Shadow, the ultimate life form...I was staring the man right in the eyes. What's worse, I wasn't dreaming, and even worse than that, he was my enemy. My next opponent. Could I beat him? Could I even get lucky enough to hurt him? All of my doubts were so instantaneous, I didn't know what to think. Just looking at this guy was enough to make even the boldest of men cower in fear, never mind someone like me. Nevertheless, I backflipped away from him, ready to give my all for this battle. I promised my girlfriend and my friends that I'd come home; I don't intend on breaking that promise.
Shadow's eyes slowly shut. It was as if though he was completely uninterested in fighting me. Right at this moment, that didn't sound like a bad thing. "If you think you want to live past today...get out of here and don't even think of coming back." His eyes reopened, their crimson intensity glaring its way into my conscience.
"Gimme a break, bud." I flipped into the air, readying a battlechip to use against him. "I can do without the badass role-playing for one day, thanks! FireSword!" My arm formed into the said chip, and within a second, it came crashing down on him, but before the blade even made its way to Shadow, something prevented it from going any further. I didn't exactly know what it was; all that I know is that it was invisible. I couldn't see it; no one could. Yet, that didn't stop Jet, Wave and Storm from going full-force on the guy. Jet followed behind me with a powerful chip of his own.
"GreenTornado!" A massive gust of wind formed below us, trapping Shadow within its grasp. Moments later, a massive green orb of energy tumbled down on top of him, slamming hard and possibly inflicting massive damage. I was impressed, to say the least. I don't think I had a chip nearly that powerful; at least, not a single one. Which, conveniently, gave me a good idea. I readied a LifeSword for when Shadow revealed himself, ready to use it at any given time. Apparently, my thoughts were contagious; Silver did the exact same thing and approached me, standing back to back in hopes that Shadow wouldn't catch us off guard. Sadly, our efforts were pretty much wasted.
"Idiots," a voice echoed. It was obviously Shadow's voice, but he was nowhere to be seen. That, of course, was proven false when Silver and I felt violent gusts of dust blow beneath us, signaling that something was zipping right by us faster than we could blink. Silver looked down at the ground in anger. "Are you shitting me? How can anything be this fast?"
"I don't know! But if you wanna live long enough to get an answer..." I raised my arm to use the LifeSword, and wouldn't you know it, the direction I used it on actually hit Shadow dead-on! Or, so I was lead to believe. It turned out that, as soon as my blade hit him, his body sparked into nothing but a pile of ashes. It was a fake. Seconds later, I could feel the rushing wind of a weapon heading our way. Pushing Silver out of the way, we managed to dodge a large flurry of pointy shurikens. Obviously, if I hadn't dodged it with Silver, that single attack would have killed us both.
Jumping back to our feet, Silver and I once again assumed the offensive. By now, we had already conceived that Shadow was impossibly fast; we would be lucky enough to even see the guy to attack him. Not only that, but every time we even came close to hitting the guy, he'd flash a tricky counterattack before we even made the assault. He has reflexes like I've never seen before; loading his battlechips faster than we can even reach for ours is definitely a skill to write home about. Effectively, we couldn't manage an attack before he got the chance to prepare for it. We had to find a way to hit him more than once, the second hit being one after his counterattack.
"Sonic! I've got something we can try out! Listen up!" Of course, speaking as loudly as he was, Shadow wouldn't have much trouble thinking of something to do to block it. But he lowered his voice to a mild whisper, so I could be the only one to hear him. "He's going to counter every time we use an attack, so we have to think of a way to hit him right afterwards."
"Yeah, I figured that much! But the problem is, what?"
"I have a few AntiDamage chips. When I take any damage, I'll get the chance to counterattack him. That's when he'll disappear, and then you come in and use a powerful chip to stop him. Got it?"
I gave him a thumbs up. "No sweat!" Although, that was easier said than done. I readied the necessary chips for the LifeSword one last time, hoping that Silver's plan would work. As soon as I did, he loaded his AntiDamage chip and waited for Shadow to make his move. It was only seconds afterwards that Shadow dashed right in front of him and stabbed him with a blade forged out of dark energy, which of course caused Silver to vanish and throw a couple shurikens at him in a counterattack. This struck Shadow, revealing that he was just a clone. That's when the real Shadow warped right in front of him to strike him, but right before he got the chance to, our plan reached its finishing point.
"How's THIS for cheap?" I crashed the LifeSword down onto him, sending him spiraling into the ground and spitting up a monstrous dust storm. We both landed on our feet and anxiously waited for Shadow to get back on his feet. However, after the dust settled, Shadow was nowhere to be seen. We immediately switched back into cautious mode and waited for him to make another assault. It was at this time that I felt this ominous presence crashing down onto me, and it was coming from up above. I glanced into the sky, only to see an enormous burst of energy plummeting down to the earth, ready to squash Silver and I like a couple of colored pancakes.
