UlTrRa SiK pRoDuCtIoNs pReSeNtZ:
LoVe'S bUrN
By: UlTrAa ShAdDow
Disclaimer: I don't own any of Sega's characters….but I'd be a very happy guy if I did!
-Thanks for the reviews guys and any of these reviewers who write are authors with pretty slammin' fics of their own as well!
-Mystery001: Ha, yeah, everyone's been wonderin' whether or not Knux and Rouge kissed…but, we'll find that out next chapter! & yeah, I'll try to update sooner next time…I hope! Anyways, thanks for reviewing!
-Jester of Euphoria: Hey thank you! That's really nice to hear! And honestly as much as I like Knux (4th favorite character) I gotta go with the Shadow/Rouge pairing. :D Thanks for reviewing!
-shadrougeforever: Yeah, Knuckles is getting pretty bold huh? I'm pretty sure Shadow wouldn't be too happy if he found out about the whole situation…which we shall see about…next time! Thanks for the flavorful review!
-LongLive ShadowXRouge: yeah, I'm sorry for the long waits…I'll try to update sooner! …Maybe every Thursday or Friday…hopefully! Thanks for dropping a review!
-JerseyDevil: Thanks! Appreciate the review. Keep readin' and we shall see what Shadow thinks of this conformation! Oh, we shall see…
-AliceStar: XD Hey Allygurl! Thanks for the review and as always and I'll check out your fic. I've been reading a lot lately and reviewing too! Hopefully you've updated since I last looked, ya slacker! XD Thanks for the review Ally!
-Rouge: Thanks for the major props! When I read this I was like, 'Man, now I gotta update!' …and then that was the day my computer froze too! XD thanks for the review and hope you enjoy the rest of the story!
-Ally Nasar:Ey'! Thanks for the awesome review! I'm glad ya like the story so much! And dangit, we need more Shadrouge fics out there! Thanks for the review!
"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 POV….
The air was damp, cold, and heavy to his lungs. It was as if he was wondering through a thick haze of mist… The ultimate life form found himself doing what he had seemed to be doing for the duration of his life: wandering.
Oddly enough, the night-colored hedgehog knew that he was dreaming. Although, why did he have to have ended up in such a place like this? For what seemed like an eternity, Shadow had been wandering around the desserted fogland.
Then he stopped walking, sensing a presence before him. As the mist cleared, Shadow saw that the once concealed figure, was a white bat.
"Rouge."
Shadow approached her, calling her name out and he finally came to a halt when she turned to look at him. Her demeanor and gaze were impartial. She was his white bat standing their in all her splendor and beauty…
…Up until the moment he met her eyes
They were the easy color of a handsome, rich wine.
Shadow arose out of unconsciousness confused. He rose half-way out of his sleeping pallet to gaze upward in thought. In most cases he could usually analyze his own dreams and make sense of them. But for once, he was at a loss. The ultimate life form sighed and slowly turned over to face the slumbering figure beside him.
He took in the sight of her for a few seconds more before he decided to leave. Shadow exited silently, as to not disturb the female beside him and the rest of the room's occupants. He stepped out into the predawn morning, savoring the still life and the cool, sweet morning air.
Normally, Shadow preferred 'living' during the hours of the night in place of the bright, blaring hours of the day. But for the moment, the predawn atmosphere was acceptable.With a left bound gaze, he also noticed that a familiar red echidna was enjoying the morning just as he was.
In the dark sky, Knuckles' fur was a deep plum and Shadow himself appeared to have become a chameleon as he blended into the atmosphere, "So finally up, huh?"
Although Knuckles' gaze wasn't fixed on him, Shadow nodded his response, "Yes….but soon everyone else should be up."
"At Dawn we go, right?" Knuckles asked.
Shadow removed his gaze from Knuckles and stared into the slumbering horizon, "Of course. So today begins the day of reckoning, our very date with destiny…History regardless, shall be written about this day…the only question is… will time remember us as the victors…"
"How poetic," Knuckles said smirking at him, "Maybe you should coin that phrase and sell it!"
A small silence followed as the two combatants stared off into the sky. And just as silently as he came, he glanced at Knuckles, then entered the workshop in a moment's notice.
