SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG
Disclaimer: I do not own the sonic characters, just the OC's
Chapter Seven: Cryptic Castle
One day has passed since the destruction of G.U.N. back at Eggman's theme park. Shadow had just arrived at an ancient castle that Black Doom said belong to Eggman. "Hmm… knowing the doctor, he would keep the chaos emerald with him at all times. Good, now I can make him pay for deceiving me." Shadow said as he ran off into the castle.
When Shadow had reached the entrance of the castle he was, once again, attacked by two egg pawns. "It looks like the doctor is running out of tricks." Shadow said. Shadow jumped high above the egg pawns and used a homing attack to go directly through them at once. Shadow looked back at the destroyed pawns for a moment, not realizing that another one was right behind him. The pawn was about to strike when a red blur whizzed by a sliced it in two.
Shadow had heard the sound of metal being ripped apart coming from behind him and looked back to see what caused it. Once he looked back, Shadow was staring at his old and mysteriously unknown friend, Mach. "Hey Shadow what are you doing here?" Mach asked. "I came to find Eggman and take back the chaos emerald he took from me." Shadow told him, leaving out the part about him working for Black Doom.
Shadow continued to walk through the castle and found that Mach was following him. "By the way, what are you doing here, Mach?" Shadow asked. "I was helping Cream get back home until Cheese flew off and Cream followed him in here. I can't find them anywhere." Mach explained. Shadow stopped in his tracks after that. Cream, the little girl he met on the ARK, was lost somewhere in this castle and Eggman was here as well. Shadow could only imagine what the doctor would do if he found her.
Shadow turned back at Mach and said "I will help you." "Really?" Mach asked in surprise. "We can't let Eggman find her. She is only a little girl and she is more vulnerable then anyone else. We can't let anything happen to her." Shadow said with determination. Mach walked up to him and mockingly said "So you do have a heart, huh Shadow." "Don't think anything of it. I am only doing this for Cream, no one else." Shadow said. "Whatever you say. Come on." Mach said as he ran farther into the castle with Shadow not far behind.
After a short run through the castle, Shadow and Mach were once again outside, staring at a gigantic lantern. "Whoa, it's huge" Mach emphasized. "It is most likely a defense system set up by Eggman, to keep out all intruders." Shadow said to his companion. "So how does it work?" Mach questioned. Shadow seemed stump as he looked all over the lantern for any signs that might help them get past. Shadow looked down to find two small pedestals with a candle in each of them.
"I think I might know how to get past this thing." Shadow said. "How?" Mach questioned. "If we can light these pedestals, then we might be able to advance further into the castle. But the question is, how are we going to light it." Shadow said. Mach and Shadow looked around the area, hoping to find something to light the pedestal. Soon, Mach stopped searching and became very interested in Shadow's hover skates. Shadow saw this and asked "What?"
Mach quickly grabbed Shadow's foot and lifted it up to the pedestal, causing Shadow to fall on his back. "What do you think are you doing?!" Shadow yelled out. Mach then somehow activated the hover skates and lit the candles on the pedestals with them. Mach rel/\eased Shadow's foot and allowed him to stand up on his own two feet again. Once he was up again, Shadow gave Mach a hard punch over the head. "Do that again and I won't be so merciful." Shadow said to the aching Mach.
With the pedestals now lit, a few skull shaped balloons appeared out of nowhere and formed a path to an upper level. "How do you think Egg-butt manages to get up there?" Mach asked jokingly "Are you just going to stand around all day, making terrible jokes, or are we going to save Cream?" Shadow said to him as he followed the balloon path. "Geez, he has no sense of humor." Mach said as he followed Shadow up the newly formed path.
Once Shadow and Mach made their way past the balloons, the found themselves in a small room. Shadow and Mach were about to leave through the door on the other side of the room until a faint sound had caught his ear. Shadow closed his eyes to try and concentrate on the strange sound until he heard a faint 'Chao'. "Hey Shadow, what's taking ya." Mach asked, breaking Shadow out of his concentrated state.
