(A/N: Hey folks, thanks for waiting on this! We are getting down to the nitty-gritty here as you can see. This whole chapter will deal with the last level of the pathway, and bits of The Last Story as well. While wording it all has been the biggest challenge, I still feel proud in how it all turned out! Enjoy!)
The Miracle of Love
Chapter 12: Final Haunt
DISCLAIMER: This fan fiction contains instances of profanity, extreme violence, nightmare-inducing imagery, and sexual content. Viewer discretion is advised.
All characters and settings are property of SEGA and Sonic Team
NOVEMBER 18, 2015
2:15 AM – SPACE COLONY ARK – COMPUTER ROOM
Closure can be a difficult thing to find. Accepting the truth of it all is a challenge in and of itself. On this day, GUN Commander Abraham Tower was forced to take this challenge.
It had been several hours since he and the Chaotix forced themselves to watch that disturbing video of Tower's own father attempting to rape Maria Robotnik, the one he always looked up to as a big sister. He was still trying to digest all of what he had seen. Everything he knew and loved about his father was all a ruse, perhaps he had let his own emotions get the better of him. He put so many of his men and the world at stake for avenging a sexual predator. He felt so ashamed as he walked the halls of the space colony. While some of the others fell asleep, Tower didn't get a wink of sleep. He couldn't. Not with so much on his own mind.
"Commander, sir? Shouldn't you be sleeping?"
Tower turned to see Cream walking down the hall, holding her NiGHTS doll with Charmy and Cheese right behind her. Cream had trouble sleeping that night herself. What she watched was traumatizing for her, so she slept in one of the old bedrooms of the ARK. Her boyfriend slept close to her for the night, but they were awoken from their calm sleep by the commander's pacing footsteps. Tower turned back and looked out the window.
"I should be asking you the same thing, young lady." Said Tower.
"I couldn't sleep. That video was quite scary…." She said, "Maybe scarier than the aliens or soldiers…"
"You slept better than before I cuddled up to you, my honey-bunny…" said Charmy, huggling her.
"Awww, stop Charmy…" Cream giggled.
Commander Tower rolled his eyes at them but said nothing. It was still young love after all, and he couldn't fault them for loving each other. He had recently become a grandfather, so it would be hypocritical to fault any kind of affection. What he could fault, however, was what he had put the two through. Trying to have them killed for no crime than simply association with the Ultimate Life Form was truly pitiful on his part. "I'm sorry. Both of you." He said stoically.
Charmy looked up to the commander in chief of GUN and titled his head. He had a feeling why he was apologizing, but it was a bit out of the blue. Not to mention it seemed to be very conspicuous for him to apologize like this when he seemed a little unwilling to even apologize to Shadow after everything that happened. "You shouldn't be apologizing to us, dude." He said.
"Oh believe me, I should. As I said before, I acted irrationally and used my position to kill Shadow and anyone that sympathized with him. Even you two. All for avenging my bastard father. My grudge was against Shadow and him alone, but I put you two in harm. That was heartless for me to do, and I can never forgive myself for it…"
"You didn't know what he was like, commander. You did what you felt was right, because you loved your father…" said Cream sympathetically. Both the males wondered how Cream could easily forgive Tower for trying to have her and Charmy killed.
"I appreciate your pity, young lady. But that alone won't make me or my conscience feel lighter from the sins I have committed."
"I understand…"
"Well I don't." said Charmy, "I'm not forgiving you so easily. And if there's anyone you should be apologizing to, it's Shadow! In fact, how 'bout we call him right now?!"
Charmy picked up his phone and started dialing for Shadow. He wasn't sure if outer space had any cell phone but he was too pissed to care at the moment. After a minute, Charmy started talking to his surrogate brother. "Hey Shad! Hope you're awake for this shit!" he said, then turned to Cream so he could apologize for swearing.
"Wide awake, thanks to you. But this isn't a good time right now, Charmy. We have a problem; Black Doom's kidnapped Amy." Shadow answered.
"What?! Amy's been kidnapped?! The hell did that happen, bro?!"
"He's using Amy as a bargaining chip so I can do his bidding again. That fucker's asking me to either nuke the whole world or cough up the emeralds to him. I can't do either, but he isn't giving me much choice. But don't worry, Sonic and Tails have a plan. I'll get Amy back and give Doom the big assbeating he deserves!"
"That's what I'm talking about! I'll head back to the ship and we can give it to him!"
"No, Charmy. Not this time. I'm heading up there myself. I don't want you getting involved this time."
"What…? What do you mean? We're partners here!"
"Black Doom has Amy, I can't imagine what he's doing to her. I'm not risking her life for anything, and I'm damn sure not risking yours! I'm sorry, Charmy. But you have to stay on the ARK…"
"Shad, I can handle myself! We're like a duo, an unstoppable ultimate dream team!"
