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"Tails? Cream? Vanilla? Knuckles!? Wha-" Shadow was taken aback by the sight of the animals in the tanks and fell silent. Amy and Sonic were unconscious on the cold floor now and the severe headache had left Shadow completely. All he felt now was emptiness, anger and frustration. The emotions travelled through his shivering body like the wind flew through the deciduous trees nearby his home. Shadow closed his eyes and creased his eyebrows with fury.
"Hahaha, you don't seem to understand what you're dealing with, do you?" echoed the voice in the metal room.
"It's bad enough that you had to drag me into this, but them too? They don't do anything worth worrying about. I hope you realize that they are a waste of your time." Shadow pivoted to the direction of the voice and took a few steps forward while opening his gleaming eyes.
"As normal as that sounds coming from you I feel the tension as you announced your feeling." replied a dissoluted figure that appeared in front of Shadow.
"Well it's true. I've never felt the importance to talk to them."
"Your reaction shows me otherwise."
"I'm just saying. Why bring them into all of this when you obviously have a big problem with me..and ONLY me?"
"I believe you misunderstand your situation, hedgehog." The grey figure moved closer to Shadow, dragging it's feet and arms with each step, drooping it's head so Shadow was unable to see the face of the unidentified enemy. It was as if the stranger's limbs were bound to and endless chain of bricks and metal, not slowing it down, but forcing the figure to bend over. "I don't have a problem with you."
Shadow, although clouded with the memories of the last few days, surged into a state of confused excitement. As the figure halted no more than a foot in front of him he managed words that couldn't fully express his bewilderment. "What do you mean?" He scoffed at his own question, knowing that it was all to useless to ask.
"I mean that I don't have a problem with you." whispered the figure. "But rather, you must have a problem with me."
Shadow's jaw dropped with disgust. "Obviously, since you decided to lock my friends in a bunch of tanks. You're after me about gosh knows what! What the hell did I do to you? I don't know who you are, let alone what you are." The figure lifted itself off of the ground and adjusted its shoulders prominantly, revealing that it had taken Shadow's own appearance. Shadow snarled through his teeth and took a stance of defense.
"What do you see in these, miserable, weak, petty..." the monster smiled menacingly and paused under a breath. "Why do you defend them? Why do you stay secluded in your lonely home in the middle of a forest when you could be with me, taking over little by little, until there's nothing left but muffled voices worshipping your very existence?" The second Shadow floated toward Amy, who lay motionless on the cold, bright ground. Touching the ground with its feet, it knelt over Amy and grinned. "She's better off as being a slave to you rather than a clingy girlfriend, don't you think?"
Shadow was furious. He fumed and spit flew as he screamed. "What!? That is enough! Leave her out of this and fight me, since that is what you are trying to raise in me."
"You are the ultimate life form, and you would rather spend your time caring for this pink thing than accepting your real fate?" The voice echoed through the room. "I'm giving you one last chance, Shadow the Hedgehog. Accept your place, or lose them."
"Well, that doesn't seem fair...being that no matter what I choose, I won't benefit!" Shadow scowled. "I'm not choosing you, I'm not choosing them." The other Shadow tilted its head to the side, as if not understanding his statement. "I'm choosing to fight you."
The being laughed cynically. "Are you trying to say that you'd die for them? Because I can guarantee you that you won't be getting out of here alive."
"Bring it." boomed Shadow. With that, he leaped at the body, and disappointedly landed on the ground with an "umph." The same vicious cackle filled the room and Shadow flew backwards. When he hit the wall behind him, he slid to the floor, grabbing his jaw.
"You bitch." yelled Shadow. "Don't pull this sissy shit, fight me face to face!" He stood and reclaimed his denfense, all the while watching the enemy run around the room. It stopped directly parallel to him, taking the same stance. Shadow leaped again, being mirrored by the alteration that faced him. Every punch, every hit was blocked. He swung left and right, grabbed the attacker by the throat with intense rage, and threw it across the room.
That was lucky, he thought. A thud came from the enemy hitting one of the tanks concealing Shadow's companions and left a crack in the glass. It hit the ground with another thud.
"You're stronger than I thought." admitted the second Shadow. "But I'm still skeptical."
"We'll see about that!" yelled another voice, almost a squeak. A long, metal bar twirled in the air toward the enemy and it struck its head, knocking back onto the tank. Shadow turned to see Amy, alive, nonetheless wincing while making her way over toward him. "You're not the only one whose friends are in there!" She eyed Shadow hopefully. Shadow smiled and then rounded himself to finish his fight.
"What's going on?" the shapeshifter asked itself. "My head..." Shadow lunged at it and it quickly pushed itself away from the tank, taking the bar that was thrown with it. While passing Shadow the shapeshifter flicked the bar into the back of the hedgehog's head, forcing him to fall on the ground, completely knocked out. Amy let out a squeal and ran toward Shadow.
"You're underestimating my power." threatened the maniac. It placed itself behind Amy, grabbing her by the neck and dragged her away from Shadow.
"No!" she yelled. A laugh answered her cry.
"You will learn to obey me, hedgehog." The dark voice trailed through the room. "This fight is useless. Your boyfriend didn't even let me explain further to why I...want him to be my accomplice."
"I don't care who you are, but he would never choose you over us!" Amy stuggled for breath, the space between the enemy's hands and her neck becoming closed. Suddenly, she felt herself hitting one of the tanks, her nose pressed into the cold glass. Afraid to open her eyes she yelled once more. "What do you want from me?"
"You think that I would actually need you? When your boyfriend is being of very little use to me why would you think I found anything useful from you?"
"He's not my-"
"Boyfriend?" it mocked. "If that's the case, then why does he care for you in such a way?"
"I don't know what-"
"He is foolish. Even though he has a place in this world he would rather stay with you. I've seen his mind, and it seems the only way for him to agree with me...is to get rid of you."
"Why do you want him? How did you find him?" Amy was released from the grip and fell to the floor. She tried to stand but failed as she was once again grabbed from behind and tossed across the room, crashing into a giant computer panel adjacent to the tanks. It sparked and crackled. She slid down to the ground and knelt on her knees.
"I was created to be the strongest entity in the world. A weapon, a system of defense, something that couldn't be defeated. Unfortunately for the humans, they let technology get the best of themselves, and through my development I became...stronger...than they would have ever imagined. I gained knowledge as the wires to these computers filled my mind with information." It let out a sarcastic sigh. "A flaw in the human intelligence, I suppose, since now they are all dead."
"You...killed them? Here?" Amy forced out.
"Yes, this is my base, my home. This is where I took over and it was very enticing. Thanks to that flaw in the human intelligence I was able to enter the database and find all of the records it enclosed, including his file." It pointed at Shadow. "I had hoped he would join me with no difficulty. Seeing as he just doesn't understand his reason for living is the reason why you must disappear." It stomped in Amy's direction and she crawled toward the panel.
"I don't think so!"
Shadow had risen, carrying an electric strip with him. It crackled as the currents flowed to the end of the stressed wires. Just as the shapeshifter had turned, The strip entered it's gut, electifying the figure as it seizured violently. Shadow ran to Amy, covering her with his body as the figure let out an ear piercing, high pitched scream of pain. The sound was so shrill the glass of the tanks busted as if pressured, releasing the contents inside. The animals fell limply to the floor and the liquid spread out, mixing with the many computer panels around the room. The lights flickered on and off and the screaming stopped. The figure combusted into nothing, into dust.
Shadow lifted his head, his hands covering the ears of the hedgehog under him.
"It's over."