So, this is an update long in the making.
I haven't exactly been active in a LONG time, but I'm gonna try and make an attempt to upload a lot more content on this account, and on our soon to be made FictionPress account, so be on the lookout for that too, I'll put a link on our main page. As for what I'm going to be uploading, it's going to be a series of short stories centered around Shadow and a new 'friend' he makes, following some short adventures they have, while not really being put together enough to be called a story, though it will be it's own canon, not being a part of any other series that I have on this account, dubbed the same as this storys title, 'The Ultimate'. So with that said, enjoy this along with any other content that Hikaru and I are soon to be uploading, long live the writing duo!
The Ultimate
The nights in Station Square seemed long and drawn out, cars blazed by on the streets below and horns of the angry ones inside would blare, breaking the silence of the night as the city would stay lit up until the brink of dawn, where the sun would rise and cover the city in its radiant glow. It was this place that many Mobians, animals who have evolved to take on my human like characteristics, called their home. One in particular however, was not very pleased about the situation, not very pleased at all. From the top of the city's large skyscrapers, the black and red hedgehog stared down at the streets with a distant look in his eyes, almost as if he believed he didn't belong in this world to begin with.
"For the most part, this city along with the rest of the planet have settled as of late, any small time acts of crime taken care of by either the police or that blue annoyance…", he mutters to himself as he scans the streets one last time, before sighing in discontent, "Then why am I still here? I promised...I promised Maria that I would give humanity a chance to be happy, but now that any major threat has been extinguished, what is my reason for being here?" Shadow asks himself as he turns and dashes across the rooftops, jumping over gaps between buildings that no normal human, or even Mobian for that matter could hope to cross. While he contemplated his reason for existence again, there was another thing that broke the silence, the sound of a growling stomach. Shadow sighs as he grinds to a halt on a nearby fire escape, rummaging through his quills as he hopes that he didn't spend his last bit of money yesterday when he ate that burrito.
As he removes his hand from his quills with nothing in his grip however, his fears become a reality as he sighs. Shadow knows that he could always ask the blue pest or one of his friends to hold him for the night, but his own pride would never allow him to accept help from them, the 'ultimate life form' needed help from no one. One thing Shadow hadn't expected however, was the window next to where he was standing to open as a voice startles the hell out of him, "So...make a living out of creeping outside peoples windows?", the person asks as Shadow nearly falls off of the fire escape in surprise, before he regains his composure and shoots a glare at the person. While he is a little surprised to see the person is a Mobian, it does little to curb his irritation.
"I stopped for a breather, what's it to you?" Shadow asks with a prominent frown of his face, the person from before raising a brow before asking.
"You're...Shadow the Hedgehog, correct?", he asks, Shadow crossing his arms as he looks away with his typical 'hmph' sound coming from him as the man from the window chuckles, "Yeah, you're him alright. Care to come in?"
"Do you normally invite strangers into your house?" Shadow asks, not wanting to step inside in the slightest.
"Not really, but you looked starved and 'ultimate life form' or not, it's freezing out there, middle of January and all.", the man says with a shrug as Shadow gets a better look at him. He's a gray fox that has some fur that hangs a little over his left eyes, his irises being gold in color. He also wears a red dress shirt with black jeans and red and white sneakers, Shadow only taking note of this because he's not used to seeing male mobians with a full outfit on. As Shadow goes to reject his offer for food his stomach growls yet again, causing the ebony hedgehog to grumble in annoyance once more before stepping into the apartment, being a rather bland with white walls, a couch at one wall with a tv and some sort of gaming system attached to it at the other wall, with a short hallway that leads to a simple kitchen with all white appliances, consisting of a fridge, oven with a stovetop, microwave, a small table for two and a sink. Shadow could only assume that the last two doors in the hall lead to a bathroom and bedroom.
As Shadow nears the table a plate is placed down on it, steaming scrambled eggs with a few strips of bacon on it looking mighty appetizing to the hedgehog as he looks up at the fox, "Yeah, that's yours.", he says with a small chuckle as Shadow grunts, still accepting to food regardless as he eats a little faster than he meant to, the entire plate being gone before the fox can even sit down with his own, electing a small laugh from him, "Okay, so even starved might have been an understatement."
