Metallic footsteps echoed through the corridor of the Space Colony Ark as a black hedgehog made his way to the observation room, a figure already looking out towards the Earth. It was an older man, already bald save for the enormous grey mustache, clearly visible even from behind.
"Can't sleep, eh Shadow?" He said to the newcomer. Though his voice had become rough with age, it still held a certain tenderness to it. "I can't blame you. Day and night are practically illusions on the Ark." He turned to meet Shadow, a kindly, yet somewhat sad smile stretching out beneath a pair of glasses. "Still, at least you don't really need sleep. I couldn't tell you the kind of havoc this place played on the staff when they got here, hoho!" The old man allowed himself a chuckle at the memory.
"What about you, Professor?" The young hedgehog asked, joining him by the window. Professor Gerald Robotnik chuckled in response, his voice a bit less jovial.
"Hoho, I've had trouble sleeping for a long time now, my boy." A silence fell over the two for a time, both of them staring out towards the earth. With a glance towards his creator, Shadow finally broke the silence.
"Is it because of Maria?" He asked, his voice growing somber. "That you can't sleep, I mean."
"That's certainly part of it." Gerald replied, his own voice just above a whisper, though it seemed to carry in the empty room. "But there's also you, son."
Shadow turned to the Professor, eyes wide.
"Don't give me that face." He said with a chuckle. "Out of anyone here, you may well be in the most difficult position."
"I don't understand." The hedgehog reiterated, his brow furrowed in confusion as Gerald let out a heavy sigh.
"Shadow…there isn't anyone like you. So far as I'm aware, there never has been. And as always, that will make you a target."
"Why?" Shadow asked, now fully facing him.
"Mostly fear, occasionally greed. Some will see you as an inherent threat. Others, a useful tool."
The old man carefully knelt down, groaning as his age added its own challenge to the act.
"I can only do so much to guide you through these trials. And one day, I won't be able to do even that much."
Shadow's eyes turned downward, his expression clouding over until he felt a hand on his head.
"But I trust you son." Gerald said with a warm smile. "You're one of the most honest, caring souls I've ever met."
The young immortal looked up at his creator.
"Shadow, I know you'll make the right choice when the time comes."
Shadow opened his eyes, arms crossed against his chest as he observed the wreckage around him. Once again, he and Cream had run into a small group of low grade badniks. And once again, he was entirely unable to discern what their purpose here was. There was nothing of material or strategic value in this open field, well away from any population centers. The direction each group attacked from was different as well; tracking had proven fruitless.
At first, Shadow had wondered if they, or rather he was the target in question, but the timing was far too random. No effort was made in coordinating these attacks, as if they happened by accident.
"I don't see anything, Mister Shadow." Cream called down as she floated to the ground, Cheese following after. "It's just like before. None of the trails go far and there aren't any other robots in the area."
"Meaning we can't simply follow them back to their base…" Shadow concurred, trailing off as he put a hand to his chin. As the black hedgehog thought to himself, Cream noticed something on his arm.
"Mister Shadow, you're hurt!" She shouted, voice heavy with worry. In contrast, Shadow lazily regarded the cut with mild interest at best, only commenting when he noticed his companion rooting around her pack for a first aid kit.
"Don't worry about it." He said, causing her to look up at him in confusion. "It's not enough to pose an issue, so save the bandages."
Cream furrowed her brow with worry.
"But doesn't it hurt?" She asked, causing a brief smirk to pull at the corner of Shadow's lips.
"I hadn't even noticed until you pointed it out." He said, attempting to reassure her. "Besides, it's a good lesson. I've been out of practice for a while and my abilities aren't what they used to be. I don't have time to train, so trial and error is the best way to get back in form."
Cream's expression didn't change, but with a sigh, she relented.
"If you say so." She said with a defeated tone, donning her backpack again. "But please try to be careful, okay?"
"Always." Shadow replied confidently, before looking to the west. "We're near Westopolis, aren't we?"
Cream blinked a few times before once again pulling her backpack off to take out a map.
"Um…Pine Grove Village is here and your cabin is a bit north, then we went Northwest, so…"
Shadow cocked his head with a smirk, impressed with Cream's navigation skills in spite of her age. He could only assume it was a natural result of her adventuring with Amy.
"Mmhm, it's just west of here." She said, pointing in the same direction Shadow had been looking. "But wait, how did you know that? You don't have a map."
The black hedgehog tapped his head with his finger.
"Ultimate Life Form, remember?"
Said lifeform had to stifle a chuckle at the stars in Cream and Cheese's eyes. In truth, he'd made sure to get an understanding of the area when he moved into the forest.
