Sonic was breathing heavily now, his eyes already threatening to close. Why did he have to stay awake for so darn long? Now he was tired and definitely not fighting fit…
The blue hedgehog rolled backwards and came up on the balls of his feet. It was hard for him to focus on any of the targets, and with them being basically black blurs he was having a lot of trouble hitting them. Dodging, he was alright, but of course that would only help him for so long.
Sonic ducked under a black arm, then reached up, grabbed the elbow and flung the creature over his head. The black shadow slammed into two others, knocking all three back, but immediately another four took their places. "Oh, come on! How many of these guys are there?" Sonic twisted his head from side to side, looking at all of the creatures. Most of the humanoid-shaped shadows had no facial features, but now a few began to have brown, glowing eyes, staring at the Chaos Emerald. Sonic clutched the gem tighter in his hand and growled, "No way. I will not let you have it!"
Another creature lunged forward, but with a swift kick Sonic knocked it back. The creature skidded along the ground, and then began to become even more blurry. Sonic rubbed his eyes, thinking that the blurriness was from lack of sleep, and then his eyes became wide when the creature separated into two. "Oh great," Sonic muttered to himself as he dodged another arm, "I'll be overrun soon if I don't think of something!"
XXXXXXXXX
Silver focused on another sand-colored boulder and flung it to the side with his psychic abilities. The huge rock sent up a cloud of dust as it landed on the dirty soil. Silver wiped his forehead with his arm and looked around. Everyone else was looking for the Emerald in this rocky desert, but so far nobody had come up with anything.
Blaze appeared on top of the rock pile Silver was currently looking through, "Nothing here." She slid down next to the silver hedgehog, "At this rate, we'll be searching for ages."
Silver nodded in agreement, looking at the piles of sand and brown rocks all around them, a good twenty feet high apiece, and the blue, cloudless sky overhead. The ground beneath Silver's feet was solid rock, but covered with sand that crunched under his shoes as he walked over to Amy.
"Are you sure it's here?" he asked the pink hedgehog, coming up beside her.
"Yes! Take a look for yourself!" Amy showed her wrist to Silver, and she was right – the Emerald was around here, somewhere.
"We've been searching for a good hour; it's almost noon and really hot out. Maybe we should take a break," Silver sighed, kicking a small rock by his feet, "Maybe Mephiles isn't after the Emeralds anyways. Perhaps Isis is wrong."
"Maybe I am wrong," Isis said, coming up behind the two along with Shadow, "But we can't take that risk. If I am right and he does get those gems…"
"You know, maybe this is all a trick. If he gets us to gather the Emeralds, it'd save him a lot of trouble," Shadow added, looking up into the sky.
Isis nodded, "Maybe. Hard to say."
"Hey, I found it!" All three hedgehogs turned to look, while Isis squinted off into the distance. Odd…she thought she could see something out there, coming closer…
Shadow was beside Knuckles in an instant. A blue gem was caught between two rocks, the others around them smashed by Knuckles' fists.
The black hedgehog smiled, his teeth glinting in the sunlight, "Having trouble there, Knuckles?"
Knuckles was tugging on the Chaos Emerald, but it was firmly stuck in the crack. He shrugged, and then smashed his fist into the rocks, crumbling them and allowing him to pull the gem free, "Not anymore." Everyone except Isis, who was still staring at the horizon, came over.
"Well, now we have two. That's pretty good for such a short period of time…" Silver looked at the gem, and then back at Isis, "Hey, Isis! What are you doing?"
"Is it just me, or is there something out there, and coming closer?" Isis asked, pointing at a shape in the distance, "I can't seem to focus on it."
Rouge landed beside Isis and looked as well, "It definitely is coming closer…and it kind of looks like a giant, metal monkey…"
XXXXXXXXX
Tails followed his instincts and ran outside to the empty lot. The lot was surrounded by a tall wooden fence. The entrance seemed to be blocked by a wall made of shadows, and the entire perimeter was surrounded by black shapes. There seemed to be no way past them. But Tails could hear Sonic attacking – the high-pitched whirl of the spin dash was hard to ignore; and each time the sound was getting weaker.
"How do I get in?" Tails looked back and forth, but there were no holes for him to duck through. "Well, I guess there's only one option…" Tails took a deep breath, and ran straight at the shadows.
The creatures were startled and moved out of the way, allowing Tails to get into the center of the lot. Sonic was surrounded by three more shadows, too busy dodging attacks to retaliate or notice his friend.
"Sonic!" Tails called out, waving.
Sonic turned around, distracted. "Tails?" He said once he finally noticed the fox, his eyes going wide, just before being smashed in the chest and knocked down.
"Hey! Leave him alone!" Tails looked back and forth, trying to find a weapon of some sort, finally noticing a pile of crates stacked on a warehouse roof only two buildings down. Tails wasn't quite conscious of what he was doing – one minute he was focusing on the crate, commanding it to rise, and in the next two shadows were sent sprawling in a heap of gravel and wood.
Sonic took this time to fling the other creature off of him, sending it against the wooden wall. It slumped to the ground, stunned. The other shadows were also holding off on attacking, seemingly confused on what to do now that there were two fighters instead of one.
Tails was looking around, trying to figure out what the heck was going on when a pair of arms wrapped around his chest and twirled him around. "Tails! You're ok!" Sonic smiled, and kept spinning, "I was so worried!"
The fox couldn't help but laugh, for Sonic wasn't one to give out a lot of hugs, let alone enthusiastic ones. Those were basically reserved for Cream and Tails. "Alright Sonic, I'm happy to see you too! But you're making me dizzy!"
"Whoops, sorry!" Sonic stopped spinning and set Tails straight, "So, what powers did you get?"
Tails cocked his head to the side, confused, "Powers? What powers?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the shadows seemed to come back to life, like they had just figured out what to do. They all hissed together, sounding like a giant snake, and started to advance. Sonic and Tails moved back to back, something Sonic had before only done with Knuckles and Shadow. Two particular creatures were slightly farther ahead than the rest of the group, and lunged ahead of the rest. Immediately they were sent flying by another crate.
