Shadowsite

White Fire

By: TIDOTA ERU

Ch.1: Destiny Calls

*It had been two weeks since the Black Arms invaded Westopolis. Everyone had pretty much got back to their normal lives. Knuckles was back to watching the Master Emerald on Angel Island. Sonic and the rest of the gang were going on vacation for awhile. But, someone was missing. That someone was a red and black hedgehog named Shadow. After the Black Arms were defeated he had traveled back onto the ARK and stayed there. Noone ever heard from him in quite a while. Right now Shadow was looking out one of the windows of the ARK, down at the Earth below.*

*His red eyes just stared down at Earth, then he thought he saw a small craft approaching. Sure enough there was a small ship coming aboard the ARK.*

Shadow: Intruders huh? Well, I'd better roll out the welcome mat.

*He walked away, ready to greet whoever was aboard that craft*

*The doors of the spaceship opened and a young girl stepped out. She couldn't be any older than fifthteen. No one else appeared to be on board with her, she was alone. Shadow was watching her from the catwalks above, seeing what she would do. She looked around, her eye's almost landed on Shadow, hadn't he had ducked into a corner. Convinced that she was alone, she walked through the door leading deeper into the ARK. Shadow jumped down and followed. The girl turned to the left leading to the computer database. Shadow was begining to get suspious, but wasn't going to reveal himself to her just yet.*

*She sat down at the computer for several minutes typing in the words Operation: White Fire. After a few more minutes she left and went down another corridor. This time Shadow didn't follow, he wanted to see what this White Fire was.*

Shadow:~taking a seat at the computer and begins to type~ Now, let's see what this White Fire is?

*Files ontop of files began to pop up all over the screen. Shadow began to read.*

*He was almost stunned when he finished reading the last file.*

Shadow: This doesn't look good. If that girl's doing what I think she is. This world is in danger.

* * *

*Meanwhile on Earth, a certin red echidna was busy writing in his hidden study, when all a sudden the Choatix decide to burst in.*

Knuckles: What's it this time?

*The Choatix's home was destroyed when the Black Arms attacked, and Knuckles had agreed to let them stay on his island 'till it was rebuilt. Even though their new home was finished they still decided to pay a visit once in awhile. This time though the Choatix seemed serious.*

Vector: Tails wants you to come to the workshop fast. Turns out we got a call from the ARK.

Knuckles: Shadow, what does he want?

Espio: Don't know, but as far as Shadow goes I'd say we're in trouble.

Ch.2: Hidden Agendas

*Fox, the girl that Shadow followed, was now at the Eclispe Cannon chamber. There she picked up a shining grey emerald from it's socket. She admired it's beauty for a moment then grabbed a cellphone out of here pocket. Pressing speed dail she was able to quickly make a call. A conversation was started.*

Fox: Phase 1 complete.

Voice: ~over phone~ Well done Fox, you have served me well. Bring back the choas emerald and if you run into anyone elimanate them.

Fox: I shall not fail.

Voice: Make sure you don't. ~hangs up~

* * *

*Shadow was there to greet the others when their ship landed. Sonic came rushing out first, soon followed by the others.*

Sonic: Long time no see pal.~to Shadow~

Shadow: Not long enough.

Knuckles: So what's this all about?

Shadow: Someone was aboard the ARK this morning. I followed her to the computer room where she was pulling up something called Operation: White Fire. When she left the room I was able to take a peek at the files myself, turned out I wasn't to happy about what I read.

Tails: What did you read?

Shadow: White Fire turns out to be....

*An old alarm suddenly sounded, and Shadow quickly ran to the Eclispe Cannon chamber to find the choas emerald gone*

Ch.3: Playing with Fire

Shadow: She's stolen the choas emerald! ~when he rushed back to the gang~

Knuckles: No doubt she heard that alarm and ran off. How are we going to find her?

*Rouge held up a choas tracker in her hand, Tails grabbed it and started putting it to use. The others stared at her.*

Rouge: I'm a thief, it's what I do.

*Sonic rushed over to Tails, followed by Espio*

Sonic: You think you can track down the stolen emerald with that?

Tails: I'm not to sure. It's going to be hard to fix onto just one choas singal.

