Damn forgot track changes was accidently knocked on. Why does deleted stuff always appear in HTML when you put on track changes?

Levels in this chapter: Iron Jungle - Lava Shelter

All Copyright info in first chapter

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Shadow the Hedgehog: A Rogue's Adventure

By Master hunter

Chapter 6 - This is what it means to be free

Omega and I raced down the metal walkway towards the grey building ahead of us. Suddenly we were stopped by an Army of, well, me.

"What the?" I asked

"Have you forgotten Shadow? Eggman has made an army of robotic clones with your DNA", said Omega.

"So these are robots, but then am I….?" I asked.

Just then the doctor's television robot thing smashed into us. I grabbed the floating thing and shook it like mad.

"Doctor just where are you? I need to speak with you now?" I screamed at it in anger, "There's no time for games, I want the truth now"

"Scanning nearby area. Eggman found. Eggman is fleeing in his airship the Egg Balloon. If you wish to speak with him help me take it down", said Omega.

"What? No? Not you too Shadow. First GUN now you. ARGH!" replied the doctor.

"Doctor you better land that thing and talk to me, unless you want it destroyed", I said

The Doctors face was consumed by a mixture of anger and fear. He gave the impression of a cornered rat, and then all of a sudden a large orange blimp appeared and fired at us.

"Very well. Just try and take me down Shadow but I warn you I'm not holding back", said the Doctor.

We dodged the attack and raced on. Stealing a rocket launcher from the Doctors robots I fired as many rockets as I could at the blimp. Soon it started to catch fire from damage and later crashed into a tower in the centre of the base. I saw him escape the blimp, landing safely in the tower. It was time for answers.

Omega and I ran into the tower and cornered the Doctor who had activated yet another Egg Breaker.

"Ok Doctor enough is enough. I got to know am I one of them….?" I started to ask

"Yes. You an Omega are my creations. Creations that had turned against me", the doctor replied.

I was stunned but Omega was charged for action. He gave out another battle cry, another cry that said he would prove that he was better than him.

"You two have betrayed me long enough. Time to finish this once and for all", shouted Eggman.

I prepared for another jumping attack but to my surprise the machine just stood on the raised platform in the centre of the arena. Instead it fired a couple of thin plasma lasers directly at us. Omega pulled me away from the attack and fired his machine gun arms at the body of this new Egg Breaker.

"Omega you need to fire at the head", I said.

Before he could fire though we were surrounded by robots. I scanned the arena and found a machine gun turret. That craze man gave us all we needed to finish him off.

"Omega! Distract him!" I shouted.

Omega tried to figure out how to do just that as he scanned the Egg Breaker.

"Scan data reveals Egg Breaker has limited vision", said Omega.

That was it. If I could run behind him to the other turret on the other side of the room and quickly fired, I could do a lot of damage. I proceeded to put my plan into action while Omega fired down as many robots as possible. I reached the turret and fired some bullets at the Egg Breaker's Head.

Eggman shouted something in anger and jumped off his platform. We could now attack the head directly. But then he did something that made me realise why he left those turrets there. They were traps as his laser quickly cut through it and struck me before I could get away. It grazed the side of my arm and stung like hell. That was it, this thing was going down.

I picked up the sliced off gun from the turret. Amazingly it still worked and I fired the remaining rounds at the machines head. It was sparking like crazy but I was out of bullets.

"Looks like I have to finish you off the traditional way", I said.

I jumped into the air and used my homing attack on the head. I ripped it off the Egg Breaker and saw the machine fall to the ground. The Doctor crawled out and I grabbed him by his shirt.

"It's over Doctor. For attacking us first I should destroy you were you stand", I said.

"No Shadow, please don't hurt me", pleaded the Doctor.

I don't know why but something stopped me. Something didn't seem right. If I was nothing but an android created by him, how come I remember what happened on ARK.

"Something tells me you aren't telling me everything doctor", I said.

"I'm sorry Shadow Android, but since I fought with the real Shadow that time on ARK and stopped the space station crashing into Earth, I kind of miss having him at my side. That is why I created you in the first place", said the Doctor.

My head cramped and I started to remember the fight on ARK. Sonic and I were fighting some beast in our super forms. It was dragging the ARK towards Earth and we had to stop it. I remember I was exhausting my super form, going beyond my limits. I kept hearing Sonic's concerning comments and the cheers from the others.

I felt myself start to fade as we defeated the beast but we still had to stop ARK. We used a lot of chaos energy to warp ARK back to its normal resting place but I couldn't go on. Only one hedgehog was returning to ARK and it wasn't me. I warped Sonic back to ARK and fell exhausted into Earth's Orbit and feel unconscious.

I, I mean the real Shadow must've died that day. All that remained was some of his DNA and the memories concealed inside it. I was not the real Shadow, just a replica, a robotic one at that. I felt angry. Shadow's life was still continuing when he should be dead due to the Doctor's selfishness. Instead of a noble death he's alive in me, haunted by a past that should be long forgotten.

