#anyway. i realized he kind of looks like shadow the hedgehog

[mysticalcats]

human foxglove for funsies

[writingtraumaforever]

Crushed Lavender/Sonadowtober Day 29: False Alarm

Okay so two things.

1. I know it’s the 1st of November, but I saw and started this the 29th. So it still counts. I don’t make the rules.

2. The prompt was ‘false alarm’, but this turned more into a ‘close call’ or ‘saved your skin’ kind of thing. But it’s close enough.

Anyway!! Here’s my mediocre and belated addition to Sonadowtober!!

Takes place after Sonic Frontiers! Also, TW for thoughts of unaliving oneself/depression. c:

One shot:

It’s not that Shadow is a worrier or a pessimist. He’s a realist.

And the reality is that Sonic is one of the most danger-prone Mobians Shadow has ever met.

And ever since he returned from Starfall Islands, he hasn’t been quite himself. He’s not all there in his head. It’s as though sometimes he doesn’t know where he is at all, somewhere else far away.. or not there at all even.

It doesn’t help that Sonic’s usual group of misfits seems to be awol at the time. Apparently they’ve all gone off to “find themselves” in some way.. or at least that’s what Rouge has told him. She was pretty torn up Knuckles wouldn’t be around to irritate anymore— though Shadow thinks she’s more upset over the fact he didn’t ask her to come with him on his journeys.

Either way, Sonic is not seemingly on his own most days now. His support system now gone and leaving him to deal with whatever has begun plaguing his mind all on his own.

So what other choice did Shadow have but to take it upon himself to occupy the blue hedgehog’s time?? Otherwise, Gaia knows what trouble that dumb faker would’ve stirred up.

It began with Shadow happening to be in the same place as Sonic on a run. They raced, naturally. And that was that. The hedgehog seemed in good spirits after that.

This happened regularly for a month or so.

Until once after the race, Sonic didn’t seem so happy-go-lucky and smug like he usually does. No banter being shot for Shadow to bicker with on who won or who cheated. No victory dances or laps or anything. Sonic simply finished the race, Shadow turning to him and finding him staring off at the ocean they had ended at. Staring down at the waves from the cliff he stood on. Emerald eyes glistening from the reflection of the moon but there was no light behind them.

It was one of those moments.

He wasn’t there anymore.

Dull and absent eyes stared down at the crashing waves, Shadow watching and feeling an uneasiness settle over them with every passing moment. He frowned. It was like Sonic was drowning and he hadn’t even touched the water far below yet.

Shadow knew that look…

He use to stare into space like that..

Shadow’s brows furrow, arms crossing as he turns a bit more towards Sonic. Standing only a few yards from him as he tilts his head just slightly and observes him a long moment. Unsure what to do. What to say. Should he even say anything?? Maybe he should leave..

No one ever helped him through his own moments of dissociation, and he wasn’t sure what he would’ve wanted them to do even if they had.

But before Shadow can dwell on it much longer, he watches Sonic lean a little more over the edge.

A little too close for comfort.

He steps forward, arms uncrossing to reach a hand towards the blue hedgehog,

“Sonic..?”

Sonic’s flinches at that, blinking emerald eyes before turning them to look at Shadow a bit too wide for Shadow’s liking..

Then Sonic’s blank expression turns to a slow, wobbly smirk as he gives a thumbs up to Shadow, “Heh—“

And then the world stops.

Or— the edge Sonic stands on crumbles just enough to make the hero lose his footing. And Shadow watches as Sonic’s face goes from surprise, to horror… then to nothing.

Sonic’s eyes shut, and he falls back. The fastest thing alive has plenty of time to regain balance or dash out of the danger zone.. but he doesn’t move.

And Shadow watches in shock and then heavy realization. Realization that’s abrupt enough to snap him out of said shock and send him rocketing to Sonic as he watches him disappear over the cliff side.

Shadow skids across the ground, sliding onto his stomach to grab at Sonic’s hand only to miss by a breath. His gloved fingertips graze the hero’s, Sonic’s eyes never open.

He falls.

Shadow doesn’t think.

He doesn’t even breathe.

He just jumps.

Lunging off the edge, sending himself surging down towards Sonic’s plummeting body. The waves beckon them closer, gravity paves the way. Shadow’s eyes are locked on cobalt blue as ocean blue approaches in the background. His arms are outstretched.

Reaching.

Grasping.

Touching.

Gripping.

Holding.

Cradling.

“Chaos Control!”

A bright light reflects just above the salt water and then flashes again far away.

Somewhere no cliffs are near and in their place are simply rolling hills of lavender.

The safest place Shadow could think of.

They crash against the ground as they had been falling, rolling as a fumbling ball of red, black and blue until they crumble and skid to a stop on plush flowers.

Shadow is groaning from the impact, having taken most of it due to practically curling around Sonic protectively in his arms. Sonic laid on his back with emerald eyes wide open once again, his chest rising and falling with heavy and desperate breaths.

Drowning again.

No where near the water.

“What the hell were you doing?!” Shadow snapped, shoving himself off the ground onto his knees to glare over at Sonic unabashedly.

Sonic doesn’t answer.

He doesn’t acknowledge Shadow.

This just boils Shadow over.

Shuffling on his knees over to hover over Sonic, he scowls down at him disapprovingly, “You blue idiot— don’t just lay there ignoring me! What the hell was that??”

Shadow’s hands move to grip Sonic’s shoulders, this seeming to knock the hedgehog out of his daze. Sonic’s wide eyes snap to Shadow with a hard flinch, seeming shocked and bewildered by the ebony hedgehog above shaking him.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you had a damn death wish, you—!!”

Shadow’s shaking halts.

He stares down at Sonic who is still breathing concerningly quick. More like gasping for air than actual breaths, swallowing huge gulps as if they’re not enough.

Shadow’s anger slowly stifles, eyes losing their heat and instead melting into something of concern and discomfort..

Seeing Sonic like this..

It was.. unsettling.

“Hey.. hey, Faker..,” Shadow’s voice rasps, removing hands from Sonic momentarily before repositioning them to place one on Sonic’s chest over his heart to feel it pounding against his gloved palm and then moving his other to grab Sonic’s wrist and bring the hero’s hand to his chest so Sonic can feel it rise and fall,

“Breathe..”

Shadow’s breaths are slow and easy. Steady and deep.

Sonic’s own breaths stay panicked, not quite computing what Shadow is even saying for a long moment. But eventually, his eyes lock with Shadow’s, and he steadies himself. He begins trying to even out his breaths, matching them with Shadow’s so that his chest rises and falls with Shadow’s own.

This seems to do the trick. Sonic’s previously tense and terrified disposition easing into relative discomfort. Which still isn’t ideal but it’s progress.

Sonic’s raised quills slowly flatten and his wide eyes grow more tired and calm.

But with that calm exposes something vulnerable and scared too..

And before Shadow can even think of what next step to take..

Sonic’s ears flatten back and his frown trembles.

He doesn’t cry. He doesn’t shatter and break.

But he cracks.

Just a little. Just enough.

Taking a shaky breath, Sonic slides his wrist from Shadow’s grip and lets his arm fall over his eyes as he shuts them.

He blows a long, uneasy breath out, and his trembling mouth slides into a forced grin, “Man!… That was a close one, huh??”

His sideways smile and jittery, breathy chuckle makes Shadow feel ill..

Shadow sits back on the backs of his heels, his hands retreating to his sides as he looks down at the cracked hero. How he tries to hide from what just happened behind his arm and a mask.

Shadow can’t look. He turns his head away with a frown and furrowed brows.

Sonic just breathes a few moments longer before pushing himself up with a grunt. Leaning back on his arms, he looks around with his casual smile and his glossy eyes at their environment.

“Where even are we??? I don’t think I’ve ever been here be—“

“You wanted to fall.”

“Huh??”

Sonic looks at Shadow.

Shadow is looking straight back at him.

It’s not anger. It takes Sonic a moment to place it.

Disappointment.

And.. something else.

“You wanted to fall. You were gonna let yourself go.”

Betrayal.

Sonic looks like a deer in headlights for a pause before he rolls his eyes and looks way with a shrug and grin, “What kind of dumb accusation is that— I slipped, Shadow. The cliff crumbled under my feet, and—“

“You were standing way too close to the edge—“

“—I didn’t have time to catch my footing again—“

“—you had plenty of time to jump out of the way or grab onto the ledge—“

“—and I don’t have a chaos emerald so I couldn’t flash myself to safety like you—“

“—you shut your eyes like you didn’t even want to bother with your own life—“

“I don’t even know my own life!!”

