Groggily, I opened my eyes. I think ‘Chaos Burst’ has now been rather firmly added to my list of least favorite attacks to experience. Looking around, I was confused to see that we seemed to be back on the X-Tornado, though it was a relief to see all my friends, who, like myself, seemed to still be alive and stirring (if more bruised in some cases than others). I had really been thinking that was going to be it for me and my friends, but apparently we had been spared yet again. Though, what that meant I wasn’t sure. Honestly, I didn’t have a great feeling about some of the possibilities.
A quick glance out one of the viewing windows showed me that, fortunately, there still seemed to be an Earth, though whether that was now only going to be a short-term thing, I didn’t know. Another look showed the ARK Station was still fully intact, floating ominously in space, and seemingly a pretty fair distance away. I had a feeling that even if we turned around right now…we wouldn’t be in time to stop whatever was about to happen next.
Unfortunately, I could tell my now fully awake companions were realizing the same thing, as they looked around themselves in first confusion, then increasing alarm. Amy though was the first to speak:
“Sonic, what….?”
However, she didn’t have time to say anything further as one of the ship’s communications consoles suddenly activated, displaying Shade standing, alone, next to the cannon’s powering matrix, just a short distance away from her purple Emerald, which was now fixed firmly in place in the powering matrix and already glowing brightly.
…….Dang…..looks like we…really failed…this time……Even I didn’t see how my team could pull off one of our last second saves now.
Meanwhile, the image of Shade studied us all for a moment (her earlier tears now apparently dried up, even if the sorrow obviously remained). It was clear she could see us and was making use of some kind of video system on the station and, of course, the one Tails had installed in our own ship. The same mix of sadness and determination that we had seen on her so many times before was still there, though much greater than before.
“I’m sorry.”
Yeah, Shade, so are we. I thought but just didn’t have the energy to say right now. A glance to my side saw the same sad acceptance on the faces of my friends, who I think had also come to the same realization I had that…yeah, it didn’t look like we were going to pull out a win this time. Honestly, whatever might have been Shade’s real intention in not finishing us off in the Eclipse Cannon’s central chamber, if, as it looked like, we’d essentially been spared…just to watch…it wasn’t any great kindness.
Meanwhile, Shade looked away from us for a moment before again fixing us with that same look of sadness and pained resolve that had become so characteristic of her.
“I didn’t want any of you to be involved in this and I’m sorry I had to use such drastic measures to ensure that you wouldn’t be any longer…not when it matters…not when I need to do…what I need to do…what needs to be done.”
I held in a sigh. I mean I wasn’t really angry with her, and seeing the same sad acceptance on the faces of my nearby friends, I thought they probably all felt the same. Even now, I can’t say that I really blame Shade for what it seems she was about to do. I mean obviously she was going to be responsible for something…horrible…more horrible than I think anything me or my friends had yet experienced or had even imagined could happen…but I just didn’t have it in me to hate her or get angry at her for it….Instead, I just felt sad.
In a real sense, Shade was just as much the victim, in so, so many ways, as…soon it seemed would be…everyone else.
I think she could tell none of us really had the energy to respond…or seem inclined to shout out angry denunciations or hate towards her over the terrible action she seemed so committed to and on the very verge of enacting. She studied us for a long moment, as if committing each of us, particularly it seemed Amy…and Rouge…to memory.
“...It may be selfish of me…but I wanted you to know before…”
Her gaze drifted for a moment to the now obviously energized powering matrix, her expression weighed down with sadness, before looking back at us with her look returning to one of resolve, only more intensified.
“I wanted you to know that it’s NEVER been about obtaining the activation codes in order to fire the cannon, though I admit there were times…”
She looked a bit guilty for a moment before a look of annoyance also crossed her face.
“....and I also have to admit the doctor had certainly been hoping he might eventually get his hands on the cannon for his own purposes.”
Her look of annoyance deepened for a moment before fading.
“I just mainly needed to be sure I could charge it properly. That there would be enough energy to use, without having to take chances or waste too much time gathering other Chaos Emeralds…for what I needed to do.”
I think I and my friends were all puzzled at just what a weird and unexpected turn this had all taken before it seemed like something must have clicked for at least one of them.
“GIRL, NO!!!”
