Disclaimer: I do not Own Shadow the Hedgehog or Amy Rose or any Sonic Team related characters. But if I owned Shadow I'd just hug him lots and tickle his chest fur X3
Icy Shayde: (Because I'm too lazy to email) Thank you! X3
Playstation14 (chapters 2-16): (Laziness again) Heehee, Thank you for all of your reviews X3
(If I missed anybody out... I sincerely apologise)
(A/N: I apologise in advance for the utter diabolikal way the fight scene came out. It is my first time writing one... XD Oh... there WILL be a lemon; but it will be the very last chapter. So if people don't want to read it, they don't have too. How thoughtful of me, ne? And I am going to finish this story before I re-start work on any of the others because I love the next chapter X3) This is a looong chapter
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Chapter Twenty
(Silhouette belongs to Seastone130 and Draith belongs to Draith500)
A crash of metal being hit vibrated through the arena as Shadow's fist hit Metal Sonic's head, another smash was heard as a kick followed the punch, sending the metal creation flying into the wall. The onyx hedgehog frowned to himself when the robot didn't reappear from the rubble. Looking around, Shadow couldn't see him anywhere; a sudden sound above him made the ebony male look up. A metal foot crashed into his face, making him fall to the floor in a slight bit of pain. Shadow jumped up with a scowl on his face, brushing himself off slightly he yawned mocking the robotic version of his rival.
"Is that all you've got?" he teased "I expected something much more challenging!" A smirk replaced his scowl as he stared at the robot as it floated in front of him. Without warning, Shadow rushed forward, jumped in the air and kicked Metal Sonic in the jaw, causing the robot to go flying into the ground. A wider smirk crossed his face as he saw Metal embedded in the ground; he warped next to the robot, grabbed the robots head and smashed it into the ground. Repeating the process a few more times, Shadow felt something cold on his leg; hissing when something sharp embedded itself in his calf, he released Metal's head. Looking at the bleeding limb he saw Metal's hand with blood on it; rage filled his system and he threw Metal into the air and charged up several chaos spears. Amy's scream's cut through the ebony male again and he looked worriedly over to her, keeping the chaos spears charged in his hand. Shadow scowled at Eggman as he laughed evilly and as Amy's scream's got louder, the onyx hedgehog knew the scientist had turned up the power. Amy... His thought's were interrupted when he felt two pin pricks and then electricity travelled through his own body; turning, he saw two pins in is side and wires travelling to Metal Sonic. Cursing himself for being so careless, he ripped the barbed hooks from his body, making the holes bleed. Jumping into a spin-dash, Shadow charged towards Metal. Spinning faster, he collided with the robot and followed its path to the arena floor; upon reaching the point of impact, he felt two hands stopping him from advancing on the machine. Being pushed back, he realised that his spin-dash wasn't working anymore. Landing on his feet, he gave the creation a deadly glare.
"So Shadow, you see how well Metal Sonic adapts to your attacks? Quite remarkable, wouldn't you agree?" Eggman laughed gleefully. Shadow passed his glare to the mad scientist, scoffed then turned back to the machine.
"I wouldn't call it remarkable Doctor," Shadow said, a smirk finding its way onto his face "Everything has a weakness; you have just got to find it!" Launching himself back at Metal, the ebon male smashed his fists into the machine's chest plate, back and head. As he span around to give a round-house kick to the machine; Metal's claws scratched across his muzzle, just missing his eye. A few choice swearwords fell from his lips as he growled at the machine, blood dripping from his face. Rage erupted in him as he watched Metal's emotionless red eyes staring at him, almost mocking him; chaos energy sparked from his body and spilled everywhere.
"Woah Shadow... Calm down," Sonic's voice cut through his anger "Looks like you need some help" Shadow turned his burning gaze to his rival and drew his lips back showing him his sharp canines, snarling at the hero in feral rage.
