Alright everybody I'm back and ready to roll. Since I've finished with my Watership Down story I can now spend more time on this story. So please enjoy, leave your reviews with any thoughts and let's get right back into it.
Meanwhile in the city. Knuckles had spend the whole day being dragged around by Rogue, the two totally unaware of the threat lurking not too far off that Shadow was facing.
Knuckles had been dragged to about every store in town and had watched on as Rogue spent endless amounts of money on things he found to be worthless novelty items. Then he had been made to carry all these items. But much to his protest he had ended up doing the deed anyway.
"So Knuckles?" asked Rouge suddenly. He tried to glance his head around the endless stack of items he was carrying to try and see her. With no real luck, it only added to things that had been annoying him presently. "What brought you out here all of a sudden?"
"My colleagues." Said Knuckles as he continued to try and balance the items in his hands."Suggested I get out more."
"So your girlfriend kicked you out?" asked Rogue with a strong hint of joy in her voice.
"No, No." said Knuckles as he continued to move forward."My male colleagues, my girl-friend doesn't know I'm here."
"You mean you Vector, Espio and that other guy?" asked Rogue.
"Mighty." told Knuckles as he continued to follow her around with her purchased items in his hands.
"Yea, Yea." said Knuckles.
"Why doesn't your girl-friend know you here?" asked Rogue.
"It was requested that she doesn't know by the guys, and in reality I couldn't disagree." Knuckles continued to move forward, but then bumped into something. He then stumbled around and then fell onto the ground with Rogue's shopping items toppling on top of him.
Rogue stood over him and looked down at him.
"Why's that?" she asked kneeling down next to him.
"She wouldn't enjoy the idea of me here without her. She'd expect me to take her with Me." told Knuckles.
"So why didn't you?" asked Rogue.
"I was requested to get some time to myself. My friends believe my relationship is killing my social life."
"So your relationship with Julie-Su has hit a rocky spot has it?" asked Rogue with another hint of joy in her voice.
"No." said Knuckles sternly again as he helped himself up. He had shot Rogue down once again, even thought he wasn't aware of it."A relationship isn't suppose to be good for just one of the people in it, both of them have to be willing and caring enough for it to work. Loves filled with compromises. I fell that mine is like that, despite the felling off my friends." Rogue shot Knuckles a look and then her eyes turned to the ground."I'm sorry." said Knuckles as he began to pick up the items he'd dropped. "But I believe I've dropped your shopping items." He picked them up and began balancing them in his arms once again."Where do you want me to drop these off?"
Then Rogue looked over at him with a sly smile.
"We can drop it off at my house." She said.
"Alright, lead the way." said Knuckles. Since he couldn't see he was trusting Rogue to be his eyes. Rogue then took that opportunity to take Knuckles' arm around her's and she tugged him off into the direction of her house.
Meanwhile far off on the island, Shadow was being confronted by his old enemy Negaduck.
"Well, Well." said Shadow with a smile as he observed Negaduck standing before him."What do we have here?'
"Surprised?" asked Negaduck as he threw up his arms and shrugged his shoulders."Don't see why you wouldn't be after you thought you'd killed me."
"In all honesty." began Shadow."I had hoped that you survived, so that you would come back and hunt me down, and we could fight one again."
"Well it seems you be getting your wish." said Negaduck pointing to him. Then suddenly the members of the furious fiver who once stood behind Shadow now lunged at him.
They surrounded Shadow and jumped at him. Shadow prepared himself.
Bushroot jumped out first, Shadow reached over and punched him in the stomach. Just then Liquidator appeared from the left. Shadow turned his attention from Bushroot and punched Liquidator in the face. Then Shadow turned back and kicked Bushroot in the chest. Then Shadow slid back threw the sand after delivering the kick.
The four members of the furious five gathered once again as Negaduck stood behind them.
"Impressive." He said."I see you haven't changed at all."
"I'm the Ultimate life form." said Shadow as he looked all them over." No power is greater than mine."
"We will see." said Negaduck. It seemed as if he was about to give the signal for his minions to attack, but then something else caught his attention. He looked over to his right, out into the ocean. All others on the battlefield did the same.
