GeneX Generations
Chapter 8 - Shadows of the Past
Stage - City Escape, Final Rush, Cannon's Core - Sonic Adventure 2

Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and 
Sonic Team. You knew that, right?
GeneX and related fanchars are (c) 2BIT (TheGreatGator), the author.

"Live and learn!
Hanging on the edge of tomorrow.
Live and learn!
From the works of yesterday.
Live and learn!
If you beg or if you borrow.
Live and learn!
You may never find your way." - Live and Learn, Sonic Adventure 2


The story thus far:
Copter and Dimentime ventured into Lost World, joined by Officer Razor. Inside, they encountered Modern Dr. Eggman, who was perfectly fine, despite his past self having been kidnapped by the mysterious monster a short while ago. Eggman escaped deeper into the pyramid, and as Copter and the others pursued him, they spotted Mephiles's shadow passing ahead of them, as well! They caught up near SPOT, who was frozen like Razor and the others had been before. Mephiles took Bucky's shape and fought with Copter and Dimentime, until Razor freed SPOT, and the robot took Mephiles by surprise with a laser! Mephiles left with a remark about how it might be "more fun" to destroy all their friends at once, and the group resumed their search for Eggman. They found him examining a mural of Perfect Chaos, scanning it with his Egg Mobile. He then attacked them with his Egg Hornet, but they quickly managed to defeat him. On the way out, they were nearly crushed by a giant boulder, but Dimentime stopped it with magic power from his staff, which he had been concealing up until now. Outside Lost World, they reunited SPOT with Tails, while Sonic freed Cream & Cheese from their statues. The happy moments were interrupted, however, when gunshots were fired from the entrance to City Escape! Richard Gunner was there with his lackey, Spy, and he had managed to hit SPOT, damaging the robot! As Gunner escaped into the city, Sonic and Classic Sonic gave chase, and Copter and Dimentime weren't far behind. They weren't about to let Gunner get away with this!
Now, on to the next chapter!


As the two Sonics and the two Copters entered the city, climbing onto a high rooftop to get a view of their surroundings, they saw two big trucks speeding off in different directions. The trucks belonged to GUN, and robots were swarming out from the back of the trucks, so it seemed pretty obvious that Gunner was in command of them. "Can anyone else say trap?" Copter grumbled. Sonic shrugged. "So what?" he said. Dimentime nodded. "Gunner's not the most strategic military mind. He probably thinks just swarming us with robots will be enough." he said. Sonic chuckled. "Well, he'll have to call 'em off if we catch him. Let's split up and chase both those trucks! He's probably in one of 'em!" he suggested. Classic Sonic nodded in agreement. Copter groaned. "GUN robots... Am I doomed to spend my entire life fighting them?" he wondered. Sonic shrugged. "I dunno, probably." he joked. Copter was not amused. "Well, YOU'RE doomed to fight Eggman's robots!" he shouted. Sonic chuckled. "Bring 'em on!" he smirked. Dimentime and Copter shook their heads. "He's hopeless..." they muttered. Sonic found a metal board lying around nearby and picked it up. "This brings back memories... Well, catch ya later, guys!" he said, jumping off the building and using the board to ride his way into the city! The others watched him, and Classic Sonic jumped with excitement before taking off on foot. "What is WITH him?" Copter wondered. Dimentime shrugged. "At least he has fun. We used to have fun doing this. What happened?" he asked. Copter spun his tails and started towards the city streets. "Maybe we just need to rediscover the joy of trashing Gunner's toys! Let's go!" he grinned.

While Gunner drove his GUN truck through the city, he had company in the passenger seat. It wasn't Spy, though. It was Guard the Gargoyle, the android experiment created by Bucky and programmed to serve GUN. Gunner glanced at him briefly. "Guard, get out. Go and deal with the others. Sonic is mine! There are robots to assist you, but since when can we count on them? I've got a little surprise for Sonic..." he said. Guard grunted and opened the car door. Gunner wasn't about to stop the vehicle for him. "And shut the door behind you! This isn't a barn!!" Gunner shouted. "Grrr... Understood." Guard said, rolling his eyes. He jumped out of the truck, flapping his wings, and struck the door with the back of his scythe in order to close it! "Grrr... On my way..." he growled.

