Hairball 2

By: The Nevermore Raven

A.N. I decided I could add more to this and refine the quality... a lot, and I hope you enjoy it! XD

Running. Running with a speed I never had before, the bleak hallways were nothing more than an endless grey blur. My shoes were turned off, but I did not care. I had to get to the core. My feet hit the floor so rapidly, that they sounded like the clattering of a dozen machine guns. Hurry. Hurry. Keep going! My lungs were working at their limit, inhaling and exhaling at an alarming rate. Go! Hurry! Before it is too late! My heart was pounding furiously in my ribcage, and I thought it would explode as my eyes darted occasionally to try to determine where I was. Hurry up!

In what seemed to be only a moment, I saw the hallway end. Stop! I abused the hardware of my shoes as I scraped them against the iron floor, sending orange sparks jumping up behind me in my effort to slow down from an incredible speed. Stop! I ground to a halt and turned right to follow the second hallway. Go! GO! I ran at a slower rate, and stopped again as I met the end of the second hallway, joining a third hallway like the one I was in before. This hallway had a bridge that stretched into an abyss to the left. There it is! GO!

Forcing myself onward, I continued towards my goal. My footsteps caused the scaffolding to vibrate in a quiet hum as I sprinted once again across a vast ocean of darkness. Hurry! Keep going! I was over the abyss and once again in a hallway of steel. This hallway had red lights. The hall is red! The core is not too far away.

Running. Running. I soon saw a large door with a yellow and black border of diagonal stripes, a warning for the workers from long ago. There it is! Go! Passing through the large hatch, I reached a second door in a room that had countless pipes of water flowing to and fro. On the other side of the door was a second room, which I entered cautiously.

Before me a pathway of hard and uninviting concrete spanned forward over a stream of water. The water churned as hot bubbles rose and popped at its surface to release their contents of steam. My rapidly working, sore lungs finally slowed and my heart pounded with some mercy. Steam ascended from the stream, masking distant objects with white, and the room was uncomfortably warm.

Wait! Who is that? Two other people stood before me. One was a blue hedgehog with green eyes. For the first time I have ever seen him, he had fear in his eyes. The other was a scarlet echidna with amethyst eyes, holding a small green gem in his gloves. I walked up next to them and approached the beast. The blue hedgehog was shocked.

"Shadow! What are you doing!?" "This one is mine," I stated firmly as I eyed my opponent.

"You go ahead, I will distract this beast," I finished.

The heat was reminding me of Hell, and what was before me looked like it was from Hell. Beyond the walkway a massive amphibian stood at the center of a large circular chamber of stone. The Biolizard, its red skin glistened and its massive head had two small robotic eyes, watching me. The hideous form seemed to be grossly out of proportion, for it had a very long neck and, where its legs once were, only shriveled stumps remained.

I stepped closer to it. "Go now!" I yelled as I jumped to avoid its massive head. Sonic and Knuckles scrambled by me, reaching the other side of the chamber and approaching a raised platform that was away from the lizard, and away from me. The giant lowered its head and loomed over me. I need to destroy its life support. The life support system is on its back. The Bio had thick cables jutting into its head, one on each side. Maybe I could use those...

Leaping into the air in a direction to the side of the head, I landed on the cable and slid to the back of the animal as it reared its head, trying to throw me off. Help me get there? Thanks, Bio! I slid to a large circular machine on the behemoth's back and charged into it, forcing a deep angry roar from the beast. I dropped down onto the circle platform that was only inches above a boiling stream around the chamber's edge. The platform surrounded the massive opponent, and I tried to run around it as it spotted me.

The exothermic nightmare spat a ball of energy at me. I only had just enough time to crouch down and let it pass over me. Whoa! Stay focused! The lizard paused to gather its breath. Jump now! I sprang into the air and landed on its cable again, smashing into the beast's back. The beast's bellow was deafeaning, and it sounded like the frantic screams of a tortured elephant. That was pretty loud.

A barrage of energy balls was sent my way. Startled from the giant's unnerving groan, the energy brushed my tail as I weaved to the left, singeing the hairs and gracing my nose with the stink of burned fur. I had no time to savor the odor as a second wave of projectiles flew at my head. In panic I ducked and one of the orbs whisked over me, and I immediately had to dash right to avoid the closely following third round. My heart once again was pounding away at my ribs. I saw the Bio's tail just in time to leap up and jump over it as the creature spun around. Whoa! I need to keep going!

