Chapter Nine – Tyrant
Shadow remembered it so distinctly. It made Maria cry so much. As a small child, she'd been diagnosed with Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or N.I.D.S., on the planet. Immediately her grandfather, Gerald Robotnik, and along with her father, Kintobor, they took her to the Ark, desperate for help. The reduced gravity of the space colony did improve her condition, putting it into remission, but it wasn't a cure. But Kintobor got incredibly frustrated at his father's constant attention on Project Shadow, and not the looking the precious cure for his daughter. Gerald claimed that Shadow was the cure, but Kintobor never believed it.
"How could a Hedgehog monster, super soldier be a cure for N.I.D.S.?" He roared, downright objecting. Regardless, Maria suddenly took a massive decline, and unable to cope with the thought, or incredible mental strain of losing his daughter, he left the Ark, leaving her behind, and vanished.
Into thin air.
No one ever saw him again, and even though Maria recovered from her illness episode, she never forgave him for just abandoning her. It really upset her. She was stronger then that, she wasn't just going to die. She could fight it. Now her father was gone, and it was the one reason why she clung onto Shadow so much. Gerald was just too busy for her and she needed someone.
Shadow heaved. Unfortunately, Kintobor was right. In the years since his awakening on Prison Islands, Shadow learned that he was never meant to be the cure. Just the monster, the Human always believed him to be. That had almost broke Shadow all over again. The fact that he didn't save her the first time, but then when he realised he could never have saved her, was tough. But Gerald had lied to him. He heaved, fully understanding why, forgiving him. He was creating a monster, to obey orders. Shadow just wouldn't have cared for a dying Human girl. But Maria needed someone, and out of sympathy for her, he told Shadow, he was indeed a cure for her, despite it never existing, to make him care. It worked, as the two of them became fast friends, but in the long term, there was literally nothing he could have done for her.
Maybe her dying by that gunshot, when G.U.N. raided Ark, was a blessing. Maria didn't suffer, and she quickly found peace. It would have been long and drawn out process otherwise. But Shadow growled, staring daggers at the Human. Where had Kintobor been for the last sixty years? He looked older, then Shadow remembered from the photographs, but he should have been a very old man indeed, like Gerald was, not the middle-aged ugly fiend he was. But the fact that he was hanging out with the Black Arms, meant one singular thing. When he left the Ark, he didn't return to the planet, but went out into deep space, obviously to try his chances out there, or to just literally get away from everything. Regardless, Shadow had no idea when he encountered the Black Arms, but it must had been fairly recently, within the last decade, after he destroyed Black Doom. That crippled the entire species, including the leftover outer colonies, which is what, Shadow suspected, Kintobor stumbled across.
That fact that he hadn't aged that fast, didn't surprise him. The Black Arms were immortal, or they were, before Black Doom's death, and even though the only Black Arm to keep his immortality was Shadow himself, because of his genetic engineering and other factors, the Black Arms had technology that could reverse ageing. Or in Kintobor's case, slow it down, as he was, very obviously, using it on himself. Suddenly, Sonic heaved, next to him. He blinked and hard, looking down at the Human.
"Whoa, that looks like Egg-Head but blonde." He gasped, but Shadow growled. "Well, obviously, they are the same family." He spat, but then the Blue Blur frowned.
"I wonder what he wants?" He asked, looking around, at all the Black Arms, he was attacking them with. But Shadow just smirked. He knew exactly why he was there. Revenge. Purely and simply. On him. He was certain that Kintobor may have been around the Black Arms outer colonies, when he destroyed Black Doom. The Black Arm's leader cursed him out, across the cosmos. Kintobor would have heard, that Shadow The Hedgehog, the abomination his father was working on, had survived the Ark, when his daughter didn't, would be an insult he just wouldn't have let lie.
But it would have taken him years, to retrofit all of the dying Black Arms with the technology, and the telepathy from that Water Elemental, needed to control them, hence their arrival now, more then a decade on. Shadow scowled back at the Blue Blur.
"Me." He simply hissed. But Sonic just rolled his eyes.
"Oh no, not another revenge call. What did you do this time?" He wondered. But the Fire Elemental just blinked, as he suddenly realised the truth.
