggest hug possible. After Amy hugged the person though, she knew exactly who it was.

“B-Big! I can't believe you're here!” Amy said.

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Sonic/Silver

It was settled, the gang was going to go to Rail Canyon, one of the largest canyons in the world, where tons of trains traveled on the skinny rails that lie in the air. It was a great way of transportation, but also a very dangerous one if you were to ever get into an accident. Luckily, that's not happened, yet at least. Hopefully the gang knew how to grind.

They were walking outside of the mountain placed in the center of Ice Cap. The blizzard had ended when they got out, and it was already nighttime. The crew couldn't rest now though, they had somewhere to go. They were just walking in the direction that would eventually lead them to Rail Canyon. Knuckles lead the way, who had a great sense of direction, being a treasure hunter and all. He was the perfect candidate to find Rail Canyon.

Sonic walked beside Knuckles. He was fully caught up with everything that had gone on. But he only woke up to something that made this situation the more confusing. That black figure, just who was it? Why does it want the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald, undoubtedly the two most powerful sources on the whole planet, perhaps the whole universe? Maybe Knuckles knew more then he had originally said.

“So Knuckles, you've been chasing down that guy this entire time?” Sonic asked.

Knuckles nodded, and replied by saying, “Yes. I was searching for the Master Emerald, but once I found a piece, that black figure came sweeping in and took it before I could even get close to it. I've been chasing it since, this is the first time I actually lost sight of it.”

“So, you don't know a thing about it?” Sonic asked. “Maybe something about your ancestors could tell you about it or something.”

“Sonic, I have those stories memorized fully in my head. And nothing about it says something about some strange person that comes in a black cloak stealing the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald. I'm just as clueless about this as you are.”

Sonic was disappointed by Knuckles' response. Nonetheless though, it was not very surprising. This was the probably the strangest thing he had ever witnessed. Sonic then thought of its powers, how strange they were. “I wonder what it is, because it had some pretty sick powers to show off. It probably isn't even all of it either, it was mainly just punching and kicking, as if it was holding back.”

“I just don't know Sonic,” Knuckles said. “From Eggman coming back, Shadow popping up, and now whatever this is, it just seems to be a whole big mess that needs to be solved right away. I'm going to find that person, rip the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald from its cloak, and be rid of it for good!”

Sonic chuckled, laughing at Knuckles' sudden temper being risen. “Heh heh heh, don't worry Knuckles, I'm sure that guy has quite the punishment coming for him!”

“He sure does, as long as I have a say in it!”

Behind the two, Silver and Espio were exchanging words as well about the incident. The two had become fast friends, due to the connection they discovered between each other. But they wondered how this was going to effect the situation now. Nothing bad could come out of a friendship could it?

Espio wondered if Silver knew anything about the black figure, considering he was from the future and knew what is supposed to happen. But unfortunately for Espio, Silver was going to highly disappoint him.

“So you're telling me you have no idea who that black figure is?” Espio asked.

Silver shook his head in frustration and said, “I'm afraid not. The documents are very old though, so maybe everything about that figure faded out of them. But I would think I would've seen something about it in there. It just seems too strange to not see anything about it in the documents. Why would every sign of that figure be erased?”

“What exactly are these documents on anyway?”

“They're just general history documents overall. I would think something that came out of nowhere stealing the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald would be of significance, but maybe this is a sign that the figure is taken care of shortly.”

Espio nodded in agreement. That was only what they could assume for the current moment. There were too many things already going on anyway. He had confidence that eventually they would run into that figure again and they would know what to do.

“Espio, over here!” Vector whispered.

Espio turned around and sighed. The leader wanted to talk to him yet again. He fell behind Silver and reunited with his detective agency to see what the boss wanted.

“I see you're talking a lot to Silver ever since I told ya to do so!” Vector said sounding quite pleased.

“He actually is not as bad as he may seem, he's a good person to talk to,” Espio said, trying to get Vector on Silver's side.

Vector was a bit peeved by Espio's surprisingly positive assessment. Vector unfortunately still had bad feelings in his head about Silver, especially after the last time the two legitimately talked. He didn't trust Silver, and he wanted to make sure his entire team was with him on that.

“The thing is Espio, you didn't hear what I had heard,” Vector said. “I can't remember what he exactly said, he just said something about Eggman being an Iblis Trigger or something back at the Pyramid Base.”

Espio knew exactly what Vector was talking about. Apparently it would be a lot harder to clear Silver's name then Silver had let on. Espio didn't know how he could help get Silver out of this one, but he had to think of something. “Silver told me about that,” Espio said.

“Oh really now?” Vector asked. “Well Espio, what did he say?”

“He just said.....that he has information about Eggman's plans no one else knows. He's internally very hurt by this, and he doesn't want it to happen so that no one has to know the true contents about what Eggman is doing. Silver told me what it was, and I can understand where he is coming from.”

Vector just stood there silent, not exactly letting on what he thought about Espio's words. Espio could usually read people very well, but this was one time where he just could not read Vector's face. “Just leave him be Vector, he has good intentions, trust me.” Espio then walked up ahead to Silver and resumed conversing with him.

