Shadow and Amy’s relationship changed after that duel, though whether it was for better or for worse would be up to interpretation. Their sparring matches slowly got more intense, master and pupil exerting one another to the point of exhaustion. More and more often, Shadow found himself on the defensive, despite forcing Amy to remain physical and not rely on her psychic abilities, which continued to grow. He did this for two reasons.
One, he did not want her psychic powers to become so strong that people feared her; he knew that kind of fear that inspired from experience and did not want her to go through that. And two, if Amy were ever the victor, the first thing she would do is demand a reward from Shadow, which usually came in the form of VERY heavy petting. Despite being male, he wasn’t really a fan of this, either, due to his lack of experience with romantic affection and because, despite his outward reluctance, he wanted her just as badly as she wanted him.
What’s more, even though he’d tease her and work Amy up every now and then, he knew not to go any farther, because he knew exactly what would happen if he lost control. It was not yet time to cross that line, and Shadow knew that. Amy knew that as well, even though it frustrated her more than it did him. She wanted to be one with the hedgehog she loved, and that meant in every sense. Still, her rational side knew why Shadow held himself back, in spite of the hunger she would sense from him. Reading his thoughts during her solo exercises with her Chaos Emerald did little to cool her off, but it did finally teach her not to be so reckless with the mind reading.
In that regard, Amy had soon learned to stretch out her mind and sense the life energy of all manners of life within the entire region of Nizhoni and even a few yards beyond. She could feel the thoughts of every living being within her radius and, if she wanted, manipulate them through mental or even physical means. This both fascinated and scared her, and, little by little, realized why Shadow was forcing her to take a break from exploring those abilities. She did not want to become so lost in her own power that she discarded her, well, humanity, for lack of a better term. She also understood why Shadow’s own power scared him at times, though he never admitted this in so many words.
That being said, part of her still wanted to push her limits, to see just how powerful she could become. So, she told herself to be as responsible as she could, moving the goalposts, so to speak.
Things were not normal for Amy Rose or Shadow the Hedgehog, but they were happy together. The same could not be said, however, for others within their social circle…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“For the last time, bat girl, NO. I am NOT leaving you to guard the Master Emerald while I go on patrol!”
“Damn it, Knuckles, it’s been three weeks and I haven’t so much as touched it! Why don’t you trust me by now?”
“Because you’ve fooled me before, and I ain’t gonna let it happen again, that’s why!”
This was Angel Island, home of the Master Emerald and its guardian, the sole survivor of the Knuckles Clan of echidnas. Currently, he was at the bottom of the steps of the Emerald’s shrine in yet another heated argument with his rival, a beautiful, yet devious woman he had grown to fancy, yet he’d never bring himself to admit that publicly. Said bat had grown fond of him as well but had the same stifling pride holding her back.
“Look, Knuckles,” Rouge argued, trying - once again – to speak calmly and rationally, “it’s like I keep telling you. We’re in this together. Dr. Eggman is going to come after the Master Emerald sooner or later, so we both need to protect it. Yes, I’ve tricked you in the past, and I am sorry for that. But, why on God’s green earth would I stoop so low as to betray you with so much at stake?”
Knuckles’ quick and impressively thought-out replay was as such: “I seem to recall you snatching the shards of this gem AND hearing about you planning to go after the Chaos Emeralds whilst Eggman and Shadow were plotting the respective conquering and destruction of God’s green earth! You might have been on duty or whatever then, but you were still thinking only of yourself. And besides, we made a deal! Once we got here, we did things MY way! So, if you think I’m going to trust your greedy ass alone with this gem after three measly weeks, you’re as dumb as that blockhead Storm!”
Rouge had a bitingly ironic remark at the ready, but chose to bite her tongue instead. Tails not trusting her was painful enough, but this? This was just too much. Is that how everyone saw her? A selfish, untrustworthy thief with a lust for all things sparkly? In the past, this would not have bothered her in the slightest, but now? It nearly broke her heart. She felt mascara ruining tears at her eyes, but did her best to blink them back.
