Magic Anon Status: None
Inventory: Green Chaos Emerald
I’m not sure if it’s selfish or not, or if you’re just being logical. Sonic likes saving people, you have to remember that. He wasn’t saddled with helping the world — he chose to.
I wouldn’t say it’s selfish to be saddled with the job another before you simply chose to have.
Shadow was slow when speaking, carefully choosing his words. It was difficult as well as painful to make sure all the proper tenses were used… and it made him miss his own Sonic all the more.
“Maybe you’re right. But that still doesn’t excuse me from my actions. I should not have relied on him as much.”
Shadow hadn’t realized how much strain he was probably putting on the alternate. As he noticed his speech began to wind down, he felt it necessary to change the subject again.
“It is about time I take care of things on my own anyway. Now then, I’m a little curious about your own world. You said this was very new to you? So far, that means your world is also a lot younger.”
…no. It wont’ have similar effects on you, unless for some reason you met up with your Chaos and decided to make a deal with him, and one of the conditions was that you were to lose your life at a certain date. I am on limited time. You are not, Shadow.
Chaos isn’t linked to any of you unless you decide to train with him or something. You’re safe, trust me.*This talk about his expiration date was making Feahter nervous and it showed. His wings ruffled and he fiddled with his hands. He hated talking about it, but there was no avoiding it. Things were the way they were. No way around it. Shadow had a right to hear this. He was a friend after all.
*Thank you for the offer. At the moment, I’m fine. I’m just…relaxing for once. It’s strange, doing that, but I’ve been needing a bit of a ‘vacation’ for a while now.
I think it’s because you are here most often, you burn and expell more Chaos energy here. It just…lingers. I guess it’s kind of what happened to Neuro, though not on the same level.
Could be it….I mean if you’re not doing anything with it, how else do you get rid of the extra?
“I’ll be sure to keep my distance from the creature unless needed. I was starting to worry if he was even around in my world any longer. But I suppose with the chaos emeralds still working, then that would mean he hasn’t gone far.”
Shadow could hear the worry in his alternates voice as peered over to see what he was doing. It was like looking at a lost child. He was going to have a nervous breakdown if he kept this up. Shadow set the brush down before walking over to his feathered friend and placing a hand on his shoulder.
“Thank you. You don’t need to say anymore on the subject. I won’t ask again but I want you to remember this. It may seem scary right now, but the life of mortality may not be as bad as it seems. You have escaped a fate that most of the others could not. You will have to also think like a mortal and that is, to enjoy it.”
Shadow gripped a hold of his alternate’s shoulder while trying to hold back any sign of emotion in his face. He didn’t want his alternate to think he would worry. As he slowly removed his hand, he felt his expression begin to falter and his eyes quiver for a moment. He needed to change the subject.
“Now then, you wanted a vacation? I know a few lovely spots both in this world and others if you would like to visit? Our place is open as well but something tells me you would rather be somewhere you could spread your wings.”
promisedprotector said: It wasn’t the first time Shadow had seen a world so lifeless, but it didn’t seem to be in ruins either? Before he could examine it any further, he heard a voice calling from behind. “My name is Shadow. Forgive me, but you look familiar? Have we met?”
Shadow? It was exactly who he thought it was, but the other seemed not only polite, but not aware of who he was. Did the bastard get another bout of amnesia? Oh, that could be fun.“You don’t even recognize your own father?” He quirked a brow, crossing his arms. This hedgehog didn’t look entirely like his son either. Perhaps it was a clone? He would have to investigate this more.
Those were the last words Shadow ever wanted to hear again. How many more variation of Doom was he going to meet in this form? Did he also survive an attack from his own Shadow? Whatever the case was, he didn’t want to be any part of it. Not anymore.
“Hmph, I thought you would have known by now. I’m not exactly ‘your’ son. Even if I was, I would show you the same amount of respect as I’m going to give you now. None.”
Shadow turned to walk away when he noticed a change in the night air. It wasn’t the weather or anything natural but something else? He wasn’t sure what to make of it, but he was uneasy.
“What kind of world is this?”
*A huffing sound escaped the hedgehawk as well as another ruffle. Frustrated he soothed his feathers down roughly and sat back down, crossing his arms with a rather defiant look in his eyes. Tell him the theories and make him worry or not? *
…..I don’t exactly want you hounding me and worrying. Why else would I refuse to say something?
Just to keep you from doing that, I’ll tell you one. I thin, the closer to my date I go, the more I age. It’s Chaos energy that keeps me, us, from aging. I won’t need it once I die. I think it might be…leaving me or something. I don’t know for sure, but it’s bringing my age back. If my energy is drained too much, I age. I need to absorb more to take the years off. Something like that.*Feather seemed more relaxed after he managed to get that off of his chest. His arms relaxed and well as his wings. Weight sure was lifted.*
Right now I’m just stuffing myself to get some weight back. Training will come later when I’m at a good weight again.
“Even if your situation is different could it not have similar effects on the rest of us? Is Chaos really linked to all of our fates? Strange, I’m not even sure what happened to Chaos in my world.”
His alternate had mentioned the connection to chaos many times before, but he had still not come to grips with the thought of him leaving this way. He still hung onto the slim chance that there would be a way to save him. But if his immortality could be limited in such a way, couldn’t that hold the same for the rest?
