Fanfiction» Fanfics» Shadow Forever

Rouge had to admit, she loved this place. She’d never been anywhere so...serene before, so beautiful. She didn’t know how long she’d actually been here, but she wouldn’t mind an eternity in this thick, smothering, wonderful bliss.

The sky was a blue so bright that it was almost white, and thick cotton candy clouds rolled lazily along the warm breezes that felt so much like a late summer day. The sun was neither too hot nor too cold, and everywhere you looked there were rolling, gentle hills covered in soft grass and sweet-smelling flowers, or tall buildings carved of white stone that were as fascinating and fresh-looking as they were old.

She was lying back on one of the hills, one leg drawn up and the other stretched out, her hands behind her head and her eyes closed. The quiet orchestra of nature’s creatures and a nearby stream were soothing her, making her want to fall asleep...

A shadow fell across her, and she opened one eye to see a mango-furred echidna wearing ancient garb leaning over her with a never-changing gaze of mixed wisdom and curiosity looking back down.

"Rouge," Tikal spoke in a soft voice, giving her a small smile.

"Oh, hey Tikal," Rouge murmured sleepily. Tikal sat down in the grass next to her, drawing her knees up to her chest and looking over the hill.

"Rouge, you’ve been here for almost a month now..." Tikal said. "Don’t you think Knuckles and the rest of your friends will worry?"

"As long as Eggman or GUN can’t find me, then there’s no problems," Rouge said, closing her eyes again and tilting her head back. "I’ve hidden the Master Emerald in a clever place."

"But what if somebody does find it?"

"Knuckles would know where to find it. The only other person who would get a general idea would be Shadow, but he’s been dead for a long time. Unless there was some sort of miracle, I doubt he’ll say anything at all, ever again."

"You liked him, didn’t you?"

The question caught Rouge off-guard. It took her a while before she could reply. "I did, yes...but...I don’t know. That was nothing. That was a crush. I like Knuckles a lot more."

"Then why aren’t you out looking for him?"

"Because I can’t do anything," Rouge sneered. "I’m an outlaw now. I don’t have a job anymore, and a lot of my sources have been cut. I’m pretty sure that I’m wanted. Going out is too risky until I can be sure of where to find even one of my allies."

"I have a good solution in mind. Chaos and I will escort you if you would like."

Rouge opened her eyes and sat up, staring at Tikal with her jaw slightly agape.

"You’d leave this place?"

"The Master Emerald is our home, yes," Tikal admitted, nodding, "but we’ve been growing restless. Thousands of years passed, thousands yet to come...there’s only so much time you can spend in bliss before you realize that it’s not the best thing in the world. You start to miss things like other people, warm bodies, snow, food...as lovely as it is inside here, there is nothing better than spending even a regular lifetime in the real world as compared to an eternity in a place where nothing is ever bound to happen."

The cheery brightness of the sky suddenly dimmed to a dull, lifeless gray; all around, everything was decaying into this death-like state, insects frozen in mid-flight, the stream grinding to a halt, flowers losing their lovely, dizzying smell and the sounds of nature being silenced. Chaos appeared behind the two girls, and Rouge glanced at him, just before everything glowed a bright white, and then...

She found herself sitting on the ground. Beside her stood Chaos, tall and intimidating in his silent, liquidy form, and above both of their heads floated Tikal, a glowing ball of light as she had been when Rouge first met her. Behind her in the brush lay the Master Emerald, pocket-sized, and she picked it up. Shortly, the three set off, beginning the steady trek up Red Mountain and away from Angel Island.

Elsewhere

"Shit! They’re gaining ground, Shadow! FLOOR IT!"

"It’s already floored!" Shadow called, gritting his teeth and taking a reckless, wide turn, taking out a metal mail box and roaring on, ignoring the bullets that zinged past his head and shaved off a couple of red hairs from his head as best as he could. "How long will it take you to get ready?"

