Chapter 35: Twisted Mirror
„Grandpa? What is going on?" Maria asked in surprise as she stepped out of her room and saw him and Shadow walking past, both looking grim. "Vincent called me just now, he asked if I could come down to GUN's half, he said he'd have something great to show me…"
"It is most likely Snively's new project," Gerald said, not looking at her. "I have only been informed of it now, but they refused to answer further questions concerning its exact nature. Although as far as I've understood, it is supposed to…make Shadow obsolete."
"What?!"
"As a weapon of GUN, at any rate," Gerald tried to calm her quickly, "Not as the key to your cure or as your friend." I just hope GUN sees that the same way, he did not add. He wasn't sure why they had requested him to bring Shadow along, but he had a nasty suspicion…
When Maria assured him she had taken all her medications this week and was feeling perfectly fine, he allowed her to accompany them after all, even if he wasn't sure he was doing his grandchild a favour.
And somehow, as the trio walked down the darkening corridor toward GUN's realm, Gerald couldn't help but wonder whether Ivo Robotnik would ever have gotten himself in a position as helpless as this.
Sometimes he felt that the other scientist was like a twisted mirror image of himself, his equal in intelligence, ambition and pride, if not in compassion…and that he fit into this world so much better than Gerald himself. Turning his thoughts back to last night, the professor suddenly had to ask himself in what way he even would have been able to fight against his grandson then.
What were you supposed to do if you're the obsolescent model…?
xxx
They were separated when they arrived. Shadow was once again hustled into one of the holding bays of the arena, unsure of what kind of test they wanted to submit him to. It also unnerved him to no small part that he had to leave Maria in the tender care of the military, but what was he supposed to do? He hated feeling this powerless. He had always been like that and he intended to change it. Shadow had learned that strength was what counted in a world ruled by GUN and he knew that to survive, he had to become stronger no matter what it took.
Slits of crimson gleamed in the twilight of the bare four square metre metal cell, the fighter they belonged to ready to face whatever they threw at him.
xxx
"Good Morning, Professor Robotnik! I hope you slept well and are ready to enjoy a spectacle of scientific progress?"
"Why, have they thrown you out of the faculty?" Gerald muttered, but a beaming Snively didn't even seem to hear. The small man stood in the observational room in the higher part of the arena next to a covered pedestal and his usual broccoli-green sweater had dark patches as the result of excitement (and bad deodorant) under his arm pits. The long, oval-shaped window showed the circular area of the metal-panelled arena as still being empty, which was also an apt description of this viewing room. Apart from the pedestal, it only held a couple of seats in front of the window and a watercooler that probably hadn't seen any use since the day it was built.
"I promise you – and you, little girl-"
"I'm fourteen."
"…eh, eh, I meant to say, I promise you both something which you have never seen before." Snively managed to catch himself, Maria almost amused how easily the 'bored, annoyed, cooler-than-thou teenager' tone came to her, even if her heart was currently trying to twist into an hourglass-figure with worry for Shadow.
"Doctor, we came here because you claimed you had completed a project to render Shadow obsolete. I would be grateful if you could come to the point."
"Yes. I will not hedge around the 'hog, ahaha," the pointy-nosed scientist joked, apparently trying to achieve the impossible and worsening the mood of the Robotniks even further.
Sensing, that neither the old man, the girl, nor the present Graves were interested in Snively the Comedian, though, he finally resolved to cut the theatrics.
"Professor, you may remember your own copy of a Chaos Emerald which you managed to synthesize seven years ago."
"And which you shattered seven months ago, Snively, yes," Gerald replied icily, albeit becoming already nervous. If this scientific catastrophe in a sweater had been fooling around with Chaos Energy again, the results could only be disastrous. "What have you done?"
"Ah, yes, of course. I apologize, professor. However, that half-gem had fulfilled its use. To continue our research, I clearly recognized we needed something even more powerful, even more…ultimate," he said, pronouncing the last word like the name of a treasure he had stolen from Gerald.
Maria refrained from interjecting that 'ultimate' was not increasable.
"You can't mean you obtained the…Master?" Gerald breathed, having only heard about the sacred gem in echidna legends and a few garbled reports of a plot involving his grandson who apparently had tried and failed to steal it in some remote location. Still, the old Robotnik had always doubted the existence of a giant Emerald like that…plus, all of the myths had warned the reader that if a non-Guardian tried to touch it, he would immediately be punished by a certain 'red pest' (which could have been some kind of mistranslation; Gerald wasn't sure).