"Funny…" Shadow mutters before looking around and commenting, "Small place."
"Maybe, but it does what it needs to. Shelters me and keeps me warm, plus the fact that I live alone makes it rather cozy in my opinion." The fox retorts as he begins eating his own food, his ear twitching slightly as Shadow stands up.
"Thank you, for the food anyhow.", he says as he goes to leave.
"Heading out already?" The fox asks him, only getting a small nod in response before Shadow steps out of the room, the fox hearing his window close moments later, "What a strange guy."
Several days have passed since Shadow had his run in with the fox in Station Square, the hedgehog purposely staying out of that region of the city as to avoid further contact with him. He didn't want to rely on anybody more than he needed to, so avoiding that area altogether should prove effective enough in preventing further contact with the fox. What he HADN'T anticipated, was the fox working on another side of the city, causing him to see the hedgehog for a moment before Shadow dashed away before he could say a word. That made another section of the city off-limits as he raced out to the Emerald Coast for a breather. A breather, however, is what he wouldn't get as he sensed a blue ball speeding toward him, only barely avoiding a homing attack from his rival, and polar opposite of him, Sonic the Hedgehog.
"Heh, almost caught ya snoozing there Shadow!" Sonic said with a bit too much pep in his voice as he dashes at the black hedgehog, punching at his nose as Shadow ducks to avoid it, going to uppercut the blue hedgehog in response but hitting nothing but air as Sonic backflips. Shadow smirks, almost needing this match to clear his mind as he spin dashes at Sonic, the blue blur countering with his own as the two bounce off of eachother like pinballs, repeating this a few times before Shadow leaps back out of his ball form and materializes a few energy lances before tossing them at Sonic, yelling out, "Chaos Spear!"
Sonic barely notices what's happening in time as he rolls himself to the side to avoid the attack, before jumping up and nailing Shadow in midair with his homing attack, sending the black hedgehog sprawling back before he regains his balance with a snarl, "Too slow Shadow! You're going to have to step up your game if you wanna beat me!" Sonic taunts as he brings his left foot behind his right, wagging his finger at Shadow with his trademark pose, which only serves to irritate him further.
"You arrogant little…" Shadow growls, before initiating a short range teleport, catching Sonic off guard as he boots him in the back of the head, causing Sonic to eat a mouthful of sand while Shadow gives an approving smirk, "That'll knock you down a couple pegs."
Sonic spits the sand out and hops back to his feet, preparing for round 2 with Shadow before he snaps his fingers, "Crud, sorry 'bout this Shad, but I've gotta meet up with Tails in a short while, we'll continue this later!", the blue blur says with a wave as he zips away with his trademark speed, causing Shadow to tsk as he shakes his head, turning to leave the beach before he is greeted with a small round of applause, bringing his attention to the gray fox from the other day, standing over by the resort as Shadow grunts in annoyance, "How could he have gotten here so quickly?" Shadow thinks to himself as the fox approaches him.
"Bravo! I've never actually seen you or Sonic in action, and I gotta say, it's really impressive! I couldn't even follow your movements after a while!"
"I care why?" Shadow asks tapping his foot, he really didn't want to be here, considering he was waiting for some sort of 'you owe me' speech.
"Geez, you cranky all of the time?", the fox asks, Shadow growling at him in response as the fox puts his hands up in defense, "Take it easy, just a joke."
"I'm not one for jokes. If you have a point to make, do it quick. Otherwise I'll be taking my leave." Shadow says as he walks by the fox, being stopped in his tracks as he makes an offer he hadn't exactly expected.
"Need a place to stay?", the fox asks, Shadow turning his head and looking at him with both curiosity and surprise at the same time.
"...What's it to you?" Shadow asks, keeping a neutral tone as the fox responds.
"Well, you look like you haven't bathed in days, your back to looking famished, and it's hard to tell when the last time you got a decent night of sleep was. So by all standards that means you don't have a place to call your home." The fox explains, each comment only serving to get more on Shadow's nerves before the fox finishes, "So I just thought I'd ask if you wanted to stay at my place for a while, free of charge."
"And why would I want to stay with you?" Shadow asks, honestly thinking of just accepting the offer for what it is by this point.
