I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.
New Plan
Zeta stirred slowly, eyes fighting to stay closed before finally relenting and sliding open, allowing her to look around slowly, groggily. She didn't immediately react when she realized that she had no memory of passing out, or being moved, or any that would explain why she was naked and cuddled into Shadow's chest. She pushed herself up slightly, staring down at his sleeping face for a moment before reaching down and checking her side. There was a crushed herb paste coating her wound, but when she gingerly brushed it away, she saw that the paste was a dark purple, and that the edges of her wound were slightly darker than they should be, though the wound was done blooding, and was starting to heal. She gently shook Shadow awake, and he looked up at her for a moment seeming to slowly be registering the situation before looking away from her.
"You saved me again?" Zeta guessed.
"Tails found the herbs," Shadow said.
"And why am I naked and laying with you?" Zeta asked.
"You needed to warm up, but it rained and you needed to get out of your wet clothes first," Shadow explained.
"I see," Zeta nodded, glancing at the wet clothes lying off to the side. "I'm not really very excited to put those back on yet." She sighed, slowly forcing them only her body, the wet clothes clinging to her body uncomfortably. "Alright. I'm dressed."
Shadow glanced at her before sitting up and looking around the tree. It was long-since done raining, and they needed to get back to the others.
"I'm going to go out on a limb and assume we didn't get the Chaos Emerald?" Zeta asked.
"That alien, Eclipse, took it," Shadow said, standing. "He's in my original dimension now. We need to head back to the others."
Zeta stood, catching his hand, making him look back at her. "I...thank you for saving me, again. I'll find a way to repay you sometime, somehow."
"You don't need to," Shadow said. "I did it because I wanted to. There's something...unique about you. You spent the majority of the time I've known you trying to kill me and hurting the people I love, but I don't want to see you hurt."
Zeta nodded, smiling, then followed him out from under the tree until they found Tails waiting. Together, the three of them left the forest, running back toward the others, since Shadow's headset was ruined by the rain.
"This is...probably the worst case scenario," Sonic said after Shadow had finished filling everyone in on the situation. "So...what do we do? Without that Chaos Emerald, we can't use our super forms, or our Hyper forms. How do we win now?"
"I might be able to make another fake Chaos Emerald," Tails suggested.
"No," Shadow said. "It'd take too long. Our only chance is to chase him."
"But Shadow..." Sonic hesitated. "This dimension we're going to isn't just any other dimension. If what you say is true..."
"I know," Shadow said. "But what choice do we have? We need that Chaos Emerald to deal with Mephiles, and if you and I fight Eclipse together, we'll beat him. Chaos Control or not."
"And his mysterious master?" Knuckles asked.
"Yes, what about them?" Silver asked.
"Mephiles is the priority," Shadow said. "If the master becomes a problem, Sonic and I will deal with it, and anyone who is able can help if need be."
"We do need to stop Mephiles getting whatever it is he wants," Tails said after a long silence. "But we need to be ready."
"How?" Shadow asked.
"We need one day of rest," Tails said. "For everyone. Tomorrow, everyone with a Chaos Emerald can teleport here with it, and Knuckles can bring the Master Emerald. Then we can use one of the Emeralds to teleport ourselves to Shadow's world. Then we'll do what Shadow said."
"Do we really have a day to rest?" Sonic asked.
"We'll have to," Shadow said. "Tails is right. We need to be rested for this fight. I'm not. Zeta's not. Tails definitely isn't. We need one last rest."
"Alright," Sonic sighed. "One last day. We'll meet up at G.U.N. HQ at eight a.m. tomorrow morning."
Everyone agreed and disconnected, Shadow sighing and setting his headset down. He turned to Rouge and Blaze, who both smiled and took his hands.
"We were worried when you didn't come back right away," Rouge said.
"I've fought tougher enemies," Shadow said. "I'll be fine."
"We know," Blaze said. "But we were still worried."
"Thank you," Shadow smiled. "Come on. If we're resting for a day, I want to do it laying in bed with my two beautiful girlfriends and watching mindless cartoons."
They both laughed and nodded, following him out of the room toward his bedroom. As they reached the door, Shadow paused, seeing Zeta standing beside it.
"What's up?" Shadow asked.
"I...Can I go with you?" Zeta asked. "When you go after the Chaos Emerald? I...I have a really bad feeling about it, so...can I go with you?"
"Sure," Shadow nodded. "I was kind of hoping you would. You're so much better at fighting than me that it's terrifying. I could use the help."
Zeta smiled and nodded. Then, she hugged him before leaving for the room they were letting her use, which usually belonged to Rouge. Rouge and Blaze gave Shadow a suspicious look but he shook his head.
"I have no idea what that was about," Shadow said. "Now come on. Cartoons are calling."
Both girls smiled and nodded and they headed into the room, closing the door behind themselves.
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