ZairaDrayan: Back again! I am not planning on stopping this until the very end. Shadow and Zaira? Sorry for you people who are new to this, but it's something that people are going to have to get used to. Zaira is going to be a character I'm going to add in a LOT of stories. Want to know about her? Check out my main series Sonic X Race of Doom. That'll explain everything if you want to know about my fan characters. Enough of this! Chapter four, hope you enjoy, and lots of other stuff. Story information at the end.
Chapter 4
Shadow, Silver, and Knuckles were flying towards the busy, large, crowded, (sometimes horrifying), city of Thebes. Shadow gazed down upon the city and all the people. Silver landed them on the ground, but they all had to step out of the way for a bunch of chariot racers and crazy people who lived there. Shadow and Silver almost couldn't believe what they were seeing while Knuckles, on the other hand, wasn't at all surprised.
"All of this is one town?" asked Shadow looking around. Knuckles nodded to answer his question.
"Yep. There're too many problems in this place. If you try to go ten feet in front of you, you could lose your nose. Although, if you turn to the right, you could lose an arm. If you turn all the way around, you could get decapitated! Don't even get me started on what happens if-"
"We get the point," Silver stated.
They began to walk down the road and Shadow with Silver can't help but look at everything they see. It really was crazy here. Every person they saw had a limb of some sort missing, they all looked traumatized, and nobody knew what was up or down. It nearly gave Silver a headache.
"Well, if you wanna be a hero Shad, you have to do somethin' heroic! If you're to do somethin' heroic, people have to see it and like it! Not like it, LOVE IT! We have to find someone who needs some serious help to get you a good rep!" Knuckles told Shadow.
Shadow continued looking around. In his opinion, everyone needed help… He looked over and saw some people walking around a half burned down building. Shadow dashed over with Silver and Knuckles on his heels. Before Shadow talked to anyone, he listened to their conversations.
"It's tragic! We lost everything in the fire!" cried a blue cat in agony.
"Everything except for Cheese…," a little rabbit said holding up her Chao. It squeaked in terror.
"Wait… Were the fires before or after the earthquake?" asked another cat only purple. Silver's eyes glittered at the sight of the purple cat.
"They were after! Don't you remember anything?!" demanded the blue cat.
"Vala, cool off!" the cream-colored rabbit told the blue cat.
"Cool off?! Don't say such things! Now there might be a new Ice Age!" cried Vala.
The three of them looked over and saw a flower shrivel up and die in front of them because it grew so cold. They all shrieked in terror.
"That's it! We're moving to Sparta!" the purple cat announced.
"Um… Is there a problem here?" asked Shadow trying to sound casual.
"Nothing you need to be concerned with. We've got it all under control," the purple cat told him.
"Hello miss… What's your name?" asked Silver with a dreamy look in his eyes.
"Uh… I'm Blaze," she replied.
"Blaze… The name of an angel! The name must've been chosen from the heavens above!" Silver yelled majestically.
Vala stormed in front of him and smacked Silver in the face. "You're the one who should cool off, lover boy!"
"I was just aware that there was a problem. I was just wondering if I could help out. In a way, I'm a hero," Shadow explained to them.
The rabbit looked up at him with hopeful eyes. "A hero?" she asked him.
"Cream, be quiet for a second. I've gotta test him. Have you saved a town before?!" demanded Vala.
"No."
"Have you ever reversed a natural disaster?!"
"No."
"Have you ever thought of anyone other than yourself?!"
"Ye-"
"You see, he's just another chariot chaser! This we need!" Vala said without letting Shadow finish.
Knuckles couldn't take it anymore. "Don't you pea brains get it?! This guy is the best there is! Don't just go and turn him down!"
"Hey, isn't that the guy who trained Achilles?" asked Blaze.
"You'd better watch your big mouth!" yelled Knuckles. Silver gasped when Knuckles said that to Blaze.
"Yeah, you're right. Hey, nice job on those heels! Ya' missed a spot!" Vala said kicking her heels at Knuckles with a laugh.
Cream looked at the ground and held Cheese tighter to her. "I was hoping that someone would really help us…"
Knuckles aimed a fist at Vala and charged, but she dodged out of the way. Shadow grabbed Knuckles and restrained him from attacking.
"It's nice to know that you want to help, but we need professionals and not an ameteur," Blaze said to them.
Shadow sighed and nodded. He snapped his fingers to Silver who was still ogling over Blaze. He finally let go of Knuckles.
"How in the world am I supposed to become a real hero if nobody will give me a chance?" asked Shadow.
"Don't worry. You'll get your chance. There's always somethin' dangerous running around in this place," Knuckles replied giving Shadow a pat on the back for trying.
"Silv, I'd recommend you stay quiet for the time being. We're here to give me some more experience. Not to get a date!" Shadow snapped.
"Okay…," Silver mumbled.
Then, pushing through the crowd, a familiar voice rang through the air. Shadow flipped around suddenly alert. He knew who she was. Zaira.
