PROJECT: Nightmare
Chapter Four: The Real Imposter
Amy sat once again at the library bench. So far, her search had only yielded one other book: "Earth of Sound". In this book, like she had suspected, another acronym poem was found. On the very first page; again, like the other books she had seen. Still, no major connection could be found between them, other than the element in the titles. She had suspected there was one more.
You see, in the book of "Earth of Sound", Amy stumbled across, "Embarks Many Evil Realms At Life's Death Sentences". She shut the book, and took note of the decoration on the back cover.
It was a circle, divided into four sections by a "t". In the upper-left hand corner there was a Raindrop; in the upper-right hand corner there was a leaf; in the lower-left hand corner there was a flame; and in the lower-right hand corner there was a tornado. That represented water, earth, fire, and wind. "But where do light, time, and sound come into play?" she wondered aloud. "Better yet, what will the fire title be?"
She didn't know. She needed some help. And little did she know, help was literally right around the corner...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Nightmare stood in silence at what the Doctor had just told him. "You... you want me to...."
"I don't want you to do anything. It was a mere suggestion to get the most out of that item. The question is, do YOU want to do it?"
Nightmare toyed with the black disk with the silver border, thinking. "Yes..." he answered slowly.
Eggman frowned. "I hear some uncertainty in your voice."
"Well... I'm not sure if this is the best way to gain a legacy."
"Oh. Well... there are other ways... but this is the fastest way I can think of."
"Oh." The uncertainty was replaced with dissapointment.
"I'll ask you again, do YOU want to do this?"
Nightmare stared, long and hard, at the rectangle in this grasp. He thought of what happened in the city, what had been said to him. It wasn't just that bat; there were other people. People who did not call him Shadow... they called him worse names. Some of the names he wasn't sure what they meant; and others he was sure he would be better off not knowing. The names, the hurt, the ignorance.. they didn't understand. They'd never understand! He wasn't one of those names! He was Nightmare! And he would make sure they would never forget it.
A glare crossed his face, and he squeezed the black object firmly in his hand. Without fear, doubt, or dissapointment, he spoke. "Yes...." he hissed.
Eggman looked over at him. "Pardon?"
Nightmare kept his gaze focused on his fist, with the disk underneath. "Yes. I want to do this. I HAVE to do this." He glanced up at the Doctor. "They must never forget me..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Miles "Tails" Prower walked cheerfully by the side of his best friend, Sonic the Hedgehog, as they made their way around the back to the library courtyard. Such a lovely day for a walk... especially for early November. Yeah, so they were going to be in the library for much of this beautiful day, but at least the walking part went smoothly.
That is, it went smoothly until Sonic spotted Amy Rose sitting on a bench, reading.
"Hi Amy!" The orange fox next to him called out. Sonic bit his lip in nervousness.
Amy turned at the sound of his voice. She spied them and waved. "Hi Sonic; hi Tails," and looked back at her book.
This was a shocking event for Sonic. No squeals of glee? No rabid giggling? No clinging to his arm and shouting, "Marry Me, Sonikku!"? "What is going on...?" He walked over to the bench. "Amy, is everything okay?"
"Mmhmm." She crunched on a carrot.
That's when Tails took note of Amy studying three books, other then the two she had yesterday. "Amy, you found another book?"
She nodded. "Uh huh. This one is called 'Earth of Sound'. I want to get the last book so see if I can find anything."
Sonic stood there, dumbfounded. "What are you guys talking about?!"
Amy sighed. "That's right, you weren't here yesterday... okay, Tails and I will try to explain."
Tails raised his eyebrows. "We will?"
"Yes." First, Amy gave Sonic a piece of paper. "There are three acronym poems on this paper; one poem was found on the first page of each book. You follow?"
He nodded.
"Okay. I think that there is one more book missing, because of this." She showed him the back cover decoration. "This design is on all three books."
"Okay..."
"The books are called 'Earth of Sound', 'Water of Light', and 'Winds of Time'. I want to find the last book so I can put the riddle together. But I don't know what it's called!"
Sonic lined up all three books and thought for a moment. Then he looked at the decoration on the back. The flame... it was a fire. But what would it pair with? Fire of what? Light, time, sound... where did it fit?
