Chapter 21 The Ultimate Struggle
Two days have passed, and no sign of any Chaos Emeralds…
We spent forty eight hours on the plane, searching and searching everywhere for the six remaining gems. But the radar didn't show any detecting. Tails made a sigh, and turned his head for a moment to look at Sonic, then at us.
"I'm going to head us down guys." He sounded disappointed. "We haven't made much progress since we left. And I doubt we'll find anything if we continue searching."
Sonic sat up straight on his seat, he looked like that he's about to refuse. But then he had second thoughts, and then slumped back down in his seat again.
I then turned to the white Chaos Emerald that I held in my hands, looking at its brilliance and luminous glow. It was the only emerald we've retrieved.
Where were the rest of the emeralds? Did Shadow manage to collect all of them before we did? If so, then that might be the case why we haven't detected anything. I slowly closed my eyes, thinking of what would happen next.
Shadow will be calling me soon…
As I opened my eyes again, I turned and looked at Dylan sitting beside me, seeing him touching the bandages on his arms. He looked serious again.
"My arms are sore." Dylan said softly and made a slight chuckle. "But that's what happens if you get rammed into rose bushes."
I made a little chuckle myself and felt my arms as well. Sore, should've known.
"I wonder how long till these cuts get healed?" Dylan questioned.
"They'll heal quicker if you had rings. That's what helped you when you got shot by that mech in the earlier days of the adventure." I answered and explained. Dylan yet to make another short laugh.
"Yeah I remember that! Fun times. Which reminds me, how long have we've been here?" He questioned again.
It took me awhile to find out. "Umm, I say a whole month."
Dylan made a facepalm. "Great. I wonder how my parents are doing with me gone for this long. Probably having the worst time of their lives."
"Same here." I answered sadly. "And it wouldn't just be my parents though; my whole family would be a mess."
"Same here." Dylan copied my answer from before. I gave a sigh, thinking of what my family is doing without my brother and I. But other than that, I thought of new strategies of what I'll do when I encounter Shadow again. And how I can get to Shadow without Sonic, Dylan, or the rest of the team stopping me.
I'm not weak; I don't want anybody protecting me anymore. I can do this alone.
We looked out through one of the plane's windows, and saw the ground and trees below us enlarge. It was continuing to do so when Tails guided the Tornado 3 down to complete stop on the wide space plain.
Still looking through the window, I saw some lights floating around the plains, blinking. And as soon Tails opened up the cockpit, I saw that this place was filled with many fireflies. I haven't seen this many in one place before.
It was so beautiful.
I quickly jumped out of the plane and gazed at the fireflies, floating and flying everywhere.
I saw Dylan run pass me, trying to catch one of the lighting bugs. And eventually he did, and he went up to me and placed the bug on my hedgehog nose. It stood there in confusion, flickering its light.
Looking at it cross-eyed, I touched my nose with my right index finger, and the firefly crawled up on it and then flew away.
Dylan walked towards and stood by me, both of us watching the fireflies in amazement.
"Makes me think of that one song I heard once." I told Dylan. He looked at me.
"Fireflies by Owl City?"
"Yeah." I smiled. "How did you know?"
Dylan made a short laugh. "I tend to look up, and come across songs on the internet. I think I might have it on my iPod."
My smile rose. "Really!?"
"Think so." He smiled too, as he checked his pockets on his shorts. After five seconds, he pulled out his dark grey iPod. He turned it on and searched for the song on his long list of music. He gave me the right speaker from his headphones.
"Yay!" I yelled childishly, as I grabbed it and placed it in one of my hedgehog ears. Dylan had done the same.
We listened to the song, which is when we gotten halfway through, we started singing to it. Strangely for some reason, more fireflies showed as we continued on singing.
As soon as the song was over, Dylan searched on his iPod some more and immediately put on Pokerface. And it made me laugh so hard when he started dancing and singing to it, and when I tried to dance to it. But it was hard dancing with headphones on our ears; they immediately fell out when Dylan started dancing too wildly.
