Chapter 5: Shadow of doubts
Darkness' Pov
Just like that this pink girl grabs my arm and pulls me out the door of the restaurant. Oh but she doesn't stop there,where ever we were going,she was determined. Only slowing down to cross the streets,other than that there was no stopping her. I find it a struggle to keep my footing and almost trip a few times,but I was ok.
"Oh wait till he sees us! He'll be so happy!" She cheers.
'I almost find this girl a little annoying,but that would be rude to say. I mean She is helping me after all.'
While passing a street,I see a blue and yellow blur at the corner of my eye. "Hey miss!" I yell trying to get her attention.
"Hold on,only a few more moments!" She cheers.
'Ugh,this blissful girl isn't helping.'
Turning transparent,I sink into the concrete sidewalk and out of her grasp. I can feel my body becoming one with the underground world of this city,and zoom back to the coordinates I remember seeing the blue and yellow blurs. Moving slowly as I reach the surface,I poke my head out of the sidewalk and see the blue and yellow being are now slightly more ahead of where they last stood. Right before I'm about to sink back in,a painful blow sinks into the back of my head as someone trips over me,causing me to not only sink back,but fall through. Falling through the concrete I begin to panic and thrash out my arms,wildly grabbing and gagging for the surface. I have accidentally lost my focus.
"Oh my god,what is that?!" I hear someone shout.
Taking my breath in,I allow myself to sink through before I cause a much bigger distraction to my mission. Zooming forward to where I have seen the blue and yellow figures,I cross my fingers and leap out the side of something,when I noticed the surface was much higher than what I remember. It was a building wall,I leaped out of a building wall and was now behind the two I was pursuing. A blue hedgehog with familiar red shoes,and a yellow fox with unforgettable tails,...I'm awake right?
"U-um,sir?" I say,now noticing that my throat has become dry.
They turn around as they hear me and wait for what I have to say. Mission accomplished,it was them,this is actually happening! I have finally found the true blue hero,the one who shall help me end my nightmare,and as a bonus I have also found the yellow one!
"H-hey,I-I was wondering if m-maybe you could help me with something. Something big." I say,finding my voice a bit shaky.
At first looking at me with confusion,the hedgehog smiles at me and says "Sure kid,what do you need?"
To confirm my thoughts,I ask "Your S-Sonic,right?"
"The one and only buddy." He says,giving his trademark thumbs up. "Still need help with this big something?"
Gathering up my courage,I say "Yes,yes I still do." This is it. "I-I need...I need um..." Oh yes I can just see it now,'Oh hello sir great hero sir,will you please help me kill someone?'
Wait a minute...I can't say that! Well even though that's true. Perhaps if I were to speak with these two less...publicly,then I can explain everything to them. Surly they'd help,right? Of course they would! They're the heroes,they always help those in need!
"Ummmm,I need to tell you something,but can't around all these people." I say "This big something is a secret."
"Uhhh...ok then? What d-"
*beep*beep* The fox pulls out a beeping device.
"Sonic,I just got a message from Cream. Eggman's been seen flying by."
"Really? Guess this really wont be a boring morning after all. Lets go,before we lose him!" Sonic says,before getting ready to speed off.
"H-hey,wait up!" I say stopping him. "What about the secret? I still need help,I-"
"Here." He says while handing me a big golden bracelet of some sort. "It's one of the rings I find throughout my adventures,it's my last one,but I'll find more. I always do."
"But will I ever see you again?" I ask.
*beep*beep*
"Sonic we really need to go now." The fox urges before flying ahead with his tails...yep still awake I believe.
"Anything's possible kid." He says while ruffling my hair. "Gotta run!"
*SWOOSH*
"Hey! Wait!" I yell,but it was too late,he was gone. 'Great,now what do I do?'
"Little boy?" I hear the girl's loud voice call for me.
'Oh...right. I kinda just left her.' I look around me,but don't see her. 'Guess I'd better leave now. There's not much more she can do to help me.'
Then just as I turn to leave,she's there. The pink one has found me.
"There you are!" She exclaims,while tightly grabbing at my hand looking at it. "A-are you hurt?"
"No." I simply say,pulling away to leave. "I'm fine,I promise."
