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echidnapower · 9 months

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A Light in Darkness - Chapter 1

As I continue bringing back my fics here onto Tumblr, here's one that has been in-progress for quite some time, and shall continue to be until I find the time to finish it, which I will someday. A story featuring the only Sonamy fanchild I could ever accept as canon, due to how much work and effort went into making her feel real. @e-vay's own Aurora the Hedgehog. I hope she - and everyone else reading this - enjoys!

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An old and broken down warehouse can be the location for many different shady operations. In many old cartoons, the villains would often keep their secret hideout in an abandoned warehouse on the edge of a town. Sometimes criminals would keep their hidden stash of illegal drugs and their ill-gotten profits to try and avoid detection by the local police. And in some extreme cases, insane psychopaths will hide the bodies of their tortured victims in warehouses such as these.

In this case, an old abandoned warehouse holds the last hope for all of Mobian kind.

"So we're all agreed?" Shadow the Hedgehog, leader of the newest incarnation of the Freedom Fighters, leaned his palms against the surface of the old and rusted metal table as he looked at each member of his war council.

"We don't really have much of a choice now, do we?" That reply came from Silver the Hedgehog, a psychokinetic hedgehog who had joined up with the Freedom Fighters as soon as he'd learned of their existence. "I gotta say though Shadow, I hate the idea of this being our last chance."

"Unfortunately, this is our final option." Blaze the Cat - a Princess from another dimension and born with the power of pyrokinesis so that she could one day become the guardian of the source of power in her own dimension: the Sol Emeralds - spoke grimly at her fellow Freedom Fighters. Unfortunately, soon after the event that caused the devastation of her world, the emeralds were taken from her, and with them, any hope of restoring things to the way they were. "If we are to undo this madness, we cannot fail. If we do, we won't even be alive to see the results of our failure."

A fist slammed onto the table in frustration, startling the group as the owner of the fist glared angrily at the others. "If you had just listened to me in the first place, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess!" Sticks the Badger, a wild jungle girl who'd been forced out of her burrow by the disaster screeched at her teammates. "I tried to tell you that he was acting strangely, but you thought I was CRAAAAAAZY!" she pointed accusingly at Shadow. "You of all people should've noticed Mr. Ultimate Life Form!"

The black hedgehog lowered his head and closed his eyes a moment before looking back at the young badger with an intense gaze. "I was a fool not to notice, but I intend to make up for that grave error right now." Shadow turned his attention to a lanky marsupial who had for the most part kept his focus on a set of blueprints laying on the table. "Have you figured out the best way into the stronghold Yukon?"

Yukon, a young Sugar Glider who had been rescued by Sticks the day the apocalyptic disaster struck, nodded at Shadow and placed his index finger on the blueprints. "I looked over the blueprints Tails had in his lab of Dr. Eggman's old Fortress, and with a little input from Sticks, I think I've managed to find the safest way in."

"There is no safest way in." Sticks scoffed and rolled her eyes. "With evil machines guarding every possible entrance, it won't matter where we try to go in, we'll still be seen!"

"That's a risk we'll have to take." Blaze nodded at the Sugar Glider, "Please continue."

Yukon nodded back and dragged his finger over to the right side of the middle of the map. "This leads to Eggman's old vault, that's probably where Ba'Gan is keeping the Chaos Emeralds." He dragged his finger down the map near the bottom of the blueprint. "It looks like there's an old passageway Eggman installed that leads to the vault, and from the looks of things, it's hidden behind a wall that's since been sealed off, and the other end of the passageway appears cut off too." Yukon looked up and glanced at Shadow. "You know Eggman best, is that passageway still there?"

Shadow stood tall and crossed his arms, his eyes closed as he pondered for a moment. "Knowing the doctor, he likely would've left it available for him in case of an emergency." Shadow opened his eyes. "No doubt that room contained some rather extreme security measures as well."

"I bet that's where he keeps his stash of violins that he used to torment me in my sleep!"

The others looked at Sticks oddly for a moment before continuing. "So what exactly is the plan?" Silver asked.

"The first thing we'll need to do is disable the guards posted at that position. If they're Eggman robots, then we'll need to destroy them quickly so they don't send out a signal to alert the rest of the guards that we're attempting to breach the stronghold." Shadow's expression became grim. "If they turn out to be some of them..." Shadow frowned deeply as the others around him lowered their heads in sadness. "Hopefully there will be a way to save their hosts...but if it's necessary, we will have to destroy them as well."

"The idea of having to murder innocent bystanders..." Yukon shook his head and shuddered. "It goes against everything I believe in...maybe if Silver could hold them still, I could strike a few nerve points and knock them out for a while."

"I could try, but these things have shown they can resist my psychokinesis to a certain extent." Silver looked at his hands and sighed, watching as they pulsated with cyan energy. "Maybe if I'd spent more time honing my skills, I'd be able to handle more than one at a time."

"You mustn't blame yourself Silver, none of us were even remotely prepared for what has taken place." Blaze spoke up. "What matters now is that we fix it."