"Haha…Ok, I think I had my fill for tonight!" Dylan laughed as he wrapped his headphones around his iPod and placed it back in his pocket. "Hey, what happened to the fireflies?" He said shocked, seeing less lighting bugs flying in the air.
"I think you scared them off." I made a giggle. Dylan looked at me funny, which made me laugh again.
We leaned against the Tornado 3 as we continue to watch the remaining fireflies in the air. I looked at Dylan once again, thinking or probably daydreaming. I began to think too.
I wonder if our friendship will last… I mean, after high school…will we still keep in touch? Will we ever hang out again?
"Hey Dylan." I spoke seriously. "Hmm?" He turned his head and looked at me.
"Will we…be fr—"
I got interrupted by a beeping noise from Sonic's watch. The blue hedgehog walked over to us, while the rest of the group followed him. He pressed a button, which lead to Shadow's voice speaking.
He's calling for me…
"Good evening Sonic, I have now collected six of the Chaos Emeralds. I believe that you hold the last one that I need." Shadow spoke in a dangerous tone of voice. Sonic growled.
"Forget it, Shadow! If you want this emerald so bad then come here and get it yourself!" Sonic angrily yelled.
"I was thinking that you will make the sister bring it to me. It'll be too far for me to travel to your location from Radical Highway. Besides, I told your fox friend that I'll be calling you whenever I'm ready for her. Now is the time."
Sonic growled fiercely. "Stop calling her 'sister'! It's Courtney! And what if I refuse to this!?"
"Then all these innocent people that I'm holding hostage will be destroyed by the bombs that I placed on each side of this bridge."
Sonic looked at his watch, his face filled with both anger and shock.
"She's got thirty minutes, farewell." Shadow spoke last. The call ended.
I looked at Sonic, looking down on at the ground as if he already was defeated. Both of his hands turned to death grips, and his growls were heard again.
Everybody on the team looked at the blue hedgehog, surprised to see him this angry. He didn't stop looking at the ground.
I walked up to him, seeing him not making a budge or turn to look at me. I was about to say something, till he mumbled: "I won't let you die…"
"I won't die." I said softly to him. "Please, give me another chance. I figured out a way to change him…"
Sonic's eyelids scrunched, a sign that he didn't want to hear anymore. But it just made my anger rage inside of me. I'm not going to stand here wasting time while Shadow is causing havoc to the people around Radical Highway. I looked at Sonic again and breathed a heavy sigh. I went around him and started to run off to where I was supposed to be heading. But I felt a wind race me and stop me before I gotten any further.
Sonic looked at me with his peridot eyes while he stood in my way, but instead of his eyes filling with anger, it was filled with calmness.
"We're going with you." His frown slowly rose to a smirk. I looked at him puzzled.
"What!? Then Shadow would just go ahead and kill everyone if he sees all of you!"
He made a wink. "What if he doesn't see us?"
I blinked a few times in confusion while Dylan and the rest of the team went up by us.
"Not a bad idea!" Dylan told Sonic and then focused on me. "I did say I was sticking with you!"
I scrunched my eyes like what Sonic had done earlier. I can't accept this. "But what if Shadow finds out? I don't want you guys getting hurt!"
"Believe me Court…we won't." Sonic replied trustworthy. And because time was passing by each minute, I had no other choice but to believe him.
Soon after I and everyone agreed with Sonic, we all hopped in the Tornado 3 again and took off, quickly heading me to my destiny. Once we're close to Radical Highway, Tails landed close as he could to the zone. When the plane stopped, I immediately jumped out and ran as fast I could to the bridge. I only have five minutes left.
I heard Sonic's yell, back to where the plane was, telling me good luck and that the team will be down there soon. I would have made a yell back, but I was already more further away, and yet, I was getting close to the bridge.
Once I gotten there and passed through the entrance to the bridge, I passed hundreds of trapped cars on my way to the center, seeing the scared and freighted faces of adults, teens, and children inside of the vehicles. Each face I saw, my anger grew.
This is the night that you'll be back, Shadow.
