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: Well, about half of you said ‘Amy’ and half of you said ‘Maria’. Let’s forget about a nightmare and make it a flashback. Did you spot the Easter Egg last chapter? Maybe Kitty Nakajima did. But she didn’t mention it.

Froggy: There’s another Easter Egg in this chapter. Not so subtle. But Crazy Ivan wanted more detail on Ashura’s mind control, and this chapter gives him it.

Harley: Now read on, sweet chariot…

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Chapter Eighteen: Recollection

Shadow blinked his eyes against the light that suddenly filled the space around him. Letting his eyes adjust to the change, the dark hedgehog examined the area and found it to be far different than he what he expected. He wasn't in an underground stone cavern stretching in both directions, but in a sterile laboratory with large windows giving a spectacular view of the stars. He knew this place well. It was the place where he had been ‘born’. Professor Gerald's lab aboard the ARK.

Back home after all this time... what a nice surprise... Ashura chuckled, Now... where were we? Ah, yes... It was around now... that Mirage ran in... she cleared the guards ahead of you, you know...

Even as the voice spoke, Mirage ran into the room, her white chest splattered in red, tears running down her face. Shadow knew that it was just a dream, some twisted hallucination that Ashura was putting him through, and he was sure that it was just intended to torment him, but he moved towards her anyway, playing his part in this false nightmare, "Mirage!" he called out.

Mirage ignored him, tucking a quill behind one ear and smearing blood on her cheek as she did so. She began typing frantically on the keyboard, readying an escape capsule for Shadow and Maria.

And then you came in... Ashura told him, I show you no hallucinations... only your forgotten memories...

Sure enough, an exact copy of Shadow, more innocent and less world-worn, ran through the door, pulling Maria behind him. Mirage turned to face him, "Those military bastards murdered Midnight!" she told the copy tearfully.

Shadow could only watch as his double from the past shook his head slowly. Who was Midnight? Clearly he or she had meant a lot to Mirage, but she’d never mentioned him or her, so what was with that?

“Why are they doing this?” Maria asked tearfully, afraid.

“Because,” Mirage replied, wiping her eyes, "Lots of things boil down to ‘because’. Now you two have to get into the pod! Right now!" There was a hesitation, “JUST GET IN THE GODDAMN POD!” she screamed.

"Right,” Shadow’s memory said breathlessly, taking a step forward.

But Maria didn't move with him, frozen in place. Turning to see what the matter was, Shadow found his gaze locked on the emotionless gaze of a GUN troop's visor and the pistol in his hand... which was aimed at the young girl. A loud bang rang out and Maria stumbled back, clutching her chest and the growing stain of red on her dress.

"Maria!" Shadow's memory cried out. He didn't seem to care about the soldier aiming at him.

"Shadow... get in the escape pod..." Maria whispered softly.

When the memory of Shadow didn't move, frozen in shock, Mirage leapt at the soldier, who turned and fired at her. The speed of the attack resulted in her lying on top of a corpse. She rolled off it, clutching her lower stomach, "Get... in the fucking pod... asswipe..." she wheezed painfully.

As the copy of Shadow started to move forward to Maria, the girl spoke, her voice a series of gasps, "Shadow... I beg of you... please, do it for me... for a better future..."

The pod closed around the copy as Shadow watched it all, “Maria!” he shouted again.

"...For all the people who live on that planet... give them a chance to be happy. Let them live for their dreams. Shadow, I know you can do it. That's the reason that you were brought into this world. Sayonara, Shadow, the Hedgehog..." She pressed another button, and Shadow was dropped into space.

Shadow watched as his younger self was launched away from the space colony, screaming and crying helplessly inside the pod, descending towards the blue planet below. It was his last memory of his dear friend. But now... now he could see what happened afterward. How exactly she had died. This must have been how Ashura was tormenting him, not with an illusion, but with the truth, showing him clearly his failure. Slowly walking over to the dying girl, Shadow crouched down beside her, "Why did you do that, Maria?" he asked softly, "Why did you send me away? Those humans don't deserve your mercy or kindness. Not after this. You... you didn't have to die like this."

Maria looked up, and through him, “Bring hope… to humanity…” she whispered.

“I will,” Shadow turned, and looked at Mirage. So it was her who had heard Maria’s very last words, the words which had become the code to unlock the Gizoid’s free will, “I will…” the feline whispered again, before slumping.