"Weeeeeell actually, I was prepared." Sticks ran off a moment and returned with crude looking armor that appeared to be made of some form of wood and tied together by vines. "These may not look pretty, but I spent years building sets of armor for me and my friends in case a zombie apocalypse happened." she began handing out the armor to everyone around the table, until she was holding only two sets. "This armor is made out of nothing but wood from the Steelwood Forests and some good ol' fashioned wilderness survival skills." she placed the last spare set on the ground and put on her own, beaming proudly at her teammates. "Wearing these, you could get hit by one of those laser beams of theirs and not even feel it!"

Shadow rolled his eyes and decided to humor the young badger by putting on the armor. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't even entertain the thought of being with this mishmash of personalities, let alone being their leader. But then again, their circumstances weren't normal. "Thank you Sticks." Shadow nodded with a neutral expression before continuing. "Once inside, it should hopefully be a simple matter of finding the Chaos and Sol Emeralds. Once in our possession, Silver and I will use Chaos Control to open up a time portal, and then we can stop this from ever happening."

"And if something goes horribly wrong?" Sticks asked.

"It won't go wrong."

The badger crossed her arms and raised a skeptical eyebrow at Shadow. "You seem a bit too sure of yourself."

"Not at all." Shadow replied. "I say it won't go wrong because it can't go wrong...if it does go wrong...well...then they've won." Shadow stood tall and looked at each of his teammates. "These mechanical nightmares have absorbed our friends and families, turned them from those we love into instruments of destruction; their sole purpose to absorb all other organic life and add them to their hive mind. Some of us...admittedly...have lost more than others, but we all feel the same passion and desire to right the wrongs and stop this threat from completely overtaking Mobius...and then the rest of not one, but two universes." He looked at Blaze when he said that. "You know what's at stake. After tonight, we will either succeed and live to fight another day, or we will be absorbed like the rest of them." Shadow rubbed at his golden power inhibitors before giving a heavy sigh. "We will move out at 0300 hours...in the meantime, get some rest, you'll need it."

"You get some rest too Shadow, we're gonna need you too." Silver said sympathetically.

The black hedgehog simply nodded and walked away from the table, leaving the rest of his team to their own devices. He ran a hand through his ebony quills as he tried to amp down from the constant adrenaline high he was feeling. While he'd recently gotten used to being around other people, he was by no means built to be a leader...that was more his specialty. He cursed under his breath in frustration at the thought. That confounded blue hedgehog had let himself be the first one to be absorbed, and he never even knew it was happening. "Of course, I should have noticed to begin with. If anyone would know what that looked like, it would be me."

As he continued walking, he spotted a distinct form, colored in an even more distinct shade of pink sitting on a pile of crates in the back of the warehouse. Sighing once more, Shadow walked over to the girl and tried to get her to look at him. "How are you doing Light?"

The bright pink hedgehog just shook her head and sobbed a bit before looking up at the black hedgehog with tears evident in her emerald eyes. The bands on her clothes were glowing dimly to match her somber mood, and it broke the black hedgehog's heart to see her so reduced. "I still can't believe it Shadow...how could they...how could they just..." she sobbed a few more times and buried her face in her hands.

Shadow moved in to embrace the hedgehog girl, stroking her quills in an attempt to comfort her. "They did what they felt they had to do, they wanted to try and protect you." He used his finger to tilt her head up at him so she could look at him. "They didn't volunteer to be absorbed Aurora, they fought to the bitter end, like true heroes should...even your father fought it until there was simply nothing left of him to fight back."

Aurora the Hedgehog, the final member of the Freedom Fighters...and more famously...the daughter of Sonic the Hedgehog and Amy Rose, cried into the chest of her boyfriend as she continued to mourn the loss of her parents and extended family. Her Uncles Tails and Knuckles, they'd been absorbed fighting off the monsters while trying to get them the blueprints to Eggman's former fortress, only Shadow had managed to escape, albeit barely. Her Aunt Rouge had been absorbed trying to gather information from the G.U.N. Headquarters about the current threat they were facing, and those were just the ones she knew about regarding their fates.

"Aurora." Shadow said consolingly as he gently tilted her head up again. "We'll save them, we're going to save them. All of them. You have my word." The black hedgehog then leaned in and gently kissed the pink hedgehog's forehead. He never imagined falling in love with the daughter of his greatest rival, but after twenty years of travelling the world in search of a better understanding of himself, and also to find someone he'd met during his greatest adventure, he'd come home to find that the ones he once called his friends had reached adulthood, and now had families of their own, most with grown children even.

Coincidentally, the very girl he'd quested to find for over twenty years turned out to be Sonic and Amy's daughter, which naturally added a whole new dimension to the "friendly" rivalry he and Sonic shared. But just as Sonic was beginning to accept the fact that Aurora truly loved Shadow, the disaster struck. Now, there was no time for simple pleasures such as going out to watch a movie and have dinner, there was only slight lulls as a war raged. The speed at which the takeover had occurred was staggering. Just one week before, Shadow was contemplating how to celebrate his and Aurora's one-year anniversary as a couple, and now, he was leading a small band of troops into battle, one from which they might never return.

"Shadow...do you think...we'll be able to save them?" Aurora asked, her voice was almost that of a frightened child, as she looked up at Shadow in uncertainty.

Shadow sighed and frowned as he ran his hand through his quills once more. "I don't know Light...but I swear to you, I will either find a way to do so, or I will die trying."