Meanwhile, Copter and Dimentime were busy doing what they do best, smashing the hapless GUN Beetles that dared to get in their way. Most were just the pathetic drones that didn't appear to have any combat capabilities at all, but a few were equipped with guns to shoot back at them. Copter swiftly dodged their shots and hit back with Chaos Whirlwind, knocking the round robot out of the sky! "Heh, you were right, Dimentime! This is fun! It's more like a shooting range than a death gauntlet! No poison chemicals, no crazy traps, and no Eggman!" he chuckled, enjoying himself. A few of GUN's Hunter robots dropped out of the sky suddenly, one of them landing right on top of Copter and knocking him over! "Yeow!! That was rude!!" he growled. As the robot targeted Copter with its laser, Classic Sonic suddenly fell onto its head and destroyed it, riding a skateboard! He landed his skateboard gracefully on the ground and kept going. "Show off!" Copter shouted. Suddenly, he heard a rumbling behind him. "What's that...?" he muttered, standing up. Dimentime pointed behind him. "Truck!! Out of the way!!" he shouted. Copter spun around, and was forced to fly for his life as one of the GUN trucks came speeding towards him, chasing after Classic Sonic! Copter managed to fly over the truck, while Dimentime ran out of the way entirely. Lucky for them, the truck smashed into the rest of the Hunter robots in the immediate area. "Where'd he get his license?" Copter muttered. Dimentime looked nearby and found a skateboard like the one Classic Sonic was using. "Let's roll!" he suggested, to which Copter raised an eyebrow. "Um... what??"

Driving that particular GUN truck was Spy, who was chasing Classic Sonic relentlessly on Gunner's orders. As Classic Sonic climbed an apparently incomplete structure, Spy rammed it with the truck repeatedly, sending it crashing down floor by floor! "Good thing this truck is built better than that building..." Spy muttered. Classic Sonic jumped to the nearest rooftop and made his way back down to the street, but Spy caught up fast! "This is one impressive truck! All right, pedal to the metal! Get that hedgehog!! ...If that's even possible..." he said, speeding up as much as the truck could go. However, Classic Sonic was heading off the street, and Spy suddenly found himself heading for a building. "Whoa!! Wait!! Turn!! This way? That way!? Aaaaaaaugh!!!!" The truck swerved out of control, and due to the excess speed it had built up, it fell over on to its side, crashing! Classic Sonic stopped to check on the crash, and Copter and Dimentime soon caught up with him, Copter riding the back of the skateboard while Dimentime did most of the steering. "That was a stupid idea, Dimentime..." Copter remarked. "We made it here, didn't we?" he said, looking at the crash. Spy struggled, but managed to open the door of the truck, and then sat hanging in the doorway for a moment. "Anyone gonna save me...?" he whimpered. Just then, the other GUN truck pulled up, and the window rolled down. "Spy, you're pathetic. Get in here, and be quick about it! If I don't get Sonic, I'll have your hide!" he shouted. Spy wriggled his way out of the truck and hustled to the other truck, panting the whole way. "Geez, I almost died... You'd think you'd cut me a LITTLE slack..." he muttered under his breath. "Can I turn on the radio at least?" he asked. Gunner rolled his eyes and tossed him a pair of headphones. "Why do I keep you around...?" he grumbled as he drove away. Copter, Dimentime, and Classic Sonic watched this, and realized they had to give chase. Classic Sonic quickly grabbed the skateboard and took off, leaving Copter and Dimentime to figure their own way of catching up. "Hey! What happened to yours!?" Dimentime shouted after him. Copter looked around. "Try the truck?" he suggested, running over to the back and prying it open. Securely tied up in the back were GUN motorcycles, and since they were tied up, they seemed to have survived the crash.