I turned, surprised to see Rouge looking pale and more upset than I could ever recall seeing her. Meanwhile, I saw Tails also suddenly give off a look of horrified understanding.
“Sonic!! I think Shade is going to….”
He didn’t get a chance to finish as Shade cut back in…looking almost pleased.
“I see you finally understand what I need to do.”
To be honest, I still didn’t really get it…but I was already very sure that I wouldn’t like it.
“....But, like I said, I guess I’m being a bit selfish, because I wanted you all to know why first.”
She took another look at the powering matrix and, it seemed, the whole station, equal parts wistful, angry, and sad.
“If it weren’t for the time I had here with Dr. Gerald and Maria, I’d say nothing good ever came from this station.”
My heart froze at her words….because…technically…I knew very clearly from the files I’d read that Shade came from this station, and her following words did nothing to dispel the concern the former had caused.
“...It’s cursed. Honestly, there have been times where I’ve wondered if I’m cursed.”
…Oh, Shade…don’t…don’t go down this direction. It’s something I so much wanted to say but just couldn’t seem to interrupt her for the moment.
“...Not a real ‘Mobian’, not a real ‘anything’ really…Just a weapon G.U.N. was preparing and then got upset over when they thought they might not be able to control it…and everyone I ever cared about suffered because of that…because of me.”
And, suddenly I thought I knew where this was going and was just as horrified as my other two friends. Meanwhile, she smiled…and for a moment…it seemed genuine.
“But this will fix that….The station won’t be able to be the cause of harm to anyone ever again…” Then, she sighed…her earlier smile dimming. “...and I guess I won’t either.”
The earlier mix of sadness and resolve had returned to her face, though it mainly leaned towards resolve now. This…this however was enough. Neither I nor any of my other friends could hold in their words anymore.
“Shade, DON’T!!! I’m not sure I entirely understand where you are going with this but I think I understand enough. You are just as much a real Mobian as any of us here, no matter what anyone else may have said or thought. And the only ones to blame for what happened on that station are G.U.N. You are not responsible for that at all and are anything but just some ‘weapon’ or some ‘cursed’ thing. We all may have only known you for a short time but we can tell you are a good person…and we care about you. So, PLEASE, Don’t Do what it seems like you are thinking of doing.”
I tried to plead with my expression just as much with my words that she reconsider what it seemed she was about to do…something different, yet in its own way, just as horrible as what I’d first thought she’d been set on.
“Yeah, girl. Just like Blue here said, you’re amazing. Seriously, probably the most badass girl I know, and that’s even counting myself. Don’t…don’t just throw all that away because of some G.U.N. trash and their trashy actions…Please…Girls, girls like us…we have to stick together.”
Though it seemed Rouge had managed to calm herself somewhat from her earlier outburst…her pleading…her desperation to have Shade not do what it seems she was about to seemed to eclipse my own pleading…as if the loss it seems we were all about to experience would only be the more deep and painful in her case. Some important connection my bat friend had formed with the purple-black hedgehog that none of the rest of us were really aware of or could fully appreciate would be ripped away from her.
“Shade…”
I actually felt some relief, hearing that Amy had now decided to speak up. Though I had seen Shade react, at least somewhat, to my own words and even seem to become particularly distressed at hearing from Rouge, well, it seemed that Amy out of all of us might have the most sway. And, seeing Shade flinch and begin to look really uncomfortable at the sound of Amy’s voice, I just couldn’t but hope that maybe.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“...like my friends have said…we care about you and are so sorry about all the things that happened. You are clearly a very special hedgehog and person, and I’m glad that I’ve gotten to know you, even if just for a short while so far. Just wait for a moment. I’m sure Tails can turn this ship around, and we can come pick you up and go somewhere much better. You never have to see or think about this place again. Just let it rust out here…another piece of unimportant space debris. It doesn’t have to be a part of your life anymore.”
I was unsurprised to see that, at some point, Tails had actually already made it to the ship’s main console and was clearly hurriedly trying to arrange just such a thing. And, I certainly had no intention of stopping him (he really was a good kid). Meanwhile, it looked like that, just as I’d hoped, Amy had had an effect on Shade. The formerly angry, sad, miserable hedgehog looked happy, even peaceful, her attention now mainly focused on my pink friend.
“You are so much like her, Amy. And, it really makes me happy to know that there is someone out there like you…” Amy and, I think, all of us began to give a cautious smile in return. “...who can enjoy the life Maria and I really wanted to share on Earth.”
