THIS IS THE ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN! YAY! Sorry for taking long to update…chores and typing kept me back, and I was recently scarred for life by a vid on Youtube (cough, Shadow the Hedgehog game, scene taken out, because it was too bad to be shown, cough) yeah…I think I am still scarred from that. *curls up in corner* Maria….ahem. Please check out Lucy Labrador's story 'Hedgehogs go to Taskers' and give her a review!

Darkrose826: Hmmm…it would be my first time accepting other people's OCs…I can try, or you can have a shout out in the sequel. Send your OC to my inbox, and I'll see what I can do!

Yamato Kazuki: Thanks for your review! You get a Tachi plushie that says, 'Must find SHINIES!'

Epsilon Team Captain Hande: Thanks for reviewing Lucy's story! You get that limited edition Reimaru plushie!

Disclaimer: Oh come on, allow it…it's the last chapter…sigh, I do not own any Sonic characters, just my OCs.

Chapter 29: The final showdown!

*theme song plays*

The fox swung his head, and let out a bellowing roar.

"Don't worry, I'll send all of you to the spirit world quickly…with the exception of Shadow and Maria, of course." he said. Samuel turned to look at everyone.

"Who let the demon fox out?" he asked, looking cross.

"I did." Shadow owned up.

"Thanks a lot Shadow. You've just doomed us to a horrible, and most likely painful death." Samuel muttered.

"It's your own fault. YOU trapped him here."

"It was for the good of the world."

"Oh, is that why Maria was shot by YOUR soldiers?" Shadow shot an angry death glare at the Commander.

"You and I both know that you were responsible for her death." Samuel stared back. Hikari turned to Maria, who was facepalming.

"Do you know anything about this?" Hikari asked.

"Yeah…I'll explain it later. But now, we have to stop Reimaru from attacking us!" Maria said.

"What makes you think you can stop me?" Reimaru growled, looking amused.

"Because we have logic, reason and teamwork!" Maria shouted. Everyone in the room sweatdropped.

"All she had to say was, 'Let's show this creep the real super power of TEAMWORK!'" Tails muttered.

"HEY! That's one of my favourite lines!" Sonic grumbled.

"How did you come back anyway? I missed you…" Samuel said, not noticing a jealous Shadow sending death glares of doom at him.

"I'll explain later. For now, let's show this fox the real-"

"NO! DON'T DO IT MARIA!" Akemi, Tails, Tachi and Shadow yelled. Even Reimaru was covering his ears.

"Sorry…"

"Shadow, why don't you tell them of what happened when we met?" Reimaru asked. Shadow sighed, and told his tale.

Shadow's flashback

"I travelled to Snowpoint with Sonic, because we'd heard rumours of a demon fox threatening the villagers there. When we got to a nearby village up on the mountain, Reimaru asked me to join him. He said he could bring Maria back. So I fought Sonic, and left for Reimaru's cave…"

Shadow was in a large underground cave, looking around.

"Reimaru! I know you're there!" he shouted.

There was a flash, and Shadow found himself looking at a young teenage boy. He had light orange eyes with red cat like pupils, spiky red hair, an orange hooded top and black trousers. However, what was weird about the teen was the fact he had orange fox ears with white tips at the ends, and a long bushy orange fox tail, with a black tip, and he wasn't wearing shoes.

"Hi, little hedgehog. Do you like my new form?" Reimaru asked.

"I could care less. I just want to know what you want me to do!" Shadow growled. Reimaru smirked.

"I don't need you to do anything for me." he said.

"Then why did you call me here?"

"Isn't it obvious? I need an eighth tail!"

"What?"

"Yes…you should know about the myths of foxes…to gain nine tails, we need to kill a powerful being and steal their soul…"

Shadow finally caught on.

"There is NO way I'm becoming your eighth tail!" he shouted. Reimaru grinned evilly, showing sharp fangs.

"You don't have a choice…"

He suddenly lunged at Shadow, who jumped out of the way, and launched a Chaos Spear. It hit Reimaru, and he whimpered in pain.

"That's it! I'm going to show you what power I'm capable of!" Reimaru snarled. He did a back flip, and changed into a huge orange feral fox with black stripes, sharp claws and seven tails with red tips.

