ARAAT4: Origins

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A Rose And A Thorn 4: Origins

Co-Written by Harley Quinn hyenaholic and Froggy22651

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Harley: This chapter is almost pure action. Ever wonder why anybody built those lunatic space levels in Sonic Adventure 2? This is why. This chapter utilises components from both of them, although of course they’ve changed by the time you came to play them 50 years after their constructions.

Froggy: That’s our excuse for not getting the levels absolutely right, anyway.

Harley: You'll never guess the twist. Well, you could if you tried. But I won't tell you if you succeed.

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Chapter Sixteen: The Race

Shadow, arms crossed, scanned the challenge before him from the hovering pod orbiting the vast, elaborate obstacle course created to test the abilities of the experiments. He had an idea of what it was going to be like... but the final result was beyond his imagining. It was the obstacle course from hell: platforms hovering in space, rockets to carry experiments to other sections of the course, long, winding tracks of rail designed to be rode on with the shoes provided to them all, spinning gravitational tubes. GUN had even been ‘generous’ enough to lend some of their robots to combat the experiments, their weapons set to stun, of course. All in all, it was like some nightmare twitch stage from a video game. Except it was real, and they were all going to face it.

"Humph,” uttered Shadow, standing next to Maria, "This shouldn't be a problem." His words were far more confident than he was.

Mirage looked upon the course with some annoyance, "I suppose this test is necessary," she said, acknowledging this reason to run the course with difficulty, "But it does not feel very necessary." The hedgecat was limbering up on a platform. She looked at Maria. She hadn't seen the girl around much. Now was as good a time as any to talk to her, and one of the few times she remembered, "So, who are you here to cheer on?" she asked the young girl.

"Well, I hope you all make it," said Maria simply, "It looks really hard."

Mirage nodded, "It is not going to kill us, is it?" she asked Gerald.

Gerald handed her a wristband, "If you fall, this will keep you from leaving the ARK's oxygen field," he said, and handed another wristband to each of the other experiments who were taking the course.

Midnight was looking uncomfortably at the shoes he was required to wear. There was no way he could grind rails with his usual heavy boots. The blue echidna looked out over the insane obstacle course and tried hard not to show his nervousness. The sheen of sweat on his fur betrayed his feelings, though. He wasn't made for this, and he knew it. How could anyone pass through that thing?!

Mirage glanced at him. She could see his nervousness, and decided that it was probably better not to comment. She found herself getting angry though, which was strange, because she didn't get angry very often. Why were they putting him through this? He didn't have the same enhancements that she, Shadow or Sonic had. He probably wouldn't even be able to finish the course.

The echidna tightened the wristband until it was practically digging into his skin. He was a warrior. He got up close and he beat the shit out of people. He did NOT go skidding on metal loop-the-loops or leap from spinning gravity tube things. Why was he here? Yeah, he got it, he didn't compare to the genetically enhanced, Chaos Emerald-powered experiments. He didn't need to fall through space to have the point driven home. But here he was, and he was not going to back off like some coward.

The fourth contestant, however, was the exact opposite. He couldn't wait to begin, and he knew he was going to win. Sonic was practically bouncing up and down, "Yeah! This looks mega-cool!" he shouted.

Mirage and Shadow looked at each other, a silent agreement on just how ‘mega-cool’ the course was going to be.

Gerald stepped in front of them all as they took their places, "Your mission is to get to the Goal Ring," he said, "You may use your abilities to aid you in any way you choose. The Power Rings on the course will help power up your abilities and protect you from attacks. I trust you read the manual we handed out?" he asked.

Shadow nodded. So did Midnight and Mirage. Sonic chuckled and shook his head, "Manuals? Ha! Who needs 'em?!" he said in his usual, cocky manner. It was an attitude that was starting to seriously get on Shadow's nerves.

"Well for a start, you might have liked the pretty pictures," Mirage stated dryly, and looked up into the observation room where Maria was being taken. She could just about see a bunch of GUN officers there, waiting for the race to begin. She stretched her spine one last time, and nodded, "Let us get this freight train to hell rolling."

Shadow smirked and gestured towards the starting rail, stepping out of the way, "After you,” he told Mirage.

"No, after me!" a blue blur yelled, zipping past them and leaping onto the rail.

