A/N: A lot fewer reviews for last chapter, I see. Was it really that bad? How depressing. Don't know if I should continue boring you guys, if none of you are interested in reading this any longer.
Just let me know 'kay?
DISCLAIMER: I really, truly wish I did own them but… I don't. But that's just life isn't it?
One thing is for sure though, if I did own them, I would never, ever have committed the abominable sin that was handing Sonic X over to 4KidsEntertainment for dubbing (They couldn't even handle Pokemon!). Boy, do I miss the voice actors from SA2…
Sonic Stars by StarSparklez
Chapter four: That Star?
-
A zap of blinding light tore through the dark night sky. Seconds later, thunder roared violently, startling Rouge in her bed and mercilessly ending too few hours of restless sleep.
Yes, although warmly wrapped beneath soft and light covers, in a large and comfy bed, under the roof of a house that lacked nothing from the one she called 'home' in her original world, Rouge still was restless.
It was part of her nature, this need to constantly be on guard, conscious of every movement in her close surroundings. Or perhaps her way of life, that of a thief who played double-agent to complete her treasure-hunting persona over the years, was the true reason for her paranoia.
She barely trusted anyone, if she did at all. 'But still', she thought; she should have remembered, that mistrusting others was different from having others mistrust you the same way, if not in a graver way.
And that was where her problem now lied: they did not trust her. They'd made that very clear, the people at G.U.N. The present President did not appear to like her either, and the life she currently held solely depended on his suspicious intents with her. Should she take a false step now and confirm their suspicions of her, they'd be after her in no time.
Evidently, they were willing to take her out of the picture just to calm away their own doubts. Somehow, she felt she couldn't really blame them, if what they were feeling was in any way comparable to the restiveness that now slowly wore her down, more and more, day by day, fear and doubt consuming her every rational thought.
But was she really such a threat to them in the first place, that they had to keep so wary of her every action?
"Of course not," she answered herself quietly, moving out of bed. She knew sleep wasn't coming back to her anytime soon now. Unless…
She walked in through an open door into an adjacent room, where she opened a cabinet above a small bar and withdrew a bottle of her strongest liquor. She poured herself a glass, difficultly with her one good arm, before sitting at the small bar counter holding it close, staring down at it.(1)
'Of course not', it wasn't just about her. She considered this as she raised the crystal glass to her lips, 'he' also, undoubtedly, somehow had to be involved, whether directly or not—'
Her thoughts were interrupted as a hand reached to cover the top of the glass, stopping it before it reached her lips. She raised tired eyes to look up at the intruder and, in the penumbra of the room, that wasn't a simple deed. He blinded in so perfectly in the darkness, the object of her preceding thoughts…
Weird, that she hadn't heard him approaching.
"Shadow," she acknowledge, speaking more calmly then she felt. "Joining me for a drink?"
She didn't see his frown, she heard it in his voice when he spoke next,
"I thought you once declared yourself, you'd rather see your reflection in a mirror then in the bottom of a glass."(2)
"I thought you weren't listening," she replied flatly as if that gave her enough reason to drink that gulp, she raised it again to her mouth. Shadow snatched the glass away from her, before she could taste it and set it loudly on the counter.Click, bang, went the glass.
'Ouch,' thought Rouge. Just what was pissing him off anyway? She was the one with a sore bandaged arm.
"I always listen, Rouge. Whether or not to you it appears that I do. Now, I strongly suggest you stop this. Unless you want your 'guests' to see you in the morning, waking up with a hangover."
She chuckled at the way he's spat the word 'guests'. She'd completely forgotten about the Chaotix and hedgehogs spending the night in her place. She laughed,
"Didn't think you were the sensitive type, Shadow. Did I ever care what any others think of me? My job not involved that is."
"Yes." The black hedgehog replied plainly.
Rouge, who hadn't expected an answer at all, was surprised by this.
"Oh, yeah? Who?" She asked, a single eyebrow raised in curiosity.
"The kitten." He said simply.
It looked like something she's forgotten had just re-dawned on her, because she turned away before letting out a small 'Oh'.
"Oh," she repeated, more softly, "Yes, that's true."
Shadow just regarded her silently as she chuckled somewhat bitterly,
"My little ward."
"That's right."
