Chapter 9

Zay and Shadow zoomed out of the portal into Metropolis and found themselves landing on a grinding rail, speeding through the sky in loops and curves. Wassim called onto Zay's communicator as he jumped on the side of a building and sprinted across the windows, where the enemy opened fire but missed, hopping to a platform with another building in front.

"What happened, Zay? You were just up and gone!" Wassim asked the communicator. "Nothing happened. Literally, now let's get back to Radkon, he's waiting for us." Zay replied as he boosted onto a spring and grinded more through the city of Metropolis, watching DCP win the war below. "Radkon's up ahead, even if he's passing time from warping us like that, Shadow. Get ready." Zay nodded to Shadow as they hopped off the rail and onto the same roof of the building where they met.

Orbot and Cubot watched down as Redemption Force's soldiers attempted to keep fighting but to no avail, were defeated. Radkon stared down at them in his aerial white assault ship as Orbot patted his shoulder, desperate to get his master's attention. "Excuse me? Boss?" Radkon got irritated and turned his ship around, shocked to see Zay and Shadow whom he thought banished back in his sight.

"Impossible! Only one of the elite few who can turn Super can bring back one from the future," Radkon exclaimed in shock and frustration. Blackheart floated off the ground and looked out the corner of his eye. "I have help from my friends, which is something even Ice Warriors don't have!" Zay replied.

Radkon growled and replied back, "Enough of this! I'll have my time to spare once I get rid of the Resistance. And Radkon will always have the last laugh!" He cackled and flew away. Zay and Shadow looked at each other as Orbot and Cubot tried catching up, but hilariously fell off the building whilst arguing. "He'd have more friends if talking in third-person wasn't a habit," Shadow pointed.

Zay agreed and they both rushed down to where everyone was panting out of breath, after fighting and winning. "Looks like they drove off the Ice Warriors. Nice one!" Zay said to everyone. They all cheered on their victory, even being flanked by Blackheart and the Phantom Ruby was nothing to the Resistance. At the end of the fight, driving off the enemy was all that mattered.

"Alright, everyone to the shuttles, we're going home!" Gingersnap called to the rest of the soldiers, as they stepped on board the hijacked space shuttles from the Death Iceball where they were called the Freezie Fleet. It was an aerial empire with heavily armored icy blue ships armed to the teeth with lasers, cannons and whatever weapons Ice Warriors could get their hands on. But when DCP stole a few from the Space Port down in the Chemical Plant, they remodeled them to represent the Resistance as they knew Summit as home.

Zay and Shadow stood behind in shuttle duty, making sure everyone knew which one to go to. "Honestly, I don't like sitting on the bench all day, but who was that hedgehog? The one who opened a portal from another dimension in a Super transformation?" Wassim asked Zay. He replied back with a facial expression of confusion, because he had no idea who Aloy was and how she was one of the elite few to have the seven Chaos Emeralds.

Zay and Shadow were one of them, but they never knew she was as well. Little was even heard about the Morningstar family but all they could recover from the truth which was erasing as time went by, was that Skylark Nate was one of them. Then, there was Lucifer Morningstar and then Aloy, and many more to count. "Probably just somebody trying to help. What a battle angel she could be, you know?" They continued as the shuttle engines roared and prepared to lift up and fly back to Resistance HQ.

"Hmph, those roars remind me of my glory days." Shadow sighed in the dark tone. "What do you mean, Shadow?" Rah asked. "Sit down for a while and let me tell you that one doesn't receive from kicking and screaming, but from the inflicting pain they wish to cure."

A long time ago in Westopolis, hometown to Shadow, where the Black Doom's reign was to conclude...

Shadow looked through the dark and blood red skies now invaded by the Black Arms. Asteroids were scattered around the air as Westopolis was nothing more but a fallen capital. But now wasn't the time for sorrow. Rules were being broken, and enemies were going down at this very moment. Before long, Shadow stopped attempting to kill the universe and was convinced that he kept a promise to Maria Robotnik, a deceased girl he knew as her companion, to protect everyone from all harm, no matter the cost.

If it meant his life, he would trade it in for the joy and protection of humanity. Shadow's thoughts of this were washed away as Devil Doom flew upon the hedgehog, who'd taken back the Chaos Emeralds to turn Super. "I help you all this way, and this is how you repay me!?" He roared in a devilish, deep roar. "Break a deal, and we break you." Devil Doom was a transformed version of Black Doom, with a gargoyle-like creature, double-headed. He has no sight except for Doom's Eye, a flying star with a cycloptic eye, switching between the heads on each side of his torso with vertical or horizontal horns, giving him sight.

His two large and round wings flapped in the air. The lower half was only a large boulder with strange spikes that pointed directly downward. He was a monster of red and black, and was designed to kill. "You're going to suffer in relentless pain for your ingratitude to destroy us all!" Shadow replied in anger, and zoomed over to Devil Doom, whooshing all around him. Though he could sense out where he was, Shadow was faster in his Super state. Still, that couldn't stop Devil Doom from fighting such a user.

Doom's Eye rooted to one of the gargoyle heads on his torso, and saw Shadow for a split second before being bashed by his fists. Devil Doom growled in pain and said, "It can't be. There is no escape from defying me and not facing the consequences, Shadow." He warped further back into the sky using Chaos control, and Shadow followed. Even if Black Doom didn't have the Chaos Emeralds, he was still able to control things. That gave Shadow an idea. Instead of attempting to damage Doom's Eye, he decided to try something more vicious. Devil Doom stopped for a second and began controlling the asteroids around to shoot lasers. "Fall with humanity and shred to pieces!" He exclaimed as Shadow flew around, bumping the asteroids to where they shot each other and blew up.