"And what if one of us gets hurt? What if you die?! Black Doom is desperate and is probably going to do whatever he can to get the emeralds and keep me his bitch. You love Cream, don't you? Well if you go with me and something happens to you, and you leave her alone… how do you think she'll feel? That you're gone or not the same Charmy she fell in love with? Do you want that, kiddo?"
Charmy looked over to his sweet caramel bunny. She was hugging her plush looking very concerned. Not just worried about her best friend being in danger but that Charmy might be going into the proverbial hornet's nest, and may not come out of it. Cream knew how close he and Shadow were, and how much respect he had for the Ultimate Life Form, and the bee would probably do anything for him. She knew he had done dangerous crap before and wouldn't stop, but Cream was still scared that she may lose her beloved, with no one but her mother and Chao to console her. The young detective could see that look in her eyes. He knew he couldn't leave her again, no matter what. He sighed and spoke to Shadow again.
"Shad… whatever you do… promise you'll come back in one piece!" said Charmy.
"Only if you promise to clean your room…" joked Shadow, "And don't worry, I'm not the one going in pieces!"
With that, Shadow hung up on Charmy. Tower looked down in respect. He didn't expect Shadow to die at all, but he was quite amazed at how the black hedgehog was willing to do anything to keep his loved ones safe. He was jealous of the Ultimate Life Form in that respect. Tower had recklessly thrown his men into death's arms for basically nothing. He felt so ashamed. As he was deep in thought and Charmy being comforted by Cream & Cheese, there was a sudden voice on the intercom.
"Charmy, Cream, commander! Get to the computer room stat, you guys gotta see this!" bellowed Vector. The trio instantly got up and ran in. It had to have been important for them to be summoned in such a fashion. When they arrived, Espio and Sonar were still on the main console while Vector was looking over their shoulder. Tower slowly approached the group as the kids flew over.
"What have you found, detectives?" he asked.
"Sir, Espio and I were going through any and every video file relevant to Shadow the Hedgehog." Said Sonar, "And most of it was relatively unimportant…except this one."
She pointed to a particular file which was starred with red exclamation points the sides. The title read, "URGENT MESSAGE FOR SHADOW: DO NOT OPEN OR DELETE UNTIL 50 YEARS TO THIS DAY!" Just looking at it already made it abundantly clear it was important. The date of the video was logged as November 18, 1965. Exactly fifty years ago. The group looked in bafflement and curiosity. Why fifty years? Was it a trick? Did the people of the ARK know something like the recent invasion would happen? Vector had to assume even a genius like Gerald Robotnik still had a good enough foresight to know such an event was possible. Espio looked over for approval from his boss to open it. The croc nodded as the ninja detective opened it up. The video started and the first thing they all saw was the image of an old man with a long white moustache, navy blue goggles, and a lab coat. The Mobians looked in shock at the man; he looked like the spitting image of Dr. Eggman.
"Wait a damn minute!" said Vector.
"Is that…?" asked the two children.
Tower nodded, "Dr. Eggman's grandfather and Shadow's creator…Professor Gerald Robotnik."
"Shadow, my son…" said Gerald, "if you are receiving this, I fear something terrible has happened to you. You must hear me now, before it is too late…"
2:30 AM – THE BLUE TYPHOON
Sonic filled Tails in on everything the moment they got back. Eventually, the whole crew learned about Amy's kidnapping and Black Doom's demands. Fortunately, Sonic had a plan. He recalled the other sadistic choice Black Doom gave Shadow and knew instantly that's what the aliens wanted: to use the Eclipse Cannon or whatever emerald-powered superweapon they had to destroy the Earth and the people's on it. And he would get that… from a point of view. The Blue Blur remembered from their last venture in space about how they stopped Eggman for a short time. Tails had cobbled up a fake Chaos Emerald which severely damaged the Eclipse Cannon and made it inoperable to a point. The two-tailed boy genius knew it wasn't wise or original to rehash plans but desperate times called for desperate measures.
It took several hours for Tails to craft the forgeries. He had it a bit harder this time since he needed to make six fake emeralds instead of just the one. What's more, he wasn't even sure this would work. There was no guarantee global annihilation was the invaders true endgame, and it was almost a given that Black Doom wouldn't just let Amy go just like that. However, if there's one thing the fourteen year old learned from adventuring with the blue hedgehog, it's to never doubt him in the least. He trusted Sonic and Shadow to get this done.
The three were in the control room discussing the plan. Tails had practically gotten everything ready for them to depart for the final battle. Now it was up to the duo to end it. Tails hated sitting around and having to depend on Sonic, but he still needed to pilot the ship and keep an eye on the comet. "So once the aliens have the dummy emeralds, it'll be up to you guys to being her home! Assuming the Emeralds don't wipe them out right then and there."
"That's hardly a plan, guys." Shadow quipped, "Besides, if I recall correctly, this gig didn't fully work last time."
