Disclaimer: Sonic The Hedgehog and all related characters are copyright to
SEGA.
Lemon the Echidna, Tenchi the Hedgehog and all related characters that
don't belong to SEGA belong to me, Zeldafreak-Vikki and my friend, Alyssa
the Bat!
clicks on e-mails, sees all of the reviews for the last chapter OO;; Oh...My...GOD!! faints I swear, I was ready to faint when I saw all of the positive feedback on my story! Not even one flame!! I can't believe it! I'm in total awe. So I must say... THANK YOUUUUU!!!!!! I feel so HAPPY!! I'm continuing as long as you guys keep askin' for it!!! WOOHOO!! breathes Anyway, this is the last chapter of Part 1. Part 2 is simply a time later, not a big deal, so NO WAY is it ending!
CHAPTER ELEVEN - AWAKENING
Sonic felt a pounding in his ears as he struggled to dodge Jigoku's heart-stopping attacks. If he paused even for a second, he'd find himself in pieces. Jigoku screamed in frustration, wishing this stupid clone would give up!
"ARRRGH!!! STAND STILL AND LET ME KILL YOU!!"
Jigoku's wretched voice echoed throughout the room and the sound waves reached another hedgehog's ears. Arashi's ears twitched and flickered as the sound penetrated them and sent a message to is brain, which was beginning to work again. He groaned as he began to pull himself up, leaning against a smashed up tank. He blinked, realizing there was blood on his face. Funny, he didn't remember any blood...
He looked over and all of his questions were answered. Shadow was lying in the remains of the tank, his limbs all cut open. Arashi stood up straight as his hearing returned. He saw that Sonic and Jigoku were fighting and Sonic was tiring fast. Soon enough, Jigoku would hit him. And only one hit would suffice.
Arashi's yellow eyes deepened as he analyzed the situation. He did not know how his body had been restored, nor why his usually confused thoughts had suddenly organized themselves. But he did know that nothing could stop him now.
He couldn't help but grin craftily as he closed his eyes and let his mind powers take over.
Jigoku was the first to notice that something was happening. He paused as a light bulb above him burst into pieces. Sonic jumped away from Jigoku, not wanting to be anywhere near him, and the two adversaries stared around wildly as all of the electrical instruments in the room overloaded and burst in a shower of sparks. Once everything had been broken, the room was temporarily pitch black until a light blue glow illuminated the three figures in the room. Arashi chuckled as he dissolved into small light blue particles, which whirled up into the air and began to spin faster and faster.
Sonic stared, his green eyes lit up in the dim light.
"What's going on!" he yelled over the noise of Arashi's laughing. For the first time, Jigoku looked scared.
"Oh no..." he murmured.
And that's when Arashi's spirit entered Shadow's body. Every single particle went speeding into his chest like bullets aiming for his heart. Shadow, who had already lost the will to live, cried out as his soul was taken prisoner by the older hedgehog. Both Sonic and Jigoku watched fearfully as the now pocessed Shadow stood up, his eyes still closed.
Jigoku growled, but he was shaking from head to clawed toe. Sonic slowly stepped forward, making sure not to make any sudden movements. In a soft voice, he broke the eerie silence. "Shadow?"
Shadow grinned, identical to Arashi and Sonic, and his eyes opened. Sonic stared, seeing that they were glowing yellow. He looked right at Sonic, his deadly gaze seeming to pierce the blue hedgehog. He then chuckled as he began to stiffly walk forward, all of the Chaotic power of two ARK projects weighing him down. When he spoke, it was Arashi's sorrowful tone mixed in with Shadow's broken voice. It was enough to make anyone's heart sink.
"No, Neo. Shadow's still asleep. Don't worry, he'll wake up soon enough."
Neo? Sonic watched, confused, as Arashi-Shadow walked right past him towards Jigoku. The lizard snarled as he extended his claws to their full length.
"I don't understand! Fifty years ago, you were both nothing more than emotionless rodents... Failed experiments!" he hissed, sweat beginning to run down his sharp face. Arashi bared his teeth in a horrible grin.
