*Hey there adoring public! Thanks for coming back for Round 2! You're in for an interesting one today (or tonight, whenever you're reading this)! Like I promised, Sonic is in here, so brace yourselves… Another thing- please review this! I realize that I said not to last time, but I just meant about Sonic complaints! Sorry to confuse you! On with the story!*
After a series of twists and turns, Rouge and Shadow made it to their room.
"Don't we get separate rooms?" Rouge asked, nervousness detectable in her voice.
"I guess not. That's not a problem, is it?" Shadow definitely picked it up.
"No, it's not," she lied.
Shadow proceeded into the room first. There wasn't much there, just the essentials. The room was a metallic cube, containing two beds, a dresser, a nightstand at the head of each bed, a small, empty closet, and two intercoms by the beds. On each nightstand was a lamp and a digital alarm clock. The red numbers showed that it was 12:30 in the morning.
"Wow!" Rouge exclaimed, looking at the time. "Is it really that late?!"
Shadow didn't respond, and made his way to one of the beds and sat down. He wouldn't let it show, but sleep had started to take its hold on him. Shadow held his head up with his hand, and stared at the opposite wall, his mind beginning to fill with the same lonely questions as sleep slowly overtook him.
Rouge leaned in the doorway watching Shadow, who was apparently unaware. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Her body began to fill up with a unique kind of sadness. Looking into Shadow's deep red eyes when filled with such... loneliness was the only thing that brought it on. She wanted so bad to help him, but felt that she was incapable of doing so. That's what really hurt. Rouge looked away from Shadow, unable to hold his eyes in her gaze any longer. She closed her own eyes, and silently let the tears that had built up fall.
*Aww! Why do I have to hurt the characters like this? Curse my fingers for typing in this way! Alas, I gotta deal with the sorrow, though, if things are to get better... So let's just sit tight for now, kay?*
Meanwhile, Shadow was relentlessly questioning himself. However, it wasn't about his future. It was about what went on earlier- why he felt the many ways he did. What was that feeling he experienced at the dock, when he had hurt Rouge? Why did he feel it necessary to help her? And in the doctor's room, what was he feeling then? Why? How come he only felt those ways around Rouge? It couldn't be because-
His thoughts were interrupted by a sniffling noise to his right. He looked over and saw that Rouge had been crying to herself for whatever reason. Then suddenly, there it was again; that unbearable pain that he felt back at the dock, the one that urged him to try to do the right thing- whatever that may be. Shadow stood up and walked over to where Rouge was.
"What's wrong?" he said in the gentlest way he could manage.
Rouge's head snapped up, startled to see Shadow standing in front of her. She found a truly worried look in his eyes. At first, she couldn't understand why, but then it hit her. He had seen her crying. Quickly, Rouge wiped away any excess tears that were on her face, mentally beating herself up. How could she let this happen? Now all that was left for her to do was to try to get out of the situation as best as possible.
"Why is that any of you're business?" she asked haughtily as she made her way to the other side of the room, brushing by Shadow as she did so. That's when it happened. A strange wave of emotion coursed through Rouge's body with this contact. Excitement and restlessness overtook her mind. She couldn't stand still for some reason. All she wanted at that point was to... Then, the feeling left as swiftly as it came, leaving Rouge extremely confused. Little did she know, Shadow experienced the exact same thing.
Both Rouge's and Shadow's heads snapped up with this sensation, and they caught each other's eyes with their own. Their eyes held shock and confusion, building with each passing second they stood there frozen, unable to move. It was as if some sort of... connection was being formed, and neither of them was prepared for it.
Rouge was the first to come to, and she snapped the invisible line that held their eyes together. Shadow had also come back, putting his hand to his forehead, dazed by what just happened.
"Uh...I think...uh, we need...sleep..." Rouge said, struggling to make a sentence.
"Uh...y-yeah..." Shadow responded, with the same difficulty.
Rouge staggered off towards the closet, rather than the bed, (she was still a bat, after all) while Shadow stumbled to the nearest bed. He kicked off his shoes, got under the covers, and tried to sleep. All attempts were futile. His mind was filled with curiosity as to what had happened, unable to stop. It was going to be a long night.
