Hiya people! :D :D :D No big important memo this time... but at the end of this chapter, please read my note because I'm going to need opinions. :) Thank you!
Here's Chapter 12! Enjoy and have a frabjous day! :D
Chapter 12: Confession
Dorm Living Room
"So Layla, we're all here. What did you want to tell us?" Sonic asked, surrounded by Tails, Silver, Blaze, Rouge, Amy, Knuckles, Cream, and Mina in the Dorm Living Room later that afternoon.
"I have something really important that I need to let you all in on, but it's top secret, so if anyone, and I mean ANYONE finds out other than you nine, my life and even Shadow's could be in danger." She informed them, receiving confused glances from everyone.
"Huh? First off- nine? Isn't there 10 of us excluding you?" Rouge asked, recounting everyone to make sure she was correct.
"Well… I kinda already told Shadow because it pertains to him." Layla told them.
"Oh… I know! You must be a Justin Beaver fan too! Hey Shadsy! You're not alone anymore!" Sonic joked, getting evil glares from Shadow.
"I ALREADY TOLD YOU! I'M NOT A BEAVER FAN!" Shadow growled.
"Trust me, I hate Justin Beaver as much as the next guy, but this is serious!" Layla said again in annoyance, making her even more unsure about telling them. Suddenly, she found herself engulfed in fear, turning to Shadow with tears in her eyes and whispering, "I can't do it… the risks are too high, and they're goofing around!"
Putting his hands on her shoulders in comfort, Shadow assured her, "You can do it; I know you can. They're always like this... even Sonic. He may seem like a wackjob most of the time, but when the time comes to be serious, he's the first grow up."
"I know, but what if he's just joking around and it slips out?" she asked in worry.
"Don't worry; Sonic would never joke about something so serious. Neither would anyone else." He told her, looking straight into her eyes.
"But are you sure I can trust them?" she questioned once more.
"Yes." he told her with a warm smile.
"Okay, Shadow… thanks." Layla smiled back, giving him a hug. Slowly and cautiously, Layla walked back to the group, followed by Shadow whose hands were still on Layla's shoulders to assure her that he was still there.
"Go ahead, you can do it." Shadow whispered into her ear in encouragement.
Nervously, Layla stepped forward to the group, "I am the second Ultimate Lifeform," she admitted.
Suddenly, everyone gasped, gaping at Layla in shock.
"No way!" Tails gasped, followed by the rest of the group except for Silver, Blaze and Mina, who sat confused.
"Yeah… way." Layla giggled, happy to have gotten it off her chest.
"Oh! I read about another Ultimate Lifeform online! Were you the one after Project Shad-…." Blaze stopped in realization, pointing at Shadow and said, "You're the other Ultimate Lifeform aren't you?"
"Yes." Shadow clarified, actually forgetting that they didn't know about him either.
"But, I don't understand!" Amy exclaimed in confusion, "GUN shut down Space Colony ARK after Project Shadow! How did you-"
"Dr. Robotnik created me after seeing the success of Shadow, wanting to further advance his technology. When the day came that he was ready to awaken me, GUN invaded, so he quickly put me –who was still dormant- in my life-containment cell inside a secret indestructible steel safe in hopes that someday someone would come find me. About 50 years after Space Colony ARK was completely shut down, Eggman –whose grandfather happened to be Dr. Robotnik- found more of his secret video diaries, telling him about me. So in response, he went to Space Colony ARK and was able to find the safe, awakening me. So…. Here I am!" she smiled.
"Wow… that's incredible. Who knew after all those years the old man still had more hidden diaries. You're lucky to be here Layla." Sonic admitted. "So Shadow has some super powers like we do; you must have some too, especially since your future technology. What are yours?" he asked in curiosity.
"Well, using my boots, I can run at supersonic speeds like Shadow, and I can also induce chaos control the same ways as him, but I can do a few extra things." She informed them.
"Like?" Rouge asked.