"Are you sure?" She asks,giving me a doubtful look. "Your hand,it felt like-"
"I'm ok." I say,turning to face her. "I gotta go though,so bye."
"Go where?" Dang it! Why does she even care?
Just make up a story and she'll leave. "I'm going to my uncle's apartment." I say. "That's why no one is worried about me. I'm under his watch and care,so everything is fine." Now I can leave.
"Wait." Ahh! Of course. "If he's the one looking after you,then why were you needing money for food?" She asks. "Surly he has food of his own at his apartment."
"..because." I just say with a blank mind.
"Because why?" She urges.
*growl*-Oops!. "Just because...that's why. Now bye." I say,finally turning and walking away.
Hearing light footsteps behind me,I start walking a little faster,only for the footsteps to mimic me. I turn fast by a building and cross a street,walking forward just a bit faster. That should lose her,now where-
"You know,the apartments are that way." I hear her voice say behind me. "To your right,unless it's the farther away ones to your left that your going to."
"...yes,I know that." I say. "I know where to go." I state turning right.
"That's good." She says while walking by me.
"Why are you following me?" I ask.
"Oh well I just figured that I'd stick around." She says. "Plus,this is the city. It isn't a very good idea for little kids to roam alone down the streets."
"And how old are you?" I ask,noticing she doesn't look much older than me,maybe two years ahead?
"..Uh hey! You didn't exactly mention your name." She randomly brings up.
"Yes I did."
"Really? When?" She asks. "What's your name then?"
"Darkness." I say.
"Really? That's what you meant back there?...Well that's a nice name." And yet she sounds unsure of my newfound name. "Um,so how's your hand?" Amy asks.
"What? My hand?" I ask,confused. "What about it?"
"Your hand,it went through mine." She says. "Or at least I think it did."
"Oh that." I see now. "Yeah,my hand's ok. It's just what I do." I explain.
"An ability of yours?"
"Yep,not just my hands,but my whole body. I can split my particles,allowing me to pass through solid objects." Now this is the part where she's going to leave me,I mean this is freaky.
"Well that's cool to know." Wait,what?
Catching me off guard,I almost trip on my footing. Cool? She's cool with it? How so? It's weird and freaky! I'm weird and freaky! The only person I ever knew,besides my parents,that were cool with my strangeness was Star. This Amy person is...yeah I don't know what she is.
"Uhh,y-yeah." I agree. "Yeah it is."
"Are we getting closer to your uncle's apartment?"
"Hm? Oh! Yeah,of course we are!" I say. "So you can leave me now,I'm out of harm's way."
"Not until I see you walk into his apartment."
Dammit. "Look,I don't need any help or any security from anyone. I'm just fine."
"Your alone here,aren't you?" She asks.
"No."
"Darkness,your homeless,I can see it. Your exhausted,not well fed or groomed,and you were asking for money."
"..."
"What did you need from Sonic?"
"...Just some help,but I'll catch him later." I say.
"Doesn't anyone have legal custody of you?" Amy asks.
"No,and it doesn't matter anyways." I say. "Back where I come from,I..wasn't allowed to..be myself. So I'm better off away from home anyway."
"Darkness,if you're having family troubles at home,you should talk things through with them,rather than running away." Amy says,placing a hand on my shoulder.
"It wasn't my family I was running from. We were running from a law,a law that said beings with unnatural abilities had to have their powers neutralized." I explain. "Everything was going ok,no one knew what we were hiding,but...recently something happened,and when the cops saw our records,it was ordered for me to be taken back and be 'cured' of my powers. I-we weren't allowed to be ourselves."
"Oh...I see." Amy says. "..So it's just you?"
"Yeah."
"No one you can turn to at all? Just out on your own,alone? No family.."
"No friends." I finish.
At that,it almost seems her eyes light up a bit. "You know,I think I can help you with that."
"One of these apartments abandoned?" I ask.
"No,it's not that." She says. "It's just that I happen to know someone. Someone who may be able to help you,shelter wise that is."
"Friend of yours?" I ask.
"..uuuh y-yyeah,you could say that." She says,while blushing. "He's actually not far from here."
"And your saying I can just go and stay with him?" I ask,now interested.
"Ummm,well it's possible." She says. "Under one condition." Of course..
"What?"