Amy smiled, trying to hide her dissapointment. "Well, thanks anyway, Sonic." She picked up the books.
"Fire of Heat."
Amy and Tails stopped, and turned to look at Sonic. "Wh... what was that, Sonic?" Amy asked?
"Fire of Heat." He repeated.
Tails picked up the books. "How did you figure that out?"
"Earth, water, and wind are all types of elements. The last element would be fire. And light, time, sound, and HEAT are all forms of matter that don't take up space."
Amy clapped her hands together happily. "Oh Sonic, you're so smart!!" She leapt off the bench and hugged him.
"Er... thanks, Ames." He struggled free of her clamp-like grasp. Man, did she have a grip! (But at least she's back to normal. That's good... I think.)
" 'Fire of Heat'... well, I'd better go find it!" She grabbed up her books and dashed up the library steps.
"Hey Amy!" Tails called. "what about your lunch?"
"Huh? Oh, you guys can have it. I've got work to do." She went inside.
Sonic grinned and reached inside the paper bag for a tomato. "Hey, free food! I'm not complaining!"
Before he could bite it, however, he saw a black flash atop the library roof. Not daring to fight his curiosity, he set the tomato down. "On second thought, I just remembered of something I had to do." With that, he dissappeared in a streak of cobalt blue.
Tails shrugged and polished off some salad and a piece of chocolate cake. Before long he got bored again. "Maybe I could help Amy with her search." He tossed the bag into the garbage can and headed inside.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Do you have to go so soon?"
"As much as I love your cooking, Knux, I really can't stay any longer." Rouge the Bat walked towards the door of Knuckles' hut. "It was fun, though. Thanks a lot for letting me stay."
"It was no trouble at all, Rouge."
An uncomfortable silence surfaced between them. Knuckles cleared his throat and began to speak. "I... guess this is goo---"
She placed a gloved finger on his lips, silencing him. "No. Don't say goodbye, Knuckles. Don't ever say goodbye. It means we may not ever see each other again." Slowly, she leaned forward and touched him softly on the lips with her own. "And I definately think we'll see each other again." She grinned shyly and made her way out the door. Running to the edge of the island, she leapt over the side and caught the winds for a gentle ride down.
Knuckles watched in amazement at how she did this with so much grace. Yet the kiss was so coy. She was headed to White Island, right? Knuckles stood in thought. He went to go secure the Master Emerald. "You're right, Rouge... we will meet again."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"There he goes..."
Rouge watched in silence she saw Nightmare get off the White Island train. He had a different kind of look on his face. One of set determination, like he was going to do something.
He saw her.
In a flash, he was standing next to her. "You... you haven't died yet?"
Rouge smirked. "Well, let's just say I had a little help from above."
He scoffed. "Doesn't matter, because you'll be dead when I'm done here. You'll ALL be dead!! And those that survive..." he leaned in close, "Will be counting their last seconds."
"Gee, I'm so scared," Knuckles quipped sarcastically as he dropped down from above. "Really, how tough do you think you are?"
Nightmare growled. "That's it. I was pissed at you before, but now you're really going to get it! Say 'goodbye' to your beloved Station Square!!" He dissapeared into the crowd.
Knuckled bit his lip, instantly regretful of taunting the boy. "Rouge..."
"Yes?"
"Remember what you said about not saying 'goodbye'?"
"Yeah... oh, shit."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Amy Rose tapped her fingers impatiently on the desk. "Darn! Why did 'Fires of Heat' have to be taken out?"
"Everything okay, Amy?"
"No... Waitaminute. Tails, why are you here?"
"Sonic ditched me. So I came in here." The fox cleared his throat. "So, what's got you troubled?"
Amy sighed. "The book I want is taken out, and the computer won't let me see who took it!"
"It's not suppossed to."
"But Tails! I need that book to complete the riddle!!"
Tails sighed. "Alright, I'll see what I can do." He took out a computer disk and rebooted the computer with the disk in it. "This will allow me to hack into the library database."
"But won't they track it?"
"Not from a computer inside the library. The security system will think it's an employee."
