MirrorTF: Sup my peoples, Chapter the Second! Sort of.
Sonic: I like the title of the chapter, really revealing.
MirrorTF: Be a good boy and do the disclaimer Sonic.
Sonic: Mirror the Fox does not own Me or any of my friends, that's SEGA's job. She does however own part of the plot, though most of it belongs to her sister Angelic Puppy. She also doesn't own Karo or his buddies, her sister does that.
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I ran towards Shadow's apartment, which wasn't that far from my house
I ran towards Shadow's apartment, which wasn't that far from my house. I got to the third floor where his apartment was located, and stopped in front of the door. I shook my head, not really seeing the point of this whole escapade. It was two in the morning for crying out loud! If he was awake, he'd be watching tv not fending off some evil monster. I knocked on the door, someone bumped into a table when I did. Shadow's voice came through the door a second later.
"What do you want Sonic?" his voice was shaky and he sounded breathless. That wasn't good, maybe there was a problem. Or I could've just startled him out of sleep.
"Amy wouldn't leave me alone until I checked on you. I know it's like two in the morning, but she had a dream that you were in trouble so…." I tried to keep the annoyance out of my voice, but it didn't work too well.
When he opened the door, well, let's say I was surprised by the sight before me. Shadow's head was covered in a thick whitish substance, and his feet and ankles were covered in a dark bluish liquid. Behind him was a hideous lizard like creature. I shivered; the thing looked like it could've been the creature from my dream. It had the same rope-like tentacle arms, but it was a much lighter color than the one from my dream.
"She was right" he said, stepping aside so I could come in.
Shadow went straight to the bathroom and shut the door. I heard him turn the shower on blast, so I went to check out the creature that was lying dead on the floor. Its blood had pooled on the floor, and a dark stain was already setting into the carpet. It looked like a wingless dragon from Yu-Gi-Oh that got crossed with a blue Flan from Final Fantasy. Something had torn it apart, leaving only the head attached by a stringy layer of muscle and blue skin. The arms had been pulled clean off, the legs were hanging by strips of skin that were nearly broken through, and the torso looked like a curly fry.
"Hey Shadow. What did you do to this thing?" I called to the bathroom door. He walked out in pajama pants.
"I don't know. What did I do?" he said. I asked him again and he just shrugged.
"I panicked when it grabbed me. One moment it was about to bite my head off, the next it was at my feet just like that."
"What the hell is this?" I said slightly disgusted at the carnage.
I poked its leg, feeling its squishy, watery flesh give way. I shivered slightly as its skin began to ooze a bright green slime. I noticed Shadow moving towards the kitchen, he swayed with each step, so I left the squishy creature on the floor and followed him to the kitchen.
"Hey, you ok?" I asked. He didn't seem to hear me so I tried again. "Shadow? Are you ok?"
"I'm fine" he said tiredly. I caught him right as he passed out. I carried him back to my house, and put him up in my room. Next, I dealt with the creature on the floor. That proved to be harder than I thought; I absolutely did not want to touch that thing barehanded. I found a floor towel, which I used to wrap up the remains of the creature, and showed it to Tails. He freaked out, and then stuck it in one of his funky storage tubes. It was now somewhere around 3:00 am, I'd get another four hours of sleep if I was lucky. I went to the guest room-since I'd given Shadow my room-and laid down on the clean white sheets. I fell into a dreamless sleep almost immediately, not bothering to take my shoes off or getting under the sheets.
I woke up around noon, to the smell of Amy's bacon and eggs, and the sound of the television. I got and stretched, my shoulder was still pretty sore, and I was very stiff. Amy would kill me for not telling her about the fight with Eggman, but lately I was starting not to care what she thought. I went downstairs to the kitchen and yawned before anyone could say anything.
"Morning people, what's the weather today?" I said through another yawn. Everyone but Knuckles gave me a funny look, and I laughed.
