Chapter 3: The Fallen one
Running…someone's running…who is that…what is that…it has spikes…its black with red stripes running down its spikes…Heartless are coming…no, their attacking him…their pulling out his heart…no, it can't be…he turned into one of them…he's a Heartless…he has seen me and he's coming towards me…no, no, no, NOOOOOOOO!
John snapped awake and he sat up. He was shaking, his dream still fresh in his mind. "That's not possible," he mumbled to himself. "They can't do that; at least I've never seen it happen."
"How're you doing buddy?" a blue creature with spikes walked into the room. He was about three feet tall and had a cocky grin on his face.
"Who are you?" John asked him.
"I'm Sonic, Sonic the hedgehog," the creature replied. Behind Sonic came Tails and Robotnik.
"Good, you're awake," Tails said with a smile. "Man, you scared us when you fainted."
"I fainted?" John said weakly.
"Yes, you fainted," Robotnik replied impatiently. "I have a question. What kind of weapon was that you used on the Heartless?"
"What, this?" John raised his hand in the air and summoned his Keyblade. "Its something called a Keyblade. Don't bother asking how I got it, I don't remember. In fact I don't remember anything about my past or how I got here. I was hoping you would have some answers." John nodded at Robotnik.
Robotnik looked thoughtful. "I have no idea. My specialty is in robotics not the mind. I'm sorry."
John sighed. "Oh well. It was worth a try."
Suddenly alarms went off all around them. "What's wrong doc?" Sonic asked.
Robotnik stood up quickly. "It's the Heartless. They're back!"
"On it!" Sonic ran from the room. Robotnik followed him.
John tried to stand up but Tails pushed him back down. "You need the rest," the fox told him.
John sighed but stayed put. "I feel fine now. Hey, what was wrong with me anyways?"
"You overexerted yourself," Tails replied. "As far as we could tell, you were exhausted. In fact when I first saw you I thought you looked tired." Suddenly there was a noise from behind Tails and two soldier Heartless walked into the room.
John jumped out of bed, with a grin on his face, and he summoned his Keyblade again. "You can't stop me now Tails. I'm needed." When the first of the two soldiers ran forward to attack, John easily sliced through his head. He felt incredible. He swung his Keyblade above his head then extended it towards the other Heartless. "Who's next?" As if on cue six shadows appeared. John smiled as he dove into battle. He was invincible. Nothing could hurt him. When he destroyed the last shadow he turned to Tails. "I don't think there is anything wrong with me anymore."
"I agree," Tails replied. "Let's go!" They ran from the room and down a flight of stairs. Ahead of them was Sonic. He was surrounded by waves of Heartless that were pouring through the open doorway. John dove into battle and quickly dispatched a soldier and a shadow before turning back to Sonic.
"Hi, do you need any help?" John asked.
"No, but Robotnik is in his control room," Sonic replied. "You should go to him. Here, let me clear a path for you." He began to spin and blazed through the Heartless.
"Come on Tails," John said. They ran through the path Sonic opened up for them. The Heartless tried to close the gap but John's Keyblade made short work of them. They reached the other side of the battle where Sonic was waiting.
"Go up through here," Sonic told them, indicating the stairwell that they had used before to reach Robotnik's room. "I'll deal with these guys." Sonic dove back into the Heartless.
As they ran up the stairs John glanced at Tails. "How did the Heartless get in?" he asked.
"Well, we knew they could get in again," Tails replied. "Robotnik thought that since we came in the secret door the Heartless would know how to get in also."
At the top of the stairway was the locked door. Tails quickly had it open and they ran into the room. Robotnik was once more at his control panel. He turned around when they entered.
"Good," Robotnik said. "You're here. You, boy, stay by the door and keep the Heartless out." John nodded and turned back to the door.
Tails walked over to Robotnik and peered over his shoulder at his work. "What's all this stuff?" he asked.
Robotnik smiled. "I'm developing a weapon to destroy the Heartless. This weapon should be able to-"
"You better have a look at this guys," John called from across the room. Robotnik and Tails turned around to see three shadows and a black hedgehog enter the room.
"It's Shadow!" Tails gasped.
"No," John said quietly. "This isn't Shadow. Look at his chest." Tails and Robotnik's mouths dropped open when they saw the symbol of a red and black heart on Shadow. John's eyes narrowed. "You see it don't you. This is a Heartless. I saw it in my dreams. The one you know as Shadow was turned into one of those creatures."
