S. Kat: Hey, peoples! It's me! This is the second to last chapter for Shadowed Photo… sadly. But like I said before, I'm thinking about making a sequel, but not until much later. And if you have any ideas, please wait until next chapter to share them. Now that that's done, Shadow, would you like to do the disclaimer this time, please?
Shadow: … … saphireKat does not own me, that faker (Sonic), or any his little friends. She owns Ruby and Leo.
S. Kat: (Oo) Oooooookay… then… uh, here's chapter 13!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shadowed Photo Ch. 13- This is the end?
Shadow ran in zigzags to avoid the laser beam that was being shot at him. Apparently, my hypothesis on that there was a giant, bionic lizard in the ARK was correct! It was called the Biolizard, and it was Shadow who was fighting against it! Don't you just hate when you're right sometimes?
Luckily for Leo, Amy, and I, we weren't in the same room as Shadow and the others, we were in the main control room, watching Shadow kick the lizards butt on the computer! Everyone else except Shadow, Sonic and Knuckles were in there, too. Everyone, including me, were tense while we watched the battle.
"YEAH!" Leo and I cheered at the screen. "C'MON, SHADOW! YOU CAN DO IT!"
"Kick that overgrown thing to Mars!" Yelled Leo.
"Forget Mars!" I shouted. "Send it to Neptune!"
"He can't hear you, ya know…" Rouge mumbled. (For those of you who were wondering, Rouge was okay all along, she showed up sometime when the others were trying to get to the center of the ARK. And she did help, of course.) Then there was another explosion on the screen! We couldn't see anything! Eggman fumbled with the buttons to try to get an image.
"Blast it!" He cursed. "We lost camera #102!"
"Is that bad?" I asked.
"Yes, if we want to find out the outcome of the battle is! And if the outcome is bad then…"
"Don't even say that last part." Amy warned.
"Everyone is thinking it, I was just saying it…" He scowled.
"S-so," Leo said nervously, "what do we do?" Eggman paused for a minute, then turned to Leo and I.
"Wellllllll…" He said evilly, "if you must know…" Leo and I held our breath. What was he going to say? What did we have to do to help?
He then smirked.
"…we have to do absolutely nothing."
Wham!
"Don't scare them like that!" Amy and Rouge scowled after they hit him on the head. Rouge had kicked him and Amy "tapped" him on the head with her hammer.
"I was being truthful!" He said rubbing his head. "There's nothing we really can do other than pray that Shadow comes through! But, he has a good chance of winning though, since he is the ultimate life form…"
'Well, Eggman is probably right, he does have a good chance, but…'
Then an idea popped into my head.
'…he might have an even BETTER chance of winning if he has a Chaos Emerald! Wait, what exactly happened to them?'
"Um, excuse me, but if Shadow had a Chaos Emerald, would he have a sure chance of winning?" I asked.
"With a Chaos Emerald? Of course he would! But, unfortunately, that creature that Shadow is fighting already has the Chaos Emeralds. It's a good thing that it isn't using them against him, yet—eh?"
Leo and I had already left, again.
"Ugh!" Groaned Rouge. "Ruuuuuubyyyyyy…!"
In the same room as the Biolizard, Shadow, Knuckls, and Sonic…Leo and I were one deck above Shadow and the Biolizard. Sonic was watching Knuckles' back while Knuckles was guarding the Master Emerald.
'Wha? What are they going to use that thing for? It kind of looks like their waiting to use it…'
"Uh, Ruby?" I turned my head towards Leo. "Why. Did. You. Drag. Me. Here?"
"Duh! To help Shadow!" I explained. "Eggman said something about that the Biolizard had swallowed the Chaos Emeralds or something, so we need to help Shadow distract it for at least a second."
"…Is…" Leo hesitated. "…Shadow… I mean… Do you really trust him now?"
"…yes." I answered clearly. "Yes, I do. The thing about Shadow is he isn't really evil, he's just had rough in life and he's misunderstood."
Leo stared at me in awe. He looked a little dumbfounded by what I was saying, but I guess he decided to just go along with it. He turned his gaze to a huge barrel shaped machine that was almost hanging over the edge of the platform. It looked like it would just fall down if you pushed it over by accident, but it was pretty big, too. "Hey, I think I've got an idea!"
It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what he had in mind; we were going to push the machine off of the platform and onto the monster's head. Pretty simple, right?
WRONG. Dead wrong. We did try to push it, but the thing was so darn heavy! "Grrrrr!" Leo growled as he moved on his back to push it. "It's… too… heavy for us…!"
"We've still… gotta try! Or…"
"Need some help with that, kids?"
