Chapter 5
Fast flowing icy water pushed Shadow quickly through the lightless, narrow pipe – and it wasn't as short a pipe as he had hoped. Seconds seemed like hours as Shadow held his breath, constantly being pushed forwards and completely disoriented. Once again he was at the mercy of something… helpless. This time it happened to be almost every hedgehog's greatest annoyance: water. Though for Shadow, the annoyance was more the fact that he couldn't swim, rather than just the sensation of being wet – Sonic would agree with this. The water may have actually been a cool refreshment if he hadn't been so concerned about the lack of air. As powerful as his lungs were 'built' to be, he felt that he could not hold his breath much longer than a minute – though he had never tied, so he couldn't be sure. He was going to find out. Shadow was going head first, and could feel his bulky shoes creating a lot of drag behind him now that they had filled with water. Suddenly there was a dip, and the forward push stopped. The water tunnel had forced Shadow underwater into some kind of pool. He reached out to try and grab something to pull himself out of the water, but there was nothing; the basin he was in was rounded and smooth. Fortunately he didn't have to worry about it long, as he slowly floated to the surface with help from a slight upward current. A huge gasp for air accompanied the sound of rushing water all around him. It was still lightless when Shadow opened his eyes. He floated half on his back for a moment, catching his breath, and then was suddenly pushed forwards by an increasingly powerful current. He was forced to stop when he felt his torso hit a wall. He tried to push away, but the current insisted on holding him against this wall. Blindly moving his hands around in the dark, he could feel the water pushing then detouring around him to pour over the wall. Reaching out in front of him, Shadow could feel that this wall was actually some kind of continuous platform being flooded with water.
'This must be the end,' he thought, relieved that it was over and pushing himself out of the chilly water. He stepped up with one very soggy and heavy hover-shoe, "Now where is—AAARGH!" Just as Shadow had stood up straight, he slipped on the wet, rounded floor, landed painfully on his back, and cursed repeatedly as he flailed down the waterslide from hell.
It started with a fast and stomach flipping drop, then it smoothed out, but only for a moment, as Shadow suddenly found himself sloshed up against the left wall… then the right… then the right again.
"Where the hell is this taking me?!" Shadow yelled angrily as he slid down a spiral, not expecting an answer.
The slide seemed to answer with a sudden, 90-degree freefall down the closed pipe towards… light! Shadow wanted to feel relieved, but the sudden freefall with water sloshing and spraying all over was keeping him thoroughly emotionally occupied. Not being able to see what was below because of the brightness, Shadow curled into a ball, hoping his spines would break whatever impact to the ground or water he was about to experience. …but there was no impact. The pipe ended and Shadow shot into warm air, then rolled down a smooth arc of stone that re-directed him in a rapid spin across the surface of a large, choppy pond. Noticing a ledge approaching, he uncurled and allowed himself to break through the surface of the water, stopping just in time to brace his hands against the ledge to prevent himself from toppling over.
Gathering his senses Shadow looked over his shoulder, water again pushing on his back like it had done before the terrifying waterslide. The pipe he had rocketed out of was cleverly concealed in a rocky overhang to look like a hidden cave spilling out a waterfall. The stone arch he had rolled down looked like it had been eroded there by water, but judging by the perfect curve it made from the water chute to the pond, he guessed it was Eggman-made as well. The water from the pipe slid down the arch into the round, bowl-shaped pool he was in, then if it became overfilled, would careen over the ledge that Shadow was positioned on. Shadow knew that if he weren't careful, he too would be careening over the edge like the drizzling water.
How far did the water fall from here, anyway?
Shadow looked over the edge. It wasn't too far down, but Shadow didn't fancy jumping off and into what looked like a shallow river below; he had had enough of this water stuff to last a lifetime.
How long would a lifetime be, for him? Perhaps learning how to swim would be a valuable time investment. Not that he was short of time anyway…
'Not today.' Shadow thought as he forced himself to look at the bright scenery around him.
There were countless rust colored rock cliffs and crevices, with a lush but harsh looking jungle huddled around the river below that stretched as far as the eye could see. The river branched off in several places, allowing the jungle to extend and wind between each of the red rock canyons. The sun was hot against Shadow's dark fur. He could use that to his advantage.
In a flash, Shadow used all his strength to push off the ledge, leap clear out of the water – making sparkling water arch into the air in his wake – and spin dash to the very top of the rocky overhang behind him. Up there he halted in mid-air, spinning rapidly, shaking, and wringing himself dry. He paid special attention to his shoes; swinging his legs rapidly back and forth to whip the water out and off. After this stopped being an efficient way to dry off, he stopped and sat leaning against a rock to rest in the sun and wait for his shoes to dry out completely. He was a little shaken and cold from the watery ride anyway.
Shadow noticed that his spines had softened and drooped out from their regular twisted positions, making him look surprisingly like an echidna. He shook his head vigorously a few times to try and make them stand, but they were still too soggy and would sink slowly down around his head in long strands. Giving up he stretched out and closed his eyes, not used to a bright sunny sky. Having spent most of his memorable life in space or darkness, light wasn't really Shadow's thing.
