Chapter 7: How far?
Normal pov
The day,rainy and wet,it's a day seemingly slow...almost slow. For a certain overworked grumpy dark hedgehog,the day was simply endless rather than slow. At last though his hour has finally come,the hour he has waited for all week,the start of his day off. Loudly snoring away on his couch as he did not make it to his bed,he rests somewhat peacefully with a glass of water next to him on the coffee table,fork in hand while poking at the floor,and an empty cup of microwaveable soup on his belly. Despite the loud thunder and rainfall outside,he wasn't waking up,nothing could wake him up,nothing at all...that is until a very familiar beeping on his wrist alerts him.
*beep*beep* *beep*beep*
Groaning,he lazily hits the top of the communicator against the coffee table next to him,hitting the ignore button. Now off duty at the moment,there's really no need for him to respond to anyone's alerts. The person alerting him for help can always alert someone who is on duty.
With the alerting now silenced,pushing the empty soup cup from him,he turns to his side and slumbers away again. Or at least he tries to.
*BEEP*BEEP* *BEEP*BEEP*
Once again,his communicator goes off,only this time under the emergency tone. Pushing a button,he answers it,this time he's angry.
*growl*"WHAT?" He demands. "Dammit what? What fucking hell,could you fucking need on this fucking hour?!"
"..My,glad to see I called on a good time." Comes a familiar feminine voice.
"Rouge?"
"Hey Shadow." She greets back. "Listen,my escape route has been demolished,and this place is about to cave in,think you can get me out?"
"Fine" Shadow yawns. "Where are you?"
"In a pyramid. The same pyramid you went to last week." Answers the bat.
"Alright,I'll be right there." He grumbles,cutting off the communication and pulling out his chaos emerald. "Chaos control!"
In a flash of green light,Shadow opens his eyes and finds himself in a shaking unstable pyramid,bricks and statues crumbling to the ground,lit torches going out one by one.
"Rouge! You here?" He calls out over the loud noise.
"Oh good,you made it on time!" He hears her shout above him,swooping down to his side.
Grabbing each other's arms,they escape in a flash a green and appear in Rouge's kitchen.
"Aww,taking me home so soon?" She teases.
"Well I doubt you have any other plans." Shadow retorts,only to get a snicker from Rouge. "..Your lucky we're friends."
"And why is that?" Asks Rouge,while leaning on her kitchen counter.
"This is my day off." He growls,leaning on a wall. "If I really wanted to,I could've just passed your distressed call to someone who was actually in the desert. On duty!"
"Well I'm glad to know that I've got a loyal friend." Rouge says,a smirk now forming.
"What were you doing anyway?" Shadow asks.
"Oh you know,just doing some extra credit-"
"You mean stealing for yourself?" Shadow interrupts,now knowing where her story was going.
"Stealing is such a strong word,more like-"
"Taking?"
"Finding." She corrects. "I was finding some nice treasures and accidentally set off a trap."
"Was it worth it?" Shadow asks. "Almost getting yourself killed?"
Smirking wider as she dumps out a bag of jewels onto the counter,she answers,"I think so. Look at these,imagine the value."
"Women." Shadow grumbles under his breath.
"What?" Rouge asks.
"Nothing." He says back,now holding out his chaos emerald again. "I'll see you later."
"Leaving so soon?"
"God woman,it's my day off. Visiting isn't exactly my top priority at the moment."
"But eating is,isn't it?" Rouge asks.
"What?" Shadow asks confused.
"You teleported us to my kitchen." The white bat explains. "Usually you bring me to my living room. Obviously your hungry."
"..Um,well I'm ok-"
"Or thirsty perhaps?" Now she's got him. "Maybe a little something to quench your thirst?"
"...Yeah." He blissfully agrees,as Rouge goes to her living room and grabs an umbrella. "A cold one does sounds good right now." Shadow now follows Rouge's lead into the living room.
"Great. Lets get to that small café near by." Says Rouge.
"Yea-wait what?!" Shadow's desire now crashing into flames. "A café? I was thinking about a bar,not a coffee and tea place."
"Aw,come on Shadow." Rouge urges. "Please?"
"Rouge I don't exactly drink tea...or go out to drink tea either." Shadow says.
"It's just tea Shadow." Rouge says in an annoyed tone. "Who cares?"
