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Rise From The Ashes
Chapter Eleven-Rise From The Ashes
The sphere went crashing down. The magma the once surrounded the sphere was gone and replaced with water. Ever since the magma surrounded the sphere, the force field was weakened and began to buckle. But now, since its submersion, the sphere disappeared. All around them, the magma that melted the base was in the water, turning into rock.
Sonic couldn't swim. He hated the water and he just didn't know how to. Plus, his mind was weighed down with remorse. Tails grabbed his arm and started swimming to the surface of the water, dodging rocks as they fell. Rouge lead Shadow to the surface since he also didn't swim. Amy and Knuckles just swam to safety.
They swam for what seemed an eternity. Sonic started swallowing water. Tails swam fast as he could. 'We're almost there, hold on, Sonic.' After about ten seconds, Tails' head bobbed on the surface of the water, as well as Sonic's, soon joined by everyone else. They were about twenty feet away from Mea Kuna. Once reaching the shore, everyone stood up and began walking. Some were crying, some had seldom expressions on their faces. Shadow was silent, but had a thousand thoughts running through his mind. Sonic walked next to Shadow.
It has been a day since they were on the shores of Mea Kuna. Sonic just sat in the corner of submarine hugging his legs close to him with is ears flat against his head. Often, he buried his face in his legs and softly cried. Amy would come over and comfort him. Shadow laid face up on the bench, also crying every once in a while. The others would sometimes come over and try to talk to him, but he ignored them. After being ignored, they would leave.
Sonic wiped the tears off of his face and looked around, seeing Shadow lying on the bench, he got up and walked over to him. He sat Indiana style on the ground, next to Shadow. Sonic looked up at his friend and saw a tears running down his temple. Sonic wiped it away and Shadow looked at him at the feeling of his touch. Sonic sadly laughed, "Whadder we gonna do?" Shadow stared at the steel ceiling again. Just when Sonic thought Shadow wouldn't speak, he answered, "I don't know." Sonic teared up again, "How are we going to tell them?" Them meaning her family.
Shadow rolled over to face Sonic, then slid off the bench to sit on the floor next to him. Sonic chuckled sadly, Shadow question why, "What?" Sonic looked at him with puffy pink eyes, a quivering lip and a teary, red face, "Its just funny. All the times I did this, I never got hurt once. Not really, not too bad." He didn't remember dying at the hands of Mephilles not too long ago. Shadow sighed, "It should have been me. I was my fault." Sonic's voice cracked, "No it wasn't. It was mine; I should have not let her come in the cave at all. I should have stood my ground…but I couldn't say no to her…" Shadow looked at Sonic and his expression pained him. "No, it was mine. I tried to protect her and send her back. But I should have known she would come back in. I wasn't thinking. If she was captured, and not me, I could have saved everyone, kill Robotnik and stopped it."
The two hedgehogs looked up to see Rouge standing there. She kneeled down beside them, "But she was a hero. She gave her life to save the world and our lives. If it wasn't for her, we would be dead and the world would be no longer as we knew it." The two hedgehogs nodded sadly and stared at the floor. Rouge's ears drooped and she left the two alone.
Sonic looked at Shadow and smiled, "Ya know, you mean a lot to me, Shad." Shadow didn't want to admit it to Sonic, but he felt the same, so he nodded. Shadow wrapped his arms around Sonic and gave him another comforting hug, just like he did when Sonic confessed his love for Roxanne to him. As they embraced, they both cried more. Sonic whispered, "We'll never see her again…" Shadow mumbled under his breath, "Maria…"
Maybe Shadow wasn't meant to have friends. He lost Maria in a flight to save himself and he lost Roxanne as she tried to save him. Maybe he was just too selfish. Maybe he should accept his fate from now on instead of having someone save him. He must be so weak if he has to have someone save him whenever his life is threatened. And the ones who have to suffer are his friends. After all, since he is immortal, everyone in this room is going to die eventually, leaving him all alone. Abandoning him. Forsaking him. Just as he forsook Maria and Roxanne.
They arrived at the abandoned base where Amy found the submarine. Sonic used the mystic light and his hands illuminated. They walked through the base and the light began to diminish as they reached the entrance of the base. The sunlight was blocked by the trees as the sunlight struggled to push itself through the tropical leaves.
