Sorry-I'm going through serious writer's block, so I'm sorry for the lack of updates. I'll have more time now, so hopefully this will hold you over.
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Chapter 6
No Smoke and Mirrors
"Some people just don't know when to give up," Sonic sighed after recovering from the shock of seeing five Shadows. He instantly picked out the one he knew and ran up to him. "Hey man, I thought you were on our side!"
Shadow stopped running and turned to face Sonic. Shadow obviously recognized him, but Sonic had the feeling he wasn't happy to see him.
"Blue hedgehog…Your planet Earth wasn't enough of an example, was it?"
"Never liked the place much," Sonic retorted. "Too obnoxious."
Shadow grinned. "You don't get it, do you? I am the ultimate force, and I will accomplish what Maria has asked me to do."
Oh great, he was talking about "Maria" again.
"Didn't she break up with you yet?" Sonic joked.
Bad move.
Shadow's eyes flared with anger. He began speaking not in his usual calm, mysterious voice, but in a much more evil and powerful warped voice.
"Do not mock my purpose! All will bow before my strength! Attack!"
The four other Shadows stopped their rampaging and appeared in front of Shadow, ready for battle. The real Shadow folded his arms and stared at Sonic. Sonic still felt calm and collected.
"Five people, as usual for a gang," Sonic chuckled. "Of course, you need five people for a street gang, cuz each of them has a fifth of a personality."
Shadow sneered.
"I have business to attend to," Shadow crooned in his usual voice. He looked to the sky as if trying to find something. "Meanwhile, you can have fun with my friends. I've been telling them all about you. I'll probably won't be seeing you later." He then pulled out his trademark gem-the green Chaos Emerald. "Chaos CONTROL!"
In a blaze of jade green, Shadow vanished. The four other fighters took his place.
If his previous statement was correct, Sonic would only have to deal with 4/5 of a personality. And a whole lot of unknown power.
Just then…
"We're coming, Sonic!!!!"
Sonic whirled around to see Amy, Tails, and that girl Sandra running to his side.
"No way you're going into this without us," Tails assured him. Sonic smiled. Amy and Sandra nodded too.
"Sonic the Hedgehog," called the radio again from above. The fighter was still circling around the hospital. "I've got your back if you need me."
Sonic still wasn't sure if he should trust this new guy or not, but he nodded anyway. In this situation, he needed all the help he could get.
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"We already know he's going to cause trouble," Lianne told Knuckles, "but what exactly is going to happen??"
"I…I don't know…All I know is that the universe is going to be destroyed if he isn't…"
Silence. Knuckles, knowing Blade well, couldn't bring himself to say it.
"…killed?" Tikal suggested, not in an offending way.
Knuckles slowly nodded.
"He's a friend of yours?" Lianne wondered. Knuckles simply looked at her and she knew the answer.
"What can we do about it?" Tikal asked.
Knuckles thought about it for a long while. After almost a full minute, he replied, "I'll tell you what I'm gonna do about it, I'm gonna find my apprentice."
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Well, this was a tough draw.
Amy was fighting off the Shadow with the staff. She dodged the swinging blue laser and tried to punch it back, but she knew without her hammer, which was still in her room, she wasn't much help.
"A little help here?" Amy cried as she ducked under another swing from the staff.
"Bring all the help you want," growled the Shadow. "I'll take them all."
"Hope you're ready to back that up," laughed a voice from behind them.
Amy whirled around just in time to see a young man with a laser rifle pump shots towards the Shadow with a staff. An obviously surprised Shadow did a barrel roll to dodge the blasts. It got up and snarled at the man.
"That ship wasn't effective enough, so this seemed like a better choice," he explained to Amy. Before Amy could ask what the hell was going on, he ran ahead to take out the staff Shadow. Amy decided to take this opportunity to get to her car and get her hammer.
When she got to the car, though, she screamed as she saw Sonic skid past her. He had just been knocked away by the Shadow with two swords. She turned and, seeing the sworded Shadow still charging towards them, landed an impressive roundhouse kick, sending Shadow skittering across the asphalt. He got up instantly, angrier than anything, and Amy decided it was best to get in the car.
It was a red Ford Focus, a small car-but Sonic normally didn't take a car, so it was a nice, fuel efficient vehicle. And, when pushed to its limit, it could go pretty damn fast.
She got in, started the car, and gunned the engine. Just seconds into the trip, she screamed and almost hit a lamppost when that two-sworded Shadow with equally green eyes jumped onto the hood of the car glaring at her. He swung one of his sword-arms and shattered the windshield. He was about to plunge the other one into Amy when Sonic came jumping out of nowhere and used a flying kick to knock the Shadow away. Amy was completely frozen in fear until she came to her senses and swerved to avoid Sandra, then turned back onto the road, leaving deep dark skid marks on the grass in front of the hospital. Relieved to be out of the hellhole, Amy floored it and headed home.