Instead of comforting her, that had the opposite effect on the pink hedgehog as she clutched tighter to her ebony boyfriend. "I know you're trying to help, but please don't say stuff like that...I already lost my family...I can't...I can't lose you too." She buried her face into his chest and shook her head in defiance of the thoughts invading her mind. "I can't...can't lose you too." she mumbled.

Shadow stood in silence for a few moments, contemplating what to do next. Aurora was usually incredibly upbeat and enthusiastic, and her bubbly personality infected everyone around her, admittedly even himself - to a degree anyway. But ever since the invasion of the mechanical creatures taking over the bodies and minds of her family, she'd been...just the opposite. There had to be a way to make her crack a smile at least, and a recent memory popped into Shadow's mind in answer to that thought.

"Aurora."

"Hmm?"

"Do you remember the look on Blaze's face when she saw that Cream was now over ten years older than her?"

That finally got the pink hedgehog to give a weak yet sincere laugh. "What's weird is that I have memories of the real Blaze coming to visit from her dimension. I never thought I'd meet one of my aunt's best friends and be older than her." She laughed a bit at the remembrance. A time displacement caused by the appearance of the creatures had merged the past of Blaze's world with the present of Mobius, and as a result, Blaze had appeared as well, only still as a young teenager as opposed to the adult that Aurora was more familiar with.

When Aurora had shown the teenaged Blaze a photograph of Cream the Rabbit as an adult, her jaw had dropped clear to the floor. But it didn't take long for the Sol Emerald Guardian to make the mental adjustment and get down to business. All the better for the Freedom Fighters, as her flames would come in handy when the battle began. Upon thinking of the upcoming battle, Shadow spoke up once more. "Aurora...we have a plan. We're going to infiltrate the fortress and steal back the emeralds from Ba'Gan, then we'll open a time portal so we can make sure none of this ever happens. We need your help."

The offspring of Sonic the Hedgehog and Amy Rose looked up at Shadow and got up off the crates so she could stand tall. Taking a deep breath, Aurora nodded with determination and held up a fist. "Let's go stop those Droids. No one messes with my family and gets away with it."

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With their operation planned out to the smallest detail, the small band of Freedom Fighters stealthily made their way to Eggman's former fortress. It was a huge building with walls and lasers and every scientific method of defense one could think of protecting it. However, since the evil scientist had abandoned the lair, the most elaborate defenses had been removed so that they could be installed at his next base. Unfortunately, the creatures called Droids had more than made up for it by making several hundred Mobians their mindless slaves, and given them all orders via the hive mind that they should defend the fortress with their lives.

Upon reaching the fortress, the Ultimate Life Form peeked his head out from behind a bush, and he looked around to scope things out. "All clear." Shadow stepped out of the foliage and gestured with his hand to summon his teammates. As they began emerging in single file, the black hedgehog took note of the two guards standing watch in front of the wall they were targeting. "Generic Egg Pawns. Excellent. It should be easy enough to disable them. Silver, Blaze, go!"

Acknowledging Shadow's signal, the lavender cat leaped up into a tree and looked for a good vantage point. Once she felt she had a good shot, she looked down at Silver and nodded at him, and moments later Silver advanced on the robots. "Uh, hi, take me to your leader?"

The robots immediately made a move to contact more guards, but a giant fireball struck them from above, and less than a second later, a psychic shield appeared and surrounded the blast, keeping the sound of the explosion from being detected. "Nice work Silver." Blaze said as she hopped out of the tree, her palms still smoking from the attack. "So what's the next step?" she asked as Shadow and the others walked up to her and Silver.

"Well," Yukon stepped forward and began feeling the wall carefully. "If I read the blueprints properly, there should be a switch that'll open up the secret passage." Moments later, Yukon's eyes widened slightly, and the wall opened up, revealing an old and dusty passage. "There ya go, they don't call me Houdini for nothing." Yukon pointed at himself proudly.

"The easy part is done, now we get to the real tough stuff!" Sticks seemed almost excited at the prospect. "Those machine maniacs will think twice before attacking my friends again!"

Shadow chose to ignore the badger and nodded at his girlfriend, who immediately understood his unspoken request and nodded back, as her suit began glowing brightly to allow her friends to see. "We've made it this far, but Sticks was right. This was the easy part. Now we've gotta find a way to stay undetected. Let's go." Shadow led the team into the dark passageway, Aurora's unique photokinetic powers lighting the way for them, just enough so they could see where they were going.

As they continued, a sense of unease began to envelop the Freedom Fighters. They had yet to encounter any form of resistance, and while that could be interpreted as a good thing, they couldn't shake this feeling that something was wrong. "I understand that this was the way we wanted the plan to go, but doesn't this seem a bit too easy?" Blaze whispered.

"Maybe...we're just a lot better at this than we thought?" Silver's voice betrayed that he definitely didn't believe his own words.

"They're here...I know they are." Sticks hissed lowly, looking around frantically. "I'm not exactly sure where, but we're not alone."

"We're almost at the end of the passageway." Yukon took a few steps so that he was ahead of Aurora, but he suddenly gave a terrified yelp when he ran into something. Looking down, the Sugar Glider saw that he had merely bumped into a piece of scrap metal from one of Eggman's old badniks, and he placed a hand over his rapidly beating heart as he tried to catch his breath. "Sorry...guess I'm a little on edge." He looked up again. Then he screamed in mortal terror.

