I don't own Sonic The Hedgehog or any other trademarks presented in this story.
Hell, the idea barely belong to me either.
Also, be wary of multiple chapters of flashback.
Shadow the Hedgehog began his morning routine the same way he always had for the past three months. He awoke at 7:15 in the morning, opened the shades of his home to let the morning light in to illuminate his bedroom, not to mention the fact that lights cost too much to have in every room.
The room itself was rather small, but then again, he never spent much time here anyway. Plain white carpet covered the floor, unpainted white walls, a wooden desk with a pale green laptop and a framed portrait of "The Gang", in which each and every member of the sonic team had managed to get into the picture - as well as take the liberty to be in the most ridiculous pose they could manage, even Vanilla - and a mattress much too large for him was placed in the corner opposite the three doors in the room, bathroom, closet - for 'souvenirs' - and door to the kitchen and living/guest room. Lying next to the pillow of the bed, in easy reach should an emergency arise - and for peace of mind - was a sheathed sword.
Stepping over to his bedside to retrieve his sword, Shadow couldn't help but smirk when recalling how it had come to be in his possession.
Flashback:
It'd been a rather odd mission for Team Dark. Figure out what was up with some underground disturbance, assigned by GUN, minimal pay, unknown danger level, etc…., the usual works, but with a catch.
It was a joint assignment with another team. This team had reason to believe that the suspect they were chasing had something to do with it. The team sent? Team Sonic. The obvious suspect? One "Doctor Ivo Robotnik". Unfortunately, whenever the two were involved with each other, explosions and commotion were bound to ensue. Such was their way. As such, Team Dark would be monitoring - babysitting - Team Sonic.
To say that Shadow was less than pleased with the arrangement would've been an understatement. He made this known to everyone when he asked "Why the hell is this idiot coming with us!"
Since Rouge - and unfortunately, sonic - knew his mannerisms well enough, with Omega as a close second, she was able to phrase the reason in a way that he'd understand. "Tails will be there too, so his stupid will be cancelled out by the smart, now stop complaining or I'll smack you" she grumbled.
In the background, Tails could only blush in embarrassment. Whether it was due to being twelve years old & beginning to understand what was so 'Special' about the female populace, and being complimented by a twenty two year old Rouge in the same old revealing attire or he simply still had trouble accepting compliments was unknown. Sonic, a much wiser man with his twenty years, merely responded with a "your mother" and continued his conversation with Knuckles.
"As if you could touch m-" Shadow's retort was cut off as they neared their destination. A few ruins located near the center of Emerald Forest were said to be concealing Eggman's latest endeavor. They found it, but something about the place seemed, well, out of place.
The others were just as taken aback as Shadow, but the first to recover, surprisingly, was Knuckles. Having felt more than enough ominous and intimidating presences to last him a lifetime, the echidna finding himself only slightly ruffled by the strange force, decided to take charge "C'mon guys, it's just a lingering aura of the past civilization" but added under his breath "they must've been pretty damn powerful to leave a trace like this though" unfortunately, the others heard this.
Roused from their momentary stupor, the other five heroes followed Knuckles towards the ruins. Being so out of it, the only ones able to escape the pit trap they fell into were Knuckles, Tails and Rouge, solely due to the fact that flight - of some form - was their specialty. Shadow, Sonic and Omega were not so fortunate, as they continued to plummet deeper underground and unknowingly into the center of their target's base.
Thankfully, the three of them landed on their feet, Sonic and Shadow landing gracefully as Omega simply smashed into the ground, creating a five foot crater in the stone cavern they had landed in and startling the two hedgehogs. "Omega, what's wrong?" the dark hedgehog queried, concerned.
The automaton lay silent and unresponsive. The pressure from before seemed to flare up again, rooting the two heroes to the spot, then died down.
Omega's optical sensors flared to life, a whirring sound emanated from within his body, then the grinding of gears began for a few minutes, then stopped.
Silence.
"There is an anomaly within this tunnel causing my systems to malfunction." The robot stated. "A strategic retreat is advised, extreme danger lies ahead."
Both hedgehogs perked up at this, ears alert and a twinkle in their eyes.
"Extreme" Sonic muttered.
"Danger" Shadow whispered at the same time.
They both looked at each other, words and question passing through their eyes alone, before they both nodded to each other.
"Omega" shadow addressed. "Sonic and I will scout the area ahead, I'll send you back up to relay this to them."
"Oh, yeah!" the blue hedgehog added, fist cupped in hand, a sign of a revelation. "Tell them that the wrist communicators won't work down here, so they'll probably have to stay in a group-"
"And someone should stay up there with you, as a lookout-" the black one interjected.
"You know, just in case trouble decides to try and get the drop on us." Sonic finished, the hedgehogs glaring at each other by now.
Omega instantly processed the tag team order and responded "Affirmative, the message will be relayed." Then prompted "What will my method of transport be?"
Sonic looked at shadow, who had already closed his eyes, imagining the clearing they had entered before falling prey to the trap in the ruins and whispered "Chaos Control" transporting their ally to his destination.
