Chapter 13 done and done.
More character development and I am not overly pleased at how this came out.
Would've reworked it but I had no idea what to do insted.
Oh well, its done now so sit back and enjoy.
"Now that's an eyesore!" Exclaimed Cassie as she slowed her car to a stop. "I mean, who in their right minds would paint their house pink?"
Knuckles looked over at the house in question and grimaced.
"Um, Cassie?"
"This friend of yours, Amy. How does she cope, living near a house like that?" Knuckles rubbed at the back of his neck as they stepped out of the small vehicle.
"That is Amy's home."
Cassie stopped in her tracks, staring at the pink house in front of them. It took a moment for her brain to come up with an appropriate response.
"Is she a vain creature by any chance?" She asked, looking sidelong at her friend.
"What do you mean?"
"Is she obsessed with anything, or anyone?" Knuckles chuckled nervously, earning a questioning glance from the lavender hedgehog.
"Kind of."
"What do you mean, kind of?" The red echidna smiled sheepishly as he knocked the door. It wasn't long before the door swung inwards and they were greeted by a young hedgehog looking to be in her late teens.
Her fur was a bright sakura pink hue and her five quills were cut to the shoulder and held back with a shiny red headband which complimented her emerald green eyes perfectly. Three shorter bang-like quills were left out of her headband and dangled down her forehead, the tips reaching just above her eyes.
She was wearing a red dress with a white boarder trim, cutting off just below the knee. A pair of red thigh-high boots with a white stripe completed her outfit.
She smiled when she saw Knuckles, but that smile faltered slightly when her eyes registered Cassie.
"Knuckles, it's so nice to see you again. But who's your friend?" Her voice was soft and yet surprisingly firm. The smile on her lips was disconcertingly friendly to Cassie, who had long lived in a proverbial 'dog eat dog' world.
"Hey Amy, it's good to see you too. This is Cassie." Said Knuckles.
"Agent Cassie Rahna, Shadow's new partner." Cassie held out her hand awaiting Amy's response.
"I thought Shadow usually worked alone." Amy said thoughtfully, before accepting Cassie's outstretched hand. "It's lovely to meet you."
Knuckles silently thanked Chaos that their meeting went without incident. He could still remember the time she first met Mina Mongoose. How the hammers flew then.
Amy quickly dragged them inside and closed the door.
"Make yourselves at home. Can I offer you anything to eat and drink?"
"A cup of coffee please." Said Cassie, taking a seat on a very soft armchair.
"Could I have some lemonade please?" Asked Knuckles, sinking into the sofa.
"Sure, I'll be back in a minute." As Amy bustled away to the kitchen, Knuckles turned towards Cassie.
"Amy knows quite a bit about Shadow and Sonic, especially Sonic. She's been chasing him for years." He said, keeping his voice low.
"Honestly, I'm not sure what I'm going to ask her." Stated Cassie, matching the tone in Knuckles' voice. The echidna fidgeted slightly before pulling a blue square pillow out from underneath him and tossed it to the side.
"I'm sure you'll think of something." He whispered back. They sat upright as Amy returned with a small tray holding three drinks and a small plate of biscuits, which she put on the table in the middle of the living room. She sat down in the armchair opposite Cassie and retrieved her own drink.
"So what brings you here?" She asked as her guests leaned forwards for their drinks, the echidna grabbing a couple of the biscuits as well.
"Well I um, want to know about Shadow. You know, from the people who know him and not from paperwork or reports." Amy took a sip from her steaming cup.
"The best person to ask is either Rouge or Shadow. But then again, Shadow never talks about himself."
"Agent Rouge is currently away on a top secret mission. She won't be back for a few days." Cassie sipped at her coffee, finding the slightly nutty aftertaste rather pleasant.
"Hmm. Well I've heard from Sonic that he can be really hard to work with. Kinda forthright and speaks his mind. But from what I've seen, he works really well with Rouge and Omega."
"Yeah, I've read a report on that. Team Dark right?" Amy nodded.
"Don't tell me, he's been treating you like you'll just get in his way." Cassie shook her head, quickly swallowing a mouthful of hot beverage.
"I haven't had any problems with him. He's been polite, sort of charming. He's even brought me a coffee during a late night." Amy raised a questioning eyebrow towards Knuckles who nodded his agreement, his mouth too full with chocolate digestive to speak.
"Wow! You must've really done something to impress him." Cassie shook her head again as she drunk another mouthful.
"That's just it, I haven't. All I've done is tried to be polite, treated him with respect and just tried to be friendly."
