Chapter 10
The Haunted Ark
(Group POV)
(Blue Typhoon)
The Blue Typhoon was on its ascend into space, to get to the Space Colony Ark.
"Wow. This is soooo cool! We're actually going into space!" Rainbow squealed.
"One question. Where are our space suits to protect us from the vacuum effect of space?" Twilight asked.
"You won't need them." Tails said, "Because of your interactions with being in the Mobian dimension, you carry the many natural abilities of any Mobian. Including the ability to breathe in space freely."
"Wow. That's so cool! I can breathe in space, and not die!" Rainbow cheered.
"You are still vulnerable to the effects of the anti-gravity however. The moment you step off the Blue Typhoon, you will float out of control." Tails said, "The artificial gravity on the ship is very limited around the exterior."
"I learned that the hard way." Sonic said.
"Knuckles laughed, "And I ended up going to save him."
"Took you a long time." Sonic said.
The heroes discussed their adventures in space, until Tails spoke, "We're here guys."
Everyone stopped talking and looked out the window.
There, floating in space, was an abandoned space station, Space Colony Ark.
"Just like Mobius. It abandoned." Shadow said.
"According to legend, that space station is said to be haunted by the spirits of its last crew." Twilight said.
"Yeah right. You've been hearing ghost stories, Twi." Rainbow said, "There are no such things as ghosts."
"What about the Chaos Guardians that took over our bodies before Mephiles got rid of them?" Fluttershy asked.
"Uhh… That was different." Rainbow said.
"I can't find an open docking platform." Tails said, "I'll have to hack into the system and see if I can open it from here."
But suddenly one of the ARK's docking ports opened.
"That was quick. Nice work, Tails." Rainbow said.
"I-I didn't do anything." Tails said.
(Play Metroid Prime 2 Echoes Soundtrack - Space Pirates Lurking Theme)
Everyone then stayed shocked and silent.
"I-if you didn't do it… Then who did?" Rainbow asked nervously.
The Blue Typhoon docked in the docking platform and all the heroes got out. The entire station was pitch black, due to power outage.
"This place gives me the creeps." Ace said.
"I can't see a thing in here." Sonic said.
Suddenly a loud humming could be heard.
"What's that sound?" Sunset asked.
Suddenly a lot of the lights turned on and power was restored.
"GAH!" Fluttershy screamed as she ran behind Ace.
"Ok. That was weird. First the hangar opens on its own. Next the power turns on on its own too." Rainbow said, "What's next?"
Right after Rainbow spoke, a recon drone flew in front of them. It opened its scanner eye and scanned the heroes, "Scanning for possible threat." Then it stopped, "Scan incomplete. Welcome to the Space Colony Ark."
Then the drone flew off.
"Well we're safe for now. Let's start looking through the station." Shadow said.
So the heroes began searching the corridors of the station, unaware of a peculiar person watching them.
"Let's split up into groups, so we can cover more ground." Shadow said.
Shadow and Pinkie Pie went to search the Reactor core; Tails and Twilight went to check out the Control Room; Ace and Fluttershy went to check the prison cells; Sonic and Rainbow went to check the halls; Knuckles and Applejack went to check the vaults; and Dark, Sunset, Lilac, and Hikari went to check the other landing decks.
(Shadow and Pinkie POV)
Shadow and Pinkie entered the Reactor core room of the ARK.
They weren't shocked to see the power core was online and active.
"Who ever activated this, is still on this station. They may have answers." Shadow said, "Be on your guard, Pinkie." He then formed a Chaos Spear.
Shadow then heard a shift and spun around, throwing his Chaos Spear, "Show yourself!"
The Chaos Spear exploded against a wall, and someone fell, "Ah!"
Shadow summoned another Chaos Spear, "Who are you?"
The person got up and revealed that it was a young teen girl. She had light purple hair, and the tips were darker; her hair was put up in a single ponytail, held by a blue hair band; she wore a gray/violet robe/jacket, dark pink shoes with white straps and fluffy cuffs, white gloves with fluffy cuffs, and blue necklace. She was also wearing a semi-torn lab coat, that had spots of blood on it too.
"Who. Are. You?" Shadow asked raising his Chaos Spear higher.
"Please, don't hurt me. My name is Lightning*." The girl said.