Upon entrance, Shadow realized that there was now life in the workshop as the others were now up and about bustling around the vicinity. Another sensation that the dark hedgehog seemed to pick up with his 'seventh sense' was that the air seemed to be jarred with several emotions all at once: excitement, anxiety, mirth, and fear.
Shadow watched everyone silently from his perch as they passed him by. His red eyes scrolled over everyone occupant in the room until they stopped dead upon the room's only motionless resident, Sonic. The cobalt blue hero was reclined in his favorite couch with his chin cupped in his hand reflectively.
Watching him from another end of the room was a small yellow hedgehog, "…Tails, he's been sitting like that for five minutes now…Is he okay? Is he hurt or something? Looks like he's in deep thought."
Tails blinked, "Nah, don't be too worried about him. …Oh wait, did you say he was thinking? Yep, then we should be concerned."
Rouge sighed as she swept a hand across her damp face; she had been restless the entire night, drifting in and out of sleep. The huntress sighed as she looked at her reflection in the water basin beside her damp wash towel. There was absolutely no way she was feeling up to carrying out the group's planned assault on Eggman.
As much as she'd love to get that bastard back for everything he's done recently, she couldn't. Dark lashes fluttered over somber, pale blue orbs, "…And now I can't even help my friends defeat him….or bring justice to those who suffered from his hands…"
Rouge slumped to the floor dejectedly as she sighed; it had been only moments ago that she had a painful conversation with one of her most valued friends, Amy Rose. Rouge clenched a tight fist; now she had a decision to make: Either listen to Amy and miss the biggest battle of her life...
...Or try to fight Eggman and potentially have Amy reveal to everyone just what was troubling her.
..Flash back...
It was nearly three-thirty in the morning and the pale bat found that sleep was playing a devious trick upon her. She couldn't find sleep no matter how hard she tried, and even with her eyes clamped shut tightly and the ever present darkness, sleep still eluded her.
Finally, once Rouge decided that enough was enough, she rose from her makeshift bed going through all the stops to avoid awaking the ultimate life form, and scuttled into the bathroom. She glanced at her reflection at least twelve-times over and each time she was graced with a visual of a sweat-caked bat.
Just as she stared at her dull-eyed reflection for what seemed like the thousandth time, she was overtaken by vertigo and she wretched. Just as the toilet flushed, Rouge heard a soft voice outside of the door, "…Rouge? Are you okay?"
"A-Amy?" Rouge replied softly, " Yeah, I'm okay…"
There was a slight pause, "Can I come in?"
In response, Rouge unlocked the door and allowed Amy in. Rouge took a seat on the ledge of the wash tub as Amy leaned against a wall. With the only source of light in the dark room being the moon, the girl hedgehog was a soft shade of mauve, as her eyes were a deep, dark emerald, "…So what's wrong?"
The newly gray colored bat shook her head lightly, " I'm feeling just awful Amy…And…"
Amy looked into her deep cobalt eyes and gasped as Rouge mouthed her concern, "Whaaat? Oh Rouge! You're not going to fight Eggman are you?"
Rouge nodded her head, " I don't know…we're short already but…"
"You couldn't possibly go Rouge! Not in your current condition! And look at you! You're in terrible condition! I won't allow it Rouge."
"But this whole situation is bigger than me, and if--"
"And if you don't stay here then you're being plain selfish!" Amy glared, "You need to look after yourself, get better, and support us spiritually. I won't hear of anything else."
Silently, Amy glared at the bat for a few more seconds before she turned on her heel and left.
Rouge sighed, "…Oh great, now what am I to do?"
Tails exited a closet and appeared with a navy blue single-strap backpack and a pair of sky blue pilot goggles, "Okay then…Is everyone ready to go?"
"Just a sec!" Cream called.
Making an entrance, the girls strutted into the room by a single file line. They appeared before their audience decked out in complete leather, form-fitting outfits. And they were received warmly, with the list being topped off by whistling and cat-calls.
Sonic smiled, "Nice ladies…Is it my birthday already? Or my bachelor party?"
Tails smiled, "Okay then, now that everyone's here, we can get to work."
From his ceiling, Tails pulled down a map. And with a pointer in hand he spun to face the others, " After spending a great deal of time examining and cross-examining maps, I have found three different entrances to the base. The first entrance takes and aerial route, the second is a path through the Bay Bridge and the third is--?"
