Rouge had found all the pictures she wanted, a total of five - yet only one was of Sonic being raped by Mephiles. The other four were of different races, but all were in extreme amounts of pain. Interestingly enough, when Rouge finally explored the shelves she had come across more pictures, but they had different people abusing others. The papers with writing were receipts for these different drawings.
Was Mephiles creating these things and then selling them to the abusers in the pictures for a profit? How was he creating such life-like images anyways? They looked too good to be simple drawings. And there were no signs of any art supplies in the room, excluding three ball-point pens which didn't really count.
Deciding it wasn't worth the trouble right now to find out how the things were made, Rouge tucked the five pictures under her arm and quietly left the room. She going to do a quick check of the top floor anyways, just in case there was something up there she needed to be aware of.
X
Shadow went back to the teapot machine, having to stand on his toes again to look inside. The fog was beginning to clear up, and revealed exactly what he expected - a hedgehog robot.
The steam must have kept the powder coating on the robot, and with the paint job the robot actually looked very realistic - the quills looked sharp and the fur looked ruffled and warm. The gloves looked like real cloth and the shoes seemed as though they could come off, like real shoes.
Of course, Shadow knew without a doubt that it was a robot - mainly because it was a robot of him inside.
A small metal panel opened at the bottom of the machine, releasing a cloud of hot steam onto Shadow's toes. The black hedgehog hopped to the side to get out of the way, and once the steam was gone Shadow looked back into the machine. To his surprise, the robot of himself had vanished.
X
Isis crept closer to the indigo book, a blue ribbon marking a page. It was sitting on a chair in front of the fireplace. She had seen it before, but hadn't looked at it. But since it was separate from Mephiles' other books, it could have some important information she needed to know.
Still in panther form, Isis sniffed the book before carefully using one claw to get underneath the cover and open to the page with the ribbon. Just as she was about to open the book up, the library doors slammed open. Quickly Isis fled to behind one of the shelves, peering out to see who had entered.
X
There was only one room on the top floor, and Rouge easily guessed what it was. She cautiously opened the door, entering Mephiles' personal quarters.
Immediately the bat found herself in a huge room with a king-sized bed. The covers were messed up and the big-screen television was on, but muted. It seemed as though Mephiles had been watching the news to see what the world was planning on doing about him. Immediately Rouge removed one of her gloves and placed her hand on the bed. It was still warm, and with no one else in this area, that meant…
Rouge contacted Shadow immediately, and as soon as he answered she hissed, "Mephiles is walking around somewhere. Watch yourself."
At least Shadow was now on guard; but what about Isis?
X
Shadow pressed his head against the glass window after Rouge contacted him, saying that Mephiles was somewhere walking around now. He couldn't figure out how that robot left the machine. He was standing in front of the only part that looked like a door - so how did it get out?
The black hedgehog walked around the left side on the machine, and saw that the machine was actually attached to the wall of this room. So there could have easily been a door on the other side which the robot had gone through.
Question was, since this was the only visible room on this floor, how do you get to the other side?
And what was on the other side?
X
Isis cursed as she saw Mephiles enter. She crouched to the ground and began slowly backing away when she was stopped short by something. Isis looked up and mentally smacked herself for not being more careful. The blue ribbon of the indigo book had caught on the tip of her sharp claws, effectively attaching the two together. The book had been snagged on a corner of one of the shelves, preventing her from moving.
Because she couldn't take the risk of moving forward to free herself - the light from the fireplace would easily illuminate her - Isis slowly held the ribbon down with one paw and attempted to remove her claw from it. Mephiles was searching the area in front of the fireplace, muttering about something.
The ribbon was thin, and Isis couldn't risk leaving a tear in the silk strip of cloth. She slowly wriggled her way through the fibers, almost free, almost there -
All of a sudden, a loud crash came from a lower floor. The book suddenly lit up, letting out the noise of a police siren.
Isis' ears folded back in an attempt to block out the noise, any stealth she had at this point gone by now.
"You!" Isis looked up to see Mephiles glaring at her, "Give me back that book, Isis!"
"Oh fuck."
X
"Bad news guys!" Rouge and Shadow stopped in their tracks when they heard Isis talk to them, "Some alarm went off, and I've been spotted by Mephiles. Since I fucked up, I'll take care of him. You just work on getting out of here!"
Rouge sighed to herself - Isis definitely needed an extra form of communication. The psychic had contacted Rouge every twenty minutes, just as she said she would, but Rouge came upon Mephiles' quarters two minutes after that, and with no way to warn Isis all she could do was hope for the best.
Which so far, besides the fact Mephiles hadn't captured, tortured and killed them all, wasn't the best.
"Shadow, ready to go?" Rouge said immediately as the hedgehog answered, "You got Isis' message?"
"Yes to both parts. I don't think there's much more I can do now. I do have about a hundred more questions though, and I didn't find anything to help with a bribe," Shadow replied.
"I've got it covered. Just get out of here!" Rouge exited the quarters and flew down to the cave, already heading for the exit.
X
Shadow sighed as he turned off the communicator. He had gone back up to check out the floor above, finding a staircase that had led back down to the ground floor. The only thing at the end was a huge metal door and Shadow could hear someone, or something moving around on the other side. When he placed a hand on the door an incredibly loud smash came from the other side and a buzzer went off. Shadow looked around, but no one came to check things out. Instead, he could hear a loud siren coming from two floors above.
Did he somehow set that off?
X
Isis slipped behind another bookshelf just as a fireball slammed into the wall behind her. The ribbon and book were troopers, staying on Isis' claw regardless of being dragged along the hallways and repeatedly stepped on by black paws.
"Get off, get off!" Isis snarled, shaking her paw around. The ribbon gave way a little, but still stayed fastened on.
"Give that to me!" Mephiles snapped, sending a wave of psychic energy at the black panther.
Isis had the wind knocked out of her for a second, but quickly regained her senses and moved on. "He really wants this book…I wonder what's inside?"
This running around wasn't going all that well, and if Isis didn't distract Mephiles for long enough he might go after Shadow and Rouge - if he knew they were here. "Guess I'll have to fight him," Isis sighed, whirling around and charging up an energy ball.