She looked at him through half-closed lids, for once that was the case due to her tiredness, it was not an act of flirtation. Goodness! Even Shadow knew that if it weren't for this accumulated exhaustion she would have spent the night awake and about, the way she loved it, the world in the dark.
Not because she was a vampire or anything of the sort, but because she was a bat; Rouge the Bat.
And Rouge the Bat was not going to bed tonight unless she did drink that glass Shadow still held away from her reach.
"Alright then, let me get rid of this," she started moving to take the object of her thirst from the black hedgehog's hand. However, the latter swiftly moved it further away,
"Allow me."
He tightened his grip on the glass, causing it to shatter and break into hundreds of flying crystal shards, the fluid it had contained exploding all over the counter. Much to Rouge amazement and chagrin.(3)
Normally, she probably would have either yelled or glared at him for it, but his actions tonight had surprised her and she certainly did not feel anywhere near 'normal'.
So she just let it go. All of it. It went spilling like her drink.
"You know," she sighed finally, "It really wasn't simple… convincing them. Of anything."
She turned her head to look at him as he responded quietly,
"I know."
"I first thought they'd allowed me back into their circle, so impressed with my eminent skills and so, unwilling to risk allowing me to join forces with anyone other then them…
"Turns out… I'm not too sure, anymore… Perhaps deleting all files I'd retrieved concerning Project Shadow, the ARK, you, wasn't enough.
"Or maybe destroying those references wasn't the smart thing. There were also people concerned, not just documents. Those are more delicate to handle… Perhaps the whole ARK incident is just another or one of those historical incidents humans refuse allowing themselves to forget. You know, the kind they like constantly reminding—"
"The broken moon probably helps at that, I understand." said Shadow, interrupting her, he gave a meaningful glance in her direction,
"However, I assure you, no harm will come to you, or me tonight. Rest assured."
She rewarded that rare, kind and reassuring comment from Shadow with a keen smile and he acknowledged her gratitude by nodding once. It was also her cue to follow his advise and she took it, standing from where she sat at the counter, then heading back to her nearby bedroom.
A witty remark from Rouge would have been in order usually, before turning in, but tonight, or what was left of it as dawn was only a few hours away now, the bat consented to a simple "Goodnight".
Shadow almost let out a snicker at hearing that from her as she disappeared into her quarters.
Almost.
Instead he formally, softly whispered back,
"You too."
'I hope.'
Back to a different part of Rouge's house...
-
In which, Amy Rose is, where we left her last chapter, about to glomp her blue hero.
Or not.
Sonic who'd shut his eyes, anticipating the impact with Amy's running form headed his way, opened them again when he didn't feel the air in his lungs been squeezed into evacuation.
Instead of glomping him, Amy was hugging, seemingly, thin air. The blue hedgehog stood watching, just as confused as the rest of the audience.
It did not take Amy long however to realise that, whatever she was hugging was not Sonic. She abruptly let go with a very squeaky yelp and jumped back a little.
A loud inhilation of air could be heard from somewhere next to her. Suddenly and out of nowhere, the pink hedgehog produced her Piko Piko hammer and swung it just as suddenly at 'the air' she been holding seconds ago.
There must have been contact with some heavy solid body because seconds later a the wall opposite Amy gave a loud 'crash' and, a few more seconds later a thud was heard as a cloud of dust lifted itself off the floor.
Then, looking back at the wall, an interesting imprint of a four limbed creature could be seen. Somehow, it seemed very familiar to Vector's sharp detective eye. Make that extremely familiar. The green reptile put a hand to his lower jaw as he wrecked his brain for the silhouette before him...
"Espio!" cried Charmy dramatically as he flew towards the now slowly reappearing cameleon's limp form on the floor.
This spectacle earned a big sweatdrop from all other characters in the room, including the efigies of Nights on the back of the playing cards Sonic still held in his left hand.
The little bee tried shaking Espio awake, continuously yelling his name.
The ninja managed a short response, lifting his head and opening an eye, he croaked in a drained voice,
"Huh... Such power. For a little gaah--aha...," then fell right back into unconsciousness.
"Espio! No!" Charmy was shaking him violently again, but no response came this time, so he went into a frantic cry of,
"He's dead! He'd dead! He's dead!..."
