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!
Man, I am just so mean, putting all you people in suspense like that. I'm sure you're wondering what's gonna happen to our beloved little Shadow. Will he be destroyed by his old rival Yami or will he triumph over that little jerk and live to see Lemon? Doubt it... Heh. Again, thanks for the reviews! And as for you, Void 99, yeah, the dropping guns thing was just to put a little comedy in and not let it get too serious. I like mixing genres like that. It's just my style, I guess. Oh, I also changed their ages around a bit to make some couples fit. Anywho, let's see what happens in Chapter 15!
Extra Note: I watched Episode 34 of Sonic X, which is when Shadow first shows up, and it was AWESOME!
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
"What's going on?" asked Sonic, watching as Arashi lifted one of Shadow's eyelids and examined the pupil. It was fully dilated and showed no signs of changing. Arashi sat down in the chair by the bed and a grim look appeared on his face.
"Someone's broken into his mind," he said, wiping a drop of sweat away from Shadow's eye. "If he doesn't fight back, that person could kill him."
Sonic remembered back when he had been infected with the X Viper poison and Arashi had visited him in his mind. There, it may have been against his will, but Arashi hadn't tried to kill him. He couldn't imagine how horrible it was to have someone take control of your mind and try to destroy you.
"Can't we help him?" asked Sonic, concern showing in his green eyes.
Arashi shook his head gravely. "All we can do is wait... and hope he wakes up."
Yami's laugh echoed throughout the strange reality where the two of them stood. Shadow clenched his teeth and fists, already feeling his strength being drained. But he couldn't let Yami see that, so he tried to keep his face as straight as possible.
"Starting to feel it?" hissed Yami. "By the time I'm done, your heart will have stopped and you'll have drawn your last breath."
Shadow gulped as the color began to drain from his face. This couldn't be happening.
"Y-Yami, how the hell are you doing this," he growled, feeling a terrible pain in his muscles.
Yami chuckled, hopped up and sat in mid-air, floating and setting his soulless eyes on his victim. "So, you actually remember how capable I was fifty years ago."
Shadow managed a grin, glaring right back at him. "Yeah, I remember when you were a weak little echidna! What gives?!"
"I'm using Starr."
That wiped the smile off of Shadow's face. Starr was a young white echidna girl who was one of the first projects created after Arashi. She looked just like the others, with the trademark upside down triangle on her forehead and a religious cross over her chest. But inside, she was radically different. The embryo used to created her turned out to be a pair of twins instead of just one life-form. But when the professor tried to form it as one, it turned out to be Starr with her twin brother biding his time in her mind. She developed in a growth tank for almost two years because her psychic powers were too great for her to leave the safety of the sustenance. Shadow remembered when he was just a little emotionless hedgehog who would stare at her and even have telepathic conversations sometimes.
But then her twin took over. Starr's fur went from pure white to a sinister black and the cross on her chest turned into a white X. Soon enough, Shade the Echidna had taken over, cornering Starr in his corrupted mind. He broke free of his tank and was determined to be the Ultimate Life- Form all on his own. But the scientists all said the same thing about him: "He's too slow. He'll never be as balanced in strength and speed as Shadow." After that, Shade became so angry he attacked Arashi in his tank, fatally wounding him. Shortly after Arashi died, both Shade and Shadow were unnaturally aged in hopes that their weaknesses would disappear after become ten years older. That's when Shade was reborn as Yami and became even more evil and power-hungry. Shadow developed emotions but it wasn't enough to stop Yami attacking him and leaving him with those horrible scars forever. Thinking back on this, Shadow realized all of his memories before had been wrong.
"...Protect...Maria..." he murmured, his head bowed as he shivered. Yami furrowed his eye-ridges, not hearing.
"What?"
"Protect Maria," Shadow looked up, finally remembering. "That was my purpose... But... someone killed her..."
"Yes," replied Yami, his voice proud as Starr's mourned. "I killed her!"
Shadow gasped. Now it all made sense! Yami had blocked them off. It was Yami who had cracked his skull and had obscured his memories! But that last crash must've set it right. He growled as his anger towards Yami sparked into flame and lunged forward to attack.
"WHY, YOU-!"
Yami held out his clawed hand. "I don't think so, Shadow!"
Shadow screamed as a wave of transparent electrical waves ran through his body and sapped up the rest of his energy. He grunted as he hit the ground, unable to move.
In the "real world", Sonic and Arashi could do nothing but watch as Shadow's body shuddered and went completely slack. He even stopped breathing for a few seconds! Sonic tensed up, panicked, but Arashi laid a calm hand on his shoulder, remaining neutral.
"Don't worry, he's not out yet."
