Crescent Moon

Ever since Feels was a kid, he adored looking at the stars glowing in the night sky, they gave him a sense of comfort which reminded him of his father’s warmth. The moon shined brighter than ever, looking at it up close, he realized a good chunk of it was covered in a metallic layer and a ring of asteroids formed around it. Eggman wasn’t lying about his feats, to think that Sonic was fighting greater threats all along.

Feels was almost hypnotized by the view—hand resting on his chin, things felt quiet for once—not even Sonic felt like bantering yet, there was nothing but the sounds of the rocket’s engines echoing within and he wouldn’t have it any other way. Then it hit a meteor and everyone fell to their knees.

Feels hit his head against one of the seats, rubbing his head as the rocket began spinning out of control. Mist’s eyes widened as he clung to him for his life, as Eggman focused on figuring out a way to stop it. Everyone felt the strong gravitational pull, slamming into walls before crashing straight into the ground.

"So that’s how we’re notified about reaching our destination… Couldn’t be any subtler," Sonic said, dusting off his body and scratching his head as he looked around.

“It’s surprising that GUN was able to apprehend and suppress me for so long,” Eggman exclaimed and crossed his arms, as Feels tried squeezing out from below him, panting after giving up, “GUN’s AI is so primitive, pitiful! Can’t believe they had to kidnap MY creations to obtain anything half-descent.”

Mist opened the hatch and looked outside, noticing multiple small planetoids with varying climates. "Interesting place.”

"This area was used to experiment with the creation of artificial planets,” Eggman said, peeking beside him, “as you can see the ARK was home to many more experiments than just Project Shadow."

"You're beginning to sound like a tourist guide," Sonic witted as they crawled out of the wreckage, all somehow capable of breathing without the need for any space suits.

“This place is part of my family’s prowess, it’s only natural for me to acknowledge its legacy,” Eggman grabbed his hands and placed them behind his back, heading straight to the entrance before touching a panel and opening the door in front of him. “So my reprogramming still works...”

“It’s true that he’s Gerald Robotnik's grandson, right?” Feels looked at Sonic as they entered the elevator.

Sonic snapped his fingers with a smirk.

“Who else would’ve built such a weapon, never thought I’d see the moon in that state.”

“Shut your mouth!” Eggman barked as they began descending. “You better not talk about subjects you lack the knowledge of, the media has been smearing his name for decades.”

"Well, it was you who blew it up, then was forced to repair it," Sonic whistled, Feels thought he could escape that cocky smirk, but he just had to begin enjoying himself again. "All that for being a showoff!"

Mist was the first to notice a slight glimmer coming from the Master Emerald, something was off, yet it was hardly noticeable due to the elevator’s lights. The soft chime announced their arrival, they were taken to a large winding corridor, drops of what they thought to be water could be heard leaking far away. Feels nearly panicked as he saw the doors close, by that point they couldn’t see anything but the Emerald.

“Why doesn’t Sonic go first? He could easily find the place with his superspeed,” Feels asked.

Sonic sneezed and rubbed his nose, “Danger’s lurking around here, I can’t leave you guys alone.”

“Pshhhh! I can deal with anything myself, I’m the real hero of Mobius afterall.”

“You’re still going with that?” Eggman groaned.

“Quit wasting time,” Mist blurted as they began walking.

There was just enough light coming from the windows to guide them, Feels couldn’t help but shiver, there was no place colder than outer space after all. The true hero of Mobius couldn’t possibly be afraid, could he? The place was strangely soothing despite its abandoned state, he could almost begin to imagine the type of people who once lived here and wonder what things here were once like.

Feels jumped as he heard something rubbing the window, he looked back, Sonic was standing unusually still. Feels scratched his head and walked towards him, as he cleared off the dust to look at the stars filling the void of space. Sonic crossed his arms, as Feels stared at the planet, he saw an unmotivated look reflecting off the mirror. “Wonder what’s going on down there, I hope everyone’s OK.”

Nothing worked.

Shadow gave it his own shot, but not even his Chaos Spears could penetrate their energy shield. Tails flew above the mech, as everyone in the hallway felt a high concentration of Chaos Energy swelling up inside Shadow’s red aura enveloped body. The sergeant tried moving the mech, but the engines didn’t respond and a wave of energy threw it into the floor as he took one inhibitor ring off his wrist at a time.

"There's nowhere to run," The leader exclaimed, "We've been watching all of you for a long time, we know you have the drive."