"He hasn't called you Maria, or muttered it at anytime while looking at you has he?" Amy asked quizzically, her head cocked to one side.
"No he hasn't. Why?" Amy rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
"Knuckles, you're good with cars aren't you?" The echidna practically choked on his forth biscuit at the sudden question. Cassie made a move to help him but needn't have bothered, as he swiftly recovered.
"Course not! That's Tails' domain!" He replied quickly. Amy knew full well that he was pretty much technologically illiterate.
"How about the Emeralds, are they alright?" Knuckles and Cassie shared a bewildered glance at Amy's sudden change of focus.
"Yeah, Tikal's got into the habit of warning me should anything happen to them. Why? What's going on?" Amy's expression suddenly changed to one of exasperation.
"I want some time for a little 'girl talk' with Cassie! Now go away and do something 'manly'!" Cassie was shocked by the sakura hedgehogs' sudden outburst, but Knuckles, being used to this, quickly downed his lemonade, grabbed another biscuit and disappeared back through the front door.
Cassie watched him leave, silently pleading not to be left alone with the temperamental hedgehog. When the door clicked closed, she slowly turned back to face Amy, finding her smiling sweetly back at her.
"Now that he's gone, we can talk a bit more freely." Cassie smiled nervously and gulped down another mouthful of coffee. "You like Shadow don't you."
This time it was Cassie's turn to choke.
"W-w-what!"
"You do like him, don't you?" Amy repeated calmly.
"Well yes I do, but he's my partner. It's against regulations." Cassie blurted out quickly.
"I only asked if you liked him, not if you loved him." Said Amy, a mischievous grin on her lips. Cassie's face turned almost as red as Knuckles' fur, and she buried her face in her hands.
"I can't believe I just said that out loud! Oh Gods! Someone please kill me now..." She moaned, wishing that a hole would open up and swallow her whole.
"How long?" Cassie pulled her hands away from her burning face.
Slowly she began to tell Amy about the first time she ever saw Shadow and how he had influenced her life. Outside, Knuckles lay on the grass, staring up at the wispy white clouds and wondering what Rouge was doing at that moment.
As they continued to run, the stale, musty air was steadily getting fresher. In Shadow's arms, Rouge was fighting a losing battle to stay awake. She knew that in her state, if she closed her eyes she could very well be closing them forever.
Shadow's fur was sticky with her blood as it continued to slowly seep from the many cuts and lacerations to her flesh. But that didn't matter to him. Nothing mattered except getting her to safety.
They round one last corner and red light from the setting sun washed over them. Too concerned were they at getting the dying bat to safety that the two hedgehogs didn't wait for their eyes to readjust to the light, and burst out from under the shadow of the Death Egg. Neither of them saw the danger they had inadvertently ran into.
They first realised they were under attack when the ground beneath them exploded into fire. Sonic was sent flying forwards, Shadow suffering a similar fate.
As the ebony hedgehog tumbled uncontrollably through the air, Rouge slipped from his arms and landed to the floor with a thud. Shadow slammed to the floor shoulder first, hearing a crack and feeling a sharp pain he rolled to his knees, his hand flying to his shoulder on reflex.
His left arm dangled almost lifeless at his side as he scanned the smoke and dust coated area for any signs of friends or foes. He caught sight of Rouge's unmoving body and he began to stagger towards her. His ears twitched and he ducked into an agonising roll, dodging a giant metallic fist as it hurtled through the space where his head had just been. Flipping back to his feet, he glared at two E-100 series close-combat robots, both red in colour. Clenching both fists as best he could, he crouched at the ready, a low snarl escaping his lips.
Sonic coughed and shook his head against the grogginess he was feeling. Pushing himself to his feet he squinted into the dust clouds, seeing faint outlines of movement. His ears were still ringing from the blast, and that could only mean a rocket drone somewhere. He looked to the sky, and thanked all the powers of Chaos that he saw the small airborne machine. He curled into a ball and span, performing his patented 'spin dash' he launched himself at the armoured death machine, blowing it out of the sky in one single attack.
The blue blur landed with small pieces of debris raining down around him. He could hear Shadow nearby, fighting something. But what he didn't hear was the approach of a far more deadlier foe than mere robots.
13. Unlucky for some. Am I one of them, I hope not.
Anyway, this last chapter sets up a deadly battle between heroes and villains.
And Villains have the element of surprise and the home field advantage.
I must be going mad, 'cause whats coming next chapter will change our heroes forever.
Now excuse me while I curl up in a dark corner and mutter to myself.
Oh Gods, the voices!
Corrupt TE outta here!