Sonic’s smile is gone.

He’s glaring at Shadow with those glossy eyes.

Shadow frowns.

“What does that even mean—“

“I don’t know— I-,” Sonic fumbles for words, hesitating on if he even wants to be saying any of this. If he even can say any of it.

“I haven’t felt like myself— I’m not even sure what myself is even suppose to feel like anymore! I think— I think I’m still on those stupid Islands! Like parts of me were pulled out and hacked into pieces and scattered all over that place and I’ll never fully get them all back!!”

Shadow stares. Trying to understand. Trying to process and listen and take in.

He doesn’t speak.

Sonic keeps going.

“I didn’t even know my own name for a minute! I didn’t know who I was— what I was!! And now— now the only people I trust to tell me and remind me of that are gone! And I’m— I’m so, so happy for them! I’m so proud for them! But I’m still confused and lost and feeling like I don’t even know myself anymore so what’s the point, ya’know?!”

“Yes, I know.”

Sonic blanks and then huffs at that, looking away as if offended by Shadow’s simple and quick answer to his outburst. He opens his mouth.

…

Then he shuts it.

Realizing that Shadow’s simple answer was… honest.

He looks at Shadow again, his offended glare turning to something a bit more sad. Ears folding back and raised quills relaxing as he looks at his counterpart with a hesitant gaze..

“…You do know, huh?”

Shadow doesn’t speak. He just looks at Sonic a long moment and then looks down at the lavenders he’s knelt down in.. his gloved hand rubbing over one as he gives a single nod of confirmation.

Sonic watches him. Tired and scared and open.

“…How do you deal with it??”

Shadow shrugs. Sonic huffs at this, immediately impatient that he doesn’t have an answer only for Shadow to speak quietly.

“You.. are confused for a while. You try to remember who you were and who you were created to be. Who you worked so long and hard to become. You think of who made you into this person you are and why you must be that person for them because of it. And when that doesn’t work, you-.. you’re angry.”

Shadow’s fist closes around the flower, pulling it up from the ground and lifting it with a grip of vice. Sonic’s eyes follow it, hearing the ever so subtle sound of tiny purple petals being crunched together.

“And you try and point that anger somewhere.. give yourself a purpose. A validation. A justification.. Fighting battles, protecting,… revenge.”

Shadow’s palm opens and reveals the crumbled flower in it.

“But in the end, you realize you’ve done more harm than good.. and you wonder if you yourself are more harm than good..”

Sonic’s brows knit up, a hopeless frown on his muzzle as he eyes the obliterated lavender in Shadow’s palm and then averts his gaze. Unable to look at the damage done any longer.

“…But there’s something inside you still. The very essence of your being. The reason you exist. The reason you’re even here..”

Sonic’s eyes return to Shadow at that, exhausted and with a slight and reluctant glimmer of hope.

“… to just live.”

Sonic’s brows furrow at this, seeming unsatisfied with this answer.

He opens his mouth but before Sonic can say anything, Shadow turns more towards him and continues.

“You don’t have to prove anything, Sonic. You may feel like you’re obligated to be some perfect being. That you have to match some prophecy or legacy left to you. That you have to be some sort of Ultimate Lifeform..”

Sonic’s head tilts a bit at Shadow, hanging onto his every word.

“..but you only have to be what you deem worthy of being. Past or future, you are only what you choose to be. You are all of you, forgotten or not. And right now, if being alive is a battle, it’s a damn worthy one to fight for yourself in my opinion.”

Shadow’s gaze meets Sonic’s and Sonic’s own emerald orbs hold slow understanding in them.. revelation.

Shadow gives a tiny smile. He holds the crumbled lavender out to Sonic, the blue hedgehog slowly holding his palm out for Shadow to pour the tiny petals into his cupped palm.

“Even crushed lavender is still lavender.. and it can still have purpose when crushed..”

[livewireprojects]

Sonadowtober 2024 Day 8

Day 8 was surprise This is kind of based on the fact a recent interview with Takashi Iizuka had him mention Shadow & Sonic are jobless(or Shadow is jobless then later mention Sonic is too) which is weird because Shadow was offered a job in the good end for Shadow the Hedgehog 2005, is shown to do missions for GUN & the commander is even shown in Dark Beginnings which is a 3 or something episode prologue to Sonic x Shadow Generations. I'm guessing it wasn't a permanent job or he quit or someone forgot shit.

I guess you could say in my version Shadow works for GUN still & Sonic has a job too. Sonic keeps it on the down low but he plays at bars & small places earning money playing music as the night's entertainment. He likes his privacy so he hides that he's Sonic when he's playing, it's an amazement that no one trying to look for Sonic has found him because he looks similar to before he went missing.

Anyway the surprise is that Shadow got dragged somewhere to relax after work one time & realized to his surprise that the person playing tonight is Sonic in disguise. Sonic is a little surprised Shadow looks to have recognized him but he needs to start playing soon so he can pay the bills on Tails's house.(Sonic pays the bills & makes sure Tails gets a good education but he has the house setup to belong to Tails should anything happen to him so Tails still has a home)

Also I'm aware I didn't plan out the writing in "LIVE REACTION" so "reaction" doesn't have enough room.

Link to Sonadowtober theme list

[hugsandchaos]

Arthadow concept/AU???

I made this last summer and realized I never shared it. So here you go! While I work on the oneshot! And the rest of my WIPs, which I think is… 3? I’m bouncing between fandoms like a dang ping pong ball machine, so please forgive me for my all-over-the-place-ness.

Anyways, after Little Shadow was launched in the escape pod, his emotions got really out of control and started affecting his chaos abilities. When it all burst out of him, Little Shadow was transported back to Arthur’s time. More specifically, when Arthur was a kid as well. He just sat and cried as the pod crash landed somewhere in a forest just outside of Camelot. After the crash was over, Little Shadow curled up into a ball and cried himself to sleep.

He remained there for days, ignoring the hunger biting at his stomach and relying on the chaos energy to sustain himself, until he finally went outside and started to explore. More days passed and Little Shadow had learned, much to his horror, that he wasn’t on Earth. At least, not that he knew of. Last time he learned, Camelot was a kingdom from centuries ago, and magic wasn’t real. There was chaos energy, but not magic. Little Shadow also took one look at the knights and instantly feared that they’d be just like the G.U.N. soldiers. He didn’t know why they were after him, but he’d heard Gerald saying that he was scared they’d experiment on him or use him as a weapon.

Little Shadow became something of a petty thief, but could you blame him? He was starving! Besides, they’d literally left the food behind, and it was only about 8 times! He always returned to the crash site. The pod may not be in its best shape, but that and the stars were the closest thing the young hybrid had to home now. Every night, he’d look up at the stars and cry. He was supposed to see them with Maria. They’d spent so much time excitedly waiting for the time they’d look up at the stars from Earth, and now, he’d give anything to return to them.

One day, Young Arthur finally managed to sneak out of the kingdom unnoticed and made a dash into the forest. He just had to investigate that fallen object from weeks ago! The knights hadn’t decided whether or not to go yet for whatever reason, and Young Arthur had grown tired of waiting for the news.

He approached the crash site with great curiosity and some caution, but mostly excitement. He looked at the wreckage in awe and confusion. Metal and glass? What kind of strange object had come down from the endless cosmos above? Was it made by unknown divine beings? Young Arthur soon noticed that the cylindrical structure was hollow near the ground. He got down on his hands and knees, something he’d most likely never do if he wasn’t alone, and looked inside.

He came face to face with Young Shadow.

•Shadow has a near irrational fear of thunder and other loud noises, especially sudden ones (Arthur started to cover his ears with his hands if things got loud or if he knew things were about to get loud. At some point, Shadow started going straight to Arthur during thunderstorms for comfort.)

•Arthur is terrified of being submerged in water, so when he has to attend swimming lessons, Shadow tries to be as close as he can be (Shadow is an amazing swimmer as it’s one of his favorite activities, and he once tried teaching Arthur how to float on his back, which worked. When he first saw Arthur fall into the pool and heard him scream, he bolted into the water and got him out as fast as he could. Arthur still hates and fears having to swim, but Shadow being in there with him helps.)