"Help! Something terrible has happened! Please!" she cried as she fought against the strong current of people. Shadow raced up to her.
"Speaking of somethin' dangerous…," Knuckles growled. Silver nodded in agreement.
"Zaira? What in the world happened?" he asked.
"Wonderboy! Er- Shadow! Thank heavens I found you!" she exclaimed.
"What?!" he demanded.
"Outside of town, I was just walking down the road, when I saw two little boys get crushed by a giant boulder! When I went to investigate it, they said they were all right but couldn't get out! I tried to lift the rock, but I couldn't…," she whimpered.
Shadow thought for a second. He was the one with the super amazing strength and speed. Maybe this could be the beginning of becoming a hero. If the other people knew of his capabilities, they might let him do more heroic things! He nodded to her. "Lead the way!"
Outside of the town, they heard the cried of the two young boys and the rock was unmistakable. There was a tiny gap between the boys and the outside world. Shadow walked up to it. The rock was huge! It was as tall as a skyscraper! That was no matter. He'd have to lift it. A few of the townspeople went out to watch.
"Help I can't breathe!" cried one boy.
"Hurry! Call IX-I-I!" cried the other.
"Hang on a second. I've got this," Shadow told them. He grabbed onto the rock from underneath and pulled up on it as hard as he could. Slowly, the rock was raised up from the ground and the two young boys scrambled out from under the rock. Shadow tossed it to the side. He didn't realize that there was a huge cave behind it.
"Jeepers mister! You're really strong!" exclaimed one of the boys jumping up and down with amazement. The other nodded.
"Thanks. You'd better get going. No point in staying here all day," Shadow told them.
The two boys scurried away. They met up with Dr. Eggman and merged into their actual forms. Orbot and Cubot. Eggman applauded them. Zaira was now with them.
"Jeepers?!" demanded Orbot whacking Cubot.
"I was going for innocent!" Cubot retorted.
"Also, two thumbs WAY up for our little lady actress! What a dish! What a doll!" Eggman exclaimed nodding to Zaira.
She looked over at Shadow who had just begun to leave the clearing. Something terrible was going to happen… Something disastrous… "Get out of there while you still can…," she mumbled to him.
The audience was sort of clapping at his strength but wasn't really marveled. It was better than nothing. As Shadow was jogging over to Knuckles a low growling sound came from the cave…
"You think I did okay right? They sort of applauded," Shadow said. They looked over at the cave in response to the growling noise.
"That ain't no applause…," Knuckles stated.
The watched as a Hydra appears from the cave. It had sharp spikes running down its purple snake-like skin. Its eyes were bright orange and had razor sharp teeth. The audience screamed.
"One word: HYDRA!" cried Knuckles flinging a sword into Shadow's hands. Shadow hesitated for a second and finally realized how bad the situation was. His feet seemed to root themselves to the ground in terror.
The Hydra turned and saw Shadow. The first thing it thought was: Oh my! What a lovely snack! The Hydra licked its lips and looked at the sword. It raised its spikes then charged! Shadow dodged and continued to dodge.
"That's it! Dance around! Dance around!" chanted Knuckles.
Shadow continued jumping around with great agility. He was able to get the beast off balance by his speed and turned around ready to strike. However, the beast regained balance faster than Shadow calculated and when Shadow jumped at it with the sword, the Hydra moved faster than him and plucked him out of mid air. It growled a victory.
"Oh snap…," was all Shadow said before it flung him into the air and ate him whole. His sentence was cut short as the creature snapped its jaw closed. The entire crowd became silent.
"Sh-Shadow...?" Silver whimpered unable to believe what he saw.
"There goes another one… Just like Achilles…," Knuckles sighed with disappointment and grief.
The Hydra grinned and lunged towards the crowd. Everyone scattered in a stampede of screaming people. However, it stopped. It began to scream and thrash around and jerked to a stop. A sword sliced through its throat and the sword cut its head off. The Hydra's body falls to the ground. Everyone rises to their feet and they see Shadow emerge from the monster weakly. Knuckles and Silver run up to him quickly.
"Dude! You're alive!" Silver cried.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I JUST CAN'T! You beat the Hydra!" yelled Knuckles excitedly.
Shadow groaned and tried to stand up, but found himself face flat on the ground after he tried. Knuckles pulled on his arm.
"Hey! How many fists do you see?" he asked.
Shadow looked up. He looked as if he were counting to a high number. "Seven…"
"Eh. Close enough. Come on, we've got a lot of work to do if we want you to look decent ever again," Knuckles said motioning for Silver to support him on one side as he got his other side.
Orbot looked fearfully at Eggman and shrunk down. However, Eggman didn't even seem bothered by the win!
"Relax! The fight isn't over yet!" Eggman told his subjects.
The Hydra's body moved again. It stood up from the ground and three heads grew in the spot where there used to be only one head. Shadow, Silver, and Knuckles turned to see the three-headed monster running even faster towards them. Shadow felt a sudden burst of energy within him. Mostly from his fear of getting eaten and crushed again.