Astonished, Shadow turned towards the distant blue hedgehog, growled, and leapt after him, landing on the rail with expert precision, grinding like he had done it for years.

Mirage was the next to jump onto the rail, crouching in the way the manual had suggested to speed up. Her long tail helped her to balance perfectly. And the speed of it actually helped her to balance better.

Midnight closed his eyes tightly, counted to three, opened them, and followed after the hedgecat, jumping unsteadily onto the rail. He swayed back and forth as he grinded, eventually gaining his balance. He knew he could not go nearly as fast as the others. He would just be satisfied with finishing the course.

Up ahead, Sonic was in the lead, followed extremely closely by his darker rival. They leapt off the rail onto a platform and raced along it, speeding down a steep slope at top speed, both racers seeming to match each other move for move.

Mirage was following them as they approached a gravity generator subsidised with electric fences, What kind of lunatic actually thought this thing up? she thought to herself.

Sonic leapt confidently onto the spinning, horizontal tube, but his confidence was shaken a moment as he was dragged onto the tube, spinning dizzily around. Shadow, on the other hand, only let his feet touch the tube for an instant before leaping back into the air, fighting against the tube's pull and taking the lead. Regaining his bearings, Sonic raced off in pursuit, sticking close to the tube and dodging the electric fields.

Trailing behind the three of them, Midnight was stumbling down the slope and just coming up on the gravity tubes, "This is insane!" he growled.

Mirage didn't answer; stating the obvious was a waste of breath. She'd collected quite a few rings, but she was going too fast on the tube and brushed against a fence with a yelp and a feline curse, losing almost half of them.

Shadow was losing some rings of his own, shot by a GUN robot that protected itself with a large, metal shield. The dark hedgehog was having trouble getting through its defence, much to his annoyance.

Sonic took the lead again, totally bypassing the robot by leaping over it, rushing into the artificial cavern ahead, where three chutes downward were located. Shadow snarled and smashed the machine to pieces, returning to the race. Midnight had only just got past the first set of spinning tubes.

Mirage was doing better now that they were returning to the rails and platforms, jumping nimbly from one to the other and gaining ground on Sonic and Shadow, leaving Midnight behind. She was starting to relax again, starting to feel that she could finish this race, maybe even come in first place. Since Shadow had destroyed the robot, she didn't have to worry about being hit by it.

Shadow and Sonic were just ahead of her, again fighting to get an advantage over the other, nimbly jumping from rail to rail as they sped further and further downward. Midnight, tired and dizzy, was doing his best to stay on the rail. Crouch, leaping, maintain balance... too fast! A moment of indecision threw the echidna off, and he fell. Down and down he went, crying out in surprise and anger, his fall stopped just before he left the artificial atmosphere of the ARK. Midnight was out of the race.

None of the others noticed. They were all too far ahead. Mirage was only a few yards behind Shadow and Sonic now. They were coming up to a single rail, on which only one person would be in the lead for some time, as a small ship flew in to pick up Midnight

Sonic was up front on the rail, whooping and hollering like a maniac, a frustrated Shadow just behind him. The dark hedgehog needed to take the lead, needed an advantage... then he thought of the trick he pulled back at the first set of tubes and grinned. The three experiments came upon another set of gravity generators, this time vertical, spaced erratically, and patrolled by flying robots.

Sonic, predictably, leapt onto the nearest generator and began the tricky process of leaping from one to another. Shadow, however, had a different plan. He climbed higher and leapt out, bouncing off of robots as swift shortcuts. He found that doing so gave him an edge over his competition.

Mirage had caught up with Sonic by now, and was actually equal with him, when they came to the first vertical gravity generator. She started to swear fluently as the things put her off her timing completely, and lost a good hundred yards to the younger blue hedgehog before she was able to get past them again. Now they were coming up to a set of rails that had to be homing attacked to be overcome, and Shadow was clearly in the lead, with Sonic a little behind him, and Mirage trailing some way behind Sonic, and sweating as she picked up her pace to try and regain her place.

Back to the rails and sparks underneath their shoes. Springs and rockets were thrown into the mix to make things interesting, as well as long falls and branching paths. Shadow sped confidently ahead, crouching down and going at what was perhaps a reckless speed, making the jumps and homing attacks seem effortless. Sonic still retained his cocky attitude, but he was no longer making the mistake of underestimating the dark hedgehog. But Mirage was wasting some time on the rails, badly timing quite a few of her jumps and losing time again. Also she had serious problems performing the spin-dash. Cursing loudly, with every jump straining her muscles, all that kept her going now was the sheer refusal to give up.