Sonic nodded towards the pile of monsters and broken wood, "Those powers!"
"I…I don't know…" Tails didn't have any more time to think about it, for the horde was now upon them.
XXXXXXXXX
"You're right, Rouge. It's a monkey." Isis tried to focus on the creature, "A giant, metal monkey. Friend of yours?"
"No."
"Friend of Mephiles?"
"Probably." Rouge turned and looked at the others, "Hey, Knuckles! Be ready to protect that gem – company's coming!"
"Oh great," Shadow muttered, moving beside the bat, "Maybe Mephiles is setting us up after all."
"Hang on – I'm starting to be able to see it clearer…" Isis' eyes began to glow purple as she focused, "It's, like, mostly silver metal…but has a purple face, hands and neck, and its feet are metal, looking like they aren't finished yet. It has a silver metal mask on the lower half of its face, and a spike on its forehead, and rocket launchers on its back, and it's using jet thrusters to move…sound familiar?"
"No..." Rouge replied, and Shadow shook his head. Rouge turned back to the others again, "Did you guys catch that?"
"Yeah, but I have no idea," Blaze replied while Silver and Knuckles also shook their heads.
"Hold on," Amy said, her brow scrunched up from thinking, "I might recognize it…it…" Amy ran forward, looking at the creature approaching them, "It'll be here soon."
Isis shrugged, "So? There's seven of us. We can take it."
"I know but…" Amy looked closely at the metal thing approaching them, "It kind of looks like one of the trophies Sonic has from Brawl…which one was it again…I think Galleom."
"That thing? But Sonic never fought him for real," Knuckles said, tossing the Emerald up in the air and catching it again, "Why would Mephiles have it?"
"He worked with Tabuu. Must have taken the design," Shadow responded, shielding his eyes from the sun to take a better look.
Isis looked back and forth from Amy, to Knuckles, to Shadow, and then sighed, "Ok, I really wish I had read more of that journal. I'm super confused."
"You don't need any more info other than beat it up," Shadow replied. The creature was moving quickly and would be at their location within a few minutes.
"Sounds like a plan," Isis responded, slipping a throwing dagger into her hand, "I'm always up for a fight."
XXXXXXXXX
"Is it just me, or are these things multiplying?" Tails asked, barely managing to dodge two creatures at the same time.
"I wish it was just you," Sonic muttered, punching another shadow in the gut. With the adrenaline rushing through his veins, at least he was slightly more awake. "I don't know how to stop them," Sonic sighed, dodging another arm, grabbing it, and then throwing the creature into four others, "No matter how many times I hit them, they don't die."
After another dodge, Tails was too low to the ground to move again. One of the creatures lifted its arm up, made a fist and thrust down, but Tails summoned a psychic barrier to deflect the attack. Sonic shook his head at the sight – Tails didn't seem to realize what he was doing; it was all reflexive.
"There's got to be something that hurts them. They can't be invincible – we're hitting them," Tails smashed another crate into the mob, but when turned back to the roof, he realized all of his ammunition was gone. "Uh…Sonic? See anything I can throw?"
"Um…" Sonic scanned the area quickly; afraid if he let his eyes wander for too long he'd gain another bruise. "There!" Sonic said, pointing at an oil drum sitting inside the warehouse, "Those should last longer!"
Tails nodded and tried to focus, but one of the shadows stepped on his foot. The fox let out a small yelp before kicking the creature in the shin. He then slammed his elbow into another, and while still holding the two monsters back he turned to the oil drum. The drum flew through the window, shattering the glass and wooden frame. Tails flung the drum into the mob, pushing the creatures back. Sonic was right – the metal drum was definitely a better weapon than the crates, and didn't shatter as easily.
Eventually, however, something punctured the lid, and a liquid began to pour out of the barrel. The light brown liquid gushed onto the creatures, and had a sharp smell that stung Tails' nose.
"Ugh! What is that?" Sonic asked, bringing his arms together to block an attack.
"I don't know, but whatever works!" That drum soon was empty, and too light. Tails simply threw it into the crowd, and then focused on another barrel. The process repeated another two times, all within a matter of ten minutes. The creatures didn't seem to mind being covered in it, but Tails and Sonic were careful not to get splashed by any of the odd liquid.
Which was good, for their sakes – for the unknown liquid coating the shadows was lighter fluid. One small spark, and the whole lot would burst into flames.
XXXXXXXXX
"That's Galleom, all right," Amy said once the monster came fully into view, "He's not on our side."
"Fantastic," Isis sighed, "Ah, whatever. So, how do we beat it?"
"I think all we have to do is keep hitting him, and try not to get hit ourselves."
"Some strategy," Isis snorted, "Isn't there a weak point or something?"
"If there is, Sonic is probably the only one who knows it. We'll have to try our best."
"Fine, fine. So, who's in charge of the Emerald?"
"Amy is," Knuckles said, coming up from behind and tossing the Emerald to the pink hedgehog, "I want to fight this thing."
"Well, here it is. Wish come true," Isis said, to herself as much as Knuckles.
Galleom was finally within attack range, and now landed on his feet. He looked exactly like Isis had described him earlier, although seemed to be slightly bluer than the original creation. The mechanical monster stood up, towering over the group. His eyes began to shine an odd, copper color. He pounded his fists on his chest, but otherwise simply stood there.
"…so, does it do anything else?" Isis said after about a minute.
"Looks like he's waiting for something," Knuckles commented.
Shadow nodded in agreement, "He's waiting for a command."
Galleom's eyes began to spark, and then the monster thrust its right hand forward, reaching for Amy. Knuckles slammed it aside, and Galleom retaliated with his left arm, pushing the echidna back. Amy and Silver stepped back, out of the creature's range, while Shadow and Blaze went behind the monster to see if they could find a weak point on its back.
