Chapter 10: Darkness at ease
A big, black thing appeared from a giant red cloud and hovered so close to Shadow that it almost touched him. He had spikes with the same shade of red as Shadow's eyes and two, glowing red eyes with a large one in the middle of his forehead. He didn't have a mouth, but he spoke so loud that everyone heard it.
"Have you re-thought your opinion on obeying me?" It asked. If he had eyebrows, he would surely be cocking one.
"Black Doom? But you're supposed to be dead!" Sonic said, trying to sort things out. Vector scratched his head.
"I remember Shadow wiping this guy off the face of the earth. How'd he get back?" The crocodile asked.
Doom then raised his hand and created an energy disc of some kind. He flung it at the same time he said, "DIE!"
The energy disc rocketed into the car and with a great BOOM, it exploded into a fireball and sent everyone in it flying. Doom then fired another blast of energy into the air to hit a bullseye on the airplane. Tails and Knuckles braced themselves for landing, but instead, they crashed and got many nasty burns. Virtually everyone was wiped out. Everyone but Shadow…
Shadow turned to face his old enemy. The black hedgehog could feel his anger rising and a muscle twitching in his jaw. Suddenly, red energy began to pulsate from his body, turning him the color of open flame.
"YOU WILL PAY FOR TRYING TO KILL MY FRIENDS!" Shadow shouted in pure hatred. If Doom had a mouth, he would surely be smiling.
"That's it, Shadow. Unleash your anger. It will take you farther from your pathetic friends and closer to ME." He said as though they were having a nice cup of tea. This only made Shadow all the more angrier.
"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU! GET OUT OF MY LIFE! CHAOS…" Shadow began. Doom's good mood only spread as Shadow finished his sentence. "BLAST!!!!!!"
An enormous explosion of red energy engulfed the entire area, blowing up anything within twenty feet of Shadow. When the energy cleared, Doom was gone and Shadow was breathing heavily. Just then, the familiar voice spoke up again.
"Good job, Shadow. Look at what you've done."
Shadow whirled around to see that, through his anger, he accidentally Chaos Blasted his friends. His eyes were wide with shock. Doom materialized behind Shadow just when he had gone to check on Sonic. If Doom's smile existed, it would've spread so far, it would have gone off his face.
"Now for my part." Doom said in a voice of casual indifference. He raised his hand and created a blackish-green fireball. With a grunt, he hauled it at Sonic just as Shadow dove to protect him. The fireball hit Shadow and he collapsed onto the ground, causing Doom's laugh to increase.
"How pathetic. The ultimate life form protecting a bunch of lowlifes." Doom said as his whole body began to pump juices through his veins.
Doom began to grow until he was at least the size of King Kong. His cloak suddenly changed from inorganic material to large, batlike wings and he suddenly sprouted another head right out his back. Black Doom had just turned into Devil Doom, the beast that nearly took over the planet.
"Now you see that I am giving you no other option. Join me or DIE." Devil Doom boomed.
Shadow closed his eyes and then let his anger and pain go. Shadow didn't feel it, but he started glowing bright blue and, at a distance, you would've mistaken him for Sonic.
"Behold the ultimate power." Shadow said.
This time, Shadow's voice was no longer angry, but calm and defensive. And when Shadow opened his eyes, they were flickering like ruby flame. Devil Doom opened two mouthlike appendages that probably served as a mouth and unleashed a blast of flame. Shadow quickly seized Sonic and said two words.
"CHAOS CONTROL!"
In a flash of blue light, Shadow disappeared and so did Sonic. All the fire blast hit was a bunch of air and the ground, which instantly charred under the heat. Devil Doom's soul eye widened in shock as he searched wildly for his opponent.
"What?! Where did that hedgehog go?" He asked out loud.
Then, a voice behind him answered in just two words. Two words that chilled him to the core.
"Right here."
Devil Doom whirled around to meet a shining blue Shadow, hovering in the air just above him. Shadow then dashed forward with the force of a bullet as Devil Doom flapped after him. Devil Doom created the fiery blast, but Shadow flew right through it and hit Doom right in the abdomen. Doom recoiled as Shadow rocketed past him and Before Doom had time to recover, Shadow came back like a blue boomerang and smashed into him again. When he came around the third time, Doom reacted too late. He had a big hole drilled right into him and black mist shot out of him like with super-Scales on Sauria. After a long time of screeching and cursing, Doom vanished completely. But not before he said a few words.
"Do not get comfortable, Shadow. There is evil far greater than me, and when you face it, you will suffer!" Doom roared before evaporating into the black mist.
