Shadow, Don't Make Me Upset (Shadow Saga Series #2)

I'm Not Scared At All

Okay, now let's continue our journey with the Ultimate Lifeform.
Sonic belongs to SEGA, enjoy!

"Why are you so upset...?"

Rouge walked back into the room with the Eclipse Cannon, where Shadow and a very peeved Eggman were standing in front of the controls. Shadow looked back at the agent and had to catch himself before he could shoot a death glare at her—if he made one wrong move, he'd be right back where he started. "Well, that was really impressive," the bat girl said casually, as if she hadn't just watched half of the literal moon get blown off by a giant space laser. "The entire planet is in chaos. Does this mean we now control the world and can do as we choose?"

"No," Shadow replied, somehow managing to keep his voice even as he looked at her. "At this rate, the cannon will take too long to charge up." He then turned to Eggman, who still looked quite annoyed. "If you expect to make practical use out of the weapon, all seven Chaos Emeralds are absolutely necessary."

Eggman growled at this and looked tempted to yank his own mustache off, but turned to yell at Rouge with a scathing voice. "Where in the world have you been?!" he demanded, only receiving a sassy grin in response.

"Did something happen?" Rouge asked, tilting her head at Shadow.

Shadow merely crossed his arms and tried to tune out Eggman's enraged muttering as best he could. "Negotiations with the government have failed. Despite all the power we possess, our threats fell on deaf ears."

Rouge giggled at Eggman's childishness. "Look at you! Throwing a tantrum like a little kid. How totally embarrassing..."

"Don't forget your end of the bargain, bat girl!" Eggman reminded her. "We had a deal, right? So where is my last Chaos Emerald?!"

Rouge reached into her pocket, pulling out a folded piece of paper that she carefully revealed to the doctor. "Here, I found this."

"Why didn't you show me that before?!" Eggman snatched the paper from her hands, barely avoiding ripping it in two, and squinted as he read it. "Let's see... 'Station Square saved from a life-threatening missile attack. The city has awarded its famed prize to the boy who saved Station Square. Miles 'Tails' Prower was given a Chaos Emerald as a testament of his heroic deed at a ceremony held at city hall.'" After a moment, he tossed the newspaper aside and acknowledged both of them. "This makes things a lot easier. Come on, you two, we're going back to Earth and getting that Chaos Emerald!"

Rouge glanced at Shadow again. "Did you get all that?"

Shadow merely gazed down at the floor before closing his eyes briefly, mumbling to himself. "Soon enough... Maria..." he said quietly, before making his exit along with Eggman.

But when the door closed, his ear twitched back towards it as Rouge's voice came up again. "This is Rouge reporting," she was saying to someone on the other end. "Currently, I have not been able to confirm if Shadow is the Ultimate Lifeform or not. I will continue my research on Project Shadow and have a follow-up report very shortly. Oh, and just a reminder: don't forget about my jewels!"

"Confirm" if I'm the Ultimate Lifeform? Shadow thought as he slowed his walking pace. But... they should know who I am already... right?

"Is something the matter, Shadow?" Eggman asked as he looked behind him at the hedgehog.

Shadow snapped out of his daze and shook his head. "No... it's nothing," he said, making sure to keep his expression neutral. Eggman merely hummed and turned his eyes back to the direction they were walking, and Shadow thought back to the file in GUN's database.

If they had to send Rouge to find out if he was the Ultimate Lifeform, they were either too dense to tell the difference between him and the rest of Gerald's experiments, or it was actually implying that his entire existence was...

"Shadow, I have a question for you," Eggman said as he paused to turn to the hedgehog. "50 years ago, did you by any chance know anyone named Maria?"

Shadow failed to suppress his flinch.

"I'm taking that as a yes." Eggman put his hands behind his back, actually looking serious for once. "I only ever saw my grandfather a few times, but I never really knew my cousin. Everyone always spoke of her like she was very special."

Shadow hesitated before responding in a quiet tone, unable to look at the man who reminded him so, so painfully much of his creator. "...She certainly was," he said softly. "She was the only friend I've ever had, but then... but then they...!" He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his shaking fists, trying desperately not to start crying in front of Eggman.

"I know." Eggman seemed to have a solemn look on his face as he glanced down at the floor. "I've read about it in the news. The official report called it an 'unfortunate accident', but I know the truth. It was all a cover-up." He looked vaguely off to the side, away from Shadow. "Maria was a Robotnik, and her potential hadn't even begun to show before they snuffed it out. I may not have known her too well... but I still take that personally."

Shadow reopened his eyes, eventually managing to quell the shaking in his body and walk away. Once he was sure that he was far enough away from Eggman, he allowed his expression to become a deep scowl with his teeth clenched.

"They'll pay for what they did," he muttered to himself. "Every one of them!"

Back on Earth, Eggman's pyramid base

Progress on getting the final Chaos Emerald was... slow. Very slow.

Shadow was honestly not surprised. Eggman, despite being a descendant of the man who had created him, was turning out to be more and more of a disappointment. All the power in his machines, all the genius of his Robotnik mind... and yet, he continued to lose against a puny blue rat.

Either stubborn or insane, Eggman's persistence was clear to Shadow. But that didn't mean he was giving him any credit.

"What is Rouge doing, anyway?" Eggman was saying as he watched a video feed of Sonic and his friends, who were planning how to deal with them at this very moment. The doctor pressed a button to bring up a map of the space colony, and to both of their surprise, they found that there was a pair of energy signals from a peculiar source.

Two of the yellow Chaos Emeralds. But there was only seven emeralds, so...

"Are they trying to trick me with a fake?!" Eggman exclaimed as the pieces clicked together in both his and Shadow's heads. "Clever move... but it's not enough to stop me!"

Shadow merely scoffed and began to walk towards the teleporter that would take them to the ARK.

"Wait, Shadow!" Eggman sharply commanded, making the hedgehog stop in his tracks. "I'm the one who should be telling them the end is near, not you!" The doctor hopped into his mech and continued his little speech. "Now is the time to put an end to this long battle, and to engrave my name in history forever! But if anything should happen to me... I'm counting on you to finish the job." Eggman lowered his goggles, as a way to seemingly "get his game face on". "This is the moment of truth, where everything is to be gained... or lost."

Shadow nodded at that statement. "Correct."

With the final Chaos Emerald, my wish will come true...

...and everything will BURN.

We're getting close to the final stretch. Let's see how things go for Shadow, shall we?
Peace out!