"Knuckles?…!" We gasped. "How'd you…?"
Knuckles appeared next to Leo, helping us push the machine. "You do know…" he grunted, "…it's impossible for just two kids to tip this baby over."
"Oh, give it a rest, Knucklehead." Rouge said as she kicked the machine continuously. "I highly doubt that that's gonna stop them. Kids today are just soooo stubborn these days!"
"Hey!" Leo and I whined.
"Well, at least it's for a good cause!" Amy swung her hammer at the machine. I actually think it was starting to move a bit! Our plan was working! If only we had a few more people…
"Need some assistance?" A robotic voice said next to me. It was Bocoe and Decoe, Eggman's two robots! (Who'd 'a thunk it?)
"YOU two? But why?"
"For two reasons, Miss Ruby." Bocoe stated. "One: Because the doctor ordered us to." (How predictable…)
"And two:" Continued Decoe. "We also want to help! It's a good thing to do heroic deeds every once and a while."
"Well, looks like we're all in this together now!" Cheered Sonic. Leo and I nearly jumped at his sudden appearance, but it also wasn't that surprising, either.
"Guys…" I whispered. I sniffed and then shouted to everyone else, "OKAY, EVERYONE! GIVE IT ALL YOU'VE GOT ON THREE! ONE… TWO… THREE!"
All at once, with everyone's strength, we shoved the machine as hard as we could, hoping it would work, it had to! But as we were pushing it, the Biolizard's tail slammed into the wall, which conveniently, edged the machine towards the edge even further. With one more strong shove, we were able to tip the machine over! It crashed onto the monster's head and let out a terrible, ear aching scream. I covered my ears as I looked down. Shadow was frozen in place, slightly confused as to what just happened. I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted down to Shadow.
"SHADOW! Finish it off now while it's distracted!" Leo ran up to my side.
"C'mon, Shadow! Do it now!" He shouted. Shadow looked back at the Biolizard with a confident smirk.
"Sorry, you disgusting piece of abomination, you're finished!" He then went into his ball mode and span faster and faster. The Biolizard lashed its mighty tail at him, but Shadow shot upwards, ricocheted off the ceiling and made a 90 degree downward fall to the Biolizard and destroyed the life support system on it's back with one blow. It made a huge explosion and then, for some reason, it just disappeared… but I didn't think anything of it. Shadow appeared in the middle of the room again, slightly panting. Then he turned his gaze upwards to where Leo and I were.
"He did it!" Leo and I cried as we gave each other high-fives. "Ha ha! We so rock!"
All of us, including Sonic and the others ran down to Shadow. The Chaos Emeralds were lying on the ground, but they weren't shining like they usually were, they looked so… dull and powerless.
"Don't celebrate yet!" We heard Eggman's voice on the speaker. "Shadow, that creature is still alive! It's attached it's self to the Eclipse Cannon! And not only that, it completely drained the Chaos Emeralds' powers!"
"You've got to be kidding me!" Cried Leo.
"This… this is the end?" I asked in horror.
"Ol' Eggmam didn't say anything about that yet…" Smirked Sonic. He turned to Knuckles. "Yo, Knuckles! Think you can power up the Master Emerald?"
"No problem." He grinned. He ran up to the Master Emerald and put his hands up. I couldn't quite hear what he was saying, but it sounded like he was chanting something. And whatever he was doing, it was working! The Chaos Emeralds started getting their color back, and started glowing, too! Sonic and Shadow stood in the center as the Chaos Emeralds circled around them. They both closed their eyes and started glowing. Sonic turned a bright yellow and his eyes turned amber. Shadow's fur turned into a more golden color, but his crimson eyes and stripes stayed the same.
Sonic turned to Shadow, "You ready?"
Shadow nodded. "Let's do this!"
I was speechless. 'Wow… is this happening for real?' I thought, amazed. 'I think… this must be their "Super Form". I knew Sonic had one, but I didn't know Shadow had one, too. Even though their personalities are totally different, they have a lot of special abilities in common. Maybe, together, they can save the Earth!'
"Good luck, Shadow…" I whispered silently. "From all of us…"
Soon afterwards…They had won. They had won the fight. Shadow and Sonic. It all happened so fast, I could hardly remember the fight. All I really remember was that they were flying around the 'Final Hazard', giving it everything they've got, then seeing two bright lights… the monster was gone. Including Sonic and Shadow. But, as soon as it was over, I could have sworn I saw something plummeting to Earth. I thought it might have been a piece of the thing Sonic and Shadow fought, though, I was a little more concerned about their whereabouts.