Now, this scene earned a huge sweatdrop from its audience, including the readers this time.
"Uh, I don't think that's the case, Charmy...," started Vector slowly.
"Yeah, huh... Don't worry," tried the cat girl.
Sonic shared a look with Amy who gave an embarassed laugh,
"Hehe... Uh...," she started, then when Vector faced her, hands on his hips with a glare of reproach and she sweatdropped as she tried,
"Uh... Oops?"
"Anything else, you'd like to say in your defense?" Annouced the green one.
"Hey! I didn't see him!"
"That's one I've heard before."
"He could have been a ghost for all I know! Like King Boom Boo playing tricks or something!"
"That wasn't you stage, Miss."
"Aww! Sonic, tell him!" She turned to her hero for help.
Sonic started uncomfortably as Amy clang to him,
"Uh, Vector, Amy doesn't have any good stages."
"What?"
"Huh, wait! That's not what I meant!"
"Hey. Hum, ... People?"
"Espio! He's dead! He's dead! He's deadhisdeaddeaddeded-hizdedhizded..."
"Miss, will you stop strangling that hedgehog and look at me when I'm trying to talk to you?"
"Hey! Guys? Maybe you should know that..."
"--izded!", a gasp for Charmy to refill his lungs in air, but no pause before screaming, "ESPIOOOO!"
A different gasp, "Amy! Aieah pleahs!"(4)
"Missy!"
"Uhm..."
"What's the meaning of all this ruckus!"
Suddenly there was silence and every one in the room, with the exception of the knocked out Espio, turned towards the source of that commanding voice.
Shadow stood by the door, grimacing as he looked about the room.
"I tried to tell you," declared the cat girl, shoving her hands in her pockets, "Mr. Shadow's room is the one just above this one. And he can hear a pin drop even from there, you know. That one night, in the dark, I was trying to find my way to the bathroom downstair--"
Shadow interrupted her,
"Seems like you people cannot find the courtesy to keep your hands off the other's throath even if it means disturbing your host's needed sleep."
The black hedgehog gave a meaningful glance in the bee's direction who immediately let go of Espio, the latter's head falling dramatically back to the ground with a thud like a heavy weight.
"Oh no," yelped Charmy, "Now he's dead for sure."
Vector approached him, sweatdrop the size of his head and reassured him, "Don't worry he's just K.O. He'll be O.K."
"Really? How do you know?"
"The dark Chao dancing about his head; and he's still breathing, now that you've stopped shaking him and released your grip on his neck."
"Oh, yeah. Oopsie." Vector tuttered.
As the two conscious members of Team Chaotix conversed over the knocked out third member, Shadow's gaze moved from them to settle on Amy who seemed to have stopped strangling the blue hedgehog to wrap her arms around his neck instead.
If possible, he's frown deepened, giving him his darkest, most mysterious and unrecognisable expression yet.
Sonic noticed that change in his features. And, he did not like it. His arms thightened around Amy almost subconsciously as he glared back his at his black counterpart.
The witnessing kitten could have sworn she'd seen a few sparks fly.
Wow! The tension! It probably could have supplied enough power to feed the Tornado.
Yet, Amy was completely unaware of it. Of course, she had felt Sonic's loose hold on her turn into a protective hug, but she would probably have been able to enjoy it more if she hadn't caught sight of that brief light in Shadow's eyes just seconds earlier, because she now worried.
Amy always found something to be concerned or worried about, in all people, without an exception, because she was a caring person. A caring, short-tempered person with a dangerous, oversized hammer she could use anywhere and anytime, but a caring person nonetheless.
She was about to ask Shadow if something was wrong but then thought she ought first to apologize for the commotion she'd originaly started. Instead, the cat girl spoke first,
"You know, if there was one thought that made me feel better about stumbling in this weird and hostile world, it was the one of you already been here Mr.Sonic."
She easily caught everyone in the room's attention. Sonic regarded her with one of his special 'heroic' smiles.
"Really, huh?" he asked, a very detectable and familiar hint of pride in his voice.
"Sure, you're like my hero after all. Ever since that day you saved me from that mob of enraged fans of mine. Remember?"
"Yeah, that was one crazy mob. Can't remember why they were so mad at you in the first place...'
