Eternal Guardian

It was completely dark now, and he wondered if that would make any difference in his ability to concentrate. Shadow had been practicing with Knuckles primarily at night, but he wasn't doing that terribly poorly until it came time to use it in proper combat. He actually wondered if Knuckles had ever learned to really use it in a fight. As far as he knew, he'd never witnessed such.

Sighing heavily, Shadow opened his eyes and stood, idly dusting at his thigh to remove any grit that clung to him. He reached out and placed a hand on the Emerald, and jumbled emotions flooded him. He stepped back and took a deep breath, trying to clear his mind, namely of a certain hedgehog. He made his second attempt, and created a channel for the power. He closed his eyes and stumbled back; regaining his posture, he relaxed and focused on the sheer power aspect of the energy.

Again, he found this very hard, and his thoughts came back to Sonic and his suspected revenge. He growled and kicked the Emerald, breaking his thought pattern completely. His eyes widened and he reacted automatically, racing to the other side and catching it in mid-tilt. He uprighted the gem and sighed. His fists clenched and unclenched. Less than a minute into his self-training, he was already too easily distracted. It really pissed Shadow off.

"Eggman." Sonic grumbled to himself as he spotted the dozen of bots, thinking they could just prance their way - or rather fly - up onto the surface of Angel Island. They had the capabilities of using built in jets but at the moment they were on robotic legs. He had followed them here, hoping the Master emerald wouldn't be their target but apparently it was. Not that Shadow couldn't take care of himself...

But the day had been overly rotten and he had to do something to make up for it. Maybe the night wouldn't be so dreadful after he's exercised his speed on these dumb bots.

Sonic grinned to himself and picked up his pace. Taking a mighty leap through the air, he landed in front of the gang, looking as cocky and confident as ever. "Hey guys." Looking them over, he tried to see if he was familiar with the model of these particular androids. Not that it mattered much.

"Going somewhere?" Of course they didn't say anything. Apparently everyone was giving him the silent treatment today but that was okay. He could retaliate this time!

As a ray of light came his way from a cannon on one of their chests, Sonic easily avoided it. Left in the spot he was standing in was a hole and flown up dirt.

Spinning in the air as a razor blue ball of death, Sonic spun his way toward the four in the front and went through their mid-section like they were made of paper.

Shadow's attention turned quickly to the commotion in the bay. His lips curved into a deep frown and his arms automatically went to fold over his white chest. He walked calmly down the steps and followed along the stone pathway to the edge of the island and peered over, subtle curiosity on his features.

It was too dark to make out much, but he did see rising smoke. He paused, considering going down to the bay - it did seem like a good idea. Just to investigate.

However, a clinking noise immediately stopped his train of thought. He glanced back out of the corner of his eye to see a dark silhouette atop the roof of the altar. He tensed, then shot off towards it. It only took a couple of seconds to dispose of the robot, which he kicked away from the altar as parts began to explode - something Shadow was accustomed to when it came to Eggman's robots.

He looked around to see if any more were coming. It just wasn't like Eggman to send a single robot out, especially not a weak model like that. Then he remembered the smoke in the bay. He tilted his head to watch over his shoulder, waiting to see if any came from said direction.

The four Sonic recently knocked into collapsed in a sparking heap of exploding metal. Looking back at the remainding eight, he looked mildly disappointed; "Too easy!" But it was fun. More fun than he's had tonight anyway.

Lunging with a flying kick, he took down another and landed in its spot. It fell against another robot next to it, and another one next to it...! The things were so incredibly weak, they had problems moving at that point. Shaking his head, he looked back at the others -- but was caught off guard by the lasers they fired all at once!

"Gyah!" He jumped back and forth in a ridiculous manner. Growling at this moment of embarrassment brought on by the annoying rest, Sonic declared vengeance with a homicidal look in his eyes.

