Re:Birth - Destiny Transcending Ch. 1

It was a day like no other.  The sun was shining brightly, but with the wonderful cloud cover, it was not a blistering heat wave.  The wind blew generously, granting such a nice cool breeze for those that could feel it. The little critters that wandered the wildlife scurried around, some searching for food to feed their families, some frolicking about and playing with others, or some just relaxing in the wondrous day the skies provided for them. None of the creatures were fighting for dominance, everything in the grassy fields were simply content to do what they were. It was serene, and everything was at peace...

But that peace was shattered when there was aloud yelp that came from nearby, followed by a large crash and what looked like a tree falling over. The various creatures all stopped what they were doing and looked towards the sound to see what had disturbed them. That's when a flash of blue shot through their numbers, followed by a gust of wind that bowled over some of the smaller creatures. All of the various animals looked as the blue flash ran and didn't stop. Before something else ran past them at a much slower speed, but was still incredibly fast in its own right.

The blue flash stopped several hundred feet away from them. It was a hedgehog, a blue one, that wore red sneakers with a golden buckle on the side of each one, some socks and some gloves. It put its hands on its knees and panted, trying to catch its breath. Its heart was pounding from the adrenaline and fear of the thing pursuing it. After several moments, the hedgehog let out a long sigh and stood up, wiping the sweat off its brow and spoke in a rather fearful, if not calm tone.

"Whoo! Man! You really did it this time, Sonic. I hope I finally lost h-"

"SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC!!!!!!"

The blue hedgehog, named Sonic, swung his head around so quickly it was a miracle it hadn't twisted right off. About two hundred feet behind him was a blur of pink quickly catching up to him, a massive hammer swinging in the air grasped by two angry hands. Sonic almost seized up as the fear assaulted him again, his heart beating rapidly, the thoughts of facing the pink beast wielding that menacing-looking hammer nearly made him sweat even more. He took off at high speeds, running right into a forest, hearing as clear as day the voice behind him screaming for him.

"GET BACK HERE, SONIC! YOU OWE ME A DATE!" Ducking and dodging all manner of obstacles with the extreme agility and reflexes he's honed over the years, the blue blur traversed deep into the forest. Once he deemed himself to have gone deep enough, scaled right up a tree to take cover, hidden in the branches. He waited for what seemed like hours, barely breathing, trying to stay as silent as he could. After several minutes, The pink creature ran right under the tree he was in and stopped, looking around. It was a Pink Hedgehog, who wore red boots, a red dress, a glove on each hand, and golden rings as bracelets on each wrist. She looked around frantically, searching for Sonic, before she huffed out loud, her anger obvious. He didn't dare move. Fearing what should come if she discovered him.

The forest is home to all manner of various life, most prominent are the insects indigenous to the area. So it was no surprise when a small mosquito landed on his arm. He felt it, but didn't dare move to swat it off, as was a normal reflex of most everyone when an insect lands on you. Worrying about what the girl below was far more problematic than a little irritating bump on his arm. Seeing as how the hedgehog had no objections, it bit him and started its little meal, sucking out some blood for food. The certain doom below Sonic huffed again, voicing its anger.

"Ooooooh! I'm going to find you Sonic. And when I do, you're taking me on that date! JUST YOU WAIT SONIC!" The creature, who Sonic currently thought of as Pink Death, ran off in a random direction, searching deeper and deeper for the blue hedgehog, who was hidden right above her. Once he could no longer hear her yells or footfalls, he waited several more minutes before doing anything.  Once certain he was finally in the clear, he took a deep breath and exhaled heavily, before slumping down the tree and landing with a soft thud. He sighed once more when he hit the ground, before finally deciding to swat the little bug off his arm. Having gotten its fill, the little bugger jumped and flew away from the arm of death, and buzzed around for a sec, and scampered off wherever it was headed.

"Oh, man. Glad to be away from her for a while. Amy just doesn't give up." Sonic relaxed against the tree, placing his hands on the back of his head, and started to nod off, deciding to relax and enjoy the rest of the day. "After all," Said the blue blur, "an angry Amy Rose is far more dangerous than anything Eggman can think of." Little did he know, he was oh, so very wrong.

