𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜: 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬

      Shadow the Hedgehog, jumping and walking at night along the roofs of the city of Station Square, was looking for the same bandits from R.U.N. Watchguardian himself was not against him looking for them, because he had a suspicion that one of these bandits might have already found another fragment of the tablet even before him. After jumping over a couple of buildings, Shadow gets to an amusement park with carousels and fireworks. The park seems to be working, but for some reason not a single visitor comes here. — Old amusement park. Somewhere in this nightmare alley some R.U.N. built a nest for themselves. The park appeared long before them, so all suspicions about it disappear. Be careful! — says the keeper. — Do not worry! — Shadow answers briefly and goes down, holding onto the drainpipe. — I will find their mafia emperor along with the shard he took. At this time, inside the circus bath, the bandits present their leader with a piece of stone that they found. — He needs the stones we brought you. Mr. Tumor failed the task, but he already has one. This is the third one that we were able to find and extract without loss. — the bandit answers. — Do you think I look like an idiot? — asked the mafia emperor. — W-what? — You all repeat the same thing, that you were attacked by a large black and red hedgehog. Maybe you've all gone crazy? Or maybe, unlike me, you haven’t had personal conversations with Black Doom? — What are you talking about, Emperor? — The creature that attacked you and killed Mr. Tumor is, according to your description, a minion of Black Doom. — He should be on your side and help you. — declares the emperor and angrily gets up from his semblance of a throne. Suddenly, his fragment begins to glow with a light green glow. — A? What is this? — He didn’t understand and looked at the fragment. He suddenly felt power emanating from the shard. — Wow! This fragment gives incredible strength and power. — Yes, we are aware. We saw how Mr. Tumor absorbed one such fragment and his guns instead of arms became huge. — answered the bandit. — So, the fragment not only gives strength, but also increases the owner’s own strength by tens? Well! You can use this. — Will you also absorb the power of the fragment and help us finish off that hedgehog? — Yes. First I will deal with him personally, and then I will get to Black Doom himself. He will also test my new power on me. — declared the emperor and applied the fragment to his chest, which slowly began to move into him. — No, Emperor, come to your senses! There is no one in the entire universe more powerful than Black Doom himself! — the bandit tried to dissuade him. — It hasn’t happened yet... Now... It will. — with these words, the emperor began to slowly mutate. Standing in front of other bandits doggy style, clothes began to tear at the seams, except for his pants, and the emperor himself increased in size, and his skin changed color to purple. The emperor became somewhat similar to a huge monster mixed with a goblin. Having risen to his feet, the mafia emperor roared loudly, raised his head up and screamed: — YE-E-ES!!! The scream reached all the way to the street and to the gate through which Shadow had already made his way inside the park. — Today your criminal empire, mafia emperor, will come to an end. — he declares as if he can hear him. Despite this, in any case, the black-scarlet hedgehog moves forward. Fireworks flashed everywhere and firecrackers made noise. What’s strange is that the park itself was still closed, and there were no visitors here at all, unless you count Shadow. The hedgehog itself slowly crept, stretching out its arms to the sides and sending it moving to where its eyes were looking. On the way there was a black dome, whose door and passage looked like a huge clown's head with a malicious smile revealing huge teeth. Having taken a couple of steps near the door, the mug immediately opened its mouth and the path somewhere into the darkness was open. Without thinking for long, the hedgehog ran in there, jumping. Jumping inside, he found himself in an empty and without coal, rounded room. All around on the walls there were exactly the same clown heads with the same faces, including the one through which he got here and which closed behind him. Looking around, the perfect life form wondered where to go. Fortunately, he had a Chaos Emerald with him, which Watchguardian personally teleported to him from one place to make it easier for him to handle. He decided to trust his intuition. — Chaos... Intuition! — he said in a whisper, and for some reason his inner voice told him to go to the fifth face, on the left. He had just approached her when suddenly a huge monster burst out from under her, producing a glowing yellow haze from its body. As he ran, as soon as he escaped from the clown’s head, breaking it on the way, he grabbed the hedgehog and threw him to the floor, holding him by the throat with his huge hand. — So you are the perfect life form that my people tell me about and that you are killing? — he asked the hedgehog in a terrible voice. Shadow wanted to answer, but was choking because he was strangling him. The only thing he managed to utter hoarsely was a couple of words: — Cha-a-a-a-o-os... — What? — he didn’t understand him. — Co-o-o-n... Tro-o-ol!... After what was said, the hedgehog seemed to evaporate, and the big man remained in place, looking around. — Where are you?... You can run, but you can’t hide from me. — says the mafia emperor, when suddenly, without having time to react, he received a kick from the side on his cheek, he was thrown into another clown’s face and they ended up in the arena under the dome. The black and scarlet hedgehog came out slowly after him. — I suppose you are the same mafia emperor?... And do you have the fragment? — asked the ULF. — It's none of your business anymore. I'll crush you like a flea. The healthy monster raised his right leg and stomped so hard and loud that it caused an earthquake and created a crack that was approaching the black