"We don't have much time to think of anything better, I'm afraid. The longer we talk, the shorter Amy's life gets!" Sonic replied, "You ready for this, Shad?"
"Fuck yeah!" said Shadow and was prepared to leave, but Tails stopped him.
"Hold it, Shadow! I almost forgot something for you!" said the fox, turning to his side. He pulled out a large black crate with Shadow's image imprinted onto it, and placed it onto the ground. Shadow opened it up and found an array of various weapons he had never seen before. There was an oddly shaped chicken and egg weapon, a katana, a cannon with the same blue substance from the Heal Unit emanating from the payload, a blacked curved weapon with a sort of lock on, a small yellow blaster with ammo that resembled Omochao, and a black and red one-handed assault rifle shaped and based after Shadow. The Ultimate Life Form was amazed at the amount of armaments the fox had seemingly crafted.
"I decided to recalibrate and reverse engineer the Black Arms weapons to craft our own. But I think you could make better use of them." Explained Tails, "These babies should be more than enough to really give Black Doom hell!"
"Hmph. I'll definitely be trying these out! Thanks Tails. I owe you for this, I guess." Said Shadow.
"Thank me after you've brought Amy back safe and sound!"
"Now then buddy, how are we going to get in that damn comet?" asked Sonic.
"Oh I got just the thing. You two head down towards the main engine room, I got a big surprise…" smirked Tails.
The two hedgehogs nodded and ran down at breakneck speed. They wasted no motion, as every second was precious. The duo reached the engine room quickly and when they arrived, they gawked at the sight before them. It was a giant blue cannon that seemed big enough for them to spindash right out of. In fact, that was exactly what it was. Sonic and Shadow jumped right in as they heard Tails through the intercom. "I call it the Sonic Power Cannon! By using the chaos energy outputted from such sources like the Chaos Emeralds or Master Emerald, it can launch powerful blasts not unlike the power of the Eclipse Cannon, even if it's slightly less powerful. But it can also crank the power of your spindash to maximum, catapulting you guys towards any mofos stupid enough to take us! We can use this baby to get to the comet!"
"Great thinking, Tails! Dunno how you did this but I'm glad you got this bad boy! Now rev it up!" said Sonic, as he and Shadow boarded the platform.
Tails began to initiate the systems and get the cannon ready. The two hedgehogs felt a small rumbling as the cannon moved up onto the ship's platform. The fox genius aimed the weapon right at the Black Comet and began charging it up. The duo could feel a surge of energy course through themselves and their surroundings. They quickly curled up into ball form ready to go. As the energy output began to increase, Sonic and Shadow could feel their power grow more and more, ready to rumble.
"Sonic Power Cannon, FIRE!" Tails announced as he pulled the trigger. In an instant, Sonic and Shadow were launched from the cannon in a blue and orange streak right towards the Black Comet. The hedgehogs crashed right through the surface of the comet on impact. They were in and ready.
The two could feel themselves dropping several levels before they finally hit solid ground. As they ran along a pathway, they took a moment to look at their surroundings. The place was a lot bigger on the inside. Dark crimson and purple were the only major colors to speak of in this hellhole. Bright scaley tunnels and hellish abominations of architecture laid everywhere, a toxic substance covered the depths of the comet, giant spiked explosive fruits bounced about. It was like they were in an actual horror movie. Thank Chaos that the kids were safe in the ARK, the sights here would have definitely traumatized them. Or at least Cream anyway.
Shadow was well ahead of Sonic as they raced into a canyon. It wasn't a race but Shadow was still treating it like one. A race for Amy's life, one that Sonic would happily let the Ultimate Life Form win. Suddenly, they heard some humming above them and several blue lights appeared above them. When the lights dimmed, there were several violet air vessels floating over the canyon, dropping down hordes of Black Arms soldiers into the canyon ready to attack. As the hedgehogs prepared to zoom forward, Shadow found himself getting shot at from above. There were even more soldiers on the bridges and cliffs, reigning down loads of ammo and cannon fire at them. The two were boxed in. There was no going back, but now they were getting shot from the sides and above, and had hundreds of aliens ahead waiting to skin them alive.
"Well, looks like they rolled out the red carpet for us! Whaddya say we give 'em what they came to see?" Sonic smirked.
"Gladly!" shouted Shadow. The two hedgehogs boosted ahead at supersonic speed, charging literally through many of the Black Warriors and Black Oaks, blood and broken body parts exploding everywhere.
Sonic and Shadow were going so fast, the soldiers on the ledge couldn't even follow. They shot aimlessly at the blurs, missing each shot. The air vessels started reigning down heavy blasts at the duo, bringing explosions around that the two were barely able to avoid. One could easily mistake the scene as less of a warzone and more of a scene from a dumb B-level action-adventure flick. Though they were making it across with ease, they were running out of room and coming up to a dead end. Our heroes needed to make a move and fast!
