The three parties that remained in the clearing were speechless. One moment, they were all fighting for the Chaos Emerald. Then at the next moment, it disappeared along with the black hedgehog. For a while, as the wind blew in the scenic mountain region, nothing but silence reigned as no one had a proper answer to give for this anomaly to happen so suddenly. Well, at least not yet.
Eggman was the first to speak. "W-where did he go? Did he just run off with the emerald? My emerald? We had a deal!"
Sonic recovered once her archrival's complaining voice reached her pointy ears. "Heh. Looks like you got duped, Eggy. Shame too…I was having so much fun with your new friend."
"I don't want to hear it from you, pest!"
Teasing Eggman was so fun. "Aww, what's wrong? Big baby mad that he didn't get his shiny rock?"
Eggman grit his teeth at the insults. One of these days, this hedgehog will perish under him. But admittedly, now wasn't the time. "I don't have time to deal with you." With that, Eggman elevated his pod and flew away in a burst.
Sonic stared at the dot in the sky before looking at her partner in crime…and suppressed the urge to wince at the depressing aura he displayed. "What's wrong, Tails?"
Said fox didn't look like he heard the question which caused Sonic to walk forward until she was directly in front of him. "Again, what's wrong, little bro?"
That got a reaction as the yellow fox's body began to shake. It didn't take long for Sonic to notice a teardrop fall from Tails' face. Sonic raised an eyebrow at this but waited with her hands on her hips.
Eventually, Tails looked with teary blue eyes. Sonic herself had to admit it. Tails would become quite the looker when he gets older. He had the eye color, the looks. All he needed was the personality. Then he'd pretty much become the youngest Adonis that ever lived.
But she'd be damned if some hussy came and took advantage of her little brother.
For now however, she gestured her gloved hand as a sign for Tails to speak his mind. And so he did. "I-I'm sorry, Sonic. I-I…" Tails composed himself for a bit before he spoke again, still with a downtrodden voice. "I messed up."
Sonic's eyebrow rose further. "Mind explaining that?"
So Tails did. He explained everything that happened when he went to find Eggman. From the time he almost lost his way in the cave, to when he was the actual cause of it caving in. It finally made sense to Sonic as to why he felt so down.
He blamed himself for letting the Chaos Emerald get away. Badly.
So knowing this, Sonic put her hand on Tails' head. "Lil bro, look at me." When Tails felt the comfort of Sonic's touch on his head, he looked into her warm, green eyes. "Everyone makes mistakes. You make mistakes; Eggman makes mistakes…all the time." That got a chuckle out of Tails. "Even I make mistakes. Heck, sometimes when I'm in a complete rush, I order a hot dog and forget the chili! You know how bad that is, Tails? To forget to put chili on a hot dog?" Knowing that Tails was laughing brought a smile to her face. "So don't beat yourself up, little bro. When you make mistakes, tell yourself that next time it won't happen. Tell yourself that you can do it no matter what. Then what do you know? The impossible becomes possible."
At that, Tails rubbed his eyes from any remaining tears and had a wide smile on his smile as his trademark tails waved in the air. "Thanks, Sonic!"
"No problem. Now let's see if we can find the next Emerald, ok?"
Tails nodded and went to his plane's cockpit to fire up the engine. But before he got ready for takeoff, he brought up a question that egged his mind since he came here. "Sonic, who was that guy?"
Sonic stopped in her tracks before she jumped on the plane. 'Who was that guy indeed.' Now Sonic in her short life (not old yet!) never met an opponent she couldn't handle. There was that one guy…
'No. Best forget him.' Other than that moment in her life, she never met another hedgehog that could go toe to toe with her in speed and combat. Heck, it was hard enough for her to walk to the plane in a steady pace because of the bruises decorating her delicate skin. That only made her very curious about the black hedgehog.
"I believe you heard of the name 'Crimson Streak'?"
'Crimson Streak…' When you tend to run around all over the world, you pick up a couple of things. Most of the time useless, but the decent tidbits here and there. Crimson Streak was one of them. From what she heard, he was this mercenary that goes around and kills people for a hefty price. She even heard he bombed a place for a mission.
Sonic had a smirk as she thought of the black hedgehog but came out of her thoughts when she heard Tails call her name. "I don't know who that guy is, Tails. But believe me when I tell you that this won't be the last time we see each other." Plainly because Sonic was interested.
She wasn't kidding when she said he was handsome.
"You like watching the Earth, don't you Shadow?"
Shadow regarded his best friend with a quick glance before staring at the big, blue orb in the sky through a window. She wore a blue top and a light blue dress with low heeled cobalt pumps. With blonde hair held with a blue headband and dark blue eyes, Maria Robotnik stared at Earth alongside her friend.
"I…wonder about it. The professor says that his research is for the sake of all the people that live down there. To make sure that everyone experiences peace with the power of science…that is his goal."
Maria focused her eyes on Shadow's form as he spoke in his monologue. Most of the time when he wasn't with her in the labs, he kept to himself. It worried her.
"Maria, I…I still don't why I was created. What is my purpose for existing?" Shadow clenched his fist and closed his eyes. "Will anyone accept me when I go to Earth?"
