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Sighing glumly, Amy stared at the TV screen across from her. She hadn’t cried as long as she had before, but now she had a hollow, empty feeling in her, like someone had sucked out all her energy. She had finally motivated herself to come over to Cream’s, but even that had seemed like an effort.

Vanilla watched her worriedly from the kitchen, idly stirring a pot of soup as Gemerl cut up some vegetables behind her. Oh you poor dear. I wish you would tell me what happened. When Amy had arrived a few hours before, she could hardly believe it was her. Instead of her pink and white dress, she wore a rumpled pink t-shirt and white sweatpants. Her spines were mussed up, her headband was missing, and she bore a sad, weary expression. Even her smiles seemed sad. It was just so completely unlike her, that Vanilla instantly knew that something was wrong.

“Amy? Are you sure you’re okay?”

Blinking, Amy turned and looked at her best friend. “Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine Cream. Really.” Despite her words, her voice was rather lackluster, almost dull.

Unconvinced, Cream grabbed her hand, her eyes large with a worried expression. “It doesn’t seem like it, Amy. You look really sad.” Hovering near near her opposite shoulder, his Chao ball morphed into a question mark, Cheese gazed at her sadly. “Chao.” he said sadly.

Frowning, Vanilla gave her pot one last stir. “Gemerl, would you mind watching this for me?” The gray robot nodded as he set his knife aside. “Of course Vanilla.” Walking into the living room, Vanilla folded her arms across her chest. “Cream, would you mind if I borrowed Amy for a moment?”

Turning to look at the older rabbit, both girls were surprised by the stern expression on her face. “Uh, sure.” Amy said uncertainly, following Vanilla as she walked down the hallway to her bedroom.

Turning as she sat down on the bed, Vanilla gave her a stern and disapproving look. “I don’t appreciate it when people lie to my daughter, Amy Rose. I expect better than that from you.”

Startled by the accusation, Amy’s mouth gaped open as she stood in the doorway. “Wha........I’m not lying to......”

Vanilla’s face became uncharacteristically hard. “And I don’t appreciate being lied to myself, either.” Her expression softening, she patted at the spot beside her on the amethyst bedcover. “Amy, I’ve known you for a long time, so I can tell when something is wrong. Please, just talk to me.”

For a moment, Amy hesitated. Finally, she sighed and sat down, her head hanging low. “I.........I did something really stupid.” To her, her body grew heavy as the edges of sadness began to creep through her. “I shouldn’t have done it, but.........I just........couldn’t help it.”

Frowning in confusion, Vanilla gently placed her hand on the girl’s shoulder. “What happened Amy?”

Tiny beads of tears formed in the corners of her eyes, and her hands clenched into fists overtop of her knees. “I think.....” her voice trembled slightly, “I think.......I fell in love with Shadow.”

Vanilla blinked in surprise. Of all the things that Amy could have said, that was one of the last things she would have expected. Looking back on the last few days, though, Vanilla wondered if it was really that surprising. “Oh......tell me about it sweety.”

Sniffing back her tears, Amy fixed her gaze on the blue-painted wall across from her. “It’s the only thing I can think of. For what I’ve been feeling, what I’ve said to him.........I don’t know, it just......” she shrugged helplessly. “Happened.” A faint, soft smile wisped across her lips, and her eyes took on a faraway look. “I mean, it isn’t like I planned on it, after what had happened with..........” she sighed deeply, a welling tide of frustration rising within her, “.........Sonic. Least of all with Shadow. I mean, he’s Shadow. It’s just..........it’s not something you expect to happen with him. But.......” she fell silent for a moment, rubbing her arm as she tried to sort out the whirlwind of emotions that spun within her. “..........I guess I should have figured it out...........when I kissed him.”

Taken aback by her words, Vanilla’s eyes widened in astonishment. “Oh, Amy.”

Rubbing her eyes clear with the back of her gloved hand, Amy smiled slightly. “Nothing more than that happened.......that time. Rouge kind of, interrupted us. She had been looking for him, for the G.U.N. He works there you know.” Sighing, she balanced her head in her hands. “And then yesterday happened.”

Frowning in concern, Vanilla slipped a comforting arm around the girl’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Amy. Just tell me what

“We made love.”

The bluntness, the unexpectedness of her words caused Vanilla to come up short. “.......oh.”

Amy smiled sheepishly. “It sounds kinda corny, I know. But that’s the only way I can describe it. It was.........amazing.” Again, her eyes took on a faraway look, and her face become softer and contemplative, despite the faint rosy hue that coloured her cheeks. “He was just so.........it was like he had finally let go. Like, I was seeing a glimpse of what he was like before everything happened to him. He was.........sweet. Gentle even. But at the same time, he was so.......strong. He made me feel so.......special. For the first time in my life, I felt wanted. I felt..........loved.” Faint tears glittered in her eyes again. “But now...........” Violently brushing her tears aside, she sniffed again. “It was stupid.”

Sighing deeply, Vanilla gently squeezed her shoulder, drawing her closer into a comforting embrace. “Oh, Amy, no. No, it’s not stupid to feel like that.”

Sniffing, Amy smiled at her. “Thanks, Vanilla. But we still shouldn’t have done it. It wouldn’t work. There’s..........” Biting her lip nervously, Amy wondered for a moment if she should say it. She knew that Shadow was a private person, and didn’t appreciate having his secrets revealed. “........there’s some things he told me that make it impossible.”

Smiling, Vanilla laid Amy’s head down on her shoulder. “Amy, I don’t know what to tell you. What you do from here is entirely up to you.” Placing a motherly kiss on the girl’s head, Vanilla gazed across at a small picture on her dresser. A dark brown rabbit smiled out of the frame, a tiny, wide-eyed infant wrapped in a pink blanket held in his arms. “I just don’t want you to

“MOTHER! AMY! COME QUICK, YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!”

