-Chapter 233-
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Author's Note:
Ignore this if you haven't red up to this point since yesterday. WindstarOsprey recently helped me revise the Akhlut and Kage battle from chapters 220-223, fleshing it out and making it better; the initial version was rushed, and me and Author of the Insane were eager to post it and nearly killed ourselves getting it out as it was. Thank you, Wind, for helping me improve on that and making it what it should have been.
Now that that's done, on with the show.
Crystal Cave
Before the entrance to Crystal Cave stood two GUN agents on guard, both bored with the job. One was quite vocal about it.
"Oh my God, this is so boring! Seriously, why are we even bothering with guarding this place? It'd be much easier to just blow up the cave and bury this stupid gem."
"Three good reasons," his partner interjected. "First, because this place is a national park, and there are people who actually give a damn about nature reserves. Second, even if we did bury the gem, it wouldn't stop all the funky warping effects. And third, people with the right equipment, like Robotnik, could just dig it out."
The first agent turned it over in his head before nodding. "Yeah, good point."
"Exactly, so stop complaining."
"I just wish Agent Shadow would hurry up and come get it though. My trigger finger's itching for excitement!"
The first agent just resumed his watch before hearing a strange noise. He perked.
"Joe, did you hear tha-?" He turned to face his partner, only to gape in shock to see he was gone. "Shit... he's been warped!" He put an ear to his com. "This is Agent Vellum to GUN HQ! Agent Shears has been warped, I repeat, Agent Shears has-"
He was cut off when he heard the noise again. "What the…?" He looked up as a shadow loomed over him. "Oh, shit…"
Meanwhile…
Back in the woods, Team Dark and the Engine Corps were riding in Axel's jeep toward the cave. Clove was up front, the others in the back, and Sam had gone back to telling jokes from his book, much to everyone's annoyance.
"What did the mermaid wear to her math class?" he asked.
"I dunno, what?" Cassia asked.
"An algae bra."
Clove groaned in annoyance, while the others just shook their heads or looked annoyed.
"Alright, how about this one? I tried to catch some fog earlier. I mist."
Sam promptly had to duck a water balloon thrown by Cassia.
"Booooooo!" the younger pronghorn jeered.
"Cassia... where did you get that?" Clove asked.
Cassia just grinned. "I have my ways."
"Do you have another one?" Shadow asked.
She held it out, which Shadow promptly took and whacked Sam over the head with it. He sputtered, wiping his face.
"Everybody's a critic," he grumbled.
"Kid, you said it yourself," Rouge cut in. "Shadow wouldn't know a good joke if it came up and kicked him in the face. Not that you have any good jokes."
"I'm not stopping until I get at least one of you to laugh," Sam insisted as he turned to the next page. "Did you know diarrhea is hereditary? It runs in your jeans."
Cassia gagged at that. "Dude! That's gross!"
Sam shrugged. "Hey, the alternative on this page was this: I once heard a joke about amnesia... But I forget how it goes."
Shadow rubbed his eyes in annoyance. "Sam… I want you to think about your audience for that joke."
"I know you had amnesia for a while. Why do you think I initially went for the diarrhea one?"
"Kid, quit now while you have some semblance of dignity left," Axel advised.
"Nonsense!" Sam declared. "I'm a Baker. And a Baker never quits."
Axel shrugged.
"I'm just sayin, Shadow's already gonna kill you once he finds out you got his daughter pregnant, so…"
Hope was just taking a swig from a water bottle at that, and promptly spat it out in shock, coughing as Sam jumped.
"Huh?!"
Shadow whirled on Sam, his eyes and fist glowing. "Why, you little-!"
"I didn't do it!" Sam said frantically, holding up his hands. "We haven't done anything like that, Shadow! Please let me live!"
"I mean, with all the Dad jokes you've been telling, it's the only explanation I got." Axel went on.
Shadow stopped at that, turning to him.
"Wait, what?!" Sam shrieked.
Axel smirked while Cassia doubled over, laughing hysterically. Sam, however, was far less amused.
"You crazy cow! You could've gotten me vaporized!"
