Disclaimer: Sonic The Hedgehog and all related characters are copyright to SEGA. Athair the Echidna was originally copyright to Sonic Archie Comics and Sonic Underground. I changed him a lot, but they still get credit. 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!
Well, Void99, I'll admit I really get worried when people complain about my story and yeah, Shad was upset. He'll get bothered about how stupid he's been and he's got even worse problems to deal with the "troublemaker" and the blonde lady, whom I'm revealing since it's obvious at this point. Add hiding himself from Lemon to the mix and he's in for one heck of a time! I'll just have to write this chapter in attempt to not receive any complaints from you. That can be my little goal (and don't worry, I don't think you're a jerk). ;)
Note: I changed things from SA2 a little bit, as you'll see. Everyone's got their own version of how that night on the ARK happened, and here's mine.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - DOUBLE TROUBLE
Matt Haruna had never questioned his boss's methods. Nobody ever disagreed with Gerald Robotnik. After all, he was the one who had created the Eclipse Cannon and Artificial Chaos. More importantly, he had created the Ultimate Life Form.
Matt knew he had sacrificed a great deal to create them. Six life forms, all different. Professor Gerald said that each one had a Chaos Emerald and when all of them were in one place, each with their Chaos Emeralds in hand, they would come together as one and be the Ultimate Life Form.
However, young Haruna noticed that Professor Gerald had only created six life forms. He knew for a fact there were seven Chaos Emeralds and pointed this out to the old man, who chuckled at the kid's curiosity.
"Yes, I know," replied Professor Gerald. "The seventh is a human I imbued with Hatian Cells."
Matt's eyes widened in shock. Hatian Cells were the cells found in the other life forms, which gave them a longer life span and made them almost impossible to kill. But giving it to a human was a dangerous thing. One of their scientists, Jeremy, had died a year before just from being exposed to them. Matt wondered who would be strong enough to hold Hatian Cells in their blood when his question was answered.
"It's my granddaughter."
"You've got to be kidding me," replied Matt.
Gerald shook his head as he looked out the window, gazing at the planet Earth.
"Do you remember when we first created Shadow?" he asked. Matt nodded as he came up next to his boss.
"Yeah, I remember. Poor guy's skin was all burnt after we added the Hatian Cells and ended up killing Jeremy."
"Remember who helped him?" pressed the professor, a grin appearing on his face.
Matt exhaled in shock as he remembered the young girl rushing to the injured hedgehog. "Maria... God, why didn't I notice it before!"
Gerald chuckled. "Exactly. No one would've figured it out. And she'll live to be well over one hundred years old, just like the projects."
Matt was about to ask another question when a violent tremor ran through the whole colony, knocking him off of his feet. The Professor gripped a railing by the window and looked out in time to see a space ship with a familiar logo on the wings docking at their gates.
"Oh no," he mumbled. "G.U.N!"
At the same time, Maria yelped as she began to fall off of her bed. Lucky for her, a black and red hedgehog caught her just in time, letting her down lightly on the floor.
"Oh!" She looked to Shadow. "What was that?!"
Shadow glared sharply out the window and Maria saw his pupils get very small.
"Oh no, it's the military!" They listened as the ship docked, then looked to each-other and nodded, knowing what they must do. Maria's grandfather had warned them to run for the escape pods if the military ever came. Shadow knew that they would raid the colony and it was up to him to protect his best friend, no matter what.
"Let's go!" He grabbed her hand and they both began to run down the long hallway just as the alarms went off and red lights flashed on and off. On either side of them, scientists were running to the laboratories, not noticing the two little panicked figures racing past them. They had almost made it to the escape pods when they saw that the raiders were blocking the entrance.
"There's one! With that kid!"
"Shoot him!"
Shadow clenched his teeth as he came to a halt, the military's guards a few yards away, aiming for him. He whipped his head around, looking for an exit as the alarm blared over their head. Maria, realizing there was no way out, shut her eyes and waited for impact. Shadow, not knowing what else to do, pulled Maria down and stood before her like a shield. "No, Shadow, you ca-AAHHH!!" She screamed as she heard the guns shoot and plugged her ears, the gunshots piercing her heart. But the bullets never came.
