The beautiful sandy beaches of Seaside Hill were a sight to behold, especially on such a clear, sunny day. It was like something taken out of a travel brochure, with cloudless blue skies, warm white sand and water that glinted and glimmered with the sun. Little peaks of white foam formed as the waves hit the apex of their ascent and crashed back down. Tiny crabs crawled along the shoreline, taking small respites in the shade of massive palm trees.
Then a black blur tore through the scene, kicking up sand as it passed on by at supersonic speed, leaving nothing but a trail of footprints and a shock of wind that whipped through the air, causing the trees to tremble and the waves to slow down, just for a moment.
Shadow the Hedgehog had no time to waste on looking at pretty scenery.
The teen grinned to himself as he hoisted himself over a boulder in the ground, clearing it with grace and ease, and his teal eyes scanned the horizon for any sign of what he was looking for.
Three badniks at two o'clock. He was on the right track.
He reached inside his tactical vest 一 a new addition to his wardrobe, and one that he sorely needed if he was going to keep making a name for himself 一 and drew out three small bombs, all modelled after himself with a black base color, blue markings, and a white bottom. With the most practiced ease, he bounced off of a pad, flipping and arcing high in the air, and let the bombs drop to their targets.
One, two, and three. Boom, bang, and bam! The badniks were now scrap metal littering the beach, and if you were to ask Shadow, he would say it was less of an eyesore that way, but as fun as it was to destroy these pesky robots, that wasn't what Shadow was here to do.
Six months… It had been six months now since his adventure on the ARK. Six months since he had the worst day of his entire life. Six months that he had been searching the globe of any sign of…
And six months since Eggman had done anything at all.
So, naturally, when the old doctor started causing trouble again, Shadow figured it was a good opportunity to take a detour to figure out why. After all, if Eggman was running back into his old life of schemes and tricks, there had to be a good reason why. An opportunity that wasn't there before.
He might have found something, and if it was valuable, well… it would belong more in Shadow's hands, now wouldn't it? Maybe right alongside the Chaos Emerald he had picked up on his travels?
Plus, the more problems he could cause Eggman, the easier things could be on Sonic and his team. Any reason to have them grovel at his feet and acknowledge his greatness.
And maybe… just maybe… he would find something that could help him find Rouge.
Shadow's hand slid absentmindedly over to the ring he wore on his left wrist. His heart ached as he remembered that this was the last thing he had of hers, the last bit of proof that she existed. The kinda-tacky rings she had worn like an idiot who didn't know how to accessorize, let alone dress.
And yet, she had made it work somehow…
Shadow heaved out a breath as he slid down a dune, removing a grappling hook from his vest and swinging it around to get rid of a few more robots standing guard. He wore that ring as a reminder of his mission, his need to scour the world, to find her 一 or what remained of her… 一 and return it to her. He owed her that much, after all those things he had said on the ARK…
He could still remember her eyes dilating in fear as he told her that she was a freak, a nobody, a science experiment whose memories weren't real, because the real thing was some weird lizard monster and…
One ring on his left wrist. The twin stayed on Sonic's right wrist. Shadow smiled a little at the idea as he threw one more bomb at the entrance to the underground bunker.
Matching rings… almost like they were…
Shadow shook the thought from his head as smoke and sand filled the air when the bomb hit its target. No, he couldn't think of stupid, sappy shit like that. Especially when he had seen firsthand, now, how uncomfortable that kind of stuff made Sonic whenever Amy decided that they were getting hitched at the next available opportunity.
He wasn't going to take any chances when it came to being and staying in Sonic's good graces.
Shadow walked over to the bunker's entrance; the heavy metal doors were now twisted pieces of scrap, and the hedgehog didn't even need to boast any above-average strength to simply kick them in. The obstacle gave way immediately, falling down what looked like an elevator shaft for a few seconds before he heard the impact at the bottom.
Not too far of a drop, then. All the same, he made sure to fasten his grappling hook to the side of the entrance and secured his grip around the rope.
He was never going to fall without a way to pull himself up again. He was never going to be worthless garbagein need of rescue ever again.
The descent into Eggman's secret lair was uneventful, and Shadow rolled his eyes at the sight of a numerical lock set next to another set of doors leading inside. Child's play for him, especially since, in his experience breaking in to various Robotnik compounds, Eggman used the same three codes for everything.
