Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega
Reise and Egglings © Blank the Nobody
Chapter Twelve
No Mercy, No Remorse
1 Month, 21 Days and 10 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon
Shadow is the one person that will fight with everything he's got. There's no mercy and no remorse for him. I just hope that won't be his downfall in the future.
Sonic looked at the cheerful Eggman with mixed emotions. In the hedgehog's head, he was trying to decide whether he should attack the man or take the children and leave. Tension was starting to build now as the sound of more monsters rose up into the air, signaling that there were more coming and shortening Sonic's time to think. Eggman turned to face the direction where the roars came from and the smile was wiped from his face. Even the doctor knew what power that these creatures possessed and he knew that it would be wise to stay out of their way. The doctor then turned his attention back onto Sonic and gave the hedgehog a grave look.
"I wish I had more time to explain to you, but we need to get out of here before the Egglings arrive." said Eggman before a cacophony of gun fire and roaring filled the air.
Vanilla and Sonic looked at each other, trying to read each other's expressions to figure out a plan. Neither of them could come up with a good plan, leaving them standing next to a large psychotic doctor. As they continued to devise more flawed plans, they totally forgot about the three creatures sneaking up behind Sonic, leaving the hedgehog open to an attack. Eggman turned his head to face Sonic, but he instantly saw the approaching Egglings. Instead of letting the three monsters take their prize, Eggman ran toward Sonic and pushed him aside before ramming into the trio. The doctor grabbed two of the monsters in both hands and smashed the other with his foot with a bloody squelch. Eggman then took the two other Egglings and threw them far off into the horizon, before watching them disappear into the sky. The Blue Blur was astonished by Eggman's sudden act of heroism. But even though the doctor had just saved him, the question remained, why did he save him?
Before Sonic could ask, Eggman turned around and smiled. "Don't take this the wrong way, I only did that because you're my nemesis and no one else can kill you except for me." He said, answering the unspoken question.
Eggman then turned his attention onto the giant, steel truck that held the kids. The smile widened on the doctor's face, knowing that the person he was looking for was inside of it. Sonic didn't like the psychopathic look at all, and he knew that the doctor was trying to take one of the kids. Eggman took a step toward the truck, his smile glinting in the strong sunlight from above. After that one step a gust of wind blew by as Sonic ran in front of him to obstruct his path. There was a stern look on Sonic's face, yet deep inside he was scared.
"What are you doing here Eggman?" asked Sonic in a serious tone, as he stood his ground in front of Eggman.
The doctor chuckled at the question, knowing that his answer would make the hedgehog have to fight him. Even with that knowledge, Eggman gave out the answer as if nothing was wrong. "I'm here to take Cream." said the doctor blatantly, making both Sonic and Vanilla's jaws drop in shock.
The words made Sonic stand there, with a shocked expression as he imagined what horrors Eggman held for Cream. This was something that he could not allow though. No matter what, Sonic would keep the young rabbit safe. With a determined look, Sonic ran up to the driver's side of the truck and looked at the scared driver. The frightened driver looked at Sonic with a confused and scared look before Sonic gave him some orders.
"Your top priority is to protect the little girl in your truck. Drive through the alley, I'll protect the truck." said Sonic in a grave tone, before the driver gave a scared nod.
The engine roared to life before the truck took off into the alleyway, leaving Vanilla, Sonic and Eggman alone with each other. The doctor gave out an amused chuckle at Sonic's defiance, but he knew one way or another he would get his hands on Cream.
"I admire you valiant efforts Sonic, but do you really think that running away would help?" asked the doctor in a careless tone, as he crossed his arms.
Sonic smirked smugly. "Of course, besides, running is what I'm good at." said Sonic before running up to Ms. Vanilla and picking her up in both arm.
Eggman raised an eyebrow at the sight, finding Sonic's actions a bit less heroic then what he thought they would be. The doctor then caught a flash of Sonic's trademark grin before the hedgehog disappeared in a blur of motion. Eggman laughed at the sight, knowing that a good run would be a great warm-up before the actual fight. Ivo uncrossed his arms and traced Sonic's movements so could tell where he would be going. Then in a matter of seconds, it was like Eggman disappeared.
