Chapter 2: The Unstoppable Force

"Shadow, come in. This is Rouge. We just received confirmation from G.U.N. about the location of one of Doctor Eggman's strongholds. The reports state that the facility has been highly active in the last few weeks, including an increase in the production of robots. A number of armed jackal civilians have also been spotted in the area. We believe they are working for Eggman. We know that the base contains sensitive and highly valuable data. Gather what information you can, destroy the facility, and report back to G.U.N. The coordinates are being sent to you now. Over!"

"I copy. I am en route now."

Shadow silenced his intercom as he raced towards the jungle. Though the ground was coated in twigs and foliage, his skates easily glided over the rough terrain. Through the trees, he could see the lights from the facility in question. As he got closer, the undisturbed jungle gave way to beaten paths and clearings where trees had been leveled and stumps removed. Lighted pillars with intricate glowing designs sat on the edges of the openings. Hidden within them were cameras watching the surrounding areas for intruders. Shadow breezed through a number of these clearings without issue, focused on the mission ahead. He didn't see the gold eyes that gleamed in the shadows.

Suddenly, a figure dropped from the tree canopy and landed directly in front of Shadow, who was forced to skid to a stop.

"You are trespassing in protected territory," the figure spoke. "Leave now and you will not be harmed."

Shadow regarded the stranger with cautious eyes. With black and white fur, large ears and a long tail, and gold eyes, there was no mistake. It appeared to be one of the jackals he heard about in the report. The jackal donned some sort of gun or cannon attached to his arm with a belt of ammo strapped to his waist, confirming Shadow's suspicions.

"So you have joined the enemy," Shadow said, straightening to face the jackal. "I didn't think the infamous Jackal Squad would sink so low."

He heard several soft thuds around him. Shadow looked around and saw that more jackals had jumped from the trees, surrounding him. Each had augmented armor or weapons attached to their bodies. Five pairs of gold or blue eyes now stared him down.

"So you have heard of us," a second jackal noted.

"Don't think you're so high and mighty," Shadow sneered. "You are not so covert that G.U.N. has not detected you. We never stopped your petty thievery because you posed no threat. In fact, some of your missions were rather useful for us. Your attacks against Eggman enabled us to locate several of his hideouts."

The group seemed to collectively stiffen, anticipating his words.

"Even more convenient was your silence over the last few weeks. We've been tracking your movements, and that's how I found this place."

"You cur!" the head jackal shouted. He stood back and began to fire his cannon at Shadow, his face contorted in rage. Shadow glanced at him and suddenly vanished in a flash of blue light. The jackal's eyes widened, but before he could react, Shadow appeared behind him and jabbed his knee into his back, then knocked him out with a powerful punch to the temple.

"Squad A, come in! Alpha, answer me! I've lost signal! Please tell me that's just a glitch in the system. What is going on?!"

Shadow could hear Doctor Eggman's muffled voice coming through the intercom of the fallen jackal. Alpha, apparently. The rest of the squad recovered from their shock, and launched into a battle. Two of the members jumped to the top of the pillars that surrounded the area and began to fire their arm-mounted guns. The remaining two charged at Shadow, each equipped with a glowing dagger or sword. Several throwing knives whizzed through the air, narrowly missing Shadow as he charged towards them. One of them lunged at him as he neared her, but after a flash of blue light, her sword only slipped through empty space. Shadow teleported next to one of the gunners at the top of the pillar and grabbed his arm, crushing the barrel of the gun attached to it. He ducked behind him as the other shooter aimed at him, causing them to hit their own team. With a sweeping kick, Shadow knocked the injured gunner to the ground and vanished, appearing behind the second shooter. This time they expected it, swiping at his feet, but Shadow leaped off the pillar, doing an elegant backflip.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow shouted, and time seemed to slow to a near halt. Falling slowly, Shadow could take in the situation and plan his next move. The gunner above him was readying their aim while the other two charged towards him. One of them had her throwing knives ready to fire. Shadow looked at the pillar, and saw a faint blinking red light from a camera hidden in one of the crystal decorations. His next move was finalized.

