Obsolete
Chapter 2: Shadowed Figure
Several months passed and Shadow had an easy time at work. Eggman didn't show up at all to cause trouble or give Shadow any missions, only amateur criminals or people in trouble. Unlike before when Shadow would be waiting and counting down the minutes until his breaks, he was now so bored with no more missions most of his day consisted of breaks. He was bored out of his mind, he was being paid to sit down and do nothing which was no good since he was getting paid less for the less work he was doing which wasn't his fault.
One late Monday evening, while Shadow was doing overtime to make up for the wages lost because of his lack of activity, sitting in the staffroom, he was called to the command room because of an emergency. "Finally some action! I was just about ready to quit!" Shadow yelled.
The eager hedgehog burst into the command room in excitement. "What's the mission!?" he exclaimed.
"Someone is infiltrating a weapon storage facility in station square." The Commander said solemnly. "We have no idea who but we know that they must be a threat, it is known that a very useful weapon is held there and that if it gets into the wrong hands there could be dire consequences."
"What is the weapon?" Shadow asked. There was a pause, it looked as though The Commander didn't want to say it.
"A chaos emerald." The Commander sighed.
"Hmph, it annoys me so much when you don't want to tell me these things." Shadow said with hatred and left the room in hurry to go and stop the unknown criminal. He ran to station square in order to get to the weapon storage facility and retrieve the emerald and/or catch the criminal before the damage could be done.
The sun was setting and was very low in the sky when he left HQ and it was pitch black when Shadow arrived, apart from street lights illuminating the streets. Shadow jumped through the smashed window of the old building in which the weapons were stored in. It wasn't a high tech and fancy building as it had to be indistinct, a place where no one would guess the weapons to be. But someone now knew and Shadow had a feeling that it was to do with the chaos emerald.
He went down the stairs of the building, the weapons were stored in the basement underground, behind an old wooden door was a large metal security door and someone had managed to blast through it. Shadow ran through the door to see the chaos emerald on a stand in the corner of the room, he turned to run to it grab it but a dark blur raced past it and it was gone. Shadow turned around and at the door he could see the silhouette of a figure that was roughly his size. It wasn't human and it was most likely someone who could harness chaos energy which was how they knew the chaos emerald was there.
Shadow sent a chaos spear at the unknown their but there was a flash and it was reflected. Shadow leapt towards this powerful creature but before he could get to it, there was another flash, a brighter on and it was gone.
Shadow looked to the top of the stairs and the figure was there, standing tall and mighty, his outline was clearer as it was shown in the dim light of the moon that was shining through the window that had been smashed through. He grit his teeth in anger and frustration and sent another spear, it hit the wall behind the figure, it had dodged. This adversary was a lot more prepared and able than the usual that Shadow came across during his work hours.
Shadow rocketed up the stairs in order to get a hold of this criminal, this was getting on his nerves. The frustrated hedgehog managed to get a hold of the creature and pushed him against the wall. This was when he got up close to it and managed to look into it's deep red eyes. Shadow felt his skin go white, he felt as though his life was being drained from him, he was in deep shock. The stunned hedgehog was out of it, he couldn't take in what he had just seen, he stepped back away from the creature and looked at it's body up and down.
There was a sinister chuckle as Shadow stood in shock. "My master warned me about you." he said in a voice that sounded masculine and so similar to Shadow's own. Shadow began to sweat with fear and tension.
"How!? Who is your master!?" Shadow exclaimed desperately.
"I can't tell you that but you may know one day. See you next time." he teased and leapt out of the window, leaving Shadow paralysed in shock and fear.
Rouge got in late that night expecting Shadow to be home, it was so late Shadow's overtime should have ended by now. She walked into the apartment and was caught aback by the silence and darkness, there was no one in unless Shadow were in bed. "Shadow?" Rouge called and went over to his bedroom door. She peaked inside his bedroom but he wasn't there. "Shadow? Where is he?" she asked herself worriedly.
She sat in the living room for several hours, midnight passed Shadow still didn't turn up. Rouge called work to see if he was there, he wasn't. She began to panic, Shadow always came home, there was obviously something wrong for him not to turn up without notice. Just as she was about to got out and look for him, she looked out of the window to see him walking down the street and towards the building. She sighed with relief but wondered why he was taking his time.
She went out into the hall to see him, when she saw him she gave a slight gasp. He was walking somewhat like a zombie, a look of slight shock on his face but apart from that he was emotionless. "Shadow!? What's wrong?" Rouge exclaimed. Shadow ignored her, walking inside and sat on the sofa. "Shadow!" Rouge yelled again feeling her heart going, there was something wrong with him.
Shadow looked at her, the look of fear in his eyes. "R-rouge. My worst nightmare has come true." Shadow struggled to say, it sounded as though his words were nearly caught in his throat.
"What?" Rouge asked also becoming afraid herself, if there was something that the fearless ultimate life form was afraid of it had to be something bad.
"I think… since I'm a creation of man and it's been over fifty years since my creation… I've become… Obsolete." Shadow said and swallowed hard. "I saw… something awful during my last mission today."
"What did you see?" Rouge asked.
"I saw… me." Shadow breathed. "Someone's gotten a hold of my DNA and made a brand new ultimate life form. I'm doomed… and depending on who made it, so it the world." he said sounding traumatised.
Lucy Labrador
