Chapter Eleven
"Great…this is just great," Amy sighed. "Knuckles has turned into a huge demonic freak with Chaos Emeralds buried in him…can this get any worse?"
Knuckles smirked and immediately went on the attack, delivering a ferocious blow to Amy's belly that sent her careening back into the arena wall. Espio tried to take advantage of the opening with a katana attack, but only got a face full of fist. He could feel his jaw begin to crack. But he received several more blows, one sending him up toward the shield. Knuckles dashed up and delivered a powerful double-fisted hit into Espio's back, sending him careening down into the ground, apparently unconscious.
Shadow, returning to his Super form, finally went on the attack, and this time delivered a hit that made Knuckles stagger. The echidna quickly countered with a backhanded punch that Shadow barely managed to dodge.
Cadmus dashed in as well, and barged into Knuckles as hard as he could. Knuckles seemed to be particularly affected by this attack, with earth element added in.
Amy managed to recover from her hit. Her right arm had a large cut in it, but she didn't seem to mind. She managed to follow Cadmus' strike with a blitz of her own strikes. The crowd was now going completely nuts with excitement. Never before had they seen such a spectacular battle.
Knuckles, after shaking off the dizziness from repeated blows to the head, decided to change tactics. He formed a pair of soccer ball sized energy balls in his hands, he dashed away. Pointing them at his opponents, they began to fire a shower of smaller orbs, pummeling everyone, and causing the shield to flicker.
In desperation, Cadmus formed a pyramid of rock around Knuckles, hoping to gain time to regroup. But it didn't hold very long, as Knuckles burst out, sending thousand of rock shards whizzing around the arena. The energy released finally shorted out the shield, and the shards were raining on the crowd. The crowd's excitement turned to panic, and they began to pour out of the stadium.
"Knuckles! Stop this!" Shadow finally cried. "You're hurting innocents!"
"Who cares?" Knuckles screamed in a half-roared and half-gurgled tone.
Knuckles began to glow in the colors of the rainbow, and disappeared. He reappeared behind Amy, and pummeled her at an astounding speed, before sending her high up and then pounding her right on the chest. Amy was falling far too fast for Shadow to catch, so he had only one option.
"Chaos Control!" he cried, and time stopped for everyone except him…and Knuckles. His astonishment at this caught Shadow completely off guard.
"Hah! I'm not affected by that trick anymore!" Knuckles cackled.
Shadow's mind, temporarily losing his grip on the situation, suddenly said something that surprised even himself…
"Knuckles…there is something I want to ask you."
"Heh…since you and your friends are about to die…I suppose I can."
"What is it about Amy? You know something about her I don't."
Knuckles tromped over to Shadow, his now-massive figure looming over the hedgehog. He bent over and whispered something in Shadow's ear, something that Shadow knew deep inside, but could never admit to himself.
"No…it's not true! That's impossible!"
"It's true!" Knuckles cackled again. He smashed Shadow hard in the head, knocking them both out of Chaos Control time. Amy smashed into the ground hard, and Shadow thought she heard her last breath.
Knuckles then turned his attention to Cadmus, who was rushing at Knuckles during the time of the Chaos Control. Shadow could only watch as he was beaten around severely in mid-air, flailing helplessly as he flew, like a rag doll tossed from an airplane. Shadow could only listen to his friend's gurgles of pain. Something held him there…he couldn't move. He could hear something else…Amy's shortened breaths! She was still alive…he had to do something…
Knuckles appeared nearby Amy again, and reached for her broken body, lifting it to his face. It was all coming back to him…
Shadow was hanging around near the water, wondering what was going on with everyone. He heard a scream coming from a cliff above him. Someone…no, Sonic, was dragging Amy to the edge of the cliff. He stood up with great concern. Sonic was whirling Amy round and round, and eventually launched her out to a nearby rock.
Shadow knew he had to do something. He ran as fast as he could and jumped. He tried to grasp Amy's hand…
The memory awakened something within him. He realized what Amy had meant all those years…she tried to hide it from him. Shadow could feel his grasp of reality becoming more tenuous, as if he was melding into everything around him…then the burning sensation on his forehead returned. He could feel the energy of everything around him gathering and condensing, and his emotions…anger…pain…remorse…and caring.
