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: You’re all desperately calling for the unpleasant things to happen. Well, not only are unpleasant things now happening, but there’s also an Easter Egg!

Froggy: How the hell can fanfiction have Easter Eggs?

Harley: It’s something you should notice. Something that’ll make you say ‘Huh?’ now and ‘Ah’ later. We’ve done it before, and now it’s happening again! Just for the record, people, there are in fact 20 chapters to ARAAT3. Just so that you know how long we’ve got to go.

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Chapter Seventeen: Tunnels

Amy landed with a thump in a patch of soft grass, all the air knocked out of her. One moment she’d been standing on firm ground, the next moment, she was falling through thin air, and the moment after that she had landed – badly. She stood up and winced – she must have twisted her ankle when she’d landed.

Suddenly, Espio's scaly purple form shot out of the chute behind her, rolling to a stop. The chameleon slowly got to his feet, looking around. He was obviously relieved to see that Amy was all right, but... "Where's Sonic and Shadow?" he asked out loud.

"You mean they're not still up there?" Amy asked, pointing.

"They jumped down before me,” he explained. Frowning, the ninja looked back up the chute, "There was more than one passage. They must have split up down other paths."

"Then we have to find them!" Amy looked up at the chute. It was quite impossible to climb or even to fly back up.

"We have to watch out for ourselves first,” noted the chameleon, "We are lost, uncertain of the dangers ahead of us, and we still have to stop Ashura. For the moment, they are on their own."

Amy frowned, but nodded, "Which way do we go?" she asked suddenly, and her voice echoed strangely in the dim light and wide caverns.

Espio closed his eyes for a moment and then pointed away from the chute, "Air is moving in that direction. That must mean an exit. We'll go that way."

Amy nodded and followed him nervously.

~~~

"Aw man, my head..." groaned the blue hedgehog as he sat up, rubbing his forehead. That landing had hardly been his most graceful. Opening his eyes and blinking, he called out, "Shadow? Amy? Are you there?"

His voice echoed back at him, and there was no other answer. Wherever they were, they weren't here. His eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, revealing the inside of a steel corridor, the lighting flickering on and off eerily. Thought catching up with senses, the hedgehog recognized it as the interior of Eggman's old base. The place had fallen into disrepair, but was still in good enough shape for a certain green villain to make his temporary home. Sonic groaned and got his feet, looking over himself for damage. His body seemed fine enough. The jacket he was wearing, however, seemed to have caught on one of the spikes, tearing one of the sleeves clean off, showing a scarred arm underneath. He grimaced at the results of his little hobby and tossed the torn jacket down in disgust. There was no point in wearing it now. Picking a direction, Sonic began to travel down the corridors at an uncharacteristically slow pace, trying to be as stealthy as he could.

~~~

Shadow thrashed around blindly in the cold darkness as he spun end over end in the fast-moving stream. He didn't know which way was up or which way was down, only that he had landed in an underground stream that went right trough a gap in the rock, and his supply of air was going to run out before long. Moments before he thought he was going to burst, the rock above him opened up, and he managed to grab a breath of air. The underground stream threw him into a pile of rocks, fortunately not hard enough to knock him out, and he caught hold of them.

Shadow blindly clawed at the rocks, dragging himself away from the underground stream and onto dry ground. The hedgehog lay there, coughing up water and gasping for air as his eyes searched in vain for the slightest sliver of light. As he wondered where the hell he was going next, he hoped that the others had better luck than himself. Suppose Amy had fallen down this way? She could have drowned already…

There was only one exit from the cavern without going back into the river, which he didn't trust. He had to feel his way along the wall and hope that it led him to an exit of some kind as he shivered, cold and wet, in the pitch black cave. He hated it, the feeling of helplessness, of not being in total control of his fate. Then again, when had he been?

