Being Free
Written by Airo Smicktor
I don't own Sonic, Shadow etc. Only my turnip... cries
Chapter 9 - Beginning
"Prelude - An introductory performance, event, or action preceding a more important one."
The last few days had been very hectic, to say the least. The return of the Ultimate Life-Form, the media frenzy that ensued, Rouge being fired from her 'job' as an agent, Eggman appearing without using some new machine to try and kill Sonic, and the discovery of the Chaos Emerald at the Ocean Palace. It was little wonder that come mid-afternoon; there was finally an air of calm around the Mystic Ruins. Rouge and Amy were still talking to each other, mainly about 'their' men.
Tails was working on improving his latest Tornado, while Knuckles had already returned to the floating island. Sonic had taken off once again, so no one was quite sure where or what he was doing. The only person, who was not really that calm, was Shadow.
He had been sitting by the waterfall pool for the past half-hour or so, hoping that the sounds of the cascading water would put his mind at ease. It wasn't working. His thoughts were of the echidna girl Tikal, and 'Re- Birth'. Shadow reasoned from what Tikal had said, that he'd been essentially lured to the Chaos Emerald, to be teleported to... wherever he'd been sent to; and from what his friends had said, her words were of great importance.
But they made no sense, they had no meaning.
Was she some kind of spirit, some voodoo priestess who could talk to the dead? Had she really spoken to Maria? What of those Chao creatures he had seen? He knew of them, he had once been dragged into a Chao Garden by Rouge once, but could not understand what purpose these small, defenceless creatures had. He didn't understand them then, in his 'old life'. Was now the time to understand them?
There was also what the Doctor had said. Did this 'Re-Birth' really save him? It was possible that any 'colour change' that he had undergone could've passed while he was in the coma state, but it was equally likely that there was no such thing as 'Re-Birth', the Doctor could have easily made it up. These things were just too confusing; Shadow's mind almost hurt trying to figure it all out. Double maths on ARK seemed more fun that this right now.
"Yo, Shadow!" Shadow turned around, and saw Sonic.
"Sonic, where did you head to?"
"Heh, nowhere man. Just a quick check to see that all the fuss had calmed down. Everybody's concerned about a bank robbery or something. What's up back here?"
"Nothing, just... thinking..."
"You gotta stop doing that, you'll be turning into Tails at this rate!"
Fang was having the best day of his life! He'd managed to break into the 'safest' vault in the world, and got away with it! He was on top of the world, and he never wanted to come back down. He stepped into his secret underground base, and placed his bag of winnings onto a table, before placing the Chaos Emerald onto a stand he had used to hold the emeralds before, that long time ago when he had briefly teamed up with Dr. Robotnik and that stupid echidna. He hadn't worked with them since, rather concentrating on improving his own abilities rather than others. He wanted to be prepared if he had to tangle with that Sonic again...
"Computer! Boot up, password 'Triple Trouble'." He shouted to the computer
"Checking..." came the voice of the computer. "...Voice recognition confirmed. Welcome back Fang."
"Computer, tick off 'Operation Bank Blow-out' a complete success! Oh, and have some of my Fang-Bots count-out the rewards of today for me." "Requests confirmed. Will be carried out."
Fang smiled as two of his Fang-Bots came in, took the bag, and went off into the 'Collection House'. While his short teaming up with Robotnik had not been to productive money wise, he had been given a collection of Badniks to use against Sonic. When it became clear he was fighting a losing battle, he took the classic 'Nack' way out, and ran off like a coward. It worked well, the police never found him (but perhaps that was due to the fact that police are still looking for a Nack the Weasel, not a Fang. It was surprising how much a name change can remove a guy's criminal record.). But he ran off with the Badniks in tow, since Eggman had programmed then to obey Fang's every word. After some skilful mainframe hacking, they were completely loyal to him, even responding to the name change he had given them.
Fang was not just a common thief, he was an expert. He'd been perfecting his computer hacking skills for months almost non-stop, and the results had paid off well. Stealing credit card numbers, finding out about money delivery times, and creating a pass code that would by-pass the security protocols in the Central Reserve Bank in Station Square. All seemed too easy to him, far too easy. Maybe perhaps why he now looked for an even bigger operation.
"Computer, log onto the government secure information site. Usual username and so on"
"Understood, processing... ... ...Warning, username has been removed from active use, use of this identity could cause security breach."
"Huh? Odd...I'll have 'ta check that out... Gah! Just log on as one o' the other names off the list then!"
"Processing... ... ...Log on successful. Access granted." "Search information computer, search item: 'Chaos Emerald'."
"Processing... ...Results found, would you like to narrow down results?"
"Yes, find items relevant to: 'Location Of'."
