Aw right! I've finally added chapter 4! I hope this goes on for quite a while. Thanks for the reviews from:
Baron Von Beef Dip - Total # 2
imcool35467
Konafox - Total # 2
infoman825
Thanks D
I'm planning on keeping a tally on who leaves a review more than once. Baron Von Beef Dip and Konafox are currently tied for first... keep it up!
This chappy may be a little slow... but it'll help the story in the long run... trust me.
"And furthermore…" Shadow zoned out a bit as Rouge continued to lecture him, being sure not to look brain dead as he did so. He caught snippets of things like "looking out for you…" and "just trying to help you…". He knew Rouge was chewing him out for his tendencies to reject help, even when it was most needed… he just felt he was better off taking care of himself, so others wouldn't have to worry about him. It was his way, and he would leave it at that.
"SHADOW!" Rouge's voice jolted him quickly to attention. "Are you even listening?"
Shadow shifted his gaze to the left for a brief moment, or at least tried to, but caught himself and instead closed his eyes, took a deep breath, rubbed the back of his head, and nodded.
"Fine… I'll quiz you… what was I talking about?"
He inhaled. This was the usual question… so he gave the usual answer.
"… You were talking about how I should try to accept help more often…"
"Why?"
"Because even though I'm the Ultimate Lifeform, I can still get injured…"
"And why else?"
He exhaled.
"Because you worry about me…"
Rouge nodded as Shadow looked away, scratching a finger behind his ear, his muzzle reddening a little around the cheeks.
Normally, hearing anyone say that to him… well… he didn't find it all that interesting… but from Rouge…
He coughed and looked her with innocent eyes.
"Are we done now?"
"For now…"
"'Kay… thanks…" Shadow sighed, tilting his head back, holding it with a hand. If only he could just remember what he had been doing before he had hit his head. Those entire two hours seemed just a blank to him, and then some when he was out of it. Wait…
No…
Nothing…
He gave an exasperated sigh, drawing out into a howl of frustration. He damned himself for forgetting every important memory to him. It wasn't just the forgetting of that couple of hours… but more over how often something like this would happen. It frustrated him to no ends.
"Shadow?"
He opened and eye, and gazed in no particular way at the white bat beside him. She was frowning concernedly at him, one eyebrow raised, head cocked to the left.
"You okay?"
He got up a bit more quickly than intended. His head spun briefly, but he ignored it. Deep breath… exhale.
"… I dunno, Rouge… it's just… well…" Where could he start? He always had questions, too many to count. He decided to start with the most recent.
"Do you have any idea what I would've been doing at Miles' house?"
Rouge thought long. She thought hard. She pulled out every possible thing she could think of. One. One came up… the most recent.
"He attacked you this morning, after the museum break in… you might have been trying to check out as to why…Does that help?" She offered hopefully.
It was Shadow's turn to think. He thought long. He thought hard. He… got a headache… a bad one.
"Augh!" He clamped his hands to his head, dropping to one knee, teeth gritted. Rouge was alarmed, and reached a hand out to help stabilize him, unable to really say more than his name. An otherwise silent minute or two passed between them before she saw his hard gripping hands loosen their hold a bit. He set a shaky hand on the ground, and attempted to push himself up, but Rouge held him by the shoulder, keeping him down.
"Not until you're not dizzy any more…" She said as he swayed a little, staring at her through one eye, breathing fast. She helped him back onto the couch, keeping her hand on his shoulder to prevent him from getting up before his spell passed.
"What happened there?" Her voice was blanketed with genuine worry. Shadow having a brain attack like that was not a good sign.
Shadow slid his hand over his face, waving the other with several flicks of the wrist, motioning her to step back a little to him some space.
Pause.
Silence.
Breath.
"I really dunno…" He muttered just loud enough for her to hear. "I went over the day in my mind, y'know… everything was clear, I could see you, Faker, that huge cat, that little cream colored rabbit, and Miles… Everyone… we were at the museum, something had happened… but I can't really remember what right now, and Miles was angry… strike that, furious, he jumped at me, and…"
Shadow paused, and sat up a little, leaning on his arm a bit. He shifted his eyes around for a moment, searching for the answer, it would seem. Rouge encouraged him.
"Yes? Anything else?"
"That's just it… after that, nothing!"
"Nothing?"
"Yeah. Next thing I know… I wake up on Miles' couch, bandages and an icepack on my head, with one killer headache to boot… no memory of anything a couple hours before, but, like, what else is new?"
He rubbed his temples with his thumbs, groaning slightly.
"And when I thought about it… the headache came back…"
Tilting his head back again as he sat upright, he shook his head lightly, murmuring something about being "tired of losing memories so often…"
He got up.
"Where are you going?"
"Out…I need some time to think about this a bit more… maybe I'll figure it out…"
"Would you like me to come with you?"
Pause.
He nodded slowly. She linked her arm with his, allowing him to lean on her a little, as he was still feeling a little unsteady. Together, they walked out the door.
Not to far off, not to long away, Miles "Tails" Prower planning his capture of the next Emerald. He had his eyes set on white, crystal looking one. Owned by a certain white hedgehog.
Eyes the color of a hawk's, fur with an almost mesmerizing glow, and fluff around the neck that could put Shadow's own to shame for sheer volume. His quills were unique; two large streamlined clumps extended beyond his back. A cluster in the shape of a hand was perched above his face, of which his eyes were naturally lined with black. The glowing marks on the back of his hands told of his special abilities quite well; with a flick of his wrist, he could stop any moving projectile about the size of your everyday, garden variety, grade A fireball of doom.
He was talking to a thin, purple cat in pink heel boots. Anyone could see the pink rising in his light muzzle.
Tails walked up to him with a smile on his face, his tails waving behind him.
"Hey, Silver!"
Uh oh... what's Tails planning now? Read and review
