Chapter Two – Sparks
Sonic didn't entirely drop off the radar, but was he was seen less and less, especially around Tails' House. However, Shadow kept his word to the Fox, but the Blue Blur didn't abandon Tails. Over the course of the next five years, Sonic was there for him when he needed him. Whenever Eggman attacked, or to do building work, or for general company, he was there but only when they were alone. Any team meetings or group gatherings, Sonic no longer wanted to know. In fact, when Sonic wasn't seen with Tails, he was always seen with Shadow.
They had both worked out what happened on Sonic's seventeenth birthday. What had 'clicked' between them. Loyalty. It had triggered the attribute in Shadow, which he'd noticed but it had driven itself so hard into Sonic that he couldn't leave the Ultimate Lifeform alone. Sonic's loyalty towards Shadow was so strong, that he couldn't bare not being by his side. This irritated Shadow to hell, but it severely angered Sonic. He had absolutely no control over it. It was his loyalty driving it, not him, and when he ended up in tears over it, Shadow realised that he couldn't push him away any more, so he may as well work with him.
He shuddered. Time to get to know him. He frowned. Why was this happening? Neither Hedgehog had any idea, but Shadow was certain that he was related to Sonic surviving his fate. But why him? He was pure evil, and the Blue Blur, a beacon of pure goodness. He sighed. Maybe the Blue idiot wasn't as bad as he seemed. To his surprise. He wasn't.
Sonic was very hyperactive but also a very good student. If Shadow was stuck with him, then he may as well teach him how he worked and what he expected of him. Sonic excelled at what Shadow asked of him. His ability to instantly flip from idiot kid, to professional soldier proving vital, though Shadow, to his total annoyance, never did find it. He would have had some evil fun with him if he could flip that switch by his will.
Now, Shadow knew Sonic right through to his core. Nowadays, they bickered, they argued, always at each other's throats. But when it came to battling, they were the most ruthlessly efficient, synchronised, expert fighting team in the world. Not even Eggman would cross them if they were together.
Sonic and Tails may have had the Rolling Combo, but Sonic and Shadow had the Double Back Spin. It was when they came together, super-spinning alternatively within a matter of inches of each other. This was a extremely dangerous, one wrong move could be fatal, but it was incredibly effective. They level of cooperation needed to pull the move off was incredible and they were expert at it.
They spent more time together then Sonic did with Tails, and Shadow did with Team Dark, and people was beginning to notice, to numerous complains. Especially from Amy, who never seemed to get a look in with Sonic. She was trying to rebuild things with him, realising her horrendous mistake, but he just didn't want to know. He just completely ignored her.
Nowadays, Shadow would bullied Sonic horrendously, even to the point of being outright evil. Sonic would let him but he was no pushover, sometimes giving as good as he got. So in the end, Shadow decided to teach Sonic to read him, so a simple mere look to the Blue Blur was all that was needed to get his message across. Sonic was surprisingly good at it, and Shadow found it both easy and amusing, especially for winding him up. The Blue Blur was now twenty-two, and compared to Shadow, was quite young, and still growing.
But Shadow was frustrated. Several missions with G.U.N. had failed, and it annoyed him greatly. G.U.N. had been on the trail of the Syndicate. A highly organisedcrime gang responsible for gun running and smuggling in many major cities on Mobius, including Central City, Capital City, Empire City, Westopolis, and Robotropolis. Hundreds of people had died because of this gang, so the Mobian Authorities had ordered G.U.N. to take them out. This was proving easier said then done, as Shadow was right fed up of having bullets being pulled out of him by the doctors. He was largely immune but his fellow G.U.N. comrades, were not. Each mission against the Syndicate was getting more and more dangerous, as they just kept getting bombarded by machine gun fire. Rouge had also nearly lost her life twice because of it. The Syndicate was just too large an organisationfor Shadow to completely take down alone.
He growled. He hated this. Loosing, and yet G.U.N. still hadn't found their secret headquarters. Everything they did, was heavily buried, even used codes to communicate. Shadow understood taking lives for profit. He was a professional assassin himself, killing for a living, taking jobs whenever and wherever he could. G.U.N. did pay, but not well enough to maintain a space colony, despite the fact that him spent very little time there. But the Ark was still his home, and he'd never abandon it. Sonic had learned a long time ago, not to object to his line of work. But Shadow did agree not to expect Sonic to do the same. The Blue Blur was no killer, and he respected him for that.
