Chapter Eleven – Renewal
Shadow roared. No! His own arrogant stupidity had lead to this and now Sonic was hit and right in the heart. Silver was right, he does kill him after all. So much for the Brotherhood. The Powers-That-Be control over him was indeed very limited, and as Shadow had found out to his cost, entirely ignorable. He had ignored it and this was the consequence. He should have been more careful with the battle. Controlled it better. He knew Sonic was there, but just forgot. His own evil, arrogant selflessness getting the better of him as well as his intense desire to destroy the Human.
Sonic's breathing was extremely staggered and he was violently shaking. Shadow could feel Sonic's lifeforce. The Blue Blur only had a mater of minutes left to live, and yet his body was still fazing. The Intangibility was still out of control, but yet showing no sign of slowing down. It wasn't giving up. Shadow frowned. What was going on? He immediately thought back to the conversation at the burrow and to what Tails had said.
"Does it mean there's a new power coming through?" He had asked. If Sonic truly was his balance, his equal, then there must be something inside of him to match his own immortality. Right now, it was his only chance. But Sonic was dying, and he'd soon be gone before the power had a chance to show itself. Shadow desperately needed to speed things up. But how? Then he remembered that Sonic had accidentally activated his Telekinesis by passing through him with his Intangibility, thus flooding him with huge quantities of Chaos Energy. It had triggered the new power in him. He then looked down at his hands and the strange markings. Time the return the favour.
He hadn't used his Telekinesis during the battle against Eggman. He just wasn't experienced enough with the power yet for such a high-speed fight. He sighed and concentrated hard, placing his hands on Sonic's chest. The Blue Blur screamed in agony but didn't resist. He was fading fast, as his eyes rolled up inside his head. Shadow then, gritting his own teeth, close his eyes, and sent as much Telekinesis as he could muster, deep into Sonic's core. The Blue Blur was barely breathing as Shadow eye's glowed scarlet again and the red aura began to glow around his hands. But there was no response. It wasn't enough, he needed more. Shadow needed to feel a change in Sonic, just like he did within himself, back when the Telekinesis first surfaced. Chopping down hard on his teeth, he pushed his new power right from the pit of his very gut. Going even deeper, then he did fighting Eggman. Mainly out of sheer desperation, which he didn't even believe was possible, and literately gave Sonic everything he had. Which for Shadow The Hedgehog, is a lot.
Deep down in his own heart, as black as it was, he desperately didn't want Sonic to die. He owed the Blue Blur too much, and sometimes even with Rouge and Omega, Sonic was the only friend he had, the others often leaving when Shadow's evil got too much. Yes, he was finally admitting that Sonic was his friend. He'd always stuck around, which used to be to Shadow's utter annoyance but now was absolutely essential. The Blue Blur the only thing keeping him sane.
Pushing extremely hard, severely depleting the last of his stores, he suddenly felt it, the change, as Sonic's body exploded in bright blue light. Blinding him, Shadow immediately backed off, and panting heavily. He watched in amazement, as the power that had been fighting to come through inside Sonic immediately made itself known. Then, out of nowhere, Sonic took a huge intake of breath, as the injury to his chest instantly healed before Shadow's very eyes, along with other gashes and cuts.
Within minutes, Sonic opened his eyes, as the morning sun fell, in complete confusion. He sat up, where he was left heaving on the floor, the bullet from in chest lying in front of him, as the bright blue light fading. Finally, he stopped fazing. He was now back in control of his Intangibility again. Shadow was kneeling next to him, also heaving. Neither of them fully understood what just happened. But there was one thing for certain, Sonic's body was now done. The Powers-That-Be had no more to give him. The ability to instantly heal, on top of his Intangibility, effectively made him immortal. Now they were equal. Now they were balanced, and they both felt it.
The King of Speed had finally arrived.
