Chapter 36- Taboo
Sonic raised a brow, his curiosity heightening at the words of the princess of echidnas. "My destiny?"
Tikal nodded slightly, her sapphire eyes observing the robed hedgehog before her with mild interest. "Yes, it is time. That is why you were sent away for training."
"Wait a second!" Amy interjected, waving her hands into the air as a physical display of frustration, making her pony tail sway from side to side. "What's all this talk about destiny? It seems a little silly to me."
"Blue hedgehog," the ancient echidna announced so suddenly it made Sonic jump slightly, ruffling his red cloak that was still securely wrapped around his form. "Remove your robe!"
The azure hedgehog had never heard the princess talk in such a commanding tone before, so taking his own physical well-being into consideration, he did as he asked.
Loosening a small tied string that held his cloak together, the red material was shrugged off his shoulders, landing on the moist grass below them with a soft pat.
That was when Sonic's new look was revealed to everyone.
Although he had not changed greatly over the past few years, minus what looked like a tattered red piece of cloth tied to his upper right arm, the two loose ends it produced gently rustled by the wind.
Wrapped around his left arm was a fine white cloth not unlike what he had worn as bandages in the hospital after his battle with Shadow. They started just below his shoulder and reached all the way down to his elbow.
On his hands were white, finger-less gloves in close similarity to the black ones Amy was wearing. The hero's tan fingers poked out from beneath the fine white material.
His shoes had also changed slightly; they looked more like they were made for a sport such as basketball instead of the usual soap shoes he always wore, although they had the same basic color design.
But by far the most noticeable fact about the blue one's appearance was the sparkling golden ring that was wrapped securely around his right wrist, the same ring that used to be on Shadow's right wrist.
Tikal smiled at the hero. "There, that is much more comfortable, is it not?"
The azure hedgehog grinned, rubbing the back set of his quills. "Yeah, I guess so."
"My, my, Sonic," Rouge teased, eying the blue hedgehog with her soft green eyes, looking him up and down as a artist would observe his work to see if any adjustments were necessary. "You haven't changed at all."
"I beg to differ," Tikal interjected, halting the outpour of words from the albino bat's lips. "He has matured greatly, both in power and in intelligence. Do you not see it?"
Amy and Rouge both looked back towards Sonic and stared the blue hedgehog up and down again, their eyes traveling over his body furiously. Getting slightly uncomfortable, the cerulean hero shifted his eyes to the side in order to avoid catching their gazes.
"Nope," Amy suddenly announced, coming out of her trance-like observation. "I just don't see it."
Rouge nodded in agreement with her pink friend. She really did not see any notable differences between the sixteen year old Sonic and the eighteen year old one standing before her.
"He has changed," the crimson echidna of the group stated, speaking for the first time since the meeting.
Sonic smiled at his echidna companion. "So, you finally decide to talk, huh?"
Knuckles smirked, folding his arms across his powerful chest. "There was nothing to say to you up until now."
The blue hero scanned over the body of his friend for a moment before whistling. "But man, talk about not changing! You look exactly the same, save for that cloth wrapped around your right arm! Did Tikal do that to you?"
The Master Emerald guardian's eye twitched. "It's not an injury. This material has its purpose! Besides, you have some on your left arm as well!"
"So what?" Sonic retorted, taking a step forward. "Mine looks cool!"
Knuckles huffed, examining the cloth wrapped around the blue hedgehog's left arm. "You look like a pansy with that on! At least mine has a purpose!"
"Look whose calling who a pansy!" the cerulean hero shouted, pointing an index finger in the face of the echidna.
Somehow, the two had ended up node-to-nose from each other throughout their argument as Sonic continued. "You've been hanging out with three chicks for two years and haven't made any moves!"
"Shut up!" the vermilion-furred guardian spat, his violet eyes aflame with anger. "They were here to train!"
Sonic's lips twisted into a dark, crooked smirk. "So what? You'll have to revive the echidna race sometime you know! Maybe you should do it with Tikal!"
"Are you nuts?" Knuckles shouted, sending wads of spit into the blue hero's face. "We might be related! She might be my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother or something!"
"Actually," Tikal broke in, raising her finger. "I have never borne children, neither have I wed. You and I do not share the same ancestral line."
"See?" Sonic asked, pointing at the echidna princess. "There's a perfectly good girl-chidna for you right there but you're too much of a wuss to break the ice!"
"Trip and die, Sonic!" the guardian hissed, getting even further into his friend's face.
"Dumbass!" Sonic shouted back.
"Fur-dyer!" Knuckles retorted.
'Ouch,' Amy winced.
Rouge sighed simultaneously with Tikal and Amy, who were all silently observing the two fighting males, driven on by their damn egos.
"Males are so peculiar," Tikal whispered, receiving nods from the other two girls.
"Idiot!" the blue speed demon shouted back.
"Moron!" Knuckles retorted, realizing too late the mistake that he had just let slip between his lips.
Sonic instantly froze, his grass green hues widening slightly.
Moron.
That's what he had always called him, before he had betrayed all of them. When they went on adventures together, that was the nickname he had received from the hedgehog shrouded in obsidian.
