Hey, people! Thank you so much for the reviews! I mean it! I feel soooooo happy! (bounces around the room) Okay, happy hour is now over folks. (lol) Enjoy chapter 9! ;D
Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co.
Ruby: But S. Kat owns me! (waves)
Leo: And me! (pushes Ruby and also waves. Ruby pushes back and starts a pushing war. YAY!)
Shadowed Photo Ch. 9- Shadow's OK Side and the Kodak Moment
I was in a huge room, with a large creature in the center of it. Every thing was going to fast. The creature swung its tail and groups of people were swept into the wall. Soldiers were trying to raise their guns toward the creature, but made some sort of beam and blasted all of them. Nothing could stop this thing… it would destroy everyone… it was a killing machine. The creature swung its tail at the wall and made the ceiling crumble. I ducked to my knees and covered my head with both of my hands. 'Someone… anyone… help me!' I pleaded in my mind.
I felt some ones hands on both of my shoulders, trying to force me to stand up.I looked up to find an old man with a lab coat and a long, bushy, gray mustache. 'P-Professor Gerald?'
"Hey, how did you get here?" He asked me urgently. His voice was a little weary, because of all the chaos that the monster was causing. I looked up at him wide eyed. That was a good question; how did I get here? He shook his head. "Get up," he ordered me, "it's not safe here—" Suddenly, there was a bright light. I couldn't see any thing… it felt like I was falling into a black hole, but I heard people talking and screaming…
"…A GIANT, BIONICAL LIZARD!"
"We're all gong to die!"
Hey, girly, wake up."Face the wrath of the Eggman Empire!"
"Maria…?"
Ruby…? Can you hear me?"The Eclipse Cannon."
"RUBY LET GO!"
Kid, you need to wake up…!"You are my prisoner for the remainder of…"
"You're my friend, Ruby."
"RUBY! WAKE UP! NOW!""AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" I let out the loudest scream in my life. Then I felt someone's hand cover my mouth. I finally opened my eyes to realize that it was a gloved hand covering my mouth followed by a black arm with a red streak. Shadow was the one who woke me up from my nightmare. Tears rolled down my face onto Shadow's hand. My sobs were muffled do to Shadow's hand. I couldn't hold it in. I was just so scared. I had to let it all out, but in front of Shadow? It didn't matter any more, I just had to cry.
"Hey, you're getting my hand wet." He said in an annoyed tone. I stopped crying and shifted my eyes towards him. I made an 'ahem' sound and pointed to his hand which was still on my mouth. He sighed and removed his hand, slowly. I sniffled and wiped my eyes.
"I'm sorry." I mumbled. I squeezed my knees to my chest and hugged them. "I just got scared 'cause of my nightmare… I don't mean to be a crybaby. Sorry…"
"That's it?" He questioned. "A nightmare? That's what scared you?" He gave me a petty expression.
"Wh-what do y-you mean, 'that's it?'!" I stuttered. "The nightmare I had was seriously scary! I bet it's probably scarier than anything that YOU dreamt about!"
He scowled at me, then turned the other way. "It might be hard to imagine, but I've had nightmares, too, girl. Except…" There was a slight pause in his sentence. "…mine was real." My eyes widen. 'What? His was real? So… did something really bad happen to him? It's kind of hard to imagine, though. But… maybe… that's why Shadow… is…'
He turned to look back at me. "But it's none of your concern, so don't even ask, you got it?" His tone didn't sound threatening… it sounded more like he was making sure I really did understand. I gulped to clear my throat and nodded. I decided to change the subject.
"So, what time is it?" I asked Shadow.
"In your time, it would be… 9:02 am." He answered. "Is this around the time when you have breakfast?"
"Um… yes…"
"Alright, this way. I can't trust leaving you by yourself for so you won't run off again."
"That's perfectly understandable." I did a fake smile. I looked back at the dresser next to the bed. Looks like I would need to come back later to get that file…
"What are you looking back for?"
"Eh? Er, nothing, nothing at all." I responded. He raised an eyebrow in suspicion.
"If you need to ask something, ask now before I change my mind."
I blushed a little. "Well, I-it's just that… I was just wondering…" I took a deep breath. "Is there any giant bionic lizard on the ARK, by any chance…?"