It was silent on top of the rock except for the occasional wind gust, and the soft drips of water falling off Shadow's spines. The sound of the water falling on the other side of the overhang did not reach Shadow's ears. He wondered how much longer he would have to wait. He didn't want to take off his shoes, even if it meant they would dry faster, as they weren't the easiest to get on and off. He also felt extremely vulnerable without them.
'Maria would have liked this place.' he thought to himself, eyes still closed, 'Peaceful and natural…' then something occurred to him, making his eyes open and narrow slightly, 'Why did was she so kind to me? I am the exact opposite of everything she held dear.'
Shadow focused on the sound of the drips of water. One of his ears flicked, and he ran his hand over it to squeeze the water out of the short fur.
'I was what she held dear…'
'How do you know that?'
'She was always there for me, always wanting me to stay with her on ARK… she taught me about life…'
'…but not about death?'
'We believed that an afterlife awaited us… but never elaborated.'
'Maybe you just don't remember?'
'It's not that I don't want to— I just— I can't—' his thought was interrupted by a new noise; one of rock being crunched underfoot. Shadow leapt to his feet.
No one had approached, but still the noise persisted. Shadow braced himself.
'An invisible foe?' his eyes shifted to every focal point around him, and his head whipped around, looking for what might be a threat. Maybe Metal Sonic had found him again?
CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH! The noise grew louder. 'It' was getting closer.
Shadow suddenly realised what it was; he had heard this sound before. He moved towards the back of the overhang and peered over. Sure enough, a banana yellow echidna was making its way up the rock face – and quickly! It was so busy watching where it was going, that it hadn't noticed Shadow yet.
Kneeling and looking over the edge, Shadow watched as the echidna continued its speed climb. It was wearing protective metal digging & grappling claws on its fists to help cling onto the rock. Was it an enemy? He didn't have time to decide, as it suddenly looked up, spotting Shadow.
"Hey there!" she hollered up as she finished the last leg of her climb, and then hauled herself over the top, "You must have been up here a long time! I've been climbing all day and haven't seen anyone."
Shadow simply tilted his head to this creature. Slightly annoyed that his piece and quiet had been interrupted for this, he crossed his arms, "Not too long." he said.
"What side did you come up, then?" she asked, unfazed.
Shadow looked over his shoulder, indicating the spout-like waterfall.
"Ha! No wonder you're so wet!" she smiled cheerfully, "Yeah… my boyfriend and I tried that side a few days ago. Better for swimming than climbing. Though he's not much of a climber himself anyway." she rolled her eyes.
Shadow rolled his eyes, too, but not at her last comment. Pathetic creature…
"I haven't seen you around, what tribe are you from?"
"Eh…" Shadow was caught off guard, had she really mistaken him for an echidna? Maybe this could be used to his advantage…
"Oh! You must be from that one in the north. …whatever it's called. I've only seen markings like yours on echidna from there…" she smiled as she eyed Shadow's false 'dreads'.
"Yeah… that's right." Shadow said blankly, 'Just what I need, another knucklehead.' he uncrossed his arms, bored with this girl and deciding it was time to leave, whether his shoes had completely dried or not.
'I wanted to get away from the city today, because of the surge of tourists and all.' She sat down and took one of her grappling claws off to massage her fist, 'It's nice to see that some of the tourists are not just here for the Chaos Emerald."
"Chaos Emerald?!" Shadow rounded on her.
"Yeah…" she looked at him strangely, "You haven't heard?"
"N-yeees!" Shadow corrected himself in mid speech, "I mean… who hasn't. I just…"
She laughed, "Yeah, exciting, I know. It's like… we haven't seen any emeralds for at least a decade. Pretty amazing that one just decided to appear in the middle of the market. I mean, it's like this old woman was haggling fruit, and suddenly found she was holding an emerald. Then the whole market, like, jumped on her to try and get it for themselves. Crazy…"
Shadow wasn't listening to that part; he was trying to think quickly, eyes darting to and from his shoes, "Where is the emerald now?"
"On exhibit, of course. Though the government has restricted viewing and security is very tight." she put the metal claw back on and stood up, "You wanna go see it? The line's long, but you can probably beat the evening crowd. I should be heading down anyway, before the Phan-man goes home without me…"
"Yes!" Shadow jumped at the opportunity, again ignoring the last bit. This echidna, though painfully irritating to Shadow with her informal speech and gestures, could lead him right to his goal. …and by the sound of it, he would barely have to lift a finger to get it. Dr. Eggman must have known that the emerald was here, but it seemed so simple. Why send the Ultimate Life Form to do such a petty fetch task?
'Maybe it's a loyalty test? Efficiency?' Shadow thought to himself. Either way, he wasn't going to question why this girl wanted to help him.
"Lets go then. I'm Ming-Le by the way." and without even the slightest hesitation, she leapt off the edge of the rock, spreading her dreads and gliding further and further away.
Shadow's mind raced, if he wanted to get into that city, he would have to continue being a fake echidna; he needed a name for himself, one that wouldn't be recognised and was strangely… echidna sounding, "I'm Woodash the heh-echidna." he hollered back, almost blurting out hedgehog in the process.
"Gesundheit!" she yelled over her shoulder. Being a fair distance away now, the error had sounded more like a sneeze.
