A Shadow Drenched In Blood
Chapter 1
A Shadow In The Night
It started out like any other night walk. Shadow stepped swiftly across the silent street. The Crimson Sea lapped just loud enough to be heard in the silent night. This was the time to be out, when the sounds of the day faded and died away, leaving the almost silence of night. The two moons, one red and one silver, shone bright against the sable sky. Suddenly, Shadow felt something. Without questioning his instincts, he stepped to the right faster than the night wind that whistled around him. A gunshot tore the silence, and a bullet streaked through the place where Shadow had just been standing. He didn't question or hesitate. Shadow simply reacted to the shots that were being fired straight towards him. He dodged to the right again, then whirled low. He thought about using Chaos Control, but decided against it. He needed more concentration than he could spare right now to use Chaos Control.
A rain of gunfire approached him, and he moved faster in effort to escape the fire. He saw through the almost darkness like midday, and spun around. He landed just as the next wave of bullets hit. It took almost 3 seconds for his left leg to erupt with internal fire. He glanced at it. It was bent unnaturally, and a wet gleam showed where the bullet had hit. Damn it, he thought angrily. Shadow slowly rose to his feet, stubbornly ignoring the pain in his left leg. The bullet had only skimmed it, and he could feel it beginning to regenerate already.
Shadow's sharp hearing detected the sound of reloading. The hidden snipers were good aims. He had to get away before they reloaded. He turned and streaked towards the sound of the gentle waves. After a moment of silence, the black clad snipers broke cover, following the trail of blood Shadow left behind. The snipers moved slower than Shadow, but not by much. The broken leg slowed him down substantially. Shadow heard footsteps behind him and accelerated a bit. My leg can't take much more of this, Shadow thought. Abruptly he turned and raced towards the group of thinly armored soldiers behind him. The soldiers were taken by surprise and reacted a bit too late. Shadow smashed through their hastily prepared guard and hit the first three with a flying kick, sending them into the ranks behind them. The leader stopped to regain order among the troops. By the time she succeeded, Shadow was racing at a little over 60 mph towards the Crimson Sea.
"What are you standing around here for, idiots! He's getting away!" The leader yelled, smacking one of the soldiers with sharp claws.
The soldiers abruptly stopped milling around and ran after him. Shadow turned to face them near the edge of the cliff that overlooked the Crimson Sea. The soldiers appeared an instant later just beyond the beginning of the cliff. The leader paused for a moment, signaling her minions to halt for a while. She removed her coal black helmet, revealing a small orange cat with black stripes across one eye and 2 golden hoop earrings in her right ear. Shadow knew her. She was known as Dark Fire, a mercenary who'd do anything if she was paid for it. Recently she and several others had been hired by an unknown villain. Their faces had been all over the news for the last few weeks. Her employer was known only as the Master. It was said he was addicted to the taste of blood, that the remains of his victims had been drained of it. However, no matter how hard they searched, there was no sign of him on Mobius, except his victims.
"Well, you certainly gave us quite a chase, Shadow. I haven't had so much fun in a long time." Dark Fire spoke lightly, smiling.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Dark Fire!" Shadow snapped. He was not in a good mood right now, and his already small patience had shattered a while ago. Running and fighting had slowed the healing process on his leg, and blood dripped from the wound onto the stone. If it had been broken before, it was shattered now.
"You know, up close you aren't bad looking." She sighed. "Why do I always get the cute ones? At least I don't have to kill you like the last one. And to answer the question, I'm finishing what I've been hired for. Seems the Master wants to see you."
"I thought you were supposed to be one of the best mercenaries, not crazy. I could Chaos Control any moment." Shadow lied. His chaos energy was being used to regenerate his shattered leg at the moment, but he didn't want her to know that.
"I've been watching you for a while, Shadow. I know you've been working on greater control of your abilities, but you can't teleport while you're regenerating."
Dark Fire drew a large pistol, aiming it at him. "Now, we can do this the easy and painless way, or the hard and rough way." Her smile was filled with malice and her amber eyes gleamed wickedly.
"If you've studied me as well as you claim to have, you should know the answer." Shadow edged almost imperceptibly towards the cliff edge.
"I'm not surprised. I'll try not to hit your pretty face."
Five shots in rapid succession hit Shadow in the chest. The force threw him from the cliff to the waves below, leaving a trail of blood that hovered briefly, then followed him down, dyeing the Crimson Sea the color of its name.
"That wasn't supposed to happen!" Dark Fire's amber eyes widened in shock.
Had the hedgehog wanted to be pushed off the cliff? Nothing could survive like that! Unless…
"Get down to the shore line!" She barked at her stunned minions. "If he's really the Ultimate Life Form, he can handle this. If he can't, we've got the wrong hedgehog!" Dark Fire leapt past her soldiers and raced to the shore line. There was still hope for this mission.
Shadow hit the water with barely a ripple. The salt water burned the bleeding hole in his chest and his shattered leg. The water around him filled with blood. Now the Crimson Sea really is crimson, he thought wryly. Shadow stopped breathing before the water dragged him downwards. He'd timed this fall well. It was high tide at the deepest part of the Crimson Sea, and the currants were at their strongest. He would have to wait for a while, but the salt water should clean off any infection, and here, once he had a barrier set up, he could fully concentrate on healing. Shadow tensed for a moment, then relaxed as a round shield of yellow streaked green sprang up around him. A surge of exhaustion always followed erecting a barrier, so Shadow didn't worry when he first felt it. Besides, a little tiredness was trivial compared to the gunshot wounds on his chest. The shattered leg was pulling together nicely, and Shadow's red eyes glimmered with satisfaction through the bloody waves. But the weariness grew instead of fading away quickly. It seemed to stem from the healing hole in Shadow's chest. Soon, he had to fight to think clearly. Those bullets must've had some sort of tranquilizer. They really were prepared for everything… Shadow's eyes slowly shut and he went limp, but the barrier held, preventing the currants and the sea's creatures from getting too close.