CHAPTER 09:
“Shadow, I have a confession to make.”
Welp, those were words Shadow wasn't ready to hear as he and Sonic were making their way back to Robotropolis. The black hedgehog looked to Sonic as they ran. “What is it?”
“You know that cannon that backfired on Rotor?”
“...please don't tell me-”
“NOT ON PURPOSE!” Sonic said quickly. “No no, I just took parts from the cannon that I needed. I was raiding Rotor's workshop while he was out last night and found it. I took the parts I needed. I didn't think Rotor was going to need to use it, and I certainly had no idea if was going to explode without the parts.”
“Yeah, about that,” Shadow started. “Why ARE you taking parts from Robotropolis and others? Is this about that device inside your house?”
“You saw that, huh?” Sonic asked. “...yeah, I REALLY needed the parts.”
“What IS that thing anyway?” Shadow asked. “Looks like a roboticizer.”
“That's because we decided to use the structure design of the roboticizer as a way to focus the energy,” Sonic responded as the two made it to the gates of the city. Looking around, the two began to sneak within, avoiding SWATbot patrols.
Once it was clear, Shadow murmured softly. “'We'?”
“The nanites and I,” Sonic said, tapping his temple. “We work together.”
“I...see...” Shadow nodded slowly. “So what is it?”
“Basically? It's an EMP Focuser. We had to find a way to safely deactivate the rest of the nanites that are sitting dormant on you right now. The nanites that are inside me may have gained a consciousness independent of their programming, but we don't know if the same could be said for the rest. We mutually decided that we didn't want to take the risk of the rest of them waking up and start roboticizing everyone.”
Shadow could only look at Sonic for a moment, thinking about it hard. “Well, if it's safe to use...”
“By the time we get done here, we should have the last of the parts I need to finish the device.” Sonic said before focusing ahead, pointing to a building. “There should be a good amount of firearms inside there. Let's get you loaded up.”
A SHORT TIME LATER
“The only think we're missing is a chaos emerald,” Shadow said, looking at all the guns and ammo he had strapped to him. He was wearing a vest to make sure he was able to carry many of the items.
“We'll have to do without one for the time being,” Sonic said, scanning the area. “For now, we'll have to make do with what we have to take out the combot army. There's still a lot of them and SWATbots to deal with.”
As Shadow stood there loading up his first weapon, a thought came across to him. “I think I just got an idea.”
Sonic looked to him. “What's that?”
“...would it be possible to set up a kind of...EMP bomb that we can set off in the middle of the city?”
Sonic had to think about it for a moment. “I would need time to put one together, set it up, and get away from the bomb before it's set off, but yeah, it's possible. Do you have a plan?”
A FEW HOURS LATER
Shadow wandered about Robotropolis by himself, pistol in hand, as he scanned the area for combots. Just ahead, he spotted a troop forming near a building and he smirked. Raising his weapon, he took aim and immediately shot down one of the combots. The combots turned, looking at Shadow as he shouted. “Hey, who's ready to tango?”
Immediately they began to shoot at Shadow, who dodged before taking off, shooting back at the combots and drawing their attention.
Rounding a corner, he nearly ran into another troop that had ben approaching the commotion being heard. Ducking fire, Shadow quickly ran into the building he was next to, a storage warehouse.
Ducking behind some metal barrels, Shadow watched through a gap as combots came in and began to scan the area. Knowing he was gonna be spotted any second, Shadow took the time to aim his gun through the gap, before shooting down another combot.
Quickly leaping up as the combots turned in his direction, Shadow kicked down the barrels to block the combots from approaching him immediately and took off running for a stairwell. He grabbed a radio clipped to his vest and yelled into it. “ETA, ETA!!!”
TOWARDS THE CENTER OF ROBOTROPOLIS
Inside an old workshop, Sonic was using the quiet moments to quickly work on the EMP bomb. Over his internal radio, Sonic could hear the sounds of Shadow shouting. “ETA, ETA!!!”
Sonic radioed back as he concentrated on soldering some wire. “Just a few more minutes. Keep them busy!”
Suddenly, there was a loud sound of a door being kicked down, and Sonic looked up to spot Commander Cor breaking into the building. “Wrong, you just ran out of time, recruit!”
Sonic stood up and began to shoot at Cor with his laser. “Forget it, Cor! We're not going to let you invade Knothole. The reign of Robotropolis ends here, tonight!”
As Cor dodged Sonic's laser blasts, the robot hedgehog radioed back to Shadow. “Mayday, mayday! Cor is in my location. I need help so I can finish the bomb!”