*Meanwhile Knuckles didn't know what to think, but he smelt something. Something was burning and it was nearby. Then he suddenly realized what it was. Vector and Rouge saw the look on Knuckles face.*

Vector: Hey Knux, are you okay?

Rouge: What is it?

Knuckles: We have to get out of here.

*It was Sonic's turn to ask a question*

Sonic: Why?

Knuckles: Trust me, come on! ~jumps in the ship~

*The smell was now close enough for the others to detect. It was only 'till they saw a wall of flames coming around the corner that they understood why Knuckles jumped in the ship.*

Espio: The ARK is burning down, from the inside.

*Everyone, including Shadow, got on board flying back to Westopolis. Shadow looked out the window at the burning ARK*

Shadow: ~I failed the ARK... I said I would protect it...and I failed~

Charmy: I bet that girl Shadow saw did this.

Amy: It was his home, now where will he stay.

Vector: Hey there's always room at Angel Island, huh Knux?

Knuckles: I'm not so sure that would be such a good idea.

Espio: Why not?

Knuckles:~looking at Shadow~ He has tried to take the choas emeralds more than once.

Vector: Well so has Rouge, but you two seem to be going kind of steady now.

Knuckles: Your playing with fire Vector, we're far from that.

Vector: Oh Yeah, just keep denying it. I see how you blush when she's around.

Knuckles: Say one more thing, and your a walking aligator skin. ~pointing his spurs at Vector~

*Vector backs off remembering the beating that Knuckles gave them last time for offending him. Finally Knuckles put his fist down, arms crossing his chest.*

Knuckles: He can stay on the island, but I'll be watching him.

Ch.4: Judgement

*Sonic and the others were going to see what they could find about White Fire when the ship landed. Knuckles however had to escort Shadow to his hut on Angel Island. Shadow could tell that Knuckles didn't trust him, the echidna's eye's seemed to be on him every moment.*

Shadow: I'm not here to steal your precious emeralds you know. I'm trying to stop White Fire.

Knuckles: You still haven't explianed what it is?

Shadow: White Fire is hidden agency planning on creating supernatural weaponry. Their planning on building a machine powerful enough to envelop the Earth and possibly the whole galaxy in flames.

Knuckles: Fire can't survive in space, there's no oxygen.

Shadow: With the choas emeralds it probally can. This is an artifical fire, no telling what it may do.

Knuckles: Your story sounds plausible.~walks out the door~But I'm still keeping an eye on you.

*Shadow didn't blame Knuckles at all for being supicious of him. In order to defeat the Black Arms he had to play both good and bad. After the Black Arms had been defeated, he promised to stay aboard the Ark to protect it. But since that girl destroyed it, now all he sought was revenge.*

*Back in Westopolis Sonic and the others were splitting up to find the girl that Shadow saw. Tails and Charmy took to the air, while the others searched on the ground. Sonic was moving a little to fast and actually ran into someone. The girl he hit fell for a moment then stood. A little something fell out of her pocket in the process.*

Sonic: Oops, Sorry.

Girl: Well next time watch where your going. ~walks off~

Sonic: Geez~ looks to see the card on the ground~ Hey you forgot your....~sees that she's gone and picks up the card~

Sonic: Black Fox, national assian for OWF. OWF?,,, Operation: White Fire? I'd better show this to the others! ~speeds off~

*In the alley*

Fox: This is Fox, I've just had a run in with Sonic. He's got the bait.

Voice:~over phone~ Very good Black Fox. He'll no doubt be paying us a visit soon. Prepare the Hawk-5! We're going hunting.

Ch.5: Attack!

*Knuckles was laying on the alter of the Master Emerald when a sudden burst of wind nearly blows him off. He looks up in the sky to see a gaint-robotic hawk come in low over the alter. Thinking they were after the Master Emerald Knuckles jumped digging his namesakes in the ship's side. An electrical surge circled around the hawk shocking the echidna enough that he lost his grip. Luckily though he landed on the wing barely concious. The only thing he could see before he blacked out was a squad of soldiers, chains in hand, take him prisioner.*

*From Shadows point of veiw at the time of the attack. All he could feel was a slight breeze. He wasn't even near the alter, something else though had attracted his attention. Soaring down from the sky came Rouge.*

Rouge: Hey Shadow, Sonic sent me to get you and Knuckles. He's probally found a clue to that girl on the ARK.

