A/N: The first part of this chapter is another filler just to add more text. But the second half will be important, and we'll be seeing some characters that didn't get a lot of 'screen time', if you would say.
Also, I'm so sorry it took me a week to update! I just returned to college for my spring semester and didn't have the time to get back to the story. I hope you guys understand. Anyways, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own rights or the characters to Mario and Sonic as they belong to Nintendo and Sega, respectively.
Chapter 5: The Shadows Within
After the ballgame ended, Mario, Sonic, and their friends all headed out to Mushroom Park to continue their afternoon of leisure and celebration with Luigi. They entered the theme park with tons of attractions to check out: roller coasters, go-kart races, food stands, spectating shows, and the Aquamarine Overcast, where the trained aquatic creatures show off their amazing tricks and stunts to the crowd, with the addition of a large splash zone.
The gang decided to split up in groups to wherever they desire. Toad, Toadette, Blaze, Silver, Cream, and Cheese went off to the Spinning Mushroom Tops. DK, Diddy, Vector, Espio, Charmy, Knuckles, and Rouge decided to check out a laser-tag minigame. The remaining members of the group all decided to ride one of the largest roller coasters in the park: Gobblegut Burrow, a high-speed thrill ride with the coaster design based off one of the bosses Mario faced in his second galactic adventure. (1) Luigi was slightly anxious, but with reassurance from his friends, he felt more relaxed and decided to enjoy the rush with others by his side.
The Gobblegut Burrow was an inverted coaster where the train rides under the rails. The train consisted of eight rows with four seats per section. Mario, Luigi, Sonic, and Tails took dibs on the front row (thanks to Sonic convincing the others). The red plumber and blue hedgehog filled in the outside seats with the green plumber and the yellow fox sitting in between them. Row two was taken by Peach, Daisy, Amy, and Yoshi. The other six rows were filled with other park guests, awaiting the adrenaline rush they're about to experience.
Once the seats were buckled up and checked for safety inspection, the announcer at the control desk clicked on the microphone. "Dispatch," he declared and the train began to ascend the tall hill in front of them. Luigi was slightly nervous as the train was close to reaching the apex of the hill, but his brother gave him a reassuring look, showing that the ride will be for fun, and that there's nothing to be afraid. The green plumber nodded and looked forward as Gobblegut began to descend.
Enthusiastic screams were heard from all the riders, screaming at the top of their lungs, especially Luigi. Through several corkscrews, antigravity sections, twists and turns, the Gobblegut coaster was blazing across the rails at its top speed of ninety miles per hour! Near the end of the ride, the train approached two cameras on the side with lights flashing, an indication that their pictures were taken.
By the time the friends departed the dragon ride, they headed to the photo booth to see their faces. Sonic and Mario both had silly expressions, Luigi's mouth was completely agape, and Tails' three bangs ended up getting ruffled. Yoshi and the girls all had cheerful looks, despite Peach's hair being messed up from the ride's pace. Everyone laughed at their appearances and continued looking for more attractions. Although the entire group were enjoying the exhilarating rides, they were unaware of the events happening in Sonic's home land…
Location: Station Square
The city was bustling with citizens, either driving their vehicles or traveling by foot… but not in a leisurely fashion.
People started screaming and running for cover when the city was under attack. Floating high above the train station was the dark entity, holding the glowing, purple staff in his clutch. He was also in possession of two of the Chaos Emeralds, the ones he stole from Eggman's base, suspended inside the scepter's orb. The figure used the power of the gems to start an ambush on the town by obliterating buildings, flower patches, streetlights, and even innocent pedestrians. And that's with the help of some robots following his orders.
As the evil villain continued terrorizing Station Square, another figure happened to take note of the tragedy. Standing on the rooftop of a skyscraper was a black hedgehog with red streaks on his quills. He had rings around his wrists and the top of his white kicks. He clenched a fist as he looked at the destruction beneath him.
"Ridiculous," he thought. "Just when I thought Eggman would be back to his old tricks, I don't see a sign of the fat ass at all. Initially, I would be the one to wreak havoc while dealing with the faker. But that's another story." (2)
He slightly looked up and darted a glare towards the station's roof. Shadow managed to spot the source of this catastrophe.
"Something tells me that he looks like a new threat, or an up-and-coming minion to the doctor. Man, he looks despicable. Pathetic. Not even intimidating, to say the least. But, what's he attacking the square for? And how the hell does he have two Emeralds for himself?!"
Later, his arm extended behind his head, ruffling through his dark-colored quills. He pulled out a shiny artifact. But it wasn't just a simple object one would find in an ancient temple. It was the cyan Chaos Emerald!
