Judgment chapter 14
Shadow turned his head. The city hadn't change a bit, at least as far is its personality was concerned. The people were still a bunch of morons, more concerned about themselves than anything else. The only upside is that there were no humans. Shadow shook his head at the thought. The humans had been a problem. But they were gone now, never to return.
He had almost found his target, a weasel named Knack. Shadow had entrusted a large amount of heavy weaponry to the weasel. Now, he wanted some of it back. The only problem was that Knack never stayed in the same place for long. He didn't much care for the law, though he followed it more often than not. The cops weren't worth his trouble.
The two had meet under slightly odd circumstances. During Shadow's long disappearance, he found himself in this city. It was quite a ways away from the normal hideout of Sonic's gang, and suited Shadow just fine. He just sat around all day, watching people do whatever it was they did. He first ran into Knack during a fight.
The weasel had been inside a gun store, looking at automatic weapons. He had a place in his heart for a very rare version of the .50 caliber automatic sniper rifle. Only a few had been made, and he had only used one once, though loved it as soon as he squeezed off the first shot. Now, he was trying to find something that felt like the big .50 that he had used.
A group of gangsters had shown up, obviously getting ready to rob the gun store. Shadow had laughed when he saw them. They were pathetic, and looked very stupid, especially with guns. However, more showed up, and their overall numbers increased from three to seven. Shadow decided to stand back and watch, until thee of the gangsters dropped before they even got in the door. A very large weapon was impaling the car. Shadow smiled, and attacked.
Inside the store, Knack was only doing what the shopkeeper had told him. There was no question about the intent of the gangsters, and the cops had already been called. There was little need to explain himself as he teleported into the gun store. Both the weasel and the store clerk, who was also a weasel, though a much different looking one, took little notice of the crimson and ebony hedgehog as he picked up a pistol and took a shot.
Long story short, the gangsters were all either in jail or in the hospital. Knack, Shadow, and the stores clerk were simply left to be. From there, Shadow and Knack kept running into each other. Eventually, the two became friends, though they weren't very close.
Now, Shadow was hunting the weasel down to get a couple of weapons back. It didn't take long to find him, now that he was in the general area. Soon, the little weasel was in his sight.
"Shadow!" called Knack, happy to see the hedgehog. Though Shadow didn't show much care for him, Knack was fairly fond of the hedgehog.
"Knack," was the hedgehog's response.
"I'm glad you're here. I've got some people coming later, and I don't think they intend to pay for their…merchandise. I was hoping you could make sure that nothing goes wrong."
"I'm only here for my guns, Knack." The hedgehogs voice was not a friendly one. Knack backed away, though not very far. He didn't look happy, and went into a little shop. Shadow followed. Knack appeared out from behind the counter, holing a large, carefully wrapped package. Shadow took it, opening it carefully. Inside it were two very specially crafted handguns and a large, very powerful assault rifle that Knack had had made especially for the hedgehog as a sign of gratitude. It was probably the assault rifle that started causing their friendship to become permanent, instead of just temporary.
Shadow picked up the riffle, holding it fondly. It was an insanely powerful weapon, though Shadow wasn't sure what caliber it was. He DID know that it would punch a hole in four inches of steel, shooting three rounds a second, with considerable accuracy at over one mile. Knack had told him that the fox who made it was a genius, though he was almost impossible to find. He wasn't wanted for anything, other than requests. He owed Knack a favor, and help up it. The result was sitting in Shadow's hands.
The handguns were also dangerous, though nothing compared to the assault riffle. They were .44 caliber, but had much more power than any other .44 on the planet. Knack could shoot the handguns, but only if he held one in both hands.
"Where are you going?" asked the weasel. He didn't want Shadow to leave yet. The people that were coming would probably kill him.
"I've got a planet to save."
"Shadow, don't leave. Wait for those people to come, then make sure they don't kill me." Shadow turned around. He didn't want to stay here, helping Knack. However, the weasel had kept his weapons safe. Reluctantly, Shadow turned around. He didn't have to wait near as long as he thought he would. Three cars pulled up.
Several large bulldogs got out, each one of them with a gun around their necks. One of them was holding a suitcase. Shadow followed Knack inside, with the bulldogs close behind him. They got down to business, with Shadow back in the corner.
Suddenly, there was a loud explosion outside, followed by several more. Shadow ran out the door, followed by the bulldogs. There was something huge, rampaging through the city. Shadow used chaos control, teleporting up to the top of a tall building. He didn't believe what he saw.
