This is a fanfiction, and as such, most of the characters in the story are not mine. Most characters are © Sega, and are not used with permission.
Chapter 6: Face to Face?
Shadow once again found himself in the corridors of Robotropolis' main tower, probing his way to the top of the tower. He soon reached a large set of double doors, and entered.
Inside was another large room, even larger than the lab down below. The room was lined with various computer screens and equipment, and at the center was a large steel column that ended at a large steel observation platform just below the ceiling, which was cordoned off by glass windows around the perimeter. Other than that, the entire room was vacant.
"You have caused me much trouble, hedgehog."
Shadow looked up to see a strange man looking at him from the windows on the platform.
"I seem to have a knack for doing that."
Around the room, display panels of every conceivable shape and size illuminated with the picture of the terror from above. For the first time, Shadow had actually seen what this tyrant looked like.
"And I trust that your trip here was unpleasant."
Shadow didn't bother looking at the screens and kept his eyes locked on the platform. "Please, if you really wanted to ruin my day you would have locked me in a room for a few hours with some decade old magazines."
Robotnik chuckled. "Ah, you have a sense of humor. It's rather refreshing considering the lack of any stimulating conversation around here."
"Aw, don't you like your toys anymore?"
"Even favourite toys eventually grow boring, so I have to create new ones, like this."
The room started to shake, just a little bit. At the center of the room, the large column started to sink into the floor, but the platform didn't go with it; instead, the cover revealed that the platform itself was a giant robot, or more specifically, a giant flying gun battery. It was huge, a round steel egg shaped vessel with large 70mm gun turrets mounted everywhere, and a dozen rockets underneath to keep it aloft.
"Behold, my greatest weapon in the war against you, the Egg Blaster!"
{The 'Egg Blaster'? Oh brother.}
Shadow was impressed by the size of the thing, but ultimately wasn't going to let it get to him. "Do you think this will scare me?! Your petty pop guns are nothing!"
"I've noticed. You seem to be able to outrun anything, even bullets; not even Sonic could do that. But what if you couldn't run."
Shadow wondered what the madman meant, until he felt the floor shaking. He leapt to his left as the panel he was standing on collapsed. It slid down the curved wall and crashed to a floor covered in large grinding blades that tore up the steel like a paper shredder.
"Watch your step, hedgehog; that first one's a doozy."
"Where'd you get that line, Saturday morning cartoons?"
"I was too busy planning my ultimate takeover of the world to bother with kiddie stuff like that."
"It's no wonder you're a nutcase."
Shadow shook again as the panel he was standing on was also letting go. A quick jump got Shadow to safe ground again while the panel fell to its doom.
Robotnik's voice again echoed through the room. "You may be powerful, but did you really think you could defeat me?"
"Did you think that your parlour tricks could beat me?!"
Shadow's question was answered with another shift at is feet. Another jump was required to get off the platform, but Robotnik taunted him more, firing one of the huge 70mm cannons at his new position. Shadow just managed to duck to avoid the hot lead projectile that slammed into the floor, putting a good dent in it and dislodging another panel.
The dark one was not to take this lying down, and fired his Chaos Spear at the gun that tried to perforate his hide. The beam reached the barrel, but reflected off.
{Just great; powerful and heavily armored to boot.}
Shadow jumped again as his panel was coming loose; but also, several panels within a few metres were also shaking. One right next to his foot plunged into the abyss. Realizing that he definitely wasn't safe just standing there, Shadow make a break for Robotnik's flying death trap. Running across the quickly disintegrating floor, Shadow made several moves left and right, looking for plates that were still partially stable, and avoiding Robotnik's barrage of cannon fire.
Once he was close enough, Shadow jumped into the air, aiming for a spot on the hull between the guns that were shooting at him, and the rockets holding the blasted thing up. Shadow curled into his spin attack and started to saw his way into the dense armor, but it was far to thick to do anything more than scratch the paint.
The black hedgehog continued to assail the massive ship, scratching a path over and around the hull. Eventually running out of steam, Shadow released his attack and landed on one of the guns. Looking up, he decided that there would only be one way in, through the top, right where Robotnik was waiting.
The doctor was not waiting idly in his perch, and was forcing the controls of his machine. The large egg started to move about the room, spinning wildly, swaying in every direction, hoping to shake the gnat off it. Shadow took his time, not wanting to fall off at this point, and took each jump in stride. Leaping from barrel to barrel, slowly making his way to the top.
As Shadow landed on the next barrel, Robotnik fired it, causing the whole gun to shake under Shadow's feet. The hedgehog almost lost his footing, and took a minute to regain his balance before continuing up the structure. Soon, Shadow was within range of the top and jumped up to the glass that separated Robotnik from the battlefield.
Robotnik looked at the hedgehog with a fright Shadow charged the glass with his spin attack, but the transparent barrier held up as well as the steel hull. Pushed back a bit, Shadow fired his Chaos Spear at the glass, but it too was deflected.
"If you thought that this was ordinary glass, you've got another thing coming."
Robotnik pushed a few buttons on his console, signalling another volley of gunfire at Shadow. The black one saw it, and fired another Chaos Spear down to block the shells; the resulting explosion knocked Shadow back to the ground, several metres below.
Shadow hit the floor with a thud, but the floor fell out from under the impact. Leaping up, Shadow returned to the floor that continued to crumble. More than half of the area had collapsed to the pit below, but now Shadow could see some of the supports of the floor. Although most of the floor panels were over open air, there were some evenly spaced panels that were supported by long steel pillars.