Shadow: I don't know where he is. He walked out of the hut and I haven't seen him since.

Rouge: Bet he's back protecting that jewel agian. Come on.

*Shadow followed her, a bit reluctantly, to the alter. But when they reached it all they could see was that the Master Emerald and Knuckles was gone*

*Knuckles eye's slowly opened, he felt weak. He couldn't move. The Master Emerald, plus the emerald stolen off the Ark lay in front of him. A door opened and Black Fox stepped in.*

Fox: Wakey, Wakey Guardin. White Fire needs you to stay conious for the next phase of our plan.

Knuckles: And what might that be?

Fox: The begining of a new ultimate weapon! Even stronger than Sonic or Shadow.

Knuckles: Then why kidnap me?

Fox: My boss thinks your ablities will be useful to elimnating Sonic and Shadow.

Knuckles: And who's he?

Fox: The begining of a new era. We'll soon control this world.

Knuckles: I certinly doubt that.

Fox: We'll soon see. While you were unconious we took a deep scan of you. Turns out, you have many other powers than what you show. Our team has already found five more choas emeralds, one more and we'll unlock that power of yours.

Knuckles: Even if you do, your not going to get me to fight on your side.

Fox: We'll soon see about that. Techinans prepare him for the implant!

Ch.6: Frantic Search

*Shadow and Rouge reported that Knuckles was missing as soon as they reached Sonic and the others.*

Sonic: It must be that girl I bumped into that took him! But why?

Shadow: You said you had something to tell us.

Sonic: Yeah, I bumped into this girl, something fell out of her pocket. Turns out her name's Black Fox and she works for the OWF.

Tails: OWF?!... Operation: White Fire! She must be the girl Shadow saw on the ARK.

Espio: And now they got Knuckles!

Vector: Which means we got to get him back!

Rouge: How are we going to do that?

Sonic: We find their headquaters, get Knuckles out of there, figure out their plan, and stop it!

Shadow: Sounds good to me. Let's go!

*Meanwhile Knuckles was still strapped in place on a cold metal table. One of the techinans was getting ready to put a chip on the back of his neck, so they could control his mind. He wasn't going to let that happen as soon as she even got close, hidden spines spines on his back flared out to protect himself. The spines were sharp and imedately the hand with the chip drew back afriad of getting hurt. Black Fox wasn't about to give up so easily.*

Fox: You know guardin, I just heard we found the final choas emerald, plus another one.

*Knuckles eye's widened in shock. He had been told by his ancestors that there exsisted a eighth choas emerald. Unlike the other seven, it was told to contian dark magic. Whoever weild's it would become the most dangerous person on earth. Fox could see the fear in the echidna's eye's. She told one of the techinans to fetch the emerald. The person came back holding a black choas emerald, shining eerily in the dim light. Knuckles couldn't see it, but he could sense it. It felt so uncomfortly close that he froze. Fox took the emerald and let Knuckles have a nice long look at it.*

Fox: Beautiful isn't it? I think I'll leave this little trinket with you for awhile. ~places it where Knuckles eye's could always see it and walks out~

*Knuckles tried to stare after her, but his bonds made his eye's only able to see the black choas emerald*

*Sonic and the others were now right outside the headquarters of OWF. Guards were patrolling the whole perminter, breaking in was not going to be easy.*

Ch.7: Break In

*Black Fox was smiling evily, Knuckles had been staring at the emerald for a long time, and as she walked in she could see that the echidna was still fighting to keep his own will.*

Fox: Give up Guardin, the emerald is to powerful, you will serve us.

Knuckles: I..won't!

*Truth is the strian was almost to much for him to take. The dark magic of choas emerald was to strong, and he could bit's of him turning dark as the choas emerald took control. *

Knuckles: Help...me...

***

Vector: I can't believe I'm actually doing this.

Espio: It's not the first time you've played distraction.

