Chapter Nineteen
A boiling rage filled Shadow's chest as he was forced to watch his rival's true identity be exposed for all to see. He growled darkly as Eggman laughed in victory, convinced that with the secret of Sonic being a Siren now known, the people of Mobius would turn on him. But the black and red hedgehog smirked. The doctor was not as smart as he thought he was. He had a plan. He just hoped their friends didn't blow it for them.
"Wow, that's some pretty impressive editing skills." He said out loud.
This caused everybody in the room to look at him. Their friends looked at him with gaping mouths of shock, wondering what he was doing. Even the two Sirens trapped in their separate tanks were in curious awe to know what the ebony land dweller was planning. Eggman, however, growled angrily.
"What are you talking about?" The human demanded. "This is streaming live!"
"I know, that's what makes it so impressive." Shadow nodded. "I didn't think anyone could edit so flawlessly and perform such special effects on a livestream."
"That's because it's not possible!"
"Really? So you're telling me that a person of your status, with an IQ of over 300, couldn't figure out a way to do so?"
"No! I mean, I could, but that's not happening here! This is real!" The doctor pointed an accusing finger at him. "You're just trying to trick the viewers into thinking that this is editing. You were in on the rodent's little secret the whole time and now you're trying to protect it!"
"Ha! That's a laugh." Shadow rolled his eyes. "I couldn't care less about what the viewers think of this faker. But if they're gonna turn on him, it better be for something real. Not for some editing magic that you come up with."
Sonic watched on as Shadow tried desperately to convince the people of Mobius that what they were seeing wasn't real. He could help but feel flattered. Even after he had tried to kill him, Shadow was still determined to keep Sonic's species safe. He slowly swam up to the glass wall of his tank, his blue eyes trained on his frenemy. His tail waved up and down slowly, almost… seductively. A small smile was on his face as he placed his hands against the glass, watching in flattered amusement and not even noticing the little sparks of golden light flickering in his neck and chest.
Ryn, however, did notice the glowing and hissed sharply behind her muzzle. The glowing of a male Siren's chest was to lure a female into mating. Ryn had been waiting for years for her and Sonic to become of age for the mating season, and now, instead of trying to lure her, her best friend was trying to lure this… surface dweller, who wasn't even of the opposite sex!
She'll show that surface dweller! She'll show him real good that he can't take Sonic from her, once she gets this stupid muzzle off!
"I mean, seriously, who are the people of Mobius gonna believe?" Shadow rolled his eyes. "You, who have tried multiple times to destroy him? Or his friends who have known him for… just about his entire life?"
At this, Dr. Eggman smirked. "Well Shadow, here's the thing. I hear you trying oh so desperately to defend the blue hedgehog, but his other so-called friends still haven't said a word yet." The doctor then turned his attention to the others. "They're just as shocked to see that their so-called friend and hero has been keeping such a secret from them."
"Oh really?" Shadow scoffed and looked at the others. "Guys. Tell me. What do you see on the screen that everyone in Mobius is seeing?"
The group looked to each other, unsure what to say. Finally, Tails spoke up. "Two separate tanks with a merhog in it?"
"Exactly." Shadow nodded. "Now, when you look at said tanks in real life, what do you see?"
Again, the group was silent. They were unsure if they should answer with the truth or not. They had thought that Sonic was their friend, and as their friend, he could trust them with such a secret.
But then, they thought about how he must be feeling about the exposure, and if this was how he thought he'd feel about telling them.
Terrified.
After all, Amy had made it perfectly clear yesterday that Sirens were not welcomed.
Sonic watched them in worry. Were they actually gonna let Eggman get away with this? Were his friends that angry with him for not trusting them?
He let out a little merhog squeak, gaining their attention. They looked down at him, their eyes coming in contact with the sight of their friend's true blue eyes. Big and filled with fear and sadness as he gazed up at them from within the salty water that changed him.
At last, they had their answer as they looked back up at the mad doctor.
"We see nothing." They said boldly.
"What?!" Eggman shrieked. "You can't be serious! He lied to you! He could've killed you at any moment, and you still see him as a friend and want to protect him?!"
"Of course we do!" Amy growled. "Mostly because he didn't lie about anything!"
"You're the liar here, Egghead!" Knuckles snapped. "There's nothing in those tanks! Not even the purple Siren on your screen is real!"
"I don't believe this!"
"Oh, and doctor." Shadow smirked, forming a small Chaos Spear of energy in his hand. "The whole thing of Sonic having the ability to kill us… ANYBODY could do that."
With that said, he sent the Chaos Spear into the robot holding onto him before throwing another Chaos Spear at Eggman's recording equipment, destroying the livestream.
"NO!" Eggman shouted in dismay and started pressing an emergency button. "Calling all robots! Get that hedgehog!"
Shadow turned and threw another Chaos Spear at the robots holding onto his friends, freeing them as robot reinforcement came into the room. The others wasted no time to started fighting the robots as Shadow ran to the tanks to get the Siren's free.
"Back up, Sonic!" He ordered the blue Siren.
Sonic nodded and swam back, covering his face as Shadow threw a Chaos Spear at the glass, shattering it to bits. The water from inside came pouring out like a flood, bringing Sonic with it. Shadow was quick to catch him in his arms and take him over to the side, out of the line of fire as the water on the floor began to short circuit some of the robots that couldn't fly. "Stay here! I'll get Ryn!"
Sonic couldn't talk in this form, so he just nodded and prepared himself to undergo the transformation into a hedgehog. Shadow nodded and quickly ran up to Ryn's tank.
"Back up!" He told her, but the purple Siren didn't understand. She glared at the black and red hedgehog, her blue eyes seemingly staring into his soul. "Back up, Ryn!" But again, she didn't listen. Shadow groaned. He didn't have time for this. "Don't blame me if you get hurt! Chaos Spear!"
The glass of Ryn's tank shattered immediately. Ryn was too close to the glass for Shadow to prepare himself to catch her and she knocked into him harshly. The sheer force of the hit was enough to knock him over, losing his grip on the merhog, but managing to pull the muzzle off of her as she went flowing with the rest of the water. When she stopped, she pressed herself up against the floor and glared angrily at her rescuer. Shadow had also gotten up and he was just approaching her to make sure she was alright and take her over to Sonic.
Ryn saw her chance… and began singing.