I gasped in surprise as I found precious time to gather my breath. The wretched creature loomed over me again and roared in fury, delivering another anything-but-pleasant smell to my nose. "Ack!" I choked and gagged in reaction to the putrid and horrible smell. I could detect rotting flesh and hot moisture spew out of its mouth. My stomach twisted inside of me. There were no teeth in this beast from Hell, only a floppy thick tongue and disturbing pallid flesh for a throat. Beyond the throat a long, slimy tube went back into absolute darkness.

I know where to go now, I thought as I started forward. The Bio's head lurched at me, and I gasped as I ducked under the massive head. The beast rumbled as it turned back to face me again, and it stopped to breathe. Strike now! My weary and sore legs thrust me into the air, and I landed on its cable, succeeding in delivering another impact to its back. Once again the beast roared in an ear-splitting protest that made a beast's claws scraping the classroom blackboard sound like a lovely symphony.

The beast swiped at me with its tail, and it did not miss. My body jolted violently into the air, and I was falling. I barely landed on the platform, narrowly avoiding becoming boiled alive! The seemingly innocent water sputtered as the heated steam collected on my face and I felt overwhelmed by the heat, and I could only imagine what agony I would have been in if I dropped into the awaiting soup of death. I shuddered as I crawled away from the steam, only to get near Biolizard. I had avoided one grim fate only to be thrown into the next, and I felt flesh firmly clamp down upon my arm! No! Get away! Get away! I did not need to think about escaping, every fiber in my body was telling me to get out of its mouth!

My arm was in between its lips, and I hung there limply like a rag doll. My face paled to a lifeless shade of grey and I gasped in terror. The lizard threw me up in the air, in order to engulf me as I fell. I jumped in midair, throwing myself to the ground and away from the repulsive lizard. I landed heavily on the ground, and in a moment of shock, I stood up and jumped into the air, my chest felt like it would literally explode.

The Bio's head missed me again, giving me time to catch my breath. I was not the only one to be exhausted, as the red beast stopped to breathe as well. I cannot believe that this beast was a salamander! My legs were sore from the vital evasions I had just performed, leaving me worn out, at the end of my rope.

Without warning, the damned monster flung its tongue out, and the tongue stretched out to hit me. The end of the tongue was a sticky mass of pink. I barely avoided the tongue. It sent its tongue at me again. The second time, it planted itself against my leg. I screamed as my fur bristled. "Help me!! Sonic! Help me! Knuckles!!" My once calm and stoic attitude was replaced with absolute terror! The tongue was attached to my leg! This is it! I am dead! "Save meehee!!" I looked at the end of the chamber and saw two blurs of color dash towards me.

"Shadow!" The two others reached for me, grabbing both of my hands. "Shadow! Hang on! We are here for you. We will get you out of this." Both of my new friends stared at my eyes, and my mouth quivered in fear. The end of the chamber had no boiling water, and it seemed a safe haven compared to where we were. I can't believe it. They are here for me.

Both of them spread their feet on the ground and pulled on my arms. I could feel the tongue start to pull also, and I panicked. "Arrrgh!" Firmly, my hands were being pulled to safety. I watched my friends, daring not to look back. The tongue stretched more, and I was soon dangling in midair, suspended by tongue and arms.

"Pull!" Sonic yelled, and a strong tug yanked me further away from the monster.

Pull! Pull harder! "Pull harder!" I yelled.

"Pull!" Knuckles and Sonic heaved again. The tongue still was solidly against my leg. The lizard roared in anger, pulling its tongue back. "No! Hang on!" Knuckles said as he grunted, muscles under his red fur rippled as he pulled harder. So close! Save me! I clenched their hands in my own, as firmly as I could. They were holding me so tight it hurt my hands, but I did not care. So close! Please! My leg ached, and skin on my leg was being stretched. Soon my fur was pulled off, and I was free! I let a weary sigh of relief out as I felt the fear weighing on my mind fade away.

The mutant roared again, and right there, as I was still hanging on to Sonic and Knuckles, the beast threw its tongue out with terrible speed. I felt a warm and wet glob strike my leg, knocking me over with the impact because it was so fierce! The glob was firmly cemented to me! "Nooo! Help me!! Please!!" My fur and quills stood on end. Sonic and Knuckles pulled again, and I held onto them with all of my might. The tongue pulled back. My own hands were aching from holding on so tightly. I was in the air again.

