Title: Awaken the Shadow(s) – A Sonic the Hedgehog and Yu-Gi-Oh crossover.

Jomaku

Written by: Hikami42 – Ashley Elizabeth and Kiersten Noel

Rating: T, for cursing and mild violence

Summary: Sonic and Tails are pushed into a strange warp zone by an unknown figure, and they quickly realize that they're not on Mobius anymore… or, rather, Planet Freedom. They quickly find out that they're in what the locals call "The Shadow Realm" and one gets there by giving up their soul to the service of the Pharaoh. They promptly realize that to get out, they must find all seven Emeralds, all the while attempting to avoid this thing called "Summoning" and a Shadowy end.

Pairings: None

Length: LONG!

Story Theme Song: Thanks for the Memories – Fall Out Boy

Story Token Duel Monster: Beaver Warrior

Warnings: Weird concept, five distinct storylines that eventually converge. (Be sure to take notes for the test afterwards.) Mildly confusing, brain numbingly interesting, written by two people.

Continuity: YGO: after the series end; STH: during the OVA (Sonic the Hedgehog the Movie)

Notes: Sonic, Tails Knuckles and anyone else (besides Shadow) originated from planet Mobius, though they are arriving on Earth/Shadow Realm from Planet Freedom. We are using the OVA as a plot device, and thus had to have continuity so they come from planet Freedom, but were born on Mobius. Make sense? Didn't think so.

This story takes place after the whole of YGO happened, so all the Items are buried. We're assuming that, since they made a point to show him standing there in spirit form, Shadi got the Items and moved them to a secure location. But, no one cares where they are anyway.

Disclaimer: Do you really think that if we owned either of these series that we'd be sitting here writing this story? We'd be too busy attempting to erase the very existence of GX, 5D's, and Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 from the face of the Earth.

ENJOY!

o0o

Darkness. That was all he saw.

He knew he was falling, but it didn't feel like it, it had been so long.

Beside him, he could feel a trembling presence, but he couldn't place a name to the shape. He had lost all coherent thought and all his senses were useless. His mind was rebelling and coming up with worse case scenarios. It had never experienced this extreme state of darkness before, even in the dead of night. His eyes had long since stopped trying to adjust, and he starting to get dizzy as his inner ear revolted.

He knew there had to be an end to this darkness – there had been a beginning, right? – but he couldn't comprehend the concept of light anymore. It was foreign. Hadn't he been heading towards a land named 'Darkness'? Had he already arrived, or was he still on his way?

Suddenly a cold shock ran through him as he landed in something cool and wet.

Automatically, his brain shut down and blind panic took control. His limbs flailed about, attempting to get leverage on something solid and non-liquidly, but he failed miserably. His lungs tried to suck in air that wasn't there and his eyes snapped shut. There was comfort in the back of his eyelids. They were familiar, not that he could see them, but the black spots were new…

He was aware of nothing else as he let out a sigh and let out all of his remaining air completely. He felt himself drift in the stagnant water as he lost consciousness.

…

…

…

Suddenly, sound.

"Sonic, get UP! TALK TO ME!"

A pressure on his chest.

Then it was gone.

Then it was back again, strong this time.

Missing longer than the last.

Stronger again.

A new sound. A sound he recognized.

Sobbing.

"Sonic, Sonic, you can't leave me! I don't know where we are! PLEASE WAKE UP!" He recognized the voice now, and it was in a tone he never wanted to hear it use.

Tails.

Desperate. Sobbing. Worried. Scared.

"T-Tails…" He croaked out weakly.

A gust of air. A sigh.

"Sonic… You're okay."

Relief.

"We fell in a pool or a river or something. All I know is that it was water. You fell under and went unconscious and stopped breathing. I had to swim down and try to find you in the dark… Once I did, I realized how heavy wet hedgehog is…"

A laugh. A strained laugh.

"So then, I had to do CPR on you. Luckily, you came to before I had to do mouth-to-mouth. It was really weird and stuff, and I was really worried. You really scared me."

Guilt.

o0o

It was still dark by the time he managed to sit up and breathe normally. His brain had finally managed to start to form complete sentences again and Tails had drifted off to sleep when he realized that Sonic would be okay and wouldn't be keeling over any time soon. The fox had been soaked to the bone, but had dried faster than he had himself.

Now, the sky – at least he assumed it was the sky because it was above him – rumbled ominously, and he picked up Tails to get moving. They could outrun what he could assume was a thunderstorm if he got started now. Tails shifted a little in his arms to get comfortable before sighing and relaxing again.

