EARLIER...
Not very long at all after Shadow, Rouge, Barry and Wally set out on their escapade in the desert, Gretchen Goode couldn't help but talk a walk down the inner halls of the Kalinske. Her hands clasped together behind her back, she kept on a stone cold face as all soldiers who she passed by made sure to give her a respectful salute. She herself however paid them no mind, the task at hand was far too important for her to even entertain chit chatting with such irrelevant subordinates.
Her destination was none other than a particular room on the ship.
It's door sliding open upon her standing close to it, she showed herself in and let it close behind her as she feasted her eyes upon the robotic body of none other than E-123 'Omega'.
The attack robot sat motionless in the center of the room, laid out on a metallic bed as various automated machines darted to and fro across his body, the bulk of them being robotic arms in the shape of tools; used to poke, prod, drill and even polish his various parts as he remained silently in standby mode - the rest of the room being inhabited by various humming computers and their connected monitors displaying Omega's schematics and inner workings, the damaged sections blinking red. Having had a run in with a mind controlled kryptonian, it was a testament to the material he was made out of that he was capable of withstanding blows from her - though enough internal damage had been made to warrant significant repairs nonetheless.
Truth be told though, Gretchen Goode's smirk as she looked down on Omega seemed to suggest she may well have expected Omega's ability to endure - or that at least she had some ulterior motive for being here.
It can't truly be said for how long she had stood in that room, but she was still there when Omega's repairs were completed; she was essentially the first thing he saw upon leaving standby mode.
"Commander Gretchen Goode" he remarked, "My repairs are completed, I can now resume my objectives with Shadow and Rouge."
Omega proceeded to step himself off of the table he was on, and from there began to walk towards the door - intent on leaving to locate his teammates on his own. Without turning to the robot, Gretchen stopped him in his tracks with but a single sentence:
"Then you'll be happy to know we have a report regarding a recent Mephiles sighting."
Stopping and turning his mechanical body to face her as she in turned looked back at him, hands still clasped behind her back, he answered:
"Location?"
"Wave Ocean" she responded, to which Omega remarked:
"Affirmative. Preparing Battle Systems. Priority Objective: Terminate Mephiles."
"Excellent."
PRESENT...
Arriving at Wave Ocean as soon as they could, the group that now consisted of Shadow, Rouge, Barry, Wally and more recently Oliver set out on their search to find Omega before he made the mistake of taking on Mephiles on his own. There was too much at stake for them to take in the vast collection of islands and inlets spread out before their eyes nor the smell of the sea salt entering their nostrils, as their feet had to race across grass and sand on what was no doubt a very crunched time limit.
Shadow was determined to not repeat the same mistake he had made before.
We're coming, Omega!
Hang in there….
Before long however, the group had to stop. They had reached a wide open area of land that was far too peaceful for it to be entirely genuine; as such, Shadow quickly hid beside one of the grassy plateaus nearby and held out a hand to stop the others, motioning for them to cake cover just as he had.
Scanning the area, all that could be seen was a wide open plain of sand with a U-shaped dock standing over the crystal blue waters of the ocean around them; with some wooden huts and parked sail boats attached. On the other side of the area was a large mountainous formation of rock, and scattered between the occasional rock and palm tree were a few on-land 'islands' of grass topped plateaus, with one of them being used as cover by the group of five. None of this was truly exceptional, but instead the exceptional detail was that patrolling the soft flatland of sand were squads of what appeared to be G.U.N. troops. Human men and women donned in black and dark grey helmeted military suits, armed primarily with advanced assault rifles.
Given the fact that far in the distance there was the ongoing blockade, their presence was technically to be expected.
However, in the pit of his stomach Shadow was suspicious of them. As normal as they appeared, not sporting the greyscale coloration for instance, he heard no mention of other G.U.N. forces besides Omega heading into the area, and none of these troops seemed concerned with following him at all for that matter - they were seemingly patrolling the area, marching back and forth when not standing idly by.
Perhaps they were guarding something or blocking the area off to visitors, though again Shadow's gut was telling him something else was afoot.
Even so, the others were curious about why they had stopped for just a few human soldiers, with Oliver remarking:
"Aren't we on their side? Why are we hiding from them?"
"Because something's not right here" Shadow commented, peering his eyes, "I can feel it."
"You think it's those Changeling things again, don't you?" Rouge responded, to which Shadow looked at her said:
"They are shapeshifters and aligned with Mephiles, it's a distinct possibility."
"Shadow" Rouge responded sternly, "We can't just go around expecting everyone we see to be those hideous bug things."
"Rouge has a point" Barry interjected, "But so does Shadow. We have to make sure."
"Right…" Shadow nodded, "I was getting to that. Not sure what the best strategy is."
"Well" Oliver spoke sarcastically, "Could just walk up and ask them."
Oliver was not expecting Shadow to get up out of cover and actually walk towards the soldiers not long after he said that. Caught off guard, the man in green even remarked:
"Oh, guess we are…"
Shadow walked up to these 'soldiers' unafraid, though the others cautiously remained in cover behind the rocks to see what happened. The soldiers turned to Shadow as they saw him approach, though didn't say or do anything. They kept their guns firmly in their hands and firmly in place while looking silently at the ultimate lifeform stepping his way towards them. Shadow's eyes glanced at some of them, and he couldn't help but notice how silent them were, let alone the rest of the beach.
He also noted that all of them were humans with no 'anthros' in their ranks, as well as that all of them appeared to be fair skinned caucasian human males at that. It only increased his suspicion, considering how many soldiers he could see - at least twenty of them.
His plan was to just walk past them on his way to Omega without saying a word, though obviously only if they were actually G.U.N. soldiers.
Eventually he took notice of a cave entrance with two of the soldiers on either side. Seeing as how this cave was the only way to progress beyond the massive mountain wall in the area, Shadow proceeded towards the cave until he was right up close with the soldiers standing by. At least that is, until they both moved to block Shadow from entering.
Shadow stopped in his tracks. At first staring directly ahead into the cave, though it was dark there were rays of sunlight peering into it from cracks in the mountain above it. Cracks of light that allowed him to see even more 'soldiers' were inside the cave, now staring back at him as if waiting to see what he would do next.
Silently, Shadow shifted his glare from what was ahead of him to what was beside him. That is to say, the soldier to his left specifically. Glaring at each other, Shadow stared directly into his eyes.
Not a single word was shared between the two.
Merely a calm silence before all hell broke loose.
Elsewhere on the beach…
He made his entrance with the booming sound of a mighty explosion.
Many shards of rock and millions of sand grains were sent many feet all around the area from the impact of that missile with the ground. Not to mention the charred remains of a certain insectoid creature that dared to get in his way.
It didn't really stand a chance at all - with his sensors, Omega was able to detect it's identity by merely scanning it's vitals.
It also wasn't the only one he'd slain either. Behind him were many others that had fallen trying to impede his trek across the Soleanna shoreline. The vast majority, in fact essentially all of them, being now in pieces. A trail of carnage left in the wake of the ultimate machine.
Yet they were not the reason he was there.
Standing a good few feet ahead of the robot, was the man of the hour himself.
Mephiles.
With his back turned to Omega, Mephiles just silently looked ahead of himself, staring at the vast expanse of ocean ahead of himself as if admiring it. Or at least the silence until Omega had arrived - yet even so he did not turn to look at the machine after said commotion, as if he was either unphased or unimpressed with it. Without a mouth or even nose, reading his emotions was next to impossible.
The silence did not last long however, as Omega wasted no time in shifting his active weapons from his basic claws to that of a rapid fire machine gun - immediately letting loose a maelstrom of bullets directly at the demon in front of him.
However, Mephiles effortlessly dodged them - either teleporting or moving fast enough to evade them.
Even as Omega within seconds changed his aim to where Mephiles shifted himself to, the demonic being still managed to immediately do the same again. With each shift of his position he drew closer to the robot, until he was within striking distance. Lunging at Omega like a cougar leaping onto its prey he ultimately only dug his claws into sand as Omega, built to do battle with the likes of Sonic, was quick enough to use his own booster engines to evade Mephiles' lightning fast speed.
Omega then proceeded to launch a pair of missiles directly at Mephiles, though again the demon used his flight to swiftly evade them - making them hit the sand instead.
Omega then fired a homing shot of several energy blasts from sections in his arms, as well as opening several small compartments of his abdomen to fire six red lasers directed at where Mephiles was standing. Mephiles dissipated into a cloud of darkness in order to evade them, and appeared directly behind Omega once all of these attacks had made their impact.
Sensing him, Omega quickly rotated his head and body - using his arm to block a direct downward punch from the demon before using his other hand to blast a missile directly into his face. The explosion sent both of them flying from the air and down to the sand, though still they were in perfect shape to continue their combat.
Staring directly at Omega, Mephiles still without saying a word unleashed an attack that he hadn't truly gotten a proper chance to reveal:
His omega beams.
Firing from his eyes after but a few short seconds were optic beams of energy that fired directly at Omega. At first these were the familiar red coloring, but within mere moments of firing their sound increased in pitch and their color turned blue - implying the most horrific realization that they burned far hotter than any previous user of the beams.
Omega attempted yet again to use his boosters to escape the beams, though like heat seeking missiles they were able to lock-in on him and follow after him, making jagged turns unlike the optic beams of any other.
Despite Omega's best efforts to evade them in the air and firing missiles at them, the beams performed 90 degree turns in order to avoid every projectile he fired at them. However he ultimately did not have anything to fear, as the beams seemed to purposely go around his body and strike a pair of rock formations behind him instead.
However, as if to send a message these two formerly tall pillars of rocks were reduced to little more than clouds of ash and smoke within mere seconds. As Omega turned his head to look at this, Mephiles finally began to break the violent silence between the two of them:
"I must admit, you put up an impressive fight for a machine."
Omega was having none of it. He lunged directly at Mephiles at full speed, slamming his claws down into the sand once Mephiles yet again seemed to teleport himself behind the robot, continuing his speaking to him in a most unphased tone:
"You can battle me all you want, Omega, that doesn't change the part you play in all of this. It only proves that you were built to stop the very ones you consider your 'friends'."
For a moment, Omega began to hesitate in regards to making his next move against the demon. Noting this well, Mephiles continued on with his words:
"Don't tell me you didn't know" he mocked, "You may have been programmed by society, but what you did Shadow in the future, that was your-"
Before the demon could finish his sentence, Omega retaliated by unleashing the homing shots from his arms and firing a full barrage of them while his hands turned into the powerful zeta energy cannons at the same time - unleashing such a fury upon Mephiles that it rivaled even the mightiest of Hell's warriors. What's more is that Mephiles did not even attempt to evade this attack, instead he allowed the entire thing to hit him full force.
Once the mass of smoke and dust had cleared, it seemed for a moment as though Mephiles' entire body had been disintegrated in the assault - though with the fading sound of his laughter audible well after Omega had ended his attack it was clear that the fight against him was far from over.
Standing back on his feet and deactivating all of his weapons, Omega gazed at where Mephiles had previously been standing in silence.
At least, until the sound of a commotion most violent came to him.
Turning to the area behind where he was standing, he could see from the distance the body of an exposed changeling, recently charred by a chaos spear before falling lifeless onto the sand as Shadow stood over it. The others catching up behind him, exhausted and disheveled after having to tear their way through a horde of their own. However, with a figure like the ultimate lifeform it had been relatively easily to tear their way through.
The moment they saw Omega, there was relief on their faces.
"Omega!" Rouge exclaimed as her and Shadow were the first to approach the robot, "You survived!"
"Did you encounter Mephiles?" Shadow swiftly asked afterwards, to which he received a blunt answer:
"Affirmative" Omega said, "Though he was not terminated."
"Of course he wasn't." Oliver muttered, having expected as such though still having held at least some hope.
At first, there was silence.
Omega could only muster himself to address Shadow, turning to him slowly and deducing it best to explain things to him first. Though he had a single vocal tone, it was clear that this was difficult for him to say with how many moments went on before he did so:
"Shadow" he said slowly as the hedgehog stood with arms crossed yet attentive, "The one who defeats and seals you in the future...is me."
Shadow, in silent shock, lowered his arms down as he stared at Omega at a loss for words. He tried to say something, but found himself unable to do so. At the very least, Omega was there to elaborate on things best to his ability...
THE FUTURE….
Following the disaster that was the release of the prophesied 'Flames of Disaster', the world was in complete and utter turmoil.
Within a day, Soleanna was reduced to nothing but smoldering ruins. A destroyed city with canals of burning hot magma flowing beside and beneath what remained of it's once scenic skyline and cultural landmarks. The rest of the world followed. The oceans were reduced to seas of hellish lava, cities were reduced to ruin as demonic creatures literally made of fire came to rule the streets, and every military tactic used against the giant beast causing it all resulted in complete and utter annihilation. The death toll was in the billions. There was a complete death of order - the economy crashed to a point where it was quite literally meaningless, governments and states across the globe collapsed like flies dropping to the ground after being swatted.
Even as the world fell apart around them however, those who were fortunate enough to survive the disaster clung to whatever they had left.
Grouping together inside of a bunker hidden deep inside the bowels of a mountain, Omega was among the few major figures of G.U.N. and their affiliates that remained alive - and was present while Gretchen Goode herself presided over what was an emergency meeting regarding what the next plan of action was - she stood before a room packed with dozens surviving humans and anthros alike in addition to Omega, however none of them were figures of any significant importance or familiarity.
Standing beside Gretchen Goode however was the queen of Bialya, one of the only major world leaders to have survived the immediate fallout of the flames' release. She was a woman of slim and well-endowed body, graced with olive skin common with those of her descent, emerald green eyes and brunette hair that was long though pulled back by a golden diadem she wore upon her head, accompanied by two golden earrings styled like stingers. The golden armbands on her forearms compliment well the strapless mini-skirt dress she wore, her legs concealed by black leggings and custom tailored high heeled boots; over her shoulders was draped a translucent veil of pale gold, originating from a thick golden brace around her neck.
She stood by silently as Gretchen Goode with the raising of a single hand managed to quiet down the squabbling crowd in the room. Not even a single whisper could be heard as the old woman began speaking, all of those in the room paid her the utmost respect.
"Now that we are all here, it is time to discuss our next plan of attack."
"But ma'am-"
"Be silent" she sharply silenced her would be interrupted, her stare alone was enough to make the man gulp, "Now…" she refocused back on the crowd at large, "I know that this, Iblis shall we call it, has completely devastated our forces. G.U.N. has been utterly compromised, and with it so has the United Federation. Soleanna, the epicenter of the beast, has of course been the most devastated thus far. Now, we have learned the hard way that attacking Iblis head on is futile. Even if we get him to vanish, we do little more than serve as a minor nuisance to him. While we may not be able to get to him however, the chances are looking good at neutralizing a figure whom I have reason to believe played a role in the disaster."
She then looked directly at Omega himself as a smirk seemed to form across her face - one that was practically ear to ear, as her brows curled downward in something of a maniacal fashion just before she uttered out:
"We are to focus on neutralizing Shadow the Hedgehog."
THE PRESENT…
The group listened in full attention as Omega recounted this story, explaining more behind what resulted in Shadow's future self being somehow imprisoned at the hands of the very powerful he promised to protect. Everyone was silent even after Omega had finished, Shadow himself being at a loss for words. Barry, Wally and Oliver had nothing to say - they were just as perplexed as they had been before.
However, Rouge mustered the strength to speak up:
"It's…, it's just not fair!" she exclaimed, "Shadow's always there to defend the world!" as she spoke, Shadow himself closed his eyes and turned his head away in silence, "Despite that…"
"Following the disaster that befalls the future" Omega explained, "It was determined that due to the power Shadow possesses, that he was a reasonable culprit for the trigger of the event. It was also determined that I was the only one capable of locating and stopping him. My programming at the time prevented me from declining the objective."
At that point, Shadow began to silently walk away - though he only took a few steps before Rouge's concerned voice spoke to him:
"Shadow…" she said, "Even if you think everyone in the world will be against you, know that I'll always remain by your side. Remember that."
Stopping for a bit, Shadow looked back and with a breath said in return:
"I will…"
Before continuing to walk way while both Rouge and Omega stood, not really having anything to say and beginning to bow their heads towards the sands of the beach.
Though they looked at each other, neither Barry nor Oliver knew what to say in this situation. The only one who had the bravery with which to speak was Wally, who spoke directly to Omega while Shadow was still in earshot:
"Omega, can I ask how you knew Mephiles was here in the first place?"
"Commander Goode informed me of the sighting after I had finished my repairs" Omega explained, to which Wally added:
"And, in the apocalyptic future, she's the one who leads the resistance and gives the order to have Shadow taken down, too?"
"That is also affirmative" Omega nodded. It was those questions and Omega's answers to them that had Shadow stop his walking away and instead begin thinking over the situation more carefully.
Gretchen Goode…
He thought about it hard.
From the moment he first encountered her, he had strong reasons to not trust her - the only reason he begrudgingly agreed to do so was due to his obligations to G.U.N. Not only had she been in charge of G.U.N. fifty years ago, but she also had been the one to give the tip regarding the archaeologists which led directly into an attempted Changeling ambush while evidently also directing Omega on an extremely dangerous lone encounter with Mephiles. Factoring in her involvement in the events of the future the group is trying to prevent, and Shadow was beginning to feel the pieces of Mephiles' puzzle were beginning to fall into place.
Something is up with her….is she...working with Mephiles?
I don't know, but what is Mephiles' plan?
Could it involve that girl? The duchess of Soleanna?
Realizing that he was about to give in to what Mephiles wanted, Shadow couldn't help but spend a few moments to think about what he had learned so far. He knew that Mephiles was first freed ten years ago as the result of an accident in Soleanna's underwater research facility, and arguably more important that it involved a young girl who is currently the sovereign of Soleanna.
At first he thought nothing of it when Silver brought her out of the castle and put her unconscious body to rest beside the tree, but looking back to it with the mindset of uncovering Mephiles' plan he realized he never did actually witness how Silver and Blaze handled their sealing of Iblis. The only thing they brought out with them was the young Elise.
Whom Eggman, who also seems interested in the Solaris project, is heavily interested in.
The Duchess….Eggman wants her, and he knows about the Solaris Project...
If my hunch about 'Iblis' is correct, then….we need to find where she is immediately.
Suddenly these revelations became clear enough for him to take back his decision to walk away from the scene, looking back at the group he turned directly to Barry and Wally as he sternly said to them:
"Barry, Wally" he said to them as the lot of them perked up at hearing him speak, "Go find Sonic. Now."
Barry and Wally could tell by the tone of his voice that there was no time or patience given to any questions about it, and so the speedster duo simply nodded in compliance before becoming blurs in the wind as they sped off into the distance as fast they could. With them gone, Shadow looked to the other three with him as he was quick to continue on with his words:
"Omega, Rouge, Oliver, we're returning to Kalinske. I want to have a talk with Commander Goode."
Rouge, Omega and Oliver all nodded in agreement with Shadow's plan of action and proceeded to promptly follow him as he began to walk in the direction of the beach's exit.
Returning to the Kalinske was now done in an even more negative mood than it had been the previous time.
The moment that Shadow led the group onto the deck of the aircraft carrier after having made their way there from Wave Ocean, the first thing he did was walk up to the nearest ship personnel and ask in the firmest of tones:
"Where's Commander Goode?"
Feeling more than intimidated by Shadow, the soldier responded with a clear stutter in his voice:
"U-Um, she's i-in her office. Would like an esc-"
"No" Shadow very bluntly walked past the young man, "I know where it is."
Walking towards the entrance to the ship's interior, it was just as the door slid open that Shadow turned to the other three with him, saying to each of them:
"You three stay here, I want to speak with her alone."
"Shadow…" Rouge spoke concernedly, with her concerns being elaborated on by Oliver:
"I know next to nothing about who this Goode lady is, but what if she pulls some tricks on you or something?"
"I can take care of myself" Shadow repeated, "But if, or when, something does go down, you three need to be as close as possible to leaving this ship. Now, trust me."
Looking to each other and then back at Shadow, it was with a nod that Rouge replied softly:
"We do, Shadow."
Without any further words, Shadow proceeded into the elevator and had one last look at his three teammates before he was taken into the ship's interior for what he already suspected to be the final time.
Goode's office was not hard to find at all - it was located in the center of the ship's interior and was also the largest of it's cabins, the woman having taken it from the original captain of the ship. Though there was plenty of walking to be done given the sheer size of the ship, Shadow was already at the door to her room soon enough. Of course, the metallic door was initially locked when Shadow was face to face with it, glaring at it's reflective surface with fists clenched. He looked at the side of it and saw that there was a keypad. Unclenching his left hand he reached out to 'buzz' the commander, though before his finger tip even touched a single button the door was already unlocked and opened.
Taking the hint, Shadow promptly showed himself in; the door closed behind him.
The room was very much 'presidential' in it's aesthetic, sporting the entrance office and through an archway the commander's personal bed chambers. The walls were painted a rich red color, with there being a fancy ornate rug sprawled across the floor where the dark mahogany desk and two chairs sat. Behind the desk was a wall mounted 70 inch monitor screen, and besides an exuberant amount of paperwork there was a personal laptop computer - shut down and closed.
Of the commander herself, she sat in silence, faced away from Shadow in the black leather swivel chair placed at her desk. Without turning to face him the first thing she even said to him was in a tone trying to pass off as though she had not the faintest idea what was going on:
"Yes?"
Not letting it phase him, Shadow stated his business:
"Commander Goode, I've come to speak with you."
Finally turning to face Shadow and look at him in the eyes, Gretchen still had upon her face a smirk that just stoked the fires of Shadow's already peaked anger. She knew exactly what this was about, she was just purposely taking her time.
"About what?" she asked.
"You sent Omega to hunt down Mephiles alone?" Shadow questioned back in a now much more confrontational tone, "For what reason?!"
"Ha" she laughed, still portraying obliviousness in her voice, "Oh Shadow, have you forgotten that Mephiles is quite the threat? Besides, you and the others had already left for the desert at the time - there wasn't anyone else to send after him."
Shadow's eyes leered at her, his suspicion not wavering for a second.
"You were the one who gave us the tip about the attack in the desert, which led us right into an ambush."
Yet again, all Goode responded with was a nonchalant tone as she said:
"What exactly are you getting at, Shadow?"
With a deep breath and still unbroken glare, he said ever firmly:
"You were the one who ordered the raid on the ARK, aren't you?"
There was a moment of silence after Shadow had uttered that question, Goode still glaring back at him with her face curled into a wrinkly smirk. She seemed to be chuckling to herself before giving the already angered Hedgehog the answer he asked for:
"What? Do you want me to say 'I'm sorry'?"
That was more than enough.
With an enraged growl, by sheer instinct Shadow motioned to punch the woman directly in the face - however with sharp reflexes the woman grabbed his fist with a single hand. There was even a shockwave from the impact of his fist slamming into her palm, but she was shockingly strong enough to actually stop his attack in its tracks - and didn't give him enough time to even process this before sending him with a single push slamming his back into the door. Not enough force to break it just yet, but more than enough to make a significant dent.
She stood up and approached the Hedgehog as he quickly stood himself back up, looking up at her with his leering glare still on full display. He had never expected such strength from a human, let alone an elderly human woman. Though, then again:
"What...what are you?"
Sinisterly chuckling, Goode found amusement in his question and responded accordingly:
"Oh, Shadow...you have no idea what I am."
With a single swing of her fist she was capable of sending Shadow to the floor, something which alone was a testament to her strength. Looking down onto him, she menacingly said:
"I think it's time Granny Goodness reminds you what obedience is. With discipline."
Motioning to stomp her foot down onto his neck, Granny Goodness would have been unstoppable by any other being, however Shadow had enough strength to not only grab at her feet with his hands but also sweep his legs with enough force to knock her to the ground, allowing him to turn the tables and get on top of her, grabbing her by the collar of her shirt. Though of course she grabbed his fist before he could land a punch to her face.
Even as he glared her down with intent to show no mercy, she remained smirking.
"I'll admit" Goodness remarked, "I'm impressed. I'm glad to see that I rooted out most of the weakness that Gerald wanted to instill in you."
The moment she spoke of his creator, even invoking him at all, gave Shadow enough fury and strength to finish his punch, though Granny still shifted her head to evade it, because getting up like that of a wrestler and swiftly pinning Shadow to the ground - with more than enough force to shake the floor of the cabin. With Shadow's small size however, he was able to break her old by spinning into his ball form. Sent back to her feet she was quickly pummeled by a direct hit from Shadow's spinning form to her chest - this time with more than enough force to send her back towards the wall, smashing the monitor as well as the wall itself, causing her to land on the tiled floor of her cabin's bathroom.
She didn't have time to recover either, for Shadow came rushing back right at her - though she had enough reflexes to grab hold of him and toss him directly for the wall mirror - which he too fell directly through both it and it's glass as well as through the wall itself - though he was able to stop himself and land on his feet with little more than a slide across the floor of the outside hall before he and Granny ended up clashing in mid-air after pouncing on one another.
Shadow managed to yet again overpower Granny and send her back into her office, using the boosters on the bottom of his shoes to shover her right through the door to her office before slamming her head against the wall of the opposite room - hard enough to create a dent in it, as he hissed with flaming fury:
"How dare you speak about the professor after what you ordered."
Yet again, Granny couldn't help but laugh.
"Oh come now, we both know it's not my use of his name that's gotten you so angry."
Widening his eyes, Shadow yet again slammed her head against the wall - this time hard enough to create a hole directly into the meeting room that was behind it. Even though she certainly had signs of battle on herself she still laughed and spoked with more than enough energy to carry on:
"Such fury, such raw power. A true warrior of Apokolips."
Shadow made the grave mistake of letting his guard down, being caught off guard by her words.
"W-w-what?"
Noticing this and being one to take advantage of this, Granny grinned sadistically before headbutting him square in the face - Shadow fell to the ground with both a thrud as well as a grunt.
"So I suppose nobody had told you the complete truth behind your origins" Granny said, making Shadow look up at her with a glare still on his face, "Or perhaps your memory still needs more discipline too."
She then smacked him across the face with a single hand, sending back to the ground.
However, she quickly got out of the way before she could slam her foot down onto him, and unleashed a chaos spear right to her chest, the first change he had. It was enough to send her back to the edge of the hallway, where the two combatants yet again had a moment to catch their breaths in a lull period of their confrontation.
"What…" Shadow said, not removing eye contact with her for a second, "What are you saying?"
Smirking, Granny Goodness was blunt with it:
"I'm saying you're a New God, Shadow. You are a son of Apokolips."
"What are you talking about?" Shadow stood his ground and started with a voice as clear as crystal, "I'm the ultimate lifeform, created by Professor Gerald Robotnik."
"Using the DNA of Black Doom" Goodness remarked, something which made Shadow twitch in anger, knowing she brought it up just to press his buttons.
"What is your point?"
"Oh, how adorable" Granny mocked, "You think Black Doom wasn't planned from the beginning" with a laugh she continued, "We needed Black Doom's DNA because it was the only viable source of proper Apokoliptian blood, as he was after all a shadow of the past, so to speak. There were some of us who thought of destroying him after he served his purpose, though I personally didn't see the point; needless to say, after his failed invasion that discussion is quite hilarious in hindsight."
Gritting his teeth in an angry growl, Shadow still leered at the woman.
If what she was telling him were true, there was more to his past that he still has not uncovered. He had no idea what she was talking about with him being a 'New God', though based on what he was hearing, he felt confident now more than ever as he said:
"So, you are working with Mephiles."
"I work for my God." - the nonchalant smirk on her face said all that Shadow needed to know. It was a flat out yes no matter what way he looked at it.
"Well" Shadow remarked back, clenching his fists as he prepared his next move - "Consider me your devil."
Yet again the two of them charged at each other, though this time his fists were ignited with flashing chaos energy just as his eyes were all but ignited with fire. Once they were close enough to each other once again, Shadow attacked first by blocking Granny's punch with one of his elbows, and with the other hand delivering to her a chaos energy uppercut that was more than enough to yet again sender her to the floor - though it was followed up with him blasting her with a sharp blast from the other hand.
With it being enough to kill any normal person, Shadow had expected her to have been dealt with and began walking away after his final blow had been dealt - though once the smoke and dust cleared from where they had been battling he was caught off guard by the hundreds of G.U.N. soldiers now within the hallway - all of their assault rifles primed and aimed directly at him.
Though caught off guard by this, he quickly readied his battle stance, unafraid of mere human soldiers. Though it was at that moment that he heard the sound of Granny Goodness coughing in between laughing as she got up and back onto her feet. With a grin she remarked:
"Such little respect for your elders, Shadow" she said, "Not to worry though, soon you'll be among my most obedient graduates."
"Hmph" Shadow scoffed at her words, "I take orders from no one, especially the likes of you."
"Well, we'll be seeing about that now won't we?"
Shadow snarled at her after she said that, at this point he was reaching his breaking point. The temptation to remove his inhibitor rings which kept his power in check was extremely strong - and he could practically feel the red aura of sheer rage coursing all around him. Regardless of what he was about to do, all hell was about to break loose.
Though that was when a noise from the deck of the ship provided a distraction.
A loud, booming rumble - rattling the entire ship as though an earthquake was happening all throughout it.
It was not the only of it's kind either. Though the soldiers remained aiming their guns at Shadow, both the hedgehog and granny looked up at the ceiling of the hall as it shook, the lights above them even flickering with each rumble. Goodness was quick to use this as an opportunity to further toy with Shadow:
"Well, it appears my furies have encountered your so-called 'friends'." she said, even though the news only flared up Shadow's rage even further, "It appears this is the point at which you choose what you're going to do next."
Yes.
It is.
On the deck of the ship, hell had already broken loose.
Several of the jet planes that had been stationed were already left in broken smithereens across the length of the ship - towers of flame and smoke billowing into the skies as only even more explosions continued to lay waste to everything - sending aircraft and robotic soldier parts spiraling in all directions virtually by the second. All while active robots as well as flocks of jets and attack helicopters flew overhead, firing streams of bullets and missiles in the direction of what was perceived as a 'threat'. It had not been that long since Shadow had left his companions in the area, and already it had turned into a complete war zone as G.U.N. 's forces revealed their allegiance to Granny Goodness and began assaulting them.
It would have been thought that the laser blasts from one of the robotic sentries or missiles from the jets or helicopters would have been more than enough to kill the group - though Omega had impressive defensive abilities and both Oliver and Rouge had more than enough reflexes to out maneuver any attempt to destroy them so swiftly.
However, the standard military units were never actually intended to be the primary killing force. Merely support.
That was where the Furies came in.
They seemed to arrive out of nowhere on the deck of the ship, and very quickly turned the conflict from a mere endurance game into a more proper battle.
Big Barda, Gilotina, Lashina, Mad Harriet and Stompa had all been eager to have a rematch with Rouge and Omega, with Big Barda even remarking "There's no water monster to save you this time!" as she charged at Rouge with her sword brandished. Rouge managed to evade her weapon by flying into the air, though Lashina's whip managed to reach well into the air and smacked her directly in the face - drawing blood as well as knocking the bat right back down onto the ship where she groaned and struggled to stand up as the two approached her.
At least until Lashina herself was sent to the ground via a direct hit from a missile fired from Omega's arms, him having just pushed Stompa off of himself. He was soon trading blows with Big Barda after she charged at him - her sword deflecting many of Omega's bullet streams and her skin being impervious to them anyway. However he was more than strong enough for his metallic hands to grab hold of her sword once she was in close range as his other turned into a flamethrower that set fire to her, though she remained near unharmed as she put a foot to his robotic chest and kicked him away - albeit he discharged several locked-on energy shots at her just before he promptly stood back up.
They of course did not do any long lasting damage to her, though they did keep her fixated on him.
Oliver meanwhile was having to alternate between Mad Harriet and Gilotina, using his arrows to attempt in keeping them at a distance and his bow itself whenever they got too close for comfort, but due to the fact he was a mere human utilizing weapons there was little he could do besides play a repeated hit-and-run game with them - doing his best to keep his distance and fire his arrows at them while using the cover of the smoke and fire around them whenever he was spotted and charged at.
Of course, his arrows proved to be little beyond a nuisance for them; it didn't precisely take very long for them to manage subduing him.
Right after leaping through a cloud of fiery smoke, he prepared to aim his bow at a pouncing Mad Harriet who had followed him, and though he did succeed in firing an explosive arrow right at his face and sent her backwards, he left himself open to getting kneed in the stomach by Gilotina, who proceeded to grab him by the back of his hood just to knee him in the gut a second time before letting him fall to the ground.
He coughed up a bit of blood from her impacts, trying to get up but forced back onto his back by her foot the moment he did. His bow was slapped away the moment he even tried to use it. Considering there was that wall of smoke and fire behind her as she sadistically looked down onto him, he couldn't help but at least offer what was potentially one last remark for him to go out on:
"For some reason, this is sort of how I always pictured myself goin' down…"
"Oh, good for you then." Gilotina replied back, already beginning to sink her heel harder onto his chest as a grinning Mad Harriet approached from behind to watch.
She would have surely crushed Oliver's chest had it not been for a certain Stompa flying directly into her - colliding with her and sending the two of them sliding across the deck of the ship.
Of course, this was not an intentional move.
Oliver and Mad Harriet turned to see Shadow the Hedgehog standing before them - a raging red aura coursing across this body as his position gave well away that he had mustered the strength to actually send Stompa on her collision course. To say that the sight of Shadow was a relief to Oliver would be quite the understatement:
"Looks like the cavalry's here!" he exclaimed, using the distraction to reach for his bow as Mad Harriet couldn't resist charging at Shadow with all of her speed and might.
Shadow meanwhile, didn't move a single muscle.
The moment she was close enough he grabbed both of her clawed hands and headbutted her square in the face - hard enough to generate a shockwave from the impact alone. As she grunted and fell to the ground he then proceeded to grab one of her legs and flip her to the other side - getting a steep dent in the deck's metallic floor before he then tossed her with surprising ease into the bottom floor of the ship's control tower - she breached right through the wall at such a velocity and was knocked out cold by the time the dust had cleared.
By that point though, Gilotina and Stompa had recovered - getting back onto their feet the two glared at Shadow. There was something about the fact it was him that seemed to keep the two of them silent - perhaps it was something related to what Granny Goodness had said of him earlier. It wasn't fear, Shadow could tell that right away; it was more of them being visibly intimidated by him, or perhaps even trying to decide which of them wanted to take the credit of slaying him.
Ultimately it was Stompa who made the first move.
She charged at Shadow and leaped into the air once he unleashed a chaos spear upon her. However Shadow chaos controlled without saying a word, teleporting himself directly up to her so that he could clasp his two hands together into a single fist that plowed directly onto her back - slamming her swiftly back down to the ground of the ship. It was hard of enough of a fall that she actually fell directly through the floor itself - causing a series of ear piercingly loud sounds, primarily of metal crunching, cracking and breaking.
Watching as Shadow then chaos controlled again and teleported out of her view, Gilotina held her spear and dagger tightly; yet again showing that she seemed to know the devil was dealing with.
Yet in the mood he was in, Shadow was not precisely easy to handle.
With him appearing behind her, Gilotina swiftly turned to face him with a growling shout - her spear managed to scrape his torso though he grabbed her dagger with a hand before she could get it to pierce his face.
In this position, the two struggled for quite a bit of time. Glaring each other down, with Gilotina doing her hardest to get her blades to pierce Shadow's skin, while Shadow clenched tightly down. Both of their feet scraping against the metal floor of the deck, the high pitched scratching sound being unmistakable.
Their struggle could very well have gone on for hours, had it not been for Shadow unleashing from himself a pulsating blast of chaos energy that dispensed his red aura though also sent Gilotina spiraling fast into the top floor of the command tower - before then causing the entire tower to erupt into a booming fiery inferno of an explosion, turning from a tower of metal into one of flame. Though Gilotina and Mad Harriet had been in the blast, their New God physiology had allowed them to live, though they had to first unseat the rubble and debris now burying them. This gave the others time to wrap up their own fighting, though they also now had the added obstacle of evading the debris falling from the tower's destruction.
With the others, Oliver was using repeated strikes from his arrows as a way to get Big Barda distracted with himself to allow Omega to assist Rouge, who was struggling against Lashina's bladed whips. She was managing to dodge them effectively and retaliate with her martial arts prowess, but the New God woman just hit so much harder than she did that it was visibly resulting in Rouge having more battle bruises, cuts across her arms and legs, and blood from her mouth than what Lashina had in comparison.
However, the tide changed when Omega essentially tag teamed when Omega charged into her at full speed - slamming into her back with his elbow and bringing her to the ground. Lashina with a growl tried to send her weapon into the robot's head, though Omega was able to uppercut it into the air and use a machine gun blast from unveiling the guns inside of his arms to destroy it with rapid fire while a shot of Oliver's electric arrow managed to incapacitate him. While Rouge and Omega both looked over in his direction, Oliver just remarked:
"What? Didn't want you guys to have all the credit."
"Well" Rouge replied between deep repeated breathes, "I think that's all of them."
"Incorrect" Omega said back, "There is still one still in play."
He was right of course, for a good distance away from them - Shadow and Big Barda were having their own stand-off. Barda held her sword in her arm firmly, while Shadow prepared a stance with fists clenched and held in a battle stance fit for a karate fight. Both of them locked their eyes onto the other, not removing their eye contact from one another for a second as they moved in a slow circle, preparing to see who would decide to throw the first blow.
Neither of them showed fear, and neither of them seemed intimidated by the other.
Barda even made it clear:
"Your status as ultimate lifeform doesn't matter to me" she said, "It only means I shall get the glory of being your slayer."
"Hmph" Shadow scoffed, "Or it will be me who will be your slayer."
"We'll be seeing about that shortly."
"Yes, we will."
With that exchange, the two finally charged at one another - leaping into the air, Shadow igniting his fists with chaos energy and Barda aiming her blade for her opponent's heart. Their eye contact still unbroken as they approached one another at rapid pace.
Their battle would have perhaps been legendary, had they been allowed to actually go through with it.
Just before they could have made contact with each other, there was a bellowing roar from the interior of the ship as it yet again shook, mere seconds before a flaming explosion erupted right in between the two with more than enough force to send the two flying back onto the deck floor and onto their backs. It only took a few seconds for them to sit up and witness even more explosions erupting across the ship as it continued to shake and rumble as though an earthquake was striking it - considering the alarms were now sounding off throughout the entire length of the ship with lifeboats already deploying to the waters below to evacuate as many personnel as possible, it was obvious what was happening.
However, neither of them cared. They were more than ready to pounce onto each other and battle anyway, though something seemed to ring in Barda's ear before she could do so - something which without any further spoken dialouge, prompted her to accept having to battle Shadow at a different time.
With Shadow being delayed by another shaking of the ship as it began it's process of sinking and was already about to split in half with a thunderous roar as it's two halves began lifting upwards as they violently ripped from each other, Barda took this moment to open what appeared to be a portal from an box shaped device she held out - and wasted no time in jumping through it.
Shadow was about to follow her before gravity betrayed him, though when he overheard the scream of a certain archer as he was plummeting towards him, he made sure to grab Oliver first.
"Ah! Phew…" Oliver was well beyond relieved, looking at the fact he was about to plump what was quite possible a few miles down to the ocean below, "Thanks man, I'm pretty sure I owe you now."
Using his shoes to levitate in the air while holding Oliver with one hand, Shadow turned to see Rouge and Omega were also deploying their own flight abilities and racing towards them as the ship collapsed around them. Relieved that they two were okay, Shadow then turned his attention to the boom tube before him, and took note that it was beginning to close. Not wanting to let them or their master get away so easily, Shadow shouted at the top of his lungs:
"FOLLOW ME!"
And so he tossed Oliver into the boom tube first, much to the man's shock, before leaping in after him with Rouge and Omega managing to follow suit mere seconds before it closed behind them.
You're not getting away from me this time, Mephiles!
I'm going to find out what you're up to, and I'm putting an end to it!
BIALYA...
Emerging from the boom tube at the last possible moment, the group found themselves in what appeared at first to be a very familiar area. At least for Shadow, Rouge and Omega, In Oliver's case, he landed face first in hot desert sand and had to look up in order to see the return of a wide open desert landscape; though this time they were on the vantage point of the ledge of a plateau overlooking what was a massive river that was at least a mile wide and thousands of miles long as it slithered well behind the horizon. It also provided a break from what was otherwise nothing but a sea of sand heated up by ocean in that the direct proximity of it's flowing blue water was the green slices of healthy vegetation that made up it's floodplains. Palm trees, ferns, grass, papyrus and fields of desert wetland for miles on end; all huddled around the mighty river for life.
Joined of course, by civilization.
In the center of their view was a city on the edge of the river's mouth, where the greater river split into a series of smaller rivers forging a large delta of floodplain as they made their way towards whatever sea or ocean rested beyond the shore so many miles away.
The city itself was just as grand as the river that divided it into east and west; it was a beautiful modern metropolis with structures that ranged from low lying homes and apartments to impressive skyscrapers and towers that soared well into the sky; all of it's expanse baked well in the light of the sun beating down onto it, and all of it densely packed as to hug the river and make use of all the inhabitable land the desert allotted it's people. There was even a complex of several pyramids, cascading in size from a large one followed by several smaller ones, all situated on the very western edge of the city. In the center of it all was a palace, constructed at the very beginning of the river delta itself - with several drawbridges used to allow entry to it's grounds. The palace itself was so large and magnificent that it absolutely dominated and commanded the respect of it's skyline.
The palace itself was surrounded by high walls, with a single main gate granting entrance should one get past the bridges. A small area on the wall was outfitted for the Royalty or Important people to make speeches and announcements to the people of Bialya. The palace itself is mostly polished white in color, with golden domed roofs, curving in the shape of tear drops with the same shape being used for the spires that extended into the sky for added beauty.. There are multiple towers of varying sizes. Inside, there are various rooms that are used by the ones staying inside of it. Outside, in the area between the walls and the building itself, is a large and magnificent garden courtyard, as well as a fountain of crystal clear water in the center.
The sight of it all was truly something for all of them to take in, though gazing at all Oliver couldn't help but remark:
"Did, did we just fall through a portal straight to Egypt?"
"Nope" Rouge answered, scanning the area with her eyes as she explained to the archer "We're in Bialya now. Specifically the capital city."
"Okay…" Oliver was still adjusting to all this timeline had to offer, "And, where did our 'friends' go, then?"
"My sensors indicate that there are approximately two chaos emeralds located within the Bialyan royal palace" Omega suddenly interrupted, fixing his head directly towards the palace itself, "In addition to readings identical to those of both Mephiles and Commander Goode."
"Well then" Shadow replied, crossing his arms and looking at the palace himself, "It appears we have our destination."
"Breaking into the Bialyan royal palace?" Rouge remarked, "I'm about to go down in treasure hunter history with this one! I wonder what Mephiles is doing here, though? And with two chaos emeralds?"
Shadow, though mostly speculating on his part, offered something of an explanation:
"I'm guessing he needs them to rejoin with Iblis."
Walking ahead of the others while still fixated on the palace, Omega pumped an arm like that of a shotgun as he said as threateningly determined he could:
"I will seal him before that."
With Omega more than ready as it was, the rest of the group exchanged silent nods to each other before they set off towards the Bialyan palace - all of them knowing well that this was more than likely going to be the endgame of their adventure.
Even so, the words that Granny Goodness had said ached throughout Shadow's mind as he lead his team down the slope of the plateau and towards the city:
New God…
Son of Apokolips…
Black Doom possessed 'viable' Apokoloptian blood?
What exactly was Black Doom?
What exactly am I?
He then let out a deep breathe, reasoning:
Guess I'll find out soon….