"Impossible....," Shadow whispered to himself in pure astonishment while still staring at the very human friend of his, whom he thought of as forever gone ever since she succumbed to the illness. The hybrid couldn't wrap his head around it. If she was dead, why was Eggman keeping her here in the stasis then? Slowly, anger started taking over his form as he clenched his fists.
"How could he do this to me! He was going behind my back this whole time?!" he hissed at nobody in particular and his ear twitched upon someone's sudden arrival to the cave.
"Wow, this is pretty cool," none other but the crazy badger's voice softly echoed through the cave, causing Shadow glare at her and immediately drag her outside by her arm. Once outside, he slammed her against a tree and pinned her down to it.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" he snarled at her angrily whilst Sticks struggled against him and clawed at his left arm, which stung him, but he kept his grip on her neck still so strong and tight.
"U-Ugh, w-was just... pick...ing fruits a-and saw the... ca..ve open, so I... got cu...rious," she wheezed due to her windpipe being squeezed, which soon got freed, as Shadow loosened his grip on her, yet held her against the tree for a bit longer.
"Curiosity killed a badger, remember that!" he hissed at her in response. Sticks' eyebrows met in the center of her forehead.
"Wasn't it a cat, that got ki-"
"I am NOT fooling around, you crazy badger!!" Shadow harshly snapped at her, cutting her off he yanked her towards the ground and let her fall down with a thud and painful groan.
"Ow, do you even know how to treat a lady, you demon?" she complained and getting up onto her feet she brushed some dust and dirt off of her fur before giving Shadow a serious glare.
"I will, once I see one," Shadow retorted in stubborn manner while crossing his arms, causing Sticks dramatically gasp at how rude he is.
"I won't let this one slide!" she growled at him, being more feisty than she seems to be.
"Why should I care?" Shadow raised a brow arrogantly.
"Urghgg, you- what were you even doing in there? I heard you talking to that weird glassy bed," the badger dropped the topic and instead turned the page onto another.
"None of your business, now leave, before I make you!" Shadow hissed at the reminder of Maria laying frozen in the capsule. Now that he thought about it, he assumed, that Eggman was most likely trying to develop the cure for her, as the hedgehog recalled the sight of the unknown purple liquid. Right. And the tiny golden particles being chaos energy source, which he was very well familiar with. Still, how could Eggman keep this from him and thus have him believe, that Maria is truly gone for good? Shadow had all rights to know about this! It was so unfair!
"Not until you tell me, what is going on here!" Sticks opposed.
"I wasn't asking, get out!" Shadow snarled at her menacingly, but she did not seem fazed by his tantrums.
"Look, if it calms you down, I also talk to stuff, pretty a lot," the badger admitted her own strange obsession with talking to inanimate objects like to a living person. Shadow got completely dumbfounded by her statement, as he raised a brow in confusion.
"What?"
"Ya heard me! Ohhhh, am I so glad to finally not be the only one doing so!" Sticks said with relief lacing her voice and out of impulse she suddenly hugged the ebony hedgehog, which caused him fully tense up and instantly attempt to push her away.
"Don't touch me, you crazy badger!" he growled at her and managed to push her away from him before clenching his fists in yet another wave of anger flowing through him. He exceptionally lets Sonic hug him, but no way in hell and heaven this badger, whom he barely knows!
"Hm, you're no fun, demon!" Sticks scoffed in response and crossed her arms.
"Stop calling me that!" Shadow hissed at her and went to move the fake boulder all the way back to its original position, which took him a lot of effort.
"You can fly and teleport magically anywhere you want, plus your eyes are eeeviiiiillll, so, you are a demon! I know you are!" Sticks tried to get her point across and justify her crazy theory.
"You're talking nonsense! These shoes have jets installed in them and I teleport thanks to chaos energy, there is nothing 'demonic' about me!" Shadow retorted with a scoff and crossed his arms, once the boulder in disguise was back on its original spot. Sticks released a sudden gasp while widening her eyes.
"You are son of a demon!! We are all doomed!" she gripped the sides of her head before running away from him, trying to 'save herself' from this 'son of demon'. Shadow watched her in total confusion and astonishment before shaking his head at her odd behavior, as he activated the said jets in his airboots and flying up to the air he headed to Eggman's base, now having much more important business to take care of.
