Part 1
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Knuckles stirred with a groan. He looked around at the dimly lit cave. Tails lay next to him, unmoving. "Hey Tails…you all right?" Knuckles nudged the fox, but he didn't move. "Tails?" A sense of dread ran up Knuckles back. He checked Tails, who had a pulse and was still breathing.
Knuckles breathed a sigh of relief. He checked for any other issues. There was no swelling or discolor in Tails' skin. There were a few bruises on his shoulders, but those were probably just from hitting the rocks.
There weren't any cuts or broken bones. Maybe Tails would just take longer to wake up. He was lighter, so Rouge's knock out darts might still be running their course. As long as Tails didn't get worse, Knuckles wouldn't do anything. There was one concern, Tails' slow heart rate, but it wasn't anywhere near life threatening yet.
He waited for several hours, checking every now and then to make sure Tails was fine. He wasn't waking up, but his heart was speeding up some. He'd probably wake up when his heart rate returned to normal.
If he didn't wake up then, there was a serious problem. That's when he would act. Until then, his best bet was doing nothing.
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Part 2
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Rouge lunged at Amy, attacking but missing again and again as Amy dodged and ducked. She slid Rouge's punches and kicks away, as Rouge got madder and madder as Amy taunted her.
Amy caught her hands, throwing the bat to the ground.
"Enough!" Rouge clicked her watch as an electric current covered her gloves. Amy froze. Her smirk dropped as her teeth clenched in a frown. Her eyes barely showed anything around her.
Rouge glared at Amy. "What's the matter? No more sass?"
Amy's body shook. She tried to focus, but memories kept flashing through her mind. A punch sent her flying, sparks running across her body. As she fell, more hits came, over and over, burning every inch of her body.
Everything went numb as her body went limp. Then her arm started moving on its own. "Your magic tricks won't work on me this time!" Rouge punched her over and over as Amy's body shook uncontrollably.
Soon she was on the ground spasms all over. Rouge stopped punching and stood up as Amy's convulsions slowed down. Some feeling started to come back, but the world was slipping into darkness.
As Amy's eyes closed, she heard Rouge shouting. "Don't you dare fall asleep you witch!" Rouge grabbed her up. "Tell me what you did to me! Why can't I see Sonic!?"
"Because he's not here."
Rouge turned around to see Shadow sitting on a rock that definitely hadn't been there before. She froze, not even able to speak.
Shadow smiled sadly. "It's not magic you know. She's just a better fighter."
"What?" Rouge just stared.
Shadow stood up, walking over and picking Amy up. "Let's see...500 ring bounty on her right?" He tossed a bag at Rouge.
Rouge caught the bag, opening it to see the money inside. She looked up. "I don't understand."
Shadow raised an eyebrow. "I'm authorized to pay out bounties. I thought you knew that."
"I know that. But why are you paying m-Shadow?" Rouge looked around, but Shadow was gone, along with Amy.
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Part 3
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Sonic sighed. "Then what should I do?"
"Honestly, I don't have an answer to that. You could try digging up some more dirt. But I don't know if people will believe it."
"What do you mean? I'm the city's beloved hero."
"So was I." Shadow took his left shoe off, showing a scar across his ankle. He parted his hair, revealing the scar stretched up to shoulder.
"Why are you showing me a scar you got protecting people?"
"I made enemies with the wrong people. Ones the government tried to hold accountable and failed. They're still trying to find some solid evidence, but records always seem to vanish before they could be used." Shadow looked out into the darkness. "I'll admit, you're more popular than I ever was. And maybe you can find something that works. Just be careful. Oran and his allies are very dangerous."
"Wait...Oran? I thought you meant James and his family."
Shadow shook his head. "No. James' family might have some extreme views, but he always tries to follow the law. He doesn't bend it to suit his needs. As for Oran, I couldn't say anything about him in the city without raising suspicion. Meeting with you may have already raised some suspicions. But out here he doesn't have the tech to know for sure, and I doubt he'll strike unless he's absolutely certain there won't be backlash from his allies." Shadow stood up. "Oh, one more thing before I leave." He pointed to a pink hedgehog, laying on the ground.
"Amy!" Sonic ran over to her, seeing several burns and bruises.
"Yeah, sorry I didn't step in sooner. Rouge gave her a pretty bad beating." "But she should be fine. And I don't think that old bat will give you guys any more trouble for now. Just don't do anything too stupid. If you go too far, I'll have to arrest you too."
Sonic grimaced. "Like Knuckles and Amy?"
"Yeah." Shadow's eyes were serious, but torn between sadness and hope. "Who knows. They've never killed anyone, even if Knuckles tried to. Maybe you can get them pardons."
"Gotta admit. It'd be an interesting conversation." Sonics laughed, looking at the night sky. "Maybe." He turned back to Shadow, but the black and red hedgehog was already gone. He put Amy on his shoulder ready to go back to the hideout, but realized he had no idea where he was going. He didn't even know where he was.