Amy watched dillegently as Tails worked. "How do you know so much about computers?"
"Because I use them to help me design things."
"Oh."
Tappitytappitytap. "There! I think I got it." He typed up a search and recorded the results. "Here, Amy..." he handed her a piece of paper. "Keep this. It has the address of the person who took it out."
"Great. Who was it?" she asked, reaching for it.
Before he could answer, there was an explosion from the east side of the library. Books flew everywhere, and one hit Amy in the head. "Oww... what was that?"
"..."
"Tails?" Amy turned and looked. "Ohh!"
For standing amisdt the fading cloud of smoke...
"Look!" Amy cried. "It's Shadow!"
At that moment, the black hedgehog's ears twitched. He turned and appeared next to Amy, lifting her up by the neck. "Never... call me that... AGAIN!"
Amy struggled to break free of his grasp. He was choking her! "Let... l-let go of me! Please..." she wheezed out.
Nightmare grinned evilly and squeezed her tighter. "Why should I?"
"Let her go!" Tails whacked him with his tails. Nightmare was stunned by the attack and Amy was sent flying across the floor.
Nightmare ignored the pink one and focused on Tails. "So... you dare invoke me, eh? CHAOS SP---"
"Yo SHADOW! What the HELL are you doing!?"
Nightmare stopped dead in his tracks. The yellow bolts that had been partially summoned had diminished. Panting heavily, eyes wide open, he turned slowly and pointed an accusing finger at the blue hedgehog standing atop a pile of rubble. "You..."
Sonic crossed his arms. "What ABOUT me?"
Slowly, Nightmare walked towards Sonic. "I know you from somewhere..."
Sonic rolled his eyes. "Duh! We only saved the world together."
Nightmare stopped. "Wha?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Knuckles and Rouge ran with all they had. "Oh, God..." Rouge panted, "I only hope we're not too late."
There was a sudden explosion from a building across the street. "Rouge, get down!" Knuckles dove over the bat to protect her from any falling debris.
"Knuckles, are you okay!?"
"Uh, Rouge? I think we're too late."
She coughed in the dust that had started flying. "We need to get up higher! Quick" She flung herself onto the closest wall and motioned for Knuckles to follow. After climbing two stories, Knuckles supported himself with one claw and used the other to put his sunglasses on, hoping he could see through the dust. "Do you see anything?" She asked him.
"I see that black hedgehog... and there's someone standing near him, on a pile of bricks."
Rouge slipped on her treasure scope. She gasped. "It's Sonic! Oh Knuckles, I don't think he knows about Nightmare!!"
"Then why don't we be the first to tell him?" He jumped down. "Come on, the dust has settled some!"
She followed, and the two of them ran up behind where Sonic was standing. Inside the library, they heard Nightmare say, "What are you talking about?"
"SONIC!!" Knuckled yelled, hoping he would hear.
He heard. Sonic spun around. "Knux? Rouge? What..."
"Sonic, be careful! That hedgehog isn't what he appears to be!" Rouge cried.
"You mean...?"
"That's NOT Shadow!"
"GRAAAH!" Nightmare was going ballistic. "STOP calling me that!! For the last time, I am Nightmare, and I'm about to become your worst!!" He sped to the top of the pile and stood nose-to-nose with Sonic. "You see this hole?" He held his hand out to display the destrution. "That's only the first part of the bomb. You have five minutes to get your skinny little asses out of here before you're blown to smithereens, along with this rest of this dump."
Amy stood up. "You mean the library?"
Nightmare chuckled softly. "No, not the library... I mean the ENTIRE DAMNED CITY! AND ALL THE FUCKING IDIOTS WHO LIVE IN IT!!" He sped out of the library, knocking over Rouge and Knuckles in the process. "Well, don't just stand there. Tick tock..."
"Wha... ohhh, you're going to pay for this!!" Sonic vowed.
Nightmare smirked. "Ha! Sure... listen, if you want me... you'll have to find me. Chaos Control!!"
"Kuu!" Sonic, Rouge and Knuckles, shielded their eyes.
Sonic thought hard about what Nightmare had said. //You have five minutes...// "C'mon, you guys! We have to do something!!"