Knuckles, of course, did not notice how hurt she looked. He was just satisfied that he’d shut her up for the moment. “Well? Nothing to say? That’s what I thought, bitch,” he concluded, right to her face, no less. “Now, if you don’t mind zipping your trap for the rest of the day, I can get back to doing my job! Maybe you'll actually learn something.”
Convinced he’d won another argument against his rival/crush, he smugly turned and marched back up the steps. He was feeling so confident in his victory there was no way he could’ve noticed the large boot that fiercely kicked him into a forced spinball the rest of the way up, ricocheting off the final step and, uncurled, sending him sailing through the air before landing with a painful thud upon the Master Emerald itself.
Thanks to the Rings he had previously, nothing was broken, but he was quite livid. Jumping off to the gem’s left, he hollered, “Bat girl, you have 5 seconds to explain that sucker kick before I-”
That was about as far as he got before a very hurt and VERY angry Rouge kicked him in the crotch with her Silent Size technique, sending him sailing an estimate of 50 meters through the air. It was not until she saw Knuckles disappear across the horizon that she let herself cry.
She cried for all the lies she’s had to tell.
She cried for all the people she’s carelessly hurt.
She cried for all the innocents she’s thoughtlessly betrayed.
She cried for the checkered past that led her to where she is now.
And, she cried for herself, and the fact that it took an injured boy caught in the scheme of an insane old man to realize all this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After 20 minutes of crying, Rouge was able to pull herself together. As she was about to fix her make up a voice spoke from behind her. “Aren’t you going after him?” She quickly turned around but saw no one. “He could be dead, for all you know.” Again, she turned around, and again, there was no body to match the voice. “Who’s there?” Once more, the voice said, “You really should go and find him.” Deciding to play along, she adopted her usual passive coyness and said, “And who would that be, exactly?”
“The echidna, you fool,” said the voice, smooth, silky and right next to her. Attacking with a roundhouse kick, she was met with a formless fog, one that swirled around her and got bigger and bigger until it covered the entire shrine. Even the radiant glow of the Master Emerald was extinguished in the darkness. In spite of her preference to dark atmospheres, Rouge could nary make out a thing.
“If you think you’re scaring me, you’ve gotta do better than that,” Rouge taunted, using her natural sonar abilities as she did so in an attempt to locate the intruder. “I’ve seen far worse than the likes of you in my line of work.” The voice, evading her sonar taunted back, “Which would that be? The treasure hunting you pride yourself on, the thievery you indulge yourself in, or the military work you’re supposed to be doing for the president?” Rouge felt a chill, but ignored it. She would not be frightened by this thing. “All of the above, stranger. So, if you’re done with the smoke show, how about you come out and face me?”
“Why should I? We both know what would happen if I did.” Rouge, still wearing her mask of carefree bravado, replied, “Yeah, I’d kick your ass and send you packing.” The voice, now coming from literally all directions, retorted, “That’s a mighty heavy wager. In fact, I’d love to see you try.” It was then that the intruder revealed itself, stepping through the fog to reveal a tall woman with a deep, malevolent glow.
One, he did not want her psychic powers to become so strong that people feared her; he knew that kind of fear that inspired from experience and did not want her to go through that. And two, if Amy were ever the victor, the first thing she would do is demand a reward from Shadow, which usually came in the form of VERY heavy petting. Despite being male, he wasn’t really a fan of this, either, due to his lack of experience with romantic affection and because, despite his outward reluctance, he wanted her just as badly as she wanted him.
What’s more, even though he’d tease her and work Amy up every now and then, he knew not to go any farther, because he knew exactly what would happen if he lost control. It was not yet time to cross that line, and Shadow knew that. Amy knew that as well, even though it frustrated her more than it did him. She wanted to be one with the hedgehog she loved, and that meant in every sense. Still, her rational side knew why Shadow held himself back, in spite of the hunger she would sense from him. Reading his thoughts during her solo exercises with her Chaos Emerald did little to cool her off, but it did finally teach her not to be so reckless with the mind reading.
