CHAPTER 15
Later on that night, Tikal was spending time with Nails at her apartment. The two was sitting beside each other on a sofa in the living room discussing about what was going on for the past couple of months with the Chaotix team. They were drinking cups of hot chocolate as they continued to talk with each other.
Nails took a sip from her mug and gave Tikal a look of disbelief, "Vector? Dead?"
The echidna made a small nod.
"H-How could this happen?"
"Well", Tikal began to explain. "Another group of detectives who call themselves the Silver Fangs just showed up and attacked us. The agency was destroyed and Vector didn't make it…"
She was under shock when Tikal had mentioned the Silver Fangs. When she thought of them, the image of Sky had came to her mind. "Sky? He was in on it too?"
She made a nod. She had forgotten that since Nails was Rouge's sister then Sky was also related to her. "He's your cousin too right?"
She nodded, "Yes but of course we're famous for calling each other brother and sister because we always thought we were a lot closer than just cousins." A saddened look formed on her face, "At least I thought so anyway…"
Tikal assumed that Nails was heartbroken as well to know that her cousin had turned against Rouge and her teammates. "…I see."
Nails had wanted to changed the depressing subject of her cousin. "So that's why I didn't recognize the agency building right away. The guys are working on a new one."
Tikal once again made a nod.
"So if Vector's gone, then Shadow must be…"
"Yup! Shadow is officially in charge of the Chaotix twenty four seven!"
"Well good for Shadow. It's a shame what happened though. I bet you all were pretty upset." She took another sip of her hot chocolate.
Tikal made a sad sigh, "Yeah everyone is still trying to adjust."
"It just takes time, hun."
She made a nod, "Yeah." She took another sip from her mug.
"So um, do you think I'm…" Her sentence trailed off when she was trying to think of the right words to say.
"Huh?"
"Tikal, did you believe me when I said I was trying to give up black magic?"
"Of course I do."
Her eyes widened as Tikal simply told her how she felt about the situation without any hesitation. "You do? But how? Everyone else…"
She shook her head, "That's everyone else's perspective of you. They may think you're still an evil witch but I know deep down you've changed."
"How can you tell? You just met me a few days ago."
She placed her mug down to her lap and turned to her with a friendly smile. "Because I can sense the goodness inside of people. That is my gift after all."
Nails couldn't help but to arch an eyebrow in confusion, '…Gift?'
Meanwhile, Shadow was walking down the deserted sidewalk with Ker by his side. "Thanks for patrolling with me tonight, Ker. Since everything happened, it appears that an ass ton of criminals grew a pair of balls and are trying to hit up poorly secured convenient stores and junk."
"It's no problem at all, Shadow. I'm just glad we're finally putting our good detective name back out there again."
Shadow sighed, "Yeah the TCPD is pretty shitty. Anytime they can't catch a couple of super nerds, you know it's bad."
Ker stopped in his tracks as he thought Shadow was bringing up Damon and Razi's names. "You heard about it too?"
Shadow stopped and turned to the demon, "Yeah it's all over the news. Those annoying ass dorks are back causing problems."
"The Villains?"
He made a nod, "Yeah."
When he saw Shadow beginning to walk again, he followed behind him. "What could they be after now?"
"I don't know", he spoke as he placed his hands in his pants pockets. "In the last report about them, some witnesses saw them with a purple weasel guy."
Ker's mouth hung open in shock. "Nack? Do you think they're working with him?"
He shrugged his shoulders, "Who knows but it doesn't matter whose involved. They're causing trouble and they need to be stopped before people get hurt or worse."
Ker made a nod as he agreed with him. "You're right." He then noticed that there was a moment of silence between the two. He thought that was the perfect time to bring up another subject. "…So about Charmy…"
Shadow's heart skipped a beat as he brought up Charmy's name. "…What about him?"
Ker once again had stopped walking and gave Shadow a surprised look. "…You mean you haven't noticed?"
Shadow paused and turned to Ker giving him nothing but a silent look.
