Mobius Rising Chapter 4

Shadow stared at the wall as he contemplated the difficult choice that lay before him.  He didn't want to give in to Rouge's demands.  It would mean facing the demons of his past once more... and just the thought of that was more than he could bear.  The last thing he remembered before he ended up with the freedom fighters was being in a room surrounded by clones.  They were all in various stages of growth but he knew from the markings and the general appearance of them all that they were clones of him.  Dr. Robotnik had taken his DNA and used it to create an army of Shadows with which to conquer Mobius.  Shadow didn't remember when Dr. Robotnik had taken a sample of his DNA but Dr. Robotnik had run so many tests on him from the day that he had rejoined Dr. Robotnik's forces, Shadow had lost track.

As Shadow stared out at the sea of clones that were created from him he knew that it was all wrong.  This is not what was meant to be.  While Shadow didn't exactly agree with the ideas of the Freedom Fighters, he certainly didn't agree with what Dr. Robotnik had in mind.  The sight of so many clones sickened Shadow to his very core.  As he backed away in horror from the hundreds of stasis pods, Shadow bumps into the pendulous belly of Dr. Robotnik.  Shadow looks up at his former caretaker and can see from the scowl on his face that Dr. Robotnik had not wanted him to discover the clones.  

Dr. Robotnik frowns down at the small black hedgehog before him, "Shadow... I thought I told you to stay away from this area.  How did you manage to get past the security bots?"

Shadow takes a small step back, "... there was no security bot... Dr. Robotnik what is this?  What are those creatures?"

Dr. Robotnik chuckles darkly and sighs, "I suppose there's no need to keep it a secret any longer.  I was going to tell you eventually anyway.  Shadow... I'd like you to meet your legacy."

" I don't understand... What do you mean by legacy?"

Dr. Robotnik crosses over to the edge of the balcony that overlooked the sea of clones, "They are your brothers... all 400 of them.  I made them from your DNA so that they would be just as perfect as you."

Shadow was almost too flustered to speak, "But...why?"

Dr. Robotnik shrugs, "Why not?  My grandfather created you to be the ultimate life-form... but unfortunately what good is an ultimate life-form if there is only one of them.  These clones are also free from all your flaws."

" ...what flaws?  I thought you said that I was perfect..."

Dr. Robotnik  sneers, ,"Well almost perfect.  You do have that annoying tendency to think on your own... and that has caused problems before."

Shadow was now beginning to become angry, "So these... things... are just mindless versions of me?"

" Well when you put it that way it sounds bad.  You see Shadow... my grandfather lacked vision... if only he had just taken away your free will from the beginning we wouldn't be having this conversation.  Those clones before you are perfect killing machines.  Nothing would dare oppose me with 400 completely obedient Shadow clones at my command,"  Dr. Robotnik says proudly.

Shadow clenches his fists, "They're slaves... you used me to create an army of slaves..."

Dr. Robotnik's voice takes on a tinge of annoyance, "Oh Shadow... again with the negative words.  You mustn't think of yourself as being used... you just assisted me in creating the greatest army that Mobius has ever seen."

"This is wrong... this is all wrong.  I won't let you do this."

Dr. Robotnik sighs deeply and reaches into his jacket.  He pulls out a large remote with a green button on it, "I was afraid that you'd have this reaction to seeing your brothers... I really hoped that we had a future together.  It pains me to have to do this, Shadow."

Before Shadow knows what is going on, Dr. Robotnik has pressed the button and his entire body is overcome with pain.  With a cry of anguish, Shadow crumbles to the ground as his body is ravaged by an unseen assailant.  Dr. Robotnik smiles evilly, "You see... if you're not part of the solution then you're part of the problem.  I took the precaution to flood your body with nano-bots the last time you came in for a physical.  They will now be your undoing.  Even that blasted Chaos Blast of yours won't be able to stop them from ripping you apart from the inside out."

Shadow could feel the tiny pinchers of the nano-bots as they began to tear him apart at the cellular level.  Shadow knew that his only chance for survival was to use the energy from his Chaos Blast to heat his body up to such a high temperature that the nano-bots would be incinerated.  As long as he had the rings on his arms and legs, his body would be fine... but any foreign objects would be burned to a crisp.  

Dr. Robotnik watched in horror as Shadow began to glow with the power of the Chaos Force, "... what are you doing?!  You're supposed to be dying!"

With a feral cry, Shadow's body releases a shockwave so powerful that it knocks Dr. Robotnik flat on his back.  Every single nano-bot in Shadow's body had been incinerated.  Furious and still glowing with the residual energy from his Chaos Blast, Shadow begins to approach the now cowering Dr. Robotnik.

Dr. Robotnik cowers before the furious black hedgehog, "Stay back!  Get away from me you monster!"

Shadow's eyes were glowing an ominous red, "I'm a monster?!  You dare call me that after all you have done?!  I'll show you a monster... "

Before Dr. Robotnik could say another word, Shadow unleashes the full fury of his power upon the stasis pods containing his clones.  The helpless creatures were immediately incinerated.  Not even the stasis pods remained.

