Mission 4: Techno City

"Mission 4: Techno City" (傷ついた都市 - The City of Hurt) is the 5th episode/chapter of Lost. Its setting is highly inspired by Academy City from the Magical Index/Scientific Railgun series. It is also the first chapter where the team fail in getting a Plate, as it gets stolen from them mere minutes after they collect it.

Characters

 * Team Universe
 * Shadow the Hedgehog (Prime Mobius)
 * Maria Robotnik (Prime Mobius)
 * Sonic the Hedgehog (Prime Mobius)
 * Estyn
 * Lara-Za
 * Volt
 * Aeon
 * Aethon
 * Infinite
 * Ayame
 * Deus
 * Amadeus Codex
 * Atlanta Waters
 * Tetra
 * Jigoku Quadro
 * Sasaki
 * Ren
 * Tsubaki
 * Ishimoto
 * Maurice Fujioka (mentioned)

Locations

 * Tech Zone
 * Techopolis
 * Apex
 * City Green
 * Intel Hill Street
 * Ayame's House
 * Sky of Time
 * Time Citadel
 * Universe Altar

Themes
Opening: "Only my Railgun" by fripSide

Ending: "Break a spell" by Mami Kawada

Sypnosis
Techopolis in the Tech Zone is the most advanced city in the multiverse, and Shadow and the team are caught in a dual mission statement: to stop a corrupted businessman from hacking other companies out of business but to also stop a mysterious individual from misusing the Hell Correspondence. Along the way, Shadow is about to learn a lot of new things about both Sonic and Lara...

Plot
The adventure starts with Estyn waking Shadow up in the infirmary, much to Shadow's annoyance due to the early awakening. Estyn comes in, concerned about Sonic as she went to wake him up and he was up already, upset about something. Shadow goes to investigate (removing his bandages) and goes to Sonic's room, finding him in a ball in the middle of his bed. Upon asking, Sonic denies anything is wrong and dubs his low mood a "raincloud" and, after he cryptically explains his terminology, Shadow heart-breakingly realizes he's depressed. He asks what he can do to make things better for him but Sonic playfully brushes him off, asking him to not worry, but Shadow persists, upsetting him and he lets out that Shadow worrying about him makes him feel like a burden. Shadow hugs him and promises to help him but their exchange is cut short by Lara, who explains they are leaving for Techopolis in 10 minutes time. Sonic goes out, insisting again that he's alright to go on the mission. Shadow watches him leave and starts worrying that his boyfriend's depression, panic attacks, trauma and illusionary hallucinations could lead to another suicide attempt in the future.

Shadow then hears a conversation in the Universe Altar and finds Lara bullying Sonic for no real reason, earning in Sonic running out in tears. Shadow condemns Lara's actions but, after waiting several minutes, Shadow decides to track Sonic down, only to get cut off by Aeon. As she questions Sonic's whereabouts, Sonic reappears and the team learn he's not feeling very well, having thrown up. Maria asks if he wants to stay behind with Volt, who is sitting out due to his sprained ankle, but he denies this option and expresses determination at going. Aeon then hands out special teleportation bands that contains a mechanism for emergency teleportation only, alongside communicators. The gang then leave, arriving in the middle of Techopolis. Shadow notes his surroundings, amazed that their sudden teleportation hasn't aroused suspicion and asks Estyn on an overview of their mission. Estyn complies, explaining that a corrupt businessman is rumoured to be hacking other companies to remove competition, pointing out a tower labelled "APEX". The gang leave, but Shadow notices Sonic spacing out, though he quickly snaps back to reality, thinking he was being watched. Despite believing it to be Sonic's imagination, Shadow swears he sees an echidna-shaped shadow in one alley, looking at them with "bright eyes".

