chapter 3: The night before the wedding
Once Shadow was sure he was out of sight, he pulled out the red Chaos Emerald (don't ask from where! Cartoon logic!).
"CHAOS CONTROL!" shouted the hedgehog, before disappearing in a green flash of light.
Gardon the koala, Blaze's personal guard, was patrolling on the palace's highest roofs. He had a pretty good view of the city below and the rest of the palace, which was essential for the job he was given. Despite the fact that the kingdom was in one of its' most peaceful periods, the royal wedding could still attract some unwanted attention. That's why Gardon and the rest of the guards were looking after every part of the palace and the surrounding area.
So far the night was quiet (save it for the fire that had happened earlier somewhere in the city) and there didn't seem to be any signs of troubles. And then...
A flash of green light blinded Gardon. He immediately pulled out his sword and pointed it at the intruder.
"Surrender in the name of the princess!" Gordon ordered, before noticing that the "intruder" was actually Shadow "Oh, I-I am sorry, Mister Shadow! I thought it was-"
"Any signs of danger?" Shadow interupted the koala.
"Oh uuum no, not yet, at least."
Shadow didn't answer and instead started looking around.
"Pardon me for asking, Mister Shadow," the koala said politely "But why are you here?"
Shadow was silent for a moment and then answered "Hum, I am here to guard the wedding!"
"Oh, but me and the other guards are already doing this."
"I would feel safer if I do it myself."
"But, me and my men are quite capable."
"Yet you didn't stand a chance against Eggman's robots."
"Yes, but-"
"Even if you are good, I am more experienced in fighting enemies. Now I've got work to do!"
And with that Shadow walked away, leaving Gardon alone.
"Jerk!" the koala whispered to himself.
Shadow knew something bad was going to happen. He could feel it in his guts. That was the main reason why he came to the wedding ( that, and the fact that Rouge is very persuasive). Considering how powerful were some of the enemies Blaze and Silver had made over the years, Shadow was sure the guards might not be strong enough. But he was.
The black hedgehog was about to turn around the corner of the roof, when he felt someone's presence. Shadow created a chaos spear and got ready to strike whatever was around the corner.
Shadow jumped around the corner and found himself facing a wispon. The one who was holding it, was hidden behind a mask. It was Whisper.
"Don't scare me like that!" the wolf whispered angrily as she put her weapon down.
"Hum, sorry!" Shadow apologized, before asking "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for danger!"
"Same. Anything yet?"
"Aside from your girlfriend's attempt to steal from Blaze earlier tonight- no."
"Good." Shadow said "And Rouge is not my girlfriend!"
Whisper didn't respond and instead continued sniping the area for potential threats.
"You would have a better view from up there." Shadow pointed at the highest tower of the palace.
Whisper looked at it and nodded. She then put her wispon in flying mode and flew to the top of the tower. Shadow followed her, using his rockets. The two then started looking around. It was hard for Shadow to do so as he only had his eyes. Whisper noticed this and handed the hedgehog a binoculars with a night vision. Shadow was surprised, but took them anyway.
"Um, thanks." Shadow said, a little awkwardly.
"...No problem!" Whisper responded, just as awkwardly.
After a few hours of looking around, the hedgehog and the wolf started to get bored. Whisper was also getting sleepy. Her wisps tried to talk her into sleeping, but the Guardian angel of the battlefealed was unshakable. While Shadow didn't need sleep, the uneventfulness of the night was starting to get to him. Not that he wanted something bad to happen, but he was getting a little bored.
"Guess me and the faker are not that different." Shadow said to himself. He then looked at his companion. Out of all of the heroes, Whisper was the only one as quiet and introverted as he was. But there was something about her that was puzzling him. Ever simce he had met her, she'd been acting strange around him. More silent and closed than usual. Shadow had always been wondering why is that and now he had an opportunity to ask.
"Hey, Whisper."
"Yes?"
"Why are you always acting strange around me?"
That caught the wolf off guard.
"Uuaa...I...uaau..." Whisper didn't know how to respond.Tangle was the only one, who knew about her past (well, Tangle and the therapist). But could she trust Shadow with her past?
Suddenly, Shadow realized he might had gone to a place he shouldn't had. He knew better than anyone how painful the past can be, yet he was so openly asking someone who probably was in the same boat as him a question he himself wouldn't like to be asked.
"Look..." Shadow said sudenly "If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine. Everyone has a past they would rather leave in the past."
Whisper was surprised. Shadow was one of the few people who didn't push her revealing a great deal about her past. Ironically, that made Whisper more willing to share it with him. Plus he played a big role in her trauma, yet he wasn't at it at all, not personally that is.