Rouge kicked Galleom on the side of his head, her foot making contact with the metal plates. While she did bend the metal a little, it didn't do a lot of damage. Galleom simply tried to swat the bat aside like a fly, but Rouge was too quick and dodged the attack. Isis took the time to fling her throwing knife at the monster's eyes, impaling the two-inch blade completely into the flesh just below the right eyeball. Galleom let out a roar that sounded like wind rushing through a metal pipe, and swung at the psychic, who quickly dropped to her stomach. She was going to stand up, but Galleom brought a fist down and Isis had to roll to the side instead. Galleom kept pounding the ground near Isis, and then finally brought both of his fists together and slammed down, sending a shockwave at the psychic.
The waves interrupted her focus, and Isis was left stunned. The world was spinning around, and she shakily got to her feet. Galleom was still upset about the dagger, and hit Isis hard in the gut, knocking her back a good ten feet. "This thing packs a hell of a punch," Isis panted as Knuckles helped her stand up again, "I think Amy's idea was correct – keep attacking and don't get hit."
"Isn't that the basis of all fights?" Knuckles replied, looking back at Galleom. Shadow had jumped on top of the monster's head and Galleom was shaking violently, trying to throw him off. Suddenly, the monster straightened up and began to twirl, causing a whirlwind that threatened to drag the two fighters in.
"Whoa!" Isis gasped, bracing herself against the ground while Knuckles dug his fist into a nearby rock, "I never saw something that big twist like that!"
Shadow was thrown off, but landed upright just fine. Galleom turned slightly, aimed his cannons and fired four missiles at Shadow. The black hedgehog was too quick, however, and within seconds was back on the monster's shoulders. Immediately the creature started twisting from side to side, and Shadow was forced to grab onto the huge spike on Galleom's forehead in order to stay on.
Because Galleom was so occupied with Shadow, Blaze and Rouge found it easy to hit the monster. Together they managed to tear off part of its back armor, leaving the purplish flesh exposed. With both fire and rapid kicks attacking the space, Galleom was in deep trouble, surrounded on all sides – Isis and Knuckles in front, Shadow on top, and Blaze and Rouge behind. Silver and Amy stayed out of Galleom's range, just in case it was here for the Emerald. Galleom was getting frustrated, swinging his mechanical arms widely around, trying to hit the fighters and throw Shadow off.
The wild movements eventually made Shadow slip, and he quickly wrapped his hands tightly around the spike, trying to stay on. His feet were kicking against Galleom's face, trying to find some sort of foothold, but in the process Shadow hit the dagger and pushed it upwards, right into the eye.
Now Galleom was furious, and along with his arms he began firing missiles around, not even bothering to aim. The missiles hit the rock pillars, sending a shower of boulders and dust down on the battlefield, and making it a lot harder for anyone to get a hit. Galleom picked up the rocks and threw them at the fighters, as well as trying to hit Isis and Knuckles over the head with them.
"Fuck – this thing is crazy!" Isis snapped, blasting a rock with a psychic beam, "Does it have infinite ammo, or what?"
"I don't know, but it's not happy!" Blaze replied, ducking Galleom's fist and then shooting down two missiles with a fire ball, "I can't get a good hit on it!"
Shadow was the only one who was managing to do some damage – having basically given up on pulling himself upwards at the moment, he simply resorted to kicking the right side of Galleom's face. The flesh was becoming swollen from Shadow's constant poundings, and Galleom was unable to see out of his right eye.
Silver was deflecting the missiles away from Amy, but with Galleom so enraged he couldn't keep up a shield for long. Amy had to drop the Emerald to defend herself with her hammer, but she kept it close by her feet.
Galleom was starting to weaken, exerting so much energy on trying to hit the fighters, but missing most of the time. He shook his head around again, and this time spotted the Emerald. Galleom dropped the boulder in his right hand and shot out his hand on a long, metal cord, reaching for the Emerald. Silver reacted just in time – he managed to kick the gem out of the way, but in the process Galleom grabbed his leg and lifted the silver hedgehog over his head.
"Hey! Let me go, you crazy monkey!" Silver sent a psychic wave at Galleom, but with being waved around and Galleom's anger, the attack had little effect.
Amy scooped up the Emerald, but Galleom had seen the gem and now was completely focused on it. He reached for Amy again, but Knuckles held the hand back.
"Amy, toss it over here!" Isis called, waving from Galleom's side. Knuckles had to let go of Galleom so he could dodge a missile, and now the hand was reaching for Amy again. Amy took a deep breath and threw the gem to Isis, just as Galleom's left hand wrapped around her body.
Isis caught the Emerald and turned back to Galleom, "Hey, monkey! Lookie what I have!" Isis waved the jewel over her head, taunting Galleom, "You want it?" Galleom roared again, in the same metallic voice, and reached for Isis in the hand that contained Amy. Isis easily dodged the attack, for Galleom was trying to hold onto Amy and couldn't extend his fingers far out to grab her. "Catch me if you can!" Isis teased, backing away from Galleom.
"Damn it," Shadow growled, now managing to get himself back onto Galleom's shoulders. Galleom definitely was here to get the Emerald – and now Isis was baiting the monster with it. If Mephiles got his hands on that gem, everything would become ten times harder. Shadow shook his head, knowing that there was nothing he could do right now to make Isis quit teasing the mechanical beast. Besides, he was in the best position to free Silver and Amy. Shadow ran down Galleom's back and up the monster's right arm, slashing at the limb to make Galleom drop the silver hedgehog.
"You free Amy!" Shadow called to Rouge, running back towards the creature's head. Rouge didn't bother asking for an explanation and began to strike at Galleom's left hand.
Silver landed on his feet and shot another psychic blast, this time hitting Galleom on the left side of his face. Galleom shot two missiles at Silver and then shot his hand out at Isis, all the while advancing towards her.
