Tails the Fox
Chapter 19 - Shadow's search for Truth
Stage 10 - Blizzard Warzone
Boss 12 - Metal Sonic

2BIT: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and 
Sonic Team. You knew that, right?

Shadow had been searching for answers to the riddle of the experiments. Where had they come from? Where were experiments one, two, and three? What became of their creator? The search for answers had led Shadow to Death Row, but he found no answers there. All he learned was that Sargent Gunner, who was in charge of recapturing Experiment 2, had gone to Blizzard Warzone, on the Aqua Isle. To reach the top of the mountain, Shadow had "borrowed" one of GUN's helicopters at Death Row. He landed on a large snowy cliff overlooking another cliff, which wrapped around that side of the mountain. Shadow looked down from the cliff he landed on and saw that various GUN robots were fighting with several different varieties of Eggman's robots. "What's going on here? Why would the doctor's robots be here?" Shadow thought.

He jumped down to the lower cliff, and all the robots abruptly stopped and aimed their guns at him. "Hey, what did I do?" Shadow said. The robots didn't even flinch. They began firing at Shadow immediately. Running out of the way, Shadow muttered to himself. "I have no desire or need to fight with these robots! I need to find Gunner or Eggman, right now!" Shadow took off around the cliff, and soon noticed a large military building was built up there. So was a large battalion of GUN mechs. Shadow was also being followed by the other robots that had fired at him before. "Nowhere to go but straight ahead!" he realized. He ran straight past the GUN mechs, which became distracted by Eggman's robots that had followed Shadow. "Not sure what's going on, but at least this is easy as a result."

Shadow approached the door to the building. There were voices speaking inside, and Shadow recognized one as Eggman's! Not wasting any time to think, Shadow kicked open the door and walked in. Eggman, in his plane, was with Metal Sonic near the door, facing Spy and Rouge on the other side of the room. The four of them turned their attention to Shadow. "Ah, Shadow." Eggman said, "I was just having a chat with the GUN Sargent's aide. It seems that GUN has something against me coming to help them."
"I don't pretend to understand anything the sarge says..." Spy said, "But I follow his orders! And I order you, Rouge, to fight off Eggman! I will be running for my life..." As Spy said this, he began running past Eggman and Shadow. As he passed Shadow, Shadow grabbed his arm. "One question. Where is Sargent Gunner?"
"In the Blizzard Warzone base. Good-bye!" Spy quicky pulled away from Shadow and ran off. "Coward!" Rouge said, irritated by Spy's behavior.
Eggman looked a bit perplexed. "How did that coward get to be a GUN agent? Strange..." Then, he remembered Rouge. "Well, bat girl, you've been ordered to stop me? Sorry, but I have better things to do than fight with you. Metal Sonic, you keep her company while I take care of more important matters! Bye now!"

Eggman flew past Shadow and out the door, briefly waving to Shadow as he passed by. Shadow, not about to let Metal Sonic hurt Rouge, ran into the room between them. "Listen up, you pile of scrap! If you want to hurt her, you'll have to go through me first!"
Metal Sonic slowly approached Shadow. "The Ultimate Life Form. At last we meet. I am Metal Sonic!"
"I know who you are! We fought once before. Back when Rouge awakoned me. Don't you remember?" Shadow said in an irritated tone.
"Incorrect data. Pathetic delaying tactic!" Metal Sonic followed up his reply by ramming Shadow with his fist, knocking him back slightly. Shadow was not affected much, and was only angered further by the attack. "Don't push me! I am not one to be forgiving!"
Rouge put her hands on her hips impatiently. "Are you two gonna just sit there threatening each other or are you gonna fight?"
Shadow looked over at her and shot her an angry look. "You know, I COULD just leave this to you!"
Metal Sonic took this distraction as an opportunity to hit Shadow with a forceful kick to the head that sent Shadow skyward. Shadow landed on his back, and Metal Sonic wasted no time chasing Shadow to where he landed and giving him a nasty punch to the gut. However, this was Shadow's chance to grab Metal Sonic's arm and flip him over his head! Both fighters scrambled to their feet and unleashed a flurry of attacks at each other, both taking damage but neither letting up. Finally, Metal Sonic launched a cheap kick between Shadow's legs. Shadow doubled over in pain, and Metal Sonic grabbed his arm and launched him out the door and into the snowy cliffside. The robot slowly walked to where Shadow had landed, not anticipating Shadow's retaliation. The black hedgehog jumped from the ground and kicked Metal Sonic accross the head in midair! This knocked the robot over, but only for a moment. Both seemed able to continue for a while still. At that moment, Rouge ran outside and tossed something toward them. "Shadow, catch!"