It was another one of those creatures that had wrecked Vanilla's house. Without a word, he pulled the trigger on the riffle, letting of a single shot. From over half a mile away, a large hole appeared in the tail of the creature. Shadow saw a flash below him. He looked down.
Knack was reloading a large rocket launcher that a bulldog was holding. On the side of the tube, the words 'T.O.W. MISSILE' could be clearly seen. Shadow watched as the missile hit the creature, creating a cloud of smoke. Shadow waited for the smoke to clear, but another missile impacted before it did. Shadow teleported back down, realizing that he could see clearly down on the ground. A couple of bulldogs came out of the store, one of them holding a large mini-gun. Knack turned around, and looked at it. He walked over to the bulldog, yelling something. The bulldog holding it shook his head, and flipped a switch. He and the other two that were following him got in a truck that was parked nearby, speeding off toward the creature. Shadow didn't think that bullets that small would do much damage. But, any damage done would help…or just piss it off.
"What the hell is that thing?" yelled Knack, as Shadow approached.
"No idea," said Shadow, handing Knack his riffle and pistols. The weasel looked like he might pass out. He was actually scared to touch the riffle. "The last one of those I fought was tough. It was daylight then." They heard the sound of a jet roaring overhead. Shadow looked up, just able to make out the outline of the X-Tornado. There was a loud crack behind them. They turned around, Knack holding the gun up.
Darius had landed behind them. Knack stared in amazement at the fox. Shadow just smiled.
"Took you long enough," said the hedgehog. The fox just smiled, leaving Knack even more confused. The fox looked Knack in the eye, sending chills down the weasels spin. The fox smiled, throwing Knack of guard.
"You're going to need a howitzer to hurt that thing. It might be wise just back off and let us deal with it." Knack just shook his head, as the bulldog with the T.O.W. Missile launch let off another missile. Darius looked at it, seemingly amused. "That might work too."
"Knack, I need anozer missile. I think zat vee are getting somewhere," said the bulldog, with a strange accent. Shadow looked at the bulldog, the to Knack.
"Don't get in our way." With that, Shadow took off, Darius close behind him.
Sonic jumped off of the X-Tornado. Tails had flown it in dangerously close to the creature. It had shot its tail at the X-Tornado, almost hitting it. The blue hedgehog used a homing attack, doing little damage to it. It lunged at him, much faster than he remembered the other one doing. It hit him, knocking him into a car. Looking up, Sonic saw that it was about to bring its leg down on him. But before it got there, something exploded right beside it. Taking the chance to escape, Sonic looked up. Tails had shot it, leaving a few small holes in the leg. The explosion had come from a missile. Out of nowhere, Shadow appeared, launching a wave of Chaos Spheres at this creature. These did some damage, scorching the outer shell of the creature.
Darius leaned forward, allowing himself to fall. He was on the tallest building in the city, which just happened to be very close to the creature. He needed speed, and lots of it. He got what he needed, and then some. A red aura formed around his body, and he focused it. Less than 50 feet above the creature, he unleashed it. A blinding white light erupted from his body, engulfing the creature. The effect was much the same as the previous time. However, there was little apparent damage to the creature this time. It hit Darius in midair with its tail, putting him inside a building, taking out several windows in the process.
"What!?" yelled Sonic, clearly in disbelief. The sun was starting to rise over in the east. Shadow's normally emotionless face seemed to say the same thing. Several hundred feet above them, Tails let another barrage of cannon fire lose, shaking the frame of the X-Tornado. These did considerable damage to the surrounding area, though the creature was left unharmed.
Darius picked himself up out of the remains of the desk he had landed in. Several people were around him. One of them asked if he was ok, pointing to a small cut on his head. Darius stood up.
"Yea. I'm alright. Are any of you hurt?"
"No. We're all fine," said a yellow cat.
"Good. Get everyone the hell out of here. No point in dying." With that, Darius walked over to the window, jumping out. He landed, then ran over to Sonic, who was in mid-attack. This creature was different. Darius realized that it was older.
"What's going on?" yelled Sonic. "I can't hurt it."
"I think this one's older than the last one," yelled Darius in response. "It's a little bigger and a lot stronger." Darius attacked the leg, hoping to do some damage. However, he did none.