Isis was doing multiple back flips, leaping over the missiles fired at her and teasing Galleom, showing how easily she could dodge his attacks. "Come on, you overgrown toaster! Show me what you got!" Galleom reached for Isis again, who dodged the hand. A stray missile brushed Isis' side, but she seemed not to care. Isis stood back up, grinned at Galleom, and kept backing away.
"What is she doing?" Knuckles asked, hitting the back of Galleom's knee joint. The monster fell to one knee, but immediately stood up and continued to follow Isis, holding Amy in the air like a trophy.
With one more powerful kick, Rouge set Amy free and then looked to where Isis was leading them. The land suddenly disappeared, like somebody had taken scissors and cut out part of the earth. The deep gorge was only about seventy yards away, and they were fast approaching it. "That's it! If we knock Galleom down that, this fight is over!" Rouge said, pointing at the crack.
"What?" Knuckles called back.
"Is that the plan, Isis?" Rouge called to the psychic, ignoring Knuckles for the moment.
Isis nodded, ducking another missile, "Yeah, but I'm gonna need yours and Shadow's help. This thing isn't going to fall so easily, and I can't stand on the edge of a huge cliff for long with stuff being fired at me."
Shadow nodded at Isis, silently saying that he got the message, before slamming his foot on the back of Galleom's head once again. The monster shook his head slightly, but kept moving towards Isis.
"Good…good…almost there…" Isis quickly checked over her shoulder, and then looked back at Galleom, "Come on, sucker, come on…" She picked up her speed, walking backwards so she could keep her eye on the mechanical primate. Galleom reached for Isis again, but the psychic did another back flip and dodged.
"Isis, don't move anymore! You're too close to the edge!" Isis looked at Amy, and then behind her. The psychic became a little nervous upon seeing the huge drop, but she wasn't going to show it.
"Shadow, come to my left side, Rouge, to my right. Hurry!" Isis took a few small steps back, but then felt the edge underneath her heels and couldn't move anymore.
Shadow stood farther away from the edge than Isis, out of Galleom's sight due to the monster's injured eye. Rouge hovered to Isis' right, in clear view of the monster.
"Ready?" Isis called, and when both nodded she said, "Go!" Isis then turned to Rouge and drew her arm back, preparing to throw the Emerald. Galleom saw this and reached out to grab Isis. Instead of dodging, Isis followed through with the throw, but didn't let go of the Emerald. Instead, she turned around and threw the Emerald to Shadow, just as Galleom picked her up and began crushing her.
"Shadow…run…Galleom…thinks…Rouge…has…the Emerald," Isis breathed out through the tightness around her chest, "Get…out…of…here!"
Rouge had been confused when the Emerald didn't come to her, but relaxed when she saw the blue gem in Shadow's hands. But instead of looking at the black hedgehog, Galleom turned to the bat. Because of Galleom's injured eye, he couldn't see well to his right. So when Isis pretended to throw the Emerald to Rouge, Galleom was certain the gem was there. He couldn't see that Shadow actually held it. Rouge cupped her hands and held them to her chest, pretending to be holding onto something, and then flew over Galleom. The monster roared and shot his arm out, trying to reach for Rouge.
"Run…Shadow…keep…the…Emerald…safe!" Isis gasped, struggling for breath, "Don't…worry…about…me…go!"
Shadow turned on his heel and dashed away, only checking back once to see if Galleom had noticed his absence. Galleom was still convinced Rouge had the Emerald and paid no attention to the missing black hedgehog. Shadow looked down at the blue gem in his hand; he couldn't risk using Chaos Control with that thing looking for the Emeralds. He'd have to get away on foot.
XXXXXXXXX
"At…least…they…are…not…multi….plying…any…more…" Tails panted, slamming an empty oil drum into the shadow humanoids. His couldn't pick up anything heavier – he had used up too much power before and was tired.
Sonic wasn't faring much better. The horde of creatures was so thick that he couldn't escape them and get into a better position, and besides he wouldn't leave Tails behind. He really needed to rest, but he couldn't stop fighting. Even with the power of the Emerald, these shadow creatures never stopped attacking.
"Is there no end to these guys?" Sonic shouted, kicking another two away, "Doesn't anything destroy them?"
XXXXXXXXX
Shadow was running back to the hospital through a different route, and he thought he had heard Sonic's voice. Curious, he followed the sound to the abandoned lot. Shadow saw the huge, moving black mass and screeched to a halt. His hover skates pushed hard on the ground to make the black hedgehog come to a stop, sending gravel and sparks into the air. One spark just happened to fly a little farther than the others.
The mass changed from black to red within seconds, as one creature after another ignited. They began to writhe in pain as the flames crawled up their sides. Hisses rose from the creatures, and black arms were raised to the sky as the shadows began to disintegrate.
Shadow simply stared at the dying creatures, confused about what the heck had just happened. However, inside of the lot, Sonic and Tails realized how much trouble they were in.
XXXXXXXXX
"That liquid was flammable! If we don't get out of here soon, we'll be on fire too!" Tails said, coughing.
"How? I can't tell where the exit is!" Sonic replied, dropping to his knees to get out of the smoke. He couldn't see anything but thick, black clouds of smoke, and once in awhile a red and orange flame outlining one of the shadows.
"Chaos Control!" Tails replied, covering his mouth with his tails.
"Right! I forgot about…" Sonic looked around him, "Tails, the Emerald! I must have dropped it!"
"We have to find it – otherwise we're done for!" Tails began crawling on the ground, eyes closed to keep out the smoke, moving his hands around to try and locate the Emerald.
XXXXXXXXX
"Sonic? You in there?" Shadow called out uncertainly. All he could see was smoke and odd, humanoid shadow creatures burning to death. Too bad he was only ageless and not completely invincible – otherwise he could run into the fire and check for Sonic. But with the whole place covered in burning shadows, it wouldn't be a good idea.
