The sky was darkened by just the simple gleam of the moon; somewhere within the icy glaciers of Mount. Power there stood a battleship with the face of a lion. Many of the soldiers were moving what appeared to be a trophies. The trophies were of a giant monkey with a red tie and with the letters D.K, a yellow circle with eyes and red shoes and gloves, girl with long blonde hair and a bright pink dress and the last which was a simple black figure.
A young man with dark green hair covering one eye with only a mechanical arm, had a giant gun just resting over his shoulder; He had a cloak around himself covering his entire body.
He let out a relieved sigh, "That makes four Fighters I've captured now."
The soldiers placed on the trophies on what appeared to be moving platforms. Once they were placed on there, they began to move them to where the battleship was. The man watched as the soldiers made their way to the ship. "It won't be long now, before Master get's what he desires when all of the Fighters are within his grasp."
Just than one of the soldiers came running over towards the young man. "SIR!" He shouted, "SIR HEMLOCK!" The young man named Hemlock turned to the soldier, "What is it?" Hemlock had asked.
"We have just recieved a message from Lady Wolfram."
"Really? What did she have to say?"
"She said that her men encountered a Newcomer, while searching for the remaining Fighters and told us to be on the lookout for any more."
Hemlock's eyes widened at what the soldier had said to him. "A Newcomer? Are they certain?"
"They are a hundred percent certain that it was a Newcomer. She had powers beyond what the other Fighters have." The soldier had said to him. Hemlock chuckled as he rubbed his chin. "There hasn't been a Newcomer for a long time now. Did you locate another?"
"Yes sir. We have just located one of them. It's been confirmed that he's with the Fighters Meta Knight and Lucina."
"Of course, it's them. What is the Newcomers name?"
"His name is Shadow the Hedgehog."
Hemlock gave a quizzical expression, "Shadow the Hedgehog? Wasn't he an Assist Trophy?"
"Yes sir, why do you ask?"
"No reason… Tell the men to wrap things up here; we'll be leaving this mountain as soon as the trophies are on board the ship, and retrieve my Amiibo."
"Yes Sir Hemlock!"
The soldier went and did just that. Hemlock turned to look over the horizon to which laid over the landscape below the very mountain they stood.
"Shadow the Hedgehog. You'll certainly be one of my most interesting opponents."
He then placed the hood over his head and went towards his ship.
It had already been hours and night had soon came while Shadow had ventured through the temple with Fighters Lucina and Meta Knight. He didn't exactly know what they were searching for, however because of the situation he was in, he had only one option, and that was to just trust them.
Shadow had walked beside Fighters Lucina and Meta Knight as he tried to make out what was the writing which was all over the walls.
"Is there something wrong Shadow?" Lucina had asked him.
"I'm just trying to make out what's written here." He replied to her.
"Try as you might." Meta Knight had said, "We've been trying to translate this writing for fifteen years, and still haven't any luck deciphering even the first letter of the alphabet."
"Must be important stuff, if you've been trying to decipher it for this long." Shadow had said,
"It is a possibility." Lucina had replied to him.
They continued to walk down through the tunnels, making all kinds of twist and turns until they stopped at a certain point when they soon entered a giant room which had but a single pool of water.
"Search the room." Meta Knight had told a Waddle Dee, "Let me know when you have found something."
The Waddle Dee nodded his head and went doing what he was told.
"You said you were looking for clues to who was really controlling these Trophy Hunters?" Shadow had said, "May I ask what clues they are exactly?" Meta Knight turned to him and replied, "Here in this very temple is where we believe that the Hunters had appeared first, or at least one of them."
"We also have reason to believe that they have met their Master met them here in this very Temple." Lucina had soon added.
"How do you plan on knowing that their Master was here?" Shadow had asked the two of them.
"People like the Hunters and their Master maybe smart, but each and everyone of us, even them are careless when it comes to things like this." Lucina replied, "They may have erased their trace of their whereabouts here, however they can't hide their energy signature."
The hedgehog tilted his head in confusion, "Energy Signature? What do you mean exactly?"
"Every Fighter and Newcomer alike has one when they enter the World of Smash." Meta Knight explained, "However the difference between us and the Hunters is that our Signatures change whenever we use our natural abilities, so we are not always stuck with the same one when we have first arrived."
"So than, if you find the Energy Signature to whoever is pulling the strings, or the Hunters, then you'll have no trouble on finding out where they're going to be, or where their Master will be next." Shadow had concluded.
"You catch on quick with these things, don't you?" Lucina had said.
"Let's just say I'm a fast learner." Shadow had said to them.
Just than a Waddle Dee had come rushing over to them. "What is it?" Meta Knight had asked his comrade. The Waddle Dee had pointed to where he was before. "Looks like your Waddle Dee found something." Shadow had told Lucina and Meta Knight. The three of them went to go see what the Waddle Dee had found. Lucina picked up the item, which appeared to be a purple silk bag. She opened it and took out some kind of red and white object.
"I don't know what this is." She said.
"Is it a device of some kind?" Meta Knight had asked.
"Something like that." Shadow had said to them, "May I?"