"Could it be this one?" Tails asked as he pulled out the USB, looking at it as Shadow tried to stop him, heavy breathing resonating from within the armor.

"Yesss... now be a good boy and hand it to us!" The Marauder slithered.

"Don't listen to them Tails, go ahead without me!" Shadow yelled, as Tails stomped on the remote and clutched the drive in his hands. "I'll take care of them."

"Right!" He was hesitant at first, but Tails knew Shadow would be alright, he was the Ultimate Lifeform afterall, "Hey, you masked morons, maybe try harder next time!"

"How DARE you, two-tailed brat!" The Marauder growled as he got away.

"Chaos…” Shadow lifted one of his arms.

The Sergeant had no choice but to hop off the mech and take cover behind it.

“BLAAAAAAAAAAAASSST!"

An explosion erupted from within Shadow’s body, expanding past the Marauder’s shield and overtaking everything in its path. The room violently shook and the glass concealing the lights shattered, shards of metal detaching from the mech and flying past the sergeant into the platform elevator behind them, some of which made it on top of the rather steep slope.

The sergeant clung onto the floor as parts of his suit were incinerated, thankfully his hard helmet protected him from the rubble it threw at him. The corridor was covered in flames for what seemed like an eternity, but the fire vanished after a handful of seconds. His view was covered by a curtain of smoke, but any further damages were mitigated by a special material designed to withstand nuclear explosions.

He stood up as the smoke began clearing up. Shadow and the Marauders made it unscathed.

The sergeant’s body felt a frigid touch dragging from his feet to the top of his head, the mech blown to pieces. Shadow and the Marauders were nothing but strokes painting his view with hot-blooded aggression. Like a predator catching his prey, they never left each other's eyes before they stood in front of each other. The marauder crossed his arms, Shadow’s energy was drained unusually fast.

Lights flickered erratically, the room’s atmosphere crushed the sergeant as smoke spread throughout the corridor. The roughened up hound whimpered right before he vanished outside the building, in the desert right besides the bodies of the soldiers he once commanded.

“So, that’s the ultimate lifeform, huh?” The leader tilted his head, resting it on his right hand. “With such an impressive display of skills, it would be a missed opportunity if we didn’t ask if you could lend a hand”

"Lend a hand?" Shadow asked.

"We’re after the same thing right now, give us the drive and we'll help you free Sonic."

“I’ve seen this trick before, don’t think you can play me for a fool!”

"Then we'll have to do it the hard way."

The Marauders charged at Shadow and he followed. He unleashed a quick succession of punches that were blocked by them, keeping his fists crossed. In response, they sent out two purple blades crackling with energy, one from each wrist.

The Marauders charged at Shadow, he countered with a quick succession of punches they blocked with their crossed arms. In response, they brandished two energy blades from their wrists, crackling like electricity in a purple glow. Shadow crouched, then leapt over the ensuing sequence of swings with a carefully timed series of backflips, their blades slicing through air itself.

At the peak of his jump, he vanished from their view and the Marauders remained on guard, standing next to each other to watch each other's backs. Shadow knew his usual trick wouldn’t work, so he leapt backwards and fired his gun towards the ceiling. Each bullet formed a circle that fell towards the group of Marauders as soon as the effect ended, forcing them to separate.

“DAMN IT!”

Shadow felt a powerful shockwave hit his back, which froze him in place like a statue. Shadow had to garner strength to do something as simple as turning his head around, which allowed him to see smoke rising up a Marauder’s grenade launcher before getting hurled through the corridor with a kick.

He shook off the grenade’s effects and barely managed to land on his feet, holding onto the ground to halt the momentum of the blow. As he stopped, Shadow began hearing a series of steps, materializing a Chaos Spear as he looked at the curb behind him.

He cancelled it after realizing it was a group of GUN Soldiers rushing into the scene, aiming their weapons at the incoming wave of Marauders.

He didn't have time to warn them before blood splattered all over him.

Shadow whisked the soldiers outside with another Chaos Control, which in turn slowed down time for him to see the four Marauders suspended in the air, brandishing their blades to finish the job. He didn’t slow down to kick them one by one, deflecting them into the opposite edge of the corridor. He grinned as something inside of him clicked, it seemed like he was finally getting the upper hand.

It was moving in a strange, unnatural way, almost seemed like it was… following them?

Feels blinked and brushed his eyes, of course, this abrupt stop caused Sonic to bump with the Emerald and fall. Sonic scratched his head, Feels brushed it off as part of his imagination, but what he wasn’t dreaming up were the looks everyone else had on their face. Eggman, especially, couldn't contain his laughter upon seeing his skilled and confident archenemy stumbling so clumsily.