Without thinking much at all, the two spindashed up to the wall, jumping up and over. Shadow then decided to try out some of the weapons Tails gave him. He pulled out the Satellite Gun and aimed it at the airships. As he did so, a red scanner popped up and cursors appeared on the airships. He wasn't sure what was going to happen when he pulled the trigger; there were no barrels on the weapon at all. But standing around wondering would get them nowhere. When he finally pushed the trigger, several yellow lights appeared over the ships. Shadow remembered what happened in Westopolis and knew exactly what was coming. In an instant many blue beams reigned down and destroyed the ships, as well as the soldiers in and around the canyon. As the hedgehogs landed on a bridge, they overlooked the damage caused.
"Thinking of having a barbeque, Shad?" asked Sonic.
"Just did." Shadow smirked and turned in the other direction, his rival following close behind.
As they raced across the hellish environments, they found themselves eventually at another dead end. Usually, Shadow could use Chaos Control to advance forward and cheese the system, but they both knew that was out of the question. That is exactly what Black Doom would be expecting them to do. They'd just be walking into his traps. Shadow looked around the area for something to use to proceed. Sonic stood by and tapped his foot. Despite his creed to plan things out since this invasion, he was still an inpatient bastard. He needed to get going to save Amy, as well as the millions of lives that would be lost if they failed. Finally, Shadow noticed a giant rectangular thing in the wall, resembling some of the platforms. They could probably pull it out and use it to get up, he thought. But how, and with what?
Before they could even think on this, they found themselves getting shot at from behind. The two took hits and turned around. The hedgehogs looked across and saw two new Black Arms they had never seen before. At first glance, they looked like the Black Warriors they had been fighting, but seemed different on another angle. These Black Assassins had orange armoring which covered their entire backs and parts of their torsos, and carried red alien shotguns. They were the elite guard of the Black Arms. Now Black Doom wasn't fucking around.
"Looks like the Black Arms are finally sending out the big guns! Bout damn time, I was getting a bit bored!" said Sonic, with the same cocky smile he was known for.
"Let's take these chumps down!" shouted Shadow. He and Sonic rushed at them and charged with their Homing Attacks. Just seconds before their attacks hit, however, the soldiers disappeared. The two landed in confusion, but were then shot from behind by the Black Assassins, who reappeared behind them.
Shadow tried a different approach in spindashing one of them, but they disappeared again while his partner shot him mid-dash. Sonic charged with intense speed and finally spinkicked one of them, barely phasing them. Shadow was getting nowhere with blunt force, so he decided to use the odd-shaped Egg Vacuum.
He pushed the button and instead of letting out any sort of ammunition, it began to pull in it's surroundings and the Black Assassins. Sonic was surprised how strong it was, he had to brace himself to keep himself from being sucked in. One of the aliens was in the way of the colored wall, trying to keep itself from being brought in. However, the rectangular structure began being pulled out behind it. Finally, it bumped the assassin, sending it right into the weapon's trajectory. It was sucked in, several trails of blood being shed as it was being swallowed right into the egg. The other tried sniping Shadow from behind, but Sonic splattered him with a Bounce Attack, guts pouring all over the floor.
"Well those two sucked." Shadow said casually, then looked at how the box moved a bit out of the wall.
He looked at the weapon and realized what needed to be done. He pulled the trigger again and pulled the platform out completely, making a way up. Shadow put the gun away and the hedgehogs jumped up and then onto a ledge. They were finally up and across. The duo proceeded forward a bit, stopping a ways when they came across a green projection of Black Doom. Shadow clenched his fists as they came face with the literal carbon copy.
"Welcome, Shadow! I see you have made your choice… hopefully the wisest, for her sake…" Doom snickered.
"I'm not playing your bullshit, Black Doom! Where's Amy?!" exclaimed Shadow.
"The core of our beloved comet. Meet me there and you may find her. That is… if there is anything left of her to find…"
Black Doom laughed at Shadow, who charged forward, only to be stopped by a sudden blue barrier that appeared. The Ultimate Life Form was starting to lose his composure, punching at the barrier, trying to get a dent into it. But it was no good. Nothing he did worked. He was getting so agitated that he nearly forgot the plan for dealing with him. He was going to blast his way through if need be!
"This won't stop us, Black Doom!" he shouted, "I am getting Amy back no matter what! CHAOS….!"
Before he could even finish, the barrier suddenly disappeared. Shadow's anger dissipated a bit, looking in bewilderment at what happened. He heard Sonic whistle behind him and when he turned around, the Blue Devil was standing next to some weird hourglass-looking switch. Sonic pushed it and the switch rolled up and closed up the opening that Black Doom's image once was. He pressed it again to open it back up. Shadow facepalmed in embarrassment. Why didn't he think of that?