"Partly cloudy with a slight chance of rain, it'll be a warm day for running and gliding though." Knuckles said enthusiastically.
Amy and Cream looked at the two of us as if we'd lost our minds. We both laughed because we knew exactly what the other meant. 'Partly Cloudy with a chance of rain' meant that Eggman was plotting something and had been spotted building something by Knuckles. The rest just meant it was a good day for a run! My stomach growled in neglect as I sat down at the table. Cream handed me a plate heaped with scrambled eggs, four pieces of bacon, two slices of toast, and a pile of cube cut fried potatoes. I was suddenly ravenous, and started wolfing down the pile of food. The others stared in surprise at my…gusto. When I finished, even I was surprised at how quickly I'd cleaned the plate. What was even more surprising was that I was still hungry. I held out my plate and smiled sheepishly.
"Umm, can I have some more? Sunny side up eggs this time, please?" I asked warily.
"Y-you're still hungry? But you just ate all that food!" Cream said incredulously. I scratched the back of my head and handed the plate to Amy.
"I know, but I just feel hungrier than normal, besides, it's a compliment!"
"Sonic, you ate four eggs, four strips of bacon, two slices of toast, and a whole potato. That's more than Knuckles had! And you're still hungry?" Amy asked. She looked real worried about how much I was eating.
I shrugged, getting up and grabbing a glass out the drain board. I poured some orange juice and walked back to my seat. Knuckles seemed deep in thought about something, Amy sighed in submission, and began showing Cream how to make an egg sunny side up. I picked up a stray PEOPLE'S magazine and started flipping through it when Rouge came in laughing. We all looked up (except for Knuckles, he's got serious concentration skills) and saw Tails and Shadow following up behind her. I smiled at Tails whose stomach gurgled with hunger. I lifted my glass in greeting to Shadow who, frankly, looked like a truck had hit him.
"Hey, you're awake! Finally, I thought I might have to consider possibly thinking about being concerned about you" I said with a grin. His ear twitched with annoyance but he smirked anyway.
"I'm glad you thought about maybe possibly considering thinking about being concerned about me." He returned with clear sarcasm.
Amy shoved an already prepared plate of eggs at Shadow, who proceeded to eat his food with almost the same level of energy that I had. Once he finished he did the exact same thing I had done. He handed the plate back to Amy with an expectant look of more food. He tapped his foot impatiently as she put bacon and toast on the plate to join the last of the scrambled eggs. Shadow sat and ate the eggs and bacon, but took his time chewing his toast. I was starting to feel neglected, why couldn't I get more food?
"What are you in such deep thought about?" Rouge asked. She surprised me; I'd forgotten she was there.
"How would you know if I was thinking or daydreaming?" Shadow asked, his ears sweeping back in suspicion. Rouge laughed.
"Your ears tell everything. If I couldn't see anything but your ears I'd still know exactly what you were feeling and even what you're thinking to some degree. For instance, your ears swept back that way signals suspicion to me. If I were trying to find out if Knuckles was suspicious about something I'd observe the way he's standing or sitting. Sonic shows his emotions on his face. You're harder to read because you're extremely self-controlled. For someone to read you they'd have to observe your ears and eyes and even then you're difficult." She said, observing him calmly. It was amusing because Shadow moved his left ear up, and the other down as he studied her, unbelieving until he noticed his own movements.
I got up and left the kitchen, and was out the door a second later. Last thing I heard was a pitiful burp by Tails that had everyone else laughing. I stretched on the porch and did a quick warm-up before hopping the railing and taking off. I made it into the city in under a minute, the after shock of wind kicked up any loose objects behind me. I laughed feeling the usual rush from running. I left city limits thirty seconds later, and kicked up the desert sand in a double wave behind me.
I felt the air rush past me faster and faster, the sand stinging my eyes as I ran. The sands were blurry, even before I'd gotten far from the city, and I sped towards the ocean. I had no trouble breathing, this kind of speed a normal 'light' run. I could consider it a jog if I really wanted too. I took a step that put me up the next speed limit, the rush of wind a tremendous roar in my ears.
