Sonic Wings of Fire Chapter 3!
Shadow and Talon went searching through the camp. However, each person who saw and talked to him didn't recognize little Shadow at all. They didn't see the white fur on the corners of his eyes. Talon sighed to herself and looked back at Shadow.
You abandoned or something? Sheesh!
Shadow gathered the definitions of the words in her head. He nodded. She looked over at him.
"Why'd you nod?" asked Talon.
"Darkstorm abandoned," Shadow replied.
Wait a second…
"I have to check something! Maybe you should come to!" she said urgently. They ran across the clearing and burst into the nursery. The two of them raced through the long room to the end. She stopped when she saw the eggshell upon the floor on the end. She looked at Shadow nervously.
"Do you know what this means?" asked Talon. Shadow looked into her eyes and read her mind.
You are Shadow…
The moonlight was hidden behind the clouds, but just enough was able to reach the Earth. The light fell on Shadow. Talon only then realized that he had the white marks on the edge of his eyes. She gasped. Shadow looked silver in the moonlight and felt more power flood into him.
Hedgehog born on the brightest night…
To earn respect you must fight…
However, young Shadow, you must be warned.
Loyal to your tribe you must be sworn.
Let you conquer all darkness and also wrong.
Don't hesitate to feel a long.
Your power is what you can feel
and the entire tribe will one day kneel.
Control your power to keep evil away.
None will understand, but you will one day.
Never lose hope when darkness closes in,
or someone will commit a terrible sin.
If you fail to keep your hope,
forever alone is the way you'll cope.
These words flashed through Shadow's mind. What did it mean exactly? Talon gazed in wonder at him. Did she hear it too? How much time has gone past? Shadow's head spun. He finally knew who he really was, but not much else. The moonlight was then hidden behind the clouds once again. Shadow looked around then back to Talon.
"Talon? What happened?" asked Shadow.
"You… You are the hedgehog with the three powers… Mind-reading, prophecy, and you are also animus… You've been reading my mind all this time!" Talon said.
Shadow nodded but didn't know why she was so scared of him now. She wasn't earlier. He watched her run out into the clearing outside.
"He's hatched! Shadow's hatched!" Talon screeched. Everyone stopped everything that they were doing and looked over at her.
Shadow followed Talon out into the clearing. The white fur on the edge of his eyes glimmered. Gasps of wonder rang out through the clearing. Sonic's ears twitched and he saw the dark hedgehog. Shadow.
"This is Shadow the Hedgehog. The one whom we've been fearing for so long… What do we do now?!" cried Talon. At those words, everyone began talking all at once. Shadow tried to take in all of the thoughts at once. When he did, he got a massive headache. He grasped his head trying to make it stop. The thoughts were going out of control.
"How much does he know already?!"
"Can he read everyone's mind?!"
"Has he given you a prophecy?!"
"Did he use his power yet?!"
Shadow couldn't take it anymore. He was going insane. He let out a yell that made everyone completely stop their yelling.
"Stop… it…," Shadow whimpered.
Even though everyone was quiet, that still doesn't quiet their thoughts. Shadow fell to his hands and knees trying to withstand it. Sonic came rushing through the audience.
"Shadow!" Sonic yelled to the hedgehog.
"H-Help…,"
"What's going on in your brain?" Sonic asked trying to keep his thoughts under control.
"Too many thoughts… I can't…," Shadow hopped to his feet and fled. Out of the village and through the trees. Sonic went running after him.
"Wait!" Sonic yelled.
Sonic was surprised by his amazing speed. Sonic was the fastest hedgehog, but Shadow was pretty darn fast as well. Sonic could barely keep up.
"How are you running as fast as I can?!" demanded Sonic.
"I don't know. Involuntary reaction I guess," Shadow said.
"Whoa! A half day old Nightwing saying the word involuntary! That's gotta be a first!" Sonic exclaimed.
"Everyone's brain is sort of like a dictionary. I dig through everyone's brains for words that I can use and if I don't know the word, I continue searching their brain so I can find words that I can understand that I can use. Eventually, I'm able to put the words into sentences and the small words I use grow into bigger words in my mind. Although it didn't take me very long to start with my vocabulary because my brain can collect huge amounts of information to work with within seconds. That's why I'm able to speak to you right now," Shadow replied.
Sonic's jaw literally dropped open. Shadow just said all of that?!
Maybe I won't have as many problems as I thought I would!
"Did you think I would be dumb?" asked Shadow looking over at Sonic.
"NO! That's not what my brain meant! I was just wonderstruck by your astounding intelligence!" Sonic replied waiting to see if Shadow understood that.
"Apparently, your intelligence isn't that high," Shadow said with a smirk.