"What we need is information." Shadow said, returning his gaze to the west. "If we can't track the robots back to the Doctor's base, we're wandering blind. Even if we can't figure out what he's up to, we can at least get an idea of where he's operating from."
"And we can stay in a hotel!" Cream shouted with glee. "Camping out was fun, but I really miss having a bed."
"Don't get your hopes up. I don't have a lot of money, so you'll have to settle for a cheap motel."
Surprisingly, Cream remained ecstatic.
"It's still a bed!" She said with a thousand watt smile. "C'mon, let's go!" The young rabbit took to the air and began flying towards Westopolis.
"We're not on vacation, kid…" Shadow muttered before taking off after her.
The hedgehog couldn't have been more right.
What was once a thriving, bustling city was now a tortured shell of its former self. While reconstruction efforts had made Westopolis somewhat liveable again, a year could only accomplish so much and many people remained displaced. From what Shadow had heard, much of the population had flooded other cities and towns nearby. But many couldn't afford to uproot or simply didn't have adequate means of transportation.
As a result, several shelters were still in use, occupying various abandoned, yet structurally sound buildings. Shadow and Cream found themselves in one such building, hoping to ask the volunteers or the refugees if they knew anything of Doctor Eggman's latest activities. Unfortunately, most of the staff were far too busy for anything not related to the work at hand and the few refugees willing to even look in Shadow's direction had only contempt in their eyes. It seemed his reputation was even more troublesome here than in Pine Grove, not that he blamed them.
After the two had split up, Shadow trying again with the staff and Cream with the refugees, a human woman approached the young rabbit.
"Excuse me." She called to the girl, drawing her excited attention. "I couldn't help noticing you and that hedgehog."
"That's right!" Cream all but sang, happy to finally be making progress. "Did you have any information to offer?" She almost sounded as though she were selling cookies.
"Oh, um, no." She said nervously, glancing in Shadow's direction. "Sorry, I…" Her voice dropped to a whisper as she stepped a little closer. "Are you okay?"
Cream blinked at the woman and cocked her head in confusion, her smile frozen as she attempted to process what she was just asked. "I'm sorry, I don't…"
"It's just that, well, everyone knows who that is and you're clearly not related."
The rabbit's smile dissolved as she was now well and truly lost. "I still don't understand."
"Are you being…kidnapped?"
Eyes wide, Cream waved her hands in front of her in a panic.
"No, of course not!" She sputtered, taken aback by the assumption. "Mister Shadow's my friend! He would never-"
"He's very dangerous, sweetie." The stranger said with an abrupt air of certainty. "He's the reason the city's in such a state. Him and those aliens."
Cream's face contorted as an unfamiliar indignation swelled in the pit of her stomach.
"That's a lie!" She squeaked in an attempt at shouting, stamping her foot and glaring at the woman hard enough to make her flinch. "Take it back!"
"Look, just come with me and we can find the police or GUN to protect you." She said before grabbing Cream's arm, only to have it snatched away with surprising force. Before either of them even noticed, a dark blur had stopped between them.
"Enough!" Shadow barked, having crossed the room and stepped in front of Cream at an alarming speed. "Back off."
The stranger broke into a cold sweat at the sight of the hedgehog, stumbling backwards onto her rear and shielding herself as if Shadow had raised a fist.
"I'm sorry!" She shouted, shaking on the spot and causing both newcomers to stare in shock at the display. "Don't hurt me!"
The entire room was now staring at the pair, murmurs beginning to spread about.
"Woah, did he threaten that lady?"
"It's him! The one who attacked the city."
"I think he kidnapped that girl after all."
Shadow grimaced as he looked around him, Cream's eyes beginning to water at the baseless accusations she was hearing.
"What's going on in here!" A familiar voice blasted from behind the crowd, shattering whatever grim atmosphere that was brewing. The refugees and staff alike parted to reveal a pink hedgehog in a red, sleeveless dress. Green eyes, sharp and aggravated, scanned the crowd for whatever caused this commotion, only to soften upon seeing the two figures in the center of the fracas.
"Shadow?" Her eyes then widened when she spotted the rabbit behind him. "Cream?!"
"Miss Rose!" Cream shouted as she darted for her friend, wrapping her arms around the bewildered hedgehog as if the previous tension never existed. Amy, though surprised, immediately returned the hug with a bright smile.
"What are you doing here?" The rabbit asked first.
"I could ask you that." Amy replied with a giggle. "I'm helping with the shelter. What about you?"
As if in answer, the sound of Shadow clearing his throat broke the two from their reverie, causing them to look over as though they had just noticed his presence.
After moving to the back of the building, Shadow and Cream explained their predicament to Amy, hoping she might know something. It seemed she had been in the area for the past month or so trying to help out.
