Chapter Text
We crept around Riverbase, trying to see what the aliens had done with the people. From what we could tell, the civilians were locked indoors while the aliens patrolled the streets. At least casualties seemed minimal so far.
As the sun sank westward, we gained the southern reaches of the Great Forest. That was when we discovered that we had been followed.
Every time we teleported, the Chaos Emeralds emitted a small pulse of chaos energy. Three aliens clad in gold armor and cloaking devices had apparently followed us for miles. As we entered the Great Forest, they attacked us.
They could not have attacked a more formidable trio.
I am an assassin, as you know. Knuckles's preferred method of exercise is digging tunnels through rock with his fists. And the Hedgehog's terror had turned him into an utter loon. He tore into the aliens in a spindash, screaming, "See how you like it!" He held his alien's complete attention with a whirlwind of attacks. I recognized the speed; he used to fight me like that. I did not envy the alien.
The other two aliens came after me, perhaps sensing the presence of the emerald in my pack. First I ducked between them, seized their weapons, and tried to tear them out of their hands. But these aliens had their firearms chained to their armor. Curses. One grabbed me by the right arm, its hands burning into my biometal. I slung it over my head in a judo throw, smashing it to the ground on its back. As it scrambled to right itself, I turned to deal with the other alien, only to have it club me with the butt of its gun.
I fell with a dent in the top of my head. It infuriated me that these creatures always managed to injure me. Not even Robo Knux can do that. I swiped at its nearest ankle and nearly cut to the bone. Molten blood splattered the ground. To my chagrin, it stomped my already scarred leg with its bleeding foot, letting its blood burn me further. I fought and twisted, trying to escape.
The alien whom I had knocked down now grabbed me and stretched out my right arm. It pulled a knife from a hilt in its armor. They planned to cut off my arm for the rune?
Fortunately I was not alone or things might have gone badly. Knuckles walked up behind the alien standing on my leg and tapped it on the shoulder. It turned, and he punched it in the face so hard that I heard its skull crack. It flew over me and collided with the knife alien. They fell in a heap. Knuckles tore into them with his plasma sword, and stabbed them until the sword burned out and both aliens were very dead.
The Hedgehog stooped over me and offered his hand. I took it and slowly stood up. I had just accepted help from the Hedgehog. The world must indeed be going insane. But this was no time for old feuds ... my leg was even more injured than before. I waited for my biometal to heal around the hardening lava-splatters, then ran a diagnostic. Thirty percent of the nanites in my skin had been destroyed. The nerves, however, had not. Putting weight on it was exceedingly painful.
The Hedgehog and Knuckles were panting, but much calmer than they had been all day. Perhaps it had been the tension of pursuit that had so unmanned the Hedgehog, for his eyes had lost the crazy glint. He peered at my leg. "Dang, Mecha, that looks awful."
"It is very uncomfortable," I said through my teeth. "Perhaps we should teleport to Knothole rather than walk?"
"We can't stay there, though," said Knuckles. "The aliens wanted the Chaos Emerald. They must be tracking them somehow. We can't lead them to Knothole."
"You lack the technology to repair me," I said. "I have no need to remain in Knothole and shall move on. You two, however, lack my stamina. Night approaches and you need shelter."
The Hedgehog dug a finger into his ear. "I must be hearing things. I thought I just heard Mecha being considerate."
Knuckles punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Oh shut up." Knuckles offered me his arm. "Let me help you, Mecha. We'll go ahead and teleport." His voice was kind. Strange how a little kindness on my own part is reciprocated tenfold by those around me.
The Hedgehog teleported us to Knothole village. Knothole was in a quiet uproar. It was deathly quiet, yet people ran here and there, carrying weapons and looking frightened.
Knuckles and the Hedgehog helped me to Tails's workshop and helped me to sit in a chair. Then they departed to contact Sally and discover what was happening. Tails and the Tornado were not in Knothole, and the workshop was overly warm from the sun beating on it all day. I guessed that the Hedgehog and Knuckles still thought of me as a robot, and thus did not realize that I, too, enjoyed the comforts of indoors.
Well, one cannot have everything. I settled down to rest while I could, and let my body begin reconstruction of the damaged material in my leg.
I awoke two hours later. Outdoors it was dark, and Tails was rolling open his garage door to allow the Tornado to enter. It clanked inside like an obedient dog, and parked itself in its corner. "Hello Mecha," it said to me. "Query: are you injured?"
"Mecha?" gasped Tails, dashing in and looking for me. "Where?" He spotted me and grinned. He dashed to my side. "I didn't know you were here! How come you're in here and not with the others? What happened to your leg?"