Back on the rock, Shadow was having more trouble, 'Hedgehogs can't glide. At least… not without the shoes and some momentum.' Shadow looked around quickly, 'Momentum… momentum…' he looked at the rock he had been leaning on, 'Momentum!'
Shadow ran as far back on the overhang as he could, crouched down, then as fast as he could without aid from his shoes, ran and vaulted off the rock. He sailed into the air, arms and legs stretched out behind him, head and chest up and forwards, trying to get the most out of his push off the rock. Wind whistled through his glistening fur, and rustled his white crest. Before he could let himself be absorbed by the beautiful scenery, he sailed straight by Ming-Le. Shadow had just reached the peak of his leap, and was starting to fall. Quickly thinking of a way to cover it up, he turned, smirked at the echidna, then pointed his nose towards the ground and dove into the heavily treed jungle below.
The jungle canopy rushed up at him as he plotted a landing spot; what appeared to be a flexible tree limb. A cold look of determination on his face, and with only milliseconds to react, he fanned out his limbs and flipped to fall feet first.
Too fast! Shadow missed one of the top branches by inches, but with lightening reflexes, managed to grab onto it with one hand. The branch snapped under the unexpected weight, letting Shadow fall onto the next, larger branch, feet first, with fortunately much less force. Using the grove in his shoes, Shadow slid towards the end of the limb and let it bend, slowly lowering him to the ground. He calmly stepped off the branch, letting it whip back up to its normal position.
'Somehow that felt… cool…' Shadow narrowed his eyes and smirked; impressed with himself for a moment, then thought of how he had just used a ridiculous pop word. Having lived mostly in a time around twenty years ago, he felt uncomfortable and silly using modern slang. He blamed the gap in his pedantic style on the young echidna.
He looked around. The jungle floor was dark, damp, and carpeted with lush red and green underbrush. There was a shallow stream running nearby.
"Dude!"
Shadow's insides jumped at the male voice.
"You're more of an adrenaline junkie than she is!" the stranger was behind Shadow.
Shadow whirled around in surprise, ready to defend himself. It was a golden-orange echidna. He had a worn canvas backpack over both shoulders, and a rope coiled around the crook of one arm. He seemed a little… off, which might have been because of his heavy-eyed look. Shadow scowled; he rather disliked surprises. He also disliked this guy's manner of speaking; it was worse than that Ming-Le.
"Chill dude, didn't mean to scare you." the echidna half laughed.
Shadow bristled as he crossed his arms and gave him a sideways glance, 'Describing this being as annoying would be like describing Sonic as fast; it just wouldn't be saying enough.' he thought to himself.
Shadow heard a rustle as the yellow echidna suddenly dropped through the canopy of trees to land beside what he assumed was her… what did she call him?
"I see you've met my boyfriend Aristophanes."
Ah yes… the terribly misleading word 'boyfriend'. Shadow had previously watched the pink hedgehog, whatever her name was, state repeatedly that Sonic was her 'boyfriend' – but Shadow doubted anyone could be stand being friends let alone stand beside that… pink thing… whatever her name was. …and from previous observations, apparently 'boyfriend' had come to mean 'more than just friends', further proving the inane pink hedgehog wrong.
Shadow snapped out of his ponderings as Aristophanes the echidna held out a gloved hand in greeting, "You can call me Phan-man for short. Everyone does."
Shadow didn't want to shake hands, but something inside made him do it.
"…and Phan-man, this is…" Ming-Le struggled, "What was your name again?"
"Woodash the hedgehechidna." Shadow's insides squirmed as he messed up his false name again.
"Woah… our dude's got some serious identity problems, me thinks." grinned Phan-man.
'If only he knew!' Shadow forced an outburst down, using all his might to keep his neutral expression from going sour. Twice now he had slurred his wording.
"So anyway…" Ming-Le changed the subject, passing off what she thought was an honest error, "I was just about to show our fellow climber here where the emerald is on display tonight. You can head on home; I'll join you later." She handed him her climbing equipment; the digging claws and removable picks on her hiking boots.
"Sure thing Ming." Phan-man did a half-salute and started to walk away, but he stopped and turned to Shadow, "Hey… you're from that tribe in the east, right?"
"North actually." Shadow corrected, though he really had no idea about these 'tribes' so he just went along with what Ming-Le had decided.
"Oh… yeah… my bad." Phan-man nodded and half-smiled, then disappeared into the underbrush.
'Why all these echidnas are obsessed with phenotypes in modern times is beyond me.' thought Shadow.
Shadow had once seen a brief glimpse of a text on the historical past of the echidna and their many diverse tribes. Apparently many groups still practiced highly selective breeding so as to preserve their ancient markings and looks. Knuckles was a prime example, sporting the ancient Guardian's Crest and the emerald guarding tradition. The species also tended to keep to themselves, rarely allowing outsiders of other species into their hidden cities.
Shadow's spines were still soaked, and he felt a small drop of water trickle into his ear – he flicked it, then realised that echidna don't normally have visible ears. As best he could, se flattened his ears against his skull.
"Okay, let's go." Ming-Le started to lead the way through the jungle.
Shadow followed at a painfully slow pace. His shoes were still a little soggy, making his feet very uncomfortable, and the shuffle he had to do to walk in the Air Shoes wasn't helping. It was only a few minutes of bushwhacking before his legs screamed for Shadow to let them glide effortlessly across the ground again – apparently the muscles used to walk were not the same or used the same as the ones used to skate.