The group come to the tower and are amazed at the size of it. Lara prepares to go full-throttle but her flames are dowsed by Maria, causing them to get into another argument. However, the argument stops when Shadow realizes Sonic's health is only worsening, though he's relieved when he finds out Sonic doesn't have a fever. Estyn decides to stay with him while the others go inside the tower. Inside, they find a woman harassing a receptionist for a statement from APEX CEO Amadeus Codex, but her attempts are making the receptionist, Tetra, increasingly apprehensive. The woman backs down when Shadow pulls her aside, expressing the same desire as her: to expose Amadeus. The woman, gleeful for the aid, introduces herself as Atlanta Waters, a freelance journalist for the Techopolis Times, an independent newspaper. Lara causes the fire alarm to go off by setting off a small fire behind the pillar and, amongst the confusion, the gang sneak into the elevator and the ride it to the top floor. They burst into Amadeus's office and they threaten him to reveal live on air that he was indeed responsible for the hackings. At first, he refuses, but Atlanta reveals she's already reported him to the police, making him comply to her demands. On air, he acknowledges the rumours as true and gives himself up to the police. As things settle down, a clipboard on Amadeus's desk turns into the Soul Plate, surprising Shadow, Maria and Lara at how fast the mission was. Lara once again expresses hatred towards Sonic, making Shadow so angry that she informs Lara everything that Sonic had had to endure over the last 6 months, silencing her out of horror. The gang then leave the room.

After getting out of the tower, the three meet up with Estyn and Sonic (who is looking much healthier). However, Shadow lets his guard down and the Soul Plate is stolen from his hand by Infinite, who admires the plate. Shadow begrudgingly lets it go and "commends" Infinite's hand before Infinite disappears. With the plate gone, the group admit defeat, but are still confused as to why a portal has not appeared. Sonic says the mission isn't over due to there being a second condition to missions. He reveals that both the night before and that morning, he had gotten visions of Sasaki giving a doll to a Goth-dressed wolf who wants to punish a girl called "Ayame". Estyn questions this, seeing as she is psychic and Sonic isn't and Lara darkly warns Sonic that he better not be lying, making him cry. Shadow glares at her and tries calming Sonic down, only for him to get another vision, telling him where the wolf is: Intel Hill Street, which, after Atlanta (who hadn't left) brings out a holographic map, is shown to be a mere 2 miles away. The gang immediately head there, only to be met with a steep hill. Sonic notes a FOR SALE house that he saw in the vision. As they start walking up it (with even Shadow suffering), Lara notes Sonic better be right on with the location. Sonic then stops, reading the sign carefully and noting the sign colour to be green and not blue. Shadow sees Intel Hill Road as an option on the other side of the city and Sonic presumed it to be street as the vision didn't let him see the full sign.

There is a bit of silence. Shadow mentally notes it's not Sonic's fault but Lara punches him out of rage. Estyn holds her back but Shadow knocks her out with a judo throw. Maria then alerts him that something's wrong. While Sonic is not bleeding, Shadow realizes he's in a lot of pain, specifically around his heart, making him realize he's having a heart attack. A girl from a neighboring house invites them up because she is a nurse and, while mistrusting a stranger, he complies. As the girl works on stabilizing Sonic, Lara comes to and gets a small lecture from Estyn. Shadow remains silent until Estyn hugs him. The girl then comes out and announces that Sonic's fine, but tells him she found low traces of toxin in his blood: namely from sedatives. Shadow then realizes how has happened: Sonic threw up because he took the drugs in hopes of ending his life, but he changed his mind at the last minute but he failed at dispelling all the remnants and the heart attack was caused by the poison, also explaining the sudden spell of illness. He also tells Estyn the full story, much to her sorrow and apologizes for not realizing the cause. Lara then goes out of the room, upset. Shadow eventually follows and finds her using her fire to burn her wrist, similarly to self-harming but she can't do it with a knife. She apologizes for her behaviour and reveals she too gets depressed but she releases her pent-up feelings as anger on others to make herself feel better. The two go inside with Lara promising to apologize for her actions the moment she gets.

Back inside, the girl starts arranging accommodation for the gang and introduces herself as Ayame, a name Shadow recognizes as the girl who might be sent to Hell. Ayame is shocked to hear that someone wants to send her to Hell and recognizes the Goth wolf in the vision as her boyfriend Deus. She says she too has sent someone to Hell, her abusive ex-boyfriend Edd, and reveals that there is a price for using Sasaki's power: sending a soul to Hell means that person has to go to Hell when they die, as all those who have sent a soul to Hell are branded with the Jigoku Mark. The gang then get interrupted by Sasaki himself alongside Tsubaki and Ren, who warn Shadow to not intervene with their work before disappearing, though Ayame's plead to save her falls on deaf ears. Ayame then explains who the Jigoku Quadro are but they then hear Sonic groaning from a small medical room off to the side of Ayame's bedroom, as he has started coming to.