"It's okey..." Whisper said shortly afterwards "You deserve to know."
Shadow stopped looking at the binoculars and looked at Whisper.
Whisper started telling her story "Years ago, I was a member of a squad called "The diamond cutters". We would spoil Eggman's plans at any oportunity we had. We were pretty good at our "job", yet we couldn't see the danger that was coming. One of my teammates, Mimic the octopus, betrayed us to Eggman. He led us into a trap. I was just a scout, so I wasn't with the rest of the cutters when it... happened."
Shadow could feel that the harsh part was coming.
Whisper continued " Our masks were conected so I could...hear and see...my friends getting killed...by Shadow androids..."
Shadow froze. As if he didn't have enough reasons to hate Eggman, he now knew that the doctor had used his image to hurt others!
"I am... sorry." Shadow apologized.
After a long pause, Whisper responded "Don't be! It's not your fault! It's just..."
Shadow knew what was she about to say "Whenever you look at me, you think of those who have killed your friends."
Shadow just kept surprising Whisper. The wolf started wondering about his past. There was no way he was bourn like this. Something must had happened.
"Shadow..." Whisper said, struggling to gather her courage "have you...experienced something similar? Have you...lost someone?"
That caught Shadow off guard. Not once did it cross his mind that Whisper might ask him that. Yet for some reason, unknown even to him, he decided to tell her.
"Yes...I have... She was my first friend... the only person that didn't see me as a weapon... she shared her dreams and hopes with me... she was so full of life... with a big heart filled with love..." every word was stabbing Shadow in the heart, yet he couldn't stop talking "...it wasn't her time... and it was my fault... I was the reason she was killed... because she wanted to protect me... a day doesn't pass without me thinking of her... without thinking of...Maria..."
While vague, Whisper could understand enough and could definitely understand Shadow's pain "I am sorry !"
Whisper had no idea she and Shadow had so much in common. She was wondering if she can help him somehow. And then an idea came to her.
The wolf took a paper and a pencil out of a pocket and started writing something.
"Here!" she whispered as she handed Shadow the paper.
Shadow took it a looked at it. It was a phone number.
"What is this?" he asked.
"The number of a therapist I used to go to."
Shadow immediately understood where Whisper was going.
"No way!"
"I said the same thing when Tangle gave me the number, yet I ended up going and it actually helped."
"I will not share my burdens with a stranger!" Shadow said firmly.
"You don't have to go if you don't want to, but keep the numbers. If you change your mind."
Shadow didn't know why, but something was telling him to keep the number. And he did so.
"So, the lemur introduced you to this?" Shadow asked.
"Yes." Whisper responded.
"You are not very social, yet you are constantly with her." Shadow noted.
"I can say the same thing about you and Rouge."
Shadow smirked "Rouge is special!"
"So is Tangle!" the wolf also smiled.
The two immediately realized what had they just said and blushed.
"Forget what I just said!" they yelled in unison.
After this awkward event, they went back to looking for trouble. It wasn't long before Whisper noticed one.
"Hey, Shadow!" the Guardian angel whispered to the hedgehog "Look!"
Shadow pointed his binoculars at the direction he was told to. He could see some slender figure climbing the wall of one of the towers. And it didn't look like an organic being.
"This is definitely a robot!" Shadow said grimly.
"Should I shoot it down?" asked Whisper.
"No, let's question it first!"
With that Shadow and Whisper quietly came down, using the wispon in a flying mode, to the tower the robot was climbing. Soon intruder came to the top.
"Finally!" It exclaimed before seeing the two organics "Oh-ou."
" "Oh-ou" indeed!" Shadow hissed as he grabbed the robot and threw him on the rooftops.
The robot looked like skeleton and was dressed in a pirate clothing.
"Pirates." Shadow said "Blaze once told me about a gang of robot pirates that she has beaten some time ago. Apparently they are back!"
"The question is what are they doing here?" Whisper asked as she pointed her wispon at the pirate.
"You won't get anything out of me!" the pirate said, clearly trying to hide his fear.
"Oh we will!" Shadow said as she former a chaos spear. The robot was clearly getting scared, but then he smirked.
"You heroes are really overconfident, aren't you?! Just like that pompous cat princess."
"And why's that?" asked Whisper.
"Because you believe I am dumb enough to come here alone." upon saying that Whisper cried in pain as a lazer bullet grazed her biceps, causing her to drop her weapon and grab her arm. Shadow looked at Whisper, which allowed the picture to nimble get up and jump of the rooftop to one of the walls of the palace.
"I am fine! GO!" ordered the wolf, louder than usual. Shadow nodded and stared chasing the pirates.
