Chapter 10: Storm
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"There's kind of a cave here," said Tails, pointing to a dark opening in a hillside that was partially screened by trees. "We could sit in there and have front row seats."
"Okay, maybe later," said Sonic, who would rather die than enter a cave. "Wow, look at the sky now."
The fox and hedgehog were in a wide meadow at the base of a hill, looking east into the storm. The sky was overcast now, but the bulk of the storm had yet to escape the mountains. Lightning flickered like a warning. Sonic watched, transfixed, but Tails began to climb the hill toward the cave. This was the biggest storm he had ever seen, and he didn't want to be caught in it. "Come on, Sonic," he called.
"In a minute," Sonic called back. "Wow, look, I think it's coming over the mountains!"
Tails paused to look. The mountaintops vanished into the darkness of the clouds, which were rolling toward them and blotting out the daylight. Tails and Sonic stood and watched the visible movement of the storm. Lightning licked through it in a web, illuminating the inside of the cloud in gold and pink, and thunder rolled like cannonfire.
As it overcame the mountain the storm's personality changed from a brooding giant to an attacking monster. Enraged at its delay behind the mountains and strengthened on a diet of hot, moist air, the storm knotted and swirled and began to rotate.
"Sonic," said Tails, pointing to an odd, rotating cloud mass above them. "Sonic, I think that's a funnel cloud."
Sonic looked. "No way. The island's too uneven for tornadoes!" But he and Tails scrambled up the hill toward the cave. The funnel cloud passed over them, and Sonic looked up into the swirling, tube-like center of the descending tornado. It touched down in the trees across the field, sucking up leaves and dust and breaking palm trees like matchsticks. Sonic watched it in hypnotized fascination. He had been in a tornado once before, but had never watched one go about its destructive business. He could see the upper part reaching down like a finger, and see the whipping trees on the ground, but there was nothing between them but a few flying leaves. It wound away westward, and above the skies were split by lightning and a roar of thunder. But there was no rain, and no wind.
"Sonic!" Tails screamed. "Get in here!"
Sonic snapped out of his reverie and looked around. Then he looked at the sky and thought he was seeing things. The whole underbelly of the storm was swirling with cyclonic formations--pre-funnel clouds. Sonic dashed up the hill to the cave, but paused again just outside it, his loathing of closed-in spaces temporarily outweighing his fear of tornadoes.
"Sonic, please come in here!" Tails whimpered. "Remember Windy Valley? I don't want that to happen again, please--!"
Sonic watched in awe as another funnel touched down to the north and wound its way toward them, gathering speed and size as it went. At last a gust of ferocious wind struck them, whipping at the palm trees and flattening Sonic's ears. "This one's gonna come right through the field!" Sonic exclaimed, watching the funnel take on shape as it vacuumed up dust. "Tails, look at it!"
"Sonic, don't stay out there," Tails begged, near tears. "It's too dangerous--"
The world ignited in white light and thunder shook the ground. A palm tree up the hill had been split from top to bottom, and it burned in a startled kind of way as the tornado corkscrewed into the field. For a second Sonic watched its base tear up the grass in a mad spiral, the black cloud overhead stooping down to touch the earth. Then the tornado veered toward Sonic as if governed by an imp of destruction.
Suddenly sand all around Sonic was sucked into the air, and he felt the wind snatch at him. He dropped to all fours and scrambled for the cave, half hypnotized and half terrified, like a mouse under the gaze of a cobra. The wind roared like a freight train, and he felt his feet leave the ground. He clawed at the ground, but there was nothing to hold on to, and in giddy disbelief he watched the ground falling away. II've been picked up by a tornado,/i he thought, then terror took over and he curled into a protective ball.
Sonic had been picked up by the updraft that circled the funnel and was hurled upward, spiraling around the funnel's outside like a piece of debris. The tornado carried him on its mad dance across the island until it reached the edge of the island, where the pressure and temperature changed. The tornado retreated into the clouds, and Sonic free fell with the other discarded debris.
He struck the ground and bounced like a Super Ball, downhill. The impact jarred him out of the paralysis of terror. He uncurled and realized his momentum was carrying toward the edge of the Floating Island, which was a thousand feet above the sea.
He struck the ground again and rolled down a steep bank covered with wet grass. He clawed at the grass, ripping furrows in it with his fingers, and managed to stop at the very edge, his body hanging over the edge.
Sonic hung there, gasping for breath, horribly aware that below his feet was a quarter of a mile of empty space. He could feel his handfuls of grass ripping free, root by root, and here at the island's edge was a strong wind that threatened to knock him loose. He freed one hand and tried to pull himself up, but he was at the foot of a steep hill and could not get enough leverage to lift himself. Panicking and slipping, he strained to climb up, but the wind and his half-stunned muscles were working against him.
Gasping in fear and exertion, he looked up the hill and saw Mekion looking down at him. The cyborg's claws were buried in a tree trunk, which was how he had secured himself against the wind. He was looking down at Sonic with detached interest.
