This is a fanfiction, and as such, most of the characters in the story are not mine. Most characters are © Sega, and are not used with permission.
Chapter 2: Life in Captivity
Rouge was flying as fast as she could towards the south mountains. Bunnie wanted to come too, but Rouge had shrugged her off saying it would be too dangerous, and that she couldn't fly with the extra weight. After a brief and rude comment from Bunnie about being rather "heavy" herself, Rouge was off.
Bunnie ran out to get Sally and tell her what happened. Eventually a party was gathered to go to the floating island, including Bunnie, Geoffrey, Amy and Tails, the only one outside of Shadow and Rouge to actually see the island.
Rouge was making good time to the mountains, but morning would have already arisen by the time she got there.
Back at the floating island, Tikal had brought Shadow to a small house halfway between the center of the town and the outer limit. Although it was still pretty dark, morning was fast approaching and after his recent meeting with the elders, Shadow wasn't ready for any sleep.
"You can stay here."
"For how long?"
"How ever long you want. If you don't like it, we can find another place for you."
Shadow was still unpleased and sarcastically added, "How about my old pad at Knothole?"
"If you are trying to joke about this, I'm not amused; and even so, I can't let you return."
"And what's to stop me from trying to split on my own?"
"If you think you could survive the drop you could simply walk over the edge, but don't count on your Chaos Control to help you. Up here, it has been neutralized by the Master Emerald."
"Well that's just great." Shadow had to try; summoning his strength, he tried to call forth the power. "Chaos Control!"
Nothing happened.
"Satisfied?"
"Absolutely not. I don't like being held captive and drained of my power, even though it wasn't really mine in the first place."
"Just calm down, there will come a resolution to this eventually, since you are to destroy us, after all."
"Tikal, why do they believe this vision of your so much? Do you really believe that I would destroy you for no reason? Up until now, I never even knew you."
"They have full faith in the Master Emerald and the power of forbidden sight that I have been granted."
"If they trust your vision so much, then why do they think that they can stop it?"
"All visions of the future are warnings of things to come, so some will believe that it is something to avoid. I do not believe this to be the case. Many will say you are brought here so we can keep an eye on you, to stop you from destroying us, but I brought you here so that you could complete your task."
"You want me to destroy you?"
"No, I would very much wish that you didn't; but this is not what I want, this is what is. Get some rest, we'll talk in the morning, which comes very soon."
"I don't think I'll be able to get any sleep around here, this place gives me the creeps."
It was less than two hours later when Tikal approached the house that Shadow was in. She entered it like she owned the place and moved to the bedroom where she found Shadow lying down on the soft mattress.
"Shadow?"
The form had started to budge, and slowly rose from the soft bed. "Morning already?"
"We're getting ready for breakfast, and I'm here to escort you."
"I could go for a bite to eat."
Shadow got out of the bed and stretched a bit.
"You seem much more calm than yesterday."
"Considering how you dragged me up here against my will and those elders telling me that I couldn't leave, I couldn't help but be a little unappreciative."
"But you will still try to escape."
"Of course. But until I have a plan, I might as well enjoy myself until your ultimate demise."
En route to the gallery, which could be likened to a shopping mall, Shadow and Tikal had a run in with one particularly annoying resident of the floating island.
"Enjoying yourself, hedgehog."
Shadow didn't even bother to turn to face the rube. "Hello, Red. My, I really wasn't expecting to run into you up here."
"Can your tongue, just remember that I'm keeping both my eyes on you."
"I'd keep my eyes on the ground and the sky if I were you, this is not a safe place, with or without me."
Knuckles chuckled. "If you're referring to that blimp and his mechanical circus, he's of little concern to us. We'll deal with him like we deal with anyone else who dares us."
Shadow jokingly compared his threat on Robotnik to the way they were treating him. "You'll invite him up for tea and crumpets?"
Knuckles only frowned at the answer, giving Shadow a chance to goad him a bit more.
"Oh, I get it. English food, you'll poison him! That's brilliant, I wish I had thought of it."
Knuckles walked right up to Shadow. "Listen here you punk, if it were up to me, I'd crush your bones into paste."
"Well, I don't think it's up to you. Is it?"
"Don't push me, otherwise I might just ignore what the elders want." With that, Knuckles gave a tough nudge to Shadow's chest.
