Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega

Egglings © Blank the Nobody

Chapter Seventeen

Winds of Change: Part One

27 Days and 8 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon

They knew about the problem and they tried to fix it. Instead they only fed the beast, giving it nothing more then just another snack.

Everything changed in a matter of days. There was no sun in the sky and instead the blue plain up above was covered in a sea of gray clouds. The smell of engine exhaust and gunpowder was lifted up as silent gales of wind blew by. Large pillars of black smoke were rising up into the air as explosions sounded off, signaling that another Eggdome had been destroyed by the military. After Sonic and Knuckles had reported their findings to the army, things went from placid city streets, to roads guarded by soldiers watching every move with eyes like a hawk's. Some civilians felt safe being watched, but the other half felt as though they were being ruled by some powerful dictator, restricting their movements. They pushed the thoughts into the back of their minds and continued with their average lives, trying to pretend as if the guns weren't pointed at them.

Meanwhile in the slums of Station Square, soldiers were busy finding and destroying Eggdomes that were starting to grow out of nowhere. The days were before were filled with the sounds of explosions, gunshots and the sounds of dying Egglings as the military took action. It was like living in a warzone for the civilians of Station Square. Every night was filled with sounds of war making young children stay up at night, shivering in fear, but did the army care? No. Within another hour, at least three more Eggdomes were destroyed, but for every ugly dome taken down, two more grew to full working capabilities somewhere else in the city.

Somewhere else, near some old closed down school, a squadron of ten soldiers moved up followed by a speedy black blur. Each soldier wore gray fatigues and carried a standard issue assault rifle. They were all nervous, each and every single one of them. If fear was a scent, then the school would be filled with the vile odor. All of them were afraid, except for one and the ironic part is the fact that the only one who wasn't afraid, wasn't even a soldier to begin with.

Leading the squad of soldiers was a black hedgehog holding an assault rifle that matched all of the others. The hedgehog wore a serious frown and his eyes were positioned forward, trying to locate any signs of the enemy. With his amplified senses, he could tell if anything was coming towards them. Nothing, there was no lurking monster trying to find and kill him. It was an odd sight. But anyway he took the blessing in disguise.

"Move up." ordered Shadow strictly before getting to his feet and slowly walking forward down the dusty hallway.

To most people's surprise, Shadow was actually being more outgoing, which made everyone think that he was acting out of character. Usually he would watch on the sidelines, not caring about the fate of the planet. But this time he had a reason to help. He had something to prove. The words Eggman had spat in his face days before had bothered him like an itch that wouldn't go away. Shadow had to prove that he wasn't weak and more importantly he also had to prove that he wasn't scared.

He slowly lead the squadron, as he swung his gun from left to right aiming at things that he suspected to be related to the enemy. The walls were decayed, the paint starting to peel off of the walls. Crayon artwork took up some of the spaces, indicating that the place was an elementary before it was closed down. Shadow took no time to look at the gaudy pictures, because to him, they were just scribbles and lines made by some idiotic child.

After curving around another corner, Shadow and his squadron were met with a pair of double doors. The doors would be their entry point, but their exit point would have to be improvised if need be. Even from in front, Shadow could sense the fear that emanated from the soldiers behind him. Before touching the door he looked behind him so he could see the frightened faces of his soldiers. Instead he found hardened faces ready for battle. The ebony hedgehog scoffed, they were acting for him. He knew that it was normal for a person to hide their fears from other people, but lucky for Shadow, he didn't have to see it, he could just sense it.

"Go full-auto on them, short burst will only slow them down." ordered Shadow before the sounds of guns configuring sounded.

They were like obedient dogs to Shadow. Even though they were all scared, they still obeyed. At any given moment they could have just ran away, but they kept composure. Shadow liked that, it showed that they really wanted to help even though they could lose their lives. The ebony hedgehog didn't know what to file that under. Courageousness in the face of oblivion could easily go under stupidity, but on the other hand, it could also be put under bravery. Shadow didn't care though, to him they were just dogs, waiting to be put down.

After all of the soldiers had gotten ready, Shadow turned around and easily kicked the double doors open. The destroyed doors flung across a concrete floor like a piece of plywood. After a second of airtime the doors slid across the concrete and hit the fleshy wall that made up the Eggdome. All of the soldiers went into firing positions, but none of them pulled the trigger without Shadow's order. In the middle of the concrete basketball court was another large Eggdome bulging with ugly life.

