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 10: Twice Failed

Day 17

There were no smiles or large crowds this morning; Shadow had just finished breakfast, and made his way quickly to the outskirts of town.

On the road leading out, Yohan had his truck ready for the trip to Mobotropolis. There was no fanfare, there were no crowds; Shadow wanted to leave as quietly as possible. The only person aside from Yohan was his wife. Karma offered the hedgehog her thanks and gave him a hug. She gave Yohan a hug and kiss before stepping away from the truck.

"You ready?"

Shadow took one look back at the village. "Yeah, I guess."

* * *

Day 19

Two full days passed with nothing happening, there was little to say between the Yohan and Shadow. Shadow sat in the passenger's seat, doing absolutely nothing but looking out at the slowly passing rock. The fallen hero was lost in thought, regrets over what happened and what was lost. Yohan said nothing during the trip, save for asking when Shadow wanted to stop for meals or breaks.

On the third day, just before noon, the truck came through the ruins of Vannannen. Shadow didn't turn his head to look away from the sight, he was just as glazed over as during the last two days of travel. The ruined houses, the burned corpses which were still exposed to the freezing elements, none of it reminded him of Nosadire because he needed no reminder; the memories of the town that was destroyed on his watch while he cowered in a hole were still fresh in his mind.

Yohan didn't want to stop in the town, and drove through it, leaving it well behind before stopping for lunch.

* * *

Day 20

It would not be long before the travelers would be off the mountain. By tomorrow night they would reach the plateau, and the day after they would reach Mobotropolis. Yohan wondered if Shadow was thinking of home, it was almost three weeks since he saw it last, and Yohan remembered how much he longed for home during his journey to get Shadow in the first place. But Shadow thought not of his home; if anything, he would have been more worried of how he would be greeted at home as a failure, and preferred not to even consider it.

* * *

As the truck descended, Shadow continued to gaze out at the nondescript scenery, not breaking his stare, until something caught his attention.

"What is it?"

Shadow looked out, not entirely sure what it was, he wasn't even sure that there was anything; it could have been his mind kicking him in the rear for constantly flooding all the dark memories, and just shaking him out of the stupor.

"Oh, nothing, I thought… nothing."

Shadow went back to his nightmare, ignoring what he thought he didn't see. The truck continued, unaware that Shadow's mind was not playing tricks on him.

Rrrooaaaarrr!

From inside the cab, the muffled scream came through the steel cab.

"O.K. I heard that!"

Shadow and Yohan tried to look through their windows, but the hedgehog could see nothing through the small panes of glass; Yohan looked through the curved mirror bolted to the side of the truck.

"We've got one on our tail."

The beast flew down, and as it passed the truck, blasted it with it's breath, enveloping the vehicle in a bright orange light. When the flames cleared, Shadow and Yohan looked out the front window and saw the huge monster hovering just off the ground in front of them.

"It's him."

Yohan glanced at Shadow. "What?"

"That's the one I took down in Lalberdean, and he came back for me in Nosadire." Shadow stared down the beast down the road. "So you wanted to say 'good bye'."

The red dragon fired at the truck again, blocking the pair's view. They couldn't see where the dragon was, but they knew when they felt the whole truck shake.

"He's trying to tear through the truck."

Shadow gave the evil eye to Yohan. "No duh, Einstein."

In the middle of the truck, dents started to appear inside the metal, long streaks of bent steel marking where the dragon was clawing at the outside. Shadow was gripping his seat while Yohan was reaching behind his for some weapons that were stashed there.

"Here, take this."

Yohan handed Shadow a short sword and a small shield, then retrieved another shield and a large axe for himself.

"You have got to be kidding."

A shriek in the rear rung through the whole vehicle as the red menace bit into the frame and its teeth punctured the skin.

Shadow wasn't keen on staying in the trap. "Abandon sardine can!"

The two passengers flung open the doors and jumped out; Yohan was right next to the beast and charged at it, swinging his axe like a madman and planting it near the dragon's left shoulder. Shadow was on the other side of the truck and raced around the rear; while the dragon turned its attention to Yohan, he tried to stab the beast in the front right leg.