"Oh dear, this doesn't look so good." Shadow whirled around to see Mephiles floating about six feet off of the ground, cross-legged, "I do hope Sonic isn't too badly hurt after this. I would miss fucking him so very much."
"You!" Shadow growled, shifting his leg back to get ready to rush forward, "You caused this, didn't you?"
"Me? Oh no no no, Shadow…" Mephiles grinned, uncrossed his legs and floated down to the ground, "This wasn't quite part of the plan. Tails and you caused this; by accident, of course. I do hope that Sonic still has that Chaos Emerald – for it's going to be troublesome searching underneath all of that charred flesh at the end." Mephiles nodded towards the burning shadows.
"You don't even care if those creatures die, do you?" Shadow asked, baring his teeth.
Mephiles shrugged, "I can always make more. Hell, they even make copies of themselves – saves me the trouble. Now, why don't you hand over that Emerald and make this easy for both of us?"
Shadow blinked, and then straightened up. He held the blue gem out in front of him, "You want this?" Shadow asked, and when Mephiles took a step forward to grab it he shouted, "Then go and get it!" He turned around and tossed the blue emerald into the fire.
In a second, Mephiles was upon him, wrapping his arms around Shadow's waist and pinning the black hedgehog's arms to his sides. Shadow began to struggle, and Mephiles threw him to the ground. Shadow quickly stood up again, ready to fight Mephiles, only to get smashed in the face by a metal pipe. He fell back on the ground, and Mephiles followed the first blow with more.
Shadow quickly gained a headache and couldn't defend himself; his moves became sluggish and then stopped by the metal pipe. Again and again Mephiles hit Shadow with the pipe, breaking Shadow's nose and jaw. A cut on Shadow's forehead gushed out blood, running over his eyes and making it hard to see. Shadow knew he wasn't going to stay conscious much longer – his head was aching and his vision started to go dark. If Sonic was trapped in that fire or got attacked by Mephiles, Shadow wouldn't be able to do anything about it – all because Mephiles was too big of a coward to actually fight him.
"Fuck…you…" Shadow breathed, just as Mephiles put all of his strength in for one last strike. Shadow fell onto his side, pelt coated with blood; unable to sit up again. The last thing Shadow saw before becoming unconscious was Mephiles' look of triumph.
XXXXXXXXX
Galleom was badly damaged; the mechanical beast would not hold up much longer. A few more hits and they could send the boss tumbling over the edge.
Isis had been freed from Galleom's grasp, so now nobody was in danger of falling down the cliff along with the boss. Rouge flew over the canyon, keeping Galleom occupied on capturing her and less likely to attack the others.
Galleom shot his arm out at Rouge, who dodged it once again. Galleom was off balance, and started to lean over the edge.
Silver moved beside Isis and said, "Use a psychic wave! Let's end this!"
"Alright!" Isis nodded, "One, two, three!"
With one final push, Galleom was knocked off the cliff and sent tumbling down. Galleom roared one last time before disappearing into the canyon below.
As soon as Galleom fell over, Rouge landed beside Silver and Isis and sighed, "Glad that's over."
"Me too," Isis said, looking around, "Come to think of it, where did Shadow go?"
Rouge shrugged, "Back to the hospital would be my guess."
"Then let's head back too. I'm tired," Silver sighed, stretching.
Without warning, Galleom's hand suddenly appeared over the canyon ledge – a last chance to try and get the Emerald. Instead of grabbing onto Rouge, however, the hand wrapped around Knuckles and knocked him over. Knuckles started to be dragged towards the edge, and he was scrabbling at the rock, desperately trying to get a grip on the earth.
"Damn it! Knuckles!" Isis lunged forwards and managed to grab Knuckles' hand, but the weight of Galleom was too much for her to stop Knuckles from being pulled. "Somebody free him! I can't hold on much longer!" Isis called out, struggling to slow Knuckles down.
The steel cable attaching the hand to the arm, however, was too thick. Even a strong hit would do little damage. "Here," Isis tossed Blaze one of her short swords, "Start sawing!"
Blaze began hacking at the cable, and the cable started to give way. If she had a bit more time, the cable would have snapped, but they were too close to the edge. Isis stumbled at the last moment, letting go of the echidna, and Knuckles was pulled over.
"Fuck! How did Galleom reach so far?" Isis looked over the edge, "Shit! That bastard caught himself on one of the walls and now has Knuckles!"
"Not for long!" Rouge replied, leaping off the edge and flying down.
XXXXXXXXX
"Ow! What was that?" Tails muttered to himself, rubbing the top of his head. Something had come through the flames and hit him on the head, but Tails didn't see who had thrown it.
His knee bumped into an object and Tails reached behind him to grab a blue Chaos Emerald. "Sonic! I found it!" Tails looked around, eyes straining to see through the smoke, "Sonic?"
Sonic crawled over, following Tails' voice. "You found it!" Sonic grabbed the Emerald and Tails, and then said, "Chaos Control!"
The two were teleported right outside of the lot, and immediately started to gulp down the fresh air. "Alright – we made it out!" Sonic said, wiping his forehead. He then looked at the Emerald in his hand, "Hey, wait a minute…this isn't the Emerald I had earlier…"
"It isn't. That one was Shadow's." Sonic looked up and flinched, seeing Mephiles floating about ten feet away from him. The dark hedgehog grinned, seeing Sonic's reaction, "Hello again, Sonic. Did you miss me?"
"About as much as I would miss having cancer. What do you want?" Sonic growled, standing up.
Mephiles pointed to the Emerald, "That lovely gem right there. Of course, if you'd rather come with me instead I'd happily make that trade…"
Sonic felt the memories coming back, and his heart started to pound. Part of him was telling him to get the hell away from Mephiles, but his usual personality kicked in before he could take a step. He was going to make a comment about where Mephiles could stick the Emerald before he would even consider leaving with that freak, but Tails stopped him, "Sonic! Look at Shadow!"
