Chapter 6-Loved by the dark one
Sonic and Shadow watched as Tails and Rouge took off and flew up towards the Egg Fortress, "I don't like this, they shouldn't be going up there." complained Shadow
"At least Rouge can handle herself in a fight, it's Tails I'm worried about." said Sonic
"For god's sake Sonic, all these years and you never taught Tails how to fight?" Shadow said amused
"He can fight, he can use Thunder Shoot, but he needs someone to shoot and I really doubt Rouge'll be willing to go through being fired at a robot."
"Well you can worry about Tails all you want, I'm still more concerned about Rouge."
"Why?" asked Sonic, sounding confused, "Why do you care more about Rouge then Tails? They're both your friends."
Shadow paused, he hadn't really thought about it but he did care more about Rouge than, anyone, then it dawned on him why; "It's because she's different then the rest of you, she cares about me, I mean Rouge has a reputation for only caring about herself, she only looks out for number one and doesn't care about others, right?" Shadow began, "Well, that's her rep, yeah." Sonic said
"But think about it; if she doesn't care then why'd she free me from Eggman's base, why'd she help me at all, ever, plus why'd she act that way on the Egg Carrier last week?" Shadow sighed, "The truth is, I.." Shadow sighed again, he hung his head and closed his eyes, "I, think…I…I love her." Meanwhile Rouge and Tails were nearing the Egg Fortress, Rouge was so deep in thought she didn't notice Tails talking to her, "Rouge, are you okay?" he asked, Rouge woke from her daydream, "Huh? Oh, yeah I'm fine Tails."
"No you're not." said the young fox, "What's wrong, c'mon, you can tell me."
Rouge sighed, "I was just thinking, about Shadow."
"What about Shadow?"
"Well, it's just he's been acting weird lately."
"You mean like how he blasted Metal Knuckles away when he tried to attack you? I haven't seen Shadow that angry in a long time." Tails said
"Yeah, plus when we were at the beach and I was putting on some sun screen, I was using a mirror to put it on my face and I saw Shadow behind me staring at me."
"Well y'know you didn't seem yourself last week when you ran up and hugged." Tails pointed out, Rouge blushed as she remembered her spur of the moment reaction to seeing Shadow safe, "Well Shadow's my friend, I was relieved to see he was alright." she said unconvincingly, Tails smirked, "You like him don't you?" Rouge turned a deep shade of red, suddenly the turrets on the Egg Fortress locked on and opened fire, Tails and Rouge manoeuvred franticly to avoid the hailstorm of bullets. After a few heart stopping moments the pair finally made it to the fortress, "Okay, let's start looking." said Tails, Rouge knew it wouldn't be that easy. As the pair made their way through the ship Rouge noticed none of the security systems were activating, the turrets weren't shooting and the alarms weren't going off, "Something's wrong, Tails stop." the two stood still, they were standing in a dark, narrow corridor, "D'you hear that?" Rouge asked
"Hear what?" replied Tails, of course Rouge's hearing was much more sensitive then Tails's, the sound Rouge had heard was a metallic clanking. Again her ears picked up the noise, but it was louder, again and again each time getting louder. Eventually Tails asked, "What's that noise?" signifying the clanking was loud enough for him to hear. Suddenly the ground beneath them was torn open as a figure burst up into the corridor, Rouge and Tails fell backwards due to the figure coming up right next to them. Rouge looked up at whoever just burst through the floor, the figure was shielded by two robotic bat wings with a jet on the back of each which were now causing their owner to hover in mid air. Rouge and Tails both stared as they lay on the floor as the figure opened their wings to reveal a robot with a gleaming chassis, the robot had a white head, large ears, black, cold eyes with green irises and the body looked almost exactly the same as Rouge's outfit.
"They're taking too long." said Shadow, "I'm going up there." Shadow began walking towards the Egg Fortress, "If I take off my bracelets then I'll have enough power to spin there." he reached down to take hold of his left bracelet, Sonic grabbed Shadow's wrist, "Forget it Shadow, it's too dangerous."
"I'm the god damn Ultimate Life Form, if it's too dangerous for me then Rouge and Tails don't stand a chance!" Shadow shouted, Sonic looked over at Espio, "Hey Es' see if you can get hold of Tails on that radio you gave him." Espio nodded and took out a small two way radio, he pressed a button and began talking into it, "Tails this is Espio, do you read me?" Espio let go of the button and everyone heard the sound of Rouge being kicked into a wall as Metal Rouge attacked, Tails stood next to a wall in the corridor holding onto the radio, too terrified to use it because he knew if Metal Rouge heard him calling for help he was as good as dead, Rouge slid down the wall, a large cut in he side from where Metal Rouge had kicked her with it's bladed boots. Again Espio tried to get an answer from Tails and again he didn't answer.
"That's it, something's wrong up there and I'm gonna fid out what." said Shadow as he threw his hands out to his sides and let his bracelets slide off
"Shadow wait!" Sonic shouted, but Shadow had already charged up a Spin Dash and took off into the sky. Rouge lay unconscious as Metal Rouge stood over her, then the robot turned it's attention on Tails, who finally regained his ability to move and ran for the door with Metal Rouge chasing him. Shadow landed on the ship's main deck and quickly ran around looking for Tails and Rouge while the gun turrets shot at him.
Eventually Shadow heard Tails shouting and looked over to see him running out of a door with Metal Rouge mere inches behind him, he quickly ran over and Spin Dashed into Metal Rouge, knocking it into a wall and stunning it, "What happened to Rouge?" Shadow asked quickly
"She fought that robot and lost, she's really beat up." Tails answered, Shadow exploded, he dove at Metal Rouge and began bombarding it with punches, Tails just stood by watching, stunned by Shadow's actions, "I've never seen Shadow act like this before." he thought.
Shadow continued to beat the robot even though he'd already completely destroyed it; the head was mangled and the body was torn apart, he then picked up what was left of the head and crushed it in between his hands. Shadow then turned to Tails, "Show me where Rouge is." he spoke calmly, as if he hadn't just completely freaked out and destroyed Metal Rouge with his bare hands. When Shadow and Tails made it back to where Rouge had been she wasn't there, the only thing left of the bat was a small blood pool next to the wall Metal Rouge had kicked her into. Shadow knelt next to the blood pool and dipped his finger into it, "It's still warm, she can't be far." Tails was actually shocked at Shadow's reaction to Rouge disappearing and knowing she was hurt, "Um, Shadow." Shadow stood and turned to face Tails, "I'm sorry." said Tails as he hung his head
"What're you sorry for?" asked Shadow
"I should've done something, I shouldn't have let Metal Rouge hurt Rouge."
Shadow put his hand on Tails's shoulder, "It's not your fault, there was nothing you could've done. This is Doctor Eggman's doing," Shadow paused, "And when I find him-" Shadow took his hand off Tails's shoulder and punched the wall with so much force the metal split.