Shadow Saves Them All
Chapter 12
Hello all, I've been off the story for a little bit to focus on other things for a little while, but don't worry! This story will keep on trucking! Anyway, I've been getting into a very interesting idea, I find it very easy to write and read stories when I listen to music that fits the situations the stories have. So I figured I'd try an experiment. If you guys want to, put on a specific song while reading I feel it enhances the experience. You don't have to if you don't want to but I think it really adds something to the storytelling. But that's just me. :) Anyway, the song for this one is 'Digital Root' from '9hours 9 persons 9 doors' love that game! Anyway, put on that song when it says (Now) if you guys want to. Enjoy. :) Sincerely: RoyMcCoy
It was lunchtime in station Square on Christmas Eve, our heroes Sonic, Shadow, Silver, and Dylan were all stopping for a bite to eat after the incredible events that transpired the night before. Shadow, and Dylan had both collected the seven Chaos emeralds and stopped Dr. Eggmans evil plan to destroy Santa's workshop and saved Christmas! And all before breakfast!
The four heroes had stopped at a cozy diner as the snow started to fall a little harder. The three hedgehogs stepped inside with snow in their quills and fur, while Dylan's clothes were covered in a generous amount of snow as well. They brushed themselves off while they were being shown to their table. It was a nice four person booth, Sonic sat on the left side with Dylan, while Silver and Shadow sat across from them.
"Whew!" Sonic said sitting down in relief as the waitress left to get some menus.
"Eggheads been taken down, so now we can sit back and relax for the rest of the holiday season!" Sonic put his hands behind his head and sat back. The entire diner was filled with Christmas decorations and there was even a Christmas tree outside in the parking lot.
"Order anything you want guys, I'll cover the bill," Dylan said. Sonic sat up and looked at Dylan and asked;
"About that, how come you always have so much money?" The thought was pretty interesting. Every time Dylan was in town he would go out to eat with everyone before he left, and he could always cover the expenses, no matter how great. Dylan reached into his pocket and pulled out a large rectangular device and placed it on the table, everybody stared at it.
"It looks like a trap from Ghostbusters," Silver said pointing to it.
"That's what I was going for!" Dylan said, happy that Silver was able to guess it.
"This device can register the currency of any universe I enter, and it can create an unlimited amount of legitimate U.S. dollars. I knew I would need it so I made it myself!" he pressed a few buttons on the device and then the top part opened up and out popped a twenty dollar bill. Shadow grabbed it and held it up to the light, the watermark was easy to see. It wasn't counterfeit. He tossed the dollar back to Dylan and he grabbed it and put it in his pocket. The waitress came over with menus and placed them on the table. She pulled out a notepad and pen and asked; "Can I get you gentlemen started with some drinks?"
"I'll have a Sprite please," Silver said opening his menu.
"Coca Cola please," Shadow said casually.
"Mountain Dew please," Sonic said.
"Root beer please," Dylan said opening his menu.
"Okay then I'll put those right in for you!" the waitress said smiling and walking away.
(Now)
Dylan was about to speak more about his device when he spotted someone across the diner. He had just walked in and had dark black hair with solid brown eyes. He was dressed in a metal armor and sat down at the counter, ordering a coffee. Dylan looked at him suspiciously.
"What is he doing here?" Dylan thought to himself.
"You guys stay here, I'll be back in a little bit," Dylan said getting up. Sonic got up and said; "I'm coming with you," Dylan was about to speak, but Sonics face told him he wasn't going to be swayed. Shadow stood up out of his seat and said;
"No Sonic! Don't go!" Sonic looked over at him and said; "You'll be fine," the two of them started walking away as Shadow kept saying; No! Wait, please! Don't me here!" They were gone. Shadow slowly and angrily looked over his shoulder to a cheery Silver asking; "What's up Shadow?"
"Must… not… kill…" Shadow kept thinking over and over as Silver tried to speak to him.
Dylan walked over to the man in armor as he sipped his coffee, with Sonic following behind him. The man noticed Dylan approaching with Sonic and put down his coffee, he looked at Dylan with cocky anticipation, like Dylan had done something wrong, and the man knew what it was, and was all too eager to tell him.
"John," Dylan said to the man sternly. The man stood up and smiled cockily saying; "Well hello my little friend! What's it been? Two months?" Dylan stopped him.
"Not long enough. What are you doing here? I thought I told you, I've got things under control in this world,"
"Well apparently not," John said uninterested. "Command says you still haven't fixed the interference," This took Dylan by surprise.
