Sonic Wings of Fire Darkstalker's Story
Done by ZairaDrayan/ckaira77
Chapter 4
As soon as Shadow returned to the camp, he noticed that everyone was buzzing around trying not to freak out because of their newly arrived hedgehog. Shadow couldn't help but wonder what everyone was so worried about. Was he going to explode?
"The hedgehog of doom is here! He's here! He's here!" cried a Nightwing.
"What's going on?!" demanded Talon.
"What do we do if he kills us all?!" demanded another Nightwing.
"Shadow?! Kill us all?! You've gotta be crazy! Sonic's gonna take care of him!" Sunshine snapped at the Nightwing.
"Yes! That's completely right! There's no need to panic!" Talon agreed.
"You became his friend! Of course, he won't hurt you, but what if he feels threatened by us?!" demanded another.
"I'm standing right here you know!" Shadow yelled to everybody. They all froze in their tracks and stared at Shadow. Everyone in the clearing other than Gold, Runner, Sunshine, Sonic, Shadow, and Talon left. The six of them shook their heads and sighed.
"I trust that you and Shadow have gotten to be better acquainted with each other?" asked Gold.
"Yes. We're buds now right?" asked Sonic nudging Shadow. Shadow nodded.
"We're best friends!" he answered.
"Do you want to get a bite to eat perhaps?" asked Runner.
"I could go for a chili dog," Sonic answered. He looked over a Shadow. "You want somethin'?"
"Nah. You go on ahead," Shadow replied.
Sonic shrugged and left with Talon, Sunshine, Runner, and Gold. Shadow stood alone in the clearing. He could feel the eyes of all the other Nightwings burning into his skin. Shadow opened up his senses and searched around for the nearest thoughts.
Is it really Shadow? He looks so interesting! I'd bet we'd be friends.
Shadow opened his eyes and turned slowly around knowing that the one who was thinking it was shy. Someone was walking up to him. She had long blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes. She wore a dress and looked like a human. The vision flashed into Shadow's head. Shadow flooded his mind with waves in an instant.
"Shadow?" asked the 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."
I already know that!
Shadow couldn't decide what to say next. How was he supposed to make conversation? He was new to this "socializing" business.
"Well, are you busy? Maybe we could hang out or something," Maria suggested.
"That would be nice. I wouldn't mind," Shadow answered.
Shadow opened up his mind again but ignored Maria's positive thoughts. He searched around the camp. He could sense the other Nightwings full of panic and curiosity. Shadow couldn't help but be irritated by this. Were they using Maria as an experiment to see how he would respond? Then again, she must've done this willingly. She wouldn't be thinking so positively if she was an experiment.
"Well, what are we going to talk about? What are we going to do?" asked Maria.
"I like the ocean, but I just came from the ocean. Sorry, I'm pretty new to this stuff. My voice hasn't even deepened yet…," Shadow told her.
"I've noticed that. Well, I'll show you the place I like going to when bored. Also, I am kind of curious about your powers. Would you mind if I asked about them? I can talk about something else if you want…," Maria said.
Shadow looked into her mind.
I hope he doesn't think that I'm trying to get information out of him as a spy for the other Nightwings… I just want to be his friend… He looks like he needs one who's not an adult. Sonic's the only one he knows who's not exactly an adult who he trusts.
"No. I don't mind," Shadow answered.
Does he trust me yet? I wonder sometimes what he thinks about…
"I don't really know much about your powers yet, but I would like to know what you can do. You were born on the brightest night, so you must be powerful!" Maria exclaimed.
"Yes. Prophetic, animus, and I can read minds," Shadow answered.
Maria felt a little awkward when he said that he could mind read. She then felt a little relieved to know that he knew at least that he could trust her.
"Well, I also have special powers. I have the gift of prophecy!" she said.
"Gift? It's not a gift. It's a curse. Look at how people are treating me at the moment," Shadow commented.
He could feel every emotion turn to pure terror as if all the Nightwings in the camp were afraid of what he might do if he got mad. They might've thought that he really would explode! Shadow shoved that thought to the back of his mind. Maria was what was important at the moment.
"Well, you could look at it that way, but I like to think positively about my powers. It could be a curse, but it can also be used to gain the respect of the others. They may get to trust you too someday," Maria told him.
All the emotions from everyone instantly changed to an emotion Shadow couldn't quite put his finger on. Was it guilt? Was it hope? Was it fear? Doubt? Confusion? Shadow continued to ignore it. At this point, Maria and he were walking out of the gates of the camp. As Shadow looked behind him, he saw that some of the other Nightwings were reappearing and staring at him intently. Shadow looked away and kept his gaze either on Maria or on the path ahead of them.
Shadow noticed that they were walking towards a cave. It was dark inside of it. Maria went inside without hesitating. Shadow followed after her.
"This is the cave I go to to be alone or see into the future. I did happen to see you in the future. I saw some crazy things, but I do think that the future is, for the most part, bright. There are a few futures where you are a little too crazy for your own good, but in those futures, I'm not your friend…," Maria said recalling them all, but when she looked into the future now, she didn't see anything of the sort. Just her and Shadow best friends forever.
