chapter 1: A normal day...
It looked like it was going to be just another normal day for Shadow the hedgehog and Rouge the bat. However, for Shadow, every day was an extremely intense one nowadays. This was due to the fact that the partners turned husband and wife were expecting a baby.
Rouge was pregnant at the sixth month, but Shadow was already nervous. He didn't even know he could have kids up until recently, so Rouge's pregnancy hit him like a ton of bricks. He was worried about so many things. Would Rouge be able to carry his child? Would both Rouge and the baby survive the birth? Would his baby be healthy?
So far, everything was going normally, but Shadow still couldn't shake off the feeling that something was about to go wrong. Terribly wrong.
Rouge, of course, thought that her husband was overreacting. Yes, she too was worried, but she was way better at controlling her fears. But she couldn't really blame Shadow for being the way he was. He still wasn't over the lose of his first family, and he definitely didn't want the same to happen to his second one.
"Are you okay?" asked the hedgehog as he and his wife set on a bench in Sunset city's park.
"For the hundredth time: Yes, Shadow!" answered, the bat, a little irritated "Calm down, Shads, I am not made out of glass!"
"Sorry about asking." apologized Shadow "Can't be too careful."
Rouge smiled and kissed her husband "It's nice that you are concerned about me. There used to be times when I thought you didn't care whether I was dead or alive."
Shadow closed his eyes. He couldn't believe how stupid he used to be to not notice and constantly ignore his partner. Now he was dedicated to show her just how much he appreciated her at any given moment.
"I am sorry, for making you feel like this." he apologized.
Rouge smiled "That's all in the past now. Let's concentrate on the present," she then placed a hand on her belly "and the future."
Shadow smiled and also placed his hand on her belly. He was determined to make the future much better than the past, for him, Rouge, and their baby.
Rouge looked up and saw an ice-cream cart nearby "Hey, Shadow, be a good husband and buy me some ice-cream."
"What happened to 'I am not made out of glass'?" asked Shadow.
"Hey, I got to abuse my power, don't I." joked Rouge.
Shadow shook his head and got up "What flavor do you want?"
"Strawberries and chocolate, please!" Rouge smiled sweetly "Buy something for yourself too."
"Will do!" answered the hedgehog as he started walking towards the cart.
Rouge smiled. Life was good. Eggman had been very quiet lately, and the other bad guys were also apparently on a vacation. Everything was going good. Maybe too good. The bat didn't want to bother herself with such thoughts, but she had the nasty feelings that something bad was on the horizon.
And unfortunately, her feeling was correct.
Not too far away from where Rouge was sitting, a black van was parked on the street. But this wasn't a van. It was only the facade for a much more complicated and advanced flying vessel.
And instead the vessel, were none other, than Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik and three of his robots - his two underlings, Orbot and Cubot, and his greatest robot, Metal Sonic.
The doctor himself was currently observing Rouge, via a periscope.
"Look at her, being all happy and joyful about the little parasite that is growing inside of her!" Eggman shivered upon saying that "Just the thought of pregnancy makes me sick!"
"Well, it's the beauty of life, sir." said Orbot.
"The beauty of life is overrated, just like life's value!" said Eggman "That's way I prefer metal over flesh."
He looked back at the periscope " And yet, it's exactly the beauty of life that is going to grant me the weapon that will finally allow me to conquer this miserable world!"
"You say that about every weapon, sir." pointed Cubot.
"WELL, I MEAN IT THIS TIME!" shouted Eggman.
"Okay, before we do something I know we are going to regret," Orbot pointed at a screen that was showing Rouge "I must remind you that the baby Rouge is carrying is fathered by a hedgehog, who has been trying to kill you for years."
"I am well aware! That's why I want it!" Eggman then turned to Metal Sonic "Metal, you know what to do!"
"That will be five rings, sir." the ice-cream salesman said as he handed Shadow his order.
Shadow was about to pull his wallet out when suddenly, something hit him hard and sent him flying towards a nearby fountain.
"WHAT THE-" before Shadow could say anything, he was hit once again. This time, however, he saw his attacker.
"Metal!" said the hedgehog, with pure venom in his voice.
Shadow punched Metal in the face, which made him beck up. This allowed Shadow to get up and summon a chaos spear. He launched himself at Metal, but the robot evaded the attack.
Rouge, of course, saw the attack. She ran as fast as possible for her to help Shadow, but then, a plastic orb with small holes in it captured her.
"What is this!?" asked the bat as she punched the plastic a few times.
"Hello, Rouge, long time no see!" said a very familiar voice behind Rouge.
She turned around and saw Eggman, grinning with an evil smile.