"Aliens are invading Mobius," I said acidly. "That is what happened to my leg. And 'the others' put me in here. I assume that their discussion is classified." I would like to be kinder to Tails, really. But his friendliness is so overwhelming that I always feel compelled to knock him down a little. I am not the greatest invention since nano-robotic neural integration.
Tails inspected my leg, bending close but not touching it. "Looks like you burned it. Was it plasma?"
"Alien blood," I said. "Their core temperature is over four hundred degrees."
"Wow." Tails dashed to his workbench, rummaged among the objects there, and returned with a metal can. "This is nanite repair paste," he said, thrusting it under my nose. "I can paint it on your leg if you want."
Like I said, his helpfulness is annoying. I almost told him no, but I was curious to see if the paste might work. "Yes, please do," I said with a sigh.
The paste provided instant relief from the pain. Tails brushed it on gently with a paintbrush, trying not to hurt my burns any worse. It had a sharp chemical smell.
"I'm glad Sonic's back," said Tails as he worked. "Him and Knuckles got sent out by GUN, and it was really dangerous. I was down in Sapphire City from this morning, remember? I barely got back. Riverbase got captured, and they're saying that the Black Arms will march on New Mobitropolis in the next few days. At least they're not killing people the way Leviathan did."
"Is there any news of Shadow?" I asked.
"Not really," said Tails. "People say they've seen him with the aliens, but we're not for sure."
With the aliens. I wondered bitterly if he had completely sided with them, or if it was only Mekion making him act. I also wondered if Shadow had succeeded in locating the other Chaos Emeralds. Would he truly give them to Black Doom, or keep them for himself? I wished that I could predict his actions, but he had become so random that I could not.
Tails screwed the cap back on the can of paste. "How's your leg feel?"
"Better," I admitted, rotating my ankle. "That is a remarkable substance."
"I made it," said Tails, puffing out his chest. "I use it to repair the Tornado's nanotech parts."
"Fascinating," I said, rising to my feet. "Thank you, Tails, but I must depart now."
I walked outdoors. Tails followed me. "Why not stick around, Mecha? It'd be great if you helped us."
"I will help you more by departing," I replied. "Ask the Hedgehog why. But I shall perhaps return afterwards, when the war is over."
"Okay." Tails's ears flattened, and he stood and watched as I strode into the woods.
Once alone, I missed his company, annoying as it was. Being alone is a lonesome circ*mstance. I missed Aleda sharply. As I walked, I queried the ARK and summoned a satellite photo of Waterhall. It still looked undamanged, but the Black Arms may hold it and I would never know.
I breathed on my pendant. The arrow ignited, pointing due north. Its color had changed to red. Perhaps I was at last drawing closer to the Master Designer.
I traveled all night, leaving Knothole far behind. The trackless woods hindered my speed, so I kept to the outskirts, where I could run from time to time, as well as watch for Black Arms. I did not detect any, but I guessed that as soon as I used my Chaos Emerald, they would descend on me like locusts.
Toward dawn my leg began to hurt again, and fatigue swept over me. Pain seems to magnify exhaustion, I have noticed. I considered sleeping there on the ground, but the idea of being attacked while resting was unappealing. I made note of the spot, then teleported back to my base in the Ice Cap mountains.
It was cold, dark, and untouched by enemies. I wanted only to rest. I limped toward my quarters, and flicked the base with a cursory scan as I went.
Lifeform ping. Mekion.
I halted and re-scanned. Was I mistaken or was Shadow actually here? My second scan showed him on his bunk in his old room.
I rished to the door and threw it open. "Shadow," I exclaimed, "what are you doing here?" I wanted to add, "And if you are here, where is Black Doom?" but restrained myself.
Shadow lay on his metal side with Nox beside his head. He slowly sat up, his living ear flattened, almost pleading. "I used to live here. I needed somewhere to spend the night."
His fur was dirty, his metal tarnished and grimy. Mekion's eye was no longer a red iris. It was a series of red and orange lines, as if bearing witness to his instability. Nox was dirty, too, especially his feet. My eyes moved to the shelf above Shadow's head, where lay the two blue Chaos Emeralds, the red, and the orange. So he was collecting them. My worst fears were confirmed. I felt as if my synthetic heart had just been crushed inside of me. "Are you working for Doom?" I asked.
"No!" Shadow exclaimed, stiffening and clenching his fists. His eyes darted from side to side. "I have to ... have all seven .. to defeat him!"
Oh Shadow, you have always been a lame liar. He stared at me defiantly, and I gazed back at him. My creation and my slave, now enslaved to another. When would it all end? And why did he think that he had to lie to me? Perhaps he was also lying to himself.
