Chapter Five – Acquaintances
Shadow gritted his teeth, not liking this, one bit, as he made his way towards the conventions. With Sonic behind him, they split up, each of them going to their respective gatherings. Slowly, Shadow poked his nose through the opening of the main tent, of his convention, and what he saw, made him both gasp and gag at the same time. Ahead of him, there was a sea of Hedgehogs, some naturally so, other species dressed up as such and every shade of black was there. Everything from dark grey, right through to the colour of coal, but no one there, was the deep, rich blackness, the colour of pitch darkness, as the Ultimate Lifeform himself. As for the stripes, there was everything from dark red, through orange, to bright yellow. It looked both bizarre and rather amusing. He new orangey-red fire stripes fit in perfectly there.
Unsurprisingly though, most of the crowd, were shorter then him, by several inches. Shadow had grown hugely, but as he entered the marque, his stomach really turned. His entire life and origins were on display here, and celebrated, including Maria's death, in full view of everyone. He knew it was there for completeness, but as Shadow growled, it was in bad taste, and when it was reenacted on a the main stage, at one end of the marque, it was outright dire.
Grieving her death, had nearly mentally broken him, and now, Shadow just felt like it was being mocked, like his grief was being ripped to pieces. He had to resist every urge to Chaos Blast the entire place, exploding into a huge ball of fire, potentially mushroom clouding it, instantly killing everyone there, as his blood just boiled at the very thought. As his eyes glowed, Shadow realised he was undercover, and quickly moved to the other end of the tent, opposite the main entrance, and into the shadows, out of the sight of that awful memory. He decided to stay there, closed off his ears and just wait it out.
Sonic originally bounced his way into his convention, but immediately stopped when he got there. His entire life, also had been put on display there, was well, on multiple stands scattered around the marque, but it was his own sea of blue that made him gulp. Every single variation of Sonic The Hedgehog, you could think of was there, also with every shade of blue and size. Some people were bigger then him, but truthfully, not many, and others were smaller, but the general theme of muscle, was all over the tent. Every single doppelganger there, was broader then Sonic, the real Blue Blur was that slim.
Tall, long and lanky, with his incredibly super delicate frame was not what you'd be expecting from the Hero of Mobius, but for the King of Speed, the body type was perfect for working ultra fast, as he could bend and flex, as Sonic often broke the laws of physics. Suddenly, he calmed right down as he slowly wondered between the masses, completely ignored, his curiosity getting the better of him. He moved from one stand to another, while everyone around him was talking about his adventures, Sonic just frowned. Some he remembered, others he didn't, and he swore many had been downright fabricated. Some stories were so far fetched, that Sonic could help himself but laugh.
He had fun looking around. He didn't say anything, just listened to what people had to say, even if the sea of doppelgangers was quite disconcerting. Suddenly, there was cheering, as finally, Sonic looked around, and on the stage, again at one end of the marque, the main event arrived.
'Sonic The Hedgehog' himself, the imposter.
The real Blue Blur himself, folded his armed, growled and then silently glared. Alright, Mr. Counterpart, what have you got to say for yourself? He was alone of the stage, and quite an accurate portrayal of the Blue Blur in his late twenties, early thirties. Quite small, stocky, and very muscular, and as Sonic smirked, wildly inaccurate. It was completely wrong for going fast, which was what the Blue Blur, the King of Speed, was originally about. Sonic was getting the impression that, that had been completely forgotten in this convention, everyone concentrating on the 'hero' side only. That utterly dismayed Sonic. Speed was his life, not the adventures or fighting Eggman, those were only ever side events, whereas going fast was where he got his real thrills. His true love.
Suddenly, the imposter took the microphone, and tapped it to get everyone's attention. He got instant silence. He took a deep breath, heaving into the microphone. Then he opened out his hands, with a huge grin on his face, and squealed hard.
"Hello, Westopolis, thank you for coming. Amy and the kids will be along shortly, and from all of us, and just want to say, welcome to 'my' convention." He roared, to enormous applause. Sonic growled, as he took huge offence. 'His' convention? No, this was definitely the real Blue Blur's shindig, but as the cheering died down, he took up the microphone again. "Anyway, I'll be signing autographs over that stand over there, and in the meant time, can I welcome to the stage, the Westopolis Theatrical Society with a beautiful re-enactment of my glorious defeat against Eggman." He smiled, to further clapping.
