CHAPTER THREE: THE TRUE WAY OF THE SWORD

DISCLAIMER: I claim NO OWNERSHIP to ANYTHING shown in this story! The characters solely belong to their respective creators/owners.

Shadow skated at tremendous speed, just a few feet from behind the three clones. One of the metal clones looked behind and spotted the hedgehog on their trail. The clone looked forwards and its eyes glowed red. The ones on the left and right, their eyes glowed red as well. The three flew up into the air, over the great wall. Shadow leaped up into the air and landed on the wall and continued skating across it. Shadow looked left and right, seeing none of the clones in his sight.

"I know something's going to happen.'' he said looking straight ahead of himself. A missile just hit the ground behind him, making him jump forward.

He looked up and saw the three metal clones flying right over his head. "I knew it.'' he said to himself.

One of the clones dashed down at him. Shadow spun in a circle and kicked the clone in the head, sending it away. Another clone tackled shadow and impacted onto the ground of the great wall. Shadow grabbed the clone by the neck. The clone punched shadow in the gut, making him choke. The clone picked him up and flung him the opposite way. Shadow bounced on the ground once, flying just above the floor, then he began sliding across the floor until coming to a stop.

The three clones landed all around him, aiming their machine guns at him. Shadow's eyes sprang open, he spun on one hand, firing a circular wave of chaos energy, knocking all the clones to the ground. Shadow landed back on his feet and looked behind him. A clone was charging right at him. Shadow leaped at the clone as well, but shadow pointed his sword forwards. To shadow's surprise, the clone grabbed the blade of the sword. With shadow still holding onto the handle, the clone smashed shadow into the wall floor. The clone quickly dived down at him. Shadow swung his sword, cutting the clones head off. The body landed right beside him with a clank. Shadow rose to his feet, but once again he was tackled by one of the other clones from behind. Shadow fired up his hover shoes. The extreme heat caused the metal to let go. Shadow skidded on his feet in a crouched position until he came to a stop, but immediately charged at the clone.

Shadow spun in circles, firing chaos spears out of the tip of his sword. The clone dodged left then flew up and fired its core blast. Shadow stopped spinning and looked up, he gasped as the blast impacted him, creating an explosion. The clone walked towards the cloud of smoke, scanning for any life signs. But suddenly, Shadow's sword pierced through the back of its head. The clone fell forwards, behind him was shadow. Shadow walked over to the clone's body and took his sword out. Shadow took in a sigh, closing his eyes. The third clone came charging at him. Shadow quickly turned around and swung his sword. The clone flew past him and stopped in mid air. Shadow and the clone turned to face each other. Shadow put his sword back into his sheath and began walking the other way. The clone soon after exploded into flames.

Shadow walked over to the edge of the wall and rested his hands on it. But something caught his eye. He saw a glimpse of light, far in the distance. Shadow hopped over the wall and down into the forest below. Shadow hopped from one branch to another. He grabbed onto a limb and pulled himself up to the top of the tree. He pushed his head through the leaves and saw what looked like a tower. He huffed and jumped back to the forest ground and dashed forwards, heading for the tower he saw.

Shadow came to an immediate halt when he heard loud noises, coming from in front of him. "That doesn't' sound good.'' he said, unsheathing his sword and running to another tree.

Shadow jumped from branch to branch to reach the top. He made it to the top and widened his eyes. In front of him was a tall tower. It had several large metal spikes sticking out from the corners of it. There were many silver buildings around the tower. "This must be his base.'' Shadow said, looking at the Eggman emblem on the front of the tower.

Shadow heard the sounds of jets firing. He looked over to the far right and saw Eggman flying over to the tower. A huge door opened up and he flew his hover ship inside it. "That's my ticket in.'' Shadow said to himself. Shadow leaped forwards and grabbed onto one of the metal spikes. The door was inches from being shut. Shadow made a hasty jump and just barely made it inside just before the door closed. A light shined on Shadow. He quickly readied his sword. But more lights turned on. "Oh boy.'' he said. In front of him were lines and lines of metal clones. He looked back and forth between the thousands of them. He noticed that their eyes were blank, they must've been offline.

Shadow put his sword back in his sheath and began walking. He looked left and right, not feeling comfortable with the thousands of clones around him. Shadow stopped in front of a door which opened automatically. Shadow looked around the corner, checking both hallways. Once the coast was clear, shadow took the left hallway, the door closing behind him. "Why did he build a base out here?'' he asked himself. Shadow stopped, next to him was a door. The door opened for him, he walked in.

Inside was a large room, at the end of it was a computer screen. The screen, glowing blue, lit the dark room. Shadow sat in the chair and raised his hands above the keyboard. "Let's see what I can dig up.'' he said.