"Mekion, help me!" Sonic cried between breaths. The figure did not move. "I'm slipping, please help me," Sonic begged. "Shadow! Help me!"
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Mekion had seen Sonic fall, and Shadow wanted to help him at once. But Mekion stepped in. "Sonic doesn't need you. He's strong--the most dangerous foe you will ever meet. Let him save himself."
Mekion and Shadow watched as Sonic tried to climb up the slope, but could not.
"If he is so strong, why does he not climb up?" Shadow thought.
"It is a ploy to appeal to your weak side," Mekion answered scornfully. "Let him save himself."
Sonic looked up and their eyes met. First Sonic appealed to Mekion for help. Mekion sneered inwardly. "He expects me, his enemy, to help him. Doing so would injure my Master, for he hates Sonic. That is a violation of the First Law."
Then Sonic spoke to Shadow. "Shadow! Help me!"
Shadow chafed against Mekion's control. "He is a weak mortal, like me. I used to know him. Pulling him up would not be a violation of the First Law."
"You are experiencing pity. It is a weakness."
"Then I am weak! He was my friend once, and I owe him a favor!"
"You know the penalty."
"Shadow, please!" Sonic cried.
The abject fear and helplessness in his voice stabbed into Shadow's heart, and the cyborg staggered as if dealt a blow.
"He is an enemy!" Mekion screamed, realizing he was losing the battle.
"He was my friend!" Shadow screamed, the memory returning as he said the words. For an instant he was in space with Sonic, joined by duel invincibility and warmed by his first friendship since Maria's death. The line along his body where flesh fused into metal burned like fire, for his two halves were in such opposition it was as if he were tearing apart. He wrenched his claws out of the tree trunk, half-sobbing with the effort of beating back Mekion, who was all cold, logical fury.
"Master will kill you," the robot in him hissed.
"But Sonic will die!" wailed the mortal in him. "I don't care about the Law! I don't care!" He did care and saying the words was torture, but Sonic--Sonic needed him--
"This time there is no Nox to save you," snarled Mekion. "Fine, do your foolish deed. And die like a mortal."
Shadow stumbled down the hill, dropped to all fours and crawled down to Sonic, slipping on the wet grass. He grabbed Sonic's hand with his organic one, and Sonic clung to him like a drowning sailor. Sonic was heavier than Shadow expected, and he sank his robot claws into the grass to brace himself. He strained to lift Sonic, but found that his starved, weakened muscles could not do it. He appealed to Mekion for help, but his robot brain was silent. Shadow was on his own.
"Try, Sonic!" he whispered. "Come on!"
Sonic strained to lift himself, pulling on Shadow's arm, and Mekion's claws began to tear free of the grass. "Wait, wait!" he whispered frantically, but Sonic was too panicked to listen. He was nearly up, and--
Mekion's claws ripped out of the grass, and Sonic's weight pulled him over. Mekion landed on top of him, and the pair fell off the edge of the Floating Island.
Falling with the wind screaming in his ears, Shadow again appealed to Mekion for help. Mekion retorted, "You wanted control. Now you've got it."
"I have control," through Shadow frantically, and realized he was still clinging to Sonic by one hand. He grabbed at Sonic with his robot hand, putting Sonic above him in midair so that when they hit the water, Shadow would be on bottom. Sonic looked down at him, helpless. But no--where Mekion's robot hand was touching sonic, it tingled and spasmed as if encountering an electric charge.
With a tremendous effort Shadow identified the feeling as chaos--Sonic had a tiny chaos charge in his body from contact with the Chaos Emeralds.
"I'm in control."
Then Shadow remembered. With a catch in his chest, he cried in his broken voice, "Chaos control!"
They hit the ground with a thud and lay motionless. The power surge had knocked Mekion offline, but Shadow was awake and breathing heavily, tears streaming from his real eye. Sonic lay beside him, gasping for breath, unable to understand what had happened. Around them palm trees bowed in the wind and a few raindrops spattered the ground.
Sonic sat up and looked down at his rescuer. "Shadow," he said unsteadily, "did you use ME to do Chaos control?"
"Yes," whispered Shadow. He lay still, knowing he wouldn't be able to move until Mekion came back online.
Sonic looked at him. "Are you okay?"
"Half offline," whispered Shadow. "Chaos energy trips my shutoff mechanism."
"Thanks for saving me," Sonic said, still looking shell-shocked. "And--and I'm really glad you're alive."
Shadow gazed at him with his one functioning eye. "I am your friend, Sonic. But Mekion hates you. He would destroy you if he received the order."
Sonic blinked. "Can't you fight him?"
"How do you fight your own mind?" whispered Shadow. "My mission was to photograph you from within three feet without you detecting my presence. When Mekion wakes up, will you pretend not to see me so I can complete my mission?"
It was a pitiful request, and for some reason Sonic's throat constricted. "Sure," he choked. "Whatever you want, Shads."