"Have you gotten any people from outside Westopolis?" Shadow asked, leaning up against a wall in Amy's quarters. "Refugees from the Doctor's latest attacks?"
"No, it's been pretty much the same people since I got here." She replied, sat on her bed next to Cream. "This is the first I'd heard of this. But wasn't Eggman supposed to be over towards Solleana?"
Shadow scratched his muzzle at that.
"Rouge told me the other day that he was behaving strangely, attacking seemingly random targets and all but disappearing after." He mentioned, closing his eyes in thought.
"That lines up with what Tails told me last time we spoke." Amy said. "He thinks it's a smoke screen, but it's not like he and Sonic can just stop responding when Eggman attacks a populated area."
"Making the diversion all the more effective." Shadow concurred. "If the Doctor himself isn't nearby, that may explain why there isn't a major base of operations in the area. If that's the case, then our best option is to figure out his objective."
Amy put a hand to her chin for a moment, humming in thought.
"Miss Rose?" Cream asked, cocking her head in curiosity.
"I didn't think anything of it, since Eggman has been in another region." She muttered, drawing Shadow's attention. "But a while back, it seemed like there was some commotion over by an abandoned GUN base."
"GUN base?" Shadow asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, it was apparently damaged during the attack, so they shut it down and moved to a different area. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but it seemed like there was some noise over that way about a week ago."
"Hold on…" Shadow muttered as he thought for a moment. "Rouge told me this strange behavior of the Doctor's began after he broke into a secure archive."
"Wait, so could that have been the commotion Miss Rose heard?" Cream pondered.
"No, the timeline doesn't match." Replied the black hedgehog. "But they may be connected." Shadow stood to his feet and adjusted his gloves. "It's not much, but it's a lead. Can you show me where this base is?"
"Sure thing. If Eggman's up to something out here, I wanna know what." Amy said as she and Cream stood as well.
"You're staying here." Shadow said flatly to the rabbit. "You need rest."
"But-" Cream attempted to protest, but was cut off.
"What did we say back at the cabin?" Shadow prompted, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow. Cream pouted for a moment, but ultimately relented with a sigh.
"Hey, don't worry about it." Amy reassured as she knelt down beside her younger friend. "I'll be there to watch his back. In the meantime, how about you keep an eye on this place while I'm gone?"
Cream put on a determined face as she gave an enthusiastic nod.
"Okay, I'll do my best." She said, clutching her fists in front of her. "But please be careful."
"Hey, when am I not careful?" Amy asked, turning to Shadow as Cream shot her a worried look, but chose to remain silent. "I'll let someone know to look after her while we're gone, then meet you out front."
Shadow simply nodded to Amy and left, giving a curt nod to Cream as he left.
As one would expect, the abandoned base was in a part of the city yet to see reconstruction efforts. Collapsed buildings littered the area, craters formed by orbital lasers riddling the streets. The road itself was interrupted at times by fallen skyscrapers and demolished bridges.
Shadow's face was unusually sullen as he and Amy traversed the rubble, surveying the work of the black arms which he witnessed a year ago.
"You okay, Shadow?" Amy asked, breaking the other hedgehog out of his trance. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"It's nothing." Shadow replied hastily, dawning his usual stoic expression once more.
"It wasn't your fault, you know." Amy stated with a measure of authority, almost stopping Shadow in his tracks. "You didn't cause this."
"Let's just check out this base." It was clear he would speak no more of this, so Amy decided to let it go for now. Even she understood how stubborn Shadow could be.
"Well, here we are." The pink hedgehog said as they crested a pile of debris. The base itself seemed to mostly be underground, if the humble building on the surface was any indication. Even that was ruined beyond recovery, along with everything around it. However, the entrance seemed mostly functional, if somewhat treacherous.
"You can head back now." Shadow said, drawing the confusion of his guide. "I'll handle it from here."
"Uh, yeah, no." Amy said with a hand on her hip. "I didn't come all the way out here just to drop you off and go home; I'm going with you."
"That's unnecessary." The black hedgehog all but barked. "You should head back and wait with Cream."
"I told Cream I'd watch your back and that's what I'm gonna do." Amy was now raising her voice as she and Shadow now stared one another down. "You'll just have to accept that."
The Ultimate Lifeform let out a long sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Fine, fine." He said, waving the matter off as he started walking towards the entrance of the base. "Just don't slow me down."
Amy grinned and followed after her new companion.
I'm so sorry this took so long. I really have no explanation for why except perhaps a bit of a schedule change that threw me off. Regardless, I hope you enjoy what I finally managed to get you and I'll do my best to avoid another hiatus like this.
Also, thank you so much for the comments and favorites. It means a lot to me on my first fic.