Tails paused purposefully and turned to gaze at Scythe. The silver and black hedgehog sucked on his teeth, "The Station Square Train Station."
"Right," Tails nodded his head, "So then, who wants to join me and take the aerial approach?"
"So what about the other routes?" Knuckles asked.
Tails nodded his head, " Good question Knuckles: Now then, let's take the Bay Bridge route for example, that would be the direct approach. Through that path you'd get the whole warfront there and that's most likely be the most difficult place to infiltrate."
"And why would that be?" Cream asked.
"Well, through this course, you're going straight in front of the base and knocking on the front door," Tails explained, " Meanwhile, the route through the Station Sqaure train station leads you inside the base from the aqueducts."
A clear, loud moan arose from the azure hero, "I am so over that place!"
A giggle rose from Daisy as Tails continued, " So then, Bay Bridge entrance: super hard, Station Square train station entrance: very hard and the aerial approach: hard."
" 'Super hard?'" Shadow asked, interest being sparked, " Then I want the Bay Bridge entrance."
Scythe turned to pointedly glare at him, " Damn you. I want to go into the eye of the enemy and be the damn flagship!"
"No," Knuckles replied, "What you really want to do is just release your psycho temper and go headstrong into the eye of the storm; right smack into the center of danger with your guns blaring…Getting a major adrenaline rush…And the big fiery explosions…"
Knuckles' words trailed off as all the guys in the room looked off wistfully into the sky. Shadow, Sonic, Knuckles, Tails and Scythe almost romantically daydreamed about Knuckles' last statement.
"…Taking names and kicking ass…" Sonic whispered dreamily.
"The explosions…" Shadow whispered.
"…And all the fire and carnage," Scythe said thoughtfully.
"…Boys…" Amy sighed haplessly.
Knuckles shook his head, returning to the present, "Yeah… so anyways, I'll go with Shadow."
Everyone turned to look at him inquisitively, "…Bad idea…"
"No, not necessarily," Tails replied, " According to the recent drills, Shadow and Knuckles perform well together,"
Shadow and Knuckles exchanged looks that had some semblance of benevolence.
"Okay," Tails said, " So that marks Shadow and Knuckles off. And now we shall NOT be accepting anymore applications for the Bay Bridge spot."
Scythe crossed his arms and lowered his head, " Dammit!"
"Buuuut," Tails said raising an index finger, " We are now opening the floor to the Station Square train station entrance."
Scythe slammed his hands onto the table, " Put me down for that mission!"
Tails obeyed and looked up at Sonic as soon as he heard his voice, " Well, I guess if that place has action, I'll be there too."
"And that means both Amy and I will be flyin' high in the sky!" Tails said exchanging smiles with the rose hedgehog.
Sonic frowned, " I dunno Tails, I'm not too keen on letting you and Ames take on Eggman's goonies by yourselves. Stats show that you two have the lowest combat abilities.
Tails frowned, 'Holy cow! Did Sonic just actually think and use facts to make a point? …Gosh, I hope this isn't a sign that things are gonna go bad for us…'
But then Tails smiled, remembering his ace in the hole, "Well, it'll be okay, because Rouge will be coming with us."
"Um…"
All eyes fell upon the huntress. While gazing at the crowd, Rouge noticed a particularly intense gaze from the emerald eyes of the pink hedgehog. If Rouge didn't know any better, she'd think that the pink hedgehog was ready to murder her. Rouge gulped, suddenly becoming ten times more bashful.
"I won't be going…"
For the whole, a wave of surprise took the audience's faces, "Why?"
"Well," Rouge smiled; rationalizing and thinking on the spot was one of her strong suits, "Someone has to stay here and protect our cute little Cream and our adorable Daisy."
"…I guess," Sonic said looking skyward.
"Are you sure Rouge?" Daisy asked, "We'll be fine. You have to go and fight!"
Rouge shook her head, " Sorry, can't do that ladies."
Tikal stepped forward, after watching and listening to all that had happened, she decided to speak, "I shall be Tails' and Amy's third companion. And I shall not hear otherwise."
