Blue Kaous: Thanks! :D And yes, of course they do. It's why we love 'em. ;) As for checking out stories...unfortunately, I get requests like that a lot, but maybe if we find the time. Thanks for reviewing!
kharmachaos: (bows) Thank you. It's what we do. XD A perambulator is one of those contraptions old people use to balance while walking - and yes, the additional I and N are there, but on purpose - infininity is fun to say. :P And heh, giving us two months to update? (laughs) that sounds like somebody knows about our writing rhythms - and lookit, it's on time! ;) Thanks for the comment!
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StaminaRose: Wow, MegaReview, thanks! And yup, that sums Shadow about up. We both have quite a bit of experience writing him, so giving him new stuff to do while staying faithful to his personality is always fun. :) As for how many genres we can juggle - hey, this fic's got two authors who're specialists for different things, so I think we'll be able to surprise you. ;)
nemiah: (bows) Thank you. We'll be mentally flattered. ;) And hey, cliffies are the most fun thing about fanfic there is... :P
janiemanie1993: Answer: Nothing! (great smile) And yes, confusing both hedgies and readers IS a fun thing to do...thanks for the review! ;)
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MegaHog14: Hmm, is he indeed...? The new chapter might tell. And hey, probably not only a muzzle, but I'm thinking an anvil. Thanks for commenting!
Greyfore: Yeah, I like that line as well. That was pretty much perfect synthesis of ideas.^^
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Chapter Three: When Darkness Falls
"That isn't me."
Every word sounded like it was ground to gun powder as it came through Shadow's tightly clenched teeth. Tails was staring at him as though he expected the winged hedgehog to flip out and kill everybody at any moment.
Sonic licked his lips. "So...any idea who it could be, Shads?" he asked, also privately wondering if Shadow now knew how he had felt when the Ultimate Lifeform had first shown up – identity theft was no fun at all.
Of course, the question here also was who really was the real Shadow. Was it the one who actually looked like it, or… ? Sonic's eyes briefly flitted over Shadow's form, saw the taloned fists clenched with suppressed rage and knew he had already made up his mind. Shadow's eyes were filled with that burning fury he'd already witnessed before, and then there had been that moment when Sonic had found him, curled up and shivering – and Sonic was sure no clone could have faked that brief flash of fear and pain he'd seen on his face before Shadow could hide it.
And even if he is a clone – he certainly thinks he's the real Shadow and as such, he deserves my help. I swear, when I find out who did this…
Shadow met Sonic's stare as if he had heard the other's thoughts. Sonic wondered for a moment whether there even seemed to be the tiniest bit of relief in it that Sonic was not about to question the other's identity as he spoke.
"The Doctor - he had some… copies of me," he said, somewhat hesitantly. Inside Shadow's head, thoughts and emotions were already tumbling over one another in the haphazard fashion of a tornado, tearing at barely-healed inner wounds like a tempest at the unprotected houses of a defenceless village.
Shadow stomped down on it hard.
That isn't me. I won't allow it to be.
He had been down that road one time too many already. He knew he was the real Shadow, even if he had woken up with those unnatural wings on his back. This was simply a copy. Had to be. Shadow's clawed fists clenched even harder, the points of the talons now almost drawing blood as they dug into the skin of his palm.
I. Am. All of me.
"So that thing has to be one of them." Crimson eyes flashed as Shadow said this, his tone daring anyone to make a suggestion to the contrary. But there didn't seem to be the slightest suspicion on Sonic's part.
Tails piped up at this point, ears having pricked forward at Shadow's words, "Copies?" the kit asked, "Like clones?"
Shadow shook his head, "I'm not certain if they were clones or robots." He wasn't about to divulge the fact that he'd been concerned for a while that he himself was actually one of those copies. They didn't need that kind of information, and Sonic certainly didn't need more ammunition.
Sonic snorted, "Sounds like ol' Eggman's style. He's got a thing for robot doubles."
"So what do we do, Sonic?" Tails asked, biting his lip. "They look like they need help there..."
Sonic just shrugged, "We go check it out, of course."
"How do you propose 'we' do that, Faker?" Shadow challenged him, now only focused on the task at hand anymore as soon as he'd been able to rid himself of his other doubts, "I can't run there and I still don't know how to fly with these damn things." The only other solution he could think of was Chaos Control – and he wasn't sure he wanted to try using his Chaos powers in this state, the results could be unpredictable.
"That's easy, we take the Tornado," Sonic replied brightly, flashing a grin at Shadow, whose expression darkened. Sonic was still treating this so… casually, in a way that almost offended Shadow. He didn't find this in the least bit funny. He was just barely suppressing a terrible urge to find this impostor and grind him beneath his heel. How dare someone take his name and his form? HE was the Ultimate Lifeform, not this inferior production-line copy!
"Um…" Tails shot an apprehensive glance at him, "If it's ok, I think I'll stay here and supervise those tests."