The shadows leapt towards John but he spun out of the way. He destroyed one and turned to slash another that was creeping up on him. He dove towards the final shadow and cut it in two. He then turned to the hedgehog, Shadow, but Shadow was all ready past him. He ran towards Robotnik but Tails got in the way. Shadow punched the fox and sent him into the wall.
"NO! Tails!" John hurled himself towards Shadow and sliced at his head, but the hedgehog vanished and appeared behind him. John brought his Keyblade around but Shadow dropped beneath the strike. John brought his weapon down on Shadow's head but Shadow disappeared again. He appeared once more behind John's head and he brought his fists down in an overhead smash sending John to the floor. The hedgehog turned to Robotnik.
"No!" Robotnik yelled. "Sonic! Help!" It was no use. Shadow grabbed him, punched in a couple of keys on Robotnik's main system, and dove down into the secret tunnel that appeared, taking Robotnik with him.
"The Heartless ran off so are you guys okay-" Sonic ran into the room and looked around. "What happened here?"
Tails pulled himself back to his feet. "Shadow came, except he was different. He was a Heartless, Sonic!"
"What?" Sonic's eyes widened. "But that's crazy. How could this happen?"
John jumped to his feet. "Sonic, there's no time for this. All you need to know is that the Heartless can turn you into one of them. They got Shadow and now he's kidnapped Robotnik. You guys stay here. I'm going after Shadow." He ran off down the secret passageway.
"Wait John!" Sonic ran after him. The tunnel ended abruptly next to the tree line. John ran out the end and Sonic followed him.
"You don't need to follow me," John told him. "I can deal with this myself."
"Whatever," Sonic shrugged. "Shadow is my friend and I won't give up on him."
John sighed. "Alright then. Let's go!" They ran off into the woods. "Hey look!" John said pointing off in front of them. "There he is!" Shadow was leaping through the trees holding Robotnik.
"Yep," Sonic nodded. "And there they are!" Heartless began appearing in front of them. Sonic turned and gave John one of his classic cocky grins. "Want to take them together?"
John smiled. "Oh yeah." They ran forward and smashed into the Heartless. Sonic was spinning down the middle of the Heartless's front line and John cut down the remainder as they were stunned by the hedgehog's attack.
As they reached the forest Sonic dropped back to John. "They're thinning out. Have any ideas why?"
John shrugged. "I don't know. Wow, look out!" A tree fell down towards them and they spilt up to dodge it. CRASH! "Are you alright?" John called over the tree.
"Yeah, fine," Sonic called back. "Keep going."
They ran, one on each side of the tree, into the forest. John ran around trees, jumped over logs, and ducked under branches. All around him he could see movement. He knew the Heartless were not far off. Suddenly, one of them dove straight for his face as he was jumping over a fallen tree. He leaned backwards, allowing the creature to fly mere inches over his face. He landed on his back and skidded along a few yards. Several Heartless materialized around him and he stood crouched into his battle stance. "Bring it on," he muttered. The first Heartless, a soldier, spun towards him attempting to kick him. He flipped over it, slashing it through the head as he went. The Heartless exploded into nothing. John took the initiative and moved towards the closet Heartless, a shadow, and he cut it in half. "This is getting nowhere," he thought to himself as he battled. When he gained a moment of peace while the Heartless circled, he smiled at them, waved, and back flipped to a tree. He pushed off of the tree with his feet hard and flew over the heads of the Heartless below him. He landed a good distance away and took off through the trees. A few minutes later he found himself alone. His Keyblade vanished from his hands. "Sonic?" he called softly, just in case the Heartless were still around. "Are you there?" There was no answer. John heard voices not far away and he peeked around a tree to check it out.
"Unhand me, hedgehog!" It was Robotnik, and he had Shadow dragging him towards some kind of door that was floating in the air. John recognized it as a door similar to the one he used to get to this world. There was a man, wearing a dark cloak, standing beside the door. He was smirking at Robotnik's feeble attempts to escape. "What are you doing?" Robotnik yelled as Shadow cocked his arm back. "No! Don't-" Shadow flung Robotnik into the doorway and Robotnik disappeared into it.
The man standing beside the door stepped towards Shadow. "Good work on your first assignment," he told him. "You next one will be to turn everyone on this planet into Heartless. You understand?" The man turned away and began to move towards the doorway.
John decided to make his appearance. "You're not going anywhere," he said to the cloaked man.
The man raised an eyebrow at John. "A pathetic insect. Squash him for me Shadow." He walked into the door and it closed behind him.