No! Please help me! My eyes widened and I stared in horror at the two heroes, wishing to be free again. Here I was trapped as the rope in a twisted and sinister version of tug of war. The tongue was anchored to my leg! I realized the tongue was drooling on my leg and thick, stringy saliva trickled through my fur, sending shivers through my body.

"Pull! Hang on, Shadow!" I trembled in fear. I felt pain as I was stretched, my arms felt like they would fall of. My leg was burning with agony. If my two comrades win, I will live at least a little while longer. If they lose, I am this monstrosity's next meal...

"No! Save me!" My voice trembled in my terror.

"PULL!!!" The next heave caused more agony for my limbs, but I gritted my teeth and hissed in an attempt to ease my pain. Tears were dripping out of my crimson eyes, but I could care less. I was humiliated; I had been completely exposed from my former seemingly fearless character, and replaced with a whimpering baby. But I could easily imagine what unspeakable horrors would happen within the stomach of my predator. "PULL!!!" Knuckles and Sonic were yanking me again, but the tongue did not give. My hands, sore from my grip, trembled as I closed my eyes.

"Hang... on..." Sonic groaned out as sweat clung to his face. "Pull!" I was pulled again by the heroes, but I did not move, soon to realize I was moving backwards! I whimpered in horror! Nooo!! My grip on my two partners was giving! My grip slipped, sealing my fate with Biolizard! Time seemed to slow down as the instant I flew through the air seemed to last eons. Before me, the two heroes stared into my frightened eyes in panic and also in pain. I noticed a scream ring distinctively through the air. It was mad, frantic, almost seeming like the mad cries of an animal. The scream... was my own. "AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

I was pulled into the maw of Hell, and its jaws closed around me! "SHADOW!!!!!" I shrieked again as my heart was racing. "NOOOOO!!!" The light outside was reduced to a thin crease of light. Hot moisture rolled over my body, soaking my fur with the lizard's breath. I grabbed onto the monster's lips, clinging onto it desperately to escape! "HELP ME!!" The stench of rotting flesh was strong enough to burn my nose. I felt wet flesh close around me. I slipped from the lips of the monster and I could feel myself going down a moist, hot tube of muscle.

"NOOHOHOO!!!" I was being squeezed down by the lizard's throat! Sparse light from the lizard's mouth dimmed as I was swallowed whole. NO!! NO!! NOT HERE!! I CAN'T BE HERE!! But I was here. I rolled further into the bowels of the giant and fell against something wet. The moisture started to singe my skin. "AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" I was panting, trying to breathe in the terrible smell of death. The smell made my stomach jump. I smelled death in all of its splendor! I started to retch.

I clung onto the flesh around me, trying to gain a foothold to get out. I was suffocating in the heat, but a brief hint of light caused my racing heart to fill with hope. I jumped up to the light and grabbed onto the flesh, dangling over the pit of acid. I pulled myself up as I struggled to hold on to the slippery, soft and wet lining of my grave. Keep going! I pushed into a tight hole in the flesh, pushing with all of my strength. I saw a glimmer of light at the end of a long tunnel. Go!! My muscles were shaking and burning from abuse, but I was still climbing into the tunnel.

I could feel slimy moisture slide past my body, I felt mucus soak into my fur. The light seemed far in the distance, and the light became bright for a moment as the beast roared. My eyes were stunned by the flash of light, but I continued climbing. The tunnel opened, and I had more room to move. I have more room! Go! The tunnel suddenly tightened, and I lost my grip as it pushed me down! I was sobbing as I screamed; my once cold and angry voice now became a fire of emotion. I was sliding once again into the belly of black! "PLEASE!!! NOOHOHO!!!!!"

I dropped from the tunnel, back into Hell. Fleshy walls started to crush me. This is the worst way to die! Why me!!? The fear I had exploded into a torrent of absolute panic. I sobbed as I lost control over my mind and body as fear swallowed me, not unlike this salamander that was in the process of digesting me alive! Tears spilled down my face, providing no comfort to my throat as it grew sore under the efforts of my crying. The walls of flesh were soft, but they were crushing me. The stench, it was terrible! As I was being burned and strangled by the belly of the amphibian, I threw up. My stomach turned inside out and a milky and lumpy fluid spilled out of my mouth.