*Ah, the connection grows ever stronger... ^_^*
**It's the next day, and we warp to a rocky scene. There is a cave to the far east, a wooden staircase leading to a train terminal, a jungle to the south, and an ocean to the north. Most importantly, though, is a small hut on the top of a hill to the west. There is a long runway heading towards the sea, and is the source of the sound of metal hitting metal, like someone is working on something. This is the Mystic Ruins.**
"Is it ready now, Tails?"
"Not yet, Sonic! These things take time."
Tails, the yellow twin-tailed fox, was busy fixing Sonic's plane, the Tornado II, after somehow being brutally mangled yet again. Sonic, the lightning-fast blue hedgehog, was pacing back and forth, not the most patient person in the world.
"Well, what's taking so long?" Sonic whined, stopping to face Tails. Exasperated, Tails threw down the wrench he was working with. Sonic was startled by this.
"Look," Tails said, trying hard to keep his voice calm. "I'm only gonna say this once. The plane was pretty beat up when you brought it to me, and I can only work so fast. You're lucky I've got this much done in the amount of time I've spent on it. Now, I'm working as fast as I can. It may not be as fast as you like it, but too bad. You're just gonna have to wait. I'll tell you when I'm finished. So please, just zip it for the time being." Tails picked up the wrench and returned to his work. Sonic glared at him for a minute, then leaned against the opposite wall with folded arms, his emerald-green eyes staring at nothing in particular.
*Uh… I have nothing catchy or clever to say here… Moving on…*
During this, Rouge and Shadow had followed Eggman's signal, which lead them to the Mystic Ruins. Neither one of them discussed what had happened the night before; preferring to believe that it never took place.
"Are you sure it's here?" Rouge asked, flying behind Shadow.
"Yeah, I can feel it."
"Can you really? How?"
"I don't know how. I can just sense when they're close. Now follow me. It's over at that hut." Shadow sped up, with Rouge tagging behind. They snuck around to the side of the house that had a window and Shadow peaked inside.
"Shoot," he said quietly. "Someone's in there."
"Who?"
"That fox-boy and-- Sonic." He tightened his fists at the mention of Sonic's name.
"Interesting. What do suppose we do?"
"We keep a close eye on them until they slip up."
"Sounds good to me."
They each took turns looking through the window, not wanting to share the small space and risk going through what happened last night again.
Inside the hut, Tails was nearly finished with the plane's repairs. All he needed to do was to fit it with the power source.
"Where're you going?" Sonic asked when Tails started to leave.
"I've gotta get the power supply for the plane."
"You don't mean a Chaos Emerald, do you?"
Shadow's ears perked up. "Soon enough," he thought.
"Yeah, I do. Give me a sec." Tails went to another part of the hut, disappearing out of Shadow's line of sight. Shadow began laughing to himself.
"What? What is it?" Rouge asked.
Shadow half-turned and said, "We've almost got what we're looking for."
"Really?! Let me see!"
"Hold on." Shadow held up his hand to stop Rouge, then he turned back to look in the house. Tails had come back with a glowing purple jewel- one of the Chaos Emeralds. Shadow smiled at the thought of the Emerald soon being his.
"Tails, how do you always manage to find these things?" Sonic asked.
"I don't know. Luck, I guess. Now I'll let you do the honors." Tails handed the Emerald over to Sonic, who then went to put it in the plane.
This was too perfect. Shadow stood down from the window and began to take steps backward. Rouge looked at him curiously.
"Shadow, what are you-"Before she finished, Shadow dove through the window, leaving Rouge stunned. In the blink of an eye, Shadow attacked the two of them, first kicking Tails through the wall that held the window, then nearly simultaneously kicking Sonic through the opposite wall. Catching on, Rouge flew up and caught Tails in mid-air. When they landed, she held him tightly with one hand, and covered his mouth with the other. Tails panicked, and tried to break free of Rouge's grasp.
She whipped him around and knelt down so she was at eye-level with him. "Now listen here, fox-boy," she said coolly. "Keep quiet, and we just might let you live." Tails looked at her with wide, terrified eyes, and instantly stopped struggling.