"I don't need your help faker," the onyx hedgehog snarled, turning back to the machine "This is my fight" Growling angrily, he ran at Metal, ignoring the blue blur behind him, fist out-stretched looking as if he was going to punch the robot; but as he watched Metal cover his face with his arms, Shadow switched to a barrage of hard, bone-breaking kicks. The onyx hedgehog finished with a powerful round-house kick sending the mechanical creature to the floor, he smirked, ignoring the pain it brought to the deep scratches on his face. Dropping down next to the blue hedgehog, he looked to Eggman and his rose. Starting his way towards the now trembling scientist, he passed the body of Metal, giving it a suspicious look. Turning his gaze from the robot, he carried on towards Eggman; his fists clenched at his sides. He dropped his gaze to the pink hedgehog and more anger poured into him seeing her tear-stained face.
"Shadow! Behind you!" She screamed, earning her another jolt of electricity from the doctor. Cold metal arms wrapped around his chest and squeezed tightly, trying to break his ribs. The onyx hedgehog fought against Metal's hold, but he could slowly feel his bones cracking under the pressure. Hissing in pain, he shut his eyes trying to block out the hurt from the situation.
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Sonic stared in disbelief as Metal squeezed the onyx hedgehog tightly; the hero swore he could hear Shadow's bones breaking. He frowned at the image in front of him, he was respecting Shadow's pride by not helping; but he was seriously getting impatient. The hiss of pain from his rival made his legs move towards Metal and his fist plough into the side of his face, making the machine let go of the onyx and crimson hedgehog. Catching Shadow before he hit the floor; Sonic gazed at him, only to be pushed violently away by two streaked arms. The cobalt hero frowned at the other male; after all he was only trying to help. As blood red orbs focused on his jade ones, he gulped at the anger there.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Shadow snarled at him, pushing him further away as he stood. Sonic rose with the other hedgehog and gawped at him
"Saving your ass, that's what!" Sonic retaliated, earning a scoff from his onyx adversary. He opened his mouth to say something else; but he felt a clawed hand on the back of his head and it being forced forward. Crashing into Shadow's head, the blue hero fell to the floor, rubbing the sore spot. Opening one emerald eye he saw Shadow doing the same. "Geez Shadow... You sure have a hard head" All the blue blur got in response was a low growl and a few muttered obscenities. Standing, still rubbing his head, Sonic offered his free hand to his rival, offering a truce and an alliance. Shadow glared at his hand and swatted it away
"I shall accept your help, hedgehog. Since you seem hell-bent on giving it," the onyx hedgehog informed him "But this doesn't mean I owe you anything" Standing on his own, the onyx male wiped some blood from his muzzle then nodding to Sonic he warped out of sight. Sonic blinked before he crouched and jumped up to attack the metal version of himself. Giving the metal hedgehog a few quick, powerful blows he watched as Shadow re-appeared above them and as Sonic saw him clench his hands together and start to bring them down on Metal's head. The cobalt hero moved quickly as the machine went crashing into the ground again, he watched the onyx hedgehog gather chaos energy in his hands and smirked, gathering his own energy for an attack. Glaring at the machine, both heroes released their respective attacks
"Chaos Spear!" Shadow growled out, throwing his arm towards Metal
"Sonic Wind!" Sonic shouted, over powering the onyx male's growl. Both of the male hedgehogs watched as their attacks merged and hit the floor with a massive explosion. As the building shook, Sonic turned to face Shadow, awe showing clearly on his face. "Wow, our attacks became one! That's awesome!" Passing his crimson eyes to the blue hero, Shadow gave him an unimpressed look. A few beeps from the crater, made the two males to look down.
"Watch out," the ebony male growled, diving from a clawed hand, that emerged from the dust. Sonic gazed in shock as it went bursting through his gloved hand, before he shouted out in pain. Pulling the projectile from his hand, he threw it back to where it came from and clutched his hand to his chest; tears coming to the corners of his eyes. Shadow appeared in front of him and forced Sonic to let him look at it. After studying it, he threw the gloved hand back to its owner "You'll be fine," The blue hero cradled his hand again and frowned at the other hero. "Ready for round two?"