"We've been detected!" Shadow launched a Chaos Spear which struck where the heart would have been for the tall Droid soldier that had been staring coldly at them in the dark, and the former Mobian fell to the ground with his mechanical parts sparking violently from the hit. "Aurora, light up the room!"

Aurora concentrated and strengthened the output of her powers, and soon the room was bright enough that everything could be seen. "There's no one else here?"

"They will be soon, I hear them! Hundreds...thousands of 'em!" Sticks exclaimed as she stared at the ceiling above them.

"Then we've no time to waste, we must get to the vault before they do!" Blaze was about to rush forward, when she turned suddenly at the agonized cry Aurora had given out. "What's the matter?!" She looked to the ground and saw the pink hedgehog trying desperately not to burst into tears, as she was staring at the unmoving corpse of the Droid that Shadow had just destroyed. "Oh no..."

The dead Droid was quite clearly Miles "Tails" Prower.

"Uncle Tails!" Tears began to flow from Aurora's emerald eyes, as she mourned the loss of her beloved Uncle. "Why did it have to be you? Of all the Droids they had, why did it have to be you?!"

"I should've realized." Shadow cursed under his breath. "When Tails was absorbed, the Droid Hive Mind obtained all of his knowledge and all of his memories, including his knowledge of our plan to use the passageway!"

"So then they knew we'd be here!" Silver's eyes widened in horror.

"But then why send Tails down here by himself if they knew we were here? Why not bring a whole army?" Yukon wondered.

"There's no time to think! We've already spent too much time thinking!" Sticks shouted. "They know we're here? So let's stop acting like they don't! Let's storm this place!" The wild Badger gave a shrill battle cry and pulled her Bow Staff out from behind her back, and she charged down the corridor shouting expletives, which was soon followed by the unmistakable sounds of battle.

"Looks like we're doing this the hard way!" Blaze rushed forwards with Silver hovering right next to her, and Yukon followed to the best of his ability, as his speed was nowhere near that of Blaze and the flying silver hedgehog.

Shadow was about to join them when he took note of Aurora's state. The pink hedgehog was kneeling next to the body of what used to be her uncle, mindlessly staring at all the wires and gadgets that ran through and around his body. A mechanical eyepiece had been placed where his left eye used to be, and his right arm was now a form of claw with a laser at the end of it. "Aurora, we can fix this, but we need your help!" he said as gently but as urgently as he could. "If we get to the Chaos Emeralds, we can open a time portal, and reverse all of this!" he held his hand out to her. "I can't do this without you."

Aurora looked up at Shadow, then back down at Tails. Taking a moment to fold his hand and robotic arm over his wire filled chest, she got up and nodded at him. "Let's go. I want my family back."

Shadow nodded and took off running, Aurora matching him stride for stride with the speed she inherited from her father. They soon reached a light at the end of the passageway, and once they went through it, they saw the floor littered with Droids that had been knocked unconscious by their teammates. "Looks like you've got this handled."

Sticks snorted. "Like these dummy Droids had any chance against real flesh and blood!"

"Um...they used to be flesh and blood." Silver pointed out.

The badger narrowed her eyes at the psychokinetic hedgehog. "Stop trying to confuse my brain with details."

"Enough." Shadow took a few steps forward and examined the glass cases that held the Chaos and Sol Emeralds. "It won't take long for reinforcements to arrive so let's do this quick." the black hedgehog reared his fist back and shattered the glass with his punch, setting off an alarm throughout the fortress. "The alarm is moot, they already know we're here. Silver, grab an emerald!"

"This oughta slow the Droids down a little!" Yukon gave a sharp kick to the electronic panel and destroyed it, effectively locking the Droids out, at least for the moment. "I doubt that'll make a difference for long, make it fast you two!"

Shadow and Silver nodded at each other and held up a Chaos Emerald each. "Chaos Control!"

With the combined efforts of the two hedgehogs, a swirling vortex of energy slowly began to form. "It's working!" Silver cheered. But then the door burst open, sending Yukon and Blaze flying backwards, and they slammed into the wall and crumpled to the ground from the impact. Upon seeing the Droids beginning to march in, Silver stretched out his free hand and attempted to put up a psychic barrier to hold them out, but the cyborgs quickly changed tactics and started opening fire on the barrier. "I can't hold it!" Silver strained.

Moments later, the barrier shattered, and the psychic backlash sent Silver crumpling to the ground just as the time portal was finished forming. But instead of advancing, the Droids merely stepped aside and allowed something to walk past them, and the sight made Shadow, Sticks and especially Aurora tense up. "So Shadow, you've managed to avoid absorption. You always were a pest." Standing in front of them was none other than the form of Sonic the Hedgehog himself, but unlike the Droids, Sonic's body had been left unmutilated by internal or external machinery. Instead, the only sign that anything was wrong with Sonic was the glowing red eyes and the distorted voice. "I compliment you on making it this far, but you must know resistance is futile. You will be absorbed into the hive mind and serve me, and assist me in achieving my goals."

"No!" Aurora rushed over to Sonic's body before Shadow could stop her, and she stood in front of him with desperation all over her face. "Daddy it's me! It's your Tiny! Please, you've got to fight this! Don't give into Ba'Gan! I know you're strong enough to beat him!"

