Wrecked Experiment

Lost and Found

(2 weeks later)

Everyone had found a spot to hide in throughout the lab. The lab was almost completely abandoned by scientists and doctors. Random people were dying by this disease that spread through the labs below and above ground level. No one knew what happened to Amy after she helped Cream, they could only hope and pray she was okay. The more they ran, the harder it was to find spots to camp out at. The vines that grew would hide in vents, and different poisonous flowers would form in rooms, too. They had to go through the entire lab to grab recourses, but only under ground level where they were stuck. The entire lab was on secure lock down mode so this 'disease' didn't spread out of the building. The groups would occasionally pass by dead bodies of doctors, scientists, some were even normal civilians. Their hygiene wasn't doing too good as well as their own mental health. This was all going on with the bigger group that held, Rouge, Cream, Blaze, and Silver. Knuckles had wandered off to find Tails in a desperate hope to understand what was going on. Shadow was also on his own, he knew this was all his fault for causing this. If only he hadn't let Nathan corrupt his mind, if only he hadn't been jealousy... everyone wouldn't be in harms way.

Meanwhile with Knuckles, he was walking down a long dark hallway; as most are now. He used a old flashlight, trying to look for Tails and maybe where he could be at. Knuckles knew Sonic had already been down here, so he wouldn't get caught searching this place... for now. He followed the smell of old mints and small paw pads on the dusty walls. 'This chaos has gotten out of control. Tails said Sonic was nice, what's going on?' He thought to himself as he roaming around as he kept his hopes held high and his thoughts silent. Shadow on the other hand was on the other side of the lab... in the deeper levels of it. He hoped that if he stayed down here, he'd be safe and everyone else would be, too. Of course Sonic was mainly going after him, who knows what Sonic's full end goal was for him. He came across a metal door with torch marks engraved into it to unlock the door... the was no knob to this door either. He pushed the door open to see a big empty lab, this must have been one of the first labs they used when the facility opened. Seeing all the old tech and former box computers that were once amazing creations. Yet now left behind due to evolution. 

He walked in and then stumbled on a old flashlight, looking back... it was Tails' flashlight. His heart pounded, begging that Tails was okay. His thoughts became dark as he got back up. Shadow knew better than to shout, it was almost like a game of hide and seek wherever you'd go. His heart racing while calling out to Tails in a soft whispering voice, knowing the kid had a great sense of hearing. "Tails, it's me... Shadow, please come out. I'm not here to hurt you." He stepped on some glass when all of a sudden he heard quick footsteps behind him. Turning around with a quick jolt, the ebony experiments paws began to shake. "Tails this isn't funny, you know our situation right now. Please just come out..." Another set of footsteps came from behind him... but when turning around, there was nothing there yet again. His body trembling in fear of being hunted down to his last breath. Usually he is fearless, no fright behind every word he spoke. But this was different, he was a specific target. Knowing that little fact, it made him queasy. 

He hear more pitter patters, but this time... when turning around, he saw a small door creak open and a soft blue light shimmering from inside. He slowly walked into the room, curious but also cautious about his whereabouts. He opened the door further to see a huge computer that was put together by outmoded computers. The door then randomly closed behind him, his ear flicked to the sound. "God dammit Tails, I know it's you... please stop." Some light then came on, giving the room a cigarette smoke tint to it all. The once bright blue screen now almost looked green... it was only because of the lumps of dust in the room. There was only a few light that worked and they were all small as well. Put around the room and away from the door so the light never shinned through. "Hello..." Shadow jumped and stumbled. Falling face first onto the ground when someone said hello to him. "Jeez, someone seems jumpy after getting chased down for weeks on end." Shadow turned around as he saw Tails, the fox's papaws glowing as well as his eyes. He seemed fine, almost too fine to truly be Tails. "What the hell, Tails?! Don't scare me like that, you know what the entire group has gone through!" He tried to keep his voice down as he growled. 

"Yeah and it's because of your actions alone that have technically caused this slight pandemic." Tails said with a bit of attitude laced in his voice. "... Yeah, don't have to rub that in." Shadow sighed after he replied to the truth that came from the three tailed fox. Tails rolled his eyes and went over to the big computer, putting in a command. With that, a light turned on that lit up a big bullet proof glass box. Inside the glass cage was Amy's corpse. Shadow froze and gagged, his eyes tearing up. "Why the hell would you bring her here? Why?!" Shadow said as his paws got shaky. "Well because she could very well be the cure to this mess..." Tails replied with humbled facts, while Shadow glared at him and looked inside the containment Amy's dead body was held in. Seeing a bright colorful rose that had already bloomed and has grown from her throat. His eyes were white mixed with a disgusting yellowish red on the sides to show she was no longer with them. Vine growing out of her body, almost like the plants were thriving off her body. But also struggling to keep producing when there was nothing left to yearn off of. Her dress was torn and shredded by all that had come over her within just a few mere moments. "Sonic brought her back to me... and he didn't seem like how he was before when he did all of this. He seemed remorseful, guilty... unhappy. While the one that's been after all of you has been hateful, resentful, deadly. This isn't fully him it seems... and what's going on with him is a chemical reaction in his body. I read through documents in the room you found him in." Shadow was impressed by how much Tails researched on this situation, while others ran in fear.

"Those documents link to tons of different drugs he was forced to take in his time in captivity. Eventually one of those drugs caused him to get sick, which was the last ever recorded document of drug induction for him. But he did tell me one thing before he became all lost and demonic again. He told me he had died, he remembers blacking out... but never fully waking back up, like he wasn't in control anymore. He remembered coughing up flowers, vines pushing out of organs and being in so much pain. He said he felt his body collapse, he could breathe, he couldn't see. But the next moment he knew, he moved yet, he wasn't the one moving." These facts and statements were hard to grasp without a lot of information. But surely Tails helped amplify more knowledge to the situation. "I searched what I could on something like that. They called it the Hanahaki disease. It was originated in Japan as just some fictional ideal. But even then... this disease tended to only torture the person, not kill them or control them either. Especially being able to reproduce vines throughout the entire facility. So I developed my own name for this Debiruzu janguru... also known as Devil's Jungle." It made sense. 'It was like a possession, but by plants... odd.' Shadow thought to himself as he listened to Tails.

"So what can we do to fix this? If this really isn't fully Sonic, and Sonic is supposed to be dead then what is this disease running off of?" Tails nodded his head in understanding, "Well I've figured out it runs off of strong emotions... it can only fully latch itself onto you when you are feeling something strong and uncontrollable. For example, fear. Amy seemed to have probably let it take over by her fear towards Sonic. While Sonic himself... he was angry and resentful before he was supposed to pass on. It feeds off of strong energy's and it's hard to control that as well." Shadow felt his gut churn, knowing this... it made a lot more sense now. It fed off of peoples fear, just like a demon would... but this was no demon they were dealing with. It was all an illusion, it was all a plant, a plant that can evolve within mere moments of life. Shadow looked back at Amy with a sad look in his eyes, she didn't deserve this one bit. He sighed, walking over to the glass that kept the disease from spreading as he spoke to her lifeless body.

"I will fix this... we will fix this. You wont have died in vain, Amy."


To Be Continued . . .