"You become his sidekick."
"No." I say. "I'm not going to become someone's sidekick and be told what to do. What kind of shelter is that?"
"But it's the only way he might actually let you stay with him!" She explains. "With incredible powers like yours,he'd be able to see that you're not just a kid,you're a capable partner."
"Wait a minute...So your saying to me that he wouldn't even let me stay with him in the first place?" I ask,now bummed out. "U-unless I were to prove myself useful?"
"Well-"
"No." I interrupt. "Not only does he sound shallow,but he obviously wouldn't even approve of your plans...or me. Your planning all this behind his back,aren't you?"
"...Well,what are you going to do? You can't just live out in the streets."
"No actually I can." I say. "The inside of a street is actually really warm and cozy during those breezy nights."
"Darkness,I'm being serious!" Amy scolds.
"Umm,so am I." If I can accidentally sleep in passing cars,I'm sure living in a street wouldn't be that much different...as long as I don't peek my head out this time.
"..."
"Ok fine,I'll just merge my body into the inner walls of someone's apartment. Better?" I ask.
"Better than living in a street."
"Good,so now you'll leave me?" I ask,now turning transparent again.
"...Stay safe." Amy says,before finally leaving me.
At last,I'm free of distractions. Now it's just a waiting game as I prepare for another day of finding the blue wonder.
Normal pov
It was an outrage,it was a short nap rather than the long hibernation he had planned for the rest of his day. During his long waited slumber,Shadow's G.U.N communicator,went off,alerting him of an Eggman sighting. Now he was skating out of his apartment,down the street,away from his break. His mission,find Eggman's hideout based on his past flight patterns detected from his engine traces,and collect any data from his computer.
"Damn it all."
While skating down past the apartments,he hits a cloudy gust of smoke,cold smoke at that,this doesn't stop him though as he shrugs it off and continues on with his journey,which doesn't take long for him reach.
He soon finds himself in a green forest,searching the area. While he was passing by,his chaos emerald had responded during his journey,causing him to stop in this location. Whatever the energy,it was unlike another hidden emerald,but different. The energy was causing Shadow's emerald to not just glow,but to blink. Blink glowing flashes,and the flashes get brighter and faster the more he moves forward. He's getting closer.
Suddenly the blinking stops as the flash remains,it stops in a clearing of the forest. Raising an eyebrow,Shadow looks up and sees nothing,then looks down at the grass and gets an idea.
"Chaos control!"
He opens his eyes and sees that he has found an underground hideout,Eggman's hideout based by the recognizable logo on the metal wall.
'Careless energy leakage.'
Skating down the halls,he looks for a computer room or anything that can relate to that,when he gets a call from his communicator.
"Agent Shadow reporting." He answers,still skating down the halls.
"Agent Shadow,we've just received word that Eggman had taken a hostage in advance to bribe the Sonic team into defeat." Says the agent on the other line. "Your new mission,free the hostage first,then find access to the computers."
"Confirmed." Shadow ends the communication.
'That pink ignorance just can't stay out of the way.' Shadow thinks to himself,knowing its Amy as always.
Figuring there'd be cells at the very bottom,he chaos controls there,in search of the pink hostage,only to be met by a surprise...or two.
"Ughhh..h-how..do..you..do..th-th-tha-bla!" Shadow looks to his right and sees a young small grey ferret boy with short black hair,on the floor pukeing and shaking. Gagging while trying to stop his pukeing,he mutters aloud "W-what's happening? Bla!"
"..Where did you come from?" Shadow asks. "Surly you're not the hostage,you're not even in a cell."
Coughing,the small grey ferret says "Y-you.Y-you ran into me,making me merge with your body." He stops as he gags some more. "Your way of t-teleporting,it makes me s-sick faster than my powers do."
"Chaos energy." Shadow states,while walking around,trying to find the real hostage.
"What?"
"I teleport by chaos energy. An energy not meant for everyone,especially someone of your age." Shadow explains,trying to focus on his mission before he lets curiosity take over. "Just lay there,the energy residue should ware off soon enough."
Walking past the various cells,Shadow sees nothing,not a soul,even the random kid ends up disappearing when he returns. 'Good,he didn't die. Less negative reports to go on my records.'
