"This is my eye. With it I will see everything; there is nothing you can do, Shadow, that will escape my sight. I will monitor your progress through the Eye. Do not disappoint me."
The snow crunched beneath his feet as he made his way across the frozen landscape, unperturbed by the howling winds. A biting cold seeped into his body, the thick black fur unable to keep it at bay, and despite this Shadow trudged on forwards, uncaring of the forces of nature trying to pull him away from his destination.
Not too far ahead, a massive fortress of stone and metal stood out from among the white terrain, its ugly grey coloration and the yellow lights of the guard towers a stark contrast from the pine trees covered in a delicate layer of ice and snow, frozen in place by winter.
"Head to the cold land called Holoska. My forces have tracked a Chaos Emerald hidden deep within a human base there, but they are unable to proceed in such a inhospitable environment."
Alarms begun blaring as the armed humans on the towers spotted the dot of black heading their way, a star like shape hovering over the approaching creature's shoulder, ever watchful. Coming up to the base's outer wall, Shadow held up the scarlet Chaos Emerald, eyes narrowing as the gem began glowing in his grasp.
"You know what to do."
Red and orange stained the white landscape as part of the wall and barracks exploded in flames, killing most of the compound's forces in one blow. As the humans struggled to recover from the blow, a black figure sped across the heavy smoke, taking out soldiers and personnel along the way as it headed for the main building.
It seemed as if the very skies were against the defenders, spears of light defending upon their flesh and turning them to ashes. The eye creature followed the attacker closely, seemingly unperturbed by the destruction its companion had caused.
Shadow made his way through the compound, slaughtering everyone that crossed his path. Not even those who cowered or tried to run away were spared; despite his confidence in his own strength, he could not afford to alert G.U.N. so soon. Armed men and scientists alike fell at his feet as the living weapon swept through blood-stained halls, heading for the research wing.
Breaking down the door leading to it with his unnatural strength, the Ultimate Lifeform stepped into the research facility and was greeted with a dozen of other soldiers watching his every moves, guns pointed at his head. A black brow rose as the untold challenge, their owner more amused than worried by their opponents' desperate attempt at stalling him.
If they wanted to lose their lives in such a fruitless way, so be it.
"Chaos Blast."
Just like that, they were swept away like the ants they were, mangled, broken bodies hitting the ground in disarray. Any bullets they managed to fire had melted upon contact with the solid wall of scarlet energy. The fight had barely lasted a few seconds, long enough for Shadow to mutter the two infamous words.
Pulling a revolver out of his quills, Shadow quickly picked out the men and women huddling under the desks and executed them as cleanly and quickly as he could, not wanting to make them suffer any more than it was necessary, but at the same time feeling a burning desire to destroy them for wearing those uniforms.
In a matter of minutes, the ground was painted red with blood, and the chamber was as silent as a graveyard. Shadow regarded the carnage unsparingly, more interested in the glowing gemstone encased in glass in the middle of the laboratory, waiting to be released from the confines of its prison.
With a bit of surprise, Shadow noted that it was the blue Chaos Emerald that he'd was stealing. He walked up to the pedestal holding it, ruby eyes narrowing at the familiar shade of blue the stone held. His grip on his gun tightened inexplicably, and it took a great amount of self-control to stop himself from grimacing at the memory of a young blue hedgehog.
He wondered where his counterpart was. He hadn't gone back for Sonic due to the creature following; more than once he contemplated shooting the beast, and the obsidian warrior was starting to think that would be the only way he could escape from under Black Doom's thumb.
(A weight pressed down on his mind, unnoticed by the Ultimate Lifeform.)
Then again, he needed the information...and Shadow wasn't one to pass up the opportunity to kill humans, especially those employed by G.U.N. A surge of cruel satisfaction traveled through him as he looked back at the broken bodies one last time. There was no use in feeling pity. They knew what they were getting into.
The charcoal warrior turned towards the pedestal once more, eyes narrowing at the glass encasing the mythical jewel, keeping it from him. Easy enough.
"Chaos Spear!" A localized beam of energy materialized at his side, striking the top of the reinforced glass globe. The attack was so quick and burned so fiercely, it sliced the upper section of the orb open, precisely wide enough for Shadow to put his hand in and retrieve the Chaos Emerald.
At last. The Eye hissed at his side, startling the Ultimate Lifeform as it had been silent during the carnage. Its tendrils reached out for the mythical jewel, which Shadow wisely pulled out of its reach, a part of him disgusted at the thought of the familiar cobalt being stained by the creature's touch. Give it to me! It demanded with a shriek of hunger and greed, annoyed at his refusal.
