Chapter 14 - Imperial Maze: Shadow Ironclaw

With the others purposely captured, only Shadow remained. She was in somebody's farmhouse that had country spread for miles and miles. Not a person to call help to, not a building in sight. Earlier she saw the others get captured and noticed something about when Cynder's drones normally appear. They only seem to appear when they stood still. She toyed with the idea, standing still to simply swing her wrist blades backwards and cut the head off a drone, leaving a pink, gooey mess on the floor. Like everyone else, she didn't know what the strange pink glob was made of. She poked it once, but didn't bother to mess with it again. Feels almost like whipped cream. She thought. Now to save those other guys. I know they are still worth something. With that said in her mind, she stood still, coaxing the drones out of their hiding. 10minuets passed by.[br]
Nothing happened. 15minuets passed.[br]
Still nothing. She spun and swung, only to hear the whiff of her blade cut the air. She then looked up, only to find a ladybug fluttering in the air by a lamp. She sighed and sat down in a nearby rocking chair. As soon as she did, the air suddenly got very cold. So cold she could see her breath. She shivered and looked around with wide eyes. "W-...what's going on!?" She asked herself and leaped out of her chair and headed out the door. In shock in disbelief she saw Shugotenshi curled up in the grass.[br]
"Oh! Hello, Shadow. I was just waiting for you." She said. Shadow turned and glanced at the house to see that half of it was frozen solid in a block of ice. She then turned back to Shugo. "Is....there something wrong?"[br]
"Who are you? I know you aren't that Shugo, girl. She can't breathe ice!" Shadow pointed out and immediately lunged at her. The fake Shugo vanished before Shadow even got close to her. Just then, drone appeared in front of Shadow with the adhesive disk. She swatted it away and grabbed it. The drone grabbed her by the arm, only to have the capture disk slapped on to his face. The warp gate opened and she grinned. "Now to get Cynder." She mumbled to herself and walked through.[br]
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On the other side, everything looked cyber and grid-like. It appeared to be downtown Giga City, only cybernetic. “What is this place?” Shadow mumbled to herself. Nobody was in sight as far as the eye could see. “HELLO!!!” she called out. Her voice echoed throughout the large buildings, but for a long time, nobody answered. Then…[br]
“AAAH! *grunt* SHADOW! Help! I’m stuck!” a voice called out. Shadow looked all over the place. The voice seemed to be coming from everywhere.[br]
“Where are you!?” She asked; another long pause.[br]
“I’m inside the shop next to you! I’m stuck on the wall!” The voice cried again, this time weaker and more desperate. Shadow turned to the left to see on office building. That’s not a shop. She thought to herself. She turned right to see some kind of gift shop. She ran through the door and checked all of the walls. In the very back of the shop was Azikstar, suspended to the wall by a familiar black sludge. It was slowly consuming his entire body, just like it did to her in her dream. “Don’t touch it! It’ll pull you in with me and we’ll both get stuck together.” Azikstar warned. Shadow looked around the shop at different items she could use to pull him out with. She then stumbled upon a metal rod. She grabbed it, then handed one end to Azikstar.[br]
“Hold on to it and try to push away from the wall. I’m gonna pull you out.” She explained and then yanked on the pole. The sludge made a ripping sound and tore a little on the edges. It reformed and the sludge turned green. Azikstar moaned in pain. “What’s wrong?” She asked.[br]
“I….I can’t….move…anymore. This stuff is….squeezing really tight.” He growled, trying to fight his resistance. Shadow yanked again, this time it wouldn’t move at all. She growled and slashed it with her wrist blade. Maybe since the blob’s color changed, it’ll act differently when I hit it. She thought. Just as she wanted it to, the blob slit in two and released Azikstar. He fell to the ground with a loud thud. He didn’t move for a moment, but then slowly stood to his feet. He panted a little from the tension that was put on his chest, then started heading towards the door.[br]
“Let’s find the others, shall we?” He suggested. Shadow nodded and trailed behind him out of the shop. Just then, a familiar laughter filled the air.[br]
“Cynder!” They said at the same time. They immediately looked up tp see Cynder standing on the roof of a smaller building, making her look huge.[br]
“Do you like it?” She asked. “Welcome to my wonderland of control and power. I can control ANTHING in this environment; even you two.” The two gulped and turned to ran, only to run into Cynder standing in their path.[br]
She’s fast! Azikstar thought. Just then, an intense pain struck the two’s minds and they both dropped to the ground, unconscious. Cynder then approached Shadow’s lifeless body.[br]
“I hope you can walk with two legs;” She whispered in her ear. “Azikstar…”[br]

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