"Sorry, sorry," Axel replied. "Couldn't resist."
Clove pinched the bridge of her nose. "Honestly, Axel, if you weren't our godfather, I'd slap you…"
"Oh, for Aurora's sake…" Hope grumbled. "We're on a mission, people! Would it kill you to at least try to take things seriously?"
"Says the girl who's been playing on her tablet the whole trip," Cassia shot back.
"I'm not playing, Cass. I'm working."
"Working on wha-?" Cass saw the schematics. "Whoa! That's cool!"
Jewel took a peek as well. "Amazing."
"What is it?" Cass asked. "Some kinda new power armor? A giant robot?"
"No. It's the schematics for Eggman's Cyberization procedure. I'm trying to break the protocol. Especially this." Hope pointed to a small chip in the schematics. "What he calls the Crack Protocol. Any time he chooses, he can activate it, and…"
She shuddered, recalling Kage's cruelty that day.
"Lemme guess," Cassia began meekly. "Boom?"
Hope just nodded, her throat heavy.
"Holy shit…"
"Yeah…" Hope sighed. "They dragged me along against my will. The sooner we secure this gem, the sooner I can get back to work."
"After you take a break and do the make-up midterm, you mean," Sam corrected.
"Hold on, make-up?" Clove perked. "Hope...did you fail a test?"
"No, I missed one. There's a difference."
Axel swerved off the road a little at that.
"What the…?!" he exclaimed.
"Who are you and what have you done with Hope!?" Cassia demanded.
"I have bigger fish to fry right now, Cass," Hope snapped. "Did you hear about that big attack on Station Square? The exploding Egg Army soldiers? That was it! One of my uncle's psycho henchmen used the Crack Protocol to blow up most of his own men just to try to beat us! Dozens of innocent people Cyberized against their will, begging for their lives... all gone in two minutes!"
Cassia gasped in shock, while Axel cringed.
"I missed the test because I've been working on breaking the protocol!" Hope went on. "So that doesn't happen to anyone else!"
"Hope, you can't just ditch school," Clove insisted. "You need to finish and graduate so you'll have a good future."
Hope scoffed. "What's gonna happen? They'll fail me? I could teach most of those classes."
Suddenly, something landed on the hood of Axel's jeep, much to their shock.
"Whoa!"
"What the-?!"
Axel slammed on the brakes, the car squealing to a stop. Once it stopped, he turned back to the others.
"Everyone okay?"
"All good, Axel!" Cassia assured.
"Yeah…" Sam rubbed his neck. "Just a little whiplash."
They heard a pained groan at that.
"What in the world was that?" Clove asked.
Everyone turned to see a figure lying on the ground.
"Oh my goodness, it's a person!" Jewel exclaimed.
They ran to check on the figure. Sam flipped it over, seeing it was a GUN soldier with unkempt red hair and goggles on his forehead.
"You're Agent Shears with Scorpion Troop," he realized. "What happened?"
"Ugggh…" Shears groaned, pained and disoriented. "Agent Shadow...no, I'm fine Mr. Hedgehog, thanks fer askin'..." His eyes widened in pain, and he clutched his side. "Oh, damn it! I think I broke my rib!"
Sam rubbed his forehead. "What a time to be without Keith's Power Ring stockpile…"
Hope perked, realizing what happened.
"Shadow, the Commander said he was sending Shears and his partner to guard Crystal Cave until we got there," she recalled. "If what Jewel said about the warping is true…"
"Ah crap, Bert!" Shears babbled, getting up and hobbling off.
"Agent Shears, wait!" Rouge shouted.
He was running off. "Dammit, I gotta get back! I gotta...gah!"
He looked up to see a man with a shaved head, black goatee, and sunglasses hanging limply from the tree branches above. The others rushed in, looking up to see it.
"It's Agent Vellum!" Shadow yelled.
"Is… is he dead?" Hope stammed.
Omega looked up, running a quick scan.
"He's alive," he confirmed. "Though if he falls, that might change."
"I'm on it!" Rouge spread her wings. "Jewel, gimme a hand!"
Jewel blinked. "Huh?"
"You're the only other one of us who can fly!"