"May wanna cool it, Shad. Remember the plan we got or we ain't getting Ames back!" said Sonic.
"Yeah. Sorry, kinda lost it a bit. But time isn't on our side…" said Shadow.
"Then we better make that time, Shadow! Now let's jam it!" Sonic sped through into another part of the comet, Shadow following side-by-side. It seemed the further they ventured, the faster the two went. There was zero regrets, no turning back from anything.
The two raced through, running along a tunnel and loop de loop with incredible pace. They ran over a bridge with more Black Warriors and Assassins ready for them. It was time for Shadow to switch to the Omochao Gun. As he pointed it at the Black Arms with Omochao's head loaded, the aliens laughed at him. They couldn't take these two seriously with one of them wielding such a ridiculous weapon. Once Shadow pulled the trigger, their laughter ceased instantly. The Ultimate Life Form fired off three shots, piercing the Black Warriors through their chests and shoulders. Then, some of the shots rebounded off the walls repeatedly, hitting the Black Assassins right off the bridge and into the acid well below them. Neither hedgehog thought that Omochao would be useful for anything, but were happy to be proven wrong. The two proceeded to massive area with more of the same cube walls that were needed to proceed. Just as they approached them, the two were ambushed by a group of Black Oaks.
"Shit, like we needed bigger problems!" said Sonic.
"Better make it quick then!" said Shadow, charging forward. He attempted to shoot the Omochao Gun at the giants while Sonic flanked them from behind, but Shadow was quickly knocked back by a slash of their blades. Sonic was able to make a hole through one of them, but was caught by another, the Oak slowly starting to crush him.
Just then, there was a sudden rumbling on the ground. The Oak holding Sonic stumbled and found it's legs literally ripped off of it. Sonic was free; the Blue Blur quickly ran over to Shadow and helped him up to his feet. Shadow hated having to be helped up like this, but he didn't have the time to really protest. The Black Oaks charged at the hedgehogs, only to have their spines completely ripped out and their organs punched out by a familiar red figure. Knuckles came at the best opportunity! The red echidna stood proud and ready for a rumble.
"Hope you two don't mind me crashing the party!" said Knuckles.
"Wondered what took you long enough, Knucklehead!" Sonic joked.
"I can handle these punkasses. You two go on and save Amy!"
"Thanks, Knuckles. Looks like I may owe you one today…" Shadow said, getting up and jumpdashing forwards with Sonic trailing behind. Knuckles charged ahead to take on his opponents.
It was now just a bit after three in the morning, local time. The duo had to pick up the pace even more if they were to find Amy in one piece. Rushing through another tunnel, the two jumped high and grinded on a rail of solid alien slime to get further ahead. Sonic and Shadow jumped off at the end and flipped in flashy style as they landed in the trail of more Black Warriors. Shadow quickly took out the Samurai Blade and charged with incredible speed, slashing about and speeding through them all. At first, it seemed nothing happened. After about a minute, each of the Black Arms felt bits of them being ripped off of them in a slow and painful way, leaving nothing but pieces of their flesh.
"Enjoy this slice of life, motherfuckers." He said to the remains.
Eventually, the two came across an impasse: a lake full of the toxic substance that was fatal and filling the place. There was nothing around that would prove useful to crossing and no alternate routes nearby. They were literally at a dead end. There was no way either of them could speed boost fast enough without possibly getting killed by the acid. Shadow tried to use the Heal Cannon on the stuff, hoping that maybe it would do something to negate the effects of the acid. Nothing happened. Was this really the end? No, it couldn't be! They couldn't give up. They had to think of a way through. But how?
Just then, they heard a shriek nearby. Flying at them was a Black Hawk, and the two hedgehogs stood ready to attack. However, as it landed safely, it squawked in a friendly manner. Blacky had come to their aid once more in a time they needed it. "Good to see you again, Blacky." Said Shadow. Blacky licked the black hedgehog's face affectionately, also happy to see it's friend. The hedgehogs nodded to the other and hopped onto the creature's back. Blacky took off and began flying across the comet.
Shadow looked across the hellish landscapes. He could see how impressive the place seemed but he got this eerie feeling there was more to it than that. The black hedgehog knew of his origins as being made from Black Doom's blood, but why? For what true purpose? It couldn't just be to eliminate the humans. There had to be more to it than that. He needed to figure this out. For all he knew, Amy's life, and the lives of millions others, could rest in his very hands. He couldn't let it get to him, though. He made promises to Amy and Maria that he intended to keep, and no lost dark past of his was going to stop him!
"Incoming!" shouted Sonic. Shadow looked up and saw a swarm of Black Hawks and Black Volts flying right at them. They seemed none too happy that one of their own kind was assisting Shadow. Blacky flew with fury to try and get the two around their opposition, but Shadow knew there was no preventing a confrontation. He pulled out the Satellite Gun and began locking onto the flock of Black Arms fliers. He pulled the trigger and let the fireworks begin, but most of them flew out unscratched or before it could even hit. The weapon was practically useless on moving targets. Finally, Blacky started to unleash wave attacks at the fliers, hitting several of them.
