SonicSonic54321: Yes he does indeed! And the Iblis battle (which happens to be one of my favorite adapted fights) is the next chapter! ...just not next week. But juggling Sonic and Shadow actually wasn't the hard part- the hard part was keeping it interesting. :P
werewolf lover99: Thank you! I will do my best. :)
Cf96: I know! It officially gets super-awesome starting next chapter though. :D
In Shadow of a Doubt
Chapter 4: Shadow of the Day
Rouge and I had beaten Team Sonic to the rendezvous point, which only left us to wallow quietly in our thoughts about Omega. The last time we had seen him in the past was at GUN HQ, right before Rouge had departed for Soleanna in the first place, and then he had left for his own special task. I had no idea what he would've been up to while we were in the future, but I just hoped he was okay.
In any case, Sonic and his group were taking way too long, especially if they were coming back empty handed. We may have supposedly had "all the time in the world" In the future, but that didn't mean I wanted to stay here indefinitely. I had Mephiles to track, and any time not doing that would be considered wasted by me. Eventually the group sluggishly arrived like their shoes were filled with cement, and I had to admit that Rouge was happier to see them than I was, but her approach was a little…steely.
"You guys are so slow." She sauntered up to them shaking her head, the mere words alone visibly getting under Sonic's skin. "Just take a look!"
She then produced the green Chaos Emerald; a sight that turned Sonic's scowl into an impressed and very pleased nod. Knuckles didn't appear even half as amused, and I thought Tails was going to have a heart attack with the way he responded.
"A Chaos Emerald!" he squealed, circling around Rouge like a madman. "You've already found one?!"
"Well now, I may not look it, but I'm a real treasure hunter," she giggled, tapping Tails' nose with the gem. "…unlike a certain echidna I know."
Knuckles was apparently insulting Rouge with hand motions as she spoke –I'm not entirely sure where he was going with it myself- but as soon as he was brought up, he was suddenly up in her face. I took a step back from the inevitable.
Those two were impossible.
"What?!" I heard him scoff, followed by an irritated growl. "Heh…!"
"You don't even have a proper comeback, do you Knuckie?" she taunted, flaunting our emerald around. "It's okay; I'd be speechless at the sight of me too!"
Even though Knuckles was turned around, I had a feeling that he didn't take to kindly to that, especially with the way Sonic was snickering off to the side. Seeing as all this dead end taunting was getting us absolutely nowhere and I hated it, I stepped in and tried to get us back on topic.
"Have you guys discovered anything?"
Sonic actually looked like he had something to say, but Tails had stepped forward before he could speak. He seemed relieved, but I certainly wasn't going to let it go that easily. I made a mental note to question him about it later.
"Um, yeah," Tails began, putting up a virtual image from his watch and we all learned in to look at a diagram. "Now that there's nothing jamming my communicator, I picked up a signal indicating that there's a Chaos Emerald here, but…"
Tails fell silent as he pointed down the path, referring to a rather dark and dangerous looking area with lava pouring everywhere. I exchanged a look with Sonic as Rouge let out an exasperated sigh.
"You mean we've got to go through there?"
"If you don't like it, you can stay here," Knuckles shot at her instantly, hitting her with a smug face. Rouge put her hands on her hips and glowered back.
"You've GOT to be kidding…who's the one that found the last emerald? Me? Not you? Oh THAT'S right," she replied scathingly, and Knuckles ended up punching a nearby tree.
Yow.
It was then that Sonic leaned towards me and pointing a finger in my direction, looking more serious than I expected out of him.
"Don't be late," he warned me. I narrowed my eyes and scowled at him.
Oh, what? How dare he lecture me on being late when I had reached the rendezvous first?!
Not only that, but there was something about the situation that he was hiding, and I vowed that I would get to the bottom of it. But for now, I merely sneered in his direction, pushed his hand away, and stopped next to him to give him a warning of my own.
"Same to you."
I then broke out into a full sprint, with Sonic and the others wasting no time in running on my heels.
. . .
I guess Sonic took a different route for the time being, which was fine by me- I didn't need his constant upbeat chattering serving as a distraction, and finding that Chaos Emerald had to come before anything else. Rouge seemed particularly eager herself, clapping her hands as she glided excitedly next to me.
"Ooh, let's find the emerald first! That'll really get Knuckles riled up!" she exclaimed. "He's so cute when he's angry-"
"We're trying to get back to the past to avoid this terrible future and find out more about the guy who sent us here to begin with, and all you're concerned about is beating Knuckles to the emeralds."
Rouge gave me a long look, and I held up my hands.
