UlTTrRa SiK pRoDuCtIoNs pReSeNtZ:
LoVe'S bUrN
By: UlTtrrAa ShAdDow
Disclaimer: I don't own any of Sega's characters...but I'd be a very happy guy if I did!
"You can close your eyes to things you don't want to see, but you can't close your heart to things you don't want to feel."
Third Person POV:
The Sahara Dessert...
In the blink of an eye, Shadow and Knuckles were at each other's throats. Once they collided, all hell broke loose. Countless punches, kicks, and curses were thrown at each other.
Whatever either Knuckles or Shadow could think of using against their opponent, they did. Once upon a time, Daisy thought of trying to assist Shadow, but with the vicious scrap going on, her efforts ended up being more harmful than helpful, and now the yellow hedgehog lie on the sand peacefully, with her eyes closed.
Whatever scorn, jealousy, and grudges these two had held against each other, it all came out now. They both exchanged blows, until Knuckles released a war cry and tackled Shadow down a hill. They both tumbled down the sand dune punching and kicking each other until their landing broke them apart.
Shadow laid on his side, gritting his teeth. Eggman's device had certainly made the echidna a much more serious adversary. He was strong before, but now his punches were like surges of lighting. Shadow quickly staggered to his feet and searched the perimeter. With a balled fist, he swiftly scanned the desert hoping to find his furious predator.
No sign of the echidna.
Shadow silently mouthed a curse but continued his search. Out of the corner of his eye, Shadow caught the echidna tearing his way through the dessert at speeds nearly rivaling his own. Shadow turned to face him, waiting.
With another furious roar, Knuckles prompted the fight by flooding Shadow with lightning-fast punches and kicks. The dark hedgehog fended his entire offensive with quick, but adroit blocks. Knuckles landed his first successful strike with a blow to the gut. Shadow countered by connecting a right hook with Knuckles' jaw.
Knuckles stumbled backwards a bit, but he continued his hurricane of punches, "I see you've gotten better, Shadow."
"Naturally," Shadow replied, thwarting his attempts of landing a punch.
Now Shadow took the opportunity to attack Knuckles. The red echidna laughed, "I said you've gotten better but now, with this new power even the 'ultimate life form' is obsolete."
It seemed like Knuckles' confidence suddenly gained a new boost and he countered Shadow's assault with one clean roundhouse to the face. Shadow slide backwards down a sand dune and then sat up, glaring. He looked up to see Knuckles ambling towards him with an arrogant air.
"Chaos spear!" Shadow summoned.
Knuckles scoffed and swatted Shadow's attack away as if it were an insect, "Child's play."
Knuckles came within an arm's length distance of Shadow to dodge a punch from the hedgehog, then grab his forearm. Knuckles grip tightened on Shadow's upper limb and he began to twist his arm.
Shadow fought hard against the urge to scream out in pain; he gritted his teeth and grimaced. Closely, Knuckles watched Shadow's facial expressions with a small smirk, "With this newfound strength, you're no longer in my league..."
Shadow scoffed, "Newfound strength, don't make me laugh."
Knuckles wretched Shadow's arm harder, to his disliking though, the only response he received from the hedgehog was a short grunt, "You're still an arrogant little bastard! If you scream, I'll drop my grip, how about that?"
No deal; Shadow didn't make one sound, Knuckles laughed, but he continued, "And now look at you….Heh, and to think once upon a time we might have been equals, and now I'm the better man…"
The edges of Shadow's lips twitched, slowly forming a weak smile, "That's not how Rouge sees it."
Knuckles'smile faded. Shadow looked into his eyes and saw a raging storm…this was not looking every good for the dark hedgehog. For a moment they stared at each other without exchanging words.
The echidna's eyes flashed and, Shadow heard a snap and felt a rush of pain pulse through his arm. Following this up, Knuckles jarred him in the torso with a ruthless kick. Shadow laid on his back, grimacing, he looked up when Knuckles stepped forward and pointed a trembling finger at him, "You…can bet this isn't over yet, Shadow!"
