Trinity: (gasps and claws out of the ground) The crap?
Annabel: Whaa!
Jake: Oh, she's still alive?
Shadow: Guess we jumped the gun.
Tails: Well, she didn't move for four monthes. Just sat motionless at the desk...
Trinity: So you buried me? You people suck!
Shadow: Just hope your fans return...
Trinity: (mummble) They better.
I still don't own Sega. Even after seeing God, go figure...
Chapter 14 –Military Might
Tails yawned, and stared at the glowing red cover that was twisted around his body. He forced himself to keep his eyes open and stay awake and fought to untangle himself from the sheet. Tails finally managed to free himself, but he fell over the edge of the bed and the blindingly bright room was laid before him in all its red and hot pink-ness. Tails stuck his tongue out at the walls.
The twin-tailed kit clamored back up on to the mattress. He was only mildly surprised to find Shadow lying on the other side of the bed in a stupor. The black hedgehog was on his back with his hands folded behind his head and ankles crossed. His eyes were open and staring blankly at the ceiling. Tails crawled to him and stuck his face into Shadow's line of sight. The hedgehog blinked, his eyes came into focus and he stared up at the kit.
"Good morning, cupcake," Shadow said. Tails gagged.
"Bite me," he hissed, abandoning Shadow's side. Tails missed the smirk Shadow shot at him and yelped when he felt teeth pinching his shoulder. "I didn't mean it seriously!"
Shadow wrapped his arms around Tails in a tight embrace while Tails tried to fight him off furiously. Shadow only let the kit go when he finally stopped struggling. Tails huffed angrily, tilted his head back and stuck out his tongue at Shadow. The dark hedgehog merely chuckled at him.
"What's put you in such a good mood?" Tails asked sourly. He remembered clearly what happened the last time he gave Shadow sass.
"I can honestly say that I don't know," Shadow said. "I guess its just one of those days."
Outside, the huge bell tower bells gonged and a dull roar was heard in the streets below. Tails clamored off the huge bed and went over to the window. Below in the market place, the usual drone of voices rose in alarm and panic. Men in uniforms rushed about, ushering the crowd of people out of the main street. Within moments, the market place was emptied of the common folk, and replaced by the uniformed guards lining the roads.
"What's going on?" Shadow asked from across the room.
"I don't know, but there are guards lining the streets," Tails said. "Maybe someone important is coming to town?"
As if on cue, horns and trumpets blared, announcing the arrival of the troupe coming through the arched entryway. Soldiers in blue and white uniforms marched down the main street in rows of three, followed by a group of eight carrying a palanquin on their shoulders. Lounging in the palanquin behind red, silk curtains was a red and white fox dressed in what appeared to be war armor. Trailing behind the carriage was a line of prisoners chained together with more soldiers marching on either side of them.
From the hotel window, Tails and Shadow watched the group marched past the tall, silent buildings lining the main road. They already completely filled the marketplace, and yet they continued to flow into the city and into the wide street. They troops surround the palanquin, which was still being supported by the soldiers of the eight soldiers, facing outward and toward the silent buildings. Behind the silk curtains, the fox shifted and sat up on the couch and the curtains were moved aside.
The fox was very impressive looking. He was well groomed and handsome, almost completely an auburn red color with white on his hands and muzzle and running down his neck to his chest. He wore lavish clothing of royal purple silk under his light iron chest plate that lain across his broad chest. Thin lines of silver and platinum created a pattern of dragons on the armor, and matching dragons appeared on his robes in gold thread. From his shoulders hung a black cape lined with pure white fur.
Shadow saw him as yet another greedy pig.
The fox surveyed the city around him with hungry eyes. When his eyes landed on Hotel Exotica, Shadow pulled Tails away from the window immediately. The kit let himself be led away without a word, as if their voices might be carried down to the fox and draw his attention upon them. The fox's ornate and gaudy style sickened Tails as much as it disgusted Shadow. It was apparent that he had come to claim the city for himself in a quest to slake his lust for power.
Now that they were no longer distracted by the spectacle outside the windows, they could hear the commotion outside the door. Footsteps were rushing up and down the hallway just beyond the door. Tails went to check out this curiosity, but there was a soft knock on the door before he reached the handle. The kit shrugged, opened the door and was greeted by the double barrels of a pistol.
"Don't move. Don't say a word. Don't even breath."
Shadow watched frozen in his spot next to the bed as Tails walked backwards into the room with the gun of the white cat pressed into his forehead. Lillian, with her second pistol trained on Shadow, led Tails as far into the room as she dared. She stopped him a little ways from Shadow, then backed into the entryway and put what she considered a safe distance between herself and the boys. With both pistols aimed at the heads of her targets, she took a shaky breath and spoke.
"Who is that fox? What is your connection to him?"
"What?" Tails said, regaining his voice, "We don't know any-"
"LIES! That is the same man that wiped out Flora City last week!"
Tails gasped audibly. Lillian mistook his shock as proof that he knew something.
"That's right, your secrets out! We know you're connected to that barbarian!"
"Shadow the Hedgehog!" boomed a voice outside the window. "I've come to see you! Won't you come down and chat with me?"