"Fine, fine; I said too much…"
Clearly Rouge had a lot on her mind, between Knuckles, Omega, and being trapped in the future, so she eventually resorted to the soft comfort of the glow from our green Chaos Emerald, somehow its simple beauty making her feel better.
There was plenty in this time period to make one upset, and she was just trying to keep her spirits up.
The way to what I liked to call the "Flame Core" was a vastly different scene from Crisis City, with its barren trees, rocky paths, and abundant lava everywhere, with a volcano in the distance…while it may have been ascetically more pleasant to behold, it was still part of the result of a very, very bad future.
I skated along the paths determined to find the emerald, even if not for the exact same reasons as Rouge. Apparently the fire monsters were also adamant about getting in our way, but I struck them down and carried on, refusing to encounter any detours. The paths were curving in on themselves drastically, but wasn't anything I hadn't dealt with before, after all. Rouge flew rather silently alongside me, and I didn't complain- at least she was focused.
Almost too much so.
"Shadow, look at the volcano!" she cried abruptly, motioning toward the smoke that was billowing from the volcano in the distance. I looked at it curiously and frowned.
"The crust's energy is out of control…is it because of the Chaos Emerald?"
"No way," Rouge shot down instantly. "That's like saying the Chaos Emeralds have the power to break the world apart or put it back together."
"Well, they turn thoughts into power," I explained. "If someone thought it, the emerald could give them the power to make it happen."
Rouge blinked before biting her lip. "That's…actually a really scary thought."
"That's why it's so important to prevent the emeralds from falling into the wrong hands; I mean, look at what almost happened to the world when Black Doom had all seven emeralds!"
Rouge remembered it just as vividly as I did, though neither of us really wanted to recall what had gone down. It…wasn't exactly pleasant.
"I always thought that when the seven Chaos Emeralds were joined together, a miracle was supposed to happened," she said softly, her words cutting through our lull in conversation. "…I've yet to see that."
I raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? You don't think that those emeralds giving someone the unparalleled power to save the world from destruction is a miracle? The gift of power to stop a crashing ARK, to stop a rampaging robot overlord, to stop an alien invasion single handedly…all those aren't miracles?"
Rouge was quiet, glancing away. "In their own right, I suppose they are…they just weren't anything like I expected."
To be fair, it wasn't anything like I expected either…and I had experienced it twice.
The volcano itself warranted investigating, so I planned to gradually make my way in that direction. Eventually these paths through molten rock would lead somewhere…
If there was anything to lead to in this future.
With the volcano shaking in the distance, it was only naturally to expect some fiery debris to falls on us- I just hadn't anticipated meteor-size fireballs coming down like some outrageous rain. Rouge was flipping around them expertly, and I was just lucky enough not to skate into any. They turned the way forward into a hazard zone, and combined with all the lava literally pouring out of the cliff walls-
"Things are really heating up!" Rouge exclaimed, with a midair pose and all. "…no? Too obvious?"
At least she wasn't pointing out that a tornado was carrying a car.
I jumped across some sketchy platforms in the middle of the lava, dodging spires of fire that jetted out as I made my way across, aiming for the cliff that was on the other side. Leaping off a spring, I landed in a higher area with monsters galore who were sending a lot of fire in our direction. I just sneered and worked my way into the fray.
"Heh, you can't stop me!"
"Monsters like you can't make US hot under the collar!" Rouge cried, throwing a bomb into the mouth of a fire worm. I halted tossing a lizard over the edge of the cliff to gape at her.
"What's with these puns all of a sudden?!"
She merely shrugged. "I wanted to see if I could make a good one."
"Well, don't quit your day job…but feel free to quit your night one."
She hit me with an annoyed expression as I finished taking care of the monsters, ignoring the daggers she was glaring at me and found the way forward through a strange purple cave. Unlike the rest of the area, it appeared to be untouched from the lava, instead bearing magenta crystals along its walls that gave the place an otherworldly glow.
Rouge was all over it.
"Ooh, they're so pretty! That shine, that shade-!"
"That fact that they're totally stuck in the wall," I deadpanned, skating on. She pretty much ignored me, still insisting on tugging in the hopes that one would fall into her possession.
"Well, I'm not leaving without at least one of these beautiful things to call my own!"
"You've got a Chaos Emerald already- why do you need some weak old wall rock to add to your collection?"
"You wouldn't understand," she huffed, so I rolled my eyes, grabbed her wrist, and dragged her forcibly out of the cave. "Hey, HEY! I think I almost loosened it-!"
"Oh, stop," I huffed, bringing her over to the foot of a waterfall of lava. The rocks that jetted out of it looked far too unstable to use, and the fall itself was too wide to wall jump up. "I'm going to need you to fly me up there."
