The Robotic Endgame

X. Sonic the Hedgehog

I kept seeing this green light when I was asleep, and not like the 'don't go into the light!' lights, but more of a reassuring comforting feeling. It was like being wrapped in a warm blanket. It took me a while to realize that it was the light of the Chaos Emerald in my hand - I had expected Dr. Light to take it and run a thousand and two diagnostic tests.

That was the first thing I looked at when I woke up. It was shining kind of brightly, so it was hard not to. No one else was around. It was as if everyone had disappeared, and I was left to save the world. And I started in this sterile white room that made me feel sick to my stomach.

"Eggman has your friends, little gem," I chuckled. "We are so screwed."

I stifled a yawn, but it made me fall asleep anyway. I was tired, and though I wanted to see Eggman's face when my fist was in it, I couldn't rush it. With the danger everyone in the world - no, the universe - was in, I couldn't take chances thinking I was well. I had to wait it out this time. At least until I felt a bit better. And I hated it.

The next time I woke up, I was sure I was hallucinating. There was no way Sally could be here. Why would she? But I still couldn't remember what had happened before coming, so I couldn't say for sure what was going on.

"How did you get here...?" I asked thickly. It took all my strength just to keep my eyes open. There was no way I was sitting up.

Sally blinked, then broke out in a wide smile. She jumped up and hugged me as tightly as she could, too blinded with happiness to realize that she was nearly killing me. But after a moment of still trying to think it through, I wrapped my arms around her, hugging her as tightly as I could back. She was okay. I didn't have to worry about her.

"Who else is here?" I asked, pulling away and falling onto the pillows.

"Well, that's the question," she replied. "I can tell you who I know is here - Tails is in the lab, and Mega Man said that he ran into Shadow and his gang, and... well, Shadow got the virus. There-"

"We have to help them!" I said, pushing myself up. Unfortunately, I got so dizzy I nearly fell over. I had to just rest back. Sally looked at me sadly, which almost made me mad. "I mean, I know they were attacking us, but it's not like Shadow's completely the bad guy here!"

Sally put her hand on her face, but I knew she wasn't going to change her mind. "The problem has nothing to do with whether or not Shadow is evil. I know he isn't. G.U.N. just makes poor decisions sometimes - without any proof to them. They're also rather keen to manipulating people, though I'm not sure Shadow can be manipulated by anyone other than himself."

She was talking about G.U.N. sending Shadow and his gang to get a Chaos Emerald from us. I would have thought he never would have taken that order, or carried it out, but Shadow appeared in the city. There was just no reason that the military needed such a powerful item. There were so many problems with what G.U.N. had done, though - number one being we didn't even have a Chaos Emerald. I just hoped Shadow wouldn't be so adamant about getting one. Maybe there was some big reason that they needed one?

Suddenly, everything came back to me within seconds. The Chaos Control explosion that had sent us all away, apparently to Mega Man's world. "Nicole!" I burst out. "Is she okay? And weren't you on some sort of mission?"

"The virus doesn't just exist here, Sonic." Sally sighed. "It hit a day before I got back. In fact, that's why I had to come back - I couldn't ask Nicole anything, and I didn't have a map. I thought I would take her back to get some diagnostics on her. That's how I got here with all of you - I was well within the vicinity of the blast."

I paused for a minute. The doctors were working together, so what if Dr. Wily made the virus and Eggman jumped between worlds, gathering the jewels and bringing them to Mega Man's where they couldn't be found by us?