I stepped into the room and sat on the bunk across from him. "Shadow, there are things that you must know." My eyes lingered on Nox. At least he had not let anything happen to his chao.
"Where's Aleda?" Shadow asked, noticing my look.
"Safe," I said, and began a summary of the Black Arms invasion. I told him which cities I had seen them capture, what structures they destroyed, and how if they received the Chaos Emeralds, they would capture the rest of Mobius with ease. I concluded with the only solution I could see; that either Shadow or the Hedgehog used the Chaos Emeralds to destroy the Black Comet.
"Did you know that Dr. Robotnik is repairing the ARK?" Shadow said suddenly.
We stared at each other. That explained the ARK's satellite support. Perhaps the Eclipse Cannon was also operational?
I rose and touched the four Chaos Emeralds. "Three emeralds left," I observed. "Do you know where they are?"
He shook his head. I told him. Then I added, "When you have acquired the other two, I will give you mine. But you must not let them fall into enemy hands."
He nodded, his eyes like stone. "Never. Thank you, Mecha."
I rose to my feet and limped to the door. I paused there and looked back at him. "So much is at stake, and I can do next to nothing. If you need help, do not hesitate to ask." I raised my right arm and displayed my rune. "This allows me to use chaos energy like a Mobian. I believe that I even know how to restrain Mekion temporarily."
Shadow smiled a little. "He still has the three laws. I saw them."
I actually smiled in return. "That is good news." I turned to leave.
Shadow called after me, "I'll save Mobius, Mecha. Black Doom's still not as good at chaos as I am."
"I know," I said, and left him.
He teleported away before I reached my room. I flung myself on my bunk and surrendered to sleep. There was nothing else I could do.
I awoke hours later, refreshed. The pain in my leg had subsided to a dull ache. My nanite skin was forty-seven percent repaired, although the hardened alien blood remained embedded in my tissue. I would have to surgically remove it later. In the meantime, my blue metal leg was now mottled with silver and black. I hoped that I would not have to do any strenuous running today, for I doubted that my leg would hold out against such activity.
I ate some cold rations, and teleported back to the spot in the forest that I had left. It was one PM, and the sun was high overhead. The tree canopy was full of birds marking their territories with audio projection, and the air was just over eighty degrees. My scans detected no aliens, but if they were hunting Chaos Emeralds, then they were probably on their way already. I checked my pendant and set out.
As I walked, I brooded about Shadow. Where was he now? What crimes had he committed while I slept? Had he already given the emeralds to Doom? Why did Doom want the Chaos Emeralds, anyway? To power a superweapon, I supposed dismally. Or open a portal to their home planet and summon the rest of his civilization. A ruler who possessed all the emeralds could rule indefinitely.
My thoughts turned to Melchizedek and the Master Designer. Charr had said that Melchizedek was waging constant war for the inhabitants of Mobius. Would he let Mobius fall to an invading host? I doubted it. But so far it seemed that he had done little to prevent it. If Melchizedek was the Master Designer, then I would be disappointed. I was expecting a God, a being of infinite power and knowledge. Melchizedek was only a hedgehog. A gifted hedgehog, it is true, but only a hedgehog.
The arrow led me north, up the Great River and across its floodplain, into the trees beyond that. By now I was miles beyond New Mobitropolis, out in the wilderness. Silvaline was the next town, thirty miles off. The forest was dense and wild, and my scans detected many wild nonsentient animals. Once I met a bear as I circled a huge boulder. We looked at each other in surprise. I brandished my claws and snarled, and the bear ran for its life. I was in no mood to be trifled with. I had never been on good terms with nature, and this forest, with its reaching branches, blackberry vines to stumble over, and brambles to scratch my skin, was making me hate it worse than usual.
The forest opened up, and I stepped out onto the bank of the Great River. It flowed blue and sparkling beneath the sun, and on its far bank-
I stared and clutched my pendant. But there was no more need of direction. I had arrived.
Standing on the far side of the river was a temple. But not a poor, imitation temple like that of Mun-Icytho. This was a vast building in the midst of the trees that soared eight stories in the air. My scans showed, to my disbelief, that it was made mostly of gold. It had seven tall, needle-like towers, each set with crystal windows that flashed in the sun like prisms. It was intimidating, yet it had a curious appeal that drew me toward it. Why was such a fantastic structure in the middle of an uninhabited wilderness? What would I find inside?
I plunged recklessly into the river and floundered across-I do not swim well, and the current hindered me at the center-but at last I gained the far side. Dripping wet, I hurried to the temple doors.