"Hello?" He hears the small ferret say from a distance. "Can you hear me? Answer me please."
Shadow follows his voice and sees who he's talking to. In front of them,they see a teenage sleeping brown ferret girl wearing black boots and gloves hooked up to some tubes behind a glass cell. Shadow recognizes her.
"Is she dead?" Asks the small ferret,putting his hands on the glass.
"No." Sighs Shadow. "That'd just make things too easy for my life."
"What?"
"Nothing." Shadow says,right before teleporting in and out of the cell,holding the brown ferret in his arms. "Let's go...unless you can make yourself disappear back to where you came from."
"Uhh,n-no it doesn't work that way." Says the grey ferret,following Shadow up an elevator and out the cell room. "I don't teleport,I just hitchhike."
"Of course you do kid." Shadow grumbles,irritated. 'That makes two lives I have to pay mind to.'
"Hey,why are you here?" Asks the young ferret.
"I could ask you the same." Growls Shadow. "Last I checked,I was working this mission solo."
"Ohh,so your on a mission? What kind of mission?" The kid asks,now very intrigued.
"None of your business. I'm just here to finish my job and get out,I don't see why you had to join." Shadow says,as they walk out of the elevator and down another hall.
"I-I wasn't trying to join anything!" The kid exclaims,holding back tears. "I was just going down a sidewalk,and bam! You ran right through me,and I accidentally merged my particles into yours. I didn't even know I could merge with living things! I'm sorry!"
"So it's your fault."
"W-well-"
"You obviously have no self-control over your abilities kid. You should've not even bothered playing with them out in the open." Shadow interrupts.
"I wasn't playing with them!" The kid yells. "I was practicing,because I really need to stop being afraid of them and learn them already! And my name isn't kid! I have a name you know!"
"My god,lets hear it then." Shadow mockingly throws out his arms as if in praise,resting the brown ferret on his shoulders.
"It's Darkness! My name is Darkness!"
"Ooh,terrifying." Shadow says in a sarcastic tone. "Your mother let you pick that out?"
"Well what's your name?" Darkness demands.
"Finally." Shadow says as he turns to a room,a computer room at that. 'Too easy...actually,that was too easy...something's not right here.'
"Well?" Darkness urges,as Shadow pulls out a chip and inserts it into the main computer.
"Shadow,I'm Shadow the hedgehog." He answers.
"Hm! Shadow?" Scoffs the kid. "And you make fun of my name? Our names pretty much have the same meaning!"
"Whatever." Shadow growls,turning his attention back to the computer.
The process it's self of downloading all the data should take about a few minutes. Looking at the chip,Shadow sees that it reads '40% loaded'.
'Not long until-'
"Look out!" Shadow's thoughts are interrupted as he feels a chilling rush throughout his body,followed by a loud bang.
"What the?"
He turns around to see some of Eggman's robots standing out the doorway aiming to fire at him again. He also notices that the kid is nowhere to be seen,and that he still has that chilling sensation inside his body,also...his body is now see through!
'Don't worry.' He hears a voice say in his mental mind. 'Nothing can touch you.'
"What is this?" Shadow demands,now leaping around the room avoiding gun fire.
'I can split my particles,making me non-tangible.' Explains the voice. 'And now that I've merged my particles with yours,we're both non-tangible.'
"Kid?" Shadow questions,while throwing a few chaos spears at the firing robots.
'Yeah?'
"God dammit,stop merging with me!"
'I was just trying to help! That guy would've shot you if it weren't for me!'
"I don't need your help!" Shadow yells.
'Um Shadow-'
"Not only am I transparent!"
'S-Shadow-'
"But my attacks are transparent as well!"
'Shadow-'
"Your making my attacks useless,now leave me alone!" Demands Shadow.
"Shadow the girl!" Yells Darkness,right before he leaps out of Shadow's body and into the brown ferret's on the floor.
'Finally!' Shadow thinks,as he shoots a round of chaos spears at the robots,followed by homing attacks.
'W-where am I?' Darkness hears the ferret girl's mind. 'Why am I so cold?'
Darkness' pov
As I hear her speak through her mind,I realize something too late...holy crud I'm a girl! In this body that is! I mean I am a guy,but apparently not at the moment...god this is so wrong. Guess it's too late to ask her out when we're out of here..