Vector was nearly unreadable on the outside, but on the inside, as the flashback of Silver yelling at him replayed in his head, the wanting to find the white hedgehog guilty only grew with Espio's defensive side.

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Amy

“Hello Ms. Rose,” Big greeted as Amy let go of her arms and stopped hugging Big. “What are you doing here? It's not a very good place to go fishing.”

Amy was just so relieved to see someone else in here. Big looked exactly like he did when she last saw her. She remembered meeting him back when Chaos was a threat to the world, and getting to know him after the Ark incident since she would visit the forest every week to pick out some food. She wondered why Big was in here though. She could also see that Froggy was with him, who was sitting on Big's head.

“Big, how long have you been in here?” Amy asked.

“I don't know, it feels like five years or something,” Big responded.

Amy's face filled with shock. Five years? How was Big so composed? Amy was just sitting here balling her eyes out smashing the ground like a maniac after being in here for only one year. Then again, Big didn't see like the guy to get too emotional, but Amy still found it wildly unusual.

“Five years? I've been in here for one year, it's really tough. I feel like I'm going insane, I need to get out of here!” Amy's eyes were moved back to tears yet again, but Big went and tried to comfort her as he really did not like to see Amy so down.

“Don't cry Amy Rose, we can find a way out together,” Big said, who sounded a bit unsure on how to stop Amy from crying. She seemed very upset, and he could understand her as well being in here much longer then she has.

Big started to take Amy to a spot to sit down at, but as he was about to sit down with Amy,he felt something touching his stomach. Amy felt something touch her hair as well. They both looked forward and tried to see what that thing was that they had just touched. But all they could see was nothing.

“Did you feel that?” Amy asked.

Big nodded and said, “Yes, what is it?”

Amy and Big kept feeling the object that was right in front of them. They couldn't see it, but they could somehow feel it. It seemed to be the size of Amy's body, and felt kind of circular as well. It then hit Amy what exactly this was.

“Big, this is the orb we touched to get into this place!” Amy concluded.

“Really? But if that's true, why aren't we back outside after touching it?”

That question hit Amy hard. Why wasn't it working? It felt exactly like the orb she touched one year ago. What were they supposed to do to get this thing to work? Amy thought of all the possibilities, but none of them made any sense.

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Shadow

Rouge the Bat was an interesting character. It was never easy to tell what was on her mind. Even when she was stuck in a prison cell, she showed absolutely no signs of fear. No signs of pain. No signs of desperation. She just sat there like a princess and smiled day in and day out. Every person had some kind of weakness that made them show their true colors, but that weakness for Rouge was definitely unknown.

She was getting ready to sleep in the cold dark cell. She really did dislike her living arrangements, but what did she expect being a prisoner of Eggman? She did trick him into thinking she was on his side after all. Rouge chuckled at the thought, she loved being able to trick the smartest scientist in the world. But as soon as the chuckles wore off, she sighed as she began to lay on the freezing floor. But before her head made contact with the floor, she heard the door creak open. She sat up and a smile returned to her face.

“Back so soon?” Rouge asked.

“I accept your deal,” Shadow said.

Rouge didn't seem to be that taken aback by Shadow's sudden change of heart. She just continued to smile looking pleased. She then said, “What made you change your mind so suddenly?”

Shadow thought about the flashback he had when he looked through that window. It felt so real, he was sure that that event was real. It just felt all too familiar. He apparently was close enough to Rouge to talk to her in such a civil manner at one point. Perhaps she was the real person he had to listen to.

“You can say that I thought about it, and realized that you may know something after all.”

Rouge just smiled. She was glad to see Shadow listen to her. She thought this would a fun way to get what she wanted. Whatever she did want must be pretty valuable to want to enlists Shadow's help and all. “So you remember me a bit don't ya?”

Shadow didn't want to admit it, mainly because Rouge's personality rubbed him off the wrong way. But he couldn't lie at this point, it'd be a useless thing to do. He nodded his head in agreement.

“Yes, I do somewhat remember you from awhile ago. Sometime in the past, we were talking to each other in a civil manner in this place. This place feels so familiar now, but I still don't remember what this place is.”

There was a short moment of silence between the two, as Rouge debated on what to say, while Shadow waited for a reply. Rouge then said, “This is the research center called the Space Colony Ark.”

Shadow's eyes suddenly widened. That name, there was just something to it that sounded all too familiar. He had to know more this instant. “Tell me more!” Shadow said angirly.

“Un un un, “Rouge said in her usual flirtatious tone. “If you want to know more, than you have to do a little favor for moi.”

Shadow sighed, he should have seen that one coming. “What do you want?

“Go sneak onto Eggman's computer, and plug this device into it,” Rouge requested, holding out a small square black device to Shadow.

“How did we not see this on you when we checked for devices?” Shadow asked curiously, taking the device.

“I have my tricks no one else knows about. Oh, and before you go, make sure to use the password...........M-A-R-I-A.”

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Conclusion

Who exactly is inside that black cloak? What does it have to do with the entire adventure? Will Vector ever change his mind about Silver? Will Amy and Big be able to escape what seems to be eternal darkness? And with this new deal, how will this effect Shadow's relationship with Eggman? All this on the next episode of Desperate Hedgehogs!