Startled by Cream’s frantic shout, both women stood and hurried from the room. “Cream? What is it?” Vanilla asked in a concerned voice.

Curled up on the couch, Cheese clutched against her chest, Cream pointed at the TV across from her. The screen had turned a bright red, save for the yellow stylized image of a very familiar face. Amy swallowed, and deep-rooted feeling of dread coiled in her stomach. What now? she wondered.

The screen flickered, and switched to an image of a small red and black robot, shaped like an orb, seated behind a desk with a sheaf of papers in its small hands. “Greetings, this is Orbot. We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for this very important live message from Dr. Eggman, your soon to be glorious leader. Please pay close attention.”

Again, the image on the screen changed. Smiling affably from his large swivel chair, Dr. Eggman steepled his fingers. “Greetings. This message is for the pitiful leaders of this planet and, of course, that meddlesome pincushion. Today is a very special day, as I’m sure you all are about to become aware. Today, I shall unveil my latest, grandest, and in my opinion, most successful plan to date. Hoo hoo hoo hoo!” The corpulent scientist’s smile shifted into a wicked grin. “To begin, allow me to introduce one of my two newest weapons for your cowering pleasure. Cubot, if you will do the honors.”

This time, the TV changed to a view of the ocean. Initially, the view seemed calm, almost picturesque, the bright blue water barely rippled by the wind. Then the water seemed to boil and froth, and a dark shape broke the surface. The camera zoomed out as more of the object rose from the water, revealing itself to be an egg-shaped aircraft of colossal size. The metallic red surface gleamed wetly in the sunlight, with a yellow stylized image of the Doctor’s face emblazoned on the side. Perched atop the massive battleship was a flat, ovoid projection. All across the surface of the aircraft, square panels slid open, and rotund cannon turrets slid out of the empty spaces, leaving the ship literally bristling with weaponry.

-

A few miles away, Sonic grimaced as he stared at the TV screen with Tails. “Seriously Eggman? Hiding your fancy new toy in the ocean? That’s low.”

-

Vanilla sat down beside Cream and held her daughter fearfully as Dr. Eggman’s voice boomed proudly from the speakers. “Behold, the Egg Carrier Mark 3!” The TV image switched back to the Doctor, who was grinning in delight. “Magnificent, isn’t it? I think so too. Now, before anybody decides to get rash and do something silly, like fire off a few missiles,” he paused for a moment, leveling a patronizing gaze at the screen, “I should inform you of just a few of the Egg Carrier’s features. For example......” he pressed a button on the console built into the arm of his chair, “the energy shield.”

The screen changed to a dual screen, one half of the Doctor, the other the external view of the Egg Carrier, which was now surrounded by a translucent sphere of energy. “The shield is completely impenetrable. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, can pierce its flawless surface. As you can imagine, such a shield would require an impressive energy source.” Dr. Eggman grinned evilly. “And I just so happen to have such an energy source. But more on that later. Suffice to say, it wouldn’t be wise to attempt to break this shield.”

The image changed, until Eggman was the sole occupant of the screen. “Right now, I would like to introduce the second, and quite possibly the greatest of my creations. And Sonic,” the corpulent scientist’s brow crinkled as he leaned forward, as though his eyes were narrowing behind his glasses, “You might like to pay close attention to this part, since it particularly concerns you.” Leaning back in his chair, Eggman steepled his fingers again. “You see, not long ago, I had something of a revelation. Many, many times, I have designed and constructed machines to defeat you. Each and every time, I have failed. I freely concede that point. I even created a robot that was to be every inch your equal. I’m of course referring to Metal Sonic. Even then, with a machine as fast as you were, all of your skills and abilities copied and enhanced to the maximum possible degree, you still succeeded in defeating me.”

His expression becoming slightly morose, Eggman stared down at point below the camera. “You have no idea how much time I have spent devising new strategies to defeat you. So many brilliant ideas scrapped. I dare say that I might have even become a bit depressed.” Raising his gaze to the camera, he grinned wickedly. “But then, it came to me. I was aiming too low. I was striving to create a machine to be your equal. I needed something more.” He chuckled briefly. “So I did exactly that. I created a machine to do what you could not. To succeed where even you have failed.” Leaning forward with one hand braced on his knee, Eggman leered at the screen. “Behold my latest and greatest creation of all.”

The camera followed as Eggman stood and walked to the right, and Cream whimpered in fear. Standing beside the brilliant madman was a machine that none of the women had ever seen before, and to Amy’s infuriated eyes, it looked like someone had crossed Neo Metal Sonic with Omega. The machine’s torso was thick and roughly triangular in shape, with heavy rectangular shoulders. The arms were large, the thicker rectangular forearms and lighter cylindrical upper arms articulated around a hinged elbow joint. The conical lower legs were almost as thick around as the waist, tapering towards the knee, with the hinged knee joint covered by a triangular plate reaching half-way up the slim cylindrical thighs. The heavy rectangular feet were split into two parts around a pivot point. The head sported five large spikes, each possessing an angular bent to them, much like Shadow’s own. The face was expressionless, though the glowing red eyes had a certain menacing quality to them. Each grey hand ended in five claw-like fingers. The machine was mostly pitch-black in color, with red highlights similar Shadow’s markings along its body and spines, as well as red patches on its forearms, small triangular ears and knee plates. Set within the machine’s chest, behind a transparent metal panel, was the grey Chaos Emerald.

Grinning evilly as he laid his hand on the robot’s shoulder, Eggman leered at the screen. “Allow my to introduce: Mecha Shadow. Now, for those of you who are a little slow on the uptake, just how is this machine any different than any other I have built? Well, as I have mentioned, Mecha Shadow here was built to accomplish what even Sonic could not.” Stroking his mustache, Eggman chuckled to himself. “And it already has succeeded.” Both man and machine stepped apart, and both Vanilla and Cream gasped in fear, while Amy’s blood turned to ice in her veins as spotlight turned on in the background.