Then, he was off. His feet felt sluggish and he could tell that he wasn't reaching even half of his top speed. Tails, as if sensing his distress, or feeling the storm in the air, stirred before lifting his head.

"Sonic?" He asked sleepily, "why're we going so slow?"

"Shh Tails, shh, don't worry about it. Go back to sleep."

He felt the fox nod into his neck before relaxing back into his shoulder, asleep in seconds.

He knew exactly when Tails drifted into a deeper sleep, for the small boy completely relaxed all of his tensed muscles. Sonic was happy to know that the fox trusted him enough to fall asleep deeply in his arms. But, he also knew that that trust came at a cost. If he screwed up in any shape or form – even a little bit – Tails would be crushed. Of course, having Tails trust him completely made him also very perceptive to what Sonic wanted him to do and he knew when to stop playing around and get serious.

Unexpectedly, a loud crack exploded from the sky and Tails jumped out of shock, making Sonic drop him without warning. As if by cue, a huge bolt of light cracked across the sky and Tails got completely still where he was moaning on the ground.

The thunder that sounded afterward wasn't very reassuring for either of them.

o0o

They were miserable.

Rain.

And lightning.

This did not bode well.

It seems, Sonic thought to himself, that the universe does not like us today.

Tails had permanently wrapped himself around Sonic's leg after the third lightning bolt had streaked across the sky, and, not long after, the heavens had opened above them and had poured all of its contents on them.

So, now they trudged, Tails wrapped in Sonic's arms and tenser than Knuckles when Eggman is even within seeing distance of Angel Island, and Sonic with his head stooped low – to keep the rain off his face and also to give Tails some comfort.

The only upside to all this, was when a bolt of lightning lit up the sky, they could see for a few precious seconds, not that Tails would look up from where he had buried his face in Sonic's fur. The little fox was absolutely terrified of the bright bolts that cascaded across the sky every few seconds, and he was completely miserable during the storm.

Not that Sonic wasn't himself.

The rain was pelting down on them without abandon, and he felt like he had just been through a power washer. His skin was sore and his fur felt nonexistent, though he knew it was still there every time Tails gripped it out of fear when he sensed a bolt coming. Tails was drenched again and was twice as heavy as normal, for his fur retained water better than Sonic's short quills, and he was whimpering almost constantly now. His fear had completely paralyzed him and he could barely comprehend anything Sonic said to him.

Relief eventually came in the form of a cave, lit up by a far away flash of lightning, and Sonic barely caught it before the light faded and left him totally blind again.

It had occurred to him early on that he was aimlessly walking around territory he didn't know, and he could fall off a cliff any second now, but there wasn't anything he could do. He had to keep moving, or risk starvation.

Dehydration wasn't a problem.

He had swallowed enough water to last him three weeks.

Quickly sending up thanks to the universe for his cave, he stumbled inside and almost dropped Tails out of relief.

Then, finding the softest rock within a three step radius, he fell over and was asleep in seconds.

o0o

"What do you think it is?"

"I don't know, but I believe the real question is 'what is that?'"

"I don't know, but it's cute!"

"Do you think it'll bite me if I touch it?"

Sonic cracked his eyes open to the sound of two voices ping-ponging back and forth above his head. They both sounded female and he couldn't help but groan.

"Whoa! It's awake!"

"Do think it'll bite us?"

"Stop asking that!"

"What? I fear death by biting!"

"It doesn't have rabies."

"How do you know?"

There was a sigh. "Never mind."

"Uh… Excuse me…" When in an unknown situation, Sonic usually reverted back to his manners until the people and their intent could be identified.

There were two sounds of disbelief.

"It can talk!"

"No really?"

Sonic shook his head before patting the soft bundle of fur lying besides him, effectively waking it up. "My head reeeeaaally hurts." He mumbled more to himself than anyone else.

Tails sat up slowly before blinking open his eyes and looking around. "It's still dark…" He trailed off with a yawn. "Why're we up?"

"Awwwwwwww!" Sonic flinched as two high pitched voices fawned over Tails. But, before he could do anything about it, Tails was swept away from him in a split second.

Tails gave a little yelp at the unexpected lift-off and Sonic was on his feet in an instant. "TAILS!" He yelled, "where're you?"

"I'm right here!" His voice came from the left and Sonic started to move in that direction slowly. But before he could take five steps, a hand fell onto his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.