Tails dropped down as a bullet headed at him, his fists clenched tight. "I’m not even getting close, they keep shooting at me! I can’t fight back!"

Over the duration of their search, Shadow and Tails had made some interesting discoveries about Tails’ new Chaos-powered abilities; Chaos Control was his to use at a whim, but it was a bit draining. He could focus Chaos energy into tight beams of lethal energy, but they took a while to get charged. He could create a weak shield that didn’t hold more than one bullet at a time, and he could attract rings to himself if he willed it so, just like all those mysterious shields he, Sonic and Knuckles had found and used in the past. He could breath underwater--a nice plus--and he could hover without using his tails, but that, too, was draining and he preferred the old-fashioned way.

"Shit," Shadow muttered, hanging a wide right this time, and tearing down the road again as the GUN truck hauled ass after them.

"Shit is right," agreed the figure lying next to Tails--it was Fang, the Sniper Weasel, and old not-so-friendly acquaintance of Sonic, Knuckles and Tails from a while back. Shadow and Tails had come across him purely by chance recently and hired him out to help them, promising him a nice treasure if they all survived.

Fang slammed his hat down tight on his head, glancing nervously over a shoulder. "I knew y’all were in trouble, ‘cause I read about yer bounties...but a GUN truck? One’a them big’uns?"

"We’ve hardly done anything, Tex!" Tails explained angrily. "Guilt by association--GUN still thinks Shadow’s a threat to the world, and now they’ve got bounties out for me and a lot of our friends because of that!"

"Dang! Now that they’ve seen me with you, I’ll become a wanted man!!" Fang yelled, smacking Tails with a backhand. "You idiot!!"

"Forget that, just take out the truck!"

Fang sneered, but pulled out a long, sleek gun from under the seat. He loaded a bullet into it, hunkered down using the back of the jeep as cover, took as careful aim as he could with Shadow’s crazy-assed driving, and fired. One of the truck’s front tires blew out, and it veered off the street and into the front of a post office. Shadow didn’t slow down till the city was far behind them, a fading beacon in the distance.

Fang flopped back into the seat with a groan. "Damn ya...th’ two of ya."

"Hey, look at it like this: as soon as we get our names cleared, you’ll be one rich weasel," Tails pointed out.

"Hnn. IF you get our names cleared, y’mean."

"We’ve done it before!"

"Ah yeah, that whole thang five years ago...oh yeah."

"Oh SHIT!" Shadow yelled suddenly, and Tails and Fang were thrown on top of each other as he veered loudly off the roadside. The jeep rattled and crashed to a sudden halt, and Tails felt fire licking his legs--he grabbed Fang and Shadow, and with a yell, slowed time down. Taking his friend and ally up, he hauled tail from the jeep, making it back to the roadside as time sped up again and the jeep exploded in a bright fireball.

"My jeep!"

"Huh?" Fang mumbled. He was as confused as Shadow was--but Tails knew what was happening. He was more surprised to see who Shadow had nearly run over, and veered off the road to avoid.

Knuckles stood in the middle of the road with his jaw hanging, staring at the burning hulk of his precious jeep, and that robot fox that Tails had seen him with so many weeks ago was standing nearby with his arms crossed over his metallic chest.

"Well, that was quite a wake-up call," the robot remarked evenly.

"Gamma!" Shadow said, getting to his feet and brushing off his pants. "And Knuckles, too..."

"Hey," Gamma said, nodding at Shadow and giving a small wave.

"Uh, hold on," Tails said, holding up a finger. "Did you just call that ‘botfox ‘Gamma’?"

Gamma gave Tails a wry grin. "Yes, that’s me. Remember the Egg Carrier I? You and Sonic worked together to best me. Did pretty good for a pair of fleshlings."

"Hey hey hey!!" Fang growled, pointing a dramatic finger at Knuckles. "You again??"

Knuckles finally took his eyes off his poor, demolished jeep and gave Fang a suspicious glance. "Oh, you’re the clever one," he muttered dryly. "What’re you doing with Shadow and Tails?"