All of the soldiers lowered their guns in shock. The strange black hedgehog stood before them, panting from the five bullets he had taken to the chest. Maria stared in shock as Shadow stepped towards them threateningly. The soldiers paused, then dropped their guns and ran away. Shadow managed a little grin right before he began to fall back, completely winded.
Returning the favour from before, Maria caught him and pulled him up by under his arms.
"Shadow, are you ok?!" she cried, panicked. Shadow opened his eyes and began to stand on his own, not taking much notice of the blood staining the once white tuft of fur on his chest. "I'm alright," he rasped. To prove this, he tried to stand up straight but ended up choking on some blood and collapsing. Maria caught him and felt herself shake in fear for her friend.
"It's ok, we're almost there!" she said. She threw open the door and came to a small and very dark room. Shutting it behind her, she rushed for the next set of doors, which would lead to the room with the escape pods. She was just reaching for the door-handle when it turned on its own. She gasped and jumped back as the door swung open, hitting the opposing wall so hard that the alarm speaker fell and hit the ground, causing the room to go dead silent.
Standing before the two friends was a black echidna. His yellow eyes glowed in the darkness of the room and the faint red light surrounding him from the room beyond made him even more threatening. Maria stepped back in fear, hugging Shadow closer, who at this point was only half-conscious. The echidna began to step towards her, each step echoing louder in her ears. Shadow opened his eyes in time to see a giant spiked fist come down at them with the strength of the BioLizard.
'Protect-Maria!' ordered his numb mind. In reply, the dying hedgehog threw himself from Maria's grasp in a jump to meet the fist, which hit him right in the skull, cracking it deeply and obscuring his memory forever. He was already knocked out when he went flying into Maria, who was knocked back and hit her own head against the wall, unconscious but luckily unscathed. The echidna, now frustrated and deeply angered, was about to finish them both off when he heard voices coming. It was the soldiers with their guns. The echidna snarled to his enemy and then ran, his life more important than ending theirs.
The soldiers found the professor's granddaughter lying in a pool of blood next to a dangerous-looking project and assumed "it" had killed her and they laid her body with the other casualties, taking the project to be used by Station Square's Government Base.
Matt Haruna watched as Shadow was dragged away, along with the echidna, who had been captured shortly after his attack on Maria. Once the coast was clear, the young scientist ran out to Maria and fell to his knees beside her, lifting up her head and torso gently and hugging her close, breaking down into tears.
"Oh no," he sobbed, unable to contain himself any longer. "This is all my fault. I should've been there to protect you! I should never have agreed to this! I'm sorry, Maria!"
"Sorry for what?"
Matt's eyes widened and he pulled back in surprise. Maria blinked up at him, dazed and confused. Her cloudy blue eyes began to clear as she sat up on her own, looking to Matt in worry. Why was he crying?
"M-Maria," he said shakily, wiping his tears away. "Thank God! I thought you were dead! What happened?!"
Maria felt her heart squeeze as she remembered. "Well..."
The blonde woman screamed in rage and brought her fists down on the boulder, which cracked even more. She panted as her anger died down and leaned her forehead against the boulder, tears falling down her cheeks. Thanks to the Hatian Cells running through her blood, her strength was twice that of a normal human. And it only made her feel worse.
"Maria," called a voice.
She turned to see an old man walking towards her. It was Matt, a gentle smile on his face. He came to her and gently pulled her away from the boulder.
"Come, now, Maria, it wasn't your fault," he said, trying to comfort her.
Maria shook her head, wiping away a tear. "Yes, it is! I'm the one who released that monster from G.U.N! I'm the one who didn't die! It's all my fault!" She covered her face, her shoulders hunched. "I-I don't know what's doing this to me... Something's calling... A voice... It's telling me to bring them all together..."
Matt nodded, putting an arm around her. "It's the calling of the Ultimate Life Form. It must rise like your grandfather wanted."
Maria nodded, but deep down inside, she knew what she was doing could never be the right thing.
