Their eyes tore away from each other quickly, before they cleared their throats in unison.
Suddenly a quick shadow caught Knuckles' eye in the distance, passing some bushes.
"Huh?" he said attentively.
The shadow appeared again, this time on a cliff.
"Who's there?" Knuckles yelled to the shadow. It jumped down in front of Knuckles and Rouge.
Rouge's eyes widened in panic. "S-shadow…!" she realized who it was.
"…Shadow…?" Knuckles said slowly. "But…I thought – didn't you die?"
Shadow smirked. "Enough small talk, knucklehead. Rouge – I think you have something to tell Knuckles, here," he turned to Rouge with an amused grin.
She backed away a little. "W-what do you mean…?" she asked, trying to sound calm but failing.
Knuckles turned to her suspiciously. "…Rouge…do you want to tell me something…?" he coaxed.
Rouge gulped loudly and pulled on her collar a little. "Uh…no," she said quietly.
Knuckles shoved his face in front of hers, so their noses were touching. "Rouge," he repeated more firmly.
Rouge looked away a little sadly, and Shadow stepped in between them.
"Well, if you're not going to tell him, I will," Shadow said before glancing at Knuckles. "Bat girl used you," he said simply. "She lead you to us so we could finally get rid of you. She had to pretend that she loved you," he rolled his eyes in disgust.
"What?!" Knuckles' eyes widened. "Rouge – how could you? After all we went through, and…that means when you kissed me – "
"Ha!" Shadow was highly amused. "She kissed you? Isn't that going a little too far there, bat girl? You were supposed to pretend to love him, remember? Pretend!"
Rouge couldn't hold back anymore. She charged toward Shadow and kicked him hard in the stomach before flipping him over on his back. He struggled to stand up to make a move, but she didn't allow it. Rouge picked him up roughly in her hands and glided quickly toward a mountain. He got shoved into the mountain before a huge boulder hit his head that had been on the top of the mountain the whole time.
Rouge breathed through clenched teeth, sweat pouring down her head. Shadow started to shake a little before a bright light surrounded him.
Knuckles and Rouge were forced to shield their faces and look away.
"I was afraid this would happen," Shadow spoke in a low tone from his spot at the bottom of the mountain, surrounded by blood and rock particles. "I brought the 7 Chaos Emeralds with me just in case anyone was actually foolish enough to fight back."
Rouge and Knuckles looked at him. He was no longer Shadow – he had turned a creamy-white colour and was glowing. He was Hyper Shadow.
"You're foolish Rouge. Very foolish. Working for Eggman had lots of possibilities – but you blew it. You ruined everything. You avoided your job. We do not allow that…you will pay," Hyper Shadow stood up and looked at her, full of hatred and anger. "You will PAY!" he charged toward her at an incredible speed and knocked her over with ease.
"Aah!" Rouge went flying into a wall. Knuckles ran to her side and pulled her up.
"Why are you helping me?" Rouge looked into his eyes.
"Because no matter how low you acted – you need help right now, and I know deep down…you're really not that bad," Knuckles said, also looking into her eyes. He loosened his grip on her hand.
Knuckles had a tough exterior, but he had a big heart no matter what anybody thought. He tried his hardest to hide that to the world, but Rouge found his warm heart through his cold, angry exterior. Rouge was the one to set Knuckles free. The real Knuckles. The caring Knuckles.
Rouge tilted her head slightly and smiled warmly. "Thank you," she whispered happily.
"For what?" Knuckles asked, ignoring the fact they were still holding hands.
"For everything," Rouge said quietly as she smiled before hugging him tightly. She didn't care what anyone thought anymore.
Knuckles, although surprised, slowly gave in. A warm smile appeared on his face. "You're…welcome," he whispered, hugging her back.
Unbeknownst to Rouge or Knuckles, Hyper Shadow had been charging up for an attack during their moment.
The ground started to rumble violently. Rouge and Knuckles tore away from each other and looked at Hyper Shadow questioningly.
The ground started to break off into various pieces as Hyper Shadow charged toward Knuckles. Cold water poured over the ground that broke away and turned it to ice.
