Chapter Revised [x]

(Shadow's POV)

After three long miserable days, the Egg Carrier finally broke through Tragaria's orbit. Surprisingly, it took us longer to get there than it did to get to Earth. We must have gone far. And I mean far.

Rachel and I had avoided each other at all costs up until this point. Bokkun had escorted her out of her room earlier and brought her here with me and Eggman. The moment I saw her, that near unbearable tension between us resurfaced.

We were currently waiting in the control room for the aircraft to land. Dr. Eggman was at the controls, steering his way into the foreign planet's dense atmosphere. And Rachel was standing alongside of me, head turned the other way the other way. Her chin then cocked forward, her gaze firmly pressed on the Doctor who was working his fingers away at the keyboard. Through the uncaring exterior, something about the way she was bouncing on her heels suggested she felt antsy for whatever reason. She appeared to be more interested in this mission than she should've been, or at least for someone who was being brought along as punishment. She wasn't completely eager, but again, I could detect a look of impatience, and nervousness on her face. I tried to not look at her altogether, but for some reason it was difficult.

While I stood there quietly trying to decode her thoughts, Bokkun was whining in the background, tormenting the Doctor like a spoiled child. He begged him to be allowed to tag along with us three.

"Please Dr. Robotnik! Please! Please let me go with you guys! I'll be good, I promise! Please! Please! Pleeeease!"

Dr. Eggman glared at him. "For the last time, NO! I've told you time and time again, you're my messenger! You're lucky that I promoted you to Rachel's food and water deliverer, but it's only because you were worthless to begin with. You have absolutely no business going on missions with us! If I need any help, I will use my fighter robots, not you!"

Bokkun stared back at him with a trembling bottom lip and watery eyes. "B-But I wanted to get out of this place and see another planet. A-A-And it gets lonesome here..."

The Doctor scraped his thumb and index finger together. "Aww. You hear that, Bokkun? I'm playing the world's smallest violin. It's to show that I truly feel your pain..."

Now the little messenger was bawling uncontrollably. "No you don't! You don't care about me at all! You never cared about me! You were nicer to Decoe and Bocoe when they were still around. But no, not me! I've met toasters with more sympathy than you!" He then covered his eyes with his hands. "Wahahaha! It sucks being me sometimes, Doctor!"

Besides his crying and moping, nobody said anything else. But, if I'm not mistaken, I could've sworn I saw the corner of Rachel's mouth curve into a side smile. She seemed amused, but didn't express it very much. I guessed it was because Bokkun was always working her last nerve, mocking her when he delivered food and whatnot. Maybe seeing him whine and cry and still not get his way gave her some feeling of justice. I couldn't help but find this sort of reaction from her extremely rare. Even if it was something small, I figured I would never find her even remotely happy here.

I inwardly shrugged to myself. Oh well. She can be happy or unhappy all she wants. It's not my problem.

Dr. Eggman finally steered our way completely through the atmosphere. I could hear the wind outside whipping against the walls, whistling as it rushed passed us. There were no windows for us to look out of, since he had them shielded off for some reason. Eggman was guiding us through a camera programmed on a screen in the computer system. Therefore, I couldn't look outside for myself.

After what felt like mere seconds, we felt the whole aircraft make rough contact with ground, causing me and Rachel to stumble. But we caught our balance just as quickly. Rachel furrowed her eyebrows. "We're already here? That was a quick landing," she said confusedly.

Dr. Eggman ignored her. "Oh ho ho ho!" he laughed, spinning around and hopping out of his chair. "This is interesting! I've never visited this planet, nor this galaxy before. Now, what do you say Team? Let's go get that Chaos Emerald! To the hovercraft!"

In contrast to his sudden burst of energy, we both obeyed without a change in expression and silently followed him out of the control room and down to the robotics room, where he kept his hovercraft stationed. Bokkun continued crying and calling after the Doctor with petty insults until he was out of earshot.

With Rachel and I, the tension and discomfort between us grew with every step we took. She was even slightly leaning away from me.

I rolled my eyes. She definitely was Abraham's granddaughter. I could tell by every last one of her mannerisms.

I just wanted to get this mission over with and retrieve the Chaos Emerald, so that I was no longer stuck with her and could resume being on my own like always.

(Rachel's POV)

(Approximately 10 minutes later)

"Aw, my precious baby...it's been far too long" Dr. Eggman cooed, polishing the side of his rounded hovercraft with his forearm. He quickly placed himself inside and took a seat on the far left side, gesturing for me and Shadow to get inside as well. "Quickly you two, there's no time to waste. Get in and use whatever space you have left over to sit."

