Encounter with a Blue Demon
By: Little Trash1027
Warning: This fanfic follows the story of and contains
material that may be sensitive to some readers. (Gore, death, etc.)
Reader discression is advised.
It was a normal day in Green Hill Zone, with the sun shining brightly, and the trees and plants flowing in the wind. The air was warm, perfect to have fun on a day like this. But, the peaceful silence was interrupted by the sound of loud rocket shoes skating through the area. The one that was skating through the area was a black and red hedgehog, with golden rings at the end of each wrist. That hedgehog was named Shadow. The reason why he was roaming around Green Hill was because of the many disappearances of his allies, including the blue speedster hedgehog named Sonic. They weren't exactly friends, more like rivals, but it wasn't normal for him to just disappear like that. And after Sonic was gone, one by one, his friends disappeared as well. Normally, Shadow knew that Sonic and his friends could take care of themselves, but when his co-worker at G.U.N, a bat named Rouge, tried to figure out where they were, she didn't return. That was enough motivation for Shadow to find out what was going on. Moving as fast as a bullet, he skated past many parts of Green Hill, while looking around and analyzing if there were any clues as to what had caused this whole mess. It was until Shadow decided to return back empty handed, he caught a scent of a sickening smell coming from one of the flower patches. Motivation back, Shadow walked over to the flower patch that had the gross smell. Looking at the flowers, he noticed a dark red substance on them. Trying not to assume the worst, he moved through the flowers and discovered something that Shadow was not expecting to see. He saw one of the small animals that Green Hill was inhabited by, with it's ribcage ripped apart, blood all over the grass and the animal. It's eyes, still frozen with fear, were almost pinpricks, flowing with tears. The body was in the middle of decomposition, but still looked as if the blood was still flowing out of the corpse. In revolt and disgust, Shadow shot back from the bush, trying to process what he saw and to regulate his breathing. He's seen dead bodies before, but not like the death of the small, innocent creature. Running away from the sight, Shadow hoped he wouldn't have to see something like that again. But that was nothing to compare to what Shadow was going to see next.
Walking down the trail of Green Hill, he noticed even more and more differences to the area. The plants were covered in dried blood, and the ground was littered with even more corpses of dead animals. But not only was the area getting covered in more death, the area itself was changing as well. The normally crystal clear waters were becoming a deep red color. Whether it was blood or just the water changing color, Shadow didn't want to find out. The sky turned from a light blue with white puffy clouds, to a pitch black sky with grey reddish clouds. Trying to refrain throwing up from the gut wrenching smell, Shadow continued forth. When he was a few miles from the exit of Green Hill Zone, he noticed a fluffy orange and white tail sticking out of one of the bushes. Shadow knew exactly who's tail it was. He rushed over to Tails and when he reached him, his uneasiness, turned to fear. Tails's body was almost decomposed, but he could easily see the details. Tails had a large hole in his chest, revealing his flesh and organs. His yellow and white fur, had been drenched with a deep crimson. He also noticed that one of his tails was missing, having being ripped off from its original spot. But probably the most terrifying feature of the body, was the face. His eyes looked as if they were replaced with a black, crusty power, spreading over the sockets. The eyes were also dripping a red substance, that Shadow guessed to be blood. Breathing heavily, Shadow stepped back once again trying to process what he saw, trying not to imagine how the fox had met his fate. It was until he accidently slipped on a pool of blood, landing face first into the liquid. When he got back up, he saw blood covered on his face and gloves. Facing a wave of nausea, struggling to