Hey people! I've got some good news! I'm finally done with finals and school!! Woot! Now I'll have more time to update my story! Welp, anyway, here's chapter three, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co. Just Ruby and Leo, sheesh...
Shadowed Past Ch. 3- The Chase
"So, who's going first…?" I asked.
"Hmm… yeah, who should go first?" Leo wondered out loud. The situation wasn't good. We were sort of hiding behind a rock from ten aliens who were trying to blow our heads off. And the stinking Chaos Emerald was close. Very close. I could tell because the Chaos Emerald I had was starting to glow brighter. This wasn't going to be easy. Sure, I had a total kick butt power and everything, but I didn't know my limit for it yet. Well, I suppose with a Chaos Emerald there really is no limit, but it's better to be safe about these things.
'And I don't know how many more times I can use my Chaos Gunshot… come to think about it, I think I'm losing a bit of stamina, too…' I stared up at the sky for a moment. 'Wonder if Sonic and Shadow are having any better luck than we are?'
At that moment, with Sonic and Shadow…"Dammit! It's getting away!" Sonic shouted.
"Tch." Shadow grunted. Catching this space craft was actually easier said then done. Even though it appeared to be slow, it really wasn't, and it had some kind of force field, so normal attacks couldn't work on it. Luckily, there were plenty of GUN weapons lying around that Shadow mostly used. Of course, Sonic didn't even touch one of them. That's just not his style.
Shadow then spotted a lone GUN motorcycle. 'Hn, guess I could use this.' He hoped on to it and started it up. He was tearing up the highway within seconds. He shot down any annoying alien that got in the way. But at the same time, he was deep in thought. 'That girl…' he thought. Ruby's face came into his mind. 'It's really faint, but I feel like I've met her before. I just can't remember WHEN or WHERE…! Dammit all!' He then took the back of his gun and whacked an alien into the air while still riding. 'This is very irritating… wait, there was also that other kid… Leo, I think. I think I've seen him before too.'
"Hey, Shadow!" Sonic's voice brought him back to reality. "Ya know, it's not very smart to go into 'deep thinker' mode and drive at the same time." He teased. Shadow ignored him and just kept driving. Sonic continued talking. He knew Shadow was listening to him, even though he was keeping quiet. "So, trying to remember something about Ruby?"
"…So what if I am?" Shadowed defended.
Sonic shrugged. "Nothing. I was just wondering."
"…I don't exactly have any memories of her…" Shadow began. "But she seems very familiar."
"Well, that's something. Ruby will be glad if you tell her that much."
Just then a beam of light shot up into the sky. Shadow stopped his motorcycle and Sonic stopped running. They turned to gaze at the light. Sonic whistled in amazement. "Looks like Ruby and Leo pulled through. They found the Chaos Emerald."
"That quick?" Shadow was sort of impressed himself. He had no idea that Leo and I would find it that quickly, mostly because we were just kids, but hey, anything's possible. But, the light wasn't the only thing they saw. When the light died down, they then saw an explosion.
"Oh, great. Looks like they're in trouble all ready!" Sonic murmered.
"Dammit…" Shadow muttered. Without warning he turned his bike and around and drove to where the explosion was.
"Hey!" Sonic called out.
"Sonic, you follow the space craft. I'll catch up with you later."
"Okay, then. See ya around, slowpoke!" And Sonic sped off. Shadow was VERY tempted to turn around and teach Sonic who he should call a slowpoke, but he had something more important to take care of…
Back to Ruby and Leo who are having one heck of a time…"GOD DAMNIT!!!!!" Leo shouted as he grabbed me by the arm and dashed away from the aliens.
"LEO! Language!!" I scolded Leo. "And don't use the Lord's name in vain! That's a sin!"
"We don't have time for a sermon, Ruby!!" Leo shouted. "Duck!" He slammed me down on the ground with his arm. I covered my head and heard rapid gun shots. Most likely by a machine gun. I slightly lifted my head to find GUN soldiers were shooting at the aliens.
"Looks like the backup's here, finally." I said. Just then, I saw my Aunt Topaz in full combat uniform running over to Leo and I. She quickly grabbed us by our arms and pulled us to safety and hugged us both.
"Oh… thank God you two are okay…" She then released us and looked at us with dead serious eyes. "Now then," she said flippantly, "do you two know… HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU'RE IN?!"
"We're sorry! But it wasn't our fault!!" We squeaked.