Knack looked at the gun his hands. Shadow's riffle was strong enough to penetrate steel. There was no way this creature would survive. The weasel braced himself against a wall. Several cars were on fire, though there was no way to know whose fault it was. He aimed at the head, and pulled the trigger. Less than two seconds later, half a mile away, two holes appeared in the creature's head. Knack knew that he would never shoot Shadow's gun again. His shoulder was broken by the massive kick on the gun. He fell to the ground, passing out from the pain.
"Damn!" yelled Darius, who had been in front of the creatures head when the rounds hit. There were holes in his coat where the bullets had ripped though, entering the creatures head. They were literally in-between his legs. He landed on the creature's head, just beside where the bullets had entered. Sonic managed to land a hard kick to one of the eyes, before it's tail slammed in to the place where he had been.
"It's stronger, but it's just as stupid!" yelled Sonic. Darius looked up, just in time to jump out of the way of the tail. It was just as stupid. Shadow threw a chaos sphere at the creature's eyes, frying all but three of them. "Careful Shadow. We don't want to blind it. It might start killing bystanders."
"It's going to do that anyway," Shadow yelled, throwing another wave of Chaos Spheres.
"Damnit! Just die already!" Darius was starting to lose his patience. He wanted this thing dead. But it was so tough, so strong.
A loud explosion rang out though the early morning light. The sun was just coming up over the mountain range to the east of the city. Sabina was glad this flight was almost over. There was a knock on the sound door. Slowing down the engine, Sabina opened the door.
"You'll need to go north-west of here to get to Sonic's house." The voice of the red echidna indicated that he had just woken up.
"Alright. I can't wait to get out and-" The plane suddenly lurched. A loud explosion followed, leaving Sabina and Knuckles temporary deaf, and waking up Rouge, who instantly panicked, assuming the plane had blown up.
"What the hell was that?" yelled the echidna.
"I don't know," was the reply, also yelled. "It came from that city."
"Go there. If something just blew up, it's bound to be Eggman. Where there's Eggman, there's Sonic."
"Alright!" yelled the snow-white fox, turning the plane and running the engine up to full power. Rouge looked up at Knuckles, having figured out that the plane wasn't about to explode.
The X-Tornado rocketed by. Knuckles just had time to see Amy standing on the outside, her hammer drawn and ready.
"Follow that plane!" he yelled. Sabina did. However, the X-Tornado was much faster than the plane that Sabina was flying. The X-Tornado rose up several hundred feet, the dive-bombed something. Sabina flew over the area where it had landed.
"Oh my," said Rouge, looking down at the destruction.
"What the hell is that thing!?" yelled Knuckles, pointing down. Rouge looked down, apparently thinking the same. They had just flown over the creature. The plane rocked violently, going into a spin. However, Sabina quickly recovered it. Her abilities as a pilot were rival that of Tails. Then, the plane just fell apart. The creature had hit it with its tail. They impacted a very tall building, slamming into it and going inside. Thankfully, no one was inside.
Sabina kicked the cockpit door open and got out. She had a small cut on her head just above her left eye that was bleeding, though it was far from serious. Rouge opened the door to the part of the cockpit that she and Knuckles were sitting in. She got out, shaking her head, followed by the red echidna. The bat looked at the fox.
"Are you ok?" asked Rouge, walking over to the normally snow-white fox to get a better look at the cut.
"Yep," said the fox, looking at the part of the plane that inside the building. The plane hadn't been big to start with. "I just hit my head on the dashboard. By chance, I hit the only part without padding." As she turned to walk out the window, something came flying in.
An ebony and crimson hedgehog stood, looking extremely angry. He was about to run out the window, when he saw Knuckles.
"I thought you were dead," said the hedgehog, without a bit of concern or surprise in his voice.
"I'm glad to see you too. What the hell is that thing outside?"
"No idea." With that, Shadow jumped out the window.
"Would someone tell me what's going on?" asked Sabina, getting annoyed.
"Well, I would say that Sonic and Shadow are trying to beat a creature that they've never seen before," said Rouge, looking out the window. She too jumped out the window, not wanting to miss out on the action. Knuckles look at Sabina.
"Stay here. I'll make sure that someone comes to get you." With that, the echidna jumped out the window. Sabina walked over to the window and looked out.
"Knuckles!" yelled Sonic. Seeing his old friend alive was a shock, though a welcome one.
"What is this thing?" asked the echidna, looking at the creature.
"No idea. We beat one before, but his one is a lot stronger," replied the blue hedgehog. A fox that Knuckles had never seen before landed next to Sonic.
"This is no time for greetings. Talk after it's dead." With that, the fox launched off after the creature.