The fact is, he should have squashed that little mosquito that bit him...
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Shadow the hedgehog was in quite the predicament, backed into a corner with dozens of crosshairs and laser markers pointed directly at his person. He was breathing heavily, nearly completely exhausted. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his head before it fell to the ground, joining its brothers and sisters that had fallen before it. There were slight burn marks on his left arm and leg, but they would heal rather quickly over time.  There was a small cut on the left side of his muzzle, right above his mouth, but it stopped bleeding a few moments ago. What was once lush green grass was now a battlefield, filled with various holes in the ground and crushed under multiple destroyed pillars, many of which were still smoking from the explosions that took place. Victory for the black and red hedgehog looked bleak at best, but then again, when fighting something that can copy your abilities and a literal walking arsenal, victory for most would be beyond hope. Victory for Shadow was going to be especially difficult due to the fact that the walking arsenal had been specifically designed to defeat and contain him, and was one of his closest friends.

Due to his stellar service within the Guardian Units of Nations, or G.U.N. for short, Shadow had been given a reprieve, a couple of days off as thanks for his constant service and diligence. Shadow the Hedgehog quickly found himself bored. Searching for respite from the boredom, he used the various resources available to him around G.U.N. Headquarters to try to relieve himself. Having long since gotten used to the rigorous training programs they provided him long ago, he put in a request for new ones, and decided to try to find something else.

Deciding to do something rare, he thought of searching out Sonic the Hedgehog in hopes for a race, or perhaps a battle, in an attempt to settle things between the two once and for all. Once again, by using the various resources around him, Shadow quickly pinpointed Sonics location in a tropic resort of sorts. However, before he could go after him, he was confronted by one of his closest friends. It was another one of G.U.N.'s agents, and, like Shadow, one of their best. She had also been given several days off, but she looked exhausted, as if she had been flying for some time. Based on that, and judging from the look on her face, something was wrong.

"Shadow….We have….a problem," She said in between breaths. The Agent, a bat, had obviously flown from somewhere fairly far, and was breathing rather heavily. Shadow, somewhat concerned, responded quickly.

"Rouge, What's wrong?" Came the reply. She, managed to catch her breath before responding.

"Eggman captured Omega!"

"What!?"

Shadow's concern rose greatly when he heard that his other closest friend had been captured by the mad scientist. His anger rose to greater levels as well. Apparently, Rouge had been searching for Omega for some reason or another (she later on refused to tell him why), and found him in a tropical jungle filled with ruins from an ancient civilization of some sort. Unfortunately, she failed to realize she was being followed, and the two were ambushed by Dr.  Eggman, as well as a newly captured and reprogrammed Metal Sonic. Omega had been quickly decommissioned, having suffered from a new weapon from Eggman designed to either shut down or fry his ability to move and access his weapons. Metal Sonic had been dispatched to take down Rouge, and though she put up a good fight, she was swiftly overpowered. Knowing when the time calls for a tactical retreat, she fled the battle with the intent on seeking assistance. Metal Sonic began to pursue her, but a brief order from Eggman changed his mind.

Having been informed of the situation, Shadow and Rouge departed to Omega's last known location to look for clues as to his current whereabouts. They were obviously caught by surprise when they discovered that not only had Eggman and metal sonic not left, but they were ticked off that the doctor had repurposed Omega to his will. The ensuing battle tore apart the jungle ruins and caused massive damage all around. Rouge, although she had done much better than last time, once again lost to the metal doppelgänger, and was being held hostage at gunpoint by the doctor. Metal had then redirected his efforts into help taking down Shadow, who was giving Omega a run for his money. Shadow was quickly overpowered and backed into a corner.

Which brings us to Shadow's current predicament.
"Target locked on, locked and loaded. Requesting permission to terminate." E-Series robot number 123 drawled out in his robotic voice. Every single weapon in his arsenal had been brought out and they were all trained on the cornered hedgehog.
"Permission denied, Omega. I still need him for something." Eggman's smile could not have gotten any bigger, nearly reaching the ears on the sides of his face as they were. He was unbelievably giddy that his plans were working for once. So long as his other partner kept up his end of the deal, and what he himself has planned, he should have the Eggman Empire built by this time next month.