This was where Shadow got close to one of Devil Doom's wings and performed a devastating move that nobody as dark as Shadow would even save for last: Chaos Spear. It tore through the left wing and soon enough, Devil Doom was standing with only one, as the other wounded wing fell from the combat zone. "Curse you, Shadow! Just open your eyes. These humans must be eliminated as absolute power can answer the call to justice against the world. The understanding of humans being the parasites that brought us down is something you lack. Still, injuring me will not cut it." Devil Doom stated in pain.

He brought up road debris and buildings to throw at Shadow, but he was faster. He broke through a window skyscraper through an average industry office. Papers, chairs and office spaces flew around including equipment like printers and even the coffee machine. Shadow managed to grab a quick cup and gulped it down. Back to the fight he went, as he threw back a road piece which cut into Devil Doom's right wing, yet it chopped it clean off even without Chaos Spear.

"Is that all you have, Shadow? Still, your futile attempts to resist will not save the planet's fate!" He roared as he opened his jaws, and released a breath of fire. Shadow zoomed right over to Doom's Eye on his forehead and bashed into it. Shadow grunted and was pushed back from the force, as Devil Doom. "No matter if I underestimate the Emerald's power. You will still die." He said, before warping out of existence. Shadow looked around the sky, but he was nowhere to be found.

Did he retreat, but didn't want to admit? No, it wouldn't end like that. Shadow looked underneath him to see the Black Comet that Devil Doom warped down to Westopolis with Chaos Control, the roots spreading around. "Now...come, Shadow!" Devil Doom cried as he warped behind Shadow and continued his speech. "The time of the Black Arms has come! The paralysis gas has infected this taint of the world, our reign has come!" He cackled in the devil voice as Doom's Eye opened sight to see Shadow flying over to a building. "There you are!" Devil Doom said as Shadow dropped down in a position, ready to run off the edge as his fist clenched against the glass of the building and yellow lighting tickled around him and struck from his power.

His eyes curved in anger as Devil Doom charged towards him with Doom's Eye just in his attacking range. "We're not leaving this planet. You are!" He exclaimed. Shadow waited a split second and charged too, running across the glass and up to Devil Doom. Once he was close, Shadow curled into a spiky ball while airborne and was struck with so much power from his Super state lightning and bumped into Devil Doom with extreme force. "It can't be! I am the ultimate strength of the universe, which cannot be defeated! This is impossible. Gaaah!" Devil Doom cried as he started fading from existence, a red and white light blinding the world, as Devil Doom exploded out of sight.

" I kept a promise to Maria to protect her beloved world from all evil. But now there's only one thing left to do." Shadow said to himself, dashing down to the Black Comet that was still spreading its roots and hiked to the top before zooming down and pushing upward against it. "Time to put the past behind me. Chaos Control!" He cried, sending the comet and its roots out of Westopolis.

The crumbling there stopped and the tracing ended dead. The comet was flying up as the Death Iceball opened an eclipse cannon that was originally to strike directly at DCP capital Summit but was moved to hit the comet, shattering it to pieces flying to the outer edge of space. Shadow had finally gotten rid of the Black Arms and the war was over. This was his glory days of being a hero, when the government saw him as the villain for so long. Now, there was nobody to blame.

Back in the present at the Metropolis, where the shuttles finally left and all who were there only stood Rah, Vivala, Zay and Shadow as he ended his story.

"D-Did you actually do all of this?" Rah asked Shadow. He only quietly nodded and there stood their reserved hijacked Freezie Fleet shuttle. The story that they had just heard shocked everyone at this point. "How about we get on back to the shuttle and let's go home? Everyone's waiting for us!" Zay called out.

They all got aboard the shuttle and took off out of Metropolis. "GPS coordinates set to Resistance HQ, Summit." The PA intercom announced as Rah and Viv drove back home. Zay and Shadow just stayed in the back, sitting on the couch playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on their Switch. They chose their characters and began racing. It was calm for a while; Zay casually driving and passing by Shadow, while he gripped the Joy-Con in the palms of his sweaty hands. Shadow and Zay were super competitive brothers, and there was no way a draw would've been called if it was a battle.

They kept racing in front of each other, throwing Koopa red shells at each other and play-fighting over who really won. Rah and Vivala were giggling in the drivers' seats as they argued over who won and made excuses on how it was only a small "glitch" that kept them from winning. "Dang, no wonder you're so affiliated with winning all the time, Shadow." Viv turned around and told Shadow, as he grabbed a Mountain Dew can from the mini fridge. He popped the can open and took a sip. "Anyway, I hope you've had your fun, Zay. I'd destroy you back later." Shadow said.

"Ah, shush. You had your fun defeating Devil Doom in your time before you joined the Resistance. Don't sweat your chances." Zay replied. The shuttle flew on above Summit and the snowy hills that were once called Parched Hills before it was recaptured by DCP. "Now arriving at Resistance HQ." The PA intercom rang out again. Outside of the headquarters were all the shuttles the soldiers were transported in parked and ready for another fight.

The ship landed like usual, and the squad walked inside to the main base. Everyone was hard at work, sending cryptic messages of recruitment and ordering troops defending their territory. "Honestly, there's nothing to do while Zay and Shadow are busy fighting while we're stuck inside of this bunker." TheMightyA said. That's when a red alert flashed on the holographic radar, indicating an enemy.

"Way to jinx it! Freezie's been sighted near the Red Gate Bridge," Aggie said. Zay and Shadow looked at each other and stepped in to say, "We'll take care of him. He won't stand a chance." They boosted out of the headquarters and zoomed their way over to the Red Gate Bridge, where little did they suppose their greatest villain would be more powerful than them without their Super transformation.