"It's not like we did it on purpose!" I pointed out in our defense. Aunt Topaz sighed.
"Okay, fine, you're right. Just be more care—"
WHACK!!
I watched in horror as one of the aliens came behind her and smacked her into the ground. She was already unconscious when she landed.
"AUNT TOPAAAAAAZ!!!" I cried out. I kneeled down and nudged her. No motion. "Aunt Topaz! Don't be dead, please, please don't be dead!!" I felt a hand on my shoulder. When I turned around, I realized it was a GUN soldier. "Don't worry, we'll take care of her… Ruby, right?" I sniffled.
"Yes…" I wiped my eyes.
"I thought so, your aunt talks about you all the time. Anyways," he pick up the unconscious Aunt Topaz bridle style, "you and your friend follow me, and we'll get you two to safety!"
"W-wait!" I called out. "We can't!" Leo looked at me as if I were crazy.
"What?! Why not?! It sounds a lot better then staying here!" Leo protested.
"We promised we'd get Shadow the Chaos Emerald and we will!" I pulled the purple Chaos Emerald out of my pocket. The GUN soldier gawked in amazement.
"Where on Earth did you get--?!" Suddenly, a huge alien flung a car at the other soldiers. "LOOK OUT!!" He shouted and jumped out of the way, without hurting Aunt Topaz. Leo and I were unharmed, luckily, but now we had another nasty problem on our hands.
'O…okay, Ruby.' I thought to myself. 'It's time to get brave, you've gotta fight off this big, bad brute so Aunt Topaz will be all right… and… I know what else I've got to do too.' I turned to the soldier. "Sir!" I called out. "Please, I'm begging you, take her someplace safe! I'll hold off the aliens!"
"Whaaaaat?!" Leo and the soldier shouted. "But you're just a kid!!" The soldier protested.
Just then I had another shiver down my spine… and I heard a motorcycle's engine. I smiled. "No…" I began to answer slowly. "I'm just a kid with kick-butt backup!!"
"Wha--?"
VAROOM!! The motorcycle went by.
KABOOM!!
Within that second, Shadow had successfully driven the motorcycle right into the alien, blow it up and get out of the explosion without a scratch. Right after that the soldier ran away, and Leo and I stood there gawking. I mean, I knew it was Shadow who was coming, but I thought he'd do some flashy entrance first like Sonic would, but then again, he's practically the polar opposite to him.
"HOLY CRAP!!!" Leo and I shouted. "HOW THE BLOODY HECK DO YOU MAKE THAT LOOK SO FREAKIN' EASY?!?!?!?!?!?!?"
Shadow just rolled his eyes and was about to answer, until I said, "Uh, never mind. No need to answer that one."
"Let me start by saying: you two are the biggest idiots I've ever met."
"What?" I was shocked. Why did he say that?
"I told you guys to find the Chaos Emerald, not to get yourself killed in the process."
"But we didn't get killed! And I got the Chaos Emerald, too! See?!" I showed the purple Chaos Emerald to him.
For some reason he still looked annoyed. Uh, oh… something must've happened… "Yes, but thanks to you, I lost that damn ship the aliens were using to escape!"
"Oh… so sorry." I said coolly, which usually doesn't apply to my personality in a situation like this! "Do you mean that ship up there?"
Sure enough, there was the very ship Sonic and Shadow were chasing earlier.
"Hmph, well, since it wasn't that hard to find it, I'll forgive you, for now."
'Oh gee, thanks…'"Listen, I need your help again."
"Oh, yes?" I replied.
"Try your Chaos Gunshot at that space craft. After that, wait for my signal, then fire again. Got it?"
Hmm… this was unusual… "Uh, okay!"
Then he took off. Just then I realized, "Wait!! What signal?! Oh, never mind." I pointed my hand up and gripped my wrist.
"Uh, Ruby?" Leo asked concerned. "You sure you gonna be okay with firing that thing this time?"
I thought for a second. "Well, not entirely, but you know what they say, practice makes perfect." I took aim… and fired!
BAM!!And it hit right on the mark this time, too! …but again, I fell backwards. "Ouch! Ooooh, darn it! Why do I always do that?!"
"Woah, perfect shot, again!" Leo complimented and smiled. "Nice!"
