A/N: So . . . thank you, ABCSKW for the idea. I guess sleep won't be happening tonight. Everyone else, read and review, and you'll see what I mean after reading.
Knuckles blinked in the bright sunlight. The morning sun shone directly in his eyes as he sat up.
"Ohh, what happened?" he mumbled. Sonic stood over him and put his hands on his hips.
"I was being generous and decided to give you the day shift," he replied. "Once you dozed off, we thought that we would let you and Gabe sleep while Peter and Team Dark and I take the night shift. Now you and Gabriel can stay up while we all nap."
Knuckles blinked confusedly.
"Okay . . ." he mumbled again, still recovering from the few hours' sleep he had.
Rouge swung her legs from the roof of the house. She felt only a little tired from being awake all night, but didn't let the feeling crush her enthusiasm.
"Hmm hmm hmm . . ." she hummed, still feeling bored. "Hey, tin man, how're you holding up there?" she called to Omega. The big robot looked up at her with red unblinking eyes and tapped his fingers together.
"I am not currently in sleep mode, if that's what you mean," the robot responded monotonously. Rouge nodded her approval.
"Of course not; you're tougher than that. Shadow, how about you?"
Shadow replied with a "hmph". Rouge shrugged.
"Well, I'm glad to hear it," she retorted.
Gabriel yawned and stretched out his arms. He felt a slight tickle on his shoulder, and when he inspected it with tired eyes, he registered in his mind that there was a spider crawling on his arm. With a slight jump, Gabriel brushed it off frantically.
"The best way to start the day!" Sonic said, stifling a laugh. Gabriel chuckled.
"Thanks, you little rat."
Sonic flashed a grin, beaming.
"Aww, you're too kind," he said.
The door of the house closed with a slam. Mrs. Charis came rushing out with a tray of eggs and toast.
"Good morning, boys!" she cried, happy that the night seemed to pass without any sort of problem. "How are you today?"
"Tired," mumbled Gabriel.
"Great!" Sonic exclaimed.
"Ehh . . ." replied Knuckles, too tired for words. Mrs. Charis chuckled.
"Well, I'm glad no one's . . . oh, wait, where's Shadow and Rouge?"
"Here, ma'am!"
Rouge lowered herself to the ground as Shadow sped over with his air shoes. Mrs. Charis smiled, relieved and happy to see that everyone was present. The boys started digging in to the food while Peter gave his wife a "good morning" kiss. Once his wife urged him to eat, Peter joined the Mobians and his son in breakfast. Rouge left the group after having difficulty trying to escape the crowd of hungry men.
"Whew," she breathed after escaping with a single slice of toast, "men."
Mrs. Charis chuckled.
"You're a tough girl," she said, "and I'm sure you'll do great out here."
"Well, I can try, hon. I've been missing out on quite a bit of action lately, and I guess I want to be out here so I can get my dose of action in."
Mrs. Charis smiled.
"Tough indeed," she said.
Rouge took a bite out of her toast, gingerly chewing it so she could savor the food, considering the men had probably taken the rest of the food.
"Oh, by the way . . ." she started to say with her mouth full, "a friend of ours dropped in last night. I hope you don't mind."
Mrs. Charis frowned, suspicious.
"A . . . friend of yours?"
Rouge nodded.
"Yeah," she murmured with a full mouth, "if you see a huge robot wandering around and clomping around the grass, don't worry. He's not a threat."
Mrs. Charis kept a wary eye on Rouge, obviously still nervous about meeting this "friend" of theirs. She didn't bring up the matter and waited patiently until the men had finished with their breakfasts. In the next minute, the tray had been completely emptied, leaving nothing but crumbs and tiny bits of eggs. Knuckles let out a loud belch.
"Heh . . ." he chuckled embarrassingly, "Excuse me."
Rouge gave him a scowl while Sonic laughed out loud.
The loud and constant stomping returned, leaving the Charises paralyzed. Mrs. Charis had a good idea of who it was, and turned to the side of the house to see what was coming.
Omega emerged from behind the house, stomping towards the garage.
"Greetings."
Mrs. Charis opened her mouth as if to say something, and then closed it. After all, what does one say when she meets a robot?
Rouge flew over to the robot, trying to break the awkward silence.
"Hey big guy!" she said, "Sorry, we ate all of the food. Hope you don't mind."
"I do not mind at all."
The robot didn't say another word. He simply stood there while the silence commenced again. Sonic cleared his throat and tried to get things moving.
