Chapter 8: Making Headway
"Sonic, you need to run as fast as you can down this corridor," Gerick explained. "Spears will be shooting out at you. Use your Sonic Wind to destroy the spears as they come out."
Sonic nodded, looking nervously at the long corridor. Sure, he was fast, but if he slowed down a bit, he'd be dead. And all this for his adversary.
"Come on, Sonic," DK pleaded, "do it for the team."
Sonic stepped up to the corridor and dashed forward, shouting "Sonic Wind!" Instantly, spears began shooting out of the wall. Sonic raced ahead, as he felt the gust of wind behind him of each spear. The blue tornado created by Sonic's attack eliminated all the spears behind him. Sonic gasped as he made it to the end, not sure whether to stop or not. When he finally skidded to a halt, he heard cheering from the other side. Sonic bowed proudly, then stopped as he heard a loud noise behind him, and then a shout.
"Die!"
Without turning around, Sonic recognized that voice immediately.
Shadow.
"Look out!" Knuckles shouted, as their massive opponent swung his fist at Mewtwo. He was too slow, though, and Mewtwo flew backward and into a wall. He sunk to the ground, completely motionless.
"No!" Balendin shouted.
Ness shook his head. "I'm not getting any life signs."
"You-" Ness charged forward with his PK Thunder, which actually seemed to hurt their opponent a bit. Ganondorf followed up with his Warlock Punch, which sent the hulking brute stumbling backward a bit.
Samus fired a missile at the tank, but it transformed back into its regular form to avoid it. Then it punched at Samus. She ducked, and the shadow hit a wall. Bricks fell from the wall and hit Samus, burying her.
"No!" Mario gasped, rushing toward her. Wolverine and Master Hand tried to keep Morphshadow distracted while Mario tried to save Samus.
Eight smashers didn't seem to have anyone to fight. Luigi, Pichu, Jigglypuff, Kirby, Yoshi, Bowser, Falco and Fox were the only ones not involved in a battle with the elite. Fortunately, there were still shadows to fight. Luigi used his Green Missile to dispatch some shadows, and Jigglypuff's rest was incredibly effective at taking out large groups that were all in the same place.
Maska, meanwhile, was getting desperate. His best spells were having no effect, and his teammates were even more useless. He had only one shot left.
"Aah!" Tails shouted in the background, after being grabbed by the last shadow, but Maska paid no attention. He motioned for Link and Zelda to distract Magishadow as he prepared for his last-ditch effort, closing his eyes.
Magishadow grinned as he casually launched fireballs at his distractors. He glanced at Maska, but it was too late for him.
The powerful wizard's eyes darted open. "Xentath!" he shouted. There was an eerie silence for a moment, as everyone contemplated what Maska had just said.
Suddenly, the entire world flashed black. For a second, no one could see. Then, everything turned to white, and then finally back to normal.
As their eyes adjusted, Link and Zelda eventually saw Magishadow, quite defeated, on the ground, and Maska trying desperately to stand upright. They gasped as a shadow came up from behind and punched with all its might.
"No!" Tails bawled, running up from behind after dealing with his attacker. Maska fell forward rapidly, and hit the floor hard.
"I-I'm sorry-" the fox sobbed miserably.
"It's OK. We'll take him and bury-" Zelda soothed.
"No. We're moving on." Link said firmly.
"Wha-" Zelda questioned, her eyes filled with confusion and disgust at his indifference.
"This is war," Link reminded them sternly, "People die. We have to move on and help the others."
"And just leave him here?" Tails gasped.
Link turned away and started walking. Zelda shook her head, slowly stood up, and followed. Tails lay on the floor, staring at Maska's bloody corpse with tears in his eyes. Finally, he stood up, and joined the others.
The Ice Climbers swung their hammers angrily, knocking Giga Bowser backward. Marth was on hand with a smash. Roy grinned, preparing to Blazer, but the mutant anticipated Roy, recovered from his damage, and kicked Roy in the head. Peach stepped up and launched a vegetable at Giga Bowser, but he caught it scornfully and ate it. Peach giggled.
