Chapter Text
Sonic was gonna kill him.
At this point it's ridiculous how hard it is to catch Shadow. He'd been searching for weeks now. Every night he would go out with Tails’ chaos energy tracking device and follow the bright red dot on the grid map. The bright red dot he was hoping was Shadow.
Shadow would teleport to some random location, teleport around the large area, then teleport to a completely different location. Despite being the fastest (most daring, charming, and handsome) thing alive, the dark hedgehog's teleportation abilities made him incredibly difficult to catch up with.
Right now, Sonic was in the middle of some random forest in who-the-heck-knows where getting increasingly frustrated. He'd been running around trying to get to Shadow for hours but it was like an insanely fast, insanely difficult version of whack-a-mole. It made him look like a freaking lunatic running around the forest after dark like Crazy Carl used to.
Eventually, Sonic gave up and just stood there watching Shadow’s little red dot pop up on screen as he continued to appear in random spots in the forest. Then he was gone, not even in the same forest as him anymore.
“This is SOO unfair!” The blue hedgehog tossed the device on the ground and continued to blabber on, “How am I supposed to find Shadow when he can teleport?! ” He sat on the floor cross-legged, resting his chin in his hand.
This was so stupid. He isn't even 100% sure what he's chasing is even Shadow. Tails warned him that it could be a trap from GUN but honestly, he's starting to think it was eggman. Like- what if, somehow, by some miracle, Eggman was alive? Sending him on some wild goose chase? He'd survived insane things like that before, right? What if his ugly, bright red villain suit turned into an indestructible space suit that saved him from the explosion!! Well- okay that's dumb. Point is that Shadow could be dead and Sonic could be speeding into major trouble.
But Shadow had to be alive. What else could that thing on the tracker be?
His thoughts drifted. He imagined Shadow’s lifeless body drifting amongst the stars he and Maria loved. Finally at peace, reunited with his sister. Shadow died a hero, sacrificing himself for all of mankind even after they treated him so poorly.
He shook his head. Nope- yup that was dark. Don't even begin to think of that. Shadow is 100% alive.
Maybe Shadow wouldn't want Sonic to find him. Perhaps he wanted to be left alone. He can't blame him for not wanting to interact with them since their team has worked with GUN, maybe Shadow was still bitter about their brief partnership. Or maybe Shadow thought they might turn him in. Sonic had no idea how GUN treated him, but considering how little they cared about Team Sonic, and the fact that they put him “on ice” for 50 years, it was probably pretty bad.
(He pushed down the guilt that rose in his stomach. Ignored the worm in his ear telling him that maybe Shadow was angry at him. Angry at him for leaving him to die facing the death ray.)
So Shadow had every right to not want to be around the Wachowskis, but he couldn't just abandon him.
Sonic thought back to his days of self isolation. Everyday he had to watch the human kids grow up in loving homes, surrounded by friends and family.
And even though he pretended that it didn’t bother him, it did.
There were nights where the cave couldn't keep out the cold. He spent those nights hoping, wishing that maybe one day things would change. Maybe one day he would be curled up in a warm bed in a real home instead of a beanbag in a sad little cave.
All those years he spent all alone.
He can’t let Shadow become as lonely as he was.
His thoughts were interrupted when the tracker made a high pitched beeping noise, which meant it found Shadow's location.
He honestly hated the dang thing. It could only show the distance between him and sources of chaos energy. The screen showed a green and white grid and the grid got bigger or smaller depending on the distance between him and the chaos energy. Also, after spending weeks listening to that high pitched beep, it started to drive him up the wall.
“Alright Sonic, one more round of this crap then you can go home and get your much needed beauty sleep,” he said to himself. After tucking the tracker into his quills, and taking a moment to stretch his sore legs, the blue hedgehog was off.
Arriving at the new location Sonic took a look around. Another forest, what's up with Shadow and forests tonight? This is like the 3rd one now.
He checked the tracker and immediately noticed 2 things that were out of the ordinary.
One, Shadow was moving way slower now. He would stop at a place for a total of 2 seconds as opposed to his usual blink and you'll miss it, less than 1 second pauses. And two, there were now 3 red dots on screen. There were now 2 extra things here.
He decided to worry about those later. Shadow was not getting away this time.
Sonic ran, but the second he started running Shadow appeared in a new spot on the map. The speedster changed course, running as fast as his exhausted legs would let him to the new spot.
Then he fell.
Straight into a large hole in the ground. His speed sent him crashing straight into the opposite side of the pit. He then rolled limply into the center of the hole and hit his forehead on what he thought was a large rock. The blue hedgehog was now a dark grey, covered in dirt and little pebbles. Every inch of his body aching.
“Ugh.. no way am i going fishing tomorrow.” he said to himself, he sat up and gripped his head as if that was gonna help with the massive headache. It felt like the world was spinning.