"And what do you want from me, Doctor?" Shadow was thoroughly ticked off at this point. Having one of his friends turned against him, the other held hostage, and having to look at that ridiculously evil grin and mustache... He wished he had a Chaos Emerald right now. He would wipe that smug look off Eggman's face so fast… and possibly even rip off that stupid mustache while he was at it.

"I must admit, Shadow, you lasted much longer than I had expected you to. My grandfather really did create the Ultimate Life-form.  I'm Impressed. I'll tell make you a deal, Shadow, One that I'm sure you'll find quite hard to refuse."

Shadow looked at the doctor with so much hate, that if looks could kill, he'd be a bloody smear on the ground right now. "I'm listening."

"Good. As you know, I've got you pretty little bat friend here as my hostage." He banged the energy gun he was holding against the cage she was trapped in next to him. She had been knocked unconscious a few minutes ago. "What you don't know, Is that I've also taken the liberty to plant a bomb in your friend Omega there, set to go off and turn him into scrap at the push of a button."

The scowl on Shadow's face grew even more. If looks could kill...

"So here's what I want from you," The doctor continued. "I will release your friend here, and Give you back Omega, just as he was, bomb disabled and everything….If you give me some of your blood."

Shadow was momentarily stunned. Why would the doctor want some of his blood? Something was obviously not right with this, but after taking stock of the situation, he was indeed hard pressed to refuse. He looked back to Eggman, the scowl on his face growing more.
Eggman's smile, somehow breaking the natural laws of the world, did the impossible and somehow grew even more.

How Shadow wished looks could kill…
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Eggman made a swift return to his base in the Gimmie Shelter, located in Night Babylon. He hovered inside on his Eggmobile quickly with Metal Sonic on right his tail. The doors behind them shut, and the two began their descent into the depths of the shelter, as the floor began to lower, the elevator they were on taking them to their destination. The anticipation he felt for the near completion of his project was obvious to anyone, as was glee showing all over his smile.  

Hoping everything would come together as he so wished, he activated the base's communication feature and spoke.

"Mikee, we're back! Everything went just as I planned! Did Nega happen to send him yet," Eggman asked out loud. Several seconds later, the speakers on the Eggmobile activated, and a female voice responded.

"Yes, he's here, and his blood has already been obtained. Nega did that for you, and sent him here so he wouldn't have to deal with him for a while. He's being held in the prisons," Said the voice. There was obvious disdain in the way she spoke to him, as if she didn't like him at all, but also with slight sadness as if she didn't want to be a part of this anyway. Eggman ignored it, having gotten used to it a while ago, and continued.

"Excellent! And has the Fly-Spy returned with its sample yet?"

"Yes, it's in the lab and ready for…whatever it is you're doing."

"Perfect! Then we now have everything we need. Bring our prisoner to the science block, into the lab. I want someone to witness this!"

"…….Fine. We'll be there," the voice replied. After that, the speakers went dead, just as the elevator stopped its decent. A set of doors in front of the doctor and the metal copy opened, and the two went on their way, moving down the hallway in front of them. After several minutes and many different turns, Dr. Eggman and Metal Sonic arrived at the science block. The lab was several meters in front of him. He approached it and input the password necessary for entry into the keypad on his Eggmobile. The doors opened, and he entered to greet this surroundings.

The first thing he noticed were the two angry looks directed at him. The first was from a female pink Echidna. She wore a white shirt with a black coat over that. Concealed beneath the rings of the coat were two white, pink and green bracelets with a mechanical look to them. She wore black, skin tight shorts that were hidden by the pink skirt she wore over that. She had on white gloves, socks and shoes with two black stripes running down both sides on both of them. Lastly, she was wearing a thick golden necklace with a green, heart-shaped emerald piece with gold lining attached to it. It glowed softly, but with a great level of power concealed within it.