Sonic nodded, "Good idea, bro. We could use that info," he said lightly. Shadow could guess that Sonic probably privately also thought that this was for the best - after all, one of the Shadows they were seeing had to turn out to be a fake, and no matter which one, Shadow could guess that Sonic didn't want his kid brother anywhere near a possibly homicidal Ultimate Lifeform, copy or not.
Tails visibly relaxed and rushed over to one of his workbenches, digging through the piles of gadgets and random circuitry scattered around until he retrieved a small black device which he handed over to Sonic.
"Here, Sonic. We can use this to keep in touch! Just clip it to your ear and we can talk anytime you want." And I can tell you as soon as the results are through whether this Shadow's the real one, his eyes seemed to add, even if it was obvious from his demeanour alone. Shadow pretended not to care as Sonic clipped it in, the small device looking a bit like a large black insect perched inside his ear.
"Cool, thanks."
"I'll let you know what the tests results are as soon as I have them!" Tails promised as his brother smiled and headed down the stairs to the hangar.
"Wait just a minute, faker," Shadow said as he started to follow Sonic down the stairs, his wings brushing against the walls as he did so, "If Tails is staying here, just who is going to fly the plane?"
Sonic turned back to him, a mischievous glint in his eyes and a huge grin on his face, his teeth shining brightly in the dimly-lit underground hanger, "Well, duh – I am!"
'Oh,' thought Shadow, 'That's what your life flashing before your eyes looks like.'
Shadow stood frozen in horror as Sonic calmly went over and hit a switch on the wall, opening up the skylight above them then proceeding to do… some sort of pre-flight checks on the plane.
"You… you have to be kidding me," Shadow protested weakly, "Do you even have a pilot's licence?"
Sonic glanced at him, his expression half puzzled and half amused, "Well, sure, Shads. I've had a pilot's licence since I was thirteen."
Shadow blinked at him in surprise, Sonic's trademark grin re-appeared, "Hey, the Tornado was mine before Tails came along – didja think I wouldn't know how to pilot my own plane?"
From anyone else, that statement might have sounded gently mocking, but from Sonic's mouth it was a strange mix of pride and genuine curiosity. Shadow's form lost some of its tension, his feathers slowly smoothing out again as he tried to assume a pose of indifference, "I never really thought about it."
Whatever Sonic's reply might have been, it was lost in the sound of the Tornado's engine as it roared to life and the loud noise of the hydraulic lift as it propelled the two hedgehogs and the plane upwards to the surface.
Shadow squinted in the sudden brightness of daylight, watching as the cluster of palm trees leading up to the cliff bent obediently out of the way to leave a long, smooth runway.
"Hop in, Shadow." Sonic smiled, gesturing towards the back seat. Hesitantly, the black hedgehog approached the blue-painted bi-plane, he ruffled his wings, realising that there was no really graceful way he was going to get into that narrow seat in his current… condition. With a sigh, he poured power into his jet shoes, grabbed hold of the edge of the seat and managed to pull himself up, inelegantly tumbling into the chair. He managed after some effort to right himself and proceeded to twist this way and that, trying to tuck the large, recalcitrant wings into the narrow space behind him.
"Everything okay back there?" Sonic asked over his shoulder and Shadow could just hear the amusement dripping from every word.
"Just peachy," Shadow growled, his tone daring the blue hedgehog to make a comment and give Shadow an excuse to feed Sonic his own sneakers.
"Ready for take-off!" Sonic announced brightly as the engine noise rose from a hum to a roar and began to slowly taxi down the runway, gaining speed as it went, the cliff-edge rushing up to meet them until the plane tipped over the edge and began to fall towards the ocean. Shadow's fingers briefly dug into the fabric of his seat but then Sonic did something with the controls and the plane levelled out and began to climb. It rose ponderously until it was sailing through the clouds, the landscape below them skimming past. Shadow actually found himself relaxing as the cool breeze whipped through his quills and his feathers. Sonic had actually managed to shut his mouth for two minutes, and so it was… peaceful. He looked down to watch the sun reflected on the rippling ocean waves. A fierce urge to be able to do this under his own power swept over him and he suddenly couldn't wait to find Rouge and learn how to do this properly, to soar like this, finally free…
He tore his gaze away from the dancing light over the ocean surface and searched for something else to occupy his thoughts. This sudden yearning wasn't natural; it wasn't him, this need for the sky, for open spaces. He needed a distraction.
Unfortunately, the only distraction available up here on a plane cruising at 10,000 feet was Sonic.
Shadow had never been an expert at starting up a conversation, but usefully their current situation provided him with a helpful opening, "So, if you have a licence, why don't you fly this thing more often?"
"Hmm?" Sonic replied absently, fiddling with something on the console in front of him, "Well, Tails enjoys it way more than I do, it's kinda slow for me. An' Tails made loads of weird modifications to it; I don't even know what some of this stuff does, so I'm flying just on compass and air-speed indicator," Sonic explained, gesturing vaguely towards the instruments.