make it over the cliff, the contents of what was in his stomach had went back up. Putting his head against a tree, he covered his eyes to believe this was, no, just HAD to be a dream. The poor kid had met a fate that didn't look like just death. Who would do something like this? Definitely not Eggman. He would never have the willpower to do something as horrendous as this. How was this even possible. Shadow's thoughts were swimming, like fish in a bowl. Trying to fight back even more nausea, he regulated his breathing. Looking at the body, he decided to pick one of the blood drenched flowers and laid it next to the cold corpse."I'm sorry you had to die so young." He said this in a mournful tone. He felt extremely bad, for Tails was only 12 years old. He was probably scared to death. Standing up, he headed to the next zone, ignoring the fact he had nothing to wipe off the blood on his hands and face. Little did he know, that Shadow was being watched…
Tails's death was only the beginning. As Shadow continued through the zones, he saw more of his allies dead, all with different injuries as to how they died. The only thing that all the bodies had in common, was the black faded eye sockets. Knuckles, Eggman, Amy, all meeting the same fate. In one area, he saw the body of Cream the Rabbit. That hit Shadow the most, for Cream was also a small child. But, the difference was, while Tails was only 12, Cream was only 7. Trying not to think about it, he kept going, trying to gather as much information as he could, while hoping he could find the creature that did this, so he could end this awful torture. It was until he got into he got into one of Eggman's old bases. Even the inside of the base had the smell of death and decay. Shadow slid down the wall of the base, thinking about all of the bodies that he had passed. He was about to send a message to G.U.N. to inform them of what he had witnessed. That is, until he heard soft chuckling from behind one of the corridors. Thinking fast, Shadow pulled out the gun he had carried with him. "Who said that? I heard you, and I know where you're hiding! Come out and show yourself!" Shadow's fear and uneasiness quickly turned to anger. This could be the creature that caused this. He wanted to show that he wasn't going to let this thing strike him down like the others. The chuckling started up again. "Oh Shadz...always wanting to be the tough guy, ey? Well, if you insist.." Shadow flinched when he heard the voice speak in sentence. That voice sounded so..familiar. Shaking his head, Shadow held his gun tighter, focusing on the task at hand: Ending the life of the monster that caused this. When the figure stepped out, Shadow's heart stopped. The figure had confirmed what Shadow had feared. The figure was Sonic himself. He was covered head to toe in dried blood. A wide unholy smile spread across his face, his teeth sharp and jagged like knives. His eyes had no white in them, being replaced with blackness. Sonic's eyes, at first being a light green, was now a bright red. Shadow started breathing heavily, thoughts screaming in his head that this couldn't be Sonic. "Ta-da!" Sonic said in a cheery tone. "Didn't expect this, did ya Shadz? Oh I love the look you all give when you see me. It's honestly priceless!" Shadow's fear started getting to him, for his hands started to shake a little. He walked over to Shadow slowly, only making him even more menacing. Shadow held up his gun, trying to steady his nerves. Sonic stopped in his tracks, tilting his head in confusion. Still grinning, Sonic shrugged the gesture off. "Oh Shadz, what's with the-" "DON'T." Sonic was cut off short, looking at Shadow with a disappointed look. "You do not have the right to call me that." Shadow's temper flared, still holding the gun, aiming at Sonic's head. Sonic always called him that nickname, no matter how much he hated it. Only on rare occasions where he just called him Shadow. After a while, Shadow just ignored it. This creature obviously wasn't Sonic. He may looked and sounded like him, but it just wasn't. Sonic looked at him with a frown. "Fine, Shadow. Have it your way.." He kept walking forward, getting closer and closer. In a flash, Shadow didn't think and pulled the trigger.
