Naruto Fan Fiction / Sonic X Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Dimensional Warriors: Shadow's Story ❯ And Egg in a Tower ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

This chapter contains material that I do not own, they are the property of one of the following: Akira Toriyama, Yoshihiro Togashi, Rumiko Takahashi, Tite Kubo, Masashi Kishimoto, Eiichiro Oda, and Yuji Naka. Please support these excellent artists.

I took in the image of the planet for a moment; oblivious to the young man that had come with me. I swiftly began running my eyes over the control panel. Thankfully the Ark I had lived on for so long had been complex to operate. As it stood there were still a few devices that looked alien to me. But my eyes landed on the scan controls.

With a little work, the console came to life and began spewing out the numbers I had asked for. However the first number out, the one I was most interested in, was impossible. The diameter of the planet was easily over 100,000 km. This planet was several times larger than even the largest planet. I began to work furiously on the console. The hologram above shimmered and zoomed out. According to the readings, there were no suns orbiting the planet. How was that possible? In fact, how do we have a fairly regular twenty-four hour day?

I plugged away, inputting commands, and getting gibberish. Finally the hologram shifted, and the planet separated into layers. Looking at it, the core was about what I'd expect, but surrounding it was a series of deep tunnels dug underneath what seemed to be an entire layer composed of buildings. Then a thin layer of various minerals, followed by the planet's surface. Finally, floating roughly in the upper atmosphere, was some form of casing, which ran lights around the planet to simulate the sun.

My mind was reeling. The level of work, of craftsmanship. The knowledge and technology required, was far beyond anything I had seen. The planet itself seemed to be supported by small dimensional pockets which could be shifted around. As soon as that thought crossed my mind I glanced over the console again. There had been one panel I hadn't understood; I looked it over now.

With a little fiddling the image changed to a zoomed in view. There was a cursor as well. I tested the controls and managed to select a piece of desert. Continuing to test the panel I tried to move it to replace an area adjacent to the forests. The machine displayed a loading bar, and after about five minutes the two areas swapped places.

After an hour or so, I figured out most of the controls, but this console had some locks applied to it. Only a few terrain types could be moved at all. I changed the view to the large map. There were seven buildings that were not in disrepair. I assumed each of them was a base like this one. Six made a form of ring around the planet, while the seventh, a tall tower with almost a city structure around it, rested at what would be the south pole. I felt it was a safe bet to assume whoever was doing all this would be there.

Gripping the Chaos Emerald in my pouch, I knew I couldn't warp all the way there, but I could at least put some distance between myself and this place.

I had managed to warp to the forest's edge and now was making breakneck speed across open, tilled fields. No crops were growing, and the entire area was a hodgepodge of open dirt and thick fields of wild grass. There were many times I would have to spin, just to make a path through the overgrown golden stalks.

Days passed according to the artificial lights above; and the fields showed no signs of stopping. I warped every few hours, but with no solid knowledge of what was ahead, I couldn't make as large of a jump as I had earlier. Fortunately, not all of the crops in the area were dead. I managed to find more than enough to keep myself alive; but the further I went the colder it got.

Soon I was running across permafrost, fortunately I had stashed several supplies I had found, as the next few days were hellish. Though much sooner, I came to the edge of a cliff. Below lay a paradise. The light above seemed to be permanently on, the ground was a crisp green, perfectly cut in a circle around a high walled city. Looming at the center was a tower, climbing piercingly high. Even from here I could see a mass of black specks moving throughout the city below. I carefully laid on the ground, trying to get a good grasp of the layout.

As I watched, an explosion flared up from one corner of the city. The entire area went into alarm, troops were moving erratically. I had no idea how it happened, but I saw my chance. Deftly I warped into the city.

The streets were bare where I landed, I had hoped as much since I tried to aim as far from the explosion as I could. The street looked like it was built wide, to accommodate large vehicles. Along the sides seemed to be warehouses; lined closely together, like housing. I started moving across the gray city, towards the tower that reached high into the air.

I tried to keep myself hidden as I moved, on occasion I would come across an Armor; they sometimes spotted me, I silenced them instantaneously.

I came to a halt at the base of the tower, I could hear voices. Particularly a single booming one.

“How could you let intruders in here! You are all useless, this is why you will never ascend!” I peeked around the corner. There were a group of Armors, following what looked like it could have been another Armor once. However large pieces of metal were missing, in fact I had a hard time telling what was holding it together; as the boots seemed completely separate from the base of the spine, which was a small strip of metal, climbing up a few feet in height. Even the head was only a small chunk with eye-holes; it didn't even have a complete mouth. One either side of it were more creatures that looked like Armors, but were very different. These seemed to be made of silver, as their coloration set them apart from the crowd. They also had blades attached to their arms, were thinned down, and in almost all of the most important joints there was no metal.