"And fifty years ago, you were a big ugly prototype," he retorted nastily. "We all changed. Most of us changed for the better, which is what the professor wanted... Except for you and that troublemaker..."
Troublemaker. Somehow, Sonic knew just who Arashi was talking about. In his mind, amidst the thousands of questions bouncing around, there was an image forming like a scattered puzzle. He remembered that dream he had had in Tank's Jeep. It was that echidna who had punched him. But this time, he could see it a bit more clearly. It was a male, his fur pitch black and his eyes a dangerous yellow. Sonic could see that his knuckles were almost like claws, much sharper thank Knuckles'. And it scared him.
Jigoku seemed to feel the same way. "That 'troublemaker' you speak of is locked up. There's no reason to mention him, hedgehog..."
"Oh," said Arashi almost mockingly. "But so were you. And look what happened."
Sonic's quick reflexes allowed him to notice Jigoku's eye twitch a second before he threw himself right at his new opponent. He slashed with his claws with such a force that Sonic felt a hot rush of air run through his quills. It even sent the attacker off balance. He had used up all of his energy for that one attack. The angry reptile looked to see where he had slashed and cried out in pure frustration. Arashi had side-stepped it! He now glared as Jigoku began to step back shakily, out of attacks.
"Neo," he said, his eyes still on Jigoku. "I need a Chaos Emerald."
Sonic blinked, then realized he was being spoken to. He remembered the night this had all began and over his shoulder to under his right shoulder quill, where he had hidden the Chaos Emerald that had been like a magnet for those Viper darts. He tossed it to Arashi, who used Shadow's hand to catch it. Immediately, the Chaos Emerald's inner glow seemed to intensify as Arashi activated its real power.
Jigoku began to shake his scaly head.
"No! You can't!"
Arashi and Shadow chuckled as he lifted the Chaos Emerald one-handed over his head, the light almost blinding the other projects.
"Yes I can."
And with that, an almost electrical current flowed from the Chaos Emerald and, much like water, began to surround him. Jigoku tried to slash at it but all that did was make it go faster. When it was up to his long neck, his eyes met Arashi's.
"You haven't seen the last of me, rodents!"
Arashi's eyes narrowed. "Give it a rest!"
And with that, Jigoku disappeared into thin air.
Sonic let himself fall to his knees, his whole body aching. The little blue particles exited Shadow's chest until Arashi was standing as himself again. The black hedgehog, now back in posession of his own body, collapsed to the ground, his arms, legs and head split open and still bleeding. Sonic quickly rushed over to him.
"Hey! Shadow, can you hear me?!"
Shadow opened his eyes, which had returned to normal. He nodded wearily. Sonic leaned over him, examining his wounds.
"Wait," he said. "These look like those red streaks I saw on you before!"
Shadow nodded, his eyes half-closed. "Scars," he said hoarsely. Sonic stared as the image of the echidna flashed through his memory.
"Hm," he replied, almost smiling. "I forgot that."
"There are many things you have forgotten," said Arashi, who was standing behind him. Sonic looked up at him, frowning.
"Enlighten me, why dont'cha!"
Still listening through Sonic's communicator watch, Amy, Tails, Rouge and Tank listened with awe and shock as Sonic's past was revealed to them by Arashi.
Fifty years earlier, Professor Gerald Robotnik had created six different projects. Each one was unique, each with their own power. They had been created with a special type of DNA pattern from an ancient furry race, called the Hatians. Each Hatian could have only two different emotions. The rest had to be learned. Arashi the Hedgehog's Hatian cells allowed him only two emotions: sadness and hatred.
With no sense of freedom, Arashi basically lived in the tank in the laboratory for almost a whole year until Shadow was created. But Shadow's DNA pattern was even worse. He didn't have any emotion at all. Shortly after Shadow was created, Arashi was killed by another project. He never said the name, too afraid to speak it, but Sonic had the feeling it was the work of that echidna from his nightmare.