Shadow sighed. He was bored. He was in a lengthy briefing meeting at G.U.N. headquarters, with a dozen or so other people including Rouge, as Frank, the Chief of Mission Operations was trying, and failing to decipher the movements of the Syndicate. His job was to organise the missions when the intelligence came it or when G.U.N. senior management decided a mission was needed. Frank was a tall, well build, light brown Bear, in a full suit, black shoes, and big blue eyes. He had a kind look in his eyes, but he was also highly professional and expected his G.U.N. operatives to do the same. He was also never afraid to get his hands dirty either.
Shadow heard a gentle rumbling next to him. He smirked. It was so boring that Rouge had dropped off to sleep. She was a Bat. Sleeping during the day was normal for her. They were in a large dark grey room, with no windows, and a singular glass door. They were all sat on chairs, surrounding a computer and whiteboard. Suddenly, Shadow heard giggling from behind him. He looked up. Someone was pulling stupid faces though the glass door, grinning inanely. More people giggled as he began blowing raspberries.
He had large emerald greed eyes, a black nose, beige muzzle and bright royal blue fur and quills. Murmuring began to fill the room, as the visiter was instantly recognised. He was still incredibly famous. Shadow raised an eyebrow, rolling his eyes. He hadn't seen Sonic for several months. Through training him, Shadow had managed the break some of intense grip that his loyalty had over him. It now meant that he could cope better away from the Ultimate Lifeform, which meant Shadow now enjoyed some peace from him. But it never lasted long, as the Blue Blur would always search him out. But now he wondered how the hell he got in here. G.U.N. headquarters was a maximum security facility. You couldn't get in without clearance, and everything was triple locked.
Frank, who was less then impressed, opened the door on Sonic, only to have the Blue Blur fall into the room. He was so high as a kite on adrenaline that he immediately started moving around. So fast, that he looked like he was teleporting except the fact that he didn't have a Chaos Emerald. He moved in less the a blink of eye. Even to Shadow, who had Super-Speed, saw nothing more then a blur himself. He'd suspected his powers had grown, but not this much. Then over the course of the next ten minutes, something weird began to happen. As Sonic moved around the room, he was leaving trails of electricity behind him, sending very large pale blue sparks everywhere. Enormous quantities of them, and the more he moved, the higher the voltages got. The lights were beginning to flicker. It was getting dangerous. Frank was stunned.
"His Super-Speed is generating Static Electricity. Huge quantities of it. Stop him, before he blows the electrics." He shouted. Shadow too was stunned, and wholeheartedly agreed. Time to discipline the madhouse.
With enormous burst of his own Super-Speed, he moved straight for the Blue Blur and somehow managed to grab hold of Sonic by the scruff of the neck. He could no longer lift the Hedgehog off the ground with one hand, like he used to, but he did force Sonic to stand still long enough for the Static Electricity he was generating to dissipate and fade away. He was still giggling. Rouge, who had long woken up, walked up to the Blue Blur only to have him rip himself from Shadow's grip and bear-hug her, lifting her off the ground.
"Rouge-y!" He giggled, like a five year old child. The Bat was both stunned and extremely pleased to see him. She hadn't seen Sonic in five years. The last time being him storming out of Tails' House, worrying everybody. She heard that Shadow had taken responsibility for him, so she hadn't been worried, but wow, had the Blue Blur grown.
Now standing a clear two inches taller then the Ultimate Lifeform himself, Sonic had clearly doubled his weight. He was packing some serious visible muscle across his arms, legs and torso but still wore the white gloves and the same red and white shoes he always had. His green eyes were bright and sparkling, and his large smile infectious. Seeing him now, compared to how his was, was staggering, and Rouge was impressed. As to his powers, she had no idea. It was obvious that he'd long forgiven her for her past transgressions. Plus with her being Shadow's number one colleague at G.U.N., Sonic couldn't exactly hold a grudge. But she still felt very guilty but she patted him on the head anyway.