Shadow knew he had this power, but he hadn't perfected it yet. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on the future. Everything began to melt away it seemed. He latched on to the nearest vision of the future, but there were many it seemed like. He could see them all. All the futures in the universes for him.
"Shadow, why do you try? Why are you trying to gain the respect of the tribe?" asked Talon.
"If I don't, the Nightwings will live all their lives in fear. I don't want that for anyone. If I'm going to live in this camp, it'll be as a trusted Nightwing. I'd never do anything to ruin this camp…," Shadow replied in one of the futures.
Shadow directed his attention to another future. This one, he was sitting alone in the middle of the clearing. Maria looked over, but when their gaze was met, they looked away. Something had happened, but Shadow didn't know what. He also didn't want to know. Sonic approached.
"Why did you do it?" asked Sonic seriously.
"He was evil. He was going to ruin the tribe-"
"Why did you do it?!" Sonic demanded again clearly mad and disappointed. Shadow couldn't meet his eyes.
"It was what had to be done," was all Shadow said.
Sonic sighed and walked away from Shadow.
Shadow jerked himself out of that future. he found himself stumbling into another vision. This time, there was a bright light coming from the sky. It lit up his fur. The light reflected off of his red fur hit the ground making it look like it was on fire. Everyone in the tribe kneeled before him and Sonic placed a crown on his head. He found himself the youngest king in the history of the Nightwings. Did that mean that something else was going to happen to Queen Rouge?! Shadow didn't want to be king! There's never been a king in the history of any tribe.
Shadow ran away from any vision he saw. He ran back to the beginning. Back to the present. That was his only escape. He found himself lying on the ground gasping. Maria was in deep thought.
"Where am I?! What happened?!" demanded Shadow sitting up from the cold ground. Maria didn't move.
Memories flocked back to Shadow. Going into the cave and going deep into his mind to see the future. How long was he out? What had happened?
"Maria?" he asked hoping she would open her eyes and smile at him.
"You are right, you do need to learn. You know how to control mind-reading, you don't know how to use your animus powers, but you need to be trained to use your powers of prophecy. I'll teach you how to control that if you want," Maria told him finally opening her eyes.
"You'd do that?" asked Shadow gazing into her deep blue eyes that were trying to drag him into a trance.
"Yes."
"Well, I'd sure like the help. When will we meet next?" Shadow asked.
"Tomorrow at noon. Will that be okay?" she asked him.
"Yes. I'll see you then. I have to meet up again with Sonic at the moment," Shadow told her. She nodded in understanding.
"Be sure not to be late this time!" Maria teased.
"This time?"
"Yeah. In the futures, I see, you're late. You told me you forgot after a long lecture from Sonic about animus powers," Maria explained.
Shadow concentrated. He saw the vision and opened his eyes as soon as he did. He sighed.
"Well, that'll be fun. What time is it anyway?" asked Shadow looking up at the sun. It had moved across the sky a lot…
"Oh… It's almost evening… You were out in your mind for quite a while…," she answered with a shrug.
"EVENING?! Okay, this really was fun, but Sonic's gonna kill me! I'll see you tomorrow or later back at camp!" Shadow said with a wave he dashed away trying to get one last thought from Maria.
Shame he as to leave, but at least we became friends. I can't wait to see him again!
Shadow smiled to himself slightly, but then continued away. He ran through the main entrance to the camp and saw Sonic sitting in the middle of the clearing tapping his foot impatiently as he waited. Shadow came screeching to a halt in front of him. Sonic sprang to his feet.
"WELL! I thought you weren't going to get back!" Sonic exclaimed trying to hide his obvious annoyance and anger.
"Sorry. It's just that I was trying to make a friend who was at least closer to my age," Shadow replied to Sonic. Sonic didn't exactly hear him.
"I've been waiting here all day and you just disappeared! Do you think that waiting makes me a happy hedgehog Shadow?!" demanded Sonic.
"No. I was out for a good reason," Shadow said trying to tell Sonic through his fit of annoyance.
"You were out for a good reason! You had better have a good reason!" Sonic snapped.
"I made a friend. I thought you approved of socializing," Shadow answered starting to get irritated.
"With who? A parrot?!" asked Sonic.
Shadow hissed at Sonic. The two of them had tension building up between each other until someone finally approached them.
"Hi, Shadow. What are you doing?" asked Maria looking at Sonic curiously.
"Nothing. Sonic was just leaving," Shadow told the other hedgehog. Sonic stared at Maria and Shadow in disbelief for a second. He turned around and walked away. Sonic spied on them from afar.
"Well, I thought that we weren't going to talk again until tomorrow!" Shadow said almost excitedly.
"I said that I was going to help train you tomorrow! Not that I wasn't going to see you until then!" Maria told him.
"Well, I'm glad that we'll get to talk. I'm also glad the Sonic isn't here because he would just drain all the fun out of it," Shadow whispered to her. Maria giggled.
Sonic didn't think it was that funny, but he wasn't really concerned about that at the moment. Shadow and Maria?! That's what happened and why they disappeared… But Sonic was now scared about something else.