Scarlet orbs narrowing at the sudden pressure in his head, Shadow kept his comments to himself and placed the gem in his quills. In the bed of sharp razors, there could be no way that the thing could steal it from him without losing one of it's tentacles.
"I'm keeping it for now, if you don't mind." He said firmly, his voice not leaving place for debate.
Pausing, the Eye looked at him in a calculative manner.
Fine. The Eye suddenly laughed, low and menacing as it flew around the obsidian warrior. So be it, I'll humor you.
The charcoal warrior snorted at the creature's mercy, restraining himself from destroyed the wicked beast and focusing instead on the familiar hum of the Chaos Emeralds nestled in his quills. Two down, five to go. He glanced at the beast again, contemplating on how he should proceed. He knew where a third Chaos Emerald resided, but he refused going after it with Sonic so close to the mythical jewel's location.
He just couldn't afford Black Doom knowing about the younger hybrid.
There was just no telling what the beast would do, and Shadow would sooner be stripped of his immortality than see Sonic suffer due to his own foolishness.
xxxxxxxxxx
"Enough!"
Oh god, thank you. Sonic whimpered mentally, groaning pathetically as he slowly picked himself back up. Gagging, he spat out the mouthful of mud he'd nearly swallowed.
(He was starting to see a pattern here, and it wasn't one he liked.)
Looming over him was Knuckles, the echidna's pristine fur contrasting with the fallen speedster's sweat and grime covered pelt. Unlike the hybrid who was wheezing for air, trying to recover from the punch to the stomach he'd just received, the red mobian had his arms crossed and looked unperturbed by his opponent's venomous glare.
"Your stance is not stable enough, I only need to hit you once to get you to eat dirt."
"Fuck you." Sonic hissed as he tried to ignore the acrid taste of dirt in his mouth. One of the villagers let out a indignant growl as she covered the ears of a young turtle, the later wearing a bored and faintly annoyed expression as he was manhandled. "I'm trying!"
"Then try harder!"
A malevolent roar went off in the distance, the thunderous howl not unlike the sound of a gong going off echoing across the tall trees of the ancient forest.
It made the two mobians freeze in their tracks, their determination to win the spar replaced by apprehension. The Knothole survivors around them let out sharp gasps -after being ambushed by two squadrons of the hellish creatures, they had learned to not scream- and instinctively huddled together. Some were even scrambling for their personal items, determined to put as much distance between themselves and the source of the shriek.
Sonic narrowed his eyes as he strained his ears forward, trying to decider from where the sound had come from. The immortal glanced at his friend, noticed the stoic expression on the elder's face, and couldn't help but internally grimace.
That look the echidna sported did not bode well. Knuckles probably couldn't pinpoint the alien's location either.
"What are the chances of them having heard us?"
"Not likely, given the size of the forest." Knuckles responded slowly, eyes narrowing pensively. "We still need to move." He turned towards the crowd of mobians and waved his arms. "Now!"
The survivors quickly scrambled away at the echidna's harsh command, understanding that time was of the essence. Having become used to this strange way of travel, the mobians placed their rations into the carts, quickly folding freshly cleaned clothes and gathering the children as efficiently as they could. Feral horses were used to push the carts forwards, the gentle giants obediently following the orders of the terrified mobians, though they would shake their head and glance around multiple times, seemingly picking up on their owners' mood.
Numerous were the eyes that flicked up to the murky skies, as if expecting the invaders to suddenly drop another army on top of them.
Sonic quickly packed his sleeping bag, strapping the makeshift bed to one of the carts as the feral horses began moving, pulling the constructs onward to Mystic Ruins. His task done, the young Ultimate Lifeform circled around the encampment, looking for any stragglers. Satisfyingly enough, nobody was getting left behind, and the speedster quickly ran back to the front of the migrating villagers, keeping a eye out for any signs of darkening skies that signaled the presence of alien ships.
It had been five days since this invasion behind, and while the caravan of Knothole survivors was slow due to the fact they had to be stealthy, they had managed to pass the halfway point to Mystic Ruins. According to Knuckles, it would take them around four more days to complete the journey.
Sonic couldn't wait until then. The last five days had been exhausting; between the worry of being attacked, fighting squadrons of said attackers and playing scout for the caravan, the cobalt hedgehog hadn't been getting the sleep and food he needed. He had been getting thinner, the effects of a shortage of food quickly making themselves know due to his high metabolism. So far nobody had noticed and it wasn't affecting his capability to fight yet, so Sonic wasn't worried about it. He could last a few more days on rations.