Shadow closed his eyes as he concentrated, clutching the emerald in his right hand. With enough energy, he shouted, "Chaos Control!" The black hedgehog teleported to the streets in front of the train station and stared at the mechs terrorizing the place. He began to skate with his hover shoes at full speed, delivering multiple spin attacks to the robots and defeating them one by one. This activity didn't go unnoticed.
The dark figure from above peered at Shadow as he wiped out the mechanical troops. He floated down from the station's roof which caught the hedgehog's attention, even though he wasn't fazed.
"So, you think it's just cool to ruin the moment? Why not let it continue?" the villain smirked.
Shadow glanced back at him with the condescending scowl on his muzzle. "Listen, I don't know who you are or what you're doing, other than commanding those inferior bots to ruin the city, but it better end right now!"
"Oh, you want me to stop?" The villain sarcastically responded. "Gee, let me think. Uh, no."
Just then, he used his scepter to send a blast of energy to the black hedgehog. Using his speed, Shadow zipped away from the attack using teleportation. He warped behind the enemy, crossing his arms showing that he was unimpressed.
"Come on, you gotta try better than that."
"If you insist, you little rodent." (3) The monster emitted more electricity attacks towards Shadow and to his dismay, he eluded each one.
Tired of dodging and wanting to get some action, Shadow formed into a black ball of fury and dashed towards the cloaked character. But before he could make contact with him, an impenetrable force knocked the hedgehog away.
"AAARRGH!" He groaned, barely landing on his feet. "What in Chaos was that?"
"Simple, a force field. With the power of these Emeralds, I can use their energy to make myself stronger. However, these priceless objects are necessary for something important. Almost as vital as my strength."
"Pfft. The way I see it, your strength is as big as your screwed-up ego. Now give it up. Hand over the Chaos Emeralds, or I'll stuff that scepter up your ass so far that you won't even fly straight," threatened Shadow.
"Okay, I've had enough of your pesky business. Shadelings! Come forth and destroy this hedgehog!"
Just then, another army of robots came running towards the two. These new robots were had shades of dark gray and black with red pupils shining furiously. Shadow wasn't intimidated by the new set of enemies, but one thought came to mind.
"Really, more of these pathetic chumps? Since when does Eggman have this many robots? Then again, he's always been devising them for a living."
"I see that you're quite interested in this army, considering that fat ass isn't the one who sent them."
That statement bewildered Shadow. "Wait, you mean Eggman's not involved? I thought you were some new minion of his, an ugly one in particular."
"Hey! Just because my nose is pointy doesn't make my appearance ugly."
"I was referring to that stupid goatee. But now that you mentioned it, that nose of yours looks makes you look like a possessed alien version of Pinocchio."
"Well going back to your question, no, he didn't send these mechs. In fact, he's being retained in a special location. Meanwhile, his, I mean, my robots are busy doing their jobs: destroying the town and finding the rest of the Chaos Emeralds." The villain stared at the ebony animal with a foul grin.
"So if he isn't the one controlling these jackwads, then how did they fall under your rule?"
"Simple. By using the power of these gems, I refunctioned their circuits so they will obey my orders. They're already fulfilling part one. Now time for part two: to annihilate you, meddling hedgehog!"
The shadow pointed his staff at Shadow, signaling his army to ambush him. Ready for a fight, the black hedgehog dashed passed a couple robots, causing them to crash into each other, while spin-dashing into the remaining foes. Whenever they fired lasers at him, he transported away to avoid the damage.
Shadow may have won the fight against the Shadelings. But he didn't win the war against the dark figure.
"Hmm, you're pretty competent for a troublesome pest," he snickered, causing Shadow to scowl back. But no matter, I must retreat to the rest of my new, brainwashed army. They should be here with some collectibles I'll be needing later. Later, rat! HAHAHAHA!"
Shadow glared at the floating figure as he exited the city. He was about to chase after him before he heard whirring from two familiar people. Or in this case, robots. Looking behind him, Shadow noticed Orbot and Cubot who reached the city at just the wrong time.
"Oh, Chaos! What happened here?" Orbot asked with a worried expression.
"This whole place is in ruins!" Cubot added on. By the time they approached the station, they ran into the hedgehog.
"Orbot? Cubot? What are you two doing here?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow.
The red robot spoke up. "Well you see, we were searching for Dr. Eggman. This morning, Cubot showed me that some strange man intruded our leader's base. Apparently, he attacked the doctor and caused a ton of damage inside. Worst of all, he broke into his control room and stole the two Chaos Emeralds he had."
Shadow widened his eyes as he took in what Orbot mentioned. "Wait, were those two emeralds red and white?"
"They are. How did you know?" Cubot wondered.
"I ran into that egomaniac when I saw him destroying Station Square. I may have taken down his pathetic group of robots, but he caused a lot of collateral damage to this place. He's using the emeralds for a bad reason. Yet oddly enough, he wasn't working with Eggman for sure."