"They hired me," Fang sniffed, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away. "Something about needing ‘firepower.’"

"Hey, hold it!" Shadow interrupted. "The introductions are nice, I’ll give you that...BUT, we’re in the middle of a forested area with a lit-on-fire jeep nearby. It’s probably a good idea to get the hell out before we get turned into roast anthropomorph."

Prison Lane

Sonic was crouched on a coolant pipe, high above the rusty, dark, poorly-lit Prison Lane, bustling with robotic activity. Alarms were blaring and honking and hooting all around, and the entire dingy setup was stained red, as if with blood. How he’d gotten into this mess was beyond him; all he knew was that the Chaotix were locked up deep inside somewhere, and he’d one-up Knuckles by being the first to free the lot of them.

A G-SISD hovered across the metal catwalk, going back the way Sonic had come. Sonic dropped down while he was in the clear and dashed through the last few twisting, winding corridors before popping out in a prison cell area. He took his time, walking in the center isle and sweeping his gaze back and forth in the dimly-lit cells.

From behind, Sonic heard something heavy and metal land--he whirled and saw a G-SISD, then two more drop down behind it. With a smirk, Sonic jumped up and performed three homing air attacks, and the three robots fell to the ground in pieces with a flash of blue.

The alarms went off in this room, too, and Sonic cursed, remembering that GUN was expecting this kind of crap. He sprinted past the left side of the room, looking in each one as he passed, then turned around and went back the way he’d came across the right side. He stopped midway through the room, skidding to a halt and burning the soles of his shoes. Backing up a few cells, he found the Chaotix, all looking anorexic and lethargic, even the energetic Vector! Sonic thanked God that Amy had kept that key card from so long ago as he swiped it through the number pad nearby. He pounded the code that Tails had taught him in case of an emergency, which was sort of like an automatic override for any electric number pad, and the cell’s bars slid open with a rusty old clang.

"Wake up, wake up!" Sonic called, marching into the cell and shaking Espio’s shoulder. The chameleon stirred and woke with a start, looking around frantically and then allowing his gaze to fall on Sonic.

"About time someone came for us," Espio remarked dryly, pushing to his feet and kicking Mighty in the shins.

"How about a sniff of gratitude or something?" Sonic complained. By now, the rest had heard him and Espio and were slowly waking up.

"I’ll consider it," Espio replied coolly, "when you drop the attitude."

Sonic glowered at the chameleon, but let it rest. Using his Magic Glove, he exploded the neck and wrist cuffs that had been binding the Chaotix ever since their capture, tossing small globes of energy away with each one, and the five of them crept slowly out of the cell room. Sonic was in the lead, because they needed him to be their main defense should they be attacked, the others were too weak from doing nothing but lying around for so long.

A bunch of G-SISDs landed as soon as they made it out of the cell room, and Sonic smirked again. This would be fun.

Pumpkin Hill Zone

"Ah..."

"It’s been a while since I was here last," Knuckles noted, nodding. "I really, really wish we’d found a better place to meet up then at the edge of Pumpkin Hill."

Shadow cast a wary glance around the haunted, darkened old place. "I remember this place..."

"I saw you when I flew over it before the whole mess on the ARK," Tails pointed out. "You chased after me using the Sky Rail, which once cut through this place...time’s taken it’s toll, I guess. It’s not here anymore."

"Well, not all of us cin fly and grind," Fang sniffed indignantly. "How do you propose Ah get past this...thang?" He gestured to the large, gaping pit in front of them, going so deep that it seemed bottomless.

The others exchanged quick glances, before turning to Gamma, who heaved a metallic sigh.

"Fine, then, grab onto my hand," he growled. "Don’t move around too much, or I’ll be tempted to drop you."

