Chapter 12

Emerald colored eyes fluttered open to the heavy sound of rain pounding against the window. Rouge the Bat slowly awoke to the unexpected warmth of her own bed.

'How did I end up in here?' The treasure hunter thought as she used her elbows for support and sat up. She looked around the room momentarily and her question was answered when she spotted a black and red hedgehog in the corner of her room.

'He must've carried me here from outside' Rouge thought as a hint of rose became visible on her tan face. 'Aww…'

The bat slowly removed the covers from her body and got out of her bed. She looked down at herself momentarily to find herself still in her usual attire. 'Well of course!' She scowled herself. 'Shadow isn't that type of guy.'

The bat went over to her closet and looked at her multiple choices. Usually, she would wear one of her battle outfits but today she decided on some blue pants, white boots, and a black tank top.

Rouge then proceeded over to her bathroom and shut the door behind her. She slowly removed her battle outfit and looked at herself in the mirror, noticing the bandages still wrapped around her waist, arm, and shoulder.

Rouge grimaced at the thought of what could be under the bandages so she decided to leave them alone. The bat quickly jumped into her large bathtub and closed the curtain.

Rouge's Room

Blood red eyes also slowly opened to the sound of rushing water near him. His ears twitched for a second before Shadow realized Rouge must be taking a shower. The hedgehog pushed himself off the wall and proceeded downstairs.

Living Room

Shadow made his way down the steps and into the kitchen to find everyone else already there. Sonic looked up from a piece of toast he was eating and looked at the dark hedgehog. "Good morning Shadow."

The dark one looked up at his blue counter part and surprisingly enough, responded. "Good morning."

At that moment Rouge came downstairs. "Hi guys." She greeted while yawning. She looked over to her side and spotted Shadow. "Oh, so you decided to stay today?" She asked innocently.

Shadow looked at her. "I have to, Eclipse could arrive at any moment. So I'll be training here if it's alright with you."

Rouge smiled at him. "Sure Shadow, you could train downstairs or outside."

Shadow thought for a moment. "I believe I'll take downstairs."

Knuckles looked up at him. "Mind of I join you?"

Shadow did not respond to the Echidna but looked at the snowy white bat in front of him who nodded approvingly.

Shadow turned back to Knuckles. "Sure."

Sonic jumped up at the sound of that. "Oh, oh, me too!"

Shadow rolled his eyes at Sonic. "Sure, why not."

"May I join as well?" A monotone voice questioned.

Shadow answered without looking at who he knew to be Omega. "Yes."

"Maybe we'll come as well…" Amber stated while looking at Amy, Cream, Tails, and Rouge "They can't leave us out ya know."

"Sure, I'll come." Amy stated while putting her plate up.

"I'll come too." Rouge stated.

"I'll think Cream and I will just play up here." Tails stated while walking off with Cream.

Sonic shrugged. "Their loss, let's go!" He exclaimed excitingly.

Everyone made their way downstairs to find what looked like a huge gym, complete with what looked like a super-sized boxing ring.

Sonic's eyes widened at eh sight. "Wow Rouge, do you really need all of this?"

"Of course, I gotta keep my skills sharp." She responded while heading to the ring. The rest of the group followed.

They all made their way inside the ring and Rouge stood in front of the rest. "What do you wanna do, a team fight or free-for-all?"

"Teams!" Amber, Amy, and Knuckles exclaimed.

Rouge looked over at Shadow and Omega. "You two okay with that?"

Shadow just shrugged in response. "Do what you please."

"Affirmative." Was Omega's reply.

"Alright, the teams will be simple: Sonic, Amber, Knuckles and Amy against Shadow, Omega, and myself." Rouge stated while making her way over to her team.

"Wait a minute!" Sonic shouted. "Why do you get Shadow?"

"Because," Rouge replied. "We've always worked as a team, right Shadow?" Rouge asked while looking at the hedgehog and winking, causing him to blush a little.

Rouge continued. "There will be NO super forms, got that?" She asked while looking at Shadow and Amber, both of whom nodded. "Alright, let's do this!"

Sonic immediately charged at Shadow and knocked the dark hedgehog away from his team. Amy and Amber charged for Rouge while Knuckles charged at Omega.