Her powers changed a little in panther form, considering she no longer had hands to concentrate with. When Mephiles came around the corner after her, the black and purple energy ball in her mouth was charged up. She shot it at Mephiles, and kept firing more as he made his ways towards her. "Give me that book!" each word dripped with venom from Mephiles' mouth, his eyes flashing with anger and turning a dark red, "Hand it over and I'll make your death quick and painless!"
Isis bared her teeth at Mephiles, showing him that she wasn't going to go down so easily. A blue phantom sword with a seven-foot blade was summoned from the air, and Mephiles pointed the tip of the blade at the psychic. "The anger that surrounds both of us makes good weapons, doesn't it?" Mephiles growled, swinging the blade down. Isis jumped out of the way at the last second, sending another energy ball at Mephiles. He chopped it in half with the sword.
Mephiles kept swinging at Isis, his skill with the phantom sword surprising Isis a little. The blade easily cut through the thick wooden shelves, sending heavy books tumbling onto the two fighters. Both simply put up shields to protect themselves and kept moving. Isis eventually backed up into the open area where the chair, side table and fireplace were. This was good - in human form she was excellent at fighting in any scenario, but as a panther she wasn't built for close-quarters combat. Open areas like this, even if only twenty feet in diameter, suited her perfectly.
With the next swing, instead of dodging Isis slashed down with her right paw, the one free from any extra weight caused by books, surrounding the limb in psychic energy to protect herself from the sharp edges of the sword. The blade was parried to the ground, and Isis leaped at Mephiles, heading for his throat.
For the brief instant Mephiles was surprised Isis got in close, but he was able to hold her back at the last second, deadly canines inches from his throat. "Nice try, Isis," Mephiles snarled, throwing her to the side, "But I'm a lot better than that."
The two lunged at each other again, Isis always surrounding her tail or paw with psychic energy to deflect the sword and then lunging in for an attack. It took a few tries, but finally Isis got in and slashed down Mephiles' chest - and her paw was sent skimming across a rainbow-colored surface, invisible to her before.
"He has permanent shields up. Bullshit," Isis thought, jumping back. She'd either have to do enough damage to destroy them first, or perform a specific attack designed to take out shields - neither would be that easy. At least now she could tell the others about this, which meant less surprises in the future.
The psychic slowly circled Mephiles, growling and dragging the stupid book behind her. The two simply stared at one another, waiting for the other to make a move. Isis wasn't attacking due to Mephiles' shields and how it would be difficult for her to take them out on her own; Mephiles was waiting because he wasn't completely sure of what abilities Isis had and would rather be ready to counter or dodge instead.
After circling Mephiles three times and getting nowhere, Isis decided to try and spite Mephiles into attacking her. She stopped and bared her teeth again, growling to show her anger. The psychic made a show of pulling the book closer to her and placing a paw on top, staring Mephiles down with narrow eyes.
Mephiles chuckled, swinging the blade lazily back and forth in front of him, "That book is useless to you unless you know the password. It will appear completely blank unless you say some special words. Don't bother looking around here - I have never written it down, nor ever plan on doing so."
So, Isis could take the book just to spite Mephiles - after all, he seemed almost desperate to get it back - but if she did, that could really piss him off and make things a lot worse. Perhaps she should see if he was telling the truth or not - her lie detector seemed to be flaring yes-no-yes-no and she couldn't get an accurate reading. She held the book up slowly, letting it fall open just to her left and quickly glanced at the book. The pages were empty, just as Mephiles said. She did need a password after all.
In that millisecond that Isis took to look at the pages, Mephiles cast a spell he had been charging up since the beginning of the fight. A black sludge sprang up from the floor, binding Isis' paws to the ground and flicking the book off of her claw. Isis snapped at the strange black gunk, but it always moved out of her way and then went right back to its original position, leaving her trapped. With the book off her paw, the sludge traveled up her arm and forced her final paw onto the ground. Isis strained against the strange substance, but she couldn't budge. It had traveled up her body, all the way to her throat and then froze solid, leaving only part of her back, her neck and head free from the gunk.
Mephiles laughed at Isis as he walked over, snatching up the book that had been knocked four feet away, "Weren't expecting that, were you? I've been trying out some new spells, including the one that messed up your lie detection. Do you like the one I just cast? I made it myself, using shadow bugs from Subspace."
Isis would have cursed at Mephiles if she could talk human in cat form, but unable to she instead let out a roar and shot another energy ball at Mephiles. Once again the blade cut the attack in half.
"It's useless Isis; I've won now. There's no escape for you." Mephiles moved the blade six feet above Isis' neck, horizontal over her body, "This shall be short, for I don't wish to waste my time with fancy executions. Farewell, Isis." Mephiles couldn't help but laugh at the slight bit of panic in Isis' eyes.
Although he probably would have been frightened if he knew why Isis was scared…she wasn't scared of death. She was worried because she knew that would not happen.
X
The blade would have come down, cleanly slicing through the muscled neck just like those shelves - if a certain black hedgehog hadn't decided to show Isis his power once again.
A black spinning blur came at Mephiles, knocking the illusionist hedgehog over and causing the blade to disappear in a small blue mist. Shadow came out of his Spin Dash, offering a small smile to Isis, "Not so tough now, are we?"
"I never thought I'd be so happy to see someone mock me. My hero." Isis spoke to Shadow through his mind, "If you distract Mephiles, I think I can free myself. Then I'll use a smokescreen and we can both scram."
"Whatever you say," Shadow replied out loud, obviously enjoying the fact that Isis was the one in a compromising position when she had doubted his abilities before. He moved away from Isis while the psychic began gnawing at her prison. Mephiles stood up again after getting his breath back, shooting daggers with his eyes at his new opponent. Thinking that Isis was completely unable to escape, he ignored the trapped panther and instead focused on the Ultimate Life Form.
Shadow dodged a fire ball and launched a Chaos Spear at Mephiles. He was quite surprised when a thin rainbow film lit up on Mephiles' body and his attack was absorbed into it.
"Did I mention he had a shield?" Isis asked Shadow.
"No," Shadow growled, jumping to the side to avoid a psychic beam.
"Well, he does."
"Thanks for the info. Real helpful."
"That's why I said distract, not attack. Draw his attention away from me. I think I'm almost there…"
Shadow skated backwards, carefully slipping around a corner. Mephiles followed for a moment, and once Shadow stopped to rush forward the darker hedgehog slammed his hands into the ground, causing black, shadowy tentacles to rise from the floor.