"Of all the things that had to happen in the tribe of the Nightwings! He's more than likely falling in love with her! He's only met her today! He can't! If he were to have his heart broken… I wouldn't know how to fix a problem like that… What should I do?! They're already friends… I can't take them away from each other… Instead… I could make sure that they don't break each other's heart! That they stay together! Hang on, am I looking at the situation the wrong way? All this uncertainty is making me dizzy…," Sonic whimpered. It could be just an ordinary friendship, but it might be more. All he could do was sit on the sidelines. It was at moments like these that Sonic wished he had Shadow's mind-reading powers.
"Of course, there's going to be a large celebration! The moons don't do something like that every century!" Maria exclaimed.
"The moons are that important… What if we were to be cut off from it?" asked Shadow.
"Well, we wouldn't have any powers. All of our power comes from the moons! If there are no moons, we'd be the weakest tribe in the entire world. However, we are feared for our many amazing and great powers all across the world!" Maria said her voice slowly getting more and more excited.
"Wow…," was all Shadow could say. He did know that the moons were important, but he didn't know they were that important to the Nightwings.
"That's another reason why I don't believe that my gift is a curse. It's too important to be…"
"Too important to be a curse…," Shadow repeated.
Shadow had learned a lot in just one day from Maria. Much more than Sonic would ever be able to teach him. Sonic was as new to the camp as he was.
"We are needed in this world. We are not pointless. If we believed that, what a horrible world this would be…"
"We have a purpose other than to have other tribes fear us?" asked Shadow.
"We don't just scare them! That would be cruel if that were our purpose. We help our tribe! Don't you think that that is better than scaring other people?" asked Maria.
Shadow looked down at his feet. What was he feeling? Did he want to do it? He'd never really helped anybody before. Earlier that day, he thought that helping other would be unobtainable. Now, what did he think?
"I don't know if I'd be able to do it myself. I'd need you to help me out with it. We work together to be trusted. I've read your mind. You also aren't well respected by the rest of the tribe. The three of us, Sonic, me, and you should all work together to achieve our goal," Shadow told her giving her the most serious and intent look he had all day. Maria almost couldn't reply.
"We all work together to do it?" Sonic asked to himself.
"I can indeed help with that. The odd people in the tribe join up and become best friends. That would be something to get excited for!" she said enthusiastically.
"Great! I'll have you meet him tomorrow!"
"I can't wait!"
"I've gotta get back with Sonic. Now he's really going to kill me. If I don't get my point across to him, well, there goes the camp!" Shadow said forcing a laugh. It was forced because he didn't want to leave her yet. It seemed wrong. He felt better about himself around her. Because they were different from everyone else, they were exactly alike.
"Alright. I guess that we'll talk tomorrow at noon," she said sort of losing the brightness in her eyes as if she were disappointed.
"Until tomorrow my fair maiden!" Shadow said with a wave. He sprinted away trying not to look back.
"Very well sir knight!" Maria called after him.
Sonic was almost sure now that it was more than a normal friendship already. The two of them were made for each other it seemed. Sonic slowly grew worried. What if he failed to keep Shadow under control? What if he fails at everything? What would the tribe do? All of these questions bubbled around in his mind.
"At least the three of us becoming friends does sound nice. I'm not exactly an adult yet. I wouldn't be completely out of place. I at least am making friends fast! Sunshine, Talon, Shadow, Runner, Gold, Queen Rouge (I think), and in the future, Maria. These two days have been crazy!" Sonic said to himself.
"Sonic! Where in the world are you?!" demanded Shadow looking around. He closed his eyes and searched for Sonic's thoughts.
HA! Found you Sonic!
Shadow sprang over to Sonic who still hadn't moved. He smirked when Sonic didn't hear him.
What do I do?! What do I do?!
This.
"HEY SONIC!" yelled Shadow.
Sonic yelled in terror for a second and recovered. He sighed. Then, Sonic shaped up.
"Shadow, I know both you and Maria are friends, but I don't trust her. Why do you trust her already?" asked Sonic.
"So, you know Maria. Well, she's really nice, I can read minds, and I need a friend to be able to win everybody else's respect. You made a bunch of friends in a day, so people are beginning to respect you. What about me?!" Shadow explained.
Sonic finally had some sense knocked into him. He nodded to Shadow and didn't say anything afterward. Shadow took this opportunity.
"We also want you to become part of our friend group. Do you think you can join us?" asked Shadow.
Sonic thought it over for a minute. It was what Shadow wanted. Sonic also couldn't find anything wrong with it. He nodded again and smiled.
"Okay. I'll meet this Maria tomorrow I guess. I think I should hit the hay soon. You should too. Young hedgehogs shouldn't be out and about at night. Then you really might scare someone!" Sonic said making his best attempt at a joke. Shadow only smiled back and nodded.
As Sonic left for bed, a troubling thought crossed his mind. What if Shadow became convinced that his powers weren't dangerous? What if he used them and goes crazy because Maria tells him that those powers are what make us strong? What will happen?
ZairaDrayan: That's another chapter done! Closer to the end I am! Next project will be the Sonic goes to Hawaii story then back to Shadow Hercules! I'm trying to go back and forth between stories. Hope you liked this!