*Vector cringed and Charmy had to hold back a laugh. "Played distraction" was Espio's way of teasing Vector that he listened to to much music. Right now the Choatix was hiding in brush waiting for the singal to jump the guards. Charmy saw Rouge in sky, she waved a hand then left. There was the signal! The Choatix jumped out and went after the guards, and Sonic and Tails snuck in.*

Sonic: Now where could Knux be in this place?

Tails: We'd better split up.

*Sonic nodded and off they went*

*Outside Rouge landed right next to Shadow in the brush.*

Rouge: Hope they find him.

Shadow: Hmph, you and him really do like each other don't ya?

*Rouge was silent, but Shadow took it as a yes. Back inside the building Tails had just reached the main computer room and started typing away. While Sonic was busy speeding around to find Knuckles. An open door suddenly caught his attention. He peeked through seeing Black Fox holding what looked like a black choas emerald right in front of Knuckles face. Knuckles voliet eye's were turning a dark souless black. No doubt the choas emerald was doing it to him. Sonic burst through the door snatching the choas emerald from Fox's grasp.*

Sonic: Sorry lady, but I can't let you do that to my friend.

Fox: You pestering hedgehog, the dark transference is almost complete. Your friend is at the complete mercy of the black choas emerald.

Voice: We'll see about that.

*Fox turned around just in time to get punched in the face by Shadow*

Sonic: What are you doing here?

Shadow: I got bored waiting outside. ~picks up Knuckles~ Now let's go!

*Sonic didn't argue and followed Shadow out*

Ch.8: Hidden Truth

*Tails had finished going through all the files and was now walking back to where he and Sonic split up. Something nearly ran into him. He saw a flash of black and red.*

Tails:~Shadow?~

*Sonic suddenly grabs him to pull him along. While running Tails takes note of the black choas emerald Sonic's holding. When they joined the others outside, and far enough away from White Fire, they waited for Knuckles to tell his story.*

Sonic: What happened in there? I saw Fox put this right in front of your face. ~holding the black choas emerald~

*Knuckles turned his eye's away from the emerald, fearing to fall under it's power. Shadow looked up.*

Shadow: What do you know about this emerald?

Knuckles: It's the eighth choas emerald, unlike the others, it cotians dark magic. I learned about it when I first became Guardin of Floating Island. Because of it's power, it was always kept in a hidden alter so noone could find it.

Tails: Except for White Fire, I read in their files that they actually heard of it.

Sonic: What did they do to you after you were kidnapped?

Knuckles: First, they tried to take control of my mind, didn't work. Then they brought the emerald so I would fall under it's spell.

Charmy: How come the first thing didn't work?

Knuckles: I had a little surprise up my sleeve.~smiling~

Shadow: Learn anything?

Knuckles: Yeah they were planning to use me to get to you and Sonic. I have to go back the Master Emerald is still in there.

Shadow: First shouldn't we get rid of this thing?~pointing to the emerald~

*Reluctantly Knuckles agreed, it seemed like the right thing to do. After the emerald was put back to rest in the hidden palace, the retrieval of the other emeralds was on.*

Ch.9: Lauch of White Fire

Fox: Those annoying hedgehogs, they ruined our chance to gain control of a great source of power.

Voice: ~behind her~ You still have the Master Emerald, and the seven choas emeralds. Proceed with the final phase, and end their pitiful lives.

Fox: As you command Zagarow.

*Rouge was watching the White Fire building when Knuckles took off with the others to put the black choas emerald back in it's resting place. For the first few minutes nothing happened. Then all a sudden the roof begins to open, and coming from it is a small spaceship. Rouge caught a glance at Black Fox plioting the craft, and also her cargo. The emeralds, and the Master Emerald sat behind her seat. The ship blasted off into space.*

Rouge: Now why is she heading there?

*A thought suddenly struck her. The Ark! Mabye that fire they saw was an illusion to get them off the Ark. It didn't burn from the inside after all, which meant they wanted Shadow to leave so the could use the space station themselves. But why? Another thought hit home. It made perfect sense. The Eclispe Cannon could be used to contian the choas emeralds, and they took the Master Emerald to increase the power of the cannon.*

Rouge: I'd better tell the others about this. ~fly's off~

*When she landed on Angel Island she quickly told the others her theory*

Tails: That would explian why'd they tried to gain control of Knuckles. If they planned to use the Master Emerald to boost the machine's power, they would need Knuckles to activate it.

