Disclaimer: Sonic and co. © Sega
Reise © Blank the Nobody
Chapter Nine
Don't Care
1 Month, 21 Days and 11 Hours before Black Egg Armageddon
Only three days after Eggman's attack and everything was back to normal. But not everyone knew about Rouge's death. So it was up to me to bring the bad news.
No more then three days passed since Eggman's latest attack on Station Square, and everyone was starting to calm down. Everyone in town knew that Eggman wasn't likely to launch another attack on the town so soon, so they were at ease. Construction workers were busy reconstructing the torn up shops and some other people attended funerals for the deceased. At some points in time, the people of Station Square wondered what it would be like without the famous blue hero. They knew that destruction was less likely to come after them, but they did know that without Sonic or any of the Sonic Heroes, they would be open for an attack. It didn't matter anymore however, since the world would need every hero it has to battle the upcoming threat.
Rays of sunlight illuminated the streets below it, as the people walked along the sidewalks. Suddenly, a long blue streak of motions blazed through the streets. A gust of wind blew by as the blue streak passed, making some people look in awe as their blue hero made his way through the city. Knuckles was nowhere to be found after Rouge's death and Tails was already discharged from the hospital. Sonic was worried about Knuckles, but he pushed that thought aside as he hurried to find someone else. That someone would be the Black Blur.
Everyone knew that Rouge did love someone else other then Knuckles. Some say that Rouge would be a perfect match with the ebony hedgehog. Lots of rumors buzzed about after they saw the creation of Team Dark and lots of them still buzz about today. But with Rouge's death, how would Shadow feel? People know Shadow as the unfeeling, detached hedgehog, but did the rumors affect him? Did the black hedgehog have any feelings for Rouge? Only time would tell.
Sonic continued to race through the city, trying to find Shadow. Luckily for him, he knew where the ebony hedgehog would be that day. The cobalt hedgehog ran forward, even though a tall building was a couple miles in front of him. Sonic closed the gap between the building and himself, before running up the skyscrapers windows in order to get to the top. During some beautiful days, Shadow would perch himself atop some building to get a better view. Sonic reached the top of the building to find Shadow there, just like he expected him to be.
Shadow stood atop the building roof, as he stared at the people below with his icy glare. He didn't know that Rouge had died, and Sonic was starting to think that maybe he didn't care. Sonic slowly walked up behind Shadow, even though being sneaky wasn't one of Sonic's strong points.
"What do you want?" asked Shadow in a harsh tone, as he kept his back turned.
The same cold, uncaring attitude you would expect from Shadow. Everyday Sonic spent hanging around Shadow, he wondered how the ebony hedgehog acted when he was with Maria. Did that girl make the dark hedgehog kinder? Sonic would love to ask Shadow, but he knew that he would never get an answer from him.
Sonic chuckled at Shadow's stone cold attitude. "Good to see that the death of someone doesn't affect you." said Sonic in a nonchalant tone.
Shadow looked over his shoulder, the same angry look on his face. "What?" he asked, not understanding Sonic's statement.
The cobalt hedgehog smacked his hand right on top of his mouth, as if sealing it shut. "Sorry, I was a bit too early on that one." he said, before taking his hand away to reveal a somewhat cocky grin.
Shadow turned around and walked over to Sonic, the same ice cold stare piercing deep into Sonic's mind. After so long, the stare didn't scare Sonic anymore, and now it was the subject to some jokes. There was no time for jokes though. Now was a serious time for Sonic and the cobalt hedgehog didn't know what to do. The thought of not telling Shadow popped into his head, but not informing the black hedgehog would be bad and Sonic didn't want to have a guilty conscience.
"Whatever you want to tell me, just spit it out already." said Shadow with an irritated tone.
A saddened look quickly overtook Sonic's face, as the cobalt hero remembered the incident that had happened only a few days before. Sonic was never good at being the bearer of bad news, but seeing that he was the hero of Mobius, bad news came naturally to him.
"You know about Eggman's attack a couple days ago?" asked Sonic.
Shadow didn't look surprised at the question. "Of course I know about it. Why?" he asked in a stern tone.
"Do you know who died during the attack?" asked Sonic, instead of answering the question.
The question caused a confused look to come upon Shadow's face. This was a first for Sonic. Usually Shadow had an 'I don't care' look or an 'I hate you' look, but a confused look was new.
"No, who died?" asked Shadow, his tone finally turning into a curious one.
Sonic took in a deep breath and thought about what he was about to do. This was a tough time for him, but he knew what he had to do, even though telling a friend was hard.
"Rouge." answered Sonic.
I never knew Shadow could be so heartless.
Shadow's face reverted to it's cold uncaring one, as if unaffected by the news.
"So?" asked Shadow, as if nothing was wrong.
His words bothered Sonic on a high level. Now he was sure that Shadow didn't care for anyone. Every person on Mobius thought of Shadow as some dark, mysterious, jerk, and they were right. Sonic thought that the so called Ultimate Lifeform had feelings for other people, even if it was small. No, Shadow is just the loner who acts on his own accord, not caring who he hurts.