She acted faint in a melodramatic manner, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes for the umpteenth time.
"Oh, my. Shadow's actually asking ME for help? Too bad no one's around to write this down."
I wisely chose to keep my thoughts to myself.
After she got over her "shock", we latched wrists and Rouge took off, flying right over the fall of lava with excruciating ease. There was barely a place to land on top, so I directly her to one of the platforms that was floating along the river. She seemed skeptical, but she put me down regardless, and I immediately jumped toward the next one, darting down the river in that fashion. When I finally reached solid ground, a few fire birds surrounding a lava-covered brute rested in my way, and I was so not in the mood to deal with them and their insisted annoyance.
"Out of my way or you're toast!" I warmed them, starting to glow red. The brute retaliated by creating a lava rock between its hands and throwing it at me. Rouge swooped in at the last moment and kicked it to smithereens, winking at me. "…very well; then death to all who oppose me!"
Rouge flipped into the air and out of range as I expelled a Chaos Blast, enveloping all the fire birds and disintegrating them on the spot. The brute seemed to withstand my Chaos Blast, and while Rouge's bombs afterward only served the remove a bit of its rocky armor, it still didn't appear like any damage was being done. It was too hot to attack directly, so I glowed yellow and charged up a Chaos Spear in my hand.
"I warned you!" I yelled, hurling my hand forward and throwing a golden arrow of energy straight at the monster. It hit him square in the chest, causing it to stumble around discombobulated. When it was right at the edge of the cliff, Rouge threw a bomb at it, which was the final nail in the coffin, as it proceeded to tumble off and sink into the lava below.
You give them a chance to live and they never listen…
It was then that a loud boom emerged from the volcano, and the ground started shaking even more violently. Rouge and I looked over at the volcano to see it billow twice the amount of smoke and beginning to release a few spouts of lava.
"It's erupting!" I called, picking up my speed. "Let's go!"
"Wait, we're going toward the active volcano…?!" she exclaimed with disbelief, and I nodded intently.
"Yes- that's where I believe the Chaos Emerald is."
"So we're going into an active volcano?!"
"Rouge, aren't you always telling me to live a little?"
"Not by voluntarily plowing toward your death!"
Regardless of the protest, I grabbed her wrist and rushed down the path, eyeing a ramp up ahead that I could use. Rouge screamed out of anticipation, with volcanic ash decorating the air like snow. I leaned forward a bit as we neared the ramp, and once we took off over it, we soared through the air, aimed directly for the entrance to the volcano.
"We're so dead after this," Rouge winced, but I pretended not to hear her.
. . .
We landed in the volcano completely unscathed, and aside from its constant quaking and the ever-spawning horde of monsters, there wasn't anything that posed an immediate threat.
"Except that this volcano could completely blow its top at any moment and, um, kill us," Rouge pointed out.
"Then let's be quick about getting the emerald, then!"
The only place that was even safe to maneuver over was along the inner wall of the volcano, so I blazed a trail on through with Rouge tagging by my side, picking the one that was farthest away from the lava. We breezed on through without ever looking back, running on through rocky half pipes with columns of fire shooting up at us, and I refused to take the time to deal with any monsters we bypassed- they just weren't worth the trouble!
To increase our already ridiculous predicament, we located a grind rail of all things waiting for us up ahead. It was a neon purple color and conveniently bypassed some of the tougher terrain within the volcano. Although the origin of how it got there was completely beyond me, I still wasn't going to question it- as long my luck was shining through in small ways, I wasn't going to tamper with it.
"Let's go, Rouge," I called over the albino bat, who was looking around for another cave to try and swipe a rock from. But once she saw me hop onto the inexplicable grind rail and take off, she huffed and begrudgingly followed after me.
"At least it's not nearly as hot up here," she commented when she caught up with me, tugging on her gloves.
Now with a more efficient method of transport, Rouge and I grinded our way all around the volcano, making excellent time. I could almost sense the Chaos Emerald; it was somewhere around here, I knew that at the very least. When the grind rail came to an end, we found ourselves in a darkened area, with the only immunity to the blackness being these strange purple orbs that were floating just above the pool of lava. Rouge and I exchanged bewildered looks before I walked up to it, holding my hand out to it, but not touching it. It felt…almost transcendental, and also like I sensed something like it before.
"Huh," I murmured, pulling my hand away. "It's the same color as that time rift Mephiles opened up…"
"You think there's some sort of connection?" Rouge asked, eyeing the strange orb herself. Glaring at it a while longer, I curled my hand into a fist and slammed it straight into the orb. It shattered in pieces instantly, like it was frail and unstable to begin with. Huffing, I turned heel and skated on.
