Chapter Text
The night air was cold and brisk. Team Dark was dispatched to retrieve one of Doctor Eggman's newest inventions, which had been sending what the commander called “interesting” biological readings on G.U.N.'s remote flora and aquatic research labs. Scouting ahead to gather intel on where the base exactly was, Shadow found himself unable to see much of any strange activity, much less any strange biological readings.
“Interesting he said,” Rouge repeated over Shadow's intercom, snapping his attention from his skate down the quiet forest the organization had dropped them in. “I wonder what Commander Tower meant by that. What do you think, Omega?”
Shadow heard a familiar, robotic voice chime in through the comm line, and soon Omega responded. “EGGMAN FAILS TO CREATE MODELS AS EFFICIENT AS ME. NOTHING INTERESTING OF NOTE.”
“I’m afraid that’s not what I meant,” his female coworker says with a sigh.
“I presume the wildlife had been affected by whatever weapons the Doctor is creating,” Shadow explained. “It must either be widespread or extremely effective for the effects to be as traced as far as the lab.” Shadow skated to a stop at a clearing, willing his eyes to see anything peculiar.
G.U.N. was increasingly beginning to send them on missions with little intel to build off, leaving Rouge, Omega, and him to scour extensive areas to look for artifacts they knew even less about. Oftentimes, the three would find a base, form a stake out near said base, and end up getting caught staking out near said base (to this you can always blame Omega, who is far too eager and impatient to be sitting in cover). Then they'd resort to fighting what were usually Eggman's numerous robots to get him to behold his latest invention, or end up having their missions crashed by another group—one Shadow was growing to dislike seeing too frequently—Sonic and his little friends. Hopefully, it would be different this time, but seeing as today was not going in his favor (if the way this mission was lasting way too long had any indication), he doubted it.
Rouge’s sound of agreement took him out of his thoughts. “Not only that, but the commander stated there was little they knew of its cause. How are we supposed to know what it does?” Shadow heard shifting on the other side—Omega must be antsy. The communicator picked up more rustling, indicating his bat coworker was now covering the receiver, and, despite the efforts to block the microphone, Shadow could pick up a muffled, “Megs, I promise it's almost time.”
“They couldn't find traces of it in the plants, but all the pond fish they were tracking had been engaging in strange, risky behaviors. It's clear the Doctor is experimenting with some bioweapons.” But where he was working on this project was nowhere to be seen—no traces of a smell, liquid, or evidence of any animal infected or distressed.
Shadow looked once more at the trees, straining his ears to hear any sound of machinery, but heard nothing except the long chirps of crickets. He scowled at the treeline, noting the moon still high in the sky—it was in that position hours ago when he first arrived. This is taking forever.
He skates forward, looking for another clearing. As Shadow scans the brush for any sign of his goal, he mulls over the observation that the darkness of the night would be enough to camouflage him if he chose to use his air shoes and hover high enough to see where the next clearing was. As he opened his mouth to tell Rouge exactly that, he was interrupted by a loud boom.
The crickets went silent. Shadow looked up to triangulate the direction, the now-rising smoke making the location easier to find. Another BOOM cracked through the air, and Shadow had no time to waste. He typed in his estimated coordinates, including a cardinal direction, and then told Rouge to meet him there.
“Wait, what was that? Could that be the weapon?” Rouge asks as Shadow skates in the direction of the blast.
“Not sure, but we'll find out soon enough,” Shadow answers. As he closes in on the blast, he hears the whir of machinery and the crackle of fire. The smell of smoke is light but grows stronger as he approaches. He hoped there were no civilians nearby—not only would he have to preoccupy himself with keeping them out of the way, but he’d have a lot more paperwork.
He hears a familiar cackle ahead, and with it, he confirms that Eggman was responsible—if the sound of robots and mass destruction weren't already indicators. Shadow can see the orange light of a fire, and he leans forward as he pushes himself to get there faster. He's near the clearing when a notable figure appears through the tree line. Shadow's frown is unpreventable.
“Not you again.” Shadow accidentally says out loud before he turns off his communicator (much to the annoyance of Rouge, who was cut off from her questions of ‘Not who again?’, ‘Shadow?’ and ‘Hello?! Answer me!’).
Anyone but—
“Sonic the Hedgehog!” Eggman exclaims over the whir of his machine, yards away from where the blue hedgehog was fighting off small Egg Pawns with ease. “You've been a meddling rat for far too long! It's time I teach you the importance of minding your own business, with another lesson in how to pick your battles carefully since,” he clasps his hand in observation, “I see your friends aren't here to save you this time…”
Sonic is far too comfortable all the while—the cocky grin on his face showing that the hero was fighting off the robots without issue. However, Shadow isn't as confident, since Eggman's grin gives off the impression that he has other tricks up his sleeve. The doctor continues, “Too bad they won't be here for the class. But I'm sure they'll be glad to know that role call takes place in the obituary!” He cackles and with the click of a button, he sends more robots.
“You know, Egghead,” Sonic says indifferently, dashing away from the deadly robots to make some more room for himself. “I don't think the teacher thing works for you. You make it way too easy to fall asleep. Seriously, these robots?” He makes a gesture of closing his eyes and loudly snoring, comically tucking his hands under his cheek.