"But that's a full grown human! I'm just a-!"
"Even if you lessen his momentum, it'll be enough!" Hope cut in. "Now hurry up!"
Rouge took to the air, Jewel following.
"Alright, just gently push up from under him and move slowly." Rouge instructed.
"Right!" Jewel nodded.
As they worked to free him from the branches, they started cracking.
"Miss Rouge!" Jewel cried.
"Don't panic! Work slowly and carefully!"
Just as the branches cracked completely, they managed to get Vellum loose, gently floating down and setting him down.
"Phew!" Clove sighed. "Thank Aurora…"
"Bert!" Shears shouted, running over.
They looked him over, seeing his injuries were mostly just a bunch of cuts and bruises.
"He'll live," Hope reported. "Whatever happened, he didn't fall far. Or, y'know, get run over by a jeep."
Vellum let out a pained groan, coming to.
"Ugh… my aching head," He sat up, looking around and seeing who he was surrounded by. "Team Dark? What the hell-?"
"It was the Power Gem, sir," Hope explained. "It must've warped you and your partner here. You're lucky we showed up when we did."
"No kidding," Shears remarked.
"Vellum, what's the status of Crystal Cove?" Shadow asked.
"Not much to say. Most of the distortions have been going on inside the cave. This is the first time a warp has ever happened outside," he perked. "Awww hell."
"The gem is getting stronger," Jewel realized. "We're running out of time."
"Damn it!" Hope ran for the jeep.
"Hope, wait a sec!" Cassia shouted.
"What are you guys just standing there for!? We gotta get moving!"
"But what about the agents!?" Jewel demanded.
"I-I'll be fine," Shears assured. "I toured in Artika a couple times. I've had worse."
He cringed, grunting in pain.
"We'll radio HQ and get you to a hospital," Shadow decided. "In the meantime, we got a gem to find."
"Be careful Agent Shadow," Vellum warned. "Whatever that gem is, it's crazy."
"You be careful too," Shadow replied.
They boarded the jeep, continuing their trek.
"Damn it…" Hope hissed, visibly irked. "Of all the rotten, lousy…!"
"Hope…" Cass asked, shocked at her friend's anger. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine!" Hope snapped heatedly, before taking a breath. "I'm fine… just leave me alone."
"But-"
"Give her some space, Cass," Clove advised.
Cass held up her hands and turned away. After a few minutes, Sam decided to make small talk to pass the time.
"So... anyone seen any good movies or TV lately?"
"I watched the latest episode of Shining Force," Clove replied. "Cass walked out after the first few minutes, though."
"The show was ruined for me after the direction they went following Shining Tears," Cass chimed in. "And can you blame me?" She scoffed. "The casts are mostly human, the spells look like cheap particle effects and they're hardly ever used, and the level of fanservice borders on softcore porn!"
"Yeah…" Sam rubbed the back of his neck. "I never watched it myself because of all the fanservice and sexual content. There's a fine line between tasteful and just plain gross."
"Oh please, that's nothing, Axel scoffed. "You wanna know what's really gross? The new Altered Beast reboot."
Clove groaned. Shadow raised an eyebrow.
"Altered Beast?" he asked.
"Classic movie," Rouge explained. "An ancient Spagonian centurion is brought back from the dead and gains the power to turn into different monsters. Werewolf, tiger, bear, dragon, et cetera."
"Yeah," Axel nodded. "The reboot completely removes the supernatural elements and inserts some crazy sci-fi B.S. involving a 'Genome-Cyborg.' And it's gory as hell. The transformation sequences are just excruciating. Skin falling off, eyes popping out…" he shook his head. "It's not Malicious Corpses. You don't need to insert blood and gore for the sake of having it. Seriously, the guy's bones practically explode out of his skin when he..." He saw Hope shivering in fear. "Oh shit… sorry, kid."
"Yeah…" Sam tugged at his collar. "Let's discuss the bloody body horror another time when Hope's not in earshot, shall we?"
"Agreed." Axel nodded. "Well...that backfired spectacularly."
Suddenly, he stopped the jeep.