That triggered a vague memory in Shadow's mind, something he remembered reading about long ago, "Dead reckoning? You're navigating by dead reckoning?" Shadow demanded, disbelieving. That involved mathematics, relatively complex mathematics at that, he had seriously trouble believing Sonic was capable of it. After all, the hedgehog usually seemed incapable of even understanding the simple equation of 'Highway + Incline = Not Intended For Skateboarding'.
"Well, kinda. I'm used to figuring out how fast I'm going, and I know roughly what direction I need, so the rest is just making sure I take bearings every so often."
The matter-of-fact tone completely threw Shadow, making him almost want to entirely re-assess the blue hedgehog in the cockpit.
"There is one thing that makes piloting the Tornado completely awesome, though," Sonic commented, cutting into Shadow's thoughts.
"What's that?" Shadow asked curiously, wondering if he was going to get another insight into the blue hedgehog's mind.
"This!" Sonic replied, suddenly pulling the stick back and sending the plane into a loop-de-loop that had Shadow yelping and clinging to his seat, his claws digging into the leather and plastic, Sonic's crazy laughter ringing in his ears.
xxx
A short while later, long after they had levelled out and Shadow regained his composure somewhat (after first venting his spleen at the crazed blue hedgehog at the controls, threatening, among other things, to stuff and mount his dead body as a hood ornament on the Tornado's nose…) the city of Westopolis loomed into view over the horizon and Sonic set the plane into a long, shallow dive.
"Almost there," Shadow commented, the muscles of his wings tensing up almost unconsciously at the thought of what would await him at their destination.
"Yeah," Sonic replied, glancing apprehensively towards the western horizon where the sky was just starting to turn orange, "And the sun will go down in an hour or so."
Shadow glanced at him curiously, noticing the sudden tension in the other hedgehog's shoulders, "So?"
"… it's nothing, Shadow. No problem." Sonic replied, a trace of uncharacteristic hesitation in his tone, "Hold on, we're coming in to land."
The rubber plane wheels screeched as they struck the concrete floor of the empty building lot where Sonic had brought them down. Shadow scrambled out of the seat and jumped down, his wings catching him slightly and slowing his fall, making him feel oddly light on his feet for a moment. He looked around. They were on the outskirts of the commercial district. The Bank wasn't far away, even in his altered state he could make it there quickly.
"We're not far," Shadow said tersely, black ears twitching for any sounds out of the ordinary.
"Lead on, Shads," Sonic said with a gesture, apparently curious as to what the black hedgehog's plan was.
Shadow shook his head, irritation crossing his face again as he felt the weight against his back, "I'm too slow like this," he said and almost bit his tongue off. He couldn't believe had just uttered those words, and to Sonic of all people. Sonic, oddly, said nothing, just stared at him, his expression half amused and half sympathetic. Shadow looked away, "Go on ahead and have a look around. I'll follow as fast as I can."
"Gotcha," Sonic said with a thumbs-up, "I'll go see whether stuff's still going down at the bank and check back with you if I can't find that other Shadow. See ya later!" He turned and shot off, the backwash of air making Shadow's wings fan out. The Ultimate Lifeform moved to follow at a considerably more sedate pace, not running down the main street like Sonic but keeping to the side alleys where he hoped he wouldn't be seen - this was a section of the city still mostly under construction after the Black Arm's attack last year, and it was thankfully near deserted this late in the evening - when he heard a noise.
A faint 'swoosh-swoosh' that was very familiar to Shadow's ears, since up until earlier today, he had heard it every time he ran anywhere. He stopped dead.
He turned and his eyes widened when he found himself looking at… himself.
The street and the construction sites around him were completely empty and flooded by deep orange, dying sunlight, nothing moving in this dead silence except for what could have been a mirror image of him. The copy had just shot around a corner onto the street, not even slowing down as he - it - changed direction, smoothly all of a sudden racing towards him. The bottom of its rocket shoes were glowing bright yellow, body leaned forward as it skated smoothly, arms and legs in perfect synchronisation. The movements were achingly familiar to Shadow, almost as natural to him as breathing.
But, despite the perfection of the motions, there was still something very wrong. The copy's eyes were cold, and empty. There hadn't been any surprise or any kind of recognition when Shadow's head had whipped around toward it. No sign of any intelligence at all save for perhaps some feral, animalistic cunning. But the red eyes were far from dead. If Shadow had to have put a word to it, they looked more like filled with dreadful purpose instead.
I knew it, Shadow thought, feeling the cold knot of apprehension inside dissolve as that particular doubt was cast aside once and for all. He was the real Shadow.
...which still didn't save him from another worry that had formed almost simultaneously. Because this… thing moved as perfectly as he himself, and he was seriously incapacitated… why did Sonic have to run off now of all times?
Shadow was almost tempted to hit himself as soon as he caught himself feeling worried about a fight and hoping for the blue idiot's assistance of all things. No. He was still the Ultimate Lifeform. He could still deal with fakes on his own. He braced himself in the path of the impostor, his wings coming out almost automatically to make him appear larger as if on instinct. Shadow threw up his hands.