"Hello, Big Blue." She giggled, but then sighed. "I'm sorry." She admitted. "You didn't deserve it." She added. Talking about their last meeting. Sonic nodded, acknowledging the apology. But then she tickled him under the chin. "You are looking good, handsome!" She smirked. Sonic grinned, going slightly red, and put both his hands behind his back, swaying from side to side, tail wagging.
"Thank you." He smiled. Shadow growled. He was unimpressed, as was Frank. He walked up to Sonic and grabbed him for a second time.
"Why are you here?" He hissed. Sonic was still very giggling. He looked at Shadow.
"Do you remember a couple of months back when you were whingeing about how you couldn't crack some kind of code." He asked. Shadow scowled.
"I don't whinge!" He spat. But Sonic giggled, obviously saying, yeah right, but he continued. "Well. I think I've found it. Weird words in different languages in pop songs." He said, proudly. But Rouge frowned.
"I beg your pardon?" She asked confused. But Sonic rounded on her.
"I know." He agreed. "I mean, who does that?" He asked, more to himself then anything. Shadow growled, still throughly unimpressed. He heavily tightened his grip on the Blue Blur, and didn't let up. It hurt. He whined.
"Whoa. Easy Shads. Hear me out, please." He sighed. "Please." He begged. "Come on, Shads. I said please." He stammered. Everyone looked at Shadow. He famously didn't like being teased. Especially by nickname, or indeed with any other alternative name for that matter. However, there was one name which did stand out for Shadow which he eventually decided against, was Black Wind. Black Wind was a fairy tale of a legendary hero who fought to protect the people before vanishing like the wind, hence his name. Black Wind is considered very powerful, so much so that people compared his strength to Shadow's. He growled. He was no hero, and instantly despised anyone who called him such. He also heavily hated 'Faker', and had warned Sonic not to use it on pain of death. Even G.U.N., who had tried to give him a codename had felt the sharp end of his powerful wrath and even Rouge didn't dare call him anything other then his true name.
'Shads' was different. It was a simple shortening of his own name, and it was used by someone who was genuinely being sincere, and the singular reason why, to everyone's surprised, Shadow allowed it to pass. It showed just how much the Blue Blur had grown on him over the last five years. He let him go. Sonic huffed.
"Thank you." He spat. But Shadow's eyes narrowed.
"Now talk!" He hissed. Sonic did a long droning sigh. He giggled.
"Always the expert in negotiations, aren't you, Shads. It also shows how little you know about music." He smirked. Shadow growled. He was beginning to loose his temper with Sonic, as everyone other then him back away from him. Sonic grinned. Shadow didn't scare him, not anymore. It didn't matter how far Sonic pushed the Ultimate Lifeform, how angry he got with him, even if he pulled his revolvers on him. Sonic knew he'd never pull the trigger. Well, technically he did, but that was when they were playing a game of dodge bullet. Shadow threatened to kill him on an almost daily basis but Sonic knew, he'd never actually do it. Their loyalty as allies ran far to deep. Even if it was a weird friendship of sorts. Sonic sighed. Time to humour the Ultimate Lifeform.
"When you create a multi-language song, it's usual to have one line or one verse in one language and the rest of the lines or verses on the other language." He explained. But Rouge cut across him. She was well aware of this.
"Yes." She spat. This was obvious. "But?" She asked. Sonic heaved, getting rather excited.
"But there are a series of songs out there, being played on the radio, that seem to have between two and six random words in, in a completely different language to the rest of the song. I checked with a dictionary. The words themselves haven't changed, just the language. So I thought why? They don't seem to be any connection between the songs as they have been made by different artists, and the languages too are all different. But then I figured that if you take all dozen or so songs out there with these random words in, pulled out the words and put them together, you might have something." He shrugged. Silence relied to Sonic's explanation until about five minutes later, someone piped up from the computer.