I examined the hovercraft carefully. The whole thing was more than big enough to fit three people. Well, big enough to fit three normal sized people. But with Dr. Eggman on board, I could tell this would be a bit of a squeeze. I chose not to complain out loud, but inside I was cursing myself over and over.

Yay, I get to be smooshed up against my favorite people in the world...

Shadow got in first, and then scooted over so I would have some room to sit. Even though I was relieved for not having to be right smack dab in the middle, I noticed that he seemed to intentionally leave a not so generous amount of space. I frowned and slipped inside next to him, trying my hardest not to come into contact with anything but the cushions. But after the automatic door closed next to me, I ended up getting shoved against him anyway.

I looked over slightly and saw that Shadow's arm and my arm were completely pressed together. A strange feeling was occurring between our touch. Almost like a small electric twinge. These seemed to happen quite frequently when I came into physical contact with him. But I disregarded it.

I squirmed uncomfortably, attempting to scoot away from him as far as possible, but of course to no prevail.

"Just stop moving," he growled under his breath.

I ceased my actions and turned around with a heavy glare, ready to retort with some smartass comment. It was already in my nature to instantly be cold towards him. I couldn't help it. That's how he was with me from the start! But then after looking, I realized how close we really were. With both of our eyes on one another, our faces were merely inches apart. His crimson irises burned brightly.

I scowled and turned away in disgust, but also felt a little heat tinting my face. I didn't like having this closeness with him at all.

"Gee, my bad," I stated with false endearment, crossing my arms. He made a small 'tuh' sound, and then nothing else was said. Dr. Eggman didn't bother to comment and revved up the hovercraft so that it began to, well, hover. I then forgot about me and Shadow's quarrel and my mood started to climb north.

I had to admit, getting a ride in a hovercraft WAS pretty cool.

He began slowly driving it out of the robotics room until we were gliding down the long, empty halls at a smooth speed. He gradually went faster, making my stomach tickle. We reached the end of the Carrier where the main door was. It automatically slid upwards and open for us.

As soon as the opening door had lifted far enough to fit under, the Doctor rode us out into what appeared to be a some dark, overshadowed environment.

Tragaria.

I closed my eyes hesitantly; a little scared of what was about to happen. I'd been fantasizing about this trip for a while, but the only part that stuck with me was that I had to stay with Shadow. Now that it was happening for real, a million worries were clouding my mind.

This was a completely different planet! What if the air here wasn't suitable for a human like me to breathe? What if the oxygen wasn't dense enough, and I suffocated… if oxygen even existed here! What if a strange chemical was lingering through the atmosphere, and as soon as it made contact with me, I would shrivel up and die, or mutate and become radioactive like those bad guys in comics after they fall into toxic waste dumps.

For being a generally cautious person, I couldn't believe I hadn't realized this sooner.

This was dangerous.

I shut my eyes, thinking that if I didn't see anything, then nothing could hurt me.

But then a small memory replaced all my thoughts.

A memory that I shared with my father.

(Flashback)

(8 years ago)

"This is too high, Daddy, TOO high" I complained lightly, looking over the edge of our rollercoaster cart. After seeing how high we really were, I swallowed nervously and felt my eyes glaze with frightened tears.

I quickly shut them, feeling like if I didn't see anything, the fear would disappear altogether.

We were at Twinkle Park, riding the scariest ride there. Codename, The Cobra. It was a red and gold rollercoaster that had a sharp drop and two loops. We'd just gotten on and had gone trailing up the large arch that led to the first drop, now resting at the peak. Earlier I was feeling brave. Even in the line, my dad and I were both pumped up and ready to go on, since Mom had to stay back with the twins being they were too young. It was just him and I, like old times, and I liked that. But now I didn't want to go through with this. I was going to die. I just knew it.

My father put his arm around me comfortingly, laughing gently like he had expected this to happen. "Don't close your eyes, Rachel. Keep them open. Get a load of the view."

I shook my head childishly. "No no no! It's too scary!"

He nudged my shoulder. "No really, look. Station Square looks beautiful from way up here. If you don't look now, you'll really be wishing you had later."

I hesitated and then opened my eyes with a pout, shifting them to the side and taking in the city before me. My frown gradually upturned into a smile.

The city lights were glittering like iridescent diamonds, and the sight instantly made my heart warm. The sky was a deep, dark, rich turquoise color, since the sun had already sunk and evening was setting it. The usual happy and dancy theme park music was playing beneath us, adding to the moment. He was right. It was beautiful.

Dad looked at me with a smile. "See? What'd I tell you? I bet if you look hard enough, you'll even see Sonic the Hedgehog running around town too! Just look out for a speeding blur of blue!"

I giggled at the sound of my hero's name and trademark.