Suddenly, for the first time ever, the Hedgehogs embraced. Shadow was so relieved that Sonic had made it that he allowed the Blue Blur to hug him. Sonic burst into tears. It was just too much, and as he felt Shadow's true power for the first time, in the embrace, he fully understood why he'd struggled so much to match it. It was staggeringly enormous. But Eggman wasn't done with them. He taken that first defeat, but must have realised that Shadow had given everything he had to defeat him, and without as Chaos Emerald, must be now running low on Chaos Energy.
Shadow collapsed onto the ground next to Sonic. He was really struggling. His body was absorbing Chaos from the world around him. He would recover but as he heard enormous bang and clatter in the distance, he just didn't have enough time. Eggman was now coming back to get them. He wanted them both dead. He'd immediately left, and had grabbed the Death Egg Robot, one of his biggest boss machines he'd ever created. Also heavily reenforced and upgraded. The machine would be on top of them within ten minutes and that was nowhere near enough time for Shadow to refill his stores.
Sonic had his got life and energy back from Shadow, he was fine, but the Ultimate Lifeform was running on empty. Sonic growled. His thumb gone from his mouth, the confidence of the Hero of Mobius was back. Shadow needed Chaos Energy and now. He grabbed Shadow's hands, and glowing bright blue again, he used his newly found ability to transfer some Chaos Energy back to Shadow. His eyes glowed scarlet red. It wasn't enough Chaos Energy to completely refill his stores, but has he stopped him, it was enough for him to fight. He smirked, thanking the Blue Blur, but then he growled. Time to end this. They both got to their feet. Side-by-side they stood. Shadow could feel the power on Sonic, just like those around Ultimate Lifeform could feel it on him.
Now they were equal. Destined to work together to protect the planet. The Brotherhood was finally complete. As for Shadow, he couldn't be more proud, and as he was now admitting, or more honoured. Sonic had been through hell to get here, and my goodness, had he earned it. Shadow had felt, for a long time, that he hadn't earned his incredible powers. But standing here next to the true hero, having fought just as hard, to get him there, he now believed he had every right to be here.
Another almighty crash, announced Eggman's arrival and now could be seen in the distance. The Hedgehogs looked at each other and nodded. No words were said. No words were needed. They both knew what to do. They knew each other too well. Suddenly, both Sonic and Shadow ran straight at Eggman, just as he rounded on them, the Blue Blur exploding with the pale blue sparks of his Static Electricity. Shadow smirked. It was so good to have him back. But he wasn't wearing his swords. Those had fallen off back at the burrow, when he was badly fazing and were probably now buried. Shadow was certain that Sonic would go back and dig them out. Those weapons meant a lot to him, just like Shadow and his own revolvers, and like the Black Hedgehog, he didn't need them, he just liked having them.
The Hedgehogs ran at Eggman with incredible Super Speed, especially coming from Sonic and completely caught the Human off-guard. He thought that Shadow was down and the Blue Blur dead. There was no way he should have survived those bullets. He had planned on taking out Shadow and then rounding up Tails and his friends later. He had been stunned that the Blue Blur would abandon his friends like that to side with Shadow, when they split up during the chase last night. That was why he wasn't surprised to see at the fight last night.
Regardless, Eggman now found the tables turned somewhat against him, now that he had not just one almighty Hedgehog to fight, but two. But with the both of them using Chaos Power combinations and Super-Spin attacks, they were all over him. Sonic didn't want to use his Intangibility. He'd had enough of that power, and was very keen to attack Eggman, old-school with the simple, but yet very effective Spin Attack. The Human screamed, as Sonic's Static Electricity was causing absolute havoc. The electrics of the Death Egg Robot was struggling to cope as the Blue Blur's attacks was exponentially driving up the voltage. He was completely and utterly getting carried away.
His utter hatred of Eggman getting the better of him. Sonic could control the Static Electricity, but it was based on his emotions. He calmer he was, the calmer it was. He'd managed it during the G.U.N. mission and back the the truck, but here, in his first all-out fight against Eggman since acquiring the power, he'd had completely lost it. He emotions were running wild and so was the Static Electricity. Even Shadow had to watch himself. He could withstand the electricity but only to a point. Sonic's adrenaline was getting the better of him, so Shadow decided to reign him in. He caught the Blue Blur's attention and got him to follow his lead.