Sonic gulped. That was when the original explosion happened that changed himself, and Shadow forever. He didn't move as he just gasped, as he watched the imposter leave the stage, go to a nearby stand, and immediately get surrounded by people, disappearing out of sight. But Sonic just stood there, watching the show. It was well done, beautifully acted, but wildly inaccurate. First, Shadow was nowhere in sight, and second, when the explosion happened, 'Eggman' vanished, as apparently 'Sonic' managed to jump himself clear of the blast, surviving and subsequently winning the battle and the war. When it ended, Sonic applauded along with everyone else, out of politeness, but he just heaved.
All of a sudden, everything felt so incredibly fake, including himself. Regardless, he went looking for someone, who should have arrived by now, and the real reason why he was at this convention.
Amy.
He quickly found her, signing autographs next to her 'husband', the imposter, her two children happily playing nearby. Sonic's heart just lifted. She was beautiful Hedgehog. The ten years had been incredibly kind to her, despite the fact she'd been pregnant twice, as she had significantly grown. She had big green eyes, a small nose, fluffy fringe and a large smile. Her pink quills were now so long, that they were down to her waist, her coral fur coat stunning. She had a large chest, a small whist and long legs, all covered over with a beautiful red ball gown, with sparky red shoes, earrings and headband, and long red gloves what went up both her arms.
But she wasn't happy. Everything she was doing for the crowd, signing autographs, posing with her 'husband' was hugely forced, and she was only there purely for reputation. It was obvious that her and the imposer had, had a massive argument before arriving here, as they were incredible snappy at one another, even through they desperately tried not to show it. Their marriage was ending, Amy was through with his fake. She was done pretending. She'd always known, from the very beginning, but did it for the fame. Even though the imposter was incredibly good to her and her subsequent children, giving them everything they ever wanted, it was never real. Now, she'd just had enough. This was her final stupid 'Sonic' convention. She'd done a couple of them before, but this was her final one. It was over.
But as for the real Blue Blur, Amy always believed in his return. His body was never found, and had known from the very beginning that Sonic's tomb contained an empty coffin. She'd married the imposter out of sheer desperation unable to wait any longer, believing she could create the Blue Blur for herself, in his absence. But it was never the same, and now, it was all falling to pieces. But ten years on, the chances were so small, that with the divorce, it was her chance for her and her children to finally move on.
But seeing Amy in such dismay, saddened Sonic immensely, and as the crowd in front of the stand thinned out, the real Blue Blur decided maybe it was finally time to go over and say hello. He causally wondered over to the stand where Amy was stood, as she just, rather inpatient, grabbed a photograph of herself, from the massive pile, signed it 'Amy Rose', and without even looking up at the Blue Blur, she rather rudely spat at him.
"What's the name?" She asked, but Sonic quickly gulped. He was undercover, he had to think of an alternative name and fast. He immediately thought of Shadow, creating a name for his disguise, as a simple play of his fur coat colour, and Sonic quickly deciding to do the same. He smiled.
"Cobalt." He replied, but Sonic unintentionally silenced everyone in earshot. Even though his voice had deepened over the years, the mannerisms in it, for the Hero of Mobius, were spot on, even through one singular word. The imposter giggled.
"Whoa. That's the best soundalike I heard all day." He praised, but then he glared, eyeing Sonic down heavily. "Though you might want to get some meat on you, mind." He blasted, commenting on Sonic's very slender figure. Amy's growled, immediately rounded on her 'husband' and thumping him hard, in the arm. He recoiled hard, pretending it hurt, but Sonic just smirked, raising an eyebrow. The imposter didn't need to pretend, Amy had Super-Strength. That genuinely did hurt. A lot. Seeing her husband in real pain, actually improved Amy's mood hugely, as she finally looked up at Sonic. She gasped as she just stared.