"BEHOLD! MY TRUE FORM!" Reimaru roared. He whipped his tails into the air, and then launched them at Shadow, who dodged out of the way.

"You're going to have to do better than that!" he shouted. Reimaru snapped at the air, and turned back to his human form. Six foxes on fire appeared, snarling and howling at Shadow.

"Get him, and bring him to me!" Reimaru ordered the foxes. They sprang at Shadow, who slid out of the way.

*End of flashback*

Reimaru nodded.

"After that, you defeated me, and left me to be captured by those blasted humans…however, it seemed after that, the fates took a interesting turn, and you were killed while trying to escape the people chasing you." he said.

"Yeah…and you sent Sanbi to me in the spirit world, to make a deal with you…you'd give me my memory back if I broke your seals by the next eclipse." Shadow muttered.

"You're probably wondering why I brought Maria back, aren't you?"

Shadow nodded, and Reimaru laughed.

"Quite simple, really…you were the only one who could break my seals, so I couldn't have you dying. That ghost wolf was one of my tails, even though you thought it was Maria's spirit. When I saw the future of you being shot, I couldn't intervene, so I went to Maria. Now, I've decided to kill two birds with one stone, and gain full power by killing you both. So, I get to have bakeneko powers…" Reimaru bared his fangs.

"But…why do you want to kill us all?" Hikari asked.

"That's none of your business. Now, I think it's time the battle started…" Reimaru sprung at Shadow, who dodged out of the way and used a Chaos spear. It hit the fox, who just grinned.

"You honestly don't think that can hurt me now?" he lashed out with his tails, and managed to send Shadow flying into a wall.

"Why don't you give up? Give up and die…" Reimaru snarled, leaping at Shadow with his fangs bared. Shadow just ran underneath him, and shot a Chaos spear at Reimaru's real tail, which was a fox tail with a black tip. Reimaru whimpered, and poofed into six foxes on fire. His human form jumped up from the floor.

"You…it looks like you've remembered how to defeat me…" he muttered. The foxes ran back to him, and he turned back into a seven-tailed fox. Shadow backed away as Reimaru turned around. The fox stopped, and sniffed the air.

"It looks like you brought me a gift!" he snapped, suddenly running towards Brook, who was holding a bag. He grabbed the bag from her, and tore it open, making the Chaos emeralds fall out. He quickly got the silver Chaos emerald, and started glowing orange. The Chaos emeralds turned black, and Shadow growled.

"You really shouldn't have left them lying around…" Reimaru said. He was now glowing black, and there were sharp steel spikes on the ends of his tails.

"Oh, *BEEP*…" Shadow swore as the fox zoomed towards him. Reimaru jumped on him, and held him with a paw.

"This won't hurt. I'll just gain my eighth tail!" he hissed. Shadow began glowing red, and then stopped moving. An eighth tail appeared on Reimaru, and he roared.

"Now…let's make these nine tails…" he growled, looking at Maria.

"OK, I really don't want to fight you!" she shouted, as Reimaru ran towards her.

"Too bad, because I really want your soul!" Reimaru snarled.

"AWESOME BAKENEKO POWERS GO!" Maria pointed at Reimaru, who stopped as loads of fireballs appeared out of nowhere.

"Hah! My very element is fire! I'm not scared!" he made the fireballs vanish.

"I think it's time for Plan B." Maria muttered.

"What's Plan B?" Hikari asked.

"We get Shadow, and run for our lives."

"I hate-actually, I like to say this, but Shadow's not moving, and Reimaru's got an extra tail." Samuel pointed out the obvious.

"You mean…he just killed Shadow?"

"Of course I killed him! You wouldn't be alive if I took your soul away, which I'm going to do now!" Reimaru said.

"I'll put Plan C into action!" Hikari cried.

"What's plan C?" Samuel asked. Hikari took out her frying pan.

"LET'S DO THIS! LEEROY! JENKINS!" Hikari dashed towards Reimaru, who stared as she waved her frying pan.

"FOR POKEMON! AND FOR BAKENEKO!" Hikari started hitting Reimaru's paw with her pan.

"You show a lot of spirit. I'll kill you quickly." Reimaru said. Hikari screamed as she was grabbed in the fox's paw, then something unexpected happened. Reimaru's eighth tail swung in front of him, and started slapping him across the face. The fox let go of Hikari, and stared angrily at it.

