Hi! Thanks to Maverick for reviewing. To keep from going crazy, I will keep
writing. Now to continue where we left off.
Disclaimer: I only own Scales and Angel and Amy's plane.
"You again." Shadow growled. "Shadow? What are you doing here of all places?" Scales asked. "I got arrested. Would you happen to have anything to do with that?" he asked suspiciously. Scales shook her head. "I don't think so. I'm only here to help get more Super Emeralds." Shadow glared at her. "Really? Why do you need the Emeralds, anyway? And why are you working for Snively? He's pure evil!" Scales sighed. "I know Snively's evil, Shadow. But I need his help. It's the only way I can fulfill my mission." "What mission?" Scales shook her head. "Sorry, but I can't tell you that. Or why I need the Emeralds. Look, when this is all over, I promise I'll tell you everything, what I'm doing, how we know each other, your forgotten past, okay?" She looked uneasy. "Shadow, I apologize but I really have to go. I can't stay here much longer." "Why? Too scared to fight me?" Shadow asked, instantly regretting those words. Scales' eyes narrowed. "You know, I think I just got a little more time." She smiled a little wistfully. "You know, this'll be just like our old sparring sessions. Too bad we never did find out which of us was stronger. Maybe now's the chance to find out." She leaped off the root, landing on the island. "Since I can sense no Chaos Emerald on you, it would be unfair for me to use my own Chaos powers. I will only use my normal attacks. I promise you one thing else, old friend. I will not kill you." She started towards him.
SCALES
Scales ran at Shadow. He jumped over her and hit her with a Homing Attack. She grunted and spun around, smacking him with her spiked tail. As he reeled back, she rushed over and started hitting him repeatedly with punches and kicks, drawing a little blood. As she threw him away, Shadow got up and rolled into her with a somersault. She was knocked back a few steps. She jumped into the air and hit Shadow with a Homing Kick. When she tried to hit him with another Homing Kick, Shadow jumped, deflecting the attack. She bounced off and tried again. He deflected her and tried his own Homing Attack. She used his own strategy and deflected him with a jump. He backed away from her, trying to find a weakness. Scales somersaulted towards him. Shadow jumped over her and hit her with a Homing Attack from behind when she uncurled. It struck the red dome on her back. She stumbled a moment, then turned around, looking angrier than before. Shadow smiled to himself, thinking he had found a weakness of some kind. The strange lizard surprised him again by curling into a ball and spinning in place. Spikes shot out from concealed pockets in her body and she rolled towards him in a dangerous spindash. Shadow jumped out of the way, and Scales almost rolled off the edge of the island. She uncurled, her spikes retracting, allowing Shadow to Homing Attack her from behind again. Right before he hit her, Scales spun around, knocking him away with her tail. As he fell on the ground, she hit him in the chest with a Homing Kick, then whacked him with her tail again. She waited patiently as Shadow got to his feet. "Ready to stop?" she asked. "No way." She smiled. "I was hoping you would keep going." She swiped at him with her claws. Shadow ducked under the swing and delivered an uppercut to her chin, followed by a roundhouse kick that knocked her off her feet. He bounced onto her before she could get up, causing a little damage. She backflipped suddenly, knocking Shadow away and landing upright. He somersaulted towards her. She jumped over him and whacked him with her tail as he got up. Shadow tried to hit her with a Homing Attack and was deflected. Scales curled up into a ball and started spinning again. Shadow ran over and hit her with a Roundhouse Kick before the spikes sprouted; knocking her out of the spindash before it even started. He hit her with another roundhouse kick at the exact second she swung her tail around, and both were knocked back. They stopped for a moment, panting. When they caught their breath, they were about to start the battle anew when a loud beeping could be heard. "Oh, hold on, I've got a call." Said Scales. She tapped the side of her head, activating a small comm unit. "Yeah, what is it doc?" Dr. Snively's voice came on. "Scales, what are you doing?! The island's going to blow up in eight minutes! Where are the Super Emeralds?!" Shadow's eyes widened. "Blow up!?" Scales switched of her comm unit. "Yeah, the island's going to blow up. That's kind of why I had to go when you challenged me to the fight. I suggest that you get off the island by any means possible before it's too late." With that, she turned and ran away, jumping onto one of the roots and disappearing into the jungle. Shadow cursed. "Amy and Robotnik don't know about this! I've got to get to them before the island goes up!" He ran for one of the roots and jumped on, running up it and going into a tunnel carved through one of the huge trees.