Those eyes. Huge, a stunningly beautiful emerald green, and stuffed full of sparkles. She knew them. The seconds that ticked by, felt like an age, until suddenly, Amy blinked, as she put Cobait's name on the photograph, and handed it to Sonic, she heaved.
"Sorry about my husband. He can be very rude sometimes." She apologised, but the imposter growled, as Sonic smiling at the photograph, was about to turn away. He shouted at the Blue Blur.
"Hey." He spat. "Do you want my autograph?" He grilled. But Sonic just shook his head.
"No, thanks. Just her." He beamed, indicating Amy, with a smile, still talking a blast from the past, on his voice. She returned the gesture, as he just nodded at her, he turned tail on them, and went back out towards the rest of the convention. The imposter, growled, rather put out.
Suddenly, Sonic stopped and outright stared, his heart actually stopping. He gasped and hard. Weaving his way through the crowd was a person was very distinctively neither a Hedgehog or blue. He was tall, and rather skinny, now in his late twenties. Sonic suspected the slenderness to be a weight issue, due to a lack of not eating properly, rather then body design, like the Blue Blur's. Sonic rolled his eyes. Too busy working, in a certain workshop, inventing? The Fox had large ears, a long nose, cheek bristles, a long fringe, and big blue eyes. He was wearing a long white scientist's coat, white cloves with black rings, socks, and a updated design of his red and white shoes. Sticking out of the back, were two very long, wavy, somewhat bushy tails, that horrendously twitched and his attention was very heavily drawn towards the handheld computer in his hands. It was black and yellow, with a antenna on the top, a large screen and two handles on the side.
Tails.
The Fox was whirling around everywhere, pointing his handheld at every 'Sonic' doppelganger in the convention. A red beam quickly emanating from the top of the machine. Within seconds, it was done scanning, and the results, just caused the Fox to growl.
"No." He hissed to himself, and then moved to another counterpart, scanning again. It stopped, another negative. "No." He spat. Tails repeated the processed all around the convention, painlessly scanning as many Blue Hedgehogs as he could find, repeating 'no' every time.
But Sonic outright panicked.
The Blue Blur wasn't sure what got to him more. The fact that he'd finally found his old best friend, safe and well, or that he still believed in him and was actually looking for him, and knowing Tails, that handheld was going to be insanely accurate. The Fox was that intelligent, he find him, the real Blue Blur, in this crowd.
Gulping hard, and shaking with fright, Sonic backed up, as Tails absentmindedly approached him, and suddenly, he'd banged right into the stand where Amy and the importer were. The doppelganger quickly grabbed all the photographs that had been knocked off, before they hit the floor. He growled.
"Hey, easy." He hissed, but Sonic turned and looked at them, and found himself face-to-face with Amy again. She frowned, but then they heard it. A alarm sounding. Not loud, but it was coming from a certain handheld of the two-tailed Fox, now staring them down, in utter disbelieve. Sonic turned back around again, and they both looked at each other, as Amy peered around as saw the Fox for herself. Tails, like her, had always believed that the real Sonic was alive, and now, was this really him?
There was utter silence in their small crowd, as the convention just went on around them, the noise of the large crowd buzzing. But Sonic gulped and hard. He desperately turned, looking between Tails, Amy and the imposter, who all just bore down on him. The silence was deafening, until finally, Sonic snapped, dropping the photograph he was carrying.
Suddenly, he exploded, as pale blue sparks, and bolts of electricity were just fired everywhere, as his body changed from the normal Hedgehog, through the light blue of solid electricity, and then with an enormous flash of bright blue light, to nothing but the singular pure spark. It suddenly wizzed and whirled all around them, circling everywhere incredibly fast, as Sonic just bolted from the convention and never looked back. There was a huge crack and suddenly, he was gone. Vanished at the speed of light. They all squealed at the dangerous voltages, as they were left gasping as his wake. The imposter gulped and hard.
