Sonadow
SonicXShadow
Edge of insanity: by Anomalous123

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Shadow groaned silently as he came back to semi-consciousness. He shifted uneasily, the feeling of countless tiny pricks against his back, upper arms, tail, and legs, made him wince. Sometimes, as he moved, the shards would go in deeper, bending his quills or drawing small flecks of blood from where his fur was short or his skin was exposed.

His limbs burned with every movement as he wriggled uselessly on the ground, barely having the energy to breathe, let alone lift his head. His chest felt tight and his stomach was starting to hurt. His body convulsed randomly, head lolling to the side as the horrible taste of bile forced itself from his stomach. Before he knew it, the little water that he had stolen from a passing guard (while he was walking past the cafeteria at GUN headquarters) came up, before it developed into dry heaving.

A noise of discomfort escaped his lips as a rather pointy shard scraped against the back of his neck. He froze, hovering slightly from the ground, ignoring the pain. The elbows supporting him shook violently, but he refused to let himself go any lower, scared of what might happen if it went in deep enough.

He knew, from many painful experiences, that many wounds inflicted on his body could be healed within a few minutes to a week... But, he couldn't be sure if this one would. Neither he nor his brother had received damage near the spinal cord, yet. It was the one part of the body that was safe from GUN- they never dared to test it out, just in case.

The thoughts of the experiences done to him made him want to curl up into a ball and sleep for the next ten years. His heart, heavy within his chest, wondering if his brother was alright. There was a fleeting thought at just out of reach, teasing his senses, knowing that, to sleep in this place would be a very bad idea. Yet, no matter how much he tried, he couldn't think of a reason why.

Shadow groaned slightly as his head began to throb, making him want to curl up back into a ball and sleep for the next ten years. Or, at least, force himself into a healing coma... That always seemed to work. More than one disembodied voice reached his ears, sounding a mile away as if he was sinking in a river, and they were standing above the surface. He frowned in concentration, trying to make out the words.

"Is... he... okay?" One voice asked softly, sounding concerned.

"Of course... more... power... you..." A ruffer one boomed, a hint of pride in his voice. "You... understand... genius..."

Opening his eyes, he was met by a ray of lights and colours that seemed to blur and swirl together, making it impossible to figure out what they were supposed to be. They were walking towards him and he braced himself, muscles tensing in anticipation. Instead of an attack, he felt warm flesh and pieces of fabric slide beneath him, curling around his waist and the underside of his legs as he was lifted into the air. His was relief short-lived as he tried to wiggle out of the grip, panic overtaking him, as he the heat of the unfamiliar touch made his body tingle at the point it made contact. It was no use. He had no energy left to protest as his sight was overwhelmed by the red of the stranger's coat that was surprisingly soft against his cheek.

A sigh escaped his lips, his heavy eyelids fluttering in exhaustion, but he stubbornly stayed awake.

He couldn't sleep... Not just yet, anyway.

There was a soft mutter above him as he was jostled slightly as his captor moved. The creak of metal doors echoed in his ears, making him cringe. A cool rush of air accompanied it, making him shiver and involuntarily move closer to the man's body, loving the warmth it provided.

Soon, they came to a room. The warmth was suddenly gone, leaving him shivering on a metal-like table, that made his skin crawl for a different reason. The shards were back, leaving him in discomfort, once more, but he tried to ignore it. Prying his eyes open was more difficult, he found, as exhaustion tried to pull him back to the realm of unconsciousness. He strained them, trying to see the other two figures within the room, to no avail. As if sensing his discomfort, warm hands were back, pinning his legs and arms to the table.

"Shadow, it's okay, now. You're safe," the second voice he heard from waking up cooed, a hand expertly combing through his quills. He held back a pure at the gentle careers, wondering when the last time it was that he received affection such as this?

'How did the human do this without hurting himself?' He thought absentmindedly, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

Was the room spinning?

"Where...? What...?" He started to say, but his throat was too dry. He was shushed as the hands restraining his ankles retreated.

"We'll find him..." The stranger promised, his voice soft, although it was filled with determination. "Together."

His sleep idled brain wondered briefly who the man was talking about, but found it to be fruitless. Before he knew it, a needled had entered his side, leaving him, yet, another puncture wound.

He heard another mutter from the man, although Shadow's muddled brain couldn't quite what he had said. Black eye-lids slid closed, his exhaustion coming too much too long. Before he could register what was going on, he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

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



Tail's groaned, feeling his feet slide across the mud bank. His ears were lowered in distress, namesakes twitching as he throwing pity-filled looks over his shoulder as he trudged through the mud and leaves that littered the ground. The sound of shouts from the GUN members echoed around the cave-like structure, making the three cringe.

