ARAAT3: The Forbidden Experiment

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A Rose And A Thorn 3: The Forbidden Experiment

Co-Written by Harley Quinn hyenaholic and Froggy22651

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Harley: I have now constructed a shiny new signature advertising A Rose And A Thorn 4.

Froggy: Better still, she’s come up with a plot that doesn’t involve vampires for a future story. We can always save the vampires for some other time…

Harley: Regarding the survivors… well, you’ll just have to wait and see, won’t you? Survivors? That means that there will be deaths! We’re glad for the translation, pendejo, but winner of the Most Intelligent Review award goes to… aw, hell with it, BZLF, who’s reviewed practically every chapter and this time makes a whole crapload of speculations that will put people on the wrong track, can win.

Froggy: You guys are going to crap yourselves in a couple of chapters…

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Chapter Sixteen: Westside Island

Sonic was the first to arrive at Amy's place, showing off his typical speed. The blue hedgehog seemed to have reverted back to wearing that black leather jacket of his, and dark circles were under his eyes as if he hadn't been sleeping well. It was obvious that he wasn't taking Rouge's capture very well.

Amy looked at him, one eyebrow raised, "Sonic, you look..." she hesitated, not wanting to say it, but Sonic finished it for her.

"Terrible?" he suggested.

"Yes," Amy admitted.

"Wouldn't you?" he suggested as he leaned against a nearby wall.

Amy remembered when Shadow had been kidnapped by GUN. She'd almost gone into hysterics at the time, "I guess so," she admitted, looking uncomfortable.

Sonic looked down at the ground, uncharacteristically quiet. Finally, the uncomfortable silence was broken by the sound of the Chaotix rushed towards them, late as expected. "Sorry that we're late," Espio said immediately, "You know how these two can be..."

"Hey, Charmee was the one who kept hidin' my headphones!" Vector defended himself loudly, "Anyway Esp, we're hardly the last people here!"

"Looks like it to me,” said Shadow as he stepped outdoors and joined them.

Amy nodded, "I'm really grateful for your help, guys," she said. Espio was doing his best not to meet her eye.

Vector's chest inflated somewhat, "Hey, it's Team Chaotix! We help old ladies cross the street!"

"For a small fee," Sonic muttered. Team Chaotix wisely ignored him.

"It doesn't matter,” said Shadow, who gave the blue hedgehog a brief but angry glare, "We're all here. It's time for us to go pay Angel Island a visit."

"How?! Are we gonna fly?!" Charmee squealed.

"I was thinking of something faster. Chaos Control,” Shadow explained.

Sonic pushed himself off of the wall and gave the dark hedgehog a surprised look, "All of us? Without a Chaos Emerald?"

"Well, Sonic, you remember the problems we had on Prison Island?" Amy asked him, "They... made Shadow more powerful."

"Or at least awakened potential that was already there,” Shadow added with a shrug, "In any case, I can get us all to Angel Island, I assure you."

Team Chaotix and Amy clustered around Shadow. They all looked at Sonic, who was still standing there awkwardly, "Sonic, you look awful!" Charmee blurted out.

Sonic muttered something about insects on drugs and joined the group, "You'd better get this right, Shadow. I want to come through this in one piece."

"I think we all do, Sonic," Amy told him.

Shadow said nothing more, his eyes closed in concentration as the dark hedgehog started to draw Chaos Energy to himself. In a moment, a blue aura started to form around him which reminded Sonic of the time he and Shadow had fought here in the city... he shivered involuntarily at the bad memories. Shadow opened his eyes, fully charged and glowing brightly. "Chaos Control!" he shouted, unleashing the energies and ripping a hole in space-time, transporting the group to their destination.

Less than an instant later, the entire group was standing at the foot of the Master Emerald Shrine. Which was quite obviously lacking in Master Emerald, and also in Knuckles and Tails.

"Hey, where's the Knux man?" Vector asked loudly, looking around, "He's normally here by now, telling us to state our business or get lost."

"No!" Shadow hissed angrily, "We're too late..."

Amy groaned, "There was a fight," she pointed at an uprooted tree, and several places where Knuckles had tunnelled, "Knuckles would never give up a fight, so why isn't he here, unconcious, or about a mile up in the air, pissed at us for checking he's okay?"