Finally, she slipped, and fell with a number of curses, closing her eyes tightly as she hovered in empty space, waiting for the ship to pick her up.

They were nearing the end of the obstacle course. A few more sets of rails and gravity tubes stood in their way. Shadow and Sonic were launched by rockets to the top of a long gravity tube which they both spiralled down. They leapt into the air, hit a spring, and were again propelled onto the rails. Both crouched as low as possible, reaching for every bit of speed that could gain, each determined to beat the other, to take him down a peg. They ran into another set of vertical tubes, two straight lines of them hanging above the void of space. Sonic leapt from tube surface to tube surface, dodging the blasts of patrolling robots. Shadow, however, was leaping high into the air, standing on the tops of the tubes, completely avoiding their pull and putting more distance between them.

The two hedgehogs began to grind on the next set of rails until they came upon the final challenge: a whole field of confusingly placed horizontal gravity tubes with patrolling robots, electric fences, and springs as a new feature added to them. The hedgehogs each took their own path to get through the mess, each one believing that their way was the right way. They got to the final platform and rocketed towards the goal ring... And it was over. The two hedgehogs looked at each other, unsure of who won. It was too close to tell. The scientists who had been recording it would have the answers.

They suddenly realised that they had travelled in a circle and were back to the beginning of the race. Midnight was standing there, looking angry about the whole thing. Mirage hadn't recovered from the run yet, and looked as if she was suffering a mild heart attack. A scientist, accompanied by Gerald and Maria, approached them, "Well done, all of you," he said, "You all did a lot better than we expected, either by getting further, being faster, or being more resourceful."

"Skip it, doc! Tell us who won!" the blue hedgehog spoke up, jogging on the spot. Shadow grumbled and walked over to join Maria, distancing himself from his blue rival.

"Project Shadow won the race, by 0.03 tenths of a second," the scientist said, after checking his notes.

Maria's face burst into a huge smile, and she hugged Shadow, laughing happily. Mirage was still trying to stand up straight and breathe normally, but otherwise looked rather neutral about the result.

Shadow smiled and slowly returned the hug, a warm glow in his chest. He felt... invincible. Was this what being the Ultimate Lifeform was all about?

"Aw, man!" cried out a disappointed Sonic who kicked at the floor, "Oh well. I'll get you next time, Shadow!" Little did he know when that next time would be...

Midnight was trying to be unnoticed, standing as far away as possible without offending them. It wasn't a fair race for him, they all knew it, and he was not happy about it.

Mirage saw him. Still wheezing slightly, she walked over, and ignoring the watching GUN officials and scientists, hugged him tightly, "It is okay," she whispered in his ear, "You are only mortal."

Midnight relaxed immediately, leaning against her, wrapped in her embrace, "I know,” he sighed, resting his cheek against hers, "Thankyou..."

Maria was still hugging Shadow. It was now clear who she had been rooting for, but she saw Sonic looking seriously disappointed, and let go of Shadow, "Don't worry, Sonic," she told the blue hedgehog, "Nought point nought three tenths of a second really isn't much, and it was your first time!" She was kind enough not to mention that it had been Shadow, Mirage and Midnight's first time too.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll train more, and next time I’ll win!" he replied cheerfully, giving Shadow an obnoxious wink and thumbs-up. The kid really liked his competitions. Shadow just rolled his eyes.

As they returned to the main part of the ARK, Mirage slowed down to walk beside Maria, "So, you did have somebody to root for," she said, with her least unpleasant smirk.

Maria blushed a little, "Yeah, I guess so," she admitted, “Shadow and I are friends now," she told the hedgecat.

Shadow and Midnight had both walked ahead of them, lost in their own thoughts. Sonic was pestering them with declarations of defeating them next time.

"You? Friends with one of us Projects?" Mirage smiled, "That is new," she remembered this conversation, "It is probably not a good idea to get too close though," she tried.

"Why not?" Maria asked.

"Well..." Mirage concentrated on a good way to put it, "It is probably a better idea to be friends with your own people," she said, and mentally cringed as she thought about all the humans she'd met so far, "It is complicated," she said finally.

