Call my Bluff
"Knuckles, I can hear voices"
Knuckles raised an eyebrow
"They're human voices, and they're getting louder. I think they're coming this way"
For a moment Knuckles listened, before getting up and going to the window. Here he groaned. By the next day he'd thought they'd gotten away with it.
"They've found us" he turned round, his face worried "Stay here, promise me you will?" Shadow nodded "If I call you try to look innocent"
Shadow smirked "What do you want me to do? Chop my head off?"
Knuckles trotted out the door "I dunno, suck your thumb or something"
Shadow snorted and took himself further into the house.
Knuckles ran outside. When he looked down the garden he spotted a group of about twenty or so humans emerging from the trees. They were carrying weapons, crude ones he had to admit, but they would still hurt if they caught him off guard. He tried to look innocent, and surprised. He didn't think he'd pulled it off. Mildly the warrior in him assessed the situation, and decided it didn't want it to come to open combat. The humans approached, Knuckles walked casually down to meet them.
"Hi… Uhh what do you want?"
"That him?" An older human asked a younger one
"No"
"That's a Guardian" another said
"Clever humans, I'm an Echidna too"
Evidently the humans didn't share his sense of humour.
"Where's the other one?" The old leader asked
"You mean my Charge?" Knuckles asked innocently "What's he done now?"
"We want you out" The old leader snarled
"Forgotten to pay rent have we?" Knuckles tried
"Shut up Guardian"
Knuckles blinked
"We don't want you and your monster friend hanging around near us anymore"
A shiver of unease crept up Knuckles' back but didn't show on his face. "He can be a bit of a moody sod… but I think monster's a bit strong"
"He's a devil, a fire monster"
Knuckles raised a bemused eyebrow
"He can burn things, wreathed in flames… like a devil!" The human exclaimed loudly.
Knuckles raised the other eyebrow, and laughed "A fire breathing hedgehog, right? I think you've been listening to a few too many fairy tales!" Knuckles continued to laugh, looking surreptitiously around, wondering if they would call his bluff. Then he shouted "Come on Shads, come listen to this!"
Shadow emerged cautiously from the stone built house. Mercifully Knuckles noticed he'd taken his boots off. He wandered cautiously down to stand at his side and look curiously up at the humans. They looked at Shadow, at the human who had led them there, and back again. Some started to laugh.
"That's him!" the young man said
The laughter started to spread
"Look, look!" The human shouted "That tree's been burnt down!"
Knuckles and Shadow innocently looked to where he pointed, at a lone tree that had fallen victim to Shadow's temper.
"That tree was struck by lightning in a storm a few months back… keep meaning to knock it down before it falls on the house…" Knuckles said easily.
The laughter increased, some of the humans started to turn away until finally only the young man who had seen Shadow training was left. He scowled darkly at them, muttered something incoherent, turned, and followed the others back down the hill towards the village. Once they were out of earshot Knuckles sighed heavily and collapsed to the floor. He rubbed his face in his hands before looking wearily at Shadow.
"Man that was close… we're going to have to be more careful"
Shadow nodded in agreement, before offering him a hand to his feet "You lie well my Guardian… Thank you…"
Knuckles smiled weakly and shrugged "All part of the job description"
Shadow chuckled "Do them make you do lessons in how to lie on Angel Island?"
"No… but it's implied… What about you? Did you have lying lessons on the ARK?"
"Not lessons… but I learned from the best" Shadow said
Knuckles stopped and looked at him. He'd never really heard him say anything negative against his creators before. It took him by surprise. Shadow shrugged.
"They never really told me where I came from… what I was made for… What I would be made to do when I got to Earth… Maybe they didn't lie to me… but they never told me the truth… they let me believe Maria and I would go to together and that I would be free… which was as close to the opposite to the truth as you can get. Maybe it was my fault for being naïve… I don't know"
They entered the kitchen. Shadow returned to his place at the kitchen table, Knuckles rummaged around for a bit before rejoining him, complete with food.
"One thing I don't understand Shadow… When they put you in that metal room… Why didn't you just use Chaos Control to warp out?"
