Disclaimer: Unless I'm mistaken, I don't own Shadow, G.U.N., the song "I Just Smile" that is mentioned, or the Thorndyke's. You wanna know what I do own? I own Melody, the legend she tells (which sounds an awful lot of Transformers Armada, I admit, but I was thinking about the season finale when I wrote it, so you can understand the similarities, right?), and the acrostic poem she reads. Yes, I made it up. And I'm proud! It took me 3 days to get it perfect! Takes a bow no one applauds.... (anime sweatdrop) YOU'RE ALL MEAN PEOPLE!
Reviewer's Replies: This section would have been blank for this chapter, as no one had reviewed when I was originally looking over it. However, I decided to wait a few more days to repost this chapter and see what would happen. It's a good thing I did, because I got 3 more reviews! That may not seem like a lot, but for me it is!
To Ryuko: Of course I replied to your review! This was really a difficult chapter for me to write, because I had to take Melody's feelings towards G.U.N. into perspective. I think I know what you mean when you say "flaws". When I posted it on the Sonic Stadium Message Boards, I was given a comment on how I showed Melody's vengeful side quite well. Thank-you for the review. I definitely will keep this story up!
To Mystica: Wow, I wasn't expecting a review from you! Thanx though, I appreciate it. (anime smilie face) Yes, I think Tanya and Melody do have a lot in common. I think they'd be pretty good friends, don't you? I hate G.U.N. as well. My younger sisters and I were trying to figure out what G.U.N. stands for before we finally decided to go on the Internet and figure it out. We had settled for Government United Nincompoops because they did the wrong things all the time. Heh heh…(anime sweatdrop)
Well, thanx again to all y'all for the reviews! I really appreciate the feedback on my story. Feel free to review again any time you like! I certainly have no objection!
Just as Melody predicted, it took Shadow only a couple of weeks to recover. Melody was too excited to sleep, even at 1:00 in the morning. She was thrilled. It wasn't just that Shadow had recovered so quickly; it was also that the next day she would get to travel with him to find his old friends. She would get to meet the famous Sonic the hedgehog and his friends! She would get the thrill of going on an adventure. She may even get some revenge on G.U.N. She was furious at them for what they had done. They had destroyed everything that she had cared for. She knew that they had killed her parents, but why did they? And why would they have burned her house? Why?
Taking another trip down memory lane, Melody got herself into another one of her depressed moods and decided to sit by the lake for the last time before her adventure. Before she left the cabin though, she opened a chest and grabbed yet another one of her treasures to bring her mind back to the past. "It's been a while," she said quietly, "but I think you're still in enough shape for at least one more song."
Shadow awoke to what at first sounded like a bird chirping in the woods. But after close observation, he realised that it wasn't a bird at all. It was an instrument. The black hedgehog looked out to see Melody sitting by the lake again. Being completely healed, Shadow knew that it wouldn't do him any harm by going outside. It wasn't raining. He had become very close friends with Melody and he knew that she wouldn't scold him the way she did a couple of weeks ago. Grabbing his shoes by the bed, he headed out the door of the cabin.
When he got outside he heard the sound a lot more clearly. Shadow figured that Melody had known how to play for at least a year, judging by the skill that she played it with. After standing and listening to the enchanting music that Melody played for a few minutes, Shadow decided to speak. "I guess you're name reflects who you are, huh?"
Melody didn't need to turn around. She wasn't the least bit surprised at the fact that Shadow was there. She just put down the flute and sighed. "I woke you up, huh?"
"What was that song that you were playing?" Shadow asked, walking up beside her and looking out at the lake. "And where did you get an instrument like that?"
"The song is called 'I Just Smile', and it's a personal favourite of mine. It's from a video game that my dad helped make. My mom gave this flute to me, saying that it had been passed down for generations form mother to daughter. No one ever played it though. No one that is, until me. I didn't understand why an instrument was made if it was never going to be played. After a while of playing it here on my own though, I realised that it was meant to be played. It was meant to play a specific tune."
"What are you talking about?" asked Shadow, turning to Melody. She didn't turn though; she just stared at the lake.
"I brought this thing to the orphanage," Melody started. "I decided to teach myself how to play it. After I had mastered how to play the notes, I figured out how to play songs that I knew from way back when. I also tried to make up songs on my own. I played these notes on my first day alone here and noticed something. Look out to the middle of the lake, toward the island."
Shadow did as he was told. Melody played a little ditty that sounded like it should have been played at the end of a song. In the centre of the lake an object started to glow. "What is that?" Shadow asked both Melody and himself.
