werewolf lover99: Well, no more waiting then! :D
Cf96: Thanks! I love that song, and I wasn't going to let the opportunity slip by. ^^
SonicSonic54321: Chapter 33 will be the epilogue, where everything gets wrapped up...and it's my second facorite chapter!
DanceDream: The game could've been so much more, but it wasn't...! Precisely what I sought out to fix, although I can do nothing for the gameplay. xD But I don't know what to say other than thank you for your words...! You've left me speechless, actually! I'm honestly just glad to hear how much you've enjoyed this. :)
And YES! I love Who I Am! As I said above, there's no way I was going to pass on dropping a few lyrics in there. :)
. . .
Anywho, no more waiting! The Final Boss is HERE, and the epilogue will be posted MONDAY! Woop Woop!
Chapter 31: I Am All of Me
"BLACK…DOOM…!"
I raged into the skies after the repugnant thing that Black Doom had become, painting a thin white line against the sky drenched red and streaked with pitch black clouds…both of Black Doom's nightmarish creation.
Although, he wasn't Black Doom anymore.
Now he was Devil Doom, a hideous dragonoid creature with wide wings, reptilian skin, long lanky arms, and two eye-blindingly horrific faces…
At least when I transformed, I just turned white. I wouldn't be able to stand a makeover like that.
The entire sky seemed to quake just with the flapping of Devil Doom's wings, but when he threw his head back and howled an ear-splitting roar into the skies that caused lighting to crack…well, I'm pretty sure the earth rumbled below, too.
"I gave you life, and yet you defy me?" Devil Doom's raspy voice rumbled in my direction.
I took a midair fighting position and nodded, standing my ground.
"Yes, this is where we have our final bout…one that should've been prevented fifty years ago…and one that should never have come to be!" I declared, flashing my fangs.
"You ARE aware…" Devil Doom began, sounding rather coy. "…if I'd never stepped on the ARK and made the deal with Gerald, you wouldn't be before me right now, don't you?"
"Of course I do," I admitted truthfully, eyes glazing over. "I may loathe you for how you've manipulated the professor and I, and I may despise you for the mistreatment of my friends, and I may never forgive you for the suffering you've brought to this planet…but I do acknowledge that without you, I wouldn't be here. I cannot avert my eyes from the truth."
"In that case, perhaps we don't have to fight for the death, if you see things my way…" he trailed dangerously. "I just may be able to spare you, if you stand down now…"
I shook my head.
"You may have had a hand in creating me, but I am no property of yours! I accept my painful past with open arms…because that is the only way I am able to look into the future, Devil Doom…a future that fulfills my promise to Maria, and a future that does not include you!"
"So be it!" Doom bellowed, with such power and ferocity that it made me shake from the energy. "You shall pay for your ingratitude with relentless pain! GRAAAAH!"
He raised his arms high over his head, bringing a cornucopia of debris from the ruined city below us into the air, ready to hurl all the pieces at me. Shreds of buildings, pieces of cars, and plenty of other things I couldn't identify suddenly spiraled in my direction, and I had no idea what to do.
"I guess I should've known this wouldn't be easy…" I murmured, sweeping through the sky trying to avoid everything. It was then that my communicator crackled to life again, this time from none other than the doctor.
"Shadow! There's no need to hold back! Cause as much havoc as you need to!" he instructed me.
"Go for it, Shadow!" cried Tails.
"But how am I supposed to attack him!?" I asked frantically, just before getting smacked by a building shard and spiraling away. Grabbing my head, I'd managed to upright myself and groan. "If I get too close he'll just smack me away!"
"With the power of the Chaos Emeralds, you can launch the Chaos Spear!" Sonic called out. "Use it to impale that monster!"
"Chaos…Spear?"
"Yes- you used to use it against me way back when," Sonic explained. "Your Super Form must have super charged your Chaos Abilities, meaning that your Chaos Attacks will pack more of a punch than before!"
Chaos Spear…yes, I certainly remembered using it, but remembering how to use it was a completely different story.
"Better think fast, Shadow," Devil Doom taunted me, hurling a taxi at me while my back was turned. It smacked harshly into my back, forcing me even farther away from him. In a fit of rage and pain, I flew straight at him with my fist raised.