He looked at me with a mixture of shock and confusion. I sort of felt stupid for asking. "Augh! S-sorry! I- um…"
"So, that's what your nightmare was about, huh?" He asked emotionless. I looked down at the ground and nodded. "See, that's what happens when you consume too much sugar." He stated plainly and continued walking. I stood there and stared at him.
"Hey! You didn't answer my question." I called out.
He paused for a minute and then he completely ignored me and kept walking! How rude was that! "YO!" I called out a little louder this time. "Are you deaf? Ya know, it's impolite not to acknowledge someone when they ask a question!" I pursued after him, determined to get something out of him.
"You didn't say I had to answer." He said defensively. "AND, it's not your job to know everything in the universe." He sounded a little annoyed and kept walking at a semi-fast paste.
"True, but it will be once I become a reporter/photographer someday, and my intuition tells me that you're hiding something." I said triumphantly. "And if you don't tell me, I'll find out my own way. I could always go exploring around here, or maybe I could get Eggman's dummy robots to say something…" I decided to spook him out with a slightly evil grin. "I WILL found out Shadow… one way, or another…"
He gave me a warning look. 'Heh… gotcha, Blacky.' I sneered in my mind. I thought I seriously made him a little nervous. I'd show him who was the top dog! He turned around again. 'Bet he's hiding that nervous face of his. Ha ha! Well, Shadow, you should be afraid. Be very, very afraid! Heh, heh, heh…' I thought, surprisingly, evilly…! Usually, I'm always Ms. Goody-Goody-Gumdrops, if you know what I mean. I'm mostly sweat on the inside and out, but, sometimes, when I have a grudge against someone, or I felt very competitive, I would show some of my 'sour' side of my Ms. Goody-Goody-Gumdrops personality.
"Humph. If you think that petty threats are going to scare me, than you would make one pathetic villain, if you weren't so 'good.' "
'Huh…? Did he just diss me…!' I looked at him with my mouth agape. He really DID just diss me! That… that… that…! But, he did have a point.
"Yeah, I know." I said calmly. He finally made eye contact with me again. I tried to sound as sincere as possible. "I know I'm not what you would call… 'dark' or 'evil'. I don't even come close to that. And I don't want to. And I don't really care if you hate me for that. And if you don't, I'd probably feel better, too. And I know that my words might seem insignificant to you because I'm just a kid, and I'm annoying, nosey, a little immature to understand some things…"
When I look up he had a, well I wouldn't say nice grin, but sure enough, he was… grinning slightly. It wasn't like a warm, friendly grin I got from my parents, my brother, or Leo, though. This grin, seemed to be in a class of it's own. 'The Shadowed Grin.' Yeah, that would make a nice title, I think. I cocked my head to the side.
"What are you smiling for?" I asked nicely.
"Heh… actually, I'm not to sure myself. I think it's because, you remind me of someone."
"Really, how?" He didn't give me a response. It was deathly silent before I broke it. "Okay, tell ya what. Since I'm such a Ms. Goody-Goody-Gumdrops," It looked like Shadow was about to make a smart remark to my 'title', "yes, I know that's lame, so don't even respond to that." He shut his mouth as I continued. "Anyway, since I'm such a good person, I'll back off on your personal life and such, since I can understand not wanting to be social at times." He opened his mouth. "Please let me finish before you criticize me on 'how I know nothing about you and how I should stop judging people before I really get to know them' ". He shut his mouth once more. "So anyways, I'll do that if you let me have a little more freedom around the ARK. As much as how great the view is, I get bored pretty easily, and if I get bored, I promise you, I might accidentally brake something or other, just to let you know."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…You can talk now."
"Oh. Anyway, fine, I'll let you have more freedom, but on one condition." I braced myself. "You have to show me a little more respect to your superiors. Remember: I'm the one in charge of watching you, and you don't want me to send you into a black hole if I'm angry."
"Does this mean I can't call you Blacky anymore?" I gave him the ol' puppy eyes, just for kicks. He backed his head slightly as soon as he made contact with my large, brown, eyes. I could have sworn his eye twitched again. He almost looked terrified. I pulled back and gasped.
"Oh, my gosh! I just freaked out Shadow the Hedgehog! Go me! Woo-hoo!" I jumped up and down in joy.