Shadow huffs in incredulity. The blue hedgehog was unbelievable. Only he would indulge the doctor’s embarrassing antics. Shadow wasn’t sure if that fact was amusing or annoying, but he settled on annoying.
Sonic quits his shameful gesture, much to the relief of an addled Shadow, and lowers his stance. He runs forward and then spins into a ball, the blur of his figure knocking over a group of badniks and sending them flying into pieces. He stops, turning his heel in a 180 and kicking two more that he stopped beside, before dashing out of another's reach.
This was too easy, even for him, Shadow thinks. Shadow should take advantage of the distraction and ambush the Doctor for his weapon, but he had to be cautious. He studies the ship Eggman was hidden in. The monumental trailer hovered thirty feet from the circle of robots Sonic was fighting through, built with a cargo door at the bottom and an open cockpit for Eggman to sit in. He scanned the Doctor once more for an indication that he would unveil what G.U.N. had sent him for—if there was any time he used his weapons, it was against Sonic—before the ship opened a cargo door.
He skated his way over to Eggman, who was grinning wickedly as 4 new robots—looking like much heavier, bigger versions of the Egg Pawns—came out from the hovering craft and ran to join the attack on the hero. Shadow furrowed his brow as the bigger robots transformed their claws into guns, aimed at an unsuspecting Sonic.
“Chaos Control!” He wills himself to appear by one robot, grabbing it and throwing it into the other three. Their shots missed, but now the attention was on him. The arms that had transformed into a gun changed back into sharp claws, snapping towards Shadow.
“Oh, hey Shadow!” Sonic beams, knocking over the remaining badniks before dashing over to help him. Shadow has to resist an eye roll. Only Sonic would stop in the middle of a fight to talk. Shadow ignores the greeting, kicking the refined robots into the forest and hearing a crack as the impact breaks off some of their pieces. Sonic is doing the same to another before focusing his gaze on the striped hedgehog. He raises an eyebrow with a playful smirk, “You know if you were looking for me, you could've just called.”
Shadow scoffs, answering the hedgehog with a scowl. If this was some sort of goading effort to get a reaction out of him, he clearly fell for it. “I'm not here for you, Faker. I'm on a mission with G.U.N.”
A glance to the left was the bigger robots they had just tossed aside, whirring back to life with a spin of their torso. They need to be hit with more power. He continues his assessment with another glance over his shoulder to reveal a couple dozen more of the larger Egg Pawns dropping down from the plane. An unfazed Eggman lets out a cackle, seemingly anticipating the turn of events despite Sonic wiping out half his army.
Sonic doesn't seem to notice (or if he does, he must not care), a finger under his nose and a smug smile on his face as he eyes the robots by the tree line. “Oh yeah? If you weren't here to give me some company, where's the rest of your team? Because otherwise it looks like you came here to try to see who can break more of Eggman’s bots and I hate to break it to you, Shadow, but—” Sonic crushes one of the Egg Pawns as if to emphasize his point. “That makes… 126? Ya got some catching up to do, Shads,” Sonic teases, a glint in his eyes challenging Shadow to bite the bait. This time, Shadow doesn’t take it, the wave of robots reminding him he has work to do, and he doesn’t want this mission to be interrupted by Sonic and his rivalry. Although I would have enjoyed the challenge…
“I don't have time for your banter, hedgehog,” Shadow says flatly. He had bigger problems to deal with. He vanishes, appearing next to the new wave of enhanced Egg Pawns and summoning Chaos Spears to impale them. The impact disables a couple, but most are whirring back up, their attention drawn to him.
“H-Hey! I wasn't done!” A resounding kick from the blue hedgehog sends one of the original robots out of commission. He backs up, then spin-dashes to do the same to the other three. Again, Sonic is beside him, and this time Shadow physically cannot hold back the eyeroll.
“You're distracted too easily,” Shadow dismisses, doing his best to dwindle the numbers before raiding Eggman’s ship to look for the new weapon’s schematics.
“As I just said, I already beat about a hundred robots,” Sonic points behind his shoulder where many of the said robots lay as pieces of rubble. The blue hedgehog continues kicking, punching, and dashing his way through the rest. “I think you'd get bored of it too after 50.”
“Ah, Shadow the Hedgehog!” Eggman exclaims from his place on his ship, seemingly finally noticing the agent's presence. “I've seen you've come to enroll in classes too! I'll make sure my robots come and give you the attention you need to catch up with the class!” Shadow rolls his eyes at the continued metaphor. Both Dr. Eggman and Sonic needed to quit with the theatrics.
The doctor clicks a button, and the robots they're fighting begin to drone a high-pitched warbling throughout the yard. Shadow flinches at the vibration but steels his composure. He's less susceptible to these tactics than most, having been subjected to lots of stimuli on the ARK. Sonic, however—
“Gah!” The blue hedgehog exclaims, doubling over in pain. His hands flew instinctively to his ears, eyes shutting despite the chaos surrounding him and the imminent danger clawing to reach out and kill him. Shadow lunged towards Sonic, grabbing his wrist before teleporting them both to the other side of the clearing.