In a gesture of embarassment she scratched the back of her head as she mumbled, smiling sheepishly,
"Well, I'm not too sure about which 'part' got them so pissed either. Hehe."
Then in a much brighter tone, fists raised before her in excitement, she continued,
"But I was really amazed when you came to the rescue. I really couldn't have hoped for better right then. It's incredible how you just so suddenly appear where and when you're needed! And you can run real fast too..."
By the time she'd said that much, Sonic was quite flattered, it was obvious from the position in which he was now standing, hand on a hip, chin held up high in a heroic pose and he also uselessly started rubbing under his nose. Amy watched in something between confusion and surprise. The other people in the room held similar expressions to hers as they watched the cat girl intently.
Shadow however, was glaring sulkily at Sonic's smug smile, arms crossed as she continued,
"Of course, now that I'm a little more mature, I know better then to unerve my fans like that day. Want to keep a good popularity. I also know you're not the only fast hedgehog in this world, now that I've met Mr. Shadow. You know, I think he glides at least as fast as you do. It's so cool! Almost feels like he's flying, sometimes!"
After she said this, Sonic and Shadow's face expessions were litterally inversed. Amy still had that confused look as she asked,
"Wait. Who are you, exactly? I'm not sure I know you."
The kitten sweatdropped,
"Hehe, talking about popularity. I wasn't sure about how many people would recognise my face as well as my voice..."
"Hey now, don't worry! I remember ya," said Sonic brightly, breaking the glare with Shadow, "Milky, wasn't it?"
The cat girl clapped her hands together, smiling broadly,
"Oh, how flattering that you remember me Mr.Sonic! It means so much to me!"
Amy's eyes went wide, as did Vector's and Charmy's with admiring recognition.
"You mean, you're that star!"
"Yup! Not gonna bore you with introductions thought, the authoress suggests I just send a card en-plein-ecran Sonic X style," she said, gesturing somewhere above her but not exactly skywards.
Everyone looked confused for a second and sweatdropped, "Who?"
"Get used to it. Weird stuff like that's gonna happen often when I'm around." Saying that, she moved and picked one of the Nights cards Sonic had dropped on the floor when Amy was strangling him, then threw it the screen way.
Now, my dear readers, for a few seconds all you read is the following.
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Name: Milky The Kitten
Age: 13
Species: Blue mackerel tabby cat
Speciality: Singing and swinging.
Noteable traces of character: Talkative and blunt. Blabs when not singing. Or sleeping.
Now quite the popular pop idol, Milky, often called 'Milk' for even shorter, dreams of becoming as 'cool' as the people she most admires.
Problem with that lies in the fact that they are too many of them, and that more keep on adding to her list.
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Peeling the card out of the screen's way, Milky glared at it grudgingly,
"Why does this make it sound like I'm some kind of crazy fangirl, anyway!"(5)
"So you're the one who sings 'Star in your universe'? I love that song, you know," said Amy cheerfully.
Milky's eyes instantly went watery sparkling, "You do, really? Oh, nothing makes me happier then knowing someone out there is entertained by my performances!(6) I'll sing and dedicate you a remix of it one of these days."
"Really?" Amy gushed, "Oh, thank you!"
"So now, we sing!"
"No, you won't!" snapped Shadow irritably, startling everyone in the room.
Seeing everyone's attention was favorably on him, he continued,
"You will all keep quiet now. Resting may be the smartest thing to do until morning, which is only a few hours away. You'll need your vigour for tomorrow, if not sooner."
And with that said, Shadow left the room as quiet as if it were empty.
Only seconds after his 'glorious' exit though, Sonic called after him,
"Yeah! Goodnight to you too!"
Then everything went awkwardly quiet again.
After a while, Milky broke the silence as she pulled at something under the great sofa,
"Come on, help me with this if you wanna know where to sleep. I'll sing a lullaby if you want."
Everyone in the room found the urge to yawn at that exact moment and their eyelids suddenly felt very heavy. Sonic dropped his entire weight on one of the comfy armchairs and annouced, "I'm sleeping here. Sweet dreams, guys," before dozing off almost as immediately.
Amy sighed sadly; so much for her fantasy of falling asleep in his arms or even just lying on his shoulder.