Ba'Gan chuckled and grinned evilly at the pink hedgehog. "There was a time long ago when that would have worked...but that time has passed. Now, there is only me." Ba'Gan took a step forward and Aurora immediately took two steps back. "Your father is gone Aurora, I am all that remains."

"I don't believe it." she dropped her head and shook it in weak defiance.

The alien creature just chuckled again and looked over at the emeralds. "This has gone on long enough." he said casually. "Now I shall capture you and have you all absorbed into the hive mind...but first, I think I'll have some fun by giving you all a beating you'll never forget...unless I want you to, that is." the emeralds began glowing black, and Aurora moaned as the negative energy began to radiate from the emeralds. "Does that energy bother you Tiny?" he asked with a condescending sneer. "I'm so sorry. I'll make it all stop soon."

Aurora growled at the now pure black-hued hedgehog that she once knew as her father. "Don't call me that ever again, only my father can call me that."

"Oh? Well in a sense, I am your father. So treat me with respect little girl!" Ba'Gan grabbed Aurora's wrist and began squeezing tightly as he lifted her into the air, and she gave a brief cry of pain from the pressure. Then the monster brought Aurora as close to his face as he could without actually touching hers. "Welcome to the family." he chortled.

"No!" Without warning, Ba'Gan was knocked back by a golden figure, and the pink hedgehog's savior caught her and gently put her down as he glared angrily at the leader of the Droid army. "Are you okay Light?"

Aurora shook her head to get her bearings, clutching at her hurting wrist as she looked up to find her boyfriend now in his golden super form, the positive energy emanating from him quickly making her feel stronger. "I'm okay, but what do we do now?"

Shadow kept his eyes locked onto Ba'Gan, who now seemed to be glaring at him despite the lack of any pupils, as customary for Sonic's dark super form. "Take the others, go through the portal, I'll hold off Ba'Gan long enough for you to escape!"

"What?!" Aurora's eyes widened in horror. "That's crazy! You can't beat them all by yourself!"

"I don't need to beat them." Shadow twisted the bracelets off of his wrists, and they fell to the ground as the golden hedgehog prepared to unleash his true power. "I just need to slow them down."

"But our plan! We need you! I need you! You'll die Shadow, please don't do this!"

Shadow looked into Aurora's pleading eyes for just a moment, and suddenly his own eyes widened in an apparent revelation. "Of course." he couldn't help but chuckle to himself. "Aurora, you have to go, if you don't, your family is doomed, and I will be too."

Before Aurora could inquire as to what his meaning was, Ba'Gan surged ahead and tackled Shadow into the wall of the vault, growling viciously at him as if he were a wild animal. "You're already doomed! I will obliterate you Shadow the Hedgehog, but not before I make you watch each and every one of your so-called friends be absorbed in the most agonizingly painful way possible!"

Instead of returning the threat, Shadow turned his head to look at his young girlfriend. "Hurry Aurora! Time's running out!" he maneuvered his arm so he could keep Ba'Gan at bay for just a moment, "I promise, you will see me again! Just go through the portal! Change history for the better!"

"No, you won't take away my victory!" Ba'Gan was about to move in to destroy the pink hedgehog, but Shadow quickly grabbed hold of the dark beast and held him tight in a headlock. "Let go of me you miserable parasite!"

"Takes one to know one." Shadow quipped with an effort-filled growl. Then he looked up at Aurora, who was gathering her friends and leading them to the portal. "You caught us off-guard once Ba'Gan, but it looks like you got more than that blue faker's body, you also got his infernal cockiness. Now, it's gonna cost you."

Only Aurora had yet to leave, and she looked over at her boyfriend who seemed to be fading fast as the removal of his power inhibitors had caused his energy to drain at a rapid pace. "Shadow..."

"I love you Aurora, promise me you'll light up the darkness when you get to the past!"

"Huh? W-What does that mean?"

Shadow grunted as he almost lost control of Ba'Gan, whose rage had kept him from realizing that his Droid army was still awaiting commands. "Just promise me Light!"

"O-Okay! I promise!"

Shadow smiled. "Good...now go!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ba'Gan finally broke free of Shadow's grip, but he was just a split-second too late to stop the pink hedgehog from diving headfirst into the portal, and it disappeared seconds later, much to the alien being's rage. He glowered at the now once again black hedgehog and picked him up by the throat, squeezing it as tightly as he could. "Your time is up, Ultimate Life Form, you have not won this battle."

Shadow could feel his consciousness fading as Ba'Gan strangled him, but despite the extreme pain, he was able to give a faint and triumphant smile just before death took hold of him. "She's safe...I've already won." With that, the Ultimate Life Form fell to the ground as Ba'Gan dropped his now lifeless body, that same triumphant smile on his face even in death. The mission had been completed.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonamy #amy rose #knuckles the echidna #miles tails prower #sticks the badger #silver the hedgehog #blaze the cat #OC #aurora the hedgehog #e vay #Shadora #eggman #dark sonic #fanfiction #my stories #shadow the hedgehog

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echidnapower · 9 months

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A Light in Darkness - Chapter 2

Still reposting stories on here, so here's Chapter 2 of A Light in Darkness, starring @e-vay's own Aurora the Hedgehog. Thank you again for lending me your character, now on with the show.