The other heated look he was receiving was from a male, silver-whitish hedgehog who was being restrained by two of Eggman's Egg-pawns. He wore only a pair of white gloves with a strange symbol on them that glowed with a cyan color. On his wrists were golden, metallic cuffs with a glowing cyan line going through the middle of them. He wore two boots, both of them indigo with a white line going down the middle, while the boots tips were teal colored. There were two more gold cuffs located directly above the boots, right under his knees. He had his hands cuffed behind his back and some kind of mechanical apparatus on his head, which was being used to prevent him from using his abilities. There was also a bandage wrapped around his left arm, close to his shoulder.

Eggman looked at what else was around the room, and noticed that on a table were two vials flled with a red fluid, and a rather large robotic flea with another vial sticking out of its back. Eggman smiled as he climbed out of His Eggmobile and approached the table, while the Silver hedgehog spoke up in anger.

"Eggman! I won't let you get away with this! Let me go!" He began struggling against the robots that held him, to no avail.

"Oh, please, rodent. You don't even know what I plan on doing, do you?"

Silver scowled at the doctor. "Whatever it is, it can't be good."

"Oh, but it is! It's good for me!" The doctor walked over to the table, and grabbed a remote control setting next to the vials. He turned towards a blank wall and pressed a small button on the remote. A chair detached from the floor and floated up behind him, where he collapsed back into it. Setting the remote down, he pressed several keys on the arm of the Chair, and watched as a wall began to rotate, revealing a very large machine. It was a capsule of some kind, and had all different kinds of wires and tubes sticking out of it and into the wall above and behind, it. There was a large glass shield coving the inside of it. Eggman smiled to himself as a panel on the side opened, and 3 robotic arms reached out of the machine. They sought out and grabbed all 3 vials, and retracted back into the panel, where it closed. After this were a series of 3 short clicks, signaling they were all in lace and ready.

"So, what is this supposed to do? And why did you need their blood? You never did tell me," asked the pink Echidna. Eggman turned to respond.

"I'm so glad you asked, Mikee. You see, my grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik, was a genius scientist. I always wanted to grow up, to be a genius like him. It was his genius that gave birth to Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life-form."

"Your grandfather that created Shadow," Silver asked in amazement.

"Indeed," The doctor smiled a sinister smile. "But now, his time is over, and MY time is just beginning. So now, I'm going to surpass my grandfather, and create my own Ultimate Life-form, one that surpasses even Shadow!"

"So you're….cloning them?" Mikee had come up with an idea of what the blood was for. As it so happens, she was right.

"Correct! I'm going to clone them. It will have all the speed of Sonic, possess all the of Shadow's strength, and access to all of Silvers psychic abilities. And to make sure it doesn't go rogue, I've already taken precautions. I'm going to program it so that it can't attack me, and that it obeys my orders to the letter. It's going to be my greatest masterpiece! With it, I'll do away with that blue menace, Sonic, and everyone else who stands in my way! And then, I'll finally build my Eggman Empire! Then, nothing will stop me! Hoooo ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ! Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho!"

"Rrgh! Even if you create that thing, we'll still find a way to stop you! I can't let you ruin the future I've worked so hard to protect!" Silver began struggling against the robots that were holding him, and almost got loose, but metal Sonic approached and took over, completely subduing him, and forcing him into a prone position on the ground. Even then, he still continued to struggle against Metal's overwhelming strength. "I will stop you Eggman!"

"Heh heh heh! I'd like to see you try, rodent!"  Having said that, Dr Eggman pressed a large red button, and watched as the machine activated. The inside of the capsule immediately began glowing green, as it began its function of creating new life. Fate decided, however, that things were not to go as planned.

Suddenly, sparks started reaching out of the machine, followed by small, flowing streams of lightning. Eggman backed up; something was going wrong. Suddenly, multiple thunderbolts started shooting out of it, causing everyone to back away from it, with the exception of Silver, who was still being pinned by Metal Sonic, who was completely unafraid. The Green glow coming from the capsule turned teal, and the bolts of lightning started striking the surrounding metal and circuitry, short circuiting everything it touched, and absorbing whatever energy it had in it.

