Total Eclipse Saga Episode 5: A Matter of Survival

In the Black Comet's Central Chamber, Shadow is having a showdown with Black Death, the Black Arms' leader. Shadow throws a Chaos Spear, but Black Death launches a counter attack. Both of the attacks strike each other and cancel each other out in the process. Shadow soon lands on the ground.

Black Death turns to Shadow and angrily says, "Traitor! Black Doom gave you life!"

"The professor gave me life. Your master only provided his genes," Shadow angrily says.

Black Death then places his hands together as his eyes glow, "You were Gerald's experiment! You are our brother!"

Soon, dark purple portals appear behind Black Death.

"You owe nothing to the humans!" Black Death adds, and launches flaming rocks at Shadow.

Shadow quickly spin dashes over and under the rocks and quickly lands on the ground.

Shadow continues to dodge the attacks as he says, "And I owe nothing to you. I made my choice. Make your peace before the end."

"You can't kill me! You can't blow up our comet! You'll be dooming our race to extinction!" Black Death says in rage.

Black Death then fires a powerful beam at Shadow. Shadow quickly dodges and hides behind a pillar. He soon takes a deep breath.

Black Death continues to fire as he bellows in rage, "What gives you the right to pass judgement over the Black Arms?! TWICE?!"

Shadow knows there is only one way for him to defeat Black Death. He soon begins to take off one of his gold inhibitors.

He says, "Because your idea of 'survival' is the destruction of everyone else."

"Because you see everyone and everything else as fuel. As food, and fodder," Shadow adds, taking off the other one.

Shadow begins to release his Chaos Energy and creates a powerful glowing aura around his body.

"You strive to protect thousands of ravenous, mindless monsters and call yourself righteous," Shadow angrily says and energizes his powers.

Shadow then releases the powerful Chaos Energy and destroys the pillar causing Black Death to shield his eyes.

Shadow stands on the debris and says, "I swore to Maria I would protect the billions of individuals on the planet below. The people she loved unconditionally. PREPARE FOR YOUR END!"

Elsewhere in the New Black Comet, the rest of the Spider Troupe, including Fiona, Jazz, and Nic return to the shop where they're greeted by their comrades.

One of the soldiers notices them "There you are."

Andrews groans in pain and almost falls over, but one of the soldiers caught him in time.

He asks, "Captain Andrews! What happened, sir?"

"The mission… just about fell apart… we're all… suffering from a paralyzing neurotoxin…" Andrews says, still in pain.

Another soldier asks, "Where are the aliens? Why aren't they hunting you down?"

"Shadow… drew their attention… attacked their leader…" Captain Andrews says.

"What about the bomb? Did you get it into position?" The soldier asks.

Andrews weakly answers, "N-no… it was taken… but the rest of Team Dark… Rouge and Omega… are handling it… get us back to the shuttle… we got… to ready… the escape," Andrews says.

At a different part of the comet, Rouge and Omega are flying deeper in the center of the comet.

Rouge touches her earpiece and calls, "Shadow? Do you copy?" but so far, nothing.

Rouge turns to Omega, "...He's not sending us directions anymore."

Omega says, "Then he must have engaged the Black Arms' leader in battle. Some beings have all the luck."

"Oh, give it a rest. He's-" Rouge says, annoyed.

But then, notices the Nuke, "Look over there!"

They both see the Nuke is right in front of it.

"Completely abandoned and out in the open. It's a set-up for an ambush," Rouge says.

"Good. Let them come!" Omega says.

Rouge rolls her eyes, "Oh brother."

Then Rouge notices, "Hold on."

Rouge walks closer to notices on the right side of the Nuke, is Eve, barely conscious.

"Eve!" Rouge says.

"Eve the hedgehog has been located, let us move forward," Omega says, moving forward.

Rouge flies over and lands next to her.

"Come on Eve, wake up," Rouge says, worried, and gently pats her cheek.

Soon, Eve lets out a grunt and groans in dizziness and looks to see, "Rou-Rouge…"

Eve slowly begins moving her body.

"Eve, are you alright?" Rouge asks.

"I'm fine… Eclipse… he knocked me out… still maintained… my free will…" Eve says, tired.

"That's good," Rogue says and helps Eve back on her feet.

Omega walks over, "Where are our targets?!"

Omega's question has answers to see the Black Oak appears from behind the pillar with Eclipse standing on its shoulder.

"Excellent! Combat Engage!" Omega says, bringing out his blaster.

Eclipse says to Black Oak, "Tear the robot to pieces! I'll handle the-!"

But Omega fires his guns at the Black Oak anyway, shooting it down. Eclipse falls off the Black Arm shoulder. Now Eclipse is on his knees and holds the head of his fallen comrade.

Eclipse says, "It wasn't supposed to be like this…"

Just then, Omega charges at Eclipse, Eclipses and Omega are pushing each other claw and claw.