Shadow opened his eyes but quickly shut them again, the light feeling like a gigantic sword piercing his head. After a few minutes, his eyelids had stopped hurting and he dared to open his eyes. He could tell from the window beside him that it was already morning. He sat up shakily, his head hurting so much it made him feel sick. Even though his vision was a little blurry, he could tell he was back in his room. He winced as his headache pounded like an iron hammer on stone and bent over, grasping his head and shutting his eyes, resisting the urge to throw up.
It was lucky for him that Sonic walked in at that moment to check on him.
"Hey," he said gently, putting his hand on one of Shadow's hunched shoulders. "C'mon, Shad, snap out of it."
Ten minutes later, Sonic had managed to get Shadow to lie back down and put a wet cloth on his forehead to stop the fever that had infested his body while he had slept.
"Well," he said, sitting on his chair backwards and leaning his elbows on it. "I hope you feel stupid now."
Shadow sighed, closing his eyes as he relived it in his head. According to Sonic, he had actually cracked his skull and had been in a coma for two days now. He was lucky that he could heal quickly or he would have been dead at that point.
"So," said Sonic, trying to break the uncomfortable silence. "Why are you so upset about Lemon coming back? I mean, shouldn't you be happy to finally get to see her?"
"That's what I'm scared of," replied Shadow, his voice shaking. "I-I don't want to see her. She only knows Tenchi and I'm not him anymore."
"No kidding," said Sonic, grinning.
Shadow gave him a warning look, then went on. "I've never even seen her face before. I remember her voice but I can't imagine what she'd look like. And she definitely won't recognize me. I think it's better if it stays that way."
Sonic saw the sadness in his friend's eyes and shook his head. "No, that's not right. You've gotta see her again!"
Shadow glared at him, annoyed. "No way!"
"Yes! It's obvious you've got the hots for her and she loved you too! Go see her!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"NO!"
"YES!"
Shadow was about to yell back when a painful jolt ran through his head, causing him to shut his eyes and cringe. Sonic blinked in confusion and leaned in closer, worried. "Hey, Shadow? You ok?" His eyes widened as he saw Shadow's hand drop beside him, limp.
"SHADOW!"
A violent wind blew Shadow's quills sideways as he stood in a strange black and purple world. Desert surrounded him and the sky overhead was pitch black with a white moon that gave off very little light. Flurries of sand hit him from the side as the wind stormed and sent a chill down his spine. There was no sound except for the howling wind and the only sign of life were a couple of dead and very bare trees. Just what was this horrible place?
"Hello, Shadow," said a voice, which was a mix of a woman's and a man's. Shadow froze and slowly stepped to look behind him. His red eyes widened as his eyes discerned the figure through the darkness and attacking sand.
"Y-Yami!"
And the black echidna stepped into the light. A white upside down triangle was on his forehead, the mark of the ARK. He was taller than Shadow and his limbs were much thicker, suggesting his strength was triple that of the speedy hedgehog. A big white "X" was on his broad chest, similar to the marking on Arashi's. But something was very wrong: Shadow couldn't see the echidna's pupils, nose or mouth. Was this a dream?!
"Ah, I see you remember me," said the echidna, the strange double- voice sounding inside Shadow's head. "Of course, how could you forget after the little memento I left?"
Shadow looked down at his scars and glared back up at Yami, remembering well when he had last fought with this sinister monster on the space colony ARK well over fifty years ago.
"What's going on, Yami," he demanded, trying to hide his fear. "Where are we?"
If he had had a mouth, Yami would have grinned.
"We're in your mind, Shadow," he replied, laughing. "I'm killing you!"