With the motorcycles, Copter and Dimentime managed to catch up with the GUN truck and Classic Sonic. Beetles and Hunter robots were flying around behind the truck, shooting at the trio to hinder their pursuit, but Copter and Dimentime shot back with Chaos Whirlwind whenever they could. However, as they neared the truck, an energy blast struck Copter's motorcycle from above! As it began to swerve out of control, Copter jumped out and started flying, heading towards the roof of the truck's cargo, but not without looking to see what had shot at him. He spotted Guard flying nearby, holding his scythe at the ready! "Grrrr! If it isn't Copter! Perfect! Now I can finish you!" he growled. Dimentime flew up to join them, leaving his motorcycle behind. Classic Sonic looked up with concern, but he had bigger troubles. The robots now only had him to focus on! Hopping off of the skateboard, Classic Sonic started to focus his attention on the GUN robots. The rest was up to the others. As Copter and Dimentime landed on the roof of the GUN truck's cargo, Guard joined them and glanced at Dimentime. "Gr? Two of you? Grrr, fine! I'll eliminate you both, once and for all!" he growled, swinging his scythe at them as they leapt out of the way! As they started fighting, Gunner kept driving, while Spy sang along with the music he was listening to. "Follow me! Set me free! Trust me and we will escape from the ci-ty! I'll make it through prove it to you! Follow me! ...Oh yeah! Danger is lurkin' around every turn! Trust your feelings, got to live and learn..." Annoyed by his off-key singing, Gunner snatched his headphones and tossed them on the floor. "Enough! Keep a look out for that furry freak!" he growled. Suddenly, Modern Sonic dropped from the sky and landed in front of the truck! Spy pointed nonchalantly. "Um... Look." he said. Gunner smirked. "Ah, finally! Now, Sonic... Allow me to give you a little haircut!! Courtesy of the modifications Ivo made!" he said, pulling a red lever off to the side of his seat. As Sonic ran from the truck, giant buzz saws popped out of a section of its cargo and extended towards him as Gunner sped up, attempting to either slice him or run him over! "Whoa!! This race just got interesting!" Sonic yelled. With less room to stand on the cargo and Gunner driving more wildly, the battle with Guard had just become even more dangerous. Copter and Dimentime carefully dodged his scythe swings, struggling to maintain their balance on the speeding vehicle. Guard was having trouble standing as well. "Guard!! We're all gonna get killed up here! Can't we take it someplace... stable!?" Copter shouted. "Grrrrr!! What's the matter, scared!?" Guard yelled, charging at Copter! Before he could reach him, however, Dimentime struck the gargoyle from the side with his staff, knocking him off balance and almost off the side of the truck! Guard flapped his wings and steadied himself, swinging his scythe to send energy blasts at the foxes while the truck made sharp turns around several corners! Copter and Dimentime grabbed each other's hands and dropped down for cover, dodging the blasts and staying on the truck, but putting themselves in a vulnerable position. However, Guard could see trouble for the truck ahead. The road was running out, and Gunner was about to attempt an insane maneuver in a last ditch effort to catch Sonic. "Grrr!!! Not good!!" Guard grunted, flying off the truck and attempting to get ahead as the buzz saws retracted. Copter and Dimentime saw what was coming, too, and realized they had to bail. "This truck is toast! Fly for your life!!" Copter yelled, spinning his tails and flying off, with Dimentime following. As Sonic sped up a wall, Gunner somehow managed to maneuver the truck to follow him, determined to flatten Sonic into a hedgehog pancake! "Aaaah!! Nooo!! What are you doing!? Moooommiiiiiiiieeee!!!" Spy screamed as Gunner laughed manically. "I'll smash you, you freak!! I'll SMASH YOOOOOU!!!" Sonic made his way to the end of the building he was running on and ducked into a low bridge, which meant the truck was going to crash! Before Gunner and Spy could be caught up in that crash, though, Guard swooped down to the truck, crashed through the window, and grabbed them both, saving them from the fiery crash that occurred seconds later! They were heavy for him, so he quickly dropped them on a nearby rooftop, Spy sobbing loudly the whole time. Gunner stomped his foot furiously at this failure. "Ivo! I should have known better than to trust your pathetic equipment!!" he growled, stomping off. "Let's go! I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!" he snapped. Copter and Dimentime landed a good distance behind the wreck of the GUN truck, and Classic Sonic was waiting for them there. "I think we've taught Gunner his lesson for today. Let's get outta here." Copter suggested. Classic Sonic gawked at the wreckage, as though wondering exactly what happened. Dimentime sighed. "Let's hurry, before Guard comes back for us..."

