CHAPTER 38: Changing of the Guard

He landed hard on the rocky ground near the top of the mountain, clutching a blue gem in his hands.

"Finally got that damned Emerald," Shadow said to himself, pushing himself into a sitting position and coughing from the dust he'd inhaled seconds before. "I don't know what the fuck those things in there are, but they're starting to freak me out. Ah well, that was pretty fun, except for that bigass frog. I hope the rest of the Emeralds are that fun."

:::A few minutes before...:::

"Here they come," Shadow said to himself. The freakish blobs of energy that he'd seen before rushed forth in a murderous frenzy. As they approached, about twenty of them, blue ones, broke off and attacked from the side. None of the blobs in the main body managed to land a hit as he jumped and dodged around, but Shadow found himself unable to damage any of them using his Homing Attack as he tried to counterattack them. The rest of the blobs, the blue ones, attacked from Shadow's right side. He dove forward and rolled a bit, then looked back to see them coming at him once more. He jumped into the air, then rolled into a ball and hurled himself at the one in the lead, once more trying his Homing Attack. He hit the blob head-on and was propelled upward, and used this momentum to clear the other blobs as they tried to tackle him. He landed and turned around, and noticed something odd: the one he'd hit had turned to stone and landed directlybelow where it had been when it was hit.

The hell? Shadow thought. He skated right for it and stopped beside it, ducking under a few that had broken away from the main body to attack him. He suddenly had an idea. He picked up the surprisingly light blob and hurled it at the blue ones, which were coming back. As soon as the solid blob got close to the attacking ones, they all scattered around it, allowing it to hit the ground safely.

"Shit," Shadow said. He dove aside as all the blue blobs leapt at him, and they all piled up right there. None of them was able to escape this pileup, as they were all stuck together. Shadow darted to the solid blob again, picked it up, and hurled it at the pile again. The blobs all scattered as before, free as birds. Slowly, it dawned on Shadow that the blue ones were the only ones attacking him. The main body of blobs was keeping its distance. Also, he noticed, as many times as they changed colors, they didn't turn blue.

These things must be polar or something, Shadow thought. "Let's play dodgeball, you bastards!" He skated right into the mass of blue blobs, then jumped into the air. The blobs started jumping at him as well, but he was ready for them. He set himself into an extremely fast spin, so fast that the friction between his body and the air molecules around him kept him aloft and moving in a circle. None of the blobs could catch him, he was moving so fast. Soon, all that could be seen of him was a black blur, and the air was moving in much the same manner as in a tornado. Shadow's appropriately-named Black Tornado picked up the blobs and hurled them fifty feet in the air. As each one hit the ground, it produced an impact similar to that of the Homing Attack. The entire section of blue blobs was quickly reduced to extremely light balls of a substance similar to stone. Shadow picked one up and tossed it up and down in one hand a few times, grinning. He suddenly clutched it in both hands and skated toward a blob in front of him. It tried to retreat, but Shadow was too fast for it. He hurled the blob in his hands at the retreating one, and nailed it. Instantly, both blobs exploded, leaving behind only a wisp of smoke the same color that each blob had been.

"Lather, rinse, repeat," Shadow said. And so he did. Once he was out of balls, the other blobs began to attack. Several red ones broke off this time, and he singled them out for attack, just as he'd done to the blue ones. Repeating this process until all the blobs were gone, he soon found himself facing the Emerald. It was flying around the circular area where Shadow had just finished cleaning up, turning at random, and just being asunpredictable as was possible. One last blue blob materialized at this point, and Shadow nailed it with his Homing Attack to solidify it. He figured out what to do in a big hurry: since the Emerald was too fast for him to catch normally, he'd have to slow it down. Upon hurling the blob at it, he realized that the Emerald was polar as well. That, or it purposely dodged the thrown blob, because the projectile hadn't changed course at all. Shadow retrieved the blob, then sat on it and thought for a full minute. He looked up when a sound caught his attention.

"Oh shit," he said as a massive frog made of stone hopped toward him, the Emerald still circling the arena. It croaked loudly, then, as Shadow grabbed the blob he was sitting on, the frog's tongue shot out, wrapped around his body, and began to drag him in. As he struggled to get free, he looked toward the frog's mouth and saw a red light inside. Deciding at this point that a huge gamble may have been necessary, he stopped struggling and let the frog swallow him. As he entered its mouth, he pushed the blob into the red light. As had been the case with every single blob he'd hit with a solid one, the light exploded, sending Shadow flying, and destroying the frog. Its stone heart landed near Shadow. It was just a pulsing gray mass, uglier somehowthan anything Shadow could remember seeing. Still, he picked it up, thinking that if it wasn't polar, he could nail the Emerald with it and knock it down. As with the blobs, the stone heart was very light. Shadow held it for a few moments, watching the Emerald. Closing his eyes, he threw it in the gem's direction and waited. He heard an explosion, and looked. The heart was gone, and the Emerald lay on its side on the ground. Shadow rushed to it and dove on it. The second he had it, the entire arena vanished and he was back on the mountain.