"You're not supposed to eat those vegetables, Giga Bowser. They're poisonous!"
The mutant roared angrily. "What?!"
Giga Bowser made an odd gurgling noise, then collapsed.
"Nice work, Peach!" Marth laughed, amazed.
Peace grinned and taunted. "Suh-weet!"
"Let's go help the others," Popo suggested.
"I don't know…it just seems too easy…" Roy mused.
With that, Giga Bowser laughed evilly and jumped up, knocking over Nana and Peach with his Whirling Fortress. "It is!" he shouted in response to Roy.
Sonic turned around to see Shadow leaping at him. Instinctively, Sonic dove to the ground and summoned a Sonic Wind to cover him. Upon touching the attack, Shadow exploded.
"Wha-"
The others tried to investigate, but the spears all shot out again.
"Uh oh." Falcon commented.
Suddenly, they felt a great rumbling, as the ground just in front of the wall began to crack open. A huge head poked out of the ground, as the walls surrounding the spear traps also collapsed. The spears remained in the same place, and the smashers noted that they were all on the end of long wires. The head kept growing until a gigantic robot with wiry spears replacing arms appeared.
"Uh oh is right." Clyne sighed.
Sonic gasped as Shadows began leaping out of the ground from all over him.
"I hope you enjoy my creations," came a voice from inside the house. The door opened, and an average-sized shadow stepped out. "Call me Roboshadow."
Roboshadow calmly walked over to the side and pulled out a shadowy computer, and began typing. The Shadow robots instantly began skating around in various routes around the bewildered blue hedgehog, and the spear robot lifted its spears offensively.
"En garde," the robot rumbled.
Apocalypse, meanwhile, was becoming very frustrated. His battle with Anomaly was leaning toward the monotonous, as his attacks were met by quick blocks and vice versa. Occasionally Anomaly would try to make things interesting by tossing a round of shadows at him, but Apocalypse pretty much shook them off whenever he attacked. Every so often one of them landed a blow, but not a very powerful one.
"You're a strong fighter," Anomaly wheezed, somehow out of breath. "You'd make a good shadow."
Apocalypse laughed darkly. "You'd make a good toy."
With a chuckle, Anomaly swung his fist at his opponent. Apocalypse ducked and tried a sweep. Anomaly couldn't avoid it, but regained his balance quickly.
"Very good," mused the mutant. Apocalypse rolled his eyes. Anomaly was as bored with the battle as he was.
"Let's make this interesting," Apocalypse suggested, raising his arm. He grew even bigger, and Anomaly looked on, failing to conceal his worry.
"Very impressive," he said, raising his own arm. As he did, the ground beneath him turned black.
"This area is the beginning of my control," Anomaly announced. "Soon the whole dimension will be blackened."
Indeed, the small black area was spreading slowly. Apocalypse cursed himself for not paying enough attention, and attempted to catch Anomaly off guard.
Anomaly swung his arm, and a mountain of black land rose to deflect the attack. Apocalypse stared in shock. Laughing, Anomaly punched his foe in the face, and then extended a block of land to block Apocalypse's stumble backward. Apocalypse lost his balance completely and toppled over.
Anomaly's assistant (A/N: Wow, what great suggestions I've gotten so far for his name. Come on, people, be creative) looked on with amusement. Anomaly was certainly faring well. Apocalypse's growth gave Anomaly the distraction he needed. As the black area spread, he'd gain control of the landscape. And, of course, Roboshadow's creations certainly daunted the rescue party. Of course, it was unfortunate that Magishadow was defeated. Oh well.
I must make absolutely sure that we win, he thought. I must go down there.
A moment later, Eclipsia was completely empty.
(A/N: Long, huh? Well, it certainly isn't showing any signs of slowing down. I predict at least two more chapters. What will Anomaly's (nameless) assistant contribute to the war effort? And will Sonic and the others be able to rescue Shadow?)