In that regard, Amy had soon learned to stretch out her mind and sense the life energy of all manners of life within the entire region of Nizhoni and even a few yards beyond. She could feel the thoughts of every living being within her radius and, if she wanted, manipulate them through mental or even physical means. This both fascinated and scared her, and, little by little, realized why Shadow was forcing her to take a break from exploring those abilities. She did not want to become so lost in her own power that she discarded her, well, humanity, for lack of a better term. She also understood why Shadow’s own power scared him at times, though he never admitted this in so many words.
That being said, part of her still wanted to push her limits, to see just how powerful she could become. So, she told herself to be as responsible as she could, moving the goalposts, so to speak.
Things were not normal for Amy Rose or Shadow the Hedgehog, but they were happy together. The same could not be said, however, for others within their social circle…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“For the last time, bat girl, NO. I am NOT leaving you to guard the Master Emerald while I go on patrol!”
“Damn it, Knuckles, it’s been three weeks and I haven’t so much as touched it! Why don’t you trust me by now?”
“Because you’ve fooled me before, and I ain’t gonna let it happen again, that’s why!”
This was Angel Island, home of the Master Emerald and its guardian, the sole survivor of the Knuckles Clan of echidnas. Currently, he was at the bottom of the steps of the Emerald’s shrine in yet another heated argument with his rival, a beautiful, yet devious woman he had grown to fancy, yet he’d never bring himself to admit that publicly. Said bat had grown fond of him as well but had the same stifling pride holding her back.
“Look, Knuckles,” Rouge argued, trying - once again – to speak calmly and rationally, “it’s like I keep telling you. We’re in this together. Dr. Eggman is going to come after the Master Emerald sooner or later, so we both need to protect it. Yes, I’ve tricked you in the past, and I am sorry for that. But, why on God’s green earth would I stoop so low as to betray you with so much at stake?”
Knuckles’ quick and impressively thought-out replay was as such: “I seem to recall you snatching the shards of this gem AND hearing about you planning to go after the Chaos Emeralds whilst Eggman and Shadow were plotting the respective conquering and destruction of God’s green earth! You might have been on duty or whatever then, but you were still thinking only of yourself. And besides, we made a deal! Once we got here, we did things MY way! So, if you think I’m going to trust your greedy ass alone with this gem after three measly weeks, you’re as dumb as that blockhead Storm!”
Rouge had a bitingly ironic remark at the ready, but chose to bite her tongue instead. Tails not trusting her was painful enough, but this? This was just too much. Is that how everyone saw her? A selfish, untrustworthy thief with a lust for all things sparkly? In the past, this would not have bothered her in the slightest, but now? It nearly broke her heart. She felt mascara ruining tears at her eyes, but did her best to blink them back.
Knuckles, of course, did not notice how hurt she looked. He was just satisfied that he’d shut her up for the moment. “Well? Nothing to say? That’s what I thought, bitch,” he concluded, right to her face, no less. “Now, if you don’t mind zipping your trap for the rest of the day, I can get back to doing my job! Maybe you'll actually learn something.”
Convinced he’d won another argument against his rival/crush, he smugly turned and marched back up the steps. He was feeling so confident in his victory there was no way he could’ve noticed the large boot that fiercely kicked him into a forced spinball the rest of the way up, ricocheting off the final step and, uncurled, sending him sailing through the air before landing with a painful thud upon the Master Emerald itself.
Thanks to the Rings he had previously, nothing was broken, but he was quite livid. Jumping off to the gem’s left, he hollered, “Bat girl, you have 5 seconds to explain that sucker kick before I-”
That was about as far as he got before a very hurt and VERY angry Rouge kicked him in the crotch with her Silent Size technique, sending him sailing an estimate of 50 meters through the air. It was not until she saw Knuckles disappear across the horizon that she let herself cry.