Sonic looked at Tails, and his eyes went wide when he saw the black and red mess on the ground nearby. "Shadow!" Sonic called out, and seeing no response he turned back to Mephiles, "You bastard! What have you done?"
Mephiles shrugged and tossed a bloody metal pipe at Sonic's feet. The metal rung out when it hit the pavement, and Mephiles replied, "That's what your friend gets for interfering. All he had to do was hand over the Emerald, but no…" Mephiles sighed, "He had to throw it into the fire. Do you know how frustrating it will be to try and find that white one later?"
"You…you…" Sonic was starting to shake; he was so angry, "I'll kill you!"
Mephiles laughed, "You're too scared of me to hurt me, Sonic. As soon as I come close, you'll freeze up, and it'll be easy to take you away." Mephiles landed and started to walk towards Sonic.
Sonic forced himself to stand his ground, but his brain was practically screaming at him to run. Tails was too tired to be much help now; the fox stayed sitting on the ground, breathing heavily and coated with sweat and ashes. Sonic braced himself, ready to fight Mephiles, when a voice shouted behind him, "Hey! You!"
A black panther leaped over Sonic's head and landed right in front of him, letting out a low, threatening growl. If Mephiles was surprised, he didn't show it. He snarled, "Stay out of this, Isis. It's not your fight."
"It is mine, though!" Silver said, running up beside Sonic, "You tricked me before! You didn't do anything to me!"
This time Mephiles couldn't hide his shock, and he glared at Isis, "This is your entire fault, isn't it?"
Isis nodded, claws out and ready to slash Mephiles should he come any closer. Mephiles snarled, "So, you can dispel illusions, can you? Well, try and break this!"
A huge wave of water appeared out of nowhere and splashed down in front of the group; it began to swirl around the four standing together. Tails was too tired to take any notice, and Isis and Silver didn't truly care, but Sonic was terrified. Yes, he had conquered a big part of his aquaphobia – he could swim now, even though the only swimming style he had truly mastered was the doggy paddle – but being surrounded by violent, deep water still was enough to make him panic.
Sonic started backing away, looking from side to side to try and find and escape route. The water was gushing around like a giant whirlpool, and he was in the center of it. There was no way he could swim through that, and he was too tired to jump through. He was trapped.
The blue hedgehog had dropped the blue Chaos Emerald he had been holding and kept moving away from the walls of water. Suddenly his path was blocked, and he was turned around by Knuckles, "Sonic, it's an illusion! This isn't real!"
"Well, it certainly looks like it!" Sonic replied, still looking around, "Somebody, make it go away!"
As soon as he said those words, the water was gone. Sonic and Knuckles looked at Isis, who was back in her human form, and glowing purple. She was mumbling something under her breath, and when the last traces of the illusion disappeared she stopped and looked around. "Damn it – the bastard escaped."
"At least…not with…the…Emeralds…" Tails panted, pointing at the lot. Fire crews had finally arrived and were dousing the flames, but the flames were still too strong for Mephiles to have gotten through. The Chaos Emerald was buried somewhere underneath all of the charred corpses.
"Fire…that's…what…kills…them…" Tails sighed, and looked back at Blaze, had who just come around the corner and had picked up the Chaos Emerald, "That's…why Mephiles…didn't want…you around…"
Blaze walked over to Tails and kneeled down beside him, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah…just…tired…used…too much…power…" Tails sighed, lying down on the pavement.
"Power? What –" Isis' eyes went wide, "You didn't start fighting without me, did you?"
"He was really good," Sonic said, now starting to get dizzy from lack of sleep, "He was the one that set these guys on fire. Because of Tails, I'm still around."
Tails flushed slightly, and then gasped, "Shadow! What about –"
Rouge was kneeling down by the hurt black hedgehog, and sighed with relief, "He's alive, but hurt. And he's lost a lot of blood."
"Lucky us – we're not even a block from the hospital. I'll carry him," Isis said, carefully lifting up the black hedgehog and walking away.
XXXXXXXXX
"Lift up your arm…there we go." A nurse was wrapping a bandage around Knuckles' chest, "You're very lucky, young man. If you were crushed for much longer, you could have gained broken ribs, instead of just cracked ones."
Knuckles patted his bandaged chest and nodded, "Thanks." He looked over at Rouge, who only had a few scrapes, "And thanks to you too, Bat girl."
Rouge laughed, "You're welcome, Knucklehead. At least Galleom's gone now – he definitely didn't survive that fall. He was really easy to knock down once I freed you."
Isis walked into the exam room with a bandage wrapped around her left elbow. "I gave Shadow a couple of healing potions. We're all too impatient – he needs to get better. I gave him as much as I could without killing him. His jaw and nose are better, but he has a lot of deep cuts and is still unconscious. But he'll pull through."
"What happened to your arm, Isis? I thought you were on your side, not your arm," Knuckles said, slipping off of the exam table as the nurse left the room.
"Shadow needed blood, and we share the same blood type – O negative. I gave blood on the spot." Isis motioned for the two to follow her back to Tails' hospital room, "I heal very quickly, and I'm sure Shadow would have too, if that fucking Mephiles didn't knock him unconscious so quickly. What a coward – he doesn't even attempt to take Shadow on in a fair fight."
Isis opened the door to Tails' hospital room, and let the others go inside first. Shadow now occupied the bed, asleep, while Sonic dozed on the chair beside him. Blaze, Silver and Amy weren't present.
"The fire's out and they went back to look for the Emerald," Isis said, as if she had read their minds, "I need to speak to Tails, and then I'll go look myself. Rouge can get going, but Knuckles should stay here and rest."
"I've fought with a lot more injuries than just a few cracked ribs. Digging through a bunch of ashes isn't that tough – I'll go help." Knuckles turned to leave, but Isis grabbed his shoulder, "This is different. We could be fighting Mephiles for months, and he could attack at any time. You need to conserve your strength."
