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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Froggy: Okay, you MUST have read A Rose And A Thorn 2 to fully enjoy this fanfic.

Harley: Ashura is an unofficial fan-character for anybody. Kind of a grey area. He was originally a palette glitch in Sonic the Hedgehog. Whatever he was then, he’s quite something else now. Utterly. But Mirage belongs to me. You may not use her without my explicit permission. If you do, I’ll personally rip your heart out of your chest and push it through a sieve, pouring the remains back down your throat.

Froggy: Do we own Sonic the Hedgehog, his friends or his enemies? I’m afraid not. If we did, we’d have so much money in our collective trousers that we’d have to employ two people just to hold our trousers up.

Harley: Oh, yes, a few more things. Do not read this story if you don’t like:
* Original Characters.
* Canon Character death.
* Team Chaotix.

Froggy: Oh, and there's some mild homosexual stuff later on in the story. Very, very mild. Nothing for fans of slash to get excited about. But it does give you an idea of pairings to come.

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Chapter One: Raiders of the Lost ARK

Bright light, the sensation of falling, a deep, numbing chill... and then it was over. Their feet touched down on the steel floor, their eyes looking out at the infinite stellar horizon, tiny pinpricks of light surrounded by inky blackness. They had arrived, standing before the wide window in the old lab where Shadow's greatest tragedy had occurred. The red and black hedgehog turned away from the stars and looked inward at the space station, its corridors and rooms familiar territory to him. "We're here."

The ARK was cold, and Shadow could almost feel the destruction that had taken place there. Destroyed robots and dead bodies lay all over the place. In the clean, clinical environment they had simply shrivelled rather than rotted. But there was life too – thanks to his most recent escapade and the increase in his powers, he could sense it.

"GUN is already here," he said, certainty in his voice, "They are searching for the experiments."

Espio shifted into a combat stance, ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice, "Where do we begin our search?" the chameleon asked his friend. It was a good question. ARK was a huge place; there were many places a biological experiment could be held.

"We will need to split up if we are to have any chance of beating GUN to the experiments," Shadow said, "I'll check the labs where they made me; I know them well. Espio, make your way to the storage level and the other labs, and see if you can hack into any computers along the way. Perhaps we can find some hints that way. But be fast."

Espio agreed and left the lab. It would be beneficial to their mission if they could avoid detection, and the ninja was well trained in the art of stealth. The fact that he could naturally change colour certainly helped, too. He hadn't visited the ARK before, but the occasional map on the wall allowed him to head towards the location Shadow had mentioned.