X
Unlike Sonic, Shadow was beting a bit more productive. Using the weaponry skills and military techniques that he learned during the Black Arms Invasion, Shadow barked orders out to the G.U.N. soldiers as he fired a P90 machine gun into a horde of monsters that were trying to charge him. Like well trained dogs, the soldiers followed his every command and for a brief second, Shadow felt powerful ruling over the soldiers as if they were slaves. But instead of letting the military power take control of him, Shadow focused on destroying the Egglings. He aimed steadily before gently squeezing the trigger of his gun. The bullet erupted from the barrel of Shadow's gun and soared through the air, piercing through the skull of a charging Eggling. The entire back of part of the Eggling' skull was blown out as the bullet rammed through its brain, sending blood chunks flying backwards into the horde.
"We can't stay here much longer! We have to fall back!" yelled a young soldier in a nervous tone.
Shadow cringed at the soldiers lack of courage. He wouldn't back down though, Shadow would never abandon his post. Instead of barking out another order to the frightened soldiers, Shadow stood his ground as the group of soldiers slowly started to retreat. The black hedgehog continued to fire at the mob that was starting to slowly close in on him, but he wasn't afraid. After another trio of shots burst out from the automatic weapon, the sound of clicking came from Shadow's gun. His gun ran out of bullets, but he wasn't worried, since he still had his speed and strength. Shadow cast the weapon aside and watched as the Egglings charged at him. One of them ran toward him ready to swing a clawed arm at him, but before its bloodstained claws could even touch a single strand of fur on the hedgehog's face, Shadow disappeared.
With its weight already pressing downwards, the Eggling fell flat on its face, surprised that he didn't slice anything. The enraged Eggling got back to its feet as its brothers joined him to search for Shadow. They all sniffed the air eagerly, trying to trace the ebony hedgehog's scent, but couldn't find it. Before the group of creatures could disperse, they noticed what seemed to be a small green fruit on the ground. One of the Egglings bent down and grabbed it only to find that it was a grenade. What intrigued them the most was the fact that it didn't have its pin.
BOOOOOOOOMMM!!!
All three of the Egglings were engulfed in a giant explosion. So much shrapnel burrowed into the bodies of the creatures that they died instantly, leaving Shadow with three more kills on his head. Shadow stood atop the rooftops, gazing down on the creatures that he had just killed. His serious frown adorned his face as he looked behind him to see two military helicopters fly over his head. Before he could go follow the choppers, the sound of a car braking harshly filled the air. Shadow looked to his left to see a large armored truck stop in front of destroyed cars that blocked its path. Seconds later a blue blur caught up to the truck, revealing Shadow's rival.
Sonic stopped in behind the truck so he could put down a nauseated Ms. Vanilla. Apparently the adult rabbit wasn't used to handling Sonic's speed after such a long time. Vanilla woozily got back to her feet as Sonic looked over his shoulder, as if checking for any enemies that were following him. Even from his high point of view, Shadow could see the tiny sweat droplets starting to fall off of his blue rival's face and for some odd reason, Shadow could sense the fear and hesitation that radiated from Sonic and he could tell that something bad was coming his way. After finally deciding to help Sonic, Shadow instantly ran down from his rooftop perch and made his way over to him.
"Shadow! Man, am I glad to see you!" yelled Sonic in a relieved tone as he ran over to the dark hedgehog.
"What's going on?" asked Shadow in a serious tone that suited his equally serious glare.
Without a moment of hesitation Sonic burst out with his answers. "We need to get out of here! Eggman is trying to kidnap Cream but we lost him! Vector and Espio are still out there fighting these things called Egglings! And-"
Before Sonic could yell out another fear induced sentence, Shadow slapped his hand over the blue hero's mouth, instantly shutting him up. Shadow took a second to recover from Sonic's frantic yelling before removing his hand from Sonic's mouth.