•Most look at Shadow’s obvious, not-so-hedgehog-like features with disgust or fear, but Arthur is fascinated by them (He has so many questions and is one of the few people allowed to touch Shadow’s tail. Shadow also stays still to let Arthur look at his second row of teeth and forked tongue.)

•Shadow is grieving the incident and tends to cry a lot, and Arthur has no idea why because he hardly ever speaks, also thanks to the incident (The last time anyone tried telling Shadow to shut up and that it’s not a big deal because they didn’t know why he suddenly started crying nearly got really hurt when Shadow screamed and lunged at them. They got away with a few cuts on their arm from where Shadow grabbed them and dug his claws in, but they wouldn’t have been able to get away at all if Shadow hadn’t been pulled off. Shadow disappeared for two weeks after that.)

•Arthur is absolutely in love with him and doesn’t realize it yet, but everyone else besides Shadow sees it (The knights made a bet on when he’ll realize it and when he’ll confess.)

That’s all I’ve got 😐

[tenebraevesper]

Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer, Issue #59: Urban Warfare (Part 3)

Finally, it’s here! You guys have no idea how much I had been looking forward to this Issue, and for a good reason, but let’s first admire the art by Nathalie Haines, which was actually drawn like a classical painting. It’s magnificent!

*clasps hands*

Anyways, Urban Warfare (Part 3); what is there to say about it? Holy Hell, what isn’t there to say about it? Honestly, I had been losing my mind the moment I read the summary for it, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. But, before I start, a little recap since it has been a while.

Sonic and the Diamond Cutters (Tangle, Whisper and Lanolin) arrived at Eggperial City to figure out what is going on, and have found out that the city is expanding by itself. As they plan their next move, the Diamond Cutters end up in a different dimension due to one of Eggman’s portals featured in The Test Run Arc, while Sonic calls for reinforcements. Tails, Amy, Blaze and Silver show up and as they progress through the city, they run into Team Dark destroying Badniks left and right.

So, I’m not even one page into the story and I’m already picking up Sonadow energy from this moment. Trust me, I had a field day with this one.

Sonic is genuinely shocked to see Shadow... and only Shadow. I can’t blame him though, considering how their last encounter went.

Yeah, I’m not sure how many of you remember, but Shadow’s last appearance was in The Chao Races and Badnik Bases Arc, where he made some rather questionable decisions, but not as bad as what happened during The Crisis City Arc (aka the Zombot Fiasco), based on how SEGA wanted him to be written in the story. Fortunately, regarding the writing, we had actually gotten some good news in the weeks leading up to Team Dark’s, and especially Shadow’s, reintroduction to the comics.

To keep it short, all that talk about Shadow having a bunch of locks and chains placed on him to keep him in line with their vision... well, they started to break. From what I understood, SEGA gave more workable guidelines for him that allow for more liberties with writing his character - or in other words, Vegeta!Shadow is finally gone!!! As a matter of fact, while reading through the story, the improvement in his character was remarkable. Admittedly, it might not be for everyone, but goddamn, I’m loving it!

Not to mention, this is the first time since The Crisis City Arc that we see Team Dark working together once again. Also, Rouge, why are you calling everyone else kids when you’re only 18? (And yeah, I know SEGA removed the ages for all the characters, but let’s be honest, who pays attention to that?).

Sonic quips how he’s flattered that they’re here to rescue him, but they’re late to the party and... Silver, what the hell are you doing with Blaze?

*laughs* Even Tails and Amy have noticed that Silver is holding Blaze upside down, while he didn’t register any of it. I suppose Silver is too focused on Team Dark’s reappearance to realize what he’s doing.

Shadow just leaps off the scrapped Badniks, replying to Sonic how he has no idea what he’s talking about, nor does he care. Sonic, on the other hand, looks a little disappointed with that answer. I suppose he had been hoping for some banter.

Rouge then quickly brings him up to speed, explaining how she called in “her boys” (I see this as another win for everyone who say Team Dark are friends!) to see what they could do about Eggperial City - aka destroy everything in their path, foil Eggman’s plans and maybe steal some kind of treasure.

Sonic figures that makes sense, but I’m still convinced he’s disappointed they (or rather Shadow) weren’t here to help him out.

Cue Amy shoving Sonic away to talk to Rouge. I saw people saying how she’s just being overprotective of her crush, but I was questioning where Amy’s line of sight is. Amy notes how this is awfully altruistic of Rouge, but as I said above, she’s in because she wants to raid Eggman’s private vaults for a handsome reward.

Tails and Silver are hyped up to work with them to destroy the city though.

Omega notes how the conversation is irrelevant to their mission, and Rouge notes how Team Sonic would just slow Team Dark down and they’d be going off on their own, with Omega also promising to not hit anyone in the crossfire. Honestly, I think this is the nicest thing Omega could tell them.

Meanwhile, Sonic looks so done with everything. We don’t get annoyed Sonic often, so it’s neat to see him like that, and it makes sense, considering how in a (I assume) very short time-span (depending on when Scrapnik Island takes place), he had discovered Eggperial City and was chased by Metal Sonic while keeping Tails, Kit and Belle safe and having his leg injured, fought Surge at least three times, discovered what Starline had done to them, got separated from the Diamond Cutters and is now trying to foil another of Eggman’s plans while being on his territory and having to deal with Badniks.

That, and Rouge said they were slowing Team Dark down.

Never tell Sonic he’s slowing you down. Never.

Oh, and as the cherry on top, Eggman decides to make an announcement. But instead of talking about how he’s gonna blow up the moon, he decides to explain to everyone how the Eggperial City works. It is a self-replicating and self-repairing metropolis. Anything they destroy, dozens more will rise to take its place. Eggman also figures that this would be a nice time to rise the stakes a little, so he calls in for a little surprise.

IT’S THE SHADOW ANDROIDS!!!

To note, we haven’t seen these guys since Whisper’s backstory way back in the Tangle and Whisper Miniseries and before that, we haven’t seen them since Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog.

Going by Shadow’s reaction, he’s clearly shocked to see them again, and Eggman’s obviously going to use the Shadow Androids to their fullest potential.

Hell, Eggman has already the popcorn ready, all to happy to watch the carnage unfold. He calls it a stroke of genius in regards of building robots that mimic Shadow’s skills and holding onto them for the right moment (and that’s not even accounting for the mindscrew Shadow had to deal with when he encountered one for the first time).

Metal Sonic, though, is not happy about the Shadow Androids being dispatched. I’m certain that he wants to be the one on the battlefield.

While this is happening, the Diamond Cutters have infiltrated the control room, Lanolin and Whisper sneaking in, while Tangle just strolls inside like she owns the place, much to Lanolin’s chagrin, and points out how no one’s gonna spot them as she places her hand through Metal’s head. Lanolin just sighs, figuring this should make checking the room out easier, while Whisper stares in the screen in pure shock, realizing that the past is about to repeat itself.

She breaks down, and honestly, I really love the backgrounds in this page. We can see the darkness surrounding Whisper as she tells them how everyone’s going to die. However, the moment Tangle reaches for her and comforts her, the darkness slowly fades away, replaced by a ray of light. Tangle hugs Whisper, promising her how things will be fine, and even Lanolin joins in on comforting Whisper. While these three are still learning, they do make a great team.

Speaking of the Shadow Androids, we see Team Sonic fighting them, everyone being clearly in shock to what they are, with Tails being unable to get clear readings about them as they’re too fast. Even Blaze’s fire is not enough to keep them back and they’re strong enough to deal with Amy’s hammer.

Now, I’ll stop here to put a reminder. On the heroes side, no one but Shadow, Rouge, Omega, Whisper and Tangle here knows about the Shadow Androids. Whisper’s encounter with them is obvious, and Tangle saw footage of that, while Shadow, Rouge and Omega ran into them in Sonic Heroes, and Shadow had another (dubiously canonical) encounter with them in Shadow the Hedgehog.

Realizing just how dire the situation is, Sonic calls Silver for help so they can escape. Silver, being the awesome psychic he is, lifts the ground into a ramp and with Blaze frying the Shadow Androids that are after them, Sonic grabs everyone to get away from the robots in pursuit (also, nice Sonamy moment with that little blush).

Team Sonic finds Team Dark after the groups have been briefly separated, with Blaze grabbing Sonic and Amy’s hands and rushing over to help Team Dark. Yeah, there is an error in the panels, as both show Blaze grabbing hands with rings around them, suggesting she was grabbing only Amy’s hand. I suppose the artist forgot to erase the ring to make it clear she was also grabbing Sonic.