The skies opened and hailstones the size of marbles slashed down into the trees, cooling the air ten degrees. They beat down on Sonic and Shadow, and Shadow lifted his organic arm to shield his face. Sonic leaned over him to protect him, wincing as the ice pounded into his back.
"What is this?" asked Shadow.
"Hail," said Sonic. "Ouch! These hailstones are BIG!"
After a few minutes the hail was replaced by a heavy rain that soaked the pair to the skin. At this point Mekion's red eye flickered on, and the cyborg sat up, his organic spines slicked down. "Look over there, please," he said. Sonic obeyed and heard the click of a camera shutter.
"Thank you," said Shadow. "I've been trying to get that shot for days."
For a moment the two hedgehogs gazed at each other. "I guess this is goodbye, then," said Sonic.
"Yes," said Shadow, lowering his head. "When we next meet, Mekion will have me in submission again. Please, for your own sake, show him no mercy."
Sonic choked up again and could only nod.
"Farewell," said shadow, his whisper hardly audible over the rain. "I only wish we could have been friends." He turned and walked away into the rain, a burning pain in his throat.
Sonic watched him go, and the tears on his face might have only been rain. "Bye shadow," he whispered.
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The storm was moving swiftly. Tiring of the Floating Island, it moved on to sport with the mainland, its tornadoes becoming waterspouts as they struck the ocean. The island was treated to hours of torrential rain and cooling wind, and the islanders threw open windows and sprawled on the furniture, enjoying the rain-scented air.
Tails ran after the tornado after it had carried Sonic away, and was wandering around, disoriented in the rain, when he saw Sonic standing alone in a clearing, staring straight ahead. Tails splashed up to him. "Sonic! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," said sonic in a hollow voice, and Tails noticed his eyes were red.
"Are you hurt?"
"Mekion--I mean, Shadow rescued me." Sonic wiped his nose on his soaked glove. "He's gone now." He smiled briefly. "Let's get out of this storm, huh?"
The pair was chilled by the time they reached Chaotix Central, and gladly accepted towels and blankets. Tails described the tornadoes and the hailstorm, but Sonic remained silent, staring at the wall. Tails told everyone that Sonic had met Mekion, so everyone left Sonic alone. Mekion was a touchy subject.
As the rain abated and a clear, silver light appeared in the north, Knuckles sat down beside Sonic. "It must have been bad, because you're not talking."
Sonic looked at him. "I fell off the island and he saved me with chaos control. He said his robot half is bad, and it's in control most of the time." His voice cracked. "He said--he said I'll have to kill him next time we meet." He put a hand over his face, and Knuckles looked away.
"No wonder you weren't talking."
Sonic sniffed and wiped his eyes. "Yeah. So. This hasn't been my best day."
"He's not dead though, so buck up." Knuckles slapped him on the back. "Robots can be reprogrammed. Come and eat." Knuckles got up and left.
Sonic sat a moment, pondering this revolutionary concept. Then he got up and joined the others in the kitchen, where Vector was frying a mess of fish he had caught before the storm.
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A few days later found Sonic, Tails, Zephyer and her chao bound for Knothole via teleporter. As they trooped down the path to the teleporter, Knuckles let Zephyer hold the Master Emerald again, safely wrapped in its handkerchief. She stared into it the entire walk, and lingered behind after Sonic and Tails had beamed out, reluctant to give it up.
Knuckles watched her, his heart aching. She didn't know what using the Master Emerald meant, or that she would never feel at home on the mainland again. He knew the feeling of discontent, of wishing vaguely to be somewhere else, and not knowing why. Dang it, he HAD to marry the girl! At least she deserved to know about the emerald.
Knuckles moved close to her and spoke softly so only she could hear. "It's matched us up, Zeff. No other echidna but my wife can use the Master Emerald."
She looked at him, eyes flashing. "What if the girl objects?"
He smiled. "Too bad. You're marked now. It likes you."
She fought back a smile. "And you like me too, I take it."
"Just a little." He leaned close to her ear. "Will you marry me yet?"
"No," she whispered, but suddenly her eyes were full of tears. "Stop asking me, please."
He looked at the glowing emerald in her hands, heart pounding in his ears. He tacked into the wind. "So you don't love me, then."
"You're being cruel," Zephyer whispered. "I wouldn't touch this gem if I didn't love you. I've touched it before, too--without protection."
"Then why won't you marry me?" he whispered through his teeth, clasping her hands and peering into her eyes.
Zephyer's jaw thrust out in a desperate effort not to cry. "Because I can't be derobotized."
He dropped her hands and looked at her in amazement. "That's ALL?"
"Yes!" Zephyer hissed furiously. "And now you've made me love you, and I'm MISERABLE! So stop pestering me, because I can't--" Her words broke on a sob. "I can't marry you," she finished, thrusting the emerald into his hands. They stared at each other for a moment, and then she turned and walked toward the teleporter. Knuckles caught her arm.
"Zephyer," he said, his eyes an intense, electric blue, "if I could derobotize you, would you marry me?"