"Fine, you can run away," John snarled. "We have some unfinished business Shadow!" The black hedgehog made no reply except to run towards John. John extended his Keyblade straight out in front of him but just before Shadow would impale himself on it, he vanished. John knew what was going to happen, however, and was already turning and slashing his Keyblade behind him where he knew Shadow would appear. The hedgehog appeared for a second then was gone again. John felt something shove him from behind and he stumbled forward. He turned around to face hedgehog but he wasn't there. Then he looked down. Shadow dropkicked John's legs out of under him and he tumbled to the ground while Shadow vanished once more. John stood weakly and looked around. Shadow was standing about ten feet away.
"Just use the techniques I taught you," the voice in John's head told him. "Not everything I taught you was a physical strike."
"Well finally you show up!" John fumed. "Where have you been?" He focused and let his body take over. He felt himself move to point his Keyblade at Shadow. He heard himself call out "Fire"! And he saw a fireball launch from his Keyblade at Shadow. Shadow back flipped into a tree to dodge and John took back control of his own body. He jumped up into a tree, facing Shadow.
"Here is another trick," the voice told him. "Throw you're Keyblade at Shadow then call it back to you. This follows the same principles that are used in summoning your Keyblade for battle in the first place."
John pulled his arm back and threw the Keyblade at Shadow. The hedgehog jumped into the air and John called his Keyblade back to himself. The voice was right; this was just like summoning the Keyblade. It was easy. He have to remember this move for later. Suddenly Shadow began to spin in the air above him. The hedgehog rocketed towards him and John jumped up to meet him. John pulled his Keyblade back over his head and at the last possible moment he slammed it down into Shadow. Shadow fell to the ground and lay still. John landed nearby. "This is it!" he yelled as he hurled himself at Shadow. Before he could finish Shadow off, however, the hedgehog jumped into the air and began spinning again. John could only stare in amazement as Shadow came down on him. There was no time to dodge. John was sent flying through the air and he hit down hard. He couldn't move as Shadow moved in for the kill.
Then Shadow's head snapped back up to see Sonic coming at him. Shadow jumped back as Sonic slammed into the ground where he had been moments before. "Sorry I'm late," Sonic said to John. The hedgehogs moved towards each other like lightning. Both of them were appearing and disappearing rapidly as they fought. After a few moments of equal dueling, they both spun and slammed into each other. They bounced away from each other. Then they moved at each other again. Sonic did the unexpected. Instead of trying to strike Shadow, he jumped over the black hedgehog, kicked Shadow in the back of the head knocking him down, and grabbing him by the arms. Sonic pulled Shadow back to his feet and held him up in front of John. "Strike him now!" Sonic said to John.
"What?" John was astonished.
"It's better for him to be gone then to have him go on like this," Sonic explained. "Its what he would have wanted."
John stood and stumbled over to Shadow. He raised his Keyblade, hesitated, then brought it down and sliced Shadow in two. Shadow froze and then exploded into black bubbles and a heart. Sonic and John watched Shadow's heart float up into the sky slowly. It almost seemed to be moving in slow motion. "He's gone…" John whispered. Then the heart began to glow. It fell back to the ground and began flashing suddenly there was a bright light that blinded John and Sonic. When the light was gone, so was the heart. In its place was a black hedgehog. John eyes widened, amazed. "No way. He's back. That's great…" John collapsed on the ground and fainted.
Hours Later
Sonic and John stood out on the beach. They were waiting for someone. In the distance was a small light. It floated towards them. It was the ball of light John had met in the world he had awoken in. The voice in his head had told him to wait out on this beach because it was coming for him. It had explained that his job on this world was done and he had more to do elsewhere.
"Are you ready to go?" the ball of light asked John.
"Almost," John turned back to Sonic. "Thanks buddy. I wouldn't have been able to do it without you."
"Don't sweat it," Sonic winked at him. "I know times are going to be rough on you from now on. But just remember this: whatever comes in your future, just smile. You'll be okay. I know you will. Goodbye!" With that the blue hedgehog ran off into the distance.
John turned back to the ball of light. "Let's go then." The ball of light transformed into a doorway and John took a deep breath and walked into it. The door was shut and was gone.
Suddenly a girl in a black cloak appeared. "Drat!" she muttered to herself. "Just barely missed them!" she sighed. "Oh well." She reached over to the point where they had vanished and dark energy began to swirl in front of her. "So that's where they went," she muttered to her self. "They're not getting away this time," she faded from view leaving the beach void of all life.
EN
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