As I finally gotten to the center of the bridge, I looked around to see a mischievous black and red hedgehog anywhere. But I saw nothing but the clear highway, and heard the faint conversations of the freighted people inside their cars.
I almost cried out the dark hedgehog's name. That is, till the last minute, I heard him.
"Finally you came." A dark familiar voice said above me. I quickly looked up and saw that he, Shadow, was on top on one of the crimson pillars on the bridge. He came down by grinding from one of the steel ropes that connected to the pillar, and then he jumped and landed almost where I was standing. Since he was that close, I felt his breaths, and I was centimeters away from his huge eyes, which the irises didn't change since the last time I saw him. They were still glowing a bright scarlet.
I saw him examine me; he looked directly at all of my bandages, wrapped everywhere around my arms and legs, then he looked directly at my green eyes, smirking while he did.
"It'll be a shame to kill you." His smirk widened to a grin. "You are one of the most beautiful humans I met. But with you in the way of things, it will ruin my plans of taking over this world."
I was about argue about the 'beautiful human' thing, but soon after I heard the last part of the sentence, I blankly stared at him confused.
"But I thought you and Eggman we're planning to take over? Why is he out of the picture?" I spoke confusingly.
The hedgehog chuckled darkly again. "Because he's human, and who would want to work with a foolish obese doctor by their side. Not me. Besides, my own plans are far much greater than the Doctor had planed out. But why am I telling you this? You'll be gone before I will gain control." He held out his hand to me.
"Give me the last Chaos Emerald…" He told me with glowing red eyes, filling with lust. "And I'll quickly end your life. Don't worry; I'll finish you quickly without having to feel pain."
I stared at him, and gave him my answer by slowly shaking my head left and right with no emotion on my face.
Shadow made a short grunt. "Wrong decision." He said and he sprang forward to attack me. But a blue streak appeared and pushed and stuck him on the side of the same red pillar that he was once on.
"You…" Shadow growled at the sight of his rival. Sonic growled back and turned to look at me.
"Run Courtney!" He yelled, as he tried to hold Shadow down.
I did what Sonic instructed. Everything was going according to his plan, until we heard 'Chaos Control!'
Before I even had the chance to stop, Shadow was there in my path. He roughly grabbed me and put me into a tight headlock. Sonic came and rushed to help, but every step he took, the tighter the headlock was. I began to choke. Shadow laughed.
"One more step hedgehog, and she and the people on this bridge will all suffer." Shadow taunted him.
Sonic immediately stopped, and had made a nasty glare at Shadow. But I can tell that he was trying to think of a quick solution to help save me.
He didn't have to.
I closed my eyes, concentrating, and made my purple force field appear. And it pushed Shadow away a couple of feet, which means I had a little but enough time to escape. Sonic rushed to Shadow and tried to prevent him from getting up and taking away his Chaos Emerald. The blue hedgehog quickly snatched the green emerald out of his hand, and threw it far across the open highway that Shadow would have no reach.
"Shadow! Come to your senses!" Sonic screamed at him. Trying his best to turn the ultimate lifeform back to the way he was. But Shadow's reply was roughly releasing from Sonic's grip from his right wrist, and rashly pressed a button from one of the two watches that he wore on his left wrist.
Four separate explosions were now heard, from each side of the bridge.
Out of surprise, Shadow pulled out another emerald from behind his back and made a little wave at Sonic.
"Have a nice swim." He told him. And again he yelled 'Chaos Control!' and disappeared.
The road begun to crumble as I saw Sonic run to grab the emerald that he threw before. As he gotten as close as he did to it, the highway collapsed and I heard Sonic fall and scream till he reached and splashed down into the ocean, along with the debris trapped cars that were once on the highway.
"SONIC!" I screamed as I returned to the bridge. Doing anything I could to save him, I dived down by the edge of the broken road and prepared to enter the wavy cold waters, gripping my white Chaos Emerald along the way. But something managed to grab me before I had the chance to go in. The next thing I knew, I was on the right side of the bridge on a steel red pillar. It was the only one that survived standing from the explosions of the bombs.