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"I can't just let them go out there and me do nothing," Cassie sighed in RaGiff's hospital room. "I have to do something!"
"That's a great idea!" RaGiff replied in mock inspiration. "Just run on out there and get yourself blown up or something. That'll be a huge help!"
"Y'know something RaGiff?" Cassie began, but RaGiff stopped her.
"Look, I got somethin' you can use. It's back at my lab, but if you can get yourself over there quick, you can use it."
"You've got my attention."
RaGiff, in all his pain, smiled.
"It's a mech kind of suit. You get in this robotic like shell, and it's got all sorts of fun weapons and gadgets to use. I haven't done a live test or nothin', but theoretically, it should work like clockwork."
"You mean, you've never used it?" asked Cassie.
"Never needed to. In fact, I was thinkin' I'd do it tomorrow with my man Leo…oh, man, I'm sorry," he tried to console as he saw sorrow sink into her expression.
"Where is it in your lab?" she suddenly replied with such sternness that RaGiff could think of nothing sarcastic to say. He simply told her it was in the garage's secret room behind the workbench and she stormed out of the room.
"Guess it'd be wasted time to say be careful?" RaGiff commented on her way out.
Cassie responded by slamming the door shut.
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Tails just bent around a laser and swept the laser Shadow's legs from underneath him with his tails. Sure he'd spent a lot of years working more on his technological stuff, but he hadn't forgotten how to fight.
"Bring it on, Shadow! I'm waaaaaaiiiiiting!" Tails taunted.
Shadow didn't look fazed at all. Instead, he held out his hands and fired off orange lasers like a machine gun. Tails knew all those days spent playing Dance Dance Revolution at the arcade would pay off eventually, and it certainly helped now, because his extra quick feet allowed him to dodge almost every single laser shot.
Almost.
"ARRRGGH!" he cried. He had been hit in the chest. Tails staggered, trying not to show weakness, but he didn't do a good job of it. The Shadow fired two more shots-one of them drilled him in the left leg. He hobbled about looking for some kind of support, but it appeared that Amy had left. He saw another, unfamiliar car drive away-he figured it was one of the doctors abandoning ship. Thanks for all your help, Tails thought. When I pay my next health insurance bill, I'll be thinking of you.
Shadow realized Tails was in no condition to fight, and became cocky. He began to play with the fox, firing a shot here and there with enough leeway so Tails could get away. After a few minutes of this, Tails was thoroughly exhausted, and he collapsed.
The laser Shadow turned the steel cuffs on his wrists for comfort, walked over to the barely breathing fox, and held one hand out over him, a golden ball of energy glowing in his hand ready to decimate him. Then, he looked once more at the fox's face. Somehow, he felt compassion. He felt as if he had known the fox from somewhere, and for some reason felt either pity or love for the fox. He put his arm down and turned away. Of course, he could never admit this moment of weakness to himself.
"Not worth the kill," he murmured to himself. "Not worth the effort." Instead, he rushed off to help the clawed Shadow with Sonic.
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Tikal and Lianne were thoroughly confused and thought Knuckles had gone flat out insane, but Knuckles knew if there was trouble about, it would come to him. In the meantime, he would have to find his apprentice to guardianship of the Master Emerald.
But first, he had to visit RaGiff.
He touched down back on the Floating Island, which seemed odd to Knuckles-shouldn't he be back on Carnival Island? Whatever-less running for him.
As he jogged through the woods, he thought he heard something going on-not a specific sound, but more of a scuffle. Once he broke through the last row of trees, though, he saw what all the commotion was about.
And remember that part where Tikal and Lianne thought he was completely insane? Knuckles was beginning to believe it, too.
There were four black hedgehogs with glowing energy weapons attacking the hospital. At least they were-but, as usual, Sonic and the crew had come to the rescue. Now he felt really guilty about not coming to visit RaGiff in the first place. RaGiff was his good friend, he'd help save their skin too many times to count back on Earth, and he was a real funny guy anyway-that is, of course, until he got on the stage for stand-up…
Okay, he was just delaying the inevitable question-Why in God's good name was there four black hedgehogs that looked kind of like Shadow the Hedgehog, but none that actually were him?
Time to find out the only way he knew. He climbed up one of the taller trees in the forest and looked upon the battle. Sonic was really being overworked, handling two of them at once. Both of them looked stronger and faster than the original Shadow, and they both had those glowing weapons, too. It looked like that hospital was higher up-he could probably get a better angle of attack there if he could sneak over there without attracting attention.
"Beautiful view, isn't it?"
Before Knuckles could respond to the cold, unforgiving voice he knew so well, he was struck across the head by the edge of something hard, something steel. He fell to the ground in a moment, but it seemed like forever. He only had one thought.