"Fine, you asked for it!" I growled, my hand suddenly starting to glow bright yellow. Not even knowing what happening, I threw my fist forward and a charge of electricity shot up my arm and manifested as a bolt of some sort, acting as an arrow as it speared through the air and made a direct hit into Devil Doom's face.
I just sort of stared as the abomination alien recoiled in disgust and pain.
"The heck did I just do…?"
"If you charge up your power, it'll release a stronger shot!" Rouge told me afterward. "Just keep up the offensive! Several more rounds of Chaos Spear and he'll be finished!"
Green goo dripped from Doom's being, and as he wiped his eye he glowered at me with a look of bloodlust that disturbed me to the core. Instinctively, I backed away from the monstrosity, but he just roared again and raised more city ruins into the heavens.
"Come now, Shadow…" he beckoned to me dangerously. "Die along with these humans and the rest of the foolish planet!"
"Never!" I yelled back, casting my hand forward and launching a small barrage of mini spears at the debris. They instantly detonated from the force of my attack, allowing me a safe path to travel in order to get closer to Devil Doom. But the more I moved, the weaker I began to feel…
"Yo, Shadow!" this time it was Knuckles, and he sounded concerned. "Remember, you need rings to maintain your Super Form! You'll burn through your rings over time, so keep an eye out and make sure you don't run out!"
"Got it," I replied, glancing to my right and finding a score of rings just waiting for me to pick up. I flew in that direction, with Devil Doom trying to stop me by thrusting one of its heads forward and spewing fire on my heels.
"BURN!" he wailed, a few of the flames licking my ankles. Cringing, I pressed my power more and flew faster, gathering up enough rings to keep me stable for a while.
When I turned back to stab him with a few more spears, I found that the face without the eye was facing me, preparing to spew more fire at me. This time I was more prepared, so I swooped under the flames and sharply rose back up, hurling several small spears at it before finishing off with a bigger one. However, Devil Doom emerged completely unscathed from the barrage and proceeded to hurl some sidewalk at me.
"How did that not work?" I asked aloud, and apparently communicator picked up on it.
"Is that thing invincible? No, it's got to have some sort of weak point!" exclaimed Eggman.
"It's obviously its eye," murmured Rouge. "I'm pretty sure he found that out already…"
"Its eye keeps moving!" I cried, and Knuckles tisked on the other side.
"Then you're just going to have to track it down!"
"…I'm going to hang up on you guys if you keep feeding me the obvious," I threatened, and all fell silent on the other side. "That's better."
Now, fully focused on skewering the heck out of Doom's eye (which was weird, considering it did have two heads) I flew around our little part of the sky in order to be face to face with it again. Getting close enough to aim but far enough to not be simply swatted away, I took Rouge's advice and charged the power of Chaos Spear in my arm, waiting on just the right moment to unleash it.
As I flew around Devil Doom to get to the head that actually had the weak point, Doom had spread out his nightmarish wings and summoned some meteors into the air, all of which started firing lasers in every direction.
I scowled at his pitiful attempt to barbeque me and felt my emotions shift.
"You can't touch me, Doom!" I exclaimed, starting to glow red. Some of the lasers were set to strike me, but I activated Chaos Blast and formed a sort of destructive yet protective barrier around me, deflecting all the lasers and clearing out the debris in the area, with some rings going everywhere and clearing a straight path right to Doom.
Scooping up the rings, I was finally able to get a proper angle on Doom's Eye and raised my fist again. However, said eye rolled in my direction to glower at me, with Doom grabbing a chunk of pavement and throwing it at me. Chaos Blast certainly wasn't about to stop a rock that size, so I conjured up Chaos Control and stopped it just before it reached me.
"Heh, what do you know?"
I swapped to Chaos Blast with ease, sending the pavement piece straight back at Doom. It smacked him square in the jaw, immobilizing him just long enough for me to throw the spear I'd been charging up straight into his pupil.
"Take that, Doom!" I boasted. "How does THAT strike you?!"
Mercy, where did that come from…?!