They walked along the dirt path in silence. No one said a word. Sharp pangs were felt in Sonic and Shadow's stomachs as they knew soon they would have to tell Roxanne's family of her death. Each step they took lead to more despair, more dread. Everyone stopped crying long ago, except, of course, for Shadow and Sonic. Which, sporadically, they went into fits of.
Sonic stopped walking. Shadow noticed and stopped also. When the others notice, they looked from Shadow to Sonic. With his ears drooped low, Sonic said sheepishly, "I think I am going to sit down..." He walked over to a tree and sat down. Leaning against it, he put his hands on his knees. Shadow went to sit with him, he said, "No, you guys go, I need to be alone." Everyone's ears drooped and they slowly walked away, looking back every once in a while until Sonic faded into the distance.When they were gone, Sonic started crying again, his face buried in his hands, his throat hurt from crying, as did his heart. "Rox, why didja have to go?"
The gang minus Sonic continued walking through the Mystic Ruins until they came across a cave. Knuckles walked toward it, "Well, this is me. See you guys later." They said there farewells absentmindedly as Knuckles walked through the cave to the shrine of the Master Emerald. Shadow looked at Amy, Tails, and Rouge and nodded. Then we went to follow Knuckles.
Shadow walked alongside Knuckles as Knuckles looked down at the small Master Emerald. Knuckles (still looking at the gem) said, "I'm sorry about your loss." Shadow nodded and looked at the ground, 'Roxanne…' Knuckles became confused, "Wait. Why are you coming with me?" "I have no where else to go." "I thought you said you live with— Oh…" "If this is a problem, I'll leave." "No, its fine."
This was strange, Knuckles and Shadow didn't talk to each other like the others did. They both were kind of closed off from others, but then again, maybe that's why they are suddenly getting along. Or maybe it was Knuckles pity toward Shadow since him losing his best friend, and his home, most likely. It also could be since they both lost people so close and so dear to him. Knuckles never knew his father, so that didn't matter to him, but he watched his mother die. As did Shadow with Maria and Roxanne. Whatever brought them together now, it was comforting.
When they exited the end of the cave, the ruins of the shrine of the Master Emerald was close. As was the small hut Knuckles lived in. The two walked across the bridge in silence. A girl was singing in the other side of the shrine. When the singing stopped, a little pink ball of light flew in front of them. The orb morphed into Tikal. "Hello Knuckles, I see you've returned." She turned to the black hedgehog standing next to him, "Hello." "Mm," he grunted. Tikal's face grew sad, "I sense great a great loss, what has happened?" A tear slid from Shadows left eye. Knuckles answered, "We lost someone." Tikal looked at Shadow with a sad smile on her face, "She was beautiful, wasn't she?" Shadow looked at the pretty echidna, "Inside as well as out."
Tikal walked up to Shadow and took his hands in her's, "She will always be remembered. The Gods will welcome her with open arms and—What is that?" She looked down at his left hand. Shadow held his hand to his face and examined, "What?" "This," she pulled the green hair that Shadow put in his glove out and looked at it, "Was this her's?" He teared again and nodded. She held the green hair at each end with her thumbs and forefingers. She looked past it, to him, "It is possible to bring her back, but we would need her entire body, the Chaos Emeralds can perform miracles and—" "But she was destroyed…" Shadow interrupted. Tikal's quills flattened and she appeared sad.
She held the hair in her fingers and she looked deep in thought. Knuckles asked her, "What are you thinking?" She looked at Shadow and Knuckles, "There is still a way. But I will tell you, it only worked once since the creation of the spell." Shadow looked at her, his tears stopped falling, eyes wide, "Wha—You can bring her back?" She had a sad expression, "But be warned, it has only worked once out of all the numerous times it has been cast. So the chance is slim…" "But there is still a chance…" Shadow had a small smile on his face.
Shadow, Knuckles, and Tikal were inside the Echidna Temple. Tikal somehow lit up torches of the altar room. Knuckles looked around confused, "Are you a witch, Tikal?" Tikal turned to him and smiled slightly, "An initiated priestess is the correct term." She made a circle outlined with old white chalk, she still held the green hair in her fingers. She spoke, "Now, we will need a host from the living." Knuckles looked confused and didn't know what she meant, "What? Are you talking about possession?" She giggled, "Of course not! I mean, a host!" She walked over to Shadow and plucked a single short black hair from his head, "Ow! What are you—" "A host." She held up his hair. After a second, Knuckles and Shadow, in unison, said, "Oh…!"