Shadow walked towards the place of his birth, looking around at the battle-damaged hallways, trying to remember how exactly it all happened. He knew the basics, broken memory fragments, the running and fear, the screams of the dying, Maria pleading with him to do something... and her demise at the hands of GUN. Shadow shook his head. Was it his fault that she died? Could he have done something different? Until he knew the full truth, such questions would remain unanswered. But perhaps the other experiments could shed light on his past.

~~~

Espio flattened himself against the grey steel wall, changing colour to blend in as he heard the cycling of airlocks, ships docking nearby. With a hiss of air, the doors opened, and armed and armoured GUN soldiers entered the colony, spreading out and sweeping their weapons around the entryway, searching for threats. The chameleon stayed as still as possible, remaining invisible.

"All clear!" one of the troops shouted.

Another man stepped aboard the colony. His age was evident from his greying hair, his expression looked chiselled from stone, and he was wearing an immaculate dress uniform that showed his rank to be that of Commander. This man was obviously leading the troops. He swept his eyes, one brown and the other green, around the room and just barely nodded, "Spread out and find those experiments," he ordered the soldiers, "If they can be moved without being awakened, take them back to the shuttle. If not... destroy them!"

"Yes, sir!" the soldiers shouted back with a smart salute and then left to follow those orders, running past the undetected ninja.

"We are going to rid the world of Gerald's abominations," the Commander said to himself, drawing a pistol and checking it, "Shadow among them. I hope you have come here, monster. I've been looking forward to this..." The Commander walked past Espio slowly, and the reptile waited until he was out of sight before he moved again.

Finally, Espio moved on towards the other labs, being careful to avoid the soldiers. The GUN troops were limited and could check only so many labs at a time, which meant that there still was a chance to find the projects before them. But he would have to move fast, and he would have to be lucky.

There were many false leads and dead-ends in his search. Broken equipment and the enormity of the task didn't help things. Thankfully, he knew some thing about the ARK that the troops didn't. After the most recent ARK incident, the Chaotix had gone to great pains to learn as much as they could about the colony and its secrets, including those of its computer network. Accessing a terminal, he searched for all he could find on Project Mirage and Project Ashura. He could find nothing on Ashura, but he did find some scattered bits of information on Project Mirage.

Much of it was encrypted or corrupted, but there were some useful bits to be found. He narrowed his search down to four labs, finding a number of words that could be passwords, and some basic information on the project. He memorized it all for future reference and took off quickly towards the four labs, hoping GUN didn't get to them first.

He found nothing in the first lab and had a close call with GUN soldiers in the second, but upon entering the third, he found something that looked promising, a series of steel cryogenic tubes, their contents frosted over. The chameleon could find no obvious labels to them, just a series of letters and numbers on the sides of the tubes. Narrowing his eyes, he examined each one carefully. Those were serial numbers... and one of them he remembered seeing from the report on Mirage. Trying to access the tube, a keyboard slid out and asked for a password. Frowning, Espio went about trying to enter the right one. The obvious ones that were used with Shadow and Emerl, ‘Maria’, ‘Give hope to humanity’ and similar passwords didn't reveal anything but "Access Denied" in bold red lettering.

After fifteen minutes of trying passwords, the ninja was starting to get very irritated. If he didn't succeed soon, he wouldn't succeed at all! Taking a deep breath, he searched his memories of the report for words or phrases that could be the password. One word came to mind that seemed... odd. Out of place. Something concerning Mirage's relation to Project Shadow, although Espio wasn't sure how. It was from an incomplete report, ending with one word; ‘Balance’. And so, he entered that one word. The words ‘Access Granted’ flashed up in green.

The frost began to clear on one cryostasis tube. It held... something. Its eyes closed, its arms crossed over its chest. Something looked at Espio with burning, crimson eyes, taking him in slowly. It was a female, he realised suddenly. But a female what?

It was then that she smashed out of her cryotube and fell forward onto the floor. Then she stood slowly and carefully, the ice evaporating off her into the air.

"Fu'geez!" she said as she hit the floor, and Espio didn't know what it meant, but he was sure it was a swearword.

She was partly feline from the thick black fur and the long tail that bushed out at the end, and partly hedgehog from the five solid quills, and bare tan muzzle. She had blood red highlights on those quills, as well as her arms, legs, at the corners of her eyes, and a splash of red at the end of her tail, as if it had been dipped in blood. There was a thick patch of white fur covering her breasts. Finally, there were three Power Rings bound tightly around her tail. For some reason they had not been taken off when she'd been put into stasis.

He stepped back, keeping a safe distance between himself and the female, standing in a defensive fighting stance, ready to draw his shruiken in an instant. He observed her silently, waiting for her to make the first move.

Long claws slid out and the female patted her quills. They were softened by fur, kinked up at the ends, and hung more like the dreads of an echidna than Sonic or Shadow’s quills. It was clear that they would be useless for attack purposes, "You are not Shadow," she said eventually, almost accusingly.

"No... I'm a friend of his," Espio replied slowly. With no way of knowing just how the female would react, he preferred to be on the defensive.

"Where is my equipment?" the female asked suddenly. Her voice was clipped and artificial sounding, as if every word was carefully chosen before being vocalised.

"I don't know about your equipment," Espio admitted, "Shadow sent me here to find you. We're both in danger. GUN soldiers are looking for you."

"GUN?" the female blinked. She suddenly looked worried, "GUN is here?" She moved over to a wall and stared at it for a moment, then ripping a panel off the wall with her claws, reached into the hole and took out a open-fronted vest, trainers, two fighting daggers, and a necklace.

The trainers were identical in appearance to Shadow's, but they had treads instead of jets. Clearly she didn’t run fast enough to need jets. And the vest was white with a red border. She pulled them on determinedly and hung the necklace around her neck. It had a green jewel as a pendant, about the size of her thumbnail. Finally, she slid the fighting daggers into pockets in her vest.

"Yes, and they intend on destroying you. Shadow is in another section of the labs looking for the other project. We should go meet up with him," Espio told her as she dressed. No gloves, he noticed.

The female blinked mid-stretch, flexing her claws, "There is no other project. Unless you mean Ashura, and... Oh, bother..."

"What is it? What's wrong?" Espio asked her.

"He is waking Ashura?" Mirage turned, "That… chutia! IS HE INSANE?!"

Obviously the semi-feline Mirage knew something that Espio and Shadow did not, "I'm guessing that it is a bad idea, right?"

Her mouth opened and closed, "You have no understanding... but he should know better!" She spun on her heel and took a step towards the door - which was now blocked by GUN troops.

A soldier quickly shouted into a radio, "Sir, Project Mirage is loose! We have intruders on the ARK!"

Espio immediately took action, hurling throwing stars at the soldiers' weapons, disabling them, "Let's go!" he shouted to Mirage.

Mirage took a step, spun on one heel and kicked a soldier so hard that he was knocked into the opposite wall. Somebody aimed a punch at her, but she snatched the soldier’s fist, pulling him forward and punching him in the stomach with her claws. He crumpled to the floor in a bloody mess.

“We do not have the time to mess with these krrllt!” she said, pulling back. She broke into a run towards the labs where Shadow was searching.