The monster wailed, then reared up away from the truck, forcing Yohan and Shadow to back off.

"Hey Yohan, what's the plan for two men against a dragon?"

"Watch the flames and the claws, stay defensive, and hope that it gets bored and leaves."

"For crying out loud, we're not the penalty killers of a hockey team!"

The red dragon inhaled deeply, a sure sign of attack.

"Run for it!"

Yohan didn't need to be told, he had been fighting these beasts for months. Shadow scurried away while Yohan ran behind the truck. The flames blasted the side of the truck and Yohan cowered behind his shield to block the flames that came around the front of the truck.

With its main quandary temporarily out of sight, the dragon focused on the bear hiding behind the truck. The dragon lunged forward with its massive legs and smashed the side of the vehicle, tearing a hole in the side where its teeth had originally punctured it, and shoving the whole rig back into Yohan. The bear fell to the ground, having the wind knocked out of him from the huge block of steel. He looked up to see the dragon looking at him over the cab of the truck. Yohan scampered to grab his axe before the dragon could attack his defenseless position. The red beast was about to punish the miner for his insolence, but Shadow would have nothing of it; the hedgehog ran up to the other side and threw his shield into the air, smacking the reptile on the side of its face.

RRROOAAAARR!!

"C'mon Red, I'm the one you want!"

The dragon turned away from Yohan and charged Shadow, firing a blast of its flame at the hedgehog. Yohan jumped to his feet and ran around the truck, looking for an opening. Shadow leapt to avoid the swinging claws of the dragon, and ran in to swipe at his opponent. The dragon trampled on the ground, trying to stomp the hedgehog that was dancing around its feet, all the while getting a series of nicks and scratches as Shadow whittled away with his sword. For a moment, the dragon lost sight of Shadow; it checked its feet to see it if had succeeded in squashing the pest out of existence.

"Hi, you miss me?"

The dragon was eye-to-eye with the pest who was sitting on his head; not liking its passenger, it shook its head to try and knock Shadow off. With little place to grab, Shadow slid off and rolled onto the large neck where he clamped down; he tried to swing his sword to cut into the beast's neck, but he was using most of his strength just holding on. With Shadow on the back of the dragon's neck trying to cut into it's thick flesh, Yohan came around back to see if he could do some damage to one of its hind legs. The dragon, of course, did not like having two little gnats chewing little bite marks in its perfect scales. All the shaking was unable to dislodge the hedgehog on its neck, and a swipe from its tail flew just over the bear's head. Yohan came and landed a blow to the left hind leg, that was the last straw. In an act of speed that wasn't thought possible for such a large creature, the dragon kicked its foot right into Yohan. The bear was thrown back almost twice the length of the mighty creature.

"Yohan!"

There was no response, Yohan laid on the ground, not moving. Shadow wasn't paying much attention, and with one good spine-cracking snap, the dragon threw him off.

Shadow took a look at his weapon. {This ain't doing squat.}

Shadow looked around and noticed the truck; a huge gash was cut out of one side, and in the hole, Shadow saw his trunk full of Power Rings. Running under the beast, Shadow hoped that he went unseen so that he could get his Rings without interruption. Racing at top speed, Shadow got into the truck, seemingly unnoticed by the dragon. He fumbled with the clasp, which in the urgency seemed to stick just to spite its owner. In a fit of rage, Shadow took his sword to the box and smashed the lock, almost bashing the lid to splinters on the way. The noise was enough to draw the dragon to the truck. Shadow grabbed as many Rings as he could before the dragon came to the opening, and stuffed them in his pockets. He turned to see the dragon looking right at him through the opening, just a few feet from the truck.

RRROOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!!!!

Before the dragon could turn the inside of the truck into an oven, Shadow charged out at full power, running right under the dragon. As he passed under the chest, Shadow gave the dragon a little present, his sword, lodged right in the dead center of its target, right down to the hilt. The dragon lurched in pain with the weapon strike, and Shadow ran over to check on Yohan.

"Yohan! Yohan!"

Shadow knelt over his host and saw several huge gashes in his front, claw marks similar to the ones now on the hedgehog's back, only a lot deeper. He lifted the bear's head, hoping that Yohan might have some little bit of life left, a few last words to pass on, but nothing, he was gone.