While Copter and Dimentime were resting from their ride atop the GUN truck, Sonic and Classic Sonic took a quick pass around the city to see if there was anyone lost there. Soon, Classic Sonic found Rouge frozen, and hurried to free her. She took a quick flight into the air to stretch, dropped back down, and looked at him. "Thanks, buddy. The thing that snatched me was like nothing I've ever seen before! Watch out! Come to think of it, you're nothing like the Sonic I've seen before..." she said. Classic Sonic shrugged and scratched his head, but then Modern Sonic showed up. "Hey, Rouge." he said, waving. She glanced at him and sighed. "Well, the more the merrier, I guess. You came to help me, too, right? Thanks, big blue! That's the first time I've ever been stolen..." Copter and Dimentime approached next, and Rouge scratched her head upon seeing two of him as well. "Ummm... Is there two of everyone? Is there two of me? 'Cuz I work alone." she said. Dimentime shrugged. "Well, there's only two of a few people, really..." he said. Modern Tails caught up with them next, but Classic Tails was nowhere in sight. "Hey buddy... Where's the other you?" Sonic asked. Tails glanced at Copter. "Punchy said that his plane is stuck in Green Hill Zone. A bunch of guys went to try to get it out, including the other me. He thought maybe the Tornado might be able to tow it or something." he explained. Rouge had a mischievous look. "Hey, is Knuckles there? Maybe I should drop in on him. Check on the status of a certain emerald..." she said. "The Master Emerald wasn't at the party, Rouge..." Tails muttered. "Like he'd leave it unguarded." Rouge replied. Suddenly, a blast of Chaos energy came at Sonic, nearly hitting him! It was a Chaos Spear, and as he looked around, he spotted Shadow lurking in the platforms above the entrance to the city! "Hmph!" Shadow jumped down and took off. "Shadow! What was that for!? Hey, come back!!" Sonic shouted, chasing after the black hedgehog. "Shadow...? He wasn't at the party... What's he doing here?" Rouge wondered, chasing after them. "Sonic! Wait up!" Tails shouted, joining the chase. Classic Sonic joined the chase as well, but Copter hesitated at first. "Should we check this out?" he wondered. Dimentime shrugged. "If Shadow's flipping out, it could be bad for all of us. We better go!" he said. Sonic caught up with Shadow at a door similar to the one that led to the Death Egg before. "You're finally here, Sonic. I don't know where we are, nor do I care. This is where I finish you, Sonic!" Shadow said, running into the door. "What!? I don't think so! Bring it on, Shadow!" Sonic shouted, running in after him. The others caught up in time to see the door shut behind Sonic. "Come on! Let's see what's going on in there!" Tails said. As he pulled the door open, however, they were startled as the black shadow, Mephiles, flew out of nowhere and took advantage of the opening to follow Sonic and Shadow into the door! "Well, now we HAVE to go in there!" Dimentime said, rushing into the door, beaten inside only by Classic Sonic. Copter, Tails, and Rouge were right behind them.

As they ran through the door, they found themselves in dark, high tech hallways. "This looks familiar..." Rouge remarked. "It's the Space Colony ARK!" Tails realized. Copter looked around. "What? No way! Not this space dump..." he grumbled. Tails and Rouge glanced back at him in surprise. "You've been here, Copter?!" Tails asked. Dimentime pointed ahead. "Sonic's getting away!!" he shouted. Modern Sonic was far ahead of them already, and turned a corner. They'd never catch up to him at this rate. "Maybe this was a bad idea... We'd need a rocket to keep up with those two..." Rouge pointed out. Suddenly, a loud roar came from deeper in the Space Colony, catching Classic Sonic's attention. Curious, he turned and ran in the direction of the sound to check it out. "Hey, where's he going!?" Copter wondered. "He's heading towards the core of the Eclipse Cannon..." Tails said, "Hey, that roar... Rouge, you don't think..." he said nervously. Rouge shivered. "I certainly hope not. We'd better stop him before he stirs up trouble. Sonic!! Wait!!" she shouted as she and Tails took off after the young hedgehog. Copter and Dimentime glanced at each other in confusion. "What are they freaked out about?" Dimentime asked. "I was hoping you knew! You have all the answers!" Copter replied.