She took the short black and the long green hair and knotted them together. Afterwards, she placed it on the dusty floor in the circle. She took ten dusty but white candles and placed them all on the line of the circle. She picked up a stone scepter with looked as if it resembled an echidna, but now was worn down and weathered. She walked around the circle with her eyes shut, clockwise, three times. The scepter pointed toward the circle. Shadow prayed again, he prayed that the spell would work. When she reached the starting point of the circle, she opened her eyes and twirled in a circle, counter-clockwise. Then she held her arms high in the air and spoke quietly, "Fallen from stars, mother of sound and quiet rest, rise from the ashes, easter of west. Awoken." She repeated this several times, so much that Shadow had lost count.
His ears dropped and all hope he had was gone now. Nothing happened. Knuckles looked at Shadow and put his hand on his shoulder. Shadow was let down again, his broken heart broken more. He should have known this childish game of foolishness was to be proven false.
Tikal stood up and put the scepter on the floor and turned to look at the duo, "Now, we wait." Knuckles raised his right eyebrow, "Wait?" Shadow got hopeful, "It worked?" Tikal said, "I do not know yet, only time will tell. And if it does, we will know in three days," as she held up her index, middle, and ring finger. Shadow said, "Three days? But what if nothing happens?" "Then nothing will happen. This is the last solution." She remember something, "Oh, just so you know, if she does return to us, she will have every injury, scar, sickness, anything along those lines she had exactly one day before her demise." Shadow nodded, this didn't cause a problem.
Knuckles left the Echidna Temple hours ago, it was 10:23pm, and Shadow and Tikal sat on the floor staring at the two hairs. As far as Shadow noticed, nothing has happened. He felt as if he was wasting his time, but for Roxanne, he would wait there and hope for the best. Tikal and him would occasionally talk, mainly it was him talking of how they went to Mea Kuna and Roxanne's heroic side showed. "…She really was an amazing person, from what you tell me," Tikal smiled at him. He smiled slightly, for the first time since Roxanne's death, "So do you think it will work?" "I will put neither hope nor doubt in your mind, for I honestly don't know. But pray, Shadow, pray."
So Shadow decided to learn more from the spell, "So, what are the conditions of the spell? What made it work before?" She shrugged her shoulders, "No one knows. All I know is you have to die a violent death…" Check. "…but not from sickness, but by the hands of sticks and stones." Uhh, check. "Otherwise, I do not know. I'm afraid only time will tell." Shadow was starting to feel tired, so he got up and walked to the other side of the stony room, but before sitting down, he turned his head to look at her, "If this does work, I will be eternally in you debt." Tikal simply smiled at him.
Shadow woke up next day at 8:35am. He rolled over, sat up, then rubbed the back of his neck, 'Christ, I wish I could sleep in a bed.' He looked to see the orange echidna standing in front of the circle, her back to him. She spoke to him without looking at him, "I am surprised you weren't awake before now." She spun around and had a cute smile on her face, her dark blue eyes lighting up her face. He stood up and walked over to the circle and looked down at the two hairs.
Only to find that the two hairs were gone…replaced by a small gray thing about the size of a thumb. It looked like a piece of gray feces. Shadow's stomach did a back flip. "Uhh, what is that?" Tikal looked at him and studied his face, with a smile on her face, "That is Roxanne." Shadows eyes got as big as saucers, his jaw dropped, and his mouth formed a giant grin. He pulled Tikal into a back-breaking hug. In doing so, he picked her up off the ground and spun around. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him back, smiling into his shoulder. He started crying again, his voice cracking slightly, "Thank you! Thank you sooo much! How can I ever repay you?" He pulled her away, with his hands on her shoulders to look at her, she smiled, "Just make sure she is happy."
Shadow laid on the ground outside the circle, careful of not going past the line in case that had something to do with it. He propped his head up on his hands and stared in wonder at the gray object. Tikal did the same. She smiled, "I can't believe it! I cast the spell that was only ever successful once. I wonder what it was that I did." Shadow asked, "But what is the gray thing?" "It is legend that the person given new life is hatched from a cocoon. So I guess it will grow." Tikal thought for a moment, "If she is reborn, do you think she will be nude." Shadow quickly looked at her, "Uhh, most likely. Should I, uh, go get clothes?" Tikal nodded, "It would be nice." Shadow stood up and clicked his heels, speeding off.
