Wowie wow wow wow. It's been a long time! Ok, I apologize, it's all because my other fic interested me more, and there were so many ideas in my head, and I had major, Major, MAJOR writer's block, but FEAR NOT! This is the part I had playing out in my head when I first decided to write this fic, the only problem now is to put it into words! And school, after school activities, friends, trying to find a social life (are they for sale on eBay?) my other fics, drawing and crap, but I'll still write! I swears!
Shadow Yasha: Cool name! And of course Shadow is awesome and Big is a retard! That's like, common sense!
Emily-the-anime-character: I'm glad you like Lisa! You too, Shadow! And don't kill him! I NEED him!
Aura24: Ariagto Gozaimasu! Or Thank you very much!
Alright, I wrote half of this a few months ago, and half of this last week. Can you tell where the cut off is? I dare ya to find it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Shadow the Hedgehog, but I DO own a copy of his game! AND IT'S AWESOME! One reason I didn't have time to write, and one reason why I was inspired to write… I'm gonna go play it right now!
"Yeah!"
A white blur blew past the trees, making them sway in the wind's wake. Soon, 3 other blurs rushed passed, almost making the trees uproot themselves.
"Lisa! Are you sure you know where you're going?" called Rouge.
The leader turned her head around, making hair fly into her face as she smiled, "I think so!"
"Great!" groaned Rouge.
"Don't worr- Aie!"
Team Dark caught up to see that Lisa tripped on a giant vine in the middle of the path. She was laying face down in the mud with her foot still stuck in the vine, twitching like crazy.
"Need… Any help?" Shadow snickered.
Lisa slowly raised her head with her hair covering her eyes, "No… but you do."
Her hand shot up and grabbed Shadow's ankle and pulled his leg out from under him, making him fall into the mud. He quickly sat up straight and started spitting dirt out of his mouth while Lisa stood up and started brushing the dirt off her clothes.
"That was childish!" Shadow roared.
"So?" She asked, hitching up her pants.
Shadow growled and got up as well while Rouge was yelling at them to hurry up, for she and Omega already ran ahead and were waiting not so patiently. Lisa winked and ran to meet them with Shadow not far behind.
When they caught up with Rouge and E-123, they saw that they were looking at a giant forest, there were tons of giant trees surrounded by a humongous swamp. The treasure hunter immediately plugged her nose and moaned.
"Do we really have to go in there? It smells worse than that echidna!" the bat moaned.
"You weren't the one that fell in the mud." Lisa muttered.
Omega stepped forward and examined the layout of the land, "Eggman robots detected."
"Duh!" the female hedgehog stepped forward, placing her hands on her hips, "That was the whole reason I led you guys here, following the trail of robots. Eggman's up to something, I know it, and now… I'm finally going to find out what."
Rouge looked sadly at her from the corner of her eye, feeling that a small tear was building up. The hedgehog's figure standing as tall and confident as ever, but remember how she sometimes acted at camp, staying quiet and looking really depressed, the bat wondered how she could keep it all in.
"Rouge? Earth to Rouge! Hey look, a chaos emerald!"
"Where!" the treasure hunter cried, breaking out of her trance and looking around frantically.
Lisa sighed and placed her hands behind her head, "You're as gullible as ever when it comes to jewels."
"Hey," Rouge mocked back, placing her hands on her hips, "You hear that Omega has Eggman data about his past encounters with Sonic in his memory banks?"
The female hedgehog felt herself freeze, her eyes slightly wide and staring at the bat with shock, slowly turning into venom. Her head lowered and the shadow from the high afternoon sky darkened her face, her expression unreadable.
Rouge felt a sudden strong stab of guilt in her heart and stepped forward, reaching out with her lips ready to speak, when Lisa twirled on the balls of her feet, turning away.
"I'll go on ahead, this place is dangerous. We need a scout."
Lisa bent her knees a bit, the soles of her shoes pushing up some of the moist earth. Pushing down, her heels dug up some dirt and moss as she raced off into the middle of the dense forest, leaving a very guilty bat, a confused hedgehog, and a not understanding robot.