Meanwhile, Sonic caught up with Shadow on the platforms outside the Space Colony. They jumped onto the same platform and started running side by side. "Before this is over, I'll show you the true power of Chaos Control!!" Shadow shouted. Sonic scratched his head. "Is this a rerun?" he muttered, dodging out of the way of some small meteors floating near the platform they were running on. Shadow was acting like he was still working with Eggman, and it seemed Sonic would have to fight him to get to the bottom of this!

The others caught up with Classic Sonic in a room full of GUN robots. "Hey, there weren't so many of these guys guarding Bucky..." Copter muttered. Sonic was making short work of most of them, but they'd have to deal with some of them. Rouge took flight and started kicking some Beetles that were dropping bombs from above, while Tails ran over to get the attention of a robot with multiple homing bombs attached to it, called a Hornet. It launched its bombs at him, and he flew out of the way, causing them to strike another robot nearby. This left the Hornet defenseless, and Tails easily took it out with a tail whip. Copter and Dimentime found a couple of Hunter robots equipped with shields. "Huh...? Shields? So what? Take that!!" Copter said, smacking the shield with his tails. It failed, so he tried Chaos Whirlwind, which the shield also repelled. The robot shot back at him, forcing him to dodge. "What's happening here!? That robot's invincible!!" Copter yelled, freaking out. Suddenly, the robot exploded! Dimentime was standing behind it, having attacked while it was distracted. "Don't hit the shield!" he shouted. Copter scratched his head, looking embarrassed. "Oh... Right..." He then jumped up and flew over the other Shield Hunter, evading its laser and landing behind it so he could smack it from behind with his tails! With the robots gone, Classic Sonic ran ahead, continuing his journey towards the Cannon's Core. "Here we go again..." Rouge sighed, "Somebody grab him next time he stops!"

They passed through one of the security doors as they went, still destroyed from the last time the group fought their way through. "Hey... I remember blasting that..." Tails remarked. They continued into a strange room with a green substance on the floor. Blocks were passing back and forth through the room. Classic Sonic was jumping from block to block in order to cross. "Well, lucky thing the rest of us can fly." Tails said. They nodded, and flew from block to block, timing it carefully. With so many of them, there weren't quite enough blocks, and somehow, Copter kept finding himself having to wait while the others rested on a block before moving on. "Hey, you block-headed block hogs! My tails are getting tired!!" Copter yelled, panting as he finally got to land on a block... that was heading for the dangerous green substance below! "Grrrr, of all the..." Copter hurried off the block, and soon joined the others at the solid ground on the other side. He took a moment to rest, and saw that the area ahead was lacking color. "Well, we must be on the right track..." he said. "What do you mean?" Rouge asked. "Let's hurry. Someone should be ahead." Dimentime realized. As they reached the room with the next security door, the first thing they noticed was that the color being drained also stopped the moving blocks in the room, making it easy to climb to the upper platform. The next thing they noticed was Classic Sonic staring up at the shadowy form of Mephiles, looking ready to pick a fight with him! "Don't make me laugh, child! Your older self isn't even a match for me!" Mephiles warned. Classic Sonic jumped at him, only to be repelled much like his older self was at Ice Cap! Below Mephiles was a statue of Rainbow the Echidna. "Ahh! Stay away, Mephiles!!" Copter shouted, running at the shadow. Mephiles ignored him and dove into the shadow cast by the statue, vanishing into it. As Copter approached, however, Rainbow regained her color, returning to normal! Copter was so focused on chasing Mephiles, however, that he was going too fast and couldn't stop! He stumbled into her, and ended up on the ground on top of her! "Yaaah!! I missed you, too!! But don't hug me so roughly, Two!" Rainbow groaned. Copter scrambled off of her, blushing. "I... I wasn't... I mean..." he stammered. "Fine time to get fresh, Copter!" Rouge grumbled. Dimentime shook his head. "He wasn't..." he insisted. Tails blushed as well. "Copter and Rainbow??" he muttered. Suddenly, the roar they heard earlier shook the room, sounding extremely close! Classic Sonic jumped to his feet and looked around. "That sounds close!" Tails said. "Huh? What's that!?" Rainbow gasped. "Wait... Is it behind us!?" Copter realized. Looking in the direction they came from, they saw a massive creature emerging from the hallway! It barely fit in the hallway, so it was struggling to get in. It was a big, red lizard, with life support technology attached to it. "It... it can't be!!!" Tails shouted. "The Biolizard!!" Rouge yelped. Rainbow screamed. "Eeeek!! A T-Rex!! Everybody RUN!!!" she shouted, heading through the security door, and prompting everyone to do the same as the Biolizard fired some sort of purple energy sphere at them from its mouth!