"Hold it!"
The clone stopped at his shout, a perfect break, only seeming to register Shadow now. Its expression didn't change, but it blinked for a moment, seemingly trying to categorize this look-alike that for some reason had wings on its back. But then it seemed to come to a conclusion and Shadow didn't need it to speak to understand what it meant when its gaze narrowed instantly. The Ultimate Lifeform automatically dropped into a defensive stance, wobbling slightly when the weight of his wings once more knocked him off balance. He growled and the clone cocked its head to one side as if assessing him, its eyes glittering icily, calculation in their garnet depths.
Shadow tensed as he saw the clone's weight shift. He gathered up the ambient Chaos power in the air as the clone shot suddenly towards him with deadly grace. The winged hedgehog thrust out a hand, channeling the violent, deadly power of chaos through his palms and shouted;
"Chaos Spear!"
Nothing happened.
Shadow didn't even have time to cry out his surprise before the other crashed into him with stunning force, quills cutting into skin and drawing blood where they pierced. Shadow didn't even flinch. Moving with the momentum, he managed to avoid the worst of it, shifting his centre of balance to toss the copy over his shoulder in a smooth judo throw, the movement so automatic that Shadow momentarily forgot that the other hedgehog would hit his wings before it hit the ground.
And oh, how he paid for it.
One of the clone's hands grabbed the top of one of his pinions as it began its descent, fingers wrapping around, digging roughly through the feathers and into the fine membrane of skin. Shadow shrieked the terrible echoing screech of a bird in agony as he felt the bone bending under the weight of his clone, pulling him backwards as the fingers tore into the delicate flesh.
Already loosing his balance, and able to figure how this fight would likely play out with him on his back, his wings crushed underneath his weight and on the floor, free for the copy to stomp on them, break every single fragile bone in them so thoroughly he wouldn't be able to think for all the pain he would be in, Shadow tried to twist himself around in desperation, lashing back with one taloned hand to slash at the arm that held him. He was rewarded with an animalistic hiss of furious pain as the grip on his wing was abruptly released, allowing him to stumble forward slightly. He regained his balance, backing off quickly to re-assess his options.
Now the clone was glaring at him, greenish blood dripping from the wounded arm but otherwise showing no particular sign of distress, bared teeth glinting as fiercely as his eyes in the bloody glow of the setting sun. Shadow, on the other hand, felt his mind in turmoil. None of his usual tactics were applicable here. He had no Chaos powers, he couldn't use his gun and even the most basic attack in the form of a simple spin dash was denied to him in this form.
He snarled in frustrated rage as the clone began to move in for another attack. His right wing was throbbing with unaccustomed pain; he could feel warm blood as it began to seep into his feathers. He held his wings as still as he could to avoid jarring them any further. The copy closed slowly in on him, moving like a large predator that was only further excited by the smell of its victim's wounds.
Think like a soldier. Tactics. This is no time for pride.
Gritting his teeth and with no other options available, Shadow did the only other thing he could think of; he turned tail and fled further into the abandoned re-construction site. The red-orange light of sunset bathed the empty concrete ground as Shadow lurked, taking refuge in the deep shadows cast by the evening light underneath an old, rusted fire escape, desperately trying to think up other options. For only the second time in his life he was involved in a battle where he had no idea what to do.
The sound of metal on concrete reached his ears and his head whirled around. He had forgotten how fast and how silent he could move when not hindered by wings. The clone had found him already, standing before the entrance to the dark alley between two of the destroyed buildings Shadow had hidden himself in, and now its eyes were glinting with reflected amber light and what was the unmistakeable joy of a predator that had found its prey cornered. Shadow braced himself, ignoring the pain from his wounded wing, fully prepared to go hand-to-hand with this creature if he needed to. He was the Ultimate Lifeform. He was NOT prepared to lose to this thing.
The copy prepared to charge at him, jet shoes hissing against the ground. Shadow tensed up, preparing himself for impact and pain as suddenly, there was a rush of wind and the air was pierced by both an attack and a high-pitched, female yell:
"DRILL KICK!"
A white-booted foot met the clone's head with impressive force, knocking it bodily to the ground. The gemstone it had had concealed within its quills bounced away to land on the concrete with a faint 'clink'.
"I'll take that!" The attacker said as she landed, snatching up the gem and gazing at it admiringly. She placed one booted foot on the clone's chest, "You gonna behave now, sweetie?"
"I think he will. Thank you, Rouge."
Rouge's head whipped around. She stared into the darkness of the alley, her body tensing up when all she saw from her point of view was a pair of red eyes in the shadows.
"Shadow…?" She asked cautiously, her body still poised for an attack. "C'mon out where I can see you, Shadow," she coaxed, though her sweet tone was at odds with her tensed posture.