"Shadow, you may be invincible in your Super Form, but getting hit will cause you to lose time!" Sonic cried, choosing an impromptu time to interrupt.
"It's all over if you run out of rings! If you're running low, focus on getting more first!" added Amy.
"Thank you, guys…" I stated sarcastically, flying away from Devil Doom's counter attack. "I can handle this…"
"I'll shred you to pieces!" Doom suddenly howled, and a storm of meteors rained down upon me. It caught me off guard and several started pounding me out of the sky, sending me toppling below the clouds.
"Arrrgggh…!"
"Told ya," scoffed Sonic and Amy from the watch.
I almost regret getting this thing…
"That's enough!" I yelled, spinning around in midair and finding myself face to face with more meteors. I halted them with another Chaos Control, changed their direction with Chaos Blast, and increased their speed and power with Chaos Spear. Devil Doom saw them being hurled toward him, and he couldn't quite comprehend what was happening.
"You should be dead!" he seethed, just before the onslaught of meteors assailed him and sent him into a defensive position. With his eye vulnerable, I whipped up another Chaos Spear and sent it flying in his direction.
"If you wanted me dead so badly, you should've never brought me to life," I huffed, and he sneered at the irony.
Also, he simply tilted his head to the right and avoided the bolt completely.
"Ha, you brag to me, but you can't even hit your target!" Doom scoffed, grinning at me with his gnarly smile.
I just stared at my glove cuff.
"Huh, that's strange. I didn't think I was aiming at you."
Confused, Devil Doom looked over his shoulder, just in time to see my Chaos Spear ricochet across all the debris and meteors he brought to the battle, only for it to redirect back to Doom and strike him straight in the eye.
"NAAARGH!" he hissed, with me smirking darkly in return. He grabbed at his face with his large and clumsy hands. When the pain subdued somewhat, he peeked at me with his bloodshot eye from behind his hands and snarled at me.
"I see…I seem to have underestimated the power of the emeralds. No matter…I will destroy you all the same!"
He started glowing as he threw his hand to the sky once more.
"CHAOS CONTROL!"
I shielded my eyes and gathered a few nearby rings as Devil Doom warped a great distance away from me, summoning more debris from below and hurling it all at me. I simply scoffed back and surrounded myself in a Chaos Blast.
"Death…to all who oppose me!" I yelled, barreling forward in my protective red sphere. The debris ricocheted away from me in all directions, but the bulk of them drifted towards Devil Doom. With a growl he simply thrust his fists forward in an arrhythmic pattern, shattering the building pieces and shards of road into smithereens. Afterward, he simpered at me again and let out a throaty chuckle.
"Hmph…your usual tricks will no longer work on me," he informed me, thrusting forward with a trail of flames trickling from his mouth. I swiftly dodged out the way and tried to counter with another spear, but I really did miss this time.
"You've got to get closer Shadow," Tails stated, as if he knew exactly what was going on. "Too far away, and your shots will be useless!"
"When are you guys going to give me some helpful advice?" I asked, and Tails made an offended sound in retaliation.
"I thought that was helpful advice!"
"No, that was stating the obvious. Next thing you know, you'll be telling me to be careful not to fall."
"Well, you could always be wary of that too-" piped up Sonic afterward. I rolled my eyes and returned to the fight.
I hurled another Chaos Spear, but I missed again, just in time for Devil Doom to prepare retaliation.
He broke into a mad cackle, some of the remaining meteors starting to circle around his head in perfect sync. Before I could deduce what was even going on, the meteors shot several laser beams down to the world below and began to spread out and spin, with the intention of hitting me. Panicking, my aura darkened to blue as I stopped time around me before being sliced in half with one of the lasers.
Conveniently, Devil Doom was in a prime position for spearing, so I conjured up as a big of a bolt as I could in my limited amount of time and chucked it at him, and this time, I did not miss.
Getting out of the way, I let the meteors spiral out of the way as time around us returned to normal, with Devil Doom feeling a sharp amount of pain immediately. Snarling, I folded my arms and glowered at him.
"Hmph, I guess you now know what it feels like to have immense pain sent surging through you at any given time…" I trailed acidly, locking eyes with him. "Not very pleasant, is it?"