Zephyer looked at him a moment, as if trying to decide if he was serious. "Yes," she said. "What's your point?"
He took her face in his enormous hands and dried her tears. "I can do it. Biometal can't be much different from the normal stuff. Consider us engaged."
The moment was spoiled as the Chaotix, who had watched this whole exchange, broke into whoops and cheers. Knuckles and Zephyer looked around. "What are you guys doing here?" said Knuckles, reddening.
"I wish I had a camera!" Espio whooped. "Knothole's never going to believe this! You got her to marry you!" High fives were exchanged all around, and bets were paid off.
Zephyer laughed nervously. "What do you mean, 'Knothole'?"
"You two have been the subject of more gossip than most movie stars," said Vector. "Even Sonic and Tails had a bet going."
"I haven't married him yet," said Zephyer. "So keep the gossip down."
"Oh, he'll move heaven and earth to derobotize you," said Mighty, slapping Knuckles on the back so hard that Knuckles grunted. "Hey, don't you need an engagement ring?"
"Oh, that," said Knuckles, looking at Zephyer. "Um." Suddenly embarrassed, he kicked at the trail. "Be right back." He turned and sprinted up the trail.
Zephyer looked at the Chaotix. "He has one? Why didn't he give it to me before?"
Espio coughed into his fist. "It's like this, Zeff. You kept saying no."
She flushed and studied the ground.
A few minutes later Knuckles returned with a cardboard box. "Sorry this isn't fancier," he said, dumping the box's contents into his hand. "Here. What color do you want?"
Zephyer was floored. In his hand were seven gold rings, each set with a different colored stone. She looked at him. "You--you made these?"
"I had to do something while I was waiting for you to make up your mind," he said, pleased with her reaction. "They all glow, too."
Zephyer stared at them. "I'll take them all. I'll wear a different one every day of the week." She took them and slid the red one onto her ring finger, noticing it fit over her metal. She looked at Knuckles, her heart full. "I hope you can derobotize me."
He smiled. "I will."
They looked at each other for a long moment, then Zephyer turned away. "I need to go. Bye everyone, thanks for everything." She stepped onto the teleporter and looked back at Knuckles as she was carried away.
As soon as she was gone, Knuckles leaped into the air and let out a war whoop that echoed over the island. He took off running up the path, and the Chaotix watched him go. "Now that is one happy echidna," said Espio soberly. "Come on, guys, let's see if we can help him out." Grinning to each other, they trooped after their friend.
Zephyer's ring was spotted upon her arrival home, and she was mobbed by every female in Knothole.
Sonic and Tails saw the commotion and pushed into the crowd, demanding to know what had happened. "She's engaged!" Sally squealed, holding up Zephyer's ring-bearing hand.
Sonic put his hands on his hips and looked at Tails. "He waited until we went home! I don't believe it! Well, you know what this means, Tails. I get the Cyclone for a month."
Tails groaned.
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Metal Sonic sat in a chair in his lab in the mountains, chin in one hand, staring at nothing. Mekion had helped Sonic and broke the First Law. Deliberately. Metal Sonic had all the logs, what there were of them, for the Shadow part had been in control.
Metal Sonic had seen it coming, but it did not lessen the pain. Pain--this revolutionary feeling that came with his nanite brain. It was the illogical assertion that things should be different, and because they were not, a conflict ensued that was part rage and part deep, dark disappointment. Mekion had let him down. And so Metal Sonic sat in the depths of his dark lab, surrounded by half-finished projects and too upset to work on any of them.
Days passed and Metal Sonic remained in the same position, his metal body experiencing no discomfort, but his hurt feelings were stagnating into bitterness. Bitterness against himself, against Mekion, and especially against Sonic.
The outer door opened. Metal Sonic heard it but did not move. Footsteps shuffled down the lightless corridors, and still Metal Sonic did not stir. He did not even look around when Mekion stood in the doorway and leaned against it.
"Master," he whispered, "please forgive me."
Metal Sonic stared straight ahead.
Mekion limped to Metal Sonic and knelt at his feet. Metal Sonic swept him with a furtive scan and saw that Mekion was nearly dead of starvation and cold.
"I completed my mission," whispered Mekion. "I violated the First Law because Shadow is weak. Please forgive me."
Metal Sonic's head turned for the first time in days, and he looked down at the monstrosity groveling at his feet. For a long moment his bitterness struggled with his affection, and Mekion crouched there, shivering, the snow melting off him onto the floor.
"You. Have. Hurt. Me," said Metal Sonic, each word jolting out of him.
Mekion looked up, his robot eye shining red. "Never again, Master. Next time I see Sonic, we will battle to the death."
"If I do not find him first," purred Metal Sonic. He rose to his feet, his affection for his creation winning out. "Come with me, you need fuel."
He led the way out of the room, and Mekion followed him down a corridor, past a construction chamber with a half-built robot in it, past an incubator containing a chao egg, to Mekion's old chamber.
Metal Sonic opened the door. "Welcome home."