"Why, Leo…why'd you do that?"
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Chapter 6
No Smoke and Mirrors
"Some people just don't know when to give up," Sonic sighed after recovering from the shock of seeing five Shadows. He instantly picked out the one he knew and ran up to him. "Hey man, I thought you were on our side!"
Shadow stopped running and turned to face Sonic. Shadow obviously recognized him, but Sonic had the feeling he wasn't happy to see him.
"Blue hedgehog…Your planet Earth wasn't enough of an example, was it?"
"Never liked the place much," Sonic retorted. "Too obnoxious."
Shadow grinned. "You don't get it, do you? I am the ultimate force, and I will accomplish what Maria has asked me to do."
Oh great, he was talking about "Maria" again.
"Didn't she break up with you yet?" Sonic joked.
Bad move.
Shadow's eyes flared with anger. He began speaking not in his usual calm, mysterious voice, but in a much more evil and powerful warped voice.
"Do not mock my purpose! All will bow before my strength! Attack!"
The four other Shadows stopped their rampaging and appeared in front of Shadow, ready for battle. The real Shadow folded his arms and stared at Sonic. Sonic still felt calm and collected.
"Five people, as usual for a gang," Sonic chuckled. "Of course, you need five people for a street gang, cuz each of them has a fifth of a personality."
Shadow sneered.
"I have business to attend to," Shadow crooned in his usual voice. He looked to the sky as if trying to find something. "Meanwhile, you can have fun with my friends. I've been telling them all about you. I'll probably won't be seeing you later." He then pulled out his trademark gem-the green Chaos Emerald. "Chaos CONTROL!"
In a blaze of jade green, Shadow vanished. The four other fighters took his place.
If his previous statement was correct, Sonic would only have to deal with 4/5 of a personality. And a whole lot of unknown power.
Just then…
"We're coming, Sonic!!!!"
Sonic whirled around to see Amy, Tails, and that girl Sandra running to his side.
"No way you're going into this without us," Tails assured him. Sonic smiled. Amy and Sandra nodded too.
"Sonic the Hedgehog," called the radio again from above. The fighter was still circling around the hospital. "I've got your back if you need me."
Sonic still wasn't sure if he should trust this new guy or not, but he nodded anyway. In this situation, he needed all the help he could get.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"We already know he's going to cause trouble," Lianne told Knuckles, "but what exactly is going to happen??"
"I…I don't know…All I know is that the universe is going to be destroyed if he isn't…"
Silence. Knuckles, knowing Blade well, couldn't bring himself to say it.
"…killed?" Tikal suggested, not in an offending way.
Knuckles slowly nodded.
"He's a friend of yours?" Lianne wondered. Knuckles simply looked at her and she knew the answer.
"What can we do about it?" Tikal asked.
Knuckles thought about it for a long while. After almost a full minute, he replied, "I'll tell you what I'm gonna do about it, I'm gonna find my apprentice."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, this was a tough draw.
Amy was fighting off the Shadow with the staff. She dodged the swinging blue laser and tried to punch it back, but she knew without her hammer, which was still in her room, she wasn't much help.
"A little help here?" Amy cried as she ducked under another swing from the staff.
"Bring all the help you want," growled the Shadow. "I'll take them all."
"Hope you're ready to back that up," laughed a voice from behind them.
Amy whirled around just in time to see a young man with a laser rifle pump shots towards the Shadow with a staff. An obviously surprised Shadow did a barrel roll to dodge the blasts. It got up and snarled at the man.
"That ship wasn't effective enough, so this seemed like a better choice," he explained to Amy. Before Amy could ask what the hell was going on, he ran ahead to take out the staff Shadow. Amy decided to take this opportunity to get to her car and get her hammer.
When she got to the car, though, she screamed as she saw Sonic skid past her. He had just been knocked away by the Shadow with two swords. She turned and, seeing the sworded Shadow still charging towards them, landed an impressive roundhouse kick, sending Shadow skittering across the asphalt. He got up instantly, angrier than anything, and Amy decided it was best to get in the car.
It was a red Ford Focus, a small car-but Sonic normally didn't take a car, so it was a nice, fuel efficient vehicle. And, when pushed to its limit, it could go pretty damn fast.
She got in, started the car, and gunned the engine. Just seconds into the trip, she screamed and almost hit a lamppost when that two-sworded Shadow with equally green eyes jumped onto the hood of the car glaring at her. He swung one of his sword-arms and shattered the windshield. He was about to plunge the other one into Amy when Sonic came jumping out of nowhere and used a flying kick to knock the Shadow away. Amy was completely frozen in fear until she came to her senses and swerved to avoid Sandra, then turned back onto the road, leaving deep dark skid marks on the grass in front of the hospital. Relieved to be out of the hellhole, Amy floored it and headed home.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I can't just let them go out there and me do nothing," Cassie sighed in RaGiff's hospital room. "I have to do something!"