Back with Team Dark, Shadow assesses how Eggman’s trying to overwhelm them with sheer numbers and how there’s no strategy to their movements, meaning they can be easily manipulated. He figures that, once they move to a better position, they can take them out.

Cue Blaze throwing Sonic and Amy (another error, both are blue instead of being blue and pink) with Sonic spin-dashing and Amy smashing the Shadow Androids that were about to attack Shadow.

With a nose flick, Sonic is right back to quipping, asking Shadow whether he had some cousins he never told them about, while Shadow responds with “Please. These cheap copies don’t deserve to wear my place.”

Have I told you how much I love these two together? (≧◡≦)

As the battle continues, Shadow explains how the Shadow Androids are cheap copies created by Eggman, and how he’ll pay dearly for this insult. Unfortunately, Omega loses his footing and is being brought down by the Shadow Androids, but he keeps on fighting. Realizing how things are getting dire, Rouge asks Shadow to use his own powers against the Shadow Androids, but he responds how it is impossible without a Chaos Emerald (makes me wonder what happened to the Chaos Emerald Rouge stole in the Sonic Annual).

Tails rushes in, telling Shadow how the crystals are also generating Chaos Energy, with Shadow agreeing, but notes how the energy is distorted.

“Fake Emeralds... I hate to stoop to using such a pale substitute, but... it will do.”

Okay, can I say that this panel is absolutely amazing, and what’s about to happen is jaw-dropping!

I swear, this was my reaction to seeing this page:

Not only is the art absolutely gorgeous, but it finally shows Shadow as a pure badass who has the skills to support his title of The Ultimate Lifeform! Honestly, words cannot describe how much I love this! Bow your heads low, all hail Shadow!

And to add a cherry to the top of this moment of awesomeness:

Absolutely badass! It’s really great to see Shadow let loose from time to time. Hell, even Team Sonic is amazed!

Tails, Amy and Silver are starstruck, Rouge is proud of her boy, Blaze is... stunned, to say the least (I suppose she never saw what Shadow was truly capable of), while Sonic figures he should too give it a try.

And yeah, I saw the Dark Sonic jokes floating around. Are you guys forgetting that Sonic was the first to use a Fake Chaos Emerald for Chaos Control back in Sonic Adventure 2? He knows how to handle them.

Shadow then points out that they’re not done yet and goes for another Chaos Control, only for something to happen...

A giant crystal shoots out of the ground, throwing everyone off, while Rouge asks Shadow what’s happening. Shadow is crackling with Chaos Energy, warning her that it’s too much and...

Holy frigging Hell! Shadow unleashes a blast of Chaos Energy, nuking everything surrounding him. Everyone escapes, and when Rouge tries to get back to Shadow and Omega, she’s stopped by the crystals, which are now shooting out from everywhere.

Eggman quickly attempts to regain control of the situation, figuring Shadow would cause trouble. Tangle wonders what happened, with Whisper answering how it was Chaos Overload (how does she know that?). I suppose Shadow used to much of the surrounding Chaos Energy and it was too much for him to handle since the Fake Chaos Emeralds were spread out all over the city. He may be a Master of Chaos Control, but even this would overwhelm someone like him.

Eggman activates the emergency limiter, rebooting the system, noting how it’ll take more to take out his city.

Team Sonic and Rouge observe the destruction Shadow had caused, with Tails figuring it was some runaway feedback loop. Rouge is worried about Shadow and Omega, but Sonic, Silver and Blaze assure her that not only are the two tough, they also know what they’re up against and they can deal with Eggman. Rouge is cheered up, while Sonic looks forward to Shadow’s expression when he saves him.

Yeah, Sonic will never let Shadow live that down.

Back with Eggman, the power has returned, the system got rebooted... and Eggman lost Sonic and co. Lanolin points out how the power surge nearly crippled the entire city, so if they trigger another bigger one, this should destroy it. But in that moment, all three of them become suddenly visible, with Eggman spotting them.

In two magnificent panels, we get an Eggman obscured by shadows, really creeping me out, as he figures they ran into his spatial-displacement trap. He explains how they almost got out when the power dipped, but he has a way of dealing with them, summoning another model of the portal and telling them how this will scatter their atoms into oblivion.

Whisper takes the shot, and honestly, if she still hadn’t been trapped in that other dimension, she would’ve killed Eggman then and there. The blast went right through his chest. Like, this was probably the fourth time she attempted to kill someone in cold blood (first Mimic, followed by another attempt at Eggman’s life, then Surge and now Eggman again).

What’s even more chilling is how calm Eggman is, well aware what his trap had done. It then surrounds Whisper.

Tangle screams for her as Whisper is trapped inside the device, and then spots another one flying for her, only for Lanolin to ram her out of the way and tell her to tell everyone what happened and what to do before getting captured herself.

Tangle is cornered, but she suddenly phases through the window, falling out of the command tower. The story ends on a literal cliffhanger.

Holy Hell, I absolutely loved this Issue! It was beyond awesome for all the reasons I already talked above, but there is one specific thing I wanted to discuss in the ending of this analysis - Shadow’s portrayal.

Honestly, I had absolutely no complaint with how he was written in this Issue. People might not agree with me, but I think Urban Warfare really redeemed him, as rather than being prideful and arrogant, he was more business-like and focused on the mission, pragmatic and patient in explaining to everyone what is going on, as well as having his moments of banter with Sonic.

As for him being taken out of the battle, alongside Omega, I’m actually fine with it, as it’s the manner with how he was put out of commission.

Seriously, compare this:

To this:

It’s not about pride, it’s about saving everyone with his own power, and that’s what I had been missing from IDW!Shadow for so long.

I really hope we’ll see more of this in the future.

Links:

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#Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer (Masterlist)

[midnightshard06]

Flufftober Day 15

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/50489362/chapters/128516482

Summary: Sonic and Shadow managed to get captured while fighting Eggman. Sonic apparently decides that's a great time to confess to Shadow.

Pairing: Sonic the Hedgehog/Shadow the Hedgehog

Warnings: None

Word Count: ~900 words

@flufftober

“Look out!” Shadow launched a chaos spear at an approaching badnik that Sonic hadn’t seen coming. The other hedgehog gave him a thankful nod before going back to smashing robots. The attack had been pretty sudden, though to be fair most Eggman attacks were. Eggman had already destroyed a large chunk of forest, clearly looking for something before Sonic had apparently showed up. Shadow would be willing to bet he was looking for an emerald since he himself had only been in the area because he was also looking for an emerald. If the doctor wanted an emerald it was bad news, so of course Shadow had jumped in to help when he’d seen Sonic fighting.

The two wove around the battlefield in a pretty familiar way. The two had plenty of experience both fighting with each other and against. With all that experience it made it easier to work together without communicating. Of course sometimes that familiarity led to complacency which is what Shadow is going to blame for both of them missing Eggman slipping off and getting the emerald.

Sonic and Shadow were back to back, ready to take out the remaining badniks when both of them fell to the ground, some sort of electricity coursing through them. The last thing Shadow saw before he blacked out was Eggman holding the emerald in his hand.

When Shadow woke up the first thing he realized was that he couldn’t move. The next thing he realized was that Sonic was right next to him, bound in the same way Shadow assumed he was and very much awake. The two were in some sort of cage and Eggman stood in front of them.”Well, good morning rodents. Awake just in time to see my brilliant plan fall into place.” The doctor looked smug as he pulled out the emerald from before. “With this last emerald there won’t be a thing either of you can do to stop me, or your little friends. Enjoy your last moments.” With that Eggman turned on his heel and walked out of the room, presumably to go enact his plan.

“Well, this sucks.” Sonic sighed and he tested the bonds. Shadow didn’t say anything because he felt like at the moment if he did whatever he said wouldn’t be kind. Mostly because he was frustrated with the situation. “Any chance of a chaos control?”

“Not without an emerald.” Shadow huffed, pushing down his frustration as best he could. “We’re going to have to figure out a different way to get out of this.”

“Eh it’s never fun if it’s easy anyway.” Sonic was clearly forcing a more chipper tone. Shadow could tell he was worried.

“Relax faker. We’ll get out of this.” Shadow did his best to look over the things that bound them. It was hard because of the angle.

“I- yeah we will.” Sonic didn’t sound sure. “Hey Shadow? Mind if I tell you something?”