In one massive burst of emotion and energy, Shadow let it all out in one immense scream: "AAAAAMYYYYYY!" Power surged through him, elevating his senses, his strength and his speed. And one thing was on his mind…how to save her.
Knuckles stumbled backwards; dropping the girl he had just gotten his hands on. In almost an instant, Shadow was there, holding on her. Gently he held on to her bleeding body, taking in everything he could feel. Never before had he realized just how much he cared.
Shadow carried her to a safer area, where Knuckles had sat a mere ten minutes ago. The stadium was cleared out, except for an unlucky few who were trampled in the panic. He returned moments later, hovering a few feet in front of Knuckles staring in the echidna tyrant's eyes with cold, emotionless contempt.
"If that's supposed to scare me, Shadow, it isn't working." Knuckles said, with a slight hint of concern.
Shadow didn't respond, but continued staring. The blue symbol on his head glowed steadily.
"What's the matter, gone mute?" Knuckles spat, now a bit more confident in his safety.
Still, Shadow failed to answer, at least for a few seconds. Then he slowly raised his hand and held it to Knuckles. Then two words came out of his mouth.
"Chaos…Control."
Time stopped for Shadow only, this time. Shadow cracked his knuckles, and began his light-speed assault.
Amy, meanwhile, managed to come to, and, sitting up in the cushy seat Shadow had placed her in, saw Knuckles being pummeled by some seemingly invisible force for a few seconds.
"Shadow...wh…" Amy stammered as he watched Shadow fight. She finally decided to make her way down, back to the arena floor, to get a closer look.
Cadmus was also coming out of his unconscious state, and stared at Shadow's amazing attack. His contact with the earth had revitalized him, and Cadmus was able to renew his assault.
"Shadow!" he yelled, and Shadow stopped, holding his opponent.
"Care to lend a hand?" Shadow said, with an etherealness added to his voice.
Cadmus nodded and ran in. Shadow pitched Knuckles toward Cadmus, who commenced to spike him upwards. Shadow flew up and dash-kicked Knuckles five times rapidly, and spiked the heavily damaged echidna downwards. Cadmus delivered a sharp uppercut to Knuckles, who was now bleeding and bruised excessively, and Shadow delivered the coup de grace with a pair of energy shots and a stomp kick.
Espio, after being out for much of the fight, was finally coming to, awakening to see Knuckles lying on the ground, the Chaos Emeralds scattered around him.
"Is it…over?" Espio groaned as he stood up.
"I'd say so," Cadmus replied as he stared over his fallen lord.
"Shadow…you're…" Espio stammered.
"I know. The planet is with me," he responded, still hovering a few inches off the ground. The symbol disappeared from his forehead, and he touched down.
"So, my…heh…lord…how does it feel to be on the receiving end of suffering?" Cadmus spat. "You've caused so much pain to others…I'm sure this is a fitting end for you." At this point, Amy joined the group.
Knuckles, even near death, could get in the last word. "Heh…you fools have won…but the war is only beginning…soon I shall be one again…" With that, a spot on hi torso began to glow, and what appeared to be the lower half of some sort of golden egg rose out of his body, and shot into the sky. When the group looked back again, Knuckles, or rather, his body, was back to its old self.
Cadmus was the first to react. "This…is what happened to Demicles…he was…"
Shadow interrupted. "…Possessed. Whatever that egg half was, it was what was giving Knuckles all that power."
"And now he's gone…forever…" Amy said, holding her wounded arm. A tear came to her eye. Cadmus suddenly noticed what appeared to be some sort of small crown headband.
"The Prime One's headband…the symbol of Knuckles' power…I'm surprised it survived," Cadmus said as he picked it up.
Espio put his hand on Cadmus' shoulder. "Take it, friend. You deserve it. We'll take the Chaos Emeralds and get out of here."
"Stay…you need to recuperate."
"I'm fine with that," Amy interjected.
"It's settled, we stay here for now." Shadow finally said. "By the way, where's Tsuko?"
"I missed it, didn't I? Dang it!" a voice said. Everyone turned around, and saw Tsuko, scratched up, but fine. "I had quite a tough fight myself breaking out of that castle, though, so I got my action."
Shadow smiled and bid him to come closer. "Glad to have you back, buddy. Want a pair of Chaos Emeralds?"
"Sweet!" Tsuko replied gleefully.