The black hedgehog ducked around a shelf, and one of the tentacles slammed down on the spot where he had been standing. Flecks of carpet and wood came away with the appendage; anything underneath at that time would have been crushed.
Isis was slowly chewing away at the shadow bugs, spitting out the chunks to the side. Now frozen, they no longer moved and stayed in small pieces when Isis threw them away. She had managed to get her front two paws free, and while using one to stand on she scratched with the other against her back legs, scraping off more of her prison.
Shadow squirmed away from the tentacles once again, and Mephiles doubled his efforts to capture the black hedgehog. He didn't want to hurt this one - not yet, anyways - as Shadow's value in a prisoner was worth far more than his value as a corpse. Three more tentacles came out from the floor, draining more of Mephiles' power, but the illusionist didn't care - he was going to get that hedgehog, one way or another!
With eleven different limbs out to get him, Shadow was forced to run away to get into a better position. He put on a burst of speed, going from the double digits to the triple in less than a second. Shadow looked little more to Mephiles than a blur, so instead of focusing on Shadow himself Mephiles let the tentacles come up at random, perhaps chancing to snatch Shadow at the same time.
At first, Shadow was fine - he saw what was coming and moved out of the way. However one tentacle was in the shadow of a bookshelf, and when it came up Shadow didn't have enough time. The black hedgehog tripped at the last second, able to keep upright but unable to stop himself from smashing into a stone statue against one of the walls.
Shadow's vision changed from black to bursts of bright color as his head connected with part of the statue; the stony head of a dragon. The sharp spikes on the statue dug into his skin, and a few memories flashed in front of his eyes.
Black Doom…G.U.N.… Gerald…comet…Sonic…amnesia… running…gunshot…Maria!
"Shadow!" Isis came to the black hedgehog, who was already attempting to stand up, "You ok?" She had freed herself just as Shadow went tumbling.
"Just swell," Shadow replied, an edge now present where there hadn't been any before.
Isis barely acknowledged the tone as the tentacles caught up with them. She faced the tentacles, took a deep breath, and blew. Heavy black smog came from her mouth, quickly darkening the whole room and making it difficult for the other two to breathe. Both hedgehogs started coughing loudly, although Mephiles' seemed more like a wheezing old man compared to Shadow's deep-throated spasms.
"This way!" Isis told Shadow, bumping into his legs. With the smoke stinging his eyes and forcing him to cry, Shadow held onto Isis' tail while she walked towards the exit; wiping his wet eyes and coughing so hard he felt like he was going to spit up an organ or two before they got out of here.
"Watch yourself. This place is pretty damaged now." The smoke was too thick for Shadow to see through, so he relied heavily on Isis to be his guide as they made their way across the room.
Mephiles was unwilling to give up, sending out one more tentacle in the efforts to grab one of the intruders. It managed to wrap around Shadow's leg just as he walked over a pile of books, tripping him again and causing him to yank Isis' tail.
"No time for this! Let's move it!" Isis snapped at Shadow, a little harsh because she could see and he couldn't. Shadow used his free foot to smash down on the tentacle, sending a small wave of pain to Mephiles and making the tentacle let go. He pulled himself to his feet, and Isis' tail rubbed his side. He grabbed the appendage again and they exited the room.
"The smoke has stopped all of Mephiles' commands, so nothing will come after us. But it won't last much longer," Isis said to Shadow while they ran to the tunnel. Shadow only nodded, still a little dizzy from his tumble. "Hey! You're bleeding! When did you hit your head?"
"Two minutes ago," Shadow snapped, a familiar tone in his voice that had disappeared a year ago now starting to come back, "And it was because someone's brilliant getaway plan affected me as well as our opponent!"
"Alright, alright, sheesh. When did you become so grouchy?"
"This is just who I am," Shadow growled back, seeing the exit in sight, "You should know that by now."
"What the fuck?" Isis thought, this time just to herself as she scrambled into the tunnel after Shadow, "What's he talking about?" Isis then remembered what Tails and the others had said; about a year ago Shadow had kept to himself and didn't like people all that much, and then he changed because he forgot -
"Hey Shadow," Isis said while they crawled along, "Who's your father? Tails mentioned him at some point but I don't really remember much about him."
Shadow snorted at the question, "What does that have to do with now?"
"I just read something in one of Mephiles' books about taking family members as a possible idea. Just wondering about yours, is all."
The hedgehog was quiet for a moment, seeming to be deciding whether or not to answer. "That depends," Shadow finally said, "Do you mean my biological father or my creator, who treated me like his son?"
Good thing tones of voices were easier to keep out of psychic waves, otherwise Shadow would get suspicious. "You have two?"
"Yes. I am related to a dead alien named Black Doom, but Professor Gerald created me and I consider him to be my father. That answers your question?"
"Yep. Thanks." Shadow didn't say anything else and continued crawling, while Isis knew now that there was no need to wonder if that bump on the head did something to her hedgehog companion.
XXXXXXXXX
Rouge was starting to get a tiny bit worried. Shadow had gone back to check on Isis, but now he had been gone nearly two hours. The sun was beginning to rise by the time the black hedgehog and black cat stopped in front of the same tree outside Eggman's base they had chosen as a rendezvous point, where Rouge was currently resting.
"So there you two are! Took you guys a long time just to get out of there," Rouge said while landing in front of the two.
Shadow scowled at Isis as she morphed back into her human form, "It's her fault."
"I know it is. I'm not gonna deny that. But I did find something interesting out." Isis quickly explained about the strange book and how badly Mephiles wanted to keep it.
"But you don't have the password," Shadow said once Isis was finished, "So that's not helpful."
"Doesn't mean I can't go back and find out."
"You're not going back! Twice you've been there and twice you've been caught! You're not as good as you say you are," Shadow snapped.
"I also happened to have been in the room where Mephiles keeps his most important data and would often visit - besides, I didn't activate the siren. Someone else did," Isis countered; her voice only held a hint of annoyance.
"I had to come to your rescue."
"I could have gotten out myself."
Shadow chuckled at that, "Sure, with a huge sword just a few feet about your head. It took you more than two seconds to chew your way out of your prison."
Rouge stepped in between before they could continue, "Guys, please - no more fighting. We have more important things to think about."