"That's the thing. We saw the footage of our base of the dark creature attacking the boss, and we assumed he took him as hostage."
"Now that you said that, I did remember that shadow saying he retained him somewhere. But I don't know where. But I could care less about the overweight scientist. Right now, the main focus is that one beast. He's been sending troops to find the Chaos Emeralds, which are mostly Eggman's former robots."
"There has to be a reason why he would want the seven jewels. But for what?" Orbot put his hand on his round chin.
"Well there's some good news. The figure never knew I had this." Shadow pulled out the light blue emerald from his quills, shining brightly in front of the trio.
"Whoa. You had that all along? Didn't he notice it within your fur?" the square-headed robot asked.
He placed the object back in his quills and replied. "No. But one thing's certain. He cannot get the rest of the Emeralds. I already have one and we know he has two. There are four more somewhere else. And if they fall into the wrong hands…"
"We actually know where one of them is," Orbot interjected.
"You do?" Shadow enlarged his eyes.
"Sonic has the yellow emerald. He took it with him to visit his friends in the other dimension. However, he and the others don't know what just happened here. And something tells me that we could be in for a disaster if we don't tell him." Orbot wasn't comfortable with speaking to the enemy, but he thought it was necessary to address the situation to him.
Shadow closed his eyes and contemplated. He, too, wasn't in the mood to talk to Sonic. Despite being the 'Ultimate Life Form', he knew that the three of them weren't strong enough to stop this evil entity. Not even by himself. They were going to require some help, which would include his speedy, blue rival.
"Suffice it to say, I despise the faker, but we have no choice. Somehow, we're going to have to get those Chaos Emeralds back, with his help, too," he replied with a determined look.
The two robot henchmen nodded and made their way to the mushroom pipe. Shadow placed the emerald in the slot and turned to the keypad. That's when he remembered his conversation with Tails about the guys going to celebrate Luigi's birthday. Tails decided to give him the password if he wanted to change his mind and go.
But in this case, he didn't need to visit the Mushroom Kingdom to go to the party and have fun. He needed to reach the other world to warn Sonic and the others of the tragedy.
After typing in the code, making sure that neither Orbot nor Cubot saw, the pipe entrance opened. The three looked at each other with glances and nodded together. Cubot, Orbot, and Shadow made their way inside, leaving behind the destruction from their home.
However, high above the train station and hiding behind the clock tower, the dark figure stood there once again. He witnessed the hedgehog and the robots entering the pipe to the other dimension. But, he also noticed one crucial mistake: neither of them remembered to close the pipe door! (4) Beforehand, he was going to return to Eggman's base to check on his brainwashed minions and see if they recovered the scattered Chaos Emeralds.
But, he decided to lay that off after spying on the group. He wanted to begin the next phase of his plan. He needed to perform a certain action in the other world that night. And the opportunity to accomplish that couldn't have been at a more convenient time for him.
END OF CHAPTER
Well, I decided to give Shadow the spotlight in the second half since I decided to add the guys' day at the amusement park for extra content. But with Shadow gone and no one else to defend Mobius, what will happen next? Will the villain's new brainwashed robots find the rest of the emeralds for him? And what does he seek in Mario's world? Find out later!
Thanks for reading this chapter of Hidden Bravery! Follow/favorite the story, write a review, and I'll try to upload the next one soon!
Post-Chapter Notes:
(1): Gobblegut is a boss fought in Super Mario Galaxy 2. He was the inspiration for the Dragon Driftway course in Mario Kart 8's DLC, which is why I made up this ride.
(2): I tried to reference one of the opening cutscenes from Sonic Adventure 2, even though I only played a little bit of the game. I have seen Let's Plays of it, though. Shadow was created as the 'Ultimate Life Form' to help Eggman conquer the world. At one point, Sonic was taken by G.U.N. by mistake instead of him for causing chaos with the military force. Shadow may be Sonic's rival, but he has shown to be an ally at times.
To this day, I'm still confused to what Shadow's role is supposed to be, despite the fact he's one of the favorite characters in the series. Not to mention, one of the most badass characters.
(3): I did some research on hedgehogs and found out that they are under the Order of Eulipotyphla. Without going into too much detail, they are NOT rodents (that Order is known as Rodentia). That's probably why Sonic takes offense from Eggman whenever he calls him a rat. But as for Shadow, he couldn't care less about insults directed to him, unless they taint his identity as the 'Ultimate Life Form'.
(4): Even though the antagonist has two Emeralds, he doesn't know the passcode to enter the pipe. So, my evil mind decided to let him get an easy chance to continue his ploy. Otherwise, his plan won't come to full effect until later! MWHAHAHAHA! …I'm sorry.