He scowled in the darkness.

~~~

Sonic snuck his way down the corridors of the base, his sneakers sounding loud to him as they beat against the steel grate floor. He kept his senses alert for danger, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice.

He rounded a corner, and almost walked straight into a creature that looked a bit like Shadow, a bit like Knuckles, a bit like a cat, but mostly like somebody who was completely and utterly more miserable than she had ever been in her life.

“You!” She jumped to her feet in one swift movement, "What the hell are you doing here?" she asked him.

Stepping back in surprise and falling into a fighting stance, Sonic said, "Who the hell are you?!"

"I asked first, and I have a right to be here!" the whatever it was replied, "Tell me before I call the robots!"

Sonic suddenly realised that this must be the 'Mirage' Shadow had been talking about. He didn’t wonder why she talked as if she knew him; everybody knew him, "Heh, can't handle me yourself? Gotta send in a bunch of tin cans to do it for you?" Sonic taunted the hedgecat, "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, and I'm guessing you're Shadow's sis, right? Shadow told me about you."

"You are a friend of Shadow's now?" the feline - or at least, mostly feline - asked him.

"Eh, kind of,” he replied with a shrug, "Sometimes we work together; sometimes we beat the crud out of each other."

"What are you doing here?" Mirage asked him, "And where is Shadow? Did Espio come? And what about the Guardian and his kid friend, have you seen them around?"

"Trying to stop Ashura, no idea, yes, and we're looking for them,” Sonic rapidly answered her questions. Frowning, the hedgehog added a question of his own, "...What's wrong?"

"Wrong? Nothing is wrong!" Mirage snapped, "Why should anything be wrong? What could possibly be wrong with certain death?"

"That it’s death and it’s certain?" suggested Sonic with a shrug.

Mirage turned her back on him, "You cannot bring down Ashura on your own. It is impossible. You will die trying."

"Yeah, like I haven't heard that before,” replied Sonic, rolling his eyes.

"Well this time it is true," Mirage told him, "In fact, it will probably be less painful if you give up right now."

"Where's the fun in that?" the hedgehog asked her, "Look, it’s obvious that something is bothering you."

"I betrayed the male I... I love him, okay?" Mirage snapped, "I ruined his life probably, although that is probably just me being arrogant. But I hurt him and I cannot fix it. That is my problem."

Sonic blinked and stared at the feline for a moment before asking, "Have you tried to fix it?"

"How would I do that?" Mirage asked him.

"Well... you could talk to him,” he said, "You could say that you are sorry. If he feels the same way about you, I'm sure he'll forgive you. Love is a way past cool thing, and you shouldn't let it go without a fight. If you give up, there's no chance of winning."

"Yes, but..." Mirage sighed. Giving up was intensely impossible for her, "I... just do not understand how love is supposed to work, that is all..."

Sonic chuckled, "No one does. I don't think love has any rules attached to it."

"Does that mean I have not actually done anything wrong?" Mirage sounded hopeful.

Sonic reached up and scratched his head, "Eh... what did you do to him?"

"I... I do not know exactly," Mirage confessed, "I betrayed his feelings, I guess... I acted without thinking... I made what I had said before seem like lies... and I hurt him."

"That's a wrong thing,” he told her, "But it might be a forgivable thing."

"You think so?" Mirage looked hopeful suddenly.

"Yeah! Of course I do!" the hedgehog said, giving her a broad smile, "If you believe and keep trying, you'd be amazed at what you can accomplish."

"That would be wonderful..." Mirage sighed, "But I cannot do that. I have to look out for the Guardian whom I took the Master Emerald from... he is on the island somewhere... but the security system here is terribly worn out, so Ashura is relying on me. Unfortunately."

"Why are you working for that nutcase?" the blue hedgehog asked her, taking a step forward and offering her his hand, "Why don't you join us and fight against him?"

“Because I have to do as I am told... Because I remember..." Mirage replied, "I do not remember everything... but I remember enough for it to really hurt. More than Shadow remembers. But not enough."

Sonic shook his head, "You don't have to do what you're told, Mirage. You can make your own decisions. The professor wanted Shadow to destroy the world, but he chose to save it, instead."

"Yes, but my programming was not altered," Mirage replied, "When Gerald went mad... I was forgotten about. By everybody."