Ming-Le started to tell a story about some other 'spectacular' climbs she and this 'Phan-man' had done, but Shadow was barely listening and would only feign interest on occasion by grunting acknowledgement. He simply didn't care. Besides, he had other things on his mind, the most important of which being the Chaos Emerald. He thought about all the different ways it could be locked up, how much security there would be, and how much longer these damn shoes were going to take to dry. …and this insufferable echidna's background noise was getting on his nerves.
Just when he thought he was going to have to knock the banana head out and go it alone, they arrived. Just barely. Their destination started as a chute disguised as a tree. The entrance to the chute was nothing more than what looked like a rotted out knothole in the tree. Ming-Le explained that this was one of the many entrances into the city (though she would not elaborate other than that this particular entrance was the closest to where the emerald was on display), and they would have to slide down and pass through security to get in. Passing through security (for echidnas) consisted of only a name clearance and a check for weapons. Unless you had a special passport, it was echidnas only from here on.
Shadow was surprised he had found a use for playing 'faker'. This echidna would lead him straight to the emerald, once there he would take the emerald and use the Chaos Control to warp back to Dr. Eggman to complete the mission, and be ultimately a step closer to getting those files. Shadow was also glad that the emerald happened to be in the possession of the echidna, and not G.U.N., Sonic, or at the bottom of some cold, salty ocean of this planet (in that case he would be – literally – sunk).
Ming-Le spoke again, "I'll go in first. Wait exactly ten seconds, and then slide down feet first. That way you won't have to worry about crashing into me at the bottom." she gave a short laugh.
That was the least of Shadow's worries. He thought sarcastically in mock enthusiasm, 'Great…another dark, cramped tunnel to blindly hurl myself down.' he nodded to Ming-Le, ensuring her that he understood these simple instructions.
"Okay then, just answer the guards' questions quickly and honestly and there shouldn't be any problem." she smiled at Shadow as she prepared to slide down, "See you inside."
When she disappeared, Shadow began to count as he climbed into the narrow opening. Honesty had been thrown to the wind today, on top of that Shadow was never a good liar, and he wondered if the guards would be able to see through him, '…five… four… three… two… one…' at 'one' he let go of the rim of the opening and let himself fall into darkness. 'Down the rabbit hole…' Shadow thought, for no reason in particular… the phrase was familiar to him, but he couldn't quite place it.
It was like the water tunnel all over again, except this time he could actually breathe, and wasn't terribly disorientated. There was darkness all around him, wind whistling past his face as he slid deeper and deeper into the ground. Suddenly, sooner than he expected, his feet slammed against something and he stopped moving. It was bright now, very bright. Shadow felt vulnerable lying on his back in the marble chute, and then threatened as two very buff male echidnas in uniform suddenly loomed over him.
"Name please." the first one said professionally, and with a light Australian accent.
"Eh—Shadow." Shadow instantly regretted it, and felt a failure at trying to be a faker. He decided that lying was hard—no, impossible, especially under such imposing figures, and that after this mission, lying would be a seldom-used technique. Even with a few bumps, faking his identity was a lucky decision, but he preferred a flawless performance to 'just getting away with it'. Besides, the usual flash & crash technique was much more fun. The first echidna stopped looming and walked away, over to a small stack of paper on a desk.
"Stand up, please." the second said, sounding bored.
Shadow did as he was told, and looked around the room as he did. He was in a small and brightly lit dirt cave. There was a white door with a small window at the far end, and he could see Ming-Le's irritatinglycheerful face peering through.
"No apparent weapons present." the second echidna had carefully looked Shadow over for threatening items while Shadow was making his own observations. Though in any occasion Shadow chose only carry himself and the occasional emerald, so there was nothing much to look at.
"Name cleared. No match to any wanted criminals or exiles." reported the first as he threw down the papers, wrote something on another paper, and then walked back over to Shadow, "Just one question, sir." he said to him tentatively while crossing his arms.
Shadow's mind began to race again in the moment's pause. What would he ask? Had they recognized him for what he really was? He started to plan how to take them out and escape, but the only outward emotion he showed was a raised eyebrow.
"I'm dying to know where you got those shoes… I've never seen anything like them!"
Shadow just about fell over in relief, but in reality didn't even show a flinch, "Uh… They're custom made… by a friend of mine… who's unfortunately passed away." it was as close to the truth as he could get without blowing any more cover than he had, and it had been easier than lying. He looked down at his own shoes, still a little soggy, and tapped a foot.
"Oh… damn it. Sorry to hear that." The first guard said disappointedly and stepped back, allowing Shadow to hop off the marble chute and onto the floor. On the same level they were both slightly taller than Shadow, though it could have been that his droopy spines made him look shorter.
The other echidna now spoke, "Well, you're free to go then. Just exit through the door."
'Nah, I'll exit through the wall instead…' Shadow thought sarcastically at the stupidity of the last comment, there being only one possible exit in the room. Or perhaps it was just another mood swing coming along; his stress level was up from all these interactions.
As Shadow was closing the door behind him, he heard a whisper of, "Man, I want those shoes…"
"See, no problem, eh Woodash?"