Lucina nodded her head and she handed the object to him. "It's an inhaler." Shadow had told them, "It contains a medication that a person uses if they have asthma. I've seen others use it before."
"If that's the case than it can't belong to one of the Hunters, and I doubt that the Master would have a use of it." Meta Knight had said.
"Than could it belong to one of the Newcomers?" Lucina had suggested.
Shadow had then placed the inhaler back in the purple bag, "I think I'll hang on to this just in case." He said to them, as he placed it in the pouch that was on his arm.
Just than they heard another Waddle Dee (Speaking this time) ran over to them. "META KNIGHT! LUCINA!" The Waddle Dee shouted, "IT'S THE TROPHY HUNTER HEMLOCK! HE'S HERE!"
"What?!" Meta Knight exclaimed.
"How did they find us?!" Lucina asked the Waddle Dee.
"I don't want to point fingers, but they must've tracked us with the Newcomers Energy Signature!" The Waddle Dee replied.
"Damn!" Meta Knight mumbled under his breath, "Get the men onto the ship and prepare the weapons in case they try to attack from the sky, we'll take care of the ones down here!"
"Understood Sir Meta Knight!" The Waddle Dee said while saluting. He then ran to the other Waddle Dees.
He and Lucina had pulled out their weapons, she turned to Shadow, "Well, it's time to show us what you're made of."
"You took the words right out of my mouth." Shadow had said to her. They soon ran out of the temple. The minute they set foot just outside, the three of them didn't hesitate to jump straight into battle. Lucina delivered an uppercut to three of the soldiers, and Meta Knight delivered his drill technique to which seven soldiers were caught in the attack.
Shadow stood in awe as they fought, but that soon came to a halt when on of the soldiers charged at him with a beam sword, which he was able to dodge. "Hmmm, that's an interesting weapon you posses." Shadow said to a soldier, "But then again, after all the worlds, and dimensions I've been to thus far, you could do better than that!"
Shadow pulled back his hand and shouted the words, "CHAOS SPEAR!" To which a yellow light illuminated from the wave of his hand and it at the soldier directly; About ten more soldiers had soon surrounded him.
"Quit trying so hard, it'll get you nowhere." Shadow said to them.
Soon enough his whole body was starting to glow red. He soon vanished then reappeared behind the soldier delivering a kick, knocking him down to the ground, then soon enough he did the same thing to the other soldiers. Teleporting behind them and knocking them out before they even had a chance to attack him.
Sure enough, they were all knocked out as they lay flat on the ground.
"How did you do that?" Lucina had asked him as she ran over to him.
"It's one of my abilities." Shadow had replied as the red light around his body disappeared, "It's called Chaos Snap*. It can be very useful when I'm surrounded by enemies."
(*This is one of Shadow's homing abilities. Literally this is mixed with his homing attack and chaos attack. It allows Shadow to attack multiple enemies that are within range. Originally this ability limited him to attack only six enemies and sadly it appeared in the worst game known to man Sonic 06, so don't hate me for this since I decided to put this ability in here)
A voice soon came into the mix, which caused the soldiers to withdraw from the battle.
"That is an indeed a useful ability you have. It's no wonder you're called the Ultimate Lifeform back in your world."
Shadow, Lucina and Meta Knight turned to see a man who was cloaked, but only revealing his metal arm. He removed his hood revealing a familiar face that Shadow had seen earlier.
"I'm so glad that Wolfram told us to keep an eye out for others like you." He said, "It's not everyday you get to meet a Newcomer. It is so such a rare occasion."
"You must be Hemlock." Shadow said, "One of the Trophy Hunters I've been hearing about."
"So you've heard of me than?" The man named Hemlock said, "I'm honored that you know who I am Shadow the Hedgehog."
"You know my name than?"
"Oh I know much more than that. I know that your humanity's first and only living weapon ever to be created, and as said before, you have the title of being called Ultimate Weapon, you must feel honored to have such a name. And it's all thanks to the brilliant mind of Eggman's grandfather. Professor Gerald Robotnik."
"Hmph. Glad to see that you've done your homework."
Lucina had then stepped forward and demanded, "Why are you here? Isn't taking away our friends enough for you?"
"Of course it's not, you know that my dear." Hemlock had replied, "And if you must know why I'm here, I have two reasons. One, it's obvious to what my orders are from my Master, and that's to capture every Fighter here in this world, two, I have just been given additional orders, and that's to see to it that the Newcomer is captured as well."
Shadow gave a quizzical look, "What?" He asked, "Why do you need me?"
"Sorry, it's a need to know bases." Hemlock replied, before shouting to his soldiers, "CAPTURE THE FIGHTERS!"
The soldiers charged at Lucina and Meta Knight. Before Shadow could do anything about it, Hemlock had suddenly, charged at him still fully cloaked with only his fists. Shadow back flipped to gain some distance as Hemlock throw a punch where he stood; The impact caused a small crater on the ground.
"You appear to be stronger than you look." Shadow had said to Hemlock.
Hemlock stood, "It seems to be enough to defeat you."
