Chapter Six: Truth
By
LordHelen
Sonic groaned, trying to reach up through the fog that shrouded her. That…that weasel! He sedated me! Sonic realized, but there was little she could do against it. Her limbs refused to work with her brain, and she couldn't seem to open her eyes.
Her hand reached out feebly and she met cold metal. For some reason, this scared her. She didn't know where she was, but she knew she did not want to be there. She managed to moan through the heavy sedation. Suddenly, the metal at her fingertips was sliding by. There was a sharp pain as something pricked her arm and then more pain as ice slid into her veins. Then her head became cloudier as a whole new wave of drugs washed through her.
"Wait…" Sonic moaned, trying to fight it off. She did the first thing that came to mind. She tried to pull the Light Wanderer out of her so she could clear her head. In her sedated state the most she could do was make the energy flash through her, but it did disable the drugs. "Where am I?"
"You're not supposed to be awake!" A woman yelped. She dropped the empty syringe and it shattered on the metal floor. Sonic lunged, grabbing her and covering her mouth before she could yell for someone else. The woman fainted, causing Sonic to laugh. She had met someone so weak.
She saw the metal door was still open, so she took the woman's coat as a disguise and hid her in a corner that could only be located if you stepped into the room and looked directly at it. She would be found, but that was the best place. Then Sonic took her security card and slipped out.
She looked both ways. On one side was a big, black metal door and the other twisted around a corner to god knows where. Sonic went to the door and slipped the security card in the slot. The door opened and Sonic grinned. The kitchen! Sonic ran in, opened the refrigerator, and found it full of chili dogs. Probably just because she was staying here.
Sonic started to gorge herself, but then, as an afterthought, she searched the kitchen. She found a small basket and a few plates. She loaded two plates with chili dogs and one with the fruits that did not completely repulse her. Then she put several bottles of water inside. Her best chance of survival was to find a way out, use these supplies to get to a town, and then think up a way to find Shadow.
"Ugh! I can't do it!" Shadow groaned, throwing himself backwards so he slapped the ground. "It is just too hard!"
"Shadow, try one more time!" Saline begged. Shadow sighed and tried again. He deafened himself to the sounds around him and tried to use his own special reserve of power to color Saline. Slowly, a dull yellow formed around her. He expected the pain, the strain to spring on his mind and Saline would have to save him. But nothing happened.
Shadow tried to grab onto her aura and make it visible to anyone, or in other words make it real. Saline had told him if he could do that then he would be able to start on energy. "Hey, Tina, come here!"
"What is it hedgehog? Saline, why are you glowing?" Tina walked over, staring at the rabbit openly. Saline looked at her aura and beamed.
"Good job Shadow! Thank you for coming over, Tina." Saline said.
"Whatever." Tina walked away, shaking her head.
"Now you're ready for energy. I haven't any idea how you got so good. I guess you're a natural!" Saline gushed, still not knowing Shadow had been practicing without her.
"I guess." Shadow agreed.
"Okay, here. Do you see your aura?" Saline grabbed Shadow's hand and held it up for his inspection. Shadow concentrated on it and a bright, dark blue aura slowly appeared.
"Yes."
"Good, Now, to use energy you have to make your own aura real. You have to make it visible, like mine. This will be harder because it is your own aura. You will not be able to grab it as easily." Saline said. Shadow tried, but his aura kept slipping back into the 'in between stage', as Saline called it. This is a place between reality and nonexistence.
"Okay, are you done trying to see things that aren't there? I do have a bit more to teach you, you know." Tina interrupted loudly. Shadow stood up, but then he heard something. It sounded like a soft command, like pyre…liar…FIRE?!
"Down!" Shadow grabbed Tina and they hit the ground just as the bullets were about to hit them.
"Saline, are you ready?" Tina asked as shouts filled the clearing. It appeared the attackers were reloading.
"Shadow, run that way! Don't stop until you find the temple! There you will be able to find out the rest!" Saline said, pushing Shadow roughly to the South.
"Ask Black Doom! He will tell you what you are!" Tina added, pulling a machine gun from under her porch and tossing it to him. "Use that!"
Shadow ran the way Saline ordered, hearing pursuit clearly. He twisted and shot one man before he could get very far. The forest started to fly by as he ran. He shot another man who was gaining on him, but there were few. Saline and Tina were doing a good job at holding them off. But who was Black Doom?