“AAAAAUUUUGH!!!” Mist screamed.

Feels blinked again, as a drop of that liquid fell on Mist’s snout, he could see smoke as it melted part of his skin. Sonic was the only one willing to grab it, almost instinctually. It was slimy and it stuck to his hand, everyone moved away from him as he shook it off, the substance slamming against the wall. Feels’ eyes widened, Mist seemed non-chalant about it, even with the new burn marks left on his muzzle.

"We gotta make it out of here fast!" Mist exclaimed and the rest nodded, "Who knows what kinds of experiments were held in here."

As they passed through a glass corridor with a view of space, Eggman rubbed his chin as he noticed the glowing increasingly brighter until Sonic flinched and slammed into the Emerald as Feels suddenly dropped it on the ground, he grasped his legs and desperately caught his breath.

“Let’s take a break…” Feels sighed, “Shall we?”

Mist tapped on a nearby door, the security system deteriorated after so many years, so he simply pulled them apart without much of an effort. Cobwebs lacked, but every piece of furniture was covered in dust and the lights could do as much as flicker. Feels barged into the room and dusted off the bed before sitting on it, the mattress creaked as he looked around.

There was a pillow fort still up with an ancient black and white television in the back, in front of him laid a desk with a vinyl player on top. Eggman spaced out and crossed his arms, refusing to take a single step into the room, and Sonic did the same. Feels curiously took some rather girly notebooks out of a nearby drawer, eyes wide open as he read the name written on them.

This was Maria Robotnik's room, the place where she, a victim of the ARK massacre, lived.

The room was decrepit, forgotten, yet seemingly untouched like she simply vanished that day. Forgotten, hidden deep within the labyrinthic confines of the 50 year old space station. This was a feeling Sonic had upon learning about this back then, everyone’s eyes were on Eggman, as he stood above the legacy he buried in pounds of scrap metal. A legacy he tainted out of spite for him and everyone else.

“It’s OK now, let’s get… going…” Feels said as he quickly stood up and barged outside the room, but was stopped by Mist, maniacally looking at his own hands with a shaky breath.

“Mist… we all know you weren’t involved with this, right?” Sonic asked and tapped him on the shoulder, only to flinch again, this time forced into a combative position as Mist began growling.

“Maybe this tragedy reminded him of something else,” Eggman rubbed his moustache with a brow raised, then shrugged, “But making assumptions about people's pasts is quite rude, you know?”

“Guess you’re right,” Feels said as he dropped the paper, which he kept in hand until now. "But something about this still scares me, to think the monster who killed her is running free-"

“True, he just blew up an orphanage the other day,” Sonic shook his fist, looking the other way. He knew who he was talking about.

"Don't you know? Shadow killed that child! He's capable of ending it all!" Feels asked.

“Yeah, and I’ve heard he eats puppies,” Sonic mocked.

“Don’t take this too lightly, you don’t know what GUN is hiding, they’ve made several of them, bioweapons designed for war. For all I know we’re being sent on this suicide mission for finding out!” Feels yelled.

Mist grabbed his chest, something about Feels’ words helped bring something that was trapped inside his mind, still unable to come out.

“As I said, making assumptions about people’s pasts is quite rude,” Eggman stepped in, “But I guess you don’t keep up with the news often, quite expected from someone who got sentenced about a decade ago.”

“Listen, he was created to cure Maria’s illness, it was GUN’s soldiers who massacred the ARK’s scientists in fear of him,” Sonic explained, “but I’ll let you feel your way to the correct answer, how ‘bout it?”

The past was the least of his worries as Mist felt something had been following them from the start, as they entered a large room. Countless books and papers were scattered all over the damp floor, the amount of shelves indicating it was a library or school of sorts. Only the Master Emerald managed to light up the otherwise pitch-black room, a miracle knowing they weren't equipped with any flashlights.

The Master Emerald began emitting a blinding glow and two green eyes shone from the darkness behind them. Liquid began pouring from every crack in the room, attracted by the magnetic field of a metallic headpiece with three fin-like quills, one protruding at the top, two falling from the sides, forehead adorned with GUN’s logo. Its liquid body began to grow larger, its form taking up half of the room and blocking the entrance. Something about the beast seemed instantly familiar, especially to Sonic and Eggman.

It was an Artificial Chaos.