Chapter Thirty-Five

Author's Note: Okay, let's really get this epic battle started! Shadow vs. Eclipse! W00tness! It's not as long as some may like it to be, but the actual fight would last longer than the text would suggest, say, if it was in a movie or something. Just use your imaginations, people. Anyway, on with the show!

-- -- -- -- --

Eclipse staggered from Shadow's first strike, a forceful gut punch, but managed to avoid his follow-up attack, then countered with a knee strike to Shadow's back, knocking him down. Eclipse grabbed Shadow's legs on the bounce-back, and tossed him several yards away in a manner like an Olympic hammer-throw. Shadow righted himself in midair and landed gracefully. Eclipse, instead of following, drew the katana he had used to transport Amy, Shadow and himself to the Void Canyon Zone and rushed at Shadow. It was none other than Murasame, Masamune's sinister counterpart, though Shadow and Amy had no idea of its true nature.

Shadow was initially unsure of how to counter this attack, but soon found that the solution came naturally to him.

"Chaos…EDGE!" A crackling blade roughly three feet long made of pure cosmic energy suddenly formed in his hands, and he managed to parry Eclipse's strike just in time. The two leapt apart and readied a guard stance. Eclipse seemed frustrated with this occurrence. His one advantage had somehow been taken away…and Murasame seemed much weaker than Nazo had told him it was. But it wasn't about to lose because of a weaker weapon. Shadow and Eclipse leapt at each other, warping and clashing, warping and clashing. It was indeed a dance of death, a waltz where only one partner would survive.

Shadow managed to trick Eclipse by feinting left and attacking right, delivering a powerful slash to Eclipse's upper arm. The fake Shadow put some distance between himself and Shadow. The wound closed to stop any bleeding, but the damage remained done. The power of the Chaos Edge was great enough to pierce the mostly-invulnerable hide given by a Super form.

Eclipse decided to change his strategy. He started hanging away from Shadow, and raining short bursts of energy as bullets. At first, Shadow tried to avoid the rain of energy, but found out he could deflect them with the versatile Chaos Edge. Eclipse shielded himself from the bullets, only to find himself attacked again by Shadow, who had closed in. Again, Eclipse had to retreat.

Finally, Eclipse hit on the perfect idea. It would be sure to work. He raised his hands into the air, and called out two words…

"Chaos…Control!" Eclipse disappeared just as Shadow got into range. Eclipse then let loose a flurry of light-speed slashes, giving Shadow a ferocious beating. Shadow's armor, luckily, reduced the damage each swing dealt. Such an assault would have left most in ribbons, but Shadow withstood it. Once Chaos Control wore off, Shadow managed to counter one of Eclipse's slashes and counterattacked.

Both used Chaos Control simultaneously, and the dashing attacks got more fearsome and quick. Each clash was as bright as three suns, bringing blinding light to the Void Canyon Zone.

Amy, meanwhile, was managing to slowly break her bonds. Eclipse's attention was elsewhere, thus weakening the strength of the dark energy that kept her immobile. She had to help Shadow somehow. It was his battle, she knew, but it wasn't going to end without somehow shifting the balance in her beloved's favor. As Amy searched for a way, an idea hit her. She wasn't sure if it would work…she had never tried it before…but it was her last option. Concentrating as hard as she could, she began to build energy, and finally, it was ready.

"Chaos…BLAST!" The bonds burst and dissolved, and the explosion caught Eclipse momentarily off guard, allowing Shadow to deliver a solid slash and sending his dark side spiraling toward the void below. With victory in his grasp, Shadow closed in for the kill…only to find that Amy, in her Heroic form got there first, with a powerful heel kick sending Eclipse into the void. But before Eclipse was lost, he warped all three of them back to the lake where they had been before. Eclipse hit the ground and was unconscious, just long enough to lull Shadow and Amy into a false sense of security.