"That's not right," Dylan began to say. "I finished the mission just this morning! 6:30 A.M. Christmas eve morning on the dot!" John was not impressed.
"Well, whatever you did, or didn't do, you didn't fix it,"
"Tell command I'll figure out whatever it is and act immediately!" Dylan said, trying desperately to get John off his back.
"That's not enough anymore," John said more seriously. A suddenly eerie feeling swept over Dylan and Sonic as Sonic spoke.
"What do you…mean?"
"I mean, things are getting pretty serious, Hedgehog," John said.
"I…" before Dylan could speak john continued.
"Power shifts in favor of the villains call for extreme measures, especially in this universe. We send in peaceful agents like you to fix the problem the old fashioned way, but when your time is up, it's my turn," John said putting on an evil grin. The seriousness and the eeriness settled in for a moment until Dylan spoke.
"How much time do I have left to complete the mission?" he said with his head down. John finished his coffee and began to walk out the door.
"You've got twelve hours," he lifted up his left sleeve pointing to his watch, it was exactly 12:00 noon. He turned around to face Sonic and Dylan.
"But remember Dylan," he put on an even more dastardly and distorted smile.
"This is your last chance," he exited the diner and left their sight. Dylan stood there for a moment, stone cold. He turned around and started walking back to the booth. Sonic turned away from looking for the man and ran back to Dylan.
"What was that all about?" Sonic asked.
"It's… It's nothing," Dylan said in a dark tone.
"If it was nothing you would've told me about it," Sonic said. Dylan sat back down in his seat, ignoring Shadow who was about to beat the life out of Silver. They both looked over at Dylan and wondered why he was so gloomy. Sonic sat back down next to him and asked once again;
"What's going on here?"
"…" Silver and Shadow sat back down.
"…" They all looked intently at him until finally he spoke.
"Fine," just before he could speak a waitress come over to the table with food.
"Wha? When did we order?" Dylan asked astonished.
"The waitress came over and asked for our orders, so we just ordered for you guys," Silver said. It wasn't really hard to guess what Sonics favorite food was, and Dylan would eat just about anything. Silver got a filet o' fish with fries. Shadow started eating his Steak with potatoes. Sonic stared in wonderment at his four Chili dogs. Dylan got a meatball sub with fries. As they ate, Dylan decided to tell them his story.
"I work for a group of people who work to keep the power in each and every universe in balance between good and evil. I am part of the first task force. We all undergo incredible training to gain great strength and speed, as well as intelligence. I am sent as the first member of a pair of people in a team. I'm the peaceful agent who tries to solve the problem using the help of the worlds inhabitants as well as my own abilities. John however, is trained to be much more… ruthless than myself. If I cannot complete my mission in the allotted time then the universe is considered a hostile threat towards itself and then John, or the second person, takes serious action. He commands a large legion of killer robotic humans and dogs, they are trained to kill anyone, as in, no one is spared. Women, children, no one…"
Shadow stopped eating and his head began to hurt. Why did this sound so familiar? Was it… the dream? He remembered the dogs paw turning into shrapnel and the robots hand interchanging for a nail gun… it gave him shivers. The graphic images flashed through his mind… would that gruesome dream become… reality?
"My job at this point is simple, figure out what the timeline interference is by midnight tonight, or everyone here is going to be in serious jeopardy," Dylan said finishing his story, and his meal. Everyone was silent, the chattering of the people around them was drowned out by the eeriness of the situation. Eventually everyone finished eating and they waitress gave them the check. They paid and exited the diner.
Dylan stopped everyone before they could run off. "Listen, we should all get some rest. I'd say we all sleep until 5:30 P.M. okay," everyone was surprised.
"But, that's five and a half hours that we lose from the time!" Sonic said.
"Well we need our rest! We can't do anything if we're exhausted! You guys telling me that you're all not tired?" No one spoke, they were all actually quite tired, Silver and Sonic got practically no sleep in the hospital and Shadow and Dylan were up all night looking for Chaos emeralds and fighting robots. Unless you count Shadows cat nap with the horror dream. Everyone agreed and nodded their heads.
"Okay then, we'll meet back here at 6:00 then. We'll grab something to eat on the way out of town and then we're gone!" Dylan said beginning to sprint off for Creams house.
"Wait a minute!" Sonic said running in front of him to stop him.
"Where are we going?" Silver and Shadow both looked at him.
"Isn't it obvious?' Dylan said smirking. "The North Pole of course!"