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VII: Book of the Underworld
"Tails mentioned that you'd found some answers on the shadow demons." Sky mentioned to Rouge as they trailed behind Sonic and Knuckles.
Rouge suddenly looked a little uncomfortable which was really out of character for her and Sonic and Knuckles both looked back a little concerned.
"Maybe we should just stop here for a bit." Rouge said as they entered a small clearing with loads of rocks sticking out of the ground. "My heels are killing me."
Knuckles grunted. "Well you shouldn't wear silly girly things like that when we're on a mission."
Rouge smiled at him seductively. "You're just jealous that you don't have amazing legs to show off Knuckie. If a girl's got a figure, she shouldn't keep it hidden and no doubt you're dying for a peak." Rouge winked.
Knuckles stopped in his tracks and began blushing furiously. "You stupid bat, they're kids present."
Sky sighed. "I still have more maturity than you two." She mumbled and Sonic cleared his throat as the bat and the echidna were about to have one of their huge rows.
"About the book Rouge." Sonic reminded her and with one last wink at Knuckles, she pulled out a very small and old looking book.
"Hey, that's the book of the underworld." Sky commented as she peered over Rouge's shoulder and get a better look. She had an expression of awe on her face and everyone looked at her confused.
"You know what this is?" Sonic asked astonished.
Sky nodded. "My mother is really into this kind of stuff."
"What? Death?" Sonic asked feeling a little worried for her mother's sanity.
Sky laughed. "No. Spiritual stuff and all that; charms and spells and legends."
Sonic shook his head. Sounded like Amy and Sky's mom would get along great. He was never really a believer in that kind of thing. Just silly stories and gibberish that was exaggerated over time. He'd seen his fair share of weird things, but things like fate and legends sent him to sleep.
"So your mother knows what these things are?" Sonic asked. "So we could've gone to her all along."
Sky shook her head frantically and Knuckles laughed before falling over, still under the effects of alcohol.
"I doubt that she does, she would've told us otherwise." Sky answered before everyone's attention went back to the book.
"Anyway," Rouge began, "This is a pretty sinister book if ever I saw one."
"I'm surprised you could even strain your brain to read." Knuckles muttered, but everyone ignored him.
"So we all know that Eggman used the master emerald to crack a weak point in the dimensions between the living and the dead, but the whole process is incomplete. Sure the shadow demons and spirits can leak out, but the pull from their dimension is too strong at the moment because the gap they came from is so small, it focuses the force." She explained as she pointed to various pieces of text and images in the book.
"But let me guess, there is a way to make the gap bigger." Sonic guessed.
"Yes and that's what's worrying me." Rouge answered. "The underworld dimension is filled with the spirits of the dead, other demons and spirits and shadow demons. The rest of them don't really do much, but it's the shadow demons you have to watch out for. They're responsible for torturing the evil. The king of the underworld created them out of the destructive force of the chaos emeralds to punish those who have done bad things. These demons torture them for eternity."
She pointed to the gruesome drawings of shadow demons pushing people into acid, cutting them in half and many other gory things that made even Sonic want to vomit.
"They can suck the life out of living creatures and are incredibly powerful and if the rift is opened even more, they will be able to travel to Mobius at full strength and they'll torture every living creature on the planet, only ever seeing the bad in people."
"Can't the king of the underworld do something?" Sky demanded as she tried to get a better look at the writing.
Rouge sighed. "He could but he won't. His curse was to watch over the dead for all eternity and he won't miss the opportunity to get revenge on his tribe for banishing him there."
"So how exactly do they go about getting out of there?" Knuckles asked.
Rouge looked at Sky worriedly before sighing and turned the page. The most horrific looking drawing Sonic had ever seen dominated the left side of the page and Sky turned away whimpering slightly. Even Knuckles turned slightly green.
"They have a sacrifice the soul of a child before unleashing a great darkness, then the rift will rip open and they'll all be free." Rouge gasped out.
"That's why they're after me." Sky whispered and Rouge nodded her head.