Shadow paused in his examination of the bonds for a moment. “Be quick about it.”

“Heh, easy enough for me.” Sonic cleared his throat. “I uh… like you.”

Shadow gave him a confused glance as he started working on the bonds; he might have found a way to get out. “I… like you too?”

“No not like… a friend.” Sonic emphasized the word. “Like more than a friend. I’ve liked you for a while now but I never had the courage to say anything.” He sucked in a breath. “Tails and Amy have been trying to get me to just say something to you but I’ve just… not had the courage.” He sighed through his nose. There was silence for a while and Shadow could feel Sonic squirm. “I uh- don’t worry if you don’t feel the same or anything I just wanted to get that off my chest.” More silence. “Are you… going to say anything?”

Finally Shadow managed to get their bonds off. He threw a chaos spear at the cage before turning around to offer a hand to help Sonic up. The other hedgehog took his hand, an embarrassed look on his face. “We can talk about this later.” Shadow looked away. “But know that your feelings are returned.”

Sonic gave him a massive smile. “Got it. Stop Eggman now, chat later. Cool. I can do that.”

The two ran through Eggman’s base, taking out any badniks in their way. Eggman jumped as the two burst into his control room. “How did you two escape!?”

“You should have tried harder to contain us.” Shadow scoffed and looked behind him to spot the emeralds slotted into some sort of machine.

“What do you say we handle this super sonic style?” Sonic smirked at Shadow, cracking his knuckles.

“Let’s do it.” Shadow nodded. The two rushed forward and called on the power of the emeralds. From there it was pretty simple to send the doctor packing. Clearly Eggman hadn’t planned for them to escape. After thoroughly destroying the doctor’s base they let their super forms drop.

“Soooo.” Sonic slung an arm around Shadow’s shoulders. “Can we talk now?”

Shadow huffed as he looked at Sonic. He gently shoved Sonic’s arm off before smirking. “If you can catch me first.” He took off and he could hear Sonic not far behind.

[myymi]

You could write a about shadow seeing a ghost/image of maria in tails. Like their hanging out and tails like does something that maybe Maria would do too. Or he just looks into tail eyes and just see an expression she did once like tails is in pain or happy.

word count-781 ------------------

Shadow knew he’d never see her again. He knew he’d never hear her stories of Mobius, never hear her laugh or whisper goodnight to him. He’d never get to see those bright blue eyes shimmer with that were framed by that beautiful gold. Or; That’s what Shadow thought. “Hey, Shadow!” Tails chirped, waving after the door had opened. The hedgehog forgot the kid was coming over today. “Hi.” He greeted, stepping to the side so the younger could walk inside. If he was being honest, Shadow wasn’t all that sure why he enjoyed the kid’s presence. He wasn’t the biggest fan of being around people, especially children. Most kids don’t understand personal space, they hardly ever stop talking, and they always ask the dumbest questions. But Tails was different. Sure, the kid still talked like crazy, but it never seemed to annoy the hedgehog. He didn’t understand why, but he welcomed the younger’s rants. “I brought the tools you asked for,” Tails smiled and shrugged off his yellow backpack, unzipping it to show the older its contents. Sure enough, there were all kinds of different tools stuffed inside it. Shadow nodded and nodded his head to the garage, “Come on.” He said before walking off, leaving the fox to scamper after him. “What’s going on with the Dark Rider, anyway?” The younger asked as they entered the garage, the motorcycle in question leaned against the far wall. “Something with its engine,” The hedgehog grumbled, leaning against the wall as the kit went over to the bike, setting his bag on the floor, “I can’t figure it out.” Tails hummed as he pulled the Dark Rider off the wall, carefully flipping it onto its back. He pulled a screwdriver out of his bag, quickly taking off the panel that hid the engine. Shadow kept quiet, content to just watch as the fox dissected his motorcycle. “Hey,” The kit mumbled about 5 minutes later, “can you tell me what was happening when you realized it wasn’t working?” He asked, peeking his head over the bike. “Well,” The teen sighed, “it sounded normal, but it kept spinning without doing anything.” “Then the issue isn’t your engine,” Tails said, sitting back on his knees, “it’s your fuse.” “The fuse?” Shadow raised a brow.” “A wire is probably in the wrong place,” The younger shrugged, ducking his head back into the motorcycle while using his communicator as a flashlight to check the main fuse. The hedgehog tsked, looking to the floor. He guesses he’s buying a new fuse today. “Yeah, that’s blown,” Tails grumbled, pulling his head out before getting to his feet as he brushed off his gloves, “easy fix. I’ll just need to run back to my workshop to grab a multimeter and circuit breaker.” Shadow gestured to the workbench he kept, “there’s some in there.” The kit smiled but waved it off, “Mine are custom built to help make the process faster, plus I’ll need a new fuse first. The Dark Rider seems to use twenty-nine amps, which I think I’m out of. I do have a shipment coming in tomorrow, if you don’t mind waiting?” The teen gave a curt nod, “That’s fine.” “Great!” The fox beamed, his tails gently wagging and the older could’ve sworn his eyes shined a little brighter. And, at that moment, Shadow could no longer see the fox. Instead, he saw those same bright blue eyes, framed by that familiar gold. The hedgehog could feel his breath stop for a half a second. Because, finally, it all made so much sense. She was why he let the fox in. She was why he listened to the fox. She was why he liked the fox. It was all her. “Shadow?” The teen blinked, his brow furrowing at the gloved paw that was suddenly waving in his face, “oh, sorry–” Tails quickly retreated his hand, taking a few steps back. “Sorry,” Shadow coughed out an apology, taking a deep breath, when will the shipment arrive tomorrow?” The kit studied him for a few seconds longer before answering, “Should be early afternoon.” The hedgehog nodded, “I’ll leave the door open. Let yourself in.” He grumbled before walking out of the room, leaving a very confused fox behind.

He just needed time alone. Just long enough so he could figure out how he feels about the similarities between the fox and his lost sister. They were far too alike one another. But.. maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe this is a second chance. A second opportunity to keep his promise. He’s not her, sure, but Shadow thinks he doesn’t mind. He’s rather fond of Tails, even without connecting him to Maria.

[kingofsummer93]

Ex Luna Scientia

Summary:

Lucien Vanserra, seventh son of the Minister for Magic, is as loved by his peers as he is hated by his family. But behind the charm and irreverence hides a secret, as dark and menacing as the scar on his face.

Elain Archeron, middle sister in a trio of muggle-born witches, has only one wish: for someone to truly see her. Because when she sleeps at night, she can see it all.

Or- an Elucien at Hogwarts AU.

Chapter 12: The Unexpected Task

Ao3 Masterlist

Lucien flicked his wand, concentrating on the non-verbal spell as he stared at the cushion in front of him. The cushion shuddered, the red velvet fabric splitting as a tail sprouted from one of the corners. The back, however, remained perfectly smooth, looking decidedly more like a throw pillow than the hedgehog he was meant to be turning it into.

“You stink at this.” Vassa smirked as her own hedgehog wobbled across the desk and climbed onto Lucien’s pillow, setting down for a nap.

“I don’t know why anyone would need to turn a cushion into a hedgehog anyway,” Lucien grumbled.

Tamlin grunted his agreement. His own attempt had been slightly more successful than Lucien’s- his cushion had sprouted not just a tail, but also spikes and legs. The effect, however, was far more horrifying, as the creature’s lack of eyes made it a walking menace.

“You should get that thing under control,” Vassa warned as the spiked creature pattered blindly around the floor.

“You know what,” Lucien declared, “I kind of like him. We should keep him.”

“He can be our fifth,” Tamlin added with a smirk.

“Yup, that’s exactly what we need. Honestly, sometimes I don’t know why I’m friends with you guys.” Vassa rolled her eyes and flicked her wand, smoothly transfiguring her hedgehog back into a bright pink cushion.

“You mean other than how simply dashing we all are?”

“You mean simply dung-brained,” Vassa quipped drily. She flicked her wand again and this time her cushion flew straight to Tamlin’s head.

“Speaking of dashing friends,” she continued, ignoring Tamlin’s yelps. “Have you spoken to Elain lately?”

Lucien’s stomach flipped with guilt. He kept his focus on his almost-hedgehog, schooling his features into a neutral expression. “Why do you ask that?”

Tamlin and Vassa immediately stopped their bickering and smirked at him in unison.

“You tell us.” Tamlin drawled. “You finally kiss her and now you can’t even see her in the hall without tripping over your own feet.”