I could taste my own bitter vomit and the organs continued to compress my frail body. I was out of breath. I had no more breath to scream with. As more acid dripped onto my body, all I could force out was a gargled yell. My skin was being stabbed by thousands of tiny knives that dug into my tender nerves, and I could hear a faint hiss as the flesh slowly dissolved away. I swallowed some acid. My throat was already sore from screaming, but now I could feel bubbles eat away and burn at my mouth. I could taste my own blood! The organs started to beat, pulsating as they compressed me more. Let me die! Let me die!!! Please!! I could not scream anymore. I could not breathe. I was trapped, ultimately trapped! No. No... Let me die... Please... Just let me go...

My skin was on fire. My mind was racing as I waited. I felt a great weight on every part of my body. The walls of the belly around me pressed my tear-drenched face into a pool of hot acid. AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! I closed my mouth and my nose, trying to keep more acid out of my body. Suddenly, I gave up on trying to avoid the pain. I was going to die eventually, why not quicken my suffering and promote my death? I opened my mouth and my nostrils, allowing more pain to erupt throughout my body. I could not move. I can't scream. I can't move. I can't even cry!! Boom! Boom! The walls of stomach pressed my once strong body into an ever tighter and smaller space.

Boom! Boom! The organs drummed on me, powered by the heartbeat of my prototype. I was out of breath, and my eyes were out of tears. Boom! Boom! Let...me...die... BOOM! BOOM! Boom!! Boom!! When will this end? Let me die already! I coughed weakly. If I was sent to Hell, I would not know the difference between it and being inside of this damned creature!

BOOM!! BOOM!! In spite of all the brutal agony, I could feel my ribs begin to be pressed together and they snapped faintly like toothpicks crushed beneath the solid weight of massive boulders. PLEASE!!! I WANT TO DIE!!!!! I gagged; my body already knew I was suffocating. As my ribcage gave way to the pressure, brutal pain ripped savagely through my chest, catching my chest on fire. It burned with the heat of a red-hot sword that was stabbing into my sides and making the acid that consumed my face seem like the tickling teasing of a feather. NOOO!!!!!!! MAKE THE PAIN STOP!!!!! MAKE IT STOP!!!! I have suffered enough... BOOM!!! BOOM!!! The torture was driving me insane! Make... it... stop!! Let... me... die!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!! My entire body was in agony! Let... me... die... Please... No... Let... me... die... BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!! Why am I not dead? I could taste my own blood, I was out of breath, I could not move and acid ate through me as the incessant throbbing of the organs crushed me more and more. My writhing agony within this Hell lasted for an eternity and I prayed within my weary heart to die!

If I ever would die, how would I die? Would I die from being crushed? Or would the acid cause enough blood loss to kill me? Or would I die from asphyxiation, my mind and pain going numb as I could not breathe? Or would I die from heart failure as my heart raced itself to death? In the solid darkness and delirium, I could feel my heart slow down. If I was without burden, I would have bawled in joy as my mind filled with peace. Pain diminished and the thunder of the stomach was becoming faint. I can feel my miserable life leave from this terrible place...

I was stunned as my ebony rival was pulled into the jaws of death. I screamed. No. NO! "SHADOW!!!" My rival and friend was gone, surrounded by the mouth of the gigantic Biolizard. I turned to Knuckles, and his mouth was gaping open as he watched. "I never even knew the guy," he realized sadly. "Knuckles we need to save him!" Knuckles was silent. We heard a muffled scream from within the lizard. A bulge in the lizard's neck slowly crawled down into its belly! Shadow!! "Knuckles!" He glared at me with anger in his violet eyes.

"HOW!? How could we save him, Sonic!? He is gone!" My heart sank as I shuddered.

"Even if we can't... can we at least get him out? He never has been treated as a person. Never. I want him to at least have a noble death," I explained as my eyes watered. I felt a hand grab firmly onto my wrist and pull me to the safety of the shrine.

"Knuckles, what are you doing?" I asked in shock.

"Getting him out," the red furry muttered simply. I looked back at the beast as it stood there. "We only have two minutes. If we do not get him out in that time, we can get him out after we save the world." Knuckles stared at the Master Emerald and started chanting with an archaic rhythm. He chanted for about one minute. The emerald flashed, and I closed my eyes in reaction to its sudden brightness. The light faded, and Knuckles was surrounded by a green aura.

"Knuckles, what did you...?"

"I absorbed half of the Master Emerald's power."

His eyes seemed to be lit up by green fire with a hue as vibrant as the Emerald it had come from. He dashed back to the lizard and with amazing strength, lifted the lizard up on its side! "Sonic! Get Shadow! I am going to pull him out."

"You are going in there!?" My heart stopped briefly at the thought.