Shadow sat their for countless minutes, looking for files, documents, anything that could give him a clue of what the doctor's up to. "This is getting very annoying, there has to be something on here that has to do with what he's working with!'' he thought to himself.

Shadow began typing again, he clicked the enter button, a window opened up with the words: NEW PLAN FOR DOMINATION, written on it. "Now that's what I'm talking about.'' he said, moving the mouse on the folder and double clicking it. It was Eggman's entries. "This may prove interesting.'' said Shadow as he scrolled through the entries.

He reached one and stopped. Shadow looked closer to read it. "This was an entry from three years ago!'' Shadow exclaimed. "It looks like it was months before the Dimensional War, but what happened?'' he said, scrolling down. "I'm afraid, I can't let you read anymore my friend.'' a voice said from behind. Shadow jumped out of the chair and raised his fists.

There was Eggman, with his hands behind his back. "YOU!'' Shadow shouted.

"I was about to say the same thing, but not with that much volume.'' Eggman replied.

"Where's that energy you stole from me?'' Shadow said.

"I'm afraid, you won't be around long enough to find out.'' Eggman said, smirking. He was holding a detonator in his hands. He pressed the button. The floor beneath shadow exploded and he fell into the hole.

He landed in the metal clone area he was in. "Clones, kill him now!'' Eggman ordered.

All the metal clones eye's lit red. Shadow unsheathed his sword. The horde of clones marching towards him. "Looks like there's no way you'll make it out of this one…GOODBYE…Shadow the Hedgehog!'' Eggman mocked, as he laughed.

Shadow swung his sword, cutting three clones in half. He jumped up to dodge a clone. He was punched in the back. He swung his sword and cut the metal shadow's head off. A Metal Knuckles clone wrapped his arms around his neck and began choking him. Shadow fell to one knee. All the clones jumped on him. Eggman was standing above the scene, snickering in victory. Suddenly, rays of red light came from within the pile of clones. Eggman's laughing and smirking immediately ceased. Shadow blasted out of the top of the pile. His sword was glowing with a bright red aura. He pointed the sword upside down and dove down to the ground.

Once the tip of his sword impacted the ground, a gigantic red dome wiped its way through all the clones, turning them into nothing but scraps of fire. Eggman was laying on the ground, with a piece of metal keeping him down. Shadow teleported right in front of him, with a face of extreme anger on his face. "You will PAY for that!'' Eggman said.

"No…you will.'' Shadow said, raising his sword up.

A Metal Sonic clone grabbed Shadow's ankle. Shadow glared down at it. Eggman pushed the piece of metal off him and ran off as quick as he could. Shadow stabbed the clone in the head, causing it to let go and fall back to the ground. Shadow turned around with a fierce look on his face. "EGGMAN!!'' he thundered.

Eggman pressed a key combination on keypad on the wall. The door in front of him opened and closed as he ran in. In the center of the room was a glass stasis field. In it, was the hovering piece of pure chaos energy from Shadow's Chaos Sword. Suddenly, Shadow's sword pierced through the door. Eggman gasped and ran around the stasis field, and into his portal gate. "Let's see if you can escape when I put the base on self destruct.'' Eggman said, pushing a few buttons on a pad. Eggman pressed a green button, the gate lit with a blue portal and Eggman walked into it.

The door to the room exploded and Shadow dashed in. He saw no Eggman, but he did see the energy in the field. Shadow walked up to the glass stasis field. He narrowed his eyes. Shadow held his sword back and drove it into the glass, shattering a hole in it. The golden energy swirled around the sword and it resonated around it. Shadow gripped the sword and closed his eyes. The energy was drained into the sword, making it powerful again. Shadow took his sword out and smiled. "Finally.'' he said. "Self- destruct in 5...4...3...2...'' a voice said.

Shadow crouched down and crossed his arms across his chest, shutting his eyes in the process. "1...Goodbye.'' the voice said. From outside, the whole base lit up in a huge fireball of light. The gigantic plum of black smoke whooped into the air. Pieces of debris littered across the area. In the midst of a huge fire, feeding off debris, the debris exploded outwards. Hovering out of the hole was Shadow, protected by a golden bubble shield. He landed in front of the destroyed base and landed on his feet. The shield vanished into thin air. Shadow looked at his sword proudly. He was going to put it back into his sheath when grumbling noises came from behind. He held his sword by his side and clenched it tightly.

The hedgehog turned around to see three Metal Sonic, Metal Knuckles, and Metal Shadow, all in their metal madness forms. At the same time, they all sent a huge roar at him. Shadow stood strong, not flinching or moving an inch until they stopped. The three mechanized monsters halted. Shadow held his sword up, a glowing gold aura busted around it. He gripped it with both his hands. "Bring it on.'' he said. The three metals charged at him, he charged up at him, for one of the most brutal fights of their lives.

TO BE CONTINUED