Author's Note: Wow, I'm just so mean, leaving it there. Anywho, I just wanted to note, THANK-YOU SO MUCH for the reviews, you guys! 80 reviews is more than I ever dreamed of getting for my first fic! hugs every one of you Expect the next chapter in a week, possibly less if I don't get too much homework. Also, if you wanna see what Tenchi, Lemon, Maria and others look like, I've got an account on deviantART, which can be found in the Artwork section of my site, Purpleanime. I dunno, see how bad my art is. :p So, see ya in a week! -Zeldafreak-Vikki
Well, Void99, I'll admit I really get worried when people complain about my story and yeah, Shad was upset. He'll get bothered about how stupid he's been and he's got even worse problems to deal with the "troublemaker" and the blonde lady, whom I'm revealing since it's obvious at this point. Add hiding himself from Lemon to the mix and he's in for one heck of a time! I'll just have to write this chapter in attempt to not receive any complaints from you. That can be my little goal (and don't worry, I don't think you're a jerk). ;)
Note: I changed things from SA2 a little bit, as you'll see. Everyone's got their own version of how that night on the ARK happened, and here's mine.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - DOUBLE TROUBLE
Matt Haruna had never questioned his boss's methods. Nobody ever disagreed with Gerald Robotnik. After all, he was the one who had created the Eclipse Cannon and Artificial Chaos. More importantly, he had created the Ultimate Life Form.
Matt knew he had sacrificed a great deal to create them. Six life forms, all different. Professor Gerald said that each one had a Chaos Emerald and when all of them were in one place, each with their Chaos Emeralds in hand, they would come together as one and be the Ultimate Life Form.
However, young Haruna noticed that Professor Gerald had only created six life forms. He knew for a fact there were seven Chaos Emeralds and pointed this out to the old man, who chuckled at the kid's curiosity.
"Yes, I know," replied Professor Gerald. "The seventh is a human I imbued with Hatian Cells."
Matt's eyes widened in shock. Hatian Cells were the cells found in the other life forms, which gave them a longer life span and made them almost impossible to kill. But giving it to a human was a dangerous thing. One of their scientists, Jeremy, had died a year before just from being exposed to them. Matt wondered who would be strong enough to hold Hatian Cells in their blood when his question was answered.
"It's my granddaughter."
"You've got to be kidding me," replied Matt.
Gerald shook his head as he looked out the window, gazing at the planet Earth.
"Do you remember when we first created Shadow?" he asked. Matt nodded as he came up next to his boss.
"Yeah, I remember. Poor guy's skin was all burnt after we added the Hatian Cells and ended up killing Jeremy."
"Remember who helped him?" pressed the professor, a grin appearing on his face.
Matt exhaled in shock as he remembered the young girl rushing to the injured hedgehog. "Maria... God, why didn't I notice it before!"
Gerald chuckled. "Exactly. No one would've figured it out. And she'll live to be well over one hundred years old, just like the projects."
Matt was about to ask another question when a violent tremor ran through the whole colony, knocking him off of his feet. The Professor gripped a railing by the window and looked out in time to see a space ship with a familiar logo on the wings docking at their gates.
"Oh no," he mumbled. "G.U.N!"
At the same time, Maria yelped as she began to fall off of her bed. Lucky for her, a black and red hedgehog caught her just in time, letting her down lightly on the floor.
"Oh!" She looked to Shadow. "What was that?!"
Shadow glared sharply out the window and Maria saw his pupils get very small.
"Oh no, it's the military!" They listened as the ship docked, then looked to each-other and nodded, knowing what they must do. Maria's grandfather had warned them to run for the escape pods if the military ever came. Shadow knew that they would raid the colony and it was up to him to protect his best friend, no matter what.
"Let's go!" He grabbed her hand and they both began to run down the long hallway just as the alarms went off and red lights flashed on and off. On either side of them, scientists were running to the laboratories, not noticing the two little panicked figures racing past them. They had almost made it to the escape pods when they saw that the raiders were blocking the entrance.
"There's one! With that kid!"
"Shoot him!"
Shadow clenched his teeth as he came to a halt, the military's guards a few yards away, aiming for him. He whipped his head around, looking for an exit as the alarm blared over their head. Maria, realizing there was no way out, shut her eyes and waited for impact. Shadow, not knowing what else to do, pulled Maria down and stood before her like a shield. "No, Shadow, you ca-AAHHH!!" She screamed as she heard the guns shoot and plugged her ears, the gunshots piercing her heart. But the bullets never came.