"Heh, thanks!" I rubbed the back of my hand. "Now we've just gotta wait for Shadow's signal." I turned towards Leo, but he wasn't even moving. "Wha…?" I waved my hand in front of him. "Leo?" He was moving, but it was super slow, like someone had just pressed the slow-motion button on the TV. "Wait a second… this is Chaos Control!" I realized. "I guess this is Shadow's signal… I'd like to know how it's not effecting me. Maybe it's his power… well, doesn't matter, gotta shoot the thing before it wears off." I took aim once again. "Chaos Gunshot!!" De ja vue all over again. I fired, landed on my butt, Chaos Control wore off, and it hit its right wing!
'Holy crap! How many times did I get a direct hit now?!' I thought to myself astonished. "Woooooooooh!!! Leo did you see that?!"
Leo looked at me with clueless expression. "See what?"
I stared at him. "But… I just used my… in front of you… did you seriously not see that?"
"No, he didn't." Shadow appeared behind me. "Chaos Control gives you the ability to make you move through time and space. So, to the human who are not in the Chaos Control field, you're basically moving faster than the human eye can detect." He crossed his arms as he finished his statement.
"Oh…! Well, that makes sense." I nodded.
"Huh…?" Leo still looked positively clueless. "I don't get what you two are talking about at all…"
"You were just born clueless, Leo." I mumbled and looked the other way.
"Hey!"
"Do you two always act like this?" Shadow asked with a hint of annoyance.
"Hey, guys!" Sonic's voice called to us. We all turned to him as he screeched to a stop. "Did you see where that ship landed?!"
I nodded. "Yeah, I helped blow off the right wing and it landed near Main Street." I said pointing. Sonic raised a brow.
"Seriously? Good job!" Sonic gave me a high five.
"…hey, girl." Shadow said. "Where's that Chaos Emerald you got and the one I gave you?"
"Eh?" I looked at him. "Oh, I've got the one you gave me right here," I said as I showed him the one emerald. He took it from my hand. "And the other one is right…gasp!" I let out a loud gasp. The other Chaos Emerald was missing! "W-wh-wha- what?!? It's gone?! But I just had it right here!!" I started to panic.
Shadow looked a little ticked off now. "You. Lost. The. Chaos. Emerald?" He said with slight rage.
'Oh, man… he's pissed at me!'"Wait!" Leo interrupted. "I remember something flying right past Ruby right before the ship blew up! It looked like that one-eyed, octopus thing we saw earlier!"
Shadow glared at Leo furiously. "Are you sure?" He asked, almost as if he were threatening him.
"Y-yeah! I'm positive!" Leo said nervously. Shadow didn't even wait a second to think, he took off and Sonic soon followed in pursuit. I did hear Sonic call back to us,
"You guys stay here! I'll come back to get you guys later!"
"Wha--?! Bu—Heeeeeeey!!" I called back. Too late. Darn, fast hedgehogs… so reckless…
I stood there for a moment, then I looked over at Leo with serious eyes. He looked into them, and knew exactly what I was thinking. "…We're going after them, aren't we?" He asked, sounding tired.
"Duh! Besides…" I got out my camera. "Can you say, 'Photo Book of the Century' after this is done?" I smirked. Leo rolled his eyes and smiled.
"Here we go again…"
A few minutes later…"…Look, I don't take orders… especially from the likes of you. But I'm not here to fight with you either. I have my own reasons for collecting the Chaos Emeralds. So why don't you just back off?!" I heard Shadow say in a warning tone. Leo and I crept behind a tossed over car. I got my camera out, ready to take pictures. It looked like we got here just in time, too.
"You just don't know your place, do you?" The octopus eye cackled. "BLACK BULL! I summon you!!" The ground began to shake, and some hideous, gigantic black puffball with wings, one eye, and HUGE teeth emerged from the ground! I had no time to stare at it, with my mouth agape like what Leo was doing at the moment. I quickly took a couple of pictures of the… uh, thing. 'Ooooh man, Mr. Thomson is so giving me a promotion after this!'
"Now, feel the wrath of the Dark Arms!"
"Woo-hoo!" Sonic looked like he wasn't scared a bit, as did Shadow, though he didn't look that excited. "Bring it on!" Sonic shouted. Black Bull roared viciously and started throwing fireballs at Shadow and Sonic! Of course, they dodged them easily. Shadow leaped into the air and tried to perform a flying kick at it, but it just bounced back.
"Alright, my turn!" Sonic got into his ball mode and spun at Black Bull, only he did zero damage on him as well. I actually took a picture of Sonic bouncing off of the monster! "Darn it! It's got to have a weak point somewhere!"