'I-it's ok your fine,everything's fine.' I say. 'I promise.'
'Hmmm,a lot of shooting robots and a pissed off Shadow...yeah everything's fine.' She states.
'You know him?'
'Yeah...you know,he won't kill him.'
'What?' I ask,now confused. 'Shadow won't kill who?'
'I'm not talking about Shadow.' The ferret says. 'The other hedgehog,he won't kill him. He's a hero,not a killer...he won't kill. He doesn't kill,ever.'
'How do you-'
'This is really cool!' Exclaims the ferret girl. 'How are you doing this? I can seriously hear and see everything that's going on through your head right now!'
'E-everything?' Better not think about her,that's a dead give away...Oh right! The kill! The kill! Erasing the kill!
'The end!' Laughs the ferret as my mind locks her's out.
'Uhhh,so what's your name?' I ask,trying to change the subject.
'Lacey! I'm a ferret!' She laughs. 'And you smell like a rainbow!'
...good thing she's pretty,I guess.
"Darkness!" I hear Shadow yell. "Grab the chip poking out of the computer!"
"Ok!" I yell back,leaving Lacey's body and going for the computer chip.
"Now leave this room,unless you wanna get fried!"
"On it!" I say,before merging with Lacey again,and sinking through the wall into the next room. "What is he doing?"
"A chaos blast maybe." Lacey says,only to be followed by a loud explosion from the previous room. "Ding! It's ready!"
"Wha-"
"Chaos control!" I hear,as two black arms wrap around us and take us away.
I open my eyes and see that we're all outside,back in the clearing of the forest. And this time I didn't feel like throwing up,guess it makes a difference not to be merged with him during that chaos control.
"Hand me the chip." Shadow growls.
"Here." I toss it towards him. "Reads 95%,guess you didn't count right." I growl back.
"Close enough for me!"
"Hey,your emerald. What's wrong with it?" I ask,noticing the blinking. "It's doing that thing again."
"Its picking up some unknown energy of some sort,perhaps a fake emerald."
"Ooh shinies?!" Asks Lacey. "I found plenty of the shinies,look!" She says,before spitting two small jewels from her mouth,and dumping some from her boot. "Tada!"
Shadow takes the ones from her boot,and turns to leave.
"Hey,where we going?" I ask,catching up with him.
"We?" He asks. "There's no 'we'. There never was a we,I'm just here to gather the data and leave. Where you go is beyond my concern."
"You can't just leave us!" I protest. "At least not her that is." I point at Lacey behind us. "She's the rescued hostage! Surly she needs guidance back home!"
"How can you do that,if you can't even find her?" He asks,without looking back.
I turn around to see that Lacey has disappeared. "No..she was there a second ago."
"One of the few great things about her,she never stays long." Shadow says.
"I'm guessing you knew each other."
"Just some girl who likes to annoy the hell out of everyone." He explains. "Not much of a loss for you,I promise."
"W-what?" I nearly trip from my footing. "I never said-"
"Kid,you merged minds with me,your like an open book by the way,mentally. Your mind was practically openly showing me everything."
"Oh...sorry you had to see that." Wait...then what did LACEY see then?
"Your efforts are a waste by the way. On Sonic,he won't give you much justice." Shadow says. "The guy doesn't even kill,he never will,never has. He would never help you. Your on your own,nothing but a dream supporting you."
"No!" I yell. "Your wrong! He will help me! He's a hero,and heroes help people in need! He'll help! Just you wait!"
"Hm! I know him better than you,but if you claim that he'll actually assist you,answer me this...how many people has he killed?"
"..."
"Yeah! Work out that equation while on your search." Shadow mocks. "Chaos control!"
I stop in my tracks seeing he has disappeared.
"I will."
7-18-13
Well,that's all for now. Also sorry for not updating in forever,the truth is I wasn't even typing at all throughout all this time. I was hoping that we would soon have a new laptop charger to replace the broken one for the dead laptop,but no that didn't happen. So I finally just decided to finish typing the chapter on my iPod,not too fun. It keeps trying to spell out the wrong words,and come up with its own weird little sentences that make no scene...it tried to make 'communication' into 'mating'! What the heck?! It's a good thing I went back and reread a few things. =)