Shadow: Seems like they decided to go on without him.

Sonic: Even without Knuckles, the choas emeralds are enough to do their dirty work.

Espio: Sonic's right, we have to stop her before it's to late.

Vector: To bad we don't have a spaceship.

Tails: Ahem..~leads them to a spacecraft of his own design~

Sonic: Nice work Tails.

*When all were on board and the ship took off Shadow was agian standing by the window looking out of it*

Shadow:~I failed once....I will not let that happen agian~

Ch.10: Countdown 'Till Choas!

*The emeralds were in place, the cooridinates set, now all Fox needed to do was activate the cannon's firing sqeunce. A door suddenly slid open and Fox turned around at the sound. There standing in what light the door provided was Shadow. His red eye's glaring at Fox.*

Shadow: What do you think your doing here?

Fox: Ah, you figured it out haven't you? I'm surpised that you didn't stay down there with your friend's like I planned.

Shadow: That fire you set on the Ark was all an illusion, just to make me leave, so you could use the Eclispe Cannon.

Fox: Congratulations Shadow I'm impressed. I guess you also know why I kidnapped your friend?

Shadow: You stole Knuckles and the Master Emerald to help your cause. You tried to get control of his mind so he would use the Master Emerald to power up the Eclispe Cannon.

Fox:~clapping her hands~ I'm impressed Shadow. Unfortunely for you, the cannon is set to fire. Even without that stupid echidna, my master's plan to destroy your world will comense.

*Unknowily to Fox "that stupid echidna" was listening to their conversation from a ventalation shaft with Sonic and Tails. Sonic and Tails didn't notice what Knuckles was doing until it was to late to stop him. Knuckles had ripped a hole in the metal shaft and dropped through it. He secretly stalked up behind Fox and punched. Fox fell forward, but Shadow seeing his chance ran to grab the emeralds. After punching Fox Knuckles headed for the Master Emerald. Sonic, Tails, and the others came out of there hiding places to surround Fox. Fox growled.*

Fox: Zagarow! Master! Help me!

*A burst of white fire shot down from above, surrounding everyone in a circle of flame. Shadow couldn't pry the emerald's from the machine's socket's and found himself trapped with the others in the circle of flame. A howling noise came from above and what looked like a white wolf with flaming wings tucked under it's arms dropped out of nowhere. He glowered at the sight of Fox.*

Zagarow: You have failed Fox!

*The wolf-like creature's eye's landed on Shadow, then Knuckles, down to Sonic and the restof the group.*

Sonic: So your the big Boss of White Fire.

Zagarow: I am White Fire! The company would be nothing without me! Not even Ms. Black Fox! ~looked at her and explianed~ See my idea was simple use the Eclispe Cannon to destroy just like Robotink did. Only problem was that after the Black Arms were defeated Shadow decided to stay in the Ark. I rounded up Fox and put her on the mission to steal the choas emeralds, plus the Master Emerald, and it's Guardin. ~looks at Knuckles~ The first thing we tried to control his mind didn't work out as planned. So we tried using the dark choas emerald to get him to work for us instead. We almost suceeded hadn't you two intervined. ~pointing at Shadow and Sonic~

We were planning on creating the ultimate weapon. With Knuckles under our control, he could've made the Master Emerald power up the Eclispe Cannon into the most dangerous weapon in the world.

Knuckles: To bad your plan didn't work.

Zagarow: Oh, I wouldn't go that far, thanks to Shadow your planet is doomed!

Ch.11: Super! Hyper! Super!

*Everything stood still for a moment, even Fox was eerily still. Shadow had finished pulling out the choas emeralds, but it suddenly felt like they had no more power. The Master Emerald was acting strange, Knuckles could tell. It kept getting brighter and brighter and he felt at mercy of the emerald's light. The choas emeralds were being drianed of their power and Zagarow was using it to make himself more powerful . The white fire around them gave of an eerie glow and they literally saw Zagarow melt into the flames.*

Amy: Where is he?