All of the soldiers lowered their guns in shock. The strange black hedgehog stood before them, panting from the five bullets he had taken to the chest. Maria stared in shock as Shadow stepped towards them threateningly. The soldiers paused, then dropped their guns and ran away. Shadow managed a little grin right before he began to fall back, completely winded.
Returning the favour from before, Maria caught him and pulled him up by under his arms.
"Shadow, are you ok?!" she cried, panicked. Shadow opened his eyes and began to stand on his own, not taking much notice of the blood staining the once white tuft of fur on his chest. "I'm alright," he rasped. To prove this, he tried to stand up straight but ended up choking on some blood and collapsing. Maria caught him and felt herself shake in fear for her friend.
"It's ok, we're almost there!" she said. She threw open the door and came to a small and very dark room. Shutting it behind her, she rushed for the next set of doors, which would lead to the room with the escape pods. She was just reaching for the door-handle when it turned on its own. She gasped and jumped back as the door swung open, hitting the opposing wall so hard that the alarm speaker fell and hit the ground, causing the room to go dead silent.
Standing before the two friends was a black echidna. His yellow eyes glowed in the darkness of the room and the faint red light surrounding him from the room beyond made him even more threatening. Maria stepped back in fear, hugging Shadow closer, who at this point was only half-conscious. The echidna began to step towards her, each step echoing louder in her ears. Shadow opened his eyes in time to see a giant spiked fist come down at them with the strength of the BioLizard.
'Protect-Maria!' ordered his numb mind. In reply, the dying hedgehog threw himself from Maria's grasp in a jump to meet the fist, which hit him right in the skull, cracking it deeply and obscuring his memory forever. He was already knocked out when he went flying into Maria, who was knocked back and hit her own head against the wall, unconscious but luckily unscathed. The echidna, now frustrated and deeply angered, was about to finish them both off when he heard voices coming. It was the soldiers with their guns. The echidna snarled to his enemy and then ran, his life more important than ending theirs.
The soldiers found the professor's granddaughter lying in a pool of blood next to a dangerous-looking project and assumed "it" had killed her and they laid her body with the other casualties, taking the project to be used by Station Square's Government Base.
Matt Haruna watched as Shadow was dragged away, along with the echidna, who had been captured shortly after his attack on Maria. Once the coast was clear, the young scientist ran out to Maria and fell to his knees beside her, lifting up her head and torso gently and hugging her close, breaking down into tears.
"Oh no," he sobbed, unable to contain himself any longer. "This is all my fault. I should've been there to protect you! I should never have agreed to this! I'm sorry, Maria!"
"Sorry for what?"
Matt's eyes widened and he pulled back in surprise. Maria blinked up at him, dazed and confused. Her cloudy blue eyes began to clear as she sat up on her own, looking to Matt in worry. Why was he crying?
"M-Maria," he said shakily, wiping his tears away. "Thank God! I thought you were dead! What happened?!"
Maria felt her heart squeeze as she remembered. "Well..."
The blonde woman screamed in rage and brought her fists down on the boulder, which cracked even more. She panted as her anger died down and leaned her forehead against the boulder, tears falling down her cheeks. Thanks to the Hatian Cells running through her blood, her strength was twice that of a normal human. And it only made her feel worse.
"Maria," called a voice.
She turned to see an old man walking towards her. It was Matt, a gentle smile on his face. He came to her and gently pulled her away from the boulder.
"Come, now, Maria, it wasn't your fault," he said, trying to comfort her.
Maria shook her head, wiping away a tear. "Yes, it is! I'm the one who released that monster from G.U.N! I'm the one who didn't die! It's all my fault!" She covered her face, her shoulders hunched. "I-I don't know what's doing this to me... Something's calling... A voice... It's telling me to bring them all together..."
Matt nodded, putting an arm around her. "It's the calling of the Ultimate Life Form. It must rise like your grandfather wanted."
Maria nodded, but deep down inside, she knew what she was doing could never be the right thing.