In the distance traveling over the water, they could see something. They could see a small black figure moving closer and closer to them, as it did they could see it was a robot colored red and black. The water erupted as he shot across the ocean.
When he finally reached the shore he traveled a little way further and stood next to Shadow, using the jets on his back to move him.
Then he finally stood at Shadow's side.
"Omega." greeted Shadow. Omega looked over Shadow and onto the five opponents. His gaze shot from Quacker Jack, then Megavolt, Liquidator, Bushroot, and lastly Negaduck.
"Illogical." Was what he said at the sight of the thought to be dead enemy.
"You still hang around that tin can?" said Negaduck morally mocking Shadow than asking a question.
"Of course." replied Shadow as he gazed up at the robot."There's nobody I trust more."
"Well fine." said Negaduck."You have your friend I have mine." He then motioned to the furious five, pointing out the difference in numbers."You can both share the same fate."
"How did you survive?" asked Omega pointing a finger at Negaduck.
"Not too much information." said Shadow patting Omega on the chest."I wanna bask in this moment; this is something I thought would never happen. But it seems I got my wish to fight him again."
The two groups prepared to fight each other.
"Omega, could you do me a favor?" asked Shadow to his metal comrade.
"What is it?" asked Omega.
"Can you fight his four friends, so that I may be able to fight him once again?" Omega looked up and observed his four opponents. He didn't see how they would be a threat, but their numbers would count for something.
"Affirmative." replied Omega. Then a large sly smile grew across Shadow's face. The two groups then fell unto silence and eyed each other down. The two groups then charged each other. Negaduck stood in the background as he watched the fearsome five's four members charge the two combatants. But then something unsuspecting happened.
As the two groups charged each other, Shadow made an odd move. He side-stepped Liquidator and ducked pasted Megavolt and ran straight towards Negaduck, this confused the mallard menace. Shadow had left his partner to fight off four enemies.
Shadow ran up and punched Negaduck in the face, then punched him in the stomach. The duck slid pack a few steps in the sand then looked up at Shadow.
Omega had collided with the other four. They all jumped and tried to strike him, so Omega put up his defensives and fought back.
Quacker Jack jumped at him, but Omega swung his arm and hit him to the ground. Bushroot did the same and Omega punched him across the face. Then Megavolt jumped at him. Omega stuck out his leg and kicked him in the face. The three enemies stood in the sand, just then liquidator fired a water ball at Omega.
It was quick and caught Omega by surprised, but he was still prepared. Omega changed his arm into a flame thrower and shot fire at the ball of water. He couldn't afford to let the water hit him or else he might rust. Like Sonic he was fighting his worst enemy. Omega shot the fire and it and the water ball collided. Omega had been lucky that time, but he would have to keep on the lookout for Liquidator and his water powers.
Meanwhile Shadow and Negaduck continued their fight. Shadow reached out and swung his leg, but Negaduck ducked. Then Negaduck came up and threw a punch at Shadow's chin. The hedgehog quickly moved his head away, dodging the attack. Then Shadow leaned forward and punched Negaduck in the mouth. Negaduck quickly responded by punching Shadow in the face, then a second time. Shadow stumbled back a few feet and wiped his mouth. Then Negaduck came in for another attack. Shadow stuck out his hands and Negaduck charged and slammed into him. The two crossed each other and were now holding the other's hands as they tried to push the other back.
Omega jumped out of the way avoiding an attack from Megavolt's gun. Then Omega turned his own arm into a gun and fired back. Megavolt quickly dropped to the ground avoiding the gunfire.
Just then Bushroot tore out a tree from the ground and fired it at Omega, the robot didn't even move. For he quickly turned his arm into a saw and cut the tree in half as it came at him. Just then he noticed another ball of water coming at him. There was no time to fire back so he quickly jumped out of the way. He looked up to see Liquidator standing not too far off from Bushroot. Then Omega quickly turned his arm back into the flamethrower. Then he shot fire off at Liquidator. He hit him right in the chest and sent the liquid dog flying into the sand.