With Shadow and Sonic

Shadow recovered quickly and threw a punch at Sonic, who caught it and flipped the dark hedgehog over his back. Shadow countered however, by using Sonic's back as a boost and jumping off it.

Shadow quickly landed and planted a straight kick to Sonic's face. The blue hedgehog stumbled back as Shadow delivered another kick to his stomach. Sonic stumbled over momentarily and Shadow put both of his fists together and brought them down on Sonic's back, causing the hedgehog to fall to the ground.

With Knuckles and Omega

Knuckles threw one of his spiked fists at the robot. Omega made no move to block and was hit full force. The blow however, only caused the robot to scoot back a little. Omega raised his own fist and hooked the Echidna straight in the face.

Knuckles quickly recovered and sweep kicked Omega's legs, causing the robot to meet the floor. Knuckles did not waste time and punched the robot in the face full force. Omega flew down to the ground again as Knuckles took a knee, already exhausted from the heavy punches he delivered.

With Rouge, Amy and Amber

Amy immediately pulled out her trusty Piko Piko hammer and took a wild swung at Rouge. The bat skillfully dodged it by ducking and performed a simple sweep kick which caused the pink hedgehog to fall on the ground.

Amber also came at Rouge, but more skillful than Amy. The yellow hedgehog decided to go for a round house kick but once again Rouge ducked out of the way. Rouge went for another sweep lick but Amber mildly jumped in the air to avoid the attack.

With Shadow and Sonic

Sonic slowly recovered from Shadow's hits as the blue hedgehog pushed himself off the ground. Sonic looked to both sides to find Shadow nowhere in sight. All of a sudden, a bright light startled the hedgehog as he looked up to find Shadow above him with his hand pointed at him, a yellow chaos spear in hand.

And that is just the word Shadow shouted as he released his attack. "Chaos Spear!"

The yellow energy bolt shot forth from Shadow's hand and flew directly towards Sonic, who got up and ran to the side just in time to avoid the attack. The blue hedgehog looked back towards the missed attack to see it had made a hole in the floor.

Sonic looked forward again only to see Shadow glowing a ferocious red. Sonic's eyes widened as he tried to skid to a stop but it was far too late.

"Chaos Blast!" Shadow shouted as the red wave of energy engulfed both him and Sonic. When the flash cleared, Shadow stood tall over the burned and fallen blue hedgehog. "Looks like I win" Shadow stated smugly as he turned to leave but was stopped by a murmur that he clearly understood. "Not yet…"

With Knuckles and Omega

Knuckles was still panting heavily when the mechanical beast next to him began to stir. Omega pushed himself off the ground and stood facing his opponent. Knuckles growled and also stood to his full height.

In one lighting fast move, Omega retracted one of his hands into his arm as it was replaced by a large cannon. The cannon began charging as Knuckles formed his arms into an "X" shape to protect his body.

With Rouge, Amy, and Amber

Amber landed back on the ground safely and threw one of her fists directly at Rouge who was hit full force in the stomach. Amy had gotten up at that point and swung her hammer at Rouge who saw it just in time and ducked causing it to hit Amber instead.

Amber stumbled back from the blow as Rouge planted a round house across Amy's face. Both hedgehogs fell to the ground as Rouge advanced on them. When the bat was within grabbing distance both Amy and Amber pulled one of her legs and Rouge hit the ground hard. She looked up at Amy and Amber standing over in striking position with their fists and hammer so Rouge did the only thing she could. "SHADOW, OMEGA!"

With Shadow and Sonic

Shadow was about to strike the hedgehog again when he heard Rouge's voice call out to him. Without a seconds thought, the dark hedgehog dashed towards the voice while Sonic got back up.

With Knuckles and Omega

Omega was about to fire his cannon when he heard a call for aid from Rouge. The robot activated its back boosts and took off towards his companion.

With Rouge, Amy, and Amber

Both Amy and Amber brought their fists/hammer down upon Rouge when a black blur snatched the bat away from harm. Startled, both Amy and Amber looked up to see Shadow put down Rouge back on the floor.

Rouge looked at Shadow. "Thanks Shady."

Shadow blushed a little from the nickname being used openly in front of everyone and hoped the girls didn't hear Rouge, unfortunately they did.

"Shady?" Amber asked confused. She soon caught on however and smirked. "Aww, so my tough little brother has a nickname huh?"