Shadow knew that he should want to stand up and kill those heartless soldiers, punish them for what they had done. It was what he had always felt before, always what he wanted, but now, all he felt was tired. He was tired of the pain and loss and reminders of this tragedy. He didn't want to hear or see it anymore. He wanted to remember his good times with Maria, not their terrible parting. He just watched as the soldiers carried Mirage away, knowing that she would be all right. Eventually. Turning to the slain girl, Shadow reached over and gently wiped the blood and stray blonde hairs from her face, "I'm sorry..."

To his mild amazement, Ashura walked into the room, looking down at him, "Well Shadow, it's over. The Projects are all either dead or they are subdued. You couldn't save your friends… you were barely capable of saving yourself!"

Shadow shuddered in rage. Turning his face up towards the cruel, green hedgehog, he replied, "You're right. I wasn't strong enough to save them then. But things are different now."

Ashura sneered, "And how do you plan to do that, boy? Travel through time? You can't change what's past."

"I can't change the past, but I can change the present," Shadow shook his head and slowly got to his feet. He didn't bother trying to fight Ashura. In that place, it would be a pointless act, "I can still fulfil Maria’s final wish. So can you, Ashura. You don't have to do this."

"You're right, I don't," Ashura sneered again, and as his attention left the surroundings, the hallucination began to fade, "But I want to!"

"Then I know what I have to do,” said Shadow, his hands clinching into fists.

"You're going to fight a hallucination?" Ashura laughed mockingly, "Feel free."

"You're damn right I'm going to fight a hallucination!” Shadow confirmed, closing his eyes and concentrating hard on the chaos energy all around him, drawing it to himself, letting it saturate his body, giving him strength. He concentrated on his surroundings, which he knew were not real, and willed the illusion to disappear.

The hallucination faded, until he was once again in a narrow tunnel. The only thing left was Ashura, who was laughing, and the image of Maria lying at Shadow's feet.

"You have no power over me, Ashura!" Shadow called out defiantly, a blue glow starting to form around him.

"Nice try, Shadow, but you can't fight what isn't there," Ashura watched Shadow, a sneer on his face, "Now... let's up the stakes a little..." Maria's corpse stumbled to her feet and glared at Shadow accusingly.

The glow suddenly left the hedgehog as he stared at the reanimated corpse, the terrible parody of Maria. Growling softly, he said, "You're a bastard..."

"Why couldn't you save me, Shadow?" Maria's voice pleaded with him, "You're my best friend! I helped you! I saved your life, and you left me behind!"

"No, you sent me away,” Shadow replied. The dark hedgehog stepped past her towards Ashura, "And I'm not going to argue with some damned hallucination."

"You're cold, Shadow..." Ashura laughed, "But then again, the shadows are always cold and lonely. I can make you see anything you don't want. That was your warning..."

"The same group responsible for her death put me through horrific amounts of torture. Hallucinations are something I became very familiar with," The hedgehog crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Ashura, "Now are you finished with this nonsense? You're just wasting our time."

