Chapter 6
ZairaDrayan: Back with chapter six and after this, there'll be only one or two chapters left! Don't you just love the feeling of the accomplishment of finishing a long story that you've been working on for a while that's over fifty pages long? Yep. That's this. I'm on page 49 actually. Anyway, enjoy! AND YES. THIS TOOK FOREVER TO MAKE. SORRY.
Zaira and Eggman had no idea that Knuckles had just run away to alert Shadow of what they were planning. They simply continued on with the conversation.
"Did you hear that? I think that sounded like your freedom jumping out the window!" Eggman snapped.
"I don't care! I'm not hurting him."
"Pfft! I can't believe you're getting so worked up over a rat!"
"He's a hedgehog! Besides, Shadow is different from all the others. He's kind, gentle, honest, sweet…," she said before realizing what she was talking about. Eggman had a smug look on his face. "Eggman- just no! NO! He would never do anything to hurt me!"
"Oh, come on! Just a few words…," Eggman tried.
"Oh yeah, he's got no weaknesses! You can't beat him! He's-"
Eggman stood up and smirked. "Zaira, he does. I know it now. It's all thanks to you… I'm sure you can figure it out…"
Meanwhile, Shadow was practicing the horizontal bar from the Olympics that he had entered and won. He was looping and swinging with a dreamy half-smile on his face. Knuckles ran up to him with the urgent news. However, Shadow was so wrapped up with comparing Zaira that he hardly noticed.
"Well, it's about time that you got back! It was getting kind of boring only talking to Silver about her! Today was the greatest!" Shadow said doing chin-ups on the bar while doing the splits.
"Listen! Shad, I've got somethin' to tell ya… It's about her. She's a… kinda…," Knuckles stuttered. He didn't know how to put it to make Shadow believe him without him getting mad. There was no way!
"What? I'm listening," Shadow stated.
"I'll only tell you if you come down here!" Knuckles told him.
Shadow shook his head at his trainer. "How can I come down if my head is up in the clouds?" he asked.
"Well, don't make me root you to the ground. Fine, I'll tell you now if you aren't gonna take it any other way! Zaira-"
"Is the nicest girl in history?"
"She's-"
"More beautiful than Blaze the Cat?" Shadow asked Silver. Silver shook his head no. He stood up and began to run out of the stadium. As soon as he left, he saw a cat. Not just any cat. Blaze the Cat. She waved at him. Silver's heart began to thud like a hammer as he saw her beckon him over inside two large doors. He couldn't help but follow.
"Blaze? Where are you? What do you want?" asked Silver trying to sound casual. Turns out, she disappeared. Gone. There was no trace of her! Suddenly, the doors closed behind him! Darkness surrounded him and ropes were wrapped around his arms and legs. The mysterious being knocked Silver on the head causing him to pass out.
Knuckles wasn't really getting anywhere with Shadow. He was too happy (that's a first)! Knuckles just finally lost his temper.
"SHE'S A FRAUD! SHE'S BEEN PLAYIN' YA FOR A SAP!" Knuckles yelled angrily.
Shadow stopped so fast that the eery silence scared them both. He jumped down from his perch and walked over. His face was a mix of hurt and anger at the same time. "Wh-What do you mean?"
"She's working with Hades! Her main objective is to get rid of you! I heard her say it herself!" Knuckles explained.
Shadow flattened his ears and narrowed his eyes. "You expect me to believe that?! I've seen the way you look at her! I know you hate her! Does that mean I should as well?! Why make this up?!" demanded Shadow.
"I'm not making this up! I hate this as much as you do!" Knuckles shouts back.
"You say your words are the truth, but they are not the truth! You speak in lies!" Shadow objected.
Knuckles was taken aback. He was accusing him of lying! It wasn't himself. It was Shadow who was lying. Lying to himself. Why was he fighting the truth? Or did he really believe in what he said? He felt the belief in his words. He was too dedicated. Now that his mind was fixed on something, he wasn't going to change it.
"I'm not lying! She really is a two-timing, no-good, lying, scheming-"
"SHUT UP!" Shadow yelled slapping Knuckles in the face. Knuckles obtained a nasty bruise from the impact of his hand. The echidna only stood up, dusted himself off, and began to walk away.
"Fine. If you don't wanna face the truth, then fine. I'm going home," Knuckles said without giving any more effort to stop Shadow.