Omega says, "Undocumented alien type. You must be Eclipse. Amused: Shadow said you'd be a threat."

Struggling, Eclipse says, "Shadow… Eve… they 're… supposed to… join us… The Black Arms… were supposed to thrive! We would… win! We'd have… our… revenge!"

"Not with you to lead them. You are weak. Throw a Chaos Spear. Perform a Chaos Blast. Do something to surprise me," Omega taunts.

Rouge crosses her arms and says, annoyed, "Stop toying with it, you sadist. Let's set the bomb and get out of here so we can wipe out all the awful things on this rock and be done with it!"

"Yeah. Let's just hurry and get outta here before anything else happens," Eve says, barely able to stand on her feet.

This makes Eclipse shoot his eyes open screaming, "NO!"

Suddenly, Eclipse's body begins to glow green as it grows large and changes. Omega is pushed back while Rouge and Eve gasp in shock.

"Uh no!" Eve says, worried.

The two Mobian girls stand in shock to see the Darkling has transformed into a larger size. Four ridges appear on his forehead and his spikes on his body become large.

Eclipse stomps his foot on the Nuke with rage, "Well, Robot? Surprised? Satisfied? I was born to crush Shadow! You're nothing to me!"

"Uh Rouge, I think we might have ticked him off," Eve says.

"Warning-targeting exhibits impressive metamorphic abilities sensors detect exponential growth strength and resilience," Omega comments, trying to stand.

"Oh boy. Transforming like that might burn out his metabolic. Though keep the preserve on him-See if he cracks. I'm arming the Nuke before things get even more out of control," Rouge says.

Omega stands, "Understand. Engaging in battle-" With that Omega attacks Eclipse shouting, "-For Science!"

Soon, Omega is battling in strength and power with the Darkling.

As Omega battles Eclipse, Rouge has reached the controls and is going to activate the Nuke.

Rouge communicates with G.U.N, "Agent Rouge to Shuttle Ratatosk. I need the activation code to arm the Nuclear Device-over."

The soldier from the shuttle answers, "Copy that, Agent Rouge. Activation Code is: Sierra-Uniform-Zero-Six-Two- Over."

"Copy that. You're to leave in ten minutes… with or without us. Over," Rouge says.

Rouge soon begins to punch in the code for the Bomb. At the same time, Omega and the girls are battling the Monstrous Darkling. Eclipse grabs Omega by his arm and throws him across the room, slamming him to the wall.

"Your world! It's resources-its people-all for us! We consumed countless world!" Eclipse angrily says.

As soon as Rouge types in the code, the Nuke straps itself to the ground and is set to explode. Eve uses the Nuke for support and looks to see Omega is still fighting against Eclipse.

"You're not special! You're not superior!" Eclipse angrily says.

Omega then blasts him.

But then Eclipse punches Omega to the ground, Eve gasps in shock.

Just then, Eclipse gets a spin dash at the head, and turns around to see Eve who is awakened, but shows signs of dizziness.

"Leave Omega alone!" Eve angrily says.

"Why you little…" Eclipse angrily says.

Eve then spin dashes at Eclipse. Eclipse tries to smash his fist at Eve, but she moves and Eclipse hits the ground. Eve then spin dashes Eclipse's head.

"Listen to me, Eclipse. I may be created with Black Doom's blood, but I'm a Freedom Fighter…" Eve says, and kicks Eclipse a hard kick.

Eclipse tries to punch Eve, but jumps up and spins dashes Eclipse at his back.

"I vow to protect this world, from beings more dangerous from you. And I plan to protect it from the likes of you," Eve says and punches Eclipse in the face.

Eclipse then grabs Eve and then throws her to the ground.

"What is it with you!" Eclipse angrily says.

And tries to punch her, but she dodge. Then Eclipse tries to slash her, but Eve blocks it.

"You are one of us, and you decide to be against us! You are our sister! You're our kind! You and Shadow are dooming us to extinction!" Eclipse angrily says.

"You and the Black Arms tried to destroy our home! The planet we were supposed to protect! And attack the people I care about," Eve says, and spin dashes Eclipse in the stomach.

But then he grabs Eve and pins her down to the ground.

Eclipse says, "I will personally consume everyone you love-and burn your planet to CINDER!"

Suddenly, Eclipse begins to struggle, forcing to let go of Eve. Eve sees her chance to move away.

Struggling, Eclipse says, "I'll… we'll… urgh…"

Eclipse soon halls on his knees and places his hands on the ground. Suddenly, the monstrous body splits in half revealing Eclipse's original form and slightly covered in green goo. Eve looks and is shocked to see Eclipse weakening from releasing his power.

Struggling, Eclipse says, "Huk… no… huk… need to… stay strong…."