"Well, I'm going to start the watch again," he said. "Thanks for the breakfast, Mrs. Charis."
"It's no problem, honey," she replied. "I wish you all luck. Please be careful today, and don't let your guards down," she addressed to everyone. With another quick hug and a kiss for her son and husband, Mrs. Charis disappeared back into the house.
The sunlight of the day didn't last long. After about an hour of the watch, dark clouds formed over the house and started to rumble. Lightning flashed a few times, foreshadowing the coming of another storm.
Team Dark sat on their side of the house, bored and still barely tired. Well, all except Rouge, who yawned numerous times.
"You guys want to take the night shift tonight?" she asked, stifling a yawn. Shadow shrugged and Omega uttered a simple and mechanical,
"I have no problem with that."
Silence was a key element that morning. No one really spoke to each other, and no one really had anything to say.
Until the pulses happened.
Shadow and Omega both shuddered or flinched at the same time, startling the bat.
"Hey, what's happening?" she asked, confused.
Another spasm from both of them. Shadow clenched his teeth as if her were in pain, while Omega had small pauses and sputtering sounds coming from his interior. Rouge cautiously stepped over to them and inquired softly what was going on.
"Some strange . . . Chaos Pulses . . ." Shadow mumbled, still shuddering from whatever it was that had sent him into this state. Rouge looked at Omega, who was beginning to let off slight electronic sparks from his exterior.
"But . . . how? Where are they coming from?" she gasped, trying to locate any source of the energy nearby.
Shadow groaned and then spazzed again, jerking his arms around in pain, as though he were having a seizure.
"This isn't . . . natural . . ." he breathed, trying to tough out the pain, "someone is messing—ahh!"
The sudden cry caused Rouge to retreat back in partial terror. Shadow's body began to glow with an eerie greenish tint. Omega's did the same and his eyes turned green as well.
Shadow collapsed to the ground, grunting in pain and trying his hardest not to scream.
"They're trying to . . . make their own . . . Chaos Portal," he said through the pulses. When he looked up, his eyes were also illuminated with green.
Rouge gasped and jumped backwards, now stiff with fear.
"Guys?" she said, with a slight quiver in her voice.
Shadow and Omega both looked at the bat with zombified eyes. The pulses again sent them into spasms, and became more frequent. Shadow let out low moans and Omega sputtered more. Rouge watched as both of them trembled from the force of the energy and became somewhat possessed by it. She tried very hard to breathe and think.
"Okay, they're definitely messing up the Chaos Energy field," she thought, "and it's affecting these two. The pulses are causing their systems to fail, and is throwing them into seizures and possible possession!"
She made her conclusion with a terrifying note.
The pulses stopped briefly, leaving Shadow and Omega about to return to their natural state. But just as Rouge approached Shadow, they started again and Shadow grasped the bat's shoulders and yelled out loud. The yell was so terrifyingly unrealistic and agonized that Rouge's reflexes got the best of her as she kicked Shadow in the legs with a frantic yell and broke free of his grip. Shadow fell to the ground and stared straight up into the darkening sky with a dead look in his eyes. Rouge turned her gaze to Omega, whose metal body was hunched over, and the head turned with a creaking and sputtering sound to stare at the bat.
"Where the hell is this coming from?!" she cried hysterically as Shadow looked at her with the same gaze as Omega.
A long pulse followed. Shadow screamed again and covered his face with his gloved hands. Omega lifted his metallic claws and, since he couldn't scream, repeatedly stated,
"ERROR. ERROR."
Shadow's screaming continued, until his entire body shivered uncontrollably and eventually, it fell completely rigid. Omega's followed the same pattern and he, too, collapsed.
Rouge inhaled and exhaled slowly. She almost ran away, but she was too dignified of a woman to do such a thing. Instead, the bat prodded at Shadow's head until he groaned and opened his eyes again.
"Uhh . . ." he moaned.
Rouge jumped into a fighting stance. Upon closer inspection, the bat realized that Shadow's eyes had returned to their normal blood-red color, as did Omega's.
Both of them stood up with wobbly legs and looked at Rouge's panicked expression with curiosity.
"Why the staring?" Shadow inquired sincerely yet annoyed.
Rouge widened her eyes and watched as the sky opened up and became completely sunny again.
A/N: So ABCSKW suggested that I listen to Mephiles' theme while writing this chapter so I could produce something creepy. Needless to say, I listened to a full half hour of that song and I think I succeeded in creating something somewhat potentially terrifying. O_o Aaaaaand now I have Mephiles' Whisper stuck in my head.