Dr. Robotnik rushes to the edge of the balcony just in time to see the last of the Shadow Clones go up in smoke, "NOOOOOO!  MY SHADOW CLONES!  WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

"I put things back into their natural order... now I must punish those responsible for upsetting the order to begin with."

Dr. Robotnik begins to ease towards the door as Shadow comes closer to him.  The murderous gleam in Shadow's eyes was enough to strike terror into even the doctor's blackened heart.

Dr. Robotnik quickly begins to back out of the room, "Oh you will pay for this treachery, Shadow.  Guards!  Destroy him!"

Shadow suddenly found himself surrounded by Dr. Robotnik's powerful destroyer bots.  Each of them had enough power to level several acres of forest with a single blast.  However, this wasn't the first time that Shadow had been faced with such odds, and he showed no fear at being confronted with such a messy death.  The tiny black hedgehog's body began to glow and before the robots could blast him, Shadow unleashed the full fury of his Chaos Blast once more.  Dr. Robotnik barely made it out of the room before everything in a twenty foot radius around Shadow was instantly vaporized.  Shadow lands among the smoking ruins of Dr. Robotnik's robots.  His breath was ragged.  Shadow knew that he was almost at his limit for using his Chaos Blast.  If he pushed himself too hard then he was in danger of passing out.  The rings around his legs and arms would keep him from self-destructing... but they could only protect him so much.

Dr. Robotnik ran as fast as his oddly elongated legs could carry him as he tried to escape Shadow's wrath.  Even though Shadow was almost unstoppable when he accessed the Chaos force, Dr. Robotnik had a secret weapon that would disable Shadow's ability to access this force.  It would turn Shadow's powers in on themselves and cause Shadow to be ripped apart by the very force that gave him his abilities.  Just as Dr. Robotnik turned the corner there is a blinding flash of light and Shadow is standing before him once more.  

Dr. Robotnik actually appears afraid of Shadow as he begins to back away for the second time, "Now now, Shadow.  Let's not do anything that we'll regret later.  I was only fooling with you earlier... I would never try to kill you."

Shadow was now so furious that his entire body was glowing with his latent power, "Do you really think I'm that stupid?!  I know now that you are my enemy!  You're just like everyone else... you don't care about me at all!  I'm nothing but a weapon to you!"

"Now that's not fair, Shadow.  After all I was the one who nursed you back to health when those dreadful Freedom Fighters tried to kill you last time.  That should mean something to you, right?"

"They only tried to kill me because you sent me to kill them!  Besides, that doesn't excuse you for trying to kill me a moment ago!" Shadow yells.

Dr. Robotnik holds up hands in surrender, "Fair enough.  How about you allow me to make it up to you then, Shadow?  How about Sonic's head on a plate?  Would that appease you, oh Dark One?"

"I don't care about Sonic right now!  I just want your head on a plate!"

Dr. Robotnik rubs his chubby neck, "Well I'm afraid I'm rather attached to my head... so please accept this substitute."

Dr. Robotnik's hand brushes against a panel on the wall and a glowing force field springs up around Shadow.  Shadow growls.

Shadow was beyond anger now.  His quills stand straight up as he yells, "You really think this will stop me?!"

Dr. Robotnik grins evilly and strokes his long orange mustache, "Dr. Robotnik:  Oh it will stop you.  Just try your powers now, Shadow.  You'll find that it's not as easy as it looks to escape from that force field.  You'll find that there is no escape from there... I'm quite content to just leave you to starve to death if you don't destroy yourself by trying to escape first."

Shadow roars in anger and prepares to unleash his Chaos Blast once more.  Suddenly his entire body convulses as the Chaos Energy is forcibly ripped from his body.  The more he attempts to use it the more agony he found himself in.

Dr. Robotnik smiles in satisfaction,  "Just try to leave a scrap or two of your flesh for me to clone from when you do kill yourself.  I'd hate for your genes to go to waste."

Shadow falls to his knees gasping for air, "You won't get away with this... I swear that I'll kill you..."

Dr. Robotnik dismisses Shadow's threat with a wave of his hand, "If I had a dollar for every time one of  you infernal flea bags said that to me I'd be richer than I already am.  Guards!"

Several more of the huge destructo-bots come out of special holes in the floor and surround the glowing force field with Shadow in it.  Dr. Robotnik smiles again, "Good day, Shadow.  We'll meet again in your next life.  Guards, alert me when it's all over."

Shadow watches Dr. Robotnik walk away whistling and realizes for the first time the severity of the situation.  Shadow found himself unable to stand or move.  Every time he attempted to do anything, the glowing force field would sap more of his energy from him.  Shadow knew that he only had one option left.  He would have to remove his bracelets and attempt to teleport using his Chaos Control.  It was dangerous taking off his bracelets under regular circumstances but Shadow knew that the only way he would be able to escape the parasitic force field would be to use more energy than the force field could absorb at one time.  As Shadow removed his bracelets he closed his eyes and thought of a place as far away from Dr. Robotnik's fortress as possible.  He would only get one chance at this teleport and if he failed it would mean certain death.  As Shadow concentrated as hard as he could on focusing his remaining energy on teleporting, his body began to glow a soft blue.  The destructo-bots were color blind so they did not detect Shadow's change in hue until it was far too late.

