Glyphic Canyon: Final Countdown

[Leedzie]

(BUH NUH NUUUH NUUUUUH... DUN DUN DUN... *shot*)


As his skates touched down on the warm rocky surface, Shadow released a sigh that seemed to come from the tips of his toes. Gathering the Chaos Emeralds had never been such a complete and utter headache before! From barging in on Rouge in the bath to ending up involved in a spiky totem pole to showing up while that couple was doing... things... to that ridiculous yet unnerving doll in Eggman's base, this had by far been the most stressful of any emerald hunt to date. Furthermore, it had cost him his most precious possession and half his fur.

"Chh," the hybrid spat, retrieving all seven of the powerful gems. "I suppose it was a 'necessary evil', as the mortals put it..." Closing his eyes with focus, the Chaos Emeralds began rotating around his black and red body. Faster, faster, faster... until exploding with light and energy, and Shadow's fur (now fully regenerated (yes, I'm godmodding, sue me)) had changed to a bright white. Fire in his eyes, the hedgehog hovered several feet above the ground and announced to the valleys below:

"BLACK DOOM!! SHOW YOURSELF!!!"

[Raki]

Besides the howl of wind through the canon, there were no sounds, and it seemed that Shadow's call would go unheeded.

However, eventually, a purple, tentacled alien monstrosity drifted to the hedgehog hybrid, though still keeping a respectful distance.

@doomseye@
"Come to finish me off then, Shadow?"

[Leedzie]

"Well I sure didn't kill myself gathering these gems to make you a new necklace."

Shadow glared, hissing through gritted teeth, "Show all of yourself."

[Raki]

@doomeye@
"Hm."

Gliding lazily, despite the winds, the eye floated downwards until, eventually, it reached the side of a remarkably small figure, the eye itself nearly matching it in size.

@cdoom@
Had he had a mouth, the alien being would of been frowning. Of course, that was something he'd never really had, so he simply glared to the hedgehog hybrid.

"... as I was saying, have you come to finish me off, Shadow?"

[Leedzie]

Shadow simply... stared. For a moment he opened his mouth, but his brain never gave it any words to convey. Was this some sort of joke?? Yet another deranged game Doom insisted on playing? It didn't seem out of his character, as the alien menace did tend to regard him as a toy.

Finally, his expression folded back into a glare. "Yes, I'm here to finish you off, once you show your REAL self. I'm not interested in your ridiculous antics."

[Raki]

@cdoom@
An aggravated mental growl would meet Shadow's 'ears' as neither the disembodied eye or tiny figure moved.

"This," Doom uttered, his voice saturated with contempt, "is all that remains."

Gesturing to the ruins around the two, he continued.
"Everything I have had YOU have taken away."

[Leedzie]

". . ."[/size]

Under other circumstances, Shadow may have burst out into a fit of riotous cackling over this revelation. However, the frustrations of getting to this confrontation at all were still fresh in the hybridhog's mind. While the great irony of Doom's laments were delicious, they weren't fully satisfying.

"You... can't be serious." In his incredulity, the ultimate lifeform grabbed the diminutive creature by its comically oversized garment and lifted him off the ground, as though expecting to find a puppeteer underneath.

[Raki]

@cdoom@
With a hiss, Doom replied. "Do you know me for my humor?"

Of course, at this point, it became clear that oversized clothing wasn't always the best choice, as ... ah... he began to slip out from it.

Unintentionally, of course.

[Leedzie]

Before he could even think of a response, the once mighty overlord had slipped from the robe entirely, and Shadow found himself holding an empty potato sack cloth. His eyes locked onto the material in his fist, flapping gently in the wind, then drifted down to the pitiable creature at his feet. Then back to the robe. Then to Doom. Back. Forth. Back. Forth.

"I... gathered the Chaos Emeralds... in all of those quill-ripping situations. . . .

"...for THIS?!?!"

[Raki]

@cdoom@
"So it seems."

[Leedzie]

With a deeply frustrated growl, Shadow flung the alien's robe back into his petite face. "I'm not falling for your tricks this time, Doom!! You can't fool me with this absurd disguise!!"

The Chaos Emeralds began to shine more intensely, and the hedgehog raised a hand and bellowed, "CHAOS SPEAR!![/i]"

(hopefully I'm doing the Emerald dice correctly)
[dice=30][rand=8228835959010847081953882620515516311697872866877981762022986905]

[Raki]

(Nooot even going to try *lol* At the most he could maybe roll a 6, and he'd still be nuked, sooo~)

@cdoom@
It was obvious that the tiny alien was no match for Shadow alone, let alone the combined power of the seven emeralds as well.

Like a flimsy shield, the robe that covered the alien seemed to vaporize instantly at the attack, the majority of the chains and bobbles that accompanied it melting from the raw energy.

The alien that had been beneath it fared little better, black tendrils of smoke coming from the now charred rubber like skin, alien blood fizzling on contact with the oxygenated air.

@doomeye@
And at the moment the attack struck, the alien eye spasmed in the air, flopping lifelessly to the ground as well.


It would be quite easy to assume that the alien was dead, if it were not for a mental mummer of pain.

[Leedzie]

Shadow's body went rigid in the follow through of his launch. He blinked, completely dumbfounded; had he seriously won with a single blow? Black Doom, the man that had enslaved his mind several times already and took all of his strength in his super form to defeat (and even then not kill) during their first encounter, actually went down in a single attack? And furthermore, that single attack not only defeated him, but nearly killed him?

The sheer baffling nature of the situation distracted the hybrid hedgehog so completely that, before he knew it, his massive surge of energy disappeared, and the seven emeralds rocketed off to the ends of the earth. Shadow didn't immediately notice; he actually took a second to pinch himself, to be sure this was all real. After all, he'd been seduced into worlds of illusion in the past.

Nope. All real. All too migraine-inducingly real.

"...There's no point to this," he finally grumbled, rummaging around in his malletspace. "You're no longer a threat, by any definition of the word. The humane thing to do would probably be to finish you off, but..." His hand clasped around a ring, and Shadow smirked. "I think I'd rather have you live with yourself like this for a very, very long time." With a gentle tinkling sound, the one ring TO RULE THEM ALL fluttered down to Black Doom's very blackened and doomed body.

[Raki]

@cdoom@
Despite the ring, the form crumpled on the ground continued to lie still, the winds of the canyon blowing the faint wisps of smoke away as the ring healed the most minor of the wounds.

However, Doom did speak, his words reverberating weakly in the minds of all who could hear nearby.

"You could never succeed in destroying me anyway."

The wind howled again, carrying along the desert dust.

"I will make you regret this fact. I will make you regret... everything... you've taken..."

[Leedzie]

"Right... Good luck with that." The ultimate lifeform paused to massage his ultimate headache. "Well, this turned out to be a massive waste of time and effort. I have more important matters to attend to than you now." Without another word, Shadow turned, kicked on his skates, and took off toward civilization, doing his best not to gripe too much over his situation.