"Eggman!" Rouge exclaimed.
"The one and only!" announced the evil genius, proudly.
"We are going on a journey, Rouge. Hang on tight!" Cubot said, as he and Orbot started carrying the orb toward the van.
"Wait, NO! LET ME GO!!!" Rouge once again started punched and kicking the orb, but it was no use.
"SHADOW!" She yelled for her husband, who was still fighting Metal Sonic.
Shadow once again tried to hit Metal, and once again, the robot avoided it.
"Something's off! " Shadow was thinking "Metal usually fights back! Why isn't he now!?"
"SHADOW!" the hedgehog suddenly heard Rouge's voice and turned at the direction of the voice.
And what he saw, made his blood run cold. Rouge was captured in some plastic orb, and was about to be dragged in a van by Orbot and Cubot. And they were lead by Eggman.
Shadow's blood went from ice cold to lava hot "EGGMAN!!!" he tried to chace after them but Metal pinned him to the ground.
"Ha, you think that's going to hold me!?" upon saying that, the Ultimate lifeform disappeared in a green flash of light, leaving Metal empty handed.
Eggman and his underlinings were just about to get to the van, when suddenly Shadow appeared in front of them.
"Crap, I forgot you can do this!" Eggman said, before being grabbed by the collar by Shadow.
"You coward! I am going to-" Shadow was then hit by Metal Sonic.
"That's my boy!" Eggman smiled "Now hurry up, dumb-bots, I don't have all day!"
"YOU MONSTER!" Rouge yelled at the doctor "I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!"
"Says the bat in an orb." laughed Eggman as he and his underlings got in the van. At that moment the vehicle's true from was revealed as it turned into a small flying ship and started flying away.
Meanwhile, Shadow was still struggling with Metal. He once again teleported away from the robot, but the ship was already way too high up in the sky. The hedgehog tried to use his rockets to catch up, but he was kicked by Metal into a car.
"Metal, that's enough! Retreat! " Metal heard the voice of his creator in his head and immediately obeyed. He quickly got up and entered into the ship.
From the street, Shadow could only watch as the ship was slowly disappearing in the distance. Despite the fact that he was scared to the bottom of his soul, he touched his communicator and contacted Omega.
"Omega, tell everyone who is available to immediately come to the Restoration's HQ!" he said to his robotic partner on the other end of the line "Eggman just kidnapped Rouge!"
And with that, he stated skating as fast as possible to the Restoration HQ. He was not going to let history repeat itself, but he knew he couldn't do this alone. He was going to save Rouge, and the only safe way to do so was to get as much help as possible.
On the air ship, Eggman was enjoying the fact that his plan was going smoothly so far. He expected it to be harder, considering he was messing with Shadow, bit he wasn't complaining.
"What's the big plan this time, Egghead?" Rouge reminded him of her presence.
"One that you disgusting animals won't be able to spoil!" announced Eggman.
"I've heard this more times than I've seen you walking around with your fly down." Rouge smirked and pointed at Ivo's pants.
Eggman looked down and realized that she was right "Oh ha-ha! Very funny! That's Rouge the sassy bat for you!" said he as he was fixing his pants.
Once done, he went to the orb and looked Rouge in the eyes "You won't be laughing once you discover my plan!"
Rouge's smil vanished and she silently listened to Eggman's plan.
"My grandfather truly was a genius, no doubt about that. And no doubt his greatest creation was the Ultimate lifeform - your husband, Shadow!" said Eggman with an evil smile "If I had him under my control, Sonic would have been dead years ago! The problem is, neither can I create my own Ultimate lifeform, neither can I make the already existing one work for me! The closest I got were the Shadow androids, and I think you saw how they turned out. But thanks to you, Rouge, I'll finally have the Ultimate lifeform under my command!"
"How? By using me and the baby to blackmail Shadow into helping you!?" Rouge asked with evident anger in her voice.
"No, that won't be a long-term solution." answered the human "Besides, it's not Shadow I'm after."
"What?" Rouge was confused "Then who?!"
Eggman chuckled "You see, there is another Ultimate lifeform that I am planning on getting out of its' cage, and it's right here!" upon saying that, he placed his index finger on the orb at the place, where Rouge's belly was located.
The realization hit Rouge and she almost fell backwards from shock "No... you wouldn't... even you are not that-"
"Monstrous?! Well, guess what, I AM!!! HAHAHAHA!" Eggman started laughing like a mad man "I will cut this baby out of you, put it in a special tube to speed up its growth, and I am going to remove your useless DNA from it! In a matter of days, I am going to have my own Ultimate lifeform. Together with Metal Sonic -they will be unstoppable!"