"Let's try not to worry about it- maybe it's just come weird coincidence caused by the Chaos Emerald," I susurrated, darting across the darkened lava pool. Rouge shrugged in response, as she couldn't make heads or tails of it either, and simply glided behind me. We were minding our own business trying to find the emerald when we heard voices coming at us, and when I was trying to figure out why someone of the future would waste time being in an active volcano…I remembered that it was exactly the sort of thing Sonic would completely be into.
Rouge pointed out that she saw something moving in the dark, and it did look a lot like Team Sonic, but they were frustrated at something and coming up fast and one of them was almost right on top of me-!
"Ugh, how are we even supposed to-"
"WATCH IT-!" I howled, only for whoever it was to barrel into me and send us both to the ground.
"Oomph!"
Before I could even sort out my own problems, I heard Rouge shriek followed by a deep and gruff grunt of pure pain, and the next thing we all knew was that someone had drew a bomb, lit the fuse, and began screaming like a psychopath.
"Dark monsters! Dark monsters!"
Tails?!
"It's us, you idiots!" I roared from the ground, furiously kicking the groaning form off my person. Turned out THAT was Sonic, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Knuckles scramming away from Rouge like a cat avoiding water.
"Getting frisky in the dark, eh echidna?" Rouge hummed playfully, and Knuckles stomped his foot hard enough to cause an earthquake.
"Slinking around in the dark seems to be more of your forte, huh Bat Girl?!"
"I see you still haven't found the emerald-"
"Well you haven't either!"
"Knock it off!" I shouted again, feeling myself beginning to glow with a red aura. Knuckles and Rouge flustered and turned away. I threw a glare at Tails and Sonic; they just tossed their hands up and practically surrendered to me.
Ugh…
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I attempted to bring some order to all the chaos. "…obviously the search for the Chaos Emerald had les us both to the same spot."
"Ahem, yes," Sonic agreed, trying to get back on track. "It really doesn't matter who finds it, as long as we DO find it."
I nodded and folded my arms. "Exactly."
We were all a little bamboozled on what to do now, though Tails reoriented my focus when he walked up to me with a genuine question. He motioned towards one of the purple orbs and gave me a curious look.
"Say…you wouldn't happen to know what those things are made of, would you?"
"They actually feel familiar," I explained, putting my hand near one and feeling its power again. "It's like it's made of the same energy that brought Rouge and I here."
"The energy that brought you here…?" Knuckles wondered out loud, and I saw a light go on in his mind. "So the two large jumps in time…was the one that brought you here and the one that took Silver and Blaze to the past!"
Rouge started fanning herself again and she gave Knuckles a once over. "Who and who?"
I actually wanted to know myself, but Knuckles barreled into the conversation before anything could be explained. He leaned into Rouge and gave her a smug grin. "No one that concerns you, I assure."
They started puffing their cheeks, balling their fists, and glaring silently at each other, but I was tired of their squabbles going nowhere and found myself watching Sonic and Tails.
I hadn't forgotten that they had obviously uncovered something more than just the emerald's location, but whatever it was, they were trying to avoid it at all costs, hence why Sonic was hesitant earlier and Tails had changed the subject. Those two were a dangerous combination when they were on the same wavelength in any situation…One could take one glance at the scene and have the whole situation analyzed, while the other could respond to any changes at a moment's notice, and it was a deadly combo.
Thankfully I rarely ever had to take them both on at once.
I must've been focusing a little too hard, because Sonic's gaze met mine and he instinctively moved away. Blinking, I shook myself out of it and pointed ahead.
"Anyway, we're standing in the middle of a volcano. It's not exactly a place for idle chit chat, so let's get moving!"
This had taken up a lot of time…
"No need to tell me twice!" Sonic exclaimed, rushing to take the lead. I made a moaning noise as I followed after him, and Rouge, Tails, and Knuckles took up the back by flying. "Whew! Out at last!"
We came across a fall of lava again, and Rouge smirked coyly at me as she lifted me over it. She also threw a glance at Team Sonic as Tails carried them up, with only Knuckles seeming to notice by turning away abashedly. Sonic let out a whoop when we reached the top, gleefully at the sight of a grind rail. I ended up right behind him, and I must've been really bugged by my musings because when he looked over his shoulder, he quirked an eyebrow.
"Dude, what's up? You've got that killer instinct look in your eyes and you're aiming it at me."
"There's something I need to ask you, hedgehog," I hummed, and his eyes darted away.
"I dunno, that last time you asked me a question, it resulted in me exposing deep dark secrets that we don't speak of."