"Sure am..." Sonic whimpered, trying to ignore the excruciating pain coming from his hand. Rolling his eyes at the hero, the ebony hedgehog took an offensive posture and sped towards the undamaged Metal Sonic; laving the original Sonic to follow. Skidding to a stop in front of the machine, the ebony hedgehog dropped and swiped his leg round to knock Metal off of his feet, feeling his leg go straight through a blast of hot air; Shadow back flipped away from the robot as it punched where he had just been. Jumping back at the robot, Shadow ducked to do the same swipe kick, but changed to upper-cut the machine at the last moment, knocking the machine up in the air, to where Sonic was waiting. The blue hedgehog kicked Metal back to Shadow, who instantly kicked it back with a smirk. As the two male hedgehog's kicked Metal between them, Amy smiled up at the pair, daring not to move from her crumpled position. She could tell both Shadow and Sonic were hurt, but it looked to her like they were winning! Her musings were abruptly cut short as she saw Metal recover from being used as a football and dive right at her ebony saviour. Seeing it hit him hurt the pink hedgehog more than she would ever admit
"Shadow..." she whimpered quietly, watching him fall to the floor. Eggman chuckled at her
"Your precious boyfriend cannot beat Metal Sonic. He should know that by now," He bleated to her making her clench her teeth. "Not even Sonic can defeat him. He has every single one of their attacks on his hard-drive..." He paused upon seeing his prisoner not paying attention, so he pressed the electrocution button and laughed as she cried out in pain.
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Getting up, Shadow heard Amy scream and he clenched his fists with rage, he didn't know what to do; he couldn't leave Sonic fighting Metal on his own, but listening to Amy being electrocuted was killing him. He desperately wanted to stop what Eggman was doing to her, but with the price of Sonic's probable death? He spotted the two hybrids and he could see they were engrossed in watching the fight rather than joining in. Growling slightly he warped to them and glared at them.
"Let's make a deal. You help blue-boy with the metal version of himself while I save Amy and I'll let you live for daring to mess with my rose" Shadow didn't care that neither of them had actually done anything to Amy, he just wanted them to help Sonic. Draith nodded and slipped his leather jacket from his shoulders, cracking his knuckles, but Silhouette looked nervously towards Metal then to Shadow
"But... Shadow… I don't know how to fight..." She mumbled causing the ebony hedgehog to scowl
"You make your hand into a fist and drive it forward. What's hard about that?" He replied sarcastically, making the onyx female bristle in annoyance. "Are you going to help me or not?" Silhouette nodded in agreement reluctantly, rushing after Draith. Shadow smirked at this new development and stalked towards Eggman, deadly smirk on his face
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The onyx male marched towards Eggman, the deadly smirk still etched on his face and revenge gleaming in his blood red orbs. As Eggman noticed the approaching hedgehog he waved the remote in the sky and chuckled evilly. Pressing the button with his thumb, the hedgehog at his feet convulsed as electricity ran through her body, a few whimpers escaping her tightly closed lips. As the scientist leant over to wave the remote he turned a knob and pressed it again, sending even more volts into Amy's already frail body. Looking at Eggman loom over his rose, something in the ebony hedgehog snapped. He sped forward and grabbed the doctor by his moustache, drew back his other fist and hit him, making him fall backwards and the egg shaped doctor rolled onto his back in pain. Smirking he leant down to Amy and took her body into his arms, softening his smirk to a slight grin when she opened her eyes. As he realised she was smiling at him he let the grin form into a slight smile.
"Shadow..." She whispered putting her hand on his cheek, gently stroking his muzzle with her thumb. At seeing him flinch she lowered her gaze to the injury. "Oh Shadow...," She repeated, tears filling her eyes "I'm sorry" The ebony hedgehog looked to her in confusion, before he felt a tingling sensation. Looking to the collar around Amy's neck, he grabbed it with a growl but before he could rip it from her delicate throat; electricity ran through it. Clenching his teeth, he took the extreme amount of electrical current running though his hand. He felt Amy cling to him as she also fought it. Charging a very weak chaos spear in his hand he burnt the leather and metal collar off, cutting the electrical supply. Amy fell against the ebony hedgehog, sobbing into his sleek fur, too weak to do anything else. Shadow stood with her in his grasp, hugging her closely. I knew I should not have let her go... Walking to Eggman he stepped on the scientist's hand, crushing the remote in the process, ignoring his squeal of pain
"Listen to me Doctor," Shadow hissed, bending over slightly to glare into Eggman's eyes "You will not touch her again, do you understand me? Because Doctor, if you touch one quill on her head, I shall kill you" The scientist trembled under the Ultimate Lifeform's gaze and sheepishly nodded
"But… Shadow," He chuckled, trying to make himself seem innocent and unhurt by Shadow's air-shoe crushing his hand "I wasn't actually going to turn her into a robot hybrid..." The more he tried to explain himself, the angrier Shadow became.
