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!
-If the editing's bad…then…excuse it! I did this in a hurry…but enjoy as always!
"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:
A light dew of perspiration formed on the pale, cream-colored bat's temple. She lightly bit her lip as thoughts ran avidly in her head. This event unfolding before her was something she had been unprepared for.
Ordinarily, any foe that solidified before her was dealt with both quickly and easily. However, since the new threat was Metal Sonic; the creature with the flaming scarlet eyes, her next action would need to be shrewd.
She had already decided that returning into Eggman's clutches would not be an ideal conclusion. Fire light washed hues of oranges and deep ambers over Rouge as she took a careful step forward, "Metal Sonic, I—"
A shrill mechanic whine broke out as a missile was launched from a basin within Metal Sonic's hand. A large fiery conflagration followed, propelling Rouge several feet in the air.
She landed on her belly and rolled onto her back to see fiery clouds of smoke clearing away. There, walking in the midst of the swirling smoke was Metal Sonic, red eyes searing even brighter.
"Preliminary objectives, retrieve life form Rouge the bat with vital signs," Metal Sonic instated.
Rouge rose out of opaque dark water, she smiled slightly, "Fine, that makes my job a whole lot easier, you can't hurt me."
Rouge swore the android narrowed his eyes in dissatisfaction, "Secondary objectives, retrieve life form Rouge the bat with minimum vital signs intact."
"…Aw shoot."
... Angel Island- (The Master Emerald Shrine...)
On Angel Island, the word was predominantly adorned in shades of green, lavender, and blue. And the land was garlanded with thick, sky-scraping trees and soft clumps of shrubs. Lucid streams and rivers bathed the brown ground sprinkled with dawn-colored wild carnations.
The island was undeniably beautiful; at sunrise the island seemed aglow and at night the rich tropical backdrop was lit by the moon. Every feature was outlined with a glittering sliver streak.
Currently on the island it was midday and the sun was high, trekking on its usual fiery path through the sky. There, under the sun's bright eye was Tikal, whisking the edges of her fingers through a swallow pool of water that mirrored the color of her own eyes. She sat on the very bottom of the stairs that led to the large, iridescent jewel.
Aqua eyes stared blankly at the swallow puddles of water before her; sometimes the tips of her fingers found small bright colored fish swimming by, but other than that, there was nothing to peak her interest. She closed her eyes and sighed, ever since Knuckles had left to seek out Rouge, Tikal's normal beguiling happiness had detached.
"Now what am I to do? I'm all alone again…But why? Why did he choose--?"
Something flickered behind turquoise liquid eyes; on second thought, ever since Knuckles had first laid eyes on the bat, Tikal's contentment had been fading quickly.
Their once diverse and rather interesting conversations were transformed into monotonous banter about Rouge this or Rouge that. The only subject they talked about that had nothing to do with the bat was in regards of the Emeralds' well-being.
When she educated Knuckles about the jewel's history he listened to her with eyes aglow. That was the only time she truly felt that he was hers. She closed her eyes, reminiscing.
It was raining terribly and the morning sky was dull and gray. Tearing through the terrain at high speeds was a bright red echidna. He trekked through the island masterfully.
He gazed over his shoulder and tossed his pursuer a smile, "Come on Tikal! I thought you hated rain!"
Tikal dashed after him, chasing after the distant trekker, "True, but you move much fast than I!"
Then she smiled, "Until now."
As Knuckles appeared at the Emerald's shrine it seemed that he was going to win again, but a streaking, shimmering pink blur zoomed past him and Tikal appeared, smiling demurely on the bottom steps. Knuckles frowned as he slowly halted to a stop, "Oh come on! That does not even count!"
"You said to race," Tikal said with a smile small, "However, you did not specify the means on how to race."
"Damn, had again."
"As the guardian of the Master Emerald you must be ready for all things," Tikal said slowly trying to draw out her point, "You must be prepared for the unexpected."
Knuckles raised his gaze to look at her, "So are you ready for the unexpected?"
Tikal arched an eyebrow; this was one of his questions he always roused every once and awhile where the answer he would expect would be something obvious. Tikal had no plans to fall into one of his traps today, "Always."
"Okay, let's test that then."
Knuckles smiled as he stepped forward and scooped the tan echidna into his arms. Tikal gasped as she found herself being lugged over his shoulders like luggage, "Wha-What are you doing! Knuckles stop!"
"Understood."
He lowered Tikal in front of him so she stood facing him. Instead of listening to her request, he took both of her hands into his and began spinning her around until her feet where off of the ground. Now the ancient monarch stared at him with wide eyes.
"AHHH!"