"Heh, you're not so tough," taunted Yami as he hopped off of his mid- air seat and began to walk towards his fallen adversary. "I think I'll kill you now. We've had enough fun."
Shadow glared up at the echidna and managed to shakily lift up his head, which felt about as heavy as a whale. Yami's shadow loomed over the fallen hedgehog, who cringed slightly as he raised his fist, gaining power for a punch strong enough to put right through Shadow's head.
"Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog!"
And down went the punch.
"No," murmured Arashi, watching with his psychic powers. Sonic, who had a feeling of what was going on, felt a great feeling of terror take a hold of him.
"Shadow! FIGHT BACK!"
Outside on the street, Amy Rose stopped dead as she heard panicked voices echoing in her mind. She dropped her groceries by her sides and stared up towards the grey sky. She blinked as she realized there was a mysterious stranger sitting on the roof of Shadow's building. What was he doing there? Whatever it was, it wasn't good. The voices in her head were telling her so. Wait... voices in her head?!
"Hey, you!" she yelled, glaring up at the dark figure, who turned his head to look down at her. "What're you doing up there!"
Yami's blank eyes narrowed down on the little pink hedgehog. In Shadow's mind, Shadow was surprised to see that Yami had paused, his fist still above his head. Someone was distracting him!
"What is it?" he asked in real life, cursing in his head that this stupid little girl had stopped him from killing Shadow once and for all.
Amy put her hands on her hips and a stern look crossed her face. "Well?! Answer me already!"
A low growl came from Yami as he stood up, allowing himself to become a little more distracted. Maybe he'd just kill her first...
"YAMI!!!"
"Huh?!" He whipped his head around, his long white-tipped quills following shortly and came face-to-face with the last person he expected to see in that moment.
"Ma-!"
SLAM!
Maria Robotnik yelled as she brought a big piece of metal down onto Yami's head. She had just found it lying there on the old roof and when she had heard Sonic and Arashi's panicked voices, it had been her first reflex to attack without thinking.
And she had to admit it was satisfying to watch the wicked little echidna drop unconscious with a groan.
Shadow gasped as his eyes snapped open, finally free of his own mind. He started to sit up but felt Arashi's strong hand push him back down onto the bed. He tried to fight against him but soon gave up, realizing he had no strength left.
"Welcome back," chuckled Arashi, grinning calmly. Shadow blinked and whiped a few drops of sweat from his eyes, which stung with sleep. He closed them and let his arm fall by his side with a small moan. Sonic sat by Arashi and the two of them watched him fall asleep.
Awhile later, when it was only Sonic sitting there by Shadow's bed, Amy walked in. Arashi had explained to her what had happened and after finding the roof abandoned, had decided to not worry about it. She sat next to Sonic, keeping her distance.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey," he replied.
"Um... How're you doing?" she asked, not knowing what else to say.
"Well, he's still a bit sick but his head's almost totally heal-"
"No, Sonic, not him," cut in Amy, blushing slightly. "I meant you."
"Oh." Sonic blushed deeply and looked down. This was possibly his only weakness: Feelings. "W-Well... I'm ok... I guess..."
Amy allowed herself a small smile. "You look kinda tired. Maybe you should get some rest."
Sonic shrugged uneasily as Amy inched a bit closer to him. "Well..."
"You can to get some rest. I'll watch over Shadow," offered Amy, now right beside him.
Sonic smiled and shook his head. "Nah, it's ok, Amy. That's nice of you to offer though."
"Well, I'm just worried, I guess."
Sonic nodded, looking to Shadow. "Yeah, he's been pretty stressed lately-"
"Not Shadow, silly!"
Sonic blinked and looked to Amy, feeling his face burning. For the longest time, he had tried to forget about his feelings for Amy, knowing just how soft it made him. However, he was twenty years-old now and Amy only one year younger than him. And ever since he had realized his own feelings only a year before...
Amy gulped as there was an extremely uncomfortable silence. Ever since she was a little girl, she had always loved Sonic and admired him from afar. But after he had allowed her to move in with him, she wondered if he felt the same way about her. You could never tell with guys, could you? Always concealing their feelings...
"Amy," he said, breaking the silence. "I-uh...I wanted to say..."
"Yes?" She looked up to him, blushing just as much as him now. Was this really happening?!
"Wanted to say... to...uh... Oh, man, I had this figured out before- !"
But he didn't have to say much more because that's when Amy came up and kissed him. After a few seconds, she pulled away, nervous at what his reaction would be. Would he be angry? Embarrassed?
Then all of her worries dissolved into thin air as he came back and kissed her, this time for much longer.
Behind them, a little grin appeared on Shadow's face as he pretended to sleep.