Sonic gave a whistle of appreciation and asked "You know, you're gonna have to teach me how to do that too, right?"
To which shadow scoffed. "Not until you at least get the hang of normal Chaos Control without needing an emerald."
"Oh come on Shads!" Sonic whined. "You've taught me lots of cool, chaos tricks already, what's one more?"
"First and foremost" Shadow announced, holding one finger up "calling me 'Shads' is going to drastically lower your life span" Sonic gulped, sweat now trickling down his brow. "Second of all" now two fingers were up. "They are techniques, not tricks." A roll of the eyes from Sonic. "Thirdly" a third finger. "I've only helped you with techniques you already know and can do. Like that windy thing of yours" Shadow explained, wiggling the three fingers so as to emphasize the 'windy' aspect of his companion's skill.
Taking offense, Sonic threw his hands into the air "Sonic Wind!" he exclaimed "It's called, the Sonic Wind!"
Unimpressed by the interruption, Shadow continued "and finally, fourth on the list, is that we should get going." He concluded, jerking his thumb in the direction of the pitch black tunnel to their left, in all of its unwelcoming glory.
Not discouraged at all by the gaping maw of darkness that the shaft of light from the opening - waaaay uuuup theeeere - they had fallen through seemed unable to penetrate, Sonic tried a different approach. "Fine, how about this" he offered. "I show you that I've mastered the - quote - 'techniques' - unquote - you've shown me, and you help me develop this nifty move I've been working on, deal?" He knew the only reason Shadow would even consider the offer would be because he was intrigued by the new move he had hinted at.
"Very well then" Shadow sighed, knowing that he'd fallen for the bait. "If you can hold that reinforced 'Sonic Wind' of yours for the duration of this mission, I'll help you test out this move" was his counteroffer. Plus, they needed light.
"Awright, you got yourself a deal Shadster!" His hand outstretched before him, waiting for his potential training buddy to shake on it and make the deal legitimate.
Another sigh, Shadow took the hand and gave it a single, firm shake. The bet had been initiated. "Ok then, let's begin. You'd better hope this ends before you either run out of energy or lose your focus" he commented, reaching over and producing a pulsating yellow diamond the size of his fist from within Sonic's cobalt quills and placing it within his own jet black ones, near his left outermost, crimson streak "for fairness' sake, I'm confiscating the chaos emerald though" a smirk on his face.
Unruffled, Sonic merely shrugged, a lopsided grin etched onto his face in anticipation of the challenge. Green eyes locked onto crimson, stating his readiness before closing his eyes and stretching his right arm into the air, palm facing the sky as he concentrated. Wisps of light blue chaos energy began swirling about, converging just above the center of his palm, merging into each other to form a swirling vortex of power encased in a ball emitting a sharp blue light and a scream of rushing winds sounded from within the orb, signaling the completion of his technique. His eyes snapped open with a cry of "Sonic Hammer!" the sphere of energy as large as his palm now cupped in his hand was shown to Shadow.
"Impressive" was all Shadow could say, before gathering his wits and willing his face back into its default impassive expression, his mission face. "It's much stronger than before, you've been practicing on your own" he observed.
"Yeah, I'm amazing, I know" Sonic grinned, pleased at his rival's veiled compliment.
"Don't let it get to your head though" Shadow added, a smirk tugging at the edge of his lips "that's how most idiots end up dead." Leaving Sonic to wonder if that was a bit of friendly advice or an insult, the ebony hedgehog muttered "Chaos Spear" and a few golden sparks danced across his hand before forming an orb of his own, a simple ball of solid yellow, hovering mere centers away from his glove, cradled in the palm of his left hand, highlighting his face in yellow, as Sonic's was cast in a flickering blue glow from his own.
"Showoff" Sonic grumbled, before using his makeshift light to find the right side of the tunnel as Shadow located the left side and they both discovered that there was enough space in the tunnel for a cargo truck to travel through, if slightly cramped. Nodding to each other, the two set off down the path, Shadow on the left & sonic on the right, the cave illuminated by the dual glows of their 'lights' allowing them a radius of vision twenty feet around them.
Assured that they'd be able to react to any obstacles along the path, the two changed their steady walk into a brisk jog - a light fifty miles per hour warm up pace - down the cavern, the hum of hover shoes and rapid pattering of sneakers reverberating off of the walls along with the howl of wind and displaced air from the speed of the adventurers' trek only adding to the eerie quality of their current location.
After a few minutes into their run had passed, a faint noise could be heard, prompting the two to slow back down into a cautious walk. Soon after, a dim light appeared in the distance, followed by a pair of large, imposing wooden doors, closed and highlighted by the bright white light being kept out of view because of them. As the duo drew closer to the doors, the noise ceased and the light tapered off. The two looked at each other.
"On three, we bust in and smash up whatever Eggman's got cooking this time, agreed?"
"I suppose I can ask the good doctor a few questions afterwards, also, I guess you win the bet now."
"Sweet!" Sonic announced. "Let's bust some badniks and get on with our lives!" he roared, smashing his Sonic Hammer into the jamb between both doors.