"You can quit with the tough guy act you know, the fight with Sonic there proved you're not at top shape. Sure, you two could exchange some blows, but leaving yourself open in midair like that? Plus you'd probably appreciated getting the smell of dirt off of yourself for once." The fox jokes as he points at Shadow, the hedgehog growling for a second before going silent, then sighing in defeat.
"Fine, but don't expect me to hang around for long." Shadow says simply as he walks away, the fox quickly following behind.
"I didn't. Name's Swift by the way, Swift the Kitsune." The fox says with a smirk much too much like Sonic's.
"Whatever." Shadow mutters simply, the remainder of their walk back to Swift's apartment being a round of Q&A with Swift asking the questions, and Shadow telling him to either bug off or mind his own business.
The two reach Swift's place near nightfall moving at his speed, since Shadow felt no desire to carry the fox back to his place...come to think of it…"Why call yourself a kitsune instead of a fox?" Shadow asks Swift, who simply shrugs.
"Kitsune sounds cooler.", he replies with Shadow sighing in response.
"'Cooler' isn't even a word…" Shadow mutters as he instantly heads back to the door he assumed to be the bathroom on his last without any sort of permission, opening the door and turning out to be correct as another simple white room lay before him, with a sink & mirror, a toilet, and a shower ready for him to use. The black hedgehog walks into the bathroom and closes the door, locking it behind him as he instantly turns the shower on, taking his gloves and shoes off and stepping into the warm water with a satisfied sigh. While he might put on a good show, the black hedgehog enjoyed a relaxing shower just like any other person would, taking his sweet time as he cleans all of the grime and muck that has accumulated on him over time. About thirty or so minutes later he steps out of the shower with another sigh, taking a nearby towel as he begins to dry himself off.
The one thing he's surprised about though, is that Swift hadn't said a word since he got into the shower. He expected the fox to make some sassy remark about asking to use other people's stuff, or just plain messing with him while he's in the shower altogether. After he finishes drying himself off, Shadow steps out of the bathroom, not bothering putting his gloves, socks or shoes back on yet as he'd have to wash them, having to personally deal with the latter to prevent damage to them. As he steps into the hallway he swears that he can hear something deceptively like a moan come from the 'living room', if you could call it that. Shadow decides to investigate, walking down the hall and peeking his head into the room, his brow raising but otherwise his expression remains unchanged as he sees Swift on the couch with another mobian, this one being noticeable female as he nibbles on her ear, the two instantly catching notice of the black hedgehog and stopping their actions, both blushing profusely.
"Am I interrupting something?" The black hedgehog asks, honestly not entirely sure why he was biting her ear as the girl is the first to speak up.
"You have a guest…", she mutters, the girl with a purple hedgehog with quills that fall down the back of her head like hair, having two, shorter and thinner quills on the sides of her head. She has sky blue eyes and it wearing a yellow t-shirt with black tights and blue running shoes.
Swift chuckles nervously, obviously having forgot to alert his female guest to Shadow's presence in the house as he speaks, "Yeah...forgot about that. Angela, this is Shadow. Shadow, Angela.", he says, trying to break some of the tension in the room, seeming successful as Angela's head tilts before she asks.
"Shadow? As in THE Shadow the Hedgehog?", the girl asks, with the black hedgehog sighing in response before nodding, "I...didn't know you lived here."
"I don't. I'm just staying a couple of days." Shadow says simply as he walks back into the hall, leaving Angela and Swift in the main room.
"Don't mind him...he's not very talkative." Swift says with a small laugh, which brings Angela's attention back to him.
"How'd you meet him?" Angela asks with interest, Swift smiling before he begins to tell her the simple tale of his encounter with the 'ultimate life form'.
Meanwhile Shadow had walked back to the bathroom, grumbling in annoyance as he picks up his Air Shoes and begins washing them himself, mostly annoyed by one thing and one thing only...her scent. As one would expect, mobians have a much stronger sense of smell than humans do, and while some would put this as an advantage, it can be a manage to be a major pain to the ebony hedgehog, mainly when he'd get around women. More specifically, when they were in heat, it'd normally give off this...pleasant smell that male mobians would fight against to control any 'urges' they might get. 95% of the time his sense of smell was nice, as he used to it to, or avoid, people or places he might want to visit/stay away from. In this case, this was the first time he was stuck in a small building with only that irritating fox and his female hedgehog friend, who just so happened to be in heat right now.
