Shadow: The Origin Of A Legend

Chapter 1

Ever since I can remember, I was in Robotnik's army, though I didn't really know it at first. A large, circular brown cave carved out of rock in a secluded mountain ridge was home to me for several years. During my time in the beauteous peaks, five powerful entities trained me in the ways of the assassin. Their names were FallowFang, Fleetfoot, Strongarm, Hyacinth and Lightpaws. FallowFang was a six-foot-tall robotic cat made of thousands of tiny little black square plates that are capable of recreating themselves when damaged. Her eyes are thousands of cool green dots in their triangular sockets. Fangs made of two rounded triangular plates clasped together protrude from her mouth, capable of opening up and injecting poison into prey. She was stealth master, clever as a fox.

Fleetfoot was a small, two-foot-six-inches tall plain-looking little robot. He wore a mask shaped like a four-pointed shuriken star that only revealed his bright orange eyes. As a weapon, he held a spear larger than him with a metal point on the end shaped like a tooth. Though small, Fleetfoot was mighty, capable of flinging his spear into an enemy with force enough to shatter their ribcages. Fleetfoot was known as the master of combat with a staff-both long-range and short-range.

Strongarm was an eight-foot-tall robot with a small boxy head that merely held two blue eyes. The head was perched upon a rounded body with two very large square shoulders. The shoulders had a spike on each coming up from the exact middle. Two thin arms leading to cannon-shaped wrists fell from the box shoulders, and his square hands could be exchanged for any one of a number of guns. He had a disc for his hips, and two thin rods for legs that led to enormous calves. The rods were covered by metal plates and the calves concealed rockets. Strongarm's feet were square as well, and flat to support the hulking behemoth's weight. As his name suggests, Strongarm was master of strength.

Hyacinth was a large bird machination made of large plates with hinges that allowed them to bend, flex and giving her full mobility. Her eyes glow an unfeeling green. Her wings are edged with blades capable of flying into enemies with a single flick of a joint. Razor-sharp on all sides, Hyacinth was a near-legend in terms of cruelty. Her motto was, "If your opponent is still in 50 pieces then you're not doing enough."

The leader of the five was Lightpaws, a ruthless killer, and the best fighter of them all. She was an average-height fox-like raccoon creature called a 'furry.' Her name was ironic, seeing as how her paws were dark brown, in contrast with her golden-brown hair. Her long ears were renowned for amazing hearing, with darker tips the same shade as her paws. Her 'hairdo' was a single cowlick that was a shade brighter than the rest of her fur. A long, tiger-like tail extends from a cut in her heavy blue cotton pants held up by a crude rope as a belt. Notoriously stealthy, Lightpaws was a perfect mix of the other four members-Strongarm's power with none of his bulkiness, Hyacinth's agility doubled, FallowFang's mind and stealth without her large size, and Fleetfoot's weapons mastery. Another thing setting Lightpaws apart from the others-she wasn't a robot.

If one were to ask me to pick a favorite of the five, I wouldn't be able to choose. Each fulfilled their purpose well-to teach me to maim and kill, turn me into a perfect murderer. They trained me and trained me, and for so many months my teachers were vastly better than I. But...one day...one day it all changed. I had slowly been improving. I got closer and closer to my training's completion, a thing that both excited and frightened me. The long-awaited day when I could be a real assassin came far sooner than I realized.

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Thundering footsteps. Shouting, chaos, fire and yet ocean waves and ivy leaves. The sensation of being carried...fear...a woman's voice shouting my name... a wicked laugh and two green orbs of light...

A great weight pressed down onto my chest, with a sensation of five pricks in my chest. Instincts drilled into me ever since I could remember kicked in, and I grabbed the area above the weight source, flinging the large creature over to the wall. My eyes snapped open onto black silk. A blindfold. No problem. Listen for the air... Someone attacked me in my sleep?