"Why should I trust you?" Shadow asked glaring at the girl.
"I am the one who let you in the ARK's hangar. I also turned on the power to the station." Lightning said, "So I've been helping you since you got here."
"And?" Shadow asked.
Suddenly there was a loud clang.
Lightning gasped, "Please you must help me. They're after me."
"Who's after you?" Pinkie asked.
"Priority one, capture and destroy all surviving crew members." Shadow heard a familiar robotic voice speak.
He turned and saw Metal Sonic fly into the room, "Metal Sonic."
"Shadow, how nice to see you again." Metal said, "However, you are not important. What is important is terminating that girl." He said pointing at Lightning, who was cowering in fear.
Shadow stepped in between Lightning and Metal, "You will not lay a single one of your metal claws on this one."
"Move aside, Shadow." Metal said.
Shadow threw his Chaos Spear at Metal, but missed, causing a small explosion.
"Careful where you throw those, Shadow. You might hit a boiler, and destroy the entire station." Lightning said.
"Well why don't you help and fight him too? From what I see, you can't even defend yourself." Shadow said.
Lightning got up and growled, "Who said I couldn't defend myself?" Suddenly her hands were covered in electricity ,"I may be the youngest member on this station, but I am one of the deadliest.
"Wait a minute, are you from the Mobian Dimension?" Shadow asked.
"Yes, but I came to this world and have been here for years, aboard this station." Lightning said, "I'm a scientist."
"Which is why I am here to acquire you." Metal said charging at Lightning.
Lightning shot a beam of electrical energy, but missed, "I just can't hit him. He moves too fast."
"Maybe for you, but not us. Pinkie. You know what to do." Shadow said.
"Chaos Control!" Pinkie squeaked.
Time and space around Metal slowed down.
"Now!" Shadow yelled, "Chaos Spear!" Throwing his spear.
"Thunder Strike!" Lightning yelled firing a lightning bolt out of her hands.
"Chaos Beam!" Pinkie cheered firing a chaos beam.
The attacks hit Metal and caused his systems to go haywire, "Bzzt. System overload! Damage levels critical! Must retreat!" Metal's core glowed brightly and then shot a large beam at one of the walls, blasting it open. Everything began to fly out the hole, as the vacuum effect of space began to suck them out.
Metal flew out the hole and back down to the surface.
Shadow grabbed Pinkie before she was sucked out, "I've got you." Then he saw Lightning trying to do something with a control panel, while holding onto a metal railing.
Shadow saw some metal scraps flying towards Lightning, and she didn't see anything, "Lightning! Look out!"
Lightning turned and saw the scraps, "Oh no!" She covered her face, but the scraps never hit her. Instead, she heard a "blam". She looked up and saw confetti where the scraps had been, "Huh?"
"Party cannons are so fun. And useful." Pinkie said as she put her part cannon away.
"Thank you." Lightning said as she turned back to the control panel. She entered the command and four drones flew in. They shot beams at the hole and began to seal it up with alloy.
When the hole was sealed, the drones flew off.
"Great work, Lightning." Shadow huffed.
"It was thanks to you. If not for you, I'd be out there. Floating around, unable to do anything until I entered the earth's atmosphere, and burned up." Lightning said, "And at last, the station is rid of that mechanical madness."
"What was Metal Sonic here for?" Shadow asked.
"I found him trying to break into our vault." Lightning said, "Come. I'll show you."
Shadow and Pinkie Pie followed Lightning to the ARK's vaults.
Then they heard loud banging, "C'mon! Break open you stupid vault!"
"Oh no. Not more pirates." Lightning said as her hands became electrically charged.
They turned the corner and saw who was causing all the banging.
Knuckles and Applejack were trying to break down the vault, "Why in tarnation is this one so hard to open, compared to all the other ones?"
"Because it's sealed with extra security!" Lightning shouted, "What do you think you are doing!?"
Knuckles and Applejack turned and saw the enraged scientist, "Uhhh. We're umm…" Knuckles tried to think of a lie.
"Oh for crying out loud." Applejack said, "Look here sugarcube, we're breaking into these vaults, looking for something we need to save the world."
"Ha! And you expect me to believe you? That is the worst lie I've ever heard." Lightning half laughed, "Now tell me the truth."