"Hum?" Shadow looked over at Ming-Le, "Oh, right… no problems." except for the fact that he still had to remember his stupid fake name until he could catch sight of the emerald (for he rather liked the efficiency of having a guide). As simple, sloppy, and frustrating as this mission was turning out to be, Shadow decided that this was probably better than being back at the secret jungle base, getting sliced up by lasers. Then Shadow decided that he rather liked a good fight on occasion, and nothing could possibly be worse than the water tunnel. Then he regretted that thought, as it usually results in a situation ten times worse than the one mentioned out of spite, and silenced his thoughts on the subject.
"So, what do you think?"
"Wha? Oh…" Shadow finally came to grips with his surroundings. He found himself aboveground again. A blue sky dotted with clouds above, a cobblestone path beneath his feet, and in front of him… "It's… nice." Shadow was surprised at the simple beauty of this apparently densely populated city, which was reminiscent of the ancient human Mayan villages (though Shadow was not very familiar with the Mayans), just on a grander scale.
Ming-Le started to walk into a busy walkway, motioning for Shadow to follow. There were echidnas everywhere! Most were yellow or orange, with a few red-orange standing out here and there. Shadow felt a weird contrast with his black and red fur, but then saw a forest green echidna talking to someone while attracting stares, and felt a little better. Shadow's ears ached; it was taking quite an effort to keep them flattened against his head. He wondered how much longer his quills would stay down…
The buildings and dress of the echidnas may have appeared somewhat primitive, but these civilised and organized people were anything but. Shadow suddenly remembered that this was probably one of the strictly governed anti-technology tribes that the Dark Legion swore to overtake. At a glance they seemed to be healthy, happy and living life efficiently even without computers and television and telephones and any other microchipped device. Before Shadow could ponder this any further, his guide interrupted him.
"This is where the emerald first appeared." she said loudly over the noise of the busy street, gesturing to the area around them which was a busy marketplace. Food, clothing, pointless souvenirs and other things were being sold here, "That's the fruit shop I was talking about." she pointed, "The old woman is pretty well off now, with all the sales she's been making."
Shadow looked over at the stall, which stood out as much more elaborate and fancy than all those around it. The shop was no longer selling fruit either… it was selling hats and shirts and other junk souvenirs with pictures of the white chaos emerald on it. Even though Shadow was not one to believe in or care about currency, he thought it was a smart move on her part as there was a constant swarm of tourists gathered around her stall, buying things. Shadow also thought it was interesting that the emerald he had forced to teleport not long ago had created such a stir for an entire community.
They passed by many more shops – Shadow thoroughly peeved from all the walking – and the frequency of 'foreign' echidna increased. Every color under the sun; navy blue with black markings, a pale pink, white with aqua markings, lime green… Shadow felt more at ease now that he blended in to the crowds; they had entered tourist town. They soon reached the end of the road, and entered a very wide, circular pavilion, bordered with inns, restaurants and the like. In the very center was a small fountain (more tourists were seated around the edge), and just in front of it was… a very long line-up.
"Lucky for you, there aren't many people here today – see what I meant about the evening crowd? There's usually, like, people line up all the way to the market."
Shadow gave a slight nod but nothing more. His eyes were fixated on a point in the distance – he could already feel it, and his heart began to beat faster.
"Well, I better get going. Just get in line and you should be able to see it within the half hour." she smiled brightly, "It was nice meeting you, Woodash. Maybe I'll see you again on the rocks."
Shadow looked at her and smirked slyly, she had led him right to his goal without a hitch, "Thanks for your trouble."
"Oh, it was no problem. Always happy to help those in need. See ya!" she waved, turned and left.
'She was not unlike Maria.' Shadow thought, smirk fading, as he watched her leave, 'Kind and selfless, appreciative of nature's gifts.' Shadow shook it off, '…but still… Maria was more – she was human and still had those traits.' he felt a ripple of sadness at the thought of Maria's soft blue eyes, how she used to stroke the top of his head and play with his ears. So what if she had treated him like a pet at times… it felt nice to be…
…but he was getting off topic. No time to wallow in pity.
Shadow turned back to the point in the distance; as he honed in on the emerald's radiations, they captured and held his interest powerfully enough to make him forget his previous thoughts completely. He wanted so badly to just charge in there and take it, but he would probably cause a fight, possibly injuring many innocent people in the process (Not that he cared in the slightest at this point, but Maria would never have approved of such a risk.). Shadow lightly kicked the ground with one shoe; they were probably dry enough now to function properly.
'Let's find out…' he thought, smirking again.
Shadow crouched low to the ground, preparing to try a light dash. Then, in a movement so quick that it left those who caught a glimpse of the black and red blur wondering what had just happened, Shadow dashed into the line, cutting in front of a few hundred echidnas. He stopped on a dime in a small gap he found in the line, where the people around were staring at the ground or talking to others; he figured they probably wouldn't notice his little cheat. Peering over the many dread-locked heads, he could just see the bright glint of the white chaos emerald. It was in what appeared to be a bullet and laser proof glass case (judging by the bluish tint that these cases often had), and was surrounded by armed guards and crowd ushers.
"Hey… where did you come from?" questioned a red male echidna behind him, "You just cut in front of me, didn't you?" he raised an accusing fist.