"Like turning invisible, and I seem to be able to produce more energy than Shadow through my hands. Oh yeah! See the hearts on my gloves?" she asked, holding out her hands, "They glow and produce rays of energy which I can use to shoot at my enemies in battle. On the first day of school, I told Shadow my secret because we got in a little mix-up with Scourge, Nack, Bark and Danny, so I had to use my powers and he saw, making me have to tell him. Then, we discovered that when we hold hands, our powers are compatible, and we can also do things that we ourselves couldn't do alone."
"Can you show us?" Knuckles wondered out loud. Nervously, Layla looked back at Shadow for an opinion. Nodding, he took Layla's hand and they closed their eyes, concentrating on channeling their energy. Suddenly, the hearts on Layla's gloves began to glow a soft red, while Shadow's hands did the same, which quickly grew into small balls of red energy. As the two raised their hands slowly, the crimson spheres grew, soon engulfing the living room, making everyone gasp in awe.
"Amazing…" Silver mumbled as they watched, completely astounded as the energy shield quickly swallowed the entire dorm. After about 2 minutes of letting everyone see their power, Shadow and Layla let go of each other's hands, instantly causing the shield to shrink back into their palms.
"That's insanely awesome! Can you guys do anything else?" Mina questioned.
"Well, we figured out that my powers work on him if we hold hands. So if I go invisible…" she explained, clutching her chaos emerald charm necklace as she cried, "Chaos Clear!" Quickly her whole body went completely transparent as she grabbed Shadow's hand, causing him to invisible as well. "Shadow will too." She continued, still completely transparent. After the second demo of powers, Layla shouted, "Chaos Solid!" bringing them back to normal.
"Well that's pretty much it! Thanks so much for not making fun of me or judging me or anything. You have no idea how nervous I was." She admitted, "Thanks to Shadow, I was able to have the courage to tell you."
Shadow blushed, looking at Layla with loving eyes and a warm smile.
"Wait a second… you said that you and Shadow figured out some of your powers by testing them out on the first day of school? When exactly was that?" Tails asked as thought he had just realized something significant.
"Uh… it was around lunchtime, why do you ask?" Layla wondered. Oh my gosh… Tails thought with wide eyes. Layla… she's the energy source! We have to tell GUN!
"Well… uh…" he stuttered, leaning over to Sonic and whispering in his ear, "Sonic can we tell them about the mission? I think I just figured out something big…"
"Hm… alright, but just them and nobody else." Sonic agreed.
Tails sighed, taking a deep breath and explained, "Well, you see, we were actually sent here by GUN, a military organization that-"
"I already told her about the mission." Shadow interrupted.
"WHAT! SHADOW! That was classified information!" Tails shrieked.
"I know… but I had to tell her!" Shadow exclaimed. "She had the right to know! Layla's now a part of this too!"
"I know why you did; I don't blame you," Tails sighed, knowing that Shadow was right to tell her.
"Would somebody PLEASE explain to me what is going on!" Silver shouted, hating being so confused. Quickly, Sonic gave the quick explanation of the mission, still telling all of the important facts and what they were looking for.
"You guys… Layla and Shadow are the energy source…" Tails informed them.
"Well, we have to tell GUN." Rouge demanded.
"NO! PLEASE DON'T!" Layla cried.
"Why not? It's not that big of a deal!" Knuckles argued.
"Do you realize what would happen! Technically, I don't exist! The military doesn't know about me! Do you know what would happen if they found out that Robotnik created a second Ultimate Lifeform?" she cried, furious and worried, "They'd come for us –even Shadow- and they'd lock us up in a secret hidden military base like Area 99! They would run tests on us day and night, trying to figure out our powers and we'd live in captivity! It would ruin our lives! Please don't tell them! They would misunderstand me and find me as a threat!"