"Chaos Blast!" He put out his palm towards the pillar, which shot a massive blast of red energy. Time replayed normally, and the pillar exploded apart, causing the gunner to fall and the pieces to hit the other two combatants. Shadow, too, was knocked back by the recoil, but he righted himself in midair and landed against a tree, used it like a springboard, and launched off it. The throwing knives embedded themselves into the tree where he had been. He shot towards the stunned shooter and grabbed them by the back of the head. He planted his feet and slammed their face into the ground, knocking them out. The other two jackals were just recovering from the force of the explosion. Shadow teleported behind the girl with the knives and forced her to the ground. The other one, seeing his counterpart attacked beside him, lunged towards him, his dagger ready to skewer him. Shadow reached up and grabbed his arm, stopping the blade in its tracks. Keeping the now struggling girl pinned under his knees, he grabbed the dagger, spun it around so the blade faced him, then jabbed the hilt into the attacking jackal's gut, knocking the wind out of him. He then grabbed him by the back of his neck and slammed his head into the girl's, knocking them both out cold. Finally, it was silent, aside from muffled chatter from their headsets.

"Attention all squads! I've lost contact with Squad A. Converge on Sector A-1, confirm who is doing this, and stop them! Don't let them get inside!"

Shadow huffed to himself, then sped out of the clearing, following the nearby trails. Up ahead, he saw something glowing in the trees. It seemed to suddenly get brighter and closer, and he quickly jumped out of the way as it caused an explosion of mud and stone where he stood. He heard footsteps behind him as someone dropped down. Hands clamped onto his shoulders, but he jabbed his elbow back, slamming them in the gut. He spun around, clasped his hands, and brought them down hard onto the ambusher's head, and they fell motionless. Out of the corner of his eye, Shadow saw another flash of light and he vanished, teleporting into the trees behind the shooter. He kicked them out of the tree and jumped down after them. Shadow stomped on the cannon they had, smashing it to pieces, then took off running once again.

It wasn't even a minute later when the whistling of wind caught Shadow's attention. Instinctively, he ducked, and several throwing stars flew over his head, just barely grazing his fur. He had reached another clearing, where several other jackals were waiting. He glanced behind him, and there was another standing in the pathway he had come from, pulling out more throwing stars. In an instant, they were flying towards him like bullets. At the same time, the jackals in front of him began to fire, creating a bullet hell.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow commanded, halting time. He adjusted the trajectory of the throwing stars by moving them in the air, knowing they'd keep their momentum, and got out of the way, jumping on top of one of the pillars. Time replayed, and the knives embedded themselves in the weapons the lineup of jackals wielded, stopping the fire. Before they could locate him, Shadow shouted his second command.

"Chaos Blast!" The pillar below him exploded, and the energy sent the jackals flying, hitting the trees and other pillars nearby. He teleported in front of the jackal who had been behind him on the path, but before he could attack, they slashed upwards with a knife. Shadow managed to narrowly avoid the blade, bending backwards. The attack forced him to take a few hops backwards, giving the jackal the upper hand. They took out a second dagger and charged towards him, keeping low to the ground. Shadow jumped over them and kicked them in the back. They shot into a tree, then slid to the ground.

Shadow sped through the clearing and onto the next paths, this time actively looking for more jackals. Luckily, their gold eyes and the reflection of their armor gave away the positions of those ready to ambush him. Shadow warped behind each one, one by one, hitting them in the back of the head or neck to knock them out of the tree. He chose to rely on the fall to incapacitate them, and continued on.

Finally, the trees gave way to the entrance to the facility: a long, man-made corridor. In his way was the final group of jackals. About six stood in front of him, blocking him off from the entrance, and they immediately began firing. Two dropped down from the roof of the tunnel, slashing or stabbing downwards with their blades. Shadow leaped out of the way, directly into the path of two more, who kicked him forward back into the arena. Besides the swords they had initially attacked with, they now held knives in their other hands. In a coordinated effort, the two with swords slashed towards him from multiple directions, limiting his ability to dodge. Thinking fast, Shadow raised his arms. The blades stopped dead in their tracks, clanging against the golden rings that lined Shadow's gloves. The impact caused a blast of energy that blew them both away. The swords clattered to the ground. Shadow smirked, twisting one of his rings. It came off with a click and fell at his feet.

