Shadow's POV
Drip
The ripple of water illuminated when I took a few steps forward. I looked around to see if I noticed anything else that was different, but all what remained was the ocean below and the darkness ensued above. Here I am, where my mind is playing tricks on me once again.
I stopped and stood for a moment, feeling a sudden, cold shiver running down my spine. The moment felt uncanny, it's almost as if a dark energy is hovering below me. When I took another step forward, something came out of the waters below and grabbed my foot. The next thing I know, I was forcefully being pulled down in the ocean. I grabbed on the surface and with the little effort I have, I felt my energy continually draining each time I resisted being dragged under. In seconds, I was submerged under the dark depths of the ocean.
I tried swimming back to the top, but noticed the surface above was growing further out, making it seem impossible for me to get back previously. My energy was gone and I let my body float under, but surprisingly was able to breathe underwater. I know this is all a bad dream, and I know that I will wake up feeling unsettled after this. I felt yet again another shiver down my spine, and when I turned around, I saw him. I saw the blue hedgehog, looking lifeless in front of me. My body froze and I can feel anxiety radiating all over my body. Within the jist of the moment, the body of Sonic made sudden movement, with attempt to gradually rise up in front of me.
Watching a dead Sonic coming back to life didn't feel so miraculous to watch, but terrifying to see a dead figure coming back to life.
He grabbed my throat and pulled me close. Suffocation ensued by the blue hedgehog, and I had no energy to fight back.
"Get out..." He said with an extremely shallow voice. "... the illusion" He added, tightening his grip even more.
Illusion? What fucking illusion!
"GET OUT!" His whole body turned dark blue and when he finally looked at me, the colour of his eyes turned into an eerie green yellow.
My entire vision became blurred. The sensation in my body felt completely numb, and I can feel my soul drifting away from reality. A faint noise seeped in the background; as I tried sensing where it came from, I can feel lightness penetrating through my senses. With my eyes wide open, I terrifyingly woke up from the bad dream and noticed my phone alarming.
I checked the time, only to discover that I slept passed my alarm and that work starts in 15.
"Fuck!" I chucked the blanket cover to the side and scrambled to the bathroom. I went over to the bathroom sink, quickly washed my face and tooth brushed. As I dashed out, I looked up and suddenly noticed Amy in front of me. Without control, I accidentally stumbled on to her, but managed to catch her before she fell backwards to the floor.
"Christ, you all right?!" I held her closely, ensuring she was safe.
"Y-yeah! ...I heard you yell a few seconds ago, I-I just thought I'd check to see if you're okay." We paused and looked at each other awkwardly while I held her closely, and I noticed I only had a few minutes to head to work.
"... I'm in a rush to head to work, but you can take your time to leave." I said, letting her go and taking out a chaos emerald. Then I remembered that she also doesn't have the ability to chaos control like I do.
"Wait... the key. Shit." Knowing there's absolutely no time for me to look for the key (because I never really need to use the key at all), I sighed and looked at her to see if she would still be okay to stay at my place for a bit.
"Look, the lock mechanism on my door is not great and I can't find the key-"
"I can stay until you're done." She willingly said and gave a bit of a smile.
"... Okay." I responded, and was surprised with her quick reply. "I'll um... see you in the evening."
She responded back with a nod, and without hesitation, I chaos controlled to headquarters.
When I finally arrived at work, I turned around and was startled by the bat behind me with her arms crossed, looking disappointed... as usual.
"You've been tardy lately." She pointed at the clock then shoved the report on my chest. "Just get down to HQ stat."
Sigh, made it.
When arriving headquarters, I saw the General standing by the podium and the rest of GUN team sitting across.
"Shadow, you're usually good at being punctual for these meetings." The General expressed his concern.
I quickly sat myself down at the chairs near the podium. "Apologies, General."
"Let's just get this meeting on the roll, shall we?" Rouge urged to skip the small talk. The General turned and faced the podium, clearing his throat before speaking.
"Right... As we gather here at headquarters, we will discuss about the cargo ship that sunk at metal harbour at approximately 6:32pm last Friday. Based on the evidence gathered and seen, reports of a mysterious ambush had caused operation of the ship to be capsized by unidentifiable suspects and a sample of black dust was collected by your lead lieutenants during infiltration. According to our lab results from the team, the black dust had a unique energy bearing but couldn't determine whether it's energy native to this land, or energy from a different species unknown. The dust however had a strong report of energy bearing when a chaos emerald was nearby."
'Interesting.' I thought as my suspicion grew about the evidence gathered.
"We came to a consensus to send the diving team to explore the capsized ship. While your lieutenants are supervising on land, the diving team are expected to follow orders and gather any new traces of evidence that would provide us a better speculation of the suspects we are facing in this investigation."
After the General finished reading the report, he looked over to his audience and cleared his throat. "Should there be any objection in attending this mission, you will be asked to surrender your GUN license immediately and leave the organization peacefully."
"Where are the candidates from last year that you had hired for the dive team now?" Rouge whispered.