When she and Milky had the settee ready like a big bed, the latter asked Vector and Charmy 'if their friend Espio wouldn't feel better on it then lying there on the floor, against the wall'.
In response, the conscious Chaotix looked down at the violet cameleon, sleep and drowsiness slowly, surely taking over their more reasonable, less lazy judgement as they wondered silently, 'Was he really worth the trouble of carrying him all the way to that bed? Would he even be thankful in the morning if they did?' the answer was instantly and vividly imagined, 'No, he'd most probably be all grumpy about the big red, fresh bump currently growing larger on his head, and about how he got it too, so...'
"Nah," Vector and Charmy answered in perfect unison.
"He's fine here, where he is."
"Yeah, right there where he is," confirmed Charmy with a fifth yawn as they both joined Amy and Milky to rest on the 'sofa-bed', it being large enough for them to keep a comfortable, respectful distance from one another.
In no time, everyone sheltered in New Club Rouge had drifted off to dreamland.
Or in some cases, nightmare-land.
... guardian...
Knuckles' head lifted up sharply, dreadlocks swaying around him in the sudden motion. His ears listening intently for any sound like that of the voice he thought he'd just heard speak out of nowhere.
All he heard for the following seconds were birds' songs and the ocean winds squeezing their way throughout Angel Island's forests' leafs and vines.
This place was, afterall, almost deserted. If it weren't for the occasional little animals that rumaged about, to give him the impression there were other lives around, Knuckles might have grown to believe he were a ghost among ruins.
For when he thought about it, sometimes, he truly did feel like a ghost. What better metaphor was there for the last member of a species, bound by duty to forever loyaly guard his ancestors' treasures?
One was a giant jewel that held mysterious powers of vital importance for the world's energy balance. An other was a floating island, rich enough in natural resources to keep its guardian alive, but its stability depended solely on the jewel that was that guardian's first burden. The rest, was ruins that layed on and beneath that Island's ground, with little to no readable inscribed traces of the past history they once were a part of.
All together those inheritances were enough to keep him alive and to give him reason to live. Still, sometimes it felt more like he existed rather then lived.
Given the too-long time he'd spent in this rather silent and dull company, it was only natural for the red echidna to jump at the first sound that resembled an intelligent call for him. Though, that might have all been just inside his head. Then again, not even that happened often.
...guardian...
Again. He heard it, again. That voice. It wasn't his imagination.
He stood full hight and looked about for the source of it but found he could not even identify the general direction it came from. He waited for it again.
This time, when it came again, it was more distinguishable.
...guardian...Guardian of the Master Emerald... Guardian...
He knew the owner of that female voice, he just couldn't quite place whom that was right this instant. It came from everywhere around and inside him, like a distant echo.
"I am here. Who are you?"
... Guardian... Hear me...
"I hear you. Who--what do you want?" he was now more concerned then worried.
"Guardian of the Master Emerald... Knuckles."
Knuckles eyes went wide as the voice was now perfecty clear and recognisable to him.
"Tikal? Is that you? Where are you? How can I help?" He now knew where to head to hear the spirit of his orange ancester best.
"Knuckles, O guardian, please help! The servers!" She was pleading.
He ran for the shrine of the Master Emerald, fastest speed.
"Keep talking to me Tikal, what about the servers? What about the chaos emeralds?"
"...is too late. Hurry, before it's too late. The poem. You remember it, yes?"
Knuckles cursed his speed skills for somehow not having reached the shrine, yet. It just seemed like the distance between him and his goal was endless.
"Of course, I remember Tikal. But I still don't understand. You and Chaos, how come? I thought you were--"
"Now, Knuckles, now. Quickly, stop it."
He kept running but he wasn't moving anymore, everything around him turned black, safe for the still distant Master Emerald.
"Stop what? Tikal! What's going on!" Knuckles found himself floating in empty black space.
"Save them Guardian! Quickly!"
The Emerald suddenly was lighting like a green bright fire, which startled Knuckles beyond description.
"What the--!"
The last he heard from Tikal was her yell of despair,
"Wake up!"
Then Master Emerald shattered in a mighty explosion, releasing the growing burning light from within its prison as it engulfed the entirety of knuckles vision in a blinding white.
-
He woke up startled and breathing heavily.