"...sounds kind of out-of-place for me."
"I promise we won't be there long,besides,there's more than just tea. There's also hot coco."
Sighing,he asks,"You sure we won't be there long?"
"Yes."
"...fine."
"Alright,let's go then." The white bat says,pushing open the umbrella while walking to the door.
"Uhh,Rouge." Shadow calls,waving his chaos emerald for her to see. "You won't need that."
"Don't you ever just take the time to actually get somewhere by FOOT?" Rouge asks. "You know,it's ok to slow down for once. Lets just get to a place without chaos controlling for once,I mean it's not like it's an urgent mission or something. Plus the rain is much calmer now."
Indeed,the rain did become calm,what was once a loud storm,now appeared as a light sprinkle. Calm and soothing to the ear.
"Whatever." Shadow grumbles,walking under her umbrella and stepping out the door with her. "And for the record,you don't ever really travel by foot either." He says,referring to her wings.
"Any sign of him?" Asks Tails.
"Nope." Says Amy as they continue walking on the shiny tiled floor.
With Sonic nowhere to be found as he already ran ahead of them,Tails and Amy have left on their own search for the kid.
"Did you see that though?" Asks Tails in wonder. "How he disappeared? How are we suppose to find him if he can use some type of chaos control?...and why are we looking in the mall of all places?"
"He didn't exactly disappear." Explains Amy. "He just scrambled up his body into the air. And I stopped looking for him already,so I came here to finish some business. You just continued to follow me."
"Why did you stop? He doesn't even know his way around this place,he's not even from here." Says Tails,continuing to walk alongside her. "There's no time for shopping. Amy,I was hoping that you had a longer train of thought!"
"Its ok Tails,calm down." Amy says,trying to reassure him. "He's not as helpless as he seems. He can actually take care of himself. His 'disappearing',that's how he keeps himself out of trouble. He'll come back though,I'm sure of it."
"How are you so sure?" Asks Tails. "He seemed pretty upset."
"He'll be back. He'll be back real soon." Says Amy,smiling big. "Because he likes candy."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Just a type of bond,that's all."
"...ok then?" Tails gives up on the pink hedgehog's logic. "Sooo,what's your business here then?"
"A makeover." Amy giggles. "I'm changing my entire outlook."
"Why so?" Asks Tails,now curious that Amy would change her style she loved so much.
"Oh,you know. I'm just bored with my style now." Amy says,as they pass by a food court. "Plus I must dress to impress."
"Oh I see." Tails says,as he now understands where this is coming from. "Sonic's favorite color is still red by the way."
"Oh I know." Says Amy. "It's not Sonic I'm dressing for this time."
Now this makes Tails nearly trip in between the small crevasses separating the tiles. "R-really? Well who is it now? Who are you trying to impress if not Sonic anymore?"
"..S-Shadow." Amy mumbles.
"Whoa! What?!" Tails is shocked to hear this. "But why? Amy this is crazier than chasing after Sonic! Shadow?! Really? I mean you're so nice,happy,and kind! And he's all..well mean,dark,and grumpy. You don't want to be with him."
"It's ok Tails." Amy says. "It's not like I'm REALLY trying to impress him! He's spooky! I'm just doing a little reverse psychology I read about."
"Your going to try on making Sonic jealous." Tails concludes.
"Exactly!" Amy says. "And if all goes well,I'll have Sonic all to myself in no time."
*snicker*"Unless..." Tails holds in a laughter at his newfound thought.
"Unless what?" Amy asks,broken from her fantasy.
"Unless somehow through the process,you end up actually liking him...hahahahaha! Could you imagine? Hahaha! You-haha-L-liking-ha-Shadow? Hahahaha! That would be funny! Haha-that would be-"
"Finished yet Tails?" Amy asks,an evil frown on her face,including a blush.
"..Y-yeah. Good luck on your shopping,bye!" Terrified that he has said too much,Tails flies off to find Sonic,rather than stay with Amy.
'Good. Now let's get this started.' Thinks Amy while walking into a goth store. 'If he has a dark look to him,then perhaps he's into this dark spooky kind of stuff...oh man,this place is so creepy!"
"Hahahaha! And then he's saying 'Oh please sir! Please don't arrest me!'. Pathetic! You should have seen it! He wasn't near dangerous at all like his records claimed!"