They had been walking for a total of twenty minutes, but there was nothing in sight. It made them a little suspicious.

Knuckles skidded to a stop, nearly crashing into Tails as serval soldiers emerged from the tree-line. Guns at the ready, they surrounding the trio, ready to fire upon command. "Gives us the power source... And we may let you leave," a solo voice demanded as a man donned in a lab coat stepped forward, his arm outstretched.

Blue impeded, tightening his arms around the Edkinda's neck while he turned his head to nuzzle a red-furred shoulder. Knuckles growled, holding him tighter as the weak form shivered violently. The poor kid seemed generally terrified of this particular man. "Never in a million years, dirtbag.

Tails covered his ears, throwing pity-filled looks over his shoulder as he trudged through the mud and leaves that littered the ground. The sound of shouts from the GUN members echoed around the cave-like structure, making the three cringe.

Knuckle's sighed, shifting the squirming hedgehog in his arms to avoid dropping him. He had come close many time, wishing to Lord Choas he would tire himself out. Yet, as the minutes ticked by, he was no closer to calming down then he was before.

The cries were loud enough that it made the two mobians cringe, both from the noise and the thought of being discovered. They quickly developed into full-blown sobs where the hedgehog was almost choking on his own silva. His hands crawled into Knuckles' arms and back, digging into his flesh occasionally. Blue''s large Emerald eyes were glazed over in his painted state, unshed tears forming in the corner, as they stared at the unknown with a mixture of confusion, fear and horror.

"What the..."

Knuckles gave out a cry of surprise as a kicked in the back of his knee, causing him to buck. Taking advantage of the moment, Blue sucked in a breath before using his feet and hands to push off the Echidna's chest. Already loose, the arms slipped enough from him to fly backwards, causing them both to fall from the momentum. The two hit the ground, falling painfully on their backs.

The red furry opened his mouth. "What the hell?"

Tails turned, surprised by his companion's yelp. A look of confusion passed over his face. He quickly took in their positions before he came over to assist Knuckles. "What happened?" He asked, concerned as he helped the Echidna sit up. The said furry growled.

"What the hell do you think you were doing? You could have hurt..."

He didn't even get to finish. The pair watched, with growing horror, as the blue hedgehog struggle to prop himself upon a rock. The movements were sluggish, resembling a being with no limbs, his limbs screaming with the effort. Without warning, he turned slightly, brought his shaking right arm up and rammed his shoulder into the latest side of the bolder.

Bang!

Bang!

Crack!

The agonising cry resounded within the cave. Tears no longer held themselves back as they flowed freely from the eyes. Blue leaned back, exhausted, but his shaking hand came up to cradle his dislocated shoulder. To surprise the duo even further, he pressed his crawls into the flesh, drawing a black-type substance. By this time he retracted his paw, a little black device was settled in his palm. With that done, he seemed to slump, all signs of life left him as he sat there, dropped across the bolder.

Knuckles stood, shakily. His breathing was laboured as he tried to take in what had just happened. He glanced to Tails, who was paler than ever. His form shook violently as he stared, wide-eyed, at the strange Mobian.

The former gulped.

He took a step forward, cautious as to whether the poor creature would freak out once more, but that wasn't the case. In fact, he seemed to be more focused on breathing than anything else. Bending down, Knuckles examined the wound, careful not to touch it. The strange substance seemed to become more pronounced, making itself known. He debated on touching it, his curiosity screaming at him to examine it, but the logical side knew better.

Whatever the human's had done to him, that could wait. It seemed to flow like normal blood, so he left it, for now. He silently prayed he was making the right choice as his eyes wandered down to device cradled in peach-coloured palms. It was small and round, about the circumference of a daisy. In the middle, there was a protruding sphere that blinked happily at them.

The sound of breath hitching caught his attention. He turned slightly to his left to see Tails on his hands and knees, staring at it in fascination. "Wait, is that...? No, it can't be!" He turned to Knuckle's, alert. "They planted a TRACKING device on him...! Er, rather, in him?"

There was a slow, condescending clap coming from behind them, causing them to freeze. They turned, dread filling the trio as their gaze settled on the Commander. Blue whimpered, curling into on himself, his good arm coming up to cradle his ribs protectively.

"That was quite the show. To be honest, I'm surprised you made it this far, but the fun is over. Wouldn't you agree, Project?"