Ashura laughed once more. The invading voice left Shadow's head, Ashura's image vanished, and the darkness lifted...

~~~

Knuckles grumbled some curse under his breath for the hundredth time since he had stepped onto the other island. He didn't know about the place, but Tails, who he was carrying in his arms, claimed to have once lived there, "Come on, Tails,” he said, "If you were a creepy-looking feline who had stolen the Master Emerald, where would you want to hide on this rock?"

"I wouldn't hide," Tails replied sleepily, "I'd be setting up whatever world domination schemes I had as fast as possible before the pissed off echidna could beat the hell out of me..."

Knuckles couldn't help but smile, "Well at least someone around here takes me seriously," Ever since they had met, he and Sonic had rubbed each other the wrong way, arguments being more common between them than civil conversation. Particularly after what he had done to Amy. But the echidna never had any problems with the hedgehog's two-tailed companion. Tails always seemed polite and respectful to him. The kid didn't deserve to get into messes like this, "You gonna be alright?" he asked the sleepy fox.

"Just tired, a bit..." Tails sighed and pulled away from Knuckles, standing up again, "Knuckles, when we find her, please don't kill her, please?" he looked up at the larger boy with wide eyes, "I just get the feeling she doesn't want to hurt us," he continued as they rounded a corner.

"Sure, that's why she hit you over the head and threatened to kill you,” Knuckles replied, now following Tails. She nearly killed him and he still doesn’t want her hurt… maybe that does give him the right to plead for her life… he thought.

That was when they saw Shadow wandering slightly aimlessly in the distance of one of the tunnels.

"Shadow? Hey, Shadow!" Knuckles shouted, jogging towards the black and red hedgehog.

If Shadow's here, who else is here? Tails wondered, catching up with the red echidna quite easily, Lord knows we could use the help...

Shadow didn't seem to notice them as they got nearer, seeming to focus on things that weren't there. Knuckles waved a gloved hand in front of the hedgehog's face, "Shadow? What the heck is wrong with you?"

“He can't hear you!" Tails looked at Shadow, who stared straight past him.

Shadow didn't answer Knuckles' question, walking right past the echidna obliviously. The guardian stepped forward and grabbed Shadow's arm, “Look at me, dammit!”

The hedgehog promptly turned around and backhanded Knuckles across the face, throwing the bewildered echidna to the ground

"Shadow!" Tails was about to run at the dark hedgehog, when he saw Knuckles standing slowly, a look of unabashed rage on his face, "Knuckles, he didn't mean to hurt you, he didn't recognise you!" he pleaded.

"Maybe he will once I pound some sense into him!" the echidna growled as he stomped towards Shadow, fists clenched.

"Oh, Knuckles, this isn't going to help!" Tails called out, his voice sounding weak and pathetic in the dark tunnels, "Shadow! Shadow, wake up!"

"Wha?" muttered Shadow, looking around blindly, "Tails? What are you doing? Where are you?" Knuckles took aim at Shadow's head and drew his fist back.

"Shadow, look out!" Tails shouted, and simultaneously threw himself at Knuckles, bringing the older boy to the ground with a ‘thump’.

Shadow ducked the punch, which never touched him, and Knuckles landed heavily, pushing at the kit on top of him, "Hey! What are you doing?" he asked as he tried to remove the fox from him.

Shadow shook his head, "Ashura has me trapped in some kind of illusion..."

"Ashur-what?" said Knuckles, temporarily giving up and pushing the fox off of him.

"Ashura,” Shadow repeated, "Another experiment from the ARK. Mirage's boss..."

"See, Knuckles, I told you it wasn't Mirage's fault," Tails smiled, "Well, not entirely..."

Shadow blinked and focused on the echidna and fox suddenly, "It’s over,” he said, "He ended it..." His voice trailed off as the hedgehog tilted his head, observing the pair in a rather compromising position.

"What? What's over?" Tails asked.

"The hallucination. The illusion,” Shadow answered.

A rather uncomfortable-looking Knuckles said, "Tails... maybe you should, uh, get off of me?"

"Oh, sorry Knuckles," Tails climbed off Knuckles quickly and stood up, shuffling his feet, "So who else is here?" he asked, after a moment.

"Sonic, Amy, and Team Chaotix,” the hedgehog told him, "We got separated."

"Well we're kinda looking for that Mirage cat thing," Tails looked at Knuckles, who was standing up, "We haven't seen anybody in this place until we met you."

"I know she's here,” Shadow said, looking towards the ceiling, "We're getting closer to her; I can feel it."

"Yeah? Well, good! She and I have some unfinished business,” the echidna said, beating his fists together.

Shadow glared at Knuckles and quietly growled, "You are not going to fight her, Knuckles. She's on our side."

Tails rubbed his head, "I'm all for not fighting, but she knocked me out yesterday and I just wanna know how she's on our side."

"She doesn't like Ashura any more than we do,” said Shadow as he looked down the tunnel in the direction Tails had come from, "I know that she'll join us. She has to..." It sounded more like wishful thinking than anything else.