For someone with an IQ that was supposedly so high, the doctor really didn't do too well with security, now did he?
Shadow passed the test on the first try 一 a feat which made him grin to himself as he smoothed back his quills 一 and as the doors opened, he wondered what he would find.
"Okay doctor, let's see what special secret you're hiding…"
He blinked a few times as he entered a room filled with decrepit, underused machinery, his eyes adjusting to the low green light that filled the room. The metal of his shoes clinked against the ground as he made his way toward the structure in the middle; a pod up top was letting out the green glow that touched everything in the room, bathing it all in a uniform color.
There was something inside, a dark, shadowy figure that made Shadow's spines start to rise in discomfort. There was something about this sight that made him uneasy… and it didn't look like something he could steal…
But curiosity pushed him forward, and he kept making his way to the machine, squinting against the light as the figure took on more of a concrete shape. Shadow's breath caught in his throat as he recognized the form of a body stuck inside the pod.
A mobian body. Decently tall. Large ears at the top of the head. Long hair.
...big wings…
Shadow's eyes grew wide, even as the light continued to irritate and burn. He gave up on walking, choosing instead to run directly up to the glass and peer inside.
Stupid, dumb gray jumpsuit… Edgy, pointless red stripes rippling through flawless white fur… Pretentious fucking red eyelids like some sort of dumbass whose makeup was hardcoded into her genetics…
Shadow screamed, his eyes filling with tears, and he pounded his fist against the glass of the pod, unaware that the ruckus he was making caused one of the robots slumped uselessly on the ground to stir. He was beyond caring about anything else than the fact that Rouge the Bat, the one he had been looking for for six whole months, was right in front of him.
"ROUGE!" he cried out, slamming his hand against the stasis pod in a desperate attempt to wake her up. "ROUGE! FUCKING… ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"
She didn't make any movements, showed no signs that she had heard him. Her sleep stayed peaceful and undisturbed, and Shadow dropped from the glass, booting up the console controlling the pod above. His fingers flew over the technology as he blinked away tears of shock and relief and joy and fury, and he all but jammed his finger on the button to command the pod to drain.
The liquid inside the chamber immediately began to flush out, and Rouge's face became unsubmerged, fully dry and somehow unaffected by the liquid. Shadow took one step back, watching the process with baited breath.
What would he say once she was out? What would she say? Would it be a happy reunion, or an angry one? Would she resent him for what had happened on the ARK? Would she thank him for saving her, and tell him that everything between them was even now?
Would she… maybe… hug him a little? Just a little?
For the second time in five minutes, Shadow shook a thought out of his head. Things weren't the same as they were before. Things weren't the same at all, and he couldn't count on things staying amicable between them just because he had freed her. There was a lot they had to discuss first, and who knew if she would even be willing to talk about it with him.
Maybe she would just fly right on out, with her own agenda, and leave him behind.
Alone all over again.
As if to punctuate that painful thought, a rain of gunfire exploded all around Shadow, making him jump in terror.
"HOLY SHIT!" he yelped, twisting his head to the side; a large red robot had picked itself off of the ground and was shooting an endless barrage of bullets from its hands, aiming all around and destroying everything in sight. All around him, Shadow saw the flashes of gunpowder and sparks of destroyed machinery, the sound of explosions and bullet casings hitting the ground overwhelmed his ears, the stench of smoke clogged his nose and throttled his brain, and it was too much, too much, too much, too much too much too much too much-
An arm, thin but stronger than steel, wrapped itself around his middle, redirecting every ounce of brainpower Shadow possessed, and he found himself on the ground a moment later, safe by the doorway, looking up into a face that, up until today, he was convinced he would only ever see again in his memories.
Severe red eyes stared down at him, achingly familiar but wild in a way that Shadow had never seen before. White, pointed teeth bared themselves in a ferocious snarl as the bat looked at him with an unbridled intensity that Rouge had never shown, even when he had been at his worst with her. Rouge had always carried an air of self-control, even when pushed to her limits, but this was…
"Stay here," she ordered, her tone offering no room for debate, and she leapt into the gunfire as Shadow reached uselessly after her.
"Rouge!"
She had saved him again. Rouge had saved his life again and Shadow didn't know how to handle that.