Man, I am just so mean, putting all you people in suspense like that. I'm sure you're wondering what's gonna happen to our beloved little Shadow. Will he be destroyed by his old rival Yami or will he triumph over that little jerk and live to see Lemon? Doubt it... Heh. Again, thanks for the reviews! And as for you, Void 99, yeah, the dropping guns thing was just to put a little comedy in and not let it get too serious. I like mixing genres like that. It's just my style, I guess. Oh, I also changed their ages around a bit to make some couples fit. Anywho, let's see what happens in Chapter 15!
Extra Note: I watched Episode 34 of Sonic X, which is when Shadow first shows up, and it was AWESOME!
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
"What's going on?" asked Sonic, watching as Arashi lifted one of Shadow's eyelids and examined the pupil. It was fully dilated and showed no signs of changing. Arashi sat down in the chair by the bed and a grim look appeared on his face.
"Someone's broken into his mind," he said, wiping a drop of sweat away from Shadow's eye. "If he doesn't fight back, that person could kill him."
Sonic remembered back when he had been infected with the X Viper poison and Arashi had visited him in his mind. There, it may have been against his will, but Arashi hadn't tried to kill him. He couldn't imagine how horrible it was to have someone take control of your mind and try to destroy you.
"Can't we help him?" asked Sonic, concern showing in his green eyes.
Arashi shook his head gravely. "All we can do is wait... and hope he wakes up."
Yami's laugh echoed throughout the strange reality where the two of them stood. Shadow clenched his teeth and fists, already feeling his strength being drained. But he couldn't let Yami see that, so he tried to keep his face as straight as possible.
"Starting to feel it?" hissed Yami. "By the time I'm done, your heart will have stopped and you'll have drawn your last breath."
Shadow gulped as the color began to drain from his face. This couldn't be happening.
"Y-Yami, how the hell are you doing this," he growled, feeling a terrible pain in his muscles.
Yami chuckled, hopped up and sat in mid-air, floating and setting his soulless eyes on his victim. "So, you actually remember how capable I was fifty years ago."
Shadow managed a grin, glaring right back at him. "Yeah, I remember when you were a weak little echidna! What gives?!"
"I'm using Starr."
That wiped the smile off of Shadow's face. Starr was a young white echidna girl who was one of the first projects created after Arashi. She looked just like the others, with the trademark upside down triangle on her forehead and a religious cross over her chest. But inside, she was radically different. The embryo used to created her turned out to be a pair of twins instead of just one life-form. But when the professor tried to form it as one, it turned out to be Starr with her twin brother biding his time in her mind. She developed in a growth tank for almost two years because her psychic powers were too great for her to leave the safety of the sustenance. Shadow remembered when he was just a little emotionless hedgehog who would stare at her and even have telepathic conversations sometimes.
But then her twin took over. Starr's fur went from pure white to a sinister black and the cross on her chest turned into a white X. Soon enough, Shade the Echidna had taken over, cornering Starr in his corrupted mind. He broke free of his tank and was determined to be the Ultimate Life- Form all on his own. But the scientists all said the same thing about him: "He's too slow. He'll never be as balanced in strength and speed as Shadow." After that, Shade became so angry he attacked Arashi in his tank, fatally wounding him. Shortly after Arashi died, both Shade and Shadow were unnaturally aged in hopes that their weaknesses would disappear after become ten years older. That's when Shade was reborn as Yami and became even more evil and power-hungry. Shadow developed emotions but it wasn't enough to stop Yami attacking him and leaving him with those horrible scars forever. Thinking back on this, Shadow realized all of his memories before had been wrong.
"...Protect...Maria..." he murmured, his head bowed as he shivered. Yami furrowed his eye-ridges, not hearing.
"What?"
"Protect Maria," Shadow looked up, finally remembering. "That was my purpose... But... someone killed her..."
"Yes," replied Yami, his voice proud as Starr's mourned. "I killed her!"
Shadow gasped. Now it all made sense! Yami had blocked them off. It was Yami who had cracked his skull and had obscured his memories! But that last crash must've set it right. He growled as his anger towards Yami sparked into flame and lunged forward to attack.
"WHY, YOU-!"
Yami held out his clawed hand. "I don't think so, Shadow!"
Shadow screamed as a wave of transparent electrical waves ran through his body and sapped up the rest of his energy. He grunted as he hit the ground, unable to move.
In the "real world", Sonic and Arashi could do nothing but watch as Shadow's body shuddered and went completely slack. He even stopped breathing for a few seconds! Sonic tensed up, panicked, but Arashi laid a calm hand on his shoulder, remaining neutral.
"Don't worry, he's not out yet."