Rouge smiled and added, "She's right, you know. You don't want me having to come to your rescue again, do you?" Knuckles grunted at that, but he agreed to stay. Rouge left the room, while Knuckles glared at Isis.
"What? I just want you to stay on the top of your game, that's all." Isis moved to the door and looked out, but didn't see Tails coming. She turned to Knuckles, "Why don't you sit down?"
"Because the only two seats in the room are occupied," Knuckles replied, motioning to the two hedgehogs.
Isis moved to Sonic, picked the blue hedgehog up, and then tucked him beside Shadow on the bed, "Not anymore. Sit."
"Sonic's going to be confused on how he ended up in a bed surrounded by a metal fence," Knuckles said while sitting down.
"Let's say he sleepwalked, and also sleep talked for close to an hour on how seahorses and horses are different. It'll be funnier that way."
Knuckles laughed, "What made you come up with that?"
Isis grinned, "My insanity. What else?"
The two were quiet for a minute, and then Knuckles asked, "Why did Sonic stay awake for so long?"
"I think Mephiles had something to do with it. Maybe he kicked Sonic's instincts into overdrive, so Sonic was alert too early. He needed to defend Tails – perhaps Mephiles was going to kidnap him." Isis looked at the two sleeping hedgehogs, and softly said, "When two people are around each other for a long time, they often can sense when the other is in danger. Maybe that's what Sonic felt."
"Maybe," Knuckles replied, shifting on the chair.
"By the way, Knuckles, I want to ask you something." Isis turned to the echidna, an interested look on her face, "Why are all of you together? Rouge told me earlier that you guard the Master Emerald on Angel Island. Why aren't you there now?"
Knuckles sighed, and looked over at Sonic, "Because of Sonic, that's why. And the fact that Mephiles wants to take over the world."
"Whoop-de-snort. You could have hung around the island anyways – no real need to get involved." Isis looked up at the ceiling, and closed her eyes. She then softly said, "You care about him, don't you?"
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Knuckles asked, looking back at Isis, "Are you saying that like Sonic?"
"Of course you do – otherwise you wouldn't be here right now. And I didn't mean that you liked Sonic in an 'attraction' way – I meant that he's a really good friend of yours and you don't want to see him hurt." Isis opened her eyes and looked at Knuckles, "He seems so strong, and yet so scared at the same time."
"Sonic was so strong, nothing could shake him – until Mephiles got his hands on him. That's when he…cracked, I suppose. I had only seen Sonic cry once before the day he told me what happened, and even then it was only a few tears."
"What happened before…Mephiles came?"
"He had his leg caught while running and broke it in three places. I guess he was in so much pain he couldn't help himself, but even then he joked through his tears. Sonic's just not one to let himself get emotional, but now…" Knuckles shook his head and sighed; he looked back at Isis, his purple eyes meeting up with Isis' lavender ones, "He's changed a lot since spring."
Isis nodded, "He keeps this planet safe, and he's your friend. I guess after all of the protecting he's done, he needs someone to protect him."
Knuckles shrugged, "Sonic can take care of himself in a fight. He just needs to get past his fears."
Isis' eyes became cloudy, like she was suddenly seeing something else. "Past…his…fears…" Isis whispered, "I wonder…"
"Wonder what? You alright, Isis?"
Isis' eyes became normal, and she nodded, "Yes, yes, of course. But I should stop bothering you – get some rest." Isis turned and left the room, to go search for Tails.
XXXXXXXXX
It didn't take long for her to find Tails – he was sitting in the cafeteria, drinking a can soda bought from one of the vending machines.
Isis sat down on the edge of the table, "There you are! Why didn't you come back?"
Tails sighed, "I'm tired. I needed a break." Tails took another sip and then said, "How's Shadow?"
"He'll be alright. But I need to talk with you, although not here. Someone could hear us." Isis looked back and forth, but the only other people in the room were a janitor and a cafeteria worker cutting up beef. Isis grabbed Tails' arm and said, "Come on." She pulled Tails out of his chair, and half-dragged, half-carried Tails back to the hospital room.
Knuckles had fallen asleep, and with the two hedgehogs it looked pretty funny, seeing three powerful fighters sleeping together in the same room, covered in bandages as a result of a tough battle.
"Oh good – Knuckles' is asleep. He needs to rest." Isis set Tails down on the windowsill and then sat down beside him. After shutting and locking the door with her psychic abilities, Isis turned to Tails, "Ok, first things first – you were extremely fucking lucky that your brain didn't explode after trying to use your new powers without any experienced help. But let's not attempt that again, shall we?"
"Ok…" Tails nodded, finishing off the soda, "Why the heck am I so tired?"
"Your body's drained from using so much energy during that one fight. It's because you have no experience in using psychokinesis – or telekinesis, if you prefer to call it that. Silver and I don't get tired as quickly because we've trained, but it takes too much focus for you to move objects around right now. We'll have to practice virtually before we try moving stuff out here."
"Virtually? Like, in cyberspace?"
"Well, not exactly. Usually we just go into your mind and train in there, because you recognize all of the regions and memories and nothing can hurt you. But right now…" Isis frowned, "Your mind probably is littered with junk and exhaustion. We'll have to use someone else's mind."
"What about yours?"
"Can't. Too dangerous in mine."
"How come?"
"I'm a psychotic killer – that's why. Plus I've lived through a lot of…bad things, and I don't want to scar you for life. Sonic is already ticked off enough at me. We'll have to use…" Isis looked at the three sleeping fighters, and pointed at Shadow, "His mind."
"Shadow's? Why him?"
"He's already unconscious, so he will barely notice. As a bonus, we could awaken him, if we find him, in his mind."
Tails yawned, "Fine…but do we have to go now? I'm tired."
"Yes, we do. You won't be as tired in Shadow's mind – I'll share my power with you. We'll just do the basics, and then we'll come back out and you can rest."
"Ok then, whatever you say."