He watched, barely holding himself together, as Rouge raced around the room, jumping from wall to wall, dodging bullets as she made her way toward the robot blasting up the hidden lab. She had the same innate elegance and power that she had always had, and Shadow wanted to scream, cry, run up to her and maybe punch her a couple of times before holding her tight and never letting go.
"MUST ERADICATE ALL EGGMAN'S ROBOTS."
The droning voice sounded in the middle of all the mayhem, and Shadow blinked owlishly as his head swivelled to the side, where the robot continued to fire systematically. "Huh?" he uttered, unable to process what he had just heard.
Did an Eggman robot just express a wish to destroy all Eggman robots?
Rouge kept jumping around, the robot kept firing, everything kept exploding, and Shadow couldn't take it anymore. He jumped to his feet, running forward as Rouge leapt in for a strike, and made his way between the bat and the robot with only a millisecond to spare.
"Will you both just fucking stop already?!" he shrieked, stunning them both into stillness. "I can't even hear myself think!"
And finally, in the midst of smoking, sparking machine parts and the noise of his own heavy breaths filling the air, Shadow started getting his thoughts in order.
First things first; he needed to make sure that the robot didn't go trigger-happy again. He turned to the machine, staring down its… his…? her? the robot's bright red lights where the eyes were supposed to be.
"You," he demanded, "who are you and why are you trying to blow us all up?"
"DESIGNATION, E-123 OMEGA," the robot droned. "THE FINAL AND ULTIMATE E-SERIES ROBOT. PREVIOUS MISSION: GUARD THE CAPTIVE AND AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS. MISSION ASSIGNED BY DOCTOR EGGMAN FIVE MONTHS, THREE WEEKS AND FOUR DAYS AGO."
Shadow's snarky remark that the robot wasn't answering his question died on his tongue when he heard the last part.
Guard the captive… That has to be Rouge… He was told to guard Rouge almost six months ago…
Eggman had her this whole time?!
"That lying bastard!" Shadow kicked a stray piece of machinery, studded with bullets, away from him in a fit of anger, and as though to empathize with him, the robot fired a bullet after it as well, causing Shadow to jump in terror, his nerves still shot.
"I WAS CREATED TO DESTROY SONIC AND HIS FRIENDS. NOT TO GUARD AN INERT LIFEFORM AND GATHER DUST. NEW OBJECTIVE DECIDED: RID THE WORLD OF EGGMAN AND HIS WORTHLESS LESSER ROBOTS."
"Well can you put that on hold for five minutes?!"
"I HAVE THE CAPACITY. STARTING TIMER…"
Shadow failed to resist the urge to facepalm. "Don't take it literally! Ugh…"
But it seemed as though the robot 一 E something something Omega 一 wasn't in the mood to humor him anymore. His ocular lights lit up and projected a countdown on the wall opposite them, showing that ten seconds had already passed.
If Shadow was getting his answers and his reunion, it was now.
Without wasting another second, he whipped around to face Rouge, ready to say something, anything, but the sight of her choked him up. There she was, just standing there, blinking and breathing and completely fine when he had been so sure that he would find nothing but charred remains if he was lucky. Her eyes flickered back and forth between him and Omega, as though she was trying to make sense of everything. Her mouth was a flat line, her wings in a deceptively relaxed position, looking as though they were coiled like a spring, ready to shoot out and fly her away at a moment's notice.
She… didn't look happy to see him, but she didn't look unhappy, either?
Did he dare hope that something good could come out of this?
"Rouge?" he whispered, a tentative attempt to reach out to her, but she remained stoic.
Forty-five seconds had passed.
Then, something odd happened. Rouge frowned, her eyes narrowing in confusion and focusing on him. "Say that again?"
Shadow frowned in turn. "Rouge?"
"Rouge…" the bat murmured, as though the word was foreign on her tongue. "Is that… me?"
One minute, fifteen seconds. Shadow felt a cold stab of fear.
"Y-Yeah. Come on, Rouge, you know who you are! The Ultimate Lifeform and all that junk?"
No recognition passed behind those crimson eyes. Shadow felt bile start to rise in his throat as they hurtled toward the two minute mark.
"And…"
Shadow's ears perked up. Rouge was initiating the conversation this time. That was a good sign, right? A sign that she wasn't mad at him?
"Who are you?"
Shadow was no stranger to the feeling of his heart being torn in half by this point.
It still didn't make it any easier.
Two minutes, thirty-seven seconds.
