Chapter 6: A Trio of Trouble (Part 2)

Shadow's heart sank at the sight he saw. A pool of dried blood led to the wall that Rouge was semi conscious at. As he approached Rouge, she came to, "Stay away," she mumbled. Shadow continued walking toward her, "…I said stop! Don't come any closer! I can't trust you!"

Shadow stopped in his tracks, raised his open palms facing Rouge, and spoke softly, "Are you hurt?"

Rouge's neck tightened as she swallowed, her lower lip quivered, her body was seated in a fetal position with her legs pulled to her chest and her hands covering her head, her body subtly trembling. Her voice was quiet, weak, yet filled with desperation, "I am."

"What happened."

"I- I was stabbed by 's a monster among us. An imposter. A thing- I don't know what it is but I saw it imitate you just before it stabbed me and then transformed into a perfect imitation of me. I- I can't trust anyone. He promised he would come back to - to play with me."

Shadow grimaced, "Rouge, I won't let that happen. I promise you."

"I'm sorry Shadow, but I can't trust you to be real. This could be a cruel trick. I'm sorry."Rouge barley held back tears as she held her body tightly.

A sound echoed down the cavern as someone rounded the corner approaching the two, causign shadow to turn his head in the direction of the noise, and Rouge's ear to twitch.

"Shadow, please, if you are truly the Shadow I know and trust give me a gun! I'm too weak to defend myself. Shadow… please… please… please be the real you." Rouge tucked he bodied in and whimpered as she cowered away from Shadow while she extended a single hand that begged for a gun.

…

The footsteps drew closer.

Shadow drew his gun and kept his finger off the trigger, with the barrel off to his side facing the ground.

Let me see your wound…

"I can't…"

Shadow cocked an eyebrow, "Why not?"

"It's… near my groin."

Shadow rolled his eyes, "I'm not Knuckles. It's fine. Don't be embarrassed about it. If you'll recall, most of our friends don't wear pants."

"I'm a lady, it's different for us! You know what. I'll just lie here and be defenseless. I still have my standards."

Shadow sighed, touched his Chaos Emerald, then tossed Rouge one of his two gun, "It looks like I'm the one trusting you now, don't shoot me in the back, okay?"

Rouge weakly chucked. A look of relief swept across her face, "No… no promises." a weak sounding Rouge said as the two braced themselves for what approached.

A bored-out-of-her-mind Tangle rounded the corner juggling three rocks up into the air, one yellow, one green, and one greyish black using her Tail. She repeated this action as she walked while mumbling to herself.

After walking for some time Tangle entered a cavern with two pathways leading deeper into the mountain. That was not what caught her attention though as just in front of her in the middle of the large open cavern was Shadow holding a gun. Rouge was laying against the wall, she too had a gun.

"Shadow! I found some minerals you should look at!" Tangle said.

"Read the room Tangle…" Shadow barked.

Tangle's smile disappeared, "...Rouge? What happened to Rouge!"

"She was attacked by a shapeshifter. An imposter... why don't you stop right there Tangle."

"O-okay, I'll help however I can! So, what do we do next?"

"I was thinking about that before you showed up, why don't we just wait here for a little while, just the three of us. See what happens?"

"As lovely as that plan sounds," Rouge began, "I don't have a lot of time left. I need to get out of here and one of you is the… the…"

Rouge collapsed, her gun falling to the floor. Tangle ran toward Rouge, the former all but ten feet away from the latter but Shadow got between the two of them and aimed his gun at the Lemure, "Calm the hell down! Everything is fine. Let's not act foolish."

Tangle glared at the Hegehog, "What do you mean everything is fine Shadow? Rouge is injured and now passed out and you want to sit and wait? If I didn't know better, I'd think you're the imposter."

"Don't be ridiculous. Either one of you could be the imposter. I have no evidence that proves either of you as innocent. So I propose we wait..."

