CHAPTER 15

THE RETURN OF SHADOW

Rouge quickly stood from the ground, ran towards Shadow and hugged him, "Shadow, I'm so glad you're back! I missed you so much!"

Shadow hugged her back, "So did I. I just had to see you again."

She broke away from him, "What happened?"

"I can do it."

"Do what?"

"Transform into my demon form."

Rouge was a little shocked to hear that from him, "Can you control it?"

"Yeah with the help of Lord Dark."

Rouge put her hands on her hips, "You have to stop calling Dark Lord Dark. It's getting annoying and how do you know that Dark even trained you?"

"If it weren't for him, you wouldn't be standing here right now."

She did agree on that, "Yeah, I guess that's true."

"I'll even show you."

Rouge backed away a bit, "Okay." She was a little afraid of seeing Shadow in his full demon form for the first time.

Shadow then kneeled to the ground holding his sides as if he was in pain. He then grew transparent wings coming from his back, sharp fangs appeared from his mouth, sharp claws were formed on his hands, his tail became longer, he grew horns on his head, and his eyes were piercing red.

Rouge shook in fear. She hoped that he wouldn't harm her.

Shadow noticed Rouge backing away. "Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you." He walked up to her and took her hand, "It's all right."

Rouge then realized he wasn't going to kill her. Dark had really done it. She then hugged the creature in happiness.

Shadow then transformed back into himself and hugged her back.

Later Shadow and Rouge were sitting under a tree talking about the fourteen demons.

Rouge decided to tell him the great news, "Espio killed one of the fourteen demons last night."

Shadow tried to act surprised, "Really?"

Rouge nodded, "Yeah, it was because of my newest weapon."

Shadow seemed interested, "And what is that?"

Rouge took out a blueprint of the gun she made. She let Shadow look at it. "It's called the Z-X. It has an explosive bullet that can kill any demon."

Shadow studied the gun. Nothing seemed flawless in it except the lack of capacity. It only held three bullets at a time. 'This is not half bad. She's really outdone herself. What a powerful weapon.' He looked at her while she was looking at the clouds in the blue sky. 'Maybe Lord Dark has use for her.' When Rouge turned to face him, he started to sweet talk her, "I'm impressed with your creation, Rouge. You were born to make weaponry." He handed the blueprint back to her.

She smiled and placed the blueprint in her pocket, "You're so sweet."

Shadow placed his hand on hers, "Rouge, I have to ask you an important question."

"What is it?"

"Please don't tell anyone I came back."

"Why?"

"I must work for Lord Dark. He said it's in my blood."

"But what about the Chaotix?"

"I'm fired remember?"

Rouge then remembered that day when Vector fired him for killing someone. "Are you going to fight against us?"

"Not you, but them."

Rouge took her hand away from his, "You can't! They're your friends! You can't fight them!"

"Why not? Espio keeps shooting me with his gun, Vector is pissed that I killed Maxcell, Charmy hates me I'm sure, and Tonya...I can't think of anything about her at the moment."

"No Shadow, you can't and if you do try to fight against Espio I know he'll have no choice, but to kill you with the Z-X and that's what I'm afraid of. Shad, I don't want you to die." She began to close her eyes and started to cry until she felt lips meeting hers. She opened her eyes and faced Shadow with sadness, "...Shadow..."

Shadow looked into her eyes with pity, "You'll never lose me, Rouge. Remember that."

"I love you, Shadow."

"And I love you", he pushed her on the grass and got on top of her. He whispered in her ear, "Make love to me."

She was about to obey his command until a bullet had shot into the tree they were next too.

Shadow quickly got off of Rouge's body and faced the one responsible. He saw a red echidna with a shotgun in his hands along with Lance, Zena, and Appex. His eyes widened, "Knuckles...you're with...them?"

Knuckles glared at Shadow, "I saw what you were doing with her. You're gonna pay for taking Rouge from me."

Rouge sighed, "Knuckles, get a life! I don't love you okay? Just go back to Angel Island and protect that stupid jewel of yours!"

"But why him?"

Rouge placed her hands on her hips, "Because unlike you, I have someone I can hang with."

Knuckles knew it was hopeless to change Rouge's mind. He looked into her eyes with anger, "Fine, if you choose him over me then I'll kill you too."

Rouge gasped as Knuckles pointed the gun at her.

As Knuckles was about to pull the trigger, Shadow ran up to him and pushed him to the ground causing Knuckles to drop the gun on the ground. Shadow held his wrists down on the ground, "How dare you try to harm my girlfriend", he said in anger.

"Your girlfriend! She was my lover before you ever admitted your feelings to her!"

"I met her first!"

"What difference does that make!"

Zena saw Knuckles struggling to get out of Shadow's grip. She felt like helping him, but she turned to Lance for permission. She looked over to Lance, "Should we help him?"

Lance smiled and shook his head, "I think he wants us to stay out." He started to walk away, "Come on, he's gonna die anyway...just like Maxcell."

It made Zena sad to think about Maxcell at the time. She followed Lance and Appex with some tears in her eyes.

Knuckles finally got the strength to push Shadow off him. He kicked the hedgehog off him.

Shadow fell to the ground but quickly got back up.

Knuckles looked back at the Street Punks, but they weren't there. "What? I can't believe they abandoned me."

"Because they knew you were going to die", Shadow said with a smirk.

"Ha! Like I'd lose to the likes of you!"

Shadow made a deep laugh

It sent a shiver down Knuckles' spine to hear Shadow laugh like that.

"You are a fool to say that to me, Knuckles the Echidna." Shadow said with an evil smile.

"What are you saying?"

"You'll see.." Shadow's hand formed into a claw with razor sharp tips. He then ran up to Knuckles and stabbed him through the stomach with it. His claw went directly through his stomach. Blood covered his whole hand.

Knuckles' eyes were wide open filled with shock and pain. His bloody body fell to the ground. Knuckles faced Rouge once more. His voice fell hoarse, "I can't believe you fell in love with a monster..." His eyes then slowly closed and he painfully fell unconscious.

Rouge was terrified by the way Knuckles died. She slowly looked over to Shadow and saw him licking blood from his hand. 'He is a monster', she thought. She then saw him kneel down to Knuckles' body and started to devour on his insides. Rouge couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't watch that horrid thing happen to a friend she once knew. "Stop it, Shadow!" She shouted.

Shadow took his fangs out of Knuckles' body and faced her, "What's wrong?"

She began to cry, "You."

He walked over to her, "What do you mean?"

"You killed Knuckles..."

"He deserved it and you know it."

"You're eating him! What are you some kind of cannibal!"

He crossed his arms, "I'm a demon, that's what I do."

"Knuckles is right, you are a monster!"

"If you're thinking about running away from me, you know I'll just come after you."

"And...kill me?" She asked nervously.

He shook his head slightly, "I'll love you no matter what. I would never kill you nor think about it." He put his hand on her butt and slid it down to her thigh.

Rouge made a slight gasp. She moved away from him, "Don't touch me!" She then ran away from him.

Shadow glared at her while she was running away, 'You can't run from me forever. I'll come back for you.' He then his back and began to walk away in the opposite direction.