"No… No! Oh come on! Come the fuck on!"
The pain and fury tore out of him as the taste of bile flooded his mouth, and Shadow was absolutely done with holding anything back. His hands flew upward to tear at his spines, the pain only barely managing to keep him standing and alert as the realization that Rouge didn't remember anything that they had been through hit him like a tidal wave.
She didn't remember saving his life.
She didn't remember him ruining hers.
She didn't remember stealing his emerald and being a boring bitch to him or patting his head or telling him that he did a good job or being there when he learned about the pod exploding or-
Three minutes, twelve seconds. Shadow screamed, no longer caring what she thought of him for that.
What did it matter? What did any of it fucking matter, anymore?
When he finally calmed down 一 four minutes, nine seconds 一 Rouge was looking at him with discomfort and something horribly close to fear.
"Do you remember anything?" Shadow urged. "Fuck, it doesn't even have to be about me, just please tell me you remember something!"
But Rouge's ears flattened down as she seemed to shrink back, and she seemed nervous as she shook her head.
He was scaring her. Rouge remembered nothing, a blank slate, a personality to rediscover, and he was scaring her like the stupid fucking asshole that he was.
"Okay. Okay, okay, fine, cool, fine, okay, super. No problem. Totally fine."
As they reached the final countdown, no one seemed convinced by his affirmations.
"Hey, Omega?" Shadow said loudly as the final five seconds ticked down. "What if I told you that I want to help you find Eggman?"
The countdown paused, and then flickered away.
"UNNECESSARY. I CAN TRACK DOWN THE SIGNAL OF ANY EGGMAN MACHINE. I WILL COME ACROSS HIM SOONER OR LATER, AND DESTROY ALL INFERIOR ROBOTS IN THE PROCESS."
"Okay but, and hear me out… how are you going to get out of this compound when there's no way to climb to the surface?"
For a moment, all was silent.
"I MIGHT REQUIRE SOME ASSISTANCE."
"In that case, I have a proposition for you." Shadow flashed Omega a brilliant smile, knowing that it would do nothing to sway the robot in front of him, but what could he do, now, but rely on the familiar to carry him through this? "How about you come along with us?"
"Us?" Rouge echoed, and Shadow faltered for a split second before recovering.
"Well yeah! We all want to find Eggman, right? He's the one who trapped you here, according to Omega, and he might be able to shed some light on why you can't remember anything."
Shadow hoped that was true. Shadow hoped with all his might that the answer wasn't as simple as 'fell from space, memory gone'.
He hoped Eggman was just the jerk he desperately needed him to be right now.
"I…"
Rouge looked lost, and the troubled look only grew as she looked down at her hands, turning them over but finding no answers. She was struggling, so obviously and palpably, with no direction, no memories to turn to, to tell her what was right and what was wrong.
This was his chance. This was his chance to help her!
His own hand raised, and a glint of gold reminded him of his original plans. As quickly as he could, he unfastened the ring from his wrist and closed it around Rouge's.
A perfect fit. Shadow's world went blurry as wetness gathered at his eyes, but he blinked it away.
"It was yours," he explained, answering the unspoken question. He looked up, his hands still cupping her own, and saw Rouge staring intensely at the golden ring around her wrist, as though it held the answers she was looking for.
"I don't remember anything," she said softly. "About myself… about you… or anything, but…" Her eyes raised to meet his. "When I woke up and everything was getting destroyed, all I knew was that I wanted to protect you."
Shadow's heart skipped a beat and the tears returned to his eyes in a flash.
Damn it, Rouge...
"I don't know why, but…" Rouge shifted her weight, frowning slightly. "What's your name?"
Shadow swallowed, forcing down the mixed bag of emotions that was welling up in him, constricting his throat and making it impossible to speak. "Shadow," he whispered. "I'm Shadow."
"Shadow…"
Rouge said the name so tentatively, as though afraid she would say it wrong, or that everything would come back to her the instant she said it, but all that resulted from it were a few tears dropping from the black hedgehog's eyes.
And then she smiled.
It was just a small smile, but Chaos, Shadow couldn't remember ever seeing her smile for real before, and he had made it happen.
He still wished that she had her memories, but this was also everything he had wanted from her for a while. If Rouge had remembered him, would she have smiled? Would she have wanted to protect him?
Was it awfulof him that he was kind of gladthings had ended up this way?
