It was mid-morning by the time Shadow was able to leave HQ and head out on his mission. He had wanted to leave earlier, but Rouge and the Commander both kept him too occupied, filling him in with information or trying to talk him out of the 'solo' part of the mission.
He had finally been able to distract Rouge with a chaos emerald, giving him the chance to slip out and head towards the location of the Crescent Life Source. It didn't take him long to reach the edge of the forest, the capacity of the trees making it look near impossible to walk through. He only huffed to himself as he entered the greenery.
A voice made his ear twitch uncomfortably, as his earpiece shifted, and Rouge was talking to him,
"I am NOT going to forget that..." She mumbled, before letting out a sigh, "Hey Shadow."
"Rouge." He stated, eyes scanning the area, "Don't bother me."
"I have every intention of bothering you." She retaliated, "The Commander has put me in charge of messenger, I tell you things, and you use me to tell our good old boss things."
The hedgehog shook his head, "Of course, I'm not allowed any quiet missions."
"Since when is a mission quiet?" The bat chuckled lightly into his ear, "Now you should have the location of the CLS on your communicator."
Shadow lifted his wrist, a band of technology let out a beep and a map opened in front of his eyes. His location was a red dot, the artefact he was after was gold, and on the other side of the map.
"Right, got it."
"Just head straight towards the gold dot, and you should be all good."
The dark hedgehog let out a nod, before he continued to walk through the trees. The further he walked, the darker the scenery got. He noticed, if he looked hard enough, that there seemed to be a messy path in front of him, small flecks of gold were imbedded in the dirt, in the bushery, in the trees.
He wondered if he should say anything about it, but was quick to shrug it off. Although it was weird and made no sense, he was sure it wouldn't be too important. But the more he tried to ignore the shining flecks, the more he felt the urge to examine the.
-Strange... I feel almost drawn to the gold...- He thought to himself, -Maybe it's just mobanity (humanity but Mobians) rubbing off on me...-
The hedgehog shook his head, no way would he let such greedy motions influence him in such a way. Finally, he came across a thick set of trees, the communicator on his wrist beeping loudly.
"This must be it..." He stated, taking in the scenery.
"Right, now be careful." Rouge said through the earpiece, "This is where we lose contact. Stay out of trouble, if anything happens, we can't help you."
Shadow studied the thicket before him. There was no way anyone could see through, it was just tree after tree. The hedgehog huffed to himself as he walked up to the bark, before attempting to force his way between the trunks. However, no such luck, it was too tight.
The Ultimate Lifeform took a step back, his hands sparking with energy,
"Fine... I'll do it the uncomplicated way then."
With a lout crack of electricity, he threw what was known as a Chaos Spear into the cluster of trees. A large hole was blown into the trees and a wind picked up.
"Beware..."
"Huh?" He looked around, ears twitching.
"Leave..."
He growled as his hands sparked more, his quills raised sharply in defence, "Show yourself!"
But it was now silent... The wind died down. The hedgehog let out another huff, before turning back to the trees, only to see... The hole he created had disappeared. He frowned and threw another Chaos Spear at the trees, before watching them slowly heal.
"What the...?" He hit it again.
And the same thing happened. However, this time a skeleton fell from the tree. The dark hedgehog glanced at it, unfazed, before lifting his gaze to the tree tops. There, he could see many vines waiting for someone to try and climb up over this nature shield, and he noticed the twisted bodies of the other fallen soldiers.
"At least I know what happened." He grunted, before turning back to the tree, "But I'm not falling for it. I'm getting this Life Source whether you like it or not, that is my mission."
He spoke with purpose, as if telling the shield of trees his very plans. Then he threw spear after spear at them, he didn't stop until his energy felt lower than usual. Stopping with a pant, he looked up. The trees hadn't healed yet, so with quick thinking, he ducked into the small tunnel made with Chaos energy.
Lucky for him, he was quick, or he would have been sealed into the trunks of the protective shield. Once he got through, the hedgehog took in his surroundings. It was a tight fit with what looked like a girl wrapped in vines.
However, it was what she held that Shadow took an interest in.
He started walking towards the statue of the (a/t), but he found he couldn't move. Glancing down, he saw vines had started to grow and wrap around his shoes, his legs. They grew higher. He let out a small growl as he broke free from the growing vegetation, but more vines only replaced the broken ones.
Giving up on the currently growing vegetation, he decided to fully focus on the special artefact. Reaching forward, he grasped the item in his gloved hand, and instantly a surge of power rushed through his body. He felt energised, strong, like he could take on the world with a hand behind his back.
-This Crescent thing sure has a kick...- The hedgehog thought to himself, -No wonder the Commander wants it, it feels like this could destroy the world in the wrong hands...-
Shadow let out a sigh, before pulling the item from the stone (a/t)'s hands. The vines around the base snapped, and the object seemed to glow a soft gold. The dark hedgehog examined it slowly, turning the object over in his hands.
However, unknown to him, the vines also freed another trapped being. As they fell from the (a/t)'s body, her stone like feature disappeared, and she let out a sigh as she collapsed forward. The hedgehog wasn't prepared to have to catch the (a/t), and gave a grunt when she fell into his arms.
