Shadow's Adventure : Tempo
Chapter 1
Two months after the Finalhazard was defeated. Two months after the ARK had been disabled. Two months after Shadow had fallen to a supposed death.
Though with beings who can travel at the speed of sound, a lot can happen in just two months.
Head straight for your goal by any means,
There is a door that you've never opened,
There is a window with the view you have never seen,
Get there, no matter how long it takes…
Swoosh… swoosh… swoosh… swoosh…
Nighttime in the badlands of an unknown country on Earth. No humans for miles in every direction. No light pollution to block out the billions of pinpricks of lights in the sky. The air is lukewarm and crisp.
Swoosh… swoosh… swoosh… swoosh… the soft, rhythmic sound of Shadow's hover-sneakers beat once more against the ground. How long had it been, since he was free to run, free to fly across the ground at incredible speed?
Effortlessly, Shadow quickened his stride as he approached a ledge. He left in his wake long, dusty arcs in the sand from the force produced by his shoes. When he reached the edge of the cliff, he coiled his legs and pushed off into the night sky, all in a fraction of an instant, and let himself fall. He closed his eyes and felt the warm night air, remembering the last two months…
Oh dark, the darkness that dozes in the dusk,
Throw it all away.
No one can break you, nobody can tear you,
You live an endless life forever…
Two months ago, when Shadow fell to Earth, thinking his life's purpose had been fulfilled, he had not remembered one thing; he was the Ultimate Lifeform. Now, the Ultimate Lifeform cannot simply be destroyed by a mere fall through the atmosphere and into the sea – even though a fall from that height would certainly kill any other life form, including his greatest rival, Sonic the Hedgehog.
The fall had broken his back, shattered his right arm, but amazingly not much else in terms of major injuries. The pain would have been incredible if he had been conscious during the last few minutes of the fall. Thinking of being reunited with Maria, he had drifted into a peaceful trance, and eventually sleep.
When he awoke, he had found himself beached on a rocky, medium sized island off the coast of an equally rocky shore. It was early morning, date unknown. Shadow felt no pain, and there was no injury.
'Is this… is this… the afterlife..?' he thought, as he lay motionless on his back, staring up at the blue sky. The brightness hurt his eyes, so he looked to his right. A small crab scuttled across a jagged rock nearby.
'No…' he narrowed his eyes in angst, 'This isn't right.'
This certainly wasn't an afterlife, it was Earth. He turned his head back to the sky, which shone as blue as Maria's eyes.
Suddenly, a wave of frustration and anger rippled through his body. He curled into a ball and tore around the island several times, his rapid movement creating a small dust devil. He stopped on a dime at the highest point on the island and hovered there, eyes ablaze with fury as he shouted at the sky, gloved hands clenched into fists.
"Was that not what you wanted?! Why do I still need to be here?! What purpose do I serve?!"
He took in a deep breath to even his breathing, unclenched his fists, and then looked at the ground. While staring down at the ground, he leaned forward slightly and shifted his feet so that his hover-shoes slowly rotated him in place, "I don't understand…" he whispered, then with head still down, glanced up at the horizon 'Why must I be stuck on this pathetic planet? I was all ready to die and now this happens. What is my purpose?'
Professor Gerald Robotnik had explained to Shadow that his purpose in life was to watch over the ARK and its inhabitants, and to seek vengeance over mankind if anything were to happen to them. Shadow had taken a shine to Gerald's granddaughter, Maria, as she was the only person Shadow felt was truly selfless – a rare quality in humans. She was also the only person who was willing to spend time teaching him how to live life – something that is not instinctive to an artificial life form. Shadow had vowed to return the selflessness by protecting her personally with his life. Unfortunately, as the story goes, it was Maria who saved Shadow with her life.
Now that ARK was probably beyond repair, Maria passed away, and the humans taught a valuable lesson, Shadow was at a loss of what to do. He had even obeyed the echo of Maria's voice in his head; "Give them a chance to be happy…"
"Maybe there was more… more I wasn't told…" Shadow slowly raised his head, a serious look still frozen on his face, and looked towards the mainland, "Yes. I must still have a purpose… a reason to be here."
