The Chaos Within

As the sun rises, Tikal wakes up, refreshed. She takes the time to appreciate the sunset while floating several hundred feet in the air on a very large island. She grins to herself as she backs up to the beach/forest line and makes a dash towards the sudden drop at the end. She makes a marvelous swan dive off. When she hits the water, it does splash, but Tikal does not rise above the surface again. Instead, a green glow appears in her place, already speeding off in the direction of G.U.N.'s abandoned military base of Prison Island.

The glow reaches the side of the island with a large cliff as it morphs into Rouge, scaling the heights. As she reaches the top, its apparent that there was a large deal of damage done to the base from the Black Arms invasion of those many months ago, the installation since then, abandoned. She looks around for any sign of movement when suddenly, something in the trees stirs and a black blur is seen exiting them. Rouge is about to take flight to chase after it when she hears something land behind her. It was Shadow, the very person she was looking for, clutching the red Chaos Emerald.

"You're not Rouge. Who are you?" said the hedgehog.

"Now, Shadow, whatever gave you that idea? Of course its me."

"I saw you transform at the base of the cliff. Now tell me who you are if you want to live to see tomorrow."

The fake bat laughs darkly as she replies, "Alright, Shadow, but the truth might come as a surprise to you."

Rouge melts into a liquid puddle, reforming into Amy Rose. Shadow does not appear to be phased by this transformation.

"What's the matter, Shadow? I thought your memory returned."

"It has, now what have you done with Rouge? And what the hell have you done to yourself?"

"Its quite a story, actually, Shadow. See, Chaos came to me on my way home from my shopping... Ripped my clothes off of me and raped me in an alley, entering my body and threatening to take it for itself. Unless, of course, I accepted it, allowing me to control its powers. As for Rouge... Do you want to see her again? I could help you with that..."

Amy morphs back to the bat thief, kissing Shadow on the cheek. Shadow, again, shows no sign of surprise.

"No, I don't want a demonstration, just tell me what you've done, Amy." A slight hint of anger emanates from Shadow's voice.

"Well, let's just say that I've really taken to her. It's almost as if she's a part of me now. Just like anyone else that would distract my Sonikku from me. Now, small talk's over. Hand over your Chaos Emerald, and you might be able to leave here with your body and free will."

Shadow stares at the ruby colored emerald for what seems like the longest time, finally looking up at Amy, baring his teeth, saying furiously, "No way. CHAOS CONTROL!"

Shadow disappears suddenly. Reacting quickly, Amy, too shouts these words, stopping time itself around her. She spies Shadow running around her, trying to get her from behind. She quickly stretches her arm out, hitting Shadow in the gut, catapulting him backwards into a tree. He lands feet first on it, using the tree to spring him back towards Amy, curling up into a spindash. With no time to react, Shadow hits Amy full force, making her splatter into several globs of water and five glowing lights. They all come back together, Amy reforming herself as the Chaos Control ends.

"First Sonic, and now you! How in the world did you pull off Chaos Control?!"

"I told you, Shadow! I've got all of Chaos' powers, and that includes increasing my strength several times over every time I absorb a Chaos Emerald. Once I take yours, it shall make six. I'm more powerful than you could possibly imagine now, Shadow."

"Oh yeah?" Shadow leaps into the distance, raising the emerald into the air, shouting "Chaos Spear!" Several yellow beams of energy appear from thin air, raining down on Amy. She quickly morphs into Rouge, dodging them with apparent ease in mid-flight. She then takes off towards Shadow, aiming right at his head. A red aura surrounds Shadow as he clenches his gem, shouting at Amy "You've forced me to do this, remember that. Chaaaaoooossss.... BLAST!"

A gigantic explosion of Chaos energy emanates from Shadow's body as Amy flies directly into it, sending her several yards away. She cries in pain as she land on her back. Something about her changes suddenly as she sobs, "Shadow... How could you..."

"Rouge..." Shadow speeds off towards the fallen form of his old accomplice from the ARK incident, and the one who freed him from the capsule in Eggman's old base.

"Rouge, is that you? Is it really you?"

Shadow kneels down beside Rouge's body, dropping the emerald beside her as he holds her sympathetically. She lightly nods, but then looks strained as her arm stretches out to grab the emerald, absorbing it into her. At the same time, she leans forward, kissing Shadow right on the lips. Shadow begins to panic, knowing he's been tricked as he thinks to himself, "DAMN! How could I have fallen for that..." Amy begins to pour into his mouth, entering his body and mind as she mentally whispers to him, "Don't worry... You'll be with Rouge again soon..." The force with which she enters Shadow's body increases drastically then. In no time at all, she has forced her way completely into the black hedgehog's body. He looks in pain as his limbs begin to become liquid and then solidify again, muttering "No, no... I won't let you in... Get out... GET OUT!!!" It was no use, however. Without his emerald, he did not have the power to resist the takeover. He collapses to the floor, trying to get up, but to no avail. He lands on his back as he passes out and melts into a puddle. Just then, he reforms, now standing up, with the same smirk on his face as the rest of Amy's victims and says in Amy's voice, "Shadow, you were a tough one to get. Unfortunately for you, not tough enough. Now everyone that might distract Sonic from me has been dealt with. Don't worry; your future bride is coming for you!"

He then leaps off of the cliff, melding with the water as he lands, the green glow returning as it speeds off back towards the Station Square harbor.


With Shadow taken care of, Amy now has all of her targets dealt with. Now, with just one Chaos Emerald to go, will we see the return of Perfect Ch... errrr... the appearance of Perfect Amy? Will she finally snap out of it? We all know that Sonic would never marry her, but how will he react to the news that all of his friends have been absorbed into the one person he's been trying to avoid since the day he met her on the Little Planet? Find out next chapter!