Sonic had crashed face-first into the ground some fifty feet away, still clutching the Emerald. Pain coursed through every point in his body, temporarily paralyzing him. Slowly, he gathered enough strength to lift his scraped face off the ground and look at his outstretched arm. Sonic managed a faint smile- he was still holding onto the Emerald. However, Shadow casually walked over to where Sonic laid and stepped on his arm, forcing him to drop the Emerald. Shadow bent over to pick it up, making sure that he kept the pressure on. Looking over Sonic's weak form, Shadow smirked and began laughing to himself. Sonic glared at him in the meanest way he could. Shadow took notice of this, and merely pressed down harder with his foot, causing Sonic to flinch away in pain.
"You know," Shadow began, lightly tossing up the Emerald. "You should really be more careful with these. Who knows when a miscreant will come along and just snatch it away from you? Rouge-" She soon appeared, dragging a scared Tails behind her. "Leave him! We don't need him." She shoved Tails on the ground, whimpering with pain.
"Our work here is done. It's time for us to go. But before we do-" Shadow bent down and whispered into Sonic's ear, "If you want even the slightest chance of beating me, you're going to have to do way better than that." He gave Sonic a quick, mocking smile, then got up to leave. Shadow finally released the pressure on Sonic's arm when he walked away, but purposefully collided his foot with the back of Sonic's head for one last blow. Rouge joined up with Shadow, and started to turn back the way they had come. She was stopped by a hand that was placed on her shoulder, which was released soon afterwards, since that strange sensation began to build in both of them again.
"Wait," Shadow said. "I've got a faster way."
"Right," Rouge said.
Shadow simply nodded, and reluctantly grabbed onto Rouge's wrist. With the Emerald, he used Chaos Control, and the two of them disappeared in a flash.
*Go Shadow!! : D Way to beat up that hedgehog! (Sonic-hater, sorry!)*
Tails then began to stir, fairing a little better than Sonic did. He slowly limped over to where Sonic was, and froze with terror when he didn't see his figure move.
"S-Sonic?" Tails called out, his voice shaky. No response. He tried again. Nothing. Tails called him one more time, and was relieved when he heard muffled words come from Sonic.
Tails leaned in close to hear what Sonic was saying. He was cursing; mad at himself more than anyone. Sonic looked over and noticed Tails standing over him. He had a nervous look on his face. Sonic's own face instantly softened, feeling ashamed for scaring Tails even more than he already was.
"Hey, buddy," Sonic began weakly, managing a small smile. "I'm not mad at you. I was just- Ah!" He had tried to get up, but the pain was too much for him. Tails went over and grabbed Sonic's arm, slowly and painfully helping him get to his feet.
"Thanks." Tails, however, was still looking at him with wide eyes. "What, what is it?"
Sonic followed Tails' gaze, and his eyes grew just as wide. They were both shocked to discover how beat up Sonic was- nearly the entire front side of him was either bruised or scraped.
"Look, Tails, I'm gonna be fine."
Tails wasn't reassured. "C'mon, Sonic, we've gotta get you medical attention or something!"
"Seriously, I'll be alright."
"Seriously, we've gotta get you help!"
"Tails, I'll-"
"Sonic, we're-"
"Honestly, I'm-"
"No, you're-"
"Yes, I'm-"
This went on for a good five minutes or so, with Sonic eventually giving in.
"Alright, Tails, you win," Sonic sighed, slightly smiling. "Lead the way." Tails headed back toward the hut, with Sonic slowly limping behind. His smile faded with the thought of who was responsible for his injuries.
I'll get you for this, Shadow, he thought, an angry glare on his face. If it's the last thing I do.
*Uh, oh... Sonic's got a vengeance...*
Shadow and Rouge warped back to Eggman's base, right outside the large iron doors. Shadow shoved them open, causing Eggman to jump out of his seat.
"Hello, doctor," Shadow said smoothly, casually tossing up the Emerald.