"Chaos hell. That was fast." He stammered, as he saw the line of pale blue electricity, left behind on the ground, that lead straight out of the convention. He outright gasped. He'd been faking the Blue Blur for a very long time, that with his marriage finishing with Amy, all of it was coming to an end. The deception only worked so well, because of her. Truthfully, however, he'd had enough. The fame and what little fortune there was, was exhausting, and now, no longer worth it. But he knew she always believed in him, the real Sonic, even though the chances of him surviving that bomb were practically zero, but yet, she never gave up. Rather irritatingly, neither did Tails, and they had had many an argument over it, through the years. Was there a chance that the Fox was actually right?
It happened so quickly that no one saw Sonic leave. Amy gulped as Tails nodded, as he showed her the screen of his handheld. It was still beeping with the alarm, the screen was full of readings. He gasped.
"I got perfect hit of his chaos signature. It's spot on. An exact match to the one on file, from before the war ended." He stammered. A chaos signature is a reading of a person's life-force, which doesn't change as they get older, no matter what happens. The Fox looked back in the direction of which Sonic had fled, picking up the photograph of Amy, he'd left behind. A small crowd gathered around, having seen the commotion, but Tails was panting hard, unable to quite believe that all the years of research and bullying he'd endured, because of his unwavering faith in the real Sonic, was now all worthwhile. He just beamed, as the Pink Hedgehog stared.
"Amy, it's him."
Shadow growled. He was getting bored, from all this hanging around. He was hating this convention by the second, but he knew it was simply a matter of time before G.U.N. showed up.
He was correct.
Finally, the soldiers arrived, all in their full combat field gear, the crowd parting for them, but then Commander Luther himself shows, now General, the Rhino got rather ambushed by the crowd. Shadow smirked slightly. As the Chief of Operations of the organisation, he was rather well known, and was forced for reputation's sake, to politely deal with the fans, before moving on. Regardless, they got a lot of people signed up for G.U.N., as soldiers, through the convention. Shadow growled, unsure whether he approved, but they had to get their new recruits from somewhere.
But sticking to his very shadowy corner of the convention, Shadow watched the general closely. His temper flared, as his internal temperature rose, which he dubbed down rather quickly. He was now certain that it was the Rhino who'd made the order to kill them with that bomb, purely to get back at Ultimate Lifeform. Luther hated him and had never approved of him, let alone trusted him. Shadow's laboratory and creation past, leaving him very wary. Shadow hadn't been 'born', how could he be trusted? It wasn't normal. He'd been trying to get G.U.N. to ditch him for years, even before the bomb went off, and now, he was looking for him.
Shadow just smirked. Rather reluctantly, from the looks of it. He still didn't believe in Shadow's immortality, but a lot of people in G.U.N. did, and the old saying of no body, no death, with regards to the Ultimate Lifeform, still rang true, and therefore Luther had no choice, but to search and find Shadow dead for himself. But Shadow couldn't help but thank that Rhino. That bomb had no only freed Shadow was his genetic engineering prison, but completely enlightened him, with this new form. Sonic too, and now, he was beginning to wonder, were the speedsters always destined to be like this?
He frowned. Truthfully, he had no idea, as G.U.N. moved off, unfortunately, Shadow was unable to hear of their conversations over the rather loud din of the crowd. He let them go. He had no intension of intervening. He just wanted to know who the main players were, and finding out that it was exactly whom he expected, he was satisfied. He was about to leave, when someone else immediately caught his attention, as soon as she walked into the tent. A person Shadow hadn't seen in ten years.
Rouge.
She was stunning.
She as grown, just like everyone else, and was now a beautiful adult female Bat, with the boobs and bum, to show for it. A slight bump on her belly, which had always been perfectly flat, heavily indicated that she'd been pregnant, at some point, but here, she was now alone. She had very large ears, her white fur glistening in the electric lights of the marque, a small black nose, and purple eyeshadow and very long eyelashes. She wore a sleek, tight-fitting dark purple jumpsuit/catsuit ensemble with a zip that went from her neck to her stomach and a small dark purple heart-shaped jewel on the middle of her zip and chest, with small dark purple heart-shaped jewels on her thigh-high high-heeled dark purple boots' cuffs, her boots also had black soles. She also wore her signature arm-length white gloves.