Shadow was a little surprised. His ears drooped a little and his face softened. It was only for a moment. He hardened every sense within himself and growled at his ex-mentor. "Fine! I don't need you! Just go!" He then turned and began his exercises again alone in the stadium.
"I thought you were going to be the all-time champ… Not the all-time chump," Knuckles sighed outside the doors of the stadium.
Shadow was alone for two seconds. Once those two seconds were over, an egg-shaped man was sitting on the bleachers with a large, orange mustache. Shadow didn't recognize him. He gave the man an odd glance and returned to his training. However, the man then came to him.
"Sheesh! What got his goat? My name is Dr. Eggman, you know, Lord of the Dead. How's it going?" asked Eggman. He stuck his hand out to shake hands with Shadow. He simply stared at Eggman's hand and walked around him.
"Listen, I'm not in the mood."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah! Don't worry! Just two seconds! I talk fast! I've got this major deal in the works. Really big, you see. Shad- can I call you Shad- you keep getting in the way of things!" Eggman explained quickly.
"You've got the wrong guy."
"JUST HEAR ME OUT YOU- Eh. Heh. Heh… Sorry. All I'm asking of you is to take a day off from all of this hero business. I mean really?! Fighting monsters, all the girls, all the natural disasters, ETC! Imagine… A day off with none of that…," Eggman continued.
"You're insane!" Shadow yelled. He tried to walk past him again but was stopped.
"Hang on a sec! There's another little part I forgot to mention…," Dr. Eggman stated. He snaps his fingers and Zaira appears. She takes a step forward and begins to yell a protest. However, with another snap of Eggman's fingers, Zaira got restrained by a long rope of thorny vines. She instantly vanished again.
"Zaira?! You let her go or I'll-!" Shadow yelled only to be stopped in mid-sentence by Eggman interrupting.
"Here's the trade-off. You give up your powers for one day and Zaira is free and safe from harm. Is that enough?" asked Eggman.
Shadow thought it over. He knew what was going on. The stakes were just too high. "People are going to get hurt, aren't they?"
Eggman laughed. "What makes you think that! You'll get Zaira and a day off! Besides, isn't she more important than those other people?!"
Shadow shook his head almost insulted that he was being taunted with this. "Stop it!"
"Well, isn't she?!"
Eggman stopped and inhaled. "Fine. Give up your strength and if Zaira gets hurt, you get your powers back instantly. DEAL NOW?!"
Shadow thought for another long second. He sighed and stepped forward slowly. When they shook hands to seal the deal it was the worst thing Shadow had ever felt. His energy left through his fingers and hand. His legs seemed to give out from under him, unable to take any more. He felt weak. He felt puny. He felt like a fool. It was horrible. Eggman smirked when he saw Shadow on the ground gasping and helpless.
"Now, you feel exactly like everybody else… Isn't it just peachy? Well, a deal's a deal!" Eggman announces. He snaps his fingers and Zaira appears. She was no longer strangled up in vines and he shoved her towards Shadow. "Zair, you're off the hook! By the way, Shad. She was working for me the whole time! Isn't she, like the greatest, cutest, best little actress?"
Shadow sat up from the ground baffled. "What-? What are you saying?!"
"She was working for me. Duh!"
Zaira looked back to Shadow. "I didn't want to hurt you in any way! He forced me to do this! I- You see- I'm… I'm sorry," she said quickly looking away.
Shadow shakily stood to his feet and looked to first Zaira and then Eggman. He didn't believe Zaira one bit anymore. However, he believed Eggman. He was going to do something evil. Something that would ruin the world.
"Well, gotta run! I've got some Titans to awaken!" yelled Eggman with a quick wave of farewell. He raced away in his dark chariot.
Before long, Eggman reached the seal. He peered into the ocean and the planets then aligned… The oceans created a hole in the water and the Titans stared up at Eggman.
"Brothers, look at you in your prison! Who put you down there?!" demanded Eggman.
"SONIC!" the Titans bellowed.
"And now I set you free! What is the first thing you'll do?!" asked Eggman awaiting the answer he'd been waiting for.
"DESTROY HIM!"
"Good answer."
Lythos stomped around crushing everything in its way. Hydros froze whatever it found on the ground. Pyros melted everything with it magma-like body. Stratos whipped around everything with its strong winds. Each of them had one purpose. To destroy the blue hedgehog. However…
"Uh… GUYS! Olympus is THAT way," Eggman pointed in the opposite direction. The Titans stood where they were for a moment. They all turned around and began to storm the other way. The Titans had a terrible sense of direction.
