Chapter Text
Sonic ducked down, balling himself up in preparation. The first badnik, a simple Motobug, slammed itself against him. Sonic, however, had been prepared, and he used it as leverage. He rolled up atop it, destroying it as he sprung up into the air. Having shot all the way up to the roof, Sonic landed against it, before using the ceiling to fire himself back down.
His body careened into a pair of Crabmeats, destroying them and sending their four total claws flying out, hitting another four badniks. Another Motobug came speeding for him, but before it could know what hit it, Sonic kicked it up into the air. He leapt up after it, grabbing it and spinning midair, before releasing it and sending it smashing to the ground with all the momentum from his spindash.
Sonic dropped back to the ground, supporting his landing with one of his arms, the other held out to his side (both for balance, and for style).
He looked around at the demolished robotics surrounding him, before a slow clap started coming through the speakers.
“Bravo, oh bravo. That was some show.” Robotnik boomed, his voice echoing in the confined space. “Of course, I hate throwing my precious creations at you, but know, it’s for knowledge. My Motobugs need tougher shells, my Crabmeats can’t have their claws go flying off, and I need them to stop exploding when you run into them!”
Sonic snickered, standing back up and wiping his muzzle. “That’s really all you’ve got?”
“Well, this is the first of many, many trials. I figured I’d build up to my more dangerous models, because if even my basic bots can pose a genuine threat to you, just imagine what they’d be able to do for my conquest? Lucky for me, there are very few superpowdered hedgehogs out there, and once we’re through, I’ll have three of them off the board.”
A loud beep sounded throughout the room, and a pair of vents opened, one on each side. A deeply dark green gas began slowly emitting from them, as Robotnik had said. Sonic, however, hadn’t stopped snickering.
“What? What’s so funny?”
“Well, since you were so confident in sending out those old hunks of junk, I hardly even had to think about blowin’ ‘em up. So, it was easy enough to put my focus elsewhere.”
“Where? Where else-”
Before Robotnik could finish his question, Sonic grabbed one of the mangled badniks. Using the same technique he had to smash down the Motobug, he started spinning, and using the momentum, threw the tattered metal against the barred door. The leftover fuel in the robot ignited on impact, creating a large explosion that broke the door slightly, enough that, with another spindash, Sonic was able to go right through it. The door came flying off of its hinges, slamming against the wall of a dark hallway.
“No! No-no-no-no-no!” Robotnik’s voice was quieted from outside, having only the doorway for the sound from the speakers to travel through. Sonic stood up, quickly making sure to take a good breath of the musty, yet pure, air.
The hallway was nearly pitch black, with nothing to be seen either way it travelled. Sonic had never seen this section of Robotnik’s compound. It looked almost prison-like, with the doctor’s face branded on the door that had crashed to the floor. Sonic could infer that all other doors would be labelled as such.
Once he’d purged the small amount of gas that had managed to seep into his lungs, Sonic dashed back in, slamming against Shadow’s crate. The dark hedgehog tumbled out, falling to the floor. His body was nearly limp, his eyes glazed over and drooping. Whether that be from the gas, or what had happened with his Chaos energy, Sonic couldn’t tell.
“Alright, buddy, let’s get you out of here.” Sonic went to grab Shadow, but was immediately zapped. He pulled his hands back quickly, looking down at his gloves. They had managed to take the shock well enough, but had gone black, with various tears and holes from the shock, a thick smoke coming up from them. “Woah, what just happened?”
“My energy, it’s unstable…” Shadow choked out. “I can’t control it. Go.”
“What? No way, I’m not-”
“You won’t be able to touch me. You need to leave now. I’ll find a way out.”
“Like hell you will! You can’t even move, c’mon!” Sonic tried to grab him again, but with his gloves damaged, the bulk of the electricity hit him directly, singeing the fur of his hands and darkening his paw pads. “Ow!”
“You can’t get me out of here.” Shadow’s voice was fading, having been exposed to the gas for longer than Sonic had.
“No, I can! I will!” Sonic coughed, the gas was starting to get to him.
Shadow brought his shaking hands together, hardly able to lift them. Somehow finding the strength, he created a shockwave of energy. Sonic was thrust back, out of the room and against the wall.
He dropped to his hands and knees, heaving as he desperately breathed in the air. He looked up to see the room had filled with green smoke, which was starting to slowly pour out of the empty door socket. Shadow was completely hidden, the fog having grown thick enough to shield him completely from Sonic’s eyes.
“No!” Sonic ran forward, but the potency of the gas was too much. Only one breath sent him stumbling backwards.
The gas seemed to disperse in the more open corridor. “Shadow! Shadow, I’m going to find help! I’ll be back, I promise I will! We’re going to get out of here, like I promised!”
There was no response. Shadow had likely succumbed to the gas. Sonic wiped his eyes, before tearing down through the hallway, searching for any doors that might help lead him to the rest of his team.