"Are you even paying attention to me? Oh, whatever…" Isis' eyes began to glow purple, and the light was strong for Tails' tired orbs, "Brace yourself. We're about to enter Shadow's mind!"
XXXXXXXXX
Tails opened his eyes and looked around. The entire world was light gray, like he was trapped in a room with all surfaces the same color.
"Isis? Where are you?" Tails called, looking around. Isis was right – he wasn't tired anymore. At least that made things easier.
The psychic ran over to Tails and grinned, "Hey! Ready to get started?"
"What's up with the…grayness?" Tails asked, looking around, "What's going on?"
"Oh, let me explain. The color of someone's mind states their mood, basically. White means they're happy. Light gray means they're content. Dark gray means they're angry or sad."
"Why not black? Can someone's mind be black?"
Isis nodded, "Yep, but that means they're possessed, having a nightmare, or have gone mad." Isis looked around, "How much do you know about Shadow? Does he have any major, dark, crazy memories?"
Tails nodded, thinking about the ARK, "Yes, he's lived a tough life."
"Ok…just warn me if we get near one. We'll stay out of there." Isis motioned for Tails to follow her, and the two started walking, although they didn't actually seem to be moving. But something was going on, for little cubes in all sorts of colors – white, gray, black, blue, pink, green, yellow, and more – started floating past them.
"What are all of these?" Tails asked, pointing to a periwinkle blue and bright yellow one.
"They're memories that Shadow has. Color-coded of course…that particular one you're pointing at was a happy one that took place in a recent winter. Yellow for happy, blue for winter. The darker the color is, the longer ago it took place, or the emotion during that time was stronger. Dreams also take this form, although they are much larger, and will shrink to this size when the person wakes up."
"Could we look inside?" Tails asked, poking the cube. The cube let out a little ding, like someone rang a tiny bell.
"I don't see why not. This seems to be a good memory for Shadow." Isis grabbed the box as it floated past and opened the lid. Tails and Isis looked inside, and saw a Christmas tree.
"This was last Christmas," Tails said, looking at the pictures swirling past, "There's me, holding the red and silver package."
Isis nodded, "We're seeing through Shadow's eyes."
Eventually Shadow looked down to see Cream and Cheese offering him a plate of cookies. The black hedgehog took one and bit into it, and a yellow border surrounded the image.
"What does that mean?" Tails asked.
"It means he's happy."
Shadow wrapped one arm around Cream and thanked her, who was hopping up and down, excited that even Shadow liked her baking. Isis tapped Tails on the shoulder, and when he looked up she closed the box, "Well, that's enough of that. We're here to train, not fuck around with Shadow's mind." She released the box, and it went back into the flow of cubes.
"Ok…" Tails looked around, "Hey Isis, it's Shadow!"
Isis looked in the same direction, and saw the black hedgehog lying down amongst the swirling cubes, "There's Shadow; well, his conscious, I suppose. It's lying down because the real Shadow is knocked out. We'll awaken him later."
"Why is he solid, and not in a cube?"
Isis shrugged, "Well, the strongest of all memories are kept outside of the memory boxes. Everyone ultimately thinks of themselves, which is why everybody has a 'mini me' running around in their head. Other people and places can show up if the memory is powerful enough." Isis motioned with her thumb behind her, "Like that girl over there. She was probably important to Shadow."
"Who?" Tails turned around and saw a young girl walking around with blonde hair and blue eyes, dressed in all blue, "Oh! That's Maria!"
"Huh?"
"She…was Shadow's best friend." Tails sighed.
"Where is she now?"
"Dead."
"Oh." Isis grabbed Tails' hand and started to lead him away from the mini Shadow and Maria, "It's best if we leave this part of Shadow's mind. The 'living' memories walking around are very strong, and that's what can hurt us. If Maria was very important to Shadow, disrupting her could end disastrously. And she's colorful, too – a very good sign that she's a big part of his life."
"Does everything have to do with colors here?" Tails asked, looking over his shoulder. Maria had walked over to Shadow and kneeled down, stroking back his quills.
"Yep. Most of the time they're just to help you find something; but like many animals, they also serve as a warning. If you see a moving memory that's brightly colored, get out of there – that memory has a lot to do with the person, and no good would come out if you messed with it."
"Alright – I'll remember that." Tails looked over his shoulder again, but Maria and Shadow were gone. Instead, a different memory was following them – brightly colored, and not inside a cube. Mephiles was walking towards the pair, although he hadn't seemed to have noticed them yet.
Tails tugged Isis' shirt, "Isis! Look!"
Isis whirled around and saw Mephiles, "Shit! Shadow still must be pissed off at him, so Mephiles is wandering around. You go that way," Isis pointed to the right, "And I'm gonna double back and lead the memory Mephiles away. I'll join you in a second. And don't worry about me," Isis said when Tails was about to protest, "I've done this before."
With that, Isis scurried off, and Tails ran through the cubes and away from Mephiles. The walls suddenly turned white, and Tails was blinded from the sudden brightness.
"Shadow must be happy now…" Tails mumbled to himself, rubbing his eyes, "Must be having a good dream or something." He looked around at all of the cubes, completely lost in Shadow's mind. "Isis? Where are you?"
"Hey Tails, come over here!"
Tails looked around, but couldn't see Isis, "Where are you?"
"By this dude, a moving memory…who is this long-horned, three-eyed, no-legged huge dark freak anyways?"
Tails ran over to where he heard Isis' voice, but came to a stop when he saw the moving memory Isis was staring at.
"What?" Isis asked, cocking her head, "I agree, he looks creepy with the red eyes and the chains and the three-fingered clawed hands and dirty cloak, but that's no reason to panic."
"Oh, yes it is…" Tails stuttered, eyes wide, "That's Black Doom!"
Hooray, a long update! And you know what's exciting? After trying for so long to do the whole X-spacing thing and eventually giving up during, "Any Dark Deed", it works now! Shocking!