"And where's Tails?" asked a concerned Sonic, looking around for his vulpine friend.

Espio shook his head and looked around at the scene of the battle. "I think they're both ok. Alive at least." the chameleon said, "There are two other things out of place here. Can any of you tell me what they are?"

"No Master Emerald!" Charmee screamed.

"Yeah, we noticed that," Vector growled, and looked around, "Wait..." he sniffed the air. Crocodiles had incredibly sensitive noses, "No blood."

"That's one thing,” the chameleon said with a nod, "Signs of battle but with no blood means all the combatants walked away. What is the other thing?"

Amy tapped her fingers on a tree, "I know it sounds obvious, but... how'd Angel Island get to this place?" she asked, "I mean... it must have taken ages, and Knuckles must have been conscious while it was happening..."

"Good eye, Amy,” said Espio who nodded in approval. Everyone else followed Amy's gaze and mentally hit themselves for not seeing something so obvious.

"Hey, I know that place!" Sonic said, pointing at the nearby island, "That's Westside Island, where I met Tails!"

"Correct again,” Espio replied, "As I'm sure Sonic knows, Westside Island, like Angel Island, never stays in the same place, constantly moving about the ocean. Now, what are the chances that Angel Island just happened to come down in the ocean by another moving island when the Master Emerald is stolen?"

Shadow immediately answered, "Just about impossible."

"Shadow and Sonic draw power over the Chaos Emeralds," Vector spoke up, "With all seven, they go Super. Mirage draws hers from the Master Emerald. And she was here with it. So... you think she did this?"

"Most likely. But why?"

Sonic looked over at the other island and threw in his idea, "Well, Westside has a base abandoned by Eggman there. Maybe Ashura has made it his."

"If she did this, she made it a pretty big clue," Amy added, "She wants us to follow her."

"Yes, she does,” Espio whispered. Shadow gave the chameleon an odd look.

"Well what are we waiting for?” Sonic asked, “Let’s get over there!"

"It's gotta be a trap," Vector pointed out. Everybody turned to look at him, and he shrugged, "Well, it always is!"

"Not a problem,” Sonic assured the croc, "I'm a pro at getting through traps!"

Amy rolled her eyes, and Charmee shouted, "And getting caught in them!"

"Sonic is right,” said Espio, walking towards the Westside, "We need to get to the other island. Ashura has most likely set up shop in the Metropolis Zone."

"Okay, let's get moving," Vector spoke up, "And people, try to keep together, huh?"

The trip across to Westside Island was uneventful. Vector and Espio had no trouble swimming across, Charmee flew, and Shadow and Sonic simply ran across the water's surface, Amy safe in the dark hedgehog's arms.

It was only about thirty yards. Mirage had 'parked' the Island so close that there were places where she could have simply waded across.

"Alright, Sonic, you know this place best,” said the chameleon, "Lead us to the Metropolis Zone."

Sonic was happy to, leading in front of the group as they made their way towards Eggman's old base. "It sure is nice here when you don't have to worry about badniks,” the blue hedgehog noted.

"Yeah, you could almost forget about the horrible experiments Eggman carried out in this place," Vector agreed.

“What the hell is a 'badnik'?” Shadow asked.

“It’s what Robotnik used to call his old robots,” said Sonic, feeling superior to Shadow, “Before he started making the E-series with the Egg Pawns-“ suddenly, Sonic leapt backwards, just barely avoiding the spikes which shot out of the ground, threatening to run him through. "Whoa!" he cried out, skidding to a stop, "I guess Eggman's old traps are still working!"

"Vector, look out-" Amy started, but the crocodile had already fallen into one of the deep hidden pits. Fortunately he hadn't fallen all the way in, managing to grab a vine, which wasn't going to hold him for long.

"There's spikes ALL OVER the freakin’ place!" he shouted.

Calmly walking over to the dangling crocodile, Shadow grabbed onto the vine and yanked Vector out of the pit, "He may be a fool, but the doctor knows how to make a lasting death-trap,” he noted.

"Do you think the badniks still work? Huh? Do ya?!" Charmee shouted.

"If they did, you'd have brought them all here by now..." Vector muttered.

