Chapter Twenty-Five

The Shadow Rogues

Angel walked on for a long time, even though he felt happy that he was free, he felt terrified, it was late at night and where he was, was the dangerous parts of Downtown Mobotropolis, he felt tired, but he was too scared to find somewhere to sleep in case someone found him and attacked him.

Finally Angel stopped by a shop doorway and sat on the step of the door, he opened his rucksack and found a flask he had taken from the house filled with water and took a long drink. He looked around the dark streets then wrapped his leather coat around him tighter.

As he was sitting there shivering and wondering what to do, he suddenly heard footsteps, he quickly huddled more into the shadows, he was thankful his fur was black and he blended in with the shadows. He then saw what looked like the figure of a female Mobian.

He squinted his eyes; he had his mother's bat vision so he could see more clearly than a normal Mobian. He then saw that the Mobian was a black cat, Angel's eyes widened, "that can't be, can it?" he quickly opened his bag and pulled out the newspaper cutting, he looked hard at the picture and saw it was identical to the cat, in the picture, the cat had a white streak in her hair, Angel then looked again at the cat running down the streets, she too had a white streak in her hair that glowed a little in the moonlight.

"It is Jasmine!" Angel thought excitedly, as he saw the cat run more quickly, he stood up and began to run after her, quietly. He followed the cat up the street and towards the darker part of Downtown, each time the cat turned around, Angel would hide in the shadowy streets or behind some parked cars.

Finally after ten minutes, Jasmine ran down a dark street, she ran down a couple of blocks until she got to a large boarded up house, Angel stood behind a car and stared, did she live there? He looked more closely and saw she had been carrying some white carrier bags.

Jasmine put the bags down and then began to put her hand in her black trousers to look for a key, as she was doing that, Angel crept out from behind the car, as he did, his foot stepped on a gutter that made a loud clanging sound. As the clang was heard, the cat turned around, as soon as she saw Angel she panicked and placed one of her hands on the ground as her eyes began to glow bright green.

Angel was stunned, but before he had the chance to move, a large hand made of rock and stone appeared and grabbed him, Angel cried out, then he saw the cat pull a dagger from her belt and stride over to him. She then faced Angel and placed the blade under his throat, "who are you?" she demanded "and why are you following me!?"

"Please" Angel begged "don't kill me! I mean no harm!" the cat snarled "oh yeah?" she said "you mean no harm? You're not a spy? Or some cop or detective sent to find us are you?" "No!" said Angel "really I'm not!" Jasmine glared "we'll see about that!" her eyes glowed green and the hand sank back in the ground.

"Now stand still hedgehog" she said in a low threatening voice, "one move and I'll cut you open!" Angel nodded and stood still, the cat then began to search him inside his coat; she ran her hands around his waist and up his chest as if checking for weapons or wire on him, as she did, Angel shivered as he felt her dagger along his skin.

After a few minutes, the cat took her dagger away from his body, "Ok" she said softly "I believe you" Angel sighed with relief, "so what are you doing around here?" she asked, "and in the Darkest part of Downtown Mobotropolis?" "Angel sighed "I'm cold, I'm lost, and I'm hungry" The cat looked at him with sympathy.

"Come inside" she offered, Angel picked up his bags and followed the cat to the house, as soon as they got in Angel felt the warmth of being inside hit him again. He followed Jasmine as she walked through the dark hallway towards a room where some lights and sounds were coming from.

As they entered the room, Angel then saw two other Mobians sitting on a leather sofa and a large leather armchair looking at a large widescreen TV. The one sitting on the sofa was a tall male brown hedgehog wearing black trousers and a black skull shirt with a belt with a silver skull on it; he was also wearing a spiked collar around his neck.

The other Mobian sitting on the sofa was a female white wolf with long black hair down to her waist, she was wearing a tight black lace corset with a long lace skirt, as soon as they heard Jasmine come in they turned away from the TV to look at her, "hey Jas!" said the hedgehog, "Hey Val, hey Devina" said Jasmine, as Angel stepped into the room the wolf saw him and panicked, "Whose that!" she cried.

The cat and hedgehog turned to look at Angel, "Intruder!" shouted the hedgehog, "he followed Jas in!" the wolf snarled and leapt off the sofa and at super sonic speed grabbed Angel by the throat and held him up against the wall. Angel cried out in fear as he felt his legs dangling, this wolf was super strong, he was even more terrified when two long fangs appeared from her mouth.