"What the?" Hope yelped. "Axel, why'd you stop? We need to get to Crystal Cave, yesterday!"
"Hope…" Clove chimed in. "We're here."
Hope looked up, seeing they were indeed at the mouth of the cave. "Oh…"
"Alright, let's get going," Shadow insisted, filing out.
"Ummmm…" Clove began.
"Something wrong, Clove?" Rouge asked.
"I was just wondering. If we do find this gem, how are we gonna get it out of here? And more importantly, how are we going to stop it?"
A dead silence followed as Jewel twiddled her thumbs.
"I… didn't really think that far ahead," she admitted sheepishly.
"Well, we did," Shadow assured. "Omega, the containment unit."
"Affirmative," Omega turned around, pulling a hi-tech metal box out of the jeep.
"Oooh, fancy," Cassia remarked.
Axel raised an eyebrow. "Your plan to deal with this gem is a fancy metal box?"
"This 'fancy metal box' is a Chaos Containment Unit," Hope explained. "It has the ability to block and neutralize exotic energies like the kind Chaos Emeralds and Power Gems give off."
"Did you whip that up yourself?" Cassia asked.
"Nope. Keith helped me make it a while back. As our resident Power Ring expert, he knows what kind of materials can block and contain Chaos energy signatures."
"Trust me," said Rouge, "if this thing can't contain this rogue Power Gem, nothing can."
"After that, we just need to get it back to Area 99 to cut and refine it," Hope finished. "That'll stop it from leaking energy and warping things."
"And now for the real challenge…" Jewel looked into the cave. "Actually getting to it."
"Yeah…" Shadow agreed.
"Then let's get going," Clove insisted. "We've wasted enough time."
The group entered. Little did they know, Rough and Tumble were watching them from the bushes.
"Idiots…" Rough cackled. "They led us right to it!"
"C'mon, let's get 'em!" Tumble made to lunge after them, but Rough held out an arm to block his way.
"Not yet!" he insisted.
"Seriously?!" Tumble demanded. "That deer bitch sliced off my tail! And with Hoodsey's toys, we can take 'em easy!"
"Except they're the only ones who know where the gem is!" Rough pointed out. "If we don't get that rock, Hoodsey's gonna take us easily!"
Tumble rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Oh, that's right. Forgot."
"So, here's the plan. We follow 'em in, let them lead us to the gem. And once they do, then we ice 'em."
"Oh yeah…" Tumble smirked. "That's a good plan. You're so smart, Rough."
"'Course I am. Now c'mon!"
They quickly hurried into the cave after them.
-X-
Meanwhile, Jewel led the others through the caves.
"So this is Crystal Cave?" Cassia asked. "I thought it'd be more… crystally."
They eventually came out into a sizable chamber with several glittering gems and crystals in the walls and ceilings.
"You mean like this?" Jewel asked.
Everyone just stared in awe.
"Whoa…" Shadow let out.
"Uh-huh…" Cassia agreed.
"Oh my goodness!" Rouge squeed. "It's absolutely beautiful!"
"Indeed!" Jewel declared.
She soon began a speech on the caves' history, geological features, and other historic tidbits, in full tour guide mode. Team Dark was barely paying attention at all, especially Rouge. The bat seemed to be sizing up some particularly lovely gems, only to be pulled back by Shadow, who didn't even look at her.
"Oh c'mon, Shad!" she hissed quietly. "It's just one or two gems! Nobody's gonna notice if they go missing."
"No," Shadow said firmly.
They trekked on for a little bit before Shadow stopped.
"Wait!" he insisted.
"Shadow, what are you...?" Clove began.
"There." Shadow pointed to a little ball of yellow and magenta light floating around aimlessly.
"Oh no…" Jewel gasped.
"That must be one of the warp balls the gem produces." Sam realized.
"That little thing?" Cassia asked.
"I advise you all not to touch it," Omega warned. "There's no way of knowing what will happen."
"Oh come on, it's about the size of a tennis ball," Cassia cocked her gun. "I'll zap that thing down good."
"Cass, no!" Clove screamed.
"Wait!" Hope shrieked.