Shadow knelt on a circular platform, his arms held out straight by a pair of cylinders connected on either side of him to bulky machines. His jacket was gone, his black cargo pants little more than holes connected by pieces of ragged cloth. Various half-healed lacerations patterned his arms and torso. His head was bowed, obscuring his face in darkness.

Eggman chuckled evilly. “Yes, that’s right. The Ultimate Lifeform, the greatest creation of my departed grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik, Shadow the Hedgehog, has fallen before Mecha Shadow. And as you can clearly see, he didn’t come easily. It was a close battle, let me tell you. But still, he fell.” A thought seemed to occur to the red-suited scientist. “Oh, you needn’t worry Sonic. He’s not dead. As effective a demonstration of Mecha Shadow’s power as that would be, Shadow is far more useful to me alive.” Eggman’s expression changed, almost seeming to be caring. “But, I understand. You require a demonstration, an act of good faith.” Pointing at the immobile robotic duplicate, Eggman grinned cruelly. “Mecha Shadow, why don’t you show them.”

The dark machine nodded once, then disappeared in a flash of blue light. The image changed once again to a split-screen, one side focusing solely on the immobile Shadow, the other of the broad side of the Egg Carrier, covered by the shimmering energy shield. A black arm came into the camera’s view, the hand collapsing into the wrist and adjusting into a small cannon. A brief glow emanated from the opening, and a shining yellow blast of energy erupted forth and shot towards the Egg Carrier.

“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The energy shield flashed dimly as the energy bolt struck, and as Shadow threw back his head and screamed, Amy gasped and covered her mouth, her face growing pale. The raw-throated, pain wracked scream ripped through her heart, and tears sprang into her eyes as the obsidian hedgehog’s body went ridged, as though an electric current was running through his body. His face constricted in a rictus of pain, Shadow finally fell silent and collapsed forward as far as his arms would allow, his head once again bowed forward and in darkness.

The camera once again focused solely on Eggman, Mecha Shadow appearing in a flash of blue light to stand near Shadow. Grinning, Eggman gave a theatrical bow. “And that concludes today’s presentation. I’ll be in touch.” The TV flickered and changed back to the red screen emblazoned with the Eggman logo.

Cream turned and buried her into Vanilla’s shoulder, sobbing in fear. Stroking her daughter’s head in a futile attempt to reassure her, the elder rabbit softly whispered in her ear. “Shh, it’s okay dear. I’m sure Sonic and the others will think of somethi

SLAM!

The abrupt sound of the door made both women jump, and when Vanilla turned around, Amy was nowhere to be found, the open door the only mark of her departure. Turning to the kitchen where Gemerl was standing, Vanilla nodded at the grey robot. “Go. Follow her and try to help.”

Nodding, Gemerl flicked through datafiles in his mind, calling up Sonic’s. “I will.” Turning, he rushed out the door.

-

Gritting his teeth furiously, Sonic clenched his fists. In front of him on the couch, Tails glared up at the TV screen. “Eggman. Of all the things you could have done, this is what you come up with? This is low, even for

Slam!

Both hedgehog and fox jumped whirling around. Standing in the open doorway, her chest heaving from the exertion, was Amy. Her spines were wind-blown and disheveled, and her head was bowed as she leaned against the door. One gloved hand was clenched in a tight fist.

Staring at her in surprise, Sonic took a hesitant step forward. It was the first time he had seen the pink hedgegirl in over a week, and while he had been hoping to see her again, this was hardly how he had planned it. “Amy? Are you okay?”

Panting, Amy gulped back a sob. “I need your help, Sonic.” Raising her head, Sonic stepped back in astonishment. Her eyes were red from crying, and yet the azure hedgehog had never seen them filled with such wild fury. “I need you to help me rescue Shadow.”

For a moment, Sonic stood in stunned silence. Off all the things that he thought she might say when next he saw her, those particular words had never once crossed his mind. Closing his eyes, he chuckled quietly to himself. Heh. I guess this day is going to be anything but normal. Whatever ‘normal’ is for us. Opening his eyes, he grinned, gave her a thumbs up, and said, “You got it.”

Amy blinked. “Huh?” Truth be told, she hadn’t been sure what to do. When Eggman’s message had ended, the only thing on her mind was rescuing Shadow. The only person that she thought could possibly help her was Sonic, whether he wanted to help her or not. For him to be so.......willing, it caught her off guard.

Tails jumped over the back of the couch and stood beside Sonic. “Count me in too.” he said, his voice confident with a slight edge of anger.

Taken aback, Amy gulped a breath. “Just......like that?”

Nodding, Sonic grimaced slightly. “Of course. I’m guessing that you just saw the same thing I just did, and that was pretty sick, even by Eggman’s standards.” He smiled warmly, taking a step forward with his arms open. “Not only that, it looks like you came over here in a hurry, so this must be pretty important to you. Besides,” he chuckled, “when’s the next time I’m gonna get a chance to help save Shadow like this?”

Sonic’s words struck home in Amy’s heart, and for the first time that day, a small, genuine smile appeared on her face. “........thanks.” He’s......still willing to help me. After all we said..........I guess I should have known.

“You know, this is all very touching. But can you at least tell me you bunch have a plan?”

Tails jumped and turned back to the TV, where a familiar bat sat in some sort of enclosed vehicle with a hooded gaze, a headset wrapped around her head. “Rouge! How did you...”

Rolling her eyes, Rouge sighed. “Tails, I like you, but right now, me hacking into your TV is the least of your worries.”

Sonic grinned as he leaned against the couch. “Right. What’s the G.U.N going to be doing about Eggman? I mean, we’ll be doing our own thing, but a little heads up would be nice.”

