by Background Bailey
Disclaimer: I do not own Sega, Sonic and his friends (and foes), or anything else from any of their games. This is just some fan fiction I wrote in my spare time because I was bored and needed something to do.
Note: This is very mild stuff and can be rated G but older audiences will probably enjoy it better anyway.
Background: Anyone who has played Sonic Adventure 2 Battle on the Nintendo Gamecube and has played the dark story will remember the 3rd scene of “The Eggman Empire.” In this chapter Shadow’s reflection of his past is interrupted by Rouge and Eggman (if you haven’t seen this scene yet or you don’t know what the heck I’m talking about, please stop wasting your time and find something else to read). I always wondered where the conversation would have gone if Egghead hadn’t interrupted it and so this fanfic offers a possible outcome.
Shadow was standing by himself in the abandoned lab. He often came there with Maria because it had such a great view of the earth. He was thinking about one of their conversations when suddenly a familiar voice brought him back to the present.
“Why so melancholy?” Rouge inquired.
Shadow merely gave Rouge a piercing glare from the corners of his eyes and turned away. Rouge was taken back by this and gazed at him with wide eyes. She quickly regained her composure and spoke again.
“That was so unexpected, so unlike you, Shadow, to come and rescue me…” she said, with a faint touch of affection in her voice.
“I don’t like the way she just said that… sounds like I took more than the Chaos Emeralds from her…” Shadow thought to himself.
“But your ability to use the Chaos Control certainly comes in handy!” Rouge said, almost with a laugh.
“Hmm, you know I didn’t come to save you; I only came back for the Chaos Emeralds.”
“Yeah, yeah, But that’s not the whole story, now is it?”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?!” Shadow snapped, this time directly glaring at Rouge with his dark look, and sounding a lot harsher. “I can’t stand it when people question what I say!!”
“Ha, ha! You know what I’m talking about! Admit it, you think I’m cute!”
“WHA-WHAT??!!”
“Oh, come on now, you don’t have to play dumb with me! You came back because you couldn’t stand the thought of a pretty thing like me getting blown to bits!”
“You’re completely wrong if you think that was the reason I came back!!”
“Oh, really? Well, that makes it even more interesting then! What was it? The call for help? The sound of despair in my voice? Or by any chance does it have something to do with my dark green eyes, because I really wouldn’t be surprised if…”
“FOR THE LAST TIME, I DID NOT SAVE YOU BECAUSE OF SOME KIND OF IDIOTIC, ROMANTIC REASON!!” Shadow yelled, this time with a wild, angry look in his eyes. “I only came back for the Chaos Emeralds so I can use them and the ARK to avenge the death of the only person who ever cared about me! The only reason you are still here is simply because you just happened to be holding on to them at the time I came back!!!”
“….you really mean it, don’t you?” Rouge asked, staring at the ground, grabbing one of her arms with the other.
“I would have gladly left you back there, ‘Batgirl!’”
“Oh, so is that my nickname now?” Rouge happily asked, trying to lighten the mood.
“Forget it. You are merely wasting your breath if you’re still trying to get friendly with me.”
“Fine, if that’s the way you want to be!! Hmph!!” Rouge said, crossing her arms and angrily closing her eyes. But then she sadly stared at the ground and glanced at Shadow out of the corner of her eyes. “Shoot! Why is it that just when I actually meet a smart, clever, handsome guy that I actually like, they always reject me? What am I, to hot to get a date or something?! And to think he saved my life too…”
They both stood there for several minutes, neither one of them saying a word. Finally, Shadow looked up towards the ceiling and spoke, “I wonder what’s taking that old man so long to get the Chaos Emeralds ready…”
* * *
Just outside, a clearly frustrated Eggman was having trouble with the door to the lab.
“Open, you worthless, rusted piece of junk! I already gave you the blasted password several times already!”
“Access denied.”
“ARRRGGGGHHH!!! But I’m the great Eggman!! Soon to be the ruler of the world (or at the destroyer of it!) and not to mention the grandson of the world’s greatest scientist, Prof. Gerald Robotnik, your creator! Now open up, I command you!!!”
“Access denied.”
“RRRAAAAAHHHH!!!! THAT DOES IT!! NO MORE MISTER NICE GUY!!! TAKE THIS!!!”
Eggman shoved a code cracking device into the key card slot.
“Hee hee hee hee!! No door I ever faced with yet has been able to resist the Eggman Code Cracker!! In a minute, your program will be all messed up and you’ll wish you never messed with today’s greatest scientific mind!!”
“ ret! Eerrr! Sizzle! ……I’m sorry, but there has been an error. Please re-insert your key card and try again.”
“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!! SHADOW!!!! ROUGE!!!! OPEN THIS INFERNAL DOOR BEFORE I BRING MY EGGMAN WALKER HERE AND BLAST IT DOWN!!!!”
* * *
“Did you just hear something?” Rouge asked.
“Heh! Sounds like Eggman is having a hard time opening the door! Better let him in before he has a heart attack or something.”