Tails found himself walking behind Shadow with Knuckles again, "What do you think he means 'she has to'?" he asked Knuckles in a whisper.

"Beats me,” Knuckles whispered, "Shadow's never been right in the head."

"I heard that..." Shadow muttered, as the trio left the darkness of the tunnels behind them. Shadow blinked against the bright sunlight, his eyes slowly adjusting to it. "We figured that Ashura would be in the Metropolis Zone,” he said, "Could you lead us to it, Tails?"

"I... I guess I can..." Tails replied, nervous in the presence of the other two, and all the more so for leading them. He began walking slightly ahead of them. He certainly seemed very sure of where he was going.

As they continued walking, the rock walls became metal, with pipes overhead. For a moment, Knuckles was certain he heard a noise above them. When he looked up, there was a shadow in the pipes above them.

Knuckles instantly shifted into a fighting stance, calling out, "Who's there?" Shadow quickly did the same.

There was a long silence, and for a moment Knuckles thought he had been mistaken. Then a voice spoke, "It is just me," Mirage slid into view out of a tangle of cables and pipes.

Shadow instantly stood between her and an angry Knuckles, "Mirage,” he said, "It’s good to see you again."

"I just wanted to say that I... am... well, you know," Mirage dropped to the floor and looked at Knuckles, "I am sorry."

"Not yet, you're not!" shouted Knuckles as he tried to get around Shadow, "When I get a hold of you, I'm gonna-"

The dark hedgehog's hand clamped around Knuckles' throat and pushed him back, "You're not going to do anything except calm down,” growled Shadow. The hedgehog looked at his sister again and nodded, "It's alright."

Knuckles pulled himself free from Shadow and took a step back, "Fine!" he said, "I won't fight her, but I won't forget this, either!"

Mirage jumped back up into the pipes, "Take the next left," she told them, watching them with keen red eyes, "The very next left."

Knuckles turned to Shadow, “Are you absolutely certain that’s your sister?” he asked him, “I mean, she’s got about as many curves as a lead pipe!”

Mirage glared down at him balefully. Without looking, she reached out and ripped a lead pipe out of the wall, and then with very little apparent effort, bent it into a circle. She dropped it at Knuckles’ feet.

“Who needs curves with a personality like that?” Tails asked.

"Try not to get killed!" Mirage said sharply. With that, a piece of ceiling vanished above her, and she climbed through it. It closed up almost on her heels.

Knuckles gave the ceiling a startled look, "I wish I could do that,” he said.

"She does it with Master Emerald energy, so I would think you could," Shadow told the echidna.

"She seems to be on our side," Tails pointed out, "I wonder why she told us to take the very next left?"

"Only one way to find out,” said Shadow as he continued down the steel corridor, keeping his crimson eyes open for a left turn.

The first equivalent of a left turn was a hole that had been made in a metal wall with a welding torch. The torch was still lit.

Extinguishing the torch, Shadow carefully crawled through the hole in the wall. It seemed that Mirage had decided to help them, after all. Unless, of course, it was a trap. Knuckles was bound to suggest that at some point.

"She's just leading us into some deadly trap so she can take us all out like the coward she is!" the echidna spoke predictably.

Bang on schedule, Tails thought, "Knuckles, she's going to a lot of trouble to make this trap if that's true. Besides- yawp!" Even as he had spoken, a large steel block had come out of the ceiling and almost crushed his outstretched foot.

Knuckles reached down, grabbed the kit's hand, and quickly dragged him back, "See? I told you!"

"Well, she did tell us not to get killed," Tails pointed out, but his voice was a little shaky.

"She just saved our lives, not tried to end them,” a calm Shadow told the echidna, getting to his feet. Knuckles stood up after him, exiting the little tunnel the feline had prepared for them.

Tails was torn between Shadow, who wanted to risk the steel blocks, and Knuckles, who clearly wanted to go back and try another way, "Uh... I think we should stick together," he pointed out nervously.

"Forget it! I'm not going into her dumb trap!" said the echidna as he turned around and started crawling back the way they came. Shadow sighed in frustration and followed after him.

"Knuckles, Shadow, I really don't think this is a good idea," Tails protested, hurrying to keep up with the red echidna.

"Neither do I,” said Shadow, "let’s turn back, Knuckles." The echidna, however, just stubbornly kept crawling back.

They soon re-entered the main tunnel again, and Knuckles stomped onwards determinedly. Suddenly he heard Tails' high-pitched scream for him to stop. A bullet missed his dreads by inches and thudded into a metal wall.

Knuckles leapt back in shock, searching for the source of the gunshot. When he did, he suddenly understood why Mirage had them go the way they did. The corridor was lined with automated gun turrets, and they were all aimed at the three heroes, "Oh shit..."