As the two celebrated their victory, Eclipse got to his feet, and found his opportunity to strike where it hurt. With a chuckle, he launched a full-powered Chaos Spear at Shadow. Amy saw it coming and tried to deflect it. It missed Shadow, but Amy wasn't quite as lucky. A substantial chunk of Amy's upper arm, near the shoulder joint, was taken off, nearly exposing the bone. She dropped to her knees, and tried not to scream from the pain, and clutched onto the raw and bloody flesh.

Eclipse was angry that he missed, and teleported away, muttering curses as he did. Shadow was shocked, and immediately tried to comfort her, but he was even more scared than she was.

"Amy…you're gonna be all right…"

"I…I can't move my arm…"

"Damn fool…I could have taken that."

"No, (ergh) that would have killed you, I'm sure. Crud, I think I can feel the bone…"

"Where's a doctor when you need one?" Shadow growled. As this touching and desperate situation played out, the forest spirits seemed to take notice, and made themselves known in their own special way. A cool breeze blew across the lake, and the pain in Amy's arm started to numb. And then a voice called out to the two.

Bring the girl to the water…

Shadow was desperate for anything, so he lead Amy into the lake. Amy, with a bit of effort, managed to dip her shoulder into the water, and relaxed once she did. In a mildly grotesque fashion, the fibers of her muscles began to stretch and meld together, and the skin stitched itself closed. As both wondered just what was going on, the voices of the forest spirits called again.

The wounds caused by those hateful to sacred love are healed by this lake…thy love has been deemed sacred. Go, and be happy.

"So the legend was true," Amy gasped. She glanced at her healed arm. "The forest spirits have blessed our relationship."

"Yeah…but don't ever do that again…"

"I promise…"

As the sacred couple stood in the middle of the lake, they couldn't help but feel renewed passion for each other. They locked arms and reaffirmed their love with a passionate kiss, one much like the kiss on the day they separated by fate. But now they were back together…and the ancients wept with joy.

-- -- -- -- --

"I thought we'd find her here," Nack said as he poked his head out of the woods. "I figured she'd want to sleep alone here. Let's get her and move on."

"Wait…there's someone with her…" Ribik said, pointing to Shadow. "I wonder if it's…"

"It's Shadow all right…" Rouge interrupted. At that moment, Shadow began to stir, as if awakened by Rouge's voice. Amy started to wake up as well.

"Ugh…who's there?" Shadow grunted as he rubbed his eyes.

"Hey! Shadow!" another voice called from the other side of the lake. Shadow and Amy, now both awake, were looking both ways, surprised by their own respective groups finding them at the same time.

Shadow's group came around the lake to meet Amy's. Rouge and Espio, who obviously knew each other well, made introductions far easier between the two bands.

"Well, this is certainly an unexpected meeting…" Espio said to Rouge. "Might I ask who these characters are? I assume you want to know the same thing."

"The name's Nack…sniper and businessman extraordinaire," Nack said with no disguise of pride, despite the nature of his inferior status. "These guys are Ribik, a former client of mine, and Sven. I suppose it's a pleasure meetin' youse guys." He tipped his hat.

"Your girlfriend doesn't exactly have the best taste in company…" Raiden said to Shadow. Nack sneered in response. "Anyway, my name's Raiden, and the hawk with the goggles is Zeipha. I assume the pink gal's Amy." Zeipha seemed disheartened by Amy's presence. She did have a spark of affection for Shadow, but it was snuffed out by this startling discovery. But she tried to stay pleasant, and waved.

"So, this is quite a meeting, huh?" Shadow finally said. "Both of our parties, with completely different destinations, end up running into each other at the same spot, for similar reasons. It's too weird to be coincidence." As he glanced over to his group, he couldn't help but notice that Raiden was staring at Amy and drooling. Zeipha noticed it too, and elbowed him.

"Anyway, I suppose it wouldn't hurt if we traveled together," Shadow continued. "You know what they say, the more the merrier…"

"I'm game," Zeipha said. Besides, she wanted an explanation from Amy about this whole relationship she had with Shadow. Raiden agreed as well, with a simple nod.

"Count ol' Sven in," the mole said.