Midnight briefly looked back at the females, hearing the hedgecat's words from a distance. Frowning, he looked forward again.

Maria just looked completely puzzled. Mirage tried again, "You might be putting yourself in danger," she said finally, "You see-" she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder and looked up at a GUN officer.

"There's a law against spreading discontent among the troops," the man said.

"Maybe so, but there is no law about me using my brain," Mirage replied sharply.

"Indeed there isn't,” Professor Gerald said, placing a hand on the soldier's shoulder, "And there are rules on this station that you must abide by, as well. Please, leave the experiments alone. They have had a tiring day. They aren’t soldiers yet."

Mirage wrenched free of the officer, "Yes... the experiments..." she said, bitterly.

Gerald put his hand on her shoulder more gently, "Nothing bad is going to happen, Mirage," he said calmly, "We have absolutely everything under control."

"Yes, you did, did not you..." Mirage replied. But she didn't push it again, instead walking faster to catch up with Shadow, Sonic and Midnight.

Midnight wrapped an arm around the hedgecat’s waist, holding her by his side. Shadow slowed, moving behind the group, right in the middle between his fellow experiments and Maria. Sonic, naturally, was up ahead, barely able to restrain his desire to speed up.

Mirage took a deep breath, trying to force joviality into her voice, "Some race, huh?" she said, faking cheerfulness quite well.

"Awesome!" said Sonic.

"A challenge,” admitted Midnight.

Shadow said nothing at all, looking down at his feet. It was uncertain that he had even heard Mirage.

"Whoever thought that thing up must have been crazy," Mirage said, "It should not have been too hard to find them though - insanity seems to be quite popular among humans."

That finally provoked a reaction from Shadow; an amused smirk and a soft 'heh'. Whenever thoughtful and brooding, the dark hedgehog didn't say much. Midnight didn't smile; he just nodded, agreeing and taking what she said much more seriously.

Maria caught up with Shadow again, "What was it like, running the course?" she asked.

Shadow looked up, his gaze distant, and the dark hedgehog vocalized the thoughts that had been brewing inside his head, "It was strange,” he told her, "It was like... I was watching myself from outside my body. Time seemed to slow at times, and... somehow I just knew exactly how I had to position myself at any given time. It felt less like running and more like... flying. It was incredible."

"Wow," said Maria as they all re-entered the living quarters, "I can hardly believe they made that whole course just to train you four!"

"Three,” Midnight said in a monotone, "Just them three. I wasn't built for that sort of thing."

Shadow ignored the quiet complaint, "I will have to run it again in my free time,” he spoke, "Everything is simplified on the course. It’s soothing, strangely enough. It allows for such focus."

“Speak for yourself,” Midnight said sourly.

"You'll have to get permission," a scientist said, catching them up," We'll need those wristbands back now, and it's too dangerous to run the course without them."

Mirage took off her wristband, "I think I might try the course again," she said, "At a more leisurely speed, of course."

"Of course,” replied Shadow, slipping off his band. But he knew that he was in no danger on the course. He knew that he would come through fine. Permission or not, he would take the course again. Why did he have to listen to someone who couldn't do that in their wildest dreams? Midnight yanked his band off and tossed it to the scientists, glad to be rid of the device.