The animalistic snarl that came from the aforementioned project surprised the echidna and fox kit. Some soldiers stepped back, throwing looks over to the Commander for reassurance. Than man just frowned. "Come now, project, why so hostile?" He stepped forward, towering over the anthropomorphic animals.

"Uh, Commander...?" A solider started, most of them stepping back cautiously as the blue Hedgehog's fur started to stand up on edge as they gathered around his curled form.

Knuckles suppressed a grimace as the air began to thicken around them, making it hard tho breath. If he squinted, he wore he could see sparks of blue lightning around him. He glanced down as a green glow caught his eye to see the miniaturised version of the Master Emerald had fallen out of his quills and was pulsating wildly. A realisation struck him and he lept over to Tails, tackling them both to the floor.

Just then, a blue blur had shot was hurled over their heads, bouncing on the nearest soldiers head and sticking the next in the back. As soon as all the guards where done, he went for the Commander and had to avoid a rapid-fire of bullets. He detoured, spin dashing a tree before rebounding off caves wall before and nailing the human in the chest. The man went flying, almost falling in the river. The momentum he built seemed to stop as he narrowed down words, bouncing a few times before uncurling.

During this, Knuckles had gotten up, punching the nearest guards and dodge stray bullets. He caught sight of one and gasped. 'How did the human's get ahold of weapons that can drain Chaos Energy?!' He thought, astonished, as he dove underground to surprise attack a couple of guards from the ground. As he burst out, he smashed his fist into the ground, causing a mini earthquake to ripple from where he landed. Serval soldiers went flying, while some who tried to get up fell back down.

Once the blue hedgehog landed, he was panting heavily, barely holding himself up in sitting position as he looked around at the Chaos stunned.

Blood was dripping freely from his mouth, nose and ears, but he didn't seem to notice. His eyes were half-lidded and Tails swore they had a tinge of red to them. Without warning, he fell back, collapsing on the ground, shivering like mad.

Tails shifted from his position, watching the scene with utter shock. He climbed to his feet, looking from one GUN member to another. His attention was snapped back to Blue when he started to puke up blood again, this time, there was specks of the black stuff in there too. Tails ran over, alarmed. Was it spreading?

"Knuckles, what do we do?" He turned around, looking for assistance, but he hadn't moved. Instead, his gaze was fixed on the Master Emerald, which was now in his hands as it pulsed so brightly, it nearly blinded the pair. Through Knuckles senses, he could feel a strong pull of Chaos Energy from it to the blue hedgehog. It was as if the Master Emerald was calling out to him, providing him with energy. The multicoloured light was flowing from the surface and sinking into his skin, healing any cuts and bruises he had. Knuckles could only gape at the sight, wondering how on earth this Mobian was so in tuned with Chaos, and the Echidna tribe had never heard of him before.

Once it was done, the light died down to bearable levels and Blue's ragged breathing had calmed to the point of deep sleep.

"How did he...?" Tails asked, stunned as he knelt down. The blood had turned back to its red state, leaving no trace of the black substance.

"... I don't know, Tails," Knuckles muttered, rising. In the background, he heard some of the GUN members stir. He winced. "We should go," he announced, picking up the sleeping hedgehog. Tails nodded wordlessly, a million theories and unanswered questions floating around in his head as he followed the Echidna. Hopefully, this mystery would be solved soon, before his curiosity got the better of him.

As they left, they didn't see The Commander sit up, having watched the show with interest. He brought up his private communicator.

All his possessions got their power from the main grid, and he was thanking his past self for thinking ahead. "Higgins, release the bots. Project: Chaos has escaped! I repeat, Project: Chaos has escaped!" He had to harness that power. Could the secrete to his immortality be kept in that green stone? He must know.

There was static, then a crackled voice answered. "But, Sir, they're not ready. They could revert back to their original..."

The robotic major was cut off. "I don't care. If we loose Project: Chaos, everything we worked for will be for nothing!"

"But, sir, we still have the..."

"It's incomplete. We still need him."

There was a sigh. "Yes, sir."

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

Far above their heads, multiple employees rushed about, doing final checks of the many robots they had collected from the battle sight at Eggman's lab. Their basic programming had been repurposed, hoping to take on the Doctor when he least expected it, all but one had been done successfully.

Unknown to them, a red-painted robot was laying dormant, scanning the area for any fluxations of Chaos Energy. Just then, something reached its scanners.

Orginal target: located.

Mission status: Changed.

Error: fault detected.

Recalibrating matrix.

Restoring primary settings.

Restoration: successful.

Current Status: Standby, until activated.

The eyes flashed, before shuttering off, waiting dormant until he had the chance to capture and retrieve his target.

TBC:
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