Rouge grimaced in disgust. “So far, nothing. They’ve been arguing for hours, and as of Eggman’s little message, the only plan they’ve come up with is to bombard that energy shield until it runs out of power.”

Amy stepped forward angrily, her expression one of shock and fury. “But that’ll kill Shadow!”

Rouge nodded in agreement. “It’s being argued as ‘acceptable losses for the greater good’. Of course, one of the primary proponents of the plan is a certain air force general who has never really liked the idea of Shadow joining the G.U.N. Fortunately, we have some intel that the others don’t. General Tower is arguing against the plan on the basis of futility. Eggman has all the Chaos Emeralds, and he probably has at least a couple wired in as back-up power sources.”

Sonic nodded, a cautious expression on his face. “Just out of curiosity, Rouge, how do you know all this? What do you want?”

Smiling coyly, Rouge’s turquoise eyes had a hint of steel to them. “General Tower accidentally left his personal comm-unit on. And as for what I want,” her face grew dark, “Shadow is my partner. I am not going to stand around doing nothing while a bunch brass-heads debate whether or not they’re going to kill him.”

Nodding again, Sonic grinned. “What, you mean that you’re not coming as part of an officially sanctioned G.U.N mission?” he asked jokingly.

Smiling, Rouge shrugged. “I might have borrowed something of Shadow’s to help me move around faster, but I’m sure he’ll forgive me.” Her expression turned serious. “So, what’s the plan?”

Shaking his head, Tails spread his hands helplessly. “We don’t have one right now. I mean, if we had the specs for Eggman’s ship, then maybe I could

Rouge pressed a button on her wrist comm-unit, and a beep sounded from Tails’ handheld computer. “message received!” it chirped in Tails' voice. Hurrying over, Tails’ eyes widened in surprise as various schematics flicked across the screen. “Hey, how did you

Rouge smiled as she adjusted the control wheel in front of her. “Honey, do you really need to ask that question?”

Blushing uncomfortably, Tails nodded. “Rrright.” Shifting through the design plans, the yellow fox furrowed his brow. “Hmm. This isn’t good.”

Stepping up beside him, Amy placed her hand on the teen’s shoulder. “What is it?”

Frowning, Tails flicked to another schematic. “Eggman has really outdone himself. He wasn’t lying when he said that nothing could break through the shield. I mean, I might be able to make something that could disrupt the shield long enough for us to get through, but it would take time.....”

Rouge grimaced. “Time isn’t something that Shadow has, Tails.” Which is somewhat ironic for him. “We’ve got a deadline. Eggman is sure to come back with some demands, and the G.U.N is never going to back down from him. It’s only a matter of time before they do something stupid that’ll get Shadow killed, and we all know that Eggman isn’t going to sit around waiting for them.”

Shaking his head, Tails grimaced. “I know. And even if I could make something in time, there’s no way of knowing if it won’t backlash somehow onto Shadow. He has to be tied into the shield’s power grid in order for it to draw off of him directly.” Rubbing the back of his head, he laid his computer back down. “Okay, let’s think about what we know. Eggman is using Shadow to power his energy shield. As long as he’s tied in, we can’t do anything to the shield directly without hurting or killing him.”

“There is a weakness in the shield.” Everyone turned to the doorway as Gemerl entered the room. Nodding at Sonic and Tails, the grey robot turned to Amy. “Vanilla sent me, since you seemed distraught. If you are formulating a plan to rescue Shadow, you will need all the help you can get.”

Nodding gratefully, Amy embraced the Gizoid duplicate. “Thank you. I’ll be fine, right now I’m focusing on what I can do to help Shadow.”

Sonic looked at the pair in confusion. “Wait. You ran here from Cream’s?” Scratching at his spines, he went over the familiar run-path through his mind. “Eggman’s message had ended barely a minute before you got here. So you must have.....” his eyes widened. “Whoa.” Holy crap. I didn’t even know Amy could run that fast. Gazing at her in newfound respect, Sonic grinned. She’s been holding out on me.

“Ahem.” The group turned back to the TV screen, where Rouge waited impatiently. “This is nice and all, but what were you saying about a weakness in the shield, Gemmy?”

Gemerl nodded, playing the message back in his memory. “Mecha Shadow was able to pass through the energy shield without difficulty through Chaos Control. Since we have the Egg Carrier schematics, all we need is a Chaos Emerald, and we will be able to teleport directly onto the ship.”

Nodding, Rouge frowned. “Nice plan. Except we don’t have a Chaos Emerald. Eggman set up a sting operation last night to get the last one, in Shadow’s possession.” A brief moment of anger flashed across her face. “I don’t think I need to tell you how it went.” she said with a constrained voice.

Sonic formed a rare scowl. “Great. Without a Chaos Emerald, we can’t get through that shield.” Shaking his head, he bopped the back of the couch with his fist. “Come on guys, think! There’s gotta be something we can do. We can’t abandon Shadow, not after everything he’s done for this planet. I’ll admit, he’s not the friendliest of guys, but I still consider him a friend. He’s always pulled through when we needed him, the least we can do is do the same for him!”

Pacing back and forth, Amy pressed her knuckles to forehead, trying to come up with something, anything that could help. I can’t let him die. Not after everything that’s happened. Not after all he’s done for me. I can’t.......let him go, not without at least telling him.......closing her eyes, she tried to stop her tears from leaking out. Come on Amy! Shadow taught you so much! He even taught you how to use Chaos Control, there has to be something!

Something clicked in her mind, and she opened her eyes, her breath catching in her throat. No.........could I?

Glancing over, Sonic noticed that Amy had become very still, seemingly gazing out the open doorway. “What is it Amy?” he asked cautiously.

“Eggman doesn’t have all the Chaos Emeralds. He’s still missing one.” A note of finality was in Amy’s voice, and as she turned around and gazed the TV screen, a steely look of determination formed on her face. “I have an idea, but he is really not going to like it.