"Shadow…"
Shadow reopened his eyes are focused on the blue planet again. "The only way to know is go there myself." He stared at Maria again. "Will you be there when the time comes?"
Maria smiled a bright smile at her friend. "Of course. You promised me. And I know you won't break it."
"I won't…Maria…."
Shadow woke with a gasp as he breathed in and out to control himself. Then feeling a bit of a headache, he brought his gloved hand on his forehead and lightly massaged it. Again, he was grateful for all the meditation that was done over the years. It allowed him to focus and have control over his emotions in every situation.
Yet, he couldn't suppress the curiosity that swelled with how he ended up propped against a tree on a hill not far from Westopolis. So he scrounged his memories to see how that happened. He remembered meeting with Eggman, getting the job to assist him in collecting the Chaos Emerald, facing Sonic at the ruins, jumping to get the Emerald after it came out of Eggman's clutches, then a bright light…
So why did he end up here?
It was then that Shadow heard a faint but eerie sound coming from nearby. His spines swished back and forth as he tried to locate it but all he saw was trees and hills in one direction and the buildings of Westopolis in the other. But when he looked down, he picked up a red jewel that had a faint glow in the center until it went back to its red color.
"Chaos Emerald…" Shadow brought it in front of his face to closely examine it. There was barely any difference from an average jewel in the fact that the pattern looked the same, the texture felt hard, and the luster was of average quality. The only real difference was this particular jewel having mystical powers.
Was this the reason why he had that dream?
Before today, he never had dreams that felt so…real. Real in the sense that it felt more like a memory than a random figmentation of the brain. From when he looked out from that window, to feeling hopeless about not knowing anything, to talking to that girl…
Come to think of it, that girl, conveniently, had the same voice of the girl that haunted…no, disturbed his thought process. What did he call her in that dream?
"…Maria…"
Shadow tested that name on his tongue. Strangely, it felt as if it wasn't the first time he said that name. In fact, his vocal cords sounded like they already adjusted to the syllables and the spelling of the name.
So who was she exactly? And why did it take a Chaos Emerald for him to see these images?
Too much questions yet so much time. He couldn't even say that the mission was completed because Eggman didn't get the Emerald and Sonic was still alive. And he didn't know how to find Eggman. For all he knew, the man probably left the mountainous region to avoid officials looking for him.
So to digest the information he accumulated, Shadow ran to his base. All the while not knowing that the red Chaos Emerald glowed one more time before going dim again.
Compared to when Eggman was in the city, the people of Westopolis looked like they carried on as usual. Albeit, with more worried expressions on their faces. There were some that talked in hushed whispers about the mad scientist that came to their city. Some even wondered if the apocalypse was coming because of his appearance.
But the 'hottest' topic so to say was the appearance of Crimson Streak.
Shadow was a blur when he heard these things but from the sound of things, most of them sounded…scared for lack of a better term. Whether it is his overall composition, attitude or the fact that he openly agreed to working with the most renowned criminal in Mobius.
Whatever the case, Shadow didn't care. When he got to the bar, he nodded to the barkeep and went further into the darkness of the hallway. To his surprise however, there was someone down here knocking on his door.
"You are?"
The man jumped when Shadow's voice reached his eardrums. He quickly turned around and pulled out a firearm in defense but relaxed when he found the person…er, creature he was looking for.
"Crimson! I-I didn't expect to see you out here and not in your base."
Shadow crossed his arms. "Well I am. What do you need?"
The man composed himself before speaking. "I thought you would recognize me but you will eventually. Anyways, my liege wants an audience with you." Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Lady Yi-ang, Crimson."
Oh. "She wants to see me?"
"Yes. I'm not allowed to discuss much now, but involves Bronkoff."
That grabbed his attention. "Very well. Lead the way."
20 minutes later, Shadow saw the underground, casino-like base again. He still couldn't believe they managed to hide this in a supermarket but it was non-important.
"My liege, I have brought Crimson."
"Send him in."
Shadow stepped inside once the door opened. It looked the same as last time except for the heirloom resting on a table behind the woman regarding him like last time. Again, her dark brown eyes seem to bore into his very being. Shadow simply crossed his arms and waited.
"You do realize you are the talk of the town, yes?"
"Do you realize I can care less?"
If the woman seemed put off by that comeback, she didn't show it. She simply stared at him some more.
"Very well. I'm not your caretaker so your matters are your own. And I certainly don't need to tell you to watch your back, yes?" Shadow didn't say anything. "Very well, let's move on." Lianxi then pulled out a photo from her desk and showed it to Shadow. The man in the photo had a stern expression composed of fair skin with brown eyes and a big nose with a small scar above his lips. "This man is Alex Jameson. He is Bronkoff's messenger in a sense. My men have seen him go into a lot of buildings and stores as of late. This leads me to believe that man is up to something. I need you to cut him off and bring him back here alive and ready for interrogation. This mission is important if we want to know what Bronkoff is planning. Understand?"
Shadow intently stared at the photo and once the face was burned into memory, he turned around and left the premises. At least, not before he faintly heard her say that the man who brought him here would assist him.
Somehow, he felt insulted that someone thought he needed help.
Knuckles hit the gym...guess he really does flex his muscles.
Criticism is gold.