Then Omega stood up. Just then he felt something on his back. Quacker Jack had crawled onto his back. He swung his arms violently trying to get him off, but it was no use.
Shadow and Negaduck continued to push each other. They now had their heads on the others; their foreheads touching as they looked into each other's hate filled eyes. They used all their anger and rage to further their fight as their anger collided and tried to push down the other, but neither were really moving.
"I'm impressed." said Shadow bluntly."You didn't put up this much of a fight last time."
"A lot has changed since then." replied Negaduck as he pushed forward on Shadow.
"Yes, Yes." said the black hedgehog."I can tell. But I must ask one thing."
"And what is that?" asked Negaduck.
"How did you survive?" asked Shadow."It's been bugging me a lot. How did you survive my attack?" It was then that Negaduck's angry appearance became much calmer, and he loosened up on Shadow. The black hedgehog was confused and didn't know how to take this odd reaction, but he let Negaduck go and stood before him. The once very deadly rematch was now overtaken by silence.
The sudden change in that battle had caused the other one to stop. The four members of the fearsome five all stood around Omega and tried to grab at him. But Omega kept his flamethrower out and sprayed fire at them. But when Shadow and Negaduck stopped fighting so did they.
"You really wanna know?" asked Negaduck as he stood up and looked Shadow straight in the eye. All the hostility that once filled the air was completely gone. Whatever this confession was it was certainly mind boggling.
The sun was now being to set; It was disappearing over the mountains leaving the last trace of its light on the land.
At this point in time Knuckles had finished accompanying Rogue back to her home. It was actually an apartment on the last floor of the building.
Rogue put the key in the keyhole, opened the door and turned on the light. Then she walked into her home, Knuckles stepped in after her and glanced around.
"Where should I put these?" he asked.
"Put them down anywhere." told Rogue. Knuckles having been extremely aggravated from walking around like this all day, immediately dropped the items to the floor. It was then that Rogue looked over and saw the aftermath of what he had done.
"Oops." He said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"It's alright." said Rogue with an odd smile as she walked over to him. She walked over and was now standing before the red echidna, who had crossed his arms."Thanks for your help today." She said.
"No problem." said Knuckles as he cocked his head to the side. What happened next would shock him. Rogue leaned in and kissed him on the lips, Knuckles immediately pulled away.
"What are you doing?" he asked as he stepped a few feet back.
"I-"said Rogue as she moved closer to Knuckles, but was stopped when he put his hand up.
"Don't." he replied angrily. Then silence overtook him as he was apparently trying to make sense of the situation."You know I'm in a committed relationship."
"Not from what I hear, and what everyone else thinks." replied Rogue.
"I don't care what everybody else thinks." His voice snapped with great frustration. Knuckles turned his head to see the door behind.
"Clearly not." said Rogue with a sly smile on her face."That's what had you end up here." Then she moved closer to him.
"And I won't be doing this anytime soon." said Knuckles. Then he turned around and headed for the door. But was cut off when Rogue spoke.
"I'll tell your girlfriend what you did today." She said. Knuckles turned back and gave her a deadly glare."Unless you come to me." She said. Knuckles continued with his angry stare and then took off.
Meanwhile elsewhere, on the same Island Shadow and Negaduck were on. Sonic the hedgehog had wandered around, trying to make sense of the situation he was in. And to him it wasn't making any sense. He wondered,"Who were the two who had attacked him?"."Had they any connection to Eggman or possibly Negaduck?" But Sonic quickly pushed that idea out of his head. He had seen Negaduck's defeat at the hands of Shadow those few months back, and there was no doubt in his mind that Negaduck was dead.
Sonic then saw only one thing he could do. Since he no idea what was going on he thought he should visit the Choatix and tell them what had happened. He was hoping between all of them they could try and make some sense out of the situation. Sonic hadn't bothered with Shadow, he had a felling the black hedgehog had made his way back to his usual spot some time ago, and wouldn't bother bringing this race up to him as both would have believed they'd won. So then Sonic took off across the ocean and back to the land on the other side. But Sonic couldn't have been more wrong.