And Arashi went on to explain that even if his body was dead, his mind was still alive. He had watched as Gerald and his colleagues had created a new DNA pattern and had rebuilt Shadow so that he was older and with actual emotion. Although Shadow was still very closed off, he would actually speak and, after befriending Maria, learn. After that "transformation", the professor had gone even farther and combined Arashi's DNA qualities with other sorts of Hatian cells, which resulted in a clone, codenamed Neo.
Known today as Sonic the Hedgehog.
Sonic stared as Arashi finished his explanation. Shadow lay behind him, only half-listening. The two of them were plunged into a deep silence as their brains processed all of the information. Now Sonic knew where he had come from. And Shadow... he remembered who he was.
Over the intercom, Tails grinned.
"I knew it!"
After the three hedgehogs were Chaos Controlled back to Tank's basement, Rouge immediately began to fuss over Shadow, who simply rolled his eyes and let himself be taken back to the infirmary, the last place he wanted to end up. Oh well.
As for Arashi, he accepted Sonic's offer and moved in with them in the city. Over time, the old hedgehog became accustomed to the ways of the present and Sonic began to regard him as a father-figure, which was almost accurate. He even called him "Dad". Amy continued to follow Sonic around until he finally agreed to let her move in with him. Now all he had to do was somehow confront her and tell her how he felt. But that wasn't going to be easy.
Tails decided to move in with the fishermen who had saved Shadow. And, more specifically, he wanted to get to know Vixy better, as they both had alot in common. And him and Tank could work somemore on robotics. Sonic was happy to see his little buddy take his own path for once, even though he had to admit he missed him.
As for Shadow himself, once his scars healed up, he finally left Rouge's infirmary and moved in with Sonic, Arashi and Amy. And even though he was back to normal, and Sonic and Amy tried over and over to get him to open up, Shadow remained distant except for the occasional fight with Sonic.
It was as if half of his heart was missing. No, all of it. He felt as if he'd never be happy again until that island - and the person whom he wanted to see the most - came back. But he knew at the same time, that would probably never happen.
Author's Note: Alrighty, that's the end of Part 1!!!! YAY!!! Part 2 will take place a year later, which is gonna be fun to write, let me tell ya! I'll try to be quick with the first chapter of that. Until then, see ya!
clicks on e-mails, sees all of the reviews for the last chapter OO;; Oh...My...GOD!! faints I swear, I was ready to faint when I saw all of the positive feedback on my story! Not even one flame!! I can't believe it! I'm in total awe. So I must say... THANK YOUUUUU!!!!!! I feel so HAPPY!! I'm continuing as long as you guys keep askin' for it!!! WOOHOO!! breathes Anyway, this is the last chapter of Part 1. Part 2 is simply a time later, not a big deal, so NO WAY is it ending!
CHAPTER ELEVEN - AWAKENING
Sonic felt a pounding in his ears as he struggled to dodge Jigoku's heart-stopping attacks. If he paused even for a second, he'd find himself in pieces. Jigoku screamed in frustration, wishing this stupid clone would give up!
"ARRRGH!!! STAND STILL AND LET ME KILL YOU!!"
Jigoku's wretched voice echoed throughout the room and the sound waves reached another hedgehog's ears. Arashi's ears twitched and flickered as the sound penetrated them and sent a message to is brain, which was beginning to work again. He groaned as he began to pull himself up, leaning against a smashed up tank. He blinked, realizing there was blood on his face. Funny, he didn't remember any blood...
He looked over and all of his questions were answered. Shadow was lying in the remains of the tank, his limbs all cut open. Arashi stood up straight as his hearing returned. He saw that Sonic and Jigoku were fighting and Sonic was tiring fast. Soon enough, Jigoku would hit him. And only one hit would suffice.
Arashi's yellow eyes deepened as he analyzed the situation. He did not know how his body had been restored, nor why his usually confused thoughts had suddenly organized themselves. But he did know that nothing could stop him now.
He couldn't help but grin craftily as he closed his eyes and let his mind powers take over.