Sonic jumped right off and hit homing attack after homing attack on the aliens, knocking quite a lot of them down. He then jumpdashed to a Black Volt and began riding on its back. The Volt resisted the blue hedgehog, but Sonic was able to gain control pretty easily. With control of the Black Volt, he used it to unleash miniworms right at the rest of the fliers, swatting them out and into the toxic lake below. Now that their opposition was disposed of, the two hedgehogs and their flying chariots flew on, eventually reaching solid ground. Blacky licked Shadow's face affectionetly as the Ultimate Life Form was grateful. The Black Volt, on the other hand, was less so. It spit right onto Sonic and flew off in a huff. Sonic was not please that he had alien saliva all over his face.
"Thanks for that and more, Goldie…" he said in a deadpan sort of manner.
Sonic and Shadow began to proceed onwards, but then were shot from behind by an unknown source. When they turned around, the two saw Blacky shooting energy waves at them. Shadow jumped over them as Sonic sped around, the former trying to reason with the beast. He thought he was able to tame it and make a friend out of it. Blacky swooped in and charged at Shadow. The Ultimate Life Form held up its wings to halt its progress, not wanting to hurt the Black Hawk. That's when he looked at Blacky's face. It was hurt, tears strolling down its eyes. It clearly didn't want to hurt its friend willingly. Blacky was being forced into doing this. Shadow looked over his shoulder and saw another green projection of Black Doom, his hand raised in a way as to control the beast.
Shadow hated what he was about to do. He knew it wasn't Blacky's fault. Black Doom was making his minion doing the work of trying to kill him, or at least slow Shadow's advance. The Ultimate Life Form had hoped to try and keep it alive. He was starting to grow a soft spot for the thing. But he could tell how much torture Blacky was going through, how it didn't want to hurt the two of them. Shadow knew the only way to move on was to put the poor thing out of its misery, as much as it pained him to do so. The black hedgehog pulled out the new Shadow Rifle and slowly pointed it to Blacky's head. He turned his head away, not wanting the Black Hawk to see the tears in his eyes, as he pulled the trigger. The creature shrieked as it was mercifully killed, but when Shadow turned back, not a single piece of it remained. The rifle had released an energy bullet not unlike his own Chaos Spears that evaporated the beast upon contact. Sonic, who had stood back not wanting to hurt the thing, looked on in sorrow of what had happened. A friendly alien had been killed by Black Doom's twisted ideals.
"How truly pathetic, Shadow. To feel empathy for such an expendable creature. It served a portion of its purpose; why grieve for a hawk that can be replaced in short order, especially one that had betrayed you as well as I?" mocked Black Doom. He didn't quite care for the rebellious Black Hawk, even one he commanded. The alien overlord saw no value in it anymore, not when he had an army full of them. Sonic and Shadow shot up to Black Doom with looks of pure disgust. If he doesn't care about his own soldiers, then this bastard was truly a monster. One they needed to slay. Now.
"You are one repugnant motherfucker, Black Doom!" shouted Shadow, "That alien was one of the most loyal and kindest I ever met… and you threw him into hell! I ain't forgiving you for this! When I get my hands on you, there won't be a thing left of you to send to hell! I'll rip out your intestines, eat your black heart, and ass-fuck your corpse till you're barely a shell!"
Black Doom laughed at Shadow's dialect and threats. It amused him to a degree he could almost feel a bit of humor. Perhaps Shadow was made a little too well. He wondered if Shadow could serve him well on the next sentient planet they conquered. "It will be amusing to see you try, Shadow…" said Black Doom as the projection disappeared.
Sonic and Shadow immediately sped forward into a canyon faster than ever. They were serious before about rescuing Amy and killing Doom, but were willing to have a bit of fun with it. Now the gloves were off. They were pissed and wouldn't let anything stop them. The two hedgehogs ran with such ferocity that they literally plowed right through the Black Arms that were in the path of them. Coming to the end of the canyon, the two jumped up and grinded on solidified alien slime, moving in high gear. Shadow grabbed his Shadow Rifle and shot rapidly at all incoming fliers, eviscerating them in one shot. The two jumped off and came to an open area, almost to the end, but were stopped by more Black Arms gunships.
"Fuck! We were so close!" cursed Sonic.
"GET THE FUCK OUT OF OUR WAY!" exclaimed Shadow.