Leo and I watched them in awe. "It's not looking too good for them." Leo said.
"Yeah…" I agreed solemnly. 'Erg… I wanna help! But… how? If I jump out now, I'll just get in the way, but… oh, come on, Ruby! Think, think, think…!'
Just then, a totally random flashback popped into my head!
Flashback…"Get it, Leo! Get it, get it, get it!" I shouted while waving my arms in the air.
"I'm trying, I'm trying!" Leo rapidly pressed the buttons on the game controller. "Gaaaaah!! Darn it, this is hard! The little robots keep getting in the way!"
"Sheesh… and figuring out the boss's weak point wasn't hard enough!" I grumbled.
Leo laughed. "Yeah, and the answer was like, right in front of my face, too!" He shook his head. "It's like that in all video games! Even if you don't have the game guide or anything, the boss's weakness if always right in front of you, whether it be the head, the chest, or some other body part, but either way… I wish people would be a little bit more creative on an opponent's weakness…"
"Hmm…" I said while looking down.
"DAMNIT!!"
"Waaaaaaah?!" My head shot up. "What is it?!"
Leo growled. "I just died!!"
"…That's no excuse for swearing, Leo!" I smacked him in back of the head.
"Ouch!"
End of flashback…'Oooookay, went a little too far back with the flashback, but Leo did have a point. That monster's just gotta have a weak point some where… it's just in plain sight and we haven't notice it yet. Or we've just gotta keep hitting it.'
I studied the monster closely. 'Maybe it's week point was somewhere on it's body. If I study how it moved, maybe, I could figure out where it doesn't want to get it!'
Shadow then got into his ball mode to make another attack at the monster. Before Shadow could hit it, it flinched its head away. Then the idea fell upon me like a ton of bricks! Its eye! Its eye was the weak point!!
"That's it!" I cried, figuring it all out. I stood up.
"Huh?" Leo looked up at me with a curious expression.
"SONIC!! SHADOW!!" I called out. Recognizing, my voice, they turned in my direction. They were a little surprised I was there, though.
"Ruby?!" Sonic said surprised. "What are you— oh never mind. Why its head?" He shouted while asking.
"I think maybe that's the weak point you guys are looking for!" I shouted back.
"Hmph, so a kid like you noticed it, too, huh?" Shadow asked me. Leo and Sonic looked confused.
"Noticed what?" They asked. I sweatdropped. 'Jeez, I thought at least Sonic would notice it by now…'
"Well, it makes sense now, and it's worth a try…" Shadow got into his ball mode once again and spun straight towards Black Bull. But, then, all of these other aliens popped up in front of his pathway.
"Ah! Look out Shadow!!" I called out. Shadow just bounced off of them, and ran right into, Black Bull's eye! And, lucky me, my idea worked! It lashed out in pain and turned around and tried to get away!
"That little sucker trying to make a break for it!" Sonic snickered. "Not so tough now, buddy, huh?!"
"Okay, let's see if I can do it again, this time…" I muttered. I pulled out my Chaos Emerald. "Chaos…" I concentrated on the spot I wanted to go to. "Control!!" I felt that same sensation of being lifted up off my feet and it was the same feeling as flying. Then, almost too, soon, it was over, and I was standing in the pathway.
"Shoot it before it gets away, girl!" Shadow shouted while running.
I nodded and looked dead in the face of the monster. "Okay, buddy, this is the end of the line for you!" I pointed my right hand like a gun, while holding the Chaos Emerald and gripped it with my left. "Chaos… Gun—" Suddenly one of the bat-like aliens swooped down and snatched the Chaos Emerald, and bashed me in the head in the process. All that I remember is that I totally missed my mark and that the monster shot a fireball at me…
…my head hit the ground hard…
"RUBYYYYY!!!" Sonic and Leo's voice cried out to me.
And… I saw a bright light.
"CHAOS CONTROL!!"
But was only consumed by the darkness as I lost my conscious…
S. Kat: Yes! Chapter 3! This one took a little while. And this one was a little longer, too. I hope you all liked this one as well, and don't worry, the story will get better, trust me. ;) Okay, people, that be all I gotta say for now… surprisingly, so I'll see you guys later! Oh, and please don't forget to… REVIEW!
REVIEW!!
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REVIEW!!!!
(pant, gasp) Uh… bye!