All of them scanned the area to find no signs of hostile activity, making all of the soldiers exhale a sigh of relief mentally. Not for Shadow though. It wasn't normal for an Eggdome to go unguarded, it was unnatural and for a moment he almost thought it was illegal. Leaving a point of such strategic value was crazy and all of them knew that. The soldiers didn't mind though, they thanked whatever god they praised and went along with it, no harm, no foul.

"Stack up on the gates." barked Shadow before all of them moved in unison.

The soldiers divided up into two groups, five soldiers on one side of the gate and five on the other. Shadow on the other hand lowered his weapon and walked up to the gate and stopped a good five feet away from it. The ebony hedgehog then raised his right hand, palm facing the gates and started to concentrate some of his energy. In a matter of seconds, Shadow had gathered enough energy that his entire right hand was glowing with sparks of energy.

"Chaos . . ." began Shadow, his voice nothing but a calm whisper.

A single bead of sweat dropped off one of the soldier's face in anticipation. He was young for a soldier, he was too scared to be in the army, and at that moment, he definitely didn't want to die on the battlefield.

"Spear!" A large bolt of energy leapt from Shadow's hand and smashed into the fleshy gates.

Instead of being torn away, a large hole was burned into the gates by Shadow's immense power. Smoke rose into the air and all of the soldiers forced themselves not to throw up as the smell of burning skin filled the air around them. The ebony hedgehog didn't mind though, for him burning flesh was like the scent of roses on a nice Summer day. After the smoke had cleared Shadow walked into the Eggdome, finding that there were no Egglings inside. Something wasn't right. No Egglings guarding outside, none inside. Shadow didn't like it.

All around him were civilian bodies floating around in their transparent pods, waiting to be turned into the monsters that he captured them. Soldiers rushed in after him and took out their sticks of C4. The ebony hedgehog watched as the soldiers affixed the deadly bars of plastic to the Heart and set the timer. In a matter of seconds, the squad had hooked up and set, three sticks of C4 and were now leaving the Eggdome. Instead of running with them, Shadow walked out of the Eggdome, knowing that he had only mere seconds before the explosives would go off. He was a couple feet away from the entrance before the sound of rapid beeping emanated from the explosives behind him, telling Shadow that he only had a couple of seconds before they went off. Seconds before the explosives went off, Shadow seemingly teleported next to the squadron of soldiers that was accompanying him.

A large plume of smoke and fire raised into the sky as chunks of flesh flew everywhere. The horrible smell of burnt flesh and rotten blood filled the air, making some of the soldiers cough and hack from the obnoxious smell.

One of the soldiers took out a walkie-talkie from his pack and turned it on. "HQ this is Alpha-Foxtrot, objective complete, heading back to base for debriefing, over." said the soldier in an exhausted tone before releasing a sigh of relief.

"Alright, but before you head out, give Shadow your walkie, soldier. The general has a special mission for him, over." said the operator in a clam tone.

The soldier shrugged and ordered all of his squad mates to get ready. He then handed the tiny radio to Shadow and chuckled. "Good luck." He said, trying to be nice.

Shadow swiped the walkie-talkie out of the soldier's hands and walked off without another word. The soldier scoffed at Shadow's lack of kindness and led the squadron back to base. He didn't need Shadow's kindness at all, besides, he just wanted to get back to base so he could relax. Shadow continued to walk down the street . With the flick of a switch, the ebony hedgehog turned on the walkie. He lifted the receiver up to his head as he continued to walk.

"This is Shadow, over." He said normally as he walked.

The radio buzzed and fizzed with feedback before finally getting hooked up with the general. "Sup, this is General Dacote Junta, over." said the laid back general.

Right after hearing the nonchalant general, Shadow stopped in his tracks. What kind of military leader leads like some teenage hooligan? Was the army really in need of leaders that they'd just get some random guy off of the streets? For a second he thought he was getting pranked somehow, but trusted the General . Shadow shook the thoughts off and got back to business.

"What do you want?" asked Shadow coldly skipping the military lingo, as he looked at the desolate roads.

The general laughed. "Well, it would be ruining the surprise if I told you. But I need you to head over to Twinkle Park. You're gonna have to see it to believe it." said the General in a playful tone, before turning off the connection.