~~~

Shadow had no trouble finding the other project. He could sense him, feel where he was. Those feelings guided him to the correct lab, to the correct cryogenic tube. Looking down at the keyboard, Shadow let his fingertips gently run across the keys, his eyes closed. A word appeared in his mind, a word that had been entered before. He typed in the word ‘Genesis’ and hit enter.

The frost on a cryogenic tube cleared, showing a hedgehog, his quills grass green, and his skin so pale that it almost seemed there was no blood to his cheeks at all. His eyes opened, displaying blue orbs, not like a normal person, but sky-blue from edge to edge. He punched straight through the reinforced glass, smashing through. After a few seconds he was completely free, and looking into Shadow's crimson eyes.

A smile spread across his face, "Finally..." he spoke in a voice that was like water running over rock, "Life... real life..."

With a blank expression, Shadow looked at the glacier pale, green hedgehog silently, waiting for the other experiment to acknowledge his presence.

"Shadow," the green hedgehog looked at him and stepped forward. His build was so like that of Sonic’s, it was spooky, "I am the one they call Ashura."

The closer he got, the more Shadow would swear that an aura of icy coldness emanated from him. He looked to be in his mid twenties, but then again, so did Shadow, "So you do know me..." the black and red hedgehog said quietly, looking into the other's blue eyes, "I came here to free you. We are both in danger. GUN is searching for us."

“Heh… they would be…” Ashura’s voice became smoother, calmer. He opened a cupboard and took out some gloves and sneakers. The gloves were black with white wrists, and the sneakers were of a similar design, black, with white socks and white bands across them.

The door slammed open, and a wheezing-for-breath Mirage stood there, "DO NOT OPEN THAT-" she stopped, "Aw, tatti."

Shadow's eyes widened upon seeing Mirage run inside, surprised to see the semi-feline female with such a striking resemblance to himself. Then he saw the troops coming up behind them, "I'll handle this," he growled.