"What have you done, doctor!" Shadow used a quick teleportation, once he was nearby the base, to appear in Eggman's lab and luckily caught the mad scientist there, basically red-handed, since the man worked on yet another antidote for Maria. Due to getting startled the mustached genius dropped the sample on the ground and the vial broke into pieces upon the collision, causing the light pinkish liquid with tiny golden particles spill across the tiles.
"SHADOW! You can't do this to me, when I am working on something!" Eggman scolded the hedgehog, as he stared at the broken vial with helpless expression in his glasses-covered eyes. He worked so hard on this one!
"I can do whatever I damn want!" Shadow hissed at him in a hostile way and surprisingly gripped the man by his collar as he hovered in the air thanks to his activated airboots, completely catching the man off guard.
"Now spill it! Why were you hiding Maria away from me?!" he yelled at him, the pure, raw anger surging through his entire body caused a thin layer of a crimson aura emerge from him. Eggman stared at him in utter shock and dared he admit, even fear, as he nervously gulped and slowly raised his hands in defensive manner.
"S-Shadow, you see, r-right after this happened to her I-"
"How long is she in that capsule?!" Shadow did not let him even finish his explanation, as he yelled another question at him.
"The w-whole time, e-ever since you ran away," Eggman replied in small voice, scared of the raging lifeform in front of him.
"And you did not even bother to tell me, why?! WHY DID YOU KEEP ME BELIEVING, THAT SHE'S DEAD?!" Shadow let all the frustration, pain, anger and sadness out by his little tantrum, hot tears even streamed down his cheeks without his full realization.
Eggman let him scream at him and actually did feel some regrets deep down. Mostly, he wanted to have Maria's comeback as a surprise for the ebony hedgie, as he wanted to make him happy, once he would succeed to finally cure her of the desease and bring her back to life. Somehow. He still had a lot to figure out, but his surprise got harshly blown out by the hedgehog himself, which made the man now wonder, if it's even worth it to keep the research going or if he should let Maria be... just gone. As she probably should be.
"I worked with Lyric, because he told me, that he might have a cure coming from the ancient times. I was desperate at that time, so I did everything Lyric told me and naively thought, that Maria might be back with us sooner than expected. I planned to tell you, but there was no time for it, as Lyric became impatient and demanding. In the end, he did give me the sample, but as I double-checked it, I found out, that it was a poison, which would make things only worse. Lyric betrayed us both and the happier I now feel about you defeating him for good. Afterwards, I started working on my own research and the cure development, but... I am helpless, Shadow. I am failing all the time," the scientist explained and that got Shadow to finally let go of his collar as the hedgehog landed on the ground and sitting on a nearby chair he sighed whilst more tears formed in his eyes. They both worked for the slick snake out of desperation, for nothing at all.
"Why wouldn't you tell me about all this anytime sooner? I-I know, that I was in a hiding, but you soon found my cave hideout, so you knew, where I live! Why were you keeping it a secret, doctor?!" both anger and sadness flowed through the broken hybrid, making him unstable at the moment and also unpredictable. The aura still surrounded his body due to his frustration.
"I meant it as a surprise for you, Shadow. Once I'd succeed curing her and bringing her back to us, I was going to surprise you with her arrival," Eggman let it out, now that it was spilled anyways.
"Tch... yet, you didn't happen to be extra careful, doctor. Do you want to know, how I found her?" Shadow stood up while clenching his fists.
"I found droplets of the supposed cure in the grass, the trail led me towards that small cave and there I witnessed you coming out of it and leaving it. I felt... betrayed, doctor. I still feel betrayed. As if I was being lied to, for the entirety of my life, ever since the professor passed away and Maria succumbed to the illness," more tears rolled down the hedgehog's cheeks, his lower lip quivered and he was on the verge of a mental breakdown right now.
"This was never my intention, Shadow, believe me. How did you even get inside? I closed the door instantly after leaving," Eggman sighed and sitting down on another chair he crossed his arms, not expressing much of remorse towards the hybrid.