Shadow turned his attention back to the monster that had recovered from the blow Shadow had dealt. The sword was planted straight in the dragon's chest, but the beast was so large, that the whole length of the blade was insufficient to get any penetration.

The two stared each other down.

"You damn monster, I'm gonna make you pay for this, for everything!"

The two tensed up in preparation for the battle to come; the dragon clawed into the ground, and Shadow's body glowed with the Chaos Control. The dragon let out a huge roar, and Shadow screamed at the top of his lungs.

Shadow charged straight for the dragon, and the beast fired a jet of flames at the hedgehog, who charged right through it and jumped up to the dragon's head, giving it a kick right between the eyes. Shadow glided through the air to the dragon's left, and was met with a swipe from the front leg as he landed; Shadow ran off, just missing the claw.

The dragon leapt into the air, flying behind Shadow as he sped off, firing flumes of fire at the ground. Shadow zigzagged left and right, then turned around and charged at the dragon; he jumped up and started launching punches and kicks at random points over the dragon's body. When he reached the tail end, the dragon swatted at him, and knocked the hedgehog to the ground with his massive tail. Shadow contorted in the air to land on his feet and get moving before the dragon could capitalize on its hit.

Shadow ran off, and the dragon followed. Shadow led the dragon into a wider part of the road, and made a sharp turn to the mountain on one side. The dragon stalled in the air as Shadow made the sharp right turn, and was unable to match. Shadow ran around the right side of the dragon and behind it. Before the dragon could turn around, Shadow jumped up and gave a strike on the dragon's hind side. The dragon wailed and tried to turn around, but by the time it did, Shadow had run around to the other side and gave the beast another kick from behind.

Shadow's whipping post was not liking this one bit, and with a few great flaps of its wings, flew high into the air. Shadow stopped to see what was coming next, or if the dragon had enough, which he highly doubted.

The red dragon swung around and came down, following the slope of the mountains towards Shadow, breathing a huge swath of flame along the rock. The hedgehog got out of the way as the blaze cut a path down the mountain, across the road, and up the other side. High in the sky, the dragon turned around to locate its target. Shadow was standing in the middle of the road, looking up, waiting for the dragon to make its next move. The dragon descended again, aiming for Shadow, blasting another wide band of flame across the valley.

Shadow ran to one side to avoid the new attack, but instead of letting the dragon go so easily, he ran up the side of the mountain, following it. When he got close, he attacked.

"Chaos Spear!"

The lightning strike hit the dragon broadside, brining it down to the mountainside. But it didn't stay for long, the dragon quickly recovered and got back in the air, leaving Shadow at the tip of the small peak. The beast turned around and came back at Shadow.

RRRROOOAAARRRRR!!!

The dragon came down, but didn't bother with its flame, realizing that it only created a screen for Shadow to run away unseen. Shadow ran down the rock as the dragon gave chase, trying to eat the little pest raw. Shadow jilted to one side and the dragon flew past. The dragon didn't take long to turn around and flew back at the hedgehog.

Shadow jumped to one side, avoiding the creature's massive jaw before running in the opposite direction. The dragon turned and resumed the chase. As Shadow ran along the side, he hit a patch of loose dirt and slid to the ground. Shadow glanced back to see the huge monster locked onto him, it's vicious teeth ready to tear into his flesh. The hedgehog rolled down the mountainside, trying to get out of the way.

The dragon flew past, but instead of trying to catch the rolling furball in its teeth, it cut into the mountain with its huge claws, bringing down a small rockslide on top of Shadow, dragging him to the road below. Shadow was knocked to the ground, a bit dazed and confused, his clothes were torn and tattered, and new bruises joined the large scars on his back. The dragon came up to finish him off.

Shadow looked up from his fallen position to see the massive predator lurching above him, slowly moving into position as if to see if Shadow was down, or if he would try anything. The hedgehog wondered why the dragon wasn't trying to catch him while he was down, why he was hesitating. His answer came blasting down on him like an airborne earthquake when a low rumbling emerged from the dragon's mouth.

"Now you die!"

