Chapter 4: Eggman's Punishment
BANG! Pterobot kicks the jeep over, knocking everyone out and soars high into the air. Shadow rolls to a stand and fires a few rounds at the suspiciously glowing crystal-like blue tail behind it. Naturally most of the shots missed but one lands causing a current of electricity to run through it as it dives towards him.
"Watch out!" shouts N as she pushes Shadow, who is preoccupied with attempting to reloading, out of the way. BANG! The robot's beak gets stuck into the ground though the force of the attack was enough to shake the ground. The tail glows and flashes red while the mechanical beast struggles to free itself. Everyone except Flare and T who are still dazed from falling over, looks at it in confusion. Shadow runs for the ammo that fell out of the jeep and reloads his magnum quite quickly despite his earlier trouble. The robot manages to free it beak and goes airborne again but this time it flies so high that no shots can reach it. The night sky made it hard to see but the glowing tail stood as a partial giveaway.
"HAHAHA! See if you can survive THIS!" shouts Eggman's voice from the robot. Smoke comes from all directions of the robot and come downward towards them. "BOMBS AWAY!" Boomboomboom! Shadow and N didn't have enough time to react when several bombs explode upon landing on the ground and flings them backwards and they both land face-first simultaneously.
"Ok, that really, really hurt... It would be so easy to just keel over right now!" thought Shadow to himself as he struggles to regain his strength. "But I WON'T give up! I have no choice, now that Eggman knows who I am, I have to continue!" Shadow slowly stands up but N is still down and too weak to move. "L-Leave everything to me!"
"You're tougher than I thought, Shadow! I didn't think you had what it takes!" The view switches to the robot and the feet of it transforms to a rocket shape. "Pterobot, take him down in down in style!" WHOOSH! With a roar, the rockets boost and the Pterobot is launching itself towards Shadow. Shadow realizes what was happening and begins to run toward the gap in the bridge. He looks up and the robot is still over head. He makes a leap over the gap just in time to avoid the sharp beak of the robot and lands on the other side. "Hm! Smart move!" The robot struggles yet again to free its beak and its tail glows red again, this time Shadow takes careful aim and shoots the tail several times so that it cracks a little. The robot quickly frees its head and returns its legs to normal. "Nooo way, I can't believe this!" Shadow is a bit annoyed since he couldn't damage it enough to destroy it. The robot jumps over to Shadow's side and begins trying to peck him. It succeeds on the last try and knocks him over. Shadow lets out a cry in pain and tries to get up but the robot pecks him again and again, shedding more blood and pecking a different spot every time he tries to block the next peck. THUD! THUD! THUD! Next, the robot picks up Shadow using its feet and slams him repeatedly against the ground. Shadow is now getting more angry than scared.
"Grr...LET GOOOO!" A green light surrounds Shadow and the robots legs break and the robot flaps its wings wildly and uncontrollably while the tail glows rapidly. Shadow safely lands but is confused at what happened to him. "Huh? What...did I just...do?"
"Argh! Damn that chaos power!"
"No time to waste!" BANG BANG BANG BANG! Shadow fires four shots, two of which land and creates a long crack line in half of the tail. The robot gains control of itself.
"HURRY, DESTROY THAT HEDGEHOG BEFORE HE DOES IT AGAIN!" The robot's beak spins drill-like and it begins trying to stab Shadow while hovering with its wings. Shadow falls over and is hanging by his heel over the bridge. He's hanging over the edge of the gap and under the gap is a current of rushing water.
"Ah! If I fall then I'm done for, I can't swim!"
"It was fun while it lasted but unfortunately it's over for you, Shadow..." A humming sound is heard. "Nice knowing ya!" The drill comes closer but then the robot is interrupted by a "Hey!" and looks up. The jeep is seen flying over the bridge and pushes the robot back. A loud screech from the robot is heard. Shadow uses his weight and pulls himself back up.
"Tommy! I mean, T!" The robot is trying to push the jeep off of it but no luck. When the tail glowed red, T steps on it causing it to shatter. T jumps back and watches the robot short out a couple of times before it stops moving.
"Lucky for you, I was watching the whole thing. You really held your own." says T as he reloads.
"What? You were watching and didn't even bother to help!"
"Hey relax, if I were helping then you would've really had a watery grave especially the way it was slamming you against the ground. I was waiting until you weakened it so I can attack, otherwise if we all attacked at once then it would've wiped the floor with us." Shadow grits his teeth, more angrier than before. "I guess you're not buying it oh well, build a bridge and get over it. Hahaha! I made a funny joke. Bridge? Get over it?"
"Where are the others?"
"Over there." T points to the jeep and the others were waiting. "I'll drive now but next time, don't shoot through the glass." Shadow and T walked towards the jeep.
"WATCH OUT!" shouts Flare. They turned around too late and T gets rammed by the robot. The robot flies around in a circle over T while exploding.
"Look out! It's up to something!" shouts N.
"DIE!" shouts Eggman from the robot. The robot dives straight for T and Shadow skates really fast, racing the robot and then grabs T and jumps out of the way. BOOOM! The robot lands and causes a huge shock wave explosion and leaves a big flaming fireball in the area. Everyone lets out a sigh of relief.
"Close call." said Flare.
"Now who has good reflexes?" Shadow asks Flare with a confident grin.
"I'll give you your due respect."
"Thanks Shadow, at first I thought you were a real jackass ("Hey!" shouts Shadow) but now I see that you also think about others just like you think of yourself, you could've died trying to save me both times but you did it anyway! You're really not too bad." T said with a grin.
"Thanks, it was the least I can do!" says Shadow. "Let's go, I'm feeling more motivated than I was earlier." They get into the jeep and continue their journey.