"I AM STILL AWAITING THE DETAILS OF YOUR PROPOSITION."
Shadow jumped a foot into the air, yelping as he remembered what he was doing just a moment prior. Omega towered over him, somehow managing to look impatient, even without a face.
"Right! Right right right! Sorry about that, um… got a little sidetracked there. So!" He clapped his hands together, the sharp sting in his palms and the sound kicking his focus back to where it needed to go. "What I'm thinking is that, since all three of us have the same goal… or well, two of us do, and one of us might benefit from tagging along, we might as well all go together. You can track Eggman's location, I can run forward and handle any long-distance problems, and, well, you've seen Rouge in action. Not to mention I'm pretty sure she could lift you with one hand if she wanted."
A soft laugh from behind him had his spines begin to raise. Had he ever heard her laugh before? Maybe when he had ranted about her bullshit makeup genetics? It had been so long ago that he couldn't remember at all.
"I can do you one better," Rouge continued, walking up from behind him. "I could carry you both and fly."
Shadow stared at her in disbelief and mild outrage. Even without memories, her abilities were still absolutely ridiculous!
"So, with Miss Perfect over there," he barrelled on, regretting his choice of words instantly as Rouge went from confident to confused, "we can all get to Eggman a lot faster as a team than on our own. Think you're up to it?"
Omega seemed to process his offer, judging by the whirring noise that started picking up.
"You can destroy all the robots on the way, too," Shadow wheedled, as a final push.
"YOUR PROPOSITION IS ACCEPTABLE. I WILL COMPLY, BUT FAILURE TO KEEP UP WILL RESULT IN THE TERMINATION OF THIS PARTNERSHIP."
"Pfft," Shadow scoffed. "Trust me, the last thing you need to worry about is if I can 'keep up'." He held his hand out, palm down. "Team?"
Omega's large, kinda-terrifying metal hand lowered onto his the very next moment. "UPDATING MISSION PARAMETERS FROM 'SOLO' TO 'TEAM'."
Shadow held back a sigh of relief; it seemed as though Omega was taking this seriously, if he was altering his programming. All that was left was-
A white glove descended on top, the golden ring glittering even in the low light. "Team," Rouge agreed, her wings stretching out and the tiniest glimmer of eagerness flaring in her eyes.
It made Shadow grin, despite all the warring feelings and the rollercoaster of emotions that had led to this point.
"Okay then! Let's blow this joint and start looking."
"AGREED. ARMING MISSILE."
"What?!" Shadow screeched, leaping away from the robot, whose hand had retracted into the barrel of a weapon. "No! Let us at least escape this place first!"
"I'll handle that," Rouge assured. "Shadow, grab on to Omega's leg."
"YOU WANT ME TO HOLD ON TO THE MISSLEBOT?!"
Rouge didn't answer him. Instead, she leapt into the air, her wings beating down a gust of wind so powerful that it sent a shower of dust flying everywhere. Shadow covered his eyes 一 ugh, his eyeliner was definitely ruined by now 一 but when he blinked them open, he saw the sight of Rouge effortlessly lifting Omega into the air and keeping them afloat.
"Damn… you weren't kidding…"
Shadow nervously held on to Omega's… foot? Did this count as a foot? And the next thing he knew, he was airborne as well, as Rouge carried them all over to the door of the bunker and up the tunnel shaft into the world above.
"IMPRESSIVE," Omega droned. "I WEIGH ALMOST THREE TONS."
Shadow nearly lost his grip at that.
Rouge managed to bring them all outside before beginning to lose her stamina, and Shadow hopped down, running at full speed to detach his grappling hook from the side of the bunker door and get out of the way as Omega, true to his word, fired a missile into the entrance.
Shadow covered his ears and his face as a small shockwave shook the ground beneath his feet. Once he was sure that everything was safe, he looked back up at this awkward, haphazard team he had managed to scrounge together; Rouge was relaxing on Omega's shoulder as the robot brought his hand back out, his objective met for the time being.
This wasn't what he had expected from his trip into Eggman's bunker. He hadn't expected to find and lose and regain Rouge all over again. He hadn't expected to make a new goal, or to gain allies willing to help him achieve it.
As he stashed his grappling hook back into his vest, snug next to his Chaos Emerald, Shadow figured that he couldn't afford to waste this opportunity to make everything up to Rouge, memories be damned.