Shadow's POV
No matter how many times I turned in my hammock, I couldn't find a comfortable enough position to fall asleep. Then again, with all that's been weighing on my mind recently, it's no surprise sleep decided to become more elusive than usual. I mentally checked off everything that has happened ever since I decided to "take a stroll" through the doctor's newest base weeks, or should I say months, ago, depending on which dimension I measure time from:
I had trashed said base in record time, with no thanks to a certain blue pain in the tail.
Sonic and I were chaos controlled into an alternate dimension similar to the Earth I once knew.
The two of us teamed up with a group of scientists, who honestly look like they just stumbled out of college or maybe even high school, in order to find the chaos emeralds.
I somehow got mixed up in this planet's "internal affairs" and I probably have a few months...nngh...my head...scratch that, weeks to find the remaining world hearts. Stupid migraine.
I also found out that Sonic and I are apparently twin brothers born from the Master Emerald. Yeah, can't forget about that little Easter egg. Speaking of which, I wonder what the doctor is up to, now that most of us are trapped in this world? I'm willing to bet it's nothing good, but with the chaos emeralds with us and a few strong fighters still on Mobius, I'm sure everything will be in mostly one piece by the time we get back.
That thought suddenly brought a far more disturbing one to mind. I was bound to this planet. I was slowly becoming its life force. What would happen when it's time to leave? Will I even be able to go back to Mobius? What if I have to stay here in order to keep this world spinning, while everyone else goes home? Gah, don't over think it, Shadow. You're sleep deprived and have been stressed far over your max one too many times these past few days, I thought, Everything will turn out just like it always does...It has to. Besides, you made a promise to get everyone home safe, so everything will have to be okay. I am the Ultimate Lifeform, and I never break a promise.
I felt my eyelids droop as I was finally able to fall asleep...
My first thought when I woke up was that my head hurt. A lot. I can't remember the last time I had such a major headache, but this is definitely going to be ranked as one of my top five. I was vaguely aware of someone shaking me, most likely trying to wake me up, but I turned on my side away from them and grumbled an order to allow me more time to sleep off this migraine.
"Did he seriously say 'just five more minutes'?" someone asked, but I couldn't care less who.
"Hang on, I think I know what might do the trick," another voice stated. Why did he have to be so loud? I only wanted to sleep; is that too much to ask?
"Yo, Shads," the same voice whispered lowly in my ear, "Knuckles is going to ask Rouge on a date tonight, and he needs your help."
I was awake in an instant. My anger had gone from nil to a thousand in .05 seconds, and I was vaguely aware of the fully charged chaos spear in my hand. However, before I could exact my plan to murder the guardian where he stood, unrestrained laughter echoed in my all too sensitive ears. My glare instantly trained on the blue hedgehog hugging his sides from laughing too hard.
"Oh man! Your face was absolutely priceless!" Sonic halfway managed to get out before succumbing to another fit of snickering. I sheathed my spear and growled, crossing my arms as I did so.
"That wasn't funny, Sonic."
"Of course it was, Shads! Besides, it was the only thing I could think of to get you out of bed."
I rolled my eyes, grateful that the others hadn't heard what he said, while also plotting my revenge.. And no matter what Sonic or anyone else says, I do not hold feelings for Rouge. She is my partner and the only one I ever openly considered my best friend, which means she deserves only the best. And so far, none of her suitors have reached my high standard, least of all that red buffoon.
It was at that moment my headache decided to spike again, and it took every ounce of self-control not to wince and rub my forehead. I can't appear weak in front of Sonic and his "goody two-shoes" friends. It was bad enough that I had collapsed in front of them when they first arrived, and I don't want to imagine how they would react should I still appear unwell. Rouge would especially worry, and I don't want to put anymore unecessarry pressure on her. She seems stressed enough as it is.
Jimmy's POV
I stretched my arms above my head and yawned as I walked into the control room. Sonic was laughing about something, while Shadow looked angry enough to strangle him, so nothing new there. The other two animal dudes, Knuckles and Tails, were rolling their eyes. I guess they're as used to those two as we are.
"Hey, guys," I waved, "Who's ready for some breakfast?"
"I am!" the two hedge-bros replied before glancing weirdly at each other. I wonder why they don't wanna tell their friends that they are brothers. What's the point of keeping it a secret? As soon as I stepped into the kitchen, two blurs raced in and got everything set up before I could even grab my chef hat.