She glanced at everyone then continued with her eyes closed, "...And if there is a problem with the status of our group, just remember that I can both strike and mend."
Knuckles smiled; Tikal had gone through such an amazing transformation as of recently, " Yeah, she's overqualified for the job with all of her guardian training."
"Well, I'm convinced," Sonic said crossing his arms.
"…And very easily at that," Shadow replied.
"And just what ARE you saying?"
"…Isn't it pretty forward of what I'm insinuating?"
"…Insinu-what?"
As the two hedgehogs argued, Tikal smiled warmly at Knuckles. She seemed to have been thanking him with her smile. In response Knuckles winked, flustering the princess greatly.
"As much as I'd love to join this fight," Scythe said, to both of the hedgehogs, " We're short on time."
"Final call!" Tails yelled, " It's time to get ready!"
Once everyone scattered, heading their different ways, Shadow approached Rouge who seemed to be low in spirits, " What's wrong?"
" 'What's wrong?'" Rouge laughed, " Nuh-nothing's wrong. Why do you ask?"
"What, you mean with you pulling out and everything? Earlier you were bouncing off the walls when the thought of fighting Eggman came to play," Shadow smirked, " If you're going to lie…You're obviously going to have to come with it better than that."
"Shadow…I've taken your words to heart," Rouge clutched the ultimate life form's hands, "I understand how much you need me…and I'm not going to risk it by going out. I'm staying here."
At once, the skeptical frown was replaced by a surprised expression upon Shadow's face, "…Oh really now?"
"Mmm-hmm!"
Slowly the couple meandered out of the workshop. This was a surprising change; in fact, if Shadow had known better, he would have thought that Rouge was hiding something from him... Nah...
Shadow and Rouge joined the others outside who were saying their goodbyes. It looked like it was time to part ways and head out to conquer the big adventure that lay ahead of them. This was what being a hero was albout.
"Bye Mister Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow and bye Miss Amy, and Tikal and oh! Tails, I have something for you!" Cream ran inside of the workshop as Tails waited happily.
Cream returned before the fox with a matching, sky-blue scarf, " This matches your goggles…and your eyes."
Tails beamed genuinely, " Why thank you Cream! …Did you make this yourself?"
Cream nodded her head, " Uh-huh!"
"Thanks, it's awesome!" Tails took the scarf from her hands and wrapped it around his neck.
Sonic smiled, "Well, doesn't someone look suave!"
Cream smiled then ran over and bear-hugged Scythe who looked utterly appalled by such an action. Daisy laughed loudly; as long as he lived, she would never let him live that one down!
Rouge had just finished talking with Sonic when she turned to see a red stranger behind her, " Knuckles…you take care of yourself. You'll always be special to me."
She wrapped him in a tight hug. Then she pulled away slightly to see a black and crimson hedgehog beside her. His expression was cool, as if he couldn't decide how to intervene. Rouge laughed then embraced him with a deep passionate kiss, "…And you mister…You stay safe 'cause I'm the only one who gets to touch you."
Smirking, Shadow looked at Knuckles, "She wants me."
"No kidding."
It seemed as if everyone was preparing to go; Tails, and Amy were strapped in tight in the newly painted Tornado. The brand spankin' new red coat gave the airplane a daring, adventurous edge. After waving and shouting their good byes, the purring of the airplane engine signified that they were ready to go.
Tails fit his goggles snuggly over his eyes, and looked in his mirror and the pink hedgehog, " Ready?"
"Yeah!" Amy screamed her answer and gave a thumbs-up.
With that, Tails nodded, set his sights forward and began to operate the Tornado. Within seconds, they took off, tearing through the sky. Tikal closed her eyes and with a silent chant, she transformed into an orb of light and followed them, leaving behind sparks and shimmers of light.
Sonic watched the fire engine-red airplane until it disappeared from sight, he then turned and smile at the others, "Well, it looks like it's our turn."
Sonic looked at Scythe, then at the grassy-green emerald in his palms. With the Chaos emerald in his hand, Sonic chanted, " Chaos control! Location: Station Square train station!"
"Scythe!"
Scythe tore his stern gaze away from the path dead ahead of him and looked upon a running yellow hedgehog. She ran up to him just as he was being to disintegrate. She looked at him as she panted, drinking in oxygen, "… I didn't say goodbye yet…"
"Well, then say--!"