Vassa snickered, earning a half-hearted scowl from Lucien. “Seriously, you were more smooth back in fourth year when you convinced Jes to go to the greenhouses with you.”

“That was pretty smooth,” Tamlin agreed, a faraway look glazing his eyes. “Snagging a seventh year, what a legend you were…”

Lucien smirked slightly at the memory. Elain liked gardening, didn’t she? Maybe he should ask her to come for a midnight greenhouse stroll with him…

“Don’t even think about it,” Vassa warned, crossing her arms. “I can see the wheels turning in your brain.”

Lucien sighed, flicking his wand again. His cushion shuddered and sprouted a few spikes.

“Did something happen that you aren’t telling us about?” Tamlin pushed. “You went from talking to her every chance you could get, to avoiding her…”

Lucien shifted uncomfortably under his friends’ searching looks. There was no hiding anything from them. They knew him too well.

“Yes,” he admitted, dropping his voice to a whisper. “But I can’t tell you about it.”

“What do you mean you can’t tell us about it?”

“Lucien Vanserra, what have you done?”

“I didn’t do anything!”

Lucien suddenly fell silent as he heard a noise near his feet. Too late he realized that the classroom had gone quiet, and that everyone was now staring at them. He stiffened as something slithered past his leg- a snake, thin and black like a whisp of shadow. It slid up the leg of the nearest desk, and with a brief flash of light Professor Amaratha appeared. The teacher crossed one leg over the other as she perched on the edge of the desk, regarding him with utter disdain.

“If I had a galleon for every stupidity that’s been said in the past five minutes,” she started unceremoniously, “I might actually be able to retire. Imagine what you could all achieve if you put half as much effort in your spellwork as you do with gossiping.”

“Sorry, Professor…” Vassa muttered.

Professor Amaratha ignored her and picked up Lucien’s half-hearted attempt at transfiguring his cushion, her lips curving into a sneer. “Since Mr Vanserra’s private life is of such dire importance, why don’t you go ahead and share with the class what you were discussing?”

Tamlin and Vassa shifted uncomfortably, glancing between him and the teacher. Lucien flashed a grin, though he knew it wouldn’t get him out of trouble with Amarantha.

“Surely you wouldn’t want me to spill my darkest and most dangerous secrets, Professor?”

Idiotic. It was a simply idiotic thing to say, but seeing Amarantha’s eyes flash with irritation was worth whatever punishment was coming his way. The entire class was still staring, most students looking like they didn’t know whether to cringe or laugh.

Amarantha’s silence was heavy and loaded with threat. “Fifty points from Gryffindor, Mr Vanserra, for mouthing off and for using my class as your gossiping time.”

An audible groan rippled around the classroom. “Next time please remember that in this classroom you are no more special than-“

“I don’t think I’m better than anyone!” Lucien interrupted, his temper flaring.

Amarantha smiled in wicked delight. “And another 10 points, for interrupting me.”

Lucien clamped his mouth shut.

“Since you’ve already interrupted the class, why don’t share some more?”

Why don’t you go back to the shit-hole from hell you crawled out of…

A bell sounded in the hall, announcing the end of class. There was a collective sigh of relief as everyone dove for their book bags, eager to escape.

“Not so fast!” Amarantha demanded, sliding off the desk and making her way back up to the front of the class. “I have an announcement. The school will be hosting a ball on December twenty-first, the night of Winter Solstice.”

The students, who had been inching their way towards the door, suddenly perked with interest.

“The Solstice ball is a traditional part of the Tri-Trials Tournament. The ball will be open to fourth years and above, but you may invite a younger student to accompany you if you wish.” The teacher paused and huffed as a few girls giggled at the back of the class.

“Dress robes will be worn, and there will be a feast followed by dancing.” Lucien had a sudden, horrible vision of Professor Amarantha dancing and visibly winced. The teacher sneered at him, evidently misunderstanding the gesture. “Yes, Mr Vanserra, dancing. I would suggest you change your attitude, seeing as the four champions and their partners will be opening the ball.”

“And here I thought you just said I wasn’t special?” Lucien quipped with a grin. As soon as the words were out of his mouth he regretted them.

The look Professor Amarantha shot him was nothing short of scathing. “Another ten points from Gryffindor. Class dismissed.

Lucien ignored his friends’ glares as he grabbed his book bag and hauled ass out of the classroom before he could get docked even more points.

“Well, there’s your opportunity,” Vassa declared.

“My opportunity for what?”

Vassa rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. “Your opportunity for a grand gesture with Elain! Ask her to the ball, you dummy!”

Lucien swallowed thickly, trying and failing not to imagine himself dancing with Elain at the ball. Or how stunning she’d look in her dress robes, or how it would feel to hold her in his arms.

“I can’t.” As difficult as it was to admit, he knew it was true.

Somehow he’d triggered that vision. If she kept getting close to him, what else would she see? And how soon until she figured out the truth? It wasn’t just his future at stake, but his friends’ as well. They risked getting expelled if someone found out.

He had known it all along, of course. People like him weren’t meant to lead normal lives. He wasn’t meant to be a normal teenager, with a girlfriend he could bring home and introduce to his parents.

This is the chest of drawers my assholes brothers once locked me in, this is my childhood bedroom, oh, and this is the cage where I get locked up once a month.

Elain wasn’t someone he could just have fun with and not get close to. She deserved better than that.

She deserved better than him.

---

“A ball!” Nuala held out her arms, twirling down the corridor as if she were dancing with an invisible partner. “I can’t wait, it’s going to be magical!”

“Do you think we’ll get asked by someone?” Cerridwen asked, biting her lip.

Elain huffed indignantly. “Of course you will, what are you talking about?”

“Easy for you to say when the most attractive boy in school is practically your boyfriend.” Nuala stopped prancing and stuck out her tongue.

“Lucien is not my…boyfriend!” she sputtered, feeling her face growing hot.

She hadn’t spoken to him at all since the first trial. It seemed like every time they so much as locked eyes Lucien would turn and walk in the opposite direction. He even managed to ignore her in Divination class.

Every time she thought about it her stomach clenched with regret. No doubt whatever interest he had before had vanished when she had babbled about visions and werewolves. He must think her insane, and she didn’t really blame him.

Her friends shared a knowing glance and Elain rolled her eyes at their antics. Still, she’d be lying if she hadn’t pictured being at the ball with Lucien ever since hearing about it. Not that she would ever admit that to them. She’d never hear the end of it.

As they walked down the marble staircase towards the entrance hall a familiar flash of red hair caught her attention. Lucien was standing in the middle of the hall, talking to a gaggle of seventh year girls.

No, not talking- flirting was a better word. The girls were giggling and twirling their hair, clearly fighting for his attention. And, most probably, hoping that he would ask one of them to go to the ball with him.

The sight of it made Elain feel idiotic for thinking he might ask her at all. Of course he wouldn’t. He hadn’t even spoken to her in weeks. There was no chance he would want to go with her and not one of these pretty, flirty girls, who looked at him like he was a god and none of whom were a freak of nature.

She felt a fresh wave of embarrassment as she remembered what she had told him the summer before, as they rode his flying bike. The ball would be the perfect opportunity for couples to sneak off to dark, private corners of the castle. No doubt he’d have more fun with one of those girls than with someone who’d gotten dumped for being prudish. Maybe that was why he’d lost interest. He’d realized she wasn’t worth all that effort.

“Elain? What’s wrong?”

Elain blinked, realizing she had frozen in the middle of the staircase. Her friends were peering up at her with identical looks of concern as students jostled their way around her.

“Nothing,” Elain squeaked. To her horror she felt tears pricking the back of her eyes. “I’m fine I just…I forgot something in the classroom, I’ll see you guys at dinner!”

Without waiting for them to reply she turned and bolted up the stairs. She fought her way through the throng of students making their way to the Great Hall, not bothering to apologize as she shoved her way through. She ran up the stairs and down corridor after corridor, until finally she was alone. With a heavy sigh she slumped onto a window ledge, and only then did she allow the tears to fall.

Stupid. She was so stupid and naive. Of course she wasn’t special. Lucien might have insinuated that she was but obviously he would say that. Of course the Pygmy Puff wasn’t the only gift he’d ever bought for a girl. He might have bought a whole cage of them, for all she knew.