“As I said, you are always welcome to a bit of food and help with training when you need it. As for Chaos energy, I suppose we have a lot here. I’ve never thought about it until now, but I do feel exhausted over a short period of time whenever I leave this base. It doesn’t matter what world I enter either. Maybe we are letting more energy escape from us than we should?”
(Source: promisedprotector)
Hm?
Shadow got the hint there and immediately his mood took a nosedive. Thinking about the possibility of his own Sonic not being around, even though it was inevitable Shadow would outlive him, really made his heart sting.
Well, yes, he is. He’s not always easy to find, but I think everything about that hedgehog is difficult. A sigh.
“What gets to me is why I wanted him to stay around. If he is alive, then that means the world always has a hero to save them. Someone else to take the spotlight while the rest of us work more behind the scenes. With him gone, that puts more responsibility on my shoulders. The kind I’m still not able to fix.”
There was a time when Shadow would have wanted nothing more than for Sonic to leave him alone for good. But the more he met up with his own alternates and the Sonic’s of other worlds, the more he began to wonder what might have happened to his own.
“I feel…selfish.”
“Oh don’t get me started on bird puns. I won’t be able to stop.”
”And you called me the grumpy one.”
I find it reassuring. That all of these worlds have their hero.
Even if he likes to poke his blue face into my business instead of helping the world. Guess he’s not always needed if he’s got the free time to be doing that, which might as well be a good thing in the long run.
“I hate to admit it, but there are times I miss seeing that smug smile of his. Even if I didn’t agree with his methods, at least he managed to get the job done.”
Talking about Sonic wasn’t exactly Shadow’s idea of fun or a great way to meet a new alternate. However, he couldn’t remember the last time he thought about the one from his own world. After a long pause and a heavy sigh, he tried to work up the nerve to continue.
“So then, the one of your world is still around?”
Despite all of his promises, Shadow continued to sneak back into his own world, and the frequency was increasing. At least with Doom out of the picture, maybe his metal companion wouldn’t be too worried about him. Shadow clutched the green emerald in his hand even tighter as he came across another of Doom’s poison plants.
As Shadow’s foot came crushing down on the small plant, it seemed to emit what sounded like a scream as the remaining fumes slowly escaped from under his foot. Even with the comet gone and the through search to eliminate the remaining plant life had been going well, the toxins in the air still seemed to remain in the nearby areas.
He tried to make his way to the next plant but felt a sharp pain shoot through his chest. The hedgehog couldn’t help but begin to cough as he struggled to catch his breath. Even though he was immune to the paralyzing effects of the toxins in the air, his body seemed to suffer from nasty side effects the longer he stayed. Shadow staggered as he tried to keep up with the two Eggpawns in front of him, before falling to his knees.
The two small robots only stared back at their fallen aide before lifting him back on his feet. Shadow kept one hand on one of the robots for support until the coughing finally subsided. He had been out for far too long today, but they were about to come back empty handed. The land was still covered with pink slimy strands of goo left behind from the Black Arm’s invasion. Nothing could grow through the mess, and finding salvageable material was limited. The pink strands were almost impossible to remove on most objects, and they did not have time to stay out long.
Shadow shook his head as he ordered the robots to call it a day. Hopefully the other teams sent out had more luck than they did. He didn’t want to spend another moment under the poisonous clouds as he and the Eggpawns were teleported back to Holoska.
He instructed the robots to go on without him as he took a seat in small patch of snow. Even with fresh snow slowly drifting from above, it wouldn’t take long before it would turn into the same harsh and icy texture as the rest of the ground below. He took a deep breath as he tried to clear his lungs of any lingering toxins left from his trip. He wanted to be getting back to Metal’s world soon but was it really fair?
Shadow tried to fiddle with the communicator hoping the incoming weather wouldn’t mess with its reception. No messages. His thumb lightly tapped the sending button as he tried to work up the nerve to send his partner another message. Should he hurry home? Would he still be angry with him? What about the villagers?
“Damn it!”
Shadow cursed as he gave up on his message and only held the communicator closer to his chest. He wasn’t sure when he would be going back tonight. He was already ‘home’ after all.
No, you’re not.
Seen a fair deal of Sonic alternates, too.
“Funny how Sonic keeps appearing in some many of these worlds. Actually, it’s really annoying.”
((I was going to make this all in character, but it turned out more confusing than it had to be. So I am going to make one OOC update to the changes that have happened in Shadow’s world, and then an IC one to follow.
During Doom’s final stages of his invasion, he used his current soldiers to to gather the remaining paralyzed humans and bring them aboard the comet. However, the paralyzing plants had trouble surviving in the colder environments. The harshest of these areas being Holoska, where Eggman had retreated to during the initial outbreak. He had since lived in one of his small abandoned bases deep underground while using the last of his robotic forces to scout the globe for resources.
Other humans and creatures that survived the attack have had to take up shelter in similar cooler areas where the poison had not reached. Even though Doom had left the planet in its now toxic state, it has shown no signs of recovery. Doom felt the planet had little left to offer, and the new comet was already behind schedule. it was his time to leave.
Shadow had attempted to find the rest of the emeralds in his world in order to stop Doom, but he was already too late. Unlike the first comet, the second one was made with a stronger coating around it and had grown in power since further draining the planet of its resources. It had grown just large enough to make it through Earth’s atmosphere one time.
With the threat of Doom out of the way, the planet still needed cleaning up if there was any chance of it surviving through even another millennia. Shadow has since been trying to rid the world of its remaining poisonous plants, while assisting Eggman in creating a safe location for the remaining survivors. ))