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Rustle, Rustle.
Shadow pushed the leaves aside, not too much to reveal his position. He was currently hiding within a bush that gave him a closeup view of what was happening.
Machines. Chopping trees, uprooting plants, or kidnapping animals.
“What are these things…” Shadow mumbled.
He wished he could just run out and destroy them, but he doesn’t know if they’d have any countermeasure to that. And there’s also no way he could destroy these things.
Looking around the ground, Shadow picked up a nearby branch and tossed it at one of the round robots with axes.
Clunk.
Nothing. The machine continued to chop a tree down with no reaction. Slowly, Shadow got out of the bush and swiftly navigated to the robot. Placing his hand against the warm metal, he felt the vibration of the engine inside. Feeling around the machine, he searched for a way to check the inside of it. He needed to stop this thing.
“Aha,” Shadow silently said as his hand crossed a small panel door at the side of the robot. Swinging it open, he wondered why it wasn’t locked. Didn’t matter, what did was the collection of wires in front of him. “One wrong wire…”
Was it worth risking blowing the thing up and further damaging the area? Shadow shook his head to himself. That’s a stupid thought. If he doesn’t stop these things then the whole forest will be gone by the next sunrise.
Reaching his hand into the jumbled wired, he grabbed them all in a bunch. He swiftly yanked the wired out of the machine, and threw them to the ground.
Shadow breathed heavily, watching the machine. His breath stopped when it began to spark. Slowly, the machine came to a halt and went dormant. Shadow relaxed his stance, looking around at the countless machines in the forest. All he had to do was go to each one and pull the wires out? Easy enough.
He walked over the closest one nearby, and found his way the the panel. Opening it, he gripped the wired and took them out. Another machine down.
He ran to the next. Threw the wires out, and freed any animals that it had trapped. Third machine down.
He sprinted to another one. Yanked more wires. Fourth machine down.
Fifth machine down.
Sixth machine.
Seventh.
Eighth.
Ninth.
Tenth.
…
Shadow didn’t know how long he spent taking down the machines. Whoever made them must really want the forest gone, and they had the ability to mass produce the machines to do it.
But the forest was finally quiet again. Shadow took a deep breath and smiled. It was nice. Though the smell of fuel still lingered in the air and chunks of the forest gone, he’d make sure that it’d go back to how it was. At least all the animals were safe.
He sighed, gathering his surroundings. Dismantling machines for hours sure does disorientate you. He’ll have to find a place to sleep tonight. Shadow began to trek through the trees, in search of a spot to rest. He came to sudden halt when he spotted someone in the distance near one of the machines.
‘Is this the person responsible?’ Shadow thought, as he carefully approached the stranger.
“…and all the wires are yanked… just great…”
Shadow quietly snarled. This guy is the culprit.
The man who had been grumbling to himself noticed the hedgehog standing a distance away. “What’re you lookin’ at, huh? Got a problem?!” the man shouted.
Shadow examined the person in front of him. He was big, for one. Round for another. He also had a cartoonishly large mustache and a red outfit. “…Who are you,” Shadow questioned.
The big man paused. “Well, I am the brilliant genius, Dr. Ivo Robotnik!” the man answered.
Dr. Ivo Robotnik…?
Shadow crossed his arms and approached the Doctor. “How come I’ve never seen you around here before?”
Robotnik cleared his throat. “I just came here recently you see, and I was simply trying to clear some space for my arrival,” he explained, “but something shut down all my machines!”
“I see…”
The man turned back to his machine and looked into the inside. “Must’ve been a squirrel chewing the wires…” he mumbled.
Shadow shook his head. “I was the one who shut them down.”
The man turned back to Shadow. “What!?”
“Listen here, Doctor Ivo Robotnik,” Shadow approached closer to the man. “I don’t appreciate people who try and damage the forest here. Especially with your annoying machines.”
The doctor crossed his arms and scowled.
“So I’d suggest you take your scrap, and get out of here,” Shadow concluded.
Robotnik smirked. “Very well then,” he shrugged, leaning down face to face with Shadow. “Just don’t come complaining when you regret standing against me.”
Standing upright, Robotnik trudged off to a nearby mechanical vehicle. After climbing inside, the small pod began to float into the air.
“I protect this forest. And I don’t regret that,” Shadow replied. He watched as the pod flew into the distance without a response, leaving him alone in the forest again.
He smiled. Hopefully that man doesn’t try and mess with nature again.
Shadow ripped the energy spear out of the latest machine that Robotnik had created.
How many years has he been doing this? ‘Doesn’t matter,’ he thought.
He’ll protect the forest. And he’ll never regret it.