"Hahaha! Really?" Asks Rouge. "All that fuss,and he's just a coward in the end?"
They were now walking back from the small café under Rouge's umbrella on a sidewalk,both holding a drink in hand. During their time together,their conversation went from how they were,stupid days at work,most pathetic criminals they've encountered,and so on.
"Yeah,but the commander didn't know that. So when I brought him in,he was so impressed,he gave me a raise." Shadow says,as they walk on in the light sprinkle.
"Sounds like a fair deal to me." Rouge laughs,while they walk to the left,only to see a small faint dull figure in the distance. "Hey Shadow,do you see that?" Asks the white bat.
"Hm?"
"Over there." Rouge points ahead of them. "On the sidewalk."
Squinting his eyes,Shadow says,"..I don't know,lump of trash?"
Speeding up their pace,Rouge says,"No,it looks like..something else...a dog?"
"So what if it's a dog? It's not ours." Says Shadow.
"Ours?" Asks Rouge teasingly.
*growl*"Whatever! Not mine! And not yours! Better?"
"No way.."
"Well tough,there's no way I'd share a dog wi-"
"Shadow look!" Rouge says,pointing to the small wet grey figure dressed in ripped up clothing. "It's a body."
"What?"
Both now running up to the body,they see a shuddering small ferret boy laying on his side,curled up in a ball,his eyes squinted shut,while he faintly whimpered unreadable words.
"Well..he's alive." Rouge says.
"By the looks of it." Agrees Shadow,watching as the small ferret's shuddering gets more intense as he starts gagging.
"Oh god,what's wrong with him?" Wonders Rouge,seeing the grey ferret now throwing up on the sidewalk while clutching something in his hands.
"Damn kid can't withstand his own powers." Shadow explains.
"What? You know him?" Asks Rouge,now holding the umbrella over the ferret as well.
"Yes,he's the one that decided to hitch a ride on me during that one rescue mission."
"Oh yeah,I remember hearing about that story."
"Well this is him. This is the little body snatcher." Says Shadow. "And yet,by the looks of it,any exposure with any power within him is too much for him to handle."
"You think so?"
"Well he commented on how even his own powers make him sick."
"Something isn't right though,why is he here?"
"Y-you-were-r-right." They look down as his low muttering becomes understandable. "Y-you-were-r-right. Y-you-were-r-right. Y-you-were-r-right. Y-you-were-r-right."
"Right about what?" Asks Rouge,only to hear him repeat his muttering. "Alright,we need to call someone." She says,now pulling out her cellphone.
Pushing away her cellphone,Shadow says,"Wait."
"And why so Shadow? Surly you're not that cruel."
Seeing a slight glimmer of a golden ring clutched in the kid's hands,Shadow says,"I've been through his mind,I've heard and seen everything. We can't get him help,he's running. Currently running under the system."
"So..what? We're going to let him continue?" Asks Rouge. "That's taking a chunk out of both of our paychecks."
"Lets just see how far he can run."
"Hmm,fine by me...but not that I have a problem with this or anything,but why are you doing this? Why do you care to see how far he can go?"
"..I don't know actually." Shadow admits. "He's just an angry kid...lets see how far anger can go without failing."
"Hmhm." Rouge,silently laughs to herself.
"What?"
"Coming from the person who nearly chose to destroy this planet..you know EXACTLY how far anger can go." She points out.
"Yes."
8-8-13
Hello everyone who might actually still be reading this and actually survived through the first chapter! Is it going ok so far? Because I've come to understand that...people don't really like fan characters,and I get. I get where your logic is coming from,I understand...fan characters tend to be...not that great. SO,I've done my best to make sure that my fan character for this story isn't a bad fan character. I'm trying not to drag out his tragic back story,he's moving on to focus on his mission. Also,I'm taking cautions to make sure he's not a Mary-su,he's not perfectly or outrageously awesome. Just because he has powers doesn't mean he's deemed to be a sucky fan character,I mean lets all look back to Silver,although not a fan character,the person who made him,gave him powers. Silver has some pretty cool powers and he's not a bad character..(unless you're a Silver hater,then there's just NO pleasing you.)
But anyways,I'm keeping all of the above in mind. And I'm doing ok..right?
RIGHT? =\