NOT TOO FAR AWAY:
Shadow radioed back to Sonic. “Hang in there, Sonic. I'm coming!”
He shot another robot before taking off in Sonic's direction. Knowing he had to lose to bots fast, he grabbed a grenade from his vest, pulled the pin, and tossed it behind him.
The following explosion sent the bots flying over, shrapnel embedded in their bodies, some of which badly damaged them to the point of being unable to continue pursuit.
Shadow bolted, using the rockets on his shoes to give him a speed boost towards the old workshop where Sonic was. He ran in the kicked down door to find Sonic ducked down behind an overturned table, gripping the device in his hands while trying to shoot at Cor, who was hiding behind a support beam. When Cor aimed to shoot again, he was suddenly blasted in the arm by a shotgun shell. He looked up to see Shadow holding up a shotgun he had been carrying on his backside. “HEY! Tin can! It's you and me.”
Cor glared at Shadow. “You can't take us all on! Soon reinforcements will arrive, and we will destroy you, Sonic, and all the enemies-”
Shadow suddenly shot him again in the chest, glaring. “Spare me the bad guy monologue. What the hell is with your armor? I just blasted you twice with projectile weapons and I've only made little more than a few dents!”
Cor merely looked at him. “It's a strong alloy, made just for me. I am the commanding officer after all, I need to stay functioning-”
He was suddenly interrupted when a laser blast shot at the back of his head. He whirled around, to see Sonic standing up, his laser arm aimed at Cor, the device in his hand. “Really, recruit?”
“It was worth a shot...” Sonic responded, backing up a bit.
“Yeah? Well here's my shot,” Cor said and took aim, blasting at the device, destroying it in Sonic's hands.
Sonic flung the exploding device in the process of preventing shrapnel from hitting him. “NO!”
“SONIC!” Shadow shouted and shot at Cor again, knocking him over and running to Sonic.
Sonic grasped Shadow's hand and began to pull him. “Let's go, run run run, quickly!!!”
Quickly, the two began to run, with Cor quickly falling behind as they fled the warehouse. “Where are we going?!” Shadow shouted to Sonic.
“Out of the city! We're done here!” Sonic called back as they made their way towards the gates, but not before a troop of combots blocked their way. They skid to a halt, dodging laser blasts coming from them.
“We can't give up, Sonic! Not yet!” Shadow called to him as he pulled out a grenade and threw it at the troop. “GET BACK!”
The two ducked backwards as the grenade exploded, knocking down and damaging the combots.
Shadow turned around, facing towards the city. “We still have a chance, Sonic-”
Sonic grabbed his hand and started to pull him towards the gates of the city. “Trust me, we haven't given up!”
Shadow dug his heels to keep Sonic from pulling him. “I can't run from this. I HAVE to fix this!”
Sonic let him go for a moment. “Shadow, we can't control everything that's happened. We just have to roll with what we got. Honestly, we already did fix it. But we have to get out of here, NOW!”
Shadow looked at him for a moment. “Wait...what are you-”
There was a loud scream from Shadow as he was suddenly shot in the shoulder from behind. He staggered, falling to his knees and gripping at his wound, gritting his teeth.
“SHADOW!” Sonic yelled, before looking up and seeing Cor with his smoking laser arm.
“Mobians. They're so...soft...damage too easily,” Cor responded, watching as Sonic began to aim his laser. He lifted up a piece of metal to deflect the blast. “Why do you still side with them? You're one of us now! A robot Mobian! A...Robian!”
“For a combot, you're rather emotional! Who cares what side I'm on? I'm just the enemy, right?!” Sonic spat.
“You don't have to be! Robots are superior to the flesh! Even that little pesky fleshbag Snively will soon realize that. I was programmed with a consciousness of my own! Soon, I will take control of the simpleton SWATbots, reprogram the REST of the Robians to follow me and we will have our own robot kingdom!”
“Yeah, well there's one problem with that!” Sonic shouted.
“And what's that?”
Sonic looked down to the wounded Shadow, who looked back with confusion of his own. There was a silent moment between them. “...Sonic...?”
Sonic finally looked back at Cor and smirked. “...Time's up.”
“Wha-”
A sudden pulse of energy blasted through, and all the power in the city began to shut down, robots falling dead in their places.
Not only did Cor collapse, powerless, but so did Sonic, as Shadow reached out and caught the heavy robot hedgehog in his arms, ignoring the searing pain in his shoulder. “Sonic?! Sonic!!! NO!”