Jigoku was the first to notice that something was happening. He paused as a light bulb above him burst into pieces. Sonic jumped away from Jigoku, not wanting to be anywhere near him, and the two adversaries stared around wildly as all of the electrical instruments in the room overloaded and burst in a shower of sparks. Once everything had been broken, the room was temporarily pitch black until a light blue glow illuminated the three figures in the room. Arashi chuckled as he dissolved into small light blue particles, which whirled up into the air and began to spin faster and faster.
Sonic stared, his green eyes lit up in the dim light.
"What's going on!" he yelled over the noise of Arashi's laughing. For the first time, Jigoku looked scared.
"Oh no..." he murmured.
And that's when Arashi's spirit entered Shadow's body. Every single particle went speeding into his chest like bullets aiming for his heart. Shadow, who had already lost the will to live, cried out as his soul was taken prisoner by the older hedgehog. Both Sonic and Jigoku watched fearfully as the now pocessed Shadow stood up, his eyes still closed.
Jigoku growled, but he was shaking from head to clawed toe. Sonic slowly stepped forward, making sure not to make any sudden movements. In a soft voice, he broke the eerie silence. "Shadow?"
Shadow grinned, identical to Arashi and Sonic, and his eyes opened. Sonic stared, seeing that they were glowing yellow. He looked right at Sonic, his deadly gaze seeming to pierce the blue hedgehog. He then chuckled as he began to stiffly walk forward, all of the Chaotic power of two ARK projects weighing him down. When he spoke, it was Arashi's sorrowful tone mixed in with Shadow's broken voice. It was enough to make anyone's heart sink.
"No, Neo. Shadow's still asleep. Don't worry, he'll wake up soon enough."
Neo? Sonic watched, confused, as Arashi-Shadow walked right past him towards Jigoku. The lizard snarled as he extended his claws to their full length.
"I don't understand! Fifty years ago, you were both nothing more than emotionless rodents... Failed experiments!" he hissed, sweat beginning to run down his sharp face. Arashi bared his teeth in a horrible grin.
"And fifty years ago, you were a big ugly prototype," he retorted nastily. "We all changed. Most of us changed for the better, which is what the professor wanted... Except for you and that troublemaker..."
Troublemaker. Somehow, Sonic knew just who Arashi was talking about. In his mind, amidst the thousands of questions bouncing around, there was an image forming like a scattered puzzle. He remembered that dream he had had in Tank's Jeep. It was that echidna who had punched him. But this time, he could see it a bit more clearly. It was a male, his fur pitch black and his eyes a dangerous yellow. Sonic could see that his knuckles were almost like claws, much sharper thank Knuckles'. And it scared him.
Jigoku seemed to feel the same way. "That 'troublemaker' you speak of is locked up. There's no reason to mention him, hedgehog..."
"Oh," said Arashi almost mockingly. "But so were you. And look what happened."
Sonic's quick reflexes allowed him to notice Jigoku's eye twitch a second before he threw himself right at his new opponent. He slashed with his claws with such a force that Sonic felt a hot rush of air run through his quills. It even sent the attacker off balance. He had used up all of his energy for that one attack. The angry reptile looked to see where he had slashed and cried out in pure frustration. Arashi had side-stepped it! He now glared as Jigoku began to step back shakily, out of attacks.
"Neo," he said, his eyes still on Jigoku. "I need a Chaos Emerald."
Sonic blinked, then realized he was being spoken to. He remembered the night this had all began and over his shoulder to under his right shoulder quill, where he had hidden the Chaos Emerald that had been like a magnet for those Viper darts. He tossed it to Arashi, who used Shadow's hand to catch it. Immediately, the Chaos Emerald's inner glow seemed to intensify as Arashi activated its real power.
Jigoku began to shake his scaly head.
"No! You can't!"
Arashi and Shadow chuckled as he lifted the Chaos Emerald one-handed over his head, the light almost blinding the other projects.
"Yes I can."
And with that, an almost electrical current flowed from the Chaos Emerald and, much like water, began to surround him. Jigoku tried to slash at it but all that did was make it go faster. When it was up to his long neck, his eyes met Arashi's.
"You haven't seen the last of me, rodents!"