A third step, and an explosion, the world had become soundless except for a faint rushing like a wave rolling in on the beach. As I left the sound barrier behind me I focused on nothing but the feel of the run. I didn't normally run outside the limit of sound, but it was more soothing than running at the edge like usual. I ran until it got dark, skidding through ocean foam a couple times to cool my feet, it was almost 2:00 am by the time I got back.
When I reached the house, I found everyone but Cream and Cheese to be awake
When I reached the house, I found everyone but Cream and Cheese to be awake. The first thing I saw was another of those 'funky chicken' creatures and Knuckles standing next to it like a bouncer. Tails was examining it, but the poor thing was shaking with fear next to the overbearing Knuckles.
"You got a name little lizard dude?" he nodded and inched away from Knuckles.
"Karo. Please make red go way. I stay still, I stay still." The poor thing shrank under Knuckles' fierce gaze.
"Leave it be Knuckles." Shadow said sleepily. He seemed to be fighting sleep, which meant he'd been drooled on again.
"Why should I? Its friend tried to kill you and it tried to kill you too. I don't trust it." Knuckles said with a growl.
"Hey Tails, what about those plant things you have in your lab? What are they made of?" Shadow asked, speaking very carefully as to be understood. He was losing his fight with consciousness, and I made my way over to where he was standing by the stairs. If he fell he'd really hurt himself, so I wanted to be there to catch him.
"Umm, you mean those plants I was experimenting with using Chaos energy?" Tails asked.
"Yes, the blue glowing ones." he said. They were talking about the weird plants that were on Tails' workbench in the basement.
"Yeah they are infused with Chaos energy. Why do you ask?" Tails asked, hovering over to me.
"Feed them to the creature." Shadow sat down as he answered and promptly passed out afterwards.
"Black one. Wake up kind one!" Karo said nudging Shadow's leg lightly.
I hoisted Shadow off the stairs and moved him to the guest room bed. The bed had been made with a comforter this time, probably for Knuckles and Rouge. Karo followed behind me worriedly, but Tails shooed him off and into the basement. They came back a minute later, Tails holding several of the glowing plants, with Karo sniffing them inquisitively.
"So, how are you gonna feed him?" I asked breaking the silence.
Tails seemed taken aback by this; he didn't expect to have to feed him obviously. I shook my head and took the plants from Tails. I carefully pulled one out its pot by the roots. Karo sniffed the roots and licked them lightly. I waved them in his face and he snatched it right out my hand, gobbling the plant whole. Man the little sucker was fast! He went after another plant though, and I barely got it out the pot before he tried to eat it. I tossed the other two plants at him, and he snatched them out the air, eating them in two bites.
Tails and Knuckles looked slightly horrified, but I couldn't help laughing. Well, until he started shedding all over the hardwood floor that is. It took two hours for Knuckles to clean it up while Karo watched from his spot on the guest bed. Karo looked less like a 'funky chicken' creature and more like a wingless dragon. He was pretty cute once he shed, with small dragon horns and bright red eyes.
Amy came out the kitchen with a bucket to mop the floor where the slop of shed skin had left some thick residue. She thought he was cute and decided to feed him a bad peach. He loved it and she pretty much made him a garbage disposal feeding him all the bad food in the fridge. Shadow woke an hour later to Karo's inquisitive stare, along with Tails' worried looks. Poor kid was gonna turn gray before he was my age the way he worried about everything.
"That was a good thing, feeding him those plants. As I'm sure you've noticed he isn't drooling anymore, he stopped as soon as I fed him. It must be some sort of weapon for catching prey, though why he was chasing you is still beyond me." Tails said as he scratched Karo's dragon-like horns.
"Black one, kind one makes bright power light." Karo said.