"If there was a prize for this, it would be for 'The Most Weirdest Human in the Universe.' " He said. I chuckled.
"Ha ha! You think I'm weird? You haven't meet Leo yet! Oh, wait, yes you have. I forgot."
He tilted his head and gave me a 'Huh? Who?' look.
"He's the guy who was with me before you, um, smacked me and took my camera. You know, he has blond hair and blue eyes." I said, trying to jog his memory. He nodded slightly in reminiscing.
"Ah. Yes now I remember, the kid that was trying to help you, right?"
"Uh, yes…" I said. 'That's right, Leo still must be on Earth trying to find a way to rescue me… he probably won't stop until he does, too. Leo, PLEASE don't get yourself killed!' I prayed. My stomach started to grumble again and I immediately clutched it.
"I'll be right back." Shadow said and then went super sonic and left.
"Eh?" I looked up and down the hallway. "Where did he…?" Half a second later, he was right next to me with a granola bar and a drinkable yogurt.
"Here. Breakfast." He handed me the food.
"Thanks." I unwrapped the granola bar and started to eat it. I took a look of my surroundings and realized that we were back at the lounging deck, when I first had an actual conversation with Shadow. We were actually standing in front of the huge window that I stared out of the other day. 'That's odd… I don't remember standing here a second ago. Weird… oh, well. Guess I wasn't paying attention.' I thought. "Hey, Shadow, where's Rouge, Dr. Eggman and everyone else today?"
"Aw, how nice! Ruby wants to see me!" I heard a female voice behind Shadow and I.
"Hi Rouge." I said.
"Hey, kiddo." She winked at me. "Is Blacky treating you okay?"
"Shadow." I corrected her. Then I bent down and whispered into her ear, "He doesn't like to be called Bl—uh, the 'B' word." (No, I'm not talking about the bad "B" word for those of you who have dirty minds. No offence… heh.)
"Well, that's one of the reasons why I call him that. It's fun to call a boy something that ticks him off. It's just so funny to see their expression!" Rouge laughed a bit.
I cocked my head to the side, looking curious. "Huh? It is? Really?"
"ROUGE, DON'T YOU DARE ENCOURAGE HER AGAIN!" Shadow shouted giving Rouge his oh-so-famous-death-glare. Due to Shadow's outburst, I practically jumped at least two feet in the air. "Besides, it's your fault she started to call me 'it'!"
"Oh, so now it's all my fault?" Rouge crossed her arms.
'Heh, heh! Those two are actually kind of funny when they fight… not that I like fighting, but this would make one heck of a Kodak moment! Hmm… speaking of which…'
I quickly loaded my camera with extra film I got, with out Shadow or Rouge noticing and pressed the 'take' button.
Click!
"Huh?" Shadow and Rouge both said when they looked up. I smiled and rubbed the back of my head.
"Hee, hee! Sorry, but it looked so funny when you two were fighting that I couldn't resist! Well, thanks for the Kodak moment! Later!" And I took off.
"RUUUUUBYYYYYYYYYYYY!"
I ran bloody murder down the hall while laughing my head off to escape the two. 'Well, I've had my fun, but now it's time to get serious! I've got to find a way to stop Eggman!'
Hahahahahahaha! I just couldn't resist to put in that last part! Hahahahaha! (wipes tear) Phew… anyway I have yet another announcement to make. I was going to save this for when Iwrite the last chapter, but I didn't want to surprise you all and make you guys hate me so here it is: The good is that I'm thinking about making a sequel for this story. The bad is that I'm not going to make it right after this story. Sorry! Look, before all of you flip on me (Like I know MJ would… no offence, MJ! You're the best!) let me explain. I promised my friend, Lucile, that I'd publish an InuYasha fanfic that we were both working on since FOREVER, and I said that I'd do it as soon as this one is done. And usually, I publish one story at a time so I'm not riddled with stress of updating and work. But, I WILL promise you, I'm thinking about a sequel. I need ideas though. Please don't offer them until I'm done with this fanfic, though! And please, please, please, please, please, please don't hate me! I always try to keep my promises, so bear with me, people. And if any of you are InuYasha fans, come read my next fanfic!
Thank you all for… well, everything, R&R, no flamz, and uh… that's it. I'll see ya'll next time!