But it was too late. Cassia shot the orb, which suddenly exploded in a burst of bright light.
"Uh-oh…" she let out.
"Everybody, get back!" Shadow yelled.
They fell back a bit. When the light faded over, a chunk of the cave had been carved out. The carving was perfectly smooth and curved (1).
"Okay…" Cassia began, "That was a bad idea."
"I believe the proper phrase in this context is, 'I told you so.'" Omega remarked smugly.
Before they could retort, they saw a light appearing above them.
"Move!" Shadow screamed.
The group scrambled out of the way just as a pile of rocks that got caught in the blast came crashing down on top of where they stood mere minutes earlier. As they got their bearings, Sam slowly turned to Cassia.
"Cass…" he began calmly, "has anybody ever told you that you have a SERIOUS IMPULSE CONTROL PROBLEM?!"
"Actually, yes," Cassia admitted casually.
"I was informed that I was the one with such defects," Omega remarked.
"Maybe, but at least you have a logic circuit," Shadow retorted.
"Cass…" Hope began.
"Uh-oh…" Cassia gulped before Hope grabbed her by the collar.
"What the HELL were you thinking?! We told you what was going on with the gem, what it was causing, and you thought shooting it was a good idea?!"
"I-I'm sorry, I…" Cassia began.
"Do you have any idea the kind of power a reaction like that could have had?!" Hope ranted. "You might as well have taken a bat to a Chaos Emerald! You could've brought the whole cave down our heads, you swirly-haired idiot! Are you trying to kill us all?!"
By this point, Hope was violently shaking Cassia like a maraca, forcing Axel to grab her and pull her off.
"Whoa! Easy!" the buffalo shouted.
"I-I'm sorry!" Cassia cried. "I promise, I won't do anything stupid like that again."
"See to it that you don't." Clove said coldly.
The others turned to Clove, who was looking uncharacteristically cold and harsh.
"I told you that being a hunter is dangerous work, Cassia," she went on. "I've told you that a thousand times. It's not a game, so stop treating it like one."
"Y-Yes, Clove. I'll remember that." Cassia stammered.
"Good," Clove nodded. "Now, enough dawdling. We have a job to do."
While the others were surprised at Clove's demeanor, Hope just threw up her hands in celebration.
"Thank you, Clove!" she cheered. "Thank you so much. And here I was beginning to think nobody was taking this mission seriously but me."
Clove shrugged. "At least one of us has to."
Off to the side, the others were talking.
"That was...interesting." Jewel mused.
"No kidding," Sam agreed. "Did you see the way Clove got on Cass like that?"
"She nearly brought a small avalanche on our heads, Sam," Shadow pointed out. "I was halfway from doing it myself."
Sam shook his head. "No, I mean...the look in her eyes. It was...cold. Really cold. I dunno how to describe it, it just felt...off."
"I'm with you on that one, kid," Rouge agreed. "I'd expect that kind of frigidness from an Egg, not from a sister."
"Yeah, Clove tends to get like this during really big missions," Axel explained. "If there's a job that needs doing, that's the only thing that really matters to her. She's got a good work ethic, but she can get a little obsessive."
Sam looked ahead, where Hope was walking side-by-side with the Pronghorns.
"Reminds me of someone…" he mused.
Eventually, they reached a branching path, one going left, the other right.
"The left path is where we first found the gem," Jewel said. "This way."
Meanwhile, Rough and Tumble were heading through the caves themselves.
"Hey Rough, are we there yet?" Tumble asked.
"No Tumble, we're not. Not even close."
"You sure?"
"Yes Tumble, I'm sure."
"Well, how will we know when we're gettin' close?"
"How should I know? I've never been here!"
"But you said…"
"I know what I said!" Rough let out a furious shout before kicking a rock, shattering it before hopping back and clutching his battered toes. "Ow! Aurora-damned, son of a motherf- Gaaaah!"
He took a deep breath, calming down.
"Stupid, freakin' Hoodsey and his stupid, freakin'…everything! I freakin' hate that guy!"
"I thought you said he was cool?"