Arashi's eyes narrowed. "Give it a rest!"
And with that, Jigoku disappeared into thin air.
Sonic let himself fall to his knees, his whole body aching. The little blue particles exited Shadow's chest until Arashi was standing as himself again. The black hedgehog, now back in posession of his own body, collapsed to the ground, his arms, legs and head split open and still bleeding. Sonic quickly rushed over to him.
"Hey! Shadow, can you hear me?!"
Shadow opened his eyes, which had returned to normal. He nodded wearily. Sonic leaned over him, examining his wounds.
"Wait," he said. "These look like those red streaks I saw on you before!"
Shadow nodded, his eyes half-closed. "Scars," he said hoarsely. Sonic stared as the image of the echidna flashed through his memory.
"Hm," he replied, almost smiling. "I forgot that."
"There are many things you have forgotten," said Arashi, who was standing behind him. Sonic looked up at him, frowning.
"Enlighten me, why dont'cha!"
Still listening through Sonic's communicator watch, Amy, Tails, Rouge and Tank listened with awe and shock as Sonic's past was revealed to them by Arashi.
Fifty years earlier, Professor Gerald Robotnik had created six different projects. Each one was unique, each with their own power. They had been created with a special type of DNA pattern from an ancient furry race, called the Hatians. Each Hatian could have only two different emotions. The rest had to be learned. Arashi the Hedgehog's Hatian cells allowed him only two emotions: sadness and hatred.
With no sense of freedom, Arashi basically lived in the tank in the laboratory for almost a whole year until Shadow was created. But Shadow's DNA pattern was even worse. He didn't have any emotion at all. Shortly after Shadow was created, Arashi was killed by another project. He never said the name, too afraid to speak it, but Sonic had the feeling it was the work of that echidna from his nightmare.
And Arashi went on to explain that even if his body was dead, his mind was still alive. He had watched as Gerald and his colleagues had created a new DNA pattern and had rebuilt Shadow so that he was older and with actual emotion. Although Shadow was still very closed off, he would actually speak and, after befriending Maria, learn. After that "transformation", the professor had gone even farther and combined Arashi's DNA qualities with other sorts of Hatian cells, which resulted in a clone, codenamed Neo.
Known today as Sonic the Hedgehog.
Sonic stared as Arashi finished his explanation. Shadow lay behind him, only half-listening. The two of them were plunged into a deep silence as their brains processed all of the information. Now Sonic knew where he had come from. And Shadow... he remembered who he was.
Over the intercom, Tails grinned.
"I knew it!"
After the three hedgehogs were Chaos Controlled back to Tank's basement, Rouge immediately began to fuss over Shadow, who simply rolled his eyes and let himself be taken back to the infirmary, the last place he wanted to end up. Oh well.
As for Arashi, he accepted Sonic's offer and moved in with them in the city. Over time, the old hedgehog became accustomed to the ways of the present and Sonic began to regard him as a father-figure, which was almost accurate. He even called him "Dad". Amy continued to follow Sonic around until he finally agreed to let her move in with him. Now all he had to do was somehow confront her and tell her how he felt. But that wasn't going to be easy.
Tails decided to move in with the fishermen who had saved Shadow. And, more specifically, he wanted to get to know Vixy better, as they both had alot in common. And him and Tank could work somemore on robotics. Sonic was happy to see his little buddy take his own path for once, even though he had to admit he missed him.
As for Shadow himself, once his scars healed up, he finally left Rouge's infirmary and moved in with Sonic, Arashi and Amy. And even though he was back to normal, and Sonic and Amy tried over and over to get him to open up, Shadow remained distant except for the occasional fight with Sonic.
It was as if half of his heart was missing. No, all of it. He felt as if he'd never be happy again until that island - and the person whom he wanted to see the most - came back. But he knew at the same time, that would probably never happen.
Author's Note: Alrighty, that's the end of Part 1!!!! YAY!!! Part 2 will take place a year later, which is gonna be fun to write, let me tell ya! I'll try to be quick with the first chapter of that. Until then, see ya!