The bat was trying to process the information. It was like a nightmare, and she wished it was. Realizing that there was no time to waste, Rouge pushed the small button of a small tracking device that was in the pocket of her jeans.
"So say goodbye to your baby!" said Eggman "It's going to a much better parent!"
Rouge felt like crying, but she wouldn't do it in front of Eggman and his goons. All she could do at the moment was sit down and hope that the tracker would point the Restoration towards her.
"Shadow, please hurry! " was all she could think about.
The moment Shadow entered the Restoration's HQ, everyone stopped talking and looked at the black and red hedgehog. Omega had already arrived. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles were there, alongside Amy. The new Diamond cutters were there too and so was Jewel. She was looking at a big screen.
"Shadow, I promise, we-" Sonic tried approaching Shadow, but he pushed him away.
"Don't!" he said firmly "Don't make promises you are not certain you can keep!"
"Hey, I was just trying to calm you down!" said Sonic "You don't have to be such a jerk!"
"My wife and child are kidnapped by YOUR arch-enemy!" hissed Shadow as he got inches away from Sonic "And you are suggesting that I should-"
"Okay, Shadow, that's enough!" said Knuckles as he, Omega and Whisper, pushed Shadow away from Sonic.
Once far enough, Knuckles turned to Shadow "Listen, Shadow, I get where you're coming from, but fighting the people who are trying to help you isn't going to save Rouge!"
"Agree!" said Whisper as quietly as usual "Consentrat on saving Rouge and the baby!"
"YOU CAN KILL SONIC LATER." added Omega.
Shadow took a deep breath and exhaled "You are right. I should think of Rouge now." as he said that, he made his way to the computer.
"What do we got here?" he asked Jewel.
"No so long ago, Rouge activated a tracking device." Jewel explained as she pointed at the red dot on the screen "It's still moving, which means they haven't arrived at their destination, yet."
"Good." Shadow said while eyeing the dot.
"I don't understand" said Amy "Why kidnapping Rouge?"
"I don't think Eggman is after Rouge." said Tails somberly "I think he is after her and Shadow's baby."
The faces of everyone in the room darkened after this. Even Sonic wasn't smiling.
Shadow was getting more and more angry with every moment. Eggman wanted to take his child away form him and was probably going to kill Rouge in the process. Shadow had already lost his family once, he was not going to let it happen again! More so, he wouldn't let his child end up like Surge and Kit, stripped of all their memories and personality, turned into a weapony by an evil scientist.
"We need to go NOW!" said the dark hedgehog firmly.
''He is right, let's not wait for them to reach their destination!" Lanolin urged "I will put the data in one of our flying ships. We are flying off in two minutes! Get ready!"
"All right!" exclaimed Tangle, but not as excited as usual for her "Let's get moving!"
"I am going to stay behind and keep you updated on the situation." said Jewel.
In the hallway, Sonic said "I am going to run after the ship." he then put the data in his smartwatch "You guys go by air!"
"Sonic, may we speak in private for a moment?" asked Shadow.
"Uumm... Sure." Sonic looked as his friends started walking towards the hangars, except Tails and Amy, who had worried expressions on their faces "It's fine, guys, I'll see you on the battlefealed."
"Well... okay." said Tails.
"Good luck, Sonic." waved Amy, as she and Tails also walked away.
"Okay, Shads," the blue hedgehog turned to the Ultimate lifeform "What's the matter?"
"It's time I kill this maniac once and for all!" announced Shadow angrily.
"Wow, that went from zero to a hundred in no time!" exclaimed Sonic in shock.
"I am serious, Sonic!" said Shadow firmly "He has committed such atrocities, and now he is threatening my family. Things can't keep going like this! Eggman's gone too far!"
Sonic was silent for a few moments, before saying "I get what are you saying, Shadow, but I can't do this. I mean, directly taking someone's life, that's something I can't do-"
"You don't have to do anything!" Shadow interupted him "I will be the one to get my hand dirty. All I am asking you to do is this: Don't try to stop me!"
Sonic didn't say anything, so Shadow continued "Don't think I am above killing you! Right now, I will do anything to save my family, and prevent this from ever happening again!"
Sonic looked like he was about to say something, but Shadow had no time to listen. He ran away. He had to be fast.
Sonic didn't know what to do. It's not like he hadn't left Eggman in situations where it looked like he couldn't survive before, but actively walking away when Shadow was about to kill him? Could he do that?
Right now, however, he had to catch up to Shadow and save Rouge. Who knows, maybe this day would end with no bloodshed. Or so he hoped...
(To be continued... )
(I don't own any of the characters or the locations. They all belong to SEGA.)