This was what the Hedgehogs did best, and it really showed as Shadow backed away from the Death Egg Robot slightly, set up and then pulled Sonic into their signature move. The Double Back Spin. It was when they came together, super-spinning alternatively within a matter of inches of each other. This was a extremely dangerous, one wrong move could be fatal, but it was incredibly effective. When Sonic realised, he was all over it, and Shadow aimed it straight at Eggman, and let it loose. It tore across the countryside and sliced straight through the Death Egg Robot like butter.
Shadow screamed. He was struggling to maintain the move. Being the stronger of the two, with the Super-Strength, it was he job to turn and guide them towards their target. Sonic's job was to provide the raw speed. Unfortunately, with the raw speed, came the Static Electricity. The bright blue sparks were flying everywhere. The voltages were now the tens of thousands and to Shadow, now excruciatingly painful. But he dug deep in his core, through the pain, as he throw his hand into the ground, and used his almighty strength, to turn them back around for a second shot at the Death Egg Robot. Quickly aiming, he let them loose. The second shot again slicing through the boss machine, Sonic's Static Electricity almost frying its electrics at they passed.
Shadow noticed this, and realised that one more shot would do it. He was relieved. The electricity was now in the hundreds of thousands of volts and Shadow wasn't sure now much more of it he could endure. His anger the only thing keeping him sane. Another hand in the ground and another almighty turn, he steered them back towards the Death Egg Robot, and set them loose for their final onslaught. They crashed through the boss machine, taking out the cockpit, and a screaming Eggman, just as lightning itself rained down from the sky. The voltages Sonic was pulling were so incredibly high that he managed to attract lightning itself. It then, out of nowhere, struck him, right in the chest, just as they passed through the Death Egg Robot. The resulting enormous explosion, of bright white light caused the three of them, Eggman, Sonic and Shadow to be violently thrown from the boss machine in all different directions.
Shadow landed hard, battered and winded but largely unharmed. He was just glad to get away from the Static Electricity, the horrendous pain finally stopping. Then remembering what happened, he quickly got to his feet. Sonic? But as he looked around, the most incredible sight greeted him. The Death Egg Robot was down, nothing more then a pile of crumpled metal. It's electrics completely fired. It was dead, and going nowhere. Eggman, himself, had been thrown from the cockpit of the machine, and was lying in a broken mess on the floor. He was only barely alive, and severely injured. He desperately needed hospital treatment, otherwise he wouldn't make it. He had absolutely nothing left.
Sonic, on the other hand, was standing the other side of Eggman, his entire body glowing a pale blue colour. His eyes were bright gold, as he stood there, stunned, lightning was striking all around him. Lines of electricity were swirling all over him, as he own body was generating millions of volts. The singular reason why he survived the Static Electricity in the first place, was that it only ever traveled over the outside of his body. But him being struck by lightning, sent it deep into the core of his insides, and should have killed him. Except it didn't, his newly acquired power of instant healing had taken care of that, and it had left him supercharged.
Shadow walked up the Eggman, and upon seeing the Human's intense suffering, had every intension to end it. To finally kill him. But he was stopped, with a painful large electricity bolt to the shoulder. Even after everything, Sonic didn't want him to die, as the almighty Blue Blur stood side-by-side with the Ultimate Lifeform, the both of them looking down at Eggman on the floor. Shadow gritted his teeth. He finally agreed not to kill the Human but the electricity was very painful again. His anger flared. Would Sonic keep a lid on it?
Upon seeing Sonic finally match Shadow one-for-one on power, Eggman could do the only thing he could before his passed out. In absolute fear and terror, it was the only way he could save himself. Against this much power, he'd got nothing.
He surrendered.
It was amazing. They had won. This was for real, not a bluff that the Human had done previously. Seeing Sonic with such power was enough, and now they finally had peace. The Human passed out on the floor, cold. Suddenly there is a voice from behind them.