"I, er, uh, well..." Eggman began, unable to form a sentence. He then spotted the Emerald. "Aherm! I see you've gotten the Emerald. Very nice work you two." Now he started on a monologue, with a fiendish tint in his voice. "Things are starting off nicely. All I need are the other six, then I will be able to control the world! And Sonic can't do anything to stop me!"
"Excuse me doctor, but you do remember your part of the bargain, right?" Shadow said slyly.
"Yes, yes, of course," Eggman snapped. "I haven't forgotten. But first you must bring me more of those Emeralds. Then I will tell you everything."
"So what do you want us to do with this one?" Rouge cut in, stepping into the room. Eggman considered this for a moment.
"I suppose you can hold onto that for now. One won't be of any use to me."
"Really? How kind of you," she said.
"Yes. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I was in the middle of some private affairs before you rudely barged in." He gave a quick glance to Shadow, who merely folded his arms.
"Very well. Good night, doctor." Rouge turned to make her way down the long corridors, but Shadow stopped her. He grabbed onto her wrist, and in an instant, they were back in their room.
*Ha ha! Gotta love evil monologues! (No matter how lame they are…) I'll try to work on that. Sorry you had to suffer…*
Once inside, Shadow quickly released Rouge, and walked over to the dresser. Rouge sat on one of the beds, and watched Shadow as he put the Chaos Emerald in the top drawer, her mind lost in thought. He sensed her eyes watching him, and felt as though she could see right through him. Shadow took a quick glimpse at Rouge, and found that her eyes were filled with distraction as they danced up and down his figure. He didn't like it.
"What?" he snapped. Her eyes came back into focus as they looked into Shadow's, apparently undeterred by his tone of voice.
"Mmm... nothing. I was just thinking," Rouge said calmly. She shifted on the bed so she was leaning against the wall.
"About what?" He walked toward her, nervousness almost detectable in his voice.
"Well..." she began. "I was just thinking whether or not what you did today was... appropriate."
Shadow rolled his eyes and sat on the other bed, his back facing Rouge. "And what would you have done differently?" he asked coldly, offense hanging on every word.
"I don't know. I just thought that could've been handled in a calmer manner." Shadow said nothing. The two of them sat in silence, tension building with each moment. Finally, Rouge spoke up.
"He's gonna come after you, you know." Her voice was quiet, and almost sounded worried.
"Hmph. I can take him," he sneered.
"But what if you..."
Shadow turned around and looked directly at Rouge. "If I what?"
Rouge closed her eyes, and meekly said, "Couldn't?"
Shadow resented this. What did she mean, if he 'couldn't'? Surely she didn't mean-
Suddenly he jumped down from the bed to the other one, pinning Rouge's shoulders down with his hands, their faces mere inches apart. Shadow's eyes flared with rage; Rouge's quivered with fear.
"Are you saying that I wouldn't be able to defeat him?" His voice was low and threatening.
"No, I-"
"Are you implying that I'm-- weaker than him?!" Shadow was getting louder.
"No, that's not what I meant!"
He was practically shouting now. "Oh, really?! Then what did you mean, hm?!"
"What I meant was, what if you couldn't beat him like you did this time, unscathed? What if he... he..." She was almost in tears.
"Spit it out!"
"Hurt you?"
Shadow's anger instantly disappeared, replaced by pure shock, which reflected back through his widening eyes. Slowly he released Rouge from his grasp, and haphazardly made his way to the door. Rouge buried her head in her hands, trying to force out a sentence between sobs. Shadow's hand was on the doorknob when his ears picked up her words.
"If he were... to ever... hurt you.... I would.... would just..." Her words were cut off by more tears. Shadow cringed, that nauseating feeling returning for the third time. He opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, unknown to Rouge. Her only indication of her being alone was the slam of the metal door, to which she looked at with slight relief. For the first time since encountering Shadow, she felt secure.
*End! Well that was quite the interesting chapter, now wasn't it? If this bummed you out, sorry, but this had to be done. I will try to make things cheerier, but it may take some time. So all I ask of you, reader, is to bear with me for the time being. Just think, Part 3 will be out soon! Yay! And from what I'm planning, there will be very little sadness! Double Yay! Well, that's all for now. See ya!*
