Shadow of a Hero
A story from the comic universe.
Written by the Rabid Biscuit
Forward-
Let's get some things straight right off the bat, okay? This story is a fusion of the SEGA video games and the Archie comic series. If that doesn't appeal to you, I'm sorry. Most people, I think, will like this, though. I hope I'm not wrong.
So as far as continuity goes, I feel I should sand down the rough edges. This story takes place on Mobius. Yes, Archie's Mobius. It takes place after the Dark Legion schism which was mentioned in (I believe) issue 166. Obviously there's swearing, there are differences to the society the characters live in, and there are some things that obviously do not and most likely will never happen (one being what happens to Eggman in this very chapter).
In fact, you could think of this story as an alternate but similar reality. Most characters will remain the same, but there are differences in title, rank, etc. I hope that doesn't put people off, and I hope you can honestly appreciate this story, whichever direction it may take.
So without further ado, I present to you, my reader...
Chapter One
"A Rainy Day"
Sonic ran as fast as he could amongst the forests of the jungle in the Mystic Ruins. A large rifle was clutched in his right hand, and a grenade in his left. It was raining hard, and at the speed he was going, every drop – hell, every condensation nuclei – felt like a bullet on his flesh. The mud was being torn up beneath his feet as he ran, and if he slipped, it would be over.
A red-hot laser seared his right shoulder, and he screamed. Trying not to trip, he bit his teeth and kept running. More lasers followed, and he tried his hardest to evade each shot.
What was he running from? At this point, he wasn't sure. It could be organic, mechanical, hell, it could be a mix. The point was, he didn't know. He just knew that, considering what he had just done, they would not be happy.
The trees were getting increasingly closer together, and Sonic grinned at the opportunity to dash in between them, and give his pursuers the slip. With a burst of speed, he dashed amongst the trees, and almost like a pinball machine, shot back and forth, evading lasers at Mach II. Eventually he found a large tree trunk and performed a light speed dash up to its canopy. With a jump and a burst of acceleration, he shot along the tree tops, as lasers aimlessly fired after him.
"Suckers," he yelled. Perhaps too soon, as he tripped on a branch, fell fifty feet, and splashed into a puddle of mud. Not a second later, lasers were scorching his surroundings.
With all the energy he had, the blue hedgehog jumped up and accelerated again, shooting straight through the jungle to its edge. Now he was safe. Open ground. He could take on whatever was chasing him.
Shadow the Hedgehog marched along, staring at his feet. The rain fell on him lightly. He felt pretty good for once. So what was he out in the jungle for on a rainy, cold day? Shadow had been traveling the globe for a month now, and he had found himself in the jungle at a perhaps inopportune time. Mud clogged his hoverblades, and unfortunately, he couldn't run very well. Being trained to skate all your life kind of undid any basic motor functions that don't have to do with skating.
A laser blast caught his attention, and the dark hedgehog's gaze shot up and to the right. A blue blur was dashing amongst the trees, chased by a huge army of robots toting what looked like fuel-rod cannons.
"Sonic?"
Shadow watched the blur blast past with a grim look. Something inside him said 'help', but then he remembered the hedgehog's ways. The ways that only he could see. Egotistical, arrogant, lustful, and rather brazen. He may save the world, but he's no humble hero. Shadow's eyes lowered back to the ground, and then he heard Sonic scream as a laser burn some part of his sleek body.
"God damnit, I guess I'd better help that faker," Shadow muttered. He accelerated as best he could on his feet, which wasn't really very good at all. After a moment or two of this hopeless running, he sighed and pulled out the green Chaos Emerald. A wormhole opened up and he vanished.
Sonic stood, battle ready, and even, much to his own anger, a bit scared as a wall of soldiers approached the edge of the trees. Sonic checked the charge in his rifle. It was at 99. There was no reason to check, as he had only used it once all day. Only needed to use it once. He was that good.
In a split second, the first soldiers burst through the trees. Sonic vanished in a blast of speed and systematically tackled each soldier robot, crushing their heads. But there were far too many. He needed a better plan.
The hedgehog performed several backflips and landed on one foot and one knee. He raised his rifle to shoulder-height and took aim at one of the robot's cores. Sonic knew Eggman enough to know exactly how these soldiers were powered. A nuclear core pumped energy through the circuitry of the units. Sonic flipped the laser scope to 10x and pulled back on the trigger. In less than one one thousandth of a second, the robot detonated, and the resulting explosion from the core made a large crater in the edge of the jungle.
"Boom," he muttered, aiming at another unit. His miracle rifle fired again, and yet another detonation razed the woods like fire.
The rifle was the newest invention of his good friend Miles Prower. It was a Mag-Rail. In more understandable terms, it was a magnetic acceleration rifle. This rifle used long, depleted uranium slugs with a tungsten core and titanium shell. The slugs were accelerated down a long magnetized rail. They came out the barrel at about ten times the speed of a standard chemically-propelled assault rifle. They could drill through three feet of concrete. Much more easily through a human skull.
Sonic turned his rifle around, searching for another good target, and realized that a large, imposing robot stood directly in front of him. Jumping back, he stumbled, and dropped the Mag-Rail. The robot stomped on it with all his mechanical, gear-driven might. Sonic's one trump card was now officially out of the game.
The robot lifted his laser gun up, and Sonic knew that he would pull the trigger before the blue hedgehog could move. Suddenly, a large, green explosion rocked the area, and the robot's remains were strewn across the area.
Sonic's eyes darted about for the source of the attack, and he found a black figure approaching, blasting various robots with a flaming, green fist.
"Shadow?" Sonic asked no one in particular. The black hedgehog was systematically destroying the army. Hunks of metal were flying every which way. Sonic jumped up and dashed toward the army, creating a sonic boom that took out a few, but Shadow made this look like it was Easy-mode on Halo.
After a while of this, Sonic dashed over to Shadow. "What the hell do you think you're doing, you god damn fake? I was doing fine on my own!"
"I could have thought otherwise, considering that one robot was about to melt your brain to your skull. You know, you could appreciate the fact that I saved your life, but I didn't really expect that from a snide, arrogant prick like you," Shadow said, grinning. Sonic was clearly not as amused. The blue hedgehog dashed around the area, causing various sonic booms that sent the robots up in a tornado. Shadow kept on smiling for a while, and then blasted another pack with a beam of green energy.
Sonic darted back and the two kept on blasting away.
"So, what are they after you for this time, Sonic? Did you try to steal another one of Eggman's airships? Maybe you attempted to take one of his experimental Chaos Emeralds. Or maybe you just mooned him through the window again?" Shadow asked.
"None of the above, I'm afraid. No, they're on me today because I did something to really piss them off." Sonic replied, sending another boom to the front of the pack.
"What?"
"I assassinated Eggman." Sonic stated like it was old news. Shadow's jaw hit the ground.
"No way. No god damn way."
"It was easy. I mean, I bet even you could have done it, you big fake-" A burning laser cut through Sonic's chest, and the blue hedgehog fell. Shadow looked on for a moment, and in a fit of rage, he caused an explosion that took out the whole part of the jungle. Trees vaporized. Grass was set aflame. Metal was turned to molten slag. The water in the streams nearby boiled.
Shadow stepped back and panted. A gaping wound in Sonic's gut was not good news. Picking up the 'hero', Shadow used his all-too-familiar warp-based technique to teleport off to safety.