Chapter 21: Brain Damage
Sonic chuckled and transformed into Black Doom before barging into the house. Blaze ran over to see who it was, though she had a pretty good idea. Seeing Black Doom, her eyes narrowed and she summoned flames.
"I won't let you abuse him again," she said.
Black Doom smiled. He let out a blast of dark energy that knocked Blaze to the floor. Smiling, he grabbed Shadic. When he looked up, a plane was in Blaze's place.
"You wouldn't do anything that could hurt him, would you?" Black Doom held the baby close to himself.
The fighter jet readied its weapons, locking on Black Doom Black Doom's eyes widened as the plane locked on to him. Throwing another ball of energy, he started moving away. It flew out of the house and followed him, firing its weapons. The alien growled in anger and tried to move away. The others he had freed from the asylum ran off when they saw the plane coming after the alien. Black Doom tried attacking it with his balls of dark energy, clutching Shadic close to him. The plane dodged and continued to attack.
Most of the shots missed, hitting the surrounding city instead. Black Doom was doing his best to avoid them all, remembering how it had felt last time they hit. The sick feeling slammed into him full force again and he stopped. He groaned and fell to the ground, holding his head in pain. This time, the shots did hit him. He roared in pain. Black Doom looked at the plane and snarled, still holding his head. The pain was unbearable. The plane hovered in place, not daring to change back. In the state he was in, Black Doom could seriously hurt it. It fired more weapons at the alien, hoping they would hit him.
Black Doom looked up at the sound, unable to do anything about them. The bullet hit him and he roared in pain. Black Doom flung as much energy as he could in the direction of the plane. The plane dodged the blast and fired another missile. It hit Black Doom and he fell to the ground. Then he looked at the plane and teleported away with Shadic.
Blaze turned back to her normal form, frowning. Shadic being in the alien's hands had her more worried than anything else. She sighed and went inside. Blaze sat on the nearest chair and sighed again. She'd failed both Shadow and Silver. All she could do now was hope Silver could finish his job. Blaze stood up and ran to the hospital to visit Shadow. Shadow didn't look any different when she got there.
She sighed and saw the doctor walk in. "She'll wake in a week but she won't be the same. Shadow will be confined to a wheelchair with life support. "
"So, she's been improving."The doctor nodded. "That's great news." Blaze looked at Shadow with a smile. "I'll be there for her."
She looked at Shadow and stroked her face. The doctor smiled and left the room. A week later, Blaze came in to pick Shadow up. She was in a wheelchair and looked at Blaze, not recognizing her. Shadow had a feeding tube in her mouth and was on life support.
Blaze had a look of sympathy on her face and stroked the hedgehog's cheek. "I'm going to look after you from now on." The hedgehog continued to look at her. "What's wrong with her? Other than needing life support."
The doctor hesitated. "She has brain damage. "
Blaze took a breath and let it out slowly. "How much?"
"It's pretty bad."
Blaze's eyes widened and she looked at Shadow. "Is that why she doesn't seem to recognize me?"
The doctor nodded. Blaze sighed and took Shadow home. When she got there, she showed Shadow around. She felt pity for Shadow; the hedgehog didn't deserve this at her age. Blaze looked over at Shadow when she thought she heard her say something.
"Shadow?" She asked. "What did you say?"
Shadow looked over at the cat. "I'm bored," she repeated.
Blaze's eyes widened. "You can speak!"
Shadow stared at her blankly. The cat frowned as she saw Shadow stare at her; the feeding tube was still in her mouth. Blaze sighed and wheeled Shadow into her room. Shadow looked around the room in curiosity. She frowned and slumped further in her wheelchair. The life support monitor continued to beep. Blaze frowned and kneeled beside her.
"It will be okay, Shadow," she told the hedgehog. "I'm here."
Shadow looked at her with nonrecognition.
"Even if you don't remember me." Blaze gave the hedgehog a smile. "Just let me know if there's anything you need."
Shadow nodded hesitantly. "Where...Shadic...?" She said.
"You remember him?" The happiness Blaze felt at the words quickly evaporated. "Sonic has him."
"Who...?"
"His father." Shadow frowned and fell silent once again. "Is something wrong, Shadow?" The hedgehog looked at her, staring into space. Blaze sighed. "I'll be in the house if you need anything else."
Shadow said nothing and Blaze left the room. The hedgehog stared after her.