Shadow turned from his point if interest to face him, "What are you talking about? I've been here all day, same as you." Shadow remembered how gullible Knuckles was known to be – perhaps that was a trademark of the species?
"But I remember that guy being in front of me." he jabbed his fist in the direction of a rather plump orange and black echidna in front of Shadow, "No way, you cut in!"
"Look, you unobservant, pathetic little anteater…" Shadow flared his eyes menacingly. Now that he knew where the emerald was, he had no time for—
"There he is! GET HIM!" a voice bellowed to Shadow's distant right.
Every head in the pavilion, including Shadow's, turned to the source of the outcry. Around twenty uniformed echidnas, much like the ones who had inspected him when he first entered the city, were gathered in front of the fountain, holding old bullet-style guns, and… crossbows?! A few civilians started to run from the scene, scooping up their crying children as they went. The one who had made the call was pointing sharply and directly at Shadow, but they were so far away that no one could tell exactly whom he meant.
"Which one, sir?" a feeble voice yelled from the group of guards.
"The one that isn't an echidna, you idiot! The black and red one with the white tuft of fur!" the apparent leader shook his head, "Didn't you read the description?!"
It was loud enough for almost everyone to hear, and the red echidna behind Shadow swore and slowly backed away, as well as everyone else formerly in line around him. Shadow had felt that this was somehow all too easy, too lucky – in light of previous missions he had been on, which tended to begin and end in violent conflict – but he had expected to finish this mission without needing to get too rough. Who had tipped them off? Ming-Le? Maybe he was wrong about her after all. Shadow was both angry and excited by the fact that he would have to make some sort of conscious physical effort today. Though, as much as he enjoyed the adrenaline rush of a good fight, after the water tunnel he was all rushed out.
No longer needing to play faker he relaxed his ears, which were sore and trembling from being kept plastered against his head, and twitched each one as they flipped up. Then, in an impressive and intimidating display to all those around him, he twitched and rustled his quills (now bone dry) while barely moving his head or limbs; much like a peacock shimmying its tail feathers. The sensation was not unlike goosebumps. His quills quickly fanned out and arched back into their usual twisted position, framing his head in a way that made him look deviously dangerous. He gave the guards a piercing, deadly cold stare as lowered his head, making his quills stick out even further in challenge and intimidation. He shifted one foot back and bent his knees slightly, itching to spring into the air. Shadow the hedgehog was ready for action.
No one moved. There was a silence as everyone gasped and stared, frozen.
Then everyone in the pavilion suddenly came to their senses and ran for their lives, shouting and causing a scene of chaos that Shadow found rather amusing. As the circle quickly drained of bodies, he noticed that the guards hadn't moved yet. Looking at each one he could sense the nervous tension surrounding the guards; they were the only ones who truly knew whom he was. As the civilians of the city did not normally receive much news from outside, only the guards who had been informed by their superiors knew that he was the Ultimate Life Form. He also noticed that Aristophanes, the Phan-man, was standing on the rim of the fountain, slightly behind the guards, and with arms crossed. He had obviously been the one who tipped the guards off, judging by the mischievous grin on his face. Shadow watched in his unusually wide peripheral vision for any more approaching guards. There were none at present, but he could hear weapons clicking in the distance behind him; the ones of the guards with the Chaos Emerald. The shops along the walls of the pavilion had wisely barricaded themselves shut with various bangs and clashes. Again no one moved. Shadow found the stillness unnerving… but it was the short-lived quiet before the storm…
Aristophanes yelled over to Shadow, "When you told me what tribe you were from, I knew you couldn't be an echidna because you got it wrong." he hopped off the fountain and strode a little closer to the line of guards, "When I saw your erect ears, I knew you couldn't be an echidna because we don't have ears like that. After a little research, I knew you weren't an echidna because you are in fact the infamous weapon of that Professor Gerald dude – The Ultimate Life Form: Shadow the hedgehog."
Shadow simply glared at his snitch, 'At least someone here has a brain.'
"Oh, and you're so dead. If you were just an intruder you'd just be fined and tossed out, dude, but since you're trying to steal the emerald…"
Suddenly thousands upon thousands of orange and yellow echidna (apparently the tourists had no interest in fighting for this city) armed with only spears and shields poured in through the only two entrances to the pavilion; the street which Ming-Le had led him through, and one to his far left. Shadow had forgotten one very important detail about echidnas – they were not a cowardly species. They had not run in a panic for their lives, but for their weapons. There was generally an equal male to female ratio among these young to middle aged fighters.
They poured in and surrounded Shadow, pressing themselves back against the circular walls, not yet knowing why he was being considered a threat. They did not show any fear, only caution as they efficiently made a wall of spears around the intruder. The presence of the emerald's energy burned desire into the back of Shadow's mind and he had to shake his head to clear it – he could hardly resist, but a wrong move could result in a more difficult situation. He could feel thousands of angry eyes on him. There was another short silence.
Shadow suddenly realised that Aristophanes had called him a mere 'weapon'. Insulting… he was about to make a retort to that, but just then the leader of the guards piped up.
"We know who you are, so we aren't going to even ask if you want to surrender… because… you won't."