"Guys, take it from another Ultimate Lifeform: don't tell GUN. Layla's right: they will misunderstand her. Look at what happened to me; when they found out that Robotnik created me, they went to ARK, arrested Robotnik, shut down the place, and most importantly… they killed the only person I had ever cared about: Maria…" Shadow remember, his voice trailing off. In paining memory, Shadow fell to the floor with tears in his eyes as he balled his hands into fists. "Maria…." He mumbled.
"Shadow! Shadow! What's wrong! Are you okay?" Layla cried, kneeling down beside him in comfort, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm... I'm fine…" he lied, fighting off tears, "Just don't let what happened to me happen to you." He said as Layla stroked his face, wiping a tear off his cheek. "Sorry, it's still really hard to talk about Maria."
"Don't worry about it." She smiled at him. Shadow couldn't help but smile back; he loved her smile.
Standing in the corner of the room, Knuckles stood with his arms crossed, "But guys? What about the mission? We have to tell-"
"No." Sonic interrupted, sticking his arm in front of Knuckles.
"But Sonic… the mission! We have to-"
"No Knux. She's right." Sonic defended calmly, walking over to Layla and giving her a half hug. "You guys, GUN will misunderstand. We have to protect her."
"Thanks Sonic." Shadow said, happy that Sonic decided to step up.
"Count me in too!" Amy cheered, running over to Layla for a hug.
"Me too!" Cream followed.
"Same here." Rouge stepped up.
"Count me in!" Tails jumped up in excitement.
"We'll help too! We might not be able to do much involving the military… but we'll still fight to the end!" Silver assured them, alongside Blaze and Mina.
"Knuckles?" Sonic asked Knuckles, as he stood trying to fight the crowd.
"C'mon Knuckie!" Rouge called.
"Yeah! C'mon Knuckles!" Mina cheered.
"Alright… alright…I'm in." Knuckles gave in, as Layla ran to him, giving him a huge hug.
"Thank you!" Layla cried as Knuckles hugged her back.
"Don't worry Layla, your secret is safe with us." Sonic assured her, bringing tears of joy to her eyes. She could finally be accepted by her friends for who she was.
"Thank you! Thank you all!" Layla cried.
"Hey you guys! We should hit the beach tomorrow! We can spend the whole day swimming, relaxing and having fun on the beach! What do you think?" Mina suggested in excitement.
"Ooo! That sounds like fun! I can teach you how to swim, Sonic!" Amy giggled in delight.
"Uh… no thanks! This guy wants to stay dry!" Sonic joked as everyone got up and walked to their designated dorm areas; the girls in 1B and the guys in 1A, but of course they didn't go to bed. All of the girls went straight to Amy's room.
As Shadow headed towards the guy's dorms, he only had one thing on his mind: Layla. He couldn't get her out of his head. For the first time in his life, Shadow was in love. (A/N: Yeah… I know Shadow loved Maria, but to me, that was more of a best friend type of love and not really a relationship type of love since she was so young. However, I think the couple Shadow x Maria Robotnik the Hedgehog is adorable!) Happy, yet confused, Shadow need advice, so who else to go to other than the ladies' man himself? "Hey Sonic? Got a second?"
"Uh, sure Shadow. What's up?" asked the blue blur, guiding Shadow back to his dorm room to talk.
LAYLA TOLD HER SECRET! :D Will they be able to keep it?
Alright... it's decision time: I don't know if I should continue to support the couple Tails x Mina... It's getting harder to write about a couple that just doesn't fit, you know? Mina is so fun and outgoing while Tail is more layed back and it's hard to mix those kind of people together without completely ruining someone's character. For some reason, I really want Mina and Ash to be together, and then Tails could be with Cosmo. Maybe. SO this is where you guys come in... in a review, could you guys tell me whether you think I should a) keep Tailsmina or b) get rid of Tailsmina? Thank you so much! I want to write a story that would make you guys happy, so I'm going to let you decide!
Chapter 13 should be up within the next few days! :D
Thank you! Please review! Have a frabjous day! :D