Shadow turned his back on Sonic and walked back onto his perch to look onto the city as if nothing had happened. He didn't care about anyone other then himself. At times like these, Sonic would begin to wonder how Shadow would keep the promise he made with Maria. Maybe Shadow had forgotten it already, but that was highly unlikely.
An angry look took over Sonic's face as he furiously stomped over to Shadow. He wouldn't take Shadow's attitude anymore.
"So!? Is that all you have to say!?" asked Sonic furiously. "You're not going to say anything else!? Do you even care!?" yelled Sonic as he grabbed Shadow's shoulder and spun him around.
The black hedgehog snarled at the hero and pushed him backwards. "No, I don't care!" he yelled angrily.
Sonic skidded to a halt from Shadow's push and looked at the other hedgehog with a furious glare. "You don't care!? What the heck is wrong with you!?" yelled Sonic before running toward Shadow at full speed.
With anger fueling his every movements, Sonic rammed into Shadow, sending both of the hedgehog flying off of the building's roof and dropping toward the ground below. Sonic and Shadow exchanged a few rapid punches before letting go of each other so they could land on their feet. Shadow looked at Sonic with and irritated glare and Sonic glared back angrily. Sonic wouldn't believe that Shadow didn't care. After all this time, he had to care about something.
"How can you not care about anything!?" yelled Sonic before charging Shadow again.
Shadow braced himself for the attack. "Because I just don't." he said cruelly before Sonic smashed into him.
Sonic was curled into his Spin Dash position and was slowly starting to push Shadow backwards. The ebony hedgehog was getting irritated with Sonic's attack and curled into Spin Dash position as well. Now both of them were pushing each other. Dust was starting to be picked up into the air as the two continued to move each other. Some of the people around the two began to run away, while some other watched in amazement.
An extra boost of anger caused Sonic to increase his speed. With the sudden increase of speed and power, Shadow was thrown backwards. The ebony hedgehog smashed into a wall without breaking it. Pain struck Shadow's back like a dozen knives, the ebony hedgehog slowly slid off of the wall and on the ground. Shadow landed on his feet, as his back throbbed with pain. He could take the pain no matter what and he was determined to beat Sonic after the sudden outburst. Shadow stood straight up and looked at Sonic. He could see that the cobalt hedgehog was fuelled with anger, just like Knuckles on a rampage.
"What would Maria say?" asked Sonic angrily.
Nerves were agitated at the very use of the name. Shadow tensed up, his irritated look disappearing under a hate filled one. Only a select few knew about Maria, and everyone who knew about her, knew that Shadow loved her. The very use of her name in a negative way would cause Shadow to go on a killing frenzy. Sonic knew that, but he didn't care.
Shadow snarled at Sonic. "Don't you dare bring her into this conversation!" he yelled before teleporting with the use of Chaos Control.
As if on cue, Sonic jumped to the side, right before Shadow smashed down on the spot which he once occupied. The battle would be difficult since their speed levels were both the same, but Sonic would likes a good challenge. Before Sonic could hit the ground, he disappeared in a blur of movement.
Blue and black streaks of motion painted the sky as Sonic and Shadow rammed each other at high speeds. Civilians watched in awe as their hero fought against the anti-hero in an all out brawl of emotion. Every time they hit each other they released a small burst of punches in the small seconds they had before withdrawing again. After another strike, Sonic flipped in the air and landed on his feet while Shadow did the same.
Before the two of them could fly at each other again, a large G.U.N. tank rolled by behind Sonic. Following the tank was a large troop transport vehicle. Sonic looked at the large convoy of military units as it passed by. Somewhere in the distance, gunfire could be heard, followed by a loud horrifying roar. Sonic turned around to get a better look at the ongoing convoy.
"What the heck is going on?" Sonic asked, even though he knew he wouldn't get an answer from Shadow. Instead of waiting to find out, Sonic started to run after the convoy. Only a few steps into his run however, Sonic looked over his shoulder to see Shadow. "Are you coming, or do you not care enough?" he asked.
Shadow grinned at the question. "You're right, I don't care. I'm just curious." He said before running after Sonic.
Both of the hedgehogs chased after the convoy and eventually made it to their designated location. Once there, Sonic's jaw dropped in shock at the sight.
Huge claw marks covered every brick wall, blood spatter was on the ground and soldiers were somewhere in the distance shooting at something. Sonic ran over to the troops to see what they were shooting at. Sonic gazed upon some hunched Mobian as the soldiers shot at it. The Mobian was normal though, it had long claws covered in blood, spikes grew along its spinal column and it had bloodshot eyes. Bullets continued to burrow into the monster and finally it slumped on the ground and died. G.U.N. then left the body to go answer to a distress signal somewhere else. Sonic slowly walked over to the dead Mobian and looked at its body. He looked down at it and he could smell the scent of gunpowder and blood mixing with each other.
Before he could inspect the body, more gunfire sounded followed by a loud angry roar. Sonic turned around to see one soldier be torn apart by another rabid Mobian. Shadow charged the mob of monsters as the soldiers supported him with more gunfire. Whatever was happening, it wasn't good.
"What the hell happened here?" asked Sonic.