With a twitch, he broke away from the island and spun towards the mainland. When his feet touched the floor of a jungle, he took off running towards what he felt was magnetic north. If he remembered correctly, he had fallen somewhere off the coast of South America. Shadow had once heard Professor Gerald speak of his son, Dr. Julian Robotnik, building a hidden base deep in the rainforest. If Shadow could find that base, he could probably find Gerald's grandson, Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik, through the Egg-Network. Being one of the last remaining relatives of Professor Gerald, Shadow knew Eggman would have answers.
As Shadow cut through the jungle, the jungle cut back. Sharp thorns, branches and leaves sliced at his arms, legs and face until scarlet-colored blood began to ooze from the wounds. Insects and debris stuck to his dampened fur as he ran.
I believe in my future, farewell to the shadow,
It was my place to live, but now I need your hand.
Lead me out with your light, I have breathed in,
The disgusting air of darkness, but I never lose out.
Even moving at full tilt, it took Shadow the rest of the daylight hours to find the hidden base. The base had not been used for at least twenty years – since the forced retirement of Dr. Julian Robotnik – and the lush jungle had closed over the base, healing the great metal wound that had been cut into the ground. The only way Shadow had found it, was by a long metal antenna he had nearly collided with, that was sticking out of the weeds.
As he searched in near darkness for a way in, hovering to inspect a section of the roof, then darting to another place, Shadow began to have doubts, 'This place is ancient. There may not be adequate technology to contact the Doctor.' Shadow's hover shoes powered down, and he gently touched down on the roof while brushing off insects clinging to his fur, 'Looking for an emerald to warp may be a better—'
CRUNCH! Shadow's leg broke through a rusty segment of the base's roof, and he fell backwards. Surprised, he looked blankly at his missing leg for a moment… just long enough for the entire segment to collapse, taking Shadow with it. In the split-second it took to fall through the roof, Shadow righted himself in mid air (with the cat-like agility that Big sorely lacks) and made a perfect landing on all fours amid the debris. Flakes of rust and leaf litter landed on his head and quills, but he paid no attention. With his usual scowl, he strained his ears to listen, but there was only silence. There was no power in the base, not even one mechanical buzz or beep. Yet regardless of the base's outside condition, the inside seemed completely intact.
Cuts and scrapes still stinging, Shadow began to move through the base. He glanced at his arm for a moment; there was a long, shallow cut from elbow to wrist – an extension of the red streak already on his arm – that was particularly irritating, but he forced himself to focus on the task at hand. As he moved further and further away from the place where he had broken through the roof, it became noticeably darker. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust, and it's a good thing they did, too. Shadow slid to halt, "Humm?"
Standing before him only a few meters away was a guard robot, but it didn't look like any robot Shadow had ever seen before. For one thing, it was tall and very humanoid. Eggman's security robots were usually short, stubby things.
'Of course it wouldn't look the same… different creators use different designs.' he reasoned. The robot was powered down like the rest of the base, so Shadow saw no threat in the laser rifle it carried. He regarded the weapon for a moment, and then moved on.
After taking a sharp turn, the corridors widened. He began to pass many doors and hallways that branched off in every direction. Not knowing where he was going, Shadow decided to stick to the main hallways instead of searching every room, for now.
'…besides,' he figured, 'I can run faster this way.'
The main corridor soon ended with a stairway on his right. Doubling his speed, Shadow leapt onto the left wall, sprung onto the railing, and started to grind down the rail. When he reached the bottom, he found he had landed in a room with an uncomfortably low ceiling – just low enough that his highest quill scraped the cement. The air was cold, dry, and smelled of electrical equipment. There was a red light illuminating the room.
"What luck…" Shadow smirked to himself, 'The main power switch should be in here somewhere.' and he started to walk towards the back of the long, claustrophobic room.