Shadow caught the object, a shiny white Chaos Emerald. Shadow could tell it was fake, but even a fake can be quite useful. "Chaos Control!!" Shadow shouted, vanishing and reappearing behind Metal Sonic. Shadow then used Chaos Spear to launch several spears of energy searing at Metal Sonic, knocking the robot forward, but not damaging it. However, the force of the attack combined with the slippery surface caused Metal Sonic to slide over the ledge and off the cliff!

Shadow looked down and saw that Metal Sonic, while still miraculously in one piece, was not moving. It had landed on a deep snowbank, and perhaps was rusting from the snow. Shadow then turned to Rouge. "Can you take me to Sargent Gunner?" he asked.
"How about a thank you!?" Rouge grumbled. "If it wasn't for me tossing you that fake emerald, Metal Sonic would still be pounding the brains out of you!"
Shadow just frowned. "Is that a no?"
Rouge heaved a heavy sigh. "Follow me. You did save me from having to do that myself..."

As the two walked away, Metal Sonic climbed out of the snowbank. "Massive internal damage taken... Must return to Dr. Eggman for repairs..."

Rouge led Shadow to the top of the cable car, which came out at GUN's Blizzard Warzone base. They found Gunner in his board room, looking over a large screen showing a map of the area. Before Gunner noticed them, he yelled at the screen in frustation. "Curse that Sonic! How could he have escaped me!?"
Shadow was shocked to hear a GUN agent talk about Sonic in such a way. So shocked, in fact, that he forgot about the experiments. "What did you say about Sonic?"
Gunner finally turned around and saw Shadow. As much as he hated animals, he tried to maintain an air of respect when speaking to Shadow. "Sonic has betrayed us, Shadow. He released a top secret experiment creature from our prison facility, then stole our Chaos Emerald! That freak must be stopped!" Gunner finished his speech by banging his fist on the table. Rouge sighed as though this was the millionth time she had heard this. "The sargent thinks Sonic broke Experiment 2 out of prison."
Gunner glared at Rouge with contempt. "I don't THINK he did, I KNOW he did!" he walked in front of the screen and continued, "Why do I waste my time with you freaks! I wouldn't be surprised if you were working with Sonic, anyway." He turned back around. "Leave my sight, both of you! And Rouge, tell Spy to hurry up with my coffee!"

Shadow walked down the hall, thinking over what Gunner had said to him. "Perhaps he mistook that robot for Sonic. It wouldn't be the first time such a thing happened..."
"That's probably it." Rouge said, "But what if Sonic did do it? What then, Shadow?"
Shadow stopped short. "I'll find out straight from him. If I don't like what I hear..." he paused, then, with fire in his eyes, he said, "I will make him pay!"

Spy suddenly ran past them, appearing flustered. Rouge stopped him. "Hey, Spy! Gunner's coffee is late!"
"Never mind that!" Spy exclaimed. "We captured a bunch of Sonic's friends, but I think he's already reached the cell where we were holding them! I need to tell the sarge, right away!"
Shadow's eyes narrowed. "Where are they?"
Spy started running down the hall as he shouted in response. "They're in a cell in the bottom cable car building!"
Shadow took off in the opposite direction, leaving Rouge behind. "Perfect. It's just a cable car ride away. Watch out, Sonic! Here I come!"

To be continued...