To his left was a single platform in the open, supported on one of the long pillars. Shadow jumped off the unstable plates he was originally standing on to that lone plate. But before he reached it, the platform started to fall, being forced down by the column. Shadow almost overshot the plateau as it descended and had to grip the edge of the square.
Shadow pulled himself up to the moving platform and looked around. Most of the floor was now gone, reduced to a set of single panels held up by long pistons at even intervals. Robotnik was hovering in his Egg Blaster and fired at the small square that Shadow was standing on.
The hedgehog jumped to the next platform, but like the last, it started to move while he was in mid-air; only this one went up, not down. Shadow missed the top of the platform and hit the pillar below it. In a quick and dirty manoeuvre, Shadow leapt off the pillar and headed towards another platform diagonal to this one. That platform also moved up, but Shadow was able to grab the edge.
Shadow pulled himself up to the platform.
"So, how does it feel to know that you'll be finished off by the world's greatest genius?"
Shadow mumbled to himself. "Not half as embarrassing as being finished off by the world's biggest loudmouth."
Standing up, Shadow called to taunt Robotnik. "You know, this machine has a lot in common with you; it's loud, fat and ugly!"
Shadow's remark was met with cannon fire. He jumped across the way to another platform, but almost fell off the other side as it descended and ascended almost randomly.
"Say your prayers, hedgehog."
"I've only got one prayer for you."
Shadow stood on the rising square and beckoned Robotnik in the voice of an erupting volcano.
"YOU BETTER BELIEEEEVE YOU'RE GONNA DIIIIEEE!!!"
Shadow leapt to another platform, this time altering his trajectory to land down on the next platform, so that it would not matter if it was rising or falling, he would still land on it. Robotnik fired at Shadow as he took the high arc, but most of the large shots simply missed, while one that almost hit was stopped dead by Shadow's Chaos Spear.
Shadow jumped to another platform to get even closer to the battleship. Robotnik tried to blast Shadow out of the air again, but also shot at the platform just as Shadow reached it. The impact ruptured the platform, leaving it as a warped and crumpled mass of metal; but somehow, Shadow held fast to the floor despite the blast and the decimated plate.
Shadow jumped to a platform to his left, and them to another platform in front, a very high platform, almost halfway up the side of the Egg Blaster, almost beckoning him to use it as a launch site for his attack against Robotnik.
Shadow stood on the platform as it rose, and fired his Chaos Spear up to the cockpit, which reflected of the glass as always. Pushing a button Robotnik commanded another cannon to fire at him, the large shell hurting his way. But Shadow didn't avoid, he wanted it to come to him. When it got close, Shadow leapt back like a professional wide receiver to match his motion to the oversized bullet, and then plucked it out of the air.
The charge carried Shadow to the far wall, which he jumped off towards another platform, timing it so he'd run out of momentum right over it instead of aiming for the platform itself. Shadow made a perfect landing and spun the shell basketball style on his finger.
"Nice shootin', Tex."
Robotnik was not pleased and pressed more buttons to trigger more shots at the hedgehog. Shadow jumped to a nearby platform, also making sure to come down on the platform in a high arc. Robotnik tried to fire at him in mid-air, but a Chaos Spear or two deflected any oncoming attack. Shadow jumped over a few more platforms, closing in on Robotnik's flying menace.
Once he was close enough, Shadow tucked the shell under his arm like a football, and charged Robotnik. Shadow lunged at one of the main guns. Robotnik fired the cannon at point blank range while Shadow tossed the shell right down the barrel.
The two projectiles impacted inside the barrel, one powered by Chaos energy, the other by gunpowder; the explosion ruptured the whole gun, leaving it a charred mass.
Shadow was also knocked back a bit by the explosion, but shook it off and inspected the damage. The gun was totally ruined, while the armor plating around it was also showing wear. Leaping back at the impact point, Shadow tore into his spin attack and started to tear through the steel plating. With a few seconds of pressure, he bore a hole big enough to get through, and landed inside on a large structural support beam.
"Oh no, he's inside my machine!"
Inside the structure, Shadow got a bead on the inner workings of the war machine, then jumped into the mechanics, launching into his spin attack and ramming into whatever looked vulnerable, and potentially critical.
Up above, Robotnik could feel the tremors through the floor plates for every part Shadow crushed. After some amount of damage, one of the jet engines underneath gave out, and the whole vehicle listed to one side. The mad doctor couldn't maintain his balance and rolled along the platform to one side.
Slowly, the whole ship was falling into the shredders in the floor of the chamber, crushing any of the small platforms in the way. When it hit the grinding screws and saws, the whole bottom of the vessel warped under the strain; the various destructive components of the floor chugged and snapped under the overly large meal. The hideous squeal of metal being shorn apart would have driven anyone within earshot cowering.
The panels in front of Robotnik were flashing yellow and red warnings of one malfunction or another.
"I've got to get out of here!"
From up through the floor of the cockpit, Shadow tore through like it was paper. Robotnik turned to see the hedgehog, encompassed in a bright white flare, leaping through the hole and up to his eye level. At first, Shadow was almost back on; but slowly he spun around, and Robotnik could see the hedgehog very close up. For a brief instance, it was the most amazing thing Robotnik ever saw; but when he looked into his eyes, those burning, raging, hellfire orbs, it was as if the devil himself was staring him down.
It seemed to be that time froze, that movement was impossible, and the air weighed down on his puny body like it was made solid. Only the increasing glow from Shadow told Robotnik that time moved at all. And then…
"CHAOS BLOSSOM!!!"
Outside Robotnik's flying menace, the cockpit exploded in a bright flash.