Shadow, who was still blue, returned to the ground and touched everyone. In a matter of seconds, their wounds were healed and Link's eyes fluttered until he came back to his senses. He slowly got up and saw a blue hedgehog heal Fox.
"Sonic? Is that you?" Link asked.
"Sonic" turned around to reveal red eyes and Link's eyes widened so much, his eyes almost dried out.
"Shadow?" Link asked.
Shadow smirked and simply answered, "Yes, Link. I'm Shadow the Hedgehog."
Fox got to his feet and then remembered the mission. "Link, we've got to find the next shrine. I forgot to check my staff."
Fox then took out his staff and a blackish-purple light shone from the end. Fox examined it closely and then got the answer.
"We should be finding the Darkness shrine. Let's move." Fox commanded. Link nodded in agreement and they both dashed off.
After a long time, they found themselves in the same room with Krystal and Pikachu. The dark purple light cleared to reveal a familiar face.
"Hey, Link. Yes. I am the Sage of Darkness. I must thank you. If I hadn't seen you in pain, I wouldn't have been able to defeat Doom. Yes, I do have a spell for…Fox." Shadow said in a much wiser tone than his usual.
He raised his hands over his head and a dark purple light touched Fox.
"This spell will allow you to detect someone you can't trust. If it senses someone with a dark heart, it will glow and vibrate. Use it well." Shadow advised.
Shadow eyed Link, and the Hylian hero heard a voice in his head.
"Link, you know I have something with Zelda?" He asked. Link only nodded. "Then, you know I love her. But I know we're not meant for each other. So I ask something of you." Shadow continued.
Link said, "Fire away."
"I want you to promise that you'll keep her happy. If she's happy, I'll be satisfied. If you don't keep that promise, It will be the death of you." Shadow suggested.
Link smiled and answered, "That's a promise I'm sure to keep."
A white light engulfed both of them and Shadow's last sentence was, "Good luck on your journey. And good luck finding Allos."
They appeared right where their ship was, but when they did, they found that it was in shambles. Several parts were scattered across the ground and some parts of it were showing from shards of metal ripped off the cover.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" They both shouted.
Sonic raced into the scene and asked, "Hey, what happened?"
Link and Fox turned to him and began to talk in a worried tone.
"SOMEONE TORE OUR SPACESHIP APART! HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET OUTTA HERE NOW?!" Link shouted, as though Sonic was deaf.
Just then, they noticed three shadows sneaking away and Fox smiled a wicked smile at the thought of his idea.
He pointed past the three shadows and shouted, "Look! It's the Three Stooges!"
One of them whirled around and asked, "Where?"
As a light shone down on them, the trio happened to be the Chaotix. When Vector whirled around, Link and Fox were looking him and his crew in the eye. Vector scratched the back of his head nervously.
"Uhhh…Sorry, guys. We didn't know it was yours." Vector apologized.
But he was too late. Steam was already coming out of both Link and Fox's ears and Sonic looked like Vector had done the dumbest thing in the world, which he did.
"VECTOR! In order to pay for this, YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS ARE GOING TO REPAIR OUR SHIP NOW!!!!!" Fox roared.
Espio sighed and said, "I told you taking the ship apart was a bad idea."
"One more thing…" Fox added, a sly grin crossing his face.
A minute later, Vector, Espio, and Charmy were in clown costumes. All of them had colored wigs, rubber noses, and makeup on their face. They were even wearing clown suits with ruffled collars and large shoes.
Vector smacked himself in the forehead and asked, "Do we have to go through with this?"
Charmy answered by simply honking his rubber nose. Espio, on the other hand, simply inspected himself with the wig on.
"Now I know why reptiles don't have hair. We'd look RIDICULOUS!" The lizard fumed.
Vector and his gang then enacted antics from slapsticks to rubber chickens that made Fox, Link, and Sonic's sides split. Vector hadn't felt THIS humiliated since he sent fake love letters to Link and had to play mariachi music.
After several hours, the ship was up and running again. Vector and his gang were now so sweaty that the clown makeup was starting to wash off and Charmy couldn't fly much longer. While they worked, Espio tried to turn invisible, but the makeup stuck on him like glue and it didn't work.
"Thanks for fixing our ship, Vector. We all needed a laugh." Fox said, climbing into his newly repaired spaceship.
Then, an idea struck Link and he asked, "Hey, Sonic, care to come?"
Sonic shook his head, but looked up and covered, "I'll stay here and make sure Shadow doesn't wander off. Thanks for the offer, though."
Fox gave the thumbs' up and Link saluted before they blasted into space. Sonic turned around to see where the Chaotix were. They were gone; probably back at their house, trying to get rid of their costumes and makeup.