Third Person POV
"Three days?! I'll die of old age before we get there!" Sonic complained. Shadow resisted the sudden, overwhelming urge to hit him in the back of the head.
"Then take your time in the cockpit," he remarked instead. Sonic glared at him, although it lacked the deadly attribute that made Shadow's famous. Martin scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously.
"Sorry, but that's the best we can do. Maybe if you find something to take your mind off it, it'll go by faster," he suggested. Sonic groaned but agreed to find something to do. After about ten minutes of wandering around the Tortuga, he flopped into the nearest hover chair and tapped his fingers on the armrest, already bored. Shadow rolled his eyes and walked over to Aviva's work station.
"What are you working on?" he asked politely. Against popular belief, he had manners at one time. She glanced over at him, Chris's creature power suit was on her table, and she had a screwdriver in hand.
"Chris's suit had malfunctioned a few weeks before you two showed up, turning him half T-devil for a little bit. If I hadn't manually deactivated it in time, he might've completely lost it," she explained, "Besides, the suits always need a bit of tweeking."
He nodded and looked away in deep thought. For a moment, she could've sworn that he was nervous, but it was quickly hidden under his usual gruff exterior.
"Would it be possible for you to make a machine that can track Chaos energy? I can sense it from any distance, but it's hard to pinpoint in such unfamiliar territory. And there may be times when we will be separated."
She smiled. "Of course I can! Just give me a few more minutes and then we can get to work!"
"We?"
"Yes," now it was her turn to act a tad nervous, "I don't know the first thing about Chaos Emeralds and the energy they produce, so I'll need you to share as much as you know."
Shadow scratched his chin in thought for a few seconds before he nodded and began to tell her what he knew that would help their search.
Sonic's POV
I glanced over from where I was now standing to see Shadow talking with Aviva and couldn't help but smile. Old Shads has never been a very outgoing guy, so the fact he was making friends was huge! I think this zone's air is doing something to him. They seemed to be working together to make some kind of device to track Chaos energy, probably to find the emeralds. I quietly slid over to where Shadow's camera sat on the large table/platform thingy in the middle of the room and snapped a picture of them. I am so using this later.
I got bored pretty fast after watching them chit-chat for a few minutes and decided to go see how Jimmy was doing in the cockpit. Maybe he can tell me some things to get my mind off of our super long flight.
"Hey, Sonic!" he greeted cheerfully, "Got bored already?"
I laughed, "Yeah, I guess you could say that."
"Well...do you wanna learn how to fly the Tortuga?" he offered. I could tell there wasn't much else for him to do, since he was flying this big turtle jet, plane,...thing.
"Sure!" I was seriously grateful for the distraction, and I took a seat in the empty co-pilot's chair.
He began to show me the different controls and what everything does. Although the chances of me actually flying this contraption are pretty slim, I didn't mind learning something knew. Besides, you never know when this type of knowledge could come in handy.
After Jimmy taught and quizzed me on everything, he told me about some of the different adventures they had been on, saving animals all over the world and even going back in time once or twice. To me, it didn't sound like anything too dangerous, but I didn't say that out loud. After a couple of stories, he asked me about some of my own adventures. I laughed and began to tell him. I started out by telling how I met friend and brother Tails and the different adventures we went on together. I was careful to not mention anything about Shadow. It was an unsaid agreement between us that we wouldn't talk about that, unless he brought it up. I got the impression that Shads didn't want me mentioning how he was a former villain. Jimmy was surprised as he listened, to say the least.
"And you're only 15?!" he gasped after I told him about the Time Eater incident. I smirked and brushed a finger under my nose.
"Yep. Pretty cool, huh?"
"But where were your parents in all of this?"
Ouch. That was a sore subject. How to get around this one? I had no choice but to reply honestly, "I never met my parents. I've always been on my own for the most part, until I met Tails and the others. They sort of became my family."
If he was a mobian, I'm sure his ears would've drooped. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. I didn't know."
"No problem," I answered in my usual happy attitude. No sense dwelling over the past, right? "It's fine. I like the family I have now, so I'm not alone. Besides, I never knew my parents, so I didn't have anything to make me miss them."
He was about to say something else, but a bright pink jet flew past. Jimmy recognized it, and Koki ran into the cockpit seconds later.
"She's heading for the rain forest! We have to go after her!" she exclaimed. I cocked my head to the side unconsciously. It's a habit when I'm curious.