The echidna snarled and he disappeared as fast as he had arrived on the scene. A stream of profanities flowed freely from Shadow's mouth, he felt someone touch his shoulder and he saw that it was Daisy. He noticed the nice-sized strawberry on the temple of her head.
"Are you okay, Shadow?" she asked, "I think he broke your arm."
Daisy slowly helped Shadow to his feet and she wrapped his arm around her slender shoulder, giving him support. They slowly hobbled off towards Eggman's pyramid.
"Be…my witness…" Shadow gasped, grimacing.
Daisy looked over at the taller hedgehog, "Um…why?"
"Because…" Shadow gasped deeply, fighting against the pain, "I swear…next time I see him…I'm gonna…beat some serious echidna ass…"
"Well,look, we're almost there!" Daisy sang optimistically changing the topic, "All we have to do is climb the steps...Oh!"
Both Shadow and Daisy looked up to see one of Eggman's guard robots standing at the pinnacle of the pyramid. Daisy gasped as Shadow quickly slid in front of her.
They both watched the robot expectantly…until it fell down the stairs. They both sidestepped the robot and noticed that it made no movements. To get a better look at the machine, Shadow took a knee and Daisy bent forward, resting her hands on her knees.
"Look, it's short-circuiting," Daisy said pointing to the android.
"…That's peculiar," Shadow said, holding his arm, "So what's—"
Another android came tumbling down the stairs; both of the hedgehogs moved aside and looked upwards. Standing at the entrance was a tall cloaked figure. It motioned for both of them to follow. Astonished, Shadow and Daisy exchanged glances.
"Should we?" Daisy asked, looking up at Shadow.
"Well…we were aided, weren't we?" Shadow asked.
"It could be a trap!" Daisy said softly.
"Yes…I thought of that," Shadow said, "But…keep your composer yellow hedgehog, remember that we'll be following him."
"Or her," Daisy piped.
"Hmph."
"I'll take that as an 'okay', "Daisy said with a smile.
Using Daisy as a crutch, Shadow carefully started ascending up the stairs.
Inside the Sahara Dessert Base...
Rouge quietly treaded through the knee-deep water in the aqueduct pipes. She occasionally found herself looking over her shoulders, checking for unwanted company. As much as Rouge hated being alone in the dark, she found herself grateful for her nocturnal vision.
Rouge slowed her pace as she came to a lit area of the aqueducts. In front of her was an intersection. She sighed then rubbed her temple, trying to remember which path of the fork to choose.
"Well," Rouge sighed, leaning to her right, "I guess it's just up to pure intuition now."
Quickly, Rouge whipped around to look backwards, her ears twitched, picking up an approaching sound.
'What's that whizzing?' she thought looking around.
The hallway she was facing was being lit by a spiraling ball of inferno rushing towards her. She released a startled cry and bent backwards, avoiding the blow.
A new hole was opening in the upper regions of the aqueduct pipe. If it had been any lower, Rouge would have been swept away by a rushing current.
Rouge now looked the direction the flaming globe had came from and she saw a pair of red glowing eyes. Finally, her stalker revealed himself in the light…it was Metal Sonic.
Inside the Sahara Dessert Base...
Shadow and Daisy quietly followed the hooded stranger through the corridors of the base. Both Shadow and Daisy looked around the base, inspecting all of Eggman's encapsulated creations.
"Whoa, this place is amazing," Daisy gasped, "Why there's…So much intellect…so much brilliance—"
"So much…free time," Shadow said finished blandly.
Daisy glowered, "You may have a broken arm, but you're still cocky!"
"Really?...I prefer confident," Shadow replied.
The stranger led the two hedgehogs through a long corridor were a door lied ahead of them. Once enclosing a distance near the door…it suddenly closed. All three of them stopped.
"Is this an expected pit stop?" Daisy asked.
The cloaked figure approached the door and tried to break the steel down, but after futility was apparent, the stranger banged his hand on the door in anger.