They ran ahead, and soon found their way to a room with a large chamber filled with yellowish colored liquid below. The next security door was ahead, but this time, they found it locked, rather than busted open as the previous two had been! Rouge groaned upon seeing the door locked. "Ugh! What's it doing closed!? Can't Knuckles do anything right!?" she groaned. Classic Sonic crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently. "Knuckles opened this door the last time we were here, but it looks like it's been closed again." Tails explained. "Yeah, I got that..." Copter grumbled, "Now how do we open it?" he asked, jumping as he heard the Biolizard roar down the hall behind them. Rouge glanced into the flooded chamber below. "The switch to open the door is in there somewhere... If only I knew why I had to flood that chamber in the first place..." she muttered. Copter smacked his forehead. "YOU flooded the way to the switch? Whaaaat!? Does something always have to make things more difficult!?" he growled. Rouge scoffed. "Don't blame me. It was Eggman's plan. Anyway, it worked. The world was saved... Or, I thought so. Oh, how is the Biolizard chasing us!?" she stammered. Copter sighed. "Well, let's get swimming. You four keep watch." Copter said, "If we're not back in five minutes, send Bucky after me! Maybe he can re-create me." As Copter and Rouge dove into the liquid, however, it was just a few seconds before the Biolizard charged up from below, its head splashing out of the liquid and glaring at Tails, Dimentime, Rainbow, and Classic Sonic! "Yaaaaah!! It's a sea monster!!" Rainbow shouted. "How is this possible!?" Dimentime gasped. "The Biolizard can use Chaos Control to warp!" Tails whimpered. Classic Sonic made some punching motions in the Biolizard's direction, eager to challenge it, but suddenly, a bunch of strange, egglike objects emerged from its neck and what little bit of its body could squeeze out of the water, and these objects shot at the group like projectiles, forcing them to move out of the way as though they were playing dodge ball. They needed the security door opened fast!

There were a few GUN robots floating around in the liquid, but they didn't seem particularly mobile in the water, so Copter and Rouge evaded them with ease as they searched for the switch. It didn't take very long to find it; their real problem came when they found their exit blocked by the Biolizard's rear end. "Blargh! Nooo!! I'm out of air!!" Copter gurgled, punching at the Biolizard desperately, to no avail. Rouge wasn't looking very good either, and with the Biolizard blocking the path, the others wouldn't be able to reach the now-opened security door! "We've gotta do something! Two and Batty are gonna drown!" Rainbow cried. Dimentime clutched his staff and looked as though he was struggling to think. "I don't know if I know any spells that are strong enough... How about this!" He quickly muttered a spell and sent several bolts of magical energy at the Biolizard, but they seemed to have little effect, other than annoying the beast! It fired its own purple energy sphere back at them, forcing Classic Sonic to run and pull Rainbow out of the way! Things were looking bleak, and they seemed to have no way to fight back, when suddenly, something intervened. "Chaos Control!" Shadow the Hedgehog suddenly appeared next to the Biolizard, and as it glanced at him, he jumped above its head and launched an attack. "Chaos Blast!!" A chaotic explosion erupted from Shadow's body and knocked the Biolizard into the liquid, giving Copter and Rouge an opening to float to the surface, though they didn't have the strength left to swim out. Shadow dropped down and grabbed them, joining the others as they hurried through the open security door. The Biolizard would be after them again shortly, and they couldn't stop to rest. They hurried to the next area, which looked a lot different from the previous areas, and once they were confident that the Biolizard had lost them, they stopped to let Copter and Rouge breathe. "Sh-shadow... You saved us... But why were you attacking Sonic...?" Rouge panted. Shadow looked at them suspiciously. "Attack Sonic? I did no such thing... Today." he said. Dimentime gasped. "Oooh, of course! Why didn't I see it! That wasn't the Shadow of the present attacking Sonic! That was the Shadow of the past!" he realized. Everyone stared at him. "We just didn't notice because Shadow hasn't aged since we met him!" he explained. "Oh... That makes sense." Tails said. Shadow nodded. "I see... Then it's my responsibility to deal with this. Leave it to me." he said before taking off. "Well... Shadow's handling it... I feel much... better..." Copter panted, still exhausted. Suddenly, they heard the Biolizard roar, and the roar sounded close. Copter shook his head hopelessly. "Nooo... No no NO!!!" he whined. Classic Sonic jumped and motioned for everyone to follow, leading the way as they headed for the core of the Eclipse Cannon. There were Artificial Chaos robots hovering around to impede their progress, but since their situation could become dire at any moment, Dimentime finally started using magic to clear their path for once, shooting bolts from his staff at the robotic parts of the Artificial Chaos.