Dr. Robotnik was on the other side of his fortress when he heard the explosion.  It was so powerful that it rocked the entire fortress.  With a smile, Dr. Robotnik quickly began to run back towards where he left Shadow and his robots.  Surely that explosion meant that Shadow had attempted Chaos Blast even after being warned of it's consequences and had killed himself in the process.  Dr. Robotnik was not prepared for the sight that awaited him.  His beloved fortress had been cleaved in half by the explosion.  The area that he had imprisoned Shadow in had been completely vaporized.  The only thing that hadn't been destroyed in the blast were the rings that Shadow wore on his arms and legs.  They lay precariously balanced at the edge of the jagged cliff that was once the floor of Dr. Robotnik's fortress.  There was no sign of Shadow.  Not even a hair of the powerful hedgehog had survived the explosion.  With a frown, Dr. Robotnik collected the three rings into his hands and begin to walk back to the more stable part of his fortress. He decided he'd look for the fourth ring later.

At that exact moment on the other side of Mobius, inside the Freedom Fighters headquarters, Bunnie Rabbot and Cream were in the middle of doing laundry when they were startled by a bright flash of light.  When the light cleared they were horrified to see Shadow's badly burned, half-dead body lying before them.  A single, cracked golden ring remained on his leg but his gloves and shoes had been almost completely destroyed.  Cream screams and this brings Sonic and the rest of the Freedom Fighters running to see what the commotion was all about.  Sonic was the first to arrive but even he was taken aback by the horrific nature of Shadow's injuries.  

Sonic takes a few steps back as he realizes just how seriously injured his old rival was, "...good god... is... is that Shadow?"

Bunnie hugs Cream to comfort her, "...what's left of him... is he dead?"

Sonic kneels by Shadow's body and carefully turns him onto his back.  Shadow was unconscious but he was still breathing, "He's not dead yet... but I think we need to get him to the infirmary fast."

Sonic picks Shadow up in his arms and begins to walk towards the door.  Just as he was about to enter warp speed, Princess Sally steps into the laundry room.  She gasps when she sees the poor condition that Shadow was in.

Princess Sally puts her hand to her mouth in horror, "Shadow!  How did he...?"

Sonic shifts Shadow's considerable weight in his arms.  The slender black hedgehog was heavier than he looked, "We're not sure how he got in here... but he's in really bad shape."

Princess Sally touches Shadow's forehead and recoils when some of the flesh flakes off, "What do you think happened to him?  I thought he was practically indestructible..."

Sonic frowns and looks down at the unconscious Shadow, "Dunno... hopefully he'll tell us when he wakes up.  If he wakes up."

Sonic then speeds off down the hallway with Shadow still in his arms.  Princess Sally looked at Bunnie Rabbot and Cream with concern in her eyes.  She didn't like the fact that Shadow had somehow managed to get through their defenses so easily.  For all they knew this was one of Robotnik's traps... but she didn't see how it could be to Dr. Robotnik's advantage to kill his prized possession.  

Cream the Rabbit peers out from behind Bunnie with tears in her wide eyes, "... is Mr. Shadow going to die?"

Bunnie pats Cream on her head,  "I don't know, Sugah.  I hope not."

Shadow winces at the memory of the week that he spent in the Freedom Fighters infirmary.  He was still astonished at how hard his so-called enemies had fought to save his life.  Even Tails had chipped in by creating new power rings for his legs and arms.  Shadow caresses one of the golden rings on his arm thoughtfully.  He had never personally thanked any of the Freedom Fighters for saving his life.  It just wasn't in his personality to do such a thing.

Shadow had never felt like he belonged among the Freedom Fighters.  It wasn't just his troubled past that made him feel like an outcast or the way the other Freedom Fighters tried their best to avoid being alone with him.  No it was much more than that.  Shadow didn't really feel like he belonged anywhere.  

Of all the Freedom Fighters that Shadow had come in contact with, Knuckles was the only one that he felt comfortable enough to confide in.  Like Shadow, Knuckles was somewhat of a loner himself and seemed to relate to Shadow on a level that none of the other Freedom Fighters did.  Knuckles' past was almost as turmoil ridden as Shadow's was.  Like Shadow, Knuckles had lost everything that he held dear because of Dr. Robotnik's greed.  Angel Island, the mystical floating island home of Knuckles' people and home of the Master Chaos Emerald, had been completely obliterated in a guerrilla attack by Dr. Robotnik's forces.  Knuckles had managed to escape with the Master Emerald but everyone else on the island had perished.  Shadow was surprised how well adjusted Knuckles seemed to be considering that Dr. Robotnik had practically wiped out his entire species.

Shadow scratches absently at the thick black and red quills on his head as he tries to decide whether to talk to Knuckles about what Rouge was forcing him to do.  If anyone would understand, Knuckles would.  From the sounds of things, Knuckles had a long history with the diabolical white bat.  With a sigh, Shadow stands and walks out of the room to find Knuckles.