The gunships responded by firing upon the two hedgehogs and sending down an entourage of Black Arms of all sorts—Oaks, Warriors, and Assassins swarmed down and charged at them. Shadow shot at nearly every soldier that came at him, all while dodging the gunfire from the ships. In-between he fired off several Chaos Spears which made short work of many of them. Sonic, meanwhile, tried his usual evasive tactics to tire or fake them out. The idea was sound on paper, but the aliens were smarting than they appeared. The Black Assassins began sniping him from afar as the Blue Devil started running across the walls, flipping them off as he did. When a gunship blasted him off the wall, Sonic rebounded and Homing Attacked all the Warriors, splattering their organs across the room.
Sonic wasn't done yet though. As Shadow used every weapon in his arsenal against the giants, the blue guy went to busy on the normal troops. Sonic moved around them in a rapid speed, creating a Blue Tornado attack which sent them into the air, giving him a chance to kill them with his Light Speed Attack. Unfortunately for the pair, more soldiers spawned from the gunships. They knew the ships needed to be taken care of if they had any chance of stopping them. Shadow used the Satellite Gun to destroy two of the gunships, leaving the last to Sonic. The Blue Blur used his Fire Somersault to blast off a Black Oak's legs off, causing to fall painfully. He then ripped its heart out and spilled its blood into another alien's eyes, blinding it. Using the opportunity, he chose to Bounce Attack on top of it then use an attack he hadn't used in years. He grabbed the last Black Assassin and a silver aura surrounded it as well as Sonic's gloves. In an instant, the alien was trapped into a sphere which was then shrunk into the size of a baseball.
"This is what I call the 'Magic Hands'. Batter up, biatches!" shouted Sonic, throwing the sphere at the lone gunship, destroying it on contact.
They thought they were done, but seconds after the gunships were destroyed, three more instantly appeared. The hedgehogs groaned in annoyance. Doom's attempts to tire them out and halt their advance was working in many spades. They would be here all day taking care of these invaders. Just then, several rockets went off and destroyed one of the gunships, and a white and lavender figure dropped down, skewering the Black Arms in a drill-like aura. One Black Oak had it's entire chest area burst through as a sultry Rouge kicked right through it, then roundhouse kicked the heads of three Black Warriors clean off. Behind them, Omega appeared to rip out the spine of one Black Assassin while reigning down mortars at a crowd of more soldiers. Team Dark had come through for their leader and friend.
"Group of extraterrestrial life forms — ELIMINATED!" announced Omega with pride.
"Hey boys, need a hand?" asked Rouge.
"Perfect timing, guys." Shadow said with relief.
"Hey, Team Dark for life. You go on ahead, Omega and I can take care of these guys!"
Shadow smiled and gave them both a thumbs up, while Sonic gave a peace sign and ran off. The Ultimate Life Form was glad he knew who to count on to watch his back. With the hedgehogs out, Omega and Rouge stood back, ready to take on the fleet. Their friend needed them, so it was do or die for them.
Several minutes after this, Sonic and Shadow boosted further and further into the last tunnel. They could feel the presence of a dark energy and the final Chaos Emerald. They knew he was close by. The duo finally emerged from the tunnel to a bridge leading to what seemed to be a dead end, passing one of the barrier switches. There at the end, they saw him: Black Doom, leader of the Black Arms, awaiting on the other side of the platform, with the red Chaos Emerald in hand. Sonic and Shadow stopped a few feet before the alien leader, glaring up at him. Amy was nowhere to be seen but they knew she was here. All they needed to do was keep calm and stick to their game plan.
"Welcome, Shadow! I'm impressed that you managed to make it here all by yourself. You did better than I could have anticipated…" said Black Doom.
"Enough with the asskissing villainous speech, Doom! Now where's Amy?!" Shadow exclaimed.
"Oh, she is perfectly fine. For the moment. But for how long will vary on what decision you make. Remember our deal, the Chaos Emeralds?"
"Sorry pal, but game's over and we got the ace in the hole!" said Sonic, "We're not handing you shit until you give up Amy! Now!"
"Hmph. Persistent vermin… very well." Black Doom motioned his arm up and from the ground, the figure of Amy Rose began to emerge. She was thankfully mostly unharmed, but was entrapped in energy bonds, struggling as she would and gritting her teeth at the alien leader. Shadow was relieved she was okay but knew he couldn't breathe a sigh yet. Amy looked at her lover with eyes of concern and defiance. She hoped Shadow would fight back and be ready to annihilate this asshole. Unfortunately, Black Doom had different ideas.
"Now, the emeralds! Give them to me, and no tricks!" said the alien in a menacing tone.
Shadow looked back to Sonic, who nodded for the signal. The Ultimate Life Form nodded back and stepped towards Black Doom. He pulled out one Chaos Emerald and the others followed out after. These were, of course, the fakes that Tails crafted, but Doom didn't seem to realize this quite yet. "Don't do it, Shadow! He's full of shit, you know that!" shouted Amy.
"I know. But you mean more to me than these gems." Shadow said. He made a light motion and the emeralds moved to Black Doom, hovering above him alongside the red emerald. He was delighted, the Promised Time was at last here.