"Silver! Move it!" I leapt out of the way of the blast, and Silver followed my move in a different direction. Unfortunately, we weren't far enough to not get caught in the impact of the attack, and so, when it landed, we were sent flying across the skies, landing harshly on the ground dozens of feet away. I landed next to Scourge, who immediately aided me back to my feet and threw a Recovery300 chip on me so I could be healed. "Sonic! Can you still fight?"
I leapt back to my feet. "Of course! Let's get back in there!"
He grinned and nodded, and within two seconds, we were charging back into the action.
Meanwhile, Jet, Wave, and Swallow were all cowering behind the plane. I didn't think Jet was exactly tough, but if he was going to have the courage to SAY he was ready to fight the strongest in the world, he should at least have the consistency to TRY to fight him. I couldn't really blame them, though; Shadow was too tough. Even for someone like Silver and I. Silver, Scourge and I were going after him as a team now, and even with two of us, we were fighting the fight of our lives. We literally can't stop for more than a split second to catch our breaths; Shadow's too fast to let us have that chance, too strong to be beaten by brute force, and far too skilled and clever to let us make one false move. Every single step we made had to be a perfect one; if it wasn't, then odds are, it would be our last one.
Scourge and I approached Silver once again, this time angled in a triangle so as to see him coming from three directions. This, of course, wasn't the greatest strategy; after all, it didn't really matter what direction we were facing if he could come at us at the speed of light. Hell, we could blink, and he'd be standing right in front of us. Luckily, he didn't seem too aggressive to kill us...yet. Of course, we still didn't see him. That is, until he warped right in front of us and stood there, his ominous presence piercing into my confidence.
"I told you to go home. You can't win this fight. You won't."
"Shut up," said Scourge, walking steadily towards him.
"No! Scourge!" I exclaimed. He was approaching him alone? Not a good idea.
He gestured his hand in the air, waving it at me. "Don't worry about me! Just stay put!"
"Are you crazy?" demanded Silver.
He looked right at Shadow, whose eyes were staring intently back at him. They were definitely the eyes of a cold-hearted killer, that goes without saying. "You're leaving your friends behind."
Scourge snickered. "They'll be fine without me. Besides, they won't need to worry...'cause I'm about to whoop your ass."
Shadow didn't seem to be affected by what he said. He could probably sit there and bash about his personal things, like his mom, and he wouldn't mind. Shadow was focused, and it seemed that focus was impenetrable.
"People say you're the strongest. So what? When I kill you, that'll make me a hero. Everyone in the world will know who I am."
"You're going to kill me just so you can become a hero to the humans? Ridiculous. Why would you want to do something so foolish?"
"Because I don't like assholes like you. And it's always been my dream to be a hero. To be remembered for my actions. To leave behind a cherished memory instead of a forgettable one. You're remembered for the lives you've taken; I'll be remembered as the one who took YOUR life."
"Is that so?"
He grinned. "Absolutely. The world will honor me as the greatest, strongest hero in history, and that'll be my ticket to stardom. Everyone in the world will remember me like they do Sonic! THAT is my dream!"
Scourge could barely finish his sentence before Shadow hastily grabbed him by the throat and started to choke him. His grip was firm, tightening by the second until Scourge's head was about ready to burst off of his shoulders. "Your dream is one that will never be obtained. You will never defeat me. I am the ultimate life form. There isn't a single, solitary being in this or any other world that can kill me."
Scourge couldn't say anything; he was running short on breath. Fast.
"I once trusted humans. I once lived amongst them as their project. But now...I am on my own. I have grown superior to them because of that. By living by myself, I have become far stronger than the ultimate life form. I have become something even greater than that."
"But not...stronger...than Chaos..." Scourge managed to breathe.
"Chaos? The God of Destruction?" He glanced over at me for about three seconds, and looked back at Scourge. "I assume HE is the one who defeated Chaos?"
Scourge nodded weakly.
"I see. In that case..." He snapped Scourge's neck, breaking it. With one simple act, he had killed Scourge, and as soon as he heard the crack, he dropped his corpse to the ground, warp-dashing back over to me.
"S...Shadow!"
"You are the one who defeated Chaos. Correct?"
"Y...Yeah!"
"You're nothing to me. Leave this place. I have already taken the life of your friend."