hedgehog. The latter managed to jump before the crack reached him and wanted to fly at the big man, kicking him in the face with his foot. However, the Mafia Emperor grabbed his leg with his hand, spun him around, and slammed him into the sawing star box. The box broke, and Shadow suffered a painful shock and even groaned. The healthy freak slowly approached the hedgehog, grabbed him by the head before he had time to come to his senses and began to hit his face on two pillars on his side, and then he threw him into the air, grabbed his leg and began to hit him on the ground around yourself twenty-five times. It hurt, even too much. The perfect life form groaned in pain, but was still quite durable. — Why don’t you die? — the monster asks the hedgehog with a grin. Shadow didn’t answer him and tried to get up, when a huge monster grabbed him by the head and began slamming his muzzle on the floor until his nose began to bleed, literally. Through groans and pain, ULF managed to say: — Cha... Os... Bla... Ast!... Suddenly, Shadow flashed with a red glow, causing the big man to bulge his eyes in surprise. Suddenly, Shadow exploded and the explosion pushed the monster back, knocking him back onto the floor, and Shadow slowly and limping began to rise to his feet. — Un... De... Re... Sti... Ma... Te... Me!... — he said and wiped the blood from his nose with his index finger and left palm. — Does that mean it’s too cool? — the monster grinned and suddenly the lights went out for half a minute. When the light was turned on again, instead of the big guy, the hedgehog was surrounded by about thirty men who were looking at him menacingly. Their hands were itching to pounce on him and attack at the same time. Exhausted and unable to dodge, Shadow was unable to do anything to resist, as he was immediately grabbed. Two men, each of them grabs the hedgehog by each hand, then two more run up. ULF tries to fight them off with his feet, but they grab his legs. All that remains is to put it on the floor and not let go, so as not to break out. The rest ran up and started hitting with their fists and feet. — Cha... Os... Bla... Ast!...— he says and the blast wave throws all the fighters away from the hedgehog. The latter, despite the unbearable pain and fatigue from the beatings, stood up, catching his breath. Having recovered from the blast wave, the people again ran towards the hedgehog, but this time one at a time, because each of them did not have time to recover in time for each other. Shadow took advantage of this and laid each of them on the floor in turn. Of course, having managed to cast Chaos control. Having quickly taken down each person, Shadow began to catch his breath again. — I will teach you how to behave correctly. — the mafia emperor hissed through his teeth, echoing from the darkness, and finally growled. This did not frighten the black-red one and he limped towards the source of the voice. Suddenly the monster jumped out of its hiding place and attacked the hedgehog, knocking him to the floor. Raising a huge paw with claws instead of a leg, the monster hoped to pin the hedgehog to the floor, stepping on its stomach and crushing it thoroughly. Fortunately, Shadow still had a bit of Chaos control left and managed to jump back before the monster slammed his foot hard on the floor, making a hole. The paw punched a hole in the floor and got stuck. — You brute! — he cursed at the hedgehog and tried to free himself. — What's wrong? Are you stuck? So catch it! — ULF grinned and began to punch the monster in his face while he pulled out his paw. Having dealt with this, he grabs the hedgehog by his fists and throws him to the floor again. He raises his huge foot again and prepares to pin him down again. — Chaos control! — he says quickly and crawls under the monster’s feet, sneaking up behind him. He notices that there is something red and similar to a vertebra sticking out from his back. It must be sticking out through the back and this is its weak point. Shadow hits him on the red vertebra on his right leg and the monster, screaming in pain, falls to the floor. Despite fatigue and serious wounds, Shadow continues to hit the monster on the back, and he, enduring unbearable pain, can no longer get up and somehow resist. He did not even expect that with such strength he would also receive such weakness. This is such a shame and shame for him. How can you be so powerful and yet have such weakness. It's like getting a knife in the back. The monster finally falls to the floor with his whole body and the hedgehog finishes off the poor guy by jumping on his back and almost trampling him with his feet in turn. The fragment comes out through the monster’s vertebra and falls straight into the hands of the ULF, and at this time the monster itself transformed back into a man who began to whine: — How so? What a shame? I was overcome by some kind of monster hedgehog... And my strength didn’t help. — I will put an end to your suffering. — Shadow answers, hiding the fragment in the needles on his head, grabbing the mafia emperor by the neck. — If you want. — Fine. Finish me off! I deserved a quick death. — the loser prayed in shame. — After everything you did to me in the form of such a monster?... And don’t get your hopes up. You will feel everything that I felt and you will suffer for a long time. At least I have regeneration and will recover quickly over time. — Shadow answered, grinning, like a maniac in order to intimidate the mafia emperor. — No!... Don't you dare? — he begged him not to do this. The ULF took out chains and tied the poor fellow to a post with them. — Sit here until the police come for you or someone else who has a bigger score to settle with you than me. After these words, the black-and-scarlet ran away from the park on grindens, not forgetting to jump in an epic pose against the backdrop of the full moon. Shadow in this reality was also able to get another fragment, although he had to sweat and suffer with it. Let's pray that in the future it won't be so hard and painful for him, and that he won't be treated so cruelly!? How did other versions of hedgehogs act at the same time?