The power room was designed so that small robots could operate the equipment. Even with the red light, it was too dark to make out the details in the machines, but Shadow could sense that there was high-voltage within each unit he passed, just waiting to be released; his short black fur was standing on end. There were unmarked buttons, switches and levers littered here and there, but having lived in a mechanical world most of his memorable life, Shadow knew none of those were the ones he was looking for.
Something caught his eye and he stopped. To his left was a small round robot with caterpillar wheels, and sharp but fragile looking arms ending in several digits. The chromed inscription on the side read: 'ROTOR-002'
Shadow looked behind him and spotted another of these robots. In fact, squinting through the dark back down the narrow path he had walked through, there was a ROTOR for every electrical unit.
'No problem, I could take them.' Shadow thought as he continued to search for the main power switch, 'Pathetic outdated machines are no match for the Ultimate Life.'
At the far end of the room, a dim white light illuminated several rather large, numbered fuse boxes. Shadow tore off the cover to '#1' and pushed the lever up. With much mechanical noise and sparking, a section of the room lit up and began to move. The ROTOR bots of that section came alive and began to work; pressing buttons and flipping switches spontaneously. A female computerized voice said coldly "Central Computer. Activated."
Pleased with this result, Shadow dashed from box to box, tearing off each cover, and then pushing up the lever. Each time a switch went up, a section of the room would come to life.
"Lighting. Activated. Roboticizor. Activated. Communications. Activated." the computer voice struggled to keep up with Shadow's actions.
'Communications… perfect. That's all I need.' Shadow stopped with gloved hand poised to flip the last lever.
"This seems almost… too easy…" He said aloud as was about to leave it un-switched, but then thought 'Why not..?' and pushed the last one up.
"Defense and Weapons. Activated."
Shadow swore rather loudly...
"Intruder detected. Power room infiltrated. Initiating emergency lock down."
…and dashed full tilt out of the room, crashing though one of the dwarfed robots that unknowingly got in his way. He flew up the stairway and down the corridor, just as a three-foot thick, steel door hit the ground with a thunderous rumble, sealing off the power room. Hover shoes ablaze like the afterburners of a jet, Shadow slowed, did a small rotation in the air to stop, then hovered to listen. It was quiet, then…
"Intruder detected in corridor B-46. Guard robots to intercept."
Shadow cursed himself for his mistake, muttered to the base, "So that's how you want to play…" and tore down the next hallway. He sprinted down hallway after hallway, trying to locate the heart of the base where the main computer and controls would surely be.
"Laser turrets deployed."
Shadow almost lost his balance as he swerved violently to dodge an intensely bright red dot, racing towards him on the floor. A laser turret had descended from the ceiling at the end of the hallway.
The weapons used by this base's defenses were not like the ones Eggman's used – these were now considered primitive style, where instead of the weapon firing segments or beams of hot energy, it fired a continuous, invisible laser that could only be traced by watching it's end point or if the room was dusty – essentially a very powerful laser pointer. Shadow remembered there being weapons like this on ARK when he was with Maria…
"Gahhh!" Shadow put a hand to his left shoulder. He had foolishly let his mind wander, and allowed the laser to make a neat round burn in his flesh, "You'll pay for that one." he muttered, preparing to curl into a ball for a spin dash, "TAKE THIS!"
There was also… another memory involving lasers… one he couldn't quite place.
The turret exploded as Shadow's twisted spines sheared through the metal. As he slowed his spin, he spotted guard bots heading his way. They were identical to the one he saw on the way in. They opened fire just as Shadow's hover shoes pushed him out of the spin and off a wall.
"Just watch this!" Shadow hopped from wall to wall almost instantaneously, dodging streams of laser. …but it was so hard to see! Shadow let out a cry of agony as he accidentally touched a beam of laser in mid-jump. This time it burned a sizzling streak of red across his side.
The guard bots had not moved from their position at the end of the hallway, and were still aiming to slice Shadow in two. Small, blinding red dots danced across all surfaces, as Shadow flipped and spun his way quickly towards the enemy. He felt the intense heat of a laser graze his forehead, and another raked his leg.