The group set off then, Knuckles in the lead. They flew, glided or hovered, depending on their abilities, over to the closest mountain, Church Mountain. Next came scaling the mountain until they came to the rocket located halfway up, which they each took one at a time. Before long, they had reached the peak of Church Mountain, which was littered with rings and decorated by tombstones that bobbed and shook to the heady beat pulsing through the air.

"You know, it’s ironic," Knuckles murmured, looking back and forth slowly. "I’d come from the Mystic Ruins to free the Chaotix, and Sonic went to find you guys...I’ll bet you anything that idiot’s gone to free the Chaotix to beat me out."

"He could do it," Tails admitted dryly. "He’s immortal, remember. Invincible." He added the last word with a sneer. "He’s just got a really bad case of head-up-ass."

"Wouldn’t the quills dig in?" Shadow asked, walking over to another rocket located nearby.

"Probably part of the problem," Tails said.

The group continued their trek across Pumpkin Hill in silence, transferring over to Pumpkin Mountain via rocket and then climbing down a bit more. Night was beginning to fall on them, the sky turning a horrible bloody red color, then dimming into something closer to black. Tails shivered, and cursed the Chaos Emerald inside him for not at least warming his body up.

The group had to stop on a particularly lonesome outcropping in the mountain not too long after, the sun disappearing completely and leaving only the large pumpkin-faced mountains to cast an eerie presence across the void. It was just too dark to continue on. Their only company--and Knuckles was thankful, knowing the nature of this place--was a solitary pumpkin, which, like the tombstones on top of Church Mountain, had a bad case of heady-beat fever. The way everything in this zone seemed to dance like that was just creepy.

Tails curled up next to the pumpkin, keeping his knees close to his chest. Knuckles took his place in the center of the platform, and Shadow and Fang disappeared somewhere in the darkness. Gamma stood at the tip of the outcropping, his green eyes glowing brightly as he scanned the darkness.

"Knuckles, you realize that this zone is plagued with spectral plasma, right?"

"If I knew what the hell that was, I’d probably be able to answer."

"Ghost crap, if you look at it a certain way."

"Oh. Yeah, I know that. This place is a ghost hangout, but they won’t bother us with me around." Knuckles waved a hand in the air. "I taught their leader a lesson."

"Hmm," was Gamma’s only reply. Knuckles shrugged and laid back, willing his tense body to sleep...he really needed it. It had been a stressful day, but his entire body was jumpy and on edge...god, why couldn’t he go to sleep?

He passed in and out of consciousness, because he’d close his eyes, only to open them and find Gamma in a completely different place. Fang returned eventually, finding refuse on the other side of Tails’ pumpkin, snoring loudly. Shadow was blending well with the cliff side, but if he was asleep or not was anyone’s guess. Tails had been asleep from the beginning, and Knuckles guessed that they were all as tired as he was. Being on the move like this was always tiring, and he longed to be back at the Master Emerald shrine...

He shivered so mightily that it overtook his entire body. He found himself awake yet again, a foreboding mist asphyxiating him. He didn’t like this feeling. He swore the mountainside shook under his back, trembling just slightly, but he dismissed it as nothing and passed out again.

Time has no definition when one sleeps. Knuckles had no idea how long he’d been asleep when the mountain trembled again, and in the distance, he swore he saw a vague glow enshrouded in fog, high above.

He made a blink that lasted an eternity, and the glow was closer. Too close. Knuckles sat bolt upright and stared up, but the glow was gone.

He stared around the outcropping again. By now, Gamma had logged off, and was sitting on the edge with his eyes dimmed. Tails, Fang and Shadow were still where they’d been the last time he checked. He heaved a mighty yawn, and felt ready to dismiss the glow as another case of sleep-deprived paranoia. But...

"BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH, brabrabrabrabrah!"

Knuckles froze. No, it couldn’t be...that laugh...

He looked up again. The glow was as close as it had ever been now, and it was sitting on the top of the mountain, looking down at him with an intense, undead gaze.

King Boom Boo was back, and he knew Knuckles knew it.