CHAPTER 17

A few hours later Wave the swallow and her partners Jet and Storm led a convoy of speeders through the mountains on search of the Sith location.

"Are you sure this source of yours knows the right location?" Wave asked, looking over at Shadow, who rode beside her.

"Yes," the black hedgehog replied, looking at the hologram he'd programed into the speeder's computer. "I already checked the authenticy of the map. It's sound."

"Hmm," the bird said, looking away from him. "How much further?"

"I don't know," he replied, looking looking around himself at the lush mountain range they were riding through. He'd never been there before. "Where are we?"

"We're close to the Crying waterfall," she replied, pointing ahead at the huge waterfall.

"Then we have a about a half hour to go," he said, looking back at the map. "The castle is in the shadows of two huge mountains that are unnaturally close together."

"The Twins," the swallow said. "I should have figured that's where they would hide."

"You know where it is?" Sonic asked, pulling his speeder on the other side of her.

She nodded. "There are rumors about those mountains," she explained. "I've been told the Sith used to have a castle there a long time ago. I guess the ruin is still standing."

"I guess so," Shadow said, looking ahead. "There are the mountains. I think he'd better touch down a short distance away from there and go the rest of the way on foot so we won't be spotted."

"Good idea," the others agreed.

A few minutes later the group was trecking up a mountain trail toward the ruined castle. Tikal looked up at the stone building as the mountain's shadow hid it in darkness. She couldn't help getting an ominous feeling about the place and she felt the hair on the back of her neck rising. Why am, I getting a bad feeling about this? she wondered, staring out up at the stone building. I keep getting the feeling that whoever is in there knows we're coming and it waiting for us...

A little bit later the two reached the entrance to the castle. The building's front gate was sealed up but Shadow could feeling living and non living beings inside and they were full of darkness.

"How are we going to get in?" Rouge asked, as she stared up at the gate.

"We'll deal with that," said wave. "Me and my partners will do something to distract them and you all can sneak in when they're not looking."

That Padawans nodded. That sounded like a plan.

"Wait here," Wave instructed before she and her associates ran around the side of the building.

Siilence hung in the air for about five minutes then suddenly the mountain was rocked by an explosion. They heard rocks and debrees tumbling down the side of the mountains then shouts as guard driods spotted the three birds. "This must be it!" Rouge explained, already moving. She rested a hand on Shadow's shoulder. "Let's go!"

The padawans followed the bat girl around the side of the building.

Jonas Irad heard the explosion from the room he was being held in. He lifted his head and listened. He heard something that sounded like the mountain falling apart and smiled. Yes, That had defiantely been an explosion. Good, he thought. He looked at his bonds. He consintrated all the Force energy he could muster on the clampos and they snapped open with a small yet satisfying snap. The same for the ones on his ankles.

When he was free he picked his cloak up off the floor and swirled it back onto his body. It was time to begin. He walked up to the door and raised his hand, using more Force energy to play with the programing. It slid silently open and he ran into the hall. He found the security room a few minutes later and dashed inside, quickly crushing the robots at the computers. After he finished with them he pushed one off the chair it had been in and sat down in front of the huge computer. He smiled his first smile in days. Let's see what kind of damage I can do...

When the Padawans reached the spot where the birds were, they found them in the middle of a battle with security droids. Instantly the Padawans activated their lightsabers, ready to help.

"Forget it!" Wave called to them, when she saw what they were about to do. "Just get in there!"

They hesitated. "But what about you?" Shadow asked.

Wave smiled at him as she kicked off the head of a droid. "We'll be fine," she assured him. "We've delt with these guys before."

"Okay," Shadow said incertainly.

"It'll be okay," Rouge said, putting a hand on the black hedgehog's shoulder. "Let's just do what we have to do."

He nodded. "Right."

The Padawans ran into the building through the hole the birds had blown in the wall. Once inside Sonic suggested. "Let's spit up. We'll cover more ground that way."

That sounded like a good idea and the four went their seperate ways.

"Let me out!" Espio roured, slamming his body against the door.

"Shut up in there!" Knuckles yelled from the pilot's seat. He was getting sick of the chameleon's constant pounding and had half a mind to to go in there and pulverize him.

THUNK!

Espio's body hit the door, hard, and Knuckles saw it give a little. Oh no you don't! he thought, grabbing his lightsaber and getting out of his seat. I'm not letting you out of there!

He'd almost reached the door when it burst open and Espio fell to the floor. The echidna watched as his friend struggled against his bonds and ground his teeth angrily. Holy crap! Knuckles thought, taking a step back. He's worse than before! "Hold it!" the echidna said to his friend.

Espio glared fiercely at his friend. "Release me now!" he screamed.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Knuckles exclaimed, totally freaked out. What the hell is up with him?!
"I'm not kidding!" Espio screamed, lunging at the echidna.

Shadow walked cautiously through the halls of the castle, wary of every blind corner. Any minute a droid or one of the Sith could jump out at him and he started to feel nervous. Stop being so paranoid! he scolded himself. If one of them do try to sneak up on you you'll sence it.

Oh really? a voice in his head asked.

Shadow froze. That thought hadn't been his. That voice was back again. What do you want now? he asked as he continued walking.

You know the Jedi won't win in the end, the voice said.

The Jedi always win, he argued. Even when it doesn't seem like they will.

We'll see about that, Shadow Yukimako!

What do you mean?

Nothing. The voice was gone.

Shadow continued walking. Why does that voice keep bothering me? he wondered. Who is speaking to me anyway? What does he want from me?

By then the hall had widened and the black hedgehog found himself in a dark room. Instanly he was on his guard, using the Force to probe the darkness for any signs of a threat. He was rewarded with a dark presense in the far corner.

"Jedi!" a metallic voice exclaimed suddenly.

Shadow saw a red rod of light appear in the darkness, in a different spot than the dark presense. He knew it was a lightsaber. immediately he ignited his own, sensing a fight coming.

"Who's there?" he called, trying to make out the figure holding the blade. "Show yourself!"

The voice laughed evilly. "Gladly!" it shouted before attacking.

A/N

Hmm it doesn't seem like very many people are reading this fic... Maybe I just won't update anymore... Then again I think I'll finish it anyway, whether you read it or not. It's almost done anyway..