Mirage turned to look at the troops, "You guys just cannot stop knocking on the devil’s door, can you?” she gritted her teeth and the air shimmered, “Well guess what… his bshh just answered!”

There was a metallic tinkle, and Shadow realised that a number of small, metal objects had fallen to the floor. Firing pins for the guns the soldiers held. He raised an eyebrow, looking at the female, "Impressive."

The soldiers at the front stopped running, and there was a pileup. Mirage looked at Ashura, then back to Shadow, "Why did you release him? Do you not remember ANYTHING?!"

Shadow frowned, "Actually, no. I don't remember much." he replied.

"Excellent!" Ashura enthused.

Mirage clutched at the green pendant around her neck, "Tatti," she said again.

Shadow looked back and forth to each of the experiments, not knowing what to think. He hated being in the dark about everything...

More soldiers were arriving, as well as the Commander. Mirage smirked, “Alright! Front row seats to Armageddon!" she said enthusiastically.

"Armageddon won't be a problem," Shadow said confidently, holding up the chaos emerald, "All I have to do is-" Bang! A well-aimed shot from a pistol send the emerald spinning out of his hands.

Mirage and Ashura both sniggered. Ashura looked at the Commander, who was holding the gun, "You've aged, boy," he chuckled, "That's what comes of being mortal."

"I'm going to send you all back to the hell you came from!" the Commander declared, snatching a rocket launcher from one of the soldiers’ hands. Levelling it in Shadow's direction, he pulled the trigger, launching the explosive projectile at them.

“CHAOS… TEMPEST!” Mirage shouted. There was a flare of green, and the small rocket vanished just before it hit Shadow. She grabbed a handful of his quills and dragged him to one side. The rocket reappeared in the exact same position and trailed past them, exploding in a ravenous fireball in the next lab, "You are standing in that hell... Commander," she said, her voice icy cold.

The Commander, realizing how outmatched he was, decided that it would be a good idea to get out of there, "Fall back!" he shouted to his troops, retreating while spraying gunfire in the direction of the experiments.

Shadow glanced appreciatively at Mirage, "Thanks."

Mirage's face twitched into a wide smile, "Hey, what are sisters for?"

Shadow blinked, "Sister?" he asked, "I have a sister..." He wasn't sure what to consider her before, but it made sense. They were ‘born’ in the same lab, and judging from her appearance and powers, it wasn't the only thing they had in common.

Mirage kept smiling, "You really do not remember much, do you?"

Feeling guilty for some reason, Shadow shook his head sadly, "No... I don't. You’re Mirage, right?"

"Yes… But you probably would not have woken us if you remembered much more," Mirage said simply.

"Don't talk nonsense girl," Ashura smirked, "We're family, he has a duty."

"All I know is that you two were going to be destroyed or worse if I did nothing, so I came here to help," the black hedgehog told them.

"How noble," Ashura said, calmly, "How heroic."

"How stupid," Mirage scowled, "Oh well, it is done. I am not going back to that tube."

Shadow wondered for a moment why his little sister seemed to have a death wish. He'd worry about it later. For now, they had to get out of there. Walking over to retrieve the emerald, he said, "Let's just get out of here."

"Ah, a Chaos Emerald," Ashura nodded, "That will come in handy.”

“I can use it to Chaos Control us off the ARK," Shadow explained as he looked into its green glow.

"Give it to me, boy," Ashura said softly, a dangerous tone working its way into his voice.

Shadow didn't appreciate how Ashura said that and he made sure the other hedgehog knew it as he glared back icily, "This Chaos Emerald is mine." He began to draw on the emerald's power, building up the energy for a chaos control warp.

Ashura's eyes narrowed, "Take it," he ordered Mirage.

Mirage nodded, "CHAOS… DRAIN!" The energy building up in the Emerald abruptly vanished.

Shadow gasped, feeling the energy he had built up draining away from him, making him feel dizzy. "What... is this?"