Shadow wasn't pleased and brought his left fist back for a punch, Knuckles saw it and was about to avoid when Shadow's clenched fingers started to burn. Enveloped in a green bolt, Shadow's fist shot forward faster than he could run, and gave Knuckles a sweet surprise, tossing him back several metres like he had a glass jaw.
"What in the blazes?" Shadow looked at his left hand and the green flame was simmering down and disappeared.
"Just as the Master Emerald can seal your Chaos Control, it can also relinquish it, if it so chooses."
Shadow smirked. "Well, Red, I guess that's 2-1 for me so far. See you at breakfast."
After breakfast, Shadow and Tikal were walking back to the house that was loaned to the black one.
"That wasn't bad. So what's with desert?"
Tikal didn't shift her attention to the covered bowl in her hands. "It's for a friend of mine who didn't come for breakfast."
"Is he sick?"
"She's been tied up for the last little bit, and hasn't had a chance to get anything to eat."
"So, what is there to do to pass the time around here?"
"When you're not plotting your escape?"
"Something like that, I mean plotting can wear you out after a while."
"I admit there isn't a lot to do up here, but if you wish, I'm sure some of the girls around here would be willing to keep you company at night, including myself."
Shadow almost collapsed in shock at hearing that, especially from this rather reserved and sombre girl. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?! No offence, but considering how 'holier-than-thou' everyone is up here, I definitely would not think this place would be so… so liberal."
"Do not confuse my message, this is not a haven for perversion or depravity."
"It just seems so odd. This whole place feels like one big monastery, sex is not something that I would even think about would happen here."
"Of course it does, but it is mostly for procreation, not recreation. There have been others who have come to this island to claim the Master Emerald; and once, our people were almost wiped out. After that, restoring our numbers became very important so monogamy and sexual inhibition were pretty much ignored. But as I said, this is not a place of perversion, though not expressly forbidden, things like homosexuality and other activities not related to procreation are generally avoided."
"O.K. No orgies; got it."
The two arrived at Shadow's new home.
"You are still thinking about that girl you were with, the bat?"
"Rouge, yeah, but a lot more than that."
"Come on." Tikal headed for Shadow's bedroom.
"Holy cow, you people have got be total horn dogs, it's still the middle of the morning."
Shadow entered the room, not knowing what to expect, and certainly not what he got. Lying on the bed was the form of a person tightly bound in rope with a gag and blindfold.
"Rouge?!"
Shadow ran over and started to unbind his girlfriend.
"You jackasses! Take this!"
Shadow's kindness was responded with a fist to his face.
Rouge had finished freeing herself from bondage and looked at the jackass she clomped. "Shadow?!"
"This is why I don't do charity work."
"Are you alright? I'm so sorry."
Shadow slowly got up and sat on the bed. "Yeah. How did you get here?"
"I came looking for you; I figured that bitch brought you here to some horrible fate, so I came to rescue you. But their guards saw me coming and caught me. Next thing I know, I'm tied up and left here. Where is here?"
"My new house apparently. Of course, 'prison cell' would be a more appropriate title than 'home' under the circumstances."
Tikal stepped forward. "Here you go, some breakfast."
Shadow slapped his forehead. "'Tied up' I get it now."
Rouge was not too happy, and even more annoyed to see a smile on Shadow's face in spite of the situation. "What's got you so happy?"
"Tikal has a vicious sense of humor if you pay attention."
"She abducts you, and you're happy?!"
"I'll explain later, just eat your breakfast."
Tikal left Shadow and Rouge to be alone in the house. After Rouge had finished breakfast, she tossed the bowl to the floor and laid down on the bed with Shadow to her right. Both had their arms folded around the back of the heads and were looking at the pure white ceiling.
"So, what are you thinking about?"
"How to bust out of here."
Rouge turned her head to her right. "Why aren't you upset about all this? You seem calm enough."
"Because getting angry won't get me out of here, besides, I think it really bothers that moron, Knuckles if I act like I enjoy this."
"So, do all of these weirdoes have powers like him, the two who jumped me sure seemed to."
"I'm guessing they do, though they're probably not all fighters."
"So, how long do they plan on keeping us here? As if the answer wasn't forever."
"You could probably leave if you wanted to, but as for me, probably when everyone here is dead."
"They sure seem determined."
"It's not quite what you think."