Knuckles paused for a second before looking really worried. "When you said unleash a great darkness…you don't mean?"
Rouge nodded.
"So by using Sky, they kill two birds with one stone." Knuckles said drifting over towards where Sky was who was staring blankly at the floor.
"My hypothesis exactly."
"Hold on." Sonic interrupted. "So you're saying they want to kill Sky I get that, but what's this darkness that you're all talking about?"
Rouge looked at Sky. "It hasn't happened to him yet?"
Sky shook her head and Rouge sighed.
"I'm just guessing, but Sky's father isn't the most mentally stable. Especially when all the chaos emeralds are around and he's angry enough. Killing Sky would cause him to…change." She explained carefully.
"Change into what? Some psychotic monster?" Sonic gasped.
"That's one way of putting it." Knuckles said with no emotion as he continued looking at the pictures in the book.
Sky sighed and looked like she was fighting back tears. "Like the king of the underworld, my father is also cursed along with my mother."
Rouge and Knuckles both cringed as if remembering a painful memory.
Sonic started to feel really uncomfortable and outraged at everything he was hearing.
"This is insane!" He bellowed making everyone there jump. "This future, how can it all be real? All these bad things that happen? What happened to all the happy times we all spent together as friends huh? All those times we went against Eggman for fun. Now everyone is so serious and scarred from horrible things that have yet to happen to you in my time. How can I go back and look them all in the eye knowing what's coming? This is sick!"
"What's with all the shouting?" A dark voice called before a black and red hedgehog appeared out of the shadows of the trees as the sun began to set over the canopy.
"Shadow?" Sonic said as he took in his rival who hadn't changed a single bit.
"Faker." Shadow acknowledged. "You're looking a lot younger, did a certain small hedgehog use my chaos emerald for the exact opposite reasons I gave it her for?"
Sky shifted around awkwardly refusing to look at him.
"My my my, this is certainly a very interesting situation." Shadow said as he grinned wickedly at Sonic who crouched into a defensive position. "I'm not going to fight you blue hedgehog."
Sonic relaxed, but only slightly. He didn't trust Shadow who was always ruthless when he wanted something and the only one in his circle of allies who had a killer instinct although it seems that all changes in the future. Sonic shuddered at the thought. He wanted to change all this. He was going to change it. That was the beauty of the future right? He would make sure none of this ever happens?
"Then why exactly did you give me the emerald?" Sky asked. "It wasn't working much for you when you were using it."
Shadow smirked down at her. His red eyes shining dangerously. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed."
Sky thought for a second. "You mean when it goes all weird when I hold it against those demons."
"Chaos emeralds are highly sensitive to positive and negative energy and you're filled with the positive stuff. Because you're so young and pure, the emerald can act as an amulet to protect you from the demons because they only harm the bad. That's why it doesn't work for us; we're older and have all done our fair share of horrible deeds." He explained with an almost psychotic sparkle in his eye.
Sonic didn't think it was possible, but Shadow seemed to have gotten even crazier.
"Of course," Shadow continued, "I never expected you to travel through time. I was going to come find you again and drag you back kicking and screaming to your family. I promised your father I'd look out for you in case you did something as stupid as you normally, but it seems he's doing so without realising."
"I don't do stupid things." Sky said in shock and Knuckles cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Oh really?" Shadow asked with his eyebrow raised. "I caught you sneaking into that G.U.N meeting."
"That was one time and…hey how did you know I was there?" She asked, amazed.
Shadow rolled his eyes. "I am the ultimate life form."
"Spare us." Sonic groaned. "I don't know about you, but I need a rest."
"We'll visit Eggman at dawn then." Knuckles said yawning and sitting down on a rock and began reading the book of the underworld again. Rouge also sat down and pulled out a compact mirror and began doing her make up while Shadow stood still at the edge of the clearing, concentrating on his surroundings.
Sky and Sonic both sat down next to each other on the grass and stared out at the sunset before Sonic began to question the mysterious blue hedgehog.
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