Description
Sighing glumly, Amy stared at the TV screen across from her. She hadn’t cried as long as she had before, but now she had a hollow, empty feeling in her, like someone had sucked out all her energy. She had finally motivated herself to come over to Cream’s, but even that had seemed like an effort.

Vanilla watched her worriedly from the kitchen, idly stirring a pot of soup as Gemerl cut up some vegetables behind her. Oh you poor dear. I wish you would tell me what happened. When Amy had arrived a few hours before, she could hardly believe it was her. Instead of her pink and white dress, she wore a rumpled pink t-shirt and white sweatpants. Her spines were mussed up, her headband was missing, and she bore a sad, weary expression. Even her smiles seemed sad. It was just so completely unlike her, that Vanilla instantly knew that something was wrong.

“Amy? Are you sure you’re okay?”

Blinking, Amy turned and looked at her best friend. “Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine Cream. Really.” Despite her words, her voice was rather lackluster, almost dull.

Unconvinced, Cream grabbed her hand, her eyes large with a worried expression. “It doesn’t seem like it, Amy. You look really sad.” Hovering near near her opposite shoulder, his Chao ball morphed into a question mark, Cheese gazed at her sadly. “Chao.” he said sadly.

Frowning, Vanilla gave her pot one last stir. “Gemerl, would you mind watching this for me?” The gray robot nodded as he set his knife aside. “Of course Vanilla.” Walking into the living room, Vanilla folded her arms across her chest. “Cream, would you mind if I borrowed Amy for a moment?”

Turning to look at the older rabbit, both girls were surprised by the stern expression on her face. “Uh, sure.” Amy said uncertainly, following Vanilla as she walked down the hallway to her bedroom.

Turning as she sat down on the bed, Vanilla gave her a stern and disapproving look. “I don’t appreciate it when people lie to my daughter, Amy Rose. I expect better than that from you.”

Startled by the accusation, Amy’s mouth gaped open as she stood in the doorway. “Wha........I’m not lying to......”

Vanilla’s face became uncharacteristically hard. “And I don’t appreciate being lied to myself, either.” Her expression softening, she patted at the spot beside her on the amethyst bedcover. “Amy, I’ve known you for a long time, so I can tell when something is wrong. Please, just talk to me.”

For a moment, Amy hesitated. Finally, she sighed and sat down, her head hanging low. “I.........I did something really stupid.” To her, her body grew heavy as the edges of sadness began to creep through her. “I shouldn’t have done it, but.........I just........couldn’t help it.”

Frowning in confusion, Vanilla gently placed her hand on the girl’s shoulder. “What happened Amy?”

Tiny beads of tears formed in the corners of her eyes, and her hands clenched into fists overtop of her knees. “I think.....” her voice trembled slightly, “I think.......I fell in love with Shadow.”

Vanilla blinked in surprise. Of all the things that Amy could have said, that was one of the last things she would have expected. Looking back on the last few days, though, Vanilla wondered if it was really that surprising. “Oh......tell me about it sweety.”

Sniffing back her tears, Amy fixed her gaze on the blue-painted wall across from her. “It’s the only thing I can think of. For what I’ve been feeling, what I’ve said to him.........I don’t know, it just......” she shrugged helplessly. “Happened.” A faint, soft smile wisped across her lips, and her eyes took on a faraway look. “I mean, it isn’t like I planned on it, after what had happened with..........” she sighed deeply, a welling tide of frustration rising within her, “.........Sonic. Least of all with Shadow. I mean, he’s Shadow. It’s just..........it’s not something you expect to happen with him. But.......” she fell silent for a moment, rubbing her arm as she tried to sort out the whirlwind of emotions that spun within her. “..........I guess I should have figured it out...........when I kissed him.”

Taken aback by her words, Vanilla’s eyes widened in astonishment. “Oh, Amy.”

Rubbing her eyes clear with the back of her gloved hand, Amy smiled slightly. “Nothing more than that happened.......that time. Rouge kind of, interrupted us. She had been looking for him, for the G.U.N. He works there you know.” Sighing, she balanced her head in her hands. “And then yesterday happened.”

Frowning in concern, Vanilla slipped a comforting arm around the girl’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Amy. Just tell me what

“We made love.”

The bluntness, the unexpectedness of her words caused Vanilla to come up short. “.......oh.”

Amy smiled sheepishly. “It sounds kinda corny, I know. But that’s the only way I can describe it. It was.........amazing.” Again, her eyes took on a faraway look, and her face become softer and contemplative, despite the faint rosy hue that coloured her cheeks. “He was just so.........it was like he had finally let go. Like, I was seeing a glimpse of what he was like before everything happened to him. He was.........sweet. Gentle even. But at the same time, he was so.......strong. He made me feel so.......special. For the first time in my life, I felt wanted. I felt..........loved.” Faint tears glittered in her eyes again. “But now...........” Violently brushing her tears aside, she sniffed again. “It was stupid.”

Sighing deeply, Vanilla gently squeezed her shoulder, drawing her closer into a comforting embrace. “Oh, Amy, no. No, it’s not stupid to feel like that.”

Sniffing, Amy smiled at her. “Thanks, Vanilla. But we still shouldn’t have done it. It wouldn’t work. There’s..........” Biting her lip nervously, Amy wondered for a moment if she should say it. She knew that Shadow was a private person, and didn’t appreciate having his secrets revealed. “........there’s some things he told me that make it impossible.”

Smiling, Vanilla laid Amy’s head down on her shoulder. “Amy, I don’t know what to tell you. What you do from here is entirely up to you.” Placing a motherly kiss on the girl’s head, Vanilla gazed across at a small picture on her dresser. A dark brown rabbit smiled out of the frame, a tiny, wide-eyed infant wrapped in a pink blanket held in his arms. “I just don’t want you to

“MOTHER! AMY! COME QUICK, YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!”

