Shadow: The Origin Of A Legend

Chapter 23

I snap out of my nightmare to Rouge shaking my shoulder and saying something along the lines of, "We have something to do." Dazed, I sit up, shaking my head. An odd scratchy feeling in the back of my throat prevents me from answering her, but she clearly wasn't expecting an answer; the moment I sat up, she'd turned around and begun to walk down the hill. Dragging myself to my feet, still feeling tired, I yawn and stretch.

Beside me, Omega pauses to whirr for a moment, and then he follows her, using his rockets to hover above the ground. I start to pursue them, but after a few steps I stop to sneeze again. "Ugh..." I grumble, shaking myself off. For whatever reason, my throat hurts and my nose is perpetually itchy--I have no clue why that could be happening.

"Hey, hurry up!" Rouge yells. "We'll never make it if you don't pick up the goddamn pace!"

I cringe. Sounds like somebody didn't sleep well... "Yeah, I know," I yell back, my voice oddly harsh-sounding, not in tone but in general 'texture' of sound. Jeez, what's wrong with me? Jogging to catch up with them, I worry for a moment. What's happening? Why is my voice all messed up?

"Glad you could make it," Rouge quips as I catch up to her. "Here's the plan. We're going in through a skylight up there--d'you see it?" She points to a glowing spot on a portion of the roof. The base itself has a smooth and sleek metal exterior, formed with rounded surfaces that'll make it difficult to climb. It's also a dull gray color, a shade between our two fur colors, which means that camouflaging ourselves to the wall is an impossible idea. "We're going to smash through it, tear the base apart, and take whatever he has."

"I thought you usually stole things more surreptitiously than that," I remark, shocked.

"We're behind schedule." She replies in a clipped tone, and then she looks over at me, seeming concerned. "Are you okay? You sound rougher than usual."

"I'm fine," I growl, turning away from her. "Just slept weird. Let's focus on your mission, eh?" Glancing back at her, I flash a smirk, hoping to seal the deal and convince her I'm okay.

She smiles at me. "If you say so," the elegant white bat replies. "Anyways, to get up there, you're gonna have to climb it somehow, because I'm not picking you up again. You're too freakin' pointy and you fidget a lot." Turning her nose upwards, she grimaces slightly.

Embarrassed, I shrug, chuckling sheepishly, flashing my trademark smirk. "Heh...My bad?" She doesn't reply, but she giggles slightly, trying to hide it by covering her mouth with one hand. I smirk again, triumphantly this time. Good, she's not grumpy anymore. Let's hope that mood holds. As we approach the side of the building, I prepare myself, aiming to just keep running and do a vertical wall-run. If that fails, I know my claws are long enough that I could easily scrape my way up the wall, but running takes less time. At about 2 yards from the wall, Rouge suddenly veers vertically up, and for a moment I wonder why she didn't just fly straight to the roof from the hill, but now really isn't the time to be focusing on that. I concentrate on the wall ahead of me, and time seems to slow down as I mentally calculate. It's made of steel, thin enough to be bent into a curved shape, but it looks like it hasn't been cleaned in a while. There's a thin layer of grime and dirt of varying degrees across its surface; whether or not that will help or hinder me is a risk I'll have to take. At the last step before the wall, I plant my right foot squarely on the ground, lifting my left to kick the wall. In one fluid movement, I half-flip, aligning my feet parallel to the wall. So far, so good. Forcing myself to work against gravity, I clench my teeth in concentration. I just have to keep moving. I'm not gonna rely on Rouge for this one...!

An idea flashes into my head, and I glance down at my feet. It's worth a try, I suppose, and better than falling from this height! With a slight kick, I start up the air-compression engines in my shoes, and they roar to life; a familiar sound I didn't even realize I'd missed. A grin slides across my face as my shoes begin to glide easily over the smooth metal surface, the roar having faded to a soft growl. I dash forward, moving in a skating motion, swiftly scaling the building. Once I near the top, I lean forward, stretching out an arm. Gripping the edge of the building, I kick off with my right leg again, claws gripping into the metal, flipping forwards; once my head was level with the edge, I curled my arm in slightly, angling myself at more of a 40-degree arc from the edge, and letting go--my momentum would do the rest. Spiraling forward, I land easily on my feet, skidding slightly. Rouge, standing nearby, applauds. "Neat trick, Shadezy."