Shadow's blush deepened even more. "Shut up Amber!" Shadow yelled.

At that point, Omega also arrived on the scene. "You required assistance Rouge?" The robot asked.

"Yeah," Rouge smirked while looking at the two she-hedgehogs in front of her. "Let's take them down!"

"Affirmative!" The robot exclaimed.

"Not without us!" A familiar voice shouted as both Sonic and Knuckles made their way over to the rest of the group.

Rouge smirked. "Alright, now we can wipe you all out at the same time. "TEAM BLAST!" She shouted.

After those words were bellowed, Omega's hands transformed into his cannons and Rouge jumped on top of her metallic companion and Shadow took a knee in front of Omega.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow shouted. Omega fired his cannons off after that as their opponents were caught frozen in time. Once time stood still and the blast cleared, Rouge jumped off Omega and delivered several kicks and punches to everyone in her way excluding her team mates.

Time sped up again as Sonic, Knuckles, Amber, and Amy all flew back from the multiple attacks. Rouge smiled smugly at them. "We win!"

Ten Minutes Later

Everyone had recovered from the training by now and was seated in the living room of Rouge's mansion. Omega came forth from the kitchen and handed cups of tea to everyone.

Rouge was about to grab her cup when she felt a searing pain through her. Her mouth opened as her eyes widened.

Shadow immediately jumped up from his sitting position. "Rouge, what's wrong?"

Rouge's only response was a gasp while she held her bandaged shoulder and side. Shadow understood that it was her previous injuries and quickly walked over to her. "Here, let me help you" Shadow stated softly as he put his hands on her wounds.

Shadow's hands began to glow a blue color as Rouge's pain went away. She looked baffled at what had just happened. "How did you…"

"Don't worry about it Rouge," Shadow reassured. "I have some basic healing powers where I give off some of my chaos energy."

Sonic perked up. "Can you bring back dead people?"

Shadow looked at him. "Probably, but I would need to use my own life energy."

"But aren't you immortal?" Knuckles asked.

Shadow looked away. "I suppose…"

Rouge listened closely to the conversation while removing her bandages and tossing them in the nearest garbage can. She looked down to inspect herself and was shocked to find not a single scratch on her. She smiled. 'Thanks again, Shady.'

Everyone continued conversing long into the night. Even Shadow opened up a little more. By now, it was already morning and everyone had totally forgotten about sleep. They all continued until it was already noon.

Sonic and Shadow were currently in a conversation about which one of them was taller.

"I'm telling you, I've got a clean half inch on you!" Sonic said while crossing his arms.

Shadow was a bout to respond when his eyes widened as he stood up.

Sonic looked confused at the hedgehog. "Shadow, what is it?"

The dark hedgehog looked at Sonic with his eyes still wide. "He's here."

Sonic gasp slightly as did everyone else, for they heard Shadow as well.

"What are we going to do?" Cream asked.

Shadow turned to Rouge and Amber. "You two take Amy, Tails and Cream, and go downstairs, NOW!"

The two nodded as Rouge looked at Shadow. "Be careful."

Shadow smiled at her. "Don't' worry, I'll be back, I promise."

Rouge smiled back and took Cream and Tails downstairs.

Amber faced Knuckles before leaving. "You be careful too"

Knuckles gave her a toothy smile. "Count on it."

Amy walked up to Sonic and spoke. "Be careful Sonic."

Sonic smiled at her and gave her a thumbs up. Amy also made her way down to the basement with Amber.

Shadow looked at Omega. "Omega, go get the Chaos and Master emeralds."

"Affirmative!" Omega disappeared downstairs and came back with the eight gems. Shadow raised his hand as the eight gems floated to him and slowly hovered around him. "Now, go downstairs and protect them! And do NOT let them leave, understood?"

"Affirmative!" The robot droned as he proceeded downstairs. Shadow faced Sonic and Knuckles. "You ready?" Both gave nervous nods as the three headed out the door.

Outside

The three companions walked outside to be met with heavy blinding rainfall. The light from the emeralds floating around Shadow's head gave them some clear sight, but only a little. Trough it all, a monstrous figure flapped its giant wings silently in the stormy sky. Sonic and Knuckles backed up a bit but Shadow stood his ground.

Eclipse smirked as he saw Shadow. "HELLO SHADOW, DID YOU MISS ME?"