"That's a great idea!" RaGiff replied in mock inspiration. "Just run on out there and get yourself blown up or something. That'll be a huge help!"
"Y'know something RaGiff?" Cassie began, but RaGiff stopped her.
"Look, I got somethin' you can use. It's back at my lab, but if you can get yourself over there quick, you can use it."
"You've got my attention."
RaGiff, in all his pain, smiled.
"It's a mech kind of suit. You get in this robotic like shell, and it's got all sorts of fun weapons and gadgets to use. I haven't done a live test or nothin', but theoretically, it should work like clockwork."
"You mean, you've never used it?" asked Cassie.
"Never needed to. In fact, I was thinkin' I'd do it tomorrow with my man Leo…oh, man, I'm sorry," he tried to console as he saw sorrow sink into her expression.
"Where is it in your lab?" she suddenly replied with such sternness that RaGiff could think of nothing sarcastic to say. He simply told her it was in the garage's secret room behind the workbench and she stormed out of the room.
"Guess it'd be wasted time to say be careful?" RaGiff commented on her way out.
Cassie responded by slamming the door shut.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tails just bent around a laser and swept the laser Shadow's legs from underneath him with his tails. Sure he'd spent a lot of years working more on his technological stuff, but he hadn't forgotten how to fight.
"Bring it on, Shadow! I'm waaaaaaiiiiiting!" Tails taunted.
Shadow didn't look fazed at all. Instead, he held out his hands and fired off orange lasers like a machine gun. Tails knew all those days spent playing Dance Dance Revolution at the arcade would pay off eventually, and it certainly helped now, because his extra quick feet allowed him to dodge almost every single laser shot.
Almost.
"ARRRGGH!" he cried. He had been hit in the chest. Tails staggered, trying not to show weakness, but he didn't do a good job of it. The Shadow fired two more shots-one of them drilled him in the left leg. He hobbled about looking for some kind of support, but it appeared that Amy had left. He saw another, unfamiliar car drive away-he figured it was one of the doctors abandoning ship. Thanks for all your help, Tails thought. When I pay my next health insurance bill, I'll be thinking of you.
Shadow realized Tails was in no condition to fight, and became cocky. He began to play with the fox, firing a shot here and there with enough leeway so Tails could get away. After a few minutes of this, Tails was thoroughly exhausted, and he collapsed.
The laser Shadow turned the steel cuffs on his wrists for comfort, walked over to the barely breathing fox, and held one hand out over him, a golden ball of energy glowing in his hand ready to decimate him. Then, he looked once more at the fox's face. Somehow, he felt compassion. He felt as if he had known the fox from somewhere, and for some reason felt either pity or love for the fox. He put his arm down and turned away. Of course, he could never admit this moment of weakness to himself.
"Not worth the kill," he murmured to himself. "Not worth the effort." Instead, he rushed off to help the clawed Shadow with Sonic.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tikal and Lianne were thoroughly confused and thought Knuckles had gone flat out insane, but Knuckles knew if there was trouble about, it would come to him. In the meantime, he would have to find his apprentice to guardianship of the Master Emerald.
But first, he had to visit RaGiff.
He touched down back on the Floating Island, which seemed odd to Knuckles-shouldn't he be back on Carnival Island? Whatever-less running for him.
As he jogged through the woods, he thought he heard something going on-not a specific sound, but more of a scuffle. Once he broke through the last row of trees, though, he saw what all the commotion was about.
And remember that part where Tikal and Lianne thought he was completely insane? Knuckles was beginning to believe it, too.
There were four black hedgehogs with glowing energy weapons attacking the hospital. At least they were-but, as usual, Sonic and the crew had come to the rescue. Now he felt really guilty about not coming to visit RaGiff in the first place. RaGiff was his good friend, he'd help save their skin too many times to count back on Earth, and he was a real funny guy anyway-that is, of course, until he got on the stage for stand-up…
Okay, he was just delaying the inevitable question-Why in God's good name was there four black hedgehogs that looked kind of like Shadow the Hedgehog, but none that actually were him?
Time to find out the only way he knew. He climbed up one of the taller trees in the forest and looked upon the battle. Sonic was really being overworked, handling two of them at once. Both of them looked stronger and faster than the original Shadow, and they both had those glowing weapons, too. It looked like that hospital was higher up-he could probably get a better angle of attack there if he could sneak over there without attracting attention.
"Beautiful view, isn't it?"
Before Knuckles could respond to the cold, unforgiving voice he knew so well, he was struck across the head by the edge of something hard, something steel. He fell to the ground in a moment, but it seemed like forever. He only had one thought.
"Why, Leo…why'd you do that?"