Her breathless sobs echoed around the empty corridor. Elain hugged her legs to her chest and dropped her face onto her knees, hating herself for feeling this way. This was why she had kept her distance, even if part of her hadn’t wanted to. Because she’d known how badly she could get hurt if she let herself fall for someone like Lucien.

“Elain? Are you alright?”

Elain gasped in fright, her sobs catching in her throat as she realized she wasn’t alone. For one wild second she dared to hope that it might be Lucien- and then her hope crashed into bitter disappointment. It wasn’t Lucien, but Azriel. He was frowning, looking supremely uncomfortable as he scanned the empty corridor.

Great. Another boy who had avoided her like the plague for weeks. Just what she needed. Elain wiped her tear-streaked cheeks with the cuff of her robes, hoping she didn’t look like as much of a mess as she felt.

Are you alright. As if he hadn’t caught her sobbing in an empty corridor. She almost wanted to laugh.

“I’m fine.” Her voice was still slightly choked with tears.

Azriel looked unconvinced. He shuffled awkwardly, a slight flush staining his cheeks.

“I’m fine,” she said again, with more conviction this time. “I was just…upset about something.”

“Something? Or someone?”

Elain huffed in irritation. “I’m not quite sure how that’s any of your business.”

Azriel’s blush deepened. He held up his hands, wincing slightly. “Sorry, obviously it’s none of my business…” He trailed off awkwardly.

“What are you doing here anyway?” Glancing around the corridor Elain realized she had run almost all the way to the North Tower. Probably as far away from the Slytherin common room, down in the dungeons, as you could get.

“Oh!” A slight grin tugged at Azriel’s lips. “I was, uh…I was looking for you, actually.”

Elain frowned suspiciously. “How did you know I’d be here?”

The grin widened. “Got lucky, I guess.” His hazel eyes, usually perpetually trained on the ground, were bright and sparkling. He looked more animated than she had ever seen him.

“Are you drunk?”

Azriel laughed, the sound brighter and merrier than any sound she’d ever heard him make. “No. Why would you ask that?”

“You seem…strange. Happy.”

“Ouch. Don’t spare my feelings, Elain.”

Elain winced apologetically. “Sorry, I didn’t mean…sorry.”

Azriel only grinned at her, and it was Elain’s turn to shuffle awkwardly. “Um. You were looking for me?” Suddenly she remembered that their last conversation had been an argument in the middle of potions class. An argument about Lucien. Her wariness returned, accompanied by a bone-deep longing for her bed, where she could hopefully wallow some more. Uninterrupted, this time.

“Yes.” Azriel cleared his throat, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. “I wanted to apologize. For what I said to you, when we had that argument. It wasn’t fair…or very nice. I’ve felt bad about it for weeks but I’m terrible at this kind of stuff…”

Some of the tension eased off Elain’s shoulders. “I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. It’s his fault, he always finds a way to get under my skin.”

She knew she didn’t have to specify which he she was referring to. She expected Azriel to sneer, but he only smiled at her knowingly. “Friends?” he asked, extending a hand.

Elain laughed, shaking his hand. He was definitely a little bit drunk. “Friends,” she agreed. “You know, I think this is the most I’ve ever heard you talk.”

He blushed again, dipping his chin. His floppy dark hair fell over his eyes with the motion. He was really quite cute when he smiled. And when he talked.

“There was something else I wanted to ask you.” He took a deep breath, as if bracing himself. “Willyougoballwithme?”

Elain blinked in confusion and huffed a laugh. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“Will you, um. Will you go to the ball with me?”

“Oh!”

Elain felt a flush bloom up her cheeks. She thought of Lucien and that gaggle of girls, all swarming for his attention.

Azriel’s eyes were wide and hopeful, his hands clenching and unclenching, as if he didn’t know what to do with himself. Maybe this was what she needed. Someone quiet and kind, whose interest in her might last longer than one kiss.

“Unless someone already asked you, or you don’t want to, it’s totally fine…”

“Oh, no. No one’s asked me yet. Um. Sure, I’d love to go with you.”

Azriel grinned broadly, looking like he couldn’t quite believe it. “It must be my lucky night.”

She’d have fun, she decided. She’d dance with Azriel and make sure Lucien saw, and she wouldn’t care about whatever girl he danced with.

And maybe she didn’t quite believe it yet, but she told herself that by Winter Solstice she would.

---

Lucien lay slumped on the dusty four-poster in the Shrieking Shack, the weak light of dawn filtering in through the grimy windows. The pastel-colored light illuminated the dust motes and dirt that covered the place, but in the light of day the shack looked no more menacing than what it truly was- a dilapidated old cottage, no ghosts or otherwise evil creature in sight.

Every inch of his body screamed in pain. His bones creaked and ached, and his muscles were sore and stiff as if he’d spent an entire night running through the woods. Which, of course, was exactly what he had done.

He stood up gingerly, his head swimming with a rush of dizziness. There was a foul taste in his mouth that he chose to ignore for now, though it made his stomach churn. Blood, flesh, and the unmistakable texture of feathers. He gritted his teeth against the sudden rush of nausea. Probably just a pheasant. He’d certainly eaten stranger things before.

Just the thought of it was enough for his stomach to give another mighty lurch. He barely managed to stumble to the bathroom before retching violently. This was another reason he strictly forbid his friends from staying with him when he transformed, however much he longed for their company. Seeing your friend retch up firewhiskey was one thing, but seeing them retch up a half-digested woodland creature was another business entirely. Not that they would do anything but tease him for it.

His legs shook as he made his way down the underground tunnel back towards the Whomping Willow. More than once he had to stop to catch his breath, leaning against the damp earth walls as he fought the lingering nausea. The Whomping Willow stirred as he finally crawled his way out of the hidden entrance.

“Calm down, you ridiculous tree…”

Great. Now he was talking to trees. He desperately needed sleep. He was so exhausted that it was an effort to lift a stick and press the knot to silence the Whomping Willow. All he wanted was to stop by the infirmary, drink a whole jug of pain tonic, crawl to Gryffindor Tower, and pass out in his bed until at least mid-afternoon. Thankfully it was Saturday and he wouldn’t need to come up with an excuse for missing any lessons.

The heavy wooden front door groaned as he pushed it open and walked into the warmth of the Entrance Hall. He raked a hand down his face, wishing he could simply apparate up to the infirmary.

“Lucien?”

He froze, his blood running cold. That voice was familiar enough that he knew who it was without a doubt before even looking. For a few moments the Entrance Hall appeared deserted, and Lucien frowned, his heart racing.

But then, sure enough- there she was, stepping out of the shadows next to the door that led to the kitchens and Hufflepuff dormitory.

“Elain. Hi.” His voice was hoarse with exhaustion, and he knew without looking at himself that he must look as wretched as he felt. “What are you doing?”

Elain looked him up and down, her eyes widening slightly at his appearance. Merlin, what must she be thinking? He only hoped there was no blood on his face. Or feathers, for that matter. Scratches and bruises could be explained, but…

“What are you doing?” she demanded.

“Quidditch practice.” The lie came easily, though he hated himself for it. “I couldn’t sleep, so I figured I’d get some extra practice in.”

She frowned, doubt written all over her face. She didn’t move from the other side of the Entrance Hall, and Lucien didn’t dare step closer. He didn’t need her to take a closer look at him. The faster he ended this conversation and the less questions she asked, the better.

“What are you doing up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday?”

“Herbology project. I’m growing Venomous Tentaculas, they flourish best if you transplant them at dawn.” Lucien relaxed slightly. That sounded definitely plausible. Just a coincidence, then. A terribly unlucky one, but still just a coincidence. “After a full moon.”

Those four words seemed to take an eternity to click into his consciousness. “What did you just say?”

Another frown. “I said Tentaculas need to be transplanted at dawn after a full moon for them to grow properly.”

Shit. Shit shit shit.

“I didn’t want to go outside until after sunrise since, you know…”

“Oh. Right, of course. Shit, I didn’t realize it was a full moon…” Did he sound convincing? He looked over his shoulder at the front door and widened his eyes for good measure. “Well, I didn’t see anything while I was out there...”

When he turned around Elain was still staring at him. He cleared his throat, inching his way towards the marble staircase. “Well, I should go take a shower, I probably stink.”

Elain was still hovering near the edge of the entrance hall, still looking at him with a mixture of emotions he couldn't quite place. It almost looked like she was waiting for him to say something else.

Lucien could practically hear Vassa’s voice screaming inside his head.