Eggman stopped the cyclops from following him. He just had to make sure that his plans weren't foiled again. "Hold it, bright eye. I have a job for you."
On Mt. Olympus…
"Holy Amy! Is that what I think it is?!" demanded Charmy looking through his telescope. He immediately buzzed away and was before Sonic and Amy in an instant. He stood, panting before them. "Sonic! Amy! Th-The Titans have escaped! They're practically at our gates!"
Sonic hardly had a moment to be alarmed. "Well, sound the darn alarms then!"
"Yes, sir!" Charmy buzzed. He flew through Olympus blowing his bugle. All of the gods get the message and prepare for battle.
"Charge! On to battle!"
"More thunderbolts!"
"Sharpen those weapons now!"
Crash! Crash!
Sonic grunts and holds up his last thunderbolt. He was just lobbing them in vain. He hadn't even made a dent. Several of his soldiers were already caught. There was almost no hope. "Shadow, where are you?"
Meanwhile…
"Shadow?! Where are you?! Why don't you come out and fight me like a hog?!" demanded the cyclops stomping around Thebes and causing destruction. Shadow looked up at it defiantly and took a step towards it. Zaira grabbed onto his arm.
"You can't go! Without your strength or speed, he'll kill you!" she pleaded.
Shadow barely looked at her. "There are worse things…"
When the villagers saw him, they began to cheer. Their confidence in him dragged him down even more. He knew that he was only going to disappoint them. Even so, he still had to make a stand. Even if it was the last time he'd ever stand.
The cyclops looks over at Shadow and laughs to himself. He crouched down and looked at the tiny hedgehog. "So, you're the mighty Shadow! Ha!" he laughs. With that, he punched Shadow and sent him flying backward and Shadow crashed into the side of a building with the wind knocked out of him.
Zaira left unable to watch anymore. She then got an idea. She'd have to find the only one who could snap Shadow out of it. She ran off and remembered that Silver was still a little tied up. She raced to find him. When she did, Silver flinched and backed away from her with a frown.
"What do you want?! There's no way I'm going to help you with anything!" he snapped.
"Oh, put a sock in it! We have to save Shadow! Where's Knuckles?!" she demanded to the Silver hedgehog.
Silver bolted away with Zaira flying next to him. He looked down on the destroyed city of Thebes. His eagle eyes located Knuckles at the docks about to board a ship back home. Zaira swooped down to catch him before he left.
"Knuckles! Wait!" she cried.
"What do you want now?! Aren't you off to manipulate Shad even more?!" Knuckles demanded crossly.
"No. He won't… listen to me…," she explained.
"That hog finally got some sense into his noggin. Now, go away!"
Zaira huffed and swooped down in front of them giving Knux a stern look that made him take a step backward. "You don't understand… He looks up to you and this is about him. If you don't help him out, he'll die!"
Back on Mt. Olympus…
"Somebody get me more thunderbolts! More tornadoes! More of anything!" yelled Sonic desperately.
Charmy shook his head. "Sorry! Everyone's been captured! That's not possible!" Charmy then got captured by Orbot and Cubot with handcuffs. "Even I've been captured! Hey! Watch the wings!"
Pyros and Hydros then harden a mountain around Sonic when the hedgehog was distracted. They laughed victoriously. Eggman approached his arch rival with a smug grin. "Yo, Sonic, I'm home!"
Sonic glared at Eggman. "Eggman! I knew that you had something to do with this! You always do!"
"Well, I don't remember you ever being wrong about that!" Eggman told the hedgehog and began to cackle as Olympus and Sonic the Hedgehog fell.
Meanwhile (Again)...
"Shadow!" yelled Knuckles running through the remains of Thebes trying to find him. It didn't take long…
The cyclops was kicking him and toying with him. Shadow hardly looked like he could move. He was torn up pretty bad. The cyclops punched Shadow into Knuckles and both of them ended up on the ground.
"Kn-Knux?" asked Shadow weakly.
Knuckles got up from the ground. "Yeah! It's me! What are you doing?! Fight back! This guy's a pushover!"
"You were right all along… Dreams are for rookies…," Shadow stated bluntly.
"NO! Giving up is for rookies! You get back out there and win! I'm back because I'm not quitting on you just yet! I'm willing to go the distance. How about you?" asked Knuckles.
Shadow thought for a moment. He slowly got to his feet. His eyes blazed like fire through all the pain and he concentrated on what was around him as well as his enemy.
