The crunch of plants had never satiated Shadow so much. He munched on a plant that tasted a lot like celery, but had the texture of a tomato. There was something that looked like carrots, but they were sky blue and tasted like raspberries. Fruits that looked like raspberries tasted like sprouts. That made Shadow shiver, but he swallowed it anyway.
It made no sense to him, but he munched on all of the greenery that seemed edible. His stomach had never felt so full.
"Shadow…" Black Doom said, watching him with interest. "I recall the professor telling me that hedgehogs are more partial to insects…"
Shadow shook his head while he munched on an apple like fruit that was pink.
"Not you. You are… vegetarian?" Black Doom asked; he had read Shadow's mind. "The ultimate killing machine… refuses to eat living things." Black Doom's laughter bellowed through the forest they were in.
Shadow dropped a half eaten bunch of berry like fruit from his hand and sulked, with his shoulders down and his ears flopped.
"I'm done here…" he breathed, then solemnly walked towards the ship. "You wouldn't understand… you're a ravager of life… I'm meant to protect it."
Shadow's heart twanged with pain. He was just reminded of what he failed to do.
"I… don't deserve this luxury. Take me away from here," Shadow closed his eyes and stepped onto the ship. He strolled down to his room, which now doubled up as a 'bathroom' or sorts, with the plumbing of the fountain, but with two separate functions. One side of the room was just the original fountain… the other was a bigger drain for… other things.
Shadow took a long sip from the fresh water fountain. He could sense Black Doom approaching, so slammed his door shut.
"Shadow…" Black Doom's voice said concernedly from outside.
"Busy!" Shadow called out and folded his arms, leaning against the wall and sulking.
"Doing what?"
"Doing business, what do you think?" Shadow remarked while still casually leaning against the wall and sulking.
"I know you're not," Black Doom. "Do not try to lie to me."
Shadow gave a 'hmph' and took two angry steps towards the corner of the drain which acted as some kind of urinal. Black Doom sighed outside.
"You didn't need to do that now…" Black Doom sounded annoyed. "You didn't need that before the conversation."
"Go away! I can't do that if you're listening! Or if you're in my head!" Shadow yelled, concentrating really hard on trying to pee.
Black Doom sighed and floated away from the corridor. Shadow could no longer feel Black Doom in his mind…
He stepped away from the corner.
"Hmph, didn't need it after all," Shadow gave a sarcastic shrug. Then, he leaned by the fountain, closed his eyes… and began to brood.
"Maria…" he lamented in a soft whisper. "I'm sorry."
His eyes began to sting… tears… again? Shadow didn't feel he deserved to even shed tears. The people who were meant to be shedding tears were all of the lives lost on Earth but… they were all gone.
Shadow bit his lip, frustrated with himself. He hissed in pain, through his frustration, he'd broken through skin. Green blood dripped down his chin. He gazed down at the drip on the floor, which was joined by another… and another. Then it stopped. He was healing… already?
Shadow bit his lip again, this time, harder. He watched the blood drip… once, twice… three times… healing. No more bleeding.
Shadow uncurled his folded arms, held his wrist up to take a good look at it.
He began to tremble… brought the inner wrist up to his mouth and "Mff…" his furry arm was stuck in his mouth, but his jaw refused to clamp shut.
"Stop having those thoughts, Shadow," Black Doom's voice rang in Shadow's head. "I told you… I will not allow you to do that to yourself."
Shadow's eyes narrowed. He kept trying to clamp his jaw shut over the weaker flesh of his arm, but his jaw refused to shut. Once he removed his arm…
CHOMP
"THUCK"
Shadow had bitten his tongue instead. He covered his mouth with his hands and winced.
"Pathetic."
Shadow's mouth gaped open at the sound of this different voice. Green blood dripped from his mouth. He turned around, wiping his muzzle with his wrist.
"Mephi'is," Shadow managed to say with his wounded tongue. Then, he swallowed the remaining blood in his mouth, hard. His tongue had finished bleeding, but it still hurt.
"Wow… you really have fallen from your title of the Ultimate Life Form," Mephiles looked at Shadow with a deeply incredulous expression. Despite being the same height as Shadow, Mephiles always seemed to find a way to look down on him.
"Long time no see, Shadow…" Mephiles said, eerily slowly.
"Not long enough…" Shadow hissed. His fur was beginning to stand on edge. "I'm suffering. What more do you want from me?"
"I just came to check up on the situation," Mephiles said with a false tone of innocence, dripping with sarcasm that burned Shadow's insides with anger from knowing that it was meant to piss him off. Shadow clenched his fists.
Mephiles stepped closer to Shadow, which didn't take much, considering the lack of space in Shadow's little hole of a room.
"You've got some nice little comforts here…" Mephiles purred. "The luxury of hydration… a private place of your own…"
Shadow attempted to push Mephiles away, but the demigod kept his ground, then grabbed Shadow by the chin. Mephiles squished Shadow's face with his crystal palm, and pushed Shadow into the wall with his other arm.
Shadow's eyes widened as he looked into Mephiles' snake green ones… pure hatred and evil. Shadow's mind began screaming out for Black Doom in his head.
"Oh, by the way... your… father is a little… unconscious right now," Mephiles whispered into Shadow's face, crushing him more and more against the wall. Shadow was finding it hard to breathe.
"What?" Shadow spat, eyes widened.
"I didn't want him to interfere," Mephiles said.
"Huh," Shadow's ears pricked up. In a blink, he kneed Mephiles in the gut.
"Chaos, control!"