"Shut up," he snapped to the genius "Leave. Before I change my mind," Hearing those words fall from the angry hedgehog, the over-weight genius scrambled up and rushed to the exit, a few Eggpawn's following him. Smirking at his little victory he stared down at the female in his arms, Amy smiled at him warmly and snuggled up against him. Sighing at her affection he placed her on the floor and pointed at her "Get out of here. I shall see you shortly. I promise" Amy nodded at the handsome hedgehog in front of her, before wrapping her arms around him and giving him a kiss on his muzzle.
"I…I..," Amy stuttered, trying to get three little words out; but she couldn't, she knew now wasn't the right time. "Be careful Shadow" she whispered up against him. Releasing him from her embrace she ran to the dark edges of the room, not looking back once. The ebony male watched after her, his heart fluttering with an emotion he wouldn't acknowledge. Turning from the darkness he looked up to the warring hedgehogs, he warped up to them to join them in fighting.
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Sonic gasped as Metal's fist planted itself into his stomach, cursing slightly when he felt his bottom rib break against the pressure of the punch. Not being able to take much more punishment, the blue blur pulled back to let either Draith or Silhouette take over; to which Draith took the challenge. Sonic looked to the onyx and crimson hedgehog as he appeared in front of him.
"About time Shadow," he muttered holding his stomach and muttering some things Shadow didn't catch under his breath. Lowering his gaze Sonic looked to where Amy and Eggman had been "I'm surprised you didn't kill him. He was hurting your woman"
"Do not talk about things you have no right knowing about," Shadow snarled in response, not having much patience left. "How are we going to subdue him?" His ruby eyes watched as Draith fought Metal, his eyes scanning for any weaknesses. He couldn't see any visible weak point, but there had to be one; he had made a promise and he was going to keep it by any means possible. Seeing Draith was starting to have problems, the ebony male sped forward to help. Bringing both of his fists down on Metal Sonic's head, the robot went crashing down into the floor for the millionth time that day. Folding his arms across his chest, Shadow waited for the mechanical hedgehog to rise from the floor. The ebony hedgehog's brain went into overdrive trying to find anything in his patchy memory to defeat Metal, but nothing came to mind. Cerise eyes narrowed at the metal male as it floated in front of him. The cobalt hero appeared beside him with a smirk that almost hid his pain.
"Well? What are we going to do?" he asked, holding his chest again slightly, Shadow rolled his eyes at the heroism of the blue hedgehog.
"I don't know...," he admitted back. "I can't find a weak point"
"Hey guys! Maybe I can help?" Tails' voice cut through the brief silence that had settled over the five hedgehog forms. Sonic gazed around in confusion
"Tails?" He wondered out-loud "Where are you buddy?"
"I'm in the main control room..."
"Is Amy with you?" Shadow boomed, interrupting the young genius, a tint of anger in his voice
"No, Shadow," Tails replied, before he carried on with his explanation "Well, I'm in the main control-computer room and there are documents and blueprints about various machinery, badniks and metal creatures. I can probably find the information you are looking for... But it might take awhile. Can you handle Metal until I have found what you need?"
"I think so Tails," Sonic replied, looking at his metal rival, a smirk carved on his face. Shadow rolled his eyes at Sonic's enthusiasm and glared at Metal. Something was going to go wrong. The dark hedgehog knew it.
Charging at Metal Sonic; Draith, Shadow and Sonic all kicked repeatedly at the metal hedgehog's chest plate. A burning sensation caught Sonic off guard and he held his ribs, giving Metal a chance to hit the hero. Sonic cursed against the cold metal fist and slowly grabbed it and twisted it sharply, pulling at the appendage with all of his might. Shadow grabbed Metal's other arm and pulled in the opposite direction, trying to help Sonic pull off one of Metal's arms to try and give them a little bit of an advantage.