Stage 5: Green Forest. Mission: Escape from the island in 8 minutes.
Shadow ran down a large wooden ramp above the water, surrounded by foliage. He ran as fast as he could, trying to beat the clock he knew was ticking down somewhere. He ran down the ramp and into a half pipe, following the curve of the path and moving too fast to fall into the water. The half pipe leveled out into a straight run, ending in a jump plate. He launched from the jump plate, landing on a big platform. He saw a tunnel straight ahead and some platforms to his left. There were also some moss- covered logs. He ran into the tunnel and was nearly flattened by a Rhino Spike. He somersaulted into the tank, destroying it. He kept going and found another Rhino Spike patrolling a shallow pool of water flowing into a small cranny. He killed the Rhino and kept moving, soon exiting the tunnel. He was on a fenced balcony overlooking the water. Across the water, on a nearby tree, was a platform. It was too far away to jump to, or so he thought until he saw a jump plate. He ran onto it and was propelled over to the platform across the water. A Hunter dropped from a hiding place and fired at him. Shadow destroyed the machine with a roundhouse kick and looked around. He saw a platform a little higher up the tree and across from him. He Homing Attacked onto the platform and saw a spring. He jumped on the spring and was launched into the air, where he grabbed hold of a vine. He used the vine to swing around the tree a few times, until he saw where he had to go next. He let go of the vine and was thrown onto a high path. He ran down the steep slope and into the following half pipe, moving away from the spiked balls imbedded in the path. The half pipe corkscrewed a bit and finally ended up in a straight run, ending in a jump plate. He launched off the plate, grabbing onto a vine. He swung around the tree it was on a couple of times, then let go, flinging himself towards a vine on a different tree. After swinging around on that vine, he was thrown onto a platform leading into a tunnel. He ran into the tunnel and was immediately surrounded by a bunch of Rhino Spikes. As the tanks came towards him, he waited until they were all clustered around him, then wiped them out with a single roundhouse kick. He continued through the tunnel, coming out on top of a hill. He ran down the hill, through the half pipe with spiked balls after it, and over a dash panel that sent him through a loop. After going through the loop, he hit a jump panel and landed on a platform with a hole in it. He dropped through the hole, landing in a large multi-tiered room inside the tree trunk. A few Hunters ran towards him. He quickly wiped them out, then ran onto a dash panel, off a small ramp, and onto the second tier of the room. He ran on a second set of dash panels and off a small ramp on that tier, hitting a spring on the wall and bouncing to the top level of the room. He walked to the edge of the top tier and saw a Beetle dropping bombs nearby. He hit the Beetle with a Homing Attack, used another Homing Attack to hit the one behind it, and one last Homing Attack to get to a platform on the other side of the room. He ran into the tunnel on the platform, coming out of the tree. He ran forward and onto a spring, launching himself into a vine. He swung around on the vine, letting go and landing on a platform with a partially hollowed-out tree. He dropped off the edge of the platform, close to the tree, and landed on another platform below with a spring on it. He jumped onto the spring, launching himself onto a vine hanging from a nearby tree. He swung around the tree and let go, landing on a platform with lots of flowers and a moss-covered log. He saw a platform floating in the air and jumped onto it. He saw two more platforms, each higher up. The second was too high to jump to from his current position, so he bounced up. He had to do the same thing to get onto the third platform, and from there he saw a platform on the side of the tree pretty far away, and two Beetles floating in the air. He Homing Attacked the two Beetles, landing on the platform. He ran through a tunnel on the platform, coming out on the other side of the tree, atop a steep hill. He ran down the hill, through the following spike-lined half pipe, ran onto a dash plate and a 360-degree loop, finally landing on a large platform with many bushes and a spring. Seeing a spring, he ran towards it and sprung into the air, ricocheting off of another spring and landing on a platform with a third spring. He launched himself from the third spring, landing on another platform with a spring. He jumped off this spring, landing on a path with a few moss-covered logs, plenty of plants, and a few enemies. Shadow ran down the path, killing every enemy he saw, and going through a series of archways. Once through the archways, he was on top of one more hill. He ran down the hill, along another half pipe with spiked balls, through two loops, hit a spring at the end of the path, grabbed onto a vine, swung around the tree trunk and landed on a long stretch of land leading to a tree tunnel with the Goal Ring visible on the other side. Shadow started on the path and was shocked when the thing started rumbling and falling apart, sinking into the water below. Shadow jumped from section to section of the crumbling span, hitting a spring on the last section and landing in the mouth of the tunnel just as the whole thing finally collapsed and vanished into the clear depths of the flooded jungle. Shadow ran through the tunnel and stopped in front of the Goal Ring, which was on top of a short hill. A small bay with a single dock and a pink and red plane could be seen at the bottom of the hill. Shadow ran through the Goal Ring.
