A/N: Hey, here's the fourth chapter of my first story ever!
Just to let you know, I've fixed some mistakes in the previous chapters to make a better read.
Rouge: That's good.
Me: I know! Last time, Shadow and Ryan were about to battle. Who will win? Find out this time!
Cream: Since when was this a game show or something?
Me: Since right now! Anyways, Blaze can do the disclaimer…
Blaze: Okay, he does NOT own any Sonic the Hedgehog characters, they all belong to SEGA.
Me: Great!
Sonic: Why is everyone else so good at this? I want another try!
Me: Ok, you can do it again next chapter.
Let's get on with the story!
Hope you like it!
Chapter 4
*Normal POV*
Shadow was wearing a black cape, white and red gloves, pale blue shoes and a black belt with lots of compartments, just like many other IPIA agents' belts.
Ryan was the first to make a move by going to kick Shadow in the face. But Shadow zipped behind Ryan at super speed. "Huh?" Ryan said. He tried again, and got the same result. "Why are you so fast?" Ryan asked. "Heh heh, you clearly don't know me at all!" Shadow replied.
He threw a punch at the speed of sound that collided with Ryan's jaw. Ryan thumped on the ground and whined, "Ugh, bug off!" He put his weight on his hands, lifted his feet in the air and smacked Shadow with his red tail. He might have hit Shadow, but not very hard as Shadow simply backflipped and came back for more.
Ryan stood up and jumped up out of the way of Shadow's attack, he pulled out four shurikens from his belt, and threw them all at Shadow just before landing back on the ground.
Shadow prepared himself, and at the exact moments, whacked the shurikens with his hands, while carefully avoiding their dangerous edges, redirected them into the air, and as they fell back down towards him, he whacked them a second time sending them towards Ryan.
"Are you kidding me?" Ryan said as he barely dodged them. But the last one caught his coat and pinned him to the ground. Luckily, he pressed a random button on his glasses that made the two tiny cylinders appear and shoot out a red ray that disintegrated the shuriken.
"Hmm, he found the disintegrator ray…" Shadow said quietly. "Ha! Ha! Eat this, Shadow!" Ryan shouted evilly.
Too late.
Shadow had already ripped the glasses off of his face and smashed them on the ground.
"Hey! Tails gave me those!" Ryan stated angrily. "Just get him to make you new ones." Shadow replied, gesturing to the sidelines. When Ryan looked over, to his surprise, Tails was standing there watching him, along with everyone else!
"Why is everybody watching us, Shadow?" "Because they're done their battles and they want to watch me kick your butt!" "Wrong answer, Shadow!"
Ryan pounced at Shadow, after he had been slowly walking closer to Shadow during their conversation without him noticing. So Shadow got hit in the gut by three tails.
Ryan stepped over a kneeling Shadow. "Pretty strong, huh?" Ryan said proudly. Shadow just grunted. He was in pain. Yes, the Ultimate Lifeform was actually in pain.
"Want some more, Shadow?" Shadow stood up, seeming recovered. "God, you're annoying, aren't you?" "No. You're just cranky." "Yeah, sure. But enough screwing around!" Shadow raised his hands and Ryan saw something he wished didn't exist.
Two snowflake symbols were on Shadow's palms. "Does this mean that…" Ryan gasped. "With the power invested in the spirit, I summon the sacred element of…ICE!" Shadow chanted.
A chill boomed through the room as Shadow pulled a golden handle out of his belt. Without having to do a thing, Shadow made a long, sharp blade of ice emerge from the handle.
"Uh-oh."
Shadow jumped at Ryan and kicked him in the chest, sending him to the floor. He raised his ice sword above his head, and prepared to strike Ryan. Ryan was helpless, he couldn't do anything.
Shadow sliced across Ryan's left eye and blood gushed out. He covered his face and whined, "Aah! What are you doing, Shadow?"
Shadow's sword disintegrated and he put the handle back in his belt. He then jumped up high. "Shadow, no. I surrender. Please don't do this to me." Ryan pleaded but to no avail. "Chaos Spear!" Shadow shouted as he swung his arm and yellow spears shot towards Ryan.
