Disclaimer: I do not own Shadow the Hedgehog or any of the characters in the game. Sonic the Hedgehog is copyrighted to SEGA and Sonic Team. I thank the nice guy who created Sonic, and Yuji Naka who created the games.
Note: This chapter is based on Lethal Highway. The GUN Fortress is set in the Pentagon.
Chapter 2: A Chase Down the Highway
The Pentagon was on full tactical alert, ever since the Black Arms first appeared on the planet which was just about several hours ago. Soldiers were dashing here and there, handing out weapons, crate and other such equipment ready for war. Soldiers were boarding tanks, fighter jets and army jeeps. World War Three had begun!
In the head control room, it was just as busy. Generals, lieutenants, sergeants and privets plotted strategies to bring down the aliens, while technicians sat at computers, their fingers a blur on the keyboards. In a viewing deck above the room, stood the leading commander of GUN, arms behind his back, staring determinedly into space. He was a very stern-looking gentleman. Silvery-grey hair matched his uniform that was covered in medals on the left-hand side of his shirt. His eyes were different colours, one brown and the other green. A lieutenant ran in and saluted the commander.
"Sir, the black creatures have hit six major cities across the world: Westopolis, New York, Tokyo, Paris, London and Los Angeles. Each city has reported of significant damage and casualties. Among them, Westopolis has received the most damage!" explained the lieutenant.
The Commander bowed his head, not really interested. But the next thing the soldier said made the stone-hearted commander spin around like a carousel.
"Unconfirmed reports have sighted a black hedgehog assisting the black creatures in Westopolis…" said the lieutenant.
"Shadow!" cried the Commander and he angrily raised a pointed hand. "Deploy the troops now! And if you find Shadow the aliens, kill them all!"
"But sir…isn't Shadow on our side?" asked the lieutenant nervously.
"I gave you an order, soldier! He's evil and the enemy!" bellowed the Commander.
The lieutenant quickly saluted and dashed out of the room, letting out a slight shriek of fright on the way.
"You cannot fool me this time Shadow. This time you're mine!" said the Commander, his eyes gleaming.
As for Sonic and Shadow, they had just arrived at the highway that led out of the charred Westopolis. A great shadow suddenly passed over the two speedy hedgehogs. The two looked up and saw a giant spaceship, the size of a basic shuttle soaring overhead. It was a dark blue in colour, and green flames rocketed from the back of the ship. It took off down the corridor like a rabbit fleeing from a fox.
"That must be the black creatures' head tank!" cried Sonic.
"Let them go," said Shadow and turned away.
"But they might have the third Chaos Emerald," said Sonic, and then the next thing he knew, Shadow was tearing down the highway after the spaceship. "Something I said?"
Shadow was miles ahead of Sonic, chasing the spaceship which was going as fast as he was. As Shadow ran, he saw members of the Black Arms were leaping out of the ship and running toward him, some armed with guns and shields. Shadow had no choice but to skid to a halt to meet the aliens head on. He grabbed the first oncoming one by the arm, spun it around and tossing it at the second alien. The two collided and fell to the ground unconscious. The third one managed to fire three laser blasts from its gun before Shadow leapt into the air and kicked it in the head with an air shoe. The fourth one hid behind a police barrier and fired at Shadow from a distance. The fifth was tossed over the highway to its doom by Shadow and the sixth one was knocked off as well when Sonic flew by, chasing after the ship. Shadow blasted off after Sonic, his sonicboom presumably killing the remaining aliens.
Sonic was very much attempting to bring down the ship with Homing Attacks, but a blue transparent shield kept blocking the attacks. Shadow saw this from a distance and then he spotted an army tank rolling after him at fast speed.
"There is the target! Fire!" cried a soldier within the tank and the giant machine fired a missile at Shadow.
Shadow let out a sudden gasp and he ducked to avoid the missile, which missed him and blew a giant hole in the highway. Shadow saw his path after the spaceship ruined, so he had to leap down to the floor below. The tank stopped a few feet away from the hole where Shadow had vanished.
"Troops, the black hedgehog is heading your way. Prepare to stop him!"
Shadow ran down the remains of another lane of the highway, which appeared to have been disintegrated by the black creatures' satellite lasers. Shadow never expected a welcoming committee as at least a hundred GUN soldiers waiting for him. There were tanks and GUN robots in the army. Shadow looked about, before smirking and raising his hand flicking to fingers in his direction.
"Bring it!" he said.
"Open fire!" cried a soldier and every thing opened fire on Shadow.