"Now you know not to close your eyes, sweetie," Dad said. "You don't want to miss anything that you'll regret later. Not even when we go on the loops. When we go upside down, look back towards the city. You'll see all the buildings upside down, hanging over the sky like a chandelier. I do it whenever I ride this. It gets better and better each time!"

I sighed and nodded in obedience. I kept my eyes open the entire time. Throughout the ride, my stomach did many jolts that legitimately scared me, but I slowly came to like the feeling. Instead of screaming my head off, I ended up laughing loudly with him as my pigtails whipped around through every sharp turn, drop, swirl, and loop.

I kept my eyes open the entire time, just like he asked.

And I feel like if I hadn't I would've regretted it.

(End of Flashback)

Such a random memory.

This isn't a rollercoaster ride though, Rachel. This is reality. Your strange, science-fiction turned reality. You're on an alien planet. This is a matter of life or death. Don't you get that?

But then something occurred to me. Closing my eyes wouldn't make a difference. If I had closed them on the rollercoaster with my dad, I would've still felt the same lurching feeling in my stomach, but it would've happened without seeing the view, and that was my favorite part of the whole ride.

Come on. If you do die, don't you want to at least see what this place looks like first?

I slowly lifted my head and opened my eyes. My lips parted unintentionally and a gasp escaped my throat.

Once again, I was glad that I didn't hide my eyes. This place wasn't scary. It was amazing.

There had to be some sort of living creatures here, because in front of us was a long, endless city full of cascading buildings, coated in a mirrored consistency that reflected the rainbow colored stars in the night sky. The buildings themselves seemed to descend forever, like there was no ground here, but rather a black obsidian. I caught sight of small vehicles zipping through the air on invisible paths. They all looked the same, each sporting the same shiny silver color. They must have been flying cars or something of the sort.

All the buildings had windows with white lights piercing outwards from them. Some were bright, others were dimmed. And then some faded on and off.

Instead of horns blaring and annoying sirens being the soundtrack of the city, there was calm whooshing from the flying cars, and what sounded like little bells ringing in the distance. Instead of people shouting and crying out at each other, there was soft laughter and gentle chatter heard by the people sitting outside the buildings on triangular shaped balconies.

I took a deep breath, admiring this surreal beauty.

Wait, what? Breath? I can breathe...? Effing yes!

So I wouldn't die. I could enjoy this place to my heart's content.

"It's really beautiful..." I sighed in wonder, unable to peel my gaze off the mesmerizing view.

Dr. Eggman continued steering the hovercraft without looking at me. "Yes. It is rather nice here, I'll admit. But remember, we're not here as vacationing tourists. Our top priority is getting the Chaos Emerald and then leaving immediately."

I paid no attention to him. If he wanted to be a killjoy, then by all means let him be the naggy elder. But I on the other hand wanted to enjoy this. I knew I would never see this place again for as long as I lived. So what was wrong with letting it soak in?

He spoke again. "Now listen, you two. My trackers have discovered the location of the Chaos Emerald. I picked up its signal with surprising ease, because it's being used to efficiently power something in the city. That means the Ambassador here more than likely won't hand it over willingly to us. However, we've prepared ourselves for that. It's on the roof of the tallest building here, inside a capsule that's being guarded by security. The guards are not directly surrounding it. They reside in lower regions, I'm guessing due to the thin air at the top. You can breathe up there, but not for a long amount of time. I need you to break the capsule once you get up there, Shadow, then take the Emerald, and proceed with using Chaos Control to get back to the Carrier. I'll go try to find the authorities and distract them just for safety's sake."

I raised an eyebrow. "Woah, okay slow down. So are you saying I should go with you, Eggman?" I asked him cautiously. "It sounds like you have the plan all worked out, and I don't see how I could benefit anything from accompanying Shadow."

I was almost hoping that he would ask me to go with him. I didn't want to get caught up in the action of Shadow stealing the Chaos Emerald. My little precious heart could only take so much!

But in all seriousness, as much as I hated Dr. Eggman, I hated Shadow more.

Shadow instantly jumped in. "Not a chance on your life, kid. As much as I would prefer to do this alone, a deal is a deal. You are coming with me and that's all there is to it," he remarked as if it was a threat.

I cowered away. Sheesh, when was he suddenly on board with dragging me along everywhere?

Dr. Eggman only nodded. "Exactly my thoughts. Stole the words right out of my mouth. Sorry, little girl. No ifs, ands, or buts."

I sighed and dropped my head in defeat.

He then looked back towards the city of Tragaria, suddenly pointing out at something.

"Look there! That must be the building where the Chaos Emerald is!"