"Mirage has indeed got powers, but-"

“I can speak for myself, sali kuta!" Mirage interrupted Ashura, "Shadow, your powers stem from the Chaos Emerald. My powers stem from the Master Emerald. Your powers are mostly offensive. My powers are mostly defensive."

The power of the Master Emerald? Someone with that could negate those of the Chaos Emeralds or even his own, seeing as the Master Emerald is just that - the master, the polar opposite of the Chaos Emeralds. He thought about this unexpected development as the Emerald slipped from his finger and he focused on standing up.

Ashura scooped up the Emerald, chuckling.

"Believe me, I would rather sleep for an eternity than hurt you," Mirage's expression remained steadfast, but sorrow flickered in her eyes, "If you remembered what Ashura is like... you would understand."

"Let's make a game of this," Ashura chuckled, still looking at the Chaos Emerald, "I'll leave you three together for a while... THEN you'll remember." He vanished in a flare of Chaos Energy.

Shadow stared at the spot Ashura had vacated and began to shake with anger, "That was my emerald... MY emerald!"

"Yeah, I guess," Mirage leant on a wall. She was getting ready for either the beating of a lifetime, or a lot of questions, and she wasn't very good at lying.

Shadow turned and glared at Mirage, fuming. Finally, he snapped out, "Thanks for the help, sis." Then he turned and walked towards the door. "Let's just get the hell out of here..."

"Ugh..." Mirage rubbed her forehead, "I am sorry, Shadow. I really am. But you do not remember what he is!"

"I don't care what he is!” he growled, not looking behind him, "And he's going to be sorry that he crossed me."

"You were always like this, Shadow!" Mirage shouted, "Obsessive, compulsive, possessive... it must have been at least thirty years and you have not changed a bit!"

"Closer to sixty years," he corrected her, "And most of it was spent frozen."

"You... you..." Mirage tried to think up the worst insult possible, and there are an awful lot of ways to be rude in feline, "You krrli[swollen camel’s bladder]! You are as bad as father!"

Shadow stopped walking and looked behind him. "Gerald was a good man. I take that as a compliment." Espio just stood by and watched them silently. He knew it would be a bad idea to get involved.

"I am not talking about Gerald, krrlt!" Mirage shouted, "I am talking about our real father! Do not you remember ANYTHING?! We are not just horrible freaks of science! We were GROWN!"

"What are you talking about?" he asked, "What do you know that I've forgotten? Why were we created? Did I know you? For how long? Who am I?"

"I... I am sorry," Mirage sighed, "You are not really like father. He... is... a monster. You're not a monster.”

"Who is this father you keep talking about? Gerald is my father. He is the one who created me... that is one of the things I do remember," he said, not interested in what her insult meant.

Mirage rubbed her forehead, "Well, he is more of a sperm donor... they mixed in some feline DNA for extra agility and a little more speed."

Shadow never though about there being donors involved in the project before, but he did suppose that the raw genetic material had to come from somewhere, "Wait... that would mean..."

"We are twins," Mirage finished.

Shadow rubbed his head, "Well, that explains where I got the ability to purr from."

"Wait, if you're twins, how come Shadow looks more like a hedgehog than you do?" asked Espio.

"It is all a matter of ratio," Mirage answered, "Shadow is mostly hedgehog. I am mostly not. More a hedgecat, really. But we came from the same father and the same ‘mother’ at almost the same time... there is more to genetics than little spirally things.”

Shadow closed his eyes and rubbed his head harder. This was not something he had expected. Looking at the ground, he quietly said, "I... I'm sorry... I never chose to be what I am. Neither did you."

"Huh, like that is compensation," Mirage sulked, leaning on a wall, "Fu'sht but this is a screwed up family... Ashura is a megalomaniac, I am a living shield and you are a weapon of war."

Shadow looked over at Mirage for a moment, considering her words. Eventually, his expression softened, and he walked over to the hedgecat, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Hey... we are not what we are made to be, no matter what our creators intended. We are what we choose to be."