They were made of a white, glassy substance, and set with colored jewels. They were many times taller than I, and I stood on the doorstep, hesitant to touch them. What would I encounter when I entered this place? Another imposter-god like Mun-Icytho, and fanatical followers? Or the Master Designer himself? My logical mind wanted to insist that this was another fake, but my body said otherwise. Power radiated through those doors like white-hot heat, and it made every fiber tremble within me.
Suddenly I was terrified. My purpose for finding the Master Designer was to discuss how I had plagiarized his design of organic life with the model I had built within my biomechanical body. I had hoped that he would be merciful to me, but feared that he would not. Now that fear rose and engulfed me. On the threshold of discovery, I was frozen in panic. What if my death waited on the other side of these doors?
Under my fear, however, a cold, rational part of me knew that if anyone ever deserved death, it was me. Foul, evil killing machine that I am. I should have been destroyed years ago, and each time that my body was damaged seemingly beyond repair, it should have been the last. Yet someone always repaired me.
I looked at the engravings on the white doors, and at the way the sun illuminated rainbows in their surface. Like pearl. With that observation came the memory of Melchizedek telling me that I could not help Shadow until I found the Master Designer. I could not help Shadow if I was dead. Therefore, perhaps I was not meant to die just yet. I laid a hand on the white door and pushed.
It swung open on silent hinges. Inside was a vast open space filled with colored light. The sunlight was refracted into rainbows as it fell through the crystal windows. The floor was tiled with white marble and gold, and it all combined into blinding brightness. I thought I saw someone standing in the midst of the light, but I was not certain. The light defied my scanners, washing out their signals. Squinting, I stepped inside the temple and let the door close behind me.
"Welcome, Mecha-bot two," said a voice. "Do not be afraid. Your journey is at an end at last."
The light changed, and I looked.
Then I fell flat and covered my face. I had glimpsed, in that one instant, both perfection and infinity. The being before me was so perfect that his very perfection threatened to incinerate me like impurities from refined metal. His infinite mind was like falling forever into deep space.
My terror was far worse than when I had stood at the door. Then it had been fear of the unknown. Now I knew what I feared. A God was so far beyond my experience-so far outside my world-that I wanted to run, to hide. To escape from that horrible perfection that revealed in me every disgusting thing. I wished that he would slay me on the spot and end my suffering. I huddled there on the floor in a pathetic heap and waited for the end, unable to even look up.
I felt a touch on my shoulder. "Rise, Mecha," said the voice. "Do not fear."
I risked another look. Standing over me was not the glorious being of light, but Melchizedek.
I shakily climbed to my feet. "What happened?" I asked. "Where did the God go?" Then I looked into Melchizedek's eyes. In them I saw eternity. Suddenly I seemed to see him on multiple planes. On one he was a hedgehog, but on others he was God, shining and splendid, attended by a million lesser beings of light on all sides. I blinked and the vision passed.
I fell to my knees. "Forgive me, Master," I begged. "I've been so blind ..."
He smiled and lifted me to my feet. "You had to make your journey, Mecha. It took a long time to prepare you for this moment."
"But ..." I looked around the golden temple, still full of light and rainbows. "Why not inform me when I was with you in Viperdale?"
His smile warmed me like the touch of the sun. "You would not have believed me. Besides, you were able to assist Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Shadow. Had you remained with me, that would not have happened."
"What about Aleda?" I asked. "Will I ever get her back?"
"In time," said Melchizedek. "First, we must do much to ensure that you can assist Shadow. He will be here in two hours to ask for your Chaos Emerald."
Despite the warmth of the light, I suddenly felt cold. "He has the other six?"
"He will shortly," said Melchizedek. "First, there is an issue that we must resolve. I believe you had a copyright dispute?" He looked at me with the utmost gravity.
I wanted to fall and cover in my acute embarrassment. Next to the creative power of such a being, my own scientific achievements were nothing. "Yes," I said, staring at the floor. "I copied your design in my attempts to make myself more organic. I ... am at fault. I beg your pardon, or barring that, I will accept whatever punishment you deem suitable."
He knew this already. He had followed me across Mobius on my quest. If he had been going to kill me for it, why not back then?
I looked up and saw compassion in those infinite eyes. "I forgive you," he said quietly. "What is more, I shall adopt you into my own family."
"But I belong to Robotnik," I said hopelessly.
Melchizedek grinned suddenly. "Not anymore." He held up a stack of papers, and I recognized Dr. Robotnik's signature at the bottom.
The sight staggered me. "Where did you get those?"