"Well yeah, but I'm freakin' pissed at him! Him and his fancy-schmancy magic kicks and his hoity-toity way of talkin' and his hurble-burbin' mysteriousness-ness!"
Tumble raised an eyebrow "Hurble-burbin'?"
"I can't think of another word! I just wanna gas him in the face!"
"We're still gettin' the money though, right?"
"Totally! Then we gas him in the face!"
Tumble grinned. "Works for me!"
"Then let's go! We got a rock to snatch!"
As the brothers continued their trek, Tumble saw a familiar looking, broken rock. He squinted at it really hard.
"Tumble!" Rough shouted. "Oi, Tumble! Come on, yer fallin' behind!"
"Hey Bro, I think we went down this way already." Tumble called.
"Huh? Whaddya mean?"
"I mean we're goin' the same way we were goin' before again."
Rough rolled his eyes. "Tumble, it's a one-way path. Of course we've been goin' the same way. Now quit yer gawkin' and start walkin'!"
"Okay…"
Tumble took one last look at the rock before shrugging and following Rough.
Elsewhere, Team Dark and their entourage were continuing down the path. Sam looked around, taking note of the seemingly endless tunnel.
"Is it just me, or are we just plain not getting anywhere?" he asked. "I swear, we've been wandering this tunnel for hours."
"It shouldn't be much longer," Jewel assured. "Just a little further."
The group eventually arrived at another junction, much to Jewel's shock.
"Wait, what the…" the beetle looked around. "Wh-What's going on!? There shouldn't be another junction here!"
"Maybe you just forgot about it?" Rouge offered.
"No! I've been around these caves for years! This shouldn't be here!"
Shadow looked ahead, squinting slightly.
"Wait here," he said before sprinting ahead at top speed. A minute later, Shadow rejoined them... from the opposite direction. "Thought so. We're going in a circle."
"B-But that's impossible!" Jewel stammered. "I've been down this path a hundred times!"
Hope had reached the limit of her patience. She clenched her fists, shaking with barely contained rage before exploding.
"Oh for the love of…" she growled. "Enough of this!"
She made a beeline for the right path.
"Hope, what are you doing?!" Cassia demanded.
"What's it look like I'm doing?!" Hope snapped. "If the left path just went in a circle, we just go down the right!"
"Hold on a sec!" Clove insisted.
"We don't have a sec! We need to get the Power Gem and we need to get it now! Or do you guys WANT Eggman or someone to get their hands on it?!"
"Of course we don't!" Shadow insisted. "But there's something weird going on here! I think…"
"No!" Hope shouted. "No more thinking! No more waiting! Every second we spend standing around here is one second we could spend stopping this gem and stopping Eggman!"
"Will you hold on a second?!" Sam demanded.
"No! I'm done being patient! I'm done putting up with this shit! I am getting this gem right now so I can go home and get back to work!" Before she headed down the path, she gave Jewel a dirty look. "And by the way... thanks so much for leading us into a stupid spatial loop and wasting my time, Jewel."
And with that, she ran down the tunnel.
"Hope!" Cassia screamed.
"Damn it!" Shadow tried to run after her, only for his speed to give out, causing him to trip and faceplant. He got up, confused.
"My speed… what happened to my speed?!" he demanded before shaking his head. "I'll worry about that later. I need to stop Hope."
He hurried down the path after her.
"Shadow, wait!" Rouge demanded.
-X-
Hope stomped down the path, muttering to herself indignantly.
"Eggman's kidnapping people off the streets, Cyberizing them and tagging them with explosives in their brains," she grumbled. "And here I am, wasting my time trying to get a stupid Power Gem when I should be back at the lab breaking the Crack Protocol! When did I become the only Freedom Fighter who gives a Micky's ass about what's important?!"
She shook her head to clear it.
"Damn it, Hope, focus. You're wasting energy. You need to keep moving. You need to keep your wits about you!"
Just as she said that, she realized she nearly walked into another warp ball.
"Oh crap!" she stopped short mere inches from it, sighing. "That was a close one."
She stepped around the orb and resumed her trek when she heard a soft crumbling noise.