Ker knew deep down that he knew what he was talking about, but for some reason acted like he didn't know anything about it. "…He's acting completely different. Like you early in the morning when you haven't had your coffee yet and you wanna kill everyone…different…"
He crossed his arms and shifted his eyes away from him in annoyance.
The nervous demon bit his lip lightly. He was afraid that he had turned a concerned conversation into something totally different. "…I mean…"
He sighed heavily, "I know what you mean. And yes, I have noticed Charmy's change of attitude as well."
A sympathetic look had formed on his face, "He's been like that since Vector died and it's been going on for a month now. I'm worried about him."
"Everyone has noticed it and tried talking to him but all he does is shut everyone out. He acts like he's the only one in the world now."
"…Have you tried talking to him? Like in private?"
He made a small nod, "I've tried once but he doesn't want to listen to what I have to say."
"…Like everyone else…"
He shook his head slightly, "Every time when I look at him, he looks at me like…"
Ker suddenly saw a melancholy look on Shadow's face.
"…He hates me…"
Just assuming that Charmy might've thought that what happened to Vector was Shadow's fault, brought tears to his eyes. "…Shadow…" His words were cut off when a sudden explosion was heard near them. "What was that?"
They both gave each other panicked looks before they decided to follow where the loud noise had came from. When they arrived, they found themselves staring at the side of the building.
There was a huge gapping hole in the side of the building.
They both watched as a group of familiar figures stepped out from the side of the building while coughing from the heavy dust that floated in the air.
A green female squirrel wearing goth attire was still coughing from all of the dust. "You idiots!" She coughed, "You didn't have to take out the wall!"
An orange beaver responded while coughing as well. "Well it was either that or crawling back through those narrow vents again! And I refuse to go through that uncomfortable position again!"
Ker looked at the group in shock, "Shadow, is that…"
Shadow angrily fixed his eyes on a male purple weasel standing alongside the group. "…Nack", he growled.
When Nack caught sight of the demon and hedgehog, he formed an evil smirk towards them. "Well, isn't this a surprise! Shadow The Hedgehog, my least most favorite person in the world."
Ker was trying to figure out why Nack was working with Razi and Damon. "What? Nack…and The Villains? Together?"
"Um correction", Damon spoke. "We are no longer The Villains."
"That's right", Razi said. "We are now The Raiders!"
Shadow rose an eyebrow at the group standing in front of him. "…It is still very stupid."
Damon shifted his eyes towards Razi, "…We're just not very good with bad guy names."
"What are you up to?" Shadow demanded.
"Oh nothing really", Nack had then took out a crystal clear big diamond that could fit the palm of his hand. "Just doing some shopping", he chuckled evilly.
"That doesn't belong to you!" Ker shouted. "Give us that diamond or else!"
Nack rose an eyebrow, "Or else what?"
"Or we'll break every damn bone in your bodies", Shadow had threatened.
Nack placed a finger to his chin, "Hm a full demon and a half demon against us? Sounds pretty unfair don't you think? Maybe we should even the odds a little." He turned to Razi, "Razi!"
Shadow and Ker watched in confusion as Razi took out a flute and began to play it.
"What?" Ker said as he looked at the beaver in confusion.
Suddenly Shadow and Ker were startled when they saw a tall gray creature land feet first on top of the hood of a parked car beside them.
The strange creature turned to them with a menacing growl.
Just by looking at the creature, Ker fell to his knees.
"Ker?" Shadow kneeled down beside him to make sure he was all right.
Ker had placed his hand to his chest and began to breathe heavily. "I-I'm okay. That thing…it's a demon."
Shadow looked back at the demon and then back at Ker. "…I feel it too, but what is it? An Almas?"
Ker shook his head as he glared at the demon, "No, this demon is different."
"…What?"
Nack chuckled evilly, "Yes! Now we'll put you wannabe demons to the real test!"
In The Next Chapter…
Razi: Get rid of them!
Ker: This demon is different.
Shadow: It's like we're fighting a brick wall!
Ker: Shadow, look out!
Shadow: Ker, no!