"I bought you for a great price," said Melchizedek. He placed his hand on my forehead, and I felt a warm swell of power. "I now mark you with my name," he said. "The Dark Ones can no longer touch you." He withdrew his hand, and took my right hand. He examined my chaos rune. "This has completely healed. We have much to do before Shadow arrives."
He was still Melchizedek, but a deeper, richer version that I had never known. It was as if I could finally see him in sharp focus. He wore his hedgehog form like a robe to hide his brightness, but it was always there underneath. After he marked me, my lingering terror was replaced by awe. I belonged to the God of the Universe, the Master Designer.
I showed him my two powers; the electron control and the time travel. He told me their names. Controlling an electron was Chaos Pierce, and time travel was Chaos Shift. I could initiate either by speaking the command. Chaos Piercing was fairly straightforward, and he said that I had already mastered it. But Chaos Shifting put the person in a null-time space where all times were the present. But, being a creature of a time-space universe, remaining in null-time would eventually freeze my heart and kill me if I remained too long. But the longer I remained in null-time, the further back or forward I could see.
We had barely completed this training when the front door opened, and Shadow entered. It took me a moment to recognize him, however. He wore a black, scaley bodysuit through which his spines protruded, giving him the look of a Black Arms alien with spiky hair. A barely-visible forcefield shielded his face. "Mecha?" he said, standing on the threshold of the temple. His eyes rested on me alone, ignoring the glory of the temple all around us. I looked at Melchizedek, and suddenly understood. Shadow could not see any of it. To him this was only a clearing in the woods. I walked up to him. "Shadow?"
I stopped just out of his reach. Mekion's arm twitched. His robotic eye was now a series of dancing colored patterns, like a fractal. Shadow himself was even grimier than he had been that morning, and his suit stank of alien. His living eye was dull and dead. "Mecha," he said, but hesitated and looked down. He held the orange Chaos Emerald in one hand.
I felt compassion for him. My poor creation, still suffering. I said, "You've come for the last Chaos Emerald, haven't you?"
He nodded and began explaining. He told me about how Doom was using him to find the emeralds against his will, and how Mekion kept seizing control and making him kill people. He told me how Doom had taken Nox, how Mekion had broken the Hedgehog's jaw, and how Shadow had been trying to destroy the GUN commander's walker. Now Doom was keeping Nox was insurance against the retrieval of the last emerald. Shadow was at his wits' end and desperate to the point of violence.
I retrieved my violet Chaos Emerald from where it lay on the temple floor, and returned to Shadow, steeling myself for the task at hand. "I have to do something about Mekion," I said. "Otherwise he will make you do something that you will regret."
"What can you do?" said Shadow, despair evident in the way his shoulders slumped.
"I have located the Master Designer, Shadow," I said, holding up my rune-covered wrist. "He also taught me many things about chaos power. My own unique powers in particular." He looked quizzical, and I smiled. "The ability to modify machines is one of them. Please lie down."
He threw himself down on the floor. I knelt beside him, pressed my hand through the forcefield over his face, and touched his forehead. "Chaos pierce," I whispered.
Mekion screamed and Shadow writhed. I retained my grip on him and drilled my electrons into the semi-organic nano-neural structure of Mekion. Mekion sent those data-devouring dogs after me, but I erased their coding even as they appeared. I had no user shell for them to target. His alien security algorithm tried to lock down my activity, but I was not a program; I was the electricity that fed his programs. I slipped through Mekion's defenses like water through a grate, and found the tangled coding that formed the kernel of the alien malware. There was no time to unravel it, so I simply fenced it in with infinite loops and dead-end strings. Mekion would break out of such things eventually, but it would buy Shadow time.
I attacked Mekion himself. He fought back with power surges that absorbed my electrons, but I simply grabbed more. His consciousness was independent of the software. How curious. Removing him would be extremely difficult. But I could lock him down. I erased his code-bridges between himself and Shadow's brain, reducing his control percentage to zero.
I released my control and sat back, panting and shivering. That had been more difficult than I had anticipated. "I have temporarily imprisoned him," I told Shadow. "He was able to fight me, which should not be possible."
I helped him sit up. Shadow's robot eye was dark, but his living eye was alight with new hope. He flexed both hands. "Thank you, Master."
I flinched. "Please, do not return to calling me that." I rose and fondled my Chaos Emerald. I did not wish to part with it.
Shadow stood up. "I should get back."
I looked at him. "Shadow, I must ask. Are you handing the emeralds over to Doom?" I asked because I wanted a direct answer. If he lied to me again, then so be it.
He looked down a moment, then up at me. "At this point, I have no choice. He has Nox."
At least he was truthful. I placed the emerald in his hands and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Than I shall come with you."