"Nothing." He gasped. "Kintobor apparently objected to my creation itself, which wasn't my choice, but I suspect he wants to take me out, for the simple fact that I survived the space colony and Maria didn't." He heaved. But Sonic gulped and hard.
"But neither of those instances were your fault." He stammered. "Gerald choose to create you, and Maria choose to save you. When Project Shadow was deemed a failure by G.U.N. and the Government, they covered it up by wiping out everyone onboard the Ark. A move that cost the Robotniks both their lives." He added. But Shadow nodded.
"I know." He sighed, but Sonic growled, as his 'hero' side kicked in.
"Ok, so how are we playing this?" He hissed, staring at Kintobor. Shadow just blinked, staring hard as the Electric Elemental. He was just stunned, that he was still by his side, even after everything. But Sonic gave him a side eye. "What?" He shrugged, but then suddenly, he caught on. "Oh no, do you think I letting you have all the fun down there?" He giggled, wailing hard. "You can guess again, Fire-Hog." He grinned. But Shadow just sighed, know the Resistance was listening in, down the communicators.
"Thank you." He smirked, quietly under his breath. But Sonic nodded, winking in return.
"Your welcome." He nodded, whispering in return. Shadow, not having to deal with all this alone. It meant the world, but as he began thinking of how to approach the Human, Tails's voice rang down Sonic's communicator.
"Guys, we need help. Rouge and Silver have been caught, and are going nuts down here. The Psychic is on the verge of taking out the entire Resistance. We need to break them from the telepathy. But I have worked out how it can be done. Once the water dries, it's enormous telepathic grip should disappear, and the person freed. Remember, it's touch only. But because it's Elemental, Shadow's fire is the only thing I can think of that could break the water's power, by evaporating it." He stammered. But Knuckles, just suddenly blasted down the communicator. He growled and hard.
"Fox, no. Think of something else." He screamed, desperately fearing for his wife. "I don't think that Black Hedgehog had ever done anything that delicate in his life. Can he even control those Fire Elemental powers of his that much?" He hissed, still extremely wary of the Ultimate Lifeform. But Sonic growled down the his own communicator.
"Well, I trust him." He replied simply, which just got utter silence in return. Shadow just stared again. The Echidna was right. Subtlety just wasn't his forte but as Sonic just smirked, indicating with the head, the fight down below, Shadow realised he could actually do this, and become something better then his original creation. He'd already changed, becoming a Fire Elemental. Now to prove himself, in this new form.
Finally, the Elementals raced down towards the Black Comet, and joined the fight, as they split up. Immediately, their presence are felt, as their respective Electro and Pyro Kinesis, just ripped through the Black Arms, and finally managed to make a dent on their numbers. But suddenly, the Black Elemental stopped. The Elemental water had a bizarre smell to it, especially to Shadow. It was made entirely of tears, which is extremely salty. But the smell. He knew it, but rather frustratingly, he couldn't remember where from. Suddenly, he runs and grabs Sonic. He growled.
"Hey, careful where your throwing that electricity. The water, it's tears, all of it." He spat. Sonic just instantly stopped, and stared. Shadow nodded. "I can tell by the smell. But listen, the salt content of tears makes it significantly better at conducting electricity than normal. So, even a trace of water can prove fatal with high voltages. The salt content also helps the telepathy, which is somehow emotion based." He spat, dodging a Black Oak, and with his hands exploding with flames, he threw fireballs back at it. "Just watch those electricity bolts, your firing from your hands. Idiot. With all the salty water around, they'll instantly kill if you accidentally hit the wrong person." He nodded. Sonic gulped, as he rounded on the Fire Elemental. He hadn't noticed, and Sonic really didn't want to kill anyone, and would never forgive himself if he did, and Shadow was well aware of this. The Blue Blur gasped, nodding hard.
"Thanks, Shads." He stammered, as the Ultimate Lifeform just nodded at him. But Sonic just rounded on him. "You go." He heaved. "I think I'll stick to perimeter duty. It'll be safer." He nodded, indicating the main fight, as he spotted yet more Black Arms trying to advance out of the city. Shadow nodded, as Sonic disappeared.