"...fine." Shadow sighed, aware that he probably couldn't hide for much longer anyway. He stepped into the fading sunlight. As soon as he did, Rouge's eyes widened and Shadow tensed at her soft gasp. He could see how her grip on the Emerald tightened fractionally, wings on her back rising in slight alarm, ready to take flight, or perhaps an instinctual reaction to make her appear more threatening, Shadow couldn't tell - her own wings as confusing as his.
"What...?" she mouthed, turquoise eyes trailing over his own wings, but then stopped when the bat seemingly noticed the wound torn into on one of them. The entire bat paused, and Shadow thought that she was now seemingly taking the rest of him in - bent quills, bleeding cuts, shredded feathers and all.
"Yeah," Shadow supplied dryly, his shoulders slumping slightly. "It's been one of those days."
Inwardly, he was already bracing himself for a barrage of questions that had to inevitably follow, and for a moment it seemed like it would, but then something seemed to change in Rouge's gaze just a little and the bat relaxed, her surprised expression changing into a small, almost sympathetic smile.
"One of those days, huh? Then I'm taking a wild guess that the bank job earlier was him and not you?" She asked, nodding almost absentmindedly to the clone still twitching weakly on the ground.
"It," Shadow corrected icily. "That thing bears no resemblance to me."
Again, there was a small flash of something in Rouge's eyes that let them appear somehow softer for a moment, and Shadow wondered wether that would maybe proove to Rouge that he was her partner and not another clone - they both knew that Shadow's identity was a sore spot and a painful memory for him. It was a small flash of hope - had one of the few people on the planet he'd like to call his friend actually recognized him?
Rouge crossed her arms, one edge of her mouth quirking upwards slightly. "Well, right now it certainly doesn't, Darkwing," she conceded lightly, cocking her head slightly and taking a step towards him, eyes going back to the wings. "Might filling me in on your side of the story? Not that I'm not liking the new look, but..."
"...but you'd like some proof that this really is me and not some other cobbled-together chimera," Shadow finished her sentence, bluntly. It was a reaction only to be expected.
But to his surprise, Rouge's expression briefly faltered.
"What? No, Shadow," she said, and Shadow wondered whether he had just imagined that brief, open and earnest expression from the otherwise so detached bat, before she, just like before, let her lips purse into a gently mocking smile, putting one hand on her hip.
"Grumpy, I see your scowling face day in and day out at the club. You honestly think a girl wouldn't know the guy she shares her home with when she sees him?" Her tone was the same mixture of dry teasing and underlying genuine affection that she had so often used when talking to him that Shadow just for a moment wanted to close his eyes and cling to that tone, a small thing of familiarity in the complete and utter chaos of this day. Next, Rouge was already stepping over the half-dead clone and toward him, movements casual and unguarded.
"Of course, I don't need proof. I knew this was you as soon as I saw you - even if you do look like you're about to star in a nativity play," she said, stopping in front of him and then tentatively extending a hand - "...may I?"
"...sure," Shadow replied after momentarily being taken aback. Rouge had been the first one to ask whether it was okay to touch his wings - was that a thing winged Sapients did? Shadow hoped he really didn't have to learn a whole new set of social behaviour now, being raised by humans meant that he had a hard enough time figuring out how normal Sapients functioned, nevermind the flying varieties - and then he still couldn't suppress a shudder when her hand brushed over his feathers, surprisingly gentle for the otherwise so direct bat. But he supposed that this really was proof of her trust - as close as she stood to him now, distracted by his wings, he could easily have slashed into her side, but that hadn't stopped her from doing exactly that.
Somehow, that single gesture let him suddenly feel a whole lot better than he had, and the touch of her fingers transformed from 'strange' into...something almost comforting.
"Wow..." she breathed, seemingly unconsciously, and then stepped back again, now seemingly fully at ease, because she flashed him her truly relaxed and appreciative grin, the one that showed off her two sharp incisiors like no other. "That's one beautiful pair of wings you've got there, sweetie. Their span must be amazing."
"Thanks?" Shadow hazarded, not quite sure how much joking at his expense was going on here. Rouge seemed to find his reaction further amusing, and then shook her head.
"Okay, enough teasing. Sorry. But a girl can be jealous, right?" she gave a wink, before casually tossing the Emerald in the air and catching it again. "Okay, now that we've established that even if I have no idea what happened this time, or where your doppelganger came from, I still do know my Shadow and would know you anywhere...mind filling me in what happened?"
"Not much to fill in, unfortunately," Shadow replied with a shrug, glad that they could fall back into a familiar tone and conversation pattern. "I can't remember anything after falling asleep at the club last night. This morning I woke up in agony in a ditch in the middle of what could have been Bumfuk, Egypt, and had become a mutant. The blue hedgehog's kid sidekick is running tests to find out what could have caused this, but he hasn't found out anything yet. Then we saw the news and came to Westopolis. What has been going on here?"