Shadow and I both looked in the direction he was jutting his finger at. I instantly knew which building he was referring to after locking eyes with it. It was about twice the size of a regular skyscraper on Earth, and even from our high viewpoint we had to tilt our necks to see the top. The tip of it was a needle stabbing upwards and pricking the stars. But instead of being smooth and circular, it was blunter and curled over in a twisted formation like some kind of vine.

There were many strobe lights shining off of it, dancing at all angles between the layered buildings of the city like spotlights on a colossal dance floor. Once again, I took in the beautiful sight.

This was like a city of dreams.

My thoughts came to a screeching halt when I felt a hand grab me by my arm. Anger quickly washed out the astonishment on my face as I looked up at the owner of the hand. Shadow glared back at me.

"Time to go."

He held up the red Chaos Emerald with his free hand, hardening his eyes. "Chaos Control!"

The familiar white light blanked out the gorgeous surroundings. A wave of dizziness crashed over me, causing me to see double for a second. But my vision quickly stilled when the whiteness faded and I found myself even higher than before.

My lungs clenched slightly from the thin air as I peered down and saw that we were now overlooking the city from miles high. Above us, the sky was so close I thought I reach up and dip my fingers into it.

I knew we were actually here, on top of the same building we were looking at earlier.

Shadow squeezed my arm, sending a shockwave spark to get my attention before letting go. I huffed and looked back at him. He made a quick swiping motion towards his mouth, basically telling me to keep my mouth shut and not say or make a single sound, and that included huffing. I gave him one stiff nod, almost insulted that he thought I was dumb enough to bring that much attention to us when there were supposedly security guards not too far away.

Wait, there were guards, now that I remembered. They were directly below us, weren't they.

I quickly took a few baby steps towards the edge of the building, carefully looking all the way over. There was no rail bordering the rooftop, I guess because the inhabitants here didn't expect anyone to be waltzing about on top of this building to begin with. Maybe that's why it was so high too. All I had to do was take a step one millimeter too far and I would soon be plummeting to my death.

My dark hair hung around my face as I looked down. Beneath me, I could see the guards, covered in shingles and chained armor, with lit up spectrums of colors decorating the attire from head to toe in a robotic fashion. But they weren't robots, because they were moving like living people would, gently swaying and fidgeting as they turned their heads in all directions, looking out for someone that would dare be stupid enough to cross them and try getting on this blasted building. I couldn't see their faces due to the vertical angle, but I could make out what looked like some sort of elongated guns placed in their metal-shielded hands. One of the guards looked down at his and held down the trigger in a supposed test run. Blue sparks of electricity bloomed at the tip of the gun, swirling around themselves as they hissed and popped. He then moved his finger away and let the sparks die down.

I stared at the weapons curiously. Were they tasers? Taser guns? Did they stun a person upon contact or kill them?

I knew one thing for sure. I certainly did not want to find out.

I felt Shadow's fingers grab me by the back of my shirt and pull me away from the edge. As soon as I turned around to frown at him, he released me and walked over to a large ovular glass container. My eyes followed him and widened.

It was the capsule with the Chaos Emerald inside.

The Emerald was inside, glowing with blue, radiating depths. Parts of it glistened in lighter tints, and when the lights hit it, it sparkled from the center.

As soon as I saw it, the same feeling that I got from seeing the red one slowly coursed inside of me. That strange connection of power. It made my heart flutter.

I almost brought it to Shadow's attention, but remembered that I wasn't allowed to speak anyway. Besides, why should I confide in him? He was Shadow the Hedgehog for crying out loud.

Shadow raised his fist above the capsule, ready to punch it. His blood-red eyes darted back to meet mine for a moment, and he gave a slight nod. If actions could speak, the words I was picking up from him were, 'Don't get in my way and get ready to run. There's no turning back after this.'

I nodded back towards him to show I would cooperate, for the sake of my own life of course. And without further adieu, he rammed his fist into the glass, shattering it into a dust consistency.

The sound of the glass disintegrating under his touch was so loud, it caused me to jump and bite back a squeal. I then came to a realization.

'Get ready to run' Right?

But run where? I'm on top of a damn building!

But it was too late.

All hell broke loose.

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(A/N) Wow, this was a hard chapter to write. I've never made any thing science fictiony. Nothing extremely interesting happened in it, but believe me I will make up for that with the next chapter. Sorry for taking so long to update. School started Monday -.- Blahh. But it's all good because I was reunited with all my good friends. And one of them is hilarious and won't stop quoting Mean Girls.

"She doesn't even go here!"

I wish everyone who has just started school good luck. No matter what grade you're in, I hope you have a good year :) Peace and blessings.

Review!