'That's right…' Shadow thought, vaguely impressed with their foresight.
"We won't either, however, and you should know that we have no hesitations when it comes to the subject of killing you, as we have intelligence stating you are sided with the Dark Legion." the guards and militia army tensed at this comment, angry, "We will not allow—"
The combinations of the emerald's pull, the nervousness of the guards, Shadow's cranky mood, the confusion of how the heck they knew he was indirectly helping the Legion, and the intense anticipation of the fight suddenly pushed Shadow over the edge and into an emotional frenzy. Not being able to stand it any longer he made a mad dash for the emerald.
An impulsive mistake.
"HUYAAAAA!" the spear holders gave a battle cry and made a mad dash for Shadow.
Shadow however, was already at the emerald before they could take more than two strides towards him. He tackled the bullet and laser proof glass cube off the stand before the guards could react, and was about to dash off with it when three guards jumped him. Two grabbed his legs, making Shadow fall on his face with the box tumbling just out of reach. The third guard was going to pin him to the ground, but decided against it at the sight of his needle-sharp spines. Shadow pushed his body up with his arms, grinning madly as his hover shoes powered up and blasted the two guards in the face; they quickly and wisely let go before they were singed.
Shadow flipped up to his feet, hover shoes still blazing, and dove for the box. The militia were now closing in. Shadow grabbed the box and held it tightly; there was a strong double latch and lock on the back and no time to break it. The emerald sparkled brilliantly; Shadow's eyes did the same in the few microseconds he was able to admire it. He leapt into the air just as the militia and the guards closed in. Shadow felt the sharp pain of a spear jabbing his waist, and another in his back, but he was rising too quickly for them to penetrate too deeply. Then the sea of militia had a better idea, jumping and reaching up to grab his legs and feet, free arm, and then shoulder, successfully managing to pluck him out of the air with their combined strength. A bolt from a crossbow flew out of nowhere and stuck deep into Shadow's left side, and then another went through his right shoulder and poked out the other side.
"GYAAAA!" Shadow roared in pain as he weakly tried to kick the echidnas off him. It was unlike any pain he had experienced before; while lasers simply left burn marks and cauterized cuts, the metal rods stuck in him did not go away after they struck. Instead they stayed, severely inhibiting movement in those areas. Taking a signal of panic from Shadow's brain, the Air Shoes went into emergency booster mode, and blasted him free from their grip. Shadow hugged the box tight and curled into a spin dash. Spears, bullets, and bolts screamed through the air at him as he bounced off a wall and onto another. Running just under the speed of sound he started to sprint across it, defying gravity as he skated on the vertical surface with incomprehensible speed. He reached one of the two exits in milliseconds, but was met by even more guards, accompanied by militia. In a split-second decision, Shadow leapt up and onto the rooftops instead, and without stopping, jumped as high as he could into the air. There he did another spin dash, straight up this time. He went higher and higher into the sky, hoping to get high enough to spot a way out of this walled, hidden city.
…but suddenly… he hit the ceiling… literally. The sky was false. He was still underground in a gigantic dome. Immensely disappointed, Shadow's shoes sensed the desperation and fired up to help him ram the ceiling twice more just to be sure. The stone dome's painted sky chipped and cracked, but this was not something he could break at the moment. Not with the box under his arm, the two bolts stuck painfully in his flesh, and barely any momentum. He didn't know how much earth could be above the dome anyway.
Still in a frenzy but starting to panic at his lack of options, he dove down towards the rooftops. He could see the anxious and frustrated echidnas down below yelling and raising their spears. A bullet whizzed by his ear, and then another grazed his arm. They were still firing at him. Then one hit him in the hip and he heard it ricochet as it bounced off titanium-plated bone. At this moment Shadow managed to reason that lasers were much more humane weapons, if a weapon can even be considered that. Another bullet cut through the flesh in his thigh, and bounced off his femur to exit at an angle.
Shadow landed rather hard on all fours on a flat rooftop of one of the higher buildings, shielded and hidden by a three-foot high wall all around as he winced in pain. Bolts and thrown spears started to rain from the sky, so Shadow dove right and pressed himself against one of the walls, lying as low as he could with he painful metal bolts protruding from his body. He put the box down and bravely pulled the bolt in his side out.
"Arrrgh!" The tip was barbed and took a large chunk of his body with it with a sickening sound. He stifled a second cry as the pain shot harder to his brain. Shadow knew he would heal fast, so he felt no loss, only the searing pain as blood oozed from the gaping wound. Shadow looked at the bloody metal rod he had pulled out, and then threw it away. He could hear echidnas crawling up the building. He had to get out of here, now.
Tick tock tick tock… Shadow's mind raced. He needed to run. Run away and find an exit. …but where was the exit? He needed to conserve energy and rest lest he bleed to death, and wrong turn to find the exit now could be his end. He could hear the climbers getting closer, 'How much time?' he thought, and quickly peered over the rim of the wall. This was the biggest mistake he had made yet. A bullet screamed through the air and entered his right eye, destroying and blinding it. Fortunately because of the distance it was fired at, it stopped there and didn't go clear through his head.
The crowd of echidnas cheered as Shadow screamed.
"AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHH!" Shadow reeled as he held his gushing, bloody eye. The other was tearing. He couldn't see! He couldn't think straight!