"Because Chaos Control isn't a warp. Maybe it was for Sonic… But I only made it warp me twice… maybe three times… to get into the cell Rouge was trapped in and get her out again… That was long after I was trapped on the ARK. Back then Chaos Control only worked to bend time around me." Shadow shrugged "No-one ever managed to explain it… But Chaos Control looks like a warp because I change the way time flows…" He shook his head "It doesn't stop it just flows at different rates… It's hard to explain…" Shadow frowned thoughtfully "It alters my perception I think… a mouse's heart beats so fast it feels like all one motion, like a rumble… and it lives only for about 3 years. An elephant's heart beats slower and they can live for sixty years plus, with luck." Shadow looked up to see if Knuckles was following "The elephant lives life in the slow lane, the mouse in the fast. They must perceive the world differently. Sonic can run at the speed of sound. Don't you ever wonder why he doesn't bash into things?"
"Well now that you mention it…"
"I can't run as fast as Sonic… Without Chaos Control I couldn't beat him… I'm fast, but not as fast as him"
Knuckles started to look confused.
"I'm getting there. I think it's the same for him as me. When he runs… his brain and eyes work faster, so it seems like everything slows down… its… like your running in slow motion, even though your going really fast, you can still see every tree, every branch as though your just on an evening stroll. That's what it's like when I do the Chaos Control… I can fit more into a smaller amount of time… Its not that I get sped up" Shadow shook his head "Actually… maybe it is… I've always thought of it as the perception of time changing. The world around me runs in slow motion, while I remain at normal speed. It looks like a warp because with Chaos Control I can cover a mile in what for everyone else is a split second… but for me a few minutes have passed… You've been included in my Chaos Controls you know what its like. What I'm trying to say is the people around us haven't stopped, time hasn't stopped, it can seem like that, and it's easier to describe it that way but really the others are still moving, they aren't aware anything's happened to time, and for them nothing does, just to the perception of those included in Chaos Control they've almost stopped. I watched a fast machine once when I'd used Chaos Control… It was definitely still moving."
Knuckles blinked "So what you're basically trying to say is Chaos Control lets you put three minutes, into a second"
Shadow frowned for a moment, and then nodded "Yes, in a very long winded way… I think time is perceived differently by all living creatures, Chaos Control allows me to bend that perception."
Knuckles nodded "So there was no way you could use it to get our of your Training Room"
Shadow shook his head "No, not really"
"So how did you get Rouge out of that cell, and how did Sonic get back to the ARK?"
"I don't know." Shadow looked nervous "I was desperate… the more I think about it the more I think that whatever I did; was not Chaos Control… It was Chaos something… but…"
"Like what you did to Metal…"
Shadow nodded "I don't know what that was either…"
Shadow was screaming in his sleep. Knuckles locked down his power before trying to wake him up. A brief shake failed to stir him, Shadow simply continued to scream. In the end Knuckles resorted to slapping Shadow with his bare hand. He woke with a jump. As soon as Shadow's eyes opened enough to recognise Knuckles he sat up to cling to him.
"Shh shh…" Knuckles crooned softly, stroking Shadow's head in a desperate attempt to calm him "Its ok it's just a nightmare… your safe here with me."
"Metal… Metal… he's not dead"
"Of course he is" Knuckles soothed
"No! No, he's not!"
"Shhhh Shadow calm down… you killed Metal remember? In that big black ball, you saved my life…"
"N-n-no… he's not dead… I sent him into Chaos… that was what that bubble was… Him and the rest of the Thousand… They aren't dead Knuckles… what happens if they get out… they're going to be pretty mad… they'll be coming to get me… to get you!" Shadow clung tighter to him.
"Shhh… Shadowkin… if Metal comes back, which he wont, we can fight him, your power's more in control now, and you have me to help you. If you did send Metal into Chaos you can just send him back" Knuckles pressed Shadow down so he lay on the blankets again "Now, no more worries, go back to sleep"
"But… but…"
"Shhh shh shhh…" Knuckles said softly, lying down beside him "It'll all be alright, everything will seem better and brighter in the morning" Knuckles yawned "Now then… go back to sleep…"