I was going to make him wish he never created me. I was going to destroy him and all the Shadow Androids he had created. That meant taking me to where I was created in the first place.

"So I'm nothing but your plaything. A robot to fill a void. You denied Shadow a noble death, multiple times. Enough is enough. Take me to where I was created so I can destroy all the Shadow Androids!" I said angrily.

"You don't want to do that Shadow. Join me and we will bring glory to the Eggman Empire", the Doctor said.

"Empire? You? Actually that doesn't sound like a bad idea. Still I want to see where I was created. Take me there", I said.

"Very well. Together we will take the world while GUN and those stupid aliens have their backs turned", said the doctor.

I had no intention of letting him be boss of course. What he didn't know was that it was my empire now. I felt like I was finally free, as if I had woken up for the first time. My life as Shadow Android was just about to begin.

The Doctor led me and Omega to a huge base in the middle of a volcano. As we ventured deep within his Lava Shelter it started to get much hotter and more dangerous.

"Right then, which way to the main control room doctor? Doctor?" I asked to find that the doctor has disappeared.

"Scanning, Eggman found this way. Follow me", said Omega.

We ventured through the base with intentions to corner the Doctor once more. We came across his television thing again and he asked us to bring up the base's defences. That sounded useful actually so I proceeded to do just that. I had to activate some computers as we ventured through the lava filled base. It wasn't too difficult and we soon found ourselves in front of another one of the doctor's weapons.

"What is the meaning of this Doctor? I thought we were to rule this world together", I said.

"Yeah like I would trust you two renegade robots. No Shadow Android, this is the end for you", said the doctor.

"Aw! You saw through me did you? Well it doesn't matter. Your armies are mine now Doctor. I will rule this world as I see fit and no-one will stop me", I said.

It was then that I felt the energy of a Chaos Emerald and I knew the Doctor's weapon was powered by it. With this emerald I only had two more to get and I knew one was in Circus Park. For some reason even then I felt I had to get all the Chaos Emeralds. I could still Chaos Manipulate and with their power I would be unstoppable. Nothing has beaten a Super form, ever, besides maybe another Super form.

The Doctors weapon was shaped like a spider with four legs and a bulbous torso. On its front were three screens and a button underneath each. The screens began to spin like a slot machine.

"Scanning Eggman database. Weapon found. Name Egg Dealer. Shadow when all of the screens stop the same it will attack with either a missile or a bomb. Identified weakness, if the slots stop of Missiles or bombs prematurely it will attack Eggman", said Omega.

That was good to know. The cockpit was too high for jumping attacks and there didn't seem to be any guns nearby. It was our only hope and I proceeded to use the buttons to stop the screens at the right time. The first time was a disaster; I got missile, missile, and bomb.

The second time though I managed to stop it on three bombs. The Egg Dealer fell to the floor and dropped its bombs where it stood. The machine caught fire and as the Doctor tried to fix it I headed straight to some ammo crates I noticed in the centre of the arena. I grabbed a gun and started firing at the cockpit.

The Egg Dealer started moving again and dodged my bullets. I didn't have many left and it was moving too fast to strike it again. I would have to bring it down. Omega and I rushed to the screens again and kept trying until we got another weapon strike. This time it was missiles. Their premature launch meant that they went straight for the Egg Dealer. As it collapsed I fired the remainder of the bullets from my gun. It was sparking like mad and even exploded in some areas.

It was still moving however and we finished it off by making it drop its bombs again after a few attempts. The Egg Dealer collapsed and the Doctor fell out of the cockpit. He could barely stand, trapped and helpless just like Sonic was. I felt like finishing him off there and then.

I saw the Emerald and took it for my own.

"Five down, two to go. Hopefully the one from Tails' Plane is still in Circus Park. And I'm betting Sonic and his friends have another somewhere", I said to myself.

"What do we do with Eggman?" asked Omega.

"We don't need him anymore. Goodnight Doctor", I said preparing to strike him.

"No Shadow wait! I'm sorry, I've been lying to you all this time", said the Doctor

"What? All this time…." I said angrily.

"Yes. I wanted you to fight with me once again but I can see that isn't going to happen", said the Doctor

"So then what is the truth?" I asked.

"Why should I tell you? This way you won't kill me, just like you won't kill Black Doom", said the Doctor.

He had me there.

"Bravo Doctor. But now what do I do?" I asked

"You're going to have to work that one out on your own. I'm not saying a word", said the Doctor.

"This facility looks like it's for badnik producing only. Perhaps the Iron Jungle facility has a computer we can examine", said Omega.

"Good idea", I said, "It's pointless to stay here anyway"

I placed my hand on Omega's shoulder and warped us both back to Iron Jungle.