"He keeps saying that whenever I ask him why he was trying to eat you. I don't think he knows how to answer any other way. I wonder how he even knows as much English as he does. Anyway, I guess eating makes him shed, because that's why he's not ugly anymore." Tails said. His nose screwed up in disgust at mention of the shedding.
"So, what's this kind one stuff?" Shadow asked. It was meant more for Tails than Karo, but the little dragon answered.
"Black one, kind one not let red hurt Karo. Karo want sorry to kind one. Karo want kind one friend." Karo said simply.
"My name is Shadow. You want to say sorry. You want me to be your friend." Shadow told him slowly.
"Karo want to say sorry to kind one. Karo want…Shadow to be his friend." Karo said, faltering when he tried to say his name. It was more as if he was saying Sadda than Shadow.
Shadow looked as bad as he did the other day when I'd found him with Karo's buddy. He got up and stretched, yawning. Karo hopped over to Shadow from the bed. He had normal length arms, now looking like a velociraptor/dragon mix. He half loped, half hopped on his back legs and occasionally walked on all fours as he trailed Tails and Shadow downstairs.
Karo hid behind Shadow at the sight of Knuckles, who glared suspiciously. Shadow waved Knuckles off as I continued into the kitchen past them. Amy was in the kitchen cooking. Karo attacked a glowing plant on the counter and even gobbled up the dirt. Rouge was nowhere to be seen, while I was sitting at the table. I helped myself to a glass of orange juice and had some toast on a plate.
"Good morning Shadow! Want some eggs? Who knew that Karo was so helpful! He ate all the rotten vegetables in the fridge!" Amy said cheerfully.
She gave Shadow a plate of food, which he ate most of, and a mug of piping hot coffee, which he drank most of. I felt a pang of jealousy, although I knew that Shadow wasn't really into Amy, and ate more of my toast. Karo got up and sniffed Shadow's coffee and then drank what was left, and followed it up with the other half of his omelet. Shadow stopped him when he sniffed the three crispy strips of bacon.
"You can't have my bacon," Shadow said matter-of-factly. Karo sat down and sulked, I had already given him my bacon but he seemed to really like the stuff.
"What do you normally eat Karo?" Shadow asked the lizard. The little guy looked up and rolled his eyes, presumably in thought.
"If it glow with power light I eat. Bitter drink glow faint, yellow thing glow faint. But it glow so I eat. Crunchy thing just taste good." Karo said, speaking slowly. His words were poorly formed and barely understandable as he spoke.
"So…what is glowing in here?" I asked curiously.
"You, Shadow, pink one, two tail. You, red and Shadow make bright power light. Dying plant make more power light than live plant. Except for blue plant two tail give Karo, that good." Karo said carefully. He tried very hard to pronounce Shadow's name correctly, but it still sounded more like Saddo than Shadow.
"So, basically anything that was recently living or is living. However, you, Shadow, and Knuckles make a brighter 'power light' than everyone else." Tails said thoughtfully.
"Maybe that has something to do with our higher amounts of chaos energy. I wonder how he would react to a Chaos Emerald." Shadow said to his bacon. He tossed it to Karo, who gobbled it up happily.
"Maybe we should see." Tails said before running downstairs to his lab. He came back up quickly with a Chaos Emerald.
Karo stared at the Emerald and began to drool slightly. He walked over cautiously and sniffed the Emerald. Tails used a test tube to catch some of the slime from Karo's mouth. Karo snatched the Chaos Emerald and ran away with it. Shadow went to grab his tail as Karo tried to scrabble away. Karo swallowed the emerald whole before Shadow could take it from him. None of us moved or commented at what just happened.
We could only stare as he crouched behind the table, fearful of our anger. But we only stared, and stood by as he glowed brightly. He shed his old skin like a coat, and appeared more like a small dragon with sky blue wings. Shadow was the first one to break the silence, which sounded loud cutting through the surprised silence.
"I don't think that's a good thing for us" he said still dumbfounded. He couldn't have made a bigger understatement.