"Wow, I guess you guys really are hungry," I laughed.
"What are you planning to cook today?" Shadow asked as he jumped on to the counter with Sonic close behind.
"Yeah, man, what's on the menu?"
"Pancakes," I replied as I got the batter ready. The two hedgehogs watched me cook from their seats on the counter.
"Good morning, boys," a super flirty voice greeted from behind me, and it took me a minute to remember who it belonged to.
"Morning, Rouge!" Sonic replied with a cheeky smirk. Shadow didn't seem as excited.
"Rouge," he greeted. The white bat didn't seem phased. In fact, she sounded happy.
"Hey, handsome," I heard her answer, "Dream about me?"
I stole a sideways glance to find Shadow coughing into his fist awkwardly, while Sonic grinned up at him.
"No," he stated sharply and hopped off the countertop. He rubbed the side of his head and tried to walk out of the room, if Rouge hadn't of extended one of her wings to block him.
"Oh come on now, hun, you're just going to leave me in here without even saying hello?"
"Hello, now let me through," he snapped. I sighed to myself. It was way too early for another argument. Rouge only laughed when he tried to walk past her again, and Sonic looked like he was enjoying the scene. At least, with all of them distracted, I can finish breakfast.
"Rouge, please let me leave," Shadow tried again. That was the first time I had ever heard him try to ask nicely.
"Come on now, darling, why don't you wanna stay?" she teased. Instead of hearing an answer, I turned around to see Shadow teleport behind her and walk away. I guess it was too early for this kind of play to him too. Rouge sighed and rolled her eyes, apparently expecting that kind of reaction.
"Hiya, Blue, Knuckie told me you really set off Mr. Sunshine's temper this morning. What happened?" she asked. This bat sure sounded like she adored gossip.
"Oh, nothing much," Sonic replied lazily, "I just had to wake him up."
She laughed to herself and flew out of the kitchen, leaving just me and Sonic to finish preparing the food.
Rouge's POV
I spotted Shadow standing on the roundabout walkway above the control room and flew up to meet him, although he sent me the coldest glare I've seen yet.
"What's gotten your quills in a knot, handsome?" I asked as I sat beside him.
"Nothing," he shot back with a surprising amount of sharpness, "Now leave me alone, Rouge. I'm not in the mood for anymore of your games."
"Then that nothing must be a pretty big something, if you don't wanna talk to your favorite gal," I replied, and he proceeded to roll his eyes.
"Just don't talk so loud," he caved in at last. I smiled before something registered in my mind that something wasn't right.
"Shadow? Are you feeling all right?"
"I'm fine," he grumbled, "Now what was it that you are so desperate to talk about?"
I wanted to prod him further, and see what was really bothering him, but before I could, an alarm began to blare above us. Shadow and I instantly covered our ears in response, and I saw him grimace, as if the sound hurt him, which I could sympathize with. We needed to get down to the lower levels and away from the speakers.
"What's going on?!" I heard Sonic shout from down below, as the two of us jumped on to the main floor.
"We got a call about an animal emergency," Martin replied, and the sirens were soon cut off.
The large computer came to life as the Aviva chick started to, I assume, find the location for this so-called emergency. I was starting to get the feeling we had teamed up with a traveling vet and animal rescue service.
"The location is in North America, but the situation itself is like nothing I've ever seen!"
"What's the issue?"
"Zac Varmitech."
Sonic glanced over at me with an almost bored expression, "An Egghead wanna-be. Me and Shads took care of him a few weeks back. The guy's a total push-over."
"So what's the problem?"
"Normally, he has a reason for taking animals, but now it looks like he's just grabbing whatever he can and destroying the biome around it."
"Sounds like somebody is having a temper-tantrum," Chris mumbled with a tiny grin.
"Well, then what are we waiting for?" Pinky cheered, "Let's show that loser how we do business!"
"Yeah! We got this, right Sonic?" the fox boy replied, and I could tell everyone was getting hyped up for some action. I had to admit I wanted to see what this Zac guy looked like anyway.
"You got it, lil' bro!"
"Well, then what are we waiting for?" I spoke up.
The red haired kid saluted, "I'm on it! Next stop North America," he answered and hurried into the cockpit.
"Wait for me!" Tails exclaimed, and I heard mention something about seeing how this baby flew. Ah well, I guess I can let the two geek out a bit. In the mean time, I guess I'll just listen in to what's going on. Maybe something will come up about why Shads is in such a bad mood...