"Fine," Shadow said, turning on his heel and walking away. He was tired of this stupid argument, and with his aching head he wasn't up for a physical fight right now.
Rouge looked at Shadow's retreating back, then at Isis, and then back at Shadow. "Hold on," Rouge said to Isis while still looking at the black hedgehog, "When did Shadow hit his head?"
"When we were escaping," Isis replied, arms crossed.
"Did Shadow tell you what he found?"
"Nope."
Rouge looked at Isis now and said, "Did you have something to do with this?"
"He tripped and slammed into a statue. Wasn't my fault." Isis drummed her fingers on her arm, finally looking at the bat, "I think he's remembered now."
"Remembered what?" Rouge asked.
"The horrors that have occurred in his life. It's too bad, really. His heart from Maria was uncovered for a year, but now buried again. That's a shame. He would be a much better fighter if he learned to let go of all that pain."
"What? You're saying he was nice because he forgot some things?"
Isis nodded and said, "From what I understand, he forgot Maria dying, Black Doom, possibly getting created as a weapon on mass destruction…stuff like that, you know."
"How exactly do you know about all of that?"
Isis shrugged, "Reading random memories in his mind, that's all. My guess is that bump jarred the sleeping part of his mind awake again." Before Rouge could respond, Isis gestured at the base, "Shall we?"
"I don't know…" Rouge looked at the drawings in her hands, "Think these will be enough to bribe Eggman?"
Isis' eyes went wide at the sight, and she snatched the one of a young cat being whipped by a giant mouse away from Rouge. Her eyes scanned the picture, and she mumbled, "I wonder…"
"You're confusing me, Isis."
"Sorry Rouge. It's just that…could I keep one of these pictures?"
Rouge shrugged and handed all five over, "Knock yourself out. Without the money I don't think Eggman will be interested enough anyways."
"Thanks," Isis replied, gathering the drawings in her arms, "These could be very helpful to us."
"How so?"
Isis shook her head, "No point in talking about it until I've confirmed it. You wanna catch up to Captain Mood Swing and ask him about what he found?"
"Sure - he'll probably tell me before anyone else." Rouge gave Isis one last look before flying after Shadow.
Isis finally released her breath once Rouge was out of sight, not even realizing she had been holding it. Shadow had completely forgotten to make her tell about her true reason for being here, which was good. The less everyone knew the better.
XXXXXXXXX
Sonic and Knuckles had spent the morning signing autographs at a small toy store which had gotten a shipment of new action figures and stuffed copies of the pair, along with their other friends. It brought tons of new customers to the small business, making the owner extremely excited.
"I can't thank you two enough for coming," he said while handing each hero a thousand dollars, "I made a lot of desperately needed money today thanks to you!"
"No problem," Knuckles said, accepting a stuffy of himself from the man.
"Glad we could help," Sonic added, tossing his stuffy up in the air.
As soon as the two left the store however, Knuckles let out a sigh of relief. "My wrist is killing me. I don't think I've written so much in one sitting in my life," Knuckles said, shaking his hand back and forth.
Sonic laughed, "Me neither. But that wasn't too bad, and we've still got the afternoon to recover."
"Good. I don't think I could take much more before my hand falls off."
Sonic laughed again and tossed his plushie up in the air, the stuffed Sonic turning head-over-heels before being caught. The blue hedgehog repeated his actions, and Knuckles warned, "Keep throwing that thing up and you're bound to lose it."
"Oh please," Sonic said, throwing the stuffed hedgehog a good eight feet above his head, "There's only dust here. It'll be ok if I drop it."
Knuckles just rolled his eyes and kept his stuffed echidna tucked under his arm. With few people on the streets in this part of town, nobody would be hit by the falling Sonic anyways. Not that it would have hurt.
Sonic's throws starting getting a bit more erratic, the blue stuffed hedgehog being thrown left and right. If this had been a busy street, the poor abused stuffy would have been run over three times now. As was, Sonic simply collected his toy from the street before continuing his actions. Eventually one of Sonic's throws sent the stuffed animal flying forwards towards the corner, just as Shadow walked around with Rouge right beside him.
Shadow was startled and jumped back, wondering what the hell had hit him in the face. He was surprised when he looked down to see a stuffed Sonic the Hedgehog, and even more surprised to see the real one running down the street.
"Shadow! Rouge!" Sonic called out, coming to a stop in front of the other hedgehog and bat; Knuckles not far behind.
"How did it go?" Knuckles asked.
"Good enough," Rouge replied, yawning, "We've got something that should make Eggman willing to change sides…"
"What?" Sonic asked.
"Isis has it right now. She's at Tails' place. She'll show you." Rouge stretched and blinked sleepily, "We're both exhausted, so Shadow and I are going to head home for some sleep. We'll catch up with both of you later."
"Alright. Well, Shadow?" Sonic asked his rival and friend, smiling and obviously expecting something.
Shadow looked at Sonic with tired red eyes and sighed, "I'll race you later. I just want to get some sleep right now." The other three present looked at one another, and Shadow realized he hadn't given the answer the others were looking for. "What? What did I say?"
Sonic put a hand on the black hedgehog's shoulder, "Don't worry about it, Shads. Just get some rest and we'll play later, ok?"
The black hedgehog grunted at that, handed the blue stuffed hedgehog back to Sonic and continued walking for home. Rouge shrugged at the other two before following Shadow. They had come this way so they could get home through a quiet route; right now any loud noises would seem ten times stronger in their tired states.
"That was strange. Why didn't Shadow say…?" Knuckles trailed off, looking at the agents' retreating backs, "Ah, they must be tired."
"Yeah. Must be," Sonic whispered; his happy bright eyes suddenly becoming duller and little frightened.
Knuckles placed a hand on Sonic's shoulder, "Cheer up. He still likes you. He's just too tired to think clearly and say -"
"Don't!" Sonic cried out, cutting Knuckles off, "I don't want to think about it."
"Alright, chill. Let's get back to Tails' place and see what Isis has."
XXXXXXXXX
Shadow lay down in his bed, going to sleep out of habit more than need. He was designed to require little rest, but he had gotten so used to sleeping he got tired now like any other being. The black hedgehog slowly closed his eyes, wondering why his stomach was doing little flips when he thought of Sonic, and what he wanted to say to his rival.