Chapter Four: The Real Imposter
Amy sat once again at the library bench. So far, her search had only yielded one other book: "Earth of Sound". In this book, like she had suspected, another acronym poem was found. On the very first page; again, like the other books she had seen. Still, no major connection could be found between them, other than the element in the titles. She had suspected there was one more.
You see, in the book of "Earth of Sound", Amy stumbled across, "Embarks Many Evil Realms At Life's Death Sentences". She shut the book, and took note of the decoration on the back cover.
It was a circle, divided into four sections by a "t". In the upper-left hand corner there was a Raindrop; in the upper-right hand corner there was a leaf; in the lower-left hand corner there was a flame; and in the lower-right hand corner there was a tornado. That represented water, earth, fire, and wind. "But where do light, time, and sound come into play?" she wondered aloud. "Better yet, what will the fire title be?"
She didn't know. She needed some help. And little did she know, help was literally right around the corner...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Nightmare stood in silence at what the Doctor had just told him. "You... you want me to...."
"I don't want you to do anything. It was a mere suggestion to get the most out of that item. The question is, do YOU want to do it?"
Nightmare toyed with the black disk with the silver border, thinking. "Yes..." he answered slowly.
Eggman frowned. "I hear some uncertainty in your voice."
"Well... I'm not sure if this is the best way to gain a legacy."
"Oh. Well... there are other ways... but this is the fastest way I can think of."
"Oh." The uncertainty was replaced with dissapointment.
"I'll ask you again, do YOU want to do this?"
Nightmare stared, long and hard, at the rectangle in this grasp. He thought of what happened in the city, what had been said to him. It wasn't just that bat; there were other people. People who did not call him Shadow... they called him worse names. Some of the names he wasn't sure what they meant; and others he was sure he would be better off not knowing. The names, the hurt, the ignorance.. they didn't understand. They'd never understand! He wasn't one of those names! He was Nightmare! And he would make sure they would never forget it.
A glare crossed his face, and he squeezed the black object firmly in his hand. Without fear, doubt, or dissapointment, he spoke. "Yes...." he hissed.
Eggman looked over at him. "Pardon?"
Nightmare kept his gaze focused on his fist, with the disk underneath. "Yes. I want to do this. I HAVE to do this." He glanced up at the Doctor. "They must never forget me..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Miles "Tails" Prower walked cheerfully by the side of his best friend, Sonic the Hedgehog, as they made their way around the back to the library courtyard. Such a lovely day for a walk... especially for early November. Yeah, so they were going to be in the library for much of this beautiful day, but at least the walking part went smoothly.
That is, it went smoothly until Sonic spotted Amy Rose sitting on a bench, reading.
"Hi Amy!" The orange fox next to him called out. Sonic bit his lip in nervousness.
Amy turned at the sound of his voice. She spied them and waved. "Hi Sonic; hi Tails," and looked back at her book.
This was a shocking event for Sonic. No squeals of glee? No rabid giggling? No clinging to his arm and shouting, "Marry Me, Sonikku!"? "What is going on...?" He walked over to the bench. "Amy, is everything okay?"
"Mmhmm." She crunched on a carrot.
That's when Tails took note of Amy studying three books, other then the two she had yesterday. "Amy, you found another book?"
She nodded. "Uh huh. This one is called 'Earth of Sound'. I want to get the last book so see if I can find anything."
Sonic stood there, dumbfounded. "What are you guys talking about?!"
Amy sighed. "That's right, you weren't here yesterday... okay, Tails and I will try to explain."
Tails raised his eyebrows. "We will?"
"Yes." First, Amy gave Sonic a piece of paper. "There are three acronym poems on this paper; one poem was found on the first page of each book. You follow?"
He nodded.
"Okay. I think that there is one more book missing, because of this." She showed him the back cover decoration. "This design is on all three books."
"Okay..."
"The books are called 'Earth of Sound', 'Water of Light', and 'Winds of Time'. I want to find the last book so I can put the riddle together. But I don't know what it's called!"
Sonic lined up all three books and thought for a moment. Then he looked at the decoration on the back. The flame... it was a fire. But what would it pair with? Fire of what? Light, time, sound... where did it fit?