"Don't put me down to your level, impudent worm," Devil Doom sneered, casting his hand at me. "I've told you before that I am superior to you; I am superior to everyone, everywhere, anyhow, anyway, anywhere, any day…! I am the Ultimate Life Form!"
"As if you can deem yourself worthy of the title!" I spat, clenching my fist. "I am not even deserving of that title! That's why…I told Sonic he was such just before I disappeared…"
I closed my eyes and hung my head.
"The Ultimate Life Form is not someone who scorns life…it is someone who appreciates it, and fights to make sure others have a life to live…someone like that could never be you or me, with your blatant disgust and disregard for the humans, and the revenge I once sought against them, with the both of us nearly destroying this beautiful planet in the process…"
I opened my eyes, a fierce gaze now donning my expression.
"Understanding my past had created a path for me, one that I will lead myself down with no interference from others, unless I allow it," I told Doom, and he just scowled scathingly in return. "That is why this planet will stay in one piece, and me protecting it once again is a small price to pay for the mistakes you made me do in the past…!"
"Oh, you're going to blame ME for your petty and worthless problems?" Doom scoffed, lowering his head. "That planet isn't going to last forever anyway- all the Black Arms were trying to do was speed up the process…while also having our own culture thrive! It was the perfect plan until you dared to stand against me! The fault is all your own!"
"NO, you manipulative bastard!" I hissed, hurling Chaos Spears in every direction. "I take responsibilities for my actions, but not only were you the source for some of them, but you were constantly hounding me when I tried to make up for my actions! I know I was wrong; now it's time you learned the same!"
My hand burst into a surge of light, with me thrusting it forward. The surge of power rocketed through my arm and out my palm, manifesting as a rather large Chaos Spear. It zapped forward so fast that Doom hadn't the time to dodge, nailing him right in the eye and causing him to throw his head back in rage.
I took the time to gather up some rings, but when Doom pulled himself together, his eye was redder than ever before, glowering murderously at me with no signs of letting up.
"Burn, BURN!" he shouted wildly, opening his mouth and blasting me with flames. The flames managed to hit me this time, and I hurried to scramble away before the attack ate up all my rings.
When I managed to replenish my health, I turned to face Devil Doom, with the golden aura around me seeming to glow a bit brighter and create even more of a contrast against the crimson and ash sky.
"You know, Devil Doom, every moment with you has been like one step forward, and two steps back…" I stated, and he went silent, listening with cautious patience. "Every time I thought I was getting somewhere, it turned out I was way farther from the truth than I anticipated…"
"So what?" snapped Doom, apparently growing impatient. "I could care less about your little journey to find yourself…now that you have your memories back, you think you're all high and mighty again, but what good is remembering going to do for you now?"
He lurched forward, and I flinched defensively, expecting him to spew fire again. But he did nothing of the sort, other than stare me down with his single bloodshot eye.
"Do you remember me, Shadow?! I had the option to capture you or set you free at one point in time…but you've been such a thorn in my side that I have no choice but to end your life here and now!"
With a loud grunt, he raised some more debris from the city into the air and pushed it in my direction. I dodged and shot at it, only for a stray stop sign to smack me in the face and throw me off the flight pattern.
Oh, the indignity…
"Shadow, we can't hear any witty banter; are you okay?" I heard Rouge asked frantically from my communicator, which was enough to stir me from my discombobulated state.
"Y-yeah…I'm okay…" I huffed, scooping up the rings I had lost in the attack before they disappeared. "I guess getting hit was a sign or something."
"…was that another trace of humor I detected?" Sonic chimed, and I narrowed my gaze.
"Maybe. How're you all holding up?"
"Fine, for being paralyzed from the chest down," Knuckles stated.
"Right now, it's just mainly our voluntary muscles that are affected," Tails explained. "All our involuntary functions like our heart beat and breathing are still okay, but I dunno for how much longer…"
"Is Black Doom defeated yet?" Eggman asked impatiently.
"No…it's like I've hardly done anything to him with the way he keeps recovering from my attacks, but every time I hit his eye, his reactions get more painful sounding, so…I must be getting close!"