"Warning! Emotional levels off the charts! Lisa is experiencing emotional trauma!" Omega reported.
"That's obvious." Rouge sighed, her ears flat against her head.
"What were you two talking about anyway?" Shadow asked suddenly, making the treasure hunter jumped.
"Uhh…"
Rouge turned and met Shadow's gaze, flinching and shrinking away from his intense crimson eyes. She tilted back and forth on her heels, trying to look down but on instinct kept looking back up in his eyes, which didn't move or grow less severe.
"It… was just some old memories. Me and her go way back, ya know?" Rouge felt an uncomfortable silence fall, a feeling that he wasn't done asking questions growing in her stomach.
"I figured. How far back do you two go, exactly?" the hedgehog asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.
'Great! Just great! What am I supposed to tell him!' she contemplated, 'I promised Lisa I wouldn't say anything, but if I don't say anything, Shadow won't leave me alone!'
The treasure hunter sighed, deciding to tell the truth, but not the whole truth, "About a year ago, Dr. Eggman tried to take over the world. Apparently, from what I've heard, this wasn't the first time, not even close. Eggman was a seasoned pro. He took out the planet's defenses easily, leaving the world's leaders begging on their knees. Me and her… were involved in the battle, we became kinda close friends. At the end, Sonic and his friends won the battle and saved the planet, but at a price. Lisa's close friend was taken from her… and I guess it still hurts her inside, more than I thought it did…"
Omega's glowing red eyes fixed on Rouge, as she turned away and sniffled, wiping away the few tears that threatened to spill. Shadow watched with wavy eyes, his mind growing foggy as soft and incoherent voices started to speak in his mind.
"Shadow!"
"There's only one true Sonic!"
"Space Colony ARK?"
"You're not Sonic!"
"Gimme back the Master Emerald!"
"It will impact Earth…"
"We won't survive."
"It has combined with the colony!"
"Shadow…"
Suddenly, all of the other voices died out, leaving a calmness and serenity lingering in the air. A gut feeling told him that someone was in this emptiness, someone important. A soft hum met his ears, a mellow, and beautiful voice, that sounded somehow, familiar.
"Shadow. You have to help them. For everyone… for me."
"Who are you!" he shouted, his voice echoing in the light.
Unfortunately for him, the voice didn't say anything more, the essence of a being had vanished. Shadow could feel himself falling, from tremendous light into darkness. Murmurs of slightly different voices grew to phrases he couldn't understand at the moment, his mind still groggy.
"Sha…"
"Status: Unconscious…"
"…the hell did you do?"
"Me? I didn't…"
"Status: Conscious…"
"Huh?"
Shadow wearily opened his eyes, struggling to focus on something as three figures surrounded him. He felt a velvety soft hand brush him on the cheek, and then move to his forehead, pressing firmer.
"I don't think he has a fever." a feminine voice sighed, removing the hand, "That's good. I think he should be fine."
"Think?" a different female voice answered.
"Hey, I don't have my bachelor's in Medicine. But from good ol' mom's diagnosis, he should be fine." the first voice replied, a little sarcastic.
The hedgehog blinked a few times and Lisa, Rouge and Omega came into view, all three standing over him. Lisa stood up straight and dusted her hands, while Rouge glanced up at her.
"Told ya' he'd be fine."
"I'll laugh when he keels over."
"Hey." he grunted, struggling to sit up straight, settling by leaning on the palms of his hands.
The treasure hunter twitched and turned to him, "Oh, Shadow, Hun! I was only kidding!"
"I am so reassured."
All three watched as Shadow climbed to his feet and dusted his fur, chunks of soft dirt flying off. Omega watched him intently while Rouge brushed off the dirt that flew onto her, the other hedgehog examining the path ahead of them.
"You feelin' ok?" she asked Shadow, who nodded, "Good, because the road ahead has no room for slip ups. It's less than a foot wide with an almost vertical drop. We don't want ya dosin' off, because I'd rather not jump off a cliff today."