The End
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"There's kind of a cave here," said Tails, pointing to a dark opening in a hillside that was partially screened by trees. "We could sit in there and have front row seats."
"Okay, maybe later," said Sonic, who would rather die than enter a cave. "Wow, look at the sky now."
The fox and hedgehog were in a wide meadow at the base of a hill, looking east into the storm. The sky was overcast now, but the bulk of the storm had yet to escape the mountains. Lightning flickered like a warning. Sonic watched, transfixed, but Tails began to climb the hill toward the cave. This was the biggest storm he had ever seen, and he didn't want to be caught in it. "Come on, Sonic," he called.
"In a minute," Sonic called back. "Wow, look, I think it's coming over the mountains!"
Tails paused to look. The mountaintops vanished into the darkness of the clouds, which were rolling toward them and blotting out the daylight. Tails and Sonic stood and watched the visible movement of the storm. Lightning licked through it in a web, illuminating the inside of the cloud in gold and pink, and thunder rolled like cannonfire.
As it overcame the mountain the storm's personality changed from a brooding giant to an attacking monster. Enraged at its delay behind the mountains and strengthened on a diet of hot, moist air, the storm knotted and swirled and began to rotate.
"Sonic," said Tails, pointing to an odd, rotating cloud mass above them. "Sonic, I think that's a funnel cloud."
Sonic looked. "No way. The island's too uneven for tornadoes!" But he and Tails scrambled up the hill toward the cave. The funnel cloud passed over them, and Sonic looked up into the swirling, tube-like center of the descending tornado. It touched down in the trees across the field, sucking up leaves and dust and breaking palm trees like matchsticks. Sonic watched it in hypnotized fascination. He had been in a tornado once before, but had never watched one go about its destructive business. He could see the upper part reaching down like a finger, and see the whipping trees on the ground, but there was nothing between them but a few flying leaves. It wound away westward, and above the skies were split by lightning and a roar of thunder. But there was no rain, and no wind.
"Sonic!" Tails screamed. "Get in here!"
Sonic snapped out of his reverie and looked around. Then he looked at the sky and thought he was seeing things. The whole underbelly of the storm was swirling with cyclonic formations--pre-funnel clouds. Sonic dashed up the hill to the cave, but paused again just outside it, his loathing of closed-in spaces temporarily outweighing his fear of tornadoes.
"Sonic, please come in here!" Tails whimpered. "Remember Windy Valley? I don't want that to happen again, please--!"
Sonic watched in awe as another funnel touched down to the north and wound its way toward them, gathering speed and size as it went. At last a gust of ferocious wind struck them, whipping at the palm trees and flattening Sonic's ears. "This one's gonna come right through the field!" Sonic exclaimed, watching the funnel take on shape as it vacuumed up dust. "Tails, look at it!"
"Sonic, don't stay out there," Tails begged, near tears. "It's too dangerous--"
The world ignited in white light and thunder shook the ground. A palm tree up the hill had been split from top to bottom, and it burned in a startled kind of way as the tornado corkscrewed into the field. For a second Sonic watched its base tear up the grass in a mad spiral, the black cloud overhead stooping down to touch the earth. Then the tornado veered toward Sonic as if governed by an imp of destruction.
Suddenly sand all around Sonic was sucked into the air, and he felt the wind snatch at him. He dropped to all fours and scrambled for the cave, half hypnotized and half terrified, like a mouse under the gaze of a cobra. The wind roared like a freight train, and he felt his feet leave the ground. He clawed at the ground, but there was nothing to hold on to, and in giddy disbelief he watched the ground falling away. II've been picked up by a tornado,/i he thought, then terror took over and he curled into a protective ball.
Sonic had been picked up by the updraft that circled the funnel and was hurled upward, spiraling around the funnel's outside like a piece of debris. The tornado carried him on its mad dance across the island until it reached the edge of the island, where the pressure and temperature changed. The tornado retreated into the clouds, and Sonic free fell with the other discarded debris.
He struck the ground and bounced like a Super Ball, downhill. The impact jarred him out of the paralysis of terror. He uncurled and realized his momentum was carrying toward the edge of the Floating Island, which was a thousand feet above the sea.
He struck the ground again and rolled down a steep bank covered with wet grass. He clawed at the grass, ripping furrows in it with his fingers, and managed to stop at the very edge, his body hanging over the edge.
Sonic hung there, gasping for breath, horribly aware that below his feet was a quarter of a mile of empty space. He could feel his handfuls of grass ripping free, root by root, and here at the island's edge was a strong wind that threatened to knock him loose. He freed one hand and tried to pull himself up, but he was at the foot of a steep hill and could not get enough leverage to lift himself. Panicking and slipping, he strained to climb up, but the wind and his half-stunned muscles were working against him.
Gasping in fear and exertion, he looked up the hill and saw Mekion looking down at him. The cyborg's claws were buried in a tree trunk, which was how he had secured himself against the wind. He was looking down at Sonic with detached interest.