(STAGE CLEAR. RANK A.)
Shadow ran down the hill and onto the dock, knowing there wasn't much time left. Angel spotted Shadow and started making noises, trying to alert Amy and Robotnik. Amy looked up and saw him. "Shadow! We're over here!" she yelled, waving to him. Shadow ran up to the Storming Heart III. "Guys, there's no time to talk, the island's about to explode!" There were gasps of shock all around. "Oh my. Let's go, quickly!" said Robotnik, scrambling to get into one of the seats in the plane. He had to get a little help from Shadow and Amy to actually climb into the plane, and even then he had a bit of trouble fitting into the seat. "A bit tight, but I can manage it." He insisted. Shadow climbed into the seat in front of Robotnik, and Amy climbed into the cockpit. "Everyone buckle your seatbelts, we're going top speed!" she said. "My seatbelt doesn't reach." Complained Robotnik. "Too bad! Here we go!" The plane lifted off with its VTOL jets, then shot out to sea. As they left the small dock, an explosion went off in the jungle. And another, and another. Soon, several explosions had gone off, and one last one occurred in the armory at the west side of the island. With this last explosion, an incredible detonation went off, wiping out all remaining life on the island and completely destroying the harbor, the jungle and the base. As a shockwave from the explosion caused a big tidal, wave, our heroes could only think about how relieved they were to have gotten off in time.
And so the Prison island portion of our story is finally finished. What will come next? Well, I can promise you one thing, I won't be doing the Pumpkin Hill or Aquatic Mine chapters. Why? I really have no idea how to do those chapters, I know nothing of the layout for those levels. I'm sorry. But look on the bright side, this will give the Dark and Hero stories an equal number of levels, won't it? So I'm sorry if you're disappointed by the loss of two Knuckles levels, but they were sort of filler anyway. The plot gets more intense in the next chapter, so stay tuned!
"You again." Shadow growled. "Shadow? What are you doing here of all places?" Scales asked. "I got arrested. Would you happen to have anything to do with that?" he asked suspiciously. Scales shook her head. "I don't think so. I'm only here to help get more Super Emeralds." Shadow glared at her. "Really? Why do you need the Emeralds, anyway? And why are you working for Snively? He's pure evil!" Scales sighed. "I know Snively's evil, Shadow. But I need his help. It's the only way I can fulfill my mission." "What mission?" Scales shook her head. "Sorry, but I can't tell you that. Or why I need the Emeralds. Look, when this is all over, I promise I'll tell you everything, what I'm doing, how we know each other, your forgotten past, okay?" She looked uneasy. "Shadow, I apologize but I really have to go. I can't stay here much longer." "Why? Too scared to fight me?" Shadow asked, instantly regretting those words. Scales' eyes narrowed. "You know, I think I just got a little more time." She smiled a little wistfully. "You know, this'll be just like our old sparring sessions. Too bad we never did find out which of us was stronger. Maybe now's the chance to find out." She leaped off the root, landing on the island. "Since I can sense no Chaos Emerald on you, it would be unfair for me to use my own Chaos powers. I will only use my normal attacks. I promise you one thing else, old friend. I will not kill you." She started towards him.