'Damn these robots!' Shadow dropped to the cold metal floor, then using all his speed, rocketed towards them, hands outstretched, ready to tackle the leader. He was a second away from making contact, when a laser went clean through his right hand, making a POP sound as it burned the hole. Shadow stifled a cry, then pushed off the ground and rammed the lead bot into the wall. It sparked a bit, went limp, and fell to pieces, leaving behind a large dent in the metal wall. The three other bots were slow at rounding on Shadow with their laser rifles, and so were easily taken out one by one with Shadow's aerial spin attacks.
"I've had enough of these games." grumbled Shadow, surveying the damage he had caused and cradling his bleeding and injured hand. It throbbed with uttermost pain, but Shadow knew there was no time to stand around and whimper about it, even as he felt his right eye tear. The laser had initially burned the wound shut, but Shadow's rapid attacks on the other bots had re-opened it.
He lightly kicked the head of one of the robots and turned it over with his good hand. A small inscription read 'SWAT'.
"SWAT-bots… Humph…" Shadow threw it away and started to run down the hallway again, ignoring his bleeding hand, which dripped a trickle of blood on the floor with each stride he took. Two more laser turrets fired at him, but now knowing their attack patterns, he easily took them out.
Suddenly he could feel the pain again; from his shoulder, his side, his leg, and especially his hand. Shadow shook it off, noticing something important coming up, and took a 90-degree turn down a brightly lit hallway with a red carpet. He slowed to a jog. The hallway was highly decorated; ridiculous pictures of an Eggman-like figure in heroic situations and poses hung on every surface. There was a bust of what looked like Professor Gerald Robotnik, and a stone stature of what looked like a primitive robotic Sonic. The inscription on the statue read: 'Mecha Sonic Model No. 25'
"Intruder attempting to enter central command room. Deploying maximum defenses." the computer voice again.
Shadow poured on the speed, hoping to make it to the door at the end of the hallway before the 'maximum defenses' were deployed. As he skated along, pictures, statues, compartments in the ceiling and floor opened up to reveal more laser turrets. Security doors made booming echoes as they closed in sequence behind him. The turrets were slowly tuning towards Shadow to aim, and a security door ahead threatened to close before he could make it. Shadow lowered his head, sharp red eyes burning with determination. The turrets fired, but they were too slow as Shadow slipped under the security door, which soon reached the ground with a solid, heavy, metallic bang. His hand left a bloody smear as he used the wall to help himself up.
Before him lay the double doors to the central command room. They were medieval looking, silver-white, and had silver handles. Using his left hand, he pushed the lever down and unceremoniously flung open the door. What he saw was not an impressive sight, as the near-pristine hallway may have led one to think.
The control room was small, dusty, and full of cobwebs. Shadow stepped inside and looked around slowly. The computers were on, some monitors showing the path of destruction he had created, some flickering with static, some showing the outside of the base, and one showing…
BANG!
Shadow whipped around. The door behind him had slammed shut, and a figure lunged from the darkness. Shadow leapt back.
TSEWWW! A bright beam of light hit the ground inches away from Shadow's feet. It was another SWAT-bot, but this one seemed more advanced. It wielded an energy pulse gun. The bot fired again, but Shadow was ready and it missed once more.
"Think you can outsmart me, huh? The Ultimate Life?" Shadow feinted right, and then dodged left to avoid more blasts from the gun. Swiftly he made his way close enough to body check the bot into the nearest wall. It simply fell apart at the joints.
"Fragile things… they sure don't make them like that anymore." Shadow said seriously as he caught his breath. Even with the incredible amount of endurance he had, all this non-stop fighting and running was proving to be tiring, especially since he was accumulating more and more injuries, and didn't have an emerald on hand to warp.
Turning his attention back to the monitors, he approached what seemed to be the main computer. It had a primitive touch-screen keyboard, not holographic like the ones Dr. Eggman had in his ships and bases.
Using the knowledge of computers he had learned from living on the ARK and working for Dr. Eggman, Shadow accessed the computer.
