CHAPTER 15: PLAYING WITH FIRE
"Maria..." said Shadow nervously as he gazed at the girl with blonde hair. All the changelings around her seemed to disappear in Shadow's mind. He walked towards Maria.
Then, he heard a voice:
"Don't do it Shadow!" shouted Sonic from on top of a tree. "It's a trick!"
"It's Maria! It's MY business! Not yours!" Shadow snapped back. He continued walking.
"Shadow... Don't!" Sonic pleaded. But Shadow didn't listen. He reached up to touch Maria.
But Maria struck down Shadow with a blow to the head. Shadow toppled over and landed on his back. Maria then held him down. Then Maria began to morph. Her skin turned black with holes in it, then her whole body changed into a larger changeling:
Queen Chrysalis.
"You... Your not Maria..." stammered Shadow. His head hurt like crazy.
"No," said Chrysalis. "I'm not." At that, her horn began to glow with a bright green colour, ready to fire a very painful laser into Shadow's black heart.
But it didn't come. Instead Chrysalis burst into a frenzy of flames. She took off, but not for long as her wings disintegrated. She landed face first into the green grass.
Sonic, still on the tree, saw four very familiar figures standing behind her.
Tails, Cream... And... Silver and Blaze!
"Tails! Where did you go?" shouted Sonic down to Tails.
"I found Cream with Silver and Blaze in a deeper part of the Forest. But no sign of Applejack or Applebloom anywhere!" explained Tails.
"Sonic! Tails! Cream! Go get to safety while we fight this joker!" said Blaze.
"Alright." said Sonic. At that he hopped from tree-to-tree away from the fight. Tails and Cream ran into the woods again.
When they disappeared, Silver and Blaze jumped into action. Blaze produced fire from her hands and jumped. She started twirling like a spinning-top until she became a tornado of fire. She headed straight towards Chrysalis.
Shadow got up to see Blaze smash into Chrysalis with lots of force. Chrysalis cried out, but got up. Then, with a smug smile, her wings started to grow back!
"Think you could beat me that easily?" said Chrysalis. Her horn glowed and some nearby boulders started to float. Then she hurled at Blaze. But they didn't hit her. Instead, they stopped in mid-air just half a meter away from her.
"I can do that trick too!" said Silver, holding his hand out towards the boulders. Then he hurled them back at Chrysalis, who shot a laser at them, destroying them.
"Shadow, you think you could start rolling?" asked Silver, looking at Shadow.
Shadow grunted, but started rolling. Silver used his Telekinesis to pick him up while he rolled. Then Blaze shot fire a him, turning him into a fireball. Then, Silver hurled him at Chrysalis. Shadow added some more speed by using his infinity rings, making him a fiery streak of coal.
Chrysalis made a shield of pure aura to block the attack, but Shadow didn't bounce off. Instead he broke right through and hit Chrysalis. The other Changelings watched in horror as their queen had a new, massive hole created by the black fireball that blasted through her.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Chrysalis screamed. She started to decompose. "I'LL BE BACK! AND WHEN I COME, I'LL DESTROY YOU ALL!"
Purple shards started to come off her, then she exploded in a spray of purple. All that was left was her ghostly, green life source, floating around like a wisp. It flew off like a comet, into the sky.
"What a way to die..." said Shadow, brushing off some dust.
Blaze turned to the Changelings. "Anyone want some more?" she asked.
The changings looked at each other, and started to panic, flying all in different directions.
"Now that's over, let's find Sonic-"
"The Emerald." said Shadow, butting in. He walked over to the Yellow Emerald, still where it was before. He picked it up and felt it's energy. Three in possession. Four more to go.
"Now we can go." said Shadow.
"Hey! A 'thank-you' would've been nice!" exclaimed Silver.
"Just ignore him." said Blaze.
The trio walked into the woods to find Sonic.