The impact of the spears sent Ryan flying across the room. "Chaos Control!" Shadow shouted and he disappeared, then reappeared in the direction Ryan was heading.
As he prepared to finish Ryan off, he saw his teary, bloody face heading towards him. And with one final blow, a kick to the face, Ryan's crumpled body smashed to the ground and Shadow exhaled. "Nobody messes with me."
"SHADOW! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Tails screamed. The entire group rushed over to Ryan to help him. "He's unconscious!" Sonia shrieked. "We need to patch him up immediately!" Blaze said. "We need to hurry!" Rouge added.
As half the group picked Ryan up and started to carry him away, the other half was harassing Shadow. "You are so heartless, Shadow!" Tails shouted. "Unbelievable how stupid that was!" Marine remarked. "I don't know what to say…" Tikal said sadly. "Come on, let's get away from this monster." Amy said.
The entire room was now empty, except for Shadow. He frowned, crossed his arms, and finally realized there was something he didn't know. What was his problem?
Back at Ryan's room, Ryan had been lied down on his bed as the others were doing various tasks. Knuckles had gone to see Master Cream, Manic and Amy were wrapping Ryan's twisted ankle in bandages, Sonia was repairing Ryan's clothes and equipment, Tails was preparing his tools to give Ryan stitches, and Tikal, Rouge, Marine and Sonic were sanitizing and repairing Ryan's head and cuts.
Rouge wiped the blood from Ryan's deep cut with a tissue. "I'll take that for you." Blaze said. Rouge handed the tissue over and Blaze took it and walked out of the room.
"I'm ready for the stitching." Tails said worriedly. A few seconds went by until Tikal replied, "We are too."
Amy and Manic had just finished working on Ryan's ankle, so they along with the others backed away from the bed to give Tails his space as he stitched up Ryan's cut.
When Tails finished the stitches about twenty minutes later, Sonia asked him, "How many stitches did you give him?" "Thirteen." Tails replied. "Wow…" Amy whispered. "Uh-oh, it's dinner time." Sonic stated. "But who's going to watch Ryan?" Rouge asked. "I will."
Everyone whisked around to see Shadow standing in the doorway. "I will stay with him." he continued. "Good idea. You haven't come to dinner with the rest of us for about a month now. So this works out." Tails said calmly, restraining himself but almost sounding sarcastic. He switched to anger, "If Ryan wakes up, you make him stay put, and come get US immediately!" "Or else, things will never be the same!" Amy added on. And with that, they all stormed out of the room.
Shadow sat down on the lone chair by the window. He couldn't eat, his mind was full with scattered thoughts, he just needed time to think.
Shadow stared out the window. He wasn't looking at anything in particular, he was only focusing on his thoughts.
When Tails came back from dinner, he was still thinking. When Tails went to bed, he was still thinking. When the time reached midnight, he couldn't sleep, so he was still thinking. By 3 am, he started to worry a little. (He still isn't awake after about 12 hours of being unconscious. I hope he's still…alive.)
Shadow stood up and walked over to Ryan. He lifted his wrist and checked for a pulse. There was one, but just to be sure he placed his ear on Ryan's furred chest and listened for breathing. There was breathing, so Shadow stood up straight and went back to the window.
Just before he started another thought, he heard noises from beside him. He didn't look over, he just listened.
Ryan was waking up. He slowly blinking his eyes repeatedly, and turned his head and saw Shadow's face in the moonlight. He remembered the previous events that put him in his current state, but he still had many unanswered questions.
"Shadow?" Shadow turned to Ryan, "I'm glad you're okay." "Where am I? What time is it? What happened?" "We're in our room, it's 3 am, and everyone patched you up and they're asleep now." Ryan remembered Shadow's sword attack. He brought his hand up to his eye and felt his injury.
"I got stitches?" "Yes." Shadow replied comfortingly. "How many?" "Thirteen." "Hmm…" Ryan trailed off, and Shadow looked back out the window.