"Who are you?!" she snarled, "Devina!" shouted Jasmine "leave him alone he's harmless!" Val glared at Jasmine, "Jas, we don't let anybody in that we don't know!" "Val!" said Jasmine "I checked him and searched him, he's not a spy! Please stop Devina!" Angel struggled in Devina's grip and he was choking a little.

"Please!" begged Jasmine "make her stop Val!" Val nodded and walked up to the wolf, "Devina, put him down, Jasmine's says he's harmless" Devina snarled, then let go of Angel making him fall to the floor. "Apologises hedgehog" said the wolf. Angel rubbed his throat.

"Don't worry" said Jasmine, "Devina's ok once you get to know her" Angel looked at the wolf, he then realised that the wolf was more dangerous than he thought, Jasmine pulled him to his feet and lead him to the sofa to let him sit down. "Where did you find him Jas?" asked Val, "he was hiding behind a car outside" said Jasmine, Val shook his head.

"What's a kid like you doing around here?" he asked, "Downtown Mobotropolis is really dangerous!" Jasmine sighed "he's lost and alone, and he's starving!" she said "here" she held up the bags, "you managed to steal some food eh?" said Devina with a smirk "I sure did" said Jasmine, she began to empty the contents. "I got cookies, and some fizzy drinks, and look!" she pulled out some microwave Chinese meals.

"Ohh!" cried Val, "you are brilliant Jas!" Jasmine smiled, and Devina nodded "you know us pretty well eh?" she laughed. Jasmine smiled and walked into the kitchen "I'll be back in a moment" she said, Devina followed Jasmine into the kitchen to help her.

A few minutes later, Angel was sitting on the sofa with a tray of Chinese food on his lap, sweet and sour chicken, spring rolls and noodles with a glass of cola. The other three Mobians sat on the sofa and the armchair.

"So" said Val "your name's Angel and you've run away from home" "How did you know?" asked Angel surprised, "you're names on your rucksack" said Val pointing to Angel's rucksack that was propped against the sofa. "Oh yes" said Angel "its Angel the Hedgehog, I'm afraid I don't have a home anymore, I'm an orphan"

The three Mobians eyes went wide, "what!" said Jasmine "you have no home?" Angel shook his head "haven't you got a mother or a father?" asked Devina, "no…" whispered Angel, "What happened?" asked Val. Angel took a deep breath and began to explain about Razor and his gang and how he could only hide away under his bed and cry as his mother was raped, and his father tortured then they were both murdered before his eyes, he then told them about the orphanage and the foster homes he had been in, as he talked he showed them his parent's picture in his locket.

"After what Razor did to my parents" whispered Angel "I swore revenge…." He looked at the Mobians, Jasmine was sitting in silence, Val was dabbing his eyes and Devina too was crying. "I ran away from with foster home where these foster parents were abusing me and treating me like a slave and the male was sexually abusing me" he then told them about how he had slaughtered them, then fled the scene.

"Wow!" said Jasmine, "God damn" said Val, "they deserved it though" he added. "Don't worry Angel" said Jasmine "you'll be safe here, we'll look after you" Angel smiled and nodded. "And also" said Val, after he had heard Angel's story about his parents being murdered he felt that he wanted to help the young hedgehog, "we'll give you tuition to find and kill this wolf"

Angel then smiled "wow" he said "you are kind", the three Mobians nodded, Angel then yawned, "Hey you must be exhausted" said Val, "we'll show you to your room" Angel agreed, he was very tired. Jasmine, Devina and Val lead him out of the room and upstairs, they then showed him a small room with a double bed.

Angel walked in and placed his rucksack on the bed, the room was small with a TV, wardrobe, dressing table and mirror, "it's the spare room" said Jasmine "we sleep on the top floor" Angel smiled at them. "We hope this is ok" said Val. Angel nodded "thank you so much" he said as he yawned "we'll see you in the morning" said Devina "and then your training will begin" said Val, they then closed the door leaving Angel alone.

Angel yawned then fell back on the bed, he was so very tired, and the bed was so soft and comfortable, he got under the covers and rested his head on the pillow, no sooner had he done so, that he fell asleep immediately. Yet as he slept, his mind was filled with hate and revenge, and now with the Shadow Rogues about to train him, he would be able to kill the wolf and his gang.

So he's met the Shadow Rogues, now he'll begin his training!

Note: Val the Hedgehog belongs to Shadowmjl, Jasmine the Cat belongs to Shadrougeforever and Devina the Wolf belongs to me.