Meanwhile, Sonic charged at "Classic Shadow" and rammed him with great force, finally managing to knock him out! The dark hedgehog even dropped a yellow Chaos Emerald! "Game over, Shadow! Hey... This isn't the fake emerald, is it...? Oh, wait, I had that. Heh heh..." Sonic said, picking up the emerald. As he turned around, however, he found himself face to face with "Modern Shadow." Sonic jumped. "Yaaah!! Don't you usually yell 'Chaos Control' first!?" he stammered, glancing back briefly, then doing a double take as he noticed the presence of two Shadows. "Ooooooohhh... Figures." he said. "Hmph. Couldn't figure it out before I got here, could you? Thanks a lot." Shadow grumbled. "You started it..." Sonic replied. Shadow walked over to his past self and then turned to Sonic. "I'll keep an eye on him. You need to help yourself, and I mean that quite literally. He's run into trouble with the others. A familiar face..." he said. Sonic scratched his head before decoding what Shadow had said. "Errr, right. I'm on my way! Where to?" he asked. "Cannon's Core." Shadow replied. Sonic sighed. "I got a pretty good hunch who that familiar face is then! I'd better hustle!" he said, speeding off. Shadow glanced at his past self and sighed. "You're pathetic. I wish I could escape you... But no matter how I try to put you behind me you keep creeping back." he grumbled. "The past is always there, there's no escaping it..." came a voice. Shadow looked around. "Who's there!?" he gasped. "But one could try... rewriting it!" As Shadow turned to face the sound of the voice, he saw Mephiles charging at him! He dove into his shadow, and then, rather than vanish as he had been doing, Mephiles emerged, now taking a form very similar to Shadow's. "Ha ha ha ha! The ultimate life form! This body suits me. I thank you for the vessel, Shadow the Hedgehog!" he chuckled before flying off. "Wait! Stop!! Who do you think you are!!" Shadow shouted. "Mephiles the Dark! Think about joining me, Shadow, if you want to break the shackles of your past!" Mephiles shouted back, his voice echoing as he vanished.

Finally, the group fleeing the Biolizard had run out of places to run. They had arrived at the core, where a replica of the Master Emerald shrine was set up to harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds for the Eclipse Cannon. A recording played as they entered the room. "All of you ungrateful humans, who took everything away from me... will feel my loss and despair!!" Rouge frowned. "Professor Gerald sounds as crazy as ever..." she muttered. Copter scratched his head. "That was old Gerald?" he said. "I'm surprised you know who Gerald is." Rouge commented. "Everyone knows who created Shade, 'cuz he's Tubby's grandpa." Rainbow said. "L-look out!" Tails warned. Suddenly, the Biolizard used Chaos Control to warp into the center of the room, and there was no easy way to get back out of the room, so they were cornered! "We'll have to fight it after all!" Dimentime said. Classic Sonic jumped excitedly, as if to say "leave it to me," but the others were looking much less confident. The Biolizard created tons of egglike projectiles and immediately started attacking them, shooting them with its purple energy sphere's at the same time, too! This was getting extremely dangerous! "That thing's just too powerful!" Copter shouted, "Let's just cut our losses and find a way off this space colony!" Rainbow scrambled as far away from the Biolizard as she could. "I agree! Even you have your limits, Speedy!" she said, making Classic Sonic pout. "Leave this one to me!" came a new voice. Everyone looked to see Modern Sonic, who was doing his best impression of Shadow, although overly exaggerating his grouchy face. He ceased his impression as the Biolizard glanced at him. "I got this, guys! Hey, Sonic! Get the others to safety for me, will ya?" he asked. Classic Sonic nodded cheerfully, giving Modern Sonic a thumbs up. They dashed for the exit, but not without the Biolizard launching attacks at them! "Yow!! Sonic!! Cover us, will ya!?" Rouge shouted. Classic Sonic glanced at her. "She means the other Sonic..." Tails pointed out. "Hey, why won't Dimentime TELEPORT US!!??" Copter yelled. "Too many of us." Dimentime muttered. As Modern Sonic jumped at the Biolizard and grinded on the tube connecting to the life support device on its back, he finally managed to get its attention, giving the group their chance to escape. Sonic jumped from the tube and launched a homing attack, striking the life support device on the creature's back! "Ha ha! I'll just keep this up and you'll be history! ...Again!"