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Space. Nothing but an empty vacuum, devoid of any sort of pollution or undesirable elements. Here in this dark void, one can view the majesty of hundreds of trillions of twinkling stars and planets, stretching out across the universe. A totally pure landscape.

But it's here in this landscape that a great threat is being created. To the untrained eye, it would appear to be just another generic star in the night sky, one that young children in their beds would look out of their windows and see and innocently make a wish on. But to those who could tell the difference, they would be able to see that there was something very odd about this particular "star" floating in space, and not only was it odd, it was clearly meant to be dangerous.

There in space, a weapon of mass destruction was being created, its power unmatched throughout the known universe. The weapon's given name: The Death Egg. Its creator: None other than the brilliant scientist and notorious super villain, Dr. Ivo Robotnik, otherwise known as Dr. Eggman.

Eggman watched his thousands of robot workers go about their business constructing his newest fortress from up high on a balcony with a satisfied sneer on his face. It had taken a lot of ingenuity on his part to keep the longtime construction of this newest incarnation of his classic Death Egg undetected from Miles "Tails" Prower's sensors. He chuckled a bit at the thought. Though he was loathe to admit it - even to himself - the young fox boy had proven to be a more than worthy intellectual opponent over the years. But this time, things would be different, he was sure of it.

"Doctor, everything is going according to plan, we're currently on schedule for full power output within the next 24 hours." Orbot, a red sphere-like robot created by Eggman to keep all of his plans running smoothly, gave his report as he held a clipboard and pencil in hand.

"And what of the Egg Carrier 3.0?" Eggman asked without looking away from the construction robots.

"Also on schedule. The warp engines have been installed and the shields are currently charging up to full capacity." Orbot floated up to where his boss was watching the construction. "If I may say so Doctor, I sincerely believe that this might be your greatest plan yet. You've thought everything out very well this time, I'm quite proud."

Eggman snorted and gave a mild glare to the spherical robot. "Lucky for you, I'm in too good a mood to disassemble you for that crack." The egg-shaped scientist turned and walked towards what appeared to be a sort of stasis tube, staring intently at the creature suspended inside. "This has been a long time in coming. All of those other plans, all of those other chances to take over the world and recreate it in my own glorious image, they never bore fruit...but even though those were failures in the short-term, they only helped bring me closer to my ultimate plan. One that Sonic and those wretched friends of his would never see coming." he chortled a bit as he pulled a glowing gem out of his pocket and gazed upon its beauty. "With the help of the Chaos Emeralds, I shall revive this creature, and if my research is correct, it will finally be the true key to eliminating Sonic, and world domination."

"Staring at that creepy alien again huh?!"

Eggman jumped and glared angrily at the yellow cube-shaped robot who had suddenly appeared next to him. "What are you doing here?! Don't you have a job to do?!"

"But I'm boooored with working, can't we do something else instead?"

Seeing that Eggman was one word away from destroying his counterpart, Orbot rushed over and covered Cubot's mouth with his own metal hand. "I'll just take Cubot and get back to work. No need to fret Doctor, everything is going according to plan!"

"It better be." Eggman turned and stared up at the alien creature floating in suspended animation in the blue-liquid filled tube, ignoring the hushed bickering of his two bumbling robots. "I've planned for every possible contingency. This time, that blasted hedgehog won't know what hit him. Prepare yourself Sonic, for your time is running short."

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The Mystic Ruins, normally a peaceful place filled with exotic fauna and wildlife, and if one delved deeply enough into it, one could find the treehouse home of Big the Cat and his best pal Froggy, who was, well, a frog. But tonight, the jungle portion of those ancient ruins would receive a rather significant shock in the form of a whirling vortex of energy suddenly appearing and spitting out several screaming forms and dropping them to the dirt below. One by one they fell, and they fell on each other until there was a pile of Mobians all squashing one rather irate jungle badger.

"I'm not a fan of being touchy-feely, so everyone get off!" Sticks screeched and managed to force everyone off her with a surge of strength, and she dusted herself off before sniffing the air around her. "Hey, I know this place!" Sniffing the air further and then kneeling down to take a taste of the dirt - an act which made everyone else present cringe in disgust - Sticks beamed and jumped back to her feet in excitement. "Incredible! We've somehow been transported to the Mystic Ruins! And by the looks of all the different trees and flowers around us, that portal thingy dropped us off in the middle of the jungle!"

"Leave it to Sticks to be excited about being dumped in a jungle in the middle of nowhere." Aurora scoffed as she finished dusting off her own clothes. Then suddenly her eyes widened and she quickly turned around to look for the time portal, but there was no sign of it. "He didn't make it." Slumping considerably, the pink hedgehog dropped to the ground and hugged her knees to her chest, silently grieving the loss of her boyfriend. "The only way Shadow would've stayed behind is if Ba'Gan killed him, I'm sure of it." she whispered almost to herself.

"Then we must continue the mission, that's what he would've wanted." Blaze said as she looked around to see if anything looked familiar. "Besides, if we're successful, then Shadow and everyone else we left behind will be okay again."

Looking up at her teammates, Aurora nodded and stood back up, taking a deep breath as she tried to collect her emotions. "You're right." she cleared her throat and joined Blaze in trying to identify their location. "So, any idea where we are? I mean, besides the fact that we're in the middle of the Mystic Ruins at night."