There was a massive explosion of raw Chaos energy that overflowed from Shadow's body. The very air seemed to come alive with electricity, a force like a strong wind trying to blow everyone away. The jackals tried to stand against it, some of them stabbing blades into the ground to keep in place while others were blown back. For those that stayed put, the energy began to disintegrate and blow away their armor. Using the momentum the release of power gave him, Shadow threw his own weapons, Chaos Spears, that hit the jackals still standing in front of him one-by-one. The energy penetrated what little armor they had left, paralyzing them. Shadow's ears perked at the sound of a weapon powering up, and raised his arm just as a laser fired from one of the jackals who had kicked him. The laser hit his remaining inhibitor ring, bouncing off into the sky. He then vanished and appeared beside the jackal with the laser, kicking him into his friend. He grabbed them both by the heads and slammed their heads together. He looked up, ready to continue the assault, but the two that had attempted to stab him were out cold from the close proximity to the blast and the rest were paralyzed. He sighed to himself and walked back into the clearing, picked up his fallen inhibitor ring, and clicked it back into place. The overwhelming energy that electrified the air faded. The world started to tilt in his point of view. Shadow closed his eyes for a moment to collect himself. The paralyzed jackals could only watch him angrily. Once the flow of energy within his body redistributed itself evenly, he opened his eyes and raced into the facility.

As soon as he entered, alarms started to blare. The corridor floor was covered in a shallow puddle of water that Shadow glided seamlessly over. Over the PA system, he could hear Eggman's voice.

"We've got an intruder! Shadow has entered the facility! Defense Squad Jackal has already been completely annihilated! All available troops, intercept that blasted hedgehog by any means necessary!"

The tunnel came to an abrupt end with nothing but a ramp, presumably meant for aircraft. Shadow launched off it and flew into the facility. Various aqueducts provided power to the facility, and he utilized those to get around. A number of motobugs had been launched into the currents with him to try and slow him down, but they were merely an annoyance. Eventually, the aqueducts gave way to solid land, but the gap between them was guarded by numerous flying robots. Shadow used his homing attacks on these machines to cross, destroying them in the process, and raced past and through the few Egg Pawns and spike balls that were laid out on land. He was then launched back into the ducts.

Despite Eggman's ranting over the intercom system over needing to stop Shadow, the defenses, Shadow found, were weak. His biggest concern weren't the spiked balls or robots, but falling out of the channels. In no time at all, he was launched out of the ducts. A large gap stood between him and the core, littered with other flying robots and some fallen, glowing pillars. He used the same homing technique to cross the gap and get to land safely. He raced to the core's entrance, hiding behind a pillar while he reported his status to G.U.N., requesting that they pick up the defeated Jackal Squad.

While he made his report, the last of the jackals, who had been following him closely, was finally making his move. He hopped from pillar to pillar, baring no mind to the hundreds of feet between him and the ground, before landing on top of one to watch Shadow.

"Hey you! I know you can hear me. You were supposed to lead the Jackal Squad, right? Your squad was useless! I barely got a read on the situation before they were destroyed! Find Shadow and clean up this mess!"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," the jackal muttered. He spotted Shadow behind one of the pillars, who was speaking into his intercom. The leader spoke up. "You!" Shadow looked up. "You're the one who destroyed my squad! You'll pay for that. I'll show you why they call me the ultimate mercenary!" He launched off the pillar towards Shadow, ready to attack, but the next moment, Shadow had vanished. Before he could take in where he had gone, Shadow had appeared beside him and kicked him into the sky. He felt pain in his ribs, floating in the air. Suddenly, Shadow was above him, and he slammed his fists down on him, sending the jackal shooting downwards. Pain in his head and everywhere else, embedded in the ground. Then Shadow was beside him again, and had kicked him into a pillar, destroying it. Pain in his gut and back, laying in a pile of rubble. What had happened? He looked up, and Shadow was standing over him, glowering at him. Shadow took in his face. One gold eye, one blue. The latter had a massive scar over it. Trembling. Eyes afraid. A pitiful sight.

"Worthless," Shadow sneered. "Every single one of you. I better not see your pathetic face around me ever again." Letting his insult hang in the air, Shadow turned his back to the jackal and disappeared to finish what he started. Those words had created a spark, and his negligence would be the start of the fire. The fire that would turn the world to ashes.

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