Shadow, Tails and Sonic were now talking about the best way to try and handle the situation between Shadow and Rouge. They had been doing so for about a quarter of an hour or so.
"I'm very worried about you Shadow."
"Why are you worried Miles?"
"It's just that, well, you and Rouge, being together and everything..."
"We know Tails, don't sweat it bro!" Sonic stated."We'll make sure nothing major screws up, you'll be fine!"
"Hey guys, what are you three talking about?" Rouge had just stepped in, followed by Amy. "Oh Um... me, Miles and Sonic were..." Shadow looked out the corner of his eye, to see Sonic mouthing the words: 'No! No!' and shaking his head slightly. "...Ah! Yes! We weren't talking about you, that's right! We weren't!"
Sonic slapped his forehead with his hand, and let it slide down so it covered his face. Tails had fallen over, anime style.
"...Okay... you weren't talking about me..."
"Yes... we... um... okay I screwed up didn't I?"
"YES! YOU DID!" Tails and Sonic shouted in unison, as well as at the same time.
"AWWW! My sweet Sonic is giving Shadow love advice! I just KNEW you were the romantic type!"
"STAY AWAY FROM ME!"
"So... are you saying Shadow, that you want me to be... your girlfriend?" Rouge asked, in a slightly suggestive tone. "Well...you see... the thing is... I'm not sure how to... really say this, but... I guess if that's what it's called... then I..."
Shadow was now noticeably blushing, if he knew it or not, which stood out nest to his black fur. So before he could finish stumbling through his sentence, Rouge placed a finger over his lips, silencing him, and stared deep into his eyes.
"The answer is yes Shadow, whatever the question." Rouge then gently brought a hand around the back of Shadow's head, pulling him up slightly from his seated position, while leaning forward. Eventually, for what seemed an eternity to both, they slowly reach other, as Rouge placed her lips onto Shadow's in a soft, lingering kiss. The sensation both felt was something different to both of them, and as they broke off this kiss and looked into each others' eyes again, something in their hearts spoke to them, proclaiming: 'This is the one'.
Fang's computer scan had come up with the results he desired. He had printed off the data, and was now looking over a large map of the world, with miniature emerald statues placed around in.
"So, that's an emerald in that new casino city that started up, one in the deep jungle with the rain frogs, one in abandoned railway system over the canyons, and one in that creepy place full of old haunted castles. That means there's two unaccounted for, but I can guess that Robotnik or Sonic either have one or both of them... That makes collecting them all slightly difficult then. Hmm..."
Fang sat back in his computer chair, thinking about the best way to handle this. You couldn't just trick those guys; they were too smart for that. You had to actually beat them. Not the easiest of tasks though, Robotnik always has tough fortifications around him, as well as those violent mechas of his. And Sonic was too quick, too athletic. The odds were very slim indeed – just the way Fang liked them to be. After all, only fools rush in, why should he have to make another move, and one that may backfire on him later? Fang had waited for so long for today, he could easily wait for another. It wouldn't be long before either of them slipped up...
"CURSES! DAMNATION! STUPID STUPID HEDGEHOGS! NOW THEY'RE BOTH AGAINST ME, ONE WAS BAD ENOUGH, BUT TWO OF THE PESKY RODENTS? ARRRGGGGHHH!" Eggman's roars were shaking though the whole base, as he unleashed his anger upon no one in particular. "NOT ONLY THAT, BUT THE WEASEL HIDES FOR YEARS, AND THEN SPRINGS OUT OF NOWHERE AND UPSTAGES ME! CAN A GENIUS NOT GET ANY RESPECT AROUND HERE?"
"Respect is earned Doctor, never given" came a metallic voice from behind him.
"WHAT NOW? Oh, it's you Metal Sonic, what do you want? I'm not in a good mood right now"
"Don't worry Doctor, I just wanted to show you my latest catches..."
"...Catches?"
Metal Sonic nodded, before producing two small cages, one containing a dark Chao, the other, a green frog.
"...Is this your idea of a joke Metal? Because I'm more in the mood for..."
"Doctor, I've analysed these two creatures, who I've found to have traces of Chaos' DNA, to be more precise, Perfect Chaos"
"WHAT? You mean the same Perfect Chaos that destroyed Station Square months ago! This is great news! I can use that data to enhance some of my machines, and with the fleet of battle ships that I created for when I should've used ARK to take over, I'll finally be able to destroy that cursed Sonic once and for all!"
"I'm afraid that won't be possible, Doctor." Metal Sonic said, as he let go of the cages, allowing them to drop to the floor, causing the occupants inside them to squeal in shock.
"GAH! Be more careful with those! We need them intact for our plan!"
"Correction Doctor. I need them for MY plan!"