"First things first…" he muttered as he typed.
"Defense and Weapons de-activated."
Shadow could hear the security doors in the hallway behind him opening, and hundreds of other mechanical clicks through the ceiling and floor as the base relaxed its defenses.
From there, Shadow found a way to access the Egg-Network. A map of the world popped up on the main screen (which was several feet larger than the rest), with small icons representing the location of various ships and bases that Eggman and his ancestors had built. There was even a faded icon indicating where the Egg Carrier lay in ruins. There were also small colored dots moving very slowly around on the map, but Shadow only paid attention to one; The green one with Eggman's symbol floating over top. It was inside a rather large icon of a ship. He touched the ship's icon.
"Contacting Dr. Eggman. Egg Fleet Headquarters."
Shadow crossed his arms and waited. After several moments the screen went blank, then showed a vaguely familiar face. …but it was not Eggman.
"Who are you? What do you want? And where the hell are you contacting me from?!" said an empty, metallic voice. The face shown was strikingly similar to the stone statue of the robot hedgehog out in the hallway, but this one looked much more advanced. Its spines were very long and sharp, and its eyes were glowing a freakish orange that could match Shadow's sharpness any day. "Well?! Speak, fool!"
"I am Shadow. Shadow the hedgehog. Where is Doctor Eggman? It's none of your business." Shadow said strongly as he listed his replies to each question.
"Eggman is… busy." the robot smirked as he put extra emphasis on 'busy'.
"I don't have time to talk to an elaborate answering machine," Shadow scowled impatiently, and reached to cut the robot off.
"Hey! No! Wait! Do you know who I am?! I mean… You're the Ultimate Life? Am I correct?"
"Yes. Now get Dr. Egg--"
"How can you be--"
Irritated with the interruption, Shadow cut the connection. He glanced at the other screens. 'Now what?' he thought, 'The Doctor's answering machine won't let me through…' Then something caught his eye; a blue blur on one of the screens. Shadow walked over to take a closer look. It was Sonic, running aimlessly around as usual.
"Hello… faker." Shadow leaned closer to the screen, "So… you survived as well…" Shadow watched as Sonic broke the sound barrier in a series of booms. Judging by Sonic's inattentiveness to the camera, Shadow figured that it must have been secretly filming him. …but who was filming, and why was it showing this on the monitor now?
Shadow did respect Sonic as an honorable fighter and worthy rival, but he did not consider him a friend.
Shadow returned to the main computer and accessed the information on that monitor. The signal was coming from a satellite orbiting the Earth. It was a live feed. The screen showed the exact co-ordinates of the hedgehog wherever he may be, currently as he sped around the deserts of Arizona. The numbers and letters or his co-ordinates changed rapidly as he suddenly broke northeastward.
'So… this was Doctor Robotnik's tracking device.' Shadow thought the idea was brilliant; to know the location of your foe at all times is a luxury for any self-respecting villain, 'I wonder if Doctor Eggman has the same thing?'
He didn't get to wonder very long, as the main screen suddenly lit up in red with the words 'INCOMING SIGNAL. STANDBY FOR CONTACT.'
"Incoming signal from Doctor Eggman. Egg Fleet Headquarters." said the computer voice coolly.
Shadow watched, not amused, as Metal Sonic's face appeared on the screen again.
"Shadow! Listen to me! I need you to come to the Egg Fleet immediately! I--"
"I was going to come anyway, seeing that you won't let me speak to Dr. Eggman. But why would you need me to come to the egg fleet, answering machine?"
"I am not the answering machine!" roared Metal Sonic, "I am--"
Shadow cut off communications again.
'There's nothing here for me. What a waste of time…' Shadow thought in annoyance as he turned to leave.
The floor around him suddenly exploded, sending shards of metal and blocks of concrete into the air as he fell through. Shadow lay amid the debris for a moment, then came to his senses and shot to his feet.