It only took a second for him to get in position and he was peeling through the ground, kicking up dirt in his wake, hitting the other robots like bowling pins, and he was one fast, spiky blue ball.

Convinced that no more were going to make it up there, judging by the noise below, Shadow tread over to the fallen robot and grabbed an arm before making his way to the end of the path. He saw more flashes of light and furrowed his brow, taking a few large steps backward.

He rushed forward, launching himself as before but with a lot more strength behind it. After a heavy fall, in which he rolled and landed on one knee, other extended to the side, Shadow stood and walked closer to the fight, observing calmly from the shadows.

Unaware of his appearance, Sonic was too involved in his destruction of the machines. Standing on his feet again, he watched as the last of the bots collapsed on the ground, smoking terribly. He didn't know one had escaped his attention and made it to Angel Island. But it wouldn't have mattered anyway. Shadow would have taken care of it. And speaking of the devil...

Sonic got one of those feelings where you knew you were being watched. Sure enough he was and it didn't take his emerald eyes long to find the culprit.

His tail twitched behind him and he calmly walked through the pile of destroyed androids, looking towards the way he came. "I knew you were on your PMS today so I decided to take care of these for ya." Not that Shadow would know what he was talking about. Which made it all the more funny.

It wasn't important to Shadow that Sonic found him incapable of handling them, but since he was being so cocky, he decided to give a blow to his ego.

He scoffed, throwing the lone arm at the hedgehog roughly. "You missed one." Said incident had Sonic barking out a “Hey!” and jumping a step back to avoid being bashed on the head.

The idea here was that Sonic would break down crying and apologizing, acknowledging Shadow as the most powerful being alive, perfect and without flaw. How had he, the world's wonderful hero, faster than the speed of sound, let one slip by? But of course! Shadow was better, he would say. Shadow had caught the last one and put an end to it - something Sonic had failed to do. He wanted to learn from the ebony one's greatness!

Shadow smirked, breaking free from his obviously over-exaggerated fantasy. Yeah, he'd like to make the little bastard cry. Oh well. He'd settle for pissing him off instead.

"But nobody's perfect, right?" He said this in a tone that would rival even Sonic's trademark cockiness.

Sonic's eyes flattened as he stared at Shadow. He should be grateful he took care of this many! But he was surprised he let one of them get by. Unfortunately for the black hedgehog, he didn't seem too insulted by his rude remark. But then again Sonic was always pretty good at masking his emotions.

"What the hell is your problem? You didn't break the Master Emerald already did you?" He put a hand on his hip. If Shadow thought he could win at a verbal spat against him, he was so wrong. He could mouth off forever, even if it didn't make sense. He didn't have to! So long as he got the last word.

The ebony hedgehog chuckled to himself and shrugged. His look of amusement faded to aggression, as he took a couple of steps toward the other, as if daring him to think of anything other than backing down and getting the hell out of there. He figured that Sonic wouldn't be too intimidated, but there was no point in being friendly, either. While his attempt at gloating was wasted, he had every intention of returning Sonic's favor of pushing his buttons. After all, it was obvious how pointless it was to even pretend to be fine-tuning his powers when he couldn't focus at all.

Sonic held his ground. It wasn't like he went up to Angel Island to harass him. In fact he did him a favor and now he was being an asshole. Well he wasn't about to be bullied by this six year old.

Hearing no verbal response, he decided to make up his own. "You did?" He faked a gasp, "That's horrible! Guess you were a mistake after all." Sonic looked devilishly at him, certain he could get under his skin faster than Shadow could possibly keep up. Besides, he was still rather bitter about earlier. It felt good to snap at him now. Especially when he was giving him all the more reason to.

Shadow stopped, closing his eyes and allowing a bit of anger to show before sliding the dark lids up again to glare over with crimson orbs.

"You think everything's a big joke, don't you?"