Is he concussed? Is this how the Blue Blur dies, by passing out in the middle of some random forest with a concussion? Cause it sure felt like he was dying. That's a lame way to die, he always thought it would be from saving the world or performing the most powerful show of chaos energy to ever happen in history.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw a glint of gold on the ground. With great discomfort, he turned his head to the right and looked down at the object.
It was a large golden ring with a thin strip of glass going through the middle. He picked it up to inspect it. Other than it being a bit dirty, it was in perfect condition.
It seemed strangely familiar, his fingers felt a soft buzz as they rubbed along the smooth, cold metal. He recognized that feeling. It was like what he felt holding the Master Emerald. Not exactly the same, the master emerald emitted a strong, powerful aura that made you feel like you held the world in the palm of your hand. But it had the same otherworldly feeling, like it had a weaker pulse compared to the master emerald. Huh, what if…
The tracker started beeping rapidly when he picked it up and held it against the ring, meaning that this ring had chaos energy.
Huh, weird. Wonder who it belonged to.
Unfortunately, our blue alien friend is still too loopy from his fall (and possible concussion) to figure it out.
Looking around he realized that the ring was what created the small crater, like it was a tiny asteroid that crashed from space. The hole was about 15 feet in diameter if he had to guess, and maybe 7-10 feet deep. Hard to believe that this thing could make a crater this big.
Checking the tracker’s screen he noticed something. Shadow’s dot was now moving slowly, like he was walking. He was moving towards the other red dot.
This was his chance to get him.
He shook off the dirt coating his fur, tucked the ring into his quills, and sped off.
At some point during the run he left the forest. Now he was in the plains, he felt the tall grass brush against his knees. The sun was rising, making the sky orange, yellow, and light blue. The wind whipped past his face, a feeling that never gets old. Mountains could be spotted in the distance, dawn painting them a soft shade of blue. The blue hedgehog found himself distracted, in awe of the beautiful scene.
Which is how he fell into another hole.
This time he launched himself from one side of the small crater to the other, he landed on the edge and missed falling off the side by an inch, which would have been pretty dang cool.
But the sudden landing startled him so much that he fell backwards, tumbling into the large hole. Though the fall was not as painful as last time, it still hurt. He ended up at the very bottom of the crater, crumpled on the floor. His body ached, especially his arm which took most of the impact when he landed on the floor of the small crater. Man, that was embarrassing.
Well, he thought to himself, slightly delirious, at least no one was around to see that.
“Pathetic”
Wait a damn-
Upon hearing the deep voice he abruptly sat up, hissing at the pain in his head. He looked up and was met with red eyes staring at him and his head started spinning even more.
It was Shadow.
Shadow looked…well, terrible. Stray quills and fur were sticking out. There were a few leaves stuck to the very ends of his quills. He was only wearing one of his bracelet thingies. And worst of all, it looked like small patches of his fur had been burnt. Not badly, it was just his fur that looked singed, but still.
Wait- he's been sitting and staring for too long. This is getting awkward.
Sonic stood up, not taking his eyes off the darker hedgehog in case he bolted. He felt like he was approaching a stray cat (or wild bunny, hah get it) that might run off if he made any sudden movements.
Shadow stared back at him, his stare had a hint of nervousness to it. Though subtle, it was a far cry from the dark and brooding hedgehog he was used to. He couldn't seem to stop fidgeting, gripping tightly at his bare wrist. The darker hedgehog pushed his quills back to smooth them out, which was barely effective because of how messed up they were.
“You're alive!” Although Sonic knew that already, it was still a relief seeing him in the flesh. Shadow stayed silent. “Where have you been? I've been looking for weeks! And no offense dude but you look terrible, when's the last time you touched up those highlights?” That part was meant to be a joke, but it earned him a hard glare. Geez, tough crowd.
Shadow still said nothing, it made Sonic antsy. The only sound in that silent moment was the sound of Shadows breathing, heavier than normal.
He lightly nudged him in the arm with his fist, ignoring the weird flighty stomach feeling it gave him. “Hey, you good? I didn't like smack into you when I fell, did I?” Sonic paused, waiting for a response “Helloooooo earth to-”
“I've been searching for my rings,” he finally replied.
Sonic finally connected the dots on who the ring he found belongs to, but just as he was about to pull it out, Shadow added “and avoiding you”.
There was a long stretch of awkward silence as Sonic thought of that last bit. Avoiding him? Why? I mean he knew why, it was probably because of their history with GUN.
But Shadow’s tone was kinda off when he said that. Instead of the venom that would accompany that statement if Sonic's assumption was correct, the darker hedgehog seemed kinda embarrassed. That hint of nervousness returning to his face.
“I- what??” he finally managed to sputter out.
“Don't follow me” and with that, Shadow was gone yet again.