"What the…?" She looked down to see the ground crumbling beneath her. "Oh shit…"
The floor suddenly crumbled beneath her feet due to being warped away. Screaming. Hope barely had enough time to grab ahold of the ledge.
"Hope!" Shadow's voice came from a distance.
"Shadow?!" Hope perked. "Shadow! I'm over here!"
Shadow ran over, seeing her dangling over the edge.
"This is what happens when you recklessly run off half-cocked, young lady!" he hissed.
Even in deadly peril, Hope had time for sarcasm.
"How about you save the lecture for after you pull me up?! Gravity isn't exactly on my side here!"
Shadow promptly grabbed her wrist, pulling her out of the hole. The two collapsed against each other, panting.
"Are you okay?" Shadow asked.
"Yeah…" Hope took a deep breath. "I think so."
"Good," Shadow promptly flicked her in the forehead, getting a yelp out of his adopted daughter before letting loose. "This is why we said to wait! To actually think things out! You know what this gem is doing to the tunnels! If I hadn't been right behind you, Hope, you would be DEAD!"
"I… I'm-" Hope stammered before perking at the sound of more rumbling.
"What the-?!" Shadow let out.
"Look!" Hope gasped, pointing to a set of orbs floating around. "More spheres."
"Lots of them…" Shadow clutched his head in pain, wincing.
"Shadow!" Hope cried in concern.
"What… what the hell is going on?" Shadow hissed.
There was a loud noise. Shadow and Hope turned to see a warp orb crash into part of the tunnel, warping it. Another one did the same thing to another part.
"Oh no…" Hope gasped as the tunnel began shaking. She scrambled to her feet, grabbing Shadow's arm. "Shadow, c'mon! We gotta run!"
The two started running as the tunnel began collapsing behind them.
"Damn it!" Shadow yelled. "Of the times for this to happen, why now?!"
"Shadow, what are you doing?!" Hope demanded. "Use your speed! We're gonna get crushed!"
"I'm trying!" Shadow snapped, focusing to no avail. "Something about that gem... it's playing havoc with my power!"
"What?!" Hope shrieked.
The tunnel began to collapse faster, the two running with all their might.
-X-
Back at the entrance, the others were waiting.
"What the heck is going on?!" Cassia demanded. "What's that shaking?!"
"It's a cave-in!" Jewel realized. "The tunnel's collapsing!"
"We gotta get moving!" Clove yelled.
"But what about Shadow and Hope?!" Sam demanded.
"Guys!" came Hope's voice.
They turned to see Shadow and Hope running full-tilt toward them.
"We gotta move!" Hope screamed. "Now!"
"Don't have to tell me twice!" Axel shouted.
They took off running from the collapsing stones. The tunnel was collapsing faster by the minute. Shadow looked at the falling stones, and began to realize they both wouldn't be able to escape in time. Making his decision, he stopped, bodily lifting Hope up.
"Shadow, what are you doing?!" Hope shrieked.
"Hope...I love you," Shadow said solemnly.
With that, he threw Hope out into the initial chamber they were in. She went flying out of the tunnel, skidding across the floor as they heard a pained grunt and the stones collapsing. The others approached as Hope scrambled to her feet.
"Shadow?!" she screamed. "Shadow! Can you hear me?!"
She ran toward the collapsed tunnel as the dust cleared, and stopped short with a gasp, both hands going to her mouth in horror at the sight before her: Shadow's bloodied hand sticking out amidst the rubble, lying limp on the ground.
"Holy shit…" Axel let out.
"Oh Aurora…" Clove gasped.
"No…" Rouge let out.
"No…" Hope let out in anguish, tearing up. "NO! This is not happening! It can't be happening! It can't! SHADOOOOW!"
Author's Note:
Oh damn! Could this be the end of Shadow, for real this time?!
Sega fans may recognize our references to Shining Force and Altered Beast. WindstarOsprey's ideas; the former is basically a TV show in the vein of The Witcher and Game of Thrones.
Also, Agents Vellum and Shears are based on Reno and Rude from Final Fantasy VII. Their names are also a pun; Stone, Vellum, and Shears. I'll let you work out what it means.
Please R&R. Until next time!