By now the pirate and his partner were back on the streets of the city. But they weren't as fast as Shadow. He quickly caugh up to them and was about to catch them, had it not been for the crying powder that was thrown in his eyes.
"Damn!" Shadow exclaimed as he was rubbing his eyes aggressively. Once he opened his eyes again he couldn't see the pirates. The hedgehog scouted the area a few times, but it was clear that the robots were gone. Shadow once again cursed under his breath and started running back to the palace.
(Shortly...)
Shadow quickly found Gardon and approached him.
"What a good job you and your men do!" Shadow said with an obvious sarcasm in his voice.
"Excuse me?" the koala asked, surprised by the hedgehog's words.
"How could you let pirates sneak around the palace?!"
That accusation got Gardon a little angry "Mister Shadow, I assure you no pirate can get close to the palace!"
"Then I suppose the robots dressed like pirates that I almost caught were just parts of my imagination?!" Shadow asked sarcastically.
Gardon was starting to show his anger "Mister Shadow, I don't know why are you throwing these accusations around, but-"
"SIR! SIR!" Gardon was interrupted by one of the other guards "Whisper the wolf just reported that she spotted pirates around the palace. She even got hurt by them!"
Gardon was out of words. Shadow smirked and turned to the other guard "Where is Whisper now?"
"She is with the royal doctor."
"Take me to her!" Shadow ordered. He then turned to Gardon "You, tell the other guard to be extremely careful! I will be back soon!"
The koala had no other choice, but to agree "Right away, Mister Shadow!"
(Soon...)
Shadow arrived at the doctor's office and send the guard back to work. He entered to find the doctor, a yellow squirrel, bandaging Whisper's arm.
"Shadow!" the wolf exclaimed quietly upon seeing the hedgehog.
Shadow nodded and turned to the doctor "How is she?"
"Good for the most part." the doctor answered "The wound isn't deep and should heal quickly, but I suggest taking it easy for a while, Miss Whisper!"
"Will try!" the wolf said.
"Can you give us a moment?" Shadow asked the doctor.
"Of course!" the squirrel said and left the room.
Once he was gone Shadow spoke to Whisper "Are you okey?"
"I am fine." Whisper answered as she noticed Shadow's red eyes "You?"
"Yeah, the pirates threw something at my eyes."
"So they got away?"
"Sadly."
Whisper took her wispon and looked at Shadow "Then let's go back to lookout!"
"No!" Shadow said firmly "I will go back to lookout! YOU will go to bed!"
"But-" Whisper was about to protest, but Shadow interupted her.
"I can do without sleep, but you can't! You heard the doctor: let your arm heal! The pirates will probably strike during the wedding! We saw how "competent" Blaze's men are! I will need you at top form tomorrow!"
This Whisper couldn't argue with "Okey, I will go to sleep."
"Well, good night." Shadow started walking away, but stopped himself "And uam thanks...for everything."
Whisper smiled "No problem."
With that Shadow left, disappearing once again into the night.
(meanwhile, elsewhere...)
"What do you mean by "WE WERE SEEN" !?"
A robot dressed like a pirate captain threw a bottle of rum-oil at the two pirates, who had recently returned to their ship.
"I am sorry, captain," the skeleton pirate apologized, with evident fear in his voice "but how was I supposed to know that two of the heroes would snoop around?"
"By the fact that many of them are INVITED TO THE WEDDING!" the captain shouted, before calming himself down "Did you at least see if the tower has a view to the great hall?"
"Oh, yes, and it's a pretty good one."
"Good, at least it wasn't a total failure! Congratulations, Skullface, I won't kill you tonight!" with that the captain got up and walked out of the room, gesturing to his men to follow him.
"I hate when he says that." said Skullface.
"It's worse when he doesn't." the other pirate responded.
Outside, the captain was getting some big flintlock gun "I know it doesn't look like anything much, but this weapon is one of the most powerful on the market."
He then pointed the gun at a dummy that looked like Blaze, with a watermelon for a head "It will finally put an end to all of our problems, by putting an end to Princess Blaze!"
The captain then fired the gun and soon the watermelon-head exploded, spreading red juice and seeds all around the dummy.
"Hahah, and since apparently you are too incompetent to kill the cat," the captain turned to his men "I will be the one to take the shot. Just make sure I cam get close enough, understood?"
"Ay-ay, captain!" the two pirates said in unison.
"Good." the captain smiled "Tomorrow is going be a good day!"
He then started laughing with a crooked laughter. Tomorrow was indeed going to be a big day for everyone, good and bad.
(To be continued...)
(I don't own any of the characters or the locations! They all belong to SEGA! )