Shadow was prepared for this and with a quick Spin Dash, he ripped a road sign from the ground used it like a baseball bat, whacking the bullets back at the soldiers. The soldiers were dropping like flies. Shadow then was shot in the chest by a soldier. Shadow yelled in pain and fell to his knees. He heard the soldier laugh and say something about finishing him off. But not if Shadow was to say something about it.
Shadow sprung up like a kangaroo and stabbed the soldier in the back with a survival knife one of the dead soldiers had. The soldier slumped to the ground. Shadow was pumped with the anger he needed, and a familiar red aura surrounded his body.
"Chaos Blast!" cried Shadow and within several seconds, all of the remaining soldiers and robots were exterminated.
Shadow's bullet-wound was not deep. In fact, it only went in through the white patch of fur on his chest that was now red from the blood.
"Now then, where was I?" asked Shadow to himself and he raced off to find the ship and Sonic.
Sonic chased down the spaceship. He had managed to weaken the ships shield with a lot of Homing Attacks and it was now glowing an eerie green colour.
"Ha, not much of a challenge are you black creatures?" said Sonic, leaping for another Homing Attack.
But without warning a bird-like alien with large red wings that looked like they were made from scales and four yellow eyes swooped down out of no where and tackled Sonic to the ground. Sonic punched and kicked at the hawk-like alien but it would not get off him. Shadow suddenly leapt in and ripped the alien off Sonic and wrapping one arm around its neck, he punched it with the other. The hawk alien cringed before collapsing to the ground with crippled wings. Sonic stood up, brushed himself off and ran over to join Shadow who stood over the alien triumphantly.
"Shadow? Where have you been, slowpoke?" asked Sonic.
"None of your concern, Sonic," said Shadow and he surprisingly got on the birds back.
"Shadow? What are you doing?" asked Sonic.
"This thing looks like it is built to transport smaller creatures to different places," said Shadow. "I'll try and use it to get ahead of the spaceship. You run down the highway and try and destroy the shield."
"You got it! See ya in a sec'!" said Sonic and dashed off in a flash.
Shadow watched Sonic disappear and he kicked the bird in the side. With a jolt, the Black Hawk took off into the air slowly and on Shadow's command (on fear of getting punched) flew off in the direction that Sonic took.
The Black Hawk was quite the flyer, its large wings flapping occasionally to keep it in balance. Shadow managed to stand on the hawk without tumbling to his demise. Indeed, it felt like Shadow and his flying friend were forming some sort of friendship, even though Shadow moments before had just beaten the energy out the alien. But suddenly, a giant silhouette of some sort of aerodynamically-experienced creature flew overhead and a blast of fire exploded from its mouth, striking the Black Hawk in the back and causing it to fall towards the highway below.
"No!" screamed Shadow as he was about to meet his death.
But luck came to Shadow as the Black Hawk collided with the fleeing spaceship, destroying its shield and causing it to crash into a parked convertible, before ripping through the wall of the highway and tumbling down towards the ground below. Shadow tumbled to the ground, hearing the shriek of the Black Hawk behind him. He approached the dying Black Hawk, and gently stroked the back of its head. The Black Hawk let out some sort of purr like cat, its eye watery, and then it gently drifted away into death's arms. Shadow let out a slight sniff and then he saw Sonic turn a corner and run towards him.
"Shadow, where's the ship?" asked Sonic.
"Down there," said Shadow, hinting to the destroyed wall nearby.
"And the Chaos Emerald?" added Sonic and Shadow stared at the hedgehog as if he was about stab him a shard of glass.
"Oh, damn!" cried Shadow and kicked a rock away in fury.
"Don't worry, we'll find it," said Sonic and he dragged Shadow down the highway.
The two arrived at the wreckage of the crashed ship, but the Chaos Emerald was no where in sight.
"Look's like it was not here at all," said Sonic.
"A decoy!" claimed Shadow, his eye fixed on the fleeing form of Doom's Eye, who was carrying the yellow Chaos Emerald in a tentacle. "Doom's Eye has the Chaos Emerald!"
"Who?" asked Sonic and he saw Shadow race after the starfish-like alien, and joined the chase.
Shadow confronted Doom's Eye at the corner of a block of unharmed flats. Doom's Eye clutched the Chaos Emerald tightly, his eye frightening enough to probably break the stone-hearted Commander's bravery.
"Alright, hand over that Chaos Emerald…or else!" demanded Shadow, his eyes glazy.
"Think you have a chance me?" challenged Doom's Eye.