With the Biolizard off their trail, the group easily made it back to the door they entered the Space Colony from and arrived back at white space. Rainbow looked around in surprise. "Hey, who took all the color?" she wondered. It wasn't long before Shadow caught up with them outside the door as well, and soon, Sonic arrived too. "Hey, Shadow. How's... uh, Shadow?" Sonic asked. Shadow frowned. "He'll never understand what's going on, and I'm not sure it's wise to explain it to him. He has his role in history. So, I'm going to stay here to make sure he doesn't get out of this door again." he said. Rouge nodded. "I guess it's for the best. I'll come by to check on you from time to time... if I'm not busy." she sighed. As they all waved to Shadow and started to leave, Classic Tails started to catch up to the group. Copter was eager to hear about the status of the Hurricane, so he ran over to the young fox. "My plane? My plane??" he asked. "It was rough, but we brought it to that Shadow Arc place. It's still broken, though." Classic Tails said. Modern Tails was talking to the Sonics as they approached Classic Tails. "I never expected to see Biolizard again!" he said. Modern Sonic chuckled. "Eh, that was easy. I fought him before, after all." he said. "By the way, I didn't get to give you this before, but I have a little present for you." Tails said, leaning over to Sonic and whispering in his ear. "Huh? Uh huh, okay..." Sonic muttered, "Whoa, that's a great idea! Sounds awesome, Tails!" he said at last. Tails took Sonic's shoes and tinkered with them. "Then here you go!" he said. "Thanks, Tails! Let's give 'em a try, then." Sonic replied, trying them on and running off. "What were you doing?" Classic Tails asked. "I made Sonic's shoes lighter by approximately 30%. If my design works, it'll let him move more freely, even in midair." Tails explained. "Yeah, Sonic's shoes seem REALLY heavy!" Copter remarked from a distance away, eavesdropping on the conversation. They ignored him. "Interesting! Maybe I can do that for my Sonic, too." Classic Tails wondered. "Sure, I'll show you how to do it later." Tails replied. "Thanks! This is kinda weird though, isn't it?" Classic Tails observed. "Hm? What's weird?" Tails asked. "I'm getting tips from myself!" Classic Tails pointed out. "Ha ha ha! That's right!" Tails realized. While they were busy, Copter and Dimentime set out for the next area, followed by Rainbow. "Where we going?" Rainbow asked. "Why don't you go see Punchy? He's at Shadow Arc." Copter suggested. Rainbow's eyes lit up. "One's safe? All right! I'm off to check on him! Later, Two!" she said, taking off. Dimentime sighed. "Thank you. I forgot how annoying she was with the nicknames..." he said. Copter nodded. "Yeah, but she's not so bad... And after today, I'm not sure Bucky's so bad either. At least he's not as crazy as Shadow's creator... Seriously, what WAS that lizard thing!? I'm glad Bucky didn't create anything like that..." he said. "Kosmo?" Dimentime muttered. Copter shrugged. "You can reason with Kosmo... sometimes. That thing couldn't even talk!" he argued. "Kosmo's psycho, though." Dimentime insisted. The two continued to argue as they headed for the next area, not really paying much attention to which area they were headed for.

To be continued...