Seaside Denied

Shadow, Rouge and Omega sat at the Orcafe, a lovely beachside diner in Seaside Square. "Remind me, why are we here?" Shadow asked.

"I'm hungry as hell," Rouge mumbled, face-down on the table. "I haven't eaten in days."

"I thought you didn't have money, and that's why you came to steal the egg-man's treasure," Shadow stated, barely peeking up from his menu. A puddle of tears appeared below Rouge's face. Shadow sighed. "Don't cry. We'll figure something out."

"You do that. Unit requires no nutrients, so I have no reason to help," Omega said. "I will only assist when you two eventually revert to hunting your own food."

"We could go spearfishing," Shadow offered nonchalantly, holding up a Chaos Spear in both hands. This didn't seem to lift Rouge's spirits. "Hm…" Shadow growled, his idea silently shot down.

The door slammed open. Omega's head spun around to face the entrance. Shadow glanced over. Rouge didn't even lift her face from the table.

A strange woman with stitches on her neck ran in from the crack of dawn, hiding her head from the sun with a hood—no, a veil. She wore a very beautiful black dress to go with her ink-like hair. The color screamed a funeral. The decorations screamed a wedding. The look in her violet eyes as she looked up screamed an insatiable drive to cause one or the other before she left the restaurant.

"What's her deal, Omega?" Shadow whispered as the woman slammed her hands onto the counter, splitting the polished wood down the center.

"I cannot tell," Omega droned. "Initiating eavesdropping mode." Omega and Shadow stared at the woman hunched over the counter. Purple two-dimensional hearts floated up from her head as she gazed at a certain worker. She mustered up the courage to speak, and took a deep breath.

"Hey. You're new here, aren't you?" The woman sighed with a small smile appearing on her face. The worker looked over at her in confusion. Idle, intrigued confusion. She melted a little bit when their eyes met.

"Um… I've worked here for half a year, ma'am," the young man replied. He looked about twenty.

"That's 'new' to a more mature woman like me," the woman giggled.

"She's TERRIBLE at flirting," Rouge whispered through hungry tears. "Who would begin with bragging about being older?"

"Better yet, who would begin with breaking something your target is employed to protect?" Shadow hissed back through gritted teeth.

"Me. I would do that to assert overwhelming dominance onto them," Omega said.

The woman whipped out a chalice and a bottle of Chao Black Market-sold unidentified booze, then poured the drink into the glass. It overflowed onto the counter before she chugged what was in her cup. "AaaaAAaahh…!" She sighed, her acumen being washed out by the alcohol. "You know, I met my… late husband here. We were wed over on the Whale Island," she hiccupped to the employee. "He was just like you." She stood upright, her head tilted to the side as she stared into the employee's Core. "His name was Randall Handel. And I was his Rachel Handel." She stared at her own trembling hands, a purple smoke enveloping them. Shadow and Omega minded their own business, however uncomfortably so. The employee was speechless.

"Hey, 'Rachel', you okay?" Rouge asked, beginning to get up from her seat.

"I was— WAS, WAS HIS Rachel," the woman muttered, her eyes audibly rolling to the left and glaring at Rouge. "Until he died horribly in a bombing that destroyed Prison Island. Now look what I've become. A freak, a monster, a murderer…" She hid her face in her hands, before giggling, and breaking out into full-on laughter as she threw her arms into the air. Rouge was petrified. "I… AM… THE Dark Widow!!!" She continued to cackle, before grabbing the employee by the shirt collar and pulling him halfway over the counter. "So won't you… be mine?"

"N-no?! You're crazy, lady!" The employee exclaimed.

"Wrong answer," the Dark Widow threw him over her shoulder into the wall. He fell down onto Team Dark's table along with little bits of drywall, unconscious. "I will MURDER anybody who rejects me."

"Yass, queen! KILL!" Omega cheered, throwing his arms in the air and spinning his claw hands around.

"Wait, no. That's BAD, Omega. We can't just stand by and watch this happen, right?!" Rouge asked, getting up and preparing for a fight. She stood between Dark Widow and the employee.