"Hopefully it won't come that," I replied quickly, shaking my head. I really didn't need to go prying that deep into Sonic's life again. I'd vowed that I had invaded enough. "No, this whole situation…I feel like I don't have the whole story, and that you've got the missing pieces to it."
He blinked and turned away from me, almost as if pondering what he should do. Tails was busy mediating Rouge and Knuckles' spat, so they were oblivious to Sonic and I.
"…fine, I'll fill you in," he said at last. "…but you'll have to tell me just how you ended up here to begin with."
I could agree with that. "Fair enough."
We finally got off the grind rail and began to finish the trek on foot, and Sonic had fell into step with me to start explaining. He barely got out his first breath before we were forced to stop.
"So much for carrying on," Sonic murmured distastefully. "There's no path forward!"
"Don't worry," Knuckles of all people boasted, stepping forward and raising up his hands. "I'll take care of it!"
"And you can leave everything to me!" Rouge added, making her way forward and beaming at Knuckles. "The way ahead may not exist for you guys, but Knuckles and I can find a way through easy."
Knuckles gave her the most incredulous look.
"You're crazy!" he insisted, gripping his head with a ludicrous amount of force. "One minute you're deriding me for being a failure of a treasure hunter, and now you're all willingly ready to try and work with me?"
"It's faster if there are two of us working at it," Rouge argued back, still smiling but now significantly more serious. "I'm willing to work with you, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'll like it."
"That's a lie," both Sonic and I quipped, and I found myself personally leaning out of range of Rouge's kick. When she backed off, she tossed her hair over her shoulder and grabbed Knuckles' hand.
"Come on, let's get this over with…besides, we need to talk."
Rouge stalked determinedly off, with Knuckles desperately reaching out for Sonic and Tails, who merely flashed cheesy grins in his direction and waved him off. I turned to the duo, quirking an eyebrow.
"You two are cold," I commented. "…I approve."
Sonic folded his arms and gave a surprisingly dark smirk. "Yes, well, he usually merely laughs at my misfortunes with Amy…so I guess I get to laugh last this time."
And suddenly, I could tolerate Sonic just that much more.
S-R
I was actually going to offer up my services waaaay before Knuckles did, but I don't know what snapped in him to cause him to jump up like that, but hey, I could take advantage of that. He was all stiff and hesitant, but sheesh- we only physically fought like, twice, and now certainly wasn't the time to attempt to give him a broken jaw.
"Quit being so insufferable," I huffed, letting him go as my wings flared out. He tore his wrist away from me and rubbed it as if I had an actual grip on him- we both knew he could've knocked me out if he truly desired.
"You have no room to talk," he sneered back, and I opened my mouth to say something, though he cut me off. "But if we really have to figure this out together, then enough with the jabs. I'm sick of this future."
I was ready to chew out that stubborn echidna for all he was worth, but as Shadow so unceremoniously already reminded me, I'd done that enough today to last a lifetime. His stern yet honest tone seemed to seep into me, and eventually I dropped my guard slightly.
"All right, hon; I'm sick of this place too," I sighed, tossing my hand up. "The sad part is that this volcano is much easier on the eyes than the city and what's left of White Acropolis were."
"Yeah, well, coming to this volcano was Sonic's stupid idea, and it's a miracle we haven't burst into flames from this heat yet," he complained in a way that was almost cute.
"Actually, Shadow said that the Chaos Emerald was in this volcano, pinning it as the blame for its activity," I explained, flying higher to scope out the way ahead. "I don't know whether it's true or not, but something's definitely here- can you feel it?"
He shuffled away and grumbled something under his breath, but he nodded. "Yeah. I just didn't say anything earlier to avoid giving Sonic the satisfaction of being right."
He has such an inferiority complex…
I flew over the lava and motioned for him to follow. "Anyway, Knuckie, standing around here won't get us far. Let's get to it."
Knuckles grunted again- Chaos forbid he use his words- and took to the air, gliding after me.
The ground was segmented into many pieces that were few and far between, hence why Sonic and Shadow were stuck, but there were also places that were high up, and we couldn't see what was up there and didn't know of the potential danger, which was why Tails couldn't just float up there. Knuckles and I could climb up and check instead of blindly soaring up there.
As usual, I was itching for conversation, but Knuckles never was, either too fed up at our situation or at my relentless taunting to bother putting up with me. At least he seemed to be easing up, so maybe speaking to him would be easier too.
Flirting was easy- actually trying to talk was something completely different.
"Stop," he suddenly stated, landing in front of me and holding out his hands. "There are far too many enemies ahead. We'll have to take them out."