Where'd you think you're going, young one? A voice echoed in his head. He jumped slightly, but knew better than to make any sudden moves when an unknown force had its hands on him. You can not see, correct? He nodded slowly. Come with us. My fellow Spellcasters and I can show you the light.

o0o

She was serious.

Not long after the girl had laid her hand on his shoulder and guided him out of the cave did they emerge from the darkness into the sunlight.

Tails had a revelation.

Sunlight…

Was…

The…

BEST THING EVER!

He had spent at least fifteen minutes running in circles and enjoying the fact that he could see. Then, he proceeded to roll around in the dirt that covered every square inch of the ground of this place. Sonic just stared at him before wondering how one little kid could get that dirty in five minutes. His fur was still a little damp from the rain storm, thus when he rolled, everything turned to mud. For the canine, this was a dream come true.

In Sonic's case, when he came into the light, he almost fell over from the irony. How had they managed to miss this bright patch of sun?

So, while Tails was running around like a fox shaped solar battery, Sonic was beating himself up.

All in all, it was a normal day for them.

After that little burst of insanity, introductions were made. Turns out, three girls had accompanied them to the sunlight world. All three were dressed strangely, had even stranger names, and – weirdest of all – were all humans. Humans were a hot commodity on Mobius and, inadvertently, Planet Freedom, mainly because all the animals had chased them back to their own planets when Eggman came onto the scene, guilty by association.

The first introduced herself as Magician's Valkyria and she had wild brown hair held under a pointed green hat. She held a staff with a curved end and wore a green and purple dress type outfit.

The second was known as Fire Sorcerer. She was dressed in a simple black robe and hat, and had blonde hair and blue eyes.

The final one was the one who had spoken to Sonic via mind waves, and her name was Silent Magician. (Which stuck Sonic as completely ironic.) She had blue hair and huge eyes, and a red and black, pointed hat. Her staff was red and black with a blue orb at the end, under a yellow arch. She had black gloves and a red and black robe. Underneath, she wore a pale brown tunic.

So, Sonic concluded, names like Sonic and Tails will not stick out here. Nor will our appearances. I don't know whether to celebrate or panic because these people are obviously a little out of it.

Valkyria was obviously the leader of the group, but she was a little ditzy, and Fire Sorcerer seemed like the type of girl who would rather be sitting in the corner listening to music and reading a book instead of gushing over how cute Tails was with mud in his fur. Silent Magician had a face and presence that suggested a very intelligent being. In fact, Sonic had caught her and Tails having soundless conversations a few times now.

All in all, the three girls would not bore anyone who came across them. All three had very different personalities, but they seemed to mesh well. They sort of reminded Sonic of himself, Tails, and Knuckles. All three very different beings, but still able to get along and talk about their common interests.

That was another weird thing about the girls. Their common interest was very much out there and unusual: magic.

All three were, apparently, very seasoned Spellcasters, and could perform very complicated spells. Sonic hadn't really been surprised when told, considering their outfits and the fact that they had found him and Tails in the dark.

When asked how they had been able to see in that lightless place, all three had shrugged and replied that someone would tell them later.

When asked who, they just smiled deviously at each other before answering "A friend. She'll be here soon."

"By the way; Where is here?"

"Oh. This is called the 'Shadow Realm'!"

Ugh. That… tells me nothing…

Sonic had pinched his lips together and shook his head while his foot had started to tap unhappily. He had been sitting for too long and was starting to get stir crazy. He just wanted to get out and run around – at full speed. His slow run the night before had made him realize how helpless he felt when he couldn't reach his full potential and he wanted to prove to himself that he could still do it.

But, before he could express his unhappiness, a bright orb of golden light appeared at the edge of the clearing they were currently occupying.

Valkyria turned to him with a smile. "She's here…"

o0o

Well, that's the prologue of our epic mini-drama. It seems more like a first chapter instead of a prologue, but we'll live. Plus, the word prologue in Japanese sounded too cool to pass up.

So, anyway. There weren't many YGO characters, but they'll come soon, we promise. Next chapter in fact.

Next time: Yuugi has a long time of reflection (looooots of italics, my friends) and Yami decides that life in the mortal world is not as easy as one would think it is (fire is dangerous). Oh, and they find a card... (Whoo…A card. I'm excited.) Then, Knuckles falls in a hole, and is mistaken for a dog. A day in the life of the Guardian of the Master Emerald… (Or is it a day in the life of the Master Treasure Hunter…? I forget which…)