"You're not a robot, trust me,” said Sonic, “I've fought plenty of robots. You can't be programmed. You can be given suggestions, you can be reasoned with, but no one can make a choice for you."

"Huh... you do not even know what my programming is, do you?" Mirage sneered.

"It doesn't matter what it is,” he replied, spreading his arms outward, "You can still make your own choices."

"I guess so..." Mirage conceded, "But then... what is my purpose?"

The blue hedgehog groaned and rubbed his forehead, "Oh no, not that. I've heard Shadow babble about his purpose often enough..."

"What? Saving the planet is not a bad purpose," Mirage replied, "Tough, yes. Bad, no."

"No, no, that's not it,” he sighed, shaking his head, "He worries too much about purpose. I mean, people normally don't wake up every day wondering what purpose they were brought into the world for. Life isn't a play with a script; you make it up as you go."

Mirage sighed, "That is because you are free now," she smiled.

"You can be free too, if you want to be,” he insisted, "I do what I want to do, not what others want me to do. You can do the same. Just give it a chance."

Mirage laughed, "No... I am not free yet," she frowned, "You see... Gerald directly authorised my creation... as a safeguard in case Project Shadow ever fell into the wrong hands. Or paws. Or talons."

"Eh, what do you mean?" he asked, giving the hedgecat a worried look, "A safeguard?"

"If Project Shadow is ever corrupted to betray his true purpose, I have the ability to stop him," Mirage replied, "Permanently," she added.

A shiver ran up the hedgehog's spine, chilled by the way she said that, like it was so absolutely certain. "He's the Ultimate Lifeform, or something like that,” he said, "You can't just snap your fingers and kill him like that... right?"

"Something like that," Mirage conceded, "I am not the Ultimate Lifeform. But I can literally... suck him dry."

So was that the reason that Shadow had a sister? A kind of chaos energy vampire safeguard designed to eliminate Shadow if he ever went to the side of evil? It seemed like a terribly cold thing for Gerald to do, but then again, he had proven himself capable of merciless acts quite profoundly during the ARK incident, "But what does that have to do with serving Ashura? He's the guy who is doing wrong! Shadow is trying to help the world by stopping him!"

"It does not have anything to do with serving Ashura," Mirage replied, "It has to do with serving the Greater Good," the capital letters fell into place easily, "The many, rather than the few."

"Then... what are you doing, serving Ashura?" he asked, trying desperately to understand her actions.

"Well, Ashura is kind of... forcing me to follow his orders," Mirage replied.

"Huh? How?" he asked.

"Well... Ashura…" Mirage shuddered, "He can... make you see things..."

"You mean like... mind control? Making you see and feel what he wants you to?" Sonic didn't have the most malicious mind in the world, but it didn't take a lot of thought to figure out how ability like that could be misused.

"Yes, exactly like that," Mirage gritted her teeth, "You cannot win, blue hedgehog! Ashura has the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds!"

"Then I'll lose, but at least I'll lose trying!" the hedgehog replied defiantly.

"But you will be killed!" Mirage protested, "What is the point of fighting if you know you are going to die as a result?"

"Because I want to! Because it’s the right thing to do!" Sonic shook his head.

"But..." Mirage didn't sound so sure, "But if you give up now and go home you will probably live!"

"There's more to life than just living,” Sonic insisted, "You're not going to convince me otherwise. Now are you going to help us or not?"

"I... have not decided..." Mirage said quietly.

"Come on! You think you're going to be any better off being his slave for the rest of your life?" Sonic sighed, “If you’re not going to help us, let me help you… I can end it. I can end your servitude… I can give you peace.”

Mirage smiled and walked towards Sonic. Her hand darted out, but rather than a punch or a slap, it was a gentle caress, stroking his face with the very tips of her claws. She drew herself very close to him and breathed his scent in deeply, stroking his face, pressing her body close to his. She brought her lips very close to his ear, “Are you scared of me?" she whispered.

"No," Sonic said firmly.

"You should be..." Mirage smiled coldly, "Just keep going straight along this corridor.”

"If you've got any of Shadow in you, I'm sure you'll make the right choice,” Sonic pulled away from her, before turning away and jogging down the steel corridors, looking for his companions.