With a gasp, he felt a warm hot fluid run down his face. The gun was on the floor, and so was the bullet. He looked backward and saw a knife stuck into the wall. The blade was covered in dried blood, while also having a new line of the liquid. Putting the pieces together, Shadow held a hand up to his cheek, and saw his own blood on his hand. Still in shock, Shadow looked forward and was startled by the creature staring at him, an inch away from his face. It started to chuckle, and looked as if it was trying its best not to burst into laughter. "Did you really think it would be that easy? And I thought you were smart, Shadow~" The creature looked smug, and walked over to the knife. Shadow couldn't believe it. That thing managed to grab a knife out of nowhere somehow, hit the bullet and Shadow, and smacked the gun right out his hand. Pulling the knife out, Sonic looked at it, and then walked back to Shadow. Shadow took a step back. Shadow knew his strength was immense, but he wasn't an idiot. He knew a strong being when it was staring at him in the face. "You know, I could just kill you here and now and get back to what I was doing, buuut..I was thinking I could hang out with you more before your demise!" Sonic's voice was as confident as ever, completely sure that after whatever was going to happen would end in Shadow's blood spilt. Finally up against a wall, Shadow managed to swallow his fear. "Alright, what is that you want?" Sonic's smile widened. "I want to play a game~" Shadow's ears perked at the reply, but kept his mouth shut so Sonic could continue. "It's a simple game really! A game of 'Hide and Seek.' You obviously know the rules, but if I find you, you have to run. And if I catch you..hehehe, you would know what happens next. So, do you accept?" Shadow was frozen still. He weighed his options in his mind. He could attack and fight the creature right here, right now. But Shadow barely knew itss power, and the cut on his cheek reminded him of what happened. So, attack is off the table. He could run away and go find help. But, this creature has also shown it's speed, and it is probably faster than Sonic himself. Running is a no go. Then, he considered actually accepting the game. "What would happen if I won?" Sonic scoffed, as if he believed Shadow would definitely lose. "Well, I let you go. Simple as that!" Shadow raised his hand, thinking hard about the decision. Shadow imagined this as if he was accepting a deal from a real life demon. But, he didn't care. If this was the way to make this all stop, and to avenge his friends, this was the only way how. He stuck his hand out, grabbing Sonic's, and shook his hand. "Alright, you have a deal." The creature smiled even wider. "...Good. You have a fair 15 minutes to hide. Talk all the time you need..hehehehe.." It's laughter trailed off, then turned into loud drawn out cackling. Shadow wasn't going to stand around and watch this creature laugh so widely, and terrify him. He ran away. The game has begun.
Shadow kept on running as if his second plan of running was in action, until he stopped at the Hydrocity zone. He bent down to catch his breath, sweat pouring down from his face. His breathing was raspy from running so much. Heart thundering and pounding in his chest, as if it was going to burst right there. He sat down, regaining purchase and trying to think to how long he had left. He walked down the corridors and it looked barely touched. Sonic didn't like water after all. Maybe this was the key to beating that monster. "Ready or not, here I come~" Shadow heard a voice echo throughout the corridors. He had little time to think. He didn't think he could run any farther. As he heard Sonic's footsteps getting louder and louder, his mind went to the pool of reddish water that was right in front of him. He didn't think, he just acted. He jumped into the pool, holding his breath and hoping that it didn't hear the loud splash. He swam to the wall near where he had jumped from, to try to hide from the monster. He heard it's footsteps right over his head, and then stop. He was looking for him. Then a sharp pain had entered Shadow's lungs, begging for him to surface. Shadow refrained, and kept his mouth from releasing air bubbles. No matter what, until the creature left from where Shadow was, he could not surface for air. The pain only got worse and worse, expanding from his lungs to his entire chest. Swallowing the air was in his mouth didn't help at all. He wanted to scream, but cupped his hands over his mouth to not let anything come out. A ringing sound started in his ears, and the pain was searing in his lungs. He couldn't help it. He opened his mouth, and sucked up some water instead of the desired oxygen. Closing his eyes has hard as he could, trying with every will of his might to not breath again. Then the world went blurry. His peripheral vision got cloudy, and the ringing only got even louder. Then, he heard the creature run away. Shadow swam all the way to the surface, and finally got the oxygen he desperately needed. Coughing the water out of his lungs, and sucking as much air as he could. The pain embed with every breath, yet it also hurt his lungs to breath. He felt drowsy, but knew that it wasn't over yet. Shadow stood up as slow as he could. Clearing his mind, he marched on forward. That is, until he tripped over a large pile of mass. Landing head first, the ringing started up again. He rubbed his forehead and groaned. "When will this day end?" He muttered to himself. When he looked back, his heart stopped. That pile of mass was none other than Rouge herself. He had completely forgotten about her after his encounter with Sonic. He rushed as quickly as he could, hoping that she was not dead. He flipped her over, holding the bat in his arms. Her eyes were closed, and when Shadow looks at under her eyelids, the white in her eyes was still there. To finally confirm it, he put his ear against Rouges chest, and heard a heartbeat. With a sigh of great relief, he picked her up, and tried to find a place where they could be safe.