"This is definitely not good!" cried Silver as He ran by Shadow to help him this time. They took to the air and Silver's amazing skills of dodging in the air with his psychokinesis was put into action. They looped through the air and Shadow's weariness evaporated. He had his sword in his hand and he was slicing heads left and right (Yeesh…). Eventually, there were more heads than Shadow or Silver could count. Knuckles was yelling at them from the ground.
"Would you knock off the head-slicing!?" he shouted.
One of the heads knocked Silver back to the ground. He lost control of Shadow and both hedgehogs were among the Hydra. Shadow was being dragged left and right by all the heads who all wanted to eat him. He was flung out of the jungle of necks and was cornered against a wall. There was no escape. A few people in the audience took their hats off for him.
"This is not how I'm going out!" Shadow yells and punches the large rock wall he was up against. The ground shook for a second and the large rocks at the top cracked. The Hydra picked up Shadow but then looked up. The rocks were going to fall on it. Shadow smirks as the Hydra squeals in fear and drowns in the sea of rocks. Shadow tries to escape, but he is dragged down with the Hydra in its claws.
Knuckles and Silver stood up. Were both Shadow and the creature dead? They didn't see either.
"He saved us all…," Vala said quietly.
"He was a hero…," Cream said.
"Chao!" Cheese agreed.
"Is he gone...?" asked Silver.
"Check mate!" Eggman yelled in victory. He stood up and started dancing around.
The claws of the Hydra trembled and began to move. Was the Hydra really dead?! Was it going to shove away the rocks and kill them all? The people watching prepared themselves to run. Shadow burst out of the claws of the Hydra and hopped to the ground. Everyone watching got to their feet and cheered. A beam of sunlight hit Shadow's fur and he could feel as if the gods had seen it all and couldn't be prouder. Shadow waved to everyone and got paraded off to the town with everyone cheering behind him.
"You've gotta admit… That was pretty heroic," Shadow said as he passed Knuckles.
"Ya did it! You won by a landslide!" Knuckles cheered excitedly. He was hugging Silver and jumping up and down.
"Okay! Okay! He did it! Let go!" cried Silver.
As Zaira watched everything that had happened, she secretly rooted for him. When he won she actually quietly applauded him as well. "Well, what do you know…"
Eggman was now steaming mad. Orbot and Cubot hid behind a giant rock as Eggman exploded
leaving fires all over the place. Zaira rolled her eyes.
"From that day on, Shadow was the greatest and most loved hero in the world! He was so hot, steam looked cool," said Tikal.
Bless my soul,
Shadow was on a roll!
Hedgehog of the week in every Greek opinion poll!
What a pro!
Shadow could stop a show.
Point him at a monster and you're talkin' S.R.O.!
He was a no one.
A zero, a zero.
Now, he's a honcho!
He's a hero!
He was a kid with his act down pat!
Zero to hero
in no time flat!
Zero to hero
Just like that!
When he smiled the girls went wild
with oohs and aahs.
They slapped his face on every vase!
On every "Vahse!"
From appearance fees and royalties,
or Shad had cash to burn.
Now nouveau riche and famous
he could tell ya' what's a grecian urn.
Say amen!
There he goes again!
Sweet and undefeated!
And an awesome ten for ten!
Folks line up just to watch him flex.
And this perfect package packed a pair of pretty pecs!
Shadow, he comes, he sees, he conquers.
Honey, the crowds were going bonkers!
He showed the moxie, brains, and spunk!
From zero to hero.
A major hunk!
Zero to hero.
And who'd have thunk?!
Who put the glad in gladiator?
Shadow see?!
Who daring deeds are great theater?
Shadow indeed!
Is he bold?
No one braver!
Isn't he sweet?
Our favorite flavor!
Shadow here.
Shadow there.
Shadow near.
Shadow's fair.
Shadow's clear.
He has no fear.
His pride's not smeared.
Bless my soul!
Shad is on a roll!
Undefeated!
Riding high!
And the nicest guy.
Not conceited.
He was a nothing, zero, zero.
Now he's a honcho, he's our hero!
He hit the heights at breakneck speed!
From zero to hero!
Shad is a hero!
Now he's a hero!
"Yes indeed!" shouted all the Muses.
ZairaDrayan: Chapter 4 finished! After this, I'll be going back to the Sonic Hawaii story and work on chapter 2.
Sonic: We're still doing that? I thought you dropped that story!
Shadow: She never drops stories! You saw what she did when she saw CrusaderTransformer1's unfinished Shadow of the Opera story! I'll never get over that… We're still doing the bloopers! HOW DOES SHE FLIPPIN' CARRY A PIPE ORGAN?!
Silver: Don't ask me. I wasn't holding it.
ZairaDrayan: Quiet, please! I'll just end the story before they start yelling again. Hope you enjoyed!
Amy: Hey, Sonic! You wanna go surfing?
Sonic: Help...