SCALES
Scales ran at Shadow. He jumped over her and hit her with a Homing Attack. She grunted and spun around, smacking him with her spiked tail. As he reeled back, she rushed over and started hitting him repeatedly with punches and kicks, drawing a little blood. As she threw him away, Shadow got up and rolled into her with a somersault. She was knocked back a few steps. She jumped into the air and hit Shadow with a Homing Kick. When she tried to hit him with another Homing Kick, Shadow jumped, deflecting the attack. She bounced off and tried again. He deflected her and tried his own Homing Attack. She used his own strategy and deflected him with a jump. He backed away from her, trying to find a weakness. Scales somersaulted towards him. Shadow jumped over her and hit her with a Homing Attack from behind when she uncurled. It struck the red dome on her back. She stumbled a moment, then turned around, looking angrier than before. Shadow smiled to himself, thinking he had found a weakness of some kind. The strange lizard surprised him again by curling into a ball and spinning in place. Spikes shot out from concealed pockets in her body and she rolled towards him in a dangerous spindash. Shadow jumped out of the way, and Scales almost rolled off the edge of the island. She uncurled, her spikes retracting, allowing Shadow to Homing Attack her from behind again. Right before he hit her, Scales spun around, knocking him away with her tail. As he fell on the ground, she hit him in the chest with a Homing Kick, then whacked him with her tail again. She waited patiently as Shadow got to his feet. "Ready to stop?" she asked. "No way." She smiled. "I was hoping you would keep going." She swiped at him with her claws. Shadow ducked under the swing and delivered an uppercut to her chin, followed by a roundhouse kick that knocked her off her feet. He bounced onto her before she could get up, causing a little damage. She backflipped suddenly, knocking Shadow away and landing upright. He somersaulted towards her. She jumped over him and whacked him with her tail as he got up. Shadow tried to hit her with a Homing Attack and was deflected. Scales curled up into a ball and started spinning again. Shadow ran over and hit her with a Roundhouse Kick before the spikes sprouted; knocking her out of the spindash before it even started. He hit her with another roundhouse kick at the exact second she swung her tail around, and both were knocked back. They stopped for a moment, panting. When they caught their breath, they were about to start the battle anew when a loud beeping could be heard. "Oh, hold on, I've got a call." Said Scales. She tapped the side of her head, activating a small comm unit. "Yeah, what is it doc?" Dr. Snively's voice came on. "Scales, what are you doing?! The island's going to blow up in eight minutes! Where are the Super Emeralds?!" Shadow's eyes widened. "Blow up!?" Scales switched of her comm unit. "Yeah, the island's going to blow up. That's kind of why I had to go when you challenged me to the fight. I suggest that you get off the island by any means possible before it's too late." With that, she turned and ran away, jumping onto one of the roots and disappearing into the jungle. Shadow cursed. "Amy and Robotnik don't know about this! I've got to get to them before the island goes up!" He ran for one of the roots and jumped on, running up it and going into a tunnel carved through one of the huge trees.
Stage 5: Green Forest. Mission: Escape from the island in 8 minutes.
Shadow ran down a large wooden ramp above the water, surrounded by foliage. He ran as fast as he could, trying to beat the clock he knew was ticking down somewhere. He ran down the ramp and into a half pipe, following the curve of the path and moving too fast to fall into the water. The half pipe leveled out into a straight run, ending in a jump plate. He launched from the jump plate, landing on a big platform. He saw a tunnel straight ahead and some platforms to his left. There were also some moss- covered logs. He ran into the tunnel and was nearly flattened by a Rhino Spike. He somersaulted into the tank, destroying it. He kept going and found another Rhino Spike patrolling a shallow pool of water flowing into a small cranny. He killed the Rhino and kept moving, soon exiting the tunnel. He was on a fenced balcony overlooking the water. Across the water, on a nearby tree, was a platform. It was too far away to jump to, or so he thought until he saw a jump plate. He ran onto it and was propelled over to the platform across the water. A Hunter dropped from a hiding place and fired at him. Shadow destroyed the machine with a roundhouse kick and looked around. He saw a platform a little higher up the tree and across from him. He Homing Attacked onto the platform and saw a spring. He jumped on the spring and was launched into the air, where he grabbed hold of a vine. He used the vine to swing around the tree a few times, until he saw where he had to go next. He let go of the vine and was thrown onto a high path. He ran down the steep slope and into the following half pipe, moving away from the spiked balls imbedded in the path. The half pipe corkscrewed a bit and finally ended up in a straight run, ending in a jump plate. He launched off the plate, grabbing onto a vine. He swung around the tree it was on a couple of times, then let go, flinging himself towards a vine on a different tree. After swinging around on that vine, he was thrown onto a platform leading into a tunnel. He ran into the tunnel and was immediately surrounded by a bunch of Rhino Spikes. As the tanks came towards him, he waited