Hello there! I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to look at this story. I haven't written fan fiction in years, so I hope I am okay at it. First of all, the genres in this are Action/Adventure/Drama/Tragedy/(slight)Humor with slight refrences to romance. In this story, there will be graphic violence later on in it and strong language. I also have not played Sonic Nextgen yet, so if I get some things wrong, please correct me. I hope you enjoy it, I had this story in my head for a long long time and I am so happy I am finally putting it on the internet! I promise the story will get better as it goes on. Also, I would like to have themes for the chapters and if there isn't one listed at the top of the page, and you think you know a good song that could be the theme of it, send it in a review for the story and if I think it fits, I'll put it in it.
I am only going to say this once, I do not own anything in this story except for a few characters and the plot. No characters like Sonic, Shadow, Amy, Rouge, Tails, Eggman, etc. Nor do I own any brands like Snapple, Coke, etc.
Rise From The Ashes
Chapter One-Befores and Afters
A black and red hedgehog is sitting on a overstuffed deep purple sofa. He is staring at the arm on the sofa and finally picks the little fuzz ball that has been on it, that thing had been bothering him since he woke up there. He stood up and walked into a bright yellow and white kitchenette which was less then four feet from where he was sitting. He smells the sweet scent of pancakes cooking. He always liked pancakes, the best tasting pancake he ever ate where the ones his good friend Rouge had made. They were always really good because there were no preservatives in them, well, at least not strong preservatives, like he was used to before. the hedgehog looked up at his friend making the pancakes, she was a white bat, she was still wearing her pajamas, pale pink short shorts and a white tank top that had two cherries on it. The hedgehog looked down and noticed she wasn't wearing socks 'Wow, her feet are big.' The bat spoke, not facing him, "Shadow, do you know where Julia went?" The black and red hedgeohg known as Shadow looked up, "No, Rouge...she's gone again?" Rouge sighed, "I guess so, I didn't see her when I woke up."
Julia is Rouge's aunt, she is her guardian. She was always out, Rouge and Shadow didn't exactly know where she would go and why, but Rouge always suspected she was out doing drugs, like before. Rouge frowned slightly as she flipped the pancakes, she remember one day when aunt came home around 4:30am, waking Rouge up.
Rouge was about the age of 10 at this time, she was sound asleep in her bed wearing little purple pajamas, wrapped in a thick pink blanket with red hearts on it. All the sudden she heard a loud bang and glass breaking. Rouge, frightened, stood up and grabbed a little red teddy bear and slowly walked to her bedroom door. She opened it about and inch and peeked out, afraid of what she would see. She saw a female chocolate colored bat wearing very revealing clothes, stumbling around the room, laughing very loud and snorted a couple times.That was Rouge's Aunt Julia. This was almost a daily ritual for Rouge and Julia; Julia would leave early in the morning, sometimes leaving a note, sometimes not, not be back for hours at a time, usually she was gone all day, and then she would come home, high and/or drunk really late at night. Julia would stumble around occausionally breaking things, then would eventually fall asleep, usually on the floor. Rouge would watch her for a few minutes, then lock her door so Julia couldn't get in. Rouge walked over to her bed, peeked under it and pulled out a little black photo album only big enough that one page would hold one picture, and on the front in gold cursive it said "Out Memories". She crawled under her blankets and opened to the first page, it was a picture of a male brown bat and a white female bat.