"YOU DARE?" he roared. The tail vanished, and turned into a red flame, which hopped across the room, and hit Shadow. The hedgehog stood up.

"I am never being a tail again…" he muttered.

"How did you-" Reimaru stopped as he saw Maria pick up the Chaos emeralds, and throw them across at Shadow.

"Like that'll-" Reimaru looked back as Shadow started glowing, and became a glowing yellow hedgehog with red stripes.

"YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME!" the fox shouted, running at Shadow. The hedgehog clicked his bands off.

"CHAOS SPEAR!" he yelled, summoning a gigantic, overpowered bolt of green Chaos energy. Reimaru, whimpered, possibly for the first and last time in his life as Shadow shot the bolt at him.

Meanwhile, Lucas was debating with the GUN soldiers who hadn't run away, whether they should go into the building or not. They stopped talking as a green spear came shooting out the side of the building, leaving a large gaping hole. They slowly stared through the hole, and saw Shadow and the other people. Samuel turned to Shadow in rage.

"WHO'S GOING TO FIX THAT? NO ONE WILL BELIEVE ME IF I SAY A HEDGEHOG DID THAT!" he yelled in Shadow's face.

"At least you weren't eaten." Shadow mumbled.

"Where is Reimaru anyway?" Hikari asked.

"He's dead…" Shadow pointed at some ash where the fox was standing.

"OK, that's deep….remind me to never get on your bad side."

Three weeks later after this incident, things became normal…well, as normal as they could get, with speedy hedgehogs and frying pans of disaster. The Commander got the wall fixed by the Chaotix, but still hated Shadow, and tried to be a dad to Hikari.

Shadow went back to his tree, and started wondering about life, death and the perfect recipe for fudge. Maria somehow hacked into Eggman's bank account (but claimed she did not) and brought a house for herself and Shadow, and became an epic Pokémon Trainer. When Sonic asked if she and Shadow were going out, she blushed, and proceeded to summon a Delcatty to knock some sense into him. On her DS, of course.

Hikari started taking karate lessons with Akemi, Brook went back to the forest with Strike, and Tachi vanished and was later seen stealing jewels with Rouge on a security tape. Paul, Lucas and the soldiers all took holidays.

As for Sonic, he was chased by a squealing Amy, who had moved to the Mystic Ruins, and Tails messed around with gadgets.

It was never known what happened to the DNA samples of Shadow and Tachi, but that's another story.

A happy ending…

*Credits song: Sakura Drops by Utada Hikaru*

Yes, please look up the song on Youtube. I'd like to thank the following people for helping me with this story:

Lucy Labrador-Thanks a million! To be honest, if you hadn't read the chapters before I posted them on Fanfiction, I would have probably taken another month to post the story!

Rat-Yes, I have a muse. I suppose every one has one…you know, that little voice in your head that can't stop talking? Thanks to the Rat for giving me a much needed nip on the finger when I was wussing out over posting this story, and getting me through my English exams.

Angel-You know who you are. Thanks for commenting on the comics, and listening to my needless prattle at school. And PLEASE make sure you have your name on your memory stick. A shout out to the Book Club!

The Fabulous Baking Boys-Yes, I know that they're a company, and will probably never read this…but thanks for making the delicious cupcakes!

Tachi-For being the other random voice in my head, and having an urge to seek out shiny stuff.

Amaterasu (from Okami game)-Your game rocks. Shine on, furball!

Ninetails (from Okami)-You were one of the best bosses I have ever fought in a video game. Thank you for being so epic, and I love your mask!

N (from Pokemon Black and White)-I like your hair.

Now for the Sonic characters!

Shadow-You're freaking cute. Thank you for being epic in your game. Even though it wasn't that good.

Maria- You're a cool person. You could really teach Chu (Canine Warrior from Okami) a thing or two about loyalty.

Sonic-…..¬_¬

And thank you to the reviewers, Darkrose826, Epsilon Team Captain Hande, XxJinxannaRosexX, Mickey Chrystal-Kai, and Yamato Kazuki!

Well, that's it. Done. Finito. If anyone wants to ask me about the sequel (which I have no idea when it's going to be coming out) feel free to message me! I'm also on Chatango (swiftshadow777) Until next time!

Swiftshadow123