Goosebumps as well as numbness washed over the hedgehog's mind and body like a cascading river of sadness. He had not thought about him for two whole years, focusing entirely on training. But as the feelings of abandonment resurfaced, so did the memories of that day.
Rouge gulped, realizing exactly what was going through the azure hedgehog's mind at the moment.
Before she could coo her friend in any way, Tikal spoke up again. "That was what the one named Shadow called you, was it not?"
That was the final ounce of water that broke the dam both Sonic and Rouge had built to keep their memories and feelings of the black hedgehog in check, cracking like nothing more than a straw.
Rouge smiled dryly. "Yeah, before Eclipse and Mephiles showed up."
Flashback
She cut herself off when he suddenly disappeared in a flash of light, momentarily illuminating the dark area around them both. For a split second, the bat thought he had simply used Chaos Control to warp far away, but those thoughts shattered when she felt a mild, hot breath smiting her neck.
"Rouge..." his deep, dark, masculine voice purred behind her, causing her eyes to widen slightly. Waves of goose bumps ran through her entire body at the sound of his voice.
What was he going to do? Would he hurt her...would he kill her?
"...Forgive me."
Aquamarine eyes widened again. His words were as cryptic as an ancient Echidna text. Meaning was hidden, reason was dispersed. Before she could say anything to him, she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head, accompanied by a soft thud.
"Don't..." the bat whispered weakly, her sight and her world beginning to darken, "...leave."
End Flashback
"We were friends," Sonic mumbled, the memory of that fateful day also rekindling from the depths of his mind like a lantern being lightened.
Flashback
"SHADOW!"
Sonic hadn't even realized he had shouted at the ultimate life form a second time. It seemed the name subconsciously rolled off his tongue.
The loud, shrill call of the hero echoed through the open area again and again like a broken record so many times and at such a high audio level that every living thing within a mile radius could have heard it.
There was no way Shadow couldn't have heard that.
Yet, he took a step away from Sonic.
"Are you scared of me?" the cobalt hedgehog spat his tone full of venom. Green eyes were narrowed into slits at the dark hedgehog's indifference towards him.
For lack of a better set of words, Shadow was really starting to piss Sonic off.
The ultimate life form halted in mid-step.
Sonic gulped as Shadow slowly began rotating his body to the left. It seemed so painstakingly slow, as if the dark hedgehog had something to hide from him.
Emerald eyes widened and pupils shrank to the size of pinpoints when Shadow finally faced him. A single bead of sweat ran down the side of Sonic's tan cheek as his mouth went agape.
The ultimate life form's gaze was nonchalant; his lips were completely straight...
And his ebony eyes bore directly into Sonic's shocked jade ones.
The cerulean hero unconsciously gulped as a few seconds of heavy, pregnant silence passed in between the two.
Shadow's eyes were both completely black. That fact kept on jumping around in the blue one's mind like a rubber ball in a blank, white room. What happened to him? Was it some side effect from the usage of the Dark Emerald?
Sonic's body tensed when he heard Shadow's calm, deep voice ring through the air, slicing through the silence at once.
"Hey...moron."
End Flashback
Tikal raised a brow, finding both Sonic and Rouge to have collapsed onto the ground, hugging their knees tightly.
Knuckles sweat-dropped. "Well, I guess Shadow's name is taboo around these two."
"You have not given up on the dark one, have you?" Tikal asked suddenly, springing both heroes back to life and on their feet in an instant.
"Of course not!" Sonic announced, raising his hand into the air and squeezing it into a fist. "That's the reason I've been training these past two years!"
"Yeah!" Rouge agreed, a determined fire burning within her eyes. "We've been working so hard. There's no way we're coming up empty-handed this time!"
The echidna princess smiled before looking over at Amy. "And you, as well as the guardian, will aid them, correct?"
The rose hedgehog smiled, tightening the black, fingerless gloves around her hands with a few tugs. "I'll do my best to bring Shadow back!"
Knuckles smiled, closing his eyes and tossing his gloved hands into the air. "I guess it can't be helped, but I'll lend my aid as well."
"Good," Tikal stated firmly. "Then you are ready to know the truth."
Rouge raised a brow. "The truth about what?"
The echidna princess smiled. "Must I always repeat myself? It is time to learn the truth about who you really are."
Amy sighed. "I think it's about time you stop talking in riddles, Tikal."
Tikal gave the rosette hedgehog a curious stare. "I do not speak in riddles, rose hedgehog, you simply do not understand."
"Whatever," Sonic drawled with a wave of his hand, attempting to get things going. "Just tell us what you have to Tikal, so we can go after him."
The former Master Emerald guardian smiled sweetly, her eyes catching the sun's rays perfectly to give her the appearance of an angel. "Very well, but I must warn you. Things will not be the same after this."
"I'm ready for anything," the azure hero spat confidently, earning a widening of Tikal's innocent smile.
"Very good then," the princess responded politely. "But you must follow me to the temple underneath of the Master Emerald shrine."
Leaving no further room for argument or questions over this so-called temple, Tikal turned and began to walk towards the ancient shrine that held the Master Emerald.
Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, and Rouge all followed after a moment's hesitation, confident that they could face everything after the two year's worth of training they had put under their belts.
Author's Note: Chapter 37, entitled The Legend of the Seven Incarnations, is coming your way tomorrow!