Author Notes: ...so. How is everyone? I hope you're all doing well. As a matter of fact, I'm going to brighten up your day by posting a new chapter. :)
Poor Shadow. So confused. Well, aren't we all at some point in our lives? I suppose, since he lived for so long in solitude on ARK, he doesn't know how to handle that kind of feeling, so he overreacted... hm... *ponders*
G.U.N.'s database was locked away online.
However, not even the greatest security system could keep out the greatest government spy, Rouge the Bat... who had, after all, hacked into it once before anyway.
Only, this time, she wasn't looking for the truth about what happened 50 years past.
She was looking for more... recent plans.
Based upon past experiences, Rouge knew of one place, one computer, that had been able to break into G.U.N.'s files.
That computer... was located at Eggman's old pyramid base. The pyramid housed a supercomputer, designed by the good doctor himself.
Luckily for the spy, the place was deserted, since just about everyone knew about it by now.
Breaking into the abandoned fortress was fairly easy. Since Eggman had left, the building had begun to deteriorate and the majority of the guard robots, mostly outdated Kikis and E-1000s, had been destroyed by Sonic and the others. The few left were easy to take care of.
The computer itself was still an absolute masterpiece.
Smiling to herself as she approached it, Rouge carefully entered G.U.N.'s database...
The majority of the information was plans and blueprints of their robots. But you never knew when you might find a "diamond in the rough"...
Rouge gasped in spite of herself.
"Project... Shadow?
"...'02'?"
The white bat blinked. "But... this is dated fifteen years ago! That can't be right!"
Shaking her head, she hurriedly skipped past it.
But Project: Shadow turned up again?
More plans...
...for a machine...?
"...a machine to...
"...drain Chaos Energy...!?
"Shadow!" Rouge yelped, jumping backwards.
The entry continued...
"To be created with the help of renowned scientist, Professor Tamine Kagaku, former assistant of Project: Shadow creator, Prof. Gerald Robotnik..."
"...I have to find Shadow," Rouge breathed.
~*~
He ran.
'Nothing is right anymore...'
Ran faster...
'I don't belong here...'
His feet skimmed across the hard concrete.
'I can't be a danger to anyone else...'
Ignoring the pains in his feet and legs, Shadow kept going.
The sun was already starting to set. Night would come soon.
But it didn't matter.
'What should I do...'
Shadow kept running.
Even though, without his hover skates, he could hardly hope to even rival Sonic's speed, he was able to pass by most people without them noticing.
But it didn't matter.
'Who wants to be around me, anyway...'
Suddenly, Shadow looked up.
There was a young boy standing in the road.
And a car coming.
Still blinded to the rest of the world, Shadow ran, picked him up, and dropped him on the sidewalk.
The boy's mother ran towards the boy and hugged him tightly.
The child, smiling, turned to say 'thank you'.
But Shadow was already gone.
He just kept running.
He didn't care what was ahead anymore.
He didn't care that he was entering a building's open door.
He didn't care that it was the train station. He didn't notice the man who spotted him, then yelled for a ticket.
He didn't care that he was running along the train tracks, narrowly avoiding the electrified ones.
He just wanted to get away...
~*~
Dashing through the jungle, metal-tipped boots weighing her down...
...trying to find a way back to Knuckles. Or Shadow. Or someone.
Anyone.
Rouge's mad run was suddenly halted by the sound of a wailing girl.
Brushing the thick foliage aside, Rouge almost missed a pinkish-brown hedgehog, sobbing on the ground.
"Help! Someone help! They took the professor! Someone!"
Skidding to a halt, Rouge barely missed trampling the distraught girl. "Now, now, what's wrong?" Instantly she regretted those words, knowing that there was work to be done...
The hedgehog girl wailed, "It's terrible! Those awful people... they were carrying guns! What could we do?!"
"Okay, just calm down..." Rouge said, overwhelmed at the girl's sudden outbursts. "Now, what--"
"Please come!" The hedgehog grabbed Rouge's wrist and pulled her through the thick vegetation.
Only a short while later, they arrived at the skeleton of a house, its walls and roof burned to ashes.