'A nightmare. It was just a nightmare,' thought Knuckles as he regained his composture.
Was it? It sure had felt like more then just that.
He was sitting up from where he's being lying asleep minutes ago, on one of the large stairs of the shrine of the Master Emerald. He looked at it.
It was intact, and safe. So what had all this been about?
...Guardian!...
That startled him. "Tikal?" he asked bewildered.
No, it couldn't be real. He pinched himself.
"Ouch!" That hurt. Obviously he could do more then just punch to hurt.
'Knuckles!'
"Tikal!" he turned to the Emerald and there, for the briefest moment, he saw an image of Tikal and Chaos. The orange echidna's expression anxious like he'd never seen her before.
That image of them vanished just as suddenly as it had appeared when the Mater Emerald started to bright green.
Just like in his dream.
"It can't be!"
But it was happening still. The weather had been awful while he sleep and it was getting worse by the minute, the sky so clouded it felt impossible for a night to be any darker. Not the moon, not a single star from the usual billions could shine through.
And rain was starting to pour, just as suddenly as he'd awakened.
Throughout all of this closing-in storm, the Emerald shone brighter, like a growing fire, it burned, unnaturaly, as if in agony and cried sounds of an empty swirl.
Or was that sound produced by something else?
Knuckles thought as he listened more intently, helpless as he watched the Emerald's light increase drastically, like that of a dying star.
'Wait. A helicopter?'
But the bursting white the Emerald released as it exploded into an uncountable number of shards gave him no chance to assimilate much more.
-
To be continued…
A/N: (Plenty today, so take a deep breath...)
1-Now children, listen carefully. Rouge here, is showing you the BAD example. You should never try and drown your trouble in alcoholic drinks. That's bad. Believe the authoress, she advises you not to drink at all!
2- He's right, you know. Again, alcohol is like smoking: very unhealthy! The're just like drugs, only permitted by most world governments. So what do we learn from this? That's right, no drinking. 'Tis bad fer ye!
3-Now, now boys. Only Shadow can do that and get away with it. Do not try this at home!
4-This, I believe fairly translates as "Air please!"
5-Please bear with me, I assure you, Milky is no Mary-Sue OC. Just a fun asset to my plot bunnies as they seem to dig themselves very deep plot holes sometimes. Just humor me, please?
6-: clears throath: Yes, amazing how meaningful some sayings can be. Reviews do that to me too.
-
Reading through this chapter again, I decide to bang my head against the wall some more and also harder...
They just keep getting longuer and longuer, don't they? These chapters of mine. Is that a bad thing?
Next chapter: Tails and Cream get kidnapped? Knuckles thinks he knows precisely who to obtain information from about what happened to the Master Emerald? Eggman plays cards too? And... No way! Sonic plays with WATER?
-
I feel like babbling right now, so listen here:
Have you seen the E3 previews for the new Sonic games? I went all like 'OM!' when I did, specially when Shadow appeared. Believe it or not, I screamed in joy when I saw there were not one, not two, but three Sonic games coming on each of Sony PSP and PlayStation3 and Nintendo Wii (no longer a revolution, lol) and exclusively for each console too!
It looks cool, from what I've seen. It still irritates me though, to see Sega so damn intent on inserting new human characters in, like this princess who looks like Mary-Antoinette. But then again, I suppose we can't let the only human in the game be the 'evil' Eggman. But I do not like this new white hedgehog guy, yet. What's this new recruit? You gonna call him silver or white beard? No offense, his design is pretty cool, but he looks OLD! For a sec, I somehow thought he could be an elder Sonic, or worse, Shadow; but looking at it again, I don't think that's the case. But still, why add new characters each game? It's stealing the vedette from the more 'important' characters we already love.
I mean, really, who is this guy? I hope we don't have to see him too often either, 'cause seriously, three male hedgies for main characters is way too much!
As for the gameplay, it looks like it's gonna be pretty cool. Animation is nice too. I wanna see the rest of the characters, all of them! PS3 is gonna be freaking expensive though. Too bad. I wonder how much the games will cost too. My poor wallet is neither large not heavy enough to provide me all the hapiness I seek in the wonderful virtual world of videogames. :sighs sullenly:
Thank you for bothering to read this, now the next formal step is,
'go' submit review.