"I think I know what it is, and I'll take you to it," Melody said getting up. "I'll get my boat, and I'll tell you an old legend my Grandma told me."
After they got into the boat, Melody started to tell Shadow her most favourite story that her Grandma had told her.
"It goes like this. There's a legend that the angels and demons had fought over who would take control over the people of Earth. The demons sought to use us humans as weapons in the war against the angels, while the angels thought that we should live in peace oblivious to the war, and struggled to direct it to another realm where they couldn't harm us.
"One angel was different from the rest though. Constantly, that angel pleaded with his leader to negotiate with the demons, ending the war and leaving everything in peace, but he never prevailed. He specialized in magic, and had an incredible talent like no one could ever imagine. He was called Neo. Neo didn't want to take part in the war, so he stayed at a magnificent palace in the heavens, concentrating his magic to take his level of experience further and further. He one day created a beautiful bracelet that had extraordinary powers. Any mortal being who was pure of heart wearing it could be or do whatever they wanted. They would simply put it on and wish. As long as their wishes weren't selfish, all of them would come true, but the first wish that must be made upon putting on the bracelet would affect their lives forever.
"The demons found out of this power through their most elite spy, Salvador, and the leader of the demons was delighted when he found out the news. Salvador was sent to steal the bracelet and give it to his leader. The elite spy decided that the best way to sneak into the palace that the bracelet was being held in was to disguise himself as an angel. Don't ask me how, but somehow, he managed it. Doing so, he easily walked right past the guards and he soon found himself staring at the bracelet. He brought it back to the leader.
"The ruler of the demons was overjoyed that he was actually in possession of the tool that would bring him to ultimate victory. He would be able to control any human and conjure up the power to bring down the angels once and for all! But his pleasure quickly changed to anger at his top spy. Salvador had not realised that there was a piece missing from the bracelet. The leader of demons ordered his top spy to go back and find the missing piece, or suffer the consequences. Salvador did as he was told.
"The top spy of the demons was confused. How could it be that a piece of the bracelet was missing? He searched and searched the chamber that the bracelet used to be in. While looking for the final piece, the top demon spy saw something in the corner of his eye and quickly turned to see an angel step toward him. Salvador knew that it was Neo, and he knew that the magical angel had what he was looking for.
"Legend has it that Neo had known of Salvador's arrival in advance, so when he created the bracelet he also created a crystal flute, made of the same magical jewel as his bracelet. Neo removed a piece of the bracelet and attached it to a necklace, thus enriching it with magical powers. He used the power of magic to transport the bracelet to one end of the planet Earth. He then did the same thing with the necklace and the flute, but they were thousands of miles apart from the bracelet. The flute and pendant, however, were transported relatively close to each other.
"Neo had made it so that the bracelet would glow when the correct tune was played on the flute, but only if the flute was with the necklace. The bracelet was like a locked treasure trove of power that needed a key in order to be accessed, the key being attached to a pendant resembling a compass that was on the other side of the planet. Although the compass and key were useful tools, they were useless in finding the treasure without the map, which would only show the way if used in the correct way itself.
"Neither Salvador nor the leader of demons had known of Neo's plan, they only knew the clouded vision of power to be in possession of the item of mass destruction that would win their war. Neo had no choice. Knowing that the war between immortals was destined to go on for all of eternity, he cast a spell to send both the angels and the demons to another realm to battle. Unfortunately, that spell that had drained all of his energy, causing him to be lost in time and space forever.
"The other angels had known about what Neo had done and decided to give the bracelet a name. They called it the battle bracelet, as it was created in the time of war, and as it's creator had predicted, would be used in a time of a battle in the distant future, when the lock and the key are reunited."
"An interesting story," Shadow said as the boat docked on the island in the middle of the lake. "But what does that have to do with here and now?"
"What do you see around my neck? What was a I playing and what happened when I played it?"
Shadow was a bit stunned. He then remembered when he was underwater and wondered. "Does that mean that the flute and necklace have some magical power also?"
"The only magical thing about the flute is that it can show me where the battle bracelet is, unless you count the sound it makes when played correctly. It can probably show me the location of other stuff too. As for the necklace, it can do something else entirely."
Shadow looked at Melody as he waited for her to continue.
"I think that if the legend is true, then this little piece only gives me a taste of the remarkable power the battle bracelet has." She took off the necklace and let it dangle in front of her face as she continued to talk. "This little thing gives me the power to change into different animals. Not big ones though, and only ones that I've seen for myself."