until they were all clustered around him, then wiped them out with a single roundhouse kick. He continued through the tunnel, coming out on top of a hill. He ran down the hill, through the half pipe with spiked balls after it, and over a dash panel that sent him through a loop. After going through the loop, he hit a jump panel and landed on a platform with a hole in it. He dropped through the hole, landing in a large multi-tiered room inside the tree trunk. A few Hunters ran towards him. He quickly wiped them out, then ran onto a dash panel, off a small ramp, and onto the second tier of the room. He ran on a second set of dash panels and off a small ramp on that tier, hitting a spring on the wall and bouncing to the top level of the room. He walked to the edge of the top tier and saw a Beetle dropping bombs nearby. He hit the Beetle with a Homing Attack, used another Homing Attack to hit the one behind it, and one last Homing Attack to get to a platform on the other side of the room. He ran into the tunnel on the platform, coming out of the tree. He ran forward and onto a spring, launching himself into a vine. He swung around on the vine, letting go and landing on a platform with a partially hollowed-out tree. He dropped off the edge of the platform, close to the tree, and landed on another platform below with a spring on it. He jumped onto the spring, launching himself onto a vine hanging from a nearby tree. He swung around the tree and let go, landing on a platform with lots of flowers and a moss-covered log. He saw a platform floating in the air and jumped onto it. He saw two more platforms, each higher up. The second was too high to jump to from his current position, so he bounced up. He had to do the same thing to get onto the third platform, and from there he saw a platform on the side of the tree pretty far away, and two Beetles floating in the air. He Homing Attacked the two Beetles, landing on the platform. He ran through a tunnel on the platform, coming out on the other side of the tree, atop a steep hill. He ran down the hill, through the following spike-lined half pipe, ran onto a dash plate and a 360-degree loop, finally landing on a large platform with many bushes and a spring. Seeing a spring, he ran towards it and sprung into the air, ricocheting off of another spring and landing on a platform with a third spring. He launched himself from the third spring, landing on another platform with a spring. He jumped off this spring, landing on a path with a few moss-covered logs, plenty of plants, and a few enemies. Shadow ran down the path, killing every enemy he saw, and going through a series of archways. Once through the archways, he was on top of one more hill. He ran down the hill, along another half pipe with spiked balls, through two loops, hit a spring at the end of the path, grabbed onto a vine, swung around the tree trunk and landed on a long stretch of land leading to a tree tunnel with the Goal Ring visible on the other side. Shadow started on the path and was shocked when the thing started rumbling and falling apart, sinking into the water below. Shadow jumped from section to section of the crumbling span, hitting a spring on the last section and landing in the mouth of the tunnel just as the whole thing finally collapsed and vanished into the clear depths of the flooded jungle. Shadow ran through the tunnel and stopped in front of the Goal Ring, which was on top of a short hill. A small bay with a single dock and a pink and red plane could be seen at the bottom of the hill. Shadow ran through the Goal Ring.
(STAGE CLEAR. RANK A.)
Shadow ran down the hill and onto the dock, knowing there wasn't much time left. Angel spotted Shadow and started making noises, trying to alert Amy and Robotnik. Amy looked up and saw him. "Shadow! We're over here!" she yelled, waving to him. Shadow ran up to the Storming Heart III. "Guys, there's no time to talk, the island's about to explode!" There were gasps of shock all around. "Oh my. Let's go, quickly!" said Robotnik, scrambling to get into one of the seats in the plane. He had to get a little help from Shadow and Amy to actually climb into the plane, and even then he had a bit of trouble fitting into the seat. "A bit tight, but I can manage it." He insisted. Shadow climbed into the seat in front of Robotnik, and Amy climbed into the cockpit. "Everyone buckle your seatbelts, we're going top speed!" she said. "My seatbelt doesn't reach." Complained Robotnik. "Too bad! Here we go!" The plane lifted off with its VTOL jets, then shot out to sea. As they left the small dock, an explosion went off in the jungle. And another, and another. Soon, several explosions had gone off, and one last one occurred in the armory at the west side of the island. With this last explosion, an incredible detonation went off, wiping out all remaining life on the island and completely destroying the harbor, the jungle and the base. As a shockwave from the explosion caused a big tidal, wave, our heroes could only think about how relieved they were to have gotten off in time.
And so the Prison island portion of our story is finally finished. What will come next? Well, I can promise you one thing, I won't be doing the Pumpkin Hill or Aquatic Mine chapters. Why? I really have no idea how to do those chapters, I know nothing of the layout for those levels. I'm sorry. But look on the bright side, this will give the Dark and Hero stories an equal number of levels, won't it? So I'm sorry if you're disappointed by the loss of two Knuckles levels, but they were sort of filler anyway. The plot gets more intense in the next chapter, so stay tuned!