Spirit of the Phantom Ruby

Part 9 - One Angry Rock

The air was alive with merry jokes and playful insults as the Zetis celebrated their easy victory. Zeena braided long-stemmed roses into a flower crown for Zor while he sat at her feet looking slightly less miserable than usual. Zomom sat in a corner, chowing down on massive hoagies and Zazz cackled and scampered all over the place, full of excited energy. Only Master Zik and Zavok stood calmly, examining the glowing stone.

"Do you think it's a faulty copy?" Zavok asked his master, peering down grimly.

"Cannot be. It was powerful enough to destroy Eggman's Mech-suit." His stumpy instructor playfully tapped the red beast's calf with his cane and looked up at him, smiling. "Lighten up, will you? Eggman must have just wired it wrong. And at least that jackal wasn't stuck to it!"

"Infinite was so over-rated." Zeena called over her shoulder half-heartedly. "Sure, he like, took over the world and all but, his fall came fast and it came hard."

"So, what are we going to do with the gem?" Zomom asked, his full mouth spewing crumbs all over his half-eaten sandwich.

"Well..." Master Zik's smile suddenly dissipated and his eyes began darting around. He slowly looked back and forth tensely. The others sensed his unease and held still, listening for whatever it was he was worried about. After a long moment, he cleared his throat, relaxing, and walked down the steps of the small platform Zavok stood on.

As soon as he opened his mouth, one of the walls of their base abruptly fell inwards. A black hedgehog burst into the room, his entire body immersed in green flame. His burning red eyes quickly surveyed the room of the panicking Zetis and locked onto Zavok. The leader of the Deadly Six looked at him, then down at the ruby in the white cage, and back up with a challenging glare.

It was the Zeti's mistake. Shadow body-slammed him and ripped the box from his claws. He then grabbed Zavok by the neck and swung him into Master Zik, who had come running to fight. Both slammed into the opposite wall, falling unconscious, and Zeena, Zazz, and Zor tactfully avoided them as they ran towards Shadow.

Grimacing, Shadow gave each one and individual punch with his free arm while clutching the metal contraption containing the ruby to his chest protectively. Zor leapt at Shadow from behind, clinging onto his curved, black-and-red quills and forcing the hedgehog to slam his back into a wall to rid himself of the nuisance. The goth was knocked unconscious as well from the force of the blow. But then Shadow suddenly realized he was cornered.

"Nice hedgy," Zeena sneered, leaping at him.

The second her nails came into contact with his face, the Ultimate Lifeform grabbed her wrist with his free hand and slammed the green diva's own fist into her face. Wincing, she tried to pull away, but Shadow's grip was iron. He jerked her arm, slamming her into the wall beside him, and forced her into an arm-lock, making her shriek in pain. Zazz threw himself at Shadow from behind, but he swung his leg up to kick the pink beast in the face. The pink maniac saw it coming and leaned back, grabbing his foot mid-air and clinging onto it. Their eyes locked as they stood there, the hedgehog holding the girl Zeti in an arm-lock with one hand and hugging the ruby's box with the other, and the boy Zeti forcing him to balance on one foot. Shadow shook his leg to test how hard Zazz was holding on. The pink Zeti mistook the move for an attempt to free his foot and tightened his grasp, grinning. Shadow took in a breath, held it in, and suddenly did a forward-flip, letting go of Zeena and throwing Zazz over his head at her. The two collided with an ugly thump and both sunk to the ground, unmoving. Shadow landed on his back with an equally ugly thwack, grunting upon impact and holding the box to his chest. He laid there for a moment, squinting at the ceiling in pain.

"That was an impressive roll." Rouge's voice sounded through the earbud in his ear. He had completely forgotten she could watch what he was doing through his spy visor.