"Got. Ya." too late. A cold metal hand clamped around Shadow's neck. It was the real life version of primitive robotic hedgehog statue. "You. Cut. My. Master. Off. That. Was. Not. Very. Nice."
Shadow burned with fury as he tried to release himself from the grip, but it held fast. Metal Sonic must have found a way to activate his older 'twin' through the Egg Network. This one looked exactly like a robot version of Sonic.
"Well if it isn't another answering mach—"
"Shut. Up. I. Am. Sonic. The. Hedgehog. How. Dare--"
"Oh. Just another faker then." Shadow suddenly found his strength and kicked the robotic Sonic in the chest. Mecha Sonic released his grip and Shadow landed on his back on the floor, but he quickly flipped to his feet. Mecha Sonic was just getting up.
"I don't have time for fakers." Shadow turned on heel and skated down the hall as quickly as he could without running into walls as he turned. He was certain this faker would peruse, as robots don't exactly give up on their orders.
Trying to find a way out of the maze-like hallways, Shadow turned right every time he had the choice; hoping to keep from getting lost. Hallway after hallway lined with doors which led to computer rooms, storage rooms, utility rooms, and only Robotnik knows what else. Shadow could feel beads of sweat on his forehead; he had been running for at least twenty minutes straight now, not including the hour he had spent turning on the power, dodging defenses, and getting to the control room. Realizing all this, he stopped. Important things were probably whipping by as he ran. Shadow could feel the heat radiating off his shoes. He looked around. Even though he had turned on all the power in the building, the lighting was very dim here. His pupils were so wide that the red of the iris was no more than a sliver.
Walking now, Shadow moved down a small side hallway he had not noticed before. It led to a large, vault like door. It was unlike any other door he had passed. Trying the handle, Shadow found it locked.
'Damn.' thought Shadow, '…this looks important. Maybe a door to the outside or an escape tunnel.'
BAM! A large dent appeared in the vault door. Someone or something had hit it from the inside. Shadow regarded the dent for a moment, and then stepped back.
BAM! Shadow took another step back as another dent appeared in the door.
Then with a smash, the vault door flung open, and the robotic Sonic flew right past Shadow. This robot had feet that seemed to be an outdated version of the technology used in Shadow's own shoes. The robot's feet had wheels imbedded in the bottom, with two jets in the heel to propel it effortlessly forwards.
"Ha. I. Found. You." Mecha Sonic droned as he turned to attack Shadow in a powerful leap.
"Good thing, too." Shadow said calmly, as he entered the room the vault door was guarding, and slammed the door behind him, right in Mecha's face.
THOOOM! Sounded the thick metal door as a distinctly head-shaped dent appeared on the side where Shadow was standing. Mecha had collided with the closed door head first. Considering this, Shadow barred the door with a broken lead pipe nearby, and then turned to face the room. He took a step back.
"What the!?"
The room was enormous; big as an airplane hangar with its high domed ceiling and warehouse like scaffolding along the sides. There would have almost been enough room for Shadow to attempt breaking the sound barrier, had the room not been filled with a strange, severely damaged machine, and hundreds of eight foot high, metal capsules.
Unknown to Shadow, the damaged machine was Dr. Robotnik's infamous Roboticizor – the terrifying, horrible machine that turned flesh and bone to steel and titanium. Life forms trapped in a metal capsule go in one end, the machine makes the transformation, the capsule comes out the other end, and then when it was time for the robots to begin their service, the large lever on top would be pressed, and mindless servants would pop out. The machine wiped out the victim's free willpower, and replaced it with complete and undying loyalty to the ruthless dictator of the time, Dr. Julian Robotnik. Unlike Eggman's technique of simply trapping animals in robots to harness their energy and intelligence, any animal roboticized with this machine would not be released with defeat. They were doomed to serve evil for the rest of their days.
Of course, Shadow did not know all of this having been in suspended animation around the peak of Dr. Robotnik's terror. So he simply stared in awe at the machine while the robotic Sonic rammed the door behind him, trying to break it down while leaving more dents.
"What is this machine?" he said softly to himself, "…and these containers… what's inside? Weapons?"
