Watchdogs of the ARK

Premonition or Nightmare

It's a Black Arms invasion!

SLAM. Death!

Shadow rushes to masked-Infinite. The exhausted jackal can no longer fight. With Doom's Eye hovering, Shadow realizes that the impact of being thrown against a steel wall, has broken his companion.

"No Infinite, you're not..."

He checks for a pulse in his friend's neck, bemused by the rapid defeat that the Black Arms' have inflicted upon someone he admires so very much.

"You are."

Understanding quickly that he now must face Black Doom's minions alone, he glares at the floating, starfish-like eye as it speaks to him harshly.

"It was for the best, Shadow. You're my creation."

"What have you done, Black Doom?!"

"Silence, Shadow. Your guard dog was a weakling and a distraction. Your purpose is to serve me, not play fetch with your pet in space. With that scrum out of the way, my plans to conquer the universe can now involve you, Shadow the Hedgehog... the Ultimate Life Form. Don't you want to conquer the universe? Who doesn't want to conquer the universe?"

Tears spew down Shadow's face and chin. He grinds his teeth with both rage and grief.

"You killed my jackal!"

"Yes. Yes, I did," Doom's Eye replies, closing itself with obnoxious pride. The creepy alien seems to be grinning pompously. Shadow can't take it, and punches the eyeball as soon as it opens! Doom's Eye shrieks with agony, rolling away in the air as Shadow lifts Infinite into his arms and zooms away. To where? He doesn't know.

"Why is this happening? How did Black Doom get here?"

Shadow sits up suddenly, gasping for air.

"Oh thank goodness, it was only a dream, a horrible, horrible dream. Could it be a peek into the future?"

He hops out of the small cot he's grown accustomed to sleeping in, and heads to the Control Room. Maria may be dead, but it helps to talk to her all the same. And right now, he sure could use someone to talk to...

"Maria?" he begins, once he's arrived at Maria's favorite spot, back when she was alive of course. "Maria, I dreamt about loosing you again. Only this time, it wasn't you. It was someone else. My purpose is to protect the ARK but I can't loose another friend. Please, how can I know if it was a sign?"

His imagination goes haywire. He closes his eyes tightly then opens them to find Maria standing beside him and speaking loud and clear. It's not real, he knows this, but he's become very good at make-believe. Maria is his voice of intuition. So what does she have to say tonight?

"Shadow, you long for a friend," Maria replies, placing her hand lovingly on his trembling shoulder. "You long for a friend so badly that you still pretend that I'm here with you. Your worst fear is loosing someone you love."

Shadow looks up starry-eyed, possessed with the urge to find Infinite and make sure he's still alive. He takes off, zipping through the ARK. He locates the jackal curled in a ball, snoozing near a warm, steel wall. He likes to nap near the boiler room for the heat. Shadow shakes him fervently.

"Infinite, wake up!"

Infinite awakes, alarmed.

"What? I'm awake! No, help, what's happening?! Ah!"

Shadow holds Infinite's shoulders.

"Are you okay, Infinite?"

"We're being attacked? Where's my sword? Jackal Squad, attack!"

Shadow frowns. He holds the jackal's wrists, relieved to feel a pulse.

"No no, we're not being attacked. It's nothing like that. I needed to see your eyes."

Infinite wrestles his arms away from Shadow's grip and grunts.

"You jerk, I was dreaming about gnawing on a rack of ribs. It was amazing. It's a good thing for you that I need to pee and was lucidly holding it in, in my sleep!"

The jackal stands and struts off to the washroom, where he relieves himself. The sound of him pissing in the toilet makes Shadow feel like an idiot. He's not sure why but it does.

"Hey Shadow, do you ever wear pants, Shadow?"

"No."

Infinite makes a fake zipper sound with his mouth.

"That's what it would sound like if I was wearing pants. You have to zip them up after you pee."

Shadow's stress trickles away. He knows Infinite is trying to make him laugh. Infinite pokes his head around from the side of the door way, his hair waving a bit in the stillness. Shadow is enchanted and contemplates Infinite's gender.

"Infinite's hair always looks like it's underwater, swaying with the wind even when the wind's not there. It's incredibly attractive and makes me question... is she, is Infinite a boy or a girl?"

"Do you ever use the toilet or is it all mine?" Infinite asks with a playful smile.

"It's yours. I don't eat or drink, as you know."

"Have you ever tried to?"

"Well not exactly. The doctor told me once it would change my metabolism, make me less efficient. I'm meant to survive off Chaos Energy. It's been rubbing off on you I think... I hope."

"Whatever," Infinite responds, lounging next to the rather serious, ebony hedgehog. "You rub off on me, I rub off on you. Just don't startle me like that again or else next time I might pee in my nonexistent pants."

Shadow grins and mimics Infinite's reclining position. They are silent, with only the sound of the boiler dwelling in the same sector as Infinite's chosen sleeping area. Shadow spaces out, ruminating once more aboard a train of worry.

But it all fades away... when the jackal nods off and subconsciously turns over onto his side. He snuggles Shadow in his sleep, perhaps mistaking him for another jackal as he dreams. Shadow's heart pounds. He takes a woof of Infinite's hair, running it through his fingers and becoming intoxicated. He strokes Infinite's locks and squeezes him closely, like a puppy he's longed to cradle. Infinite smiles, partially still awake.

"Hmph, you nestle like a canine. Way to stick it to that other Shadow for destroying my squadron."

"I'm not him," Shadow reminds Infinite. "The last thing I wanna do is hurt you, Jackal."

"I can tell. And thanks for not calling me a fox," Infinite replies, then drifts off with his face buried in Shadow's chest fur. Shadow continues to pet Infinite's hair, finding it almost laughable how much it reminds him of Maria's beautiful hair, though his is softer and perhaps more fragrant. Soon, the reassuring sound of Infinite's heart beat permits Shadow to fall asleep as well.

Meanwhile, festering in the bowels of deep, bloody space, the Cthulhu-like tyrant himself, Black Doom, gazes into a massive crystal ball-like orb. Repulsed, he observes the two edge lords sleeping like cuddly fur babies.

"Well well well, Shadow's found himself a companion-beast. I regret collaborating with Doctor Gerald Robotnik to try and perfect the Ultimate Life Form. The physicist promised to exclude pack-animal genes from my spawn! Arg, I forgot that humans are primates who long for social interactions. Shadow's need for a pet dog, whose hair he can sniff and whose hide he can snuggle... it disgusts every fiber of my existence! I must exterminate this jackal thing before the invasion."