Not wanting to be reminded of his current situation, he allowed his mind to drift to a familiar subject. I wonder what Shadow is doing right now... He thought solemnly, a pang of worry blooming in his heart at the thought of the obsidian male being out there on his own. Shadow could take care of himself, but that didn't mean Sonic wasn't apprehensive.
Knowing the older immortal, he was probably fighting in the frontlines against the invaders. From what he'd gathered, the charcoal hedgehog was a warrior through and through. It made no sense for him to do anything but that.
"Stop!"
Mighty's sharp voice startled the cobalt hedgehog out of his reverie, green eyes flicking back towards the older armadillo, who was guarding the middle of the caravan. The mobian was pointing to their left, where the trees were giving way to a wide open clearing that seemed to stretch on for miles.
A large, dark green jeep was blasting through the open plains.
"Are they fucking insane?" Sonic faintly heard Amy exclaim worriedly, the pink bakery owner sitting in the front cart, looking horrified. She was right too. With how much noise the car was making, it was only a matter of time before a larger number of invaders would take notice.
"They're gonna get killed!" Someone whispered
"Screw that, they're going to get us killed!" Mighty snarled, earning nods from his fellow villagers.
"Keep moving!" Knuckles shouted from the back of the caravan, startling the drivers. The carts began moving again, but Sonic ignored them in favor of paying close attention to what was going on outside of the forest.
With his sharper eyesight, the speedster spotted the reason as to why the vehicle was out of cover: a large, long-legged alien with familiar red stripes and black scales was running after the fleeting car, ox-like head mere breaths away from the jeep's rear.
If he didn't step in, there was no doubt in his mind that the people in the car were going to die. While the beast was small, barely bigger than the vehicle, Sonic was not fooled. He'd seen what those things could do, and he'd faced more of them than he could count. One thing he had learned pretty quickly was that the invaders were always stronger than they should be for their size.
Ignoring the startled shouts behind him -and Knuckles' exasperated yelling- the little immortal dashed into the open plains at blinding speeds, reaching the car and its chaser within moments. The quadruple alien barely had the time to turn it's red eyes filled with needless hatred towards him before Sonic ducked under it, his quills neatly decapitating the monstrous being. Without a brain to direct it, the equine alien's legs tangled onto each other and it fell with a almighty crash, dragging up clouds of grass and dirt in its wake.
Sonic coughed through the dust, scrambling aside with a panicked yelp as the twitching corpse nearly crushed him when it finally came to a stop. The danger having passed, the green jeep slowed down before eventually stopping. The cobalt hedgehog ignored the sound of the motor being cut off as he halfheartedly tried to shake the sticky black gunk off his quills, knowing that it would be to little success.
He grimaced at the added weight on his head, silently hoping that Knuckles knew the location of a nearby pond to wash off -if the echidna didn't ignore him for the next half hour for this stunt. Speaking of danger... Just in case, Sonic glanced up at the skies wearily. The lack of red relieved him. He was in no mood to face against another horde of aliens anytime soon-
"My, that was unexpected." The female voice made him jerk his head towards the jeep; the sapphire male yelped as he realized there was a mobian less than two feet away from him, and he hadn't noticed. "Thanks for the save, honey. I might just kiss you for that."
He frowned, suddenly apprehensive. Is that a regular mobian custom? Err, I don't know. Shit, this is why I need Tails the Ambulant Dictionary with me at all times...
"Huh, no problem Miss? I-I don't really need you to, huh, kiss me..." Fuuuck, did I just insult her? "..not that I wouldn't like it, but I'm, huh...fuck..." Whispering that last word under his breath, Sonic raised his hands up to his chest, feeling defensive with the female so close to him. What if she took his refusal as a insult? She probably did. That was catastrophic.
Worryingly enough, he noticed that the bat was now staring at him blankly, her smile slowly slipping from her lips. Sonic blinked and looked over his shoulder, wondering what could have caused her sudden change of expression.
(If Amy taught him anything, women were the ultimate weapons of mass destruction. The amount of damage the bakery owner could do with her hammer was enough to make his skin crawl.)
"What? Do I have something on my face? Shit, is it about what I said? Look lady, I'm sorry-"
The woman laughed at his pitiful attempts at exuding himself, her voice carrying across the plains as a amused smirk tugged at her lips.
"You sure do know how to pick them, Shadow."
I'm beating up Sonic each chapter, I swear...