I pressed back against the wall as what seemed like the leader began again.

“Now I want you lot to go find this second intruder, the Atlas says he should be right around here. I am going to go silence the noisy one. Guards.” He turned to his silver companions. “Bring me some of the converted demons. At the very least they could prove to be useful shields.” The other Armors began scurrying to their task, I realized I was in a lot more danger; but I still had my Chaos Emerald. Before they could leave the room I had warped up a couple of floors.

Again the area was empty. I had to thank whoever started the ruckus outside, the whole base seemed to be under lock down. I began searching the rooms as I went. Mostly I found computers, and some Armors. Most of them I either took down, or avoided. But as I climbed I came across something interesting.

There was a display case in one of the rooms, I slipped in to get a better look. In the center of the room was a white pedestal, under the glass in the center lay a mass of black. Smoke seemed to ooze steadily off of it. The thing was radiating power as it lay there. I put my hand on the pedestal while I looked closer, and felt something familiar. There was a slot etched into the machinery. I recognized the shape immediately; Eggman used it all the time in any machine he wanted to use the Chaos Emeralds to power. As if on cue I heard the door open behind me.

Blessing my speed, I managed to push myself into the ceiling as a large familiar man entered the room, two Armors on either side.

“Eggman.” I hissed under my breath. I could tell by his bald, pointed head, his large gut coated in his trademark red and black garb, his absurdly large red mustache that jutted a good foot out either side of his face. I pressed closer into the ceiling, hoping to get a chance to hear his plans.

“I am grateful” He said turning around to see his two guards, “that your master has seen fit to put me in charge here. However, because of that I am very busy. Why did you bring me here?” They held out two objects, one I didn't recognize, but the other was a Chaos Emerald.

“These came into our possession.”

“Oho! A Chaos Emerald, now this is a perfect use of my time.” He moved to pick up the emerald, but was halted. Both the orb and the Emerald were vibrating on their own, and drawing closer to each other; before long they flew out of the hands holding them, and collided.

As soon as the two objects came together, a bright light enveloped the room. I felt raw power burst from the unison. When it subsided the orb was gone, and the Emerald was larger, looking like a crystal. Inside I could just see three green stars, offsetting the bright yellow stone. The power it was emitting was so different than a normal Chaos Emerald. I estimated it was radiating the same force as all seven combined; yet even then it was different. Like it was free. Normally the Emeralds only respond to certain machines or people, like me or Sonic. This felt unbound, like anyone could pick it up and use it. I was taken out of my thoughts by Eggman's laughter.

“This is incredible. Go get the other seven, these Crystals will definitely wake up my greatest creation!” He held the crystal carefully, as if touching it burned him. The Armors left and I made my move.

In a flash I had grabbed the Crystal, raw power waiting to be accepted.

“Shadow! How can you still be alive!”

“You're lucky for now Eggman, I'll just be taking this; see you.” I gripped the glowing stone and allowed the energy to flow into me. I felt my fur stand on end. “Chaos Control!” In a second I was outside the city limits. But Eggman's voice blasted out of the speakers.

“Find him! Get me those Chaos Crystals! Release the Eggbots! Release the Demons! Release the Beasts!” I was about to warp again when a prone form landed a few feet away. He was short by human standards, though his black hair tried to make up for that. He was extremely muscular, and was wearing a blue wife beater and matching sweats. All of which was torn in several places. He coughed suddenly, sending a little spurt of blood up. He pulled himself up, looking around rapidly. His eyes looked over me.

“Super... Saiyan?” Then he managed to focus. “No... What are you?” He began getting up, but blood was pouring out of his backside. I moved to help him, but a black creature landed nearby. It had the same armor type as the Solarus, but this one was sleek. It's face glowed with an eerie red light.

“Still alive?” It spoke, confident, calm. “I guess you weren't an absolute waste of flesh then. Shame, I would have rather liked to see what kind of General you would make. But I guess all that is left is to kill you.” Energy began building up along its finger. I didn't wait any longer, and grabbed the man's arm; warping the both of us a few feet away.

Or at least I thought I had, the Armored man was no further away than he had been. I took off on foot, he lifted himself into the air, and kept pace with me.

“We, have to get out of here. He's strong. Too strong.” The man I was carrying finally began speaking.

“Right, hold on.” Anything that could keep up with me in my Super form was to be feared; especially when it looked so calm doing it. “Chaos Control!” I tried to move as far away as I could, place myself on the opposite side of the planet.
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