"I must be overtired…" Shadow thought, sleep slowly overtaking him, "That must be it…"
It was easy enough to pass the feelings off when he was awake, but when Shadow awoke a few minutes later from his dream, the blush creeping onto his cheeks wasn't as easy to deny.
XXXXXXXXX
Sonic slowly followed Knuckles back to Tails' place, no longer tossing his now dusty stuffed hedgehog around. He was too sad to do that.
Since he and Shadow and met, they had constantly been at each others' throats, trying to prove who was better. As time passed their rivalry cooled down, becoming friendly, and then after years they had become actual friends. Sure, the rivalry was still heavily present, but every so often they had searched the other out not for competition, but for companionship. Sonic didn't get the same adrenaline rush when he ran with Shadow instead of against the Ultimate Life Form, but the fun was still present. It was nice just to relax and share the same love of running at high speeds with the only other possible creature on the whole planet that could ever understand.
They had grown close after all this time, closer than Sonic ever thought would happen…but Shadow hadn't said what Sonic wanted him to. How could he not? It just wasn't -
"No, Knuckles must be right. Shadow's just tired. But…what if he knows of me whoring myself off? Will he never want to be near me again; automatically declare himself superior because he doesn't sell himself?
"Will anyone want to be near me if they find out?"
"Sonic, would you hurry up?" Knuckles called over his shoulder, seeing the blue hedgehog trailing behind.
"I'm coming!" Sonic replied, dashing past Knuckles to the door of Tails' workshop and nearly into Silver, "Whoa, sorry about that!"
"It's ok," Silver replied, taking a step back to allow Sonic and Knuckles to enter, "I was just leaving to catch up with Blaze."
"Why?"
"She says she found something interesting and asked me to look with her. I'll tell you guys what we find out," Silver replied, running outside.
"Let's go find Tails and ask him how his project is going," Sonic said to Knuckles after Silver left.
X
"Hey guys," Tails said, leaning back in his chair, "How was today?"
"Fine," Sonic replied, leaning against the table that Tails was sitting in front of; a number of sheets and books were piled on top. "So, what's up?"
"I've hit a bit of a bump in this," Tails sighed, letting the front two chair legs touch the ground again and leaning on the table now, "I don't have the supplies necessary to control all of the Emeralds' energy."
"Well, I can go pick it up for you, no problem. What do you need?"
Tails chuckled, "That's the problem. This isn't something I'll be able to get so easily."
"How come?"
"Well…to put it simply I know of a way to disguise the energy, but…a main ingredient I require is mainly used in atom bombs."
"Oh…" Sonic sighed, "So you're not going to be able to get it, are you?"
"What is it that you want?" Knuckles asked.
"Tritium. It's very rare and less than 200 kilograms currently exists on the whole planet. The reason why I want it is because it's an incredibly good booster and can withstand a lot of energy, plus the isotopes it works with are easy enough to make. But since it's so expensive and then with the atom bomb thing…I don't know."
"How much does it cost?"
"About 30,000 dollars…a gram."
"Ouch," Knuckles said, "And how much would you need?"
"I would think less than that, but it's still horribly expensive."
"Could you make a cheaper substitute?"
Tails shrugged, "Maybe. If I keep trying I'm sure I'll come up with something…" Tails scratched behind his ear, "And my headaches aren't helping matters…"
"Headaches? Are you sick, Tails?" Sonic asked, his eyes getting a little worried.
Isis called from somewhere else in the room, "Doubt it - I would think it's more from his new powers building up in his brain. He should use them more."
"On it," Tails replied. He used his new psychic abilities to send a water glass across the room, fill it up and bring it back to his desk.
"Whatever works," Isis said, quiet once more.
"Any way we could get you some of that stuff?" Knuckles asked.
The fox shrugged, "Dunno. I suppose any place housing nuclear weapons would have some, considering it has a short shelf-life, but they won't give any up. No," Tails said, looking back at his plans and the three Emeralds sitting beside him, "I'll think of another way. Don't worry about it."
"If you say so," Knuckles replied, and then lightly pushed Sonic, "Come on. Don't you want to see what Isis has?"
"I guess so," Sonic said, following Knuckles to a different corner of the workshop. After carefully stepping over a number of cables and machine parts they were at the table where Isis was working on a few pieces of paper.
"This place is infested with machines. Won't be too long now before they take over the whole house," Isis said, holding a magnifying glass over one of the pictures and studying it carefully. She stopped at a part in the background, picked up a pencil with her psychic abilities and drew an odd symbol on a notepad.
"What are those?" Sonic asked, pointing at the twenty or so scribbles on the notepad.
"Spell markings. This picture was created with a spell. I'm going to try and translate it," Isis replied, carefully looking through the drawing some more, "They're hidden very well. It's like playing a sadistic game of 'Where's Waldo?'."
"Let me see," Sonic said, snatching one of the pictures in the pile. Immediately his eyes doubled in size. The poor human being tortured, blood dripping from various wounds, the eyes of another pleading in the background…
"What the fuck are these?" Sonic snapped, tossing the picture back down.
"From what I understand so far," Isis said, picking up the notepad and reading, "They seem to be created for causing fear and warping dreams. And those aren't my words - that's what the spell says. I think…" Isis said, sitting back and staring at the drawing she was currently working on, "I think Mephiles is going to attempt to try and get at us through our dreams."
"Too late for that warning for me," Sonic chuckled, sitting on the edge of the desk, "He haunts me all the time."
"Does he now?" Isis asked, "How so?"
Sonic shook his head, "I don't want to talk about it."
"Alright." Sonic was a little surprised when Isis let the topic drop. "If you're not comfortable I'm not going to pressure you. But the one thing that bothers me is what's up with the different images and the receipts. If he's planning on or has already sold these things to other people, what are they being used for? Not everybody can use spells, and I doubt everybody he's sold them to have that ability." Isis began nibbling on the tip of her finger, "Perhaps they somehow influence people through dreams? No, that seems too difficult, and people wouldn't find them believable once they woke up. Maybe Mephiles might be trying to fix up his original plan with the mind-swapping and all. But then why the different images, and why sell them? Argh!" Isis slammed her head down on the table, "This is driving me crazy!"
"I guess you're going to be here for a while?" Knuckles asked, smirking.
"More like all freaking night! There are just so many unanswered questions. Once I translate these symbols I ought to have a better idea, but…" Isis sighed, "It's going to take a long time."
