Chapter Nine

"Shadow…I think we've been had," Espio grumbled as he stood in the center of his cell, tapping his foot. Shadow was sitting against the wall, looking up.

"I don't why we trusted him…" Shadow replied angrily. "That no-good echidna was leading us right back here. Now Knuckles is doing who-knows-what to Amy, Tsuko seems to be lost, and I'm helpless to do anything! Damn it!" Shadow smashed his fist into the stone floor in frustration, and left a small dent.

"These bars shouldn't be hard to shatter," Espio noted. He swiftly kicked the bars, only to receive a nasty shock that sent him flying backwards.

"Gah! That hurts!" Espio moaned. "They sure seemed to have thought of everything. Hey, why don't you Chaos Control us out of here?"

"This dungeon is shrouded in a Chaos Negate field. I can't use any Chaos powers while I'm within the field. We're stuck here."

"They did think of everything," Espio sighed with despair. Espio went back to pacing, while Shadow began to examine a pebble. It seemed all hope was lost.

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Caddy!" Talyah squealed when Cadmus walked in the door. She ran over him and began to hug him. "Oh, I missed you so!"

"Yeah, I missed you, too," Cadmus replied. "You wouldn't believe what I've been through!"

"We can talk about it later," Talyah replied as they entered their kitchen. "Right now, I really need to tell you about something."

"I'm all ears, love." The two sat down at the table, and Cadmus picked up a piece of fruit and began to eat it as Talyah began.

"It started about a day after you left. There are rumors of some new hedgehog that just showed up at Sonic's castle. From what I hear, she's got the strangest looks. She's pink, her hair is really long, and she seems to have a thing for black. But what makes it weird is that she seems really…I mean really, sadistic. She always carries around this cruel-looking scythe that's all jagged. She's been encountered in a few skirmishes…only one survivor has come out of each…they say she's a demon from the depths of the earth…she calls herself Lady Thorn…"

When Talyah began to mention this mysterious hedgehog's looks, something clicked in his head.

Could this new hedgehog be some twisted clone of Amy? I guess we'll learn more about her soon enough, Cadmus thought to himself.

"I think we've had enough creepy stories, Talyah," Cadmus finally said.

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

"I hope these are to your liking, Amy…I do mean to make you…comfortable," Knuckles said as he led Amy into a surprisingly nice room. Far brighter than the rest of the gloomy passages in the castle, it was also quite simple. A single medium-sized wooden table sat in the center of the hexagonal, with a few well-made chairs around it. The room was apparently lit by a Chaos Emerald.

"This…is all very nice…but…why?" Amy asked in amazement.

"I want to talk peacefully…more like old friends," Knuckles replied.

"You want something, don't you?" Amy quickly replied.

"Heh. You're smarter than I first thought. Okay, what I'm looking for…is information."

"Like?"

"What would it take to get Sonic to surrender?"

"He's not that type, if you recall. He almost killed me, remember?"

"I'd have to disagree, but I'll play along. You see, I'm beginning to find this war as pointless…"

Amy was surprised at this statement. "I'm glad you think so."

"Yes…I want to end this war in one stealthy action…and you, Shadow and Espio are going to help me."

Amy was repulsed at it. Sonic was evil, but she would not do it so under-handedly. "You can take your offer and shove it up your putrid…"

"Now, now, that's no way for a lady to talk…" Knuckles chuckled, surprisingly calm about Amy's insolence. "Very well then, I'll let you all free on one condition…you, Shadow and Espio must fight my arena!"

"Arena?"

"Did I stutter? I know just how good you are as fighters, so here is your task…each of you must defeat my six Arch-Echidnas…two of them versus one of you. And then…heh-heh…"

"What?"

"You will have to face me. Fear not, as you will be able to attack me in concert. Three against one sounds fair.

"I guess we have no choice…we'll do it."

"Excellent. Sentinels!"

The three crystalline creatures again rose out of the floor of the room.

"Get the black hedgehog and the chameleon, and bring them, along with the girl, to the arena!"

One of the Sentinels grabbed Amy and disappeared into the castle floor with her.

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Great…now we have to fight for our lives against some Chaos-empowered echidnas…can this get any worse?" Shadow exclaimed in dismay as he sat in another cell under the arena floor.

"I suppose not…we have no other choice," Amy sighed. "Besides, Tsuko is depending on us."

"True…and we will get the opportunity to fight Knuckles…" Espio added.

A few clanks sounded, and Shadow's platform began to rise.

"Looks like I'm up first," Shadow said with surprisingly no great tone in his voice. "See you all…I hope."

"Good luck, Shadow," Amy said.

Shadow's platform rose and soon he was standing there, alone on the arena floor. All around him were at least a thousand or more echidnas of every color. A great cheer went up as his platform came up. He saw Knuckles sitting on a large chair, surrounded by several guards. He stood up and went past them. He raised his hand, and the crowd went silent.

"Fellow echidnas! I welcome you to what may prove to be the greatest arena battle ever fought! Are you ready for blood!"

The crowd went into an uproar. Knuckles raised his hand again, and again all were silent. He continued. "Now it may seem that two of your Arch-Echidnas against a single opponent to be unfair, you have not seen what these can do! Perhaps new Arch-Echidnas will have to be brought in this day. Who knows? And now, let the battle…begin!"

Two gates, one on Shadow's left and one on his right, opened, and out of each marched a male echidna with a Chaos Emerald buried in his head. One was a royal purple color with green stripes on his dreadlocks, while the other was entirely dark blue, almost like Sonic.

"Arch-Echidnas, prepare yourselves!" Knuckles boomed. He turned to one of his guards and said, "Up the energy shield. I don't want any…unnecessary... deaths."

One of the guards pulled a switch, and a shimmering, transparent field in the shape of a dome appeared the field. The Arch-Echidnas did a last minute stretch, and then readied themselves. Knuckles raised his hand one last time, and brought it down. The two echidnas launched themselves at Shadow.

"What a waste of time…" Shadow muttered as he deftly dodged a punch from the dark blue echidna, and easily avoiding a flying tackle from the other. Grabbing his attacker's arm, he swung him around and tossed him at the other one, who jumped over him.

"You have skills, my friend…but let's see how you handle me!" the other one said, and then lunged at him.

"Chaos…Control!" Shadow shouted, and then everything stopped. Without wasting any time, he went to work. Delivering a devastating combination of punches, and kick to the stopped echidna, he soon made short work of him. In the normal time stream, he was clobbered by a light-speed attack that sent him soaring.

The purple echidna, seeing his team-mate defeated, began to concentrate. The Emerald on his head began to glow, and soon began to flash between blue and purple…no doubt a Super transformation. Shadow decided to use his own Super form as well, much to the astonishment of the crowd, gasping at first, then cheering very loudly.

"Things are getting really interesting…" one of the guards whispered to another.