'Hmm… where are they?'
"Hey, where did Eggman run off to?" Asked Leo.
"Oh, Eggman? He ran off." Answered Rouge. "I guess he's going to figure another way how to take over the planet without getting himself killed next time…" She sighed.
"What!" Leo exclaimed. "After all that, he still wants to take over the Earth?.!"
Knuckles shrugged. "Heh. Well, what do expect from that guy? He's just too stubborn to give up that easily."
"Look who's talking." Rouge said slyly.
"Sh-shut it, bat girl!" Knuckles roared. "Don't make me it back when I saved your life!"
That caught my attention. "Eh? 'Saved your life'? Oh…! So that's why you disappeared, Rouge. What happened between you two, hmm?" I cooed. Rouge and Knuckles were about to open their mouths in protest until the door opened.
"SONIC!" Amy and Tails cheered, they rushed forward towards him.
"Sonic, that was amazing!" Cried Tails.
"My hero--!" Amy cheered again and was about to hug him until we all realized that something was wrong.
"Sonic?" I questioned him. "Where is Shadow?"
Sonic slowly walked up to me and looked into my eyes solemnly. Then he bent down his head and shook it.
"No…" I whispered. "No… no… no! He can't be—he's not supposed to—he's the Ultimate Life form! He—he' not supposed to—" I choked on my own words. "—be dead!" That's when the dam broke and I started crying.
'Why? Why, why, why! I… I wanted to… I wanted to pay him back for saving us all and keeping Maria's promise! I wanted to be… his friend.'
"I found this. Shadow had this with him." Sonic handed me a photograph, but not just any photo, it was the one that I took! I rubbed my eyes and stared at the photo.
"He… had it with him the entire time?" I took it and carefully examined. It looked like it was still in good condition. An extra tear fell from my face and onto the photo.
"Ya know, I think Gerald wanted Shadow to save the Earth all along." Rouge stated.
"I guess… we'll never know for sure." Said Leo.
"Yeah…" Sonic sighed. "Let's head for home." We all headed for the door, Leo put his hand on my shoulder and directed me out. But I noticed Sonic didn't follow us right away. It looked he was mumbling something to himself. I turned my head to Leo.
"Leo…? Could you excuse me for a sec?" He raised an eyebrow in concern. "I just want to look at something real quick. It'll only take me a second."
Leo nodded and smiled warmly like he understood. "Sure, Ruby."
I smiled back. "Thanks, Leo." He patted me on the shoulder and then followed the others. I walked towards Sonic.
"This," I began, "used to be Shadow's favorite spot to look at the Earth."
"Yeah, he got himself a pretty good view, too." I agreed. I frowned a little.
"If only, his view on other people were just as clear to him…"
"I bet it is now for him." I looked down at Sonic. "It is now."
I nodded. "Uh-huh." Then we made our way to the door. I stopped short before completely exiting and gazed at Shadow's spot one last time. In my mind I could see him looking at the Earth hard, his reflection in the glass serious. And then he would turn his gaze behind him to where I was standing and gave me his shadowed half smile. But, I wouldn't get the chance to ever see him do that. I clutched the photo to my chest and uttered,
"Good bye forever, Shadow the Hedgehog."
And with that, I exited the ARK.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
S. Kat: Well, I'm pleased to say that that's chapter 13. This chapter was kind of sad at the end… (sniff) But this is NOT the last chapter! I'm putting on ONE more chapter before I close up this story! But I still can't believe this story is almost over. Heck, I probably could have stopped it here, but… I wanted to give you all a little tease… hee, hee! And I'll give all of my thanks to people next chapter, too, so that's another reason why you should all come back! Oh, and sorry to Riley Killer for not being able to update before your school started! (Dang it! Why do I always have to apologize for every single little thing?.!) Oh, and (heavy sighs) I START SCHOOL THIS MONDAYYYY! (Roles over and dies) (Then brought back to life, again) But… I'm happy about one thing… 'cause next Wednesday… I GET TO SEE Pussycat Dolls AND Black- Eyed Peas IN CONCERT, WITH MY BEST BUD, LUCILE! AND ON A SCHOOL NIGHT! (Jumps up and down like a maniac, singing PCD's and BEP's songs)
Sonic: (whispers) If you guys don't know who the Pussycat Dolls and the Black-Eyed Peas are, just go along with it.
S. Kat: And this is my FIRST flipping concert! WOOT-WOOT! (pant, pant.) (silence) Okay, well, I'll see you all sometime next week for the final chapter for Shadowed Photo. And pleas R&R and no flamz! Adios me amigos!