"You are our leader. So if you think it's the time to fight…" Shadow muttered, tossing the Chaos Spear at Dark Widow. "Then it's time to fight, I suppose." The Dark Widow looked over at the sharp sound the spear made, eyes widening, before being hit in the stomach by the Chaos Spear. She went flying out of the diner, all the way into the ocean. Rouge, Shadow and Omega all ran outside. They looked all around for any sign of Dark Widow.

"Holy shhh— you killed her in one shot?" Rouge asked, clutching the sides of her head and staring at the ocean. Something then erupted from the sea, creating a large whirlpool and calling forth a collection of rainclouds to blot out the sun. Team Dark stood back, while the Dark Widow emerged from the watery haze and threw a multitude of flat, crimson circular holed objects at them. In the salty deluge, they could hardly keep track of all the crimson blades.

"Oh my God… the Red Rings!" Omega shouted. The sharp circular objects ricocheted everywhere, cutting deep gashes in whatever they hit. Rouge ducked for cover, Omega shot wildly at the Red Rings, and Shadow merely caught one between his fingers. Dark Widow landed on the boardwalk, only to have Shadow throw her own Red Ring back at her, followed by a Spin Dash into her stomach. Dark Widow grabbed Shadow by the sides and tossed him back at Rouge. The two collided, and went sprawling out on the ground. A heart-shaped bomb skidded over to Dark Widow from Rouge's utility belt. Dark Widow's eyes locked onto the bomb, recognizing it instantly.

"You…" she muttered, as the beeping grew faster. The bomb exploded point-blank. Team Dark watched as Dark Widow was caught in the explosion. They sighed in relief. "You should know that it's rude to get between a woman and her man," the Dark Widow grumbled, as Omega was sliced in the wiry tendon by a stray Red Ring. He collapsed to one knee, but still continued to riddle the buildings behind Dark Widow with countless rounds. She danced a waltz for two between all of them, emerging from the flames. "If you object, I'll just have to kill you three as well." The Dark Widow raised a claw into the air, and summoned an army of Sprites from Dark Fog. "These are all the people I've killed. Liars, cheaters, rejectors, and even heroes who have come to their aid, all reformed into my loyal servants. I've amassed a legion of spirits that bow to my power." The Dark Widow pointed at the team as her eyes widened. "Care to join?" The spirits charged Team Dark, as Shadow Rouge and Omega tried to swat them away.

"Enough of this! Chaos BLAST!" Shadow shouted through the bruises and gashes in his skin from the onslaught, creating a red explosion that reduced the Dark Widow's army to dust. Dark Widow herself was caught in the Chaos Blast, and this time went hurdling over the edge of the boardwalk. Onto the sidewalk far below. She slid across the pavement face-down. Shadow and Omega walked over to the edge to look at where she fell, while Rouge sprinted over to the safety railing. She jumped, and used her wings to flutter down slowly.

Shadow and Omega quickly caught up as Rouge checked on Dark Widow. Their opponent was unconscious. The rainclouds drifted away, bathing the beach in sunlight. Dark Widow began to evaporate into Dark Fog. "Is this what happens… when organics die?" Omega asked, the sunlight shining in his red optics. "It is beautiful."

"No, this is what happens when Dark Gaia monsters die," Rouge gasped. "That settles it. We just dealt with somebody corrupted by Dark Gaia."

"Dark Gaia, you say?" Shadow asked. "Interesting… you'll have to tell me about this 'Dark Gaia' later on."

"Yeah… of course," Rouge mumbled. As the Dark Fog evaporated, a human emerged from the purple mist. The Dark Widow's host. "A wedding ring!" Rouge exclaimed, kneeling down to the side of the woman and picking up a ring that Dark Widow had dropped on the side of the road. "Real diamond! We can sell this off and afford breakfast for MONTHS!" She turned to the others, hopping up and down excitedly.

"Isn't it a bit… immoral?" Shadow asked. "It might be the same ring her 'Randall' gave her. With him gone, surely it must be much more precious to her."

"Seconded. The ring is not yours," Omega followed up.

"Well, either we take it and sell it or somebody else does," Rouge grumbled, crossing her arms and averting her eyes. "Either way, it's gonna get stolen."

"I suppose it's fair. She did try to kill us, after all," Shadow muttered.

"I somewhat agree after all," Omega replied. "We exorcized the 'Dark Gaia' from this human's heart, I believe we should take this as a little reward."