Shadow opened his eyes but quickly shut them again, the light feeling like a gigantic sword piercing his head. After a few minutes, his eyelids had stopped hurting and he dared to open his eyes. He could tell from the window beside him that it was already morning. He sat up shakily, his head hurting so much it made him feel sick. Even though his vision was a little blurry, he could tell he was back in his room. He winced as his headache pounded like an iron hammer on stone and bent over, grasping his head and shutting his eyes, resisting the urge to throw up.
It was lucky for him that Sonic walked in at that moment to check on him.
"Hey," he said gently, putting his hand on one of Shadow's hunched shoulders. "C'mon, Shad, snap out of it."
Ten minutes later, Sonic had managed to get Shadow to lie back down and put a wet cloth on his forehead to stop the fever that had infested his body while he had slept.
"Well," he said, sitting on his chair backwards and leaning his elbows on it. "I hope you feel stupid now."
Shadow sighed, closing his eyes as he relived it in his head. According to Sonic, he had actually cracked his skull and had been in a coma for two days now. He was lucky that he could heal quickly or he would have been dead at that point.
"So," said Sonic, trying to break the uncomfortable silence. "Why are you so upset about Lemon coming back? I mean, shouldn't you be happy to finally get to see her?"
"That's what I'm scared of," replied Shadow, his voice shaking. "I-I don't want to see her. She only knows Tenchi and I'm not him anymore."
"No kidding," said Sonic, grinning.
Shadow gave him a warning look, then went on. "I've never even seen her face before. I remember her voice but I can't imagine what she'd look like. And she definitely won't recognize me. I think it's better if it stays that way."
Sonic saw the sadness in his friend's eyes and shook his head. "No, that's not right. You've gotta see her again!"
Shadow glared at him, annoyed. "No way!"
"Yes! It's obvious you've got the hots for her and she loved you too! Go see her!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"NO!"
"YES!"
Shadow was about to yell back when a painful jolt ran through his head, causing him to shut his eyes and cringe. Sonic blinked in confusion and leaned in closer, worried. "Hey, Shadow? You ok?" His eyes widened as he saw Shadow's hand drop beside him, limp.
"SHADOW!"
A violent wind blew Shadow's quills sideways as he stood in a strange black and purple world. Desert surrounded him and the sky overhead was pitch black with a white moon that gave off very little light. Flurries of sand hit him from the side as the wind stormed and sent a chill down his spine. There was no sound except for the howling wind and the only sign of life were a couple of dead and very bare trees. Just what was this horrible place?
"Hello, Shadow," said a voice, which was a mix of a woman's and a man's. Shadow froze and slowly stepped to look behind him. His red eyes widened as his eyes discerned the figure through the darkness and attacking sand.
"Y-Yami!"
And the black echidna stepped into the light. A white upside down triangle was on his forehead, the mark of the ARK. He was taller than Shadow and his limbs were much thicker, suggesting his strength was triple that of the speedy hedgehog. A big white "X" was on his broad chest, similar to the marking on Arashi's. But something was very wrong: Shadow couldn't see the echidna's pupils, nose or mouth. Was this a dream?!
"Ah, I see you remember me," said the echidna, the strange double- voice sounding inside Shadow's head. "Of course, how could you forget after the little memento I left?"
Shadow looked down at his scars and glared back up at Yami, remembering well when he had last fought with this sinister monster on the space colony ARK well over fifty years ago.
"What's going on, Yami," he demanded, trying to hide his fear. "Where are we?"
If he had had a mouth, Yami would have grinned.
"We're in your mind, Shadow," he replied, laughing. "I'm killing you!"
Author's Note: Wow, I'm just so mean, leaving it there. Anywho, I just wanted to note, THANK-YOU SO MUCH for the reviews, you guys! 80 reviews is more than I ever dreamed of getting for my first fic! hugs every one of you Expect the next chapter in a week, possibly less if I don't get too much homework. Also, if you wanna see what Tenchi, Lemon, Maria and others look like, I've got an account on deviantART, which can be found in the Artwork section of my site, Purpleanime. I dunno, see how bad my art is. :p So, see ya in a week! -Zeldafreak-Vikki