Daisy grabbed him by the back of his head and forced him into a wet, sloppy hard kiss. She pulled away blushing and panting even harder. Before he disappeared, an obvious façade of shock was washed upon his face. Knuckles and Shadow laughed as Rouge whistled, "Did you see that look upon his face?"
"I think he liked it!"
"The look upon his face was worth this entire situation," Shadow said with a smug smile.
Rouge laughed, then turned to face both him and Knuckles, "You two take care."
Knuckles smiled, " Likewise Rouge."
Shadow stared at the white bat deeply for a few seconds before he paced over to her, dipped her backwards him his arms and possessed her lips. When Rouge finally found her senses, and realized just what was going on, Shadow released her, and approached a smirking Knuckles. With the chant of two words, both of the warriors were gone.
Smirking, Daisy looked at Rouge. Giggling the huntress licked her lips, "…Damn he's delicious!"
Venturing out into the deep yonder, the Tornado cut through the brilliant topaz sky. It seemed as if the sun was just beginning to set in. The Tornado performed barrel-rolls and loops as he sliced through the flurry of clouds. Tails smiled as he heard Amy scream with delight again, "Hey Tails, it felt like I was gonna fall out that time!"
"…Okay, someone's an adrenaline junkie…" Tails replied, chuckling to himself.
Tails looked to his left as his scarf trailed behind him in the golden sky, "Hey Tikal, how are ya?"
"Fine," the ball of light replied, " It appears that Amy is enjoying herself much too often!"
Tails laughed, "Tell me about it! She's still laughing!"
"Look, we approach the base…perhaps it'd be best for you to ready your weapons."
Tails looked over the side of the plane; sure enough, Eggman's ostentatious base sat miles from them. Amy's giggles came to a stop as she finally followed Tails' suit, "Look! Eggman's base! Isn't that thing awesome?"
As the two of them gazed at the Sahara base, the radio tweaked with static, "…This is the blue machine…I repeat, this is the blue machine…do you copy young maverick?"
Tails smirked; his nickname was too cool, "Yep, we're approaching blue. How about you guys?"
"We're fightin' already, you guys get ready. Something tells me they know that we're here!"
Amy blinked, " They know we're here?"
Tails gazed toward the Sahara base to see flying metal robots starting to make a beeline for them. Glancing lower, he saw that cannons were being prepared. Oh yeah, the badguys knew they were here allright.
"Amy," Tails began in a lower voice, "Get ready."
Amy gulped, but shook her head vigorously, "O-okay…"
Almost as soon as Tails had given Amy the warning, bullets rained through the air, sparking in the sun's light. Amy gasped as Tails clutched the Tornado's yolk tightly and gritted his teeth.
"If that's how they wanna play it," Tails said pressing buttons, "then we'll play rough too!"
Tails forced the Tornado into a suicidal nosedive as he showered mass after mass of bullets into the face of his foes. Explosions ignited in the golden sky and the Tornado performed evasive loop after loop in the sky.
The air was filled with the loud booms from the explosions blossoming all around the Tornado.And in the midst of all the fire, the sound of Tails' furious cry and Amy shriek could be heard.
In a flare of green light, both hedgehogs found themselves knee-deep in the liquids of the aqueducts. Sonic moaned, as the dark hedgehog gazed around him surroundings.
Sonic frowned, "I really don't like this place…"
"This place can royally kiss my--"
Scythe paused mid-sentence as he thought to have heard a soft noise. He glanced over at Sonic who returned his suspicious gaze. Good, that meant that he had heard the sound as well. Both hedgehogs quickly dropped to their knees, with the water nearly lapping their stomachs.
Scythe switched his vision sequence to heat vision. Immediately his eyes flared a bright scarlet. With his new vision, the blue hedgehog beside him burst into a rainbow of colors. Then, looking in the direction of the strange noises, Scythe picked up a few more blotches of color.
Peering at them from around a corner were some of Eggman's more advanced machinery. Apparently the idiots thought they were well camouflaged against the darkness of the pipes.
Scythe snarled, " Peh, look, Eggman's goonies at four o'clock."