Using the first aid kit that Shadow had found in Rouges purse, he used the bandages to wrap up Rouges side, with had a large gash engraved in her flesh. She didn't look healthy. Her face was pale, sickly almost. Her fur was all messy, with small traces of blood. Whether it was someone elses or her own, it didn't matter much. Her clothes were still in tact, other than the rip in her thigh from a large deep cut. Shadow tried as careful as he could to not rupture anything in her body, as he put gauze over the now cleaned wound. "Not too tight, not too loose," he told himself. Finishing up with the wound, Shadow noticed Rouge hasn't made any effort to wake up. Concerned, he shook her a little. "Rouge? Rouge, it's Shadow. Please wake up." ...No response. Shadow become more anxious, fearing the worst of his dear friend. He didn't want to lose another one of the only people who has ever given a damn about him. Then a groan came from the body, and Rouge opened her eyes. Shadow helped Rouge sit up, and they looked each other in the eyes. "Hey Rouge, it's me Shadow. You're safe." Rouge looked at Shadow with terror filled eyes, then gave him a quick hug. This was unexpected, since Rouge wasn't really a hugger. Still, Shadow guessed she went through something traumatic, and hugged back. After the embrace, Rouges eyes were filled with hope. "What the hell happened here?" Rouge turned her head, as if she didn't want to remember what happened. "I came to the areas, and everything went crazy. Then I was attacked by that thing and..I was…" She trailed off, holding a hand to cover her mouth. Shadow out a hand over her shoulder, trying to show that he could relate with what she saw. Rouge turned over to him, her calmness quickly replaced with fear. Shadow turned his head, and saw the thing that caused all of this. "Found you." It stared at them with an even wider smiler than before. It darted towards them, Rouge ducking and Shadow blocking the attack, while also getting hit. Fresh blood ran down his arm, still blocking his face. Now, Shadow was furious. He charged at Sonic, but before he could land a punch, it disappeared out of thin air. "What the.." He was cut off short from Sonic slicing him from the back. Landing on the floor, he held his sides with pain. Shadow had enough. He summoned a Chaos Spear and shot at Sonic at rapid speed. Dodging the attack, Sonic managed to come out from it, but didn't notice another hitting him in the face. Shadow went to go finish the job, then noticed that the creature was nowhere to be seen. "Come out and fight!" Shadow yelled, gritting his teeth. It was too late to react before Shadow was kicked hard in the back right on his wound. Landing on the wall, Shadow tried to get back up and continue. He heard the loud squelch noise as pain erupted in his leg. He let out a cry of pain as the blood flowed from the large wound. He saw the knife sticking out of his leg and winced in pain. Trying to pull it, the pain only increased as he heard the blade slice a large cut into his flesh. The blood was immense as it poured from the wound onto the cold floor. Shadow soon stopped not being able to withstand the pain. Sonic walked closer and closer to the injured hedgehog. Shadow could see the eyes of the hedgehog he once called friend, seeing no hint of sanity or mercy. Yet Shadow felt that maybe, just maybe Sonic was still in there. Fragments of his sanity in a fighting battle it was losing. Shadow has seen Sonic go through many evil looking forms, and this was almost no different. He thought he could try to reason with him, to bring him back. "Sonic this isn't you! I know you're in there! Please, fight back! You've done it before, and you can do it again!" The figure became enraged, it's once wide smile turned into a large teeth filled frown. It ran over to the injured hedgehog and stomped right on the injuring. The pain seared even more causing Shadow to let out a mix between a wail and a cry. "DON'T YOU DARE TRY TO THINK THAT I'M STILL IN THAT WEAK FORM. THERE'S NOTHING YOU COULD SAY THAT COULD CHANGE WHAT I'VE DONE!" The creature's voice changed from calm, cheerful and sadistic in tone, to demon like and in fury. Fear was the only emotion that ran through Shadow's veins. He has never felt this scared before in his entire existence. The person that was Sonic was dead, and a demon that controls the body has turned the zones into a graveyard filled with all of Sonic's friends and family. Sonic then raised an arm holding a blade. There was nothing else Shadow could do. He had lost the game. He was only able to mutter out a few words. "Maria, i'm sorry.." BANG! There was loud bang that rang through the halls, and the explosion of blood and gore went everywhere. In a shocked look, the creature's left side of it's head was blown away. Pouring blood all over the area, the body collapsed right in front of Shadow. With a look of surprise, he turned to see Rouge holding the gun that was in her purse, hands shaking with fear. Shadow, filled with determination, finally pulled the knife out, tossing it over to side far away. He went to stand up, but the pain burned and he almost fell again onto the floor, but luckily, he had a friend there to be there for him. Sighing contently, they both went back to the area where the med kit was, and believed the nightmare was finally over.