Shadow thought for the second time in his life, 'I'm going to die… Maria I'm dying…'
…but for the second time, he was wrong.
A grappling hook flew high into the air then arched back down and anchored itself on the wall opposite to Shadow (who was still reeling and writhing in agony and hadn't noticed this). A Dark Legionnaire climbed up, wielding two laser pistols, just as the militia started pouring over the walls. It opened fire, twirling every which way to face the multiple enemies, cloak fanning out behind it while putting a hole in every climber's head or chest, and sending them careening back over the wall to their death (if they weren't already dead from the shot). A second legionnaire hopped over, followed by a third, and they both sprinted over to Shadow.
"Get up you worthless runt…" growled a male voice he could not recognize at the moment
Shadow couldn't just yet, "The… emerald… give it… to…"
"What?" the other, a female voice, interrupted, sounding un-amused, "This thing?" and she proceeded to rip the two locks off, bare handed. The white emerald rolled out towards Shadow, clinking sharply on the stone rooftop.
The first echidna, still calmly shooting away, crossed its arms and artistically shot two of the militia on either side of the rooftop at exactly the same time; the marksman appeared to be showing off in boredom. It then spun around and looked impatiently over at the group (not that you could see its face), thick cloak twisting around their body at the sudden stop.
Shadow, a bloody mess, managed to sit up and grabbed the emerald tightly – almost looking like a paranoid child holding a security blanket. Blood gushed from his tightly closed eye. Shadow felt weak and exhausted from the loss of blood.
"Woah… that doesn't look normal." whispered the female, barely audible. She was referring to the color of Shadow's blood – though at first glance it looked normal, in such large quantities you could see that there was some… unusual quality about it.
"C'mon, do your thing!" yelled the legionnaire with the pistols. She shot one last climber down (they had stopped climbing now that they realised it only resulted in death), and jogged over to where the other two cloaked figures were standing as she shoved both pistols back into their holsters on the inside of her cloak, "Get us out of here! What are you waiting for!?"
Shadow opened his one good eye and managed to say, "Get closer…" the three cloaks huddled around Shadow, all of them ducking to avoid another wave of spear and bolt showers as the emerald glowed with dazzling white light, "I can't… it's still too weak. We won't make it."
The wave of spears and bolts quickly ended. A very loud, unified battle cry rose up from below.
"Bastards…" muttered Kragok in disgust, "Primitive barbarians…"
"Julie-Su, you stay here." the female, now recognizable as Kommissar, said angrily.
"What? Piss off! You stay here and get—" she started. This was obviously the lone echidna at the end of the train – the half sister Kommissar and the others seemed to despise.
"Why don't you make yourself useful, and make a sacrifice in the name of Dimitri." Kragok, shot back at the one called Julie-Su.
"I can only take one…" Shadow interrupted.
"It's me then." decided Kragok immediately.
"Brother!" Kommissar yelled in shock and anger.
"Fine! Fine! Then he goes, and we all stay." Kragok sighed in exasperation, "This isn't anything we can't handle." though he seemed uncertain. As the two females backed away, Kragok said in a whisper that only Shadow could hear, "I knew you were a careless weakling, hedgehog…"
Shadow opened both eyes, even though one was just a bloody hole, and stared deep into the glowing red eye emitting from beneath Kragok's cloak. Finding renewed strength with in his rage, he stood with emerald clenched in one gloved hand. In one smooth movement he tossed the emerald up and caught it in midair as he yelled, "Chaos Control!"
Shadow disappeared in a flash of light as the Legionnaires fought on.
He re-appeared at Eggman's base, in the dark control room.
"Shadow!" Dr. Eggman called out, concerned, from across the room. He appeared to have been expecting him, "Where are—" but he cut himself short, seeing the state of Shadow.
Shadow's legs trembled a bit as the emerald dropped to the already bloody floor with a PING-KLINK! Followed by a heavy THRUMP! as Shadow followed it.
Shadow lay sprawled and motionless on the floor, eyes closed, and all conscious effort going towards dealing with the pain of his eye, the bolt still in his shoulder, the gaping wound in his side, and various other cuts and punctures he had sustained. His quills trembled with each breath. Eggman had come to his side along with a few of the other cloaked figures. He could not see them, but he could feel the swishing of their cloaks around his torn body.
"Shadow." Eggman carefully flipped Shadow onto his back, "Keep breathing, Shadow."
"Easy… for you… to… say…" he managed to croak out between laboured breaths.
The legionnaires surrounded Shadow and lifted him onto a hovering platform. As they did so, Shadow squirmed in pain, and then allowed himself to black out for a moment. When he opened his good eye again (the blinded one was forced closed by a bandage), not knowing how long he had been out, he was in a different room, and could only see bright light and Eggman looming over him waving the white emerald around with one hand.
"Good boy." he said simply with a smile, much like a master would to a dog. Eggman had no idea how many had died for the prize, and Shadow wasn't sure if he would cared either. His voice seemed to be distant… and it echoed slightly. Shadow was in rougher shape than he thought.
A robot hand reached across his line of vision and mechanically ripped the bolt from his shoulder. Shadow could not remember screaming, but he was told when he woke up from another blackout that it was one of nightmares…