"Called it! I guess he can't maintain that form for long, especially under heavy combat," Rouge says.

Eve says, "Appears so."

"You okay, Eve?" Rouge asks.

"I'll be fine… wanted to get back at that creep for what he tried to do," Eve says.

"I can still… take him…" Omega says, struggling and a static voice.

"No time, big guy. We've got to move. The bomb will take care of everything here, anyway," Rouge says.

"Rouge is right. We… we need to get out of here…" Eve says.

Meanwhile, Shadow is still fighting Black Death in the main chamber. In his Chaos form, he punches Black Death through the pillar and it shatters to pieces. Shadow has Black Death laying on the ground, and prepares to finish him off.

Before he could, Rouge contacted him from the earpiece, "Shadow! The Bomb is armed! Eve is safe and regains consciousness! We've got nine minutes to get to the shuttle!"

"I'm not done yet!" Shadow says, irritated.

At the same time, Black Death senses his mind link. Eclipse uses his mind link from the different parts of the comet. Eclipse managed to reach the bomb, but saw it attached itself to the comet.

The Darkling says as he struggles to get his strength, "Master… Th-they've armed the bomb. I can't… I don't know what to do with it…"

The two then glare at each other for a second. Soon, they attend to their business.

Rouge communicates with Shadow, "Oh you're done alright, Shadow! Move it! The bomb-"

But Shadow says, "Could still be disrupted by the Black Arms through the comet! When Black Death goes down, so will the Hive-Mind! I'm buying time for you and the others!"

Rouge protests, "I'm not leaving you behind again!"

"No! You went out of your way to save me. Now I'm returning the favor," Shadow says.

"What is it with you and your martyr complex?!" Rouge asks.

"Every second spent arguing with delaying me. I'll make it, Rouge. I promise," Shadow says, showing a calm smile.

Rouge says, "You and your promises. Eight minutes. You Ultimate-Pain-In-The-Butt."

"Understood," Shadow says.

Shadow turns to see Black Death continuing with the mind-link and giving instructions to the Black Arms.

Black Death says in thoughts, "The Dark Arms larvae have been loaded onto the shuttle. The shuttle is ready for launch. We're done, my minions. The next generation will survive us."

Then says, "Black Arms-delay the invaders as best as you can. If we are to die, we will take them with us. I will battle Shadow until my last breath. Eclipse, you are not bound to the hive-mind. You must escape and tend to the Dark Arms."

At the same time, Eclipse struggles on his feet while having his claws on the bomb.

Eclipse manages to answer, "Nngh! No! We can still win this! I just need to-rrgh!-disarm this stupid, stupid bomb," struggling to get up

"Defiant 'til the end bothersome child," Black Death replies, "Death's eye-attend to Eclipse."

At the shuttle, the Spider Troupe are doing their best to be the Black Arms at bay. At the same time, Rouge, Omega and Eve fight them as they try to reach towards the ship.

Death's Eye follows Black Death's orders. It soon finds Eclipse and uses its tentacles to grab him by his arms and pulls him away from the bomb.

Eclipse quickly asks, "What are you?! No! Let me go!"

Eclipse struggles to break free from the Death's Eye restraints as it flies him in the air to get to the shuttle.

Eclipse shouts in protest, "Don't do this! Let me help you! I'll fight Shadow this time! I swear!"

After much protesting, the Death Eye reaches the platform where a circle shuttle is where the Dark Arm Eggs are stored.

Eclipse continues to protest, "You were right! He needs to be destroyed! It's what you built me for! Let me do it!"

But the Death's Eye refuses to let go. It drags Eclipse into the ship and places him on the captain's chair where the controls are. The Death's Eye uses his tentacles to press Eclipse against the chair.

He continues to scream, "Master I'm sorry! I should have listened to you from the start! Let me help you! Let me save you!"

However, the Death's Eye pilots the ship and takes off leaving Black Death and the rest of the Black Arm Race inside.

Making Eclipse scream, "NOOOO!"

Meanwhile, Black Death and Shadow glare at each other.

"There I have made my peace," Black Death says.

Shadow glares at him, "Good. Now-we end this."

And so the battle continues. Black Death launches the first attacks with the same meteorites from before.

He says, "Once you've slain me, the crewless Black Comet will fall onto your world, finishing off the planet."

Shadow then uses his Chaos energy to repel the attack. He holds his body as much as he can.

Shadow says, "That's what the bomb is for, fool. The comet will never touch the planet."

Black Death fires powerful beams from his hands and bellows, "I will not die as Black Doom did!"

Shadow clutches his hands, "Rrgh… you're right. I needed my super-state to handle him. You, on the other hand…"

Shadow then releases a burst of Chaos Energy shouting, "CHAOS BLAST!"

The burst of Chaos Energy spread all over the room, not even Black Death is able to escape from it. Shadow lands on the ground as Black Death falls. Shadow grabs his inhibitors and puts them back on his wrists.

