Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Sonic Matrix ❯ Three months later ( Chapter 3 )

Shadow climbed out of bed and strapped on his combat boots.

Knuckles poked his head in the doorway. "Breakfast is ready. Hurry up before Rogue eats your pancakes."

"Punch him if he does." Shadow replied. "I'll be there in a minute."

Knuckles smirked. "As you wish." He said as he walked away.

Shadow got up, threw on his TapOut shirt and trench coat, then headed to the dining room.

Manic was rubbing his arm and glaring at Knuckles, who looked pleased.

Sonia smiled and slid the seat out for Shadow. "Bunnie made strawberry pancakes with vanilla custard."

"Who?" Shadow asked.

A rabbit with a bionic arm and legs came out of the kitchen with a coffee mug and a cup of coffee beans. She set the mug and bowl in front of Shadow. "There you go, Sugarhog."

"Thank you." Shadow said, picking up the mug.

Shadow's mug read: Introverted, wears black, avoids people.

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Do you stalk everyone?"

"We have to get intel on anyone we think can serve in the resistance." Sonic replied. "Manic and Sonia are on intel duty."

Shadow sipped his coffee. "I think he has way too much time on his hands."

Manic subtly motioned to Sonia. "Actually, your fan girl did all the intel on you."

"Shut up, Rogue." Sonia said through gritted teeth.

Shadow helped himself to some pancakes. "I didn't say if I minded if you stalked me, Princess."

Sonic gave Shadow a death stare and stabbed his pancakes.

"Be nice, Sonic." Sonia scolded.

Shadow chuckled.

"Now, you have to see someone." Sonia said, putting on her trench coat.

Manic looked up from his drawing. "Ah, don't take him to see that lunatic program."

"The Oracle is very helpful." Sonia replied.

Manic scoffed. "Don't listen to her, Shads. It's a pointless trip." He said. "It's a cryptic AI program and I swear it was coded by someone on some heavy duty drugs."

Shadow motioned to Manic. "That's good enough for me."

Sonia sighed. "Boys."

"He doesn't need to go five laps around the mountain to know there's no secret ingredient, spoon, or whatever that dude says." Sonic said. "We can tell him ourselves. He gives us the exact same message to everyone."

"It's worse than I thought." Shadow muttered.

"I can sum it up for you." Manic said. "It's a metaphor. You can do whatever you want in the virtual world, it's not real. Have you seen the Matrix?"

Shadow shook his head. "I heard of it, but I never saw it even though I was accused of renting it and not bringing it back to the video store a while back."

"Sonic's the Keanu Reeves fan, he'll bring you up to speed." Manic said, putting away his drawing kit. "Robotnik ripped it off. By the way, did anyone ever tell you that you sound like Keanu Reeves?"

Sonic snapped his fingers. "Yes! I knew you sounded familiar."

"That's a new one." Shadow muttered.

"Ok." Knuckles said, tossing Shadow a gym bag. "Let's get you in training."

"Uncle Chuck and Tails should be done with your gear by then." Sonic said.

Shadow stretched his arms. "Why do you need me?" He asked. "You think I'm the chosen one or something?"

"No, we just need an army to go against Egghead." Sonic replied. "But the Oracle probably would go on some tangent about you being the chosen one and something about fate or whatever."

"There is no fate, but what we make for ourselves." Shadow said.

"That's beautiful." Sonia replied. "Where's it from?"

"Terminator." Manic and Shadow replied.

Sonic did a double take at the door. "Finally."

Tails brought a pair of black shoes and gauntlets with silver rings. "Here's your gear, Terios. Sorry about the wait." He said. "We had a hard time synching the rings with the shoes and gauntlets."

Shadow took the shoes and gauntlets.

"Uncle Chuck will be here in a minute to explain how all of this works." Tails said. "I can explain, but he loves to do it and please don't ask for Sonic's version of the short story of it."

Uncle Chuck shuffled in.

Shadow looked at the black, steel toed combat boots. "They don't look any different than my old ones." He said. He flipped the shoes over to look at the soles. "Oh."

"They're jet powered." Uncle Chuck said. "You can turn them on or off by thinking about it. The rings will fire a blast of energy by thinking about it as well. It'll take a few minutes of wearing it for it to sync to your brain waves."

Shadow put on the shoes and gauntlets. "They're surprisingly comfortable."

Sonia rubbed her arm. "So… are we still gonna-"

"No one is seeing the Oracle." Manic said, walking in. "Have any of you considered that the Oracle is a program created by Robotnik?"

"Everyone but Sonia has." Sonic replied. He looked at Shadow. "You agree with us, right?"

"Right." Shadow agreed.

"Anyway, come with me, Terios." Sonia said, motioning for Shadow to follow her. "We have a mission."

Sonia and Shadow left the gym.

Manic looked at Sonic. "I got a lead on Jade. Do you want to go with me?"

Sonic tilted his head slightly. "Can you trust whoever it is?"

"Of course." Manic said. "Let's go. We gotta meet him in an hour."