"They are telling the truth, Lightning." Shadow said coming around the corner, Pinkie jumping in tow.
"Shadow." Knuckles said.
"Pinkie." Applejack said.
"You know these two?" Lightning asked.
"Yes. They came with us." Shadow said.
Shadow explained the past events of over the past few days.
"Strange how you would have came here. Because based off the descriptions and details you told me, we have two of those Chaos Harmony Crystals. In this vault." Lightning said walking over to the vault's control panel, and began typing the security codes.
"That still doesn't explain why Metal Sonic was trying to break into it. Neither he, Tirek, nor Eggman could use them." Shadow said.
Lightning entered the security codes and the vault opened.
When the teens looked in the vault, Lightning gasped, "Those weren't in there before." She said pointing at two floating emeralds.
Inside the vault, two Chaos Harmony Crystals were in a glass case, and floating next to them, was a Chaos Emerald and a Dark Emerald.
"Those are what we came for." Shadow said walking over to the two Emeralds.
"And those crystals belong to the girls." Knuckles said.
"Hold on a minute while I bypass the security on the glass case." Lightning said.
Suddenly there was a suddenly smash and the sound of glass hitting the ground.
Lightning looked and saw Knuckles standing over the glass case with his fist raise, "Bypassed."
Applejack and Pinkie picked up their Chaos Harmony Crystals and began to glow brightly.
Now in their place, Applejack the Chaos Cowgirl and Pinkie Pie the Chaos Gunner, stood with their crystals glowing in their gold bracelets.
Just then, the other heroes came into the vault.
"Well well. Looks as though all the Chaos Guardians are back." Ace said.
Applejack and Pinkie reverted back to normal.
"And now we've also got all the Chaos and Dark Emeralds back too." Shadow said tossing Dark the Dark Emerald.
"Now we can take on Tirek!" Rainbow said. Then she saw Lightning, "Umm… Who's that?"
"This is Lightning. She's from the Mobian Dimension, but she is a scientist in this world." Shadow said, "Don't anger her if you don't want to be shocked to death."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sonic asked.
Lightning walked up to him and touched his shoulder.
"What are you doING! GAH!" Sonic yelled as he was suddenly being zapped by electricity.
"Be glad that was only a small fraction of my power." Lightning half giggled.
Everyone laughed, but suddenly stopped when the entire space statio began to shake violently.
(Play Metroid Other M - Vs Ridley - (HD))
"Whoa! What's going on?" Rainbow asked.
Lightning ran over to a control panel, "Oh no! The station's under attack! And it's already taken too much damage."
"But who's attacking us?" Sunset asked, grabbing a railing.
The teens ran over to the viewing window and gasped. The Egg Carrier was attacking the ARK, using another Alpha Egg Cannon.
"Eggman!" Sonic growled.
And aboard the main deck, Tirek stood firing his own beams at the station.
"At this rate, they're going to destroy the ARK!" Lightning said as the station continued to shake.
"I think that's their intentions." Tails shouted, "Everyone! To the Blue Typhoon!"
Everyone ran to the docking bay where the Blue Typhoon was, but when they got to the door, it was locked, "Why's the door locked?"
"Open hatch to Docking Bay #15." Lightning said.
"Reactor core unstable. Unable to generate power to docking bay doors." The ARK's computer said.
"The power core is unstable. I'm going back to fix it." Lightning said running towards the power core's room.
"Lightning, no!" Dark shouted.
Too late, parts of the ceiling caved in and sealed them from following the scientist girl.
(Lightning POV)
Lightning ran to the reactor core's room and saw the door was sealed shut, "Open the hatch to the reactor core."
"Warning. Warning. Extreme danger in Reactor core. Opening this door will release many toxic poisons. Command invalid." The computer responded.
"Luckily I've done this before. So I've been growing immune to most of those poisons." Lightning said as she charged a Thunder Strike. Then she blasted the door open.
As soon as she did, she felt extreme heat and toxics being blown in her face.
She ran into the room and went over to the command panel, but it was out of power.
"God damn you stupid technology." Lightning said energizing the command panel. As she began typing in the command to open the door to the hangar, she began to feel dizzy and hot, 'Nhg. I'm not going to make it out alive.'
