Shadow the Hedgehog

Shadow and Rouge found their way out of the cave system, and walked right in between Crowley and the fox, As it moved closer, Shadow calmly hurled a chaos spear at its head, decapitating it before giving off a bored yawn. "These guys don't seem too hard to kill Crowley," he said as he looked towards his Moebian double. "No, these ones weren't. Which gives me the impression we're just getting started," he replied. The fox's head gave off a maniacal laugh as its body picked it up and reattached it, before disappearing into the fog.

Shadow kicked the hand as hard as he could. Eventually it released its grip and he swam to the surface. He pulled himself out of the water, gasping for air as he lay on rock. As he looked up he saw Maria slowly walking towards him, a rock in her hand. She raised it above her head to deliver the final blow, but was sent flying into the water, the appirition turning to mist when it touched the surface. Standing before him now was Rouge, who rushed to his side. "How do I know you're not another ghoul?" he asked between gasps. "Because if I was, I'd have a lot less clothing on and I'd be beckoning you to your doom like a siren," she replied. "Good enough for me. I guess I'm in no position to argue anyway." Rouge helped him up and supported him as they walked through the tunnels, looking for a way out.

Shadow struggled as hard as he could but he couldn't break free. As he looked down at the figure dragging him down, he couldn't make it out, though it was vaguely human. Crowley eyeballed the fox, trying to work out its weaknesses. Given the empty hole in its torso, he doubted he could rely on causing fatal organ damage or simply making it bleed to death, as it lacked both of those features.

Shadow walked over to waterfall, hoping that he could follow it to the source and make his escape that way. He reached the edge and saw the water smashing against the rocks as it fell. If it weren't for the nightmare this would have been a nice place to be. Whilst he was preparing to move on, he was suddenly shoved forward, down towards the lake. As he glanced back up he was certain it was Hope that had pushed him. He crashed into the ice cold water, and though he tried to swim up for air, he felt something grab his leg and pull him down into the depths.

The wave of energy struck the bear and caused it to combust. Crowley saw his chance and did a running kick, breaking the creature in two as its bones formed a pile of ash on the ground. Below ground, Shadow was navigating his way through the tight tunnels, a ball of chaos energy in his hand a makeshift light source. Eventually he made his way to a huge cavern, with a lake far below.

Crowley delivered a flurry of blows to the bear's head, to little effect. He then stabbed it with a chaos spear in the shoulder, causing it to reel back and release him. As he backed off and caught his breath, the bear soon attacked again, it's swipes smashing down trees as they missed.

Shadow saw his Moebian counterpart struggling to break free. As he was about to jump in to aid him the ground beneath him opened up and he fell into a chasm. Shadow slammed against the cold rock as the ground above him closed back up. He was in total darkness, and certainly not alone down there.

Interesting sense of hospitality you have.

Good evening gentlemen, I've come to steal victory from you. No hard feelings.

Crowley strolled up to his undead targets and circled them, unsure of how to deal with them. Suddenly the bear grabbed ahold of him and started to slowly crush him as he struggled.

"Those 2 are people I was hired to assassinate. Skeletron over there I don't recognise." The hedgehog stepped closer with an angry look in its eye. "You knocked me into a vat of chemicals while chasing my boss," it said. "Oh yes NOW I remember," Crowley cheerfully replied.

"Ready to take a dive? Be sure to do a flip for the judges," taunted Crowley as 3 figures appeared in the mist. The first was a large bear shuffling forwards, it's head flopping about as its neck was broken. "I'm certain I killed you," said Crowley. Next was a fox, a large hole in it's torso, though there were no organs, bones or blood. It walked much more steadily than the bear. "And you...," Finally there was a hedgehog. It's top half looked normal, but it's lower half was nothing but a skeleton. Crowley raised his eyebrow. "Don't know who you are," he muttered.

"Don't worry. I won't let that happen Melody," replied Crowley as he pulled her up onto the cliff. His body had slightly moved, so while he wasn't directly struck in the back, the knife embedded itself in his arm. He barely seemed to notice it, and turned to face the copy, a twisted smile on his face as he gripped her forearm like a vice. "Is that really the best you can do?"

Crowley teleported to the edge of the cliff, outstretching his hand to Melody. With his free hand he went to sweep her copy's leg.

Crowley slowed his pace, looking around him. "Nightmares? Bah! I have none. I am a walking nightmare," he said defiantly

Crowley ran as fast as he could, just making out a figure up ahead.

"He said to head left and keep going Skye," said Shadow. Crowley managed to make a rough guess of where Melody was based on the voices, and quickly headed off that way, carrying Hope. He knew it was risky, but he also knew inaction could have far worse consequences.

Crowley heard the voices. It was as if Melody was talking to herself. Without any visibility he didn't want to risk running blindly in the fog, especially with Hope in her current state. Shadow swiftly followed Skye out of the door.

Crowley looked around in the fog for Melody, keeping a firm grasp on Hope. He looked around but he couldn't see anything, so instead listened for any disturbance.

"It's no trouble Skye." Crowley looked into the mist. "You're right. I wonder what monstrosity this is."

Crowley instinctively grabbed Melody's hand. "I got you. Let's proceed cautiously, I can barely see ahead in all of this fog." Shadow sighed. "If you want to go Skye then I'm coming with you."

"Don't worry. You're certainly not alone in this," said Crowley. "Don't bother Glen. Crowley's with them. He'll take care of them.," said Shadow.

Crowley ran alongside Melody. "There's something in the air. I can taste it. Be ready for anything."

"I know we will Melody. We should probably find the others soon," said Hope.