"You must be (Y/N)... The Guardian of this forest..." He huffed, laying her down, "Sorry to do this, not really, but I need the Crescent Life Source."
Her ears twitched lightly and her (e/c) eyes slowly opened as he turned to leave the shield of trees. When she saw the figure turn away, she noticed the golden glow in his eye, and the Crescent Life Source in his grasp.
The (a/t) let out a raspy cough, trying to get her body to move, her lungs to work. The sudden movement and noise seemed to distract the hedgehog, and he turned back to her. That's when he took in her features. The lush (f/c) of her fur, mixed with gold flecks, and the bright (e/c) eyes that stared at him in a mix of fear and confusion.
Shadow blinked and the (a/t) saw the gold fade from his eyes. He had no clue what to do, or even say, he wasn't exactly warned of this part of the mission. The (a/t) sat up slowly, holding her head. When she spoke, her voice was both scratchy but also soft, sweet.
"Who... Who are you...?"
The hedgehog shook his head. He sighed, knowing he had to get back to HQ as soon as he could, before holding his hand out, "I'm Shadow, Shadow the Hedgehog. Need a hand?"
She scooted back from him, ears pressed against her head, "Why are you here...? Why do you have that?"
He tilted his head, before glancing at the golden treasure, "I... Was sent to retrieve it... For G.U.N..."
"You mean the bad people..?" She hugged herself, "They... They chased me here... Shot at me with their... Things..."
Shadow stared at her, confused, "They tried to kill you?"
"They did... The forest saved me... I... That's all I remember..." She rubbed her head.
"I see..." He crouched down to her, a sudden interest had perked, "I can sense this thing's power... What does it do exactly?"
The (A/T) stayed silent.
"(Y/N)?"
Her ears perked and she looked up, "How do you... Know my name?"
He shrugged, "There is a tiny bit of information on you and this artefact at HQ."
She tilted her head, clearly confused.
"It's... Never mind." He shook his head, "What does this do?"
"It... Gives life... And destroys it..." She mumbled, reaching for it. Shadow let her take it back, surprising the (a/t).
The hedgehog blinked, sure the Commander had told him it was powerful, but not that it could destroy life itself. That was only an estimate when he had grabbed it before, he didn't realise what he said as true.
He stared at the (a/t) for a moment, his mind was reeling. This thing in her hands, it could destroy Mobius, it made sense the Commander would want it. But did he want it for the right reasons? Shadow let out a mumbled growl and he sat down. Of course this could be a ploy, to convince him not to take it, but at the same time, telling anyone of a powerful object normally gives them more reason as to why they would take it.
He thought hard about it, for a long while nothing seemed to click, everything got confusing, but then it struck him, and it struck him hard.
A flashback, he was running through the ARK, pulling the young blonde child with him. Both were afraid, neither knew what was going to happen. All they knew was that they had to hide.
They were being chased, and neither of them really knew why. All they knew was that these people were after Shadow, and they had already killed Gerald in the process. Shadow glanced back at the girl, her wide blue eyes were shining, and her cheeks were wet with tears. The hedgehog knew he would have to protect her with his life, no matter the costs.
They ducked into a room, and to the hedgehog's relief, there was an escape pod. Good, he could get this girl to safety and fight these evil people to the death. A loud bang made the two jump, and they glanced at each other.
The girl was the first to move, she pushed the hedgehog into the capsule and sealed it shut. Shadow let out a surprised yelp, before his eyes widened, and he tried to get out.
"No, Maria!" He yelled as the doors burst open.
It was over in seconds, the young girl pressed a button, and a soldier shot her in the back. The escape pod started a count down, but everything was moving slowly.
Shadow let out a yell as he watched the child fall to the ground, at first motionless. A cold shiver went through his body, but his ears perked when she moved. She lifted her head slowly, giving the hedgehog a soft smile.
"Shadow..." She muttered, "Promise me you'll protect them... Protect Mobius..."
"Maria!" He hit the glass, if she was still alive now, he had the chance to save her. The countdown was suddenly ringing in his ears,
"3... 2... 1..."
As the capsule shot out of the ARK, he saw the child collapse once more, and he yelled as he was shot through space.
The hedgehog rubbed his eyes, doing his best to hide the sudden tears that threatened to fall, and he let out a loud sigh,
"Okay Maria... I'll do it for you..."
He turned to face the other Mobian, the (a/t) still looked confused. He blinked, before clearing his throat and standing.
"Uh... Look, I won't take it.. Not if it can destroy life." He said curtly, causing the (a/t) to at first blink, taken back by the sudden switch of motives.
"Oh... Thank you." She smiled up at him, the sunlight shining through the shield of forest and into her bright (e/c) eyes.
A small, rare smile appeared on his muzzle, before holding his hand out once again, "No problem..."
A/N: I'm too lazy to do research ;-; So my apologises if the promise wasn't exact. It's been a long day for me ^^' But I wrote it! And I finished it! So what more could I ask for? ... Better writing... But otherwise, sorry for the mediocre shit, I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll get onto the next work now!
Haven Out!!!
13/02/2019