Hold On

Hold On

By Skyblaze

Author Note: This is an AU. I always though the Earth setting for the later games
was a bit

stupid, so I’ve moved it back to Mobius, with the humans featured in SA, SA2

and Shadow the Hedgehog’ coming from a human colony on another continent.

Prologue

Stars
blurred past him at dizzying speed, and the burn of

the atmosphere closed in about his body as he felt the last of the Chaos

Emerald-inspired energy drain out of him, his fur slowly dimming back to its

usual coal-black hue.

Red
eyes flicked open as his body tumbled out of control,

the slow burning aurora of re-entry surrounded him like the embrace of a

traitorous lover. Beyond that, he could see Space Colony ARK, back in its usual

stable orbit…the Ultimate Lifeform sighed in relief…he had kept his promise to

Maria.

A
star seemed to move…a streak of yellow-gold light moving

towards him like a shooting star, trailing golden fire as it moved.

Sonic…

SuperSonic
rushed towards him, hands outstretched, his mouth

forming words, crying out against the inevitable. Shadow shook his head,

knowing it was too late. Sonic could never reach him in time, not if he wanted

to survive himself.

But
then he remembered the look that had flashed between

them as they both drew on the ancient power of the Chaos Emeralds, that instant

of connection, of communion and understanding…kinship.

And
now he saw open anguish in Sonic’s eyes…eyes that were

currently as fire-red as his own, saw the pleading in them, the hurt…

Shadow
closed his eyes and gathered up his remaining energy,

holding out his arms, his last thought was to wonder if the world would be
better

had he never been created. Then he spoke.

“Chaos
Control!”

Everything
went Black.

Chapter One – Open Your Eyes

Pain.
Burning pain that shot through every nerve in his body

whenever he dared to move so much as an inch, making him long to return to the

oblivion of unconsciousness. From somewhere beyond the agony, he could hear

voices engaged in soft conversation, he tried to open his eyes, to sit up and

see who was there and weather it was friend or foe… but his body screamed its

protest at his unwise movements.

“Hey!”
A melodic female voice said, placing a gentle hand on

his chest to restrain him, “Try not to move, you’ll only make it worse.” Shadow

frowned, but try as he might, he couldn’t recognise the voice…and the light

hurt his eyes whenever he tried to open them, adding more pain to his already

overloaded system, so a visual inspection was out, too. He tried to gain some

impression of where he was…but his senses felt overwhelmed…as if burned out. No

doubt that was due to his fall into the atmosphere. All he could gain was a

vague impression that he was outside somewhere, maybe a forest, judging by the

cool, vaguely damp quality of the air.

Again,
he heard a murmured conversation…some words about

moving him, and someone who would be arriving soon…then a whirring and beeping

sounds from somewhere just above his torso…as if a medical scanner or small

computer were being waved over him.

Then,
from somewhere in the distance, he heard the

distinctive sound of a sonic boom. His…rescuers? Captors? …both seemed to

breathe a sigh of relief.

“Don’t
worry,” that same female voice now said, “We’ll get

you back to the village and patched up in no time, now.”

Shadow
tried to respond, but lacked the strength. He could

feel his body urging him back towards sleep so he cold relax and let his

accelerated healing ability do its work.

Another
sonic boom echoed, much closer this time. Shadow

almost smiled, despite the pain, he knew only one other being besides himself

who habitually made that noise. That thought comforted him immedietly, and he

quietly fell back into the arms of sleep to let his body heal.

Sleep
had already taken him when words of surprise drifted

out across the forest in Sonic the Hedgehog’s familiar voice:

“Whoa,
Sal…who’s this guy…and why does he look so much like

me?”

TBC...