"Sonic!" It yelled. It was Tails, running straight at the Blue Blur, arms out for a huge embrace. But Shadow moved incredible quickly and stopped the Fox before he got too close, grabbing him around the middle. The voltages alone Sonic was pulling would have instantly kill him. Soon, they were joined by the others, who had finally found them, and had watched the fight from a safe distance away. Silver, Blaze, Amy, Rouge and Knuckles. They were all as astonished by the situation as Shadow was himself. They were all delighted to see Sonic alive, but now very frightened at what they were seeing. They all watched him, from behind Shadow, but he just stared at them, tilting his head to the side. The Ultimate Lifeform growled. He knew Sonic, and never in the Blue Blur's entire life had he ever been this calm, his eyes were beginning to glaze over, the pupils disappearing. Shadow swore.
"He's loosing control." He hissed. But Knuckles grabbed the Ultimate Lifeform.
"Well, snap him out of it." He stammered. Shadow stared. Everyone was looking at him. It was now his job to snap the Blue Blur out of his mind control, just like he'd done with him which he'd lost control to the Telekinesis. He was the only person there who could get anywhere close to the Blue Hedgehog, without risking instant death. He put a hand out to Sonic. The Blue Blur had used his voice to bring him round, but Shadow squirmed. He was the strong, silent type. He despised talking unnecessarily, plus it's wasn't his style. However, his very distinctive Chaos signature was, and knew it was something that Sonic would instantly recognise, no matter how blinded.
So Shadow took a deep breath and concentrated. Without saying a word, he sent out an enormousline of red aura of pure Telekinesis out from of his outstretched hand, and gently wrapped it around Sonic. He remained as calm as possible, so to prove to the Blue Blur that he was not aggressive in any way. The last thing he wanted was Sonic being dangerously defensive.
The Blue Blur was in an absolute mess. He had been severely struggling. The lightning strike had indeed supercharged him, but the power was going to his head, and was loosing the control. He was fighting with everything he had against the wild power of the Static Electricity, and the resulting stalemate meant that nothing happened. He just stood there, rooted to the spot, watching them. Sonic wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up. He was absolutely terrified that if he moved, he'd immediately kill everyone there, such were the high levels of the electricity involved. Millions of volts. He was scared.
Then he felt it. A Chaos Power swirling all around him. The power itself, Sonic didn't instinctively recognise, which frightened him at first, fearing attack. But when he recognised the Chaos signature, he was instantly relieved. Shadow. Sonic screamed out inside his head, as he grabbed for the power with everything he had. The Ultimate Lifeform suddenly felt Sonic's Chaos Energy make a grab for him, and latching onto him, he immediately pulled. He managed to pull Sonic mind's forcibly back in control and finally, his body severely shaking, the bright blue light died away, as did the immense electricity until the Blue Blur collapsed to the floor. Completely back to normal. Shadow heaved, relieved.
Thankfully, the supercharging of his Static Electricity was only temporary, and would only happen again the next time he was struck by lightning. At least then, Sonic would be more prepared for it. Shadow didn't blame him. The exact same thing has happened to him, and he'd long been forgiven. He watched Sonic very carefully to make sure all the electricity was gone, before he allowed his friends to gather around him. He was lying on his back, panting heavily, and immediately got both Knuckles and Tails hugging him deeply either side of him. He wrapped his arms around both of them.
Sonic was breathing heavily, but he was alright. He had come out of all of this relatively unscathed. But he was covered in small cuts and gashes from his body desperately trying to maintain the high levels of electricity, and both Tails and Knuckles watched is absolutely fascination as they healed instantly. The Fox's jaw dropped.
"Whoa!" He gasped. "Uncharted Regenerative Capacities." He stammered, in absolute astonishment, as he ran hand along a cut on Sonic's body that was now no longer there. "The ability to heal instantly. So that's what was fighting to get out." He smiled. Sonic smiled and nodded. He really now did everything at Super-Speed.
"Yes, but it had a little help along the way." He grinned, looking up at Shadow. The Black Hedgehog nodded. Tails looked up at Shadow and then placed his hand on the Blue Blur's chest, and gasped again. He could feel the huge quantities of Chaos Energy that now lay inside Sonic.