"Warning! Warning! Reactor core becoming majorly unstable. 85% Chance of Reactor Core Explosion." The computer said.
"Shut up you stupid computer." Lightning said, "Almost done… And done!"
(Heroes POV)
The door to Hangar 15 opened and the Blue Typhoon was still in it.
"Let's go guys." Tails shouted.
"What about Lightning?" Knuckles said.
"We can't save her. The path is blocked off." Tails said.
"Yes we can." Sonic said.
"How?" Twilight asked.
Sonic and Shadow then ran back towards the halls.
"Sonic! Shadow!" Rainbow shouted running after them, but then rubble collapsed in front of the doorway.
"NO!" Rainbow shouted.
"Rainbow! We need to leave now!" Silver shouted.
"I won't leave Sonic!" Rainbow shouted.
"WARNING! WARNING! Space Colony Ark Station Explosion Imminent! Please Evacuate the Facility!" The computer said, "5 Minutes to Station Destruction."
Silver used his psychokinesis and lifted Rainbow towards the Blue Typhoon.
"NO! NO! NOO! SONIC!" Rainbow flailed.
When everyone got on, the Blue Typhoon took off and flew out the hangar doors.
(Lightning, Sonic, Shadow POV)
Sonic and Shadow ran towards the reactor core's room, but as they got closer and closer, they felt extreme heat.
"The Reactor Core must be overloading extremely." Sonic said.
"But we can take it." Shadow said.
They got to the Reactor Core and could see fire coming out of the room. They ran inside the room.
"Lightning! You in here!?" Sonic yelled.
"Sonic, over there!" Shadow yelled pointing.
Sonic looked where Shadow was pointing and saw Lightning laying on the floor, unconscious, next to the command panel.
Shadow ran over next to her and checked her pulse, "She still alive, but growing weaker."
"We need to get her out of here." Sonic said.
Shadow picked up Lightning and the teens ran for the exit.
But then a large amount of rubble crumbled in front of the doorway.
"Damn. No way out." Shadow said, "What now?"
"2 Minutes to Facility Destruction" The computer said.
Sonic smirked and closing his eyes.
"What are you doing, Sonic?" Shadow asked.
(Stop Playing Metroid Other M - Vs Ridley - (HD))
(Play Light E'm Up - Fallout Boy)
Suddenly the Seven Chaos Emeralds appears and began to circle him, "Let's go! Super Sonic style!"
Sonic then turned Super Sonic, "You too, Shadow." Sonic took Lightning and then focused on Shadow.
Shadow began to focus on the Chaos Energy given to him by Super Sonic and then turned Super Shadow, "Let's get out of here."
(Other's POV)
(Blue Typhoon)
The heroes watched upon the deck, looking at the ARK, which had fire and smoke coming out of it.
"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0." Tails counted.
The Space Colony Ark blew up, sending metal all over the place.
"NO!" Rainbow and Pinkie screamed.
Twilight cried into Tails' shoulder, "Sonic. Shadow."
"Wait! Look!" Ace said pointing into the rubble.
Everyone looked where Ace was pointing, and saw two golden lights flying towards them.
"It can't be." Knuckles said.
"IT IS!" Tails cheered.
Super Shadow and Super Sonic were flying towards the Blue Typhoon. Super Sonic was carrying Lightning also, but she was unconscious.
(Stop Playing Light E'm Up - Fallout Boy)
"Sonic! Shadow!" The teens cheered.
"Before anyone becomes all happy and huggy, Lightning needs medical attention." Sonic said reverting back to normal, "Hikari, that's where you come in."
Hikari nodded and took Lightning, "We'll be in my room if anyone needs me." And then Hikari took Lightning to her room.
When they left, the others turned to Sonic and Shadow.
"So, Shadow, what's your new ability?" Rainbow asked.
"I didn't get a new one." Shadow said.
"What!? So what were you here for?" Sonic asked.
"I never said I didn't get something." Shadow smirked.
"What?" Everyone asked.
"When I picked up the last Chaos Emerald, I felt all my Chaos Abilities come back to me." Shadow said clenching his fists. They then glowed green, "However, they are not at full power."
"Besides all that just happened, we're ready to face against Tirek." Ace said.
The heroes nodded and looked back down at the earth.
Let the final battle begin.