"WHY?!" Sonic demanded angrily.
"Because you don't look where you're going."
Right as Shadow said that, Sonic crashed into a tree. He was running so fast that he knocked it over. Sonic had a massive headache.
"Ow…"
"Told you."
Shadow sprinted on faster and faster. He was still able to dodge the trees and vines with ease. Although…
"Shadow! Wait! You can't exactly run on the ocean! STOP!" Sonic shouted.
Shadow dug his heels into the ground. He stopped right on what looked like a beach. He looked around. Shadow hadn't been there before. He looked at the water. It lapped at the shore. Shadow hadn't seen water before either. He reached his hand out to poke it but soon changed his mind. Sonic caught up with Shadow.
"Wow! That was quite a workout!" Sonic said trotting onto the beach.
"What's that?" Shadow asked pointing at the water.
"That's water. You need water to stay alive you know. I wouldn't recommend drinking that, though. It's really salty," Sonic said.
Shadow walked back up to it and looked really closely at it.
"Can I touch it?"
"Duh! It's not like it's acid!" Sonic replied.
Shadow reached out again and touched it with his finger. He brought his hand back as soon as he did. His finger made a ripple in the water. It rolled away on a journey to the far ends of the seas.
"Cool, isn't it?" asked Sonic.
Shadow nodded and turned around. He sat down on a rock and stared out at the sea. It seemed like it never ended. Sonic stood next to him.
"Why are you in the Nightwing camp?" asked Shadow.
Sonic's eyes clouded as he thought about it. Shadow almost regretted asking. Sonic didn't say anything. He looked back at Shadow.
"I'm an animus Seawing. Your queen asked me here to help out with the most powerful Nightwing in the world. You. It was just after…," Sonic's voice trailed away.
A horrible image flew into Shadow mind. A silver hedgehog with pure rage in his eyes was storming around killing innocent Seawings. He had clearly gone insane. Sonic was standing there looking fearfully at the hedgehog with his sister Amy. Shadow clutched his fists wishing he could've been there to defend the Seawings. The vision was jerked out of his head when Sonic realized that Shadow was seeing it too.
"You mustn't! It was just… too horrible for you to know…," Sonic mumbled to Shadow.
"Well, I'm gonna put the pieces together at some point. Might as well tell me now," Shadow said standing up from his rock.
"FINE! It happened back when I was at the Seawing territory. My grandfather, Silver the Hedgehog, had animus powers and noticed that the queen wanted a Summer Palace. He figured that he could help, so he snuck in that night and made a Summer Palace of a beautiful design his wife Blaze made. The problem was that he had used so much of his animus powers that he went out of control and fell deep into madness. He woke up that morning and killed my entire family! Correction: the entire royal family other than me and Amy! My sister was promoted to queen and that's when I got the letter from the Nightwing queen! I came here and lost everything I knew and loved in a day… That's why I didn't say anything…," Sonic filled in. He let a single tear escape but held the others back.
Shadow understood why he didn't want to talk about it. Shadow turned and walked further down the beach to leave Sonic alone. He began to think about his own problem. How was he going to fix his too many thoughts at one time problem? He picked up a rock and threw it frustratedly out into the ocean. It skipped on the water a couple of times.
"Of all the problem in the world… I had to be the one with the amazing yet horrifying superpowers… It's not fair," Shadow said continuing to walk. However, he heard something in his brain.
Through the darkness of the darkest hour…
Shadow looked around. It wasn't him. It wasn't his head. It wasn't a prophecy. It was more like a tune that was coming from another person's brain and traveling to his. Shadow followed the thought waves that he could detect.
Though the world treats you like a coward…
Shadow sprinted back and figured out that it was Sonic who was singing in his head. Shadow hid behind a tree.
You will always have a friend.
It'll always come back to you again.
As it sings the endless song,
in its words, you will find no wrong.
They will always be going astray,
but they will never roll away.
The waves they'll always try to please.
Give you a love for the salty breeze.
As they go one way and another,
you'll always be together.
Never again will you feel alone.
because the waves will never go…
Shadow then realized that he couldn't just hear Sonic's voice in Sonic's head, but a bunch of others. Shadow concentrated on trying to figure out who they were. The few voices turned to many to a crowd it seemed in his head. Was it Sonic's memory of the Seawing tribe? One of the songs they would sing.
Give me a reason to stay away.
I never feel lonely because they always stay.
The way you roll…
The way you fly…
They way you stroll…
Up in the sky!
All the voices seemed to quiet down as if Sonic were giving himself a solo in the song that he was making up off of the top of his head.
Amy… Amy…
I'm sorry I left,
but I'll never forget.