"So then what I saw in the water," Shadow said, mystified.
"Was me," Melody finished. "I transformed into an otter so that I could get to you quickly."
It wasn't until now that Shadow had noticed where they were. He was standing on the shore of the small island beside the boat that Melody had got, which was safely secured onto a peg sticking out of the ground. He looked around to see that it was still nighttime, and the stars surrounding him were as clear as he could ever imagine. Melody was right, Shadow thought. This place is good for stargazing.
"Look out," Melody said.
"For what?"
"Take a step to the right,"
Shadow did as he was told. Melody went to where he was standing and knelt down to the ground, her hand grazing the ground as if she was searching for something. When she found what she was looking for she took her necklace and stuck it in the ground. When she did, the necklace started to glow. So did the intriguing inscriptions on the stone panel in the ground that was virtually invisible in the dark. The stone panel emitted a low screech as it moved away from Melody and revealed a hidden stairway. Melody then removed her glowing pendant and held it in front of her like a lantern.
The crystal in the middle of the pendant started to glow even stronger so that Shadow and Melody could see clearly. "I've been here before," Melody told Shadow as they worked their way down the spiralling steps, "but I'm a bit nervous. I know now that I am the one destined to guard the battle bracelet. Something about the legend bugs me though. The legend says that there must be a wish to be made upon putting on the bracelet, and that that wish would affect the life of the guardian for all of eternity."
"I wouldn't worry," Shadow told Melody. "If you're forced to make a wish, then wish for something that you know you will want for as long as you live. Make sure it's something that you can work toward and something that you know only good can come out of. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a worthwhile wish."
"Thank you Shadow," Melody said sounding grateful. "I'll remember that."
As she said that, he remembered Maria's wish. He kept looking at the back of Melody's head and noticed the resemblance between her and Maria. How he wished he could talk to her again.
Shadow and Melody walked down the rest of the stairs and ended up in front of a stone door similar to the last, with carvings on top of it and an imprint where the door handle should have been. Melody held up her glowing pendant to see the carvings on top of the door more clearly.
"This is what the inscription says:
Engaging in flight is your wildest dream.
Trusting may be surprisingly harder than it first seems.
Encapsulated was he by the crazy one, his master,
Running from many things, always needing to go faster.
Now, you two have met, of course.
Accomplish anything and everything, with your wisdom and his force.
Losses you encounter add on to your remorse.
May you, the guardian, go through this very door.
Enter only with his help, a true friend forever more.
Leave in the morrow, when you will finally spread your wings,
On the journey to the 'Thorndyke's', where you both shall discover many things.
Death by age to you both shall never come;
You two are the chosen ones."
"What does it mean?" Shadow was mystified.
"Well, I'll tell you as much as I know," said Melody. She took out a piece of paper from her pocket, and with the magic of her necklace, made a pencil. "It'll be easier for us if we have a hard copy down here," she said. "The first part of the poem addresses us. Or rather, to the guardian of the bracelet. You see, I think that the poem was written to me specifically."
"How do you know that?" Shadow inquired.
"The first two lines. The first one says 'Engaging in flight is your wildest dream.' As a little kid, I always wanted to fly. Not in an airplane, but like Peter Pan. I wanna fly in the air with pixie dust or a pair of wings. Look at the next line: 'Trusting may be surprisingly harder than it first seems.' At school, and at the orphanage too, I thought that it would be easy to trust anyone. I was wrong, though. I learned to be wary of who I trusted with what. The next two lines describe you, Shadow. I think that you can relate to them a bit better than I can."
Shadow watched as Melody wrote down the lines on the piece of paper. She was right. They did describe him. "The crazy one", he guessed, was Dr. Robotnick. And he was "running from many things". He was running from his past, and from the truth of it.
"The last three lines of the first stanza indicate that we were meant to find each other, and that we are destined to travel together, I think," Melody said. "It's the next part that interests me. As far as I can tell, I'm supposed to go through the door in front of us, but I can't do that without your help. The only thing that I can understand from this next line is that we're supposed to leave tomorrow morning."
"But I still don't know where we're supposed to go."
"To the Thorndyke's"
"What's a Thorndyke?"
"Christopher Thorndyke is my cousin. Actually, he's only four years younger than me."
"Do you know where he lives?"
"Of course, but his place at the other end of the forest, and the journey there will take a day because the forest is so dense."
"You sure you wanna come?"
Melody looked at Shadow. She was puzzled by his words.