Those were Rouge's parents, Hector and Beanca. Rouge turned the page and the next picture showed Hector standing next to a hospital bed with a tired Beanca lying the the bed holding a baby Rouge. That picture was taken the day she was born. Rouge had taken after her mother's fur color and patterns, the only place she really had fur was on her head, but had her father's eyes. Rouge started to cry and turned the page to look at the next picture. She always looked at this photo album when her aunt came home like this. Not to mention that she missed her parents greatly, and she knew they would never come back. She was orphaned three days after her eighth birthday. She doesn't remember much from that day, except a caucasian human man dressed all black wearinga black ski mask came into her room that night at 1:37am and held her down with a gag in her mouth. Rouge was very scared, she kicked and tried to scream, but that did nothing, the man was too strong. Then she heard two loud bangs, she stopped moving because it shocked her. Another man, this one an african american came in the room, dressed the same as the man holding Rouge says "C'mon, lets get outta here!" The white man picked up Rouge and threw her in her closet and ran out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Rouge waited for a minute before opening the door, making sure they were gone. She slowly opened the door and looked around, walking over to her bedroom, she dreaded opening it, but she knew something was very wrong, she slowly opened the door, eyes squeezed shut, then opened them abruptly and saw across the apartment, Hector and Beanca. Lying on the floor. In a puddle of blood. Dead. She ran over to them, shaking them, crying, "Mommy! Daddy! Wake up! Please wake up! Mommy! I promise I wpn't go through your jewelry anymore!" She hugged her mom, "please wake up..." Rouge heard the front door creak open, she looked up afraid it was the men again, but there was an elderly human caucasian woman standing there. Rouge got up and flew to the old woman and hugged her, unaware she got blood on the elder's white nightgown, "Oh, Mrs. Carraba! My mom and dad aren't--" Mrs. Carraba cupped her hands over her moth. She gasped "Oh my god! Rouge come inside!" They went the apratment next door. Mrs.Carraba sat on her plastic-covered khaki colored couch and put Rouge on her lap, picked up the phone and dialed 911.
"Rouge? Rouge? Rouge!" Shadow was standing next to her tapping her shoulder. Rouge quickly looked at him, "Oh, sorry, I must have spaced out..." Shadow threw her a concerned look and sat down the the table. Rouge dreaded to remember her parents funeral, so she decided to eat. She put the pancakes on two plate and put them on the table, she went to the refrigerator and got the maple syrup and strawberry syrup. She walked to the table and sat across from Shadow. She picked the strawberry syrup and put some on her pancakes and she spoke, "So, how are you today?" Shadow made a noise but Rouge was unsure what it meant. Shadow picked up the maple syrup and drown his pancakes in them, he always put alot on them, he was just use to putting alot on them because of how he used to eat them.
Shadow remember when he lived on the ARK with Professor Gerald and Maria Robotnik. They were his family to him. Gerald being his father and Maria his sister. Shadow also remembers how differently he acted, he was happier and smiled alot, joking and laughing, now he is (what a blue hedgehog calls him) the grinch. He was created on her 10th birthday. But didn't see her untill a couple weeks after. The doctors and scientists always did tests on him, making him run on treadmills, taking blood sample, subjecting him to certain conditions. After two and a half weeks, he was allowed to walk freely around the ARK, Gerald had introduced Maria and Shadow.
Shadow was sitting in a dentist-like chair with a doctor sticking a needle in his arm. He hated getting needles. After the doctor walked away, man elderly man with a thick gray mustache known as Professor Gerald went up to Shadow with a young blonde girl. gerald smiled, "Shadow, I would like you to meet my granddaughter, Maria." Shadow smiled and said "Hello Maria, how are you?" Maria smiled back, "I am great. And thank you for helping me." Shadow raised his right eyebrow, "Help? When?" Gerald answered, "Uh, see Shadow, I created you with a mortal body, but with immortal blood, and at top physical condtion. My Maria is very sick." Maria frowned slightly, Gerald ruffled her hair. "She has a rare genetic disorder called NIDS, an abbreviation for Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome. She can get very sick from the little things we normally don't get too sick from, like the common cold, and god forbid, the flu..." Gerald went on and Shadow didn't understand what half the words Gerald was saying even meant, especially 'new row a moon deaf fin shin see,' so he paid more attention to Maria, he could tell what Gerald was saying made her uncomfortable, when he noticed Gerard was done talking about the NIDS, Gerald lowered his glasses at Shadow and said "...Don't you agree?" Shadow had no idea what he was saying, so he just said, "Uhh, yea." Gerald smiled and took Maria's hand in his left and Shadow's hand in his right and lead them out of the room. They walked until they got to an apartment. Shadow never left the main labortory in which he was in. Gerald opened the door with a key and when Shadow saw the inside, he started wagging his tail. He never saw a place quite like it, there was soft looked long red chair in the room. Maria went over to it and climbed on it and started to jump on it. Gerald scolded her, "Maria! Don't jump on the couch!" Shadow thought to himself 'So thats what it was called? A couch.' Gerald picked up Maria and she started coughing violently, and spit a glob of green flem in the trashcan which was next to the couch. Maria ground and her face was sweaty. Gerald had a concerned look on his face. Maria coughs scared shadow, they were very loud and they didn't sound like her voice did, she he never saw someone spit that color, She must be very sick. Gerald carried Maria and motioned Shadow follow him, they went to a black and white kitchenette. Gerard reached in a white cabinet above a sink and pulled out a box, "Shadow, I am going to make pancakes. I think you will like them, they don't taste as good as the ones on eart because there are alot of perservatives in it, but they taste fine just the same." Maria smiled and whispered to Shadow, "I love pancakes."