"…Guess not," Shadow replied.
Daisy's ears twitched and she turned to look over her shoulder, "Hey, did you hear that rattling noise?"
About five of the encapsulated robots awoke, rattling and breaking their glass capsules. They made their away over to the newcomers in Eggman's base. Their demeanor was clearly hostile.
"Aah!" Daisy shrieked, she hid behind Shadow, "N-now what?"
The three travelers found themselves slowly backing away from the creations, and Shadow soon found himself back to back with the hooded stranger. Shadow looked over his shoulder to the stranger, "So what now?"
Although the hooded stranger didn't respond, Shadow knew that the person was looking at him, listening. On Shadow's other shoulder was Daisy, who turned to look at him, blinking.
"My…arm's busted…but I still say we fight…what do you think of that?" Shadow asked over is shoulder to the stranger.
Although the hood hid most of the stranger's facial features, Shadow saw a wicked, toothy smirk on the stranger's face. That was the signal, and in a matter of seconds both the hooded stranger and Shadow were battling the robots.
Daisy watched in awe as the duo cleared the robots with a synchronized grace. Daisy smiled as she thought, 'If someone watched Shadow fight, they would have never known that he had broken his arm in a previous fight.'
The little hedgehog's thoughts were broken when she felt herself being picked up. She gasped, and began struggling in the android's steel arms. She looked up towards Shadow and the hooded stranger who were too occupied with fighting the machines to notice her being held captive.
Daisy's captor began to leave; the yellow hedgehog tried to find her voice but discovered that, do impart to the robot's vice grip around her neck, her words came out as whispers, " Sh…ad…ow…elp…me!"
She tried kicking and wiggling, but she soon established that all her efforts were worthless. Tears began to dribble from her eyes, and in a final attempt, she loudly shrieked, "Help me!"
The hooded stranger heard her pleas and quickly pursued both the yellow hedgehog and her captor. After defeating his last robot, Shadow turned to see the cloaked figure running after Daisy.
Shadow quickly detected one android that was headed straight towards his cloaked ally, "Look out!"
The machine knocked the cloaked stranger over, causing him to loose his hood. The male quickly vanquished his attacker and turned to the robot carrying off Daisy. The stranger took a step forward and shouted, "Raging lance!"
A blare of grayish lighting stuck the robot, causing it to drop Daisy. Before the machine could try to recover the girl hedgehog it released, the stranger crushed the machine with a single blow.
The cloaked male pulled the girl hedgehog away from the android's explosion. Once the bright light died away, they all uncovered their eyes. Daisy quickly unshielded her eyes and looked up at the tall stranger. With one glance at his face, her eyes widened and her face turned a bright crimson.
"Are you all right?" he asked, smirking.
The yellow hedgehog gave no response, but she quickly covered her newly scarlet cheeks with her hands and ran behind Shadow. Shadow looked at Daisy then almost gawked when he recognized the stranger's identity.
"Scythe?" Shadow barked, alarmed.
Shadow quickly turned to look at Daisy who was now acting rather peculiar, "Are you okay yellow hedgehog? Did he do anything to you?"
"N-no…" Daisy replied failing to make eye contact with either male, "I'm fine…"
Shadow snapped around to look at Scythe, gaining a defensive position, "If you want a fight, this is a bad time...but I'll…"
Shadow began to sway, and then he collapsed in Daisy's arms. Scythe was beside him in a matter of seconds. He reached out to examine Shadow's arm, but when the red-streaked hedgehog resisted, Scythe showed his first signs of anger, "Would you hold still?"
Skeptically Shadow allowed Scythe to look at his arm, the taller hedgehog nodded then rose to his feet, "Follow me, I know how to take care of that."
Shadow and Daisy exchanged glances then slowly began to follow Scythe. In silence they followed him into a small room with large computer. Scythe turned to face Shadow and motioned him to sit on a provided stool. Hesitantly, Shadow abided. Daisy however, remained standing behind Shadow, and gazed up at Scythe with coy eyes.