The temple appeared on the horizon and then he was at the steps. He slammed the door behind him and leaned against it. He saw several tables, so he piled all of them against the door. Then he looked at the temple itself.
"Look at these. Amazing detail." Shadow murmured examining the pictures on the walls. It showed at first a happy civilization. Then suddenly a Black Cloud came upon the civilization. It looks like the person who painted it thought that actually describing the horror would bring it back. He only called it 'Black Doom' and it appeared that this thing destroyed the civilization and was feared as a dark god.
"So how do I talk to it?"
Sonic paced in front of door that led outside. She hoped. She had gone through several doors and ended up trying to get out. She thought the door she faced now would lead outside because of the sunlight streaming under the edge of the door. But it required a code, not a security card. There was the numbers 0-9, but it was a four number code.
"Um…I doubt it, but…" Sonic tapped the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4. The door beeped and Sonic heard the lock click. "What? They cannot be that stupid!" Sonic pulled the door open and smiled. Trees sprouted up about a hundred yards away. Before that was a giant garden filled with lilies, roses, buttercups, poppies, bellflowers, yellow and blue broom-rape, columbine, and daisies.
Sonic picked a poppy and stared at it. How could a place as evil as this have such a beautiful garden? Sonic gathered one of every flower and walked to the edge of the forest. She heard a commotion somewhere farther in the forest. Deep inside, by the sound of it. Sonic ran in and when she got to the clearing, she stopped in her tracks and dropped the flowers.
Soldiers from the government facility she had just left flooded the clearing, fighting a rabbit using some kind of magic. It glittered all different colors. There was a squirrel already on the ground, looking very much dead. Sonic decided to do something about this small war, immediately taking the rabbit's side. She pulled her power through herself and her fur began to glow. Then she charged into the clearing.
She knocked the men to the ground with a powerful wind and then threw a blue energy blast at one man. He screamed and burned up into nothing. The bunny, realizing her intentions, helped by throwing yellow energy blasts. Sonic threw a shield up around the rabbit to protect from the bullets, not bothering to do so with herself. The bullets just bounced off her fur.
Once the threat was eliminated Sonic went over to the rabbit. She had three bullet wounds and would need immediate medical attention. Sonic tried to get her to come with her, but the rabbit refused.
"No, I'm long gone. I've escaped death too many times…no one can run forever. But you must find Shadow!"
"Shadow? You know Shadow? Where did he go?" Sonic demanded. The rabbit looked her over and smiled.
"I should have known. You are Sonic, aren't you? You two are much the same…he cared for you just as much. Tina and I were holding them off for Shadow. He went to the Temple of the Irisid*. But be careful. Shadow is not what he appears. He was made from Black Doom's DNA."
"Made?" Sonic asked, backing away slowly. "Are you insane? He's a flesh and blood hedgehog, just like me!"
"No, not like you. He is flesh and blood, and he is as much living as you or I. But Sonic, he was made. By Gerald Robotnic. Shadow has evil blood in him, a debt that can never be repaid. When Gerald took Black Doom's DNA for his creation he didn't realize the thing might come back for him. Shadow will be called upon soon, and not even you can save him."
"I…I won't believe it! Shadow has…had…a mother!" Sonic argued back.
"You don't understand! He's different, isn't he? He doesn't have a mother, he never did! Gerald is dead and Shadow was forced to abandon his home, the ARC, a while after his creation. Shadow just barely made it here, and apparently he lost his memory. Tina was the one who found him. She took care of him for a few days, trying to learn about him. She found all this out and told Hannah, who took Shadow to take care of him. If she chose to make him believe he was her son that was her choice."
"I…I…" Sonic couldn't think of what to say. This was absurd, this was insane. There was no way her precious Shadow wasn't real. Suddenly the rabbit lunged forward, grabbing Sonic's head. Sonic blinked and all of the rabbit's thoughts streamed into her head. "Wow."
"I have magic, child. It is true, I assure you." Rabbit fell back and her eyes glazed over. Sonic was left wondering if the bunny was that close to death or if her quest to show Sonic the truth had killed her. But most of all she wondered how she could survive this one. Did it really matter is Shadow was made? Yes. It mattered very much. But what had her most upset is what the rabbit had said about her not being able to save him. How could she not save him? She loved him