Shadow exhaled a frustrated sigh before continuing. "Slow down and start from the beginning." said Shadow in a calm tone.
Instead of getting another fear induced answer, Sonic only looked past Shadow with his mouth gawking open in shock. Before Shadow could turn around to see what Sonic was looking at, his blue rival grabbed him and pulled him to the side as a flaming car smashed down onto the space that they were occupying before. The car tumbled forward and exploded, sending a flaming piece of shrapnel through the brain of the truck driver. Shadow jumped back onto his feet, the flames from the car barely licking his fur. A couple yards down the road stood a smiling Eggman, who was busy cracking his knuckles in preparation for a fight.
"To be brutally honest Shadow, I really wanted that flaming car to smash into you. But you're just too smart for that now aren't you?" asked the doctor playfully as he began to walk towards the two hedgehogs.
This was the first time Shadow saw Eggman in his new form, and for some reason Shadow felt a weird sensation come over him. It was something that he had never felt before, and he couldn't find a name for it. The ebony hedgehog's knees started to shake, but he maintained his posture and shook the sensation away.A low chuckle eruped from Eggman as he strode toward the proud and unbreakable hedgehog.
"What's so funny?" asked Shadow, still using his serious tone.
Eggman continued to chuckle even as he answered the serious hedgehog's question. "You are, Shadow. You feel a weird sensation though, don't you?" asked Eggman, surprising Shadow for a second.
Did the doctor use some mind reading device to get into Shadow's head? Or was it something else? Shadow stared at Eggman with great interest, wondering why he was able to predict his state of mind. But even with that in his head, Shadow continued to stand strong.
"I know what it is that you're feeling." said Eggman in a mysterious tone as he stopped a couple yards away from Shadow.
The same psychotic smile spread across Eggman's face as he glared at Shadow. In a matter of seconds, the same sensation filled Shadow yet again. Sweat started to form along the ebony hedgehog's forehead and he felt a weird tingling sensation in his stomach. For some odd reason, he felt like running away from the battle. Even with that feeling fluttering around within Shadow, he still glared at the insane doctor. Shadow was now starting to see the real differences between this Eggman and the other fat, gullible one. As Shadow stared deep into the doctor's eyes, he could sense the bloodlust and destruction that mingled within the doctor's mind. There was no more humanity mingling in that man's eyes anymore and Shadow could tell that Eggman had finally turned into a monster.
Before Shadow end the little chat and attack Eggman, the doctor disappeared in a blur of motion. Shadow cursed silently, finding Eggman's sudden increase in speed annoying. The black hedgehog jumped to the side as Eggman suddenly came slamming down on him. Using his own speed, Shadow vanished and reappeared behind Eggman in a matter of seconds. The hedgehog wasn't impressed at all by Eggman's growth in strength. After living for such a long time, Shadow has seen countless transformations where demonic creatures turn into huge monstrosities. So this was nothing special.
Shadow jumped into the air, curling his body into his Spin Dash position before charging Eggman. Seconds before Shadow could crash into Eggman's skull, the doctor looked over his shoulder, flashing that same psychotic smile at Shadow. For a split nano-second, Shadow felt a moment of hesitation, slowing his rotation speed. Using that opportunity Eggman quickly turned around and smashed Shadow into the ground.
Eggman drew his face closer to Shadow's as he pinned the hedgehog down with one hand. "That sensation that you're feeling," said Eggman as he started to chuckle. "it's called fear."
Sonic, Shadow and Vanilla's jaws dropped in shock at Eggman's words. Fear was something Shadow never showed. Hesitation, nervousness, those were the words that had no meaning to Shadow before and he wasn't going to start.
As Eggman continued to apply more pressure on Shadow's body, Sonic tried to get Cream and Charmy out of the truck. It was no use, because the driver was dead and Sonic had no idea how to use the truck. Inside, Cream, Charmy and Cheese were screaming at the top of their lungs, but their cries were not heard through the truck's steel walls. While Sonic tried to pry the door off of a bullet proof war machine, Shadow continued his fight with Eggman.
