Sonic Wild

Poachers

Shadow's POV

To everyone else, it was a loud roar, but to me it was a deafening scream. I recognized it as the tigress that I had befriended only a few hours ago. Without thinking, I sped in her direction. There was only one thought, one emotion in my mind. Protect her. At ALL costs. A blue streak appeared beside me. Of course he would come along.

"What's going on?" he asked. I noted the concern in his voice, which was rare to me.

"It's her. Something's wrong," I answered bluntly and picked up the pace. Sonic did the same. Thankfully, he understood who I was talking about. From the sound of her scream/roar, it sounded like she was only a few miles away. But it felt like an eternity. I skated into a part of the jungle I had never seen until now, before it opened up into a wide clearing. In the center stood a temple, or what was left of it. Large stairs rose up to a flat square with only a column or two to represent where the walls had once been. Even from where I was, I could see rubble scattered on and around it. My heart stopped for a split-second at what we had stumbled upon. She and two smaller cubs, I can only assume are her daughters, were being cornered by at least thirty human men into a large metal cage. My eyes narrowed, and I let out a deadly, feral snarl.

"Poachers."

Third Person POV

Sonic stole a nervous glance at his ebony counterpart. He had Shadow get angry before, furious even, but he had never heard him sound so... wild. He practically spat out the word "poachers" like it was poisonous. All at once, they launched themselves at the men. In a flurry of punches and kicks, they forced them back. However, the two hedgehogs didn't realize the men had guns, but once the first shots rang out, it was of little concern to them. They did battle Eggman and his laser-shooting robots almost weekly. As Sonic forced the men back, Shadow ran to the cage that held the three tigers. He formed a Chaos Spear in his hand and slit the cage bars in half; he didn't shoot it because he didn't want to harm them.

"Get as far away from here as you can," Shadow instructed quietly, "I'll take care of these guys."

Be careful, she pleaded and licked his ear quickly before leading the cubs away from the fray. Shadow returned his attention to the fight. Sonic was doing a pretty good job, but a single gunman aimed at the back of Sonic's head without the blue hero noticing. Faster than lightning, Shadow dove between him and the bullet. He grabbed Sonic and Chaos Controlled him out of the way. The bullet smacked into a tree instead. It only took Sonic a few seconds to understand what he had done. His eyes grew twice their normal size, as Shadow continued to fight like nothing had happened. Shadow just...saved me?!

Five minutes later, all of the humans were sprawled back unconscious. Shadow would never kill them, he had lost his taste for blood after the Black Arms incident a few months ago. He only would if it was absolutely necessary. Sonic had hopped back into the fight not long after he got out of the initial surprise of Shadow's heroics, and now they were just standing in silence, searching for anyone who might decide to get up for another go.

A massive form charged out of the darkness and tackled the two hedgehogs as they were catching their breath. It was tiger. A male tiger. He was even bigger than the tigress they had seen earlier. He roared, blowing hot air and saliva into their faces with a giant paw on each of their chests. Claws pricked them painfully.

"Hang on a second, before you tear us apart," Shadow began and held his hands up defensively. The male leaned his face closer to Shadow's. The ebony hedgehog showed no sign of fear or intimidation, as the big cat took in a deep sniff. Sonic just watched in confusion but didn't move.