"Fantastic…", he mutters to himself sarcastically, especially since considering how close they were a minute ago, they'd probably be all over each other later in the night, so much for a good nights sleep…
Shadow's night had been every bit as restless as he expected. While the couch itself was a lot more comfortable than anything he'd slept on recently, it seemed that almost any time he was about to fall asleep, or had just done so, he'd hear noises coming back from Swift's bedroom. Adding to the fact that he knew that Angela had spent the night didn't make matters any better, her scent still lingering in the air at the apartment even after she left early in the morning. To prevent himself from going absolutely insane, Shadow decided his best course of action was to get out of that place, at least for the moment, until her scent dissipated for the most part. Leaving shortly after Angela did, Shadow leaped across the high rooftops of Station Square, hoping that maybe he could get a more thorough beating of that blue pest today. Sadly, that was not to be as nearly the moment he landed on the ground, a high pitched voice pierced his ears.
"SONIC!", a familiar pink hedgehog cried out as she glomped onto Shadow, only to be severely disappointed as she notices that it's actually the black hedgehog and not her beloved blue hero, "Oh, I'm sorry Shadow! From a distance…", she starts, slowly trailing off to a mutter as Shadow turns to glare at her.
"I look NOTHING like that blue pest. Our quills are different, my fur couldn't be any further of an opposite to his, hell, I even SMELL different!" Shadow yells, causing Amy to shrink back before he lets out an annoyed sigh, "Maybe if you paid even the slightest bit of attention to what you're running at, you'd stop hugging every hedgehog you meet and might actually find the one you're looking for!"
"S-Still, that's no reason to be so mean Shadow!" Amy yells back in defense, only serving to annoy the ebony hedgehog further.
"I could care less how 'mean' I am.", he says simply, going to leave before he hears a loud screech, turning around as he sees a madman driver heading straight for the pink hedgehog, Amy only just turning to see the vehicle as it is upon her, before Shadow pulls out his signature green Chaos Emerald, "Chaos Control!", he yells out as time grinds to a near halt, the car being inches away from the girl as he dashes forward and scoops her up in his arms, bringing her to the other side of the road as time resumes, the driver crashing into a nearby fire hydrant and causing water to spew everywhere as Amy blinks a few times, Shadow setting her down as she only just now understands what just happened.
"Th-Thanks...Shadow…", she mutters with a small bit of fear in her voice, a bit frightened of what just happened as the other hedgehog shrugs.
"You're welcome." Shadow says simply as he turns to leave, only for Amy to grab his arms, bringing his attention back to her, "What?"
"U-Um…", she stutters, Shadow only just now noticing that she's shaking from what just occurred, "Could you...walk home with me...please?" Amy asks him, the black hedgehog simply silent for a moment before he silently motions for her to lead the way, the pink hedgehog giving a small smile, "Thanks."
After bringing Amy home Shadow sighs as he returns to Swift's apartment, grateful that the air is quite the bit more clear of that other woman's scent then it was this morning, Swift on the couch playing some sort of game at the moment. "Damn Sephiroth and his 'Sin Harvest'...Don't yo-AH DAMMIT!" Swift yells in anger as his character dies, leaving the boy on the screen on one knee near some sort of door saying 'I give up...'
"Looks like you're enjoying yourself." Shadow says with a scoff which brings Swift's attention to him, causing to fox to forget all about the game for a second.
"Oh, you're back. Couldn't handle the smell I take it?", he inquires, Shadow's continued silence being more than enough confirmation for him, "Yeah, figured...speaking of, you faintly smell like cherry blossoms, any news on that?"
Shadow raises a brow before realizing that it must be Amy, the girl having accidentally kissed his ear after distracting him when he was bringing her home when she complained about them going too slow, causing him to nearly trip and her lips to land on his ear, probably leaving a bit of her scent on him, "Nope." Shadow replies simply to Swift's question, causing the latter to shrug.
"Whatever, won't pry...'ultimate life form'." Swift says with a bit of a smirk as Shadow turns to glare at him.
"Yes, and don't you ever forget it. I am the Ultimate."