You've given me hope.
That's how I cope.
Give me a world worth knowing.
Tell me if you see the same waves that are showing.
I miss you…
I miss you…
At least we still have our friends…
Because of that, I'll see you again!
All of the voices returned as if Sonic's solo was over. Shadow continued to listen to it.
Forever running!
Forever soaring!
Forever giving us hope to sing.
The words to a song
that cannot go wrong.
The waves are the reason we live.
Are the reason we are in!
(Another Sonic solo)
Hopefully…
Amy…
I'll see you again…
Help me friends…
(voices returning)
The reason we're in!
The reason we win!
Remember as we live!
(Sonic wraps up his song)
Remember the waves…
(Remember, this is before Sonic hated water. Don't say this doesn't make sense. I'll explain his fear of water later).
Shadow walked back up to Sonic. The blue hedgehog hardly noticed. Shadow sat next to him.
"You miss home."
Sonic finally seemed to figure out that Shadow was next to him. He looked down into the sand. Shadow could read his mind, but it seemed like it was something that wasn't completely bad after all. He could feel someone else's emotion and understand absolutely everything that they told him. Maybe he wasn't going to be the most dangerous. He might just become the greatest, wisest, and most respected Nightwing in the world.
Yes.
"I've never known until now how strong emotions can be. They grab you and tug you right there with them. Especially the sad ones. It's painful. I don't want to spend my entire life trying to avoid people because of their thoughts and emotions flooding into my head all at once. What should I do?" Shadow asked.
"The waves…," Sonic mumbled.
"The what?" asked Shadow.
"Wait a minute… The waves!" Sonic's ears perked up. Sonic closed his eyes for a moment and nodded to himself. Shadow heard the waves lapping at the imaginary shore in his head. They were crashing loudly together.
"What?!" demanded Shadow.
"I think I have your solution. Shadow, close your eyes!" Sonic commanded. Shadow did so. He could still hear Sonic's upbeat thoughts.
I hope this works!
"Okay. I'm going to speak to you with my mind. If you can hear me after the advice I give, nod to me. Understand?
"Okay…," Shadow replied.
Can you hear me?
Shadow nods.
Okay! Good. You hear those waves? Imagine them in your head. Roaring loudly and crashing together!
As Shadow did so, he noticed something. Sonic's feelings and emotions seemed to fade away. Almost as if Sonic were drowning in his mind. Eventually, Shadow couldn't hear him at all. He didn't hear a single thing. It was peaceful. Shadow had never felt so at peace ever in his recently started life.
"SHADOW!" Sonic yelled. Shadow was jerked back into reality. Sonic was beaming as if he had the greatest success in history.
"It worked!" Sonic exclaimed.
"It worked?"
It worked! You wouldn't respond to a single thing I thought! You only responded when I spoke!" Sonic shouted.
"That's… amazing!" Shadow said.
"I know! Should we go back to the camp now?" asked Sonic.
"I think- What in the world?!" Shadow yelled in surprise.
Something had taken over his brain completely. Another vision. Sonic tried to get Shadow to hear him, but he couldn't. The force was too strong.
"Shadow?" asked a blonde girl.
"Yeah?"
"Uh… I just wanted to say hi… It must be really tough being the only Nightwing in camp with so much power… I had heard about you, but I wanted to meet you in person… It's just that I get kind of shy around new people, but I was curious about you…," she replied.
"Well, it's not like I'm any different from any other Nightwing," Shadow replied.
"I know, but… Everybody talks about you like you might destroy the tribe one day…," she told him.
"That's just plain rude. What might your name be?" asked Shadow.
"I'm Maria Robotnik."
The vision seemed to fade. And another voice seemed to claim his head.
Hedgehog born on the brightest night…
To earn respect you must fight…
However, young Shadow, you must be warned.
Loyal to your tribe you must be sworn.
Let you conquer all darkness and also wrong.
Don't hesitate to feel a long.
Your power is what you can feel
and the entire tribe will one day kneel.
Control your power to keep evil away.
None will understand, but you will one day.
Never lose hope when darkness closes in,
or someone will commit a terrible sin.
If you fail to keep your hope,
forever alone is the way you'll cope.
"Again? Why again?"
Shadow seemed to return to the real world and Sonic looked at him with concern within his eyes. Shadow stood up and tried to shake the vision from his head. Sonic supported him.
"What happened?" asked Sonic.
"The prophecy… It strikes again…"
"The what?"
"Nevermind. I'm fine. Let's go."
The two hedgehogs went back to the camp. Sonic didn't think that what Shadow experienced was nothing. Although, he knew that Shadow knew that Sonic knew that he doubted him… But really. What did the prophecy mean?