That's exactly how Shadow saw it. Sonic found humor and entertainment in everything. To Shadow, it wasn't fair to the rest of the world for Sonic to find so much joy in life. After all, they were the ones that had to put up with him. He was seriously considering wiping that goofy grin off of his face permanently.

"Well, excuse me." Sonic's hand rose from his hip to join another, arms crossing over his manly chest. "I didn't exactly invite you down here, ya know. Are you already feeling lonely? Missing me, are you?" Oh, yes, there he went again. Maybe it was an awful habit; but how could he not find some kind of humor out of this? The two were such an unlikely couple and even now at least one of them expressed hatred for the other. Yet at the same time they did the unthinkable together! That probably had been a mistake but Sonic couldn't help but have some hidden fondness for the black hedgehog. Even though he was a prick. He'd counter attack him with the opposite and see how long he'd last. It was a lot easier to think like Sonic; always seeming so happy and confident even in the worst scenarios. It was really a trait to admire than hate.

Shadow's eyes widened slightly and his cheeks flushed as Sonic struck a chord in the back of his mind. A choking noise started up, but turned into a loud growl of rage. How could he miss Sonic? He simply came down to investigate the source of all the explosions. Nothing more! Clenching a fist tightly, he sprang into the air, throwing his fist at the hedgehog's chest as gravity took hold and brought him closer to his rival.

Sonic clenched his jaw but a second later looked excited over the challenge. He jumped back at the last second, falling back to the Earth a moment later, several feet from Shadow. "Hmph." He grunted with an air of superiority that radiated off his limber frame like an obnoxious sun trying to blind someone's eyes.

"Ah, I see. You like it rough." Sonic chuckled, but he focused, and was ready to humor grumpy. All the while not wanting to get in range of one of his attacks. He was quick that time but...Wait a minute. He still had a Chaos emerald, right? Surely there was no way he could lose, especially not when Shadow wasn't capable of unleashing their power or that of the Master Emerald's. He wasn't sure how long that'd last but for now he hoped he was safe.

Using his momentum, Shadow took the few sprinted steps needed to get close to Sonic again, the usual cold frown on his face. He twisted his body around and aimed a kick at the same target. He wasn't worried about Sonic's Emerald - Shadow had both darkness and smoke screen on his side. Sonic would be faster, yes, but hardly as stealthy. Especially considering if he used the Emerald, he'd light up like Christmas around all the pillars of darkness that rose up from the mechanical remains. Shadow was confident that this time, Emerald or not, he had the upper hand.

Sonic didn't run. Perhaps too overly confident in himself, he'd fight him head on. At least for the time being.

Watching his body movements closely, although it was hard to do during the night, he saw his leg move into the air and it met with his forearm as Sonic managed to block it. At that second he kicked off with his feet and shoved himself at Shadow, bringing his elbow up to slam forward into his chest.

He could tell that he wasn't going to get his blow in, and it didn't take long for Shadow to get even angrier over that fact. As his ankle hooked over Sonic's arm, he pressed harder, hoping to at least push the other back a bit. However, when he felt the pressure on his leg increase, he leaned back, avoiding the full force of the blow. He stumbled a moment with the mix of the position he was in and the impact, however small, from Sonic's jab, then reached up to grab for the offensive arm, a smirk finding its way back onto his beige muzzle.

Sonic wished he would have done greater damage but instead it seemed he only set himself up. When he felt Shadow's hand on his arm he scowled angrily. He didn't want him to have a chance to counter. So Sonic quickly reacted.

Ears pinned back aggressively, he dug the heels of his shoes in the ground and twisted his body, putting all he could behind the blow. He knew he'd be more than capable of handling it.

His freed hand balled into a fist, and he swung, intent on hitting Shadow's face.