"...What did you just say?"
"SILENCE EGGMAN! YOU'RE SERVICES ARE NO LONGER NEEDED AROUND HERE!" Metal Sonic roared, before silencing his former master with a paralysing electric shock. Eggman instantly was hit by it, and went down. "Such a pathetic waste of life, just like all organic matter in this world... Soon to be my world... MY WORLD!" Metal Sonic then arrogantly stepped over the unconscious body of the Doctor, before grabbing the P.A. microphone and switching it on. "ATTENTION ALL ROBOTS! This is Metal Sonic speaking; you all now have permission to begin using your new programming that I uploaded earlier today. From now on, you only accept commands from myself, Metal Sonic. Not Doctor Robotnik, nor anyone else. ONLY MYSELF!" Metal was about to turn the microphone off, when another idea struck him. "...Please also be aware, that you may now only refer to myself as... Metal Overlord... That is all."
Soon the world will either end, or two worlds will begin again... The choices are of death to a life-less world, or re-birth into a world even more full of life than before... But for the dark to awaken into light, dark must first discover painful light... This is a quest that cannot be done alone, but only with fellow blood... One whowill actas guide...Who will have eyes that see where he cannot,ears where he has none, knowledge where mind is blank...The time is soon... Please ask Shadow to forgive me if I confused him, I was not aware that Re-Birth had not occured... But I have made a promise to Maria that Shadow will be protected, and I have seen the person to go with him on the quest... One who deserves a chance to lead a second life, just as he had... Soon Shadow... These are the blessed words of Tikal the Echidna... You will understand in time... When the seven servers unite in your birthplace... There you will be forgiven... But we may not...
Author note: There's Chapter 9 up for you all! If it seemed a bit random, don't worry, it all makes sense in the future, so it was sort of the scene setting for the future plot... Oh, and I warned you that there'd be Sonic Heroes spoilers! Okay, since I've received a HUGE positive feedback for Being Free, this bit (the bit under the fic) is now reserved for answering reviewers comments and stuff like that, so if you don't like reading that, then you know not to read any further!
First off, I've become aware thanks to the greatness of the Stats section of the whole Log-In control panel/centre etc blah-blah (Not its real name) that I am on the Author Alert Watch List of THREE (Three shalt be the number count, and the number of the counting shall be three...) people! Skittles the Sugar Fairy, Chibi Yoshi and Sonic/Anime are the people with good taste (lol sorry an old joke I use), and have reviewed this story as well! Except for Chibi, you haven't reviewed yet, but I'm assuming you really like Being Free (why else me put on list, no?). Why not let me know what ya think of this chapter, people's comments do help me work more on new stuff!
Next, review comments! Thanks to everyone who reviewed pre-chapter 8, you all rule, but that would take up time to talk about so I'm just gonna reply to those who've reviewed chapter 8, so if you guys wanna see your names in this bit, review again! (Damnit Airo, that was a cheap plug!) Oh, and don't worry if I've put you as a new reviewer, I just like to count off the new people enjoying my stuff :
Celestial the Hedgird - Thanks again for the support, nice to see you're interested in Re-Birth, it plays a part in the future, so keep a look out! Hope this chapter is enough until the next one comes along! Sonic/Anime - Don't worry! I take it as a huge thumbs-up if people are lost for words when reading my stuff, espically since I don't know myself if I've written a good piece. I'd rather have constructive critism than nothing at all. Milette Tails Prower - New Reviewer! Don't worry, Being Free won't end until I say so! And that won't be for a good while yet! I'll keep on going for a good while Mystica-Moshi - New Reviewer! I'm glad you liked the Prelude, but does that mean you don't like anything else? Let me know! Phantom and Shadow - New Reviewer! A big shout out to you my friend, you took the time out to review EVERY CHAPTER SO FAR! Not only that, you put me on your Favorites List too! I GOT ME A BIG FAN, YIPPIE! (Focus Airo, focus!) I'm a big fan of 'The Dark Couple' (Shadouge), so I thought they'd be good in this story! You seemed confused by Tikal, but bare in mind what she said, as Tikal reappears later... Thanks again for all your reviews, It's good to see people enjoying what I do!
That's a total of 13 new reviews shared among 5 reviewers 0o Is that divided by Pie? Nevermind, but thanks to all who reviewed! If people don't like this reviewing comment bit, then DON'T READ IT! It isn't that difficult to move down quickly to the very bottom of the page! Anyway, it's my fan-fic, and I'll write how I like! AUTHOR POWER. Okay, that's quite enough of that! Send in the reviews people, and I'll get going bringing you all more of Being Free! (Oh, I almost forgot... 20,000 words! GO ME!)
Edited 25-03-05 for paragraphing