I observed the diving team quickly, only to notice that the candidates I had hired successfully were not in for today's mandatory meeting. Upon realizing the new faces, these new dive members were candidates I have never actually seen before in headquarters.
"Strange." I whispered to myself.
"On Friday at 7:00am dawn, the lieutenants and the dive team will embark their role for their mission. Once you have all completed your duty, you will be required to report to me before Friday 9:00pm evening. No exceptions." The meeting was adjourned and the diving team immediately left headquarters after. I thought how strange it is for the diving team to leave in a hurry, when I know the diving team would usually stay until the General leaves headquarters.
"Are you going to talk to the General?" Rouge stood up and asked.
"Possibly." I said. "I'll have a word with him once we're back in our office-"
"Shall we you two?" The General generously gave way for the both of us and without a word, we all head towards the elevator together and waited for our return back to the office. Awkward silence filled the elevator, and knowing the General for quite some time, he would be making small talks with us about now.
"So General." Rouge spoke to break the ice. "Those were new faces we saw today in the meeting."
'God damn it, bat.' I rubbed my face and exhaled a sigh.
"Oh the dive team you meant?" The General chuckled, giving his back neck a rub. "Sorry, forgot to mention to you two earlier on. The previous diving team that were suppose to be in this investigation were given a different mission at this time. So I brought these elite dive team from the same department, who were available and way more fitting for this role (in my opinion) to take on this mission with you two."
"Oh, very interesting." Rouge looked over to me. "I don't remember having an elite dive team under the same department with the previous dive team that Shadow had hired on from last year."
"Well, I don't think it's really necessary to discuss this now." The General suggested, looking at his watch. "What's more important is that we have a dive team for this investigation."
The elevator doors prompt open and the General scurried out. "Cheers you two. I'll be out of the office the whole day, so contact my assistant if you need anything."
Rouge and I returned back to our offices, and from there, we were left utterly confused about the whole dive team swap.
"So odd." Rouge said. "An elite dive team? Do you know anything about this? If there was ever such team that existed, why would you bother hiring extras from last year's screening?"
"There was no such team that existed." I said, checking in to my desktop computer.. "They don't even exist in the department catalogue either."
"This doesn't make any sense." Rouge sat back on her chair and sighed. "If this team is brand new, I would prefer to not have to go through orientation and training at this short time frame."
The more I looked into the catalogue and files of the dive team, there were no speculation of an elite dive team that existed within the GUN headquarters. Something didn't sit right after discovering that a new dive team had now been hired on to act as elites and to join us in this investigation. I wondered if his assistant may know about this occurrence... because all of it doesn't seem to align right with the way things are operated around here.
"Human resources may know something about it, but if not, I'll speak with his assistant shortly after." I said while logging off from the system and making my way towards the door.
"Right, they would know essentially." Rouge said. "Where are you going?"
"Lunch. See you at 2pm." I said.
"Bring me a sandwich-" I closed the door and pretended that I didn't hear her request. My appetite hasn't been great since this morning, but a coffee and fresh air would be a great necessity to have right now. I took the stairs down and quickly went over to the cafe.
"Medium black, please." I said.
"You got it, any good missions lately for ya?" The barista asked, pouring out a cup for me.
"Nothing exciting, same as usual." I responded.
"Not to get into your business or anything, but my colleague said he saw you the other day running out to a girl." The barista curiously asked, while giving my cup of coffee.
"... It's a friend that I haven't seen in a while." I said, trying not to reveal anything personal.
"Hey, no worries man. Your secret is safe with me, I know it's that time of year. New beginnings, right?" He said, giving me a thumbs up with a big grin.
I grabbed my coffee, awkwardly nodded and walked away from the brief conversation. "...Thanks."
New beginnings... it is the middle of October after all. It's been almost a month and half since the death of the blue hedgehog. Many things had changed indeed, though I don't believe it turned out for the better. Majorly of all citizens are still somber about his passing, even his friends kept a low profile and had no interest sharing their opinions and thoughts to the media. But yet, the media still continues to ramble their falsified stories and portray it so much on tabloids and social media - it's disappointing to see. All these bad dreams and hallucinations since then had not been benefitting my daily well-being, and I am starting to believe the whole incident may have taken a bit of traumatic toll on me.
When I walked out of the building to get some fresh air, I saw the General across the building, looking as if he was waiting for somebody. My suspicion started to grow and curiously, I stood near the door of the building and pretended to text on my phone. When I looked up, he started to walk near southeast of a trail in a nearby park, where I had previously chased Amy in that direction. From there, I knew something was suspicious with the General indeed.
Rather than chasing to figure where the General was going, I pretended to walk casually on the sidewalk, across from where the General was. He then made an abrupt turn into the trees and bushes on his right and as I caught up and looked to see where he had gone, he was no where in sight. Whether this may be a suspicious activity, this could also relate to why we had a new group of an 'elite' dive team for our current investigation as well.
"Well, look who's here." I turn around and suddenly noticing the General behind me. I took a few quick steps back and engaged defensively.