As they walked past all they have seen, while taking breaks along the way because of their injuries, the two were lost deep in their thoughts. To think, in a matter of weeks, all this has managed to happen without them knowing. And now, all that remains is the melancholic zones with nothing but death and decay within them. Managing to make it back to Green Hill Zone, Shadow was confident that he could use his skates once again. He picked up Rouge and skated through a lot of the scenery. Yes, this was much easier to Shadow than walking. But something was a little off about it all. The zones weren't going back to normal. Not as in the corpses going away, but the sky and the grass and everything. It all looked like it has before. But now, the grass was grey, and the wood and the dirt was different shades of red. Now that Sonic was dead, shouldn't it all have gone back to normal by now? That was, until it finally hit Shadow that the creature couldn't have be officially dead. "Shit.." Shadow stopped in his tracks, sliding in the grass and dirt. Rouge was puzzled, and looked at Shadow. She was about to say something, until she was cut off by Shadow. "Rouge, I don't believe that thing is dead. Look at the area." He pointed to the grass and the sky. "It can't stay like this forever. It should've turned to normal after we killed that thing." Rouge's face lost all color. She believed Shadow, and started shaking. "We have to turn back and finish the-" Shadow was stopped and saw a thing made of nightmares. It was Sonic, his brain, skull and flesh exposed from the gunshot. It was writhing around as if it was alive. The creature's size increases and it looked as if it had a new skeletal structure. The bones jedded out to the side and looked as if it had been stretched and changed. It looked as if it had even more teeth, and it's pupil was nearly pinpricks. Not only was it still crying blood, but it looked as if it was crying a weird black substance. It had raspy breathing and had a new demonic shift and tone in its voice. Shadow let Rouge go, and only told her one final word. "...Run." She did as she was told and started running even though the pain in her leg was still throbbing. The monster charged after her, but was cut off short by Shadow throwing a Chaos Spear. Enraged, it was too fast to even see, and slapped shadow with its claw. Skidding backward, Shadow hit one of the ground walls, then was toppled on by the creature. He tried to throw another spear, but Sonic crushed his hand with brute force. Trying not to scream, Shadow gritted his teeth, then looked up to see the creature inches away from his face. "Do you know what I am, Shadow?" Shadow looked at him dead in the eye. "A monster." The creature laughed madly at the response. It swelled in its chest until it threw its head back in psychotic laughter. "No..I'm all of you. I'm the madness that you hide behind your head, crawling, writhing around under your skin wishing to be set free. I'm power beyond your simple animal minds. I. AM. GOD!" Shadow's face lost all color. At first, this used to be the normal annoying yet good hearted blue speedster. Now, it was a monster fueled by death and insanity. Shadow just wished to be just a bad dream. An incredibly real, horrible bad dream. But it just wasn't. The creature grabbed Shadow's head, and lifted him up from where he laid. "Well, it was nice hanging with you one last time Shadow, but play time's over.." Shadow winced and noticed something coming up from the ground. "I agree." Right before Sonic ended his life, Shadow let out a cry and used the last of his energy to perform the Chaos Blast. The monster flew back and let out an ear piercing screech. Flailing backward, Sonic was even more angry than before. "YOU LITTLE PARASITE! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL-" It was then that a ghostly figure came up and started pulling on Sonic's arm. "Huh? Wha-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" It was then that the figure ripped the monster's arm off bone being broken and split. The creature cried out in agony, as the blood and the weird black substance issued forth, spilling all over the grass. More ghostly figures came and going in and out, ripping the monster's flesh and organs. The amount of blood and gore was immense, so bad that Shadow couldn't help but cover his face. It would be torture to watch that happened. But then he noticed that the ghosts were the souls of all the people that Sonic mercilessly slaughtered. Then, they started dragging him to the cliff where they would throw him off the cliff. "NO NO NONONONONO! DON'T DO THIS TO ME! I GAVE YOU NEW LIFE! I CREATED YOU!" His cries only got more louder and more agonizing. It then looked at Shadow with pure hatred. "DON'T THINK THIS JUST MAKES EVERYTHING GO AWAY! I'LL STILL BE HERE! I'LL BE IN YOUR NIGHTMARES MAKING YOU NEVER REST! I'LL MAKE YOU WISH I JUST KILLED YOU IN THAT BASE!" It was then it was cut short and throw off the cliff. As it fell, it let out a ear shattering scream of fear and rage. And then nothing..just nothing. It was at point, when Shadow felt a wave of exhaustion and fainted.
There was a faint voice coming from another figure. It was all a blur, and Shadow had a hard time seeing. Then, he suddenly remembered everything. "GAH!" Catching his breath, he sat up abruptly. "Hey, careful! Don't get yourself more hurt than you already did!" That voice was all too familiar. Shadow looked to the side and saw the white haired hedgehog named Silver. It was then that Shadow felt throbbing pain from his torso and leg. He curled up and winced. "I told you, Shadow!" Shadow looked again and saw that he was wrapped in bandages. He looked at his surroundings, and saw that he was in a entirely different location. In an old base that Shadow has never seen before. He looked at the wall and saw an old symbol that represented Sonic's old team when he was younger. The Freedom Fighter HQ. How Silver managed to get in or how he managed to get Shadow in and get these bandages was beyond Shadow, but he was thankful to get out of that horrendous place. "What happened?" He put a hand up to his cheek and felt the patch that Silver put on the scar that was there. "Well, one of the readings on my device said something was going horribly wrong in the past. So, following my instincts, I decided to go back and check on it. And it's a good thing I did! There was b-blo-.." He struggled to say the word, as if he didn't want to. "Nevermind. But I saw you were on the floor and you were hurt badly! So, I took you to the safest place I could think of and I saw this abandoned base and..well, here we are." Silver held his arms together, and his ears folded backwards. Shadow put a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks, Silver." Shadow said this, with a smile. Silver's ears perked upward, for Shadow smiling was pretty weird. But, seeing Shadow looked relieved from whatever had happened, so he didn't mind it. "Wait, where's Rouge?" Shadow looked around, but didn't see her anywhere. "She's fine. She called on your ear piece, and told me she was heading back to G.U.N." Shadow felt another wave of relief that Rouge was safe. "So, how long do you want us to be down here?" Silver tried to keep a smile on his face to keep the good mood going. "Well, considering your severe injuries, I would say until Rouge gets us help." As much as Shadow wanted to reply, he was too tired and weak to say anything, so he just shrugged it off. Silver looked pretty concerned for his friend, so he put a hand over his shoulder. "I'm just glad nobody got hurt." As much as Shadow wanted to believe that, Silver was wrong. He saw so many corpses, and what they had become, that his heart ached with a mournful pang. Still, he appreciated the fact that Silver showed concern. Even though things looked bleak, Shadow was sure that those who have died at the hands of that demon are thankful. And maybe even Sonic too.