"Hang in there, Shadow!" Amy exclaimed, and they left me alone for the time being once again. I just sighed.
"They never know when to qui- YAH!"
I quickly swooped down to avoid a ricocheting laser, sent by none other than Devil Doom. Growling, I flew back up while charging power in my hand behind my back.
"Bad move, Doom…" I trailed, spinning around and sending a barrage of bolts at him. He deflected the majority, but at one point I flew up even higher and started kicking meteors down at him, causing him to leave himself vulnerable while he dodged those. Moving lower, I charge another Chaos Spear and took aim, hitting Devil Doom for the sixth time.
"He's resilient, I'll give him that…" I murmured as Devil Doom released a devastating shriek that made my ears flatten against my head. It was then that I started feeling weak again, so I grabbed some more rings and I tried to depict what Doom was going to do next.
"CHAOS CONTROL!"
Well, that answered that.
He warped quite a distance away from me and conjured up more meteors, turning them all on me. They all fired lasers, with all of them converging into one powerful beam which was going to be tough to avoid. Cringing, I called upon Chaos Blast again, managing to nullify the effects of the beam at the last moment and even succeeding in redirecting them at Doom. It didn't quite reach his eye, but it must've left a painful mark on his chest, for he grabbed the area I'd hit and started visibly wincing.
"Heh heh heh…a low tactic, Shadow…even in our final dual, our similarities are still strong…" he trailed, and I clenched my fists.
"You know Doom, I wasn't always so blind to your deception…" I began, and I actually seemed to pique his interest. "The journals that Eggman and Rouge had read through, your horrible treatment of me, the black writing on the wall on Prison Island…"
Devil Doom narrowed his eye and scrutinized me. "What black writing…?"
"In his cell," I explained with an even tone. "The professor wrote that you would pay for what you would do…or in our case, what you already have done. It's like he predicted your defeat even in his delusional state of mind…"
This seemed to infuriate Doom to no end, forcing him to emit a large throaty growl as he hurled a combo of debris, meteors, and fire at me all at the same time in his anger. I didn't have enough negative energy built up to initiate another Chaos Blast so soon, so I instead relied on Chaos Control, halting everything before it reached me.
"Before this is over…I'll show you the true power of Chaos Control!" I announced, snapping my fingers and making all the potential projectiles disappear. When time resumed again, Devil Doom was shocked to see that all his ammunition was gone.
"What have you done…?"
"I simply manipulated the spatial powers of Chaos Control, in a similar manner to what you did with the Black Comet…just on a smaller scale," I explained coyly. "You wanna know where it went?"
Before Devil Doom could get a word in edgewise, I snapped my fingers again, and all the debris, fire, and meteors came crashing down on Doom from above, hitting him from all directions and leaving him exceedingly vulnerable. It was almost too easy, sending a Chaos Spear right at his face and making him howl once again.
But that strike was apparently the straw that broke the camel's back, and he went into berserker boss mode.
"SHAAADOOOOW!" he wailed, not even bothering with keeping his distance from me. He flew at me with a fierce velocity, grabbing me in one of his mangled hands and holding me in front of his face.
And I was pretty small in comparison.
"My defeat was never predicted!" he insisted loudly, and I'm sure his voice reverberated around the world. "I've unleashed a million faces of the Black Arms onto that planet…and one by one every single human down there…they'll fall!"
He squeezed me tighter, and I found myself unable to even wiggle in his grip. If I couldn't move and finish him off soon, I'd run out of rings, and my Super Form would run out, leaving me helpless…
"Look at you, worthless waste of matter!" Devil Doom continued deploringly. "I should've never given my blood to an ungrateful and annoying pest like you! I had high hopes you'd be a perfect soldier like the rest of my men…"
"But you were wrong," I managed to squeeze out with a few puffs of breath. "That's one thing we can agree on."
"RRRRGHHHH…!"
Devil Doom tore an entire street from below and held it before him, with me outstretched in his arm. With another sickening roar and what appeared to be black tears falling from his eye, Doom thrust forward, aimed to crush me against the suspended pavement.