A burst of flame answered her question. The fire took the form of Zagarow.*

Zagarow: Power, Marvelous Power, under my command. ~swinging a flaming claw at Fox~ I no longer have a use for you. ~he holds his claw out and a sheet of white fire is thrown at Fox. ~

*Hadn't Sonic was standing nearby she would have been killed. Shadow looked at Knuckles as if expecting an idea to tackle Zagarow, but Knuckles was more busy looking at his Emerald than the fight. Which was a little odd, for him. Shadow decided to take a chance to get Zagarow. Dropping all the emeralds except one he called on the powers of Choas Control. But all he managed to do was to run straight through the fire, not evening laying a bruise.*

Shadow: Well that was useless~he was now standing outside the white ring of fire~

*Zagarow's eye's was focused on the rest of the team when Shadow burst back through him agian landing near Sonic and the drianed choas emeralds. Amy suddenly yelled and pointed.*

Amy: Look!~she was pointing in Knuckles direction~

*The glowing green light from the Master Emerald had become unbearingly bright. Shadow narrowed his eye's, but couldn't believe what was happening. Knuckles was disappearing, literally. Bit by bit the echidna dissolved until there was nothing left where he had been standing. Sonic was imedately worried and rushed toward where Knuckles once had been, Shadow followed. Zagarow was busy focusing his attention on the others, but to tell the truth he couldn't stand the source of light much longer. By the time Sonic and Shadow reached the Master Emerald it was to late, Knuckles was nowhere to be seen. Zagarow seemed to laugh. Sonic glared at him.*

Sonic: You'll pay for this!

*Shadow was almost stunned at Sonic's words. It had been the first time ever he had heard Sonic spit out a real threat. But, he had to admit he was as angry as Sonic, for three reasons. One, they stole a choas emerald and invaded his home. Two, they actually were able to trick him to leave. And Three, Zagarow's laugh seemed to indicate that he had gotten rid of Knuckles. The two hedgehogs were steamed and ready to take him down. The engergy drianed choas emeralds around their feet seemed to glow and they were soon facing Zagarow as Super Sonic and Super Shadow*

*Zagarow seeing the transformation cut off the path with fire so he and the two hedgehogs would settle this alone. The battle took place, Sonic was on one side, Shadow on the other. Zagarow raised up two claws pointing in either direction ready to blast them out of his way. Sonic and Shadow took aim and golden beams of light shot from their palms straight into Zagarows claws. Zagarow seemed to filnch, but that lasted only for a moment, and he began absorbing the energy from their blasts. This was a shock to Sonic and Shadow as they felt their energy being drained out of them. Zagarow smiled, he had suceeded in creating a weapon powerful enough to take down Shadow and Sonic. Himself.*

Shadow and Sonic were starting to tire, the golden light that surrounded their bodie's dimmed and they landed barely conious on the floor. Zagarow gave a smirk and got ready to blast the hedgehogs out of exsistince. But suddenly from nowhere and speeding hot pink light was heading straight toward him. He couldn't tell what it was until to late, for the thing hit him in the center and he dissolved into nothingness.*

Ch.12: Another Mystery

*The white fire died down and strangely Shadow felt like he had suddenly regianed stregth. He looked over at Sonic who seemed to have recovered as well. The others looked okay as well*

Sonic: What happened? We were facing Zagarow, then wham.

Shadow: Something else destroyed him, but I don't know what.

*Amy had seen Sonic and Shadow were okay, but when she looked around she noticed someone was missing*

Amy: Hey, where's Knuckles?

*The Choatix had also noticed*

Vector: Yo, Knux where are you?

*Shadow and Sonic looked at each other, seeing their faces Rouge asked*

Rouge: What happened?

*Shadow and Sonic explianed how they had seen Knuckles disappear, and their fight with Zagarow. Rouge looked crestfallen, the other's were either suprised or worried,mabye both. There was no telling what had happened to him, or if they would ever see him agian. Sonic looked at Shadow.*

Sonic: I guess your going to be staying here huh?

Shadow: Mabye. I believe the Ark is at peace at last, noone is going to do anything to it anytime soon.

Sonic: I have a question though what was that thing we saw destroy Zagarow?

Shadow: I don't now, but mabye we'll find out.

The End