"Basically also what you saw on the news," Rouge shrugged. "There was an explosion at the bank, and people assumed it was a robbery or terrorist attack. There was smoke, and confusion, but then you - or, well, the clone people thought at first was you - showed up and the police thought you'd handle it...only then you started spin-dashing and attacking the police instead," she grimaced. "That was sort of the first clue for me it might not really be you."
"Because I wouldn't bother attacking the police with spin-dashes and go straight for Chaos Blast?" Shadow asked dryly and Rouge snorted.
"Yeah, Shadow, that was my reasoning," she replied with an eye roll, and then continued: "Anyway, that was the point when GUN was called in and I arrived. Not sure whether that clone of yours caused the explosion in the first place, or whether he - it," she corrected herself as Shadow's eyes flashed briefly, "or whether it had allies, but it then darted into the wreckage and emerged from the vault with the Emerald. GUN shot at it, but it dodged - whoever copied you might have botched the use of Chaos Power, but the other stuff they sure got right, if you ask me - and then fled the scene. It managed to shake off everyone - apart from me, that is" she finished, looking just a bit smugly at that bit. "It seems my experience in trying to keep up with grumpy black hedgehogs paid off this time. I lost it briefly, but then found it again - and apparently just in time," she said, her eyes briefly darting back to the gash in Shadow's wing. "I know you're sturdy, darling, but it does seem to have done a little number on you before I got it. Are you okay?"
"...yes. Thank you," Shadow replied quietly, the last words almost too silent to be heard. Louder, he continued: "I'm not yet...too accustomed to fighting with wings. I arrived here with Sonic, but he, of course, was gone the exact time he could have been useful."
Rouge's lips twitching again at his remark, the bat knowing full well how easily her partner's temper could be riled up by the whirlwing blue hedgehog. "Sonic's with you?"
"I sure am!" A cheerful voice called from behind them. Their heads turned as the relentlessly cheerful hedgehog was already jogging over to them, waving amiably to Rouge.
"Hey, Rouge!" Sonic said, "What did I miss?" he asked, before suddenly noticing the clone on the floor. "Oh. Quite a bit, apparently…."
"I could ask you the same question," Rouge said, setting one hand on her hip, she gestured towards Shadow and the clone, "Care to explain what's going on?"
"Well, I can't help you much with Shadow's evil twin over there," Sonic jabbed a thumb at the copy, "We came here to check that out. As for Hedge-hawk over there…" he grinned at Shadow, who glowered darkly, "Well, we think its somethin' to do with that eclipse, similar to what happened a month ago."
Rouge gave Sonic a curious look, "You mean all the earthquakes we had? The land splitting apart? There's been nothing like that this time. Besides, I don't see what this has to do with Shadow's new look. Or with this." She held up the Emerald she was holding to show it to them. The gem still looked perfect, a flawlessly cut sapphire crystal, but it looked… odd. The Chaos Emeralds usually glowed with their own inner fire, but there was no radiance from this gem; the only light that shone through its perfect facets came from the last rays of the sun and the dull glow of the orange streetlamps that were slowly flickering to life.
"What happened to the Chaos Emerald?" Shadow asked with some concern, only now noticing its state when the bat had drawn his attention to it. If the Emeralds were affected, that might just explain why his own powers were short-circuiting.
"It happened last time," Sonic explained, "There was somethin' about the balance between Light and Dark Gaia going out of whack." Sonic blinked, then looked more closely at Shadow, "Hey, Shads, you're hurt!" the blue speedster reached out, stepping forward to inspect the wound. Shadow recoiled, backing away.
"I'm fine," the black hedgehog said through gritted teeth.
An uncharacteristically hard look came into Sonic's eyes, "C'mon, Shadow, stop makin' this so difficult for both of us, huh? Let me help you," he insisted, ignoring a faint snort from Rouge in the background, indicating the bat knew that the proud black hedgehog would let himself be helped by anybody as soon as pigs flew – but, then again…
Shadow struggled against the urge to retreat, knowing it would be hopeless – he couldn't outrun Sonic now. He felt awkward, and it was not a feeling he enjoyed and he certainly didn't want to feel like this in front of his rival and one of his tiny collection of friends. He despised feeling vulnerable.
"Easy, Shads," Sonic said calmly as he drew in closer, "I just wanna see how bad it is, kay?" Sonic's gloved hand touched his wing, and he twitched. He closed his eyes, trying to ignore the entire thing as Sonic inspected his wound. It was okay, he tried to tell himself. Rouge touched it, too. But Rouge was a friend and Sonic was...not, wasn't he?
"Doesn't seem too bad," Sonic reported, "Though I don't think you'll need to worry about it for too much longer." Sonic nodded towards the horizon, where the last slivers of the sun had finally vanished beneath the landscape.