Shadow was startled that the dragon could talk; up until now all he heard where roars and screams. But he was still attentive enough to realize that Red was about to flame broil him. Shadow jumped from the rubble and ran to one side to avoid the dragon's wrath.

"If you can talk, then tell me why you're doing this?!"

The dragon didn't respond, instead it attacked, forcing Shadow to flee again.

"You wipe out whole towns, kill hundreds of people! Why?!"

The dragon roared before firing again at the hedgehog. Shadow ran to one side as usual to avoid. With no safe spot in sight, Shadow realized that the only place to go to get out of the dragon's attack was on the dragon itself.

The hedgehog ran around the beast to distract it, and when it lost sight of him, Shadow ran up one of the legs and right onto the dragon's back. The dragon shook a bit to try and throw Shadow off, but he had grabbed onto the right wing and had no intention of letting go. Flapping its wings in the air, the dragon tried to loosen Shadow's grip, but the motions were too slow to shake him off. A roar and a few flaps later, the dragon took to the air. The dragon flew quickly through the air, hoping the wind might blow the little black pest off and to a gravity induced conclusion. Shadow clung onto the right wing of the beast, trying to resist the wind and the constant bucking of the dragon. As he struggled to maintain his grip, Shadow tried to find anything to grapple with his left hand, but there was nothing but tightly packed scales with no gaps or open edges to grip.

Desperate, Shadow scratched at the glassy pieces, hoping to tear some hole. The tightly packed pieces wouldn't separate; but as his hands beat on them, something sparked from the surface. Shadow felt it, the sharp sting of energy. Placing his hand flat on the dragon's back, Shadow could feel the power that flowed not though the beast, but through its scales. As a test, Shadow tried to summon that power into himself; sparks of pure energy danced between the patterned surface and his fingers.

RRRROOOAAARRR!!!

"Don't like that, do you?"

With a vile grimace on his face, Shadow drew on the power of the Master Emerald, absorbing the power from the red dragon's scales. Large shocks of energy ripped across the red plate flesh and encircling Shadow's form.

RRRRRROOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!!!!!!

The dragon screamed in pain, a terrible pain as Shadow drained all the energy he could. The attack was weakening the monster, and it had trouble staying in the air; its wings flagged in the wind, and its body went limp. The dragon and the hedgehog came down like a ton of bricks, dropping for several seconds straight down until the mammoth creature slammed into the rock. The double menace slid down the slope towards the road, breaking off large chunks of stone and raising an immense cloud of dust. Shadow covered his face as he rode the dragon down the slide, blocking the particulate from his nose and eyes. The dragon hit the flat road with a THUD and Shadow fell off the red one's back, rolling off as a furry black ball.

Shadow covered his head while he sat on the ground beneath the fallen beast as the last little bits of crumbling rock fell on him. Once clear, Shadow stood up, his body shone with an electric aura from the energy he absorbed. The red dragon didn't move, it didn't whine in pain, or fidget in discomfort. Shadow walked down the length of the beast, it's left wing was torn apart, and a huge gash was in the left side, dripping with blood and leaving a large pool on the ground. Shadow looked up at the head, like it's body, the left side of the beast's head was ravaged and bloodied.

Content that his opponent was no more, Shadow walked past the truck; the vehicle had gone its last mile, as did its driver. Shadow stood over the body of the one who invited him to the mountains and put him through all this chaos.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Shadow was laying the last stone on a funeral mound; he finished it off by placing a large stone at the head.

"I'm sorry I failed you, Yohan, Sandy. But I won't fail anyone else."

Shadow stepped up to the tombstone, then summoned the Chaos Control to his right index finger; thrusting it into the rock, Shadow cut out a message in the stone. When it was done, Shadow stepped back to admire his work; even though the lettering was horrible, the message was clear.

YOHAN SANCOT
HE DIED WITH HONOR

Shadow left the gave and went to the truck. In the back was the fuel tank, were the supply of Fyr crystals was stored. Poking through the wreckage, he found the tank and ripped the top off.