Rouge and Shadow glanced at the edge of the cliff, the bat gulped but the hedgehog just nodded; Omega just standing there. The male hedgehog stepped forward, taking the lead of the group and headed toward the narrow ledge, walking slowly, but not watching his feet as he walked.
Lisa went next, pulling slightly on Rouge's arm, gaining her attention and having the bat following her with E-123 taking up the rear. The white hedgehog sidled against the wall, her hands lightly brushing over the rock as she tried to focus on the small ledge, not the trees hundreds of feet below; the treasure hunter copying the suit.
"I picked a great time to become afraid of heights…" Lisa murmured, glancing down and swiftly shutting her eyes.
"Just keep moving!" Rouge whimpered, clutching onto her friend's arm and hiding her head in the hedgehog's back.
"Easily for you to say."
Her tennis shoe was placed back down, firmly in the cliff edge, small pebbles and rocks being pushed loose and falling down the mountain side. Glancing ahead of her, Lisa could feel jealously rise while Shadow just walked normal as if down an empty sidewalk.
Behind her, Rouge the bat, who, until further notice, could FLY was having problems with heights, and was hanging off her the hedgehog in the middle. It felt as if a hundred pound backpack was weighting her down, causing Lisa to loose her footing.
She almost tripped, hopping a bit on one foot before placing her hand on the wall of rock and steadying herself. Sighing, the white-hedgehog went to move forward, when Rouge came from behind and crashed into her.
Lisa felt things going in slow motion, her left foot coming down to the ground, but missing and sliding down the edge of the cliff, the left side of her body falling with her. Rouge had let go and fell to her knees, then bent over and tried to grasp the hedgehog's outstretched hand.
"Lisa!"
Shadow immediately turned around, freezing when he saw the female hedgehog completely off of the cliff edge and falling faster by the second. He dashed forward and reached out his hand, leaning so far off the edge, he would have fallen off if not for Omega grasping him tightly with his metal claws.
Their finger barely brushed before Lisa fell down through the thick brush of the forest, lost in the sea of green below them. Omega's cold steel hands pulled Shadow back onto the little cliff face, while the hedgehog and Rouge stared at the bottom of the rock face, not seeing any movement from yards drop to the forest floor.
Shadow stared with blank crimson eyes, leaning almost lifelessly in Omega's arms, who was talking to Rouge about finding a way to get down there and search for her. His heart felt cold, but not the regular cold he usually felt, an empty chill shattering his heart into pieces.
"Shadow…" Rouge's small voice spoke in his ear.
His blank eyes looked up at her, but he still couldn't clear his mind from the last time he saw her face, the way her eyes shown with fear. Rouge was watching his features with a worried expression on her face, her lips pursed as she gripped his hand.
"Shadow, we have to get going. Eggman will see us if we stay here too long. Besides, I'm sure Lisa's ok, she's just down there waiting for us. We just have to go meet her." She said soothingly.
"You… sure…"
The bat nodded weakly, "Yes, I'm positive."
The hedgehog absently nodded and stared at his lap, where his hand sat motionless. His fingers slowly curled into a fist, which shook slightly with anger and frustration. Shadow stood up suddenly, looking down at the forest bellow them.
Then he raced down the rest of the cliff edge, zooming along the meadow part of the area, his hover shoes moving at top speed. Soon, Rouge snapped out of her daze and followed, Omega close behind activating his boosters and zooming along the same path.
Groaning, Lisa peaked through her eyelids, weighted heavily against her pounding head. She rolled over slightly, then stopped when she felt her ribs crack, her eyes opening wide while a silent scream past her lips.
After taking several gasps of deep breath, she grunted as she sat up, leaning over and clutching her stomach while panting. Lightly brushing her fingers over her side, Lisa grunted after feeling at least two broken ribs.
She looked up and examined her surroundings, seeing a giant canopy of trees above her, the leaves rustling in the breeze. The sun peeked through the little openings and cast a green light over her body. Glancing to her left, the hedgehog saw her black vest, standing out amongst the brown and green, a huge rip in it as it was stuck in a branch sticking out of one of the tree trunks.