Startled by Cream’s frantic shout, both women stood and hurried from the room. “Cream? What is it?” Vanilla asked in a concerned voice.

Curled up on the couch, Cheese clutched against her chest, Cream pointed at the TV across from her. The screen had turned a bright red, save for the yellow stylized image of a very familiar face. Amy swallowed, and deep-rooted feeling of dread coiled in her stomach. What now? she wondered.

The screen flickered, and switched to an image of a small red and black robot, shaped like an orb, seated behind a desk with a sheaf of papers in its small hands. “Greetings, this is Orbot. We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for this very important live message from Dr. Eggman, your soon to be glorious leader. Please pay close attention.”

Again, the image on the screen changed. Smiling affably from his large swivel chair, Dr. Eggman steepled his fingers. “Greetings. This message is for the pitiful leaders of this planet and, of course, that meddlesome pincushion. Today is a very special day, as I’m sure you all are about to become aware. Today, I shall unveil my latest, grandest, and in my opinion, most successful plan to date. Hoo hoo hoo hoo!” The corpulent scientist’s smile shifted into a wicked grin. “To begin, allow me to introduce one of my two newest weapons for your cowering pleasure. Cubot, if you will do the honors.”

This time, the TV changed to a view of the ocean. Initially, the view seemed calm, almost picturesque, the bright blue water barely rippled by the wind. Then the water seemed to boil and froth, and a dark shape broke the surface. The camera zoomed out as more of the object rose from the water, revealing itself to be an egg-shaped aircraft of colossal size. The metallic red surface gleamed wetly in the sunlight, with a yellow stylized image of the Doctor’s face emblazoned on the side. Perched atop the massive battleship was a flat, ovoid projection. All across the surface of the aircraft, square panels slid open, and rotund cannon turrets slid out of the empty spaces, leaving the ship literally bristling with weaponry.

-

A few miles away, Sonic grimaced as he stared at the TV screen with Tails. “Seriously Eggman? Hiding your fancy new toy in the ocean? That’s low.”

-

Vanilla sat down beside Cream and held her daughter fearfully as Dr. Eggman’s voice boomed proudly from the speakers. “Behold, the Egg Carrier Mark 3!” The TV image switched back to the Doctor, who was grinning in delight. “Magnificent, isn’t it? I think so too. Now, before anybody decides to get rash and do something silly, like fire off a few missiles,” he paused for a moment, leveling a patronizing gaze at the screen, “I should inform you of just a few of the Egg Carrier’s features. For example......” he pressed a button on the console built into the arm of his chair, “the energy shield.”

The screen changed to a dual screen, one half of the Doctor, the other the external view of the Egg Carrier, which was now surrounded by a translucent sphere of energy. “The shield is completely impenetrable. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, can pierce its flawless surface. As you can imagine, such a shield would require an impressive energy source.” Dr. Eggman grinned evilly. “And I just so happen to have such an energy source. But more on that later. Suffice to say, it wouldn’t be wise to attempt to break this shield.”

The image changed, until Eggman was the sole occupant of the screen. “Right now, I would like to introduce the second, and quite possibly the greatest of my creations. And Sonic,” the corpulent scientist’s brow crinkled as he leaned forward, as though his eyes were narrowing behind his glasses, “You might like to pay close attention to this part, since it particularly concerns you.” Leaning back in his chair, Eggman steepled his fingers again. “You see, not long ago, I had something of a revelation. Many, many times, I have designed and constructed machines to defeat you. Each and every time, I have failed. I freely concede that point. I even created a robot that was to be every inch your equal. I’m of course referring to Metal Sonic. Even then, with a machine as fast as you were, all of your skills and abilities copied and enhanced to the maximum possible degree, you still succeeded in defeating me.”

His expression becoming slightly morose, Eggman stared down at point below the camera. “You have no idea how much time I have spent devising new strategies to defeat you. So many brilliant ideas scrapped. I dare say that I might have even become a bit depressed.” Raising his gaze to the camera, he grinned wickedly. “But then, it came to me. I was aiming too low. I was striving to create a machine to be your equal. I needed something more.” He chuckled briefly. “So I did exactly that. I created a machine to do what you could not. To succeed where even you have failed.” Leaning forward with one hand braced on his knee, Eggman leered at the screen. “Behold my latest and greatest creation of all.”

The camera followed as Eggman stood and walked to the right, and Cream whimpered in fear. Standing beside the brilliant madman was a machine that none of the women had ever seen before, and to Amy’s infuriated eyes, it looked like someone had crossed Neo Metal Sonic with Omega. The machine’s torso was thick and roughly triangular in shape, with heavy rectangular shoulders. The arms were large, the thicker rectangular forearms and lighter cylindrical upper arms articulated around a hinged elbow joint. The conical lower legs were almost as thick around as the waist, tapering towards the knee, with the hinged knee joint covered by a triangular plate reaching half-way up the slim cylindrical thighs. The heavy rectangular feet were split into two parts around a pivot point. The head sported five large spikes, each possessing an angular bent to them, much like Shadow’s own. The face was expressionless, though the glowing red eyes had a certain menacing quality to them. Each grey hand ended in five claw-like fingers. The machine was mostly pitch-black in color, with red highlights similar Shadow’s markings along its body and spines, as well as red patches on its forearms, small triangular ears and knee plates. Set within the machine’s chest, behind a transparent metal panel, was the grey Chaos Emerald.

Grinning evilly as he laid his hand on the robot’s shoulder, Eggman leered at the screen. “Allow my to introduce: Mecha Shadow. Now, for those of you who are a little slow on the uptake, just how is this machine any different than any other I have built? Well, as I have mentioned, Mecha Shadow here was built to accomplish what even Sonic could not.” Stroking his mustache, Eggman chuckled to himself. “And it already has succeeded.” Both man and machine stepped apart, and both Vanilla and Cream gasped in fear, while Amy’s blood turned to ice in her veins as spotlight turned on in the background.

