Chapter Six - The Guard Chasers

Shadow was in a right mess, and wished he had never followed Tails to this blasted place. Wherever this place was. He'd ran after Tails, as the kid fox had entered 'The Badlands' and as Shadow predicted, crash landed his Biplane in the heart of the area, near a large canyon. The sun was setting was the horizon when Shadow caught up with Tails. The kid fox was alright, unharmed from the crash, but the Biplane was a total write off.

'Great, now what do we do?' thought Shadow, as night fell all around them.

"Shadow!" said Tails, looking scared. Darkness set in fast, and soon it was pitch black, leaving the kid fox blind. Shadow, however, could see. His perfect night vision, gave the layout of the land ahead of them. He looked back at the fox, and cursed. Babysitting was not what Shadow had had in mind, but he couldn't leave the fox behind. Shadow remembered that Sonic used to grab the fox and carry him on his shoulders. Shadow mimicked him, grabbing the kid fox by the arm and throwing him on his back. Tails screamed, but quickly realised what was happening, and instinctively clung on to Shadow back, shaking. This left Shadow's arms and legs free, and the kid fox has so little weight to him, that Shadow nearly forgot he was there.

'Now!' Shadow thought. 'Time to get out of here!' He looked around, hoping to go back the way they came. But then he had a problem. Even though Shadow's night vision was superb, incredibly detailed, it was in black and white. No colour, and the landscape looked identical every way he looked. He would need daylight the navigate properly. He cursed again. He had to pick a direction to travel in, they couldn't stay where they were. He ran along the canyon that Tails had crashed near too, it was a place to start.

What was he doing here? Shadow knew the answer to that. His curiosity had gotten the better of him. Apart from freedom, there was another thing in his life, he craved. The new and the different. Two things that rarely showed themselves in his life. Shadow was more then twice the age of Sonic or any of his friends, and had been there, and done that for most things. He'd seen it all, and found life rather mundane and boring these days. So when he saw that beast attack Jet, he was intrigued. So to then find out it was Sonic, and that he was a Werewolf, and that they existed, really intrigued him now. It was certainly new and very different.

Shadow's mind turned to Sonic. He had been looking for a way of the desert. He had forgotten his blue counterpart was still in here. He cursed. That stupid hedgehog was going to get them all killed. Shadow smirked. Could he still keep calling him 'Hedgehog' even though Sonic wasn't one anymore. He snorted. Had he even been one to begin with? Shadow didn't know or care for that matter. He was on a mission. He rolled his eyes, old habits die hard with him.

Shadow continued running along the canyon and turned a corner around a ridge. He cursed again. Everywhere he looked, looked identical to the last, in the black and white darkness. He felt like he was getting lost, a feeling he hated, with a passion. He could still feel Tails on his back, shaking, but staying silent. A blessing.

The he felt it. Deep inside of him. Those new instincts, that had first showed themselves in that forest when he was looking Sonic. They were back, and telling him to be careful. Very careful. There were some unusual scents on the wind, he didn't know them, but his new instincts did. He frowned. How could his instincts know something he didn't? That made no sense. What were these things? They were getting stronger by the second, as Shadow continued to move through the desert. It was getting extremely cold now. Shadow decided that their best chance was to find some shelter for the night and move again in the morning. But they didn't get that chance as Shadow ran round the next ridge. Something jumped them out of the darkness. Tails screamed.

They were large, fast, and very hairy, and to Shadow, they stank. But it was a smell that Shadow had recently gotten to know. He had smelled it on his blue counterpart.

Werewolves.

But it wasn't Sonic. Shadow didn't know who they were in the darkness. They had jumped at him, he had dodged one of them. Or more accurately, his new instincts had dodged it for him. They seemed to know what to do. They made him lower his head, and growl at them. Shadow was only to happy to oblige. They ran at him again, Shadow jumped and ran aside. They missed, the two rounded on him again. They looked bizarre. They were Werewolves alright, but looked like they were halfway through a transformation, half Sapient, half Werewolf, running around on all fours. They looked strange, but they were fast, as they ran at him again. Shadow noticed that he was faster, as he ran along the edge of another canyon, the creatures hot on his heels. Shadow saw he was coming to a rocky outcrop in the landscape and it was forcing him to take a left.

He did, and found himself in the jaws of a third Werewolf, he didn't even know was there. It had been lying in ambush for him. Shadow temper flared and he tried to fight off this monster. Suddenly, the other two where on top of him, and he felt something being yanked from his back.

Tails. He heard the kid fox scream, as one of the monsters grabbed him and ran off with him. Now Shadow really lost his temper, as the two remaining sung their teeth into him arms and shook him violently. Shadow swung punch after punch at these monsters, but they seemed to have the edge on him. One of the beast grabbed his leg and pulled, the other jumped on him and grabbed the back of his neck, forcing him to the ground. Shadow growled at them, shouting with every ounce of his being at them, but he was then so violently shaken and mauled but the Werewolf on top of him that he lost consciousness, he mind falling into darkness.

When Shadow finally came round, he probably had the worse migraine in his life. Every cell of his body was ached, every bone, every muscle, the back of his neck bleeding. He was lying on his side, on what felt like a floor. A manmade floor. He opened his eyes, and was surprised to see himself in a cell, a prison of some kind. He could hear noises above him. He looked up. The two Werewolves who attacked him were feasting on flesh, and roaring at each other. It stank.

He was grateful to see that it wasn't Tails. He looked around, the kid fox was gone. Shadow heaved. He had to find him, he was his fault the fox was no longer there. He was was about to try and get to his feet and make a move, when he heard it. But he didn't exactly 'hear' it. He stared.

{Shadow?}

His name, that voice. Deep inside his head again. How was he doing it? He had to be his imagination. He lay on the ground and closed his eyes. How could be mind be so cruel to him? He didn't know, but he wanted it to stop.

{Shadow?}

There it was again. Sonic's voice ringing through his head. He put his hands over his ears, curling up into a ball. Leave him alone. He wanted to find the werewolf, some would even say, desperate. Shadow felt more cracks appear on his heart shell, he cried out. This was just plain cruel. He wanted to find his friend, that was all. This was his fault, his mess.

{Oi! Faker! Get a grip!}

Shadow's eyes snapped open, his mind instantly locking itself back together. It wasn't his imagination, the word 'Faker' had confirmed that. Sonic used to call him that, all the time, when they first met, but the nickname had worn thin, and hadn't been used in years. Is was not something everyone would know. He unfolded himself and looked around on the floor, concentrating. Sonic was here, he knew it but where? And how was he able to speak so deep inside his mind like that? Shadow was desperate to know, but didn't want to attract the attention of his guards. He looked around, squinting in the darkness, then he saw them through the window. A pair of green eyes he knew very well.

He'd found him.