Tails picked up the large piece of metal that had been cut out of the wall and frisbeed it down the hall. It was peppered with bullet holes in seconds, "The only safe way is the way she made," he murmured quietly, "It's dangerous, but it's not instant death."

Knuckles didn't reply to the fox, because he was already scrambling to get through the hole again. Shadow chuckled softly and followed after.

Tails looked at the remote sentry guns for a few seconds. They would stop anybody getting in or out. So why would they be there? He gave up and followed Shadow back through to the crushing steel weights.

"Yeah, Eggman definitely made this place,” the echidna whined as he looked at the falling steel weights. Only Eggman would have a defence system like this. The only way through was time it correctly and run through.

"He always has squashing things and spiky things, but those guns were new," Tails spoke up.

"That's probably Ashura's doing,” Shadow added as his eyes followed the metal crushers, planning when to move. After a few moments, he grabbed onto Tails and Knuckles, rushing forward into the gauntlet.

Tails yelped several times as his tails, fluttering behind him, were nearly caught in the weights. Once they were through, he hugged them to him tight and looked at the wall. Mirage had been all the way through here - there was another welded open hole to prove it.

Letting go of his two companions, Shadow crouched down and crawled through the new welded hole, hoping that this shortcut didn't led to some other death trap. Seeing as Mirage must have come through, it didn't seem too likely.

Knuckles crawled after him, having some difficulty thanks to his bulkier build, and then Tails followed the echidna. They straightened up in another identical metal corridor. What was so special about this route, Shadow wondered. His question was answered when he heard a set of footsteps around the corner, too heavy to be those of Mirage or Amy.

“Sonic!” Tails squealed, even as the blue hedgehog rounded the corner. He ran up to him and hugged him tightly, “You’re okay!”

“Whoa! Yeah, I'm fine, little guy!" the surprised hedgehog said, returning the hug. Tails really wasn't so little anymore, but Sonic's affectionate nickname for the kit stuck with him.

For some reason that he couldn’t identify, Knuckles found himself with a little knot of jealousy inside him as he watched Tails hug Sonic, "Yeah, he's ok. Now where the heck are we?"

"Where Mirage wants us to be,” Shadow replied casually as he walked over towards Sonic, who had ended the hug with Tails, "Looks like you're still in one piece, faker. Impressive."

"But where's Amy?" Tails asked them.

"I don't know. I haven't run into her yet,” Sonic replied with a shrug, "That chute thingy dropped me off into this place. I ran into Mirage a little while back and talked with her."

Shadow stared at his blue counterpart for a moment in silence before speaking up, "So I got dropped head-first into a pitch-black underground river followed by a labyrinthine cave system with Ashura tormenting me, and all you got was a bump on the rear and a chat with Mirage?"

Sonic nodded, "Yep. That's about it."

Shadow closed his eyes and growled quietly, "There is no justice..." he shook his head and sighed, "We've got Mirage on our side now, even if her support isn't out in the open. We need to make our way to the upper levels of this facility. If Ashura thinks like any other villain, he'll want his inner sanctum at the top. Tails, do you know any ways up from here?"

"Well... I can't carry you all..." Tails swallowed, "I always flew up before but... I can try..."

Knuckles stepped forward and flexed his clawed hands, saying, "You don't have to worry about me. I can climb up."

Tails nodded, and continued walking. There were no traps along this route, but it was a single corridor, perfect for an ambush. By the time they came to the end of it, there was both a stairwell AND an elevator.

"Take your pick, Knuckles," Tails pointed at both of the routes.

"The elevator,” was Knuckles' answer.

The hedgehogs, however, seemed to disagree. At the same time, they both said, "Stairwell."

"What's the difference?" Knuckles asked, scowling.

"An elevator is a perfect trap,” explained Shadow.

Sonic nodded in agreement, "It’s safer to take the stairs and makes us harder to track, too."

Knuckles gave an exasperated sigh and told Tails, "Sonic and Shadow agree. The end of the world must be upon us."

"Well... I guess we should stick together, and they're making sense for once," Tails pointed out, “The stairs are safer.”

Knuckles grumbled something under his breath, but didn't outright disagree. He took up the rear as the two hedgehogs started up the long stairwell. All of them wondered if they would run into Amy or Espio along the way.

~~~

Harley: Well, will they? Not much of a cliffhanger, but hey, the chapter would be too long otherwise.

Froggy: Next chapter - the Final Battle! Because Chapter 20 is the Epilogue… So whatever you do, don’t miss the Ninja Fight Scene, which is actually more like a bar-room-brawl, but hey, what are you going to do about it?