Shadow was on the other side of the door. His body needed a moment to process the energy drain. Then, he ran towards the control room of the ship. There were some foot soldiers trying to wake Black Doom up. They had never seen anything like this before… he was meant to be all powerful.
Shadow ran towards the controls, but Mephiles appeared right in front of them.
"And what do you think you're doing?" Mephiles asked.
"Crashing the ship, of course. Kill us all," Shadow said. "Suffering over. No more Black Arms. The remainder of the species will die on Earth without their leader."
"That wouldn't kill you and you know it…" Mephiles said.
"What else do you suggest?" Shadow remarked. "This?" He formed a Chaos Spear in his hand, then pointed it at his own head.
"Perhaps…" Mephiles shrugged. "I think it needs to be bigger."
Shadow grit his teeth… the spear grew in size.
"Big enough!?" he spat.
Shadow's hand swiped downwards. The spear was launched at his own foot. The hedgehog cried out in pain and collapsed.
Black Doom ascended from the floor, up to his usual level, towering over Shadow, who cowered on the floor, clutching his bleeding, scorched foot.
"Ah, now this is the level of suffering I expect to see…" Mephiles admired the expressions of pain and guilt on Shadow's face; whose ears bent back in apprehension, and eyes wide and begging for forgiveness.
Shadow gulped as he felt Black Doom's control take over his body… then…
WHITE HOT NEEDLE PAIN
Shadow clutched at his head. The pain in his sliced, scorched foot was nothing compared to this. He couldn't hold back his screams. Black Doom and Mephiles ignored it.
"What are YOU doing here?" Black Doom bellowed as he pointed at Mephiles. "You asked nothing more of our deal!"
"I've changed my mind…" Mephiles said. "I was curious about this timeline… and when I came to check it seemed as though Shadow was not suffering as much as I'd hoped."
"So you coaxed him into angering me," Black Doom said. He dropped his arm. Shadow's wailing ceased, his body relaxed, and he lay there, unresponsive.
"Yes," Mephiles was blunt. "But that plan was entirely his idea. You cannot blame me for that."
"It is no surprise that Shadow wants to destroy me. It is in my genetics to destroy life… and in his to protect it. But I can change him," Black Doom said. "I know killing is in his blood, because it is in mine. And he has displayed those behaviours before."
"He's saving those behaviours for you. I think you should keep him under more restrictions," Mephiles said. "Throw him into his room, and do not let him out. And get rid of those luxuries. You would think that the great Alien overlord had gone soft. No wonder your species is dying."
Black Doom swiped a sharp beam of energy at Mephiles, but the demigod took a sudden portal through the floor, which closed immediately afterwards.
The place fell silent.
Shadow twitched as he came to, and slowly pushed himself up. His foot had stopped bleeding, but his shoe lacked the ability to heal.
"Wh… what happened?" Shadow rasped, looking dazed. "I… remember arguing with you and then… waking up here."
"Our… actions towards each other got out of hand. I… shut your mind off for a few moments and… helped you forget the pains you experienced. I think we should stay apart for the remainder of this journey." Black Doom said, seriously and solemnly.
Shadow tensed up, something did not seem right. His mind felt fuzzy and blank whenever he tried to think about the previous moment.
"I'll… go to my room," Shadow said, then walked out of the door.
"No. I have something else in mind," Black Doom said. Shadow lost the ability to move, frozen in place. Black Doom came up behind him with his arm outstretched.
"Keeping you under control with my mind powers is draining, especially with your… endless willpower," Black Doom expressed. "I am going to use physical restraint on you for the remainder of our trip."
Black Doom levitated himself and Shadow towards the end of the corridor. There was a door Shadow had not noticed before.
It opened, and inside were dead bolt cuffs on the wall. Shadow's eyes widened as he couldn't do anything to stop Black Doom from clipping him in.
Shadow's arms were pulled out to his sides, and his legs stuck together down below. Shadow glared at Black Doom.
"You're crucifying me," he spat.
"I don't know what you mean," Black Doom said. "My offspring will bring you food from time to time but… it will not be our priority."
"Why are you doing this NOW!?" Shadow yelled, tugging on the restraints. But they were tight, and unmoveable.
"It's only for the remainder of the trip. Then we retrieve the first Chaos Emerald from the next planet, give you a chance to breathe, and then you will go back into the restraints."
"You meant 'breather', right?" Shadow asked, sweat dripping from his forehead.
"I don't know what you mean," Black Doom said. "I have a lot of work to do. Our species is dying. I cannot afford to smother you anymore."
Black Doom floated out of the room. The door pulled shut behind him. The air began to feel thin. Shadow coughed and tried to rasp in a breath desperately.
"Breather…?" Shadow rasped. "He… l-literally meant…to breathe…" He gulped hard. "Ch-chaos...con.."
Shadow scrunched his eyes tight. He took in deep, hard breaths but it did nothing for him.
It was like whatever was in the air was enough to keep him conscious… but not enough to satisfy his craving for oxygen.
"Cha…. o…" Shadow had no air left in him. He fell limp… his irises went dim.
BLACK DOOM
Shadow screamed out inside of his mind. But he couldn't sense Black Doom's connection anymore.
Shadow trembled then let out a huge exhale, which gave him some relief from the rising craving for oxygen… but the inhales did nothing. Soon, each exhale left Shadow a sour aftertaste in his mouth… but he felt cleansed on the inside.
Black Arms DNA… Shadow thought to himself, If the Black Arms can go Fifty Years without food, then surely they can go a mere two years without oxygen.
Shadow gulped. His irises were fading from red to grey. His body was filling up with toxins from the lack of oxygen. All he could do was force out long, laboured exhales to stop himself from burning up from the inside.