She cried for all the lies she’s had to tell.
She cried for all the people she’s carelessly hurt.
She cried for all the innocents she’s thoughtlessly betrayed.
She cried for the checkered past that led her to where she is now.
And, she cried for herself, and the fact that it took an injured boy caught in the scheme of an insane old man to realize all this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After 20 minutes of crying, Rouge was able to pull herself together. As she was about to fix her make up a voice spoke from behind her. “Aren’t you going after him?” She quickly turned around but saw no one. “He could be dead, for all you know.” Again, she turned around, and again, there was no body to match the voice. “Who’s there?” Once more, the voice said, “You really should go and find him.” Deciding to play along, she adopted her usual passive coyness and said, “And who would that be, exactly?”
“The echidna, you fool,” said the voice, smooth, silky and right next to her. Attacking with a roundhouse kick, she was met with a formless fog, one that swirled around her and got bigger and bigger until it covered the entire shrine. Even the radiant glow of the Master Emerald was extinguished in the darkness. In spite of her preference to dark atmospheres, Rouge could nary make out a thing.
“If you think you’re scaring me, you’ve gotta do better than that,” Rouge taunted, using her natural sonar abilities as she did so in an attempt to locate the intruder. “I’ve seen far worse than the likes of you in my line of work.” The voice, evading her sonar taunted back, “Which would that be? The treasure hunting you pride yourself on, the thievery you indulge yourself in, or the military work you’re supposed to be doing for the president?” Rouge felt a chill, but ignored it. She would not be frightened by this thing. “All of the above, stranger. So, if you’re done with the smoke show, how about you come out and face me?”
“Why should I? We both know what would happen if I did.” Rouge, still wearing her mask of carefree bravado, replied, “Yeah, I’d kick your ass and send you packing.” The voice, now coming from literally all directions, retorted, “That’s a mighty heavy wager. In fact, I’d love to see you try.” It was then that the intruder revealed itself, stepping through the fog to reveal a tall woman with a deep, malevolent glow.
She wore a dark violet cloak which obscured her face, demonic brownish-yellow eyes, and a skintight body suit that matched her cloak, which had numerous arcane markings, ancient seals and, as Rouge sourly noticed, silhouetted a voluptuous figure that put her own to absolute shame, despite showing no skin whatsoever. Deep down, Rouge knew who the woman standing before her was, but refused to admit it to herself. There was no way the legend of G.U.N. was true. No. Way. At all.
“Well, here I am, dear,” the woman said with a grin that promised mischief and calamity, "Do your w̷̪̒̍̅͒̎͋̀̽̄̌͊̀́̍o̶̝̱͛ṙ̴̢̨̨̘̘̪̱̣̥̙͖̮̹͇͐͐s̶̨̟̩̦̃̔̌̂̎t̸̲̳̬̂͒͛̅͐̋̌̆͋̔̈́.̴̨̢̝̗͇̦̘͖̲̞̥͔͐́͒̓͆̆̒̐̚͜͝"̴̢̛̞̱̗̙̭̼̠̝̺̎̔̇̉̂̂̿̀͘
“Well, here I am, dear,” the woman said with a grin that promised mischief and calamity, "Do your w̷̪̒̍̅͒̎͋̀̽̄̌͊̀́̍o̶̝̱͛ṙ̴̢̨̨̘̘̪̱̣̥̙͖̮̹͇͐͐s̶̨̟̩̦̃̔̌̂̎t̸̲̳̬̂͒͛̅͐̋̌̆͋̔̈́.̴̨̢̝̗͇̦̘͖̲̞̥͔͐́͒̓͆̆̒̐̚͜͝"̴̢̛̞̱̗̙̭̼̠̝̺̎̔̇̉̂̂̿̀͘
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