Ask her to the ball, you dummy!

The words were on the tip of his tongue. Even if this was not the way he would have gone about it- sore, exhausted, smellier than the bottom of the Great Lake and probably just as slimy.

But then he remembered the look on her face when she told him about her vision. That look had been nothing but pure fear. She might not agree with his father on his policies, but that didn’t mean she’d be willing to date a werewolf, either.

“Um. I’ll see you later, then.”

“Right. Sure.” With that she strode across the hall, keeping her gaze on the floor so her long locks hid her face.

“Wait!”

She paused with her hand against the front door. When she turned to look at him her eyes didn’t quite meet his. She bit her lip, and the sight of it (and the memory of how those lips felt against his) was almost enough to obliterate his resolve.

“Did you bring your gloves?”

Her gaze did meet his then, her lips parting in surprise. “What?”

“Venomous Tentaculas are dangerous, aren’t they? Make sure you use gloves.”

He felt her eyes on him as he turned and hurried up the stairs, practically running away from her before she could say anything.

Or before she could spot the pain in his eyes that had nothing to do with his sore body.

[dracarialove]

📄 F it, I'm posting my finished fics here, too 📄

*Check the 'rouge's heart' tag if you haven't read previous chapters

[Chapter 4: Romance]

Shadow went to work with no expectations that the eye-catching bat would show up, the hedgehog knowing very well how many people skipped out on plans. She hadn't even confirmed a definite desire to visit him, so he went about doing his job as usual.

But every time the bell on the door chimed, his ears perked up and his eyes darted hastily towards the entrance. Still hoping to see her walk in, his heart beat rose for a second before returning to normal when he realized it was just another stranger.

After hours of pouring coffee and serving pastries, he'd gotten caught up in the flow of steady customers and the mysterious woman had slipped his mind. It wasn't until her white Corvette pulled into a parking space – glimmering under the setting sun – that he remembered again, briefly being distracted from the order he was taking.

The customer – an older, orange bobcat – asked in a gruff voice, "What's the total?"

Shadow turned back, looking down at the register. "$7.50."

His gaze wandered to look out the big glass windows again while the customer paid, and he saw Rouge step out of her car. His eyes didn't linger once he knew it was her, handing the bobcat his food and beverage. A faint smile pricked at the corners of his mouth, his heart rate rising again. As the older man left, Shadow watched him in an effort to naturally catch the bat's eye when she entered.

The customer kindly held the door for her, Rouge thanking him and immediately looking at Shadow with a smile on her face. The hedgehog's eyes widened a bit, enraptured by how happy she looked to see him; it was something he wasn't used to, let alone from a beautiful woman. Part of him didn't trust the way she was making him feel, unsure of how to act when his demure nature was being challenged.

"Hi," she greeted, her eyelids lowering slightly. "Told you I'd be back."

Her playful opener made him react a bit awkwardly, Shadow not quite ready to respond in kind, but trying anyway. "You said you might come back."

Her smile didn't change – a sign he hadn't messed up yet. "Well, how could I not? The service is so good here."

Instinctively, he let forth a breathy chuckle. Another thing he wasn't used to – compliments, even from clientele. He wasn't skilled enough at witty banter to continue, so he instead asked, "What'll you have?"

"Just a hot chocolate this time," answered Rouge, refusing to break eye contact even as he put in the order and gave her the total.

"I'll take my lunch break so we can talk," he offered, handing her the drink, then nodded toward the front door. "Outside – it's more relaxing."

She nodded, taking the steaming cup and turning to walk out. The hedgehog removed his apron on the way to the back room, leaning in and addressing the coworker who was unloading inventory. Once his place had been taken, Shadow prepared a cup of coffee and met Rouge at one of the parasol-covered tables directly outside of the shop.

The bat's left elbow was resting on the tabletop, her cheek leaning into her palm. "Hopefully your afternoon wasn't too crazy."

"It never is," he replied, pulling his chair up to the table and setting down the coffee. "I don't think this place is popular enough to get that busy."

"It's a cute little shop," Rouge commented, glancing at the building. "They'd better be treating you well."

His eyes moved up from his cup as he took a sip, admiring the twinkle in her turquoise irises; her ivory hair looked soft, curling cutely behind her shoulders. He swallowed the scalding coffee, feeling the warmth hit his stomach, and managed a half-smile.

"It's an easy job," came the calm response. The intensity in her gaze strangely intimidated the hedgehog, forcing him to look away.

Rouge took the opportunity to sneak a peek at his figure, noticing lean muscle that meant he took care of himself; she liked that his fingers were anxiously tapping against his cup, finding it endearing that such a mysterious man would be nervous around her. She followed his gaze to study the darkening sky, running her eyes over the clash of orange and purple as the sun slowly sank.

Shadow suddenly spoke, drawing her attention again. "Dusk is my favorite time. Something about the harsh brightness of the orange meeting the melancholy indigo..."

He trailed off – Rouge raising an eyebrow at the poetic observation – then shook his head. "I don't know."

"No, I agree," she said encouragingly. "It's sort of like opposites attracting, or one piece completing another – even when they don't look like they go together."

His face slowly turned back to hers. "Yeah... I don't usually meet people who appreciate this time of day. Everyone seems to like dawn better."

He chuckled and added, "For some reason."

Rouge liked the way he laughed; it was soft, relaxing. A nice change from her boisterous ex, as Shadow seemed much calmer overall. Still, he had a certain alertness about him, quickly turning to look at the street when a car loudly zipped past. Raising his cup for another sip of coffee, the hedgehog could see a level of interest in her eyes that made him feel like she really was having a good time.

"Crazy people," she said, chuckling as well and shaking her head. "Although, I'll admit, I would have thought a guy like you would enjoy nightfall more."

Shadow shrugged and looked down, briefly cocking his head to one side as he did so. "Well, I used to. Not anymore."

His expression looked to be in reaction to a negative memory; Rouge thought about asking, but decided it wasn't worth it to prod at something that might be unpleasant for him to explain. Besides, then she would be obligated to do the same – and she was not ready to talk about Knuckles. So, she went to change the subject, when the hedgehog spoke up again and did it for her.

"What do you do for a living?" he asked. It was a safe question, an easy transition to a new conversation, and something that the bat was much more comfortable discussing.

"I'm a jewel hunter," was her answer, the woman gracefully sitting up straight and cupping her drink with both hands. The motion naturally brought her chest forward, which she didn't mind if Shadow glanced at – but his scarlet eyes remained on her face. "Well, I guess career-wise, I'm a government agent. It's what pays the bills, but that's not exactly what I'm passionate about."

He nodded, his half-smile returning. "So, you serve the people, in a way."

"In a way, sure – when I'm not doing my own thing. If I could just travel and take vacations for a living, believe me, I would."

"Well, anything to get away from the mundane world, right?"

She smirked and nodded definitively, then picked up her cup before asking, "What're your own desires in life?"

It was his turn to raise an eyebrow, pausing for a few seconds as she sipped her hot chocolate. His mouth opened slowly and he stated, "I'm not sure I really have an answer for that."

She lowered her drink again. "Really? You don't have a big goal you're striving for?"

Shadow shifted awkwardly, then leaned forward and rested both arms on the table, crossing the left over the right. After thinking for another second, he said, "I guess I don't. Maybe that's a problem."

His sentence sounded more like a statement of fact rather than a prompt for her to disagree, but Rouge felt inclined to reassure him anyway. Reaching her arm out, she rested her gloved hand on his forearm.

"Not at all! Actually, it's potential for lots of opportunities! Think about it: you could do anything you want just for the enjoyment of it. Not having to worry about working towards something... that's not all bad."

Her grin brightened his mood a little more, the hedgehog's own smile growing. He pulled his right hand out from under his arm and placed it on top of hers, feeling warmth in his chest while their gazes lingered on each other. Then Shadow's buttery smooth voice broke the silence and sent a light shiver down her spine.

"Would you like to go out to dinner? Perhaps tomorrow night?"

Rouge almost immediately said yes, but remembered that she had already made a promise to Blaze. Her excitement settled and she answered, "I would, but I made dinner plans with my friend and her boyfriend for tomorrow. Could we do it the night after?"

The hedgehog nodded, his curved quills flowing with the movement. "Sure."

Before he could continue his thought, the other barista opened the shop door and called out, "Hey, Shadow, is your lunch over yet? My shift's almost done."

Shadow turned – his right hand leaving Rