Shadow x Rouge: Agents In Love
Chapter Thirteen: Egg Base Delta Five, Shadow vs Eggman
Shadow found Egg Base Delta Five on the edge of Emerald Forest, a humongous compound with a big red-grey entrance door, spotlights beaming up into the sky and shaped like some kind of giant turtle-sized miniature city.
He took his position behind a tree, watching as Eggman came down in his Egg Mobile and went inside. There weren't any guards posted at the door, so it was clear getting inside was a piece of cake. However, there would still be robots inside.
Making sure the coast was clear, the dark hedgehog made his move. He emerged from his hiding spot and dashed to the door, which opened automatically, allowing the Ultimate Life Form to walk inside without a fight and ready to confront Eggman.
Robotic security cameras on the ceiling moved left and right in the entrance hall, scanning for intruders. Shadow snapped his fingers and activated Chaos Control, slowing down time enough for him to smash all the cameras, taking them out.
Shadow turned off Chaos Control and time returned to normal, watching as the destroyed cameras fell to the ground in pieces. He dusted his gloved hands before proceeding down the halls, keeping an eye out for robots and more cameras.
He didn't see Eggman or his Egg Mobile anywhere, the doctor must've gone deeper inside the base to one of his chambers. Wherever he was, whatever he was planning, Shadow was going to find the madman and put a stop to his plans just as Sonic would.
The dark hedgehog found a locked door and noticed a panel with buttons on it, figuring he had to punch in a passcode to unlock the door. Shadow moved his hand over the H button, guessing what the passcode already was.
He tapped H, then he pressed A, followed by T and then E. H was next again, followed by E, D, G, E, H, O, G and, finally 623. Eggman had set the passcode to something almost obvious, the fact he hated Sonic and other hedgehogs which included Shadow.
Slowly, the door slid open and Shadow casually walked on through into a large hallway. It felt like a maze, but this maze would be easy to navigate. A security camera on the wall activated and turned in Shadow's direction before he smashed it.
A group of spear-wielding Egg Pawns marched past, hardly conversing as usual. An Egg Pawn rolled on by on a skateboard, wearing sunglasses. 'Damn robots.' Shadow thought, once the Egg Pawn guards had passed by on their round, he walked by.
Taking a right down the hall, Shadow found his biggest obstacle ever: A laser grid. 'Hmph. No competition.' The Ultimate Life Form mused thoughtfully, he teleported in between a laser grid section and then warped to the other side. 'Piece of cake!'
Yet another camera emerged from a wall, prompting Shadow to blow it up with Chaos Spear, he watched as the camera sparked and its red light turned off. He could hear clanking, signaling that robots were coming. He ducked down another corridor.
'Déjà vu.' Shadow thought, noticing he'd been on solo missions plenty of times and some of them did involve stealth. In fact, he was getting vibes from the last time he traversed an Eggman base on his own and employed a bit of stealth.
Shadow pressed his back to the wall from time to time as he sneaked around corners, making sure to avoid getting detected by Badniks. A few Moto Bugs entered the area, only to get smashed by Shadow and freeing a few animals inside.
Before long, before any robots or cameras could detect the presence of an intruder, their intruder had gone deeper into the base and was slowly getting closer and closer by the minute towards the man with the master plan.
At one point, just as he was taking a right while traversing a corridor, Shadow almost ran into an Egg Hammer when its back was turned to him. Thankfully, he saw it coming and stopped before turning on Chaos Control to slow down time.
"HIYAH!" Shadow smashed the Egg Hammer's head and destroyed the rest of the body with its own hammer before kicking the pieces aside, he saw some laser gun wielding Egg Pawns in the vicinity and decimated them with Chaos Spear.
Moving left, Shadow found an elevator and assumed it would lead him to the heart of the base, right to Eggman. This base was big, it even provided a challenge too. So far, he'd been stealthy. But once he reached Eggman, that would be when things changed.
Shadow pressed a red button and stepped into the elevator, the doors closed behind him and it began to move downwards. He stood still with his arms crossed and leaned against a wall, silently brooding over how his day had gone.
While the Ultimate Life Form was a bit disappointed by how his day was going, he'd been waiting for a day like this for quite some time while he and Rouge were dating. Just like Sonic, The dark hedgehog liked a challenge, but on his terms.
The speakers on the elevator played some music, it sounded like Eggman's very own theme song. E.G.G.M.A.N it was called. Shadow found himself bopping his head up and down, back and forth, as he listened to 'I am the Eggman, I got the master plan.'
BZZT BZZT! The buzzing indicated the elevator ride was over, the doors slowly opened and Shadow turned on Chaos Control when he figured there was a whole ton of Eggman robots and security cameras to trash in the room outside, which he did.
With the coast clear, the artificial life form turned off Chaos Control and walked left down the hall, stopping to make sure there was nothing in the way, until he turned right. There it was ahead, the big door with Eggman's symbol on it.
'No doubt,' Shadow thought, 'The doctor is here.' He smashed the unsuspecting robots in the vicinity and dashed to the door, pressing his ear against it when he heard Eggman grumbling on the other side.
"So close..." The doctor was saying furiously, "I was so close, but that blasted and infuriating hedgehog turned the tables! Grrr!"
'Sounds like the doctor lost to Sonic again.' Shadow mused, 'Time to make the doctor's day worse.' "CHAOS BLAST!"
BOOM! The door collapsed, its hinges destroyed and Shadow walked inside the huge mechanical chamber and finding Eggman in the middle of the room, standing on a large platform. The doctor turned around, a hint of cold fury on his mustached face.
"And then there's you… Shadow." Eggman growled, "I can't believe you managed to make it past all of my guards without triggering the alarm, you're just as annoying as Sonic, you, your batty girlfriend, that traitorous robot and your United Federation.
"I already just fought Sonic, but I am more than happy to destroy what Grandpa Robotnik created decades ago. Enjoy the final seconds of your existence, Ultimate Life Form. I'll make sure you join Gerald... IN HELL!"
Eggman pressed a button and part of the platform he stood on descended, Shadow moved forward, watching what was going on with curiosity. He was ready to take down Eggman, he would make sure the doctor was brought to his knees.
Then, the room began to shake. Cackling echoed in the chamber along with churning gears and clanking metal, Shadow watched as something huge emerged from the floor. It looked like... a gigantic gray robot with a bushy mustached face.
"Meet the Egg Gerald, Shadow!" Eggman cackled from within the piloting area of the mechanical beast. "How fitting your creator is about to become YOUR DESTROYER, that's right, I just resurrected Grandpa Robotnik by creating a robot named after him."
"Before this is over, doctor," Shadow said, "You'll be wishing you never awakened me that day, it's time to show you another meaning as to why I'm the Ultimate Life Form. There's nothing else but you and me, its time to bring you to justice.
No other words had to be spoken, it was just Shadow and the Eggman-piloted Egg Gerald, both ready for combat. "I'll make sure to squash you like a bug, alien-hedgehog hybrid!" Eggman declared, working at the controls.
The Egg Gerald's hulking mechanical fists raised, shaking before they came down. Shadow flipped out of the way and evaded the fists as they slammed into the ground, creating a shockwave that could've knocked down anybody.
"Is that the best you got, Eggman?" Shadow sneered, a turret popped out of the Egg Gerald's nose and was about to fire until the black hedgehog sprung a homing attack and smashed the cannon, delivering damage to the Egg Gerald.
"I'M FAR TOUGHER, SHADOW!" Eggman declared, "Have a full-scale barrage, all missiles, bombs and lasers... GO!" A hatch opened up behind the Egg Gerald and a whole pack of bombs shaped like Eggman's face popped out.
Shadow grabbed a couple of them using Chaos Control and chucked them at the Egg Gerald right as lasers went off, Shadow ducked to avoid the barrage right as missiles launched and headed straight for him just like homing missiles would.
Eggman pulled some levers and the Egg Gerald reared back before letting a fist fly, heading right for Shadow. The powerful agent slowed down time and ducked out of the way to avoid getting hit in the fist, however, he underestimated Eggman.
In the pilot seat, Eggman pressed a button and a glowing light lit up on the robot's torso, apparently the doctor had installed a feature to counter Shadow's Chaos Control. Thankfully, Shadow sensed it and threw a Chaos Spear at the robot and stopped it.
Eggman raised the Egg Gerald's fist, outstretching them towards Shadow. "GET A LOAD OF THIS!" The doctor bellowed, smoke emerged from the area where the hands connected to the arm and a fist shot at Shadow, who sidestepped out of the way.
"CHAOS CON... OOF!" He was about to utilize Chaos Control when the other fist hit him, Shadow was knocked into the wall, dazed. "HA HA HA!" The mad doctor cackled, "Did you like that, Shadow? That's for tricking me into almost destroying the world!"
Shadow recovered and stood up, only to get knocked down again when an Egg Gerald-deployed Egg Bomb blew up next to him and knocked him aside. "And that's for Egg Base Gamma, you hateful black rodent!" Eggman snarled.
Before the doctor could make a move that would determine Shadow's fate, Shadow recovered quickly and stood up, prepared to keep fighting. Knowing that Eggman was just as tough than ever, he knew what he had to do.
The Ultimate Life Form looked at the Egg Gerald, at Eggman in the eyes, and began to unlock his inhibitor rings. "Behold my true power, doctor!" Shadow declared, his rings clanked to the ground, glowing as they were unlocked.
KABWSH! Shadow's powers were unlocked and unleashed; Chaos Energy surrounded the dark hedgehog as he became Chaos Shadow. Ready to go all out, Shadow lunged at Eggman and let loose, launching one homing attack after another homing attack.
He attacked the arm joints and the torso before attacking the launchers, throwing Chaos Spear attacks everywhere. Shadow kicked the head of the beast, scaring Eggman beyond compare. Then he went right for the core of the mechanical monster.
Shadow smashed into the glowing dome and hit the robotic heart, unleashing Chaos Blast. He made his way to a safer distance before putting his inhibitor rings back on and watched as the Egg Gerald crumbled and its limbs exploded.
"YOU!" Eggman snarled, flying out of the machine in his Egg Mobile and glaring at Shadow, "I'll make you pay for this, just you wait, Shadow. In time, the world will be ashes and all will bow before my brilliance. Until next time, Agent Shadow..."
Shadow attempted to catch Eggman, but the mad doctor flew off. The dark hedgehog watched with slight frustration, clenching his fist as Eggman made his escape. He didn't have time to brood about it, explosions now started shaking Egg Base Delta Five.
"Better go!" The dark hedgehog said and tore out of the room at rocket speed, evading explosive rubble on the way out. With no time for the elevator, he used Chaos Control to warp back up the way he came from.
Turning on his rocket shoes full blast, Shadow raced down the corridors, tearing through Eggman robots and laser grids as alarms went off and warned of the inevitable self-destruct sequence that had kicked in.
Moving to the right, the dark hedgehog did not stop even as the doors began to close, the base was entering self-destruct lock down mode. Shadow focused as hard as he could, Rouge wasn't here, there was nobody to carry to safety except for small animals.
He saw the door he'd previously unlocked, it was still open and there was no need to do passcodes again. Shadow blasted through the open door and right down the hall, past the wrecked security cameras, the exit was ahead. Just a bit further...
WOOSH! Shadow made it out and kept dashing until he'd gotten to a safer distance in the forest, turning to watch Egg Base Delta Five go up in rubble and flames as the animals scattered. Shadow crossed his arms smiling, he was hardly disappointed at all.
He might not have been able to capture Eggman, but at least the doctor was defeated. Plus, there was always next time. Until then, best to relish in the fact the maniac was beaten again and another Eggman base was ruins.
"Shadow!" The dark hedgehog turned to find his girlfriend and Omega racing up to him. "Shadow," Rouge said again, "Wow, what happened? We just heard the sound of explosions and got here in time to see it happening."
"DID YOU GET EGGMAN?" Omega questioned.
"What do you think?" Shadow replied with a smirk, "It's going to be a while before we hear from the doctor again, he was defeated... even though he got away."
"Eggman got away?" Rouge put a hand over her mouth, shocked.
"Its fine," Shadow said, taking the bat's hand, "There's always another day."
"Either way, you did a great job, Shad." Rouge kissed the hedgehog on the cheek. Shadow hugged the bat and returned the kiss in kind, then he and his team headed back to the campsite so he could get some much-needed rest after quite a battle.
A short while later, as he lay in his tent in the sleeping bag with Rouge, Shadow stayed awake a bit longer as he thought of Eggman's escape. He knew the Commander would be asking for a report about it, so Shadow was prepared for if he got yelled at...