"Mekion, help me!" Sonic cried between breaths. The figure did not move. "I'm slipping, please help me," Sonic begged. "Shadow! Help me!"
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Mekion had seen Sonic fall, and Shadow wanted to help him at once. But Mekion stepped in. "Sonic doesn't need you. He's strong--the most dangerous foe you will ever meet. Let him save himself."
Mekion and Shadow watched as Sonic tried to climb up the slope, but could not.
"If he is so strong, why does he not climb up?" Shadow thought.
"It is a ploy to appeal to your weak side," Mekion answered scornfully. "Let him save himself."
Sonic looked up and their eyes met. First Sonic appealed to Mekion for help. Mekion sneered inwardly. "He expects me, his enemy, to help him. Doing so would injure my Master, for he hates Sonic. That is a violation of the First Law."
Then Sonic spoke to Shadow. "Shadow! Help me!"
Shadow chafed against Mekion's control. "He is a weak mortal, like me. I used to know him. Pulling him up would not be a violation of the First Law."
"You are experiencing pity. It is a weakness."
"Then I am weak! He was my friend once, and I owe him a favor!"
"You know the penalty."
"Shadow, please!" Sonic cried.
The abject fear and helplessness in his voice stabbed into Shadow's heart, and the cyborg staggered as if dealt a blow.
"He is an enemy!" Mekion screamed, realizing he was losing the battle.
"He was my friend!" Shadow screamed, the memory returning as he said the words. For an instant he was in space with Sonic, joined by duel invincibility and warmed by his first friendship since Maria's death. The line along his body where flesh fused into metal burned like fire, for his two halves were in such opposition it was as if he were tearing apart. He wrenched his claws out of the tree trunk, half-sobbing with the effort of beating back Mekion, who was all cold, logical fury.
"Master will kill you," the robot in him hissed.
"But Sonic will die!" wailed the mortal in him. "I don't care about the Law! I don't care!" He did care and saying the words was torture, but Sonic--Sonic needed him--
"This time there is no Nox to save you," snarled Mekion. "Fine, do your foolish deed. And die like a mortal."
Shadow stumbled down the hill, dropped to all fours and crawled down to Sonic, slipping on the wet grass. He grabbed Sonic's hand with his organic one, and Sonic clung to him like a drowning sailor. Sonic was heavier than Shadow expected, and he sank his robot claws into the grass to brace himself. He strained to lift Sonic, but found that his starved, weakened muscles could not do it. He appealed to Mekion for help, but his robot brain was silent. Shadow was on his own.
"Try, Sonic!" he whispered. "Come on!"
Sonic strained to lift himself, pulling on Shadow's arm, and Mekion's claws began to tear free of the grass. "Wait, wait!" he whispered frantically, but Sonic was too panicked to listen. He was nearly up, and--
Mekion's claws ripped out of the grass, and Sonic's weight pulled him over. Mekion landed on top of him, and the pair fell off the edge of the Floating Island.
Falling with the wind screaming in his ears, Shadow again appealed to Mekion for help. Mekion retorted, "You wanted control. Now you've got it."
"I have control," through Shadow frantically, and realized he was still clinging to Sonic by one hand. He grabbed at Sonic with his robot hand, putting Sonic above him in midair so that when they hit the water, Shadow would be on bottom. Sonic looked down at him, helpless. But no--where Mekion's robot hand was touching sonic, it tingled and spasmed as if encountering an electric charge.
With a tremendous effort Shadow identified the feeling as chaos--Sonic had a tiny chaos charge in his body from contact with the Chaos Emeralds.
"I'm in control."
Then Shadow remembered. With a catch in his chest, he cried in his broken voice, "Chaos control!"
They hit the ground with a thud and lay motionless. The power surge had knocked Mekion offline, but Shadow was awake and breathing heavily, tears streaming from his real eye. Sonic lay beside him, gasping for breath, unable to understand what had happened. Around them palm trees bowed in the wind and a few raindrops spattered the ground.
Sonic sat up and looked down at his rescuer. "Shadow," he said unsteadily, "did you use ME to do Chaos control?"
"Yes," whispered Shadow. He lay still, knowing he wouldn't be able to move until Mekion came back online.
Sonic looked at him. "Are you okay?"
"Half offline," whispered Shadow. "Chaos energy trips my shutoff mechanism."
"Thanks for saving me," Sonic said, still looking shell-shocked. "And--and I'm really glad you're alive."
Shadow gazed at him with his one functioning eye. "I am your friend, Sonic. But Mekion hates you. He would destroy you if he received the order."
Sonic blinked. "Can't you fight him?"
"How do you fight your own mind?" whispered Shadow. "My mission was to photograph you from within three feet without you detecting my presence. When Mekion wakes up, will you pretend not to see me so I can complete my mission?"
It was a pitiful request, and for some reason Sonic's throat constricted. "Sure," he choked. "Whatever you want, Shads."
