Destructive Lust Reborn
By TrebleX
Chapter 2: Extinction Of The Echidna.
The light struck against the master emerald as it seemed to glimmer a little in the sunlight, reflecting a few beams of the same blazing hue in various directions. Atop it sat a red echidna, entirely silent as he remained aware as ever. His dim blue oculars flickered slightly as he heard the sound of footsteps. Someone was here, but how was that possible? No planes or ships had passed by as far as he was aware of, and right now he couldn't really think of any other possible ways of accessing the island.
Knuckles swung his legs slightly before leaping from the master emerald, landing with a soft thud upon the terra before himself. He looked around cautiously, his fists clenched as he readied himself for any oncoming attackers. Probably some of Eggman's robots coming for the master emerald he thought, or at least to begin with he did. He then realised that there most likely would of been a clang resonating from each footstep, which there wasn't. Well that didn't matter, he still kept cautious as he moved into a fighting stance, eyes constantly darting around in search of the one who he could hear approaching.
Black spines were the first thing to come into view as someone continued walking up the stairs to the altar, black spines with crimson streaks. Wait...it couldn't be, could it? Surely he'd died from that fall, right the way up there in space. Knuckles squinted his eyes slightly with some disbelief as to what he was seeing, those dark fiery crimson eyes now also visible as they glared darkly toward him. Foolishly the echidna let his guard down a little, believing that Shadow was now an ally...a mistake he'd soon regret making. "Shadow...?" Knuckles asked curiously, still unsure if it really was him. Soon the dark hedgehog was right up at the altar, merely a few inches from the red echidna as a dark smirk crossed his lips.
In some confusion as he regained caution, Knuckles stepped back slightly and gave a look of concern. "What're you, doing?" He asked with a slight hint of worry in his voice, though of course he believed he could win any fight against him with ease. However, being so egotistical and not admitting that he could possibly lose and giving up, would probably be his downfall.
"Vengance...begins now..." Shadow said as a slight, dim laugh escaped the confines of his throat, his misty red eyes narrowing slightly at the red echidna. He reared up his right hand as he clenched it firmly, ready to deal the first blow to Knuckles who still seemed to be suffering a little of confusion, to his advantage.
Suddenly he thrust his fist forth, impacting heavily apropos the jaw line of knuckles as he was sent upward from the powerful uppercut, taking much more damage due to his previous confusion and lowered defence. Of course though now that Shadow had given the first hit, Knuckles would immediately start fighting back without a second thought. A trickle of carmine fluid escaped his jaws from the powerful hit as he flipped slightly, so as to land once more upon both feet. As soon as the red echidna landed, he lunged forward and swung his right fist toward the obsidian hedgehog's gut. However he easily evaded this his with a leap slightly into the air, bringing his left heel to Knuckles' left cheek with a benevolent force exerted. This caused the echidna to collapse aside to the terrain heavily, some of it exploding about his form upon the collision.
He wasn't one to back down from a fight though, not ever. Knuckles quickly leaped back to his feet and began throwing a flurry of punches at the hedgehog, who merely leaped backward and slightly aside from each one, as if to taunt him. Upon reaching the edge of the island, the dark one leaped forward suddenly, pressing a foot to the rear of Knuckles' cranium and causing him to stagger right to the edge. He quickly stopped himself, another step further and Knuckles would of fallen. The red echidna quickly turned around once again, suddenly whipping both of his arms up to a defensive position as a leg swung at him. That hit he managed to block, but he wasn't fast enough for the next movement. Both of his wrists were gripped firmly as he was lifted into the air, before Shadow flung him aside with great power. He smashed into the side of the altar as rubble exploded out of it, some of the stone forming to shards upon being smashed, which permeated his flesh in some parts. Knuckles was rapidly weakening, and he was beginning to lose more and more of his bodily fluids.
The echidna, with some fault in his steps, once again staggered to his feet and looked toward Shadow through slightly blurred vision. Why....why was he doing this? He didn't have time to ask that question though, never mind have it answered. The black hedgehog was already running toward him again with his right fist reared up. Believing that the best form of defence was a good offense, Knuckles ran up in the same way. When they were in a greater proximity, both thrust their fist forward and connected with the other's gut. Time seemed to halt for a moment as both exhaled heavily from the sudden impact, before being sent backward in opposing directions. Shadow quickly regained his composure and was once more on both feet, but Knuckles however due to his already fairly weakened state, lay there against the dented altar wall. Shards of rubble lay around his feet as he looked weakly to Shadow once again, further damask fluids leaking from his jaw.
Was this...really going to be the end for him? He coughed slightly as a mixture of carmine and saliva escaped onto the floor, breathing heavily and shakily after that. Shadow could easily see how weak the echidna was by this point, and didn't give a second thought to finishing him off. In a blur of ebony fur, he launched himself forward and impacted heavily against Knuckles chest. A roar of pain escaped Knuckles' throat as searing pain consumed his entire body. He could feel it, Shadow was slowly...tearing him apart. The spines were lacerating his body as carmine fluids erupted outward from him violently. Soon his body collapsed to the floor, lifeless as Shadow stood atop it with some pride.
The obsidian hedgehog was now partially showered with the bodily fluid of Knuckles, and he smashed his heel heavily down against the echidna's neck as the ivory bone snapped violently. There...for this target at least he was satisfied. Just to finish his work, he'd do one more thing though. Shadow walked up the toward the master emerald and gazed at it for a moment, before raising his own emerald before him. The master emerald was more powerful than the other seven, and he could definitely use it's power. His hand trembled slightly as either emerald gave off a slight garish glow...it was working, he could feel it. A stream of energy connected between the two emeralds as the entire island began to tremble with some force, all energy being extracted from the master emerald. The island began to fall from it's place in the sky as the master emerald lost it's original colour, becoming a dark grey instead. He could already feel a greater power contained in the emerald he held, and he would use this to his advantage.
With a single last look of disgust at the echidna, he called out powerfully. "Chaos Control!" With a sudden flash of energy that took over his entire form, he vanished, once more appearing on the other floating island he had originally found. Before going for the next target he would clean himself of this rotten echidna blood, so as to fool and hopefully confuse his next target to begin with. He didn't think he needed any advantages to win, but he would still use them if he could. Now the first target had been annihilated, and next would be Rouge the bat. She would probably be located somewhere in Dry Lagoon he thought, and could easily be attracted with the gem he currently held. This was it...things were really starting to get moving, and he had already destroyed one target with ease.