"Okay, I can hit them at range, but what are you going to do?" I asked, half scathing and half genuinely concerned. He demonstrated his answer when a fire worm shot out the ground and started shooting fireballs at us, running forward and kicking the ground. Even in the air, I could feel the rumble, and I watched with wide eyes as the ground cracked and the worm didn't know what hit him.
Especially since Knuckles pounded it right back into the ground.
I bit my lip- he was always so ridiculously strong, and with that overbearing strength, it probably took a lot of steel nerve to not whack just anyone over the head with those fists. Sonic, sure- he was practically a personal punching bag for Knuckles that would never hit back unless it went too far (especially since Sonic had a nack for catching punches), but me?
I wondered if he even thought about that.
Watching him fight made me realize that I wasn't contributing much, and he was already macho enough just by standing, so I flew into the fray with my bombs at the ready, hurling them at a herd of fire birds. They were dispatched instantly, but the real problem was those creepy purple lizards. They didn't spew fire- oh no, they were special and got to fire lasers!
"I hate this future," I murmured, descending from the air and bringing my foot down on one's head. Another behind me was preparing a laser, so I rolled a bomb into its mouth and flew out of the way. Feeling proud of myself, I wondered if Knuckles had noticed, but he was preoccupied with two boulders in his hands that he used to crush the monster in front of him.
That answered that.
While he was busy with that, something shiny had caught my eye from up above, so I started scaling the wall to see what potentially beauteous thing awaited me. However, when I got up there, I only found more monsters and a strange glowing orb. It was different from the one Shadow and I had encountered earlier; a different look, and different feel to it…
I gave it a light tap, and it suddenly started to glow, but it didn't appear to have much more significance than that. However, a rumbling went off in the distance, and I initially thought it was Knuckles being destructive again, but I could see another glow in the distance. It appeared to be on a door, with one glowing spot and one dull one.
"Now that's interesting," I pondered, but then it hit me. "Hey, Knuckles!"
I flipped off the cliff and flew back down to him, finding him surrounded by lava worms and lizards. Cringing, I instantly went against his back, watching his blind spot for him and knowing he was in mine.
"Oh, decided to come back didja?" he sneered, weighing his options carefully against his opponents. I huffed and tossed my hair back.
"Uh, no. I think I found out what we need to do to get out of here-"
"Jump!" Knuckles instructed me, so I took to the air as he thrust his fist into the ground, making it rumble as the monsters were all discombobulated. When I returned, I saw a fire bird was circling around us, so I told him to duck. He took to the ground as I swung my leg around in a circle, my heel colliding with the bird's head and taking it down.
"Nice," he told me, his eyes now locked onto a laser-firing lizard.
"Not bad yourself, hon," I returned, throwing a bomb forward at a rapidly approaching fire worm. "But then again, you never were."
I could sense the confusion radiate off of him as he slammed a fist onto the threatening lizard in front of him, then suddenly hooked his arms around mine and told me to kick out my legs. Now I was confused but I did as he asked, and he suddenly spun around with me on his back, kicking out at all the enemies still encircling us. I then rolled off his back and flipped into the air, counting only three more enemies to take care of.
"Listen, Knuckles, there's a door-"
"Can't it wait until we're done here?" he asked in a grunt, pushing a laser lizard away from him. I was prepared to retort, but a fire worm throwing balls of flame at me required my attention first.
"Enough!" I yelled, working my way into a tornado spin and drilling into the fire worm below. Knuckles and the lizard actually stopped to gawk. I had drilled the worm into submission, but there was still a bird and the fire lizard itself to deal with. Snarling, I drew a bomb and hurled it up, Knuckles and the lizard ducking promptly as it collided with the bird. The two exchanged a look before Knuckles darted out of the way, with me turning around and giving an uppercut kick to the lizard, then gripping it and sending it straight into the lava.
Bet he noticed me now.
"Ra-Rouge?" he stammered, unsure of what just happened.
"No, listen!" I exclaimed, and his muzzle clamped shut. "While you were fighting, I found this weird orb thing that lit up when I touched it, and a door in the distance started to glow too…I think there's more of those and we need to find them."
"…it's probably a case of all the lights shining at once so the way will appear…"
"Yeah, that's basically what I was building up to," I murmured, grabbing my arm. "And it is pretty dark in here…"
"We've got nothing to worry about," Knuckles insisted, holding out his hand. "You can see well in the dark, and I've got the instinct for this kind of thing, so we'll be done in no time."
"…you're right," I said after a pause, simpering in his direction. "After all, we've got two great treasure hunters who can find the pieces of a scattered emerald, can't we?"