The skies opened and hailstones the size of marbles slashed down into the trees, cooling the air ten degrees. They beat down on Sonic and Shadow, and Shadow lifted his organic arm to shield his face. Sonic leaned over him to protect him, wincing as the ice pounded into his back.
"What is this?" asked Shadow.
"Hail," said Sonic. "Ouch! These hailstones are BIG!"
After a few minutes the hail was replaced by a heavy rain that soaked the pair to the skin. At this point Mekion's red eye flickered on, and the cyborg sat up, his organic spines slicked down. "Look over there, please," he said. Sonic obeyed and heard the click of a camera shutter.
"Thank you," said Shadow. "I've been trying to get that shot for days."
For a moment the two hedgehogs gazed at each other. "I guess this is goodbye, then," said Sonic.
"Yes," said Shadow, lowering his head. "When we next meet, Mekion will have me in submission again. Please, for your own sake, show him no mercy."
Sonic choked up again and could only nod.
"Farewell," said shadow, his whisper hardly audible over the rain. "I only wish we could have been friends." He turned and walked away into the rain, a burning pain in his throat.
Sonic watched him go, and the tears on his face might have only been rain. "Bye shadow," he whispered.
center* * * /center
The storm was moving swiftly. Tiring of the Floating Island, it moved on to sport with the mainland, its tornadoes becoming waterspouts as they struck the ocean. The island was treated to hours of torrential rain and cooling wind, and the islanders threw open windows and sprawled on the furniture, enjoying the rain-scented air.
Tails ran after the tornado after it had carried Sonic away, and was wandering around, disoriented in the rain, when he saw Sonic standing alone in a clearing, staring straight ahead. Tails splashed up to him. "Sonic! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," said sonic in a hollow voice, and Tails noticed his eyes were red.
"Are you hurt?"
"Mekion--I mean, Shadow rescued me." Sonic wiped his nose on his soaked glove. "He's gone now." He smiled briefly. "Let's get out of this storm, huh?"
The pair was chilled by the time they reached Chaotix Central, and gladly accepted towels and blankets. Tails described the tornadoes and the hailstorm, but Sonic remained silent, staring at the wall. Tails told everyone that Sonic had met Mekion, so everyone left Sonic alone. Mekion was a touchy subject.
As the rain abated and a clear, silver light appeared in the north, Knuckles sat down beside Sonic. "It must have been bad, because you're not talking."
Sonic looked at him. "I fell off the island and he saved me with chaos control. He said his robot half is bad, and it's in control most of the time." His voice cracked. "He said--he said I'll have to kill him next time we meet." He put a hand over his face, and Knuckles looked away.
"No wonder you weren't talking."
Sonic sniffed and wiped his eyes. "Yeah. So. This hasn't been my best day."
"He's not dead though, so buck up." Knuckles slapped him on the back. "Robots can be reprogrammed. Come and eat." Knuckles got up and left.
Sonic sat a moment, pondering this revolutionary concept. Then he got up and joined the others in the kitchen, where Vector was frying a mess of fish he had caught before the storm.
center* * * /center
A few days later found Sonic, Tails, Zephyer and her chao bound for Knothole via teleporter. As they trooped down the path to the teleporter, Knuckles let Zephyer hold the Master Emerald again, safely wrapped in its handkerchief. She stared into it the entire walk, and lingered behind after Sonic and Tails had beamed out, reluctant to give it up.
Knuckles watched her, his heart aching. She didn't know what using the Master Emerald meant, or that she would never feel at home on the mainland again. He knew the feeling of discontent, of wishing vaguely to be somewhere else, and not knowing why. Dang it, he HAD to marry the girl! At least she deserved to know about the emerald.
Knuckles moved close to her and spoke softly so only she could hear. "It's matched us up, Zeff. No other echidna but my wife can use the Master Emerald."
She looked at him, eyes flashing. "What if the girl objects?"
He smiled. "Too bad. You're marked now. It likes you."
She fought back a smile. "And you like me too, I take it."
"Just a little." He leaned close to her ear. "Will you marry me yet?"
"No," she whispered, but suddenly her eyes were full of tears. "Stop asking me, please."
He looked at the glowing emerald in her hands, heart pounding in his ears. He tacked into the wind. "So you don't love me, then."
"You're being cruel," Zephyer whispered. "I wouldn't touch this gem if I didn't love you. I've touched it before, too--without protection."
"Then why won't you marry me?" he whispered through his teeth, clasping her hands and peering into her eyes.
Zephyer's jaw thrust out in a desperate effort not to cry. "Because I can't be derobotized."
He dropped her hands and looked at her in amazement. "That's ALL?"
"Yes!" Zephyer hissed furiously. "And now you've made me love you, and I'm MISERABLE! So stop pestering me, because I can't--" Her words broke on a sob. "I can't marry you," she finished, thrusting the emerald into his hands. They stared at each other for a moment, and then she turned and walked toward the teleporter. Knuckles caught her arm.
"Zephyer," he said, his eyes an intense, electric blue, "if I could derobotize you, would you marry me?"