"To me, to you" Sonic chuckled, pulling the arm back as Shadow pulled it away slightly
"Stop playing juvenile games and pull his damn arm off" the onyx hedgehog grumbled, yanking back on the arm sharply. He looked to Draith who smirked and brought his robotic arm down into Metal's, severing it and making a giant dent appear in Draith's own. Sonic threw the arm over his shoulder and smirked.
"Advantage us!" Sonic yelled happily
"I do not think so hedgehog" A robotic voice sounded from the one armed Metal. The blue blur's mouth fell open as the seemingly voiceless robot spoke to them
"So… the toy can talk. How amusing" Shadow mused, a smirk taking over the unscratched side of his muzzle.
"Do not be so foolish Project Shadow," Metal uttered emotionlessly "You know I am no mere toy"
"I prefer you being called 'Shadow the Hedgehog' rather than Project Shadow" Sonic muttered to the ebony hedgehog. Shadow turned to Sonic with a scowl.
"Shut up!" he spat to the blue male, making Sonic put his hand behind his head and laugh slightly.
"Enough of your idle talking," Metal interrupted the rivals, clicking his claws twice Draith and Silhouette floated around him "I have implanted chips in their brains, instantly making them my slaves. You can not win"
"I don't think you understand," Sonic said cockily scratching his nose with his index finger "You are fighting against the Fastest Thing Alive and the Ultimate Lifeform. There is no way you can win Metal"
"Do not underestimate me young hedgehog," the robotic hedgehog said "It shall be your down fall" Clenching his claws Metal launched towards Shadow, whilst Draith and Silhouette launched at Sonic.
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Typing furiously at the computer, Tails kept his blue eyes on the various facts as they flew past his vision. He couldn't help but release a frustrated grumble fall from his lips as even more information appeared in front of him. Tapping the relevant keys to get rid of the un-useful technical jargon that he didn't need, he came upon a folder named 'MS' and with a relieved sigh, he clicked on it. As Metal's information and designs flew past the young genius' orbs, he didn't notice a dark figure behind him. Tails felt something on the back of his head and gulped as he recognised the feeling as the barrel of a gun.
"Step away from the computer Tails," Eggman's voice chuckled but the young vulpine didn't move, he couldn't. "Did you not hear what I said?" Clenching his eyes shut, the orange fox waited for the bullet. His ears twitched as he heard a loud thump and the gun falling from his head. Looking around he saw the scientist laying unconscious on the floor, looking to his attacker he saw an angry pink hedgehog with her hammer raised above her head
"Amy?" he asked in uncertainty. The rose hedgehog smiled at him and rested her hammer by her side.
"You looked like you needed help. Waiting is so boring" she complained, glaring down at the evil genius, who nodded slightly in thanks
"Shadow isn't going to be very happy about this..." Tails muttered to himself; turning and studying the new information in front of him.
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Pushing the two hybrids back, Sonic grimaced as his ribs instantly started hurting with more intensity. He gazed to Shadow and Metal Sonic to see them exchanging fast and hard blows to each other. Blinking at the speed in which his rival was achieving, the blue blur briefly wondered if he wasn't the fastest thing alive but he quickly shook the thought off. Turning to Draith and Silhouette a smirk came to his face, gathering his inner energies, he raised his arm, ignoring the shooting pain that shot through his chest. Using his speed to his advantage, the cobalt hedgehog zipped in behind the two half robot hedgehogs
"Sonic Wind!" Sonic watched as his attack hit the two hedgehogs at point blank range and sent them flying into the hard ground. Quickly coming to Shadow's aid, he drop-kicked his metal counterpart and winked to the onyx hedgehog. Shadow gave the other hedgehog a disturbed look.