"Who's she?" I asked Jimmy.
"Donita Donata."
I hid a snicker but failed epically, "The one who kidnapped Martin and forced him to be a model?"
He laughed, "That's the one!"
This is gonna be fun. I went back into what I considered their living room and found Shadow. I told him about Donita, and I could tell he was hiding a laugh when I told him about her and Martin's encounter. Chris openly busted out laughing, as he remembered having to save his big bro. He had been with Shads and Aviva, working on the Chaos tracking device. All three of them seem like good inventors and mechanics, not as good as Tails, but still pretty good. Martin just grimaced uncomfortably. I walked over to him and gave him a thumbs up.
"Don't worry. I won't let her put a dress on ya."
Everbody roared at this, even Martin. Chris draped an arm around his big brother's shoulder, trying to keep himself steady, and he wiped away an imaginary tear.
"That was priceless!"
"Come on," he moaned good-naturedly, as he detached himself from Chris, "Let's get this over with."
The rest of our now way shorter flight was filled with fashion puns and light-hearted teasing. When I noticed Shadow wasn't really participating, I decided to drag him into it.
"I'll bet she can make something real cute for you, Shads."
Without missing a beat, he replied, "I doubt it. She'll be too busy braiding your quills. That I'd pay to see."
I smirked, "Oh, sure, but you're so soft. She'll play with you like a baby doll!"
He frowned, "I am no one's doll, stuffed animal."
That was a new nickname, "Hey! I ain't nobody's toy. I had enough torture in that department on Chris's world!" I groaned in mock despair then smirked, "At least I'm not fluffy."
He glared at me, "I am not fluffy."
I poked him in the chest. It's fun getting him riled up for some reason. "Fluffy."
He practically growled. "Call me that degrading name again, and I'll throw every chili dog ingredient on this thing out the window," he threatened. The scary thing is that I know he would do it. I held my hands up in surrender.
"Fine. Fine. I'll stop," I then turned to the humans, "How much longer?"
I really do need to work on my patience, but being the fastest thing makes everything else in the whole world move super slow. Tails said I might be going so fast that I'm inbetween two plains of existence or something like that. I wasn't really paying a whole lot of attention to be honest.
"Right about now," Chris answered, as the Tortuga finally landed. In a flash of blue and black, Shadow and I were standing in the middle of the tropical rain forest. We had left the humans far behind. Our ears turned in all directions, trying to hear where Donita landed. I heard it first.
"Three o'clock," I said aloud. He nodded, and then we ran/skated in that direction. In a few seconds, we were both standing at the edge of a river. On the other side, I could see a hot pink jet. Outside stood two humans- a tall, muscular blond male with pale skin in a gray shirt and white pants and a shorter skinny female with dark purplish hair and dark skin in what I can only assume is a fashionista styled outfit. Amy would flip over all the pink this woman has!
"Water. Why does it have to be water?"
Shadow smirked, "Scared?"
For once I swallowed my pride and nodded, keeping a safe distance from the edge. The gang had tried to get me to take swimming lessons, but I never "got around to it." I hate water! Shadow rolled his eyes and pulled out his Chaos Emerald.
"Hang on," he ordered. I obeyed, and he Chaos Controlled us to the other side and at a safe hiding distance from Donita and her lackey. Jimmy said his name was Dabio.
"What are we supposed to be doing anyway?" I whispered. We were close to the jet, and I didn't want to risk them hearing us. Shadow didn't answer. I looked over at him and saw his red eyes looked a little out of focus. He was sensing another Chaos Emerald nearby!
Fate must like us, cause at the moment I heard Donita say, "Look at this gem! It's gorgeous! And look at this shade of yellow! Perfect for a summer crown!" Her voice was annoying to say the least. She continued, "Now all I have to do is find the perfect little creature I can pose beam into being the crown setting for this magnificent jewel."
That's just sick. Shadow shook his head a couple of times to clear his mind out of the daze he fell into.
"Did you hear her?" I asked. He nodded.
"Every word."
"I get the Emerald and you sabotage?" I suggested. I can't order Mr. Ultimate Lifeform like he does me sometimes, which is really annoying. He agreed, smirking at the idea. I could tell he was going to enjoy his part.
"Hand over the gem, Donita!" I heard someone else yell. We peeked around to see Chris and Martin standing in front of the other two humans.
"Martino! Come back to accept my job offer? I knew you would make the perfect model for my men's collection."