Sonic must have sat by that tree for hours, and then fallen asleep. Slight drool leaking from the corner of his mouth. A strong gust of wind quickly went past him. Then that gust of wind stopped and jogged back over to Sonic. Shadow kneeled down and shook Sonic awake. "Sonic? Sonic? Wake up!" After Sonic not waking, he violently shook him, "Sonic! Wake the fuck up!" "Ahhh! I'm up, Dad, I'm—Shadow?" "No, I'm Shadow, now come with me, quick!" When Sonic just sat there, this annoyed Shadow. Sonic said sadly, "Why?" Shadow took Sonic by the hand and ran and pulled him along. When Sonic stopped tripping and ran by himself, he angrily said, "Whadderya doing? Why are we running? I just don't feel like running no more…" Shadow chuckled, was Sonic in for quite a tale.
Sonic, running faster than he ever did before, and ahead of Shadow, was headed for the train station. As they climbed the rickety wooden, mossy stairs to the train station, they heard the loud speaker say, "The train heading for San Francisco station Montacapp will be departing soon." They got into the train and Sonic literally threw money at the ticket man and took his seat. With dignity, Shadow took his seat next to the overly excited and happy blue hedgehog. Sonic literally was bouncing in his seat, "So what store are we going to?" The blue hedgehog had a big happy, but dopey grin on his face, which made Shadow snicker, "I don't know, where you buy clothes?" "Well, Roxy liked shopping at Bomber BOOM, so let's go there!"
Shadow couldn't help but smile at the blue hedgehog, he was so happy. It was almost cute. 'Cute? Bah! Never!' Shadow looked away from Sonic and stared out the window. The seat they were sitting was moving as Sonic bounced up and down. Okay, Shadow was excited, ecstatic, but this foolishness was too much. "Do you mind?" Sonic stopped, "Sorry, I'm just excited!" Sonic thought suddenly got into his head, "Hey, I gave that guy all the money I had, how are we gonna pay for all of this?" Shadow smirked, "I got a discount."
They arrived at Bomber BOOM. The store's sign lit up red and yellow, and it was shaped like a cliché cartoon bomb. Shadow put his hand up signaling Sonic to stop, "I will get the stuff, I'll be out soon." Sonic rubbed the back of his neck, "Uhh, okay." Shadow went in the store and looked around. A lot of girl clothes. Some meant for humans, some meant for furries (as they were called, whether they had fur or not). He had no idea what size she was in anything, so he picked up a black tee-shirt with a red butterfly on it (mainly because he liked red), a pair of pajama bottoms with peppermints on them, and a random pair of socks. When still looking around, he saw a little silver thing with a little ball on it, a small bar with a flat disc at the end. He recognized this to be a 'lip ring,' as Roxanne called it. So he picked that up too and looked at it in the small plastic packaging. He wasn't even going to try looking for underwear or shoes. 'She'll make do until we get home.' When he was completely done, he made sure no one was watching (which they weren't) and sped out of the store, knocking stuff over as he did.
Sonic, leaning against the wall, was whistling when Shadow came out. Shadow grabbed Sonic's arm and 'lead' him back to the train station. When they got back on the train (they snuck on, of course since they had no money) and took their seats, Sonic wore a look of suspicion, "Why isn't it in a bag?" "They were out," Shadow lied. "How much was it?" "I don't remember." After a second, Sonic gasped really loud, "You stole this, didn't you? Shadow just looked at him and smirked. Sonic pursed his lips. Shadow grinned and decided to toy with the blue hedgehog, "Oh, c'mon, do be so fussy!" making the last word sound very stereotypically 'gay.' Sonic smirked, "Wow, you're butt pirate." Shadow smirked again. He leaned his head on Sonic's shoulder and said, "You are sooo cute when you talk dirty to me!" He picked his head up and looked at Sonic, the blue hedgehog's face was pink. Well, he was in an unusually good mood, under the circumstances, and he had to pass the time somehow.