"Heh, you're not so tough," taunted Yami as he hopped off of his mid- air seat and began to walk towards his fallen adversary. "I think I'll kill you now. We've had enough fun."
Shadow glared up at the echidna and managed to shakily lift up his head, which felt about as heavy as a whale. Yami's shadow loomed over the fallen hedgehog, who cringed slightly as he raised his fist, gaining power for a punch strong enough to put right through Shadow's head.
"Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog!"
And down went the punch.
"No," murmured Arashi, watching with his psychic powers. Sonic, who had a feeling of what was going on, felt a great feeling of terror take a hold of him.
"Shadow! FIGHT BACK!"
Outside on the street, Amy Rose stopped dead as she heard panicked voices echoing in her mind. She dropped her groceries by her sides and stared up towards the grey sky. She blinked as she realized there was a mysterious stranger sitting on the roof of Shadow's building. What was he doing there? Whatever it was, it wasn't good. The voices in her head were telling her so. Wait... voices in her head?!
"Hey, you!" she yelled, glaring up at the dark figure, who turned his head to look down at her. "What're you doing up there!"
Yami's blank eyes narrowed down on the little pink hedgehog. In Shadow's mind, Shadow was surprised to see that Yami had paused, his fist still above his head. Someone was distracting him!
"What is it?" he asked in real life, cursing in his head that this stupid little girl had stopped him from killing Shadow once and for all.
Amy put her hands on her hips and a stern look crossed her face. "Well?! Answer me already!"
A low growl came from Yami as he stood up, allowing himself to become a little more distracted. Maybe he'd just kill her first...
"YAMI!!!"
"Huh?!" He whipped his head around, his long white-tipped quills following shortly and came face-to-face with the last person he expected to see in that moment.
"Ma-!"
SLAM!
Maria Robotnik yelled as she brought a big piece of metal down onto Yami's head. She had just found it lying there on the old roof and when she had heard Sonic and Arashi's panicked voices, it had been her first reflex to attack without thinking.
And she had to admit it was satisfying to watch the wicked little echidna drop unconscious with a groan.
Shadow gasped as his eyes snapped open, finally free of his own mind. He started to sit up but felt Arashi's strong hand push him back down onto the bed. He tried to fight against him but soon gave up, realizing he had no strength left.
"Welcome back," chuckled Arashi, grinning calmly. Shadow blinked and whiped a few drops of sweat from his eyes, which stung with sleep. He closed them and let his arm fall by his side with a small moan. Sonic sat by Arashi and the two of them watched him fall asleep.
Awhile later, when it was only Sonic sitting there by Shadow's bed, Amy walked in. Arashi had explained to her what had happened and after finding the roof abandoned, had decided to not worry about it. She sat next to Sonic, keeping her distance.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey," he replied.
"Um... How're you doing?" she asked, not knowing what else to say.
"Well, he's still a bit sick but his head's almost totally heal-"
"No, Sonic, not him," cut in Amy, blushing slightly. "I meant you."
"Oh." Sonic blushed deeply and looked down. This was possibly his only weakness: Feelings. "W-Well... I'm ok... I guess..."
Amy allowed herself a small smile. "You look kinda tired. Maybe you should get some rest."
Sonic shrugged uneasily as Amy inched a bit closer to him. "Well..."
"You can to get some rest. I'll watch over Shadow," offered Amy, now right beside him.
Sonic smiled and shook his head. "Nah, it's ok, Amy. That's nice of you to offer though."
"Well, I'm just worried, I guess."
Sonic nodded, looking to Shadow. "Yeah, he's been pretty stressed lately-"
"Not Shadow, silly!"
Sonic blinked and looked to Amy, feeling his face burning. For the longest time, he had tried to forget about his feelings for Amy, knowing just how soft it made him. However, he was twenty years-old now and Amy only one year younger than him. And ever since he had realized his own feelings only a year before...
Amy gulped as there was an extremely uncomfortable silence. Ever since she was a little girl, she had always loved Sonic and admired him from afar. But after he had allowed her to move in with him, she wondered if he felt the same way about her. You could never tell with guys, could you? Always concealing their feelings...
"Amy," he said, breaking the silence. "I-uh...I wanted to say..."
"Yes?" She looked up to him, blushing just as much as him now. Was this really happening?!
"Wanted to say... to...uh... Oh, man, I had this figured out before- !"
But he didn't have to say much more because that's when Amy came up and kissed him. After a few seconds, she pulled away, nervous at what his reaction would be. Would he be angry? Embarrassed?
Then all of her worries dissolved into thin air as he came back and kissed her, this time for much longer.
Behind them, a little grin appeared on Shadow's face as he pretended to sleep.