I cant thank you all enough for the love you've poured at this lil number. I only hope to keep up with expectations...anyways; ON WITH THE SHOW!

Part Sixteen: Call to Arms

Pain. He knew it all too well. It seemed that from the moment the heavens chose to acknowledge his existence, they had deemed it necessary to burden him with it. At first, it was the suffering worthy of a laboratory rat. Experiment after experiment, infusions and extractions alike. Yet he still had one shining ray of golden sun and smile to make the time bearable. Like him, she had only known of their home suspended in space. Still, she seemed to understand how much he would mean to the world below and did not shun the specimen as most others of her species did, and that faith and kindness kept him alive.

Then the gods saw fit to take that away from him as well. With a nameless soldier and a nine-millimeter judgment. Her last words to forever echo the purpose he never quite understood as they scrambled to flee from the blood dripping out of her weakening smile; Shadow…for all the people on that planet…give them a chance, a chance to be happy. I know… you can do it. That's the reason you were brought into this world…

Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog.

His capture and half century imprisonment under the surface of the very rock he once stood sovereign over gave his mind time to weigh every one of those words, and time to slowly lose them into memory. By the time his lungs took the first of their new breaths when the good doctor released him, Shadow had decided that those pathetic humans needed to understand just what justice and retribution really were. And he was the perfect instrument to do so.

And the she crossed his path, mistaking him for her cobalt idol, that worthless faker of a hedgehog.

Amy Rose. A young female, an innocent flower worthy of her name. At first, he had simply brushed her off as yet another ignorance to be purged from the world. But as time went on and he fought repeatedly with her comrades, she never gave up on him. On trying to breach his defenses and understand what made him the way he was. And finally, the pieces fell into place long enough for him to lose them once more. Rocketing back down into the atmosphere, deprived of all energies after that fateful battle with FinalHazard, two thoughts still hung upon his lips;

Maria…, this what you wanted right? This is the promise I made to you…

To you and the flower that you sent to me.

After that, life became a cobweb of confusion. Battles upon battles to prove he was not some mere android replica, paving his path with the broken bodies of so many others to fortify the memories he had left and to confirm what little past he remembered truly was his in the first place. Evading those who hunted him, taking small refuge in the lair of a thief only when his options had dried up. Even going so far as to destroy the one creature he could have called a parent. He had laughed in the face of reality itself once again by tearing through time itself. Upon witnessing a future where he was again confined by chains made from human fears, Shadow had decided that the world would never truly understand him, but did that really matter now? Even if the rest of its population showed him cold shoulders and wide gazes, there was still one soul who had looked past the ice in his veins and his melancholy heart, into the purpose for which he had been created. And if she had succeeded in her intent that night after the club, there would have been no predicting what Shadow would have done with this second defeat etched in his immortal soul.

Fortunately this time, he had accomplished what he failed to do fifty years past. He had poured all his purpose and power into saving the one who mattered most.

And in the past week, Amy had opened his eyes to what life really was supposed to be. Compounding years of growing pains into such a small timeframe had taken its own toll on his social and mental graces to be sure, however these were actually rewarded with more than the usual nomenclature he had become accustomed to. Indeed, his efforts had yielded the one reward that existence itself seemed to orbit around. She had come to love him, and he had allowed the shields that had kept himself so isolated and solitary to drop so that his own inexperience could somehow match the power her heart infused with his. Once that had been done, he had concluded that maybe all the sufferings past had their own reasons. To prepare and mold Shadow into the being worthy of courting and caring for his little Rose.

Now, it seemed the pain had returned to his side as well. Save for now it took a more personal form. The feeling of its weight bearing down on his back and legs was agonizing, the sharpened appendages marking its razor-like toes prying their way inside him. Paired with the searing sensation of sharpened teeth and a strong bite attempting to latch onto his skull and bring about his end, it was enough to jolt his control out of they way and let his true nature shine through. And that demeanor was not pleased in the slightest.

"I… don't…think so!" He howled as his arms snaked their away around the mass chomping at them and tossed it forward, alleviating the burden on his spine and freeing his airways. The writhing mass reflected its cloudy metallic skin in the sunlight as it bounced into the street. However, it appeared the machination was not so easily dismissed as it landed on its hind legs with claws digging into the asphalt to face Shadow again. A hasted shriek from someone nearby followed by subdued rumbling pricked up his ears, however his attention on this surprise attack was not to be broken so easily.