Suddenly, there was a loud groaning sound, being heard over the lightning that continued to shoot  out of the capsule. Suddenly, one side of the capsule collapsed in on itself, followed by a section on the top, and then one on the bottom. Eggman began panicking, and ran towards a nearby computer to try to figure out what was wrong. The light began to glow brighter, and another metal groan sounded, another section of the capsule collapsing in on it-self. Before Eggman could find out what went wrong with the machine, a bolt of lightning fired and struck his backside, electrocuting. Because he was touching his computer, the electricity shot right through him, and into it, where it began absorbing all of its energy, flooding it back through Eggman, and into the capsule. By the time it was finished, most of his moustache had burned off, and there was smoke coming out of his ears.  
The teal glow from the machine started growing brighter and brighter, as it continued to collapse into itself. After several more moments, the light became too bright for those near it, and they all had to shield their eyes, Silver having no choice but to close his eyes and turn his head. Finally, the machine imploded in on itself, leaving only the bright light for a moment, before an explosion rang out through the lab throwing everyone present away from it.

As the smoke began to clear, everyone began to regain their bearings. As the organics began to clear the spots from their eyes, the machines all started to reboot their systems, Metal Sonic included. When the capsule exploded, an EMP was released in the shockwave, temporarily disabling them. Eggman's coughing, began to ring out through the room, follewed shortly after by the groans of Mikee and Silver. Before they all regained cognitive function however, another voice was soon heard, and it was groaning rather loudly, and getting louder by the second. But this voice sounded familiar. Mikee was the first to realize whose voice it belonged to.

"Sonic? Ugh… Sonic, is that you?" When the spots in her eyes and the smoke in the room finally cleared, that's exactly who she saw. Sonic the hedgehog, lying on the ground, holding his head. He kept  groaning, and it was continuously getting louder. Mikee got up and rushed towards him to make sure he was okay, but expecting what was about to happen next.

"That's not Sonic!" Mikee turned and looked at Silver, curious about his exclamation, but didn't have time to figure out the answer before 'Sonic' started screaming.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH"
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Who... I....What... Where... Am I... A hallway... no...a path...next to me... Who is... That? Who...Am I?

"I see, so there's more to you than just looking like me. What are you anyway?"

"What you see is what you get, just a guy that loves adventure.  I'm Sonic the Hedgehog!
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Metal, under the orders of Eggman, had reaffirmed his hold on Silver to keep him from escaping. He was too busy to, wondering what was happening to the Sonic Clone. Apparently, Eggman's machine was a partial success. He seemed to have only managed to clone Sonic. So then why...

'Why do I have a connection with it,' he thought.

Eggman and Mikee were trying to calm him, but were failing miserably.  He was spouting unintelligible words in his distress, unable to form coherent sentences. His thoughts, from what Silver could feel, were a mess.  Suddenly, he screamed again, and right before everyone's eyes, his form began to change…
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These... Images... Too much... Can't... Focus... Argh... Sonic... Is that my.... ARRGH! NO! No... more! Stop!

"Who are you?"

"My name is Silver. For the future of the world, I will destroy you!"
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"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

It screamed again, but everyone was in too much shock now to care. His voice had changed, but the pain was the same. He was still holding his head.He now looked exactly like the hedgehog who was being held captive by Metal Sonic. He now looked exactly like Silver. Silver began to get an idea of what was happening.

"Eggman, quick! Get this thing off my head! I think I know what's happening. I might be able to calm him down!" Silver pleaded to the doctor, but Eggman ignored him, in favor of researching what was happening to the clone. Wanting to help the struggling creature and not watch it suffer, Mikee quickly ran towards Silver, and removed the apparatus from his head. Not even focusing on trying to escape, he focused his mental powers for what he was about to do. No one other than Eggman noticed the clone's form begin to change again.
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Stop... please...the...Images..... too much... can't... take it... I'm...on a roof... looking down at...myself? ...what...

"Wow, he's fast! Hey, it's not his speed. He must be using the Chaos Emerald to warp!"

"My name is Shadow. I'm the world's Ultimate Life-form. There's no time for games. Farewell!"