"Well, I have another appointment later tonight, so I'm gonna go for a run before then. What about you, Knux?" Sonic asked, slipping off of the desk.
"I'm going to head back to Angel Island. You guys just give me a shout if you need me, alright?" Knuckles was about to leave when Tails grabbed his arm.
"Hold it, Knuckles. Take this with you," Tails said, handing a small watch over, "It has a communicator so we can call you -"
"I already have one of those!"
"Let me finish! It also has a sort of trial shield. Silver and I have been working on it to detect illusions, perhaps letting us block some of Mephiles' attacks. It'll start flashing here," Tails pointed to a small eye image on the screen, "If someone comes into the area with some of those abilities. Silver will come by later to test its range, so if it starts responding give him a shout. Ok?"
"Fine," Knuckles said, wrapping the green wristband around his left wrist, "I'll see you later." He left after that.
"I'm off too, then. Good luck to both of you!" With a wink, Sonic had disappeared.
Isis let out a small sigh of relief and retrieved the original picture she had been working on. She carefully scanned each line and color, trying to hurry around the part where Mephiles was about to penetrate a shaking, crying Sonic.
XXXXXXXXX
Silver finally caught up to Blaze; the pyrokinetic cat was standing in the middle of the area where they had fought Galleom. "Blaze!" The cat turned around when she heard Silver's voice and waved in greeting. When the psychic hedgehog came to her side he asked, "What's going on?"
"I'll show you." She led Silver to one of the larger piles of rocks; this one was about fifty feet wide and towered thirty feet above their heads up to the gray, cloudy sky.
"Yeah, so what's this?" Silver asked.
"Take a look at this spot," Blaze replied, leading Silver around the rock formation to a flatter point, "At a quick glance this seems like a rock slide or something of the sort, but look at what shape it's in."
Silver looked at the pile of loose rocks, and then backed away. After about twenty steps backwards, Silver realized the pile looked suspiciously too well arranged, like someone had tried to cover something up.
"You think something's under there?" Silver asked.
Blaze nodded, "I was thinking about Galleom - you remember how he paused before he attacked us, right? I don't think Mephiles was giving him orders as much as changing the old ones. I spent a lot of time looking around this place, and finally found this."
"So you want my help moving the rocks?" Blaze nodded. "Alright then…" Silver looked up and sighed, "This could take a while."
XXXXXXXXX
"I tell you, if Mephiles is planning on making more copies of me I'll have his head on a platter by the end of the week!" Shadow was pacing back and forth in Rouge's living room, fists clenched together in anger and eyes flashing.
"Calm down, Shadow. You don't know why Mephiles made the robot. He could simply be testing something and will end up destroying it. Don't do anything hasty," Rouge said, attempting to reach out and touch the Ultimate Life Form. Shadow tensed at the touch; something he hadn't done for over a year now.
Shadow moved away from the hand on his shoulder, still pacing and growling, "Mephiles is really pissing me off. If he attacks again I'm taking him out, one way or another!"
"That's fine Shadow, really, but you're being quite aggressive. I mean, yes you have the right to be mad about the copies, but…don't you think you're taking this a little too far?"
The black hedgehog glared at Rouge, and she flinched due to surprise rather than fear. "You don't know what it's like to think you might be an android."
"I know that, and you know you're the real Shadow the Hedgehog. We all do. And we can easily prove those others are fakes if they show up. Chill out and try to think logically here - what could he use those robots for?"
"Framing us, I guess," Shadow muttered, sitting down on the couch.
"But if we show up, that would cancel it all out. And Mephiles can't come because people know he's a 'bad guy' now."
"Humans are foolish. They fall for everything."
Rouge rolled her eyes, "Every species is fairly dimwitted. And they'll listen if Sonic shows up anyways." She noticed Shadow look at his lap when she said the blue hedgehog's name, "Something bothering you?"
"Huh? No, no…" Shadow wouldn't look up at Rouge, instead turning his gaze to the left, away from her.
The bat smiled, guessing what was up with Shadow, "Thinking about your crush, are you?"
Shadow glared at Rouge again, his cheeks showing a tinge of red underneath his black fur, "No!"
Rouge laughed, "I like how you didn't deny having a crush on Sonic; you just said you weren't thinking about him." Shadow let out an 'hmph' at that and looked away again. Rouge continued on, "Remember how you told me before that Gerald wanted to see for himself that homosexuality is in the genes, so he could have tested it out on you - his excuse being to the other scientists that he didn't wanted you to fall in love with Maria?"
"No," Shadow growled, although he remembered that.
"You think perhaps he got the right gene in you?" Shadow didn't respond. "Come on Shadow - that new bump on your head couldn't have been strong enough to wipe your memory. Remember what you and Sonic have done together?"
Shadow's blush began to darken, "What do you mean?"
"Well, for starters you've kissed, and -"
Shadow ran out of the room.
XXXXXXXXX
After an hour of moving rocks with Blaze trying her best to help, Silver slumped against the rock wall beside the now-cleared doorway. "Finished," Silver panted.
"Shall we check it out?" Blaze said, laughing a little at Silver's glare.
"I'm too thirsty for that. Can't we come back tomorrow?"
A bright light caught both of their attentions before Blaze could reply, and they looked into the cave. A blue light was flickering a few feet away in the tunnel, heading down into the ground. Blaze took a few steps forward and the light moved away.
"Shall we?" Blaze asked again. Silver moaned, but stood up and followed Blaze inside.
XXXXXXXXX
Shadow could still feel his warm cheeks, although the blush was already hidden under his fur now. That dream, and his other - no, some of them weren't dreams, were they?
He didn't deny the time he pretended to force Sonic to have sex, making Sonic realize he needed to see a psychiatrist. That one was real and certainly in his nature. But later he had kissed Sonic in front of the mirror - why again? And then, perhaps -
Shadow sat down on a park bench, resting his forehead in one hand. If Gerald was still alive, Shadow would have to go complain to the scientist about making him so receptive to memory loss.
XXXXXXXXX
Blaze and Silver carefully followed the small light down underground. In a few minutes they came to a cavern, no more than ten feet across and six feet high. The walls were covered with some sort of glowing mushrooms, and there was a small spring bubbling up from the ground.