"You what?" I ran over to Scourge, seeing that he was, in fact, dead. I stood back up to meet Shadow, a raging flame burning brightly in my eyes. "You son of a bitch!" I yelled, charging at Shadow blindly with a CyberSword chip installed. This was a ridiculous move, of course, as Shadow grabbed my sword by the blade and slammed me to the ground. That nearly broke my back, to be honest; if I was any higher, it would have.
"Fool. And you're supposed to be the world's hero? Pathetic."
Silver attempted to strike Shadow with a LongSword, but he caught it between his fingers before it hit him. "You bastard! I won't let you kill Sonic!"
I glanced up to see Silver fighting him. "Silver! No! Stand back!" I was trying so hard to get back to my feet...but I couldn't. My back was literally on the verge of being shattered.
"No! I won't! I can't let him go unpunished!" He backflipped away from Shadow and prepared for an attack. Moments after he escaped from Shadow's range, a flaming aura emitted from his body, picking up in strength every few seconds. I could already tell what this was; it was the same attack he used during the tournament at that restaurant...
"RazingPhoenix!" Silver darted into the air, and with unimaginable force, he dove right back down at Shadow, supposedly landing a direct blow and causing a massive explosion. As the dust cleared, I managed to stand back on my feet. I started looking around the area for any signs of Shadow or Silver, but to my dismay, all I saw was Silver on the ground, panting. He was kneeling down, lacking of any energy to keep fighting. I steadily ran over to him, keeping in mind that my back was still vastly damaged. I carefully kneeled down to him.
"He's...gone. It's over, Sonic..."
"Silver...You did it? He's-"
But before I could even finish that sentence, a small beam of light pierced its way through Silver's chest. It was obviously a powerful beam of energy, and as it pierced through him, he slowly tumbled down to the ground, losing all signs of life. I called his name repeatedly, hoping to at least get something. No response. He was just like Scourge. I punched the ground in rage, and I felt Shadow warp-dash right behind me, staring down at me.
"Do you see what happens when I am challenged? No one can beat me. No one ever has."
"You sick bastard..."
"Call me what you will." He started to walk away from me. "Your friends are dead. There's no changing that fact."
I leapt back to my feet. "Why? Why did you have to kill them?"
"I only did what you came here to do to me. You all approached me with the intent to kill. What's wrong with me doing the same thing?"
"Shadow!"
"Pitiful. You are the hero of the human world, and yet, you still pose no threat to me. I suppose Chaos has lost his touch over the thousands of years he's been alive."
"You...You know Chaos?"
"Chaos, Tikal and I once engaged in combat. The two gods challenged me, and I defeated them."
"You...defeated them both? At the same time?"
"Yes."
"That's...You're...No..."
"It's true. I am the ultimate life form, created to exceed even the bounds of a mortal man. I am immortal. Nothing can kill me."
"Shadow...!" I could feel my energy slipping away. He had beaten us, that's for sure.
"But I will choose...to let you live. So that you may one day become strong enough to stand before me."
I fell to the ground, unconscious and nearly lifeless. He lifted his arm into the air, and he started charging up energy for some kind of final attack. "Never step foot in these lands again." As soon as he said those words, the entire Underworld flashed a bright, shining color, and before I knew it, the weirdest thing had happened...
I was bandaged up, laying on a hospital bed, with Mina, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy standing beside me.
The sound of a television program was about the only thing I could really hear besides the voices of my friends. Everything else was still hazy, but what could I expect after taking such an abrupt beating?
"Mina? Guys? Wait a minute...where are Silver and Scourge?"
"They're being treated in different rooms," Tails stated. "They were both just like you when we found them; mercilessly beaten and unconscious."
"We called for an ambulence as soon as we found the three of you outside of the shopping center of Station Square," added Knuckles.
"There were a bunch of people crowding you guys, just standing there, looking at you three," commented Amy.
"Sonic, sweetheart...what happened to you guys?" asked Mina.
"I...I don't know," I replied to her. "We got to the Underworld, and...Wait! That's right!"
"What?" Mina blinked. "What is it?"
"That guy...It was him! It was the guy from the paper...Shadow!"
"Shadow? You mean Project Shadow?"
"Yeah! The same one!"
"Sonic, are you sure you didn't take a blow to your head? That doesn't sound like something I can believe. Don't you remember? Project Shadow was lost along with Maria fifteen years ago."
"But I KNOW it was him! He's one of the Underworld Deities!"
"The Underworld Deities?"
"Allow me," interrupted Tails. "The Underworld is an entirely different world that exists right below ours. Quite literally, in fact; there are certain parts of the planet where you could locate the entrance to the Underworld. One of them is only a few hours away from Station Square."
"That still doesn't explain what an Underworld Deity is," added Amy.
