Shadow: Awakening

Shadow: The True Guardian of Earth

"What was that?!" I say, whirling around whilst my eyes darted in every direction.

"Did something hit us?" Maria gasped fearfully.

"I'm not sure. Let me check..." Gerald said quickly as he yanked out a small computer screen from his pocket. Tapping it furiously, he searches for the source of the Clack!. He swipes his fingers across the screen several times, then gasps and blanches.

"What is it, Grandfather?" Maria asked, biting her lip in anticipation of his answer. Gerald whips his head up, and fixes us both with a steely, yet worried gaze.

"Shadow, you have a pair of air shoes that I made for you. Put them on. The both of you need to head for the launch bay immediately." He said, pointing at a pair of shoes next to my bed. With his other hand, he already dances his fingers on the screen.

"But why?" I ask, nervously pulling on the said white, red, and black shoes.

"Don't ask questions. When you get to the launch bay--" A spray of loud, rapidly paced sounds rings out above us, cutting off Gerald's sentence. Glancing his eyes upward, he speaks at twice his previous rate. "When you get the launch bay, program one of the escape pods to land on Earth."

"Earth?" I question, having never heard the word before. What could Earth be? Looking past Gerald, I see the planet through the window. "Oh! The planet is called Earth?"

"Yes." Gerald says curtly. "Now run, and whatever you do, don't let them catch you. You must escape." Another painfully loud rapid succession of noises sounds, this time closer. "You must go!" Gerald insists, and I see fear in his eyes. "Go! But, wait." With a sudden reach into his coat, Gerald pulls out a shiny metal object. Reaching forward, he stabs it into my ear. A rush of information floods me, just like when I was created. Before I can even say "Ouch!" or gather my senses, he is yelling at us again with renewed urgency. "Go! Go now! I'll try and stall them! Go!" I grab Maria's hand, and immediately start for the door. Something from the new ear device tells me to turn left, and so I drag Maria down the left corridor with all of the speed I can safely muster.

Stumbling behind me, Maria's gasping breath coupled with the pounding of our shoes on the floor help to drown out the sporadic Ratatat! sounds from above. As we sprint the length of the hallway, a door opens only 10 feet in front of us. Reacting only by instinct, I dodge the door as well as the men coming out of it.

"Wha--? Hey!" One of the two shouts. "Don't let those..." Seeing me, he gasps. "What in HELL is that thing?!"

"It must be one of Gerald's prototypes!" shouts the other. "Shoot it before it escapes!" Running while looking back, I blanch as they both raise their corresponding weapons. Aiming at me, one starts to pull his gun's trigger. Skidding to a halt, I turn about and send several Chaos Spears at the floor in front of them.

"Yikes!" One of them yells, and the other freezes in fear. Shaking himself, he lifts his wrist to his mouth and shouts to a band on it. Rounding a corner with Maria at my heels, I hear him voicing a warning about a dangerous monster heading down the fifth corridor on the third level. Swallowing hard, I run faster. Why do I get a bad feeling that these guys won't be very nice if they catch us? As the Ratatat! sounds again occur, I realize that they are gunshots. I guess that's why. Coming to a halt before the door marked "Launch Bay," I punch the access button. The door whooshes open, and I yank Maria inside behind me. Catching her footing, Maria hurries towards the pod with me in tow.

"Get in, Shadow. I'll program the destination." Pressing her palm against the control panel, she presses the "open" key. Pushing me inside the clear tube, she then withdraws. I can't help but notice her hand lingers on my shoulder... Drawing a breath, she hits the "Prepare for Launch" button. The door slides around and closes, and the chamber starts to pressurize.