The General chuckled. "Oh don't worry, no danger here. I was able to find what I had lost in this speck of the woods."
I toned down my defensive state and confusion had embarked my understanding of the General's situation. "... Lost... something?"
"Yeah, right here." He pulled out a picture of a little young girl, who had brunette hair and hazel eyes, sitting underneath a tree. "It's a picture of my niece, she just turned 12 in early September."
"... I see." I responded, still confused about him wandering the area.
"This is what happens when you go for long walks on trails. You lose the important thing that matters you the most." He said, putting the picture of his niece back in his wallet.
"... I guess." I said, still unable to understand his interpretation.
"And what brings you in the neck of the woods?" He asked.
"I um... just wanted fresh air and drink coffee." I said, noticing my cup of coffee had spilled on the ground.
"Well, you can't drink coffee from the ground either! Here, go buy yourself another cup. Didn't mean to startle you there earlier." He said, generously giving some change for coffee.
"... Thanks." I accepted his offer of change.
"Well, gotta run. You two stay out of trouble, hey?" The General gave a big grin and scurried off to leave the park.
I watched the General walk away quickly, still confused for his reason of walking around the area, which really raised more of my suspicion of him walking where Amy had previously ran off in this same location. Although every thing at the moment didn't make entire sense, there is definitely moments could perhaps parallel one thing from another: Amy's hallucination, the 'elte' dive team, the General's odd actions, the sunken cargo ship and lastly, these dreams and illusions...
'Get out... the illusion!' Perhaps a message the blue hedgehog is trying to communicate towards me?
"Medium black, please." I said after returning back to the building.
"You're on a coffee roll, man!" The barista said, grabbing another cup to fill. "You lookin' confused there, bud. Everything okay?"
"... Yeah, I guess." I responded, again, not interested in being personal.
"Hey man, here's some advice for ya." The barista leaned over and whispered. "Flowers, they win all the time."
"What?" I became confused with what he said.
"Flowers! They win every lady's heart all the time. Whether you had an argument, or had been thinking about her, flowers always wins." He said with a big grin on his face.
"...Um, cool." I said, looking at him awkwardly.
"Here's your coffee, bud. Don't worry, it's on me! Save your change and get your girl some flowers, okay?" He said, giving me my cup of coffee.
'Strange man'. I thought, but if he's giving me free coffee, it's all that matters at the moment.
"... Cheers." I took my coffee and headed towards the elevator. I looked at the time and noticed there was only a couple hours left of my shift. I could leave early since the boss is not here, but at the same time, the bat would notice and she wouldn't be very pleased to see me gone so early for the day. I returned back to my office and saw a note by my desk.
'You left me starving. I finished your report and filed everything in admin. You are lucky that we don't have a lot of work to do. I'm gone for the day, have fun in your last few hours of work. And don't call me, I'm hangry - Rouge'
"Great." I slipped the note into the recycling bin.
Well now that she had gone for the day, I went back to log in to my desktop to see if I can research more about that 'elite' dive team. After successfully logging into my desktop, my computer had immediately shut down. All the lights went out, including the telephone service and heater of the building. Everything became quiet, dark and cold. The unpleasant feeling from the dream came back to me, and I knew it's my mind playing another set of illusions once again.
Quickly, I walked to my office door and suddenly saw the blue hedgehog in front of me. He grabbed my neck and pushed me against the wall. His grip tightened more, and I couldn't feel myself breathing once again.
"Get out..." He said with a dark, shallow voice.
I tried squirming out from his grip, even kicking him with all my might. The more I tried, the more I starting growing more tirelessly to fight back.
"THE ILLUSION!" He shouted and everything in the office had whirlwind. I closed my eyes knowing this is only an illusion, but the more I ignored it, the more worse it felt. I just want everything to stop.
When I opened my eyes, I fell to the floor and coughed. As I softly massaged my throat, everything in the office went back to normal. My telephone began to ring, and when I picked up, it was the general's assistant on the line.
"Oh hi Shadow, just wanted to phone and let you know the power went out. The electrical engineers are currently working on the power outage, and because we don't have access to our computers at the moment, today will unfortunately be an early dismissal for work. This means you won't get paid for the few hours you have left on your shift." The assistant said.
"... Okay, thanks."
As I hung up the phone, I was growing incredibly anxious with the illusions I've been having. I quickly headed out of my office and took the elevator. My breathing became incredibly rapid, and I feel a headache starting to drill through my head. No matter how much I've tried to go on with life, these illusions still haunt me from that incident.
How can I get out of the illusion, if it keeps haunting me back more than ever?
And that's chapter six!
Dark, chilling, yet an exiting plot to look forward to! It's quite a perfect fitting for our upcoming pre Hallowe'en weekend as well! While some of are probably doing last minute costume shopping, feel free to take time to review if you can! And yes, you are also free to let me know what you will be for Hallowe'en as well. No flames! Keep it real, keep it cool and optimistic. Stay tuned!