"Hmpf, you have no idea, what I am capable of, doctor! This is a clear proof! You really thought, that you could hide it from me forever, b-but you're damn wrong! Besides, s-she is gone, doctor, face it! You're just wasting time and material with those samples!" Shadow just got into the denial stage of depression in a way, where he saw it useless to keep trying develop the cure. It was like throwing balls against a metallic wall, nothing would change no matter the number, size or shape of the balls getting thrown at it. Only the thrower would grow more exhausted.
"You cannot know that, Shadow. You revived Sonic, perhaps you could do the same with her, now that I think about it," Eggman pointed out this pure fact and Shadow, despite hating it, had to agree with the statement.
"Wouldn't that cost more energy, doctor? It's healing AND reviving," Shadow abruptly stopped crying as he wiped some of the last tears away while sniffling, the aura dissipating whilst he calmed down.
"Yes, it would cost much more energy," Eggman nodded in agreement while stroking his precious mustache - which he always just fixed with some stuff, but NEVER would he cut it even an inch shorter! Shadow frowned upon the thought. Was it worth it? Sacrificing possibly even his own life for Maria? And what if even that wouldn't work afterwards? His own life would come to a waste then. He must not let such a thing happen! He must be first completely sure, that it's going to work, until then, he won't participate in that, not even for someone so precious to him like Maria. He felt a bit selfish for having such mindset, but on the other hand, it was justified. Everyone loves their own life and don't want to die voluntarily. Shadow especially being no exception.
"In that case, we need more chaos energy sources," Shadow stated thoughtfully as he pulled out the chaos emerald and stared at his own reflection in it.
Eggman frowned for a bit before an imaginary light bulb popped up above his head as he outstretched his hand towards Shadow with his palm facing the ceiling.
"No way!" Shadow instantly moved the emerald out of the other's reach while looking up at him with seriousness in his eyes.
"Shadow, I have no desire to use it for my own schemes - even tho the thought is indeed tempting- BUUUUT I promise, I only wanna do research on it and possibly track down more of these, if they exist!" Eggman very quickly attempted to convince Shadow to let him take the emerald for a while, when he saw the lifeform glaring daggers at him, penetrating his soul with their sharp blades.
"If you're lying to me, you shall regret the day you were born!" Shadow hissed at him threateningly before reluctantly giving him the emerald, keeping his eye on him, just in case. Eggman gulped and taking the emerald he shoved it to his scanner device, then launched the scanning process and waited for the results, which was going to take a while.
"Are you going to stare at me for the whole time?" Eggman asked out of anxiety, when he felt Shadow's crimson irises burning his soul alive.
"Yes," Shadow barked out, crossing his arms he indeed stared at Eggman for a long time, whilst the scan was halfway in the research process. Orbot and Cubot arrived to the lab afterwards, each holding a tray of food for the both Robotniks.
"Here, your favourite dinner, master," Orbot placed the tray on the work table before backing off. Cubot held the other tray out for Shadow.
"Here is one for you as well, Shadow," he said proudly and let the hedgehog take a look at it properly. Just a simple sandwiches, bowl of carrot salad, again the special kind of pastille and glass of orange juice. Eggman had the same, minus the pastille.
"Thanks," Shadow accepted the tray, setting it on a separated table he sat down and started quietly eating while still keeping an eye on the doctor, who nonchalantly ate the sandwich while watching the computer screen, where the results of the scan were popping up.
Several minutes later, the scan was finally done and Eggman proved himself by taking the emerald and returning it back to its original finder and owner. Shadow snatched the emerald from him and promptly hid it in his quills while letting out a small huff of approval, as he continued eating his dinner. The two robo-servants left the lab right after giving the Robotniks their respective dinners. Shadow had to admit, he was impressed by Eggman's skills and high IQ. Even though, it was kinda questionable, since the doctor was capable of being pretty dense and dumb sometimes. Everyone has such blind spot in their mind for sure, Shadow not being an exception.
"So?" the hybrid finally spoke up after the silence started getting uncomfortable.
