35. Final Chapter
The septet of Chaos Emeralds glowed brilliantly as they spun around the head of Black Doom. Shadow felt the energy surge as the entire Black Comet teleported... somewhere. "This can't be happening!" he exclaimed. The amount of power being used was incredible! That can't be just the Emeralds and Black Doom! Where else– And then they were there.
"What was that? What just happened?" Amy was the first to voice the panicked question that everyone was surely thinking. The Comet shuddered again, to the accompaniment of loud but distant thuds.
Sonic answered before Shadow could - and more completely. "Those black creatures just warped the Comet down to the surface using Chaos Control!"
"No!" Rouge got the first word this time, "That's impossible!"
"That's why you needed the Chaos Emeralds," said Shadow. Sonic was right; Doom had used the Emeralds not merely to move the comet, but to utilize the energy that all of the aliens possessed and merge it into a single entity. The combined powers of all the aliens, including Doom, had been added to the Emeralds' own. And now he could recognize the 'feel' of Earth from the changed gravity and the aura of the planet and its life-forms.
Doom's laughter rolled over the assemblage again. "Precisely. The Comet's velocity isn't powerful enough to pass through another planet's atmosphere. The Emeralds amplify the space-time control powers of Chaos Control. We need them to charge to full power." The alien flourished one arm grandly, "It's the perfect plan. That's why I needed the professor to help me."
"What!?" gasped Shadow. Surely Professor Gerald hadn't known what Black Doom intended!
"That's insane!" cried Eggman.
Shadow barely heard Sonic's muttered, "Takes one to know one."
Black Doom continued: "The professor was in development of the ultimate life force, but he needed my help. So we made a deal... I helped him, and he promised to deliver me the seven Chaos Emeralds. That's how you were created, Shadow. You would help us do both!"
"Me?" Shadow whispered, staring at the creature in front of him; he felt like there was something stuck in his throat. "I can't believe it..." He sank to his knees, feeling inexplicably weak. The professor had been too smart, surely, to make an open-ended promise - but what could have possessed him to promise the sort of power the Chaos Emeralds contained to a potential enemy? The answer was obvious, though: Maria.
"That can't be!" Eggman was exclaiming. "He betrayed his own people for research? For Black Doom!?" Considering what Eggman had done or tried to do in the past, he seemed a strange one to be objecting.
Sonic, as usual, cut to the heart of the matter, with a surprisingly scornful laugh. "Big deal," he answered his long-time enemy, "we can't just stand here doing nothing."
"Yeah, let's do this!" That was Knuckles. "I'll crush this cosmic rock ball! Ugh!"
Ugh? Shadow looked back to see Knuckles in a very strange stance, one fist thrust over his head, and that foot on tiptoe as all his weight was shifted to the other side. He looked like a photo taken mid-leap.
"Knuckles! What's wrong?" As Sonic started to turn towards his friend, he found himself suddenly immobilized mid-twist. "Ugh!" he seconded Knuckles' comment.
Shadow looked at the ground in front of him as an assortment of cries arose behind him, and realized that he too was now stuck in one position. Not a pose I would have chosen, kneeling like a slave before his master. Move! he commanded his muscles mentally, but they ignored him. Well, I know why the delaying tactics, now; he was waiting for this.
Doom was laughing triumphantly, somewhere over his head. "A special weapon," he seemed to answer Shadow's thought, "this gas, once released, is quickly absorbed into your bloodstream. In a moment, total paralysis will hit your nervous system. The end is near, now." Something red moved at the edge of Shadow's vision, and he couldn't even roll his eyes to look at it. I wonder how much longer I'll be able to keep breathing. The motion repeated as Doom laughed again, and came closer, revealing itself to be several of the alien blobs. "Ahhh," the overlord's voice took on an indulgent tone, "my dear offspring... Eat and devour these savory dishes!"
"Help me!" squealed Amy. Shadow remembered her disgust at the things in the Doctor's castle. And now she was helpless. "Stop it!!" she demanded, uselessly. Shadow could hear the others alternating threats and pleas, all rendered helpless against this physically weak menace. So this was the plan, to paralyze the people of Earth and feed them to the alien larvae? Several of the blobs oozed past him to join those attacking the others, but one stopped, extruded a few tendrils, and began greedily sucking at the blood that had dried on his shoe. I need to get out of this!
"Remember..." Doom's voice - not currently, but in memory - whispered softly.
The GUN Commander aimed a gun at Shadow's face. "I will avenge those whose blood was spilled!"
His own voice, as he stared out at the ARK, memories returning on Tails' shuttle, "...where I... died?"
Eggman, insisting vehemently, "I gave you life!"
But no, thought Shadow, that can't be true. I don't think an android, even a part clone one, would be subject to a nerve gas.
Black Doom again: "That's how you were created..."
Maria, dear, lovely Maria, calling to him across the years, "Please, help me, Shadow..."
I am Shadow the hedgehog, the Ultimate Life-form. I was created to be possessed of eternal youth and health, so my body must be able to break down this toxin. I was created to be a weapon, so again, I must be able to resist nerve gases or I would be no more use than human or dokan soldiers. I may have been created by Professor Gerald Robotnik and Black Doom, but I have the right to choose my own way, as any child on the planet. I refuse to be the slave of anyone, and I will not aid those who would destroy this world. I pledge anew and from now, to guard it in Maria's memory. He tried again to move as the blob shifted position to get at more of the blood on his shoe, and this time his muscles strained as if he were doing isometrics. They didn't actually move, but they tried. Shadow tried to reach for the Chaos Emeralds, but Doom had control of them somehow, so he couldn't access the power. Then the hedgehog blinked (or would have if his eyelids had been able to move). The aliens, stupid! He reached again, latched onto the baseline Chaos energy that the dozen-or-so nearby alien larvae contained and yanked it to himself. He felt the toxin burn in his bloodstream as the energy metabolized it to harmlessness, and rose to his feet as life returned to his muscles. He stamped on the now-dormant blob beside him in disgust.
"What?" Black Doom actually fell back a few feet, raising an arm as if to deny the sight of the hedgehog striding towards him.
"I am Shadow the Hedgehog," Shadow informed him coldly. "I've left the past behind me. No one can tell me what to do now! I will destroy you, Black Doom!"
"I gave you life, and THIS is how you repay me?" Another laugh, this one as cold and mirthless as a grave. "The irony of it all is, I gave you life... now... I'll take it back!" The alien turned and glided away, across a different, unshielded bridge and deeper into the heart of the Comet. Shadow followed.
"Shadow!" he heard Rouge call behind him.
"You're our only hope now," said Sonic.
"Shadow, I believe in you." Tails voice in his ear startled him as he jumped onto one of the slime trails to follow Black Doom. Belatedly Shadow realized that he still had he radio receiver in his ear. "You can do it!" The little fox's enthusiasm sounded genuine, if a bit strained.
"Don't you dare give up!" grunted Knuckles, more faintly since he didn't have a communicator himself.
Amy apparently did - she came through loud and clear. "Please, hurry!" she urged.
Rouge had one too, which surprised him not at all. "You're strong enough; I know you are!"
Black Doom actually led him out of the Comet's core, to a chamber near the outer shell, if he hadn't completely lost his sense of direction. After a dizzying maze of corridors and caves, Shadow stepped into the final room to find the alien waiting for him.
"Well done, Shadow. You've gone further than I expected," did Doom sound a bit breathless, a bit less confident? "I'm impressed!" Shadow stalked towards him, determined to finish the battle he'd accepted responsibility for. "But, you still don't understand, do you? The future we offer is the only option for these humans."
Would he never stop? "I've heard enough," Shadow snapped at his enemy. "You're boring me to death, Black Doom! You're going down!!"
And the alien laughed. Uh oh, that's not right. What...? Shadow felt suddenly dizzy as the other rumbled, confidence returned, "Such bravado for a little hedgehog. I thought you were different from the rest," he seemed genuinely disappointed, "but maybe not. We are more alike than you think," Doom added, "the same blood runs through our veins."
Shadow reeled with vertigo, clutching as his head as if he could make the world stand still. "This can't be!" With a groan he sank to his knees again. The creature was inside his head! "Just," he gasped, "who are you?"
"Don't you know?" Black Doom had the air of someone about to drop a bombshell, "You were created from MY blood."
"Wha... what?" For an instant Shadow wondered if his ears were dizzy as well. But then the pieces started clicking together. The color similarities, the innate Chaos powers that even Sonic lacked, the alien's certainty all along that Shadow would do as he was told. A few odd bits and pieces that Professor Gerald had dropped so long ago, incomprehensible comments that suddenly fit into a new and frightening context. A child rejecting his parents' views indeed.
"That's right," Doom was positively gloating now; he knew he had won. "You are a part of me," pain shot through Shadow's head as if felt like a fist squeezed part of his brain, "do you feel that? I can control you. You cannot escape me... nor can you escape your past!" The alien roared with triumphant laughter.
"Damn you!" hissed Shadow in panic and fury. "NO! It's not true...!" He struggled desperately, but the enemy in his mind was harder to grasp than the toxin in his blood, and there were no aliens here to draw energy from.
Then, suddenly a voice from the past spoke into his ear. "Shadow, my son..." A real voice, through his earpiece.
"Professor?" Shadow gasped, as Doom's attention was suddenly distracted.
"What is this!?" demanded the alien. A gesture opened a viewscreen in midair, showing Professor Gerald Robotnik, sitting in front of a camera on the ARK, wearing a clean lab coat and ID badge. With the alien's attention divided, Shadow managed to raise his head and focus on the image.
"If you're listening to this," the elderly scientist continued, "then the worst has happened; you need to know the truth. The government plans to shut down this research facility, within the year certainly, possibly in the next few weeks. The Biolizard's rampage is their excuse; they have declared Project: Shadow a danger to public welfare.
"The government plans to cease all of our research, and imprison all who know about you. I made a terrible mistake, Shadow... It's all my fault...making contact with that Comet," Shadow could hear the exclamations of Sonic and the others through his earpiece as the Professor paused a moment, bowing his head. Then he looked back at the camera. "Now listen very carefully:
"In fifty years the Black Comet will return, but it's not a comet. It's the habitation of an alien race called the Black Arms. Their leader Black Doom helped me in exchange for a pledge to deliver him some 'crystals' - I swear I did not know at the time that they were the Chaos Emeralds. He intends to utilize them somehow to enhance the power of the comet, then they plan to harness its powers to destroy this planet! The only way to stop them...was to develop a way to use the very power THEY intended to use AGAINST them." (Eggman's voice came through Shadow's earpiece, "That's it! It's brilliant!") "I managed to find out what Doom had done - he didn't alter your DNA, Shadow, but added a sort of virus - and nullified it. I think he intended to be able to control you, perhaps read your mind. I left a fraction of it, which seemed to enhance your ability to manage the chaos energies, but you should be able to resist him if you try. And you MUST try!" Black Doom snarled and moved towards the viewscreen.
"Shadow...it's up to you and only you can stop them! I developed the Eclipse Cannon - it's the only weapon that can destroy that Black Comet. Shadow, you are the only hope to save mankind as we know it; the future of this planet depends on...you!"
Maria suddenly jumped into view, draping herself over the startled Professor's shoulders. "Don't worry, Grandfather. Shadow and I will protect this planet. Right, Shadow?"
Right, Maria. He refocused, felt Black Doom's will trying to re-establish control of his mind - and suddenly remembered a line from a movie she'd loved. "For my will is as strong as yours..."
Doom was laughing again as he dismissed the screen. "Gerald, you fool!" he scoffed. "Shadow is already in my control... What's this!?"
Shadow silently mouthed the end of the quote as he mentally ducked out from under Doom's control: "And you have NO power over me." He stood up and glowered at his foe.
"Well, well, well," Shadow could tell that alien wasn't as sanguine as he was trying to appear, "seems like you're immune to my mind control."
"You have no control over me, Black Doom. I now understand why I am here. I made a promise and I'm here to keep it. Today, I put my past behind me." He leapt at Doom, who dematerialized with an incredible surge of Chaos energy... but left the Emeralds behind.
"Have it your way, Shadow," the voice rumbled in his head; Black Doom could still get in that far. "So be it... Be prepared to meet your maker. Your past, present and future end here... today!" The alien was losing his calmness, and his voice rose in anger. "Prepare to die! Say 'goodbye', Shadow, as you witness my true wrath."
Shadow closed his eyes and called the Emeralds. They sprang towards him as if glad to be free of Doom, and he started pulling power from them. One tendril he sent out to locate Black Doom - who had pulled vastly more Chaos energy as he fled than required for mere teleportation, and 'felt' very strange now. The rest he pulled in through a process he'd only experienced once before, and felt all of his memories slotting into place as if they actually had been stored in the Emeralds. Professor Gerald had been delighted and Maria fascinated by his eidetic memory, which was part of why the loss had troubled him so much; he wasn't used to forgetting anything, much less everything. But now he felt all his senses improving along with his memory, the overwhelming and at the same time exhilarating surge of energy that came with his super form. And he realized, too, that part of the energies he was accessing came from the friends below, their belief in him and his ability to stop the Black Arms. He opened his eyes and took flight, punching his way out through the roof of the Black Comet like a needle through a balloon. And couldn't believe his eyes.
Black Doom had become enormous. Suddenly Shadow realized why Doom had left the Emeralds behind - he'd drawn the power to merge with all of the Black Arms, draining them of their own energy and melding their flesh with his own. The vast, misshapen thing before him glared out of one eye, a multipartite mouth folding and unfolding below. There were two enormous wings, each the length of an entire jet plane, two arms, and the rest of the body was merely a blobby mass dangling below, except for a club-like tail that almost resembled a second head. Now having access to the life energies of the entire race, Doom had decided he no longer required the Emeralds. And since he'd absorbed all his subordinates, there were few, if any, left to increase the Emeralds' power by supporting him.
The creature's lone eye saw Shadow as he emerged from the comet. "I gave you life, and yet you defy me? So be it! You shall pay for your ingratitude with relentless pain!" The thing that had been Black Doom bellowed, and a cloud of shapes and dust rose from the ground below.
Shadow looked down quickly and saw a ruined city, marked and ravaged by the invading aliens. It might have been Westopolis, or even Central City for all he could tell; regardless, the demonic creature before him was levitating a shield of sorts composed of chunks of buildings, cars, slabs of pavement, and other things. Shadow drew on the Chaos energy within him, watching his aura flare a brighter gold, and plunged into the mess, dodging a taxi, a blob of slime, and a fire hydrant, then snagging three rings out of the debris as he flew past them. Ah, yes. Must remember to keep an eye out for rings. He remembered now, the last battle against the Biolizard, as he and Super Sonic took turns catching rings and battling the berserk Chaos lizard. He also remembered the power failing at the end, as the watchers on the ARK thought the battle won and their support faded - and he discovered that he didn't have enough energy of his own to control what he had borrowed. He caught several more rings, vowing to be more careful this time, and emerged from the floating rubble within a few feet of the monster.
"Shadow, can you hear me?" Doctor Eggman's voice crackled over the receiver in his ear. "We've managed to escape from the Comet. There's no need to hold back; cause as much havoc as you need to!"
"Go for it, Shadow!" That was Tails, still cheering the hero on.
Then the usual hero put in his two bits: "With the power of the Chaos Emeralds, you can launch a Chaos Spear! Use it to impale that thing!"
Shadow felt his lip curl, but Sonic was right; the Chaos Spear was probably a good choice of weapon. Of course, Shadow had never needed much power beyond his own to launch one. Still, this was a considerably bigger foe than he was used to; he'd really only attacked practice targets and Sonic in the past. He raised a hand and drew power, shaping it with his mind until he held a visibly glowing lance of pure force. Remembering the Black Bulls, he hurled it full force at the monster's one eye. "Chaos Spear!"
Unfortunately, just at that moment, Doom's jaws gaped and a blast of flame roared forth. Shielded by his aura, Shadow wasn't hurt, but both he and the spear were knocked away. He tumbled dizzyingly for a moment before he managed to right himself. It's a good thing they aren't in the Comet. It's an even better thing that this is a destroyed city - everyone should have been evacuated already! He heard the others muttering over the radio as he surged back towards Doom.
"Is that thing invincible?" Eggman was asking. "No! He's got to have some sort of weak point!" Since they didn't seem to actually be talking to him, Shadow ignored them and fired a second Chaos Spear at Doom. This time the bolt slammed into the thing's eye... which flew off of the head and circled around to hide behind the creature. What the...?
"That's it!" Rouge's voice. She did seem to be talking to him. "The eye! His weak point has to be the eye that's been following you!" He realized she was right; the creature's eye was, well, Doom's Eye. He circled around it far enough to see the eye had reimplanted itself on the tail - which on closer inspection appeared to be a second head. He dodged back as this head also tried to breathe fire at him. He charged another Chaos Spear and the eye fled back around to the first head as the second one bellowed in fury. He tried a second Chaos Spear which bounced off the monster's hide with no apparent effect.
"All right then!" Knuckles said briskly. "Shadow, his eye keeps moving - you've got to track it down." They apparently had some way to see what was going on. Probably, the radio earpiece that Tails had given him was also a camera. Shadow started to loop around Doom again and the thing simply vanished.
It didn't go far. Doom had apparently run out of nearby objects to cloak itself with, for the first thing it did was summon up a new shroud from below. Shadow found himself fending off more cars, whole floors of buildings, and baby buggies as he tried to get in close to the monster again. There were a lot of rings pulled up this time as well. He managed to whack the Eye a third time, and again had to circle around.
"Why?" roared the monster. Why can't you understand that these humans are the parasites of this world? Absolute power is the only way to bring order to the planet;" - some order, thought Shadow, knocking away half of a city bus - "the humans must be eliminated! Shadow, open your eyes. Realize that sympathizing with these humans has all been a mistake!"
Shadow dodged a stream of fire and hurled another Chaos Spear but Doom manages to interpose a wing. And then it teleported away again to the far side of the Black Comet. Shadow skimmed low over the dark surface after Doom, feeling the cold of space still sucking heat into the planetoid.
"Shadow," Doctor Eggman sounded a bit slurred, "can you hear me? The gas from the Comet has," he wheezed a moment, "made its way into our shelter..."
Amy cried out in the background, "I can't move!"
Knuckles choked into the microphone, "Sh-Shadow... Don't worry about us... You've got to... destroy that thing!"
Doom's voice crept into Shadow's mind as well as his ears, "Before long that gas will have spread over the entire planet. Shadow, cease these futile attempts to resist. You alone cannot change this planet's fate!"
But I'm not alone, thought Shadow. He could feel the others through the Chaos Emeralds, their bodies might be faltering from the gas, but their hearts still believed in him. And as long as he held to Maria's memory, there was someone who would always believe in him. He frowned though, listening to the radio as he drew near the beast once again.
"Wh-wh-what do we do?" Tails sounded sleepy and scared at the same time. "I can't... keep my... eyes..." The gas seemed to have change some when it mixed with Earth's atmosphere though, it sounded as if it was as much a knockout gas as a paralyzing agent. And clearly it was slower to take full effect. That may have been why they were able to escape in the first place.
"Sh-Shadow," Rouge said, "I believe in you... You've... gotta finish this..." There was a thump, as of a body hitting the floor.
"Ah! Shadow!" Sonic, was fighting it off better than most of the others, but it was clearly getting to him too. "You're supposed to be the Ultimate Life-form... right? You've gotta... keep goin–" His voice trailed off with a second thump as Shadow punched through Doom's latest debris cloud and slammed the Eye with another force spear.
"Shadow... can you hear me?" Eggman again; his larger body size probably gave him resistance to the gas. "This might be the last chance I have to speak to you, so," he gasped audibly for air. "What I said, about having created you... it was all a lie. Everyone thought you died during that horrible incident... but I rescued you, with one of my robots... You lost your memories, that's all... You really are the Ultimate Life-form my grandfather created!"
I knew it! With a surge of elation at the Doctor's confession that he was real, Shadow slammed home one more Chaos Spear. And the thing in front of him gave an enormous wail. "Im-impossible! I am the supreme being that rules this universe! I am the immortal life form! I am the ultimate power!" The thing plummeted, still wailing, to splatter across the ruined city, the body breaking into its component Black Arms as it fell.
"This is the end of you," Shadow said softly, as he watched it fall, "and the end of my cursed past."