The inside of the tank was sectioned into 12 compartments, each filled with crushed Fyr crystals. Since the energy was drained right out of the crystals, instead of the crystals being burned away like a liquid fuel, the expended crystals remained in the tank like a dead battery. To facilitate refueling, the tank was divided so that a single compartment would be exhausted at a time and could be replaced instead of replacing the whole supply and thus losing half discharged crystals. Shadow could see that two of the portions were gone, the crystals inside were black and powdery like charcoal. The next compartment was half charged, the crystals still shined, but they were much darker and dimmer than the other nine.

Shadow reached in and took some of the fresh crystals in his hand, the same sparks fired through the crystals and his hand as Shadow drained the energy right out of them. When it was done, Shadow poured the black dust to the ground. It was starting to come together, the dragon's scales were made of Fyr crystals, and it was an energy source Shadow could use. That explained why his Chaos Spear caused such harm when he hit one of the dragons, but it did no real damage; the attack would disrupt the energy in the scales, but it was ultimately absorbed.

Shadow placed his hands over the exposed tank and pulled all the energy out of the tank into himself. It had been a long time that he felt like this. The Power Rings acted as an energy supply, but they were external; not since he drained the Master Emerald did Shadow have the feeling of energy racing through his veins.

After he was done, a reenergized Shadow left the tank of expended fuel and approached the cab. Reaching in, he pulled out his bag and from it removed the other photo album. Shadow held the book, the precious item that Rouge and Bunnie gave to him before he left.

"I'm sorry, but I can't come home now. Until all is said and done, no more whining, no more complaining, no more homesickness. I will return home when I have set things right, and not before!"

Holding the book, Shadow sent a bolt of energy into it, causing it to explode in flames.

Shadow took one last look at the makeshift grave before he turned away. Facing Lalberdean, Shadow's body charged with energy, as he called the Chaos Control.

* * *

Sometime later, Shadow reached Lalberdean, which gave many people a fright seeing the white rocket firing down the road and right into town.

Shadow stopped, dropping the light and appearing as normal with torn clothing like he appeared a few days ago after Nosadire, but a lot healthier. When someone came up to him and noticed his condition, they immediately thought the worst.

"What happened?"

Shadow looked at him with a stern face. "Where's Carmelita?"

"She's here somewhere. Where's Yohan?"

"I need to see Karma."

The commotion had attracted several people, including the one Shadow was looking for.

"Shadow, what happened to you? Where's Yohan?"

"I'm sorry, we were attacked on the way down."

Shadow didn't have to finish, the bear knew exactly what happened. "No, no it can't be…"

Karma fell to her knees, crying. Shadow tried to wrap his arm around her in a half hug, but even while she was knelt down she was still too large for him to reach around. Some of the other villagers came around and helped Carmelita to her feet, escorting her back to her lonely house. Shadow stood solemnly and watched as the bear was taken away. He wondered if he should follow or leave her be alone for a bit. When he finally decided, he was stopped with a hand on his shoulder.

"What the Hell happened?"

Shadow turned back to see Kirkigard standing there, and he wasn't happy to see the hedgehog again.

"We were attacked, that red dragon had a bone to pick with me and got the drop on us."

"And you let him kill my father?!"

"I didn't let him do anything. I tried to save him, and you cannot fault me for that."

"And what did happen to my father, a meal for that beast, torn to shreds or burnt to a cinder. Did you just leave him behind as a mess on the road?"

"Just on the other side of Vannannen, you'll find a nice little grave. If you want to exhume him and rebury him properly then go ahead. And if you're hungry, there's a dead dragon down there you can harvest too."

Shadow wanted to check up on Carmelita, but Kirkigard wasn't about to let him go that easily.

"You're some bearer of bad news, aren't you. First Nosadire, and now my father."

"I witnessed the destruction of a town, and a man, that I cannot deny, but I won't let it get to me anymore. Nor will I let you get to me."

"Well, it'll be nice to know you can sleep well at night."

"I doubt I'll be doing a lot of sleeping anytime soon."

Shadow started to walk towards the Sancot's house.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to check on Karma, then get some proper clothes, and maybe a weapon."

"Aren't you going home?"

"I'm staying."

Kirkigard wasn't impressed. "What's this, the big hero ashamed of running away?"

"I'm going to put an end to this nonsense."

To be continued