Just then, Rouge speaks through the earpiece, "Shadow! The Black Arms suddenly collapsed. Are you…?"

"It's done, Rouge. The Black Arms are no more," Shadow says, placing his second inhibitor on his wrist.

Rouge says, "And so are we if you don't hustle! You've got five minutes!"

Shadow begins to skate on his rocket shoes, "Begin take-off now. I'm on my way."

Now it's a race against time for Shadow to return to the ship before it blows up.

Meanwhile in the Black Arms' shuttle, The Death's Eye soon collapses.

Eclipse holds it as he panics, "No! No! That means-he's gone! The Master's Gone!"

Eclipse shuts his eyes and knows that his clan is gone now. He knows now that he needs to move on and tend to the egg of the next generation.

He bitterly says, "Shadow! Eve! Pray you die on that comet! Because my revenge will be far worse!"

In the Comet, Shadow skates through the comet to escape as the clock goes down to four. Up to the time on three, the ship disconnects itself from the comet. Two: Shadow skates as fast as he can. Two, the ship begins to fly off. Inside of it, the Mobians are seeing the comet leaving.

Omega says, "You're snooped in all our files. What is Shadow's maximum teleport range?"

"I honestly don't know. If he had the Chaos Emerald. It wouldn't matter, but…" Rouge says, worried.

Three seconds: Shadow reaches the opening and jumps out.

One second left, Rouge and the others watch the comet.

Eve clutches her hands and says in thought, "Please Shadow. You need to come back. Please," and turns her head to see a helmet, with an air tank.

Rouge says, "No. Y'know what? He's an arrogant so-and-so, but that's because he can back it up. If Shadow says he can make it. He's going to make-"

Suddenly, Eve teleports herself out of the ship, and uses her Chaos Energy to fly out.

"What is she doing?!" Nic asks.

"She's getting her brother!" Nic says.

Eve flies to see Shadow making a desperate jump out of the Black Comet where the hole is. He looks to see Eve fly over, grabbing his arm, and makes a clear flight back to the ship. Then teleports themselves into the ship in a matter of seconds.

On the Nuke, it reads 'Goodbye' and explodes along with the Black Comet. Everyone turns around to see the Black Comet being destroyed.

Eve sighs and removes the helmet, "That… that was too close."

"Eve, why did you…" Shadow asks, stunned.

Eve hugs him, "I'd rather go out and get you and let you do a dangerous stunt!"

Shadow calmly smiles, "Thanks Eve.

Rouge flies over, "Shadow! Eve!" and then angrily says, "You jerks! You had us scared to death! What's with the dramatic timing, Shadow! And Eve, what's with the insane stunt!"

"I know. I couldn't teleport far enough. I was gonna use the decompression from the shuttle's entry point to fling me into range," Shadow says.

"That's was your plan?! Dive face-first into the vacuum of space?! Unprotected?!" Rouge says, shocked.

"Eve, what you did was dangerous! Even though you were wearing a helmet, it's dangerous to go out like that!" Fiona says.

"Chao Chao," Jazz says and hugs Eve.

"I know. Sorry about that guys," Eve says.

"Well, we're both Ultimate Lifeforms for a reason, but it's a good thing I have a sister who is willing to have my back," Shadow says.

"You better believe it," Eve says.

"Oh you two," Nic says with a chuckle.

Rouge sighs, "At least it's all over."

"No. It's not over," Shadow says, "He's still out there!"

"Eclipse?" Eve questions.

"Yes. Black Doom got him and his Darks Arms out before the comet exploded. He and the new generation are still out there," Shadow says.

"In other words, it won't be the last we saw him," Eve says.

"No. Eclipse is still out there, and I won't stop until he is stopped," Shadow answers.

Back on Mobius, at the Sky Rail Zone, Knuckles and Julie-Su go on another adventure to search for something.

Knuckles says in thought, "Hmm… the energy I'm sensing is faint, but it seems to be in that general direction…"

"Anything?" Julie-Su asks.

"Well, it seems to be in a specific direction, whatever it is, it's connected to a Chaos Emerald," Knuckles says, "We need to hurry this up. I hate leaving the island, even if we've got them to look after it…"

Julie-Su then notices something in the sky "Hey, what's that?"

Knuckles looks up to see what Julie-Su is looking at, and it appears to be something flying down from the sky.

"What's that? A shooting star?" Knuckles questions.

"It's hard to say," Julie-Su says.

"Well, whatever it is, it better not land on the island. We've got enough to deal with as it is," Knuckles says.

Knuckles and Julie-Su continue on their adventure.

However, known to Knuckles and Julie-Su, the thing falling out of the sky is not a shooting star, but the spaceship Eclipse and the hatchlings are in, and falling towards Mobius.