"When is your rodent-friend going to find the information we need" he growled, earning a shrug from the care-free hero
"Genius takes time I guess" he replied. Shadow's eye twitched slightly at his adversary's remark and he looked to where Metal was staring up at them. With a blast of his air-shoes the crimson eyed male plummeted towards it; fists drawn back, ready to decommission the robot. Sonic heard the impact and winced slightly; either that killed him or Shadow would have a broken hand. Dropping down next to the unconscious bodies of Draith and Silhouette, the blue male kept his eyes on the dust cloud that had engulfed his two biggest rivals. As it started to clear, his emerald eyes noticed two figures in the middle; taking a step forwards, he saw Metal holding Shadow's fist in his, his deadly claws digging into the back of the Ultimate Lifeform's hand. The hero could see the other male hedgehog was in pain, but the only sound escaping him was a deadly growl.
"Shadow, Sonic!" Amy's voice cut through his rival's growl, almost making Shadow lose his concentration. "We found it! His weak spot. It's a very small compartment at the base of his third quill; you have to be direct though!" A triumphant smirk came to the blue blur's face as he heard the new information. His attention was brought back to the battle as the area flashed red. Upon seeing his rival glowing red his emerald eyes widened
"Shit..." he muttered, running from the direct area, dragging Draith and Silhouette on the way past. As he ran from the building, out of control, red chaos energy was snapping at his heels. Diving to the floor with the two hybrids, he heard the onyx hedgehog's shout.
"Chaos... BLAST!"
Sonic quickly threw his arms over his head as he heard various things explode and felt the entire area shake with the ferocity of the Ultimate Lifeform's power. When the shaking had died down, the hero lifted his head and looked back to the base and gasped. The place wasn't even standing anymore. Where were Amy, Tails and Shadow? Getting shakily to his feet, holding his ribs he looked around frantically, tears welling up in his emerald orbs. His cobalt ear twitched when he heard heavy breathing from behind him, spinning sharply he saw Tails and Amy sitting up against a tree both covered in dirt and grime. Since his best friend was gasping for oxygen the blue blur concluded he had carried Amy from the scene. Stumbling to them, he looked down to Amy with a sad smile. When she noticed him, she gave him a smile and looked around for her onyx hedgehog
"Sonic... Where's Shadow?" she asked him worriedly. Sonic looked away from her and to the collapsed building, trying not to tell the pink female the bad news directly. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned his head slightly to see her worried jet orbs staring into his "Where is Shadow?" She asked again. He could see tears welling up in her eyes and he looked away; raising his arm he pointed to the building
"I'm sorry Ames" he heard himself saying. Amy fell to her knees, tears falling from her tightly shut eyes.
"Shadow..." she whimpered in-between her tears, he had given it all just to save them; save her. His gesture had explained more to the rose hedgehog than any words could. He had loved her in his own way, she was sure of that now. Scrambling to her feet she rushed towards the smouldering building, tears falling from her eyes. Falling to her knees in the rubble, the rose female began to dig through the metal and debris, trying to find her Shadow. She felt someone behind her, but she carried on digging, scratching and cutting her hands on the ragged pieces of rubble. Blood flowed freely down her hands, staining every bit of debris she touched
"Ames..." Sonic's calm, sympathetic voice called to her and hands came upon her shoulders.
"Leave me alone!" she screamed, throwing the hero's hands from her shoulders "I have to find him. I know he's not dead, I've got to… to..." Collapsing the rest of the way into the rubble "Shadow... You promised..." Amy muttered, sobbing relentlessly into her bloodied hands. Unwilling to believe that her onyx hero was dead. As she went to grab more rubble to move, a green light flashed in front of her. Covering her eyes from the sudden blinding illumination she whimpered slightly, more tears running down her cheeks. When she had finally plucked up the courage to lower her hands, she found cerise eyes staring back at her. More sobs fell from her as she leapt up and into Shadow's arms, knocking whatever he was holding from his grasp. Shadow looked to the female crying into him before he wrapped his arm around her before kicking the head of Metal Sonic to his rival's best friend
"Deactivate it fox-boy," he demanded roughly. "I'm taking Amy home"
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Argh... -dies- I apologise for its length. I never thought it would be this long. Heh, The next chapter is in someone's POV -smirk- Next Time: Shadow takes Amy home...