"Think it's safe to drink?" Silver asked; gaze clearly attached onto the clear water and looking ready to drink regardless if the water was safe or not.
Blaze shrugged and stepped closer to the spring. Multi-colored smooth rocks surrounded the two-foot sized pool, perfectly arranged as though someone had placed them there. A small stone bowl that had been carved with small stars and polished smooth was on the largest rock. Blaze dipped the bowl into the water and filled it, then used her fire abilities to make the water boil.
After a few minutes, she stopped adding energy to bowl and handed it to Silver. "If you wait a little, the water will cool down and then it'll be safe to drink no matter what," Blaze said.
"Alright!" Silver sat down against the cave wall, "Mind if we take break?"
"I guess so," Blaze replied, sitting down beside her friend. She looked around for the light and saw it waiting for them on a different path. "Looks like we have a guide," Blaze said, nudging Silver's shoulder and pointing at the light, "What do you think it is?"
"A fairy?" Silver guessed, still looking at the water and anxiously waiting to drink it.
"Great. Just I want to do today - go off to a magical land with fairies, ride unicorns and host parties in a grand castle wearing pretty pink dresses," Blaze said, snorting a little.
"Well, what do you think?" Silver countered, "I don't hear you suggesting any ideas."
The cat shrugged, "Dunno. Some kind of animal I guess. A firefly."
"Fireflies are bugs, and they don't glow that brightly."
"Whatever! Then some new species of firefly."
"That lives underground?"
Blaze lightly smacked Silver on the head; the hedgehog just laughed and proceeded to drink the now cool water.
X
After Silver had quenched his thirst the two continued to follow the odd light down the tunnel; heading deeper underground with every twist and turn. The earthen floor was packed down hard and they left no footprints in the sweet-smelling dirt ramp. The tunnel was no higher than four and a half feet and no wider than five; just big enough for them to squeeze by.
Two hours had passed before the tunnel finally leveled out into an earthen room; about seven feet high and fifteen feet wide. All of the walls were made of earth except for one, which was plain, white stone.
"Hmm…" Blaze walked forward with Silver right behind, "I wonder what this is?" She placed a hand on the stone.
"Doesn't look like anything," Silver replied, leaning against the wall, "Seems though we walked down here for nothing. Can we leave? I'm tired."
Blaze was about to reply when a soft voice whispered, "Sleep…" Silver slowly closed his eyes and let out a yawn, immediately obeying the ghostly command and was peacefully sleeping against the wall within seconds.
"Silver! Come on now - I'm not carrying you out of here!" Blaze tugged on Silver's arm and ruffled his head quills, but the psychic hedgehog would not awaken.
"Sleep little one, sleep…" The voice came again, and Blaze could feel heaviness behind her eyes - her warning that she was getting tired.
"No…" Blaze grunted, grabbing Silver under the arms and dragging him towards the ramp, "Let's go!"
"Sleep now, sleep…" The voice was soothing, and she was so tired. Blaze sat on the ground, dropping the silver hedgehog onto the earth, and she slowly rolled on her side and let sleep take her.
XXXXXXXXX
It took until sundown before Sonic finally located what he had been looking for. There had been rumors about a nuclear bomb testing sight to the far west. And he had found it.
Sonic stayed far away and looked over the area. Other than the blast site, which he made sure to stay clear of, there was only a small building where the tests had to have been conducted. There were few guards around, which made sense because this place was so well-hidden in the deep gorge and so far away from any civilization (even with super speed it had taken Sonic five hours to get to this point) that it really wasn't necessary.
The blue hedgehog rubbed his arms, the cold November air reminding him that snow would be coming soon, and eventually Christmas. Sonic sat down against the canyon wall, waiting for nightfall and already thinking about what to do for his lover for the holiday.
XXXXXXXXX
Tails had decided to quit for the night, the numbers and letters in front of him looking little more than squiggles. Isis continued to carry on with her work, attempting to decipher the strange patterns in the pictures.
The fox was drinking a glass of water, the cool liquid clearing up his dry throat when the phone rang; at the exact same time, the doorbell sounded. After answering both, Tails went upstairs to check if Sonic was back, not too surprised to see that the blue hedgehog was not in sight. For three nights in a row now Sonic had been coming back late - not a big deal in the summer when it was warm out, but odd now that temperatures were dropping under zero every night.
"I guess it's a combination of stress and Sonic that keeps him staying out so long…but why can't these people have appointments with Sonic during the day? That doesn't make any sense…" Tails sighed and went back downstairs, once again having to tell Sonic's lover that the blue hedgehog wasn't here.
XXXXXXXXX
Immediately after the sun went down Sonic moved towards the small building; having already planned on how to get inside. With only two guards currently out, it was easy for Sonic to sneak past.
Careful of the cameras, Sonic slipped past and quickly found the storage room. After one more check to make sure no one was there he opened the door and entered. This room was fairly large and there didn't seem to be another soul other than Sonic. All of the scientists and physicists must have gone somewhere else for the night.
"This is almost too easy," Sonic thought, locating the tritium and lifting the small container off of the shelf.
A loud alarm began to blare, and a handcuff came out from the bricks and snatched Sonic around the wrist, attaching him to the wall.
"'Almost' being the key word there."
XXXXXXXXX
Shadow was pacing in his bedroom, having called Tails' place to earlier to see if Sonic was there. The fox had said Sonic had some appointment again and wouldn't be home until very late. There was no point in running over now, and with his confused mind there was no way he could relax.
The black hedgehog slumped on the end of his bed, wondering what he could do with himself. While still on the forced vacation he wouldn't be assigned anything so heading over to the G.U.N base was useless; Eggman wasn't attacking nor was there any other disaster of the week going on…at least not any that he knew about.
Shadow flicked on the TV in his room, mindlessly skipping all of the news until a breaking news story began, talking about a number of strange creatures that were tearing down trees in a rainforest…
The TV screen had barely begun to turn black before Shadow was gone.
XXXXXXXXX
Amy sighed in both contentment and disappointment as she walked downtown at night to check out the fair that came once each year - usually called by spectators as the Magic Fair, for after Halloween magicians and fortunetellers of all sorts gathered here to put on shows during the evening and well into the night. Amy watched a man guess a volunteer's card and thought about tomorrow. She had managed to get another appointment at a charity event for Sonic and her to attend. They would get another 2,500 dollars for showing up (a sum Amy found ironic considering the event was for charity) but she would stay to help out afterwards as well, and the foster kids would something to be really happy about. As patient as Sonic was with children, he didn't have the tolerance she had, but probably would suck it up for the kids this time around.