Sonic turned to look in the direction Scythe had prescribed. For a second he didn't doubt that the cyborg had picked up something. But with his own two eyes, he was useless in the darkness. He would have to rely on the countability of his comrade. And when it came to war, Sonic had the ultimate trust in Scythe; it was what the guy was built for.
"…You're gonna hafta be my eyes Scythe," Sonic whispered, "Do they see us?"
"…Yeah."
"Both of us."
"No, only me."
"Now where are they again?" Sonic asked, eyes flashing.
"…There's two groups of them, the smaller group is at six o'clock and…the larger group at four."
"…I can't see them," Sonic replied, so I'll take the smaller group at six o'clock."
Without a second thought, Sonic spin-dashed into the smaller group of machines as Scythe plowed into the other group. Just as they began to start clearing the numbers of droids away, Scythe turned to see another legion of robots revving to go. With a vicious roar, Scythe disregarded a broken android and drove at the new soldiers.
The Sahara dessert was a smoldering wasteland. The great heat scorched and baked even the pale sand that it housed. The heat was so great that it seemed as if the sun itself decided to make the dessert its great throne room. Staring Eggman's base directly in the eye were two figures. The first was the midnight-colored hedgehog who was streaked with red markings.
His red-eyed gaze was set firmly upon the golden pyramid. The next figure beside him was the bright red guardian of the Master Emerald. The fury he was stewing within himself was as clear as day in his eyes.
They both slowly walked toward the base ignoring the stray bullets and attacks that missed them. Some cannonballs even landed in the sand beside them. Momentarily they both gazed at the sky to see a spiraling, red airplane cutting through the sky masterfully. The plane plagued all of its adversaries with stream after stream of bullets.
Knuckles smirked, "…That's pretty badass…"
They turned their attention to the assembled metal army before them. Standing about a couple of hundreds of yards away was an entire metal army. The mass of soldiers seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see. The number of soldiers seemed almost endless.
Knuckles smirked, looking at the hedgehog beside him, "…Fools, they do not know what they are up against…Perhaps you could show them a little of our hospitality?--"
Shadow clenched his fists and levitated as a deep crimson aura surrounded him. When he opened his eyes, his irises were glowing red, "Chaos…"
Rouge sighed lightly as she swiftly filed through Tails' videotape collection. The girls had decided to pass the time, instead of being nervous and anxious, by watching a sappy love story. The two girls were in the other room waiting; Cream and Daisy were suffering from a sweet tooth, so they decided to bake cookies together, and on the side make a couple of mugs of hot chocolate.
Rouge didn't contest this in the least; she was sort of hungry anyway. After milling through the tapes for what seemed like forever, Rouge plucked out a tape and smiled at it happily. Just as she started on her way to the TV room she saw an overturned vase.
Rouge frowned; those girls knew to clean up after themselves! She set the vase correctly and continued on her path. The further she walked, Rouge noticed that more things were out of place like the broken jars and ripped pillows.
...The entire hallway was a mess! Red flags were raised mentally and Rouge tore through the workshop. She dropped the tape as she felt a steel hand grip her neck.
"!" Rouge gasped and struggled in its vice-like grip.
Luckily to Rouge's liking, beside her foot was a metal toolbox. With her foot, Rouge propped up the box, kicked it into her right hand and whacked her captor hard. The android released its grip momentarily as Rouge was able to turnaround and high-kick the robot into an open doorway. Immediately Rouge locked the door.
She nimbly opened Tails' toolbox and retrieved a rather unwieldy wrench. She slowly crept around the workshop until she entered the TV room. The sight caused her to grasp. The room was askew with the furniture and the rest of the room's contents were overturned and destroyed. This was evidence enough that a struggle had taken place.
Lying on the ground unconscious was Daisy. In the torso of her suit was an ugly dark scorch mark. Rouge slowly elevated her eyes to see that Cream was struggling in the grasp of none other than Eggman.
He was smiling maliciously at the white bat, obliviously knowing that he had the upper hand in the situation. In one hand he held the small rabbit by her neck, and in the other he held what looked to be a napalm gun.
…And it was still smoking.
If possible, Eggman's smiled darkened,"…Am I to assume correctly that there will be no objections against an arrangement?"
To be continued!
Chapter Twenty four Theme: "Till I collapse"- Eminem