Knuckles smirked, "What's wrong? I thought you were ready for the unexpected?"
"I-If you do not put me down right this instant, I shall have you recite the ancient strolls so many times that you'll—"
Knuckles released his hold on the ancient princess and they both plummeted to the ground. Tikal landed and crashed on top of the guardian.
Knuckles burst out laughing, then Tikal smiled and joined him. Knuckles rose to his feet all the while helping Tikal to her feet. Both of them slowly escalated to the top of the Shrine and stood before the gem. Knuckles stared at the gem proudly, admiring its beauty and strength.
For centuries his kin had gazed upon the jewel and now it was his turn. His thoughts were scattered as Tikal spun to face him. Aqua eyes shone in concern, "Why do you trust her?"
Knuckles almost lost his balance, "What?"
"The bat, why do you trust her? I do not, I fear that she is up to no good. She has a dark aura."
Knuckles blinked. For sometime he had known that Tikal was an enchanted being with mystical abilities. One of them being the capability of being able to see peoples' auras. Every living soul emitted their presence through an aura. Each aura color revealed a person's true nature.
Pink auras revealed an affectionate character, this aura she saw hovered above Amy, Cream and Tails. Rich, cool blue auras belonged to those who were thoughtful, calm and contemplative, she found this aura around Knuckles.
Bright red auras encapsulated those who were either extremely passionate or those who were very angry. Clearly a red aura suited the azure hedgehog very well. White, pale auras drifted over the fearful or the worried.
Gray auras signified people who were suspicious and black auras covered people who had evil intentions. This dark aura usually found Eggman.
"She had a dark aura?" Knuckles asked puzzled.
"Yes," Tikal said, "I do not trust her, even if she had helped save the Earth from Ark."
When Tikal had first laid eyes on the huntress, true, her aura had been a stone-gray color, but after helping with ark, the huntress's aura had flushed into a blushing rose.
"But she's changed over, I trust her, she's a different person now. I think if you meet her again, you'd like her too." Knuckles said gazing off into the gray horizon.
He then turned to look at Tikal with a now warm smile, "And…I think I'm in love with her." He smiled and gazed off at the horizon while Tikal stared at him. Her eyes widened as she saw his cool, azure aura fade evenly into a glowing carnation.
Tikal teleported in a pink flash and appeared before the Emerald, gazing at it longingly. She patted the jewel as she stared at her handsome reflection. The Gem glowed dimly to her touch; she smiled, knowing that the only two people who could activate the gem's powers were Knuckles and herself.
'At least we still have that connection,' she thought sadly.
Cool chills racked through Tikal's body and she gasped, turning away from the emerald. Something was wrong, she sensed it. She turned to look upon the emerald once more and its glow became faint.
Tikal snapped around, facing the horizon in an attempt to find the intruder; if the opposing force did not dispel anytime soon, then the emerald as a defense mechanism would seal off all of its power.
The princess looked skyward to see a large black aura billowing into the clear sapphire sky. The dark color stuck out in the clear sky easily and sounded a mental alarm for the ancient princess.
Courage welled in her as she called in an uncharacteristically loud voice, "SHOW YOURSELF FIEND!"
Appearing, as if answering her call was Eggman in one of his hovering devices. The beige echidna gasped in shock, taking a step away from him, "Dr. Eggman?"
"Correct, and now I offer you two choices: surrender the Master Emerald or face severe consequences."
In The Sahara Dessert Base: (The aqueduct pipes...)
Rouge found herself running through the aqueducts being pursued by the relentless Metal Sonic. The further Rouge sloshed in the aqueducts, the worse the pipe's lighting became.
Eventually, even the flickering lights overhead became too faint and the huntress had to rely on her nocturnal vision. She rounded a sharp corner and came to a junction. Now the tunnel was filled with complete darkness.
Rouge looked to her rear and realized that she didn't hear or see her stalker. That could mean either two things: she lost him or he found her and was planning his moves scrupulously.
The bat turned to the fork before her which sliced into three paths. She decided to go left, for no particular reason, and as she was heading leftward, she spotted an overhead tunnel. A small sultry smile appeared on her face, "I choose you."
She flew up into another pipe began running. As she made her way further into the pipe , she realized that electricity worked in these portions of the aqueducts. Just as she rounded one more corner, she skid to a halt in front of Metal Sonic. She gasped and fell back on her rear paralyzed by the sight of him.
Calmly, the hovering blue android stared at her with an arm cannon locked onto her. Rouge stared at him in great disbelief, "H-how did you know where I'd--?"
"Probability percentages: twenty-four percent probability of choosing leftward option, nineteen percent rightward option, nine percent central option, lastly, aerial choice, forty-seven percent."