"Wow." He heaved. "That's some power in there. You must balance Shadow by now." He wondered, hoping this whole fiasco was over. He looked back at Shadow, only to to have the Ultimate Lifeform nod at him. Yes, they were indeed equal. But Silver then pulled out a Time Stone, from his quills. Similar in shape to a Chaos Emerald, but flat on both sides. It was yellow in colour, of which he used to travel through time. He looked through it and received an image of his own timeline. He was delighted.
"Hey guys. You did it. Everything's returned to normal, back home." He stammered, absolutely relieved. Sonic and Tails hugged again. Yes, the fiasco was finally over. Time to move on. But Blaze was incredibly confused. There was something she really didn't understand.
"What was the point of all this?" She asked. "Why don't you just use the Chaos Emeralds to get the power you need?" She inquired. It was a good question, but Sonic took a deep sigh, getting to his feet, with help.
"Because, Blaze." He heaved. "The Chaos Emeralds are not the Sol Emeralds. They are not always available whenever you need them. You carry the Sol Emeralds all the times, and they are always at your beck and call. But the Chaos Emeralds vanish after every use, and must be found again. They were designed for occasionally use, and only ever as a last resort. Shadow has incredible power without the Chaos Emeralds, so Mobius, and therefore the Powers-That-Be desperately needed to balance out that power.
So they choose me. You see, in this dimension, Blaze, everything must be balanced. Light and dark, good and evil, the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald, and now Shadow and me. The Chaos Emeralds were only every meant to balance Master Emeralds, which itself balances all of Chaos. They were never supposed to be used the way they are. Whether that's true for your dimension, I have no idea." He added. Shadow smirked. He agreed wholeheartedly with everything said there, and gave no objections. Blaze sighed.
"No." She admitted. "That is not the case in my dimension. Those fortunate few who do have powers tend to keep them for themselves." She said, rather sheepishly, looking to the floor. Knuckles raised an eyebrow.
"Let me guess." He smirked. "You have a major problem with corruption over there." He hissed. Blaze nodded. It was quite bad, actually. Knuckles sighed. "Because of the balance in Chaos, it very rarely ever corrupts. If the most darkest forms of Chaos hardly ever grab hold and never lets go as it can be neutralised by the pure goodness in people." He smiled. "Well, most of the time." He added, looking at Shadow. The Ultimate Lifeform was a rare case where Chaos couldn't neutralise the darkness within him. Not without help. That's why they used Sonic to balance him out, and used Shadow's own incredibly deep compassion he had for his closest friends like Rouge and Omega to accept that balance. With himself and Sonic now equal, the scales were now finally level. Shadow was no longer a threat to the planet, not matter what happened. This was because the Blue Blur would always be there to calm him and be by his side. To guide him through to the best course of action for Mobius.
Knuckles then gulped and then gave Shadow a sideways look which clearly said, 'No offense'. The Black Hedgehog smirked, and nodded. None taken. He was the awkward one, he understood that now, but at least now he'd finally found his place in the world. With his own balance, he felt that Mobius had finally accepted him. The subtle constant feeling of fighting against the very planet itself was now gone, and he felt utterly contented. He was tired from the fighting, but he was recovering very well, his body happily absorbing the Chaos from the world around him. Sonic too was also contented. Maybe a little to much as he was struggling to say awake on Tails's shoulder. He began to purr and suck his thumb, grinning inanely behind it.
Shadow sniggered to himself. It summed up the Blue Blur perfectly. Child one minute, hero the next. But where were his friends going to take him? He was happy to let him go. So Shadow asked. Knuckles sighed, picking up again the now very sleepy Blue Hedgehog.
"For now, Angel Island. I have cabins and other huts on the Island that Tails can use for his Workshop. A temporary stop-gap until he can organise new accommodation." He growled. That sounded more like an order rather then a request. Knuckles was famous for not minding visitors to Angel Island so long as they didn't stay. Shadow nodding, he stood to one side and let them go.