Aw hell no…
"C'mon, c'mon…" I whispered to myself. "Just a short distance…"
At the very last possible moment, I drew upon all the positive energy I could muster, and in a flash, I teleported out of Doom's hand, causing him to slam his palm against the pavement and effectively injure himself. I wasted no time in gathering the last of the rings in the area to sustain my form, but I didn't need too many- Devil Doom was doing himself in at the rate we were going!
"You're nothing but black-hearted evil, Devil Doom!" I yelled, snarling at him as both of my hands started glowing. "There's no chance a creature like you would have a chance against a brave-hearted hero like me…"
"How dare you…put yourself on a higher pedestal than me…!" Devil Doom roared, ignoring his now possibly broken hand in favor of spewing fire at me. I dodged easily, then spread my arms wide and welcomed another attack.
"So go ahead and try to see through me! Do it if you dare!" I challenged him, and he accepted it gladly by creating more laser-firing meteors and hurling them at me. I spun and swirled around them easily, putting Doom back on the defensive.
"I thought you had the answers…but now I'll laugh and watch you fall!"
"Here we go, buddy…" chimed Sonic, and I could hear the enthusiasm in his voice. "Finish him!"
"Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!" cried the others in perfect unison.
"Finish ME?!" Devil Doom droned deliriously, grabbing his head and shaking it like the mere concept was poison to him. "No…never…I am the leader of the perfect race…I am…the ultimate life form…!"
I simply spread my arms, both palms glowing brighter than the sun at this point, and it was apparently so blinding that Devil Doom had to turn his head away from the light. "Can you see all of me? Walk into my mystery…step inside and hold on for dear life!"
"You speak nonsense…that light…no more…!" Devil Doom hissed, growing increasingly more incomprehensible by the moment. I just bowed my head and let my aura grow brighter; let Doom's Eye burn in the light…!
"I've finally realized…that I do have the potential to destroy the planet, but I also have the power to protect it…I was created by you, and maybe it would've been better had I not been born…I am not an Android, but an experiment that was born aboard the ARK, which still stands as my home…and I've realized that in the end, only I know what's best for myself…but it's okay to listen to those that love you…"
"And we all do very much, Shadow," Rouge stated from the communicator.
"Yeah, Shadow!" cheered Tails, Amy, and Knuckles.
"We've got your back, buddy!" came all three members of the Chaotix, who had just joined in on the conversation. Eggman muttered something incoherent after that, but it was probably something along similar lines.
"We all live and learn, Shadow…" Sonic stated with a small chuckle in his tone. "Now, show Devil Doom what that really means!"
"No…NOOOOO!" wailed Doom, practically paralyzed from the light that emitted from me. I could hardly see in front of me, but I knew exactly where Devil Doom was.
"Devil Doom, there is good to me, and there is bad to me…"
A single tear dripped down my cheek, but I smiled as it fell.
"But no matter what…"
The power in my hands surged dramatically, and I almost wasn't able to control it all.
"…I am all of me."
With that, I let out a victory yell as I thrust my palms forward and unleashed all the power I had been building up during my spiel. A large bolt of electric power went streaking across the sky, aimed directly at the center of Doom's Eye, destined to destroy him once and for all. He was still reeling from the brightness of my aura, and because his blood was in me, it was finally my turn to get some sweet revenge in that aspect.
"Im…impossible…! I am the supreme being that rules this universe!" Devil Doom howled in a deranged wail; the most inhumane scream I'd ever heard. His eye was battered and bruised; no longer able to see the despair and destruction he wrought…
Not that he'd be doing anything ever again…
"This is the end of you, and the end of my cursed past…!" I exclaimed, hitting him with one more spear that struck him right through the heart, now that he'd been weakened from my constant assaults to his eye.
He roared again, throwing his head back and making everything around us rumble with the reverberation.
"I am the Ultimate Life Form…! I am…immortal power…! GRAAAAAHHHH!"
Devil Doom toppled out of the sky as his life force was slowly depleted, descending beneath the clouds and promptly imploding upon himself just out of my line of sight. My gaze was locked on the point of the clouds where he had descended, and I only had it in me to shake my head.
"Good riddance, Devil Doom…you will not be missed."