Knowing the only one who could have done this, I turned to face the evil Shadow behind me. But before I had the chance to speak, I was grabbed by the neck, and Shadow walked by the edge of the pillar, preparing to drop me down into the water, away from Sonic's direction.
"S-Shad…ow." I coughed as the dark hedgehog's grip tightened. He let out another evil chuckle.
"You can't protect yourself now, either way, you'll just fall to your death. Sonic's waiting for you on the other side. Tell him I said hi."
I was so mad at Shadow that I just want to do the best I can to prevent myself from falling and tear him to shreds. But this isn't the true Shadow; his true self is locked within his heart by the evil Eggman had injected in him. I know a way to break the lock in his heart…
I felt Shadow's grip on me beginning to loosen, but I then grabbed his right arm tightly, so that he wouldn't let me go.
"Listen to me!" I tried my best not to cough. Looking at Shadow, he looked like he didn't care to listen. He shook his arm rapidly, wanting me to let go of his arm.
"Remember Maria's promise!?" I yelled as loud as I could in this state. The shaking stopped.
Shadow was now listening, and I saw the glow in his eyes begin to flicker. "What…?"
"Maria! The girl on the Ark that you loved! She promised you to protect the living beings on this planet! She wanted you to help them! You were meant to be good!"
Shadow's arm shook again, but not in the same way as last time. This time, he was trembling. He looked at me with wide eyes after I spoke. And I saw that his eyes continue to flicker.
"Courtney?" He spoke my name with a smile while he was still trembling; I made a smile in return.
"Welcome back." I told him with tears forming in my eyes, and he slowly pulled me back.
But before I had the chance to step onto the pillar again, I heard Shadow shout a painful cry and he instantly let go of me on the spot. Faster and faster till I met the ocean, preparing for a deep dive and struggles that await me till I reach the sea's surface. But twice on that same night, I was grabbed, and was teleported to another location.
I was there back to where I once was, by the edge of the broken bridge. I glanced and saw Shadow stand beside me, as then he grabbed and embraced me to a long tight hug.
"Thank you!" Shadow spoke as he whimpered. I felt many of his tears fall onto both of my shoulders. I had begun to cry too.
"No problem. I'm soo happy that you're back!" My tears fell one my one. I looked from the back of Shadow, and saw that people that were once in the cars were out safely by the edge, like what Sonic had planned. I saw Dylan and Tails in front of the mob of people, and once they saw us, they approached in a millisecond.
"Shadow! You're back!?" Dylan and Tails shouted together. Shadow then released me from the embrace and looked at the orange hedgehog and fox.
He made a nod and smiled.
Both of them cheered, and then I saw Dylan rush up to me and gave me a hug.
"You did awesome back there Court! I couldn't stop watching!" Dylan told me excitedly. I gave him a confused stare.
"Really? There were points were I could've not make it." I told him. His smile dropped down a bit.
"Yeah, it made me scared on some points, like when Shadow held on to you by the edge of the pillar. But I keep telling myself that you'll make it. It was the only way of not breaking Sonic's promise!"
I widened my eyes in shock by hearing the blue hedgehog's name. Sonic was still in the ocean!
I immediately rushed passed Shadow, and gotten as close to the broken edge of the bridge I can get. But before I yelled Sonic's name, Shadow grabbed me and pulled me back.
"Courtney! What are you doing!?" Shadow asked gruffly. I didn't turn to look at him and anyone else. I continued to stare into the ocean.
"Sonic's in the ocean! He fell in whenever the bombs destroyed the highway!"
After I explained, everybody started yelling out Sonic's name. But it didn't last long, because we then heard a familiar voice behind us saying, 'You rang?'.
All of us instantly turned heads, and saw Sonic with Knuckles and Silver. He tossed the green Chaos Emerald that he once threw back on the highway playfully with his right hand. He made a smile.
"Sonic!" I grinned happily. "How did you—"
"By using Shadow's technique, Chaos Control. Good thing I grabbed it before I fell down into the water!" He winked.
As happy as we all were, we all grouped hugged. In the end, nobody was harmed and Shadow was back to his own self again.
The team was restored.