The experiments separated, going to their favoured training areas, whether for training for combat, speed, power control, or just to relax.

~~~

In the combat training gym, Midnight was going through the usual drills and sequences to focus his body and hone his mind, this time with a pair of sai. It wasn't working. He couldn't clear his mind of the humiliation he felt. It wasn't right to put him on the course. It was like in here, sparring with Mirage. That was a fair contest, both warriors on level ground, testing themselves against each other. But the obstacle course... all it served to do was shove in his face the fact that he didn't have spectacular powers like his friends. He was just a clone of a mortal being. He was, in many respects, inferior. And he hated that.

The door opened, and he wasn't all that surprised to see Mirage walk in. She had recovered from the race, but looked rather grim, "There is so little time left," she said, "I remembered that conversation. And I still did not know the words to change it." She picked up a heavy staff, but rather than training, leant on it.

“There has to be a way to change things,” Midnight said between moves, "There has to be!" He stopped the drill, panting for breath, and turned to face the feline, "I see now why they matter to you. The professor and Maria. They seem to be the only humans on this whole damn station with even a speck of... decency."

Mirage started to use the staff to stretch with, knowing that her muscles would cramp up if she didn't cool down slowly. She looked back up at Midnight, and remembered how badly he felt about failing the course. She wasn't the only person on this station with problems, "You did well, for being normal," she said, changing the subject. Caring about people was not a subject she felt comfortable with discussing any more.

"Normal,” echoed Midnight, "I fail to see how I am normal. A clone from an extinct species grown in a tube on a space station orbiting the Earth. But if you mean normal physically, yeah. I just... hate that I seemed so weak out there. How am I supposed to help you when I am so powerless?"

Mirage sighed, "You are helping just by believing me," she said. She hung her head, "They will not listen. I am too late... maybe I never would have been soon enough."

"It wouldn't make sense for you to be able to go back but not change anything,” Midnight told her, shaking his head, "It just isn't the right time yet, that's all."

Mirage looked up again, "No," she said, "I am too late. I have come to realise that. Because... the monsters are already free."

"What do you mean?" the echidna asked, tilting his head to the side.

"I can feel them... in the darkness behind my eyes," Mirage took Midnight's hand and touched it to her forehead. She looked at the sai that he was holding, and pushed her palm down five inches of blade with a slight grimace of pain, "And their thoughts taste of blood."

"What the-" Midnight cried out, swiftly pulling the sai out of her hand and grabbing it hard, applying pressure, "What do you think you're doing?" he asked, eyes wide. Mirage acted strange sometimes - most of the time, in fact - but this scared him.

"Making a point," Mirage clenched her hand into a fist, "We are all monsters, deep inside," she said simply, "I cannot change that..." she screwed up her face, trying to hold back tears that wouldn't come.

Holding onto her firmly, Midnight forced the feline to look into his steely grey eyes, "No,” he spoke, "You are not a monster. That's what these humans want you to believe, but you're better than that. You are Mirage, dammit!"

Mirage’s shoulders were shaking slightly, although she wasn’t crying. She couldn’t cry, "Do you know what the worst part is?" she asked him, "I have to keep trying... I cannot just give up."

"No, that's your strength,” he assured her, "Not your weakness. Where others would give up, you keep going, and because of that, you can win. Because no matter how hard the other guy fights, you will always fight harder. Do you understand?"

Mirage hung her head. Eventually she nodded, resting her head on his chest, "And... I meant what I said, you know," she said, "You did well on the course. You know how bad I am at lying."

Midnight smiled, reaching around to run his fingers through her quills, scratching her head lightly, "You're terrible at it,” he said softly, "Thank you... I needed that."

Mirage looked at her hand. The blood was already drying. The blade of a sai was thin enough that her hand would heal fine in a few days. Nevertheless... "That was stupid of me," she said quietly, "And unnecessary. And thoughtless. I was just... angry." And being angry was unnecessary too, she thought.

"It’s alright to be angry,” the echidna whispered, "Just... don't take it out on yourself, ok?"

"Do you know why I care about these people?" Mirage asked Midnight, "All of these people on ARK? Because... I am programmed to. You are the only person I have ever cared about unnecessarily."

He was an anomaly, outside of her programming, impossible to explain, "It’s because your programming isn't all that you are,” he whispered against her cheek, "It was what you started with, but you've grown since then. It... it makes me feel special to know that."

Mirage smiled again, looking happier, "I... I am glad I did not remember you when I woke up, Midnight," she said, "I do not have to care about you. You have no idea what a relief it is for someone like me to have someone like you."

Midnight smiled down at the hedgecat. No, he didn't have an idea before, but he had some idea now. He was special for that reason. He gave her mission a true purpose, and that was worth something. Running an obstacle course was nothing in comparison. Running his fingers over her cheeks, he leaned in, pressing his lips to hers.

Mirage smiled into the kiss, forgetting the pain in her left hand at that moment, stroking Midnight's cheek gently, her fingers trailing through his dreads, her lips moving slowly against his.

“Tonight?” Midnight asked her softly, into the kiss.

Mirage nodded.

~~~

Harley: How was that, babies? The most expensive set in the story! Grinding in space! Hurrah! Well? What are you waiting for? Read and review!

Froggy: Next chapter - sex again!