Shadow broke from his thought when and looked up at an angry Rouge with her arms folded over her chest, "Did you even hear one word I said?!" Shadow looked at her and stuffed a whole pancake in his mouth and spoke muffled words. Rouge glared at him and rolled her eyes, she stood up and went to the refrigerator and got a glass bottle of snapple iced tea. She sat down by Shadow, already over the little fit she had. Shadow looked down slightly to the left, "I think I am going to leave today." Rouge swallowed her drink and looked at him, "Why? you can stay if you want, Julia doesn't care. And I like your company." Shadow looked at her, "Yea, but I have been here long enough as it is, and plus, I've been eatting all your food, thats what I do when I'm bored." Rouge said, "I don't care, You can stay if you want. And if you leave, you are probably just going to go to Sonic's anyway." Shadow folded is arms over his chest, "Why do you want me to stay so bad?" Rouge stood upand put her hands on her hips, "Because you are my friend! Thats why!" she took the plastic dishes, including his and took them to the sink and literally dropped them in there. She turned to him, "Shadow, you do have friends, you know? You do know this, and even though you don't want to admit it, Sonic is your friend too. if he wasn't you wouldn't go there!" She stomped out of the room and went in the living room and ploped on the sofa and turned on the news, a blonde woman was sitting at the ancor desk with a fake british accent. Rouge thought to herself 'that woman should really give up the fake british act, its old. And she's not british.' She felt the sofa sink slightly and looked to her left and saw Shadow sitting there looking at her, his expression unreadable, "I'm sorry." She smiled slightly and said, "Its okay." She turned to the televison and the 'british' lady spoke, "Its early June and the weather has already been scorching, all this week it has been in the lower 90's and later next week, it will be in the higher 90's. But tommorow it is going to rain cats and dogs and that will, hopefully, cool everything down a little bit. What do you think Charles?" It switched from the blonde woman to a man with brown hair infront of the weathermap, "Well Tina, its doesn't look good, it..." Rouge turned to Shadow, "Global warming, that has to be it. oh well, at least I have an air conditioner." Shadow said, "You know thats one of the causes of it, right?" Rouge nodded and turned back to the televison.
Shadow stood up and made his way to the front door, and put his hand on the doorknob and turned to her, "I'm leaving now." She looked at him, "So soon?" He nodded. She flew over to him and she hugged him,
"If you need to get ahold of me call my cell."
"Okay, I won't, though."
"If you do."
"But I won't."
She frowned and furrowed her brow, "If you do."