But not only was Rouge and Silver caught in the powerful telepathy of the water, but so were most of the G.U.N. soldiers, and upon seeing the organisation, Kintobor just went for them. Ordering his Black Arms to seriously bombard them. The Human growled and hard.
"You destroyed my family." He spat. But as Shadow ran towards and then dodged, out of sight, he frowned and hard. If Kintobor left before he was even created, how would he have known that it was G.U.N who killed Maria and then eventually, Gerald? But as he ran through the fight, he was aiming to a certain pale grey Psychic Hedgehog, whom was floating several metres, above his head, and throw boulders, cars, practically anything, at the Resistance. He'd grown hugely, and so had his powers, and was now pulling some seriously weight and almost causing everyone to flee. Shadow didn't fancy testing the Fox's theory on the Bat. Regardless, of everything, he still cared about her. Silver however, was fair game. He hissed as he eyed up the Grey Hedgehog. He growled and hard.
"Not today." He spat, and disappeared, as he vanished in a flash of red light, and his ball of living flames exploded into in the air. He knew the Silver would try and catch him, but Shadow had two things up, on the Psychic. One, his sheer speed, which Silver could barely react to, let alone fight, and two, Elemental Fire. How much heat could his Psychokinesis take? Shadow would be effectively burning his mind, and he knew only too well, that the consciousness could feel pain.
Silver immediately went for him, as soon as he saw Shadow, but using blink-of-an-eye teleporting, the Fire Elemental quickly dodged, bouncing between all of the surrounding boulders, caught in the Psychokinesis, that surrounded Silver. The Psychic desperately struggled to keep up. But, just by sheer fluke, he caught Shadow's living flames, with his mind, but quickly regretted it, as Fire Elemental burned him and hard. He screamed, immediately dropping everything, as he held his head, shaking in agony, tears running down his face. But it didn't break the telepathy. Anger swelled up in him, as he went for Shadow again. However, the Fire Elemental had seen that coming, as his living flames clung onto his fur. But Shadow didn't burn him, not immediately, as the layer of telepathic water, all over his body, acted like a shield against him. Not strong, and one that Shadow was about to shatter. Suddenly, he heaved.
"Sorry, about this." He spat, under his breath, as suddenly, with another flash of red light, and Shadow's fully grow adult male Hedgehog body exploded out of his rather lightweight living flames. His extremely heavy body. Shadow was almost three, if not four times, the weight of a standard Hedgehog, and with him clinging onto Silver, were was no way the Psychic could stay air born. He was right, as the sudden increase in weight caught the Grey Hedgehog off his guard, and the pair came crashing to the ground. Shadow rolled out of it, but it completely winded Silver. Psychics were quite physically frail, which left Silver the exact opposite of Shadow. Immediately, the Fire Elemental grabbed him from behind. One hand on his forehead, forcing his head backwards and the other around his middle, to stop him from escaping. With his eyes glowing the deep orangey-red of pure fire, and concentrating desperately hard, Shadow beautifully controlled his flames, as the telepathic water, suddenly squealed, and the quickly gave way, as the Psychic's entire body was suddenly covered in steam.
Suddenly, he stopped fighting, for a brief second, before the absolutely terrified squeal of Silver himself, came to the forefront, as all the water finally vanished. The immediate change, told Shadow the time-traveling Resistance comrade was back. Shadow let in go, as he fell to the floor, desperately shaking, at his feet. He had been burned, but nothing too serious. Suddenly, Blaze came for him, and grabbed Silver, pulling him to his feet. He just cried into her shoulder. They had, had problems with Telepaths in the future, and even though that had been solved, it had left him desperately frightened of them. To be suddenly controlled by someone else, was his worse nightmare. Blaze nodded her thanks to Shadow, before quickly grabbing Silver, and moving him to a safe place to calm down.
Kintobor had now moved out onto the field, now personally taking out every G.U.N. soldier he could find. Either killing, or making sure they were under the control of his power telepathic water, and then have them murder each other. General Luther was desperately struggling, as his entire squad turned on him. He was heavily resisting the telepathic water, and was now desperately fighting his own soldiers. Kintobor laughed, as he knew exactly who G.U.N. were and yes, he hated them that much. It seemed the organisation hadn't changed in sixty years. Still as corrupted as ever. The Resistance, however, meant very little to him. They were just a group of Mobian fighters who'd stayed behind. He smirked, more fools them, for trying to defend their city, though he didn't blame them. They meant nothing to him, even with all the superpowers on show. He knew of none of them, as he'd yet to see the Ultimate Lifeform himself, as Shadow had, on purposely, kept himself out of his line of sight. The Fire Elemental growled.