Amy smiled, trying to hide her dissapointment. "Well, thanks anyway, Sonic." She picked up the books.
"Fire of Heat."
Amy and Tails stopped, and turned to look at Sonic. "Wh... what was that, Sonic?" Amy asked?
"Fire of Heat." He repeated.
Tails picked up the books. "How did you figure that out?"
"Earth, water, and wind are all types of elements. The last element would be fire. And light, time, sound, and HEAT are all forms of matter that don't take up space."
Amy clapped her hands together happily. "Oh Sonic, you're so smart!!" She leapt off the bench and hugged him.
"Er... thanks, Ames." He struggled free of her clamp-like grasp. Man, did she have a grip! (But at least she's back to normal. That's good... I think.)
" 'Fire of Heat'... well, I'd better go find it!" She grabbed up her books and dashed up the library steps.
"Hey Amy!" Tails called. "what about your lunch?"
"Huh? Oh, you guys can have it. I've got work to do." She went inside.
Sonic grinned and reached inside the paper bag for a tomato. "Hey, free food! I'm not complaining!"
Before he could bite it, however, he saw a black flash atop the library roof. Not daring to fight his curiosity, he set the tomato down. "On second thought, I just remembered of something I had to do." With that, he dissappeared in a streak of cobalt blue.
Tails shrugged and polished off some salad and a piece of chocolate cake. Before long he got bored again. "Maybe I could help Amy with her search." He tossed the bag into the garbage can and headed inside.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Do you have to go so soon?"
"As much as I love your cooking, Knux, I really can't stay any longer." Rouge the Bat walked towards the door of Knuckles' hut. "It was fun, though. Thanks a lot for letting me stay."
"It was no trouble at all, Rouge."
An uncomfortable silence surfaced between them. Knuckles cleared his throat and began to speak. "I... guess this is goo---"
She placed a gloved finger on his lips, silencing him. "No. Don't say goodbye, Knuckles. Don't ever say goodbye. It means we may not ever see each other again." Slowly, she leaned forward and touched him softly on the lips with her own. "And I definately think we'll see each other again." She grinned shyly and made her way out the door. Running to the edge of the island, she leapt over the side and caught the winds for a gentle ride down.
Knuckles watched in amazement at how she did this with so much grace. Yet the kiss was so coy. She was headed to White Island, right? Knuckles stood in thought. He went to go secure the Master Emerald. "You're right, Rouge... we will meet again."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"There he goes..."
Rouge watched in silence she saw Nightmare get off the White Island train. He had a different kind of look on his face. One of set determination, like he was going to do something.
He saw her.
In a flash, he was standing next to her. "You... you haven't died yet?"
Rouge smirked. "Well, let's just say I had a little help from above."
He scoffed. "Doesn't matter, because you'll be dead when I'm done here. You'll ALL be dead!! And those that survive..." he leaned in close, "Will be counting their last seconds."
"Gee, I'm so scared," Knuckles quipped sarcastically as he dropped down from above. "Really, how tough do you think you are?"
Nightmare growled. "That's it. I was pissed at you before, but now you're really going to get it! Say 'goodbye' to your beloved Station Square!!" He dissapeared into the crowd.
Knuckled bit his lip, instantly regretful of taunting the boy. "Rouge..."
"Yes?"
"Remember what you said about not saying 'goodbye'?"
"Yeah... oh, shit."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Amy Rose tapped her fingers impatiently on the desk. "Darn! Why did 'Fires of Heat' have to be taken out?"
"Everything okay, Amy?"
"No... Waitaminute. Tails, why are you here?"
"Sonic ditched me. So I came in here." The fox cleared his throat. "So, what's got you troubled?"
Amy sighed. "The book I want is taken out, and the computer won't let me see who took it!"
"It's not suppossed to."
"But Tails! I need that book to complete the riddle!!"
Tails sighed. "Alright, I'll see what I can do." He took out a computer disk and rebooted the computer with the disk in it. "This will allow me to hack into the library database."
"But won't they track it?"
"Not from a computer inside the library. The security system will think it's an employee."