"I'm sure that it'll be dangerous, with Eggman still at large. Add to that, G.U.N. will more than likely be looking to capture me. I don't want you to get caught in the middle of things. Maybe you should just stay here and-"
"And miss out on all the adventure? Are you nuts? I think I'd be a lot better off traveling with you instead of being cooped up here and feeling miserable. Add to that, you don't know the way to Chris's place, which means I have no choice but to come with you and show you the way." Shadow thought of the possibility of getting Melody to make a map for him, but he knew that nothing would change her mind. She was so unaware of the dangers in the world, like a child watching TV, thinking she was immortal. He was soon shaken from his thoughts. "Come on," Melody said. "Let's see if we can if we can figure out how to open this door."
"Why not just put the necklace in that indent there?"
"Tried that already," Melody said as she did what Shadow said. "But you can see as well as I can that nothing has happened."
"Maybe you didn't push it in hard enough," Shadow said. He put his hand on top of Melody's, which made her blush. With a gentle push, the door slowly slid upwards into the ceiling.
They entered to see a white marble pillar in the middle of the room. On top of it was a pillow made of red velvet. Melody ran up to it to see exactly what was on top of the pillow. With a gasp, she stared at it with great fascination.
It was a gold bracelet with three gentle horizontal ridges engraved in it, with a shiny white metal in the shape of wings on either side of the gold. In the centre of it was a piece of blue sparkling crystal in the shape of an oval with an imprint of a heart in the middle of it. It was the same crystal that the flute was made out of, and the same crystal in the middle of her pendant. "The battle bracelet," Melody whispered.
Shadow walked beside Melody and looked at the enchanted piece of jewellery. "You're the one meant to put it on right?"
"I don't know if I'm ready, Shadow" Melody said, her voice quivering. "I, I don't think I have my wish yet."
Shadow let out an irritated sigh. "Well then why don't we just leave it to be forgotten down here? It wouldn't be a burden to either of us then, and it will save you the effort of having to think up one little wish."
"It's more than just one little wish," Melody snapped back at him as she put her necklace over top of the bracelet. The necklace then detached the heart shaped piece of crystal and the bracelet began to glow. She put her necklace back on, which felt slightly cold without the warmth of magic from the crystal. "Geese! You can really put pressure on a girl, can't you?"
"Well hurry up and put it on already, then!"
"Fine, I will!" Melody grasped the bracelet in her left hand and went into her own little world. She stared at the bracelet and thought deeply about her wish. She then decided.
As she threw the bracelet onto her right wrist, it started to glow (the bracelet, not her wrist). It then emitted a strong blinding light that surrounded Melody. She wasn't scared though. It was warm and soothing. Shadow on the other hand could only step back in surprise. He had to put an arm in front of his face to try and see, and even then he was still blinded by the strong light. When the light finally dimmed to a faint glow, Shadow opened his eyes. He was shocked at what he saw next.
The human was no longer standing in front of him. Instead was a hedgehog with shiny white fur with a faint lilac colour on the tips of her spikes. They shaped her head on the top, but the ends flipped out. She also had two other spikes (one on each side), which framed her face nicely. She also had lilac on her eyelids and around her eyes, like eye shadow. "Melody?"
Wearily, Melody opened her eyes. They were different also, Shadow noticed. They were no longer the light brown that matched her hair. They were light blue and reflected the colour of the crystal in the middle of the battle bracelet, which was safely attached to her right wrist. Her clothes were slightly different too; She was wearing a halter top with a bit of a bare back instead of a regular T-Shirt. Her sunglasses were now lilac to match the tips of her spikes.
"You wished to be hedgehog?"
"No. And before you ask, I can't tell you what I wished for. Otherwise, the bracelet will disappear," said Melody. Her voice was calm and clear, like the crystal. "Let's go back outside."
So, they walked back up to the surface, just in time to see the sunrise. Together, the two hedgehogs watched in amazement as the sun brought colourful life into the sky. In a matter of hours, they will go on their most exciting journey ever, share laughs and tears, and make great discoveries that no one can ever imagine.
Author's Note: Oh yeah! We're done all of the boring stuff that needs to get done so that the real adventure can begin! Yeah!
Ok, I confess. I may have a story line planned out, but I need some help with the settings. It can be any setting really. I need 5, and I already have 3: a planetarium, a river, and a cave. I hope I don't need to say anything else, because that would be ruining the plot line, and I don't want to spoil you. So, yeah. I need 2 more settings. You can e-mail me with ideas. Who knows, if all goes well, Yours might be in the story! And yes, you'll get the credit if you want.
Anyways, reviews much appreciated! But, aren't they always?