He'll face Kintobor on his terms, not the Human's.
He knew that he would immediately know who he was. He'd probably seen Gerald's plans and designs for him, in Project Shadow, on the Ark, so it wouldn't be an unreasonable deduction. Shadow, again, dodged out of sight, and leaving G.U.N. to their fate, he immediately ran for his old fellow Team Dark comrade, taking many Black Arms soldiers along the way. She'd been fighting Knuckles and hard. The Echidna taking a beating as he let her, but he was desperate not to retaliate, and potentially hurt, or even kill his wife. He had Super-Strength, the strongest of them all. He very easily could.
Shadow immediately landed the other side of Rouge, and still under the control of the telepathic water, she was covered in, she went for him. But Shadow smirked, rolling his eyes.
"Oh, please. You can do better then that." He hissed, as several of her blows wildly missed, and suddenly, he cheated by using Super-Speed in close combat, he whirled around behind her, and grabbed her forehead, and middle, resting her head on his shoulder. Knuckles was desperately nervous, but didn't object. He'd seen the Fire Elemental free Silver, and so he just watched on, shaking. Shadow then released his fire, and sent the steam exploding from Rouge's body. She temporarily stopped moving as the telepathy finally let got of it's grip. Finally, she screamed, as she regained her sanity. Shadow immediately let go of her, and she toppled into Knuckles's arms, unscathed, for an almighty hug. He smiled.
"Hey, I've got you." He beamed. Finally, she was back, but she was desperately frightened, as she cried.
"Oh, Knucky, it was a nightmare." She sniffed. "I could see and hear everything, but couldn't do anything about it." She stammered. Shadow growled. Classic telepathy. Suddenly, Tails ran up on them, as the Fire Elemental was panting hard, during the temporary lull. Controlling his flames that hard, was exhausting. He squealed.
"Thank you." He stammered, as Shadow nodded. "I think that's everyone, no one else had been taken from the Resistance. We all managed to avoid the water, but G.U.N. is in a bad way." He gulped. Suddenly, more Black Arms came charging at them, but Shadow whom by now, had long had enough of this fight, just exploded his temper, and thus, his flame, and threw fireballs at the cyber-enhanced aliens so hot, that they just exploded into ashes in contact. With another lull, and the still anger driven Fire Elemental beside him, Tails gulped, but held his nerve, as he rounded on him. "Shadow, I know you hate G.U.N. but that organisation had incredible reach and influence on this planet. If Kintobor takes control of it, then we are in serious trouble." He stammered. But before Shadow could answer, it came, out of nowhere.
An almighty shot of the highly telepathic water, that came from a mobile cannon, that had come rolling down the ramp, behind Kintobor, and had began just randomly shooting everywhere. The Fire Elemental just didn't think, he just instinctively moved, as the enormous ball of water, came straight towards them. Whirling around, at super high-speeds, Shadow took the blast square in the back, protecting everyone, as they all dodged the fallout.
But the instantaneous pain was so excruciating, he just bellowed his lungs out, heavily buckling. The water's telepathic effect did nothing to Shadow, as he suspected it wouldn't, but water buried itself into the muscles, of his back, effectively very badly burning him. It immediately stripped away the jet black fur, quills and skin of his Hedgehog form, leaving behind the deep yellow, cracked red and almost bright white form of the pure lava monster he was underneath. Suddenly, he began steaming as his intense heat, instantly evaporated all the telepathic water, but his screams just shook the entire city.
They were full of intense despair and unfortunately, experience, clearing showing, he'd been through that much pain before. But that water, and the telepathic consciousness within it. He felt it touch him. He growled. He knew it, but from where? It was a young mind, containing a lot on innocence, fright and terror, but wasn't being forced. Shadow felt for it, as he deeply frowned.