"The results are rather surprising. This emerald is only a fragment of a bigger chaos energy source, but I still cannot wrap my head around it, honestly. It seems like there are more of these 'fragments', which maybe..." Eggman explained, then trailed off while rubbing his chin and thinking hard about this.
"....when we bring them together- that's it! Shadow, we have to find as many of these as we can and bring them all together! Perhaps by merging their energies together we might be able to create this supposed bigger source!" he exclaimed, already getting excited as he glanced at dumbfounded Shadow.
"Are you sure, doctor?" Shadow sounded worried and heck he was, when it came to curing Maria and even resurrecting her. He did not wish anything to go wrong.
"Not to the fullest, honestly, but maybe I could build a stabilizer, which would merge the energies together without overloading," Eggman theorised and in his eyes it made sense.
"That could maybe work," Shadow shrugged before sighing as he looked down at his feet.
"If we truly bring her back.. what then?" he asked with a frown on his face, keeping his head low.
"I think it would be the best to have her live here with us. At least, in the beginning for sure," Eggman replied instantly, which indicated, that he had it in mind for a while by now.
"Or I could take her to the chao garden, where she would be safe and nobody could find her," Shadow suggested.
"I mean, if the portal lets her in? It's worth of try," Eggman approved of Shadow's idea and finally, there was a small smile on the hybrid's face. Just the thought of himself introducing his and Sonic's chao to her and spending time with her there made him feel peaceful and filled his core with new wave of hope. Hope for the better days to come.
~•~
With Sonic and Tails, the two mobians ended up in an accessory store, for the fox boy wanted to pick a perfect gift for Zooey.
"Which one do you like more, Sonic?" he asked his blue furred friend, who seemed to be out of the reality.
"Sonic!" Tails waved his hand in front of the hedgehog's face, finally gaining his attention.
"Huh, yeah?" Sonic's spiral of thoughts got broken apart by such interruption and the hedgehog focused on his bro now.
"I am asking, which one is better?" Tails changed the question a little, hating to repeat himself. Sonic glanced down at the two lockets in the kitsune's hands. One was a golden winged heart with rose placed over it. The other was a golden oval with black paw print carved into it and letters "I ♡ U" written above it. Both lockets were of course openable.
"Well, uh... they are both nice, heh?" Sonic scratched the spot behind his ear nervously, he himself happened to be indecisive.
"Yeah, no way," Tails rolled his eyes and sighed afterwards.
"All I can say is, just pick the one, that resonates more with you," Sonic placed his hand on his brother's shoulder and gave it a little squeeze for support.
"Hmmm... the paw one is it then," Tails finally deciced, putting the other back to its respectful spot before moving to the cashier and paying for the locket. The cashier put it to a special gift box and sold it to him with a smile on her face. Tails smiled back at her and along with Sonic finally left the shop.
"We spent a whole eternity there," Sonic complained as he stretched his limbs and felt a satisfying pop in his spine a few times.
"I am sorry about that, Sonic. I wouldn't usually do such a thing, but I really want to give Zooey something special and really meaningful. I only hope she will like it," Tails explained himself, which made Sonic softly chuckle and gently pat the kitsune's shoulder.
"I am sure she will," Sonic winked at him, before he suddenly frowned. That confused his best friend, as the fox furrowed his eyebrows.
"What's the matter?"
"I think I should check up on Shadow now," Sonic admitted, his emerald irises now filled with worry.
"Oh, that's okay, you can go look for him, Sonic. But come back for dinner, we are all going to have a movie night at Amy's," Tails replied, supporting his bro.
"Yeah, I'll see, heh. Thanks, Tails, see ya!" Sonic indirectly wanted to reject the offer, because he planned to actually spend the night with Shadow - if he finds him that is. Giving Tails last farewell gesture he speeded off first towards Shadow's cave, as that place instantly popped in his mind, when it came to finding the hybrid. Tails sighed, but smiling at the small box in his hand he cheered up again and went to pick Zooey up, so they both could head to Amy's shack for the upcoming night.
In the meantime, Sonic was unsuccessful with finding Shadow in the cave, coming out of it he started running across the beach towards Eggman's lair, as that was another place, where Shadow could be most likely located. However, the hedgehog collided with another mobian and fell on his butt, the other mobian did pretty much the same and they both groaned in pain unisono.