"I can see pretty well, but nothing around here looks familiar." Yukon swiftly climbed up a tree and scanned the horizon with his natural night vision. "All I see are more trees, there's no landmarks or anything like that we can use to give us a marker." he hopped out of the tree and crossed his arms in thought. "Of course, even if there were, I wouldn't be able to tell you...I don't know this area very well even in our own time." he chuckled sheepishly. "Guess I didn't really think this through."

"Well I'm not from your time, I should be able to tell if there's anything out here that can tell us where we are." Blaze glanced at each of her teammates. "With that said, I think we should just set up a temporary camp and rest for the night. We're all very tired and there's still some planning to be done. There's no point in trying to navigate the jungle in the dark."

"Can't Aurora there just light things up for us?" Silver curiously pointed a thumb over at Aurora. "I mean, that's her main power isn't it?"

"True, but still, we need rest. We have a long mission ahead of us, and we'll need our strength." Blaze made sure to make eye contact with each of her teammates. "Here's as good a place as any to set up camp. Find some dried up tree branches that may have fallen to the ground and I'll start a fire for us."

Sticks crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at the lavender cat. "And who put you in charge?"

Aurora rolled her eyes and grabbed Sticks by the wrist to drag her away. "We'll be back."

"Aurora let go! She can't talk to us like that! Who does she think she is?!"

As the badger's voice faded, Blaze gave a weary sigh and face-palmed. "This is going to be a long trip." she then took note of Silver's apprehensive expression. "And what's the matter with you Silver? You seem lost in thought."

"Hmm?" Silver glanced up and looked at Blaze when his brain registered that she was talking to him. "Oh. Sorry. I was just thinking...it was something you said, about you not being from our time."

"Yes, what about it?"

Silver began to pace. "Well, I've made it a point to learn as much as I can about time travel, after all, you never know when something like that might become possible."

"Like now?" Yukon said aloud as he reached for some dead-looking branches in a nearby tree.

"Not the point!" Silver exclaimed back with a huff. "Anyway, with every single one of us - with the exception of you - being from over twenty years in the future, we need to be really careful that we don't mess with certain events that could potentially wipe us from existence."

Yukon stopped in his tracks and dropped the branches he gathered to the ground, looking at the silver hedgehog with wide eyes. "I never even thought of that...what happens if we end up changing something that was supposed to happen just to ensure our own existence?!"

"I highly doubt that you two are in any danger regarding that way of thinking. According to Yukon, his parents currently live far, far away from here, and anything that happens here shouldn't have any real effect on them." Blaze turned her attention to Silver. "And as for you...well, you said you never really knew who your parents were, right?"

"Yeah...so?" Silver's voice became noticeably melancholy.

"So, you shouldn't be in too much danger." Blaze lowered her voice. "However, there is one person who stands to lose a lot during this mission."

"What's going on here?"

The three Freedom Fighters suddenly stood up ramrod straight and looked over at Sticks and Aurora, the latter was glowing brightly to try and give her friends some way to see what was happening in the darkness. "Shut off your light!" the cat girl hissed.

Aurora quickly did what she was told and powered down, shocked by the seriousness in the Sol Princess's voice. "What's the matter?"

"It's what I should've explained before when Silver asked." Blaze sighed. "We wanna try and be as inconspicuous as possible, we don't know if Dr. Eggman could be around here somewhere. In my experience in this dimension, the doctor has a nasty habit of showing up just when you don't want him to, and the last thing we need is for him to interfere with our mission."

"Oh yeah." Aurora nodded in agreement as she carefully placed her branches on the ground, Sticks following her lead. "Daddy told me stories about how Eggman would always show up and mess with his dates with Mom."

The cat couldn't help but chuckle a little and shake her head. "Mom and Dad, I still can't quite get used to that." she blinked and looked down at the pile of sticks on the ground, and then she formed a flame in her hand and casually tossed it onto the pile, letting the fire build on the dried up wood. "At least this will give us a little bit of light and warmth without looking too suspicious. Since I'm the only one who the doctor would recognize if he saw us, I'll keep watch and stay out of sight. To him, you all are just random kids having a camp out. But if he sees me, all bets are off."

"I'll relieve you after a while!" Silver exclaimed determinedly. "After all, you need your sleep too, you shouldn't have to make sacrifices for all of us."

The princess just shook her head. "I'll be fine, I'm used to these sorts of adventures." Noting the silver hedgehog's sullen expression, the cat girl internally sighed. "However...if I require any rest, I will be sure to alert you Silver."

Apparently satisfied with that, the young hedgehog smiled and laid down on the ground, trying to get into a comfortable position as the heat of the fire warmed his body. "Not exactly a five-star hotel, but hey, it's better than nothing."

"If you ask me, this is perfect!" Sticks crawled next to the fire and curled up into a ball, clutching her trusty boomerang in one hand as she settled down for some sleep. "Out in the wilderness, no signs of civilization, there's no safer place to be."

"It's times like these when I wonder how we've managed to grow up as best friends." Aurora scoffed.

The badger opened one eye and smirked up at her best friend. "It's a government conspiracy." she said playfully. "Now get some sleep, if I'm tired, then you must be exhausted."

"Says you." The pink hedgehog laughed and began looking around for something - anything - she could use as a pillow, but all she could find were some nearby rocks. "Terrific. And me without my sleeping bag."