"What are you talking about, Fake-" Shadow's caustic question was interrupted when he felt a sudden ache in-between his shoulder blades. The ache quickly turned into a mildly burning, itching sensation and Shadow writhed, trying to be rid of the uncomfortable feeling. What was wrong with his annoying wings now? The amber-coloured gem around his neck glittered, then burst into a sudden brightness the illuminated the entire area. Rouge and Sonic looked on with goggle-eyed expressions as a strong wind rose, twisting and swirling around Shadow, tugging and pulling at his wings and quills as it grew more intense, blowing like a miniature whirlwind.
A sudden burst of black and white feathers obscured the black hedgehog from view and the phantom winds subsided as quickly as they had arisen, leaving Shadow standing there, gasping and wingless, looking as he had before this entire mess started.
There was dead silence for a moment before Rouge took a breath and said;
"What the hell was that?"
"As soon as we figure it out, you'll be the first to know!" Sonic replied, his tone superficially cheerful as usual, but Shadow could just pick out some kind of tension beneath that.
Rouge also looked curiously at the blue hedgehog, who was apprehensively scanning the sky, "What are you looking for, Sonic, UFOs?"
"The moon."
Rouge and Shadow exchanged a puzzled look, "It's Autumn and we're on the west coast, Sonic. The moon won't rise for another half hour or so, yet."
The tension seemed to ooze out of Sonic's form and he smiled at them suddenly, "Oh. Heh, that's good."
"Why? What aren't you saying, Faker?"
"Nothing, I… hey! Where did that copy go?"
"What-? Damn!" Shadow cursed, "It must have escaped when you two were gawking at me."
"Hey, don't blame us, Shads. Your personal feather show was pretty distracting…" Sonic said with just a trace of a grin. Privately, of course, he couldn't help but marvel again at the unfairness of the universe – if he had gotten a transformation scene like this, it would probably end up looking like an exploding ball of fur, which wouldn't be half as cool.
Shadow, oblivious to this, rounded on him, holding up his left hand with the tips of his fingers exposed through his torn gloves, glowing yellow-gold with Chaos Energy, crackling faintly in the cool evening air, "My what?" he demanded with a dangerous growl. (Personally, he was growling now almost out of principle. It was just too damn nice to have his old voice back).
Rouge stepped between them, holding out her hands to separate them, "Now, now, boys," she chided, "Fighting amongst ourselves won't help anything."
"Hmph. Fine," Shadow said shortly. He lowered his hand, staring at it and flexing his fingers curiously.
"Something wrong, Shadow?" Rouge asked.
He frowned, "When I was… changed… I couldn't use my Chaos Spear. I'm not sure any of my Chaos powers were working in that form," he explained, "I was wondering if it was connected to what seems to have happened to the Emeralds, but my powers seem to be functioning again."
"Hmm," Rouge said thoughtfully, her own black wings flicking in contemplation.
"Maybe it's a trade-off?" Sonic suggested, "You get some other cool stuff at the expense of not being able to use your Chaos abilities?"
"I fail to see exactly what advantages those chaos-damned wings gave me," Shadow growled back.
"Oh, relax, Shadow," Rouge said, lightly tapping him on the arm, "I'll give you a few flying lessons and then you'll see!" Glancing over at Sonic she added: "Has he tried flying yet?"
"Uh-huh. Went straight into a poplar," Sonic replied, sounding disproportionally cheered by that fact.
"Yeah, assuming I'll even need them, now," Shadow snapped, folding his arms and directing a death glare at the blue speedster. He wondered briefly whether Sonic would be quick enough to dodge a Chaos Spear if he threw it right now…
"Trust me, Shads, this ain't over yet." Sonic said in a strangely grim tone, immediately snapping Shadow out of his imagined revenge scenarios "So, what now? What were you even doing out here, Rouge?"
"GUN sent me, of course. Speaking of that, I better report in," Rouge said, "Commander Bennett will want to know what happened over here."
Shadow cocked an eye-ridge at her, "They put Bennett in charge?"
"Sure. After Graves made such a mess of the Black Arms incident, he got kicked upstairs and Bennett was assigned to replace him as Field Commander."
"Hmph," Shadow grunted, "We might actually have someone marginally sane to speak to for once."
"With GUN that sure makes a nice change," Sonic agreed, not having forgotten being chased down a city hill by a giant truck crashing through cars, fire hydrants and the occasional stray cat.
"You two boys want to come along?" Rouge suggested, "Shouldn't take too long, and my report will be more believable if you're there to back up my word," she smirked, "We wouldn't want GUN troops chasing you both down again, do we?"
Shadow rolled his eyes, "Fine," he said.
Sonic just shrugged, "Sure. Then we can head back and hear what Tails has to say about those tests."
"Follow me then, gentlemen," Rouge said, taking a few quick jogging steps and then leaping into the air ahead of them. The two hedgehogs followed, Shadow reflecting somewhat resentfully on how Rouge made it look all too easy.
How come she can even lift *off* with wings about a tenth the size of mine?
It didn't take them long to find the GUN soldiers stationed around the bank.