'Who are you?' He desperately wondered, in his thoughts, but with no solution, he had to move on. Somehow still on his feet, Shadow turned around, showing his back to everyone. They were all forced to back away, with the incredibly high temperatures. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, he toppled forwards, but didn't hit the floor, as he was immediately caught by a fellow Electric Elemental, who arrived out of thin air, and in his own Hedgehog form, caught Shadow. Sonic gulped and hard.
"Easy, Shads. I got you." He gasped, as Shadow was left desperately panting in his arms. Unfortunately, the cannon was still firing and there were all forced to move, and dodge a second blast. Tails squealed.
"Guys, you've gotta take that thing out." He ordered, shaking himself past the horrendous ordeal he'd just witness. Shadow whose temper was still fuming, nodded, and go up. Back on his feet, he shook himself down, instantly returning the black skin, fur and quills, to his back, in his Hedgehog form, it now looking as though nothing had happened.
Everyone gulped. Was Shadow actually turning into something significantly more then just an Elemental? He was so much more powerful then Sonic. Was he an actual God? Right now, no one knew, but they had to ditch that cannon. Desperately dodging it's blasts, the Resistance just ran, as Sonic and Shadow, beelined straight for it. They nodded to each other.
They both knew what to do. They had done it before. In taking out many an Boss Robot of Eggman's, more then a decade earlier. It was now just pure instinct. This enormous cannon was no different, as both the Elementals just rolled up into balls and in full on super-span, then sped right for it, and just bombarded it with homing attacks. The ruthless efficient attack move was back, and it didn't make any difference that everything had changed for the speedsters, they still knew where their true origins lay.
The Super-Speed.
It was what originally brought them together, and now, it was here to stay, as they intense bombardment, just caused the cannon to collapse, and the explode, unable to take it. Kintobor, as he was just about to permanently take out General Luther, who was now begging for his life, heard the explosion. Suddenly, he roared in anger, knowing exactly what it was. His precious cannon. The only one he had. He worked for years on that. Designing, developing, building and fine tuning it to perfection, and now it was destroyed. The Human had originally trained as an Archaeologist, but years of digging up ancient but super-advanced technology, most of it based on cyber-enhancement, it had gotten Kintobor interested in replicating it. Experimental Archaeology, and with his family's love of electronics, he quickly developed a working prototype of a external beating heart, which progressed onto others, such as the Black Arms and now, the cannon, as a means of fighting and defending himself, especially out in deep space. But then, when he heard that his daughter Maria was ill, with potentially no cure, he desperately thought that maybe in newly-found knowledge of cyber-enhancing, may help in someway.
That was how Gerald's successfully convinced Kintobor to bring his daughter to the Ark. He was hoping for the solution there, as the Space Colony had the technology. But no, his father believing Project Shadow being the answer, but then leaving when situation just got too much. He didn't just leave Maria but his entire family behind, back on Earth, simply because his own father wouldn't allow him to save his precious first born. Believing him, like always, to be inferior, especially to his own brother. The resulting fierce argument that tore the entire family apart, when Kintobor just walked away, declaring that his father was chasing dreams and that his daughter was a good as dead. Grief stricken, he'd vanished.
Now with years of developing and then delicately refining the cyber-enhancing technology, with the help of the ancients, Kintobor had built himself an army, to finally take back, what he believed was his. Suddenly, he whirled around, and faced the entrance of the Black Comet, where it was. He growled, who destroyed it?
Regardless, it successfully took Kintobor's attention away from G.U.N., giving General Luther a chance to overthrow his own soldiers and flee for his life. The huge Rhino hated it, but he didn't have a choice, successfully getting out of Empire City, allowing G.U.N. to live another day. Regardless, they were now out of this fight.
The Fire Elemental, this time, didn't dodge out of sight, as he, and his fellow Electric Elemental, both landed on top the wreckage of the disintegrated cannon. Together, they stood, united, as they finally faced off the Human.
But Kintobor gasped.
He knew that he was alive, that was why he was here, but he wasn't expecting him to be so large or this powerful. As expected, he completely ignored Sonic. Suddenly, Kintobor gulped, but then his anger just exponentially exploded, at the Black Hedgehog. He growled, pointing a finger.
"You." He hissed.
Finally, Shadow The Hedgehog was stood before him.