Gritting her teeth, Lisa struggled to her feet and stumbled over to the vest. She yanked it away from the tangled little sticks, shredding it even more and held it in front of her for a moment. Then, the hedgehog ripped it into strips for makeshift bandages and lifted her shirt gently, wrapping the cloth tightly underneath on her lower chest and upper stomach.
With the bandages in place, it was harder to move, but she knew that it would help her in the long run. Already feeling more spring in her step, Lisa started walking around the forest floor, seeing if she could find Rouge or Shadow, or anyone else in the thick.
Lisa ran down the path in the plains, smashing up the very few Eggman robots that got in her way. She didn't get that far before she heard the noise of scratching metal and loud screams, hoots and hollers.
Running around the corner, she saw Team Sonic, beating up the local baddies with little bits of metal and screws flying everywhere. Lisa smiled at their antics, dashing forward and destroying the last one behind Sonic's back.
Sonic blinked and turned around, smiling when he saw the familiar white hedgehog behind him. A few yards away, Knuckles smashed another charging robot and gave her a thumbs up, while Tails smiled at her and waved from above whilst hovering in the air with his tails. Lisa nodded at both of them while they finished destroying their robots before running over to her and stood next to their leader.
"Hey Li, what's up?" asked Knuckles.
"Hi Lisa!" Tails chirped.
"So Lisa," the blue hedgehog smiled, "What are you doin' in these parts?"
She shrugged, "Probably the same as you guys I guess. I saw Eggy go somewhere around here."
"Cool! So you're trying to stop Dr. Eggman before he tries one of his stupid plots again, too?" the fox questioned.
Lisa jumped and avoided the little kitsune's gaze, and embarrassed blush growing on her cheeks. She nervously shifted from foot to foot while Tails' gleeful expression started to droop, as Sonic's usually laid back smile turned to a serious frown.
"Lisa…"
She knew that tone of voice and her ears bent flat against her head as the girl narrowed her eyes, staring straight into the male's emerald ones. Knuckles glanced from one to the other, frowning and sighing as Miles looked up at the confused.
"Yes, Sonic?" the white hedgehog said venomously.
"Lisa!"
"Don't you say a word!"
"You can't be serious! You… You're still-"
"I don't want to hear it, Sonic!"
"I can't believe you! After all this time! You've still been looking for him!"
"Oh? You thought I would just give up and become all depressed?"
"No! That you would maybe be able to move on and face the facts!"
Lisa glared at him, "So you're saying what I'm doing is completely pointless?"
The hero sighed angrily, "Lisa, I just don't want you to hurt worse than you have to. We've all looked for him, you know that. I wouldn't say this if I didn't have to, but both of us saw it. He's gone, Lisa… Shadow the Hedgehog is gone."
She went to snap something back, but bit her lip and looked away, tears beginning to form in her eyes. Lisa clenched her fists and stood in front of the team, shaking out of anger as Tails stepped forward to comfort her.
The female shrugged him off and stood still for a moment, her head bowed with the shadows covering her expression. When she looked up, it seemed that hell was burning inside of her, feeding on her hatred with only her eyes keeping them caged.
Lisa stepped forward, and in a flash, slapped Sonic across his muzzle, knocking him back into Knuckles. The hero brought his hand to clutch his red and swelling cheek as Lisa twirled her heels and dashed off through the trees, making the dust rise into a cloud before slowly floating to the ground.
Sonic started completely stunned in the direction she had gone, clutching his bruised face as he stood on shaky feet. After a silent moment past, he snapped out of his daze and took of after her, leaving Tails and Knuckles to follow in both of their wakes.
Ooooo… catfight! Well, if you have been paying attention, or haven't forgotten, the mystery of why Lisa all of a sudden hates Sonic is finally revealed. To summarize: Sonic thinks that Shadow is dead and says that Lisa should forget him, and no, not become his girlfriend. But Lisa says that he's still out there, and she was right.
So, I hoped you liked it, and I'll try to continue writing ASAP! Please review and Je ne!