Of course, weapons were whirled around immediately to point at their heads as soon as the military noticed them approach - at Shadow in particular of course, because he was the one that had seemingly just been attacking them - but both Rouge and Sonic immediately stepped in front of him, holding up their hands in calming gestures and shouting that everything was okay and under control. As a nice surprise, the soldiers seemed to actually listen to them for once, too - the man who appeared their Commander stepped forward and signaled to his men to lower their weapons as well.
In fact, for the first time that Sonic could remember, dealing with GUN was fairly easy. There was none of the 'shoot first, ask questions later' mentality he was used to (and none of the half-the-size-of-a-human-deserves-half-the-respect-of-a-human shtick, either…). Instead, Bennett listened quietly to Rouge's report, asking for occasional points of clarification from Sonic or Shadow. Shadow himself answered much more sparsely than the blue speedster, privately wondering whether there would already be GUN's scientists poking away at him if he had showed up in his earlier state.
When they had finished, Bennett folded his arms thoughtfully, "Hm. This could be a dangerous situation. If Doctor Robotnik is behind these attacks, then we need to be on our guard. I'll inform GUN Central to be on the lookout for similar incidences. You're correct that Robotnik does have a history of creating robot duplicates, and that's enough of a security risk all by itself. I assume he will be your next port of call?" he asked, quirking a dark eyebrow at Shadow and Sonic.
"That was the plan," Sonic replied easily, who actually hadn't thought that far ahead yet but knew that at some point he'd have to deal with Robotnik again anyway.
"After we've done a little research, yes," Shadow clarified with a slightly exasperated look at Sonic, whose 'research' usually only extended to 'So where's his base at the moment, again?' and not much further.
The GUN Commander nodded, "Then, if you don't mind, I'd like to assign Rouge to act as liaison. She can keep GUN informed and can supply you with any intelligence we have about the situation."
The three sapients exchanged a look. Rouge grinned and gave a half-shrug and Shadow nodded fractionally. Sonic smiled at Bennett, "Ok, sure."
Bennett smiled, "Then I wish you all luck. We'll try and keep Mobius safe while you're busy."
"I appreciate that." Sonic smiled, taking the human's larger hand in a firm handshake and giving him a thumbs-up with the other.
"I'll join you boys in a minute," Rouge said, "Just need to file that report and finish up a few things."
The two hedgehogs nodded and turned to leave, running easily through the darkened streets back towards the Tornado. They paused for a moment when they reached the plane, Shadow was frowning, flexing his hands.
"Somethin' wrong, Shads?" Sonic asked.
"It feels strange to have my fingers working again," Shadow replied absently. "That, and my gloves are completely ruined."
Sonic glanced over at the dark, star-speckled sky, hesitated briefly and then sighed. "Here, you can borrow mine for a while."
Shadow could only stare. Most sapients didn't wear much in the way of clothing, and since the little they did wear tended to be more for effect than practicality, what they did wear had acquired a strange kind of significance. Handing over one's gloves was akin to a human giving up the proverbial shirt off his back.
Shadow hesitated. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah," Sonic said with a wan smile, pushing them into Shadow's hands, "Not gonna need 'em in a minute anyway."
Shadow frowned, "What is that supposed to mean?"
Sonic closed his eyes, tensing as if expecting a fight. He stepped away from Shadow and opened his eyes, a look of something very much like terror flickering across those emerald eyes for just a moment.
"This," Sonic said as silvery light washed over the cracked concrete.
Tendrils of dark smoke seemed to wrap themselves around Sonic's form. His muscles tensed up, bulging impossibly, veins throbbing with rapid pulse-beat. Sonic dropped to his knees, his face contorted into a grimace of intolerable pain even as his mouth began to distort, his teeth growing longer and sharper as they took on the aspects of a predator. Shadow looked on in horror, again not knowing what to do as Sonic writhed, the sound of creaking bones exploding in his ears. Shadow felt frozen, unable to do anything other than look on helplessly while the hero of Mobius' hands turned into massive, monstrous paws. Moonlight bathed the thick shaggy pelt of fur that had sprouted over Sonic's body as the altered hedgehog crouched, hunched-over and moaning as the transformation finally came to an end.
"Sonic?" Shadow asked, dumbfounded.
"I told you," Sonic - or this new, bestial Sonic – said, even his voice dreadfully changed into a low, gravely bass. He looked up, a feral gleam briefly flashing across his eyes before he seemed to recover himself. "I told you I wouldn't need those gloves."
To be continued...
(collapses) Finally. Updated something, at least. Even if that isn't so much to do with me, since Skyblaze did most of the work for this chappie...XD Exams? Don't talk to me about Exams. Chapter drought should be over now, tho, since holidays are finally here...
and SPEAKING of holidays, Summer of Sonic is coming on and we're going to be there! :D Anyone else? ;) If anyone wants to come up for a chat, just look out for Blaze and Maria hanging together :P If I can tear myself away from my re-surfaced Sonic Riders fever long enough, that is... :P
Last, but not least, first FANART! :D Please check profile page for the link.^^ And if you read, please review? :3