"The Underworld is home to countless of sick, demonic fighters who live for the thrill of battle. As a result, they've made it so that in their world, you can't have a Netbattle with them; you actually have to fight them in a state of FullSynchro. This means that you would be fighting for your life."
"And? What about the deities?"
"The Underworld Deities are, as their name depicts, considered to be the Gods of the Underworld. The last time I checked, there were only three. Two of them who are both unknown, and their god-king, who is also unknown. That's only because no one from this world has ever seen them before."
"Oh...Much better."
"So, Sonic, you said that you met one of the Underworld Deities?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Project Shadow was one of the Underworld Deities. And if you think the name is scary enough...you should have seen his strength."
Knuckles nodded. "Yeah, I can imagine. Someone with a title like that is bound to be incredibly strong."
"Those three that organized the whole event...they knew full well that Shadow was too strong for us, and yet they still gathered us up to fight him? Talk about a low blow."
"Oh!" interrupted Mina. "By the way, what happened to those three other people? You know, those mean-looking thugs that went with you, Silver, and Scourge?"
That's right...I had completely forgotten about Jet and his gang. I couldn't really care less right now about Manic and those two girls, but I really hope Jet and his friends got out okay.
"I...I dunno what happened to them. All I know is that they didn't even help us fight Shadow. They cowered behind the plane the entire time."
"Those good-for-nothing snakes!" yelled Amy. I didn't really expect HER to be the angry one. Oh, well.
"For what it's worth, I don't really care if we see them again," replied Knuckles. "If what you say is true, then they don't deserve any pity. They just sat and hid while you guys were out there getting your asses kicked."
"So, Sonic," began Mina, "you sure you're okay? I mean, you'll need to stay here for a little while, but other than some rest, the nurse said your body was perfectly fine."
I blinked at her. "Wait a minute...you mean...I'm fine? My back is fine and everything?"
"Hmm? Yeah, the nurse said you were able to go home after some rest, and to get some more rest when you got back home. So yeah, she says you're fine."
"Oh...Wow...Thanks, Shadow..." My voice was too low to be heard correctly.
"Did you say something, dear?"
"Huh? Oh, no. I didn't. But yeah, I feel all right. I'll...I'll go back home."
"That's good. C'mon, we'll walk you home."
I hesitantly made my way out of bed and joined my friends on our walk to my house. Eventually, after a few hiccups along the way, we reached our destination. Mina and Tails helped me up the stairs and onto my bed, and Tails left the room so Mina and I could talk for a little bit alone.
"Sorry for making you worry about me, Mina."
She shook her head with a smile. "I'm just glad you're all right. I...I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost you, Sonic..."
I slowly stood back on my feet, and I brought her into a passionate kiss, followed by a warm, loving hug. "I'm sorry. You don't have to worry about me. I'm here, now." I released her momentarily, and I grinned at her, giving her a thumbs up. "I'm still kickin'!"
She giggled at my enthusiasm. "Yeah...you're still kickin'."
"So, hey, you doing anything tomorrow?"
"Hmm? No, nothing particular. Just, y'know...going to school."
"Oh...right. So am I."
"You wanna do something after school?"
"Yeah, sounds good. Whaddya want to do?"
"Hmm...How about we go shopping?"
"Err...At the mall?"
"Mmm-hmm."
"Uhh...A-All right. I don't see a problem with that." Obviously, I was not looking forward to an all-out shopping spree RIGHT after going to school. But then again, considering I practically make her worry to death all the damn time, it wouldn't hurt to let her have her way every now and then, right?
"Cool! Let's meet by the flagpole after school tomorrow. 'Kay?"
"Sounds good."
She kissed my lips and turned to leave the room, speedily walking down my stairs and out the front door. I casually fell back to my bed, and a few seconds after I did, I found myself consumed in thought. Shadow...didn't he kill Silver and Scourge? How are they still alive? What was it? Was it...all just an illusion? Can Shadow actually do that? Could he actually conjure up something so immensely threatening? If he could create something like this at will, then I don't think there was any way to stop him. He could get right under your skin, forcing you into a state of rage and therefore blinding you to rational thought, all the while taking that chance to kill you. Talk about insanely overpowered...
Still, he spared us. Why? He had more than enough power to kill us all, and he had all the chances he would get, too. Why did he spare us? Why did he spare...me? I'm the one he was after; the one who defeated Chaos and saved the world. And...he said that he beat both of those gods together, on a team against him...How am I supposed to beat someone like that when I can barely take on one god? I don't know. It's not worth pondering as of right this moment, since I'm obscenely tired. So, I reached for the bed sheet and threw it over my body, hoping to get some much-needed rest from the events that took place today.
Today...It's hard to believe this all happened in one day...