Shadow looked at the window in surprise. The fox's voice gave him a bad feeling and a bit of anxiety crept up his spine. He felt like he was somehow being watched by the fox in the palanquin. Tails and Lillian were both shocked as well, and the pistols shook in Lillian's hands. It's time to go, Shadow thought to himself.
In a flash, Shadow was standing before Lillian. The white cat yowled in surprised, her finger squeezing the trigger. Shadow caught her wrist and the bullet was fired harmlessly into the ceiling. Shadow twisted her arm until her hand behind her shoulder then grabbed Tails by the head with his spare hand. The cat yowled in pain and Tails shouted in surprise, but Shadow ignored them both. Concentrating, Shadow's mind reached into the depths of his hidden emerald and he drew on its energy.
"CHAOS CONTROL!"
Tails suddenly realized he had never been warped by the Chaos Control before. The empty bedroom and messy bed disappeared and was replaced by a negated space. To Tails, it was like he was in this negated space for an eternity, and yet he arrived at the secret base of the Desert Pirates instantaneously. Dazed by the conflicts of time and space, Tails' legs threatened to give way underneath him when it had all ended.
"Whoa," he managed to breathe out.
"Mmm, I have to get used to that again. I haven't use Chaos Control in years," Shadow admitted. Tails looked at him in alarm.
"And what would you have done if you messed up?"
"It's not like I every forget how to use it," Shadow said. "I just forget how it feels."
"Excuse me, but do you mind explain what just happened?"
Shadow looked up at the confused and alarmed faces room. He still held Lillian disabled, even though it was obvious that she was ready to hurl. Jet and Sledge were both on their feet, worried for they're comrade's safety. Shadow finally let the white cat go, and she fell to her knees, her pistols lying forgotten on the floor.
"It's one of Shadow's powers," Tails explained. "He can bend time and space to warp."
"And why is Shadow warping into our base?" Jet asked.
"That bastard fox knows him!" Lillian shrieked, suddenly gaining her voice again. She leapt to her feet and pointed an accusing finger at Shadow. "I told you they were in league with that devil!"
"Just because he knows Shadow, does mean Shadow knows him," Jake said calmly.
"Why are you protecting them?" Lillian snapped. "Why do you trust these two, when they are no more than strangers? When you know what happened at-?"
"Lillian!" Lillian stopped her sentence immediately. Jake sighed and spoke in a soft voice. "I don't know why I trust them. I just have this feeling that I can. And I never ignore my feelings."
As if this had settled the debate, the room fell deadly silent and Lillian's shoulders slouched in defeat. With nothing more to say, she turned toward Jet and sat on the floor next to him. Shadow and Tails were once again alone in the center of the room and under close inspection. The piercing silence wasn't broken until Tails spoke again.
"Jake, is it true? About what happened to Flora?" he asked in a meek voice.
"The rumor is," Jake said, his voice still calm and controlled, "he came across the survivors during his march toward Calor. The people greeted him happily, but there was a skirmish. I don't know what the fight was about, but it seems he destroyed what was left of the town just because he could. He ordered his men to kill most of the refugees, and the rest were put in chains."
"What about…" Tails' voice faded away and he looked away.
"Annabel is being held captive by that fox, as are most of the children," Jake said.
As the room sighed in relief, a brown puppy Shadow recognized as the one who had warned him not to give away the base's secret location scrambled into the room. He held open the thick wooden door for someone who was slowly shuffling in. An old weasel wrapped in a ragged cloth, came through the door and Shadow recognized him as well.
The old weasel was the same one who sat in the shady alleyway with a burnt out pipe and a hood over his head. Shadow thought he had been following people that passed with his eyes, but without the hood hiding his face, everyone could see that the weasel's eyes were milky white. He was as bony as can be, and his flesh was like fur covered leather. A few whips of grey hair poked out of his ears, and his eyes brows were covered in longer grey hairs.
He took his sweet time walking into the room. The brown puppy let the heavy door swing shut with a bang once he had shuffled out of the way. Nobody snapped at him to hurry up, and it was obvious he was important to the thieves. When he was far enough in the room, he stopped, raised his white eyes to Shadow, and pointed a long finger at him.
"You," he breathed in a soft, wheezing voice. "He has called for you several times. He has threatened to destroy us all, just to get his hands on you."
"What the hell are you talking about, you senile old man?" Sledge snapped. "Stop being so mysterious."
"Well fine," the weasel snapped back, his voice surprisingly strong all of the sudden. "That bastard of a fox is looking for you, Darky."
"He already knows that," Lillian said. "He was calling for Shadow before he decided to warp us here."
"Well, I bet you didn't know that he happily proclaimed that he'll tear this city to pieces to find him."
"What does he want with you?" Jet asked, eying Shadow carefully.
"He wants my power," Shadow said simply.
"Don't worry," Sledge said, "we'll protect you. We wouldn't let a disgusting pig like him get what he wants."
"Good, he's going to need all the protection he can get," the old weasel said. "That fox has a small army of G.U.N. mechs outside the city walls. He'll blow up the town if you don't come forward in ten minutes!"
Trinity: There, happy?
Jake: MY SISTER!
Trinity: Meh, she'll be fine...
Jake: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY SISTER?
Shadow: She'll be back. Don't worry.
Jake: MY SISTER!
Trinity: Buh-Bye!