A glowing, fiery light began to blaze at the end of Metal Sonic's gun. Sapphire irises constricted to specks as realization hit the pale bat, " No—"
"Survival Probability: 71 percent."
A powerful beam was unleashed and the aqueduct was washed in a bright pale light. Once the light faded into nothingness, Metal Sonic scanned his surroundings.
The upper pipe he was currently in had been busted and now could be used as a balcony to over look the lowest level in the pipes. He ignored the trickles of leaking water and dropped to the lowest floor where he picked up Rouge in his visuals. The ivory-hued bat laid twenty paces in front of him, resting on her stomach.
Metal Sonic's sensors detected blood upon his target and decided to take scan over her.
Subject: Rouge the bat
Gender: Female
Damage: (Moderate) forty-two percent
Vitality status: Declining
Metal Sonic snapped into clear consciousness as he saw Rouge beginning to move. If androids could feel emotions, he would have been dismayed at the fact that she was still trying to elude him.
Rouge slowly rose to her feet, trembling and shivering from the cold of the aqueduct water. She saw Metal Sonic hovering a few feet away from her and she began to take off once again, only this time she took to the air with strong wings.
Metal Sonic jetted after her, catching her with little effort, he plowed into the flying bat, clipping one of her wings. She gave out a cry as she splash landed into the water. She turned to gaze at her bleeding wing, which was bent in an unnatural fashion.
'Broken,' she thought as sorrow and anger replenished her at the same time. This time she limped off into the darkest burrow she could find, however this time Rouge cursed herself as she saw that she had indeed ran into a dead end.
"I don't believe this," she muttered to herself.
She limped into one of the corners, taking cover behind one of the dumpsters. Metal Sonic landed at the beginning of the tunnel and began carefully running more analysis tests.
Damage: (High) sixty-eight percent
Vitality status: Poor
"Secondary objectives, retrieve life form Rouge the bat with minimum vital signs intact," Metal Sonic stated.
"…"
"Acknowledged, no more damage can be inflicted upon target. Switching antagonistic output levels from ninety percent to forty percent."
Rocket jets were turned off and the burning red irises within the dark abyss faded. Metal Sonic started a slow stride towards the dumpsters, destroying each one in his path.
Crouching, Rouge gritted her teeth, with each passing second she could hear Metal Sonic enclosing her position. It was only a matter of time before she would have to face off with him again.
The pains and aches in her body disagreed with even the slightness movements she made. Rouge gasped as a pair of red and white sneaks appeared in front of her. She slowly traced the figure with her eyes until she met a pair of eyes.
Green eyes.
"Hey Rougey, it looks like you could use some help."
...The Sahara Desert Base: (The Medical Room...)
The medical room had been surprisingly quiet; the only sounds that were audible in the room were mechanical blips and bleeps. Shadow was still resting inside of a recovery capsule.
Scythe had resided in a chair in the corner of the room, propping his legs against a small desk meanwhile the small golden hedgehog sat on a small bed with her legs dangling on the over the sides of the bed.
As Daisy swung her legs, Scythe stared at the ceiling, a deep frown revealing his contemplative state. He finally turned to look at the young hedgehog who slowly returned his gaze, her face flushed, "WHAT?"
"Who the hell was that guy?" Scythe asked.
Daisy's face brightened, for once she was more knowledgeable in an area than Scythe was, "That was Sonic the Hedgehog!" Scythe frowned recalling their brief, and yet odd encounter that had just occurred moments ago.
Daisy had been bored out of her mind; she sat with her head resting in the depths of her palms. She blew a loose strand of hair out of her face. How was the young hedgehog going to pass her time with a laconic, boring hedgehog?
Then an idea hit her, she marched over towards Scythe, smiling, " Hey Scythe, wanna play a game?" Scythe looked up at her casually, "If I need to be involved in it…then no."
"Oh come on!"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Puh-leeeeeeeeease?"
"As they say in France, 'no'."
"If you play this game with me, and win, I'll shut up."
"…What are the rules of engagement?"
"Huh?"
Scythe rolled his eyes, "How do you play the game?"
"Okay, we'll play an easy game: rock (Makes the rock with her fist), paper ( Spreads her hands apart), scissors (Does a snipping motion with two fingers). Rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper and paper beats rock, got it?"
"Yes," Scythe said, "Although I don't see how it is possible for stone to be defeated by paper."
"…See, there you go overcomplicating things again. So get ready to play, best three out of five."
" Understood," Scythe said shaking his head.