"Ah!" He wasn't expecting that, somehow, and was thrown off guard as Sonic shifted then threw the punch. His eyes widened, then clenched hard when Sonic made contact, throwing his head back. His grip tightened on the other's arm, and his weight was pulled back. He used his loss of balance to take the other with him, and rolling onto his back, he flung the faker over his head, with the intention of throwing Sonic hard onto his back. Sonic grunted and coughed on impact, air squeezed from his lungs. He cringed, certain he'd feel this even more later. The stinging pain coursed up from his lower back and spread like a wild fire. However, it wasn't a thing that could keep Sonic down for long, and the initial shock was short lived. The hedgehog slowly started to sit up, disgruntled, and determined to get Shadow back.

However, he held fast and pulled Sonic back down roughly. Shadow let go for a split second to flip over onto the other, then held Sonic's shoulder roughly against the grass. His eyes gleamed darkly in the pale light from the moon as he stared down at him, adrenaline fueling his desire to win this time around. He reached back, tightening his fist, and holding it in the air for Sonic to see.

Squirming beneath him, he quickly tried a hand at bucking him off. It was never good to be in such a vulnerable position, especially under one who felt like punching your lights out. Upon seeing the fist Shadow had formed, Sonic's eyes widened briefly. Unable to throw him off, he had little time to consider any other options.

He gave in and prepared himself for the blow, eyes squinting, muscles tensing, he looked helplessly adorable.

Shadow laughed coldly, and brought his hand down to restrain Sonic's wrist. He repeated this gesture with the one on Sonic's shoulder and carelessly pulled both arms up over the other's head. He narrowed his eyes and continued to give the lookalike his heartless smirk.

Sonic bristled at the bluff and felt his arms pinned above his head, cheeks growing red with a mild mix of embarrassment and fury. His arms tensed and he tried to force his wrists free of Shadow's offensive hands; his body growing lively again and beginning to writhe beneath his. "Hey, get off!" He scolded, flustered that he couldn't seem to shake him loose.

Shadow scoffed, finding true amusement after all that he held against Sonic. "Or what? Hmph! You'll annoy me to death?" His arrogant smirk faded into something a little colder, and he frowned. "I think you've done your share of that." He leaned his weight forward, putting more pressure onto his hands. He straddled Sonic's waist a little more comfortably, feeling secure about his position, making Sonic hiss between his teeth.

Sonic jerked his body beneath him once more, experimentally, before relaxing again. This was most frustrating.

Yet at the same time...!

This brought up uncharacteristically lewd memories; and that icy look in Shadow's eye did more than just intimidate. Luckily Sonic had better self control than what the other hedgehog proved before.

"Okay, okay. So you've made your point. You're an ass who can't take a joke. Get up and I'll consider leaving you alone."

Shadow bared his teeth. "No. I don't think so." Suddenly, the grin returned. He almost purred at a stroke of genius. "Why don't we see what happens if Sonic the Hedgehog is forced to stay in one spot against his will? Let's find out just how impatient you are." Shadow, who could sit in one spot for hours, completely silent and immersed in his thoughts (he did still have a lot to catch up on aside from all the current things on his mind), found this to be a very good idea. It was a game he couldn't lose.

And here Sonic thought he didn't like games. He looked pretty taken aback by the idea. "You can't be serious." Being forced to just lay here was worse than if Shadow decided to unload some punches on him! Those he could handle. Hours of nothing could drive him crazy. Especially when he was this limited in mobility. No...he couldn't let him do this. He had to think of something.

It didn't take him long either. He hatched up a devious scheme to counter Shadow's stroke of genius. Now...to match Shadow's conniving look, the hedgehog put on a perverse mask of his own. "Ya know...if you ask me, I think you just want to be close to me." Sonic rolled his hips gently, trying to attract friction to scare him away.

Color rushed to his cheeks at the sensation, and Shadow's eyes were lit with shock. He wasn't sure how much of that he would be able to handle, but he shook his head and growled, "I'm not even going to say 'nice try,' because that's not going to work. I've already made up my mind." He knew that the second he let up on his plan, Sonic would rub it in that he'd failed to deliver said punishment. There was no way he would give up that quickly. Instead, he dared to hold eye contact with the other, refusing to show any signs of weakness.

