The Ultimate Lifeforms

Shadow's Problem

Shadow leaned against the wall in the medical bay, panting hard. His skin was a bit pale and his eyes were a little glassy too. Sonic noticed from his bed and immediately became concerned for his big brother.
"Are you okay, Shadow?" Sonic asked worriedly. "Is your... condition... getting to you?"
Shadow groaned softly. "Yeah. I'll be okay, though," he said, his voice a bit weak. "I'm going to go on a hunt." He started to leave.
Sonic cocked his head a little. "Is that gonna help?"
"Yeah," Shadow replied. 'For now...' he added to himself. "Will you be okay by yourself for a while?"
Sonic rolled his eyes. "Considering that I'm not allowed to leave this bed, yeah," he said sarcastically.
Shadow decided to ignore Sonic's sarcasm. "Do you need anything while I'm gone?" he asked gently.
"No."
Shadow left to go on his hunt.

(One Week Later)
Looking around, Shadow ensured there were no guards in sight before removing the lid to the ventilation shaft. Below him was his target, the Chaos Emerald.
After discovering it, the Station Square population had determined that the best place to keep the Emerald was in a museum. Unfortunately for them, Dr. Eggman had decided it would do better to be in his possession.
Shadow dropped from the air vent above, landing directly in front of the cased Emerald.
The mission itself didn't call for stealth, in fact, quite the opposite; he was under orders to make as much of a ruckus as possible. Eggman wanted the world to know he was up to another one of his schemes again. According to him, it was boring without a challenge. Besides, with Sonic stuck on the ARK there really wouldn't be any challenge.
Regardless, Shadow wanted to grab the Emerald before the guards, or worse, a certain white bat, showed up. Shadow pulled his fist back, channeling his Chaos Energy into it, and punched right through the bullet-proof glass.
Sirens across the museum began ringing one by one.
In a flash, Shadow grabbed the Chaos Emerald and took off to complete his second mission objective. Stopping in front of the wall, he brought out a container of blood Eggman had given him, specifically to deliver the message to the people of Mobius. Removing his glove to avoid staining it, Shadow dipped his fingers into the blood and wrote directly onto the wall. 'Your hero won't save you now'
After licking the blood off of his fingers, he put his glove back on and drank the rest of the blood, satisfying his clinical vampirism for the time being. He then left to finish his mission.

"Over 100 million dollars' worth of damages incurred last night as Shadow the Hedgehog broke into the Station Square Museum of History and Art. And although paleontologists say they may be able to fix some of the damage, we have yet to know why Shadow the Hedgehog chose to target the museum or why he stole the Chaos Emerald. Perhaps the most baffling mystery of the night is the ominous message he left on the wall: 'Your hero won't save you now.' What makes this message even more ominous is that it appears to have been written in blood. This is Scarlett Garcia, signing off."
Tails hit the power button on the remote, turning the news report off.
"Now he's taunting us!" Amy could have smashed the coffee table in half with her bare hands from how angry she was.
"True," Knuckles added.
"You don't think Rouge had something to do with Sonic's disappearance, do you?" Tails asked.
"Probably not. She's not into that kind of thing." Knuckles knew the bat all too well from her countless attempts to steal the Master Emerald from him. Rouge was willing to stoop to some pretty low levels, but murder-kidnapping was not one of them. "But she's worked with Shadow before. She might have some clue of his whereabouts, and that's more information than we have now."
"Right!" Amy said excitedly, finally happy to have some other form of a lead on Sonic. "So let's go pay Rouge a visit."
"If we go as a group, it'll draw too much attention. I've dealt with Rouge before, I'll go meet with her tonight at her club."

