Spirit of the Phantom Ruby

Part 9 - One Angry Rock

He got up at a moderate pace and examined the room, making sure he had gotten them all. A large shadow suddenly went over him. He stared down at it, trying to figure out what could be causing it, before looking up and cursing. As soon as he took one step, Zomom, ten times his size, body-slammed him from above. The yellow-orange Zeti had taken advantage of his teammate's distractions and had climbed up one of the dumpsters that served as a wall to their base, waiting for the perfect opportunity. The only noise Shadow made was the sound a balloon made when being deflated as his entire body crumpled against the ground, crushed by the massive belly of the obese orange glutton. Zomom groaned from the hedgehog's painful spines but was nonetheless pleased with himself as he laid there face-down, recovering from the fall. His grin changed to a look of confusion as his entire body jiggled and he was slowly lifted from the ground.

Shadow, holding the Zeti up from underneath with both hands and the top of his head, quickly took in a loud and frantic breath that sounded more like a wheeze, his entire body trembling from not only being crushed but also from the effort it took to hold up the heavy glutton. The dark hedgehog began taking in short and pained breaths, slowly turning around, both their bodies shaking with each step, and let out an agitated yell as he threw the massive Zeti across the room.

Zavok and Master Zik slowly opened their eyes and sat up, groaning. Zavok looked down at his master to make sure he was alright before looking up and inhaling, preparing to scream. Zomom landed on top of both of them, knocking them out one more before either could make a peep.

Panting, covered in sweat, Shadow stood there, leaning over with his hands on his knees, trying to recover from the fight. His entire body was still shaking from the adrenaline rush he had just experienced, and he was quickly beginning to feel a strange and daunting sensation- fatigue.

"Dang, Shadow!" Rouge said after a moment, obviously impressed.

"What happened?" Sonic and the others couldn't see what was happening.

"Shadow just gave every single Zeti a beat-down. And in under five minutes, too!"

"Then what was that huge thump? And that scream? Was that Shadow?"

Shadow grabbed his cracked spy-visor, already damaged from the body-slam, and smashed it against the ground, growling. He then put his hand to his ear and disabled his microphone.

"Shadow, why did you-?" He turned it off altogether.

The dark hedgehog turned back to the box he had been forced to let go of. The force of Zomom's blow had split it in two, but the gem remained intact. Apart from the small scratch in the side, it was as if it had never been touched. Shadow sat down beside it and picked it up, ignoring the unconscious Zeti cluttering the room. The gem reacted immediately and pulsed a soft crimson.

"You still there?" He asked, turning it over in his hands.

The intensity of the light suddenly increased for a moment, then continued pulsing softly.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'."

He lowered his hands and faced upwards, closing his eyes as his energy returned to him and the shaking stopped. When he opened them again, he blinked in surprise. The Zeti's base was gone. In its place was complete and utter darkness. All around him was absolute nothingness. Then he blinked again and realized there were millions of tiny red cubes scattered across the void. They pulsed individually the same way the gem had, but when he looked down, Shadow realized he was no longer holding the cube. He unfolded his legs and tensed as he saw he was floating in dead space, no ground beneath him, only millions of tiny red cubes and complete darkness. It was like he had been teleported into the void of space.