They arrived at the altar room at 11:23am and Tikal was there watching the cocoon. It grew twice in size, length wise and width wise. Tikal turned around to see Sonic, "I'm assuming he told you…?" Sonic nodded and walked over to the circle about to step inside of it when Shadow shouted, "No! Stop!" Sonic stopped in his tracks and turned to Shadow, "What?" Shadow said, "Don't walk past the line." Sonic did as he was told and looked down at the gray cocoon (which looked more like a cocoon now), "That's Roxanne?" he said sarcastically. Tikal said, "Well, it hasn't even been a day yet. She will grow." Shadow sat down, Indian style in front of the circle, staring silently at the cocoon. Sonic sat down next to him and spoke in amazement, "It's hard to believe this little thing will be Roxy." "Mmm," grunted Shadow. "It's also gonna be weird since what happened to her, ya know… That we can talk to her again." Shadow looked at Sonic and saw Sonic was tearing up. She gave him a playful punch, "C'mon, man up." Even though, inside, Shadow was thinking the same exact thing.
It was two and a half days since that moment. Knuckles would come by a couple times a day with random fruits (some unidentifiable) and a couple jugs a river water. But he was not there for he left a few minutes ago. The trio was eating bananas watching the cocoon which was now the size of Shadow, lying down. Shadow didn't like what he saw, "…but I don't understand, if that is Roxanne, shouldn't that cocoon be bigger?" Sonic was defensive and said, "She's not fat!" "I didn't say she was! I mean she's over a foot taller then us, and this thing is no bigger than me." Tikal said, "Sonic, he is right, it really should be bigger. And it is supposed to be happening anytime now." Shadow, finishing his banana, tossed it behind him and stood up, looking suspicious at the cocoon, "Is she going to be a midget?" Tikal looked sad, "I know as much as you do, Shadow."
They sat there for another ten hours. Nothing happened and it didn't grow at all. Sonic held the clothes in his hand, absentmindedly stroking them with his thumbs. Shadow was fuming and Tikal was worried. Shadow's ears were straight back in anger, "It's been four days, whats going on?" Sonic said, "Jeez, Shad, we are going through 16 years of life being born again in three, give it time." "I did give it time, why isn't she coming out?" Sonic stood up, "Just wait! God!" Shadow balled his fist, "Ha! You're one to talk, talking about waiting. I waited 50 years to be unfrozen! You don't know what its like to—" "Shut up, faker!" "Oh, who are you calling a faker you motherfuckin'—" "STOP! Look!" Tikal pointed at the cocoon.
The big gray cocoon was wiggling slightly. The three stopped and stared at it, frozen on the spot. Sonic held the clothes up in readiness. The cocoon sounded like wood being snapped as it was cracking open. Slowly, it cracked open. Sonic's stomach did a backflip so fast, he almost threw up. Shadow stopped breathing and watched. It opened more and it spread apart. A hand reached through the crack and Tikal gasped really loud. The hand retreated back into the cocoon. Sonic questioned, "Roxanne?" A female grunt was heard from inside and the cocoon shook more. Sonic and Shadow didn't know what to do, should they help? Tikal walked over and peeked inside, she began tearing at the cocoon. She looked inside and saw the face of the creature inside. She stood up and backed away slowly. Shadow asked, "What? Whats wrong?" "She is not who she…"
Tikal grabbed the shirt from Sonic and rushed back over to the cocoon, she looked inside again. She began tearing at the cocoon again and a physical body was seen by Shadow and Sonic, both turning their heads away at the sight of nakedness, but didn't see the face since she was blocked by Tikal. Tikal threw the shirt over the girl's body and she wore it like a dress. After a second, Sonic peeked up and stared. Sonic pulled on Shadow's arm and he looked up too. Tikal was right, this was not what they were expecting.
In front of them, what they saw was not a human girl, but a black hedgehog girl with fur patterns like Rouge. Her black quills flat down, instead of up like Sonic and Shadow's. She had a pair of icy blue eyes that matched the shade that Roxanne had. The girl looked very confused. She looked at her hands then to her surroundings and the three furries staring at her, "Wha—Whats going on? Where am I? Why am I so short?" Sonic stuttered, "R-Roxanne?" The girl looked at them, "Sonic, I though that I—?" Shadow walked up to the hedgehog girl. He eyed her suspiciously. She asked, "Shad, whadder you doing?" The girl had Roxanne's facial feature; her button nose (now black and animal like), the way her mouth moved, her eye movements, her curves, and most of all; her voice.