Meanwhile on the other side of the Island, the fighting had died down as Negaduck was preparing to tell the tale of how he'd survived.
"You really want to know?" he asked Shadow.
"Yes." The black hedgehog replied. It was at this time that the rest of the furious five gathered around their leader. Omega did the same by standing by Shadow's side.
"Truth is." began Negaduck."The Negaduck you fought really did die in the battle." A puzzled look fell on Shadow's face.
"Illogical." said Omega.
"What he said." said Shadow pointing to Omega."If he really died then how are you standing before us now?"
Negaduck arched his hat over his eyes."I'm not necessarily the real Negaduck. I am a clone."
"A clone?" said Shadow.
"How?" asked Omega.
"Rumors of my defeat soon spread throughout the land and eventually in Saint Canard." told Negaduck."That's where it all began."
"When we'd heard of his defeat, it hit us hard." spoke up Megavolt as he stepped forward."We looked around and did some research eventually finding out that the original Negaduck was killed in the city of Station square by a hedgehog."
"We fell into a depressive state." added Bushroot next."As we tried to adapt to life without our leader. But it wasn't working out."
"Then." said Liquidator next." We began looking to see of there was a solution to cheat death, however there was no luck. So then we tried the next best thing cloning."
"Using a strand of DNA from the original Negaduck." told Megavolt. "We were able to grow that into a full bodied organism, thus creating the creature before you now."
"And now he's come to enact his revenge on you." said Quacker Jack."With our help." Their words fell on deaf ears at that time. Shadow had heard it the Negaduck before him was a clone. Being a clone himself he found himself understanding the creature better than anyone else could.
"Why come back here?" asked Shadow sympathetically."Why come back to fight me again?"
"And the truth is." said Negaduck."My memory is a little hazy. I remember bits and pieces of memories the original Negaduck had." Something else he and Shadow had in common."I remember Darkwing Duck, a crime committed here or there." Then he stopped and turned his gaze fully to Shadow.'But what I remember most of all and in full detail is YOU." He said pointing a finger at Shadow."You and how you murdered me."
Shadow stood relaxed and much more sympathetic to Negadcuk's tale.
"And now." said Negaduck."I will enact my revenge upon you." He looked prepared to go back to fighting but was put off as Shadow raised his hand stopping him.
"Is that all to your story?" he asked.
"What's it matter?" asked Negaduck the frustration growing in his voice. The rest of the furious five also entered their battle pose now.
"I might sound strange." said Shadow."But I understand you more than anyone else in the world could." Negaduck looked at Shadow with a confused face that practically spoke for him."You see." continued Shadow."I myself am a clone from a creature that was created to bring peace to the world. I am often haunted by his memories he had, the death of a certain someone close to him." Of course he spoke of Maria."Whenever I have these visions I become lost and wonder what my place in the world is. I know I could never be the creature who these memories belong to in fact I hope I'm not. His life, that life doesn't suite me"
"You know nothing about Me." said Negaduck.
"Wrong." said Shadow."I know everything. I know you feel lost and scared and you don't know what to do with yourself. I know that you think life is just one sick joke and that everyone's out to get you." He waited for a few moments as he let his words sink in."And that's why I think we'd work well together."
"What?" asked Negaduck to Shadow's last comment. In fact everyone else looked one with a bewildered look on their face, nobody understood what Shadow meant.
"You and I are similar in a lot of ways." said Shadow."So why don't we use that common ground and start a paternership?"
"Strange offer." said Bushroot. 'What's the catch?"
"No catch." replied Shadow."We are clearly the same and have both gone through traumatic experiences. That's what makes us the same." Negaduck stood and ate up his words."And you are certainly stronger than anyone I've ever face, if we combined we'd be unstoppable." Shadow took a few steps forward, and then held out his hand."So what do you say?" he asked.
Negaduck stood and it seemed as if he was thinking over the lucrative proposition. It was an odd thing thought, working with the man who had killed him before. But overall he made up his mind.
Negaduck extended his hand and shook Shadow's."Deal." he said with a malicious smile.
And thus the Unholy Alliance was born.