"At last! After two thousand years, the Chaos Emeralds are mine!" mused the alien warlord.
"You got what you wanted, asshole. Now release Amy!" Shadow demanded.
"All in due time, Shadow. But I must thank you. Because of you, we can now commence our ritual of prosperity. Thanks to you, this planet will belong to us, and the humans shall be liberated from their own destiny."
"Cut your bullshit, Doom! You have the Emeralds, so just let Amy go so we can take that Eclipse Cannon or whatever superweapon ya got, and blow it right up your candy ass!" boasted Sonic.
Black Doom was not intimidated by the hedgehogs' threats. In fact, he found his words amusing. Perhaps too much so. He slowly chuckled, but soon it turned to laughter. The alien was laughing at Sonic's bravado, but moreso, his own stupidity. The hedgehogs looked up gritting their teeth at him. What could he possibly be laughing about?
"What's so funny?!" exclaimed Sonic.
"You arrogant, incompetent fools." Black Doom said, "Do you truly believe me to be a mere despot? We have not come to exterminate these insects. Rather, we are here to save them from themselves. From their own self-destruction."
"You have a weird way of going about it, Doom!" said Shadow, not buying a second of Black Doom's explanation.
"Do you not see, Shadow? For millennia, these humans have caused each other grief and suffering. Their selfishness, greed, and lust for power shall lead them to a path of extinction. What the Black Arms offer is a way to keep them safe in our perfect order of despair, allowing them to forever live their lives in eternal prosperity. And in return, they would give us another star to conquer and the necessities our people have longed for."
"You call mass genocide and cannibalism prosperity?! That shit is terrorism and you know it!" shouted Amy.
"I consider that to be more a… sample for the main course, as you Earthlings put it. An appetizer, even. We must weed out the unwanted and ensure the best choices for us are at our disposal."
"You're sure talking a whole lot of shit, Doom!" said Shadow, "You talk about saving and preserving this planet, but all you assholes have done since you got here is kill, maim, and destroy anything you find. The only kind of 'perfect order' you bastards would have is if you had to eat every single…"
That's when it hit Shadow like a truck. A look of shock and appall took over his face. He remembered some of the actions the Black Arms committed early in their campaign. They weren't just killing the Earthlings; they were eating them. This was Black Doom's true endgame. To subject the Earth's people to a fate far worse than death. Horror reached his expression, and it didn't take long for Sonic to figure it out either. "Oh shit…" said the Ultimate Life Form.
"That's right, Shadow." Said Black Doom, "This planet's people will live as our eternal livestock. For millennia, we have scoured the cosmos for the perfect stars to grow our numbers and extend our mortality. But no other people's could satiate our hunger or keep us alive. Except for this one. And now, this planet will be the perfect place for us to call home. The perfect livestock, so we can never go hungry or reach extinction ever again!"
Sonic was now at his limit. He was pretty good at keeping his emotions in check, but there were points even he couldn't take it. This was one of them. Their plan was going up in smoke because Black Doom's ambition was far worse than he could have imagined. They wished not just to enslave them, but to use them for food. It disgusted him to no end. The Blue Devil didn't know what role the Chaos Emeralds played in this, but he didn't care to find out.
"Like hell that's gonna happen!" he shouted and sprung into action.
Sonic charged forward at high speed, jumping up to punch the bastard right in his face. Black Doom lifted his arm before the hedgehog's fist could hit him, freezing Sonic in place. It was like a dark psychic force was stopping him from decking Black Doom in the schnoz. A black and red aura surrounded Sonic as the hedgehog felt a painful sensation running through his body. Shadow was ready to help out, but stopped. For some reason, he couldn't move even though he wanted to. He couldn't understand it. Amy struggled to be free of her bonds as well, but it was no use.
"There will be no more of that, meddling vermin." Said Black Doom, "But fear not; you will find more than enough despair where you are going. Now begone from this dimension!"
In a motion, the aura around Sonic darkened, causing a bit of pain to the blue hedgehog. He endured it as he felt himself being ripped out and some kind of vortex appeared around him. Black Doom outstretched his arm and a bright dark light shone, blinding Shadow and Amy. When the light dimmed, they looked at where Sonic once was. But there was nothing. Not a trace of the blue hedgehog to be found. Shadow and Amy were in despair. Sonic the Hedgehog, their dear friend and hero—as far as they knew—was gone. There was little to no hope for them, or for anyone.
"SONIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC!"
TO BE CONTINUED…
(A/N: Yeah, bet you didn't see that coming did ya! I planned a bit of this for a long time but wording it is where I got a bit stumped with. I wanted to squeeze in an Egg Dealer Boss Fight somewhere, but I couldn't find an appropriate point for him to be in without padding the story. I hope you all have liked this so far, and I thank you for the support. Next time will be the final battle, and then the epilogue! See ya then!)