The drone is still loud from there, so Shadow doesn't urge Sonic to focus (even though he very much wishes the other would). The other doesn’t seem to register that he had been moved away, but Shadow supposes it couldn’t be helped. There were just many things Sonic hadn’t been able to beat him at, and it seems that withstanding high-frequency auditory torture was one of them. He releases his arm and instead wishes that Omega had been there to give the two hedgehogs some cover while Sonic gained a clear head.
“You see, Sonic, there's a special class I'm teaching today! It's about a remarkable little creature. This one might sound familiar to you, but I’ll give you a couple of hints. One: they’re disgusting pests—just like another nuisance I’m sure you’re aware of. Two: they love to cling to disgusting rodents. Any guesses to what it is, class? Anyone? No one?” Eggman says through a speakerphone, and Shadow rolls his eyes. It’s almost comedic that he would go to such lengths to monologue.
The doctor clicks another button and the whir of the cargo door briefly overtakes the drone of the robots. His eyes scan the other side of the clearing, where the robots are turning towards the pair, Eggman was monologuing, and a cloud of… something was flying out of the cargo doors. Wait. Were those—?
“Oh alright, one more hint! These little things love to fly, swarm, and, through my genius, they’ve grown a liking to biting annoying blue hedgehogs.” A strange buzzing noise overpowers the drone of robots, and Shadow prepares himself to fight.
That's when it happens. Well, more like three things at once.
One. Omega surprisingly does arrive, guns blazing, to give cover to Shadow. His other mission partner is nowhere to be found, but he suspects that the destruction-loving robot ran ahead of Rouge in his excitement. The robot shoots at the bugs forming a cloud over the clearing, and the ship Eggman is in, and the enhanced Egg Pawns that are still on their way toward the pair. Having three machine guns must have been new.
Two. Not only does Omega join the fight, but so does a young, two-tailed fox along with a certain hammer-wielding hedgehog and red echidna. They were close behind Omega, ears peculiarly covered by what seemed like earplugs and muffs, probably to drown out the terrible droning. They must have seen Shadow and Sonic despite the accessories because they called out Sonic’s name before splitting up: Knuckles and Amy crushing robots nearing them while Tails flew over, looking concerned. Rouge can be seen shortly after, her sensitive ears covered by her hand—almost certainly not enough for her heightened hearing—to fly over to Sonic and Shadow with an expression mirroring Tails's.
Three. One of the many bugs released makes its way down to the two hedgehogs, fluttering past the pair without notice. Shortly after, the droning from the other machines stops. Unbeknownst to the two, the droning had only ceased because a certain little bug-like machine had found its target during the commotion.
“Haha, finally!” Sonic sighs in relief, turning to look at the scene. Shadow, however, tenses.
Anticipation twists in Shadow’s gut as he hurriedly scans for the reason the noise ceased, seeing nothing but the fighting trio, the two flying Mobians, and… an escaping Eggman. But if he was escaping, then that must mean—
His blood runs cold as he quickly realizes what has happened. He turns to warn Sonic that something is very wrong, that this is a trap, and to run, but a curse escapes him at the sight.
A small beetle from the swarm had landed right on the other's arm. Eyes widening, Shadow warns Sonic, lunging forward to swat it, but it’s too late. As soon as the blue hedgehog's gaze drops down to the bug on his arm and registers the issue, the bug twitches its wings, then suddenly crackles and sparks into a small poof!
Purple smoke releases, almost like a party trick, but Sonic recoils like the tiny pop blew his arm off. The blue hedgehog falls to his knees, and Shadow closes the gap to catch him before he collapses completely. In his arms, Sonic writhes in pain, clutching at his arm as if it were injured. Shadow frantically looked over his arm and then at the entire hedgehog's body, but soon found there were no injuries—in fact, the powder clinging onto both their furs was the only evidence the bug had even landed on him. Shadow is careful not to jostle him, frowning at the state of the other’s pain. Suddenly, Sonic stills, chest heaving.
“Sonic!” Shadow is vaguely aware of the young fox’s voice closing in behind them. He could hear the young fox’s tails flapping above the two hedgehogs. “What happened?!”
“I don't know what exactly, but don't let those bugs on you,” he declares, loud enough for the other to hopefully hear. He cautiously sets Sonic down on the grass for further assessment.
Unexpectedly, the blue hedgehog’s eyelids fluttered open at the movement, eyes hazy and untrained before settling on Shadow's face. Shadow was relieved—at least he was awake. The blue hedgehog’s eyes droop again in a daze, but not once do they leave Shadow's face. There’s a glossy look forming in the other’s eyes that was really beginning to draw concern from him. Shadow voices his unease to Tails, tilting his head to warn over his shoulder, “With the way he’s looking, they seem to seriously stun you."
A cocky grin forms on Sonic’s face and relief washes over Shadow once again. This was normal—he’d say something about easily bouncing back, then return to playful banter and hopefully recover from his disorientation. Or so he hoped. But as always… this day ceases to amuse him.
“Actually the only thing stunning around here is you.”