"Ready, here, put your hands out like this…good, now on the count of three…rock(one) paper(two) scissors(three)…Ooh! Lookie! I win!"
" Again," Scythe said with an impatient edge to his voice.
" Rock, Paper, Scissors!"
Daisy makes paper as Scythe does rock.
"I win again, two for me, none for you. One more and I win," she said with a smile.
Scythe frowned; defeat or taking it very well was not his forte; he was as competitive as they come.
"Rock--!"
"Stop!" Scythe cried, "I have to get ready first."
He pulled up his chair closer to Daisy and positioned himself; he glared up at her with an intense, focused gaze, " I'm ready."
"Okay then, Rock, Paper, Scissors!"
"HA!"
Scythe threw down scissors, a sinister smile played on his face as he saw Daisy had paper. He rose out of his chair and laughed and pointed at Daisy, "You have been defeated! I kicked your ass! That's what you get for using paper in my house!"
However, Daisy kept a simple smile, "Okay, however I did say best three out of five, you still have two more games to win." Scythe scowled at her and sat down, "…Then stop stalling and let's play!"
This time they both chanted, "Rock, Paper, Scissors!" Scythe chose rock, however Daisy chose paper. A sweet smile played on the butter-furred hedgehog's face as she looked at him, "I win, using paper."
"What? That's foolish…this entire game is foolish!" Scythe crossed his arms and stared at the ground angrily. Daisy's eyes twinkled as a smile played on her lips, "Now I get MY prize."
She strolled over to him and turned his face to hers, his eyes widened slightly as he saw the yellow hedgehog's face drawing closer to his. With eyes closed, she drew closer to him with a small, sweet smile.
Out of thin air, a blue hedgehog fractured the moment, "Hey, Tails won't believe it---Whoooa!" Both hedgehogs jumped away from each other as Sonic watched with a smug grin, "Oh, don't EVEN try to act like that didn't even just happen!"
"Who the hell are you?" Scythe barked glaring at the blue hedgehog.
"Easy there big guy, I'm here to help him," Sonic said hiking a thumb in Shadow's direction. Surprise replaced embarrassment as Daisy gaped at Sonic, "Sonic! Sonic THE Hedgehog?"
Sonic gave one of his award-wining smiles, "One and the same, princess."
"So Sonic, how did you get appear out of nowhere like that?" Daisy asked. Sonic whipped out seven sparkling jewels, "With the help of a couple of friends." Silver eyes widened, "The seven chaos emeralds?—So one can use them in teleportation…"
Sonic waved a single finger, "Not only that, but now, thanks to the help of my best lil' bud, one can specifically lock on to a certain individual's location. I got here by locking onto Shadow's location."
The two other hedgehogs followed Sonic to Shadow's tank. Scythe watched him wearily, "So how does all this concern you? Blue-boy?"
Sonic extended a hand, no traces of resent or sarcasm in his voice anywhere, "Hey, my name's Sonic, what's yours champ?"
Scythe glared at him, but presented him no answer, "How…does this…concern you?"
"I hafta help Shad out, we strife for the same causes," Sonic turned to Daisy, "Now what's your name, shortcake?"
"My name's Daisy and his is Scythe, we'd be more than happy to help you!' Daisy chirped.
"Good," Sonic said with a head nod, "Then here's what I need both of you to do: Eggman's up to some big-ass scheme again, but the thing is, we don't know what he's up to, so I came here to investigate and spring Shadow, Rouge, and Knuckles. I see Shad's fine here, so I'm gonna go find Rouge, no matter what happens, you guys have to make sure Eggman does NOT get Shadow in his captivity, okay? I'll come back for you guys in thirty minutes…and if I'm not back in thirty minutes, then you guys hightail it outta here, comprende?"
"Right," Scythe said with a nod.
"Be careful Sonic, okay?" Daisy said.
"Well, hopefully I'll see you again," Sonic said with a confident smile, "Hasta luego!"
In a green wisp of light, he was gone. Daisy turned to Scythe, "I hope he's back soon…"
Daisy turned to look at Scythe, "Has it been thirty minutes yet?" Scythe gazed at a clock on the wall, " No, not quite yet."
"…Would we really leave him? If thirty minutes were to pass?"
" Yes," Scythe replied, " He has the chaos emeralds, if worst comes to worse, that'll save his ass."
"I hope so," Daisy said softly. Their thoughts were interrupted as loud bangings were heard from the front door. Clearly, someone was trying to barge in.
"…And that, is not a good thing," Scythe said, he looked over his shoulder to Daisy, "Wake him up, we're taking our family vacation a little early this year…"
To be continued!
Chapter Twenty Theme: 'Spoiled'-Joss Stone