She wasn't working for G.U.N. anymore, certainly not directly, she as a free-agent, who often free lanced for them, for missions that took her fancy. However, these days, she rarely did field work, taking a desk job. She had a family now, risking her life out there, just wasn't worth it anymore. Regardless, she heard that G.U.N. were 'still' looking for Shadow, even after ten years, and with this convention so close to her home, by coincidence, she thought, she'd try her luck, not really expecting anything. But did she still really believe? Honestly, she just didn't know, but as soon as she entered the marque, she immediately got bombarded by fans, who all knew whom she was.
She rolled her eyes. They all seemed harmless enough, and not wanting to cause a fuss, she politely dealt with them and moved off. But when she got into the main tent, she too squirmed. Shadow's entire life on show, including Maria? That was indeed in bad taste, as she'd never been to one of these conventions before. The sea of black and red was bizarre but she quickly got used to it, as she moved from one doppelganger to the next, looking them in the eyes, wondering maybe, just maybe, her old G.U.N. colleague was behind them.
Shadow watched her closely and silently smirked from his shadowy corner. He was incredibly proud of her. He immediately noticed a wedding ring, on her finger, and instantly knew who the husband was, nodding approving. He'd look after her. Shadow heaved. In fact, the husband had, him doing an incredible job. She looked amazing. Confident and gorgeous, as always.
But as Shadow was drooling slightly over Rouge, he didn't notice someone else walk in the marque, right behind her. He was surrounded by scientists either side, in long white coats, constantly monitoring, poking and prodding him. A rather huffed jet back teenage male Hedgehog, with red eyes and stripes, white gloves, apparently Inhibitors rings, and rocket shoes. Several fans went over to investigate, but were rather rudely battered away by the scientists. Shadow, finally clocking the newcomer, just outright gasped.
What?
He was looking at himself, literally, the Chaos Aura, the halo of life-force that surrounds everyone, that Shadow could physically see, was exact. But as Shadow stared harder and blinked, he noticed, that actually, not quite. The copycat looked like exactly as he did, ten years ago, without any growth, and yet there was several elements of his persona that was missing. Some of the top-end superpowers were missing. Super-Speed and Super-Strength were indeed there, just as was Chaos Wield, but the abilities were just basic, enhanced, not the ultra, intensely-super, high-end grunt, that Shadow could and still muster. Also his stripes. There were purely cosmetic. They had no power behind them. Shadow's own stripes had been the source of his immortality, as they were Black Arm in origin. But as Shadow was well aware, Black Arms D.N.A couldn't be cloned in a laboratory. It had to be done in a specialist pod, on the Black Comet itself, the alien's mothership. This copycat was mortal, though still stronger then the average.
Shadow smirked, as he finally realised what he was looking at. A direct clone. Of himself, done on a laboratory, and an incredibly inferior one too. He heaved, frowning. Exactly how desperate were G.U.N. for the Super Soldier project, and if he'd been successfully cloned, were there others? Shadow suspected not, certainly not of himself. His D.N.A. with it's incredibly complicated combination of elements. Black Arms, Hedgehog, Chaos superpowers, and complex genetic engineering, was, ten years ago, extremely difficult to clone. Nowadays, no chance, as Shadow heaved. He still had no idea what he truly was, and as for the clone, Shadow suspected, he was the only survivor after numerous failed attempt, and years of work, hence the permanent scientist escort.
His clone, growled, very keen to be gone from his babysitters, as he was keen to explore the convention. Finally, he was let loose, as he was ordered not the leave, and immediately went straight for the middle of the marque, to a certain Bat, whom hadn't noticed his arrival. He grabbed her arm, getting her attention. He smiled.
"Hey, Rouge." His, somewhat high pitched voice, grinned but she whirled around, and looked down, as she was now significantly taller then him. Unfortunately, she was not at all happy to see him, as she yanked her arm away from him. She growled and hard.
"Beat it, Faker." She spat, not at surprised to see him there. The Ultimate Lifeform glared. Oh, that stung, but in a good way. Her, calling his clone, the absolutely brutal nickname he used to call the Blue Blur, back when they first met. Shadow's smirk just exploded.
Beautiful.