"What? No, certainly not. This stone has not yet been proven to exist at all. No, Robotnik, I reached for greater treasure. This is the age of man, not of myth, and I created what I needed myself. More powerful than a Chaos Emerald, and much, much more real than the Master!"
"For the gods' sake, man, just show it!" Graves barked at this and cut the conversation short.
"Oh, very well." Snively visibly slumped, and strode over to the pedestal instead. "Look, now, Robotnik…I surpassed you. I did not create a mere Chaos gem…but a Super Emerald!"
He whisked the cloth away with one jerk of his arm and the eyes in the room widened. Gerald was speechless.
The…thing they were looking at could not have had less resemblance to an emerald. It was a misshapen lump, a bulbous, twisted thing that was covered in glassy blisters and bleeding opaque crystal. It was about the same size as a Super Emerald, a solid cubefoot, but the pitch-black and malevolent, pulsing red inside were a far cry from the brilliant, shining pure colours of the true power gems. The mass was solid and unmoving, yet to Gerald it had a threatening presence, as if it had never been meant to be.
"This is not a Super Emerald. This is an abomination."
Snively rolled his eyes. "Well, of course it doesn't look like one. The Supers' artificial emerald cut is a far too unstable form for energy of these proportions. But fact is, this gem here works exactly like one, and with it, I have managed it – to truly create the Ultimate Lifeform!"
"That's Shadow."
"That's Shadow."
"No, he's not!" Snively snapped, thoroughly irritated by the instant replies of the two Robotniks. "And I will give you sufficient proof right now. Vincent!"
xxx
Inside the circular corridor leading to the various holding cells of the arena, a small figure strode through the darkness with purpose. Vincent was happy. Snively's personal assistant in a plan to eliminate the proverbial quill in his side - it was perfect. And Maria simply had to be impressed by what they had achieved together...
Walking past the room where he knew Shadow had to be inside, he stopped on a whim.
"Hey. Project."
There was silence for a while, but eventually, there was a reply.
"Yes, Failure?"
"You're going to die."
"Oh?"
Shadow had to admit that this probably didn't win any awards in 'snappy comebacks' but for a moment he had been too surprised to think of one. It was less the content of the speech – death threats honestly weren't anything too novel between Vincent and him by now - but rather the tone of absolute confidence with which it was delivered.
Swallowing, he tried to recover quickly.
"We've been over this, human. And I thought the pills you were taking now stopped you from daydreaming."
"This is no daydream, experiment," Vincent merely replied, grinning even though Shadow couldn't possibly see it through the closed door, "We both knew one of us would eventually get the other killed. Looks like I was first."
xxx
When Shadow stepped out into the arena, it was empty. A cursory glance told him that the humans – Graves still with a noticeable bruise across his face as he noted smugly – were all in the observation room, watching him, but otherwise, he seemed to be alone. Odd.
Or maybe he was wrong. Shadow tensed. What if his opponent was invisible? What if it was a gas? His ears started flicking in all directions, his nose cautiously testing the air, heart racing as his various senses with increasing panic tried to keep him alive.
Nothing.
Then the opposite door opened. And suddenly Shadow was just twelve months old all over again.
"No…" he whispered, only unknowingly in synch with both his best friend and grandfather.
The creature on the other end of the arena was him. Or rather, could have been him, if things had only been a little bit different…and so much worse.
He wore no clothes. Claws as sharp as blades on his feet and hands would have sliced through them, anyway. He was slightly taller. Muscles clinging to his broad frame assured that he was slightly more menacing, too. His fur was ragged. The low growl from his throat upon the sight of Shadow only accompanied that.
And his fur of course, was black. Midnight black with golden, shining stripes, just like he had seen him all those months ago.
"I managed to awaken him, Robotnik…" Snively whispered feverishly in the observation room.
"I managed to awaken him – the Ultimate Lifeform, 2/25."
To be continued…
Whooo, 1) the plot started in A Painful Truth like a dozen chapters ago is about to reach its conclusion and 2) I'm in new zealand! :D Where it is cold. Yay. However, never fear for next chapter will see blood and pick up the pace. This story is about to enter its final run...also, for anyone still looking for more, I suggest checking out Birthday Girl, which is another stand-alone baby loosely attached to this Epic. Thanks for reading and please review?:)