Chapter 24
Chaos and pandemonium.
Darkness and fear.
Black Doom's death throes had shaken the entire facility, from the foundations upwards, and now the time bombs had been set off. Warning were blaring throughout the place as the self-destruct sequence, set in the event of Doom's death, began to run.
The entire facility was starting to shake to its foundations as Black Doom's influence over the place was suddenly torn from it, the Black Arms soldiers stopping in their tracks and staring around them, confused, as their master's control was suddenly gone. Soon, the entire facility was going to level.
SSB was short on time as they had never been before. For all the thought put into the plan, for all their emphasis on no mistakes in this, it seemed that the biggest mistake of all had, in fact, been killing Black Doom and releasing his hold on everything in his control.
Black Doom had obviously anticipated his death. For all his ego and all his confidence that he could destroy Shadow and the rest of SSB, even he had had nothing against setting up a fail-safe in the event that he WAS killed. His plan had been very thorough indeed. He had been planning on both the success and failure of Link, Samus, Shadow, and Snake's plan. In the event they failed, he would have disabled the self-destruct, as there would have been no further need for it. But in the event that they would succeed, however, Doom had set up the self-destruct sequence to initiate the moment he was destroyed and his control was lifted. It hadn't started immediately, as Doom's influence was removed so quickly and thoroughly, but as the system re-calibrated itself, it realized Black Doom was no longer in control, and the self-destruct sequence began loading.
As Samus and Link reached the surface, the ticking of their own timed heat bombs became audible. Samus and Link stared in horror at one another as they realized that Black Doom's death had caused the entire facility to start self-destructing. Not wasting a minute on words or emotions, the couple rushed towards Snake, Raiden, and Zant, who were rushing to get members of SSB out of the falling-apart facility, not far from the main building. During the chaos, Raiden had managed to hack the facility's mainframe and had set the rest of SSB free, showing them the way out in the process and helping them escape. The majority of them were weakened from their captivity, with a select few, namely Megaman, Falco, Fox, Wolf, R.O.B., and Toon Link, still in top condition, being either used to malnutrition or not needing nutrition to begin with. They, along with Raiden, Snake and Zant, were rushing the others outside the facility's west gate in groups of 3 and 4.
Link and Samus rushed to help their 9 companions even as a loud mechanized voice rang throughout the facility.
"Emergency Self-Destruct Sequence Initiated. Robotnik Factorial Facility will Self-Destruct in t-minus 5 minutes."
Chaos reigned. The Wire-Frames and Polygon Figures, with the destruction of their maker, were starting to badly malfunction, running rampant in panic, many of them simply keeling over, lifeless, as Black Doom's influence was ripped unceremoniously from their systems. Others were exploding into tiny pieces. Still others were freezing in place and dissolving into purple fluid.
Sonic and Shadow, still weary from their fight with Black Doom, surfaced from under the main building as the same mechanized voice said, "Robotnik Factorial Facility will self-destruct in t-minus 4 minutes." At these words, Shadow stared in horror at the chaos around them, unable to believe that Black Doom had outsmarted him. Again.
They'll never get far away enough in time! Shadow realized. The shock wave and radiation will reach them long before they're a safe distance away!
As the last of SSB made it out the west gate, even as the mechanized voice declared 3 minutes remaining, Shadow grabbed Sonic and took off at top speed, racing him to the gate and throwing him towards the rest of SSB.
The moment Sonic was with the others, Shadow turned back towards the now-shaking facility. Link shouted towards Shadow as the rest of SSB ran for their lives.
"Shadow, let's go! We did it, it's over! Let's go, we need to get away from here!"
Shadow shook his head. "You'll never make it in time. The radiation will get you long before you're out of reach."
Realizing what Shadow was about to do, Samus protested, "Shadow, no! Even if you succeed, you'll die!"
Shadow snarled, "And even if I live, what then? You know full well that i'll be imprisoned, regardless of what I've done to help you all. A Fair trial ends in imprisonment for me, because of my part in all this. I can't be set free."
Link tried to dissuade him. "You could join us! We need someone like you, Shadow! Look at everything you've done to help us regardless of your part in starting it!"
Shadow snorted, "And then what? I'm too powerful. Far too powerful to join the SSB ranks, even as a leader. The authority of SSB would always be in question because of my connection to the Chaos Emeralds. I'm too powerful to roam around, I'd be too tempted to control everything if something wasn't to my liking."
