The Adventures Of Bolt And Alice

Chapter Twenty- Scouting Ahead

A/N: I do not ship these two whatsoever!! They are just partners to me. Nothing more.

~ Normal POV

"Do you see anything?" Rouge asked in a whisper, peeking through the branches of a tree above Shadow.

"No." The black hedgehog replied. "Nothing yet. You?"

"Same here."

Shadow sighed irritatedly and backed away from the bush. He was questioning himself. Why was he taking orders from his rival? Why wasn't he running off? Why was he going soft on all of them? He shouldn't have agreed to go along if waiting around was all faker and his friends were doing was sitting and relaxing. They had a world to save. An enemy to stop, before things got from worse to worst.

And yet.. Seeing how battered they all were. Something inside Shadow seemed to change. He hated to admit it, but he felt sympathetic. He could see how much pain Sonic was really in, though he was trying his best to keep from showing it. Even so, it was obvious. And he knew the others could see it too. Shadow was seriously hoping that he had a plan, nonetheless. And that they would start it. Soon.

"Let's scout further." Shadow took off forward without waiting for an answer.

Rouge followed along silently, wings flapping quickly to stay by his side. Shadow kept his gaze to the sky, just in case he saw something up there. Mabye a hint of a small ship. Or the entire Egg Fleet.

Would you even call it that now? Shadow thought to himself. After all, the Doctor has.. Deceased, and Scourge is now in the lead of the army.. By default of course.

"What you thinking about Shadz?" Rouge asked.

"Not any of your concern bat." Shadow replied, though not unkindly. He has definitely gotten soft over the years.

"Oh I'm sure it is. You seem kind of worried."

Shadow looked at her. "You probably are too. The world is falling around us. Don't act like you're not worried."

Rouge dropped her smirk and turned back forward. ".. I'm more than just worried, to be honest with you. I'm actually a bit... Scared." She droped her gaze to the passing grass below her. "Nothing like this has ever happened before. I mean, Eggmans.. You know, and the world's falling apart. And the craziest thing is, Sonic is failing." She chuckled without mirth. "It's crazy just thinking about it." She looked at Shadow. "But still. It's not like you to show emotion."

Shadow simply "hmphed" and didn't say anything for a bit. ".. Guess I'm just as shocked as you are I suppose." He sighed. "You're right. Nothing like this has ever happened before. It's a bit.. Unnerving."

Rouge completely lost all her attempts to joke around at that point. Okay.. If Shadow is worrying about it, then it's more serious than I thought it is..

Shadow turned a sharp right and up a tree, hiding himself at the top with leaves and branches. Rouge followed. The rain had slowed to a sprinkle, thunder barely rolling in the background. But it still looked as if it was gonna rain again soon. Against the dark, heavy clouds, seeming to hover thousands and thousands of feet in the air, was the largest ship of the Fleet, half hiding in the clouds.

"There you are." Shadow whispered to himself. "We should get a closer look. I can't see much from here."

"Alright. As long as it's not to close. You know what Sonic said." Rouge reminded him.

Shadow rolled his eyes and took Rouge's hand and shouted, "Chaos Control!"

They disappeared in a flash of light. When Rouge opened her eyes she gasped and looked over at Shadow with a glare. "You brought us into the ship??!!" She whispered harshly.