Sonic lay motionless on the bed, glaring at Eggman as he carefully cut and removed the stitches running down Sonic's abdomen.
On the other side of the bed stood Shadow, also glaring holes at the fat doctor. He was there mostly to insure Eggman didn't try anything funny, but he was also there trying to figure out what to do. No matter how hard he thought about it, he still had no idea how to approach Sonic about his recent discovery. Somehow, Shadow figured the idea of walking up to Sonic and saying 'Hey, guess what, Sonic! We're related. I was made with your parents' DNA' wouldn't exactly appease the blue hedgehog. It would leave him with so many questions, questions Shadow didn't have the answer to. At least, not yet.
Choosing to ignore the two hedgehogs, Eggman cut off the last few stitches and handed Sonic a washcloth so he could clean off the suture residue and any blood droplets that remained. "Look at that, you've healed up quite nicely. You don't even have a scar to show for it."
Sonic stopped to give Eggman another glare before continuing his self-grooming.
"Don't give me that look." Eggman kicked the ground at Sonic's bed, using the momentum to wheel himself to a collection of specimen jars on the opposite end of the medical bay. "You should actually be thanking me." He grabbed one of the smaller jars before wheeling his way back to the two hedgehogs. "Do you have any idea what these are?" He handed the jar to Sonic.
Sonic examined the jar with a look of confusion on his face. Inside, were several small, yellow-green pebbles, ranging from the size of a pin-head to a marble. "Rocks?"
"Close. They're stones. The real question is, what kind of stones?"
"Stones?" Sonic asked, not exactly understanding how some rocks would warrant him expressing gratitude to the mad genius.
"Kidney stones?" Shadow guessed, already having a vague idea of how rocks and surgery could be related to each other.
"Almost. They're gallstones." Eggman looked like he was about to pat himself on the back. "Seems like a certain someone has a diet high in fat."
"That makes two of us," Sonic chuckled under his breath. Shadow snickered.
Eggman's face fell at the snide comment. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that."
"But in all seriousness, what are these?" Even Sonic had to wonder how exactly little rocks ended up inside of him.
"Gallstones. They form for a variety of reasons, but judging from the color of yours, they formed because your gallbladder has too much cholesterol. A diet of nothing but chili dogs and junk food will do that to you."
"Why, thank you, Doctor," Sonic responded sarcastically, though secretly happy to have an answer. "How much do I owe you?" he tacked on playfully.
"This one's on the house," Eggman joked back.
"I don't suppose you did this out of the goodness of your heart and are planning to send me off on my way now?" Though his tone still held an air of playfulness to it, Sonic was genuinely hoping this was the case, even though his instincts told him better. The stitches may have been out, but he was still full of pain-killers and antibiotics, leaving him mostly groggy and in no condition to run.
"Oh, you're more than welcome to run free as you please," Eggman began, raising Sonic's hopes. "As long as you agree to join me."
Should Sonic's hopes have materialized, they would have crashed to the ground in an impact strong enough to wipe out the dinosaurs. "Very funny, Eggman. My answer is no."
"You're physically okay to move around now, but I suggest you get comfortable. Until you agree to join the Eggman empire, you won't be going anywhere for a long time."
Sonic raised an eyebrow at the threat, almost smirking. "You going to throw me in a dungeon or something?"
Eggman stood up, removing the latex gloves from his hands and disposing of them in a bio-waste bin. "No need for that here."
"What?"
"I'm sure Shadow would be more than happy to fill you in on everything."
At the mention of his name, Shadow snapped out of his thoughts and back to reality. "What?"
"I'll be in my workshop if you need anything, or change your mind."
"Unlikely," Sonic scoffed as he watched Eggman leave through the automatic sliding doors. As soon as he was gone, Sonic turned his attention to Shadow. "So, are we busting out, or not?"
"I..." Shadow was at a loss for words. Part of him wanted to get Sonic out of here, knowing Eggman was lying through his teeth. If Sonic was an Ultimate Lifeform, the gallstones shouldn't have been a problem. Sure, Sonic had a lousy diet, but never once had he complained about any sort of stomach pain. Shadow theorized they were a common occurrence in Sonic, but his advanced bodily functions simply took care of them. Eggman had most likely cut Sonic open to get a look at his insides and grabbed the stones as he closed Sonic up to cover his true intentions. Still, it probably wasn't a good idea to get Sonic so worked up while he was still recovering. "I don't think it's really possible to break out of here, per sé."
Sonic frowned and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'not possible'?" When Shadow didn't respond, Sonic felt his annoyance rising. "Where exactly is 'here'?"
It never occurred to Shadow that the medical bay was windowless. It had been the only room Sonic had been in since he brought him in two weeks ago, and, as far as he knew, Eggman had never shared details about where they were.
"Never mind." Sonic gripped the edge of the hospital bed and threw his legs over the edge, landing on the ground, and standing up for the first time since his surgery. "I'll just figure it out myself."
Shadow watched as his younger brother took a few shaky steps before letting go of the metal railing and walking steadily on his own. He followed close behind, just in case Sonic lost his balance.
It didn't take long for Sonic to learn exactly where he was. As soon as he stepped past the sliding doors into the hallway, the massive windows lining the hall revealed exactly where he was. Sonic gasped as he walked up to the window and gazed down at the planet below them. "We're on... the ARK?"
"Yes. We are."
"Why? Why are we here? What is Eggman doing that he came back to this place?"
"I don't know," Shadow confessed. "Probably just hiding up here. You and I already destroyed the Eclipse Cannon the last time we were here, so it's not like he can use it to blow up the planet."
"Shadow, you don't know what he's up to, but you're willing to help him. What if he figured out a way to fix the Cannon? What if he tries something else to destroy the planet? Are you going to stand by and let him do it?"
"Sonic, I made a promise to protect the planet and I fully intend to stand by it. I also promised to stay by your side, and help you escape. I am here for only one reason. I need information about my past and Eggman is the only person with that. I'm not here for revenge and my loyalties certainly do not lie with the Eggman Empire. You know that."
"I'm sorry, Shadow," Sonic sighed, rubbing his temples. "I just... can't think straight."
"That's probably the painkillers and antibiotics," Shadow added, putting his arm around Sonic's shoulders. He let out a sigh as he led Sonic to one of the sofas. "Come on, why don't you sit down? We need to talk."
Sonic was confused, but didn't argue. "What's up, Shads?" he asked as they sat down on the sofa.
"There's something you need to know. I want you to read these." Shadow drew out the few pages from Gerald's journal he had. "I'll try to explain everything after that."
The two of them sat there for a while in complete silence as Sonic read through the papers multiple times.
After what felt like an eternity to Shadow, Sonic finally looked up from the journal pages and spoke. "So, we're actually brothers, huh?"
"Yes."
"Did you know this when you basically kidnapped me?" Sonic's voice held absolutely no trace of his happy-go-lucky nature.
"No, I only found out after, and I'm sorry-" Shadow stopped when he saw Sonic hold his hand up.
"Did you get the rest of the journal pages?"
"No. That's the only reason why I'm working for Eggman," Shadow said, a bit frustrated. Sonic put his hand on Shadow's shoulder comfortingly. After they discussed things a bit longer, Sonic fell asleep on Shadow's shoulder and Shadow fell asleep as well.