"Aaaand the deriding is gone again," Knuckles commented, turning heel and stalking off. Grimacing, I flew after him.
"Yes, well, at least I'm not lying this time."
"It doesn't matter." He continued to move away from me, almost as if he was just shrugging me off. "I refuse you let you use your mind games on me anymore."
What?!
"Uh, mind games?" I practically coughed, gaping at him. "What are you accusing me of now?"
"Because, just when you actually seem like a competent person that I don't mind talking to and doesn't grate on my nerves every minute, you're mean, and you yell, and it's unnecessary!" Knuckles exasperated with his arms raised dejectedly. "You're nice now, but as soon as we go back to the others, you'll just go back to your normal scathing self."
I felt my heart snap.
Without a shred of soul or dignity he refused to face me when he spat out that harmful statement, instead taking care to hit one of those stupid, glowing orbs. I furrowed my brow and clenched my fists, flying without really meaning to and there was no way I was going to let him get away without a retort from me.
"I'm only mean and I yell because you never hear me otherwise! I don't even like making a big deal out of everything, but it's the only way to get people to pay attention…"
And I HATE it.
I found myself shaking my head, recalling many painful times where I was forced to come off as some selfish jerk- and I was admittedly selfish, but I'd never meant to be jerkish, ever.
"It's just like when I first met you- I was actually going to give it all up when I found that I was outmatched, as much as I wanted that emerald, but then you kept shouting over me and I got fed up and ended up chasing down the pieces anyway. And I couldn't even entirely do that."
I'd seen how much that emerald meant to Knuckles- sure, I could take any valuable diamonds or crowns from a museum, but no one was ever emotionally attached to those things. But the Master Emerald was pretty much all Knuckles knew and it was his life…and if I attempted to take that away from him –and he wasn't gung ho on tracking me down- what purpose would he have left?
But after all I went through to get the pieces, it still hurt to just give it all up at the last minute.
"So yeah, that's why I constantly taunt you, because that's the only way you'll talk to me," I started up again, watching as Knuckles just stared at me with a hardened look. "Even after Shadow had saved you from the explosion in Central City and I was the one that got you medical help, you wouldn't listen to me when I suggested you stay, and then I got mad-"
He cut me off as he started scaling a wall, and in my subdued blind fury I climbed after him. "Well that wasn't because of you; I told you and everyone that if I was going to be away from the Master Emerald, I wanted to do something to help, not sit around like a wounded dog."
I felt my ears sink in surprise- I hadn't been expecting that.
"And, uh, well, sorry if I'm not the best listener- I live on an island of solitude; I'm not exactly the best conversationalist, though I can listen when I know that I'm supposed to. 'Sides, I don't care how much you compare yourself to those gems you love so much- you're not perfect. You have a knack for making yourself the center of attention, and that's pretty annoying too. I mean, I've gotta deal with Sonic for that- I don't need a girl version too!"
We made it to the top of the cliff, where Knuckles hit the next orb and I shuffled around uncomfortably.
"I know," I finally sputtered. My eyes flashed over to Knuckles, who looked overdramatically faint at that particular moment. I think I even caught him pinching himself.
Jeez!
"…Chaos, don't look so stunned," I scoffed, taking off over the edge of the cliff. "If it wasn't for Shadow, I wouldn't even be half as tolerable."
"What do you mean if it wasn't for Shadow?!" he demanded, following me to where the fourth orb was being guarded by a hideous hulk. A small smirk played on my expression as I drew out twin bombs and threw them at the monster.
"He told me that I should try being nicer," I elaborated, falling to the ground and kicking out my leg. I connected with the brute, sweeping its legs right out from under it and knocking it to the ground. When I punted it over the edge, I figured Knuckles would be amused…but not stifling laughter!
"'Mr. Unsmiley' himself told you that YOU need to be nicer," he sneered, and I realized he was snickering at Shadow and not me. I hit the fourth orb and stuck out my tongue.
"He's not some grump, Knuckie." I whirled to face him, perching my chin in my palm. "Shadow's a realist, never sugar coating anything, but never making it any worse than it needs to be…and trust me, he never lets me forget. It's practically forbidden for me to make a joke around him."
Lord knows what happens when I try a pun…
"Never stopped Sonic," I overheard Knuckles mumble, and it threw me into an unexpected fit of giggles. In the midst of my laughter, I caught Knuckles' face turning pink, but he cringed and look away from me before I could comment.
Hmm, THAT'S interesting…
"A-Anyway, any sign of that fifth orb?" He stumbled over his words, but I merely shrugged and let him off the hook this time, sauntering to the north.