Amy watched dillegently as Tails worked. "How do you know so much about computers?"
"Because I use them to help me design things."
"Oh."
Tappitytappitytap. "There! I think I got it." He typed up a search and recorded the results. "Here, Amy..." he handed her a piece of paper. "Keep this. It has the address of the person who took it out."
"Great. Who was it?" she asked, reaching for it.
Before he could answer, there was an explosion from the east side of the library. Books flew everywhere, and one hit Amy in the head. "Oww... what was that?"
"..."
"Tails?" Amy turned and looked. "Ohh!"
For standing amisdt the fading cloud of smoke...
"Look!" Amy cried. "It's Shadow!"
At that moment, the black hedgehog's ears twitched. He turned and appeared next to Amy, lifting her up by the neck. "Never... call me that... AGAIN!"
Amy struggled to break free of his grasp. He was choking her! "Let... l-let go of me! Please..." she wheezed out.
Nightmare grinned evilly and squeezed her tighter. "Why should I?"
"Let her go!" Tails whacked him with his tails. Nightmare was stunned by the attack and Amy was sent flying across the floor.
Nightmare ignored the pink one and focused on Tails. "So... you dare invoke me, eh? CHAOS SP---"
"Yo SHADOW! What the HELL are you doing!?"
Nightmare stopped dead in his tracks. The yellow bolts that had been partially summoned had diminished. Panting heavily, eyes wide open, he turned slowly and pointed an accusing finger at the blue hedgehog standing atop a pile of rubble. "You..."
Sonic crossed his arms. "What ABOUT me?"
Slowly, Nightmare walked towards Sonic. "I know you from somewhere..."
Sonic rolled his eyes. "Duh! We only saved the world together."
Nightmare stopped. "Wha?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Knuckles and Rouge ran with all they had. "Oh, God..." Rouge panted, "I only hope we're not too late."
There was a sudden explosion from a building across the street. "Rouge, get down!" Knuckles dove over the bat to protect her from any falling debris.
"Knuckles, are you okay!?"
"Uh, Rouge? I think we're too late."
She coughed in the dust that had started flying. "We need to get up higher! Quick" She flung herself onto the closest wall and motioned for Knuckles to follow. After climbing two stories, Knuckles supported himself with one claw and used the other to put his sunglasses on, hoping he could see through the dust. "Do you see anything?" She asked him.
"I see that black hedgehog... and there's someone standing near him, on a pile of bricks."
Rouge slipped on her treasure scope. She gasped. "It's Sonic! Oh Knuckles, I don't think he knows about Nightmare!!"
"Then why don't we be the first to tell him?" He jumped down. "Come on, the dust has settled some!"
She followed, and the two of them ran up behind where Sonic was standing. Inside the library, they heard Nightmare say, "What are you talking about?"
"SONIC!!" Knuckled yelled, hoping he would hear.
He heard. Sonic spun around. "Knux? Rouge? What..."
"Sonic, be careful! That hedgehog isn't what he appears to be!" Rouge cried.
"You mean...?"
"That's NOT Shadow!"
"GRAAAH!" Nightmare was going ballistic. "STOP calling me that!! For the last time, I am Nightmare, and I'm about to become your worst!!" He sped to the top of the pile and stood nose-to-nose with Sonic. "You see this hole?" He held his hand out to display the destrution. "That's only the first part of the bomb. You have five minutes to get your skinny little asses out of here before you're blown to smithereens, along with this rest of this dump."
Amy stood up. "You mean the library?"
Nightmare chuckled softly. "No, not the library... I mean the ENTIRE DAMNED CITY! AND ALL THE FUCKING IDIOTS WHO LIVE IN IT!!" He sped out of the library, knocking over Rouge and Knuckles in the process. "Well, don't just stand there. Tick tock..."
"Wha... ohhh, you're going to pay for this!!" Sonic vowed.
Nightmare smirked. "Ha! Sure... listen, if you want me... you'll have to find me. Chaos Control!!"
"Kuu!" Sonic, Rouge and Knuckles, shielded their eyes.
Sonic thought hard about what Nightmare had said. //You have five minutes...// "C'mon, you guys! We have to do something!!"