Shadow's good hand went to his arm where the irritating scratch had been… but there was no more scratch.
"Wuh?" he glanced down at his arm where it had been. It was gone, not even a trace of the scratch was left. All the other minor cuts and scrapes had healed, as well as the burn on his side and leg. Shadow looked at his injured hand; the wound had stopped bleeding and was starting to close.
"This doesn't make sense…" he stared at his hand, concentration only broken as the robot Sonic broke through the door.
"You. Can. Not. Escape." it droned, then rocketed aggressively towards Shadow.
"It's time to put you away." Shadow turned towards the robot Sonic and light dashed towards it. In an instant, the two collided in mid-air, sending dust and debris flying out in all directions. Shadow had no doubt in his mind that he could beat this creature. Unfortunately, the robot also had no doubt in its mind that it could beat Shadow. Heads and shoulders pressed together as Shadow skated and Mecha rocketed side by side, they flew down one the side of the room at great speed, eye to eye, each trying to push the other into the wall. Shadow grew impatient and broke away for a moment, and then returned double speed to slam the robot into a pipe traveling vertically up the wall. Mecha didn't even flinch, though one of his razor sharp quills was slightly bent. Shadow hovered up and landed on one of the capsules as Mecha Sonic got to its feet.
POP! "Huh?" The capsule's top sank under Shadow's weight, surprising him, and the sides popped open. Before Shadow got a chance to recover and take a good look at the inside, Mecha circled around back, spin dashing Shadow from behind. Shadow flew through the air and slammed into the top of another capsule, popping that one open as well. He didn't bother wasting time trying looking inside this time.
"What a coward! Attacking from behind!" Shadow did his own spin dash and spun towards the robot. The robot leapt into the air and landed some distance away on another capsule, which popped open. Shadow didn't stop moving – when he reached the capsule where Mecha had been, he simply grabbed the edge and flung himself around and into another spin dash, barely losing any momentum in the process.
Mecha Sonic did his own spin dash and flew towards Shadow. They met in the air, but the robot was easily mowed over by Shadow. Mecha Sonic fell and landed on its back on another capsule, which popped open. Shadow stopped spinning and flipped himself right side up, hovering in the air for a moment and smirking. He said nothing as he shot down, aiming to finish the metal hedgehog off. At the last moment, Mecha dodged Shadow's slam and landed on another capsule, which popped open. Mecha flew into the air, preparing to mimic Shadow's last attack. Shadow, getting annoyed, bounced from capsule to capsule, popping one after the other open. Mecha couldn't get a clear target as a result, and so remained suspended in the air, trying to follow Shadow with its cold robotic eyes the best it could. Shadow was a black and red blur as he shot around the room. Quicker than the robot could think, Shadow suddenly bounced up to strike. Shadow's spines hit the Mecha Sonic in the torso, and jaggedly sliced him vertically in two, where he exploded in a flash of orange and red light. The force of the small explosion popped most of the remaining capsules open.
"I am the Ultimate Life. Remember that." Shadow said, knowing his decimated foe couldn't hear. He landed on the ground beside the roboticization machine and looked back at the cloud of smoke and debris where the robot had been destroyed, "Humph… that was too easy."
Shadow looked up at the strange machine this time. It was crude and ugly, especially since it was so badly damaged. Wires and twisted metal littered the floor around it. Shadow noticed that there was one of the strange capsules half in and half outside of the machine, and was about to take a look, when he sensed something straight above him. His head whipped up to look. It was pulling him, and it was strong.
"There!" he pointed at a spot above, curled into a ball and blasted straight up and through the ceiling. When he uncurled he found himself standing in a storage room, straight in front of the white Chaos Emerald which was sitting on a crate. The emerald's energy lit up the room. Shadow smirked. It was just what he needed.
"Not such a waste of time after all."
Shadow reached out and grabbed it with his right hand. Just as he yelled "Chaos Control!" he noticed that there wasn't a single mark on his hand. It had completely healed.
Shadow disappeared.