"I can't see it, but I'd assume it's the closest to the door, so we can always make our way over there. And we have to remember how impatient Sonic and Shadow are; they're probably going stir crazy!"
I turned around to see him smirking a bit, but then he suddenly jumped and practically sank into the ground, burrowing a tunnel that was aimed for that fifth orb.
"So he wants to race, does he?" I simpered, spreading my wings and taking to the air, taking off at my top speed.
Sure, Knuckles could glide, but he couldn't go to extreme heights, couldn't go higher, or get the chance to fly in the freedom of sky with the wind beneath the wings he didn't have. He could have fun playing in the dirt, but dancing in the air was truly where it was at.
Although the humidity was insane in the volcano…
I reached the fifth orb first, and just as I went to touch it, Knuckles cropped up out of the ground beneath it, our eyes locking, and suddenly we both threw ourselves at that orb. It was fruitless to even try competing for it because we hit it at the same time, though the door in the distance started to shine and threw itself open. The way forward was finally clear, though when my eyes fell onto that cave, I got just a little too excited.
"Well what do you know?" I hummed, beginning to run for the newly revealed area. "There are more gems in that cave!"
I wasted no time in bounding into the bowels of the cavern, eagerly ogling the many beautiful crystals that adorned its walls. I instantly remembered Shadow reprimanding me for even attempting to claim one of the gems, but what did he know?
Given some time, I could totally finagle one out!
"Come on, come on! I'll show Shadow that I can get one…" I murmured to myself, that little spark of opposition driving me to get that gem out of the wall. I was so focused on trying to get it out that I didn't even notice Knuckles enter the area, nor did I catch him quietly observing me.
"You're putting all your effort into the wrong area."
I ceased my tugging at the sound of his voice and gaped at him, but he just remained perfectly placid and stood by the gem I wanted. He gestured to the base and started lecturing me.
"It's stuck from over here, and while that may be where it's sturdiest, it's also where it's most vulnerable."
I didn't entirely know where he was going with it, but I got a little nervous when he jammed his spur right beneath the base of the crystal I'd been eyeing. With a grunt and a tug, he managed to pop it out of its place on the wall, where it then fell delicately into his massive palms. When he turned around, he threw the crystal over to me, where it landed perfectly in my hands.
"Now come on. The others are waiting…probably impatiently."
He started waltzing away, but I found myself stuck to the spot, struck speechless by his unexpected act of kindness. I rarely ever treated him well, even if I was only teasing in the end, and he had absolutely no reason to give me the gem, let alone help me out with it…he should've kept it!
I…didn't deserve his kindness.
That echidna was exceedingly gullible, but deep down, I knew that was because he wanted so much to believe in the good in people, and allowed himself to blindside the bad…it was why it was so easy to convince him of anything despite his stubbornness; he always gave everyone the benefit of the doubt.
And maybe…that's why I liked him so much, because despite all my thievery and selfish ways, in the end he'd be willing to turn the other cheek to the worst of me and embrace the best if I gave him the chance.
My ears sagged a bit as I stared at the crystal…and eventually, I found myself calling out Knuckles' name.
He stopped instantly, almost going rigid, and he looked at me almost with worry, like I was upset or something…but I just smiled and met his amethyst gaze.
"Thank you."
He grabbed at his chest and nearly staggered forward, stumbling over something to say once again. I tried really hard not to burst out laughing at his overreaction, instead striding over to him with a coy grin.
"And, you know, I do still owe you my life," I continued, my voice softening a bit. "I didn't exactly show that I was grateful at the time, but what you did for me didn't completely register until later. I haven't forgotten."
His smile was unexpectedly bright as he scratched his neck, trying to downplay everything to calm his nerves. "Well, you helped me out too, so I guess we're even-"
I found myself pressing my lips to his cheek without thinking. It was a concise and contrite peck, but it felt like it lasted an eternity and I couldn't even believe that I had done it- I was flirtatious, sure, but I didn't just do that for any guy. Once I stopped, I found Knuckles completely flustered and beat red, and to prevent myself from looking like him, I acted like I had totally planned it.
"Nah, now we're even."
I left him a wink before spreading my wings and taking off, stashing away the gem as I tried to register what just happened. I had kissed Knuckles…! I couldn't believe I'd gotten that far, and he didn't even punch me!
I gave myself a mental pat on the back as I returned to the boys, flying almost a little too blissfully.
In my head, we still weren't even…but he still got what he deserved.
End Shadow Flame Core Chapter, Part 1! Next time, an epic battle, character development, humor, suspense, intrigue, and all around awesome stuff happens! ...'nuff said. So staaaay tuned!