"Well, you could take a big pile of leaves and try to build a nest of some sort." When Yukon received a weird look from Aurora, he shrugged. "I'm not as wilderness savvy as Sticks is, but I did spend a lot of time in the outdoors, I observed some jungle animals doing it, it's worth a shot."

Aurora relinquished a small smile and shook her head. "It's ok Yukon, I'll make due." The pink hedgehog got in-between where Silver and Sticks were currently dozing off and rested her head in her arms as she let the warmth of the nearby flames comfort her into a shallow slumber.

"Good. She needs the rest." Blaze nodded to herself and leaned against the trunk of a tree with her arms crossed, and she turned her head to see Yukon standing in front of her. "Something I can help you with?"

"Not really." Yukon came a bit closer. "Just thought you might want some company, I'm something of a night owl so to speak, so I figured I'd stay with you."

Blaze shrugged and turned back to the others who were now sleeping next to the fire she'd made. "We have a difficult trial ahead of us...we're not even sure where to begin, Shadow didn't give us any clues. He was supposed to lead this mission."

"You seem to be doing pretty well with that aspect."

"Hmm." Blaze mumbled to herself a bit without looking at the marsupial. "Just trying to utilize some of what Sonic taught me. Perhaps when we run into him, he can assume command of the team and our presence will merely provide the required extra power needed to defeat this threat...whatever it is."

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Images flashed rapidly in the subconscious mind of Aurora the Hedgehog, visions of pain and suffering endured by her friends and family at the hands of some unknown entity. The anguished cries screamed louder and louder in her mind as the images began to flash by her vision faster and faster. As much as it pained her to do so, she focused on trying to make out what she was seeing and hearing.

Her father shouting in agony.

A roar of determination from her Uncle Knuckles.

Her boyfriend shouting out the name of his signature move in desperation.

An unfamiliar evil cackle.

A horde of evil red robots all closing in on Shadow.

Then the cackle began to grow louder, as it began to override all the other sounds in her mind.

Her Uncle Tails' lab flashed by her just before an evil, soulless presence made almost entirely of negative energy suddenly appeared in her mind and blocked out everything else, the cackle now clearly coming from its hideous form. She fought to wake up and stop this, but even though she was aware she was dreaming, she couldn't seem to wake up, as the creature floated closer and closer, its cackle now becoming almost deafeningly loud. "No, no, no! Stay away from me! HEEEEEEELLP!"

"AURORA!"

Aurora shot up and screamed in mortal terror at the top of her lungs as she was at last freed from the nightmare by the dream voice of her boyfriend Shadow calling for her. The sun was just beginning to rise and now all of her teammates were looking at her in concern. Breathing heavily, she looked down at her hands and saw that they were shaking from the fear that image had put into her. Her whole body felt clammy and was covered in cold sweat from what she'd gone through, and needless to say, she was both embarrassed and terrified. "I'm sorry." she managed to whisper, although whether it was aimed at her teammates or Shadow, even she couldn't tell.

Silver placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "What happened to you? You were screaming in your sleep!"

"I had a nightmare...only...it felt so real." she shook her head as she held it in her hands. "Just images, voices, and this evil monster laughing and getting closer and closer...I'd never seen anything like it before." she stayed silent for a few moments before her head shot up and her eyes widened in realization. "There was one other thing, I saw Uncle Tails' lab near the train station to Station Square, just before the monster became the only thing I could see, I think that's where we need to go to get started!"

Yukon tilted his head to the side curiously. "What makes you so sure?"

"Call it instinct." Aurora got up and stared off into the distance. "I'm not exactly sure how I know, but we've gotta get to Uncle Tails' lab, we'll start finding answers there."

"Well, it's not like we have any other options right now." Blaze nodded at the pink hedgehog. "Okay, we'll go to the lab and test out that little vision of yours." she then turned and leaped up into a tall tree, climbing until she reached the top and could see over all the other foliage. Shading the top of her eyes from the rising sun with her hand, Blaze was able to make out what appeared to be a ladder in the distance. "I see a ladder that leads to the edge of a cliff, that should be our ticket out of this jungle!"

"Then what are we waiting for?!" Silver cheered as he rose into the air with his psychokinetic powers. "Let's go save the future! WHOOOOO HOOO!" Silver blasted off at high speeds, leaving his teammates behind in his excitement.

Blaze sighed and shook her head. "He's such a child."

"I dunno, I welcome a little enthusiasm." Yukon grinned at the lavender cat and climbed up the tree as well, and leaped off the top and began to glide off with his natural Sugar Glider gliding membrane outstretched to catch the wind below. "Seeya there!"

"I'm not about to lose a jungle race to those city slickers!" Sticks jumped into the treetops and started swinging from vine to vine, which left just Blaze and Aurora not actively headed towards the distant ladder.

Using this moment of peace, Blaze glanced down at Aurora who appeared rather apprehensive. "You're sure about this?"

Aurora nodded. "I don't know how I know, I just do. If we're gonna stop whatever crazy apocalypse that's supposed to happen, we've gotta get to my uncle's lab...and fast."

"Then let's not waste anymore time." Blaze leaped down and landed on the ground on one knee before getting back up again. "Let's go."

With a determined nod, Aurora raced off with Blaze matching her stride for stride. "Don't worry everyone, I'll find a way to save you. I swear it."

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