I fought hard not to bust out laughing, while Shadow rolled his eyes.
"Come on, let's hurry up, slowpoke," he whispered before teleporting into Donita's jumbo jet. I assumed he was making a challenge, so I raced to snatch the emerald right out of her grasp. She screamed as I stood in front of her, tossing it up casually and catching it without looking. For some reason, the action reminded me of how Shadow acted when we first met.
"Now that's just rude," I said. Dabio had to catch Donita, because she almost fainted.
"What on earth is THAT?!" she shrieked, pointing at me. I glared at her.
"I'm a hedgehog. Hedge. Hog," I answered. Can't people ever get it right? Villains must be physically blind.
Donita pressed a button on the remote that somehow appeared in her hand, shouting, "Mannequins! Capture this blue creature! It's perfect."
"I ain't sitting on top of your head!"
On cue, an explosion was heard inside the jet. Shadow walked out, calming dusting off his hands with a wry smirk that reminded me of what I might've done. He looked up at Donita as he passed by her, "Your machines were poorly built and in definite need of an upgrade. And that dress with the cobra belt? It totally clashed."
I felt my eyes widened in surprise. Since when was the 'Ultimate Lifeform' a fashion expert? She gaped at him, then became angry, "How dare you insult my designs! I have boutiques in Paris! Paris!"
Oh yeah, don't worry about how the inside of your jet was just blown to bits! The bad dress is all that matters.
"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" he asked with a bored look as he absently checked his gloved fingertips. She looked ready to throw something or, in our case, someone. Shads suddenly motioned for her to bend down and listen to him. I figured he was going to punch her or something, but instead he whispered into her ear. At first, she looked confused, but then her face twisted into excitement.
"That's marvelous! How can I ever repay you?"
He held up his green emerald, "If you find any other jewels that look like this one, call me immediately. I'm staying with the Kratts for the time being. And if you even think of keeping one for yourself, I will find you, and I will not be as kind as I am now."
Her elation fell, "Oh. I see. Very well, thank you-?"
"The name's Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog."
The two shook hands, while the rest of us just stood there, hopelessly confused, as Donita ordered Dabio to start fixing the jet. Poor guy. Shadow glanced at us and smirked.
"I know more than you give me credit for, faker," was all he said. I begged him the whole way back to the Tortuga to tell me what he said.
"I suggested a more humane and synthetic approach to wildlife fashion," he FINALLY answered after an hour of asking. Then he looked up to Martin with a mischevious look that rivaled mine, "And you should be expecting a call in a few weeks."
Martin face-palmed while the rest of us laughed all the way back. Shadow certainly was the Ultimate Negotiator, and I could tell he was enjoying this place. At least I think he is. Why is he always so hard to read?
Later that Night
"Why did you offer that idea? Brilliant as it is, it's not like you to up and say something like that," I asked as we lay on our separate cots in the control/living room. He turned over to face me, although it was hard to see him in the dark for obvious reasons.
"I promised her that I would protect the universe she loved and to give humans a chance. From the sound of it, I've done everyone a favor. Donita has new way to make her ridiculous fashion and the Wild Kratts don't have to worry about her as a villain anymore, I think. Not to mention, if we have to stay that long, it'd be hilarious to see Martin strut down a runway," he whispered.
I laughed quietly, trying not to wake everyone else up. I leaned back on my makeshift bed with my hands behind my head and replied, "Good for you, Shads. Making a difference..."
"Is something bothering you?" he asked. Now THAT was out of character. But he was right. There was something that's been nibbling at the back of my mind lately.
"How do you think the others are doing without us?" I wondered.
"I'm sure they are fine," he reassured. This was nothing like the Shadow I knew, but I was willing to take advantage of it.
"How do you know?"
He rubbed the Chaos Emerald in his hand, and I could see his eyes' reflection through its glow.
"Eggman doesn't have these," he answered after a moment of silence, "They can handle anything he throws at them, as long as he doesn't have them. That is...if Amy hasn't beaten him into a pulp yet."
I smirked, even though I knew he couldn't see it, "You're right. They'll be okay. Thanks, Shads, you're a big softy, you know that?"
Even though I couldn't see it, I was sure he had rolled his eyes, "In your dreams, faker. This atmosphere must be making you delusional."
"Sure," I chuckled and layed back down on my cot, "Good night, Shads."
"Night, Blue."
Author's Note: As always, please review and tell me what you think so far!