Shadow gave up and nodded once, he opened the door and left the apartment. He walked down the brown carpeted stairs. He opened the door to exit the apartment and ran right into someone, "Wha-?" "Watch werr a fuck yur goin'! Oh, Chadow, hi, gemme tylenol." In front of his he saw Julia, he really didn't like her too much, seeing he clothes she is wearing, she still ahdn't come home from the day before, but she was carrying bags like she had been to the mall. She starts going through a pink bag, "I gah sumthin furr Roodge, think she'll like it?" She pulls out a red thong with a heart on the front. This made Shadow uncomfortable, "Uhhh, maybe." He starts to walk away and he hears Julia call to him, "Hey! I gah yoo sumthin, I think yool like it!" She pulled a long black trench coat out of a khaki colored bag she was carrying. She handed it to Shadow, he looked at it, he did like it, but he wasn't the kind of person to get excited about clothes, it was more the though that counted to him. He looked at Julia and she had a huge smile on her face, he could tell she was waiting for a reply. He put on a fake smile and threw it on, he said, "I like it alot, thank you." She hugged him in a deathgrip hug, "Ah new ya wood!" She let him go and she stumbled into the apartment building. He took the smile off his face and relaced it with a frown. Drugs again. He knew it. He shook his head and started to run for a while. Shadow's run turned into more of a skate, the jets on the bottem of his shoes were activated and he ran faster. He really did like the coat, earlier he ran past a clothing store saw his reflection in the mirror and and he thought he look pretty good with it.
He thought about what Rouge said earlier, she was right though; he keeps bouncing back and forth between Rouge's and Sonic's. They don't mind, they actually like him, he just feels guilty that he is going there, basically to get fed and sleep. He heard familar voice not far behind him, "Hey, nice coat, Shad! But ya do know its like 93 degrees right?" He slowed a little and the person running next to him was a blue hedgehog. Shadow was actually very glad to see him, but he faked it, "What do you want?" Sonic laughed, "Well, Mr. Grinch, I was wondering if you were doing anything today?" Shadow looked straight ahead, "No." Sonic ran in front of him running backwards to face him, "Great, you should come with me to my friend's house!" Sonic looked really excited, "Cool! Lets go to my place first, I need a drink."
Sonic and Shadow sped to Sonic's house. Shadow knew this house very well, for he would stay here for a few days to a week at a time, then would go back to Rouge's, he would bounce back and forth. It was a cute single house with yellow siding on it. Sonic opened the screen door and walked through the open wooden door. Sonic and Shadow walked in silence to Sonic's kitchen, at the sink was an older baby-blue female hedgehog two inches shorter than Sonic, wearing a little sleeveless white dress and big white boots and her quills weren't as long as Sonic's. Sonic went in the refrigerator and frown, "Mom, where's the coke?" The female said, "Oh, your father finish it before he went to work today." Sonic pulled out a Hi-C Fruit Punch juice box for himself and he threw one at Shadow, who caught it in his left hand. Shadow turned to Sonic's mother, about to do the ritual he normally did when he was there, "Marina, do you mind if I stay here tonight?" Marina smiled, "Sure! Sonic loves it when you stay over! He asked me the earlier today if you could." Sonic hugged his mother, "Mom, you're making me look like I'm gay!" Shadow said in a matter-of-fact tone, "No, you do that yourself." Sonic laughed, went over to Shadow and pulled Shadow into a 'manly' hug, "Ha, I love ya, man!" Shadow tensed up, he didn't like anyone hugging him other than Rouge. Shadow thought, 'This looks like its going to be a looong day.'
The two hedgehogs, drinking their juices walked out of Sonic's house and walked next door to a brown, old looking house. They walked on the porch and Sonic knocked on the door. Shadow never was in this house before, he knows one person who lives there, thats it. The wooden door opened, a pretty caucasian woman in her early thirties was standing there, she had shoulder length black hair and dark brown eyes. She was wearing faded blue jeans, a dark blue Old Navy t-shirt and fuzzy pink bunny slippers. She spoke, "Hi Sonic! How are you?" "I'm pretty good, Marge." Wanna come in?" Sonic held out his arms, "Thats why I'm here!" She kneeled down and hugged him. Shadow doesn't know this woman, but he can tell she is related to sonic's friend. The two hedgehogs walked in the house, it looked alot better on the inside then it did on the outside. It had a homey feel to it. The furniture, Shadow could tell was very old, except the couch, that looked relatively new. The woman looked at Shadow and held out her hand for him to shake, he looked it, then causiously shook it. She flashed a pretty smile at him, "I know who you are. You're Shadow, aren't you?" Shadow nodded. She dropped her hand, "Well, my name is Marjarie, but everyone usually calls me 'Marge.'" Sonic said, "Marge, can we throw our juice things away?" She turned to him, "You don't have to ask!"