Like the saurian of ages past, the creature stood a full head taller than its opponent as it stared lasers through him with glowing amber eyes and a well-rounded muzzle completed with the rows of flesh-tearing knives in its mouth. The torso was slender and built for speed, with long dangling arms tipped with two powerful hands and piercing claws. Its legs were thickened and obviously powerful as demonstrated by its kamikaze leap and topped off by the long tail that swayed with a artificial grace to keep balance made it indeed worthy of the name assigned by its master; the Raptor. As the midnight hedgehog had suspected, the manufacture had stamped their proof of ownership on the robot's sternum, just under the shoulders. And the bulging goggles covering squinted eyes peeking over the outrageous mustache meant only one suspect presented himself.

The drone charged at Shadow again, fangs and hands brought to bear against the hedgehog. Not to turn down the challenge, he too raced towards his assailant, glowing crimson energies flickering from his quills and hands. Once the creation was in range, it torqued it's maw to envelop his cranium once more, a move the crimson-splashed warrior had counted on. With a quickened grace befitting such a creature as perfection, Shadow twisted and ducked out of the way of its piercing attack and grabbed a full handful of the Raptor's tail. He pitched all of his momentum into his strength and yanked his attacker's feet out from under him. Once it had no more grip upon the ground, Shadow pulled the beast into a quick spin and launched it backwards like the oversized javelin the drone had become. Hot on its heels as the dino-bot flew through the air, the angered hedgehog took a page from Knuckles' book and buried his energized fist into it's sternum as the two crashed through a neighboring brick-walled dwelling. The feeling of its solid metallic frame collapsing under the force of his blow was quite satisfying indeed, especially when paired with the crumbling stone barrier snapping and bending the supports that formed the Raptor's spine.

The sentry was not about to give in so easily, regardless of the damage it had sustained. Launching both its sharpened legs upward, the weakened robot caught Shadow in an up-lifting kick to his abdomen. Grunting in shock as he flew into the morning sun, the chaotic power inside him raced down into his palm to form his traditional radiating blades. And then it continued to build even beyond that, like hydrogen feeding the explosion upon a star. Still, his mind was focused and his vision true as his attack locked on to his target, still struggling to regain its posture, half-blanketed in mortar and dust.

The howl of his battle cry was enough to stir the very fabric of any nearby being that still dared to slumber "Chaos SPEAR!" Instead of a simple lance however, the weapon emerged as a slashing burst of scarlet and bane. The Raptor never stood a chance as the burning swordtips buried into and through its skin and whatever stood solid in their path, including the power cell that had fueled the beast until they also detonated in a blazing hue of orange and heat.

Landing victoriously among the wreckage, Shadow felt his endurance wane a bit as soon as his feet hit blacktop and the internal flames licking their way through his fur and senses finally subsided. It was amazing to him that one simple release had involved and drained so much out of his usually inexhaustible core. Not to mention the amount of power and intensity of whatever it was the hedgehog had just fought. Feels like the good doctor is stepping up his game. Still, if that's the best he could do…

Brushing the last particles of dirt from his shoulders, he found an ominous silence had settled upon the scene. It was ludicrous not to expect some attention from the drone and an angered hedgehog crashing about the streets in a battle for survival. He recalled the scream from earlier, and suddenly, the source from which it had resonated was far too familiar.

Right behind him. Amy's house. He had dismissed the sounds of struggle that had accompanied the wail earlier as other faceless passer-bys fleeing for their own lives. And beyond the lone shadow in the climbing light, he was indeed alone. Yet there was still one door that still hung gaping wide. Dashing back inside the dwelling and for the second time in a week, a confusing catastrophe greeted him. The décor of the walls now lay in the same pattern as the destruction mass outside, save for the fact it did not burn. In fact, the walls themselves now lay in ruin. Something had crashed through them from the outside, the path of shattered timber and drywall leading right through the very core of the building. He nearly tripped over the remains of the bedroom door as he entered the last place he had seen his flower.

Not a single surface had been untouched by whatever had waged its all-out war. The glass of the window and mirrored closet had been shattered and the sheets thoroughly shredded, but even those images paled in disturbing comparison to a faint echo of what was also mixed into the debris. That being small creeks and droplets of blood marking the carpet and trailing out of the gaping hole leading out into the world and the complete lack of craters normally caused by overpowering hammer blows. Whatever it was had wanted Amy alive, and he was not about to let that change.

Quickly sliding on his patented air shoes, Shadow the Hedgehog kicked into a full run to trace the nameless meteor that had crashed through his dream and slapped him back into the infuriating truth that seemed to be the ultimate life-form. And as the blackened comet raced into the wilds, trailing fire in its wake, only one continuous thought was brave enough to cross his thoughts; If this is a game you really wish to play Doctor, then this time you have bitten off too much. This time, I'm keeping that promise. This time, you don't walk away…

Just what is Robotnik's plan? (And yes, I prefer Robotnik to Eggman, so sue me) And does he really think pissing Shadow off is a good idea? We shall soon see, wont we?

Bring out yer dead! ...Err, I mean, Reviews! Please?