Shadow..... Him.... No, me.... Am I Shadow...  Arrgh...no...nooo....Stop! No more! NO MORE! AAH!
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He was now Shadow the Hedgehog. The clone had transformed into Shadow the Hedgehog. It continued to writhe around on the ground, groaning and screaming in pain. Silver had discovered what was wrong. He was cycling through their memories. All of them. Every one they ever had. Sonic, Shadow and Silver. He was experiencing them all at the same time. And it was breaking his mind. He reached out with his own mind, to try to help him, but it was much more difficult than he had anticipated to connect to the clone's mind than he thought.

'Come on, just a little more….'

He was almost there, but this was straining him as it was. Before this, his psychic abilities had been pushed to their limits fighting Eggman Nega before he was captured and sent to the past as a gift to Eggman. The inhibitor on his head prevented him from using his abilities by suppressing them, and when he tried to use them, a piercing sound shot through his skull, destroying what little focus he had. Now, having little time to recuperate before he put his mind back to work, he was already at his limit, but was determined to get through. The clone started to shift forms rapidly now. He would stay in one form for no longer than 3 seconds before he changed again, the torment in his mind being reflected by his body.

'Just a little more! Hang on!'

"Come on silver, you can do it..." Mikee was supporting him,she no longer wanted to see it suffer. She placed her hand on his shoulder and usedher own mystic powers to help. With a sudden boost of strength, Silver managed to get in the creatures mind, but was almost unprepared for the maelstrom of visions he started seeing as a result. His own head now in pain, he did everything he could to stop the flow of memories, or if that failed, slow them down. The clone finally spoke for the first time.

"MAKE IT STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!"
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"The name's Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog."

"I am Shadow the Hedgehog"

"My name is Silver"

"Sonic!"

"Shadow!"

"Silver!"

"Shadow!"

Stop…… please!

"Soooonic!"

"Oh, Shadow!"

"Silver, no!"

"Sonic, wait!"

"Hang on, Silver!"

"No, Shadow!"

STOP! STOP IT! I CAN'T TAKE IT!

'Hang on, just a little longer!'

"Blast you, Sonic!"

"Curse you, Shadow!"

"I'll crush you, Silver!"

"SONIC!"

"SHADOW!"

"SILVER!"

MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!

'Hang on, HANG ON!'

"Shadow!"

*gunshot*

"MARIA!"
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Mikee had returned to the clone's side as it had started calming down. Silver was still in his mind, but his pain was also lessening. He managed to stop the flow of memories the clone was experiencing, but it wasn't permanent. They would start flowing again, but they wouldn't flood his mind all at once. He would experience them in the order they come. The clone finally got quiet, and Silver collapsed unconscious, his mind past its limits and in need of rest. The clone had stopped shifting forms at Shadow. Eggman looked to metal to confirm the robot had been recording everything since it rebooted. After confirmation had been given, he had the inhibitor replaced on Silver's head, before having him dragged off back to the prison block. He then turned to regard the clone.

"I don't know what went wrong here, but I'm going to find out. Mikee, take him to the lab's infirmary. We'll let him rest there."

"Yeah…right." Mikee was distracted by the clone. It looked and sounded exactly like Shadow at the moment, but she knew it wasn't. Not after what she just saw.  She carefully lifted the clone over her shoulder, and started to carry it to the lab's medical bay. Eggman, sat back down in his chair, as a hole opened up in the ceiling. He ascended to another floor, where he would begin his research.

Mikee walked into one of the medical rooms. Unlike most of the ones at hospitals, the room was entirely red, with yellow lines separating each wall. Though it was different, Mikee liked it less than regular medical facilities. This reminded her of the egotistical maniac she was basically a slave for. The maniac the clone was about to become a slave for. She placed the clone on the flatboard bet that was provided and looked down at it. It still had a pained expression on its face. There was nothing more she could do for it, so Mikee turned around and began to leave the room.  But when she reached the door, she heard the clone speak again.

"Maria....."

She turned and looked at the clone, still in Shadow's form.

'Who is Maria?'

Still facing the clone, she was surprised at what it said next.

"Mikee...Thank...you......."