After a minute, Ryan stood up, leaning on other objects to help keep his balance. "You know I ought to punch you in the face right now for what you did to me?" Ryan said light-heartedly. "Heh, heh. I acknowledge that." "But I'm not going to." "Why not?" "Because…" Ryan paused. "Because I forgive you." "Really?" "Yeah, you just wanted to win…" Shadow turned around, "There is another reason." "What is it?" Ryan asked softly, making eye contact. Shadow looked away. "Why, Shadow?" Shadow gave no answer.
"Why?" Ryan asked again. "Because I'm mad at you!" "Why are you mad at me?" "Because you…" Ryan knew Shadow was having difficulty letting this out. He put a hand on his shoulder, "It's ok, Shadow…" "Because you remind me of Maria."
Ryan froze. He had never thought that Shadow would say anything like that. He was truly shocked.
"Really?" Ryan asked. Shadow nodded slowly but firmly. "What was Maria to you?" Ryan questioned. "She was my…" "Friend?" "Yes."
"So does this mean that I'm your…" "No, it doesn't." "Oh…" Ryan was kind of disappointed. "But a wise fox once told me that everyone needs friends, Shadow." "Why would Tails say that?" Shadow asked. "I told him that I was better off without friends." "Well, that's true."
That's what it was. Ryan knew there was something different about Shadow from the others, he just didn't know what it was. But now he did. Both he and Shadow had lost someone special in their lives, parents or best friend, and after that they both separated themselves for others, feeling that if they got attached to another being, there would be the same result. Which is why they both didn't want friends.
"Ryan?" Shadow snapped him back to reality. "We are so much alike…" Ryan said slowly. "How?" Shadow asked. Ryan told Shadow everything he had just told himself.
When he was finished, he added on, "But one thing is different." "What's that?" "I had nobody, but you do." That's when Shadow realized he already knew everything Ryan was about to say.
"You have all these friends that care about you, Shadow. They grieve for you, they care for you, and they want you to be happy. But you're just pushing them away. I had none of this, and you need to acknowledge that they want the old Shadow back. We want the old Shadow back."
There was silence as they both absorbed the previous words. "That was a good speech, Ryan." "Thank you." Ryan answered, wanting Shadow to say more. "You're right." Ryan's face lit up. "You're really going to be positive again?" "Definitely." "Thank you, Shadow!"
Shadow could see that Ryan was ecstatic, he needed one more thing. Shadow stood up and gave him a hug. That was the biggest surprise Ryan had gotten in his entire life.
When Shadow stepped away, Ryan asked him, "What was that for?" "At training, Tails told me about your encounter with Sonia when you two met. He could tell that you felt happy inside when she hugged you. I wanted you to feel the same, so that's why I did it." Shadow said with a smile. His first smile in a long time.
"Yeah, I haven't been hugged since my parents died…" "I understand how you feel, Ryan. But I do want to say one more thing." Shadow paused. "Thank you."
"No problem, Shadow. I'm glad to do it! Besides, that's what friends are for, right?" Shadow hesitated, but replied, "Right!" They smiled at each other, both feeling a weight had been lifted from their shoulders. They felt true happiness.
"I think we should get our last 5 hours of sleep now, don't you?" Shadow asked. "Yeah, good idea." Ryan replied. They both walked over to their beds slowly, got in, and faced each other.
"Good night, Shadow!" "Bite me." "WHAT?" "I'm joking. Good night, Ryan!" "Good one!" Ryan said while laughing.
He closed his eyes and fell asleep knowing that right now, he couldn't be happier.
A/N: That's the fourth chapter!
Wasn't that a wonderful ending? I hope you think so.
Sonic: I think he's gone soft…
Everyone: Yeah.
Me: Hey! There was intense battling, that's not soft!
Anyways, the contest for the characters' costumes is still going until October 17th, so send in any suggestions if you want, and extra details are at the end of chapter 3.
So, that's it from me…
Everyone: BYE!
Me: Yep, see ya!
Hope you liked it!
Please R&R!