"Who was that?" asked Knuckles, as he and Sonic rushed the creature.
"Darius," replied Sonic, attacking the legs. Above them, Rouge was busy with the tail, trying to disable it. Sonic look to his left just in time. Shadow had launched another wave of Chaos Spheres. They all impacted the creature, actually doing some damage this time. Darius had managed to destroy a piece of the outer skin of the creature. The two holes in hit's head were bleeding, though not enough to kill it.
Darius launched another attack. This time, he was going to try to sever the tail at the base. He jumped, landing just at the base of the tail, a few feet behind the last pair of legs. Above him, a bat was kicking at the tails, doing no damage.
"Fucking insect," he said, getting ready to unleash a large amount of energy. It didn't happen. The creature hit him with its tail. He didn't know what hit him. He turned his head in the direction that he was flying. He didn't have time to do anything. He went through the glass, headfirst.
Sabina was on the fourth floor of the building that she had landed in. She was just getting off the stairs when the glass exploded. The snow-white fox could tell that someone had flown though the window. She ran into the room, rounding a corner in the process. The fight was raging outside. She turned her head, not believing what she was seeing.
There was an ebony and crimson fox, lying on a collapsed table, bleeding fairly badly. She ran over to him, and helped him up. Their eyes met, as he coughed up some blood. It was dripping from his mouth. He took off his trench coat and handed it to the other fox. She just looked at him, mesmerized. He was unlike anyone she had ever seen before. His fur was mostly black, but there were some red streaks in it. His hair was incredible; it looked like he had quills. But the thing that really surprised her was his tails. He actually had two tails. The only other foxes that she had seen in her life had one tail. Ironically, she the fox she was looking at was only the second greater-fox that she had ever seen. Apparently, foxes were somewhat rare. Either their numbers were low, or they just kept to themselves, both greater and lesser.
The foxes got up off their knees, Sabina still holding the other fox's trench coat. He spat out some more blood.
"Mother fucking insect," he said, very pissed off, the rage growing. "I'm going send you hell." Suddenly, a dark red aura surrounded his body. A large sword materialized in his hand. It was huge, covered in strange looking markings, and very heavy looking. He couched down, then charged out the window.
Amy was watching the fight from the X-Tornado. She was standing on the outside of the plane, with. Tails was now orbiting the fight, looking out the window.
Another window explode. Darius came flying out, holding a deadly looking sword. He charged the creature.
"Die you son-of-a-bitch!" yelled the ebony and crimson fox, moving as fast as Sonic. He jumped, swinging his sword. The blade cut through the tough skin of the creature like a hot knife though butter, completely severing one of the legs on the creature at the body. He continued upwards, hacking off half of the tail. As he reached the apex of his jump, he fired of a dark red beam on pure energy at the creature. The beam removed the part of the creature's body just in front of the back pair of legs. However, Darius didn't fall immediately. He hovered in mid-air for a few seconds before charging down. He flipped his body so that his feet were falling first, his sword in-between his feet. The tip of the blade was just a few inches under his feet, though his arms were held high above his head, both hands gripping the handle tightly.
Rough looked up, realizing that the fox was about to plow though her. But it was her fault. She had flown into his path. Just as blade came within feet of her head, she felt something plow into her side. She hit the ground fairly hard, though someone was holding her. She turned her head and saw Knuckles. Their eye met. She would have kissed him, but Darius impacted at just that moment.
Every window that wasn't already blown out in the buildings surrounding the large square where the fight was going on exploded as soon as the shockwave created by the impact. Darius had hit the ground hard enough to blow the road in, revealing the large storm drains that ran unnoticed beneath the city. The creature was turned to dust from the heat of the impact. Cars were sent flying though the air as though they were weightless. The X-Tornado was flung though the air, with Amy holding on for her life. Darius had more or less managed to ruin the entire square. The creature was dead, though.
There was a large cloud of smoke flowing from the center of the impact. Everyone looked to it, waiting for Darius to walk out of the cloud.
High above the battle, a light blue hedgehog with a light blue aura surrounding his body and very sharp-looking, upturned quills was watching the fight from a large monitor. He was surprised that the fox had managed to do so little damage. He thought that his former student would have leveled the entire city. But no, he had only destroyed the city square.
The light blue hedgehog was surprised that the old laser still worked at all. He hadn't fired it yet, though it indicated that is could fire if need be. The ebony and crimson hedgehog had done a good job in his upkeep of the station. Now, it was time to use it for it's original purpose.