I think all of our smiles fell at that, sensing it wasn’t the answer we’d been hoping for. Shade’s smile began to dim a bit as well.
“I really wish that had been a possibility, though, again, knowing that you and all your friends will be able to enjoy it, safely, that makes me happy.”
….Dang, I’d really hoped for a moment there.
“Shade, please we can…”
Amy’s renewed attempt to move Shade away from her apparent course of action was cut off harshly.
“Amy, the whole station is trapped. It’s just one big, terrible trap left behind by Dr. Gerald…my father…meant to ensure that the entire Earth eventually felt his own pain.”
I think we all froze at those words. Her expression had again become sad though also remained determined.
“My…father…” and though this was something we’d never heard her say before this moment, it seemed she was finally willing to openly admit something we’d all assumed she probably thought.
“...the death of his granddaughter…my sister…” In contrast to Shade’s expression at all the other times this event had been touched on, she only looked sad…but also happy. It was clear that, for the moment, she was instead only focused on the relationship she had finally openly given voice to in words.
“...and my own mistreatment and imprisonment…it broke him.”
We all just listened now.
“He became obsessed with getting revenge, with making sure that the ones who had wronged him and, more importantly, those who he loved would experience the same pain we did….eventually…that everyone would come to share that same pain…of losing everything they ever cared about.”
Shade’s face had become very somber…and sad.
“...The incredible suffering he experienced as well as his old age and mistreatment after the ARK Incident…it clearly drove him insane. I know that my father wouldn’t have thought or believed such things if he had been thinking anything like himself or in a rational state of mind. He was…and will always be a good man.”
Her sadness dimmed a moment in favor again of resolve and certainty.
“...Which is why I have to do this. Because before his death…his execution…” Shade’s face hardened momentarily. “...during the time G.U.N., the fools, thought they could exploit a little bit more of my father’s genius before they ‘retired’ him, he ensured that he would be the one to have the last laugh…as misguided as his actions ultimately were.”
Shade looked straight back at us.
“What my father did was to upload several sleeper programs into the ARK Station. They’ll ensure that on the preset date he chose, April 16th, the day of Maria’s, and my, birthday, of this year, the station will reactivate and use its thrusters to slam into the Earth. At that speed and with the station’s mass and the various explosive and toxic elements contained within it, the damage would be cataclysmic. I’m sure almost no one on Earth would be capable of surviving, and the entire planet would likely remain uninhabitable for some time, maybe forever.”
I think we were all in shock at this revelation…that this kind of threat had just been “hanging” over us, with apparently almost no one the wiser. And, April…April was just a few months away.
“The only reason my father even waited that long…was…”
Shade paused for a moment…clearly in pain.
“....was because he didn’t want to take the opportunity away from me….the chance to carry out his, ‘our’, revenge personally. The sleeper programs are actually his ‘backup’ plan, in case I couldn’t escape soon enough to do it. His actual plan was that I would be the one to fire the cannon after I eventually escaped or was released from stasis. He told me as much through what I can only guess was some type of implanted memory. But in case you might have been hoping, now that I’m on the station, I’ve verified that the programs are actually there. It wasn’t just a dream…as much as it would have been better if it actually had been.”
The bitterness on Shade’s face was obvious. The thought that her last ‘interaction’ with the man she so clearly loved and thought of as her father would be something so twisted…so far from anything that it should have been. That she would have to live burdened with the expectation from the one she so clearly valued that she would do, would want to do, such a thing. I was aghast…and I doubted any of my friends felt differently.
“...But, though there were times I admit I almost wanted to do what he had asked, what he expected me to want so very much that it would be ‘stealing’ the opportunity from me if he didn’t at least give me a chance to accomplish it….I knew it wasn’t what he, Maria…or I…would truly ever want, and I don’t want his memory or Maria’s to be dishonored by such a thing or for anyone to have to suffer such a fate.”
The bitterness left her face, and she once again assumed her expression of determination.