"I guess we all agree then," Nack says. "I don't want to hear no caste-related jokes, or you get a hole in the head, you hear me?" Everyone nods with vary degrees of anxiousness.

"Okay, now that that's all settled…can I get a shirt or something? I feel a little indecent." Amy finally asked the group. After a brief pause, everyone started laughing merrily, except Amy.

"I'm serious…"

-- -- -- -- --

The sky was almost cleared of its red tint as the two bands set out together. It wasn't long before friendships began to form. Zeipha and Ribik found a common interest in discussing engineering, while Nack and Espio started bragging to each other about commissions they had taken. Raiden seemed to be eying Rouge every moment he could, but was put into line by the morally upright Sven.

During one of their resting periods, Zeipha finally confronted Amy and told her of her crush on Shadow, hoping she would not be angered by that fact. Amy, of course, wasn't mad. She understood completely how Zeipha felt.

"Before I met Shadow, I was obsessed with one guy in my life as well. Of course, I found out that he was a bit of a jerk, but was not so bad on the inside. By the time I learned how he really felt, I had already become his girlfriend. I don't blame you for dropping Jet, though. He sounds like a real jerk."

"So…you'd still be my friend?"

Amy smiled. "Sure. I'm not one to hold grudges against someone with a little crush. Besides, any friend of Shadow's is a friend of mine, and you did give me your shirt."

Zeipha sighed with relief. Now she didn't really see the need to pursue Shadow anymore, seeing how futile it would be. She had seen just how strong the bond between Amy and Shadow was, and felt it would almost be a blasphemy to come between them.

-- -- -- -- -- --

Meanwhile, Shadow was talking with Nack, who had finished telling him about Eclipse and who the Shadow clone was. They also had been discussing guns, a surprising mutual interest.

"So…this Eclipse guy was made by Nazo using my cosmic energy residue?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah," Nack replied. "He's a real sex freak…he says he's your darkest emotions made real."

Shadow decided not to tell Nack about his confrontation with Eclipse. "Yeah…anyway, I have to know how you do that!"

"Do what?" Nack inquired.

"How you pull such huge guns out of empty space! I've seen some crazy magic and stuff, but that doesn't seem logical. It's like you're pulling stuff straight out of your fur."

"Well, Shady-boy, that's a trade secret of mine that I'll never tell. Can't have the Ultimate Life Form getting all the contracts, yeah?"

"I'm not the bounty hunter type." Shadow reassured the weasel before coming up with another question. "By the way, you seem to know a lot about this whole mess that's going on. Why?"

Nack closed his eyes for a moment. "I hope you can keep a secret. No one else knows this, and I think only you and Amy can be trusted with this info. Can you keep a secret, Shaddy-boy?"

"Mum's the word," Shadow replied.

"Okay…I'm a former leader of the Judgment. That's right. I'm one of the Seraphim. Pretty wild, huh, Shaddy?"

Shadow was indeed surprised at this. "You never gave off that impression."

Nack launched into his explanation. "There were actually six Seraphim at one time…Milos, Devlin, Armeil, myself and two others."

"Who were they?" Shadow asked.

"One was an echidna named Eberon, the other was a kitsune named Naylet. Devlin, Armeil, Eberon and Naylet were the four Chosen Heroes, destined to fight the Meteor Parasite. Milos was Naylet's little brother, and I was Eberon's best pal."

Shadow seemed to following well. "Armeil forced you and the others to become his minions by force."

"Yeah. For a while, Eberon, Naylet and I ruled with them. But soon we saw the suffering in the world, and protested. When our words went unheard, we split from them."

"What happened?"

"There was a great war between our two factions, and all of my side's forces were wiped out. We went into hiding, hoping for the day new heroes would arise…but it looks like Devlin and Milos have decided to side with the good guys after all. If we can find Naylet and Eberon, assailing the Tower of Judgment will be a snap."

"Do you know where Eberon and Naylet are?"

"Not in the foggiest. Right now, we oughta concentrate on getting the Sacred Arms."