The Shadows of the Past

Chapter 2: Chase After the Alien Gunship

"Damn, those aliens, They took the Emerald. I can't let them have it!" Shadow said under his breath as he chased the Black Alien Gunship along the Lethal Highway. Shadow was fast with his air shoes, but somehow the ship was even faster. Shadow tried firing his pistol at the ship to slow it down and try to destroy, but it was protected by some sort of green energy shield and his shots just bounced off.

Shadow's pistol then ran out of ammo soon after, so he just tossed it to the side of the road and continued to chase the gunship until... he fell off the highway! Ok, actually there was a section of the highway that was blasted off, Shadow didn't notice it and fell down to the lower section. Luckily his air shoes allowed him to hover a bit to help ensure a safe landing or he would fall face-first into the pavement.

Shadow then looked around and seen that the gunship was still on the upper highway. Shadow know he had to somehow get back on the upper section, but his air shoes only allow him to hover, but not fly. So Shadow ran along the lower highway, hoping he can find a way back on up. It wasn't long, though, until he ran into Sonic again.

"Shadow, let me help you bring down that ship." Sonic said as he stopped Shadow. "And why do you want to help?" Shadow asked, annoyed that Sonic was making him lose precious time. "Simple, I know this highway better that anyone else, without me, you might get lost" Sonic replied. Shadow agreed, but he would of rather liked to do this alone.

The lower highway was much like a long and twisted roller coaster, unlike the straight and smooth upper highway. There were many GUN soldiers positioned along the highway also. They fired at Shadow, but he swiftly knocked them out with his speed. "Shadow, what is it you have done? Why are the soldiers attacking us?" Sonic asked as he watched Shadow take a sub-machine gun from one of the unconscious soldiers. "I did nothing, absolutely nothing." Shadow replied, "Sonic, I appreciate your help, but I must do this, alone." Shadow pointed his gun at Sonic's head. Sonic agreed really quickly "Ok! Ok! I guess you must have your reasons then."

Leaving Sonic behind, Shadow found a path that lead back to the upper highway. He then looked around for the gunship. Shadow didn't find it until it flew right over his head. Shadow quickly fired at the ship and the shield turned from green to yellow. Shadow realized that the shield was weakening, and that he could be ably to eventually destroy it.

But chasing the ship was not easy this time, the ship dropped bombs everywhere, hoping to shake Shadow off it's tail. And if that wasn't enough, it also was firing energy shots at Shadow, but Shadow was persistent, he dodged the bombs and avoided most of the shots. He also continued to shot at the ship, and eventually the shield weakened even farther, it was now red and continued to flicker in and out.

Shadow knew a few more shots will finish the ship, but he was losing speed quickly. Once he came to a shop, he checked his shoes. The gold rings that powered his air shoes and allowed him to run fast were shattered. Shadow cursed the aliens for what they did, for now he can't catch the ship. So now Shadow walked along the destroyed highway, he looked up and seen a couple of red towers, they were originally part of the Highway, but now they were pretty much rubble.

As Shadow stared at the towers, an image came back to him from the not to distant past. Shadow remembered being here, the highway then was still brand new and the construction on it was still unfinished. He was running along the highway, destroying all of the GUN robots in his path. Then he remembered fighting Sonic here as well. As he snapped out of his flashback, Shadow wondered "What was I even doing here before? Who was I running from? And Why was I fighting Sonic?"

Shadow know he had to keep going in order to even find any answers so he continued to walk along the road. But he quickly seen an unusual weapon on the ground, it looked like a normal rifle, but it was black with several red stripes on it. Shadow quickly took a liking to this gun and tossed aside his old sub-machine gun. But Shadow didn't have long to admire the now dubbed "Shadow Rifle" until...

"FREEZE!" a voice behind Shadow said, he turned around to see who it was. The voice came from a GUN soldier on a motorcycle. (The bike was obviously a Chopper, painted black was also had the GUN logo on it as well.) "Drop the weapon and put you hands into the air" The soldier then demanded, but Shadow did or said nothing. Instead he tackled the soldier, boarded the bike, and sped off to catch the gunship.

It wasn't long until the alien gunship was within his sights. He tried to aim with his new rifle, but because of it's weight, Shadow missed his target and accidently hit a GUN robot. The force of the shot caused the mech to instantly explode. Shadow realized the immense power of this weapon and this time he had a plan. He drove is bike off a car, using it like a ramp. And then he jumped off the bike while it was still in the air. Once he was directly above the ship, he fired a couple of shots at it. The shield instantly designated and the ship exploded.

Shadow did stop the ship, but he was still high up in the air. If he did hit the ground, he would face a major injury. But he had nothing to break his fall with. Shadow was falling fast and was about to land into the gunship's remains. He braced himself for the impact, and then...

Poof! An airbag popped out of the ruins. Shadow safely landed on the airbag. He then hopped off and picked up the emerald laying amongst all the rubble. Shadow then walked away from the gunship, heading towards Central City. He then looked behind him and said out loud "What kind of idiot puts an airbag in a gunship?"