“Anyways, the ARK Station is very nearly a fortress. Actually, it basically is a space fortress. Among other things, it was intended to be able to protect the very sensitive…very illegal…projects and secrets it contained and still does from outside and possibly very hostile and powerful forces. The extent of the station’s defenses is unparalleled and wouldn’t have been fully revealed even in the records I expect you were able to access. But I can tell you, they are in actuality so formidable that the only reason you were even able to approach was, as I am sure you are already aware, because I let you and gave the stand down authorization to its automatic defenses when I was warned an unidentified ship was approaching the station. Despite the protections I’m sure your ship has, it was unlikely it would have been enough, and you and your ship would have all probably been destroyed by the station’s guns once you came too close.”
I think we all took a moment to digest that, that the only reason we probably weren’t space dust now, despite having thought we had a handle on the station’s defenses, while on our mission to ‘stop’ Shade, was because she had chosen to protect us (again).
“Attempting to destroy the station from the outside would be difficult to impossible…and pointless. My father ensured that if the station’s systems detected any serious threats to the station’s integrity, the sleeper programs would activate immediately, as would be the case if any serious tampering with the station itself were detected….It’s why I needed to keep this secret so carefully….If because of my words someone tried…and failed...to disable them or the station itself or didn’t take me seriously and began messing with the station in a way that would still trigger the hidden programs, the results would be too horrible to imagine.”
Shade’s expression however made it clear that she had indeed done some ‘imagining’ about that outcome. Meanwhile, I couldn’t help thinking to myself: ALL THIS TIME. From the moment she’d awoken from a fifty year stasis, in a sense, moments after the ARK Incident (depending on just how much she may have been aware during that period), after having learned of all that happened during her ‘sleep’, All This Time her ‘mission’, the thing she needed to do, and wouldn’t let anyone stop her from doing, no matter how much it hurt her to do so…had been this.
“Before you all arrived….in fact, it was why I hadn’t done anything already….we tried to see if the sleeper programs could be removed….The doctor, I’m sure, in no small part, so that he could be free to use the station’s cannon in a more ‘limited’ manner than the potential destruction of Earth.”
Her expression became annoyed again…and embarrassed.
“Unfortunately, he was the only one I was sure I could bring myself to trust with this secret in the end, the only I was sure would believe…would understand…just what lengths his grandfather would go to in his grief and anger or take my warning seriously enough and understand the necessary limits we would have to observe if we were even going to try to do something to remove the programs.”
I know I cringed at the thought that Eggman was apparently the only one she thought she could trust with this…and that she may have been right.
“...But just as we both feared, even with our knowledge of my father’s work, they’re practically impossible to remove, at least not without an unacceptable amount of risk.”
Shade paused for a moment, her expression becoming first sad, then happy, then something in between.
“....So that leaves one last option.” She looked over to the powering matrix, which seemed to be glowing even more brightly than before, and then looked back at us.
“....I need to be sure. Sure that no one else will be harmed by this station…or by my father’s misguided attempt at revenge.”
She sighed.
“So, I guess this is one last goodbye…Sonic, Tails, Knuckles...Amy…and…Rouge. I wish…I wish we could have had the opportunity to be friends…but please just go on and live the happy and good lives I know you are all capable of, ones just like Maria and I would have wanted.”
As Shade looked back at us, now having moved closer to the powering matrix, and the glow surrounding it and her beginning to heighten, I…just couldn’t find anything to say….didn’t know if there was anything I could say. Meanwhile, I could see that Amy…and Rouge were both crying and even Knuckles looked sad, while Tails…I’d have to talk to him about this later. The kid was, unsurprisingly, not taking it well.
Then, as the light was continuing to rise in intensity, Shade gave us one last message, as a corona of black, purple, and even now golden light began to surround her:
“Thank you all. It was really good to know you, and I am confident the Earth will remain safe in your care. And, I guess, besides the goodbye, I can also say this will be one last…
...CHAOS BURST!!!!!!!!!!!!”
As we stood there, stunned, Shade’s transmission cut out, though that held little of our attention as we witnessed a bright sphere of black, purple, and golden light suddenly surrounding the still distant ARK Station and then…nothing.
There was no station and no….Looking to my side, I saw that Tails had hurriedly turned back to the console, hitting a number of commands and studying the results intently before…slumping.
...and no…
I saw that Amy was still crying, though it seemed Rouge had mostly dried up, even if her eyes still glistened some. Knuckles for his part continued his same sad vigil, if a bit more solemnly.
I decided then that perhaps there was one last thing I could say:
“Goodbye, Shade.”