Shadow knelt on a circular platform, his arms held out straight by a pair of cylinders connected on either side of him to bulky machines. His jacket was gone, his black cargo pants little more than holes connected by pieces of ragged cloth. Various half-healed lacerations patterned his arms and torso. His head was bowed, obscuring his face in darkness.

Eggman chuckled evilly. “Yes, that’s right. The Ultimate Lifeform, the greatest creation of my departed grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik, Shadow the Hedgehog, has fallen before Mecha Shadow. And as you can clearly see, he didn’t come easily. It was a close battle, let me tell you. But still, he fell.” A thought seemed to occur to the red-suited scientist. “Oh, you needn’t worry Sonic. He’s not dead. As effective a demonstration of Mecha Shadow’s power as that would be, Shadow is far more useful to me alive.” Eggman’s expression changed, almost seeming to be caring. “But, I understand. You require a demonstration, an act of good faith.” Pointing at the immobile robotic duplicate, Eggman grinned cruelly. “Mecha Shadow, why don’t you show them.”

The dark machine nodded once, then disappeared in a flash of blue light. The image changed once again to a split-screen, one side focusing solely on the immobile Shadow, the other of the broad side of the Egg Carrier, covered by the shimmering energy shield. A black arm came into the camera’s view, the hand collapsing into the wrist and adjusting into a small cannon. A brief glow emanated from the opening, and a shining yellow blast of energy erupted forth and shot towards the Egg Carrier.

“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The energy shield flashed dimly as the energy bolt struck, and as Shadow threw back his head and screamed, Amy gasped and covered her mouth, her face growing pale. The raw-throated, pain wracked scream ripped through her heart, and tears sprang into her eyes as the obsidian hedgehog’s body went ridged, as though an electric current was running through his body. His face constricted in a rictus of pain, Shadow finally fell silent and collapsed forward as far as his arms would allow, his head once again bowed forward and in darkness.

The camera once again focused solely on Eggman, Mecha Shadow appearing in a flash of blue light to stand near Shadow. Grinning, Eggman gave a theatrical bow. “And that concludes today’s presentation. I’ll be in touch.” The TV flickered and changed back to the red screen emblazoned with the Eggman logo.

Cream turned and buried her into Vanilla’s shoulder, sobbing in fear. Stroking her daughter’s head in a futile attempt to reassure her, the elder rabbit softly whispered in her ear. “Shh, it’s okay dear. I’m sure Sonic and the others will think of somethi

SLAM!

The abrupt sound of the door made both women jump, and when Vanilla turned around, Amy was nowhere to be found, the open door the only mark of her departure. Turning to the kitchen where Gemerl was standing, Vanilla nodded at the grey robot. “Go. Follow her and try to help.”

Nodding, Gemerl flicked through datafiles in his mind, calling up Sonic’s. “I will.” Turning, he rushed out the door.

-

Gritting his teeth furiously, Sonic clenched his fists. In front of him on the couch, Tails glared up at the TV screen. “Eggman. Of all the things you could have done, this is what you come up with? This is low, even for

Slam!

Both hedgehog and fox jumped whirling around. Standing in the open doorway, her chest heaving from the exertion, was Amy. Her spines were wind-blown and disheveled, and her head was bowed as she leaned against the door. One gloved hand was clenched in a tight fist.

Staring at her in surprise, Sonic took a hesitant step forward. It was the first time he had seen the pink hedgegirl in over a week, and while he had been hoping to see her again, this was hardly how he had planned it. “Amy? Are you okay?”

Panting, Amy gulped back a sob. “I need your help, Sonic.” Raising her head, Sonic stepped back in astonishment. Her eyes were red from crying, and yet the azure hedgehog had never seen them filled with such wild fury. “I need you to help me rescue Shadow.”

For a moment, Sonic stood in stunned silence. Off all the things that he thought she might say when next he saw her, those particular words had never once crossed his mind. Closing his eyes, he chuckled quietly to himself. Heh. I guess this day is going to be anything but normal. Whatever ‘normal’ is for us. Opening his eyes, he grinned, gave her a thumbs up, and said, “You got it.”

Amy blinked. “Huh?” Truth be told, she hadn’t been sure what to do. When Eggman’s message had ended, the only thing on her mind was rescuing Shadow. The only person that she thought could possibly help her was Sonic, whether he wanted to help her or not. For him to be so.......willing, it caught her off guard.

Tails jumped over the back of the couch and stood beside Sonic. “Count me in too.” he said, his voice confident with a slight edge of anger.

Taken aback, Amy gulped a breath. “Just......like that?”

Nodding, Sonic grimaced slightly. “Of course. I’m guessing that you just saw the same thing I just did, and that was pretty sick, even by Eggman’s standards.” He smiled warmly, taking a step forward with his arms open. “Not only that, it looks like you came over here in a hurry, so this must be pretty important to you. Besides,” he chuckled, “when’s the next time I’m gonna get a chance to help save Shadow like this?”

Sonic’s words struck home in Amy’s heart, and for the first time that day, a small, genuine smile appeared on her face. “........thanks.” He’s......still willing to help me. After all we said..........I guess I should have known.

“You know, this is all very touching. But can you at least tell me you bunch have a plan?”

Tails jumped and turned back to the TV, where a familiar bat sat in some sort of enclosed vehicle with a hooded gaze, a headset wrapped around her head. “Rouge! How did you...”

Rolling her eyes, Rouge sighed. “Tails, I like you, but right now, me hacking into your TV is the least of your worries.”

Sonic grinned as he leaned against the couch. “Right. What’s the G.U.N going to be doing about Eggman? I mean, we’ll be doing our own thing, but a little heads up would be nice.”