Shadow walked to a nearby wall and placed his ear on to the side of it. "What are you doing?" Mach asked, thinking he had gone crazy. Shadow shushed him as he walked along the wall and continued to listen into it. He nearly listened into all the walls in the room until he heard the 'Chao' sound again, even stronger. Shadow stepped away from the wall before pulling back his fist and slamming it straight through the wall.
The wall had crumbled from Shadow's attack and gave way to a secret space that had contained Cream and Cheese. Cream looked up scared for a moment before seeing that her rescuer was Shadow. "Shadow!" Cream yelled in happiness. "So this is where you've been Cream. How did you get in here?" Mach asked as he stood next to Cream. "Well, I was chasing Cheese when that mean Eggman caught us and threw us in here." Cream explained. "If you want to stay out of trouble, then stay away from places like this." Shadow told the young rabbit. "Ok." Cream said.
After a long trek through the castle, braving perilous traps and Eggman's midget robots, the group had reached outside of the other side of the castle. When they first arrived, Shadow quickly noticed the white chaos emerald floating in the air, this time he knew it was real. "The chaos emerald now belongs to me." Shadow said as he walked closer to the emerald. But as he had gotten closer, a giant red and blue robot with a mace on its hand (egg breaker) jumped from out of nowhere. Sitting in the head of the robot was none other then Doctor Eggman.
"What are you doing here, Shadow?" Eggman questioned. "Doctor, I need that chaos emerald. That emerald may hold the secrets to my--" Shadow was cut off by Eggman. "Enough of this nonsense. All the chaos emeralds belong to me and me alone. And if you still disagree with me, then I will crush you like I will those black creatures." Eggman said as he swung the robots mace arm threateningly. "Cream, hide." Mach said. Cream followed her instructions and moved out of the way for Shadow and Mach to fight the evil scientist.
Eggman started things off by sending his mace hand plummeting towards the two, but they manage to avoid the attack with their speed. Mach jumped at the egg breakers leg and gave it a powerful kick, but was only able to shake it a little. Eggman swung the robots mace around and struck Mach with a powerful blow. Seeing his chance, Shadow jumped to the air and used a homing attack aimed at Eggman himself. Unfortunately the other hand came up and swatted him away.
Shadow landed next to Mach, who was slowly lifting himself up off the ground. "Ha-ha-ha, did you two stood any chance against the great Doctor Eggman, the greatest mind in the world, the---" The duo pretty much drowned out Eggman's boasting after that. "I hate to say it, but the doctor has us pinned." Shadow said. Mach then notice that a yellow chaos emerald was on the ground next to Shadow's foot and quickly came up with a plan.
"Hey Shadow, what about chaos control?" Mach said. Shadow also looked down at the chaos emerald he had dropped and smiled to Mach, approving his plan. The two looked back to Eggman, who was still rambling on, and saw the perfect opportunity to strike. Shadow grabbed the chaos emerald off the ground and Shouted "CHAOS CONTROL!" with that Shadow had disappeared.
Eggman had finish his very long speech (Finally) and noticed that Shadow was no longer with Mach. "Hey, where did Shadow go?" the doctor questioned. His question was soon answered when he heard a whistle sound from behind him. Eggman looked back to see Shadow standing next to Cream, holding a large wrench. Eggman was confused at why Shadow would have a wrench with him until the entire egg breaker fell to pieces and Eggman along with it.
Eggman was now covered by the remains of his previous creation and was knocked out cold. Shadow also took the opportunity to take the white emerald away from the doctor's possession. "I now have four emeralds. That leaves only three more." Shadow said silently as he stared at the shimmering emerald. Mach was standing next to Cream and was thanking Shadow for his assistance. "Thanks Shadow. If it wasn't for you I would probably be dead." Mach said. "Most likely." Shadow said coldly before walking away.
"Man, he is still as moody as the time I first met him in Station Square." Mach said out loud. Shadow halted his movement after that comment and looked back at Mach. What was he saying, Shadow and Mach never met in Station Square. "But Mach, I thought you first met Shadow on the ARK." Cream told him. Realizing what he just said, Mach quickly grabbed Cream and said good-bye to Shadow before running off to a random direction. "There is something strange about that Mach guy. I better keep a closer eye on him" Shadow though as he walked out of the eerie castle.
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