"Chief?" He called. "Sonic is absolutely right." He praised. In complete astonishment, everyone gathered around the computer as a G.U.N. operative, did exactly what the Blue Blur suggested. He pulled all the words out from the songs, rearranged them, and found out that they gave the exact directions to the headquarters of the Syndicate. It was seriously impressive. Even Shadow had to admit that was good, and said so, to the Blue Blur total enjoyment. Another rush of adrenaline caused him to start jumping up and down in pure excitement, but when more pale blue sparks of the Static Electricity started exploding out from him, going everywhere, Rouge was forced to grab him and calm him.
"Easy, Big Blue." She whispered, and soon he'd stopped bouncing, but he was still bobbing, heavily panting. He couldn't stand still. Frank began quickly organisinga military operation. As it turned out, all of the artists who made those random songs all come from one singular city, one that Rouge guessed correctly. Central City. Then Sonic overheard something. He frowned.
"Who's the Syndicate?" He asked Rouge. Shadow raised an eyebrow as everyone looked at her. She had to think of something to tell him and quickly. It was highly classified information. She sighed.
"Bad guys!" She announced. Sonic grinned inanely, moving to just behind Shadow.
"Oh!" He gigged, the adrenaline still going straight to his head again. "I do love me a good bad guy." He laughed. But the Ultimate Lifeform did not find that funny at all. Angry, his eyes glowing blood red in pure anger, he promptly elbowed Sonic hard right in the nose, causing him to fall backwards. Shadow's temper had exploded. Sonic had definitely crossed the line. It was only meant as a joke but the comment was far to intimate for his liking, and he gave Sonic such a ice cold look, it clearing said that if he dared mention this again, he would actually die. Their alliance wasn't like that, and utterly despised any comments of any possibilities that it might be. Sonic gulped, very nervous. He nodded, he got the message.
Sonic heaved, holding his nose. Shadow hadn't hit him hard enough to make it bleed, but it had make his eyes water. Everyone was in utter shocked. To see Shadow hit Sonic, after what the Blue Blur had just done for them, was gobsmacking. But Shadow didn't care. Sonic had crossed the line, and needed disciplining. Sometimes, by any means necessary.
Frank had been watching them. He was seriously impressed at Shadow had managed to even hit Sonic, especially with the speeds he was famous for. He saw from the way they moved and interacted, that there was a deep comradery between them. Soon a mission was quickly decided upon. He cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.
"Right, now that we know where they are, we're going to hit their headquarters and hard." He announced. He then divided the G.U.N. operatives into groups doing different roles during the mission, soon he came to Shadow and Rouge.
"And you two. Go in and hack their computer system. I need to know who the ringleaders are in the Syndicate." He declared, and then smirked. "I'll even let you take Sparky with you." he added, indicating Sonic. The Blue Blur looked up and giggled.
"Who me? Sparky?" He grinned. "I like that." He smiled, bouncing again. Shadow and Rouge looked at each other. But Frank continued.
"Right, We'll leave at dusk, the day after tomorrow. Get everything you need and..." He said, but before he could finish his sentence, the alarms sounded, extremely loudly, screeching intruder alert. Immediately G.U.N. Security appeared at the door, having finally caught onto the fact that Sonic wasn't supposed to be there. Frank tried to stop them, but it was too late. The Blue Blur exploded in an enormous array of the large pale blue sparks of the Static Electricity, as he proceeded to run for the door and out of the headquarters. Everyone was forced to duck as the electricity went everywhere at extremely high voltages, and before anyone could so anything, Sonic had completely blown out the electrics and plunged the whole place into darkness.
Shadow smirked, as he began counting under his breath. Loud enough for everyone to stare at him.
"Five, four, three, two, one!" He hissed and at the exact point Shadow said one, there was an almighty Sonic Boom, definitely coming from outside. His name-sake. He smirked broadened. Sonic, predictable as always. Rouge was absolutely stunned as something dawned on her.
"How the hell did he get out? This place is triple security locked." She wondered. But Frank stared at her.
"Get out!" He spat. "I'd very much like to know how he got in." He leered. Shadow smirked. He had a hunch of how he'd done it, and it seemed that today Sonic had finally mastered the trick he been going on about at him for months. If true, it was seriously impressive and would make him extremely dangerous. But what of the Static Electricity? Shadow gritted his teeth. He never seen that before. Sonic had to put a lid on that and quickly, before he killed someone. But it left him wondering what the hell was going on.