"Sticks?! What's the rush for?" Sonic glanced at the badger, who got onto her feet first and brushing the sand particles off of her fur she then offered Sonic her hand to help him up.
"Didn't expect to see you here, but actually, good, that you're here! The demon dared to be rude to me and all and now he's going to bring us all to a doom!" Sticks twisted the story whilst Sonic accepted her help and also cleaned his fur from all the sand particles.
"Wait, wait, you mean Shadow? Where is he?" he perked his ears up, sounding eager about finally finding him. And by Sticks' title for him he immediately knew, whom is this conversation about.
"Over there, deep in the jungle. He was in some cave and talked to the strange glassy bed," the badger pointed towards the spot where she last saw Shadow and Sonic instantly nodded.
"Alright, thanks!" the hedgehog instantly speeded off towards that area with Sticks barely able to catch up on him, as she followed him.
And of course, as they arrived, they could see the spot empty. Sonic approached the fake boulder and knocked on it, gasping he jumped back a bit and stared at it in confusion.
"Metal?! That's... surely unexpected. You sure he's in there?" he glanced at the badger, who was heavily huffing next to him while leaning onto her knees with her hands, trying to catch her breath.
"The cave was open, when I arrived, then he held me against this tree, threatened me, threw me on the ground and I ran away from him, because he is pure EVIL!" she hastily explained the story while harshly gesticulating with her hands in the process.
"Wait, earlier you said, that he talked to a capsule, right? Do you remember, what he was saying?" Sonic paused her for a bit and talked in calm tone, not wanting to be as chaotic and panicking as her. Even though, in his case it would be for a different reason.
"Well, all I heard was him saying something about someone going behind his back," Sticks confessed, not hearing much due to her arriving at the moment, when Shadow finished his sentence back then.
"I see. Hmm, alright, I have a few ideas, where he is. Thanks, Sticks, I'll see ya when I see ya!" Sonic replied while snapping his fingers and then he was gone, leaving a faint blue trail behind him, which soon vanished to the thin air and left Sticks standing there alone. Sonic soon arrived to Eggman's base and started crazily banging on the door.
"Wha... th..e..heck do yo...ant.. lue rod...nt!" Eggman yelled to a microphone in his lab, not realizing, that the speaker connected to it was a bit outdated by now and thus his cracked voice got often interrupted by pauses.
"I'll take care of it, doctor," Shadow offered and vanished to thin air.
Sonic looked up at the speaker with a grin on his face while leaning on the door with his hands, since he just paused his banging and planned to continue, if Eggman won't let him in.
"Let me in, Egghead! Also, you should get some upgrades here, your speakers are getting as old as you," he taunted the villain and some rustling was all, that came out of the speaker before it turned completely silent. Shadow appeared behind him right after, he stood there with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Shadow," Sonic sensed his presence, so he instantly turned around to face him and gripping his wrist he then speeded off from here, dragging the hedgehog behind him for a bit before Shadow caught up on the pace.
"We need to have a talk!" Sonic said seriously and felt Shadow struggling in his grip.
"Let me go!" Shadow grumbled, but Sonic's grip on his wrist only tightened, as the hero refused to let go of him so easily.
"Dammit, hedgehog, I can run on my own!" the hybrid exclaimed this time, getting irritated by now. Sonic did let go of the other's wrist, but only after he arrived to his final destination - Shadow's cave.
"Okay, now, I have questions for you and I think we should probably sit for that," Sonic blocked the exit, so Shadow couldn't run away.
"You are invading my place without my consent right now!" Shadow stated in a loud growl, anger slowly started taking over him. Sonic sighed and lowered his posture to subconsciously express submission.
"I am sorry, Shads, but I really need to talk to you and... don't want you to disappear like you always do. Please, talk to me, okay?" the hero gave him a sad glance while pleading him, nearly getting to the 'begging on knees' stage. He didn't do that though, as it would be truly degrading and embarassing, probably for the both of them.
"Tch, fine," Shadow finally resignated and calming down he sat by the small table with Sonic instantly joining him, sitting across from him to have a good view at him and to keep a direct contact with him.