"No, I can pull him out from here." I rushed up to the beast, wary of its hideous head. Knuckles slammed his fist into the lower part of the monster's stomach, causing it to groan in pain. Its abdominal muscles flexed, causing the seemingly motionless mass of its belly to suddenly come alive.

A bulge formed at the top of its stomach and rose up from the neck of the beast, finally it settled in its mouth. The lizard opened its lips and I rushed over to it in awe. The monster did not look like it wanted to eat me, it was busy with Shadow. Come on! Shadow! A slimy lump of disgusting black fur landed below it with a splat, and thick strands of slobber dangled from the lizard's mouth onto the blob of black. I picked the lump up, cradling it in my arms. The lump reminded me of a cat's hairball. It was warm, wet, hairy... it was a giant hairball. I paid no mind to its horrid qualities as I rushed back to the shrine to join Knuckles.

My mouth was dry as I stared at the motionless body of Shadow. "Knuckles... Shadow... is..." I could not finish my sentence. Knuckles was silent for a moment.

"What a way to die. I know my death will be more lenient than what he suffered," Knuckles mused. I hugged Shadow's body to my own and sobbed. His body looked terrible. Large parts of his pelt were missing, revealing burned flesh and blood. His fur was hot and sticky, soaked with the lizard's fluids. His face... His face was burned through and through, beneath it was the bleeding, dark pink network of muscles that spanned over his brow, muzzle, and nose. His mouth was hanging open, as if he was caught in a final scream of agony. The body smelled acridly of rotting flesh, causing me to gag. What a terrible way to die...

He can't be. I never got to ask him why he did it. Why, Shadow? Why? Of course he was dead! "Shadow," I said to the body as my voice broke. "Why did you help us? Why, Shad?" How could anyone survive that? As I was holding his body, acid started to eat away at my skin, ever so slowly. That explains his face. I grimaced at the thought of what he felt in there... There is no way. "Goodbye, Shadow." Tears fell from my cheeks. Knuckles and I still had to save the world. Shadow destroyed its machine, so now it can be defeated. My tears dripped onto the slimy body.

"I never knew the guy," Knuckles repeated. "He was hiding his heart. We never knew Shadow," Knuckles realized as his eyes watered.

"Goodbye forever, Shadow the Hedgehog," I repeated as I held the giant hairball close to me...

I nearly jumped ten feet in the air when I heard the corpse gasp. "Guhh!!!" Shadow's chest was heaving furiously, taking in large amounts of air.

"Shadow! You're alive!" My heart lifted, as I was amazed he survived in such an appalling condition. Shadow started to shiver violently. "Shhh. You are all right. Calm down," I said to assure him. Shadow let out a moan of torment as his senses returned and he kept his eyes closed.

"Sonic..." he softly whispered in a raspy voice. "My face... the pain... it... hurts so much..."

"Shhh. Shadow, you will be alright, you are safe now." In a mistake, I pressed lightly on his chest to comfort him. He let out an enraged howl of misery. "Shadow! What is wrong?" I lifted my hand up from him as I stared in panic at his chest.

The hairball started to cry. "It... hurts to... cry... but the... pain... is making... me... cry more... OH GOD!!" He sobbed as I was at a loss of what to do with him. "My... ribs... are... broken..." He said in between his sobs.

"What!?" I screeched in horror. He looked bad enough to scare a ghost already! "Knuckles! We need to do something!" Another moan left the digested hedgehog's mouth.

"Shadow, I know you need this, here you go!" Knuckles smiled as he placed his hands on the now living dead. Like magic, a green light covered the hedgehog. What was so magical was what happened to the now weeping cadaver. The bleeding of his face stopped, and right before my eyes, tan skin slowly spread across the raw muscles and his nose was once again shiny black. Shadow's sobbing quieted and I felt less pain in my heart over his suffering. The rejuvinated youth cautiously stood up, his burns shrank away and thick black fur sprouted out over his bare skin while his shuddering breath slowed down to steady and calm breathing. "Shadow, we thought we lost you," Knuckles said with a surprised grin. I looked back at the Biolizard, which had Shadow for lunch. The lizard roared and vanished, leaving a disturbing silence in its wake of savage roars. A puddle of acid, blood, and rotting flesh was left, and a trail of blood wandered up to the shrine. Shadow's reply was somber and quiet. His voice burned with emotion, which was quite unusual compared to his former impassive and cold nature.

"Thank you for saving me... I thought I was gone, too..."

The End