Rouge grimaced in disgust. “So far, nothing. They’ve been arguing for hours, and as of Eggman’s little message, the only plan they’ve come up with is to bombard that energy shield until it runs out of power.”

Amy stepped forward angrily, her expression one of shock and fury. “But that’ll kill Shadow!”

Rouge nodded in agreement. “It’s being argued as ‘acceptable losses for the greater good’. Of course, one of the primary proponents of the plan is a certain air force general who has never really liked the idea of Shadow joining the G.U.N. Fortunately, we have some intel that the others don’t. General Tower is arguing against the plan on the basis of futility. Eggman has all the Chaos Emeralds, and he probably has at least a couple wired in as back-up power sources.”

Sonic nodded, a cautious expression on his face. “Just out of curiosity, Rouge, how do you know all this? What do you want?”

Smiling coyly, Rouge’s turquoise eyes had a hint of steel to them. “General Tower accidentally left his personal comm-unit on. And as for what I want,” her face grew dark, “Shadow is my partner. I am not going to stand around doing nothing while a bunch brass-heads debate whether or not they’re going to kill him.”

Nodding again, Sonic grinned. “What, you mean that you’re not coming as part of an officially sanctioned G.U.N mission?” he asked jokingly.

Smiling, Rouge shrugged. “I might have borrowed something of Shadow’s to help me move around faster, but I’m sure he’ll forgive me.” Her expression turned serious. “So, what’s the plan?”

Shaking his head, Tails spread his hands helplessly. “We don’t have one right now. I mean, if we had the specs for Eggman’s ship, then maybe I could

Rouge pressed a button on her wrist comm-unit, and a beep sounded from Tails’ handheld computer. “message received!” it chirped in Tails' voice. Hurrying over, Tails’ eyes widened in surprise as various schematics flicked across the screen. “Hey, how did you

Rouge smiled as she adjusted the control wheel in front of her. “Honey, do you really need to ask that question?”

Blushing uncomfortably, Tails nodded. “Rrright.” Shifting through the design plans, the yellow fox furrowed his brow. “Hmm. This isn’t good.”

Stepping up beside him, Amy placed her hand on the teen’s shoulder. “What is it?”

Frowning, Tails flicked to another schematic. “Eggman has really outdone himself. He wasn’t lying when he said that nothing could break through the shield. I mean, I might be able to make something that could disrupt the shield long enough for us to get through, but it would take time.....”

Rouge grimaced. “Time isn’t something that Shadow has, Tails.” Which is somewhat ironic for him. “We’ve got a deadline. Eggman is sure to come back with some demands, and the G.U.N is never going to back down from him. It’s only a matter of time before they do something stupid that’ll get Shadow killed, and we all know that Eggman isn’t going to sit around waiting for them.”

Shaking his head, Tails grimaced. “I know. And even if I could make something in time, there’s no way of knowing if it won’t backlash somehow onto Shadow. He has to be tied into the shield’s power grid in order for it to draw off of him directly.” Rubbing the back of his head, he laid his computer back down. “Okay, let’s think about what we know. Eggman is using Shadow to power his energy shield. As long as he’s tied in, we can’t do anything to the shield directly without hurting or killing him.”

“There is a weakness in the shield.” Everyone turned to the doorway as Gemerl entered the room. Nodding at Sonic and Tails, the grey robot turned to Amy. “Vanilla sent me, since you seemed distraught. If you are formulating a plan to rescue Shadow, you will need all the help you can get.”

Nodding gratefully, Amy embraced the Gizoid duplicate. “Thank you. I’ll be fine, right now I’m focusing on what I can do to help Shadow.”

Sonic looked at the pair in confusion. “Wait. You ran here from Cream’s?” Scratching at his spines, he went over the familiar run-path through his mind. “Eggman’s message had ended barely a minute before you got here. So you must have.....” his eyes widened. “Whoa.” Holy crap. I didn’t even know Amy could run that fast. Gazing at her in newfound respect, Sonic grinned. She’s been holding out on me.

“Ahem.” The group turned back to the TV screen, where Rouge waited impatiently. “This is nice and all, but what were you saying about a weakness in the shield, Gemmy?”

Gemerl nodded, playing the message back in his memory. “Mecha Shadow was able to pass through the energy shield without difficulty through Chaos Control. Since we have the Egg Carrier schematics, all we need is a Chaos Emerald, and we will be able to teleport directly onto the ship.”

Nodding, Rouge frowned. “Nice plan. Except we don’t have a Chaos Emerald. Eggman set up a sting operation last night to get the last one, in Shadow’s possession.” A brief moment of anger flashed across her face. “I don’t think I need to tell you how it went.” she said with a constrained voice.

Sonic formed a rare scowl. “Great. Without a Chaos Emerald, we can’t get through that shield.” Shaking his head, he bopped the back of the couch with his fist. “Come on guys, think! There’s gotta be something we can do. We can’t abandon Shadow, not after everything he’s done for this planet. I’ll admit, he’s not the friendliest of guys, but I still consider him a friend. He’s always pulled through when we needed him, the least we can do is do the same for him!”

Pacing back and forth, Amy pressed her knuckles to forehead, trying to come up with something, anything that could help. I can’t let him die. Not after everything that’s happened. Not after all he’s done for me. I can’t.......let him go, not without at least telling him.......closing her eyes, she tried to stop her tears from leaking out. Come on Amy! Shadow taught you so much! He even taught you how to use Chaos Control, there has to be something!

Something clicked in her mind, and she opened her eyes, her breath catching in her throat. No.........could I?

Glancing over, Sonic noticed that Amy had become very still, seemingly gazing out the open doorway. “What is it Amy?” he asked cautiously.

“Eggman doesn’t have all the Chaos Emeralds. He’s still missing one.” A note of finality was in Amy’s voice, and as she turned around and gazed the TV screen, a steely look of determination formed on her face. “I have an idea, but he is really not going to like it.