With Eggman's words stinging his mind, Shadow continued to try and lift the doctor's huge hands. As he did, hateful thoughts pooped into his head.
"Fear! Shadow the hedgehog knows no fear!" Shadow yelled within his head as he tried to lift Eggman's hand, but to no avail.
"Nervousness, hesitation and fear! Those are the emotions of the weak!" yelled a furious Shadow from within his mind, as he slowly lifted Eggman's hand off of him, making the Doctor put on a curious expression.
"And I am not weak!" With his anger, Shadow launched Eggman off of him.
Shadow was breathing sharply as he got back to his feet to see that Eggman had landed on top of a car, crushing it on impact. Anger was drifting within Shadow's eyes as he slowly walked toward the downed doctor. He would never feel fear ever again, he would become stronger and wash out all of the emotions that he considered unwanted. Eggman would be the first person to witness Shadow's full wrath, no matter what it would take.
Only a few more steps away from Eggman, Shadow stopped and aimed his hand at Eggman. Yellow arcs of electricity-like power flared across the hedgehog's hand as he gathered more power. As he started to gather even more energy, a small yellow orb formed in his hand, but hovered only a few centimeters away from it. The power being held in that small orb could destroy a whole warehouse and as it gained even more power, Shadow grinned evilly.
Once finished the orb within Shadow's hand fizzled and cracked with energy as small arcs of power jumped from it. Eggman still lay on the car, not even a single movement while Shadow was charging his attack. It was like Eggman wanted to get hit.
"Chaos," Shadow started before Sonic and Vanilla looked over to see him.
Eggman chuckled softly. "This is going to be interesting." He said quietly.
"LANCE!" yelled Shadow as the orb expanded into a large beam that blasted toward Eggman.
With a giant roar, the large yellow beam engulfed Eggman in a matter of seconds. Small pieces of metal from cars flew in the high velocity gust that the beam created, causing Vanilla and Sonic to hang on to the truck. Sonic knew that Shadow only unleashed that level of power during a massive fight.
The giant beam died away, leaving a cloud of smoke and dust in its wake. The car that Eggman lay on was completely destroyed, but to Sonic's surprise, he couldn't find Eggman anywhere amidst the destruction. Instead of continuing to scan the remains, Sonic continued to pry the door off of the truck and slowly but surely he was getting there. A small crack opened up in the door, letting the fear filled screams from the children inside.
"Hang on kids, I'm coming." grunted Sonic as he continued to pull.
As Sonic continued to pry the door off, Shadow looked over the destruction that he had caused. Even with his improved senses, he could not sense Eggman anywhere. It was like the doctor had vanished while within the blast.
"Interesting indeed." said a familiar voice from behind Shadow.
The ebony hedgehog turned around to find Eggman. Shadow's face contorted into a disgusted one as he looked at Eggman's burnt and bruised body. Even with those serious injuries, the doctor stood upright, as if not noticing the pain at all that would usually make a man fall on his knees and cry. Eggman was busy inspecting his burnt hand that looked almost unrecoverable. The doctor was definitely intrigued by the lack of pain that he felt and to his surprise, something more miraculous was happening within his body.
Shadow watched as the burns on Eggman's hand disappeared, healing him fully. The dark blue-ish purple bruises disappeared and the blood was absorbed into Eggman's skin. Watching Eggman fully recover made that same sensation fill Shadow once again, but he suppressed it, knowing that it was fear the he felt.
After he fully recovered from the attack, Eggman stared into Shadow's eyes, the smile still glinting on his face. "As much as I would love to test out this new ability on you, I do have things to get to Shadow." He said in a careless tone.
Eggman disappeared again, using his newfound speed to get past Shadow. The bulky doctor reappeared behind Sonic and Vanilla, who had just pried open the steel door.
"Come on, we've got to get out of here!" said Sonic in a hushed tone as he carried Cream and Charmy out of the truck without noticing Eggman behind him.
"Not so fast my furry friend." said Eggman cruelly, making Sonic stand up stiff with Cream in her arms.
After striking fear into Sonic's soul, Eggman took one step toward his price. Cream squirmed and whimpered in Sonic's grip as she watched Eggman grow closer. Eggman stretched out his arm, ready to take hold of the tiny rabbit. Before he could however, a ton of incoming fists blurred his vision as Shadow ran in front of the doctor and started to attack. With the greatest of ease, Eggman dodged every single punch as if they were coming at him in slow motion.
Shadow grunted as he sped up his punches, making them become a flurry of punches. Even Eggman had to admit defeat as the punches dug into his body at high speeds, bring a sharp piercing pain for a couple of seconds before his body started to heal. It was an interesting experience for the doctor, but he knew that he was being pressed for time since his creations were running amok through the city.
Before Eggman could launch his counterattack, five Egglings burst out from the building behind him. Three of them leapt onto Eggman's back, before digging their long filthy fangs into his skin and the other remaining two charged Shadow. Eggman writhed and yelled as he tried to rip the Egglings off of him. Pain was surging through the bite wounds, as if the Egglings saliva was acid to his blood system. Ivo took hold of one Eggling and slammed it against the ground with a loud bone-snapping crunch, that instantly killed the Eggling. The remaining two on Eggman's back kept their jaws locked on the doctor like some sort of stubborn dog trying to get back its favorite toy.
Shadow dodged a fearsome swing as one of the Egglings tried to carve him into bits. The ebony hedgehog was ready to retaliate before he saw Eggman's situation. For the same reason that Eggman saved Sonic, Shadow seized both of the Egglings by the neck and threw them at the creatures latched onto Eggman's back. The monster's biting into Eggman were knocked onto the ground before the doctor could smash his boots onto the heads of the two that were previously on his back. The remaining Egglings, scurried away, knowing that their creator was too strong for them to handle.
A relieved sigh escaped Eggman's lips, before the doctor felt the wounds that the Egglings had inflicted him with. His hand found a bloody and swollen bite marks, to his surprise, the wounds didn't heal as fast as they should've. Small droplets of blood traced down Eggman's back as his wounds bled freely. His own blood interested the doctor on a high level. It has been a while since he has seen his own blood. But instead of taking more time out of the day to calculate why he was bleeding, Eggman turned his attention back on Shadow, who was panting heavily from the strain of fighting.
Eggman looked past Shadow and found that Sonic was trying to sneak away with the kids in tow. Using the opportunity, Eggman vanished using his speed and reappeared in front of Sonic. Instead of throwing out some witty words for Sonic, or trying to antagonize the cobalt hedgehog into fighting, Eggman just snatched Cream into his big arms and smiled at Sonic.
"So sorry, I wish I had more time to chat with you and explore my new powers, but I'm on a tight schedule." said the doctor in a playful tone as Cream tried to squirm free from his grip.
Sonic leapt forward, trying to grab onto Eggman, but before his hand could even come within centimeters of touching Eggman, the doctor disappeared. With a grieving heart, Sonic hit the ground face first. The Blue Blur just lay there as he began to sob, while behind him, Vanilla fell on her knees in shock. Cheese slowly floated down to the ground with a saddened expression and Charmy started to cry. Yet another loss for Sonic and now he had to find a way to explain this to Tails, for he knew that his fox friend also had feelings for Cream. Vanilla was just as shocked and as traumatize as everyone else, because Cream was her only daughter, the one thing she was meant to protect and she failed.
As if to throw some salt into the wound, Shadow walked up to the sulking group, his serious look on his face. Instead of giving some comforting words, Sonic watched as the ebony hedgehog teleport away using Chaos Control.
I save the world no matter what. Sometimes I don't even care if I get hurt in the end. But if I lose this time, everyone will pay the price.
This is the last chapter I get in before school starts, so expect a larger period of time between updates.