Shadow sighed, he didn't like having things hidden from him. But he was used to it though. After doing the bidding of villains, killing people without flinching and almost killing Sonic, Shadow was used to a lot of things. The hedgehog closed his eyes for a second as he tried to remember the location of Twinkle Park. After living for so long Shadow was surprised he was able to remember anything. Seconds passed before he finally pinpointed the location in his mind and he was off. The scenery around him raced past him as he ran at his high speeds. He wasn't the type of person that would absorb his surroundings, everything was starting to look the same to him and he was starting to not care.

After rounding around another corner, Shadow charged forward, even though there was a tall building in front of him. The ebony hedgehog made contact with the building, but instead of smashing through the walls, he planted one foot on it and started running up its walls. He ran up and made it to the top, his feet moving forward and avoiding any obstacles in front of him, like air vents and air conditioners. He knew he was getting close because the sounds of howling and barking was starting to get louder. The black hedgehog then stopped abruptly, his eyes gazing down on the horrible mess that roared and howled below.

His eyes stared down on the mess that used to be Twinkle Park, the rides were all torn down and unused, the merry-go-round was covered with red fleshy tentacles that looked like nerves and the roller coasters were red with rust. After Eggman had kidnapped Tails, Twinkle Park had been closed down because everyone knew that a more populated place would be an easy target. Down below almost fifty Egglings roared and jumped around in front of their shrine. In front of the mob of creatures was a large Eggdome, bigger then all of the others. This Eggdome grew off of the amusement park's Ferris wheel like some infected growth. It was almost as tall as the Ferris wheel, but stopped a few gondolas short from fully devouring the structure. All of the Egglings were gathered in front of the giant boil's doors, waiting for something to come out. It was as if they were rallying together under their leader and Shadow had a good idea on who that leader would be.

A loud hiss filled the air as the fleshy gates slowly started to open up, a bright light shining through from the inside of the structure. Shadow watched as the gates opened up all the way revealing a broad silhouette still standing within the dome. There was no question to who it was because Shadow could see that the figure was brawny and masculine to a high degree. It was like watching some cliché sequel where you knew who the bad guy was before they could even reveal his face. And not to Shadow's surprise, Eggman strode out of the dome, but even with that, Shadow could see that there were some major changes to the doctor.

Eggman was still large and brawny and the same psychotic smile adorned his face, but that wasn't the thing bothering Shadow. From the black hedgehog's point of view, he could see that there was no more humanity left in the man's eyes anymore. All he could see was rage and insanity floating around the doctor's eyes, brimming with raw power. There was something new though. He had some odd metal plating embedded in his shoulder with a large cylinder-like container coming out holding a strange black liquid. The fluid looked as if it was fuelling him somehow. But that would be too obvious, maybe it was a decoy to make him think it was his source of power. Or maybe it was actually reverse psychology. Eggman was a very complex person, trying to predict his plans are sometimes incredibly easy, but sometimes they're extremely hard to do. The doctor walked out of the grotesque dome briskly and smiled at the crowd that gathered before him. The ebony hedgehog could tell that he was enjoying himself.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen!" said Eggman in a booming voice so his underlings could hear.

Loud whooping and roaring entered the air as the Egglings responded to their new master. This was weird. Days before, the Egglings hated and disobeyed the doctor, now they were eating out of the palm of his hand. Whatever Eggman had done, had worked and now he had full control over the bloodthirsty beasts.

"In a couple of days we will launch our attack!" said Eggman as if he were some powerful god.

Yet another wave of encouragement flood out of the Egglings at the announcement as if they could understand Eggman completely. He walked back and forth his eyes set on the Egglings. As he walked, he twitched a lot for some reason, Shadow didn't take that into mind much.

"But before then, we have a special guest here today!" he yelled as his smile grew wider.

Shadow stared at him, wondering if there was some secret accomplice he didn't know about. It would make sense if there was. The doctor would combine his intelligence with someone else's. It woldn't be a surprise, but the hedgehog knew that after being backstabbed so many times that maybe Eggman would learn. Then again, maybe he did and it was a trick. If only Ivo didn't have much of a complex mind, then predicting the man's next move would be much easier.

"Please, put your claws together for Shadow the hedgehog!" seconds after saying his name, Eggman thrust his arms so his palms were facing Shadow. Two fleshy tentacles shot out of the doctor's palms and extended out toward Shadow at shocking speeds.