"Who drummed that tatti into your head?" Mirage asked, looking up suddenly.

"Actually, I worked it out myself," he replied. A small smile appeared on his face, "If you are related to me even just a little bit... you're not a doormat." He slipped away from her again and looked down the corridor. "Let's find an escape pod and get off this thing before more GUN jerks show up," he said, not sounding nearly as angry as before.

"Or before Ashura comes back," Mirage added, "He hates us, you know."

"I'm starting to figure that out," the black hedgehog said over his shoulder to her.

"The time will come when you will have to fight us," Mirage looked unhappy, "And when it does... just forget all the tatti he spouts about family and kill him, okay?"

Shadow stopped, "...Why do I have to fight you, Mirage?"

"Because he'll make me fight you," Mirage sighed, "You know what he can do? He can get into heads and give waking nightmares."

"He has that kind of power?" So Ashura could get inside your mind and screw with it? That was one that Shadow lacked... and it could be very powerful weapon indeed. His jaw tightened, and the black hedgehog growled quietly, "He'll find that I've changed since then."

Mirage didn't really answer, "Is Earth really as beautiful as Maria told us it is?" she asked him, still looking out of the window.

Shadow paused and then walked over to stand beside Mirage, looking out the window at the blue globe floating in the darkness. Earth wasn't all nice and beautiful, like Maria had led him to believe. There was ugliness there. There was pain, sorrow, hatred, and death. But there was beauty there, too. So much of it, "Yes," he said quietly, "You can't even begin to imagine it..."

Mirage smiled for a long moment. Then her ear twitched, "Oh, here he comes," she said. About a second later, Ashura flared into the room.

Shadow decided that he wasn't going to give the jerk a chance to react. Pushing off with his jet shoes, Shadow hurled himself at the green hedgehog with blinding speed, hurling his fist at Ashura's face.

Ashura dodged with Chaos Control, then grabbed a handful of Mirage's furry quills and pulled her in front of him as a shield, "Try that again," he taunted.

Irritated, Shadow turned around and crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh, so you have to take hostages to defend yourself? How pathetic."

Shadow realised suddenly that Mirage wasn't actually struggling, "Forget about family!" she winced as Ashura pulled down on her quills, "Please!"

"Oh, he won't... I'll make sure of it," Ashura laughed. Then he Chaos Controlled Shadow and Espio… back to Earth. They found themselves standing just outside Central City Labs.

Shadow looked around in confusion, grasping thin air, as if trying to hold onto Mirage. His eyes widened as he realized what Ashura had done. "No... no! NO!" he shouted angrily.

~~~

Back on the ARK, Ashura turned back to Mirage, releasing her quills, "I've already found the perfect base for my operations. You'll be a key part in my plan, so you'll have to come too."

Mirage growled, “I don’t have to do anything for you,” she muttered.

“Come now, Mirage, show some optimism,” Ashura told her, “You’re helping to found the Great Ashura Empire!”

“Whoop-de-do,” Mirage muttered with a scowl, “And to accomplish this, how many reasonably innocent people have to die horribly?”

“Oh, the bare minimum,” Ashura chuckled, “Dear girl, you are a fussy one. They’re humans! Need I remind you what the humans did to you?”

“I don’t care,” Mirage replied, “I shan’t help you murder people!”

“Did I say you have a choice?” Ashura asked her, “No, you have no choice, you are a slave, and a slave with a low self-esteem at that. You will do as you are ordered!”

Mirage ground her teeth, “Look!” she pointed, “Chaos Emeralds!”

“Where?” Ashura turned. By the time he’d turned back, Mirage had fled. All that remained was a neat, circular hole in the floor that disappeared even as he looked at it.

~~~

Harley: Wow! Shadow has family! Mirage and Ashura! What are Ashura’s plans, and how does Mirage come into them? And will you ever find out?

Froggy: Harley, regarding the Chapter Title… please don’t do that again. I don’t want to have to fire repeatedly into your chest with a shotgun.