Marjarie shouted up the stairs, in a loud, almost unpleasent voice, "Anney! Sonic and his friend are here!" A teenage girl came down the stairs and waved at them. Shadow thought 'Wow. She looks exactly like her mother.' Indeed she did. She was the spitting image of her mother except she was younger. But she had black and green hair, the green hair framing her face and she had icy blue eyes. She smelled of sweet perfume, she must have just sprayed it, it was pretty strong. She straightened out her short black skirt, and pulled her black t-shirt with a green heart on it down a little. Shadow noticed how high her socks were they were black and green striped up to her knees. She had a silver stud in the bottem of the middle of her lip (labret), and she had a silver barbell in her belly button. Shadow frowned, 'So unessessary.' Shadow knew this girl, he saw her a couple times with Sonic. He doesn't really know her, but he could pick her out of a crowd. Sonic smiled, "Well well well, if it isn't Foxy Roxy?" The human girl rolled her eyes, "Shuddup, short-stuff." She then looked at Shadow, "Hi Shadow." Shadow met her gaze, "Hello Roxanne."
Shadow, Sonic, and Roxanne just finished watching 'Ferris Builler's Day Off'. Sonic sighs and puts this arms behind his head, "No matter how many times I see that, I envy Ferris soooooo much." Shadow looked at him and raised his right eye brow, "You know this would never happen?" Sonic sat up straight, "Yea, it could!" "No, they would have gotten caught." "No, they wouldn't!" Roxanne watched like a tennis match and they debated for a while. After about 15 minutes of the boys fighting, Roxanne started getting really annoyed, she folded her arms across her chest. She crossed her left leg over the right and shook her left foot. It was something she did when she was annoyed. The two hedgehogs on her left were really aggravating, finally she spoke up; "Look, its an effin' movie, can we forget about it?" Sonic turned to her and his ears drooped slightly. He looked a little sad, "Sorry, Roxy." She didn't look at him, but shrugged her shoulders, Sonic didn't exactly know what that meant. Shadow just watched with a smirk on his face, he was sadistic, so he liked seeing Sonic sad. Sonic decided to change the subject, ears perked up, "Anyone want pizza? I'll buy."
Around 11pm, Sonic and Shadow decided they should leave. Sonic looked up at Roxanne, "See ya later, Roxy!" Roxanne kneeled down and hugged Sonic, "Bye, see you tommorow!" Shadow just waved at her, and she did the same. Sonic walked out his ears drooped slightly. Shadow walked next to him and they walked about 20 feet to Sonic's house. Sonic opened the screen door, then the wooden door. Shadow looked at Sonic and could tell he was tired, but something seemed to be bothering him, "Sonic, whats wrong with you?" Sonic's ears perked up, "huh? Oh, nothing, man I'm beat, running earlier made me tired all early. I'm going to bed, you can watch TV if ya want." "Okay." "G'night, Shad." Sonic walked up the stairs and disappeared. Shadow frowned, 'I hate when he calls me that.' Shadow layed down on the couch and fluffed the pillow and stayed up for a while, thinking. Just think. Eventually he fell asleep in a dreamless sleep. He hasn't had dreams in a while, he didn't know if he liked that or not. Little did Shadow know, his life was going to be very different then it is now.
Whee! I'm done. Please keep reading, I promise the next chapter will be better. Read and review! I'll update really soon! Possibly one or two chapters tommorow!