Zephyer looked at him a moment, as if trying to decide if he was serious. "Yes," she said. "What's your point?"
He took her face in his enormous hands and dried her tears. "I can do it. Biometal can't be much different from the normal stuff. Consider us engaged."
The moment was spoiled as the Chaotix, who had watched this whole exchange, broke into whoops and cheers. Knuckles and Zephyer looked around. "What are you guys doing here?" said Knuckles, reddening.
"I wish I had a camera!" Espio whooped. "Knothole's never going to believe this! You got her to marry you!" High fives were exchanged all around, and bets were paid off.
Zephyer laughed nervously. "What do you mean, 'Knothole'?"
"You two have been the subject of more gossip than most movie stars," said Vector. "Even Sonic and Tails had a bet going."
"I haven't married him yet," said Zephyer. "So keep the gossip down."
"Oh, he'll move heaven and earth to derobotize you," said Mighty, slapping Knuckles on the back so hard that Knuckles grunted. "Hey, don't you need an engagement ring?"
"Oh, that," said Knuckles, looking at Zephyer. "Um." Suddenly embarrassed, he kicked at the trail. "Be right back." He turned and sprinted up the trail.
Zephyer looked at the Chaotix. "He has one? Why didn't he give it to me before?"
Espio coughed into his fist. "It's like this, Zeff. You kept saying no."
She flushed and studied the ground.
A few minutes later Knuckles returned with a cardboard box. "Sorry this isn't fancier," he said, dumping the box's contents into his hand. "Here. What color do you want?"
Zephyer was floored. In his hand were seven gold rings, each set with a different colored stone. She looked at him. "You--you made these?"
"I had to do something while I was waiting for you to make up your mind," he said, pleased with her reaction. "They all glow, too."
Zephyer stared at them. "I'll take them all. I'll wear a different one every day of the week." She took them and slid the red one onto her ring finger, noticing it fit over her metal. She looked at Knuckles, her heart full. "I hope you can derobotize me."
He smiled. "I will."
They looked at each other for a long moment, then Zephyer turned away. "I need to go. Bye everyone, thanks for everything." She stepped onto the teleporter and looked back at Knuckles as she was carried away.
As soon as she was gone, Knuckles leaped into the air and let out a war whoop that echoed over the island. He took off running up the path, and the Chaotix watched him go. "Now that is one happy echidna," said Espio soberly. "Come on, guys, let's see if we can help him out." Grinning to each other, they trooped after their friend.
Zephyer's ring was spotted upon her arrival home, and she was mobbed by every female in Knothole.
Sonic and Tails saw the commotion and pushed into the crowd, demanding to know what had happened. "She's engaged!" Sally squealed, holding up Zephyer's ring-bearing hand.
Sonic put his hands on his hips and looked at Tails. "He waited until we went home! I don't believe it! Well, you know what this means, Tails. I get the Cyclone for a month."
Tails groaned.
center* * * /center
Metal Sonic sat in a chair in his lab in the mountains, chin in one hand, staring at nothing. Mekion had helped Sonic and broke the First Law. Deliberately. Metal Sonic had all the logs, what there were of them, for the Shadow part had been in control.
Metal Sonic had seen it coming, but it did not lessen the pain. Pain--this revolutionary feeling that came with his nanite brain. It was the illogical assertion that things should be different, and because they were not, a conflict ensued that was part rage and part deep, dark disappointment. Mekion had let him down. And so Metal Sonic sat in the depths of his dark lab, surrounded by half-finished projects and too upset to work on any of them.
Days passed and Metal Sonic remained in the same position, his metal body experiencing no discomfort, but his hurt feelings were stagnating into bitterness. Bitterness against himself, against Mekion, and especially against Sonic.
The outer door opened. Metal Sonic heard it but did not move. Footsteps shuffled down the lightless corridors, and still Metal Sonic did not stir. He did not even look around when Mekion stood in the doorway and leaned against it.
"Master," he whispered, "please forgive me."
Metal Sonic stared straight ahead.
Mekion limped to Metal Sonic and knelt at his feet. Metal Sonic swept him with a furtive scan and saw that Mekion was nearly dead of starvation and cold.
"I completed my mission," whispered Mekion. "I violated the First Law because Shadow is weak. Please forgive me."
Metal Sonic's head turned for the first time in days, and he looked down at the monstrosity groveling at his feet. For a long moment his bitterness struggled with his affection, and Mekion crouched there, shivering, the snow melting off him onto the floor.
"You. Have. Hurt. Me," said Metal Sonic, each word jolting out of him.
Mekion looked up, his robot eye shining red. "Never again, Master. Next time I see Sonic, we will battle to the death."
"If I do not find him first," purred Metal Sonic. He rose to his feet, his affection for his creation winning out. "Come with me, you need fuel."
He led the way out of the room, and Mekion followed him down a corridor, past a construction chamber with a half-built robot in it, past an incubator containing a chao egg, to Mekion's old chamber.
Metal Sonic opened the door. "Welcome home."
The End