The hedgehog quietly sank to the ground and wept.
Rouge stared. "What is this? Who are you?"
The girl wiped her eyes and bowed politely, if somewhat shakily. "F-forgive me... I... I'm sorry. I d-didn't mean to be... rude.. M-my name is Talula... it's just, you're the first person to come by since this happened..." Talula began to cry again.
"What happened?" Rouge asked, trying to sound comforting, even though she felt quite impatient. "Was this your house? Was there anyone else here?"
"It was yesterday..."
~*~
Heavy footsteps on the soft jungle floor...
"Who are you?!" the irate professor yelled.
"You should know, old man..." the soldier replied.
Humans wearing bulletproof armor, carrying state-of-the-art rifles, charging into the small, wooden house...
One spoke. "So, you're the famous Tamine Kagaku? We've heard some things about you from our bosses... not very flattering things..."
Prof. Kagaku glared. "So... you're G.U.N.'s new recruits, eh? Listen to me... leave! Leave, and don't make the mistakes I did..."
The officer glared at Kagaku. "No way! Why should I be pegged a traitor, too?"
A different man looked at the science equip in the next room. "Very nice, old man... well built... I can imagine you working for G.U.N."
"Don't touch those," Kagaku muttered.
The officer glared at Talula, who was standing in the corner, frozen. "Hmph... so, this is the laboratory experiment that cost you your position, isn't it?"
"Experiment...? Sir, I'm sorry, but you must be mistaken, the professor is a friend of my family--" Talula began.
"Talula, get out of here," the professor snapped. "Run. Get outside."
Not knowing why, but somehow afraid, Talula began to back towards the door.
"Stop where you are," the first officer commanded. Talula heard a click as one of the long rifles was pointed at her...
"Talula, run!" the professor yelled as he threw a bag of herbs at the officer's face.
Dropping the rifle, the officer grabbed his eyes.
What followed was utter chaos. Obeying the professor's order, Talula ran with all her strength. Taking a chance, she looked backwards to see Kagaku being restrained by some of the officers. She also noticed some of the others carrying Kagaku's equipment out of the house.
"Professor!"
"Keep running! Don't stop!"
Blinking back tears, Talula ran.
Behind her, she smelled smoke... and knew what had happened.
Finally, out of strength, she collapsed on the ground and cried.
~*~
"So, that all happened yesterday?" Rouge asked. Talula nodded.
The bat grinned. "Then I'm in luck."
"What...?"
"That group must have been G.U.N. And since they were only here yesterday, then their tracks are probably still somewhat fresh." Rouge walked off. "Sorry, kid, but I've got to go." She jumped into the air, spreading her wings.
Suddenly, she turned around and hovered in midair. "Hey, tell you what... I'll look for your friend, okay?" she called back to Talula.
Talula clasped her hands together. "Thank you! Very much! My parents and the professor were very good friends... this means a lot to me."
Rouge waved. "Hey, no sweat. Actually, I'm looking for a friend of mine, too. His name's Shadow the Hedgehog. Could you let me know somehow if he comes by here?"
"Okay! I'll try!"
"Great! See ya' around sometime." Rouge took off.
Knowing that there really wasn't any way in which she could help, Talula sighed and walked back to her own house, still a distance away in the jungle.
~*~
It was almost 9:00 p.m.
Shadow was finally running out of strength. Unable to continue, he staggered through a dark cave in the side of a mountain.
Not knowing where he was going, and not really caring for that matter, he kept walking.
Eventually, the tunnel opened up, revealing something on the other side of the tall mountain.
A small clearing, surrounded on three sides by the mountain, the remaining side overlooking the sea, trees bearing some sort of fruit, a waterfall and a pond...
...so quiet...
...so restful...
Shadow flopped down on the soft grass and leaned back against a cool stone.
Even though his troubles were no more solved than before, this small place gave him a world away from reality in which he could rest and think...
...he wondered, if maybe...
'...maybe I should just stay here forever...
'...this is Earth... this is what we thought it was like...
'...this is perfect...
'...this is how we wanted to live...'
As Shadow quietly fell asleep in the setting sun, a pair of curious eyes watched him from behind the falls...