"Look, I don't take orders from anyone, except myself. I'm here to collect that emerald, so back off!" cried Shadow.
"You still don't know your place, Shadow…" said Doom's Eye, a sinister glimmer in his single eye. "Black Bull! I summon you!"
There was an enormous rumble and out of the ground came what looked like an enormous maggot-like creature, with large dragon wings. It had an enormous mouth with wing-like gums that were covered in millions of fangs. A glowing green eye sat above the gaping mouth. The Black Bull's body was the size of a small aeroplane and appeared to be made of a rubbery material. The Black Bull reared back its head and let out an ear-piercing, glass shattering screech that could make a man go mad and commit suicide.
"Behold! The Wrath of the Black Arms!" roared Doom's Eye and laughed maniacally.
"Oh yeah, bring on big guy!" said Sonic smirking.
"Black Bull, burn this entire city and its inhabitants to ash!" said Doom's Eye.
Black Bull roared again and a blast of fire shot from his mouth like a red, hot, fiery bullet. Sonic and Shadow ran for cover as the fiery attack flew overhead and slammed into a building, making a giant hole in it. A man in a shower cap wearing a spotted towel yelled something at Black Bull, before disappearing into the building.
"Well, that heated things up," said Sonic and with a sigh from Shadow, the two hedgehogs sped towards Black Bull.
"So he's a bull, huh?" said Sonic and grabbing a piece of red cloth on the ground, he shook it as if he were in a rodeo. "Toro! Toro!"
The Black Bull roared and flew at them with a fast speed, his large wings scraping the walls of the buildings. Shadow attempted to use a Chaos Spear attack on the giant brute, but he was astonished when the attack simply bounced off the Black Bull.
"Muhahahaha! Black Bull's skin is incredibly thick, so practically every attack is deflected!" laughed Doom's Eye.
"There must be a way to bring down this monster!" said Sonic, and the noticed the large green eye of the Black Bull.
Sonic sped forward, ran along a building wall and used an aerial Homing Attack on the alien's large eye. A direct hit! The Black Bull winced and roared with pain and fury.
"Hmmhmmhmm! You fools have made the biggest mistake of your lives!" cackled Doom's Eye.
And on that warning, Black Bull fired from his massive mouth an explosion of fireballs that ripped apart the road Shadow and Sonic stood on. Sonic spindashed down the road to avoid the fireballs, Shadow meeting him there with a quick Chaos Control. Shadow then spotted a small group of Black Arms running towards them. He immediately attacked them and easily disposed of them. Shadow now had all the firepower he needed to whip Black Bull's behind.
"Now let's play…" said Shadow evilly and waited for the right moment for Black Bull to appear around a corner, before leaping up into the air and firing many laser blasts at Black Bull's eye.
The Black Bull bellowed and shielded his eye with an eyelid, but the blasts were to quick and punctured Black Bull's eye, blinding him.
"And now! Behold the ultimate power! Chaos Control!" roared Shadow and he sped at Black Bull with such force and collided with the alien's eye. Black Bull went flying like a rock and disappeared down a dark fissure in the middle of the city.
"Wow!" cried Sonic, looking stunned.
"It's over," said Shadow.
"Shadow, I'll find the others so we have a better chance at tackling these Black Arms," said Sonic with a quick smile, he dashed away out of sight.
As Shadow was about to approach Doom's Eye, he saw the starfish alien swing his tentacle and toss the Chaos Emerald into the air and he cried "Chaos Control!"
The yellow emerald disappeared in a flash of light, and with a laugh, Doom's Eye disappeared too.
"Darn it!" said Shadow angrily.
Then the horrific hologram image of Black Doom, leader of the Black Arms emerged from the ground, his eyes burning with rage.
"You've deliberately disobeyed me, Shadow!" cried Black Doom.
"I don't take orders from you, Black Doom!" said Shadow. "I have my own reasons for collecting the emeralds!"
"You really don't understand the situation here, do you?" said Black Doom. "Perhaps Professor Gerald did more to your memory they I imagined."
"What? What did you just say? Who is Professor Gerald!" cried Shadow in alarm.
"Silence! The consequences of your betrayal will not go unpunished!" cried Black Doom and with a wave of a hand, he and Shadow vanished.
To be continued…
Next Time: Black Doom gives Shadow a second chance to help him find the Chaos Emeralds. Shadow is sent to a mysterious set of ruins where he must activate some old jewels that control the Black Arms' hidden temples. But what happens when Knuckles appears, asking Shadow to help him get back the Master Emerald which has been stolen by the aliens?