"…Now you're annoying me," Shadow said, Scythe laughed, "What are you trying to pull? If you're thinking of injecting me with the Chimera virus—"
"Are you always this wound up?" Scythe asked, with a familiar evil grin.
"You failed to answer me," Shadow replied, "What are you trying to pull? You wouldn't help me if your life depended on it."
"Rouge's does," Scythe replied.
Shadow looked up at him. For once he was willing to listen to what Scythe had to say, "….I have to rescue batgirl."
Shadow glowered, he had always known Scythe had a thing for Rouge…'Maybe I should kill him …' Shadow thought, 'It's still not too late…'
Scythe smiled, seemingly reading Shadow's mind, "Chill out…I owe her a favor, hedgehog."
Shadow still didn't seem pleased by this answer.
"…And…I want revenge against Egg-ass-man," Scythe finished.
"…That sounds better," Shadow said nodded his head.
Feeling a little more pleased, Shadow believed he didn't have to neutralize Scythe. Daisy took a step towards Scythe; she put her finger on his chest. Shadow looked at Scythe who had a smug smile, "…This has to wait, girl—"
Daisy's face turned red, then she looked up at him, frustrated from his comment, "I was going to say 'what happened here'?"
The spot on Scythe's chest Daisy pointed to had a scar etched in his skin. Although a good majority of the scar was covered by the cloak he was wearing, it was still fairly visible.
Also, now that the yellow hedgehog was close enough to his face, she saw that he also had a scar above his left eye. Scythe slowly removed her hand, and stared deeply into her eyes, "That's why exactly why I'm going back for Eggman."
"Well, I'm sure you're going to fill us in on what happened," Shadow coughed, hoping to interrupt their moment.
Scythe dropped her hand and laughed bitterly, "That bastard shot me," his eyes narrowed, having a reminiscent gleam of the old Scythe, "Three times I think, I don't remember. Then he had two of his idiotic robots 'dispose' of me. Lucky for me they're as smart as rocks...so they took me into this room… the medical room."
Daisy laughed as Shadow scoffed; Scythe frowned, thinking of the robot's illogcial actions as well,"Dumbasses…" Then he shook his head, clearing previous thoughts, "Anyways, let me show you why this poor excuse of a room is called, 'the medical room'..."
He turned to look at Shadow and pointed at a capsule. Shadow walked beside Scythe and looked at the capsule, thinking. Scythe looked over at him and smirked, "Don't cry, Shadow, it fills with water."
Shadow had a mental sweatdrop, but played it off, "…What of it?"
"You never cease to surprise me…" Scythe said laughing.
Shadow entered the capsule and closed his eyes, seeming impatient, "Let's get this over with."
Scythe pressed a few buttons and the machine filled with pink water.
"Ooh! Pretty!" Daisy commented.
Scythe looked at Daisy and smirking, he scoffed. To Shadow's surprise he could breathe in the water. He looked at Scythe and Daisy through a pink field but before long he felt himself getting light-headed and he peacefully fell asleep.
Once Daisy saw that Shadow was asleep, she slowly turned around and faced Scythe, his silver eyes fell upon her and the dark hedgehog greeted her with one of his trademark evil smirks.
He slowly started approaching her with a slow stroll. Daisy walked backwards trembling, "Um…Scythe…what are you doing?"
"You know what I'm gonna do."
She screamed and fell over. Daisy scooted backwards until her back was against the wall, her face was beet red, "Scythe? Stop! Aah!"
As Scythe took a knee, Daisy cringed, turning her face away from him, she felt a soft tug from her dress and looked up at the hedgehog who was smirking at her, he held up a string that had been dangling from her dress.
Daisy blinked, " You mean… you weren't going to…"
Scythe's smirk grew, "Hmph, don't you wish."
He walked off leaving an even redder Daisy.
To be continued!
Chapter Nineteen Theme: 'Breaking The Habit'-Linkin Park