"Are you blind? What about the blood on the ground? What about Rouge being passed out? Are you really willing to let Rouge die because you're too afraid to risk helping her?"

I doubt the imposter came here just to harm one of us. He is among us and waiting for an opportunity to strike. Thus I think we should call its bluff and wait it out while we have the number advantage."

Tangle snarled, "You can't stop me from helping her."

"I can and I will, if either one of you is the imposter then you could take that moment to kill the other. I'm not risking either one of your lives. We will wait until-

-as Tangle exheld a breath she had been holding she saw Rouge slowly sit up with a depraved grin on her face. Rouge's body rapidly shifted and seemed to stretch, reaching out toward Shadow who was momentarily facing away as he spoke to Tangle. Tangle watched in horror as four purple tentacles emerged, one of which held a razor sharp knife. Before Tangle could draw a breath to shout a warning the tentacles had grabbed Shadow's arms, with two of the four wrapping several times around the bottom portion of Shadow's neck.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" A sinister voice snarled, "I know full well what an empty gun feels like. The name's Mimic. I'm what you call a professional. You? You're about to become a martyr like your bat friend."

The Octopus stabbed Shadow in his neck with a dagger. A heartbeat later Tangle overcame her shock and charged the octopus causing Shadow to be hurled to the ground, Mimic in that moment used his two free hands to grab a hold of Shadow's weapon and the Chaos Emerald before the hedgehog was thrown aside, and the Chaos Emerald and pistol were thrown down the chasm below.

Tangle tried to approach the octopus but he pulled out a second knife seemingly out of thin air and used it with deadly efficiency to keep tangle at arms length. Shadow, slowed but nowhere near done fighting, rushed around behind the revealed foe with his great speed and delivered a spinning kick to the foe's head, knocking the octopus to the ground and momentarily dazing him as Shadow pinned him to the ground.

"Where is she?" Shadow yelled as he loomed over the octopus. Shadow punched the monster over and over. Mimic simply laughed.

"We can keep this up until you're spitting out teeth. Where. Is. Rouge?" Shadow punched the octopus again for good measure to illustrate his point, "Maybe I ought to cut you up. See how you like it, huh? Maybe, loosen your lips a little?"

"Where is Rouge?" Mimic yelled, "She's been here the whole time! Is your eyesight as poor as your I.Q.? She's been here...hanging out in the shadows! If fact, if I keep yelling loudly I'm sure she'll drop right in! Wake up batgirl! You promiscuous little bitch! Come on. Wake up! Your friend wants to see how you're doing. Go ahead. Wake up-"

There was a sound of someone waking from a slumber then a shadow appeared from above and a pale creature fell from the ceiling landing hard on the ground, motionless, feet away from the trio.

Mimic burst into laughter. Rouge... looked dead.

As Shadow looked at his dear friend, it was at that moment of weakness Mimic struck a second blow and sliced across Shadow's thigh with a dagger he had subtly grabbed after having dropped it earlier. MImic then kicked the Hedgehog away from himself.

"You know. I normally hate fighting, believe it or not. It's not my style. I like to finish my missions quickly and with as little commotion as possible. But today… today I'll make an exception for you three…"

Shadow and Tangle watched in awe and horror as Mimic's body began to shift once more. Mimic's body shifted rapidly and turned into a female beatle that was dressed in a pink tuxedo, its physical exoskeleton was composed of several beautiful colors and hues. Mimic turned to face Tangle with his new female form. Tangle's eyes dilated and her fight instincts took over at the cheerful person staring back at her, the beaming face she perceived before her, and the voice she never thought she would hear again...

"Welcome! It's a pleasure to meet you. The Mineral Museum is closing but I can make time to give you a quick tour. We aim to please our guests!" After bowing, Jewel the Beetle's face shifted back partly to reveal Mimic's pale blue, skull-like face as he then utilized his own voice and said, "And oh! Did her death please me so! Would you like to know how I killed her? I promise you… it was incredibly painful!"