"But even if you did, you're not evil, you were only created by it. I'm sure you'd have good intentions if you needed to do so!" Samus protested.
"But that's exactly the trap, isn't it?!" Shadow yelled, "I might think my intentions are good, but everyone else would hate me for it! I'm too powerful to be trusted with authority. My gift has always been my curse, Samus. If I must die, then I will die for the good of everyone in this universe!"
Realizing that nothing would dissuade him, Link placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's been an honor fighting with you, Shadow. May the Goddesses grant you safe passage to the afterlife."
Shadow nodded. "Take care of Midna. And be grateful for Samus. She's the best person you could ever be with."
Link, understanding, nodded, and removed his hand from Shadow's shoulder.
Shadow set his jaw and walked back towards the crumbling facility, ignoring the yells of protest from behind him as Link struggled to hold back Sonic. Much of his power had been drained in the fight with Black Doom. Physically, he had little if any energy left, having tired much of his remaining strength getting Sonic to safety.
He had only one option left.
As the loud voice indicated 1 minute remaining, Shadow bowed his head and, stretching his mind beyond the facility, sent a telepathic message.
I'm sorry, Midna. I won't make it back to you. Before I die, I must tell you. I love you. I always did, though I never admitted it. Only you could have understood me and my nature. Though we never could have been together, for I am too powerful to be trusted, I have always loved you, Midna. And for your sake, I am sacrificing myself to safe those dearest to you. I'm so sorry I never said this before.
Completing his message, and feeling, despite himself, that it was the cheesiest love confession he'd ever heard even from one about to die, Shadow straightened. Drawing his breath, he did the one thing he could do to insure that he succeeded.
He removed all four of his limiter rings.
Drawing upon the limitless vortex of energy pulsing through the Chaos Emeralds, Shadow became Super Shadow once again, and began drawing upon his chaos energy and formed it into a massive energy shield that encompassed the entire facility.
Mere seconds after the shield covered the facility, the reactors melted down and the self-destruct charges detonated.
Shadow's body shuddered violently as the nuclear explosion slammed against his shield. Struggling to maintain his concentration, Shadow howled in agony as the never-ending flow of chaos energy began to slowly and painfully sap his life force. Shadow, fighting through the pain, contracted the massive energy shield, turning the explosion inwards and absorbing the radiation as it tried to escape. Shadow had never felt such agony in his life. Little by little, his life force was sapped in his attempt to shield the greatest people he had ever known from certain death, and each bit of his life force that was sapped felt as though his very flesh was being ripped piece by agonizing piece from his bones. Shadow was forced to one knee as the will to stand on both feet was drained from him, every ounce of his strength put into keeping the shield in place.
He contracted the shield further and further, turning the explosion and the shock wave in on itself, Forcing it to expend itself inwards, protecting everyone from harm.
And as suddenly as it began, it was over. The explosion, drained of oxygen to feed the expanding fire, burned itself out, and the radiation expanded into nothing as all mediums of spreading were burned out in the inferno.
Shadow, drained of all energy, released the flow from the Chaos Emeralds, returning to his normal self. Drained of all his strength, Shadow fell to the ground, collapsing in a heap, his sharper than normal senses dulled beyond repair, not sensing the approaching footsteps of Sonic, Link, Samus, Snake, Raiden, and Zant. Shadow's vision flickered, blurred beyond recognition. All around Shadow was silence. He heard nothing. Felt nothing. Saw nothing but blurry images. Smelled nothing. Tasted nothing. His senses were gone. Shadow's heart struggled to continue beating, his heart rate frighteningly slow. His vision was darkening as, with an enormous effort, he drew one last breath, his lungs taking in the clean, fresh-tasting air one last time.
And, with his one final breath passing out of him, Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life-Form, the Savior of Westoplis and now the entire universe and of SSB itself, died, his last remaining strength drained saving the very people who had once hated him and were now forever in his debt.
Wow. What a heroic act.
One more chapter to go, and then it's over. All over.
First off, I'd like to apologize to all my readers for the abominably long wait on this chapter, and I do hope that what this chapter contains was worth the wait.
I never justify delays but all I will say is that with recent issues holding me back, i've been unable to find time to post this chapter, and I ask forgiveness from everyone for the delay.
Thank you, each and every one of you, all who have followed Samus, Link, and Shadow to the very end. Only one chapter remains to be written, and then, I'm sorry to say, this story will finally end.
There will be a time to reflect, but that is not now.
Please read and review.