Knuckles noticed Hyper Shadow and easily dodged his charge. Growling, Hyper Shadow tried again only to fail. "Knuckles…don't do this. You're just hurting yourself even more, along with your little girlfriend," Hyper Shadow growled.
Knuckles glared at Hyper Shadow before yelling over at Rouge. "Rouge – give me your Master Emerald pieces!"
Rouge looked at him questioningly before noticing his urgent and angry expression. "Okay…?" she said as she tossed them to him.
He took out his pieces also, and all of the pieces combined. The Master Emerald was suddenly full size in front of them all. Knuckles closed his eyes and everything around him turned black. The Master Emerald started spinning around in a circle before circling Knuckles, himself.
It soon started to move so quickly it appeared as a blur to everyone else. The Master Emerald disappeared, and a bright light flashed. When the light was gone, they noticed Knuckles had turned a light pink colour. Knuckles had transformed into Hyper Knuckles!
Hyper Shadow waved toward himself. "Bring it on!" he challenged.
Hyper Knuckles smirked a little before tossing Rouge the Master Emerald. "Rouge – turn Hyper!"
Rouge looked at him as if he was crazy. "But…I can't!"
"Yes you can! The Master Emerald has," Hyper Knuckles struggled as he flipped Hyper Shadow over his back before kicking his head into the ground, "special powers – remember?"
"Well…" Rouge looked at the Master Emerald reluctantly; "here goes nothing!"
The Master Emerald started to spin, like it had for Knuckles, before spinning around Rouge, herself. A bright light surrounded Rouge. When the light was gone, Rouge noticed she had turned a light purple colour and her flipped hair was flipped upwards. She stretched out her right foot and curved her hands at her side before giggling. "This isn't too bad!" She also wore a new costume that was purple (her costume in Sonic Heroes).
"Rouge – a little help over here!" Hyper Knuckles said as he kicked Hyper Shadow off of him and glided toward a wall. An earthquake shook Hyper Shadow and Hyper Rouge to the ground.
Hyper Knuckles helped Hyper Rouge up again, and this time she just smiled.
"Let's both collect 50 rings and then combine them. Maybe we'll be able to defeat Hyper Shadow then," Hyper Rouge grinned as she dashed off and collected 50 rings. Knuckles nodded and also collected 50 rings.
They met back at where they had been and their rings magically combined. Two bombs appeared where the rings had been. Rouge and Knuckles grinned wickedly at each other before tossing the bombs at Hyper Shadow.
Hyper Shadow yelled in pain as smoke covered the area. When the smoke cleared, Hyper Shadow had turned back into Shadow, and Shadow was lying on the ground.
Hyper Rouge and Hyper Knuckles high-fived each other before closing their eyes. A light surrounded them, and when it was gone, they were both in their normal forms.
Rouge looked down at herself, "Ooh," she whined, "just when I was getting used to that costume," she giggled slightly before winking at Knuckles. Knuckles just chuckled.
They both approached Shadow cautiously, and Rouge extended her hand to him. "Shadow? Can we trust you now?"
Shadow allowed her to help him up and once he was on his feet he blinked a few times before rubbing the back of his head. "…W-what just happened?" he asked weakly.
"We kicked your butts in our Hyper forms," Knuckles said playfully.
Shadow opened his mouth to say something but ended up swaying back and forth instead. Rouge and Knuckles helped him on either side to stand up steadily.
"Hey, you okay?" Rouge asked him in concern.
Shadow smirked slightly while still obtaining his weak appearance and attitude. "Of course I'm okay. I'm the Ultimate Lifeform, aren't I?"
Rouge smiled warmly at him. "Looks like the real Shadow's back. Our fighting must have broken away your outer 'no feelings' shell."
Knuckles arched an eyebrow at her. "Huh?"
Rouge giggled. "It all started when Eggman called me on my cell phone…" Rouge began to explain.
~
I apologize for not having this chapter up sooner. Many of you expressed your concerns as to what was happening with this story - but don't worry, I'm still writing it. ^_^
Please don't forget to review!