Tangle, suffering unfathomable anguish, screamed and charged at Mimic. Shadow rushed over and tackled her to the ground, "Don't blindly charge him, it will get you killed!" Blood from Shadow's neck and thigh was slowly spilling everywhere as he spoke.

With a path suddenly clear, Mimic rushed over toward Rouge with his blade raised, prepared to cut her the bat open one final time to finish the job he started.

Shadow screamed a blood curdling cry. "Tangle, Rouge!"

Tangle grunted as she hurled her tail and wrapped it around Mimic's feet, tripping him, as she began to pull him backwards. Mimics blade was left slashing and stabbing mere inches from Rouge's semi conscious body as she began to stir.

"Protect Rouge!"

Mimic drew several knives and stabbed Tangle in her tail causing her to release mimic from her grasp. Shadow jumped over Tangle's tail, as he engaged Mimic in hand to tentacle combat.

Shadow blocked the first attack, repealing it with a horizontal swing of his arm, a stabbing motion that was aimed for his lungs beneath his ribcage with a stiletto dagger, another tentacle swept at Shadow's legs aiming to sever his femoral artery behind his knee. Shadow avoided this by backflipping after he had grabbed a tentacle that had attempted to strike his chest. After Shadow landed he saw Mimic holding another bladed weapon in his hand by the tip of the blade in a throwing posture. He began to wind up to throw it at Shadow- but pivoted his body to hurl the blade at the slowly awakening bat on the ground. Shadow saw this happening and used his speed to hurl himself in front of the flying dagger, which then embedded itself deep into his lower back adobe his tailbone.

Shadow screamed in pain and grunted in anger, at that moment Tangle swept Mimics feet- but Mimic simply jumped over her feeble attack and walked toward Rouge and Shadow as he readied another dagger.

Tangle charged forward, rolling herself into a ball and body slammed Mimic. Shadow kicked him to the side causing him to be knocked behind and to the side of Rouge.

It was at that moment Shadow noticed how pale Rouge looked. Like a ghost. She needed medical attention and fast.

"You'll pay for what you did to my friend. You'll pay. You'll pay! Tangle scammpered on the ground and lept toward mimic as she ferociously clawed, bit, and struck Mimic. Her attack was hampered as she became entangled in mimics tentacles and he made several quick stabbing strikes toward her body at random in self defense as Mimic attempted to force some distance between them.

Shadow, now standing, Rushed over and stomped on one of mimics' tentacles as he prepared to bring his other foot down on the octopus's head. Mimic used a subtle blade held in one of his four tentacles to slice just above the heel of Shadow's leg causing the Hedgehog to reflexively fall down. Mimic pushed Tangle away and at the same moment sprayed ink in her eyes, momentarily blinding her. He punched the lemor in the gut with a poorly and panicked strike with a push dagger but failed to penetrate as far as he would have liked due to their distance from one another and the small length of the blade.

Tangle was blinded and retreating as she tried to clear her eyes of ink with one hand and a tail as well as determine the severity of the damage to her stomach using her other hand.

Shadow was in a disadvantaged position, with Mimic grinning and readying several blades to bring down upon his wounded prey.

Mimic grinned. Tangle was blinded and falling back opposite from himself and the Harlot, while Shadow was weakened from his many wounds, in the perfect position for a killing blow to be dealt. It was times like this. Mimic truly felt… alive.

Mimic heard a faint femine scream of pain from behind him but paid it no mind as he readied a final blow to decisively end the combat.

Mimics back exploded with a searing pain as a serrated knife was thrust into his back. Mimic was frozen in shock for a moment.

Rouge took several ragged breaths as fresh blood from the now opened wound spilled out.

"You absolute thot! You bitch! Enjoy bleeding to death you harlot!" Mimic turned and spit at Rouge, his blood boiling in anger. Mimic charged forward to attack Rouge. He did not even bother using his knife, instead, he attempted to kick her groin, her neck, anywhere to cause pain and prevent her from applying pressure on the wound.

They both knew every second counted. Rouge was losing too much blood.

Shadow ran behind mimic and ripped out the knife from his back, he thrust the blade into mimics side but the octopus saw this move and deftly prevented it with a well timed block followed by a counter strike. Tangle's vision, now clear, rushed over to Rouge and attempted to render aid.

Shadow and MImic continued trading blows, blocking strikes, and dodging attacks. Mimic then had a tentacle slither to rouge and grab her leg and pull- not ROuge but Mimic himself toward her. Rouge tried and failed to swat the tentacle away, leaving tangle to pounce on it and try to knaw it off with her teeth. Mimic screamed in pain then wrapped Tangle's neck in two of his tentacles and began to choke her.

Shadow drew on his chaos power despite his failing strength and seemingly appeared beside mimic. Shadow grabbed mimics chest, holding and practically hugging his body and dragged him backwards away from Rouge and Tangle.

As Tangle was being choked more and more Rouge let go of her wound site and the pressure she was applying to use her fangs to bite and pierce the tentacles that were choking Tangle. Mimic screamed and let go as Tangle regained her breath.

"Oh no… oh no no no no no." Rouge said as she panicked at all the blood that was flowing out of her nicked femoral artery.

Tangle cried out, "Shadow, she doesn't have much time left. We need to get her help!"

Shadow was still wrapped up with Mimic, the latter of which now used his tentacles, hands, and the knives they held, to slash, cut, and stab Shadow. Shadow pushed mimic back, drew upon his Chaos energy and appeared above mimic near instantaneously, Shadow spun his body in midair, picking up momentum, and delivered a mighty kick to Mimic's skull sending him face first into the earth. His head bouncing several times off the hard rocky floor.

Shadow then became just aware of how many wounds he had, his body was weak and tired. HIs eyes were getting… heavy.

"Damn you all. This was just supposed to be a simple, kill, kill, grab and go mission…"

Mimic slowly rose from the ground as he picked himself up and dusted himself off.

"Now, you three have made this personal. I'll get the last laugh though…"

Mimic transformed into Shadow and continued speaking, "When you least expect it. I'll be there in the dead of night hoving over you as you sleep. One day, one of you will be unaware of the poison flowing through your body paralyzing you… ignorant of the pain that is to befall you as I dissect your body piece by piece until your begging for death… and I will smile at you and say… no."

The Shadow imposter abruptly transformed into Jewel the Beatle. She grinned sadistically toward Tangle, "Say hi to Whisper for me, Tangle," Mimic slowly stepped back exiting the cave. "I'll be seeing you two sooner than you think. Sweet dreams..." Then mimic rounded the corner, and was gone.

"Finally... it's over." Rouge said as she layed on the ground. Barely even trying to stop the slow flow of blood that oozed out of the wound.

"Tangle, apply pressure NOW!"

"Where- where are you going, Shadow?"

"Grabbing our ticket out of here." Shadow limped over toward the chasm then slid down it quickly finding and retrieving the Chaos Emerald. Then he returned to Rouge's and Tangle's side.

Tangle meanwhile had stretched her tail and grabbed the three rocks and minerals she had gathered from her earlier spelunking that were laying on the ground several feet away.

"Rouge does not have much time. It looks like her Femoral artery was either nicked or barely missed. I've never done it but I'm going to try to teleport the three of us to Hope Hospital." Shadow said as he walked over toward Tangle and Rouge, "give me your hands…"

Shadow held his hand out, in it was a Chaos Emerald. Tangle put her hand on Shadows, Rouge's hand was then put atop Tangles with help from Shadow and Tangle. The trio's hands and bodies were coated in both fresh and dried blood. Rouge's body was pale as snow. Shadow grimaced at the sight.

"No turning back now… Chaos Control!

There was a blinding flash of light…

Then... complete and total darkness...