Shadow smirked at him, "Don't be so sure about that."
His body started to light up red again, and in the next second he was behind Hemlock.
He was about to kick him right in the face when Hemlock blocked him. He then swung him around right into nearby rocks causing Shadow to cry out in pain. "Big mistake." He said to the Hunter.
He took his hand back and with a wave of his hand once again he attacked while shouting, "CHAOS SPEAR!"
However Hemlock dodged the attack and proceeded to throw a kick to which Shadow had blocked. They threw punches and kicks at each other; each time they did however they kept on blocking it. They kept this pattern until finally Shadow had shouted, "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!"
He manifested a small ball of what appeared to be chaos ball*. He threw the ball to Hemlock, and it had just stunned him which allowed Shadow the advantage.
(The Chaos Ball is the ability that Shadow just used. Remember? This ability was seen in the first Sonic Riders game.)
"CHAOS SPEAR!" Shadow had shouted once more. He waved his hand again to which had caused Hemlock to fly backwards, letting his cloak fly off from the impact revealing that he had on what looked like a cybernetic armor.
"Is that the best you got Shadow the Hedgehog?" Hemlock had asked him.
"I'm just getting started!" He shouted. He proceeded to do a spin dash, and charged at Hemlock.
With one hand Hemlock created a shield and Shadow while he was in the spin dash, he then took out what appeared to be a bat. And with just one swing Shadow broke from the spin dash, and was sent hurtling in the air. And the next thing he knew he had landed on top of Lucina.
"GAH!" Lucina had cried out, when Shadow had landed on her.
"Sorry…" Shadow said, getting up from the floor, "Didn't mean to land on you but I was hit by a strangely powerful bat."
"Was the bat black and yellow?" Lucina asked him to which Shadow replied with a confused look, "Yeah, why?"
"Damn that Home-Run Bat…" Lucina mumbled under her breath.
"Home Run what?"
Just than Lucina noticed something in the distance.
"WATCH OUT!"
Lucina had pushed Shadow out of the way, and Lucina did a tuck and roll as what appeared to be an arrow had just missed them.
"WHAT IN THE HELL IS THAT!?" Shadow had shouted as he got himself up from the floor.
Meta Knight helped Lucina up off the floor and he said to him, "There is no time to explain! We need to get back to the ship and get out of here now!"
"WHAT!?" Shadow shouted a bit irritated by what Meta Knight was suggesting, "BUT IT'S JUST THE ONE GUY! I CAN TAKE HIM!"
Lucina had then yelled, "He's about to overrun you Shadow! You just can't see because he's keeping you distracted! Besides we already lost enough Waddle Dees as it is so we need to regroup now!"
"BUT-"
"THERE IS NO TIME TO ARGUE! NOW HURRY AND GET BACK TO THE SHIP!"
Stunned by Lucina's outburst and words, he shook it off and immediately made his way back to the ship, with her and Meta Knight soon following. Hemlock continued to fire with his gun from a distance. When he kept missing he groaned with frustration and proceeded to shout to his men and chased them, "DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY!"
The soldiers then ran after them, and soon enough they cut them off to the ship. "Damn it!" Shadow muttered, before saying to Meta Knight and Lucina, "Got any ideas?!"
"Yeah, just one!" Meta Knight had said. He then pulled out from behind his back what appeared to be-
"A Chicken?" Shadow said with a look.
"HA!" A soldier had said, "What's a mere chicken going to do?"
"You'll see." Meta Knight said to him.
Meta Knight threw the chicken at one of the soldier causing him to let out a grunt. "Hey, that didn't hurt." He said. But then it wasn't long to he looked up in the sky. His eyes widened and he said pretty much horrified, "Oh no."
In the next minute the sky had begun to ran chickens and they attacked the soldiers with brute force leaving Shadow speechless by what he was witnessing. It wasn't long till he heard Hemlock shout out, "YOU FOOL! THAT WASN'T A CHICKEN! THEY'RE CUCCOS!"
"NOW'S OUR CHANCE!" Meta Knight shouted to Lucina and Shadow, "GET TO THE SHIP NOW!"
Shadow soon recovered from shock by what he witnessed and quickly ran behind Lucina and Meta Knight.
"YOU'RE LETTING THEM GET AWAY!" Hemlock shouted, punching away the animal known as a Cucco, "HURRY UP AND STOP THEM!"
"IT'S IMPOSSIBLE SIR!" A soldier shouted, "THEY'RE TOO MANY CUCCOS! WE CAN'T GET A CLEAR SHOT!"
He was than knocked down by a cucco. Hemlock grunted in frustration, "You'll pay for this fighters!" He yelled as he saw them get aboard their ship, "I'LL MAKE SURE YOU'LL PAY!"
Just like that, the Fighters and Newcomer, took off in their ship and flew away, leaving them with the army of Cuccos.
Before you ask, yes I did end this chapter with a whole army of Cuccos. And to answer a reviews question titled Christian Ape99's question about fan characters, I haven't really thought about fan characters, but you can put it in if you want to and it just so happens I still need a Trophy Hunter for an Arc later.