She had gone to Tails' house earlier to tell Sonic, but Tails had checked and Sonic was still at some other appointment. He promised to make Sonic call tomorrow morning, when he should arrive home.
The pink hedgehog was continuing down the street when she saw a familiar bat browsing through the shops. "Rouge!" Amy called out, and the bat turned when she heard her name.
Rouge waited until Amy ran up to her, "Yes, what do you want?"
"What are you doing here?" Amy asked.
"Checking the sights out like you…and thinking about those pictures…"
"What pictures?"
"Didn't anyone tell you?" When Amy shook her head, Rouge explained about the terrifying drawings she had found in Mephiles' base.
Amy shuddered when Rouge was finished, "That's awful!"
Rouge nodded her agreement, "Yes…but there's one thing that really bothers me more than anything else."
"What?"
The bat grabbed Amy's arm, taking her to a side alley while the pink hedgehog protested. When Rouge was certain they were alone, she lowered her voice, "Don't say a word of this to anyone else until I'm certain, alright?"
Amy nodded, and Rouge held out a piece of black paper, covered with glitter. "When I was looking at all of those pictures, I came across one that seemed to affect me more than any of the others. I passed the feeling off as nothing, but it wouldn't go away. Even now I can't stop thinking about it. Then while here, I went to a fortuneteller for fun…but look what she wrote for me."
The pink hedgehog took the piece of paper from Rouge and unfolded it. Written on the black paper in spidery white writing was a fortune:
For years you have stayed strong
Yet in two days' time you will no longer be able to resist
Fight all you want, but you will only be free
When you destroy another's innocence
"So what does it mean?" Amy asked, handing the paper back.
Rouge sighed, "I'm hoping it's just a coincidence, but...that picture still haunts me."
"What was the picture of?"
"…It was of me raping Knuckles." Rouge continued when she saw Amy's concern, "Hey, I would never do that to anyone! I don't know what Mephiles is thinking, but there's no way he'll get me to do anything like that!"
Amy was about to ask something else when a small voice called out, "Amy! Rouge!" A small bee flew into the alley, coming to a stop right in front of the girls.
"Charmy! What's wrong?" Amy asked.
Charmy had a cut on his arm and a rather large bump on his head. He winced a bit at the pain and said, "We were ambushed by some monsters. They beat up Vector real bad and kidnapped Espio!"
XXXXXXXXX
Sonic kicked the wall where the chain was attached; after a few hits a chunk of the brick broke and Sonic was free. The blue hedgehog ducked behind a shelf as the guards came into the room waving their flashlights around and having their guns ready to fire.
"Where's the thief? I don't see anyone!"
"Spread out, and don't let him get away!"
Sonic would have to hurry if he wanted to avoid being spotted. He stayed as far away from the guards as possible before sprinting the short distance to the door and making his getaway.
Another three guards came around the corner, and one was barking into his radio to have the front door locked shut. Sonic quickly turned on his heel and went the other way, tightly holding onto the tritium as he looked for another escape route. With no windows in this place he was left sprinting down the hallways, too fast for anyone to get a good glimpse at.
Sonic had been running in tight circles for a few minutes, but people were everywhere. With no other options Sonic went to the front of the building which was an outside wall, tucked the tritium close to his stomach and went into a spin dash, drilling through the wall and setting himself free.
With blaring sirens sounding right behind him Sonic ran off, running a couple miles before carefully depositing the tritium behind a rock and piling others stones around it to keep the container hidden. He also took a rock and smashed it against the metal cuff around his wrist, setting himself free from the evidence.
The blue hedgehog then ran back towards the testing lab and up to one of the scientists, now outside looking for traces of the perpetrator. "I was running by and heard the commotion. What's going on?" Sonic asked, sure that he looked quite innocent.
The male scientist smiled upon seeing the blue hero, "Oh Sonic, you're a few seconds too late! Somebody came in and stole a very important and expensive ingredient to our research, but they got away."
"They did?" Sonic said, looking back and forth, "I didn't see anybody on my way over. Which way did they go?"
"They were moving so fast, nobody knows!"
"Moving fast enough so you guys couldn't see? Only Shadow and I can do that, and I know where he is - at home, sleeping. There's no one else around that can match our speed!"
The scientist sighed, "Unfortunately there is, and they're strong too. See that hole in the wall over there?" Sonic followed the scientist's pointing finger, "They made that, and broke part of another wall inside."
Sonic whistled, "Wow. I'd like to meet this guy, if he's that strong and fast. He sounds like a fun fight!"
"Be careful if you find him, Sonic. If it's not you or Shadow, maybe this person is working for that new guy…Mephiles; was that his name?"
The blue hedgehog nodded, "Yep, I remember that guy. It's possible." Sonic thought for a moment, finger on his chin and looking off into the distance. He then looked back at the scientist and asked, "What about security cameras? Did they catch any images?"
"Only blurs and we can't make them any clearer. No; we're stumped for clues. There are no hairs, no fingerprints or footprints - nothing! This was a clean theft."
"I'll run around and take a look for this guy. I'll let you guys know if I find anything - but if I don't come back, it means I haven't found anything either. Alright?"
The scientist smiled, "Thank you so much, Sonic. I hope you do find that thief!"
"I'll try," Sonic replied, "Good luck!" He took off away from where he hid his prize, and once out of sight he went up the canyon wall, circled around and went back down.
Sonic couldn't help but smile as he uncovered the tritium. That little theft had gone very well. Perhaps he had been a little lucky, but as long as they thought he was on their side no one would think of him being the crook, and he had cleared Shadow's name as well.
With that business out of the way, Sonic only had a quick appointment before he was done for the night earning him another six thousand and bringing their total to over 70,000 dollars. Tomorrow Tails could get started on a way to protect the Emeralds and everything should go smoothly from there on.
It had been a good night.
I'll be so glad when I can bring everything together instead of seemingly having multiple plot threads going on. I'm thinking only one more chapter should be like this (I hope) before it all comes together nicely.
Also, I'm going to try and make myself update from now on every two weeks (twice a month) so the story moves along faster. I'll have to see.