She knew all about the clone. It was common knowledge at G.U.N., and the wider public in general, as they often paraded him around, as an example of the future of soldiering. But she screamed at the copycat. "I have told you repeatedly, I'm not interested. Now leave me alone." She hissed, turning away from him, walking, coincidentally, towards the real Shadow's hiding place. But the clone roared in pure frustration, as he charged after her.
"You know, I've had enough of you turning me down. I've read our profiles, we are meant to be together." He hissed, and suddenly, he was on her, grabbing both her wrists with his hands, and physically pushed towards the edge of the marque, close to Shadow, her back right up against the wall. Despite Rouge being bigger then him, he was significantly stronger, and as she squealed, she desperately struggled to throw him off of her. She fought back and hard.
"Hey, let go of me." She panted, but the clone just downright smirked.
"No." He spat. "Your mine, and I'm taking you, Bat, whether you like it or not." He declared.
Shadow, who'd been watching this whole fiasco, just outright lost his temper, as he eyes roared with pure fire.
He seen enough.
He quickly moved from the shadows, and behind the clone. Silently, without with drawing attention to himself, now standing head and shoulders above his former self, he just grabbed the clone by the neck, from behind, and squeezing extremely hard, he physically lifted his copycat off the ground, with incredible ease.
Immediately, he left go of Rouge, as he found himself, struggling to breath, and as he grabbed Shadow's hand on his neck, as he tried to fight his way free. Unfortunately, his strength was nothing on the real Ultimate Lifeform's colossal power. Finally, he turned around to face his fate. He gasped as Shadow hissed, his extremely deep voice rumbling, his eyes still glowing hard.
"She belongs to no one." He spat, and with a smirk on his face, and the eyes of a pure killer, Shadow without even breaking a sweat, just squeezed his hand so hard, around the neck of the clone, that he didn't even give him a chance to scream. He desperately kicked, with heavily muffled roars, as he felt intense fire and burning from the Ultimate Lifeform's hand. Unfortunately, within minutes, his body hung limp and lifeless in Shadow's hand.
He was dead.
Shadow threw the dead clone discretely on the floor, between himself and Rouge. She blinked, looking up at the Ultimate Lifeform, as he was significantly taller the her now, utterly terrified and yet, she somehow knew this Black Hedgehog wouldn't do her any harm. She'd seen Shadow kill like that before, in the past, during the war against Eggman. But only he, the true Ultimate Lifeform, had the sheer power in Super Strength, to physically squeeze the life out of someone, especially that fast. She gasped.
"Handsome?" She stammered, using her old nickname for him, as she put her hand out towards him. But Shadow immediately back off, desperately fearing for her safety. He wasn't ready. He was now made of literal fire, he could, so very easily, kill her.
Suddenly, there was commotion behind them, as the dead clone was finally noticed on the ground. Both Shadow and Rouge fled, the both of them getting out of there. The Ultimate Lifeform incredible quickly, as he instantly turned into his ball of living flames, with a flash of red light, and then vanished, via teleport, leaving a small scorched fire trail behind him. Rouge saw and just panicked. Thankfully, no one at G.U.N. noticed her involved with the clone's death, as the scientists just roared in both frustration and grief for their dead pet. A decade of work, gone. She quickly slipped down the sides of the marque and when she got to the entrance, she just ran.
Thankfully, she ran straight into the arms of Tails, who'd followed, Sonic out of the entrance of the other marque, himself having only just bolted. The Fox grabbed her, holding her steady, as she just flailed. He held her firm.
"Easy Rouge, I've got you. I'm not going to hurt you." He comforted. Suddenly, Amy was there, with the photograph, having followed Tails outside. She too grabbed the panicking Bat, desperately trying to calm her. She smiled.
"Shh. What happened?" She wondered. Amy, Tails, Rouge, and Knuckles, whom she was now married too, had all kept in touch, with each other, since the war ended. Finally, Rouge calmed down and nodded.
"I think Shadow's back." She gulped, indicating the real Ultimate Lifeform. Tails and Amy looked at each other, the tell tale readings of Sonic's chaos signature still on his handheld.
Both the speedsters were alive.