~~~

Shadow's hands felt over the rock walls as the hedgehog tried to find a way out of the pitch-black labyrinth he had fallen into. There was no telling where he was, what threats were waiting for him, what had happened to Amy... Don't think about that, he demanded of himself, She's fine. You've got enough to worry about.

Looking for a way out, boy? a voice sneered abruptly in his head. His ears swore they had heard nothing.

Shadow growled in the darkness and muttered sarcastically, "No, actually, I kind of like it down here, Ashura. I think I'll stay."

Well, if you don't want any help... the voice taunted. There was a silence for a few minutes, You know, you don't have to be stupid like this. You could be my second in command. I'd even let your girlfriend live.

"There's no ‘letting’ for you to do,” Shadow said, "She shall live because I will it. I am the Ultimate Lifeform! I need bow to no one. If anything, you should be the one offering to be the second."

She means a lot to you... the voice in his head chuckled, I can see you're very protective of her... and I can see why. She's very... beautiful, isn't she?

"You're in enough trouble as it is, Ashura. Don't make me get nasty,” Shadow snarled, frustrated by the green hedgehog's taunting and his slow progress through the tunnel.

I can see why you were so enraged when she was raped by one of the few people you thought you could trust... Ashura taunted him again.

The dark hedgehog shook in hanger, beating one fist against the unyielding rock. "Stop wasting my time! Let us end this, already."

No, not when I've just found your weak spot... let's go through it again... just how enraged were you when you saw her pinned to that table? So angry you couldn't move?

"So angry I couldn't think,” Shadow muttered, "And if you really want me to feel that way again, you're a fool of the highest order. You were there on the ARK. Surely, you know what I'm capable of doing."

All you have ever demonstrated is that you never were capable of protecting those you cared about... Maria, Amy Rose, Eclipse, Project Mirage... you have always failed them.

"Shut up!" Shadow yelled, his voice echoing in the stone tunnels. The hedgehog whirled around the dark trying to find his tormentor. "Where are you, you coward? I'll... GAH!" Shadow jumped back and rubbed the top of his head, which had slammed into a chunk of rock.

I'm right here, poking around in the center of your head... Ashura taunted him, Remember the time you tried to murder your own fiancé? he sneered, referring to the time Shadow had hallucinated murdering Amy.

"That's none of your damn business!" Shadow shouted again, his hands clinched into fists with nothing to strike at.

Why, I might already have your friends in my grasp, while you could do nothing about it... The stupid Guardian and his little trainee are wandering around like children, looking for Project Mirage... they certainly won't think to stop me... and your blue doppelganger thinks he can actually win...

"He probably can. He's not me, but he's close enough to deal with the likes of you,” Shadow taunted, "And don't you think this is going to hold me for long."

In a few hours, Ashura monologued smugly, I will absorb the power of the Master Emerald! When Mirage destroys the Chaos Emeralds, the power of the Master Emerald will never leave me! Nothing will stand in my way!

"I will rule the universe forever as a god. All will bask in my glory. Blah, blah, blah... spare me. I've heard that bullshit before."

Foolish boy! I have the means, I have the method, and you are just wandering in darkness! Do you not realise that the darkness is not in front of your eyes - it is behind it! If I can make you see darkness, I can make you see anything I choose!

"That's what you want me to believe,” said Shadow, "Because if I do, you'll have complete power over me. I will not allow that. You are powerful, Ashura, but not more than I."

Then I will prove it to your doubting mind! Ashura cackled, and the shadows lifted. And he was seeing his most horrible and gruesome fear...

~~~

Harley: CLIFFHANGER! What is Shadow’s most horrible and gruesome fear?!

Froggy: Find out next week! Three chapters left to go!