"Don't worry. Me and Tails trashed most of the badniks. We shouldn't run into too many of them,” Sonic reassured them. The blue hedgehog looked around the area, saying, "I wish he were here. He lived here and knows it better than me."

"Maybe that's why he wasn't on Angel Island?" Amy suggested, "He might be helping Knuckles...”

"That would be my guess,” Espio replied with a nod.

Sonic just shrugged, "We aren't going to do them any good just standing here. Let’s keep going!" he said.

Shadow added, "And watch your step."

There were traps all over the place, as well as rusting badniks that had been destroyed and a few that had broken down. Shadow didn't recognise any of them, for Eggman had mostly scrapped the badnik system before he had arrived, moving on to Egg Pawns. The whole place looked like an abandoned junkyard, and so far Charmee was the only one who hadn't had a narrow escape from spikes or treading on a badnik.

"Do you think we'll run into Knuckles?" Amy asked, stepping over a Whisp carefully.

"Well, we can't exactly leave without him,” Espio pointed out, "One way or another, we'll find him."

Shadow was taking a moment to examine some of the fallen badniks, comparing them to other robots he had seen of Eggman's. While the doctor's artistic creativity had lessened over time, his newer designs were obviously more deadly, "You became a renowned hero fighting these pieces of junk?" he asked with a quiet, mocking chuckle.

"No, I became a renowned hero by fighting Eggman's fifty foot tall, Master Emerald-powered mech suit on the Death Egg in Earth's orbit,” retorted Sonic.

Amy couldn't help but laugh a little, "Actually, I think it was only thirty feet tall," she commented.

"Hey, you weren't there,” Sonic said, and then after a moment asked, "...Right?" Considering Amy's insane efforts at chasing him in the past, it wasn't all that crazy to consider it.

"No, but the robot gets bigger every time you tell the story," Amy replied.

Shadow snickered. He figured that Sonic would exaggerate his battles. The slightly embarrassed hedgehog pointed at the darker one and said, "Watch it, faker, or I'll tell them about the ARK cannon race."

"What about the ARK cannon race?" Charmee asked before anybody could stop him.

"Sonic..." Shadow growled, warning the blue hedgehog not to speak, but Sonic was all too ready to gloat.

"Oh, well back when Eggman was trying to use the ARK, me and Shadow raced towards the cannon entrance. I beat him there and dropped the fake emerald in to blow it up! If Eggman hadn't nabbed that seventh emerald, it would have ended right there."

"Okay, so we've decided that it's Eggman's fault the world was almost destroyed," Amy laid a calming hand on the fuming Shadow's shoulder.

"Well, I could mention the thrashing I gave you, blue hedgehog, back in Frog Forest,” Shadow said.

"Hey!" replied Sonic, pointing a finger at the black hedgehog, "That's only because your robotic buddy Omega kept me pinned down with gunfire."

Espio, who had been quiet through the argument, spoke, "Actually, Sonic was probably too distracted by Rouge's ‘assets’ to fight properly."

Charmee had clamped his hands over his ears and was singing loudly to drown the argument out. Amy glared at both of them and stepped in front of them, "It doesn't matter any more, what matters is what's happen-eeeeaaiii!!!" She fell down a chute with an ear-splitting shriek.

"Amy!" both hedgehogs called out at the same time, rushing forward to look down the chute, trying to find her. Glancing at each other for a moment, both hedgehogs fought each other briefly, before they leapt down the chute after her.

"Idiots!" Vector shouted. He couldn't possibly fit down there, "If there's spikes at the bottom they'll all be killed!" He looked into the hole, "Sonic! Shadow!" he bellowed down at them.

Espio stood beside Vector and looked down into the hole with him, waiting to hear a response. When he didn't, the chameleon shrugged and leapt down into it as well.

"Hey! Hey, wait, Esp! Are you nuts?!" Vector shouted, "Don't leave me here with... Aw, man..." Once again there was no response, "C'mon, Charmee," he groaned, pulling the bee along, "We gotta find another way in."

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Harley: When Shadow talks of Frog Forest, he is actually referencing the Team Battle in Lost Jungle. However the two stages are remarkably alike, both have giant frogs, and furthermore Lost Jungle succeeds Frog Forest. So I do know what I’m talking about. It’s Shadow who is confused.