The cyclops came bounding back and plucked Shadow from the ground. "I'll bite off your head!"
Shadow had snatched a flaming piece of wood and chucked it into his eye. The cyclops screamed in pain and Shadow escaped the grasp of the cyclops and found himself falling and landing on the ground hard. He stood up again and cringed at the pain from the fall, but ignored all of it and found a large piece of string. He knotted the cyclops' feet together and the cyclops fell into a burning house unable to get up. Shadow had won once again.
Silver whistled and Knuckles had to applaud.
The fall from the cyclops caused a quake and a pillar began to topple over, ironically, on top of Shadow. Zaira was the only one who noticed. "Shadow, look out!" She shoved him out of the way and got herself under the pillar. The crash rang all throughout the city. The people began to come out of hiding and were all watching.
Shadow stood up in terror. He grabbed onto the pillar and pulled as hard as he could to try to lift it. Little by little, he was able to lift it. Then, lifting it was nothing. He stared at his hands in wonderment. "What's happening?"
Zaira weakly opened her eyes. "Eggman's deal is broken… You get your strength back because I got crushed by a pillar… He promised that I wouldn't get hurt… Heh…"
"W-Why?! Why did you- I mean, you didn't have to-"
"People always do crazy things… when they're in love…"
Shadow could tell that his muzzle was bright red. "Well- I- I… Um…"
Zaira managed to give him a smile. "Are you... always this articulate? You don't have… much time, but you can still stop… Eggman…"
Knuckles stepped forward and rested his hand on Shadow's shoulder. "I'll watch her. You should go save the world…"
Shadow pulled his eyes away and looked to the sky. "I'll be back. I promise. C'mon Silver!" Shadow beckoned. Silver was by him and flying them away in seconds.
Back to Olympus…
"Hup, two, three, four, come on, everybody! I can't hear you!" yelled Cubot tugging on the long chain with all of the gods trapped in.
Sonic wasn't in a much better situation. He was nearly completely under the solid rock and couldn't break free. "I swear to you, Eggman, when I get out of this-" Sonic never finished that one sentence because he was buried under a bunch of solid rock!
"I'm the one giving orders now wind boy!" Eggman said getting a drink.
"Don't get too comfy, Eggy!" Shadow yelled from the sky. Eggman spat out his drink and stood up with terror. The other gods began to cheer!
"It's Shadow!"
"This ought to settle things!" Shadow stated as he broke all of the chains and letting all of the gods free. He then broke Sonic out of the hardened lava with a chaos spear. Sonic dramatically stepped out of the rock and glared at Eggman.
"Thank you, Shadow!" cheered Charmy excitedly.
Pyros tried to hit Shadow but hit Eggman instead. Eggman shook the magma off of him and scowled at the Titan. "Get him! Not me!"
"Thank you, Shadow!" yelled Sonic giving his son a wave. Shadow waved back.
Orbot and Cubot look at Silver knowing that they were going to have a bad time. Sure enough, they did!
Sonic smirked and catches two lightning spears. "Just watch me work!" Sonic threw the lightning bolts into the mouth of Lythos which explode! The Titans all turn around and begin to head for the gates of Olympus. Eggman begins to panic and starts pointing to Olympus.
"Guys, get your titanic rears in gears and kick some olympian butt!" he yelled. Silver then snatches Eggman's mustache and begins to laugh. Eggman snatches it back. "You have no right to take that from me!"
Shadow grabs onto Stratos and the tornado Titan sucks all of the other Titans into it. Shadow shakes them around for a second and then throws them into outer space. There they explode with the power of a supernova. The gods all cheer Shadow's name excitedly.
Sonic high-fives Shadow and Shadow absorbs as much praise as he could. Eggman is back on his chariot and glares at them.
"Thanks a ton, Wonderboy. But at least I've got one swell consolation prize. A friend of yours who's dying to see me!" Eggman yelled.
Shadow then remembered. "Z-Zaira!"
Silver and Shadow fly at sound speed across the ocean back to Thebes. The three-headed chao gets out a thread and within their crystal ball of victims was Zaira. They got out their handy-dandy scissors. Right before Shadow made it back, they cut the life thread. Zaira was dead.
Knuckles shook his head sadly to Shadow. "I'm sorry… There are some things that you can't change…"
Shadow, before collapsing, realizes that there is one guy who could undo this. A guy who didn't like him very much. A guy who wouldn't want him back so soon. "Yes, I can, Knux."