Sonic's eyelids lowered half way, giving himself a seductive look. Another arch of his hips and the hedgehog licked his lips suggestively, his tongue running over the smooth tiers, moistening them -- while inwardly giggling at himself. "Ohh...come on, Shadow..." Sonic moaned in a way that should earn him an Oscar. It sounded awfully familiar from the way the two sounded that morning. "You don't have to hide your feelings anymore. I know you want me."

The color deepened, but he didn't move. His glare intensified as he continued to meet the other's gaze, but he was starting to grow more uncomfortable. "You're not very convincing," he lied. "If you think that it'll be that easy to throw me off, you're sadly mistaken." Did Sonic think he was running the show here? Surely not! He squeezed the wrists to illustrate his point. "You're not going anywhere."

Sonic flinched but maintained his routine. He could keep it up at least a few minutes longer and then maybe he'd try to think of something else. He could tell this was getting to him though. That was something Shadow just couldn't fully conceal.

"Maybe I don't want to go anywhere." Another sultry look. "Why would I want to? I'm comfortable, laying down, relaxed...ready for the taking." A perverted gleam sparked in those emerald eyes and one more good rub between their lower regions ensued.

Shadow winced at the blood that was beginning to pound in his ears. He began to feel weak-minded again, and heat smothered him. He was still managing to control his breathing, but he was definitely suffocating from the awkwardness that was increasing between the two. "We'll see just how long you can hold out, then. If you're so comfortable, you shouldn't mind." He swallowed, feeling his mouth grow dry and his groin grow warm. Despite the fact that just his tail brushed against the area between Sonic's legs, the hedgehog was doing a damn good job of using his whole lower body against Shadow.

It appeared to be a race to see who would give in first. Sonic could only hope it was his rival but it was increasingly hard for the blue speed demon as well as how Shadow must be feeling too. He was sure that it was only a matter of time before the black hedgehog gave up. He just...needed to figure out more sexy things to say/do.

"Oh, I'm comfortable." He wiggled for emphasis. "Aren't you?" Another purr, eyes staring deeply into Shadow's own; refusing to stray for even the slightest second.

"It's so cute when you blush." Sonic grinned connivingly at the gradual change of Shadow's face over the course of the minute they've been connected like this. It seemed like a good card to play. Hopefully Shadow would fold.

When the striped hedgehog started to counter with something he thought was pretty clever, Sonic had to keep talking, and he seemed to be getting worse. He scowled at the other, baring his canines frustratingly. "Nn...You're full of yourself! I don't blush!" At least, he'd never noticed as much. He couldn't blush... it would show weakness!

Damn, why did the bastard have to make him feel so nervous? His pulse was getting progressively faster, and he began to breathe heavily to keep up. If Sonic was lying before, he might not have to now.

Sonic's reaction spurred his persistence. Just a little longer...He could do it. Shadow didn't have a chance.

"Aw, but I think it's cute. The big bad Shadow has a soft side and I seem to be the trigger. Wonder what that means..." A shark's smile painted on his face, feeling so clever and mischievous. The funny part is, a lot of what he said was true; just exaggerated to the highest extent.

Shadow's bitter glare became more powerful as he was filled with rage. He moved in dangerously close and hissed, "I. Don't. Blush. So. My. Blushing. Can't. Be. Cute. Understand?" His eyes narrowed to slits, poison seeping from his every pore. The rise and fall of his chest brought his patch of fur to Sonic's peach chest, and he felt chills shooting down his spine like icy needles. But he couldn't let go! Sonic would call it a victory at this point, and Shadow couldn't let that happen.

Blue looked coyly at him, an ear twitching. He could practically feel Shadow's breath and his mouth seemed so tempting right now. Little did the black hedgehog know, the ball was now in Sonic's court. Time for the grand finale...