:::Back to the present...:::

"Talk about a unique experience," Shadow said to himself, standing up. "I'll have to see if I can't get one of the big game companies to make a game of it. Then I'll have them give me a share of the profits, since I gave them the idea. Or I can sue them and say they stole the idea from me." He laughed out loud, then jumped over the edge. He hit the slope and started skating as fast as he could, dodging rocks and small plants along the way. Once he reached the bottom, he skidded to a stop and looked back. A trail of dust was still floating in the air where he'd been. With another laugh, he skated off toward his house.

It was nearly daylight when Shadow finally reached his house. He pulled his key out of his gloveand unlocked the door, then went inside. The first thing he did was to put the Emerald into the case, then he threw himself onto his bed.

"Sometimes I can't help but wonder if this world or the next can get more fucked up," he said to himself. Without bothering to remove his shoes or to even cover up, he closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. As helay there in the middle of the twilight state that comes just before sleep, he was jerked out of his doze by a knock on the door. He called out, "God damn it, I've already told you fools, when I want to worry about Jehovah, I'll come to you!"

"I'll tell that to the Jehovah's Witnesses next time I see them," the voice outside called out. "Right now I just want to come inside and talk to you!"

"Who is it?" Shadow called, sitting up.

"It's Dave!" the voice called. "You remember me, right?"

"Yeah," Shadow called. "The door's open." The knob turned, the door swung open, and Dave stepped in, wearing the same tuxedo that he'd been wearing when he'd first met Shadow.

"Well well well," Dave said. "Guess I caught you asleep, huh?"

"Not quite asleep, but close enough," Shadow said, yawning widely. "Care to tell me what you're doing here so early in the morning?"

"I came to pick up the Emeralds you've found so far," Dave said, scratching his forehead. "We figured it'd be best to pick them up early, in case anyone sees."

"You're really serious about this secrecy business," Shadow said. "Almost feels like I'm doing something illegal."

"You're not," Dave assured him. "We just want to protect ourselves. You know the story."

"Yeah," Shadow said. "Where's Salia? Is she not on watch right now?"

"Well, we figured it'd be easier for me to pass myself off as a salesman," Dave said. "Just in case. Personally, I think the whole thing's silly, but I've got to do what I'm told, just like the rest of us. Why do you ask, anyway?"

"Just curious, since she's the only one I've had contact with since we first met," Shadow said.

"I see," Dave said, giving Shadow a look that said he didn't think Shadow was being entirely honest.

"What's with the look?" Shadow asked.

"Nothing," Dave said. "I was trying to remember what I was fixing to say. I hate that. I'm about to say something, then I forget what it is... You know how it goes, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," Shadow said. "I got the Emeralds in the case over by my bed." He motioned to the box containing the Emeralds. "Getting the second one was just crazy."

"Why?" Dave asked. "Care to tell me?"

"Yeah, this is just crazy," Shadow said. "Wait till you hear it."

"You're right, that IS crazy," Dave said. "How did you know what to do?"

"Just a hunch," Shadow said. "A lucky guess. Real lucky, too. I'm not sure what would happen if those things kicked my ass while I was dealing with them. Would I die, be ejected from the Chaos World, or what? If I get ejected, will I still be busted up, or will I just magically be alright?"

"Don't try to find out," Dave advised. "Salia told me about that weird burn you had after the first encounter, and how you said it was gone when you woke up. That's pretty strange. If you were killed by those things, I doubt you'd wake up eight hours later and not be scratched."

"Still, at least that little game of dodgeball was fun," Shadow said, chuckling.

"It sounds like it," Dave agreed. He ran his hand over the black quills on his head and looked at his watch.

"What time you got?" Shadow asked.

"Nearly 6:00," Dave said, standing up and picking up the case containing the Emeralds. "Can't believe I've already been here a half hour. Well, I need to go. I'll have the case brought back later on, probably while you're out doing whatever."

"I wish you wouldn't just let yourself into my house at all hours of the day," Shadow said in a less pleasant tone than usual.

"I'll leave it out back," Dave promised. "Just don't forget about it, alright?"

"Okay," Shadow said. "I'll see you later, then."

"Later," Dave said. He turned around and opened the door with one hand, then stepped outside and pulled the door shut. Shadow sat on his bed for a minute, not sure whether to go to sleep or just get some coffee and try not to pass out in the middle of the city.

"Something doesn't meet the eye," he said. He leaned over the side of the bed and pulled out a sheet of paper from underneath. Salia's face stared at him from the picture on the Missing Person poster. "You never answered me, Dave. You never said WHERE she is. It's not just a menial job, is it?"

Ooh, thrills and chills, huh? Sorry about the shortness, but seriously, there's only so much time one can spend stretching out a conversation so that you can't fit the whole thing onscreen at one time... Anywho, instead of a peaceful morning sleeping in(something we ALL need from time to time), Shadow gets a house call from Dave, the black hedgehog who works alongside Salia. After a little time spent chit-chatting(and I do mean a little), Shadow tells his little story about his experience with the second Emerald. Afterward, Dave leaves with the two Emeralds in tow, and Shadow starts suspecting more than ever that someone's bullshitting him. Oh, Shadow, if only you knew..............Tell me I didn't just say that. Oh, a little early warning: if you're not the type of person who likes angst, you may not like the next chapter as much. Also, just so you know, it was harder than you might think to try to think of some little game for Shadow to be forced to play for the Emerald. And with all that said, review away.