The two tentacles smashed into nothing but concrete, as Shadow ran down the building in order to dodge the attack. This was some entirely different. The tentacles were long and grotesque with a skin-like color to them, and the spikes at the tips looked as if they were made of bone. Whatever gross chemical changes happening to Eggman was something Shadow would have to put to the side however, right now he was standing face-to-face with a horde of Egglings, growling with excitement. He clenched his fists, finding that he had dropped his gun on the way down to the ground. Lead and gunpowder, he didn't need it, he just found it useful when he didn't want to put much effort in it.

Instead of charging him all at once, the crowd parted into two, as the doctor walked through the middle. Even with the low growling, the madman's chuckling could be heard. The long disgusting tentacles retracted back into his palms, the wounds healing closed as the boney tips slipped back into his body. The large canister holding the black liquid, on his back seemed to bubble and stir as he walked toward the hedgehog signaling some sort of change in the doctor internally.

"Wow, to be honest with you Shadow, I wasn't really expecting you. I saw you like forty seconds before I gave my speech." said Eggman, still chuckling, his head twitching from side to side at some times.

Shadow glared at the doctor coldly. "What's going on with you?" he asked in an almost careless tone.

"Oh nothing, just the normal genetic mutation when you get bitten by your own creations, other then that, nothing much." shrugged the doctor, as if the information wasn't disturbing at all.

This was news though. Shadow had no idea that Eggman was bitten before. But why would Eggman blatantly reveal this to him? Yet again Shadow was thrown into one of his own mental debates, trying to tell if this was Eggman's plan or just a sign of his insanity growing. It was as if Eggman was deploying some mental tactic without even knowing it. But before the black hedgehog could get more time to think about it, the doctor, asked a question that really made him angry.

"So Shadow, are you still hiding your fear from everyone?" asked Eggman, as if teasing the hedgehog.

That word hit Shadow like a ton of bricks. Not only did it ruin his train of thought, it angered him. Eggman was basically pouring salt on Shadow's wound now and like any other person, he didn't like it. An enraged look washed onto the ebony hedgehog's face as he stared at Eggman. The doctor smiles grew wider from the sight, knowing what he had just done.

"I'll take that as a yes." said the doctor slyly, as if answering the question for Shadow.

Only seconds after saying those words, Shadow vanished from his spot, making Eggman chuckle silently. In the blink of an eye Shadow reappeared in front of Eggman's face, the hedgehog's legs off the ground and arm pulled back. With the force of an incoming train, the black hedgehog launched his violently launching his fist forward. A loud thud erupted into the air, as the powerful punch slammed against the doctor's arms that were crossed in front of him in a guarding position. But with such force, Eggman only slid a couple yards backwards from the strike.

Once Shadow's feet hit the ground, all of the Egglings were ready to leap onto to him, but they were stopped abruptly.

"Stop! All of you!" yelled Eggman, as he stood up straight, his face different this time and instead held a more serious façade.

All of the Egglings stopped and growled angrily. Shadow could tell that they all wanted to tear him apart, but they also knew that if they disobeyed their master they would die. The black anti-hero then moved his stare over to Eggman. He was curious about Eggman's goal now. If he wanted to win, then he would definitely let the Egglings jump in. But why stop them?

"What are you doing? I thought you wanted to win." he said, wondering what Eggman would gain by not letting his minions kill him.

The doctor chuckled. "I do, but on my own terms. And besides, those two buffoons will have their hands full as we fight." said the doctor simply as he pointed past the crowd of Egglings.

Shadow followed the doctor's point and found that in the distance, two figures were charging the horde. They were familiar figures and Shadow exhaled an irritated sigh as he finally recognized the two.

"We're coming Shads! We got the General's call!" yelled Sonic over the horde of Egglings as he continued his charge.

Next to the blue hero was Knuckles and the two of them fearlessly raced forward. One Egglings jumped in Sonic's way and the blue hedgehog tackled him before noticing that he had lead Knuckles right into the center of the horde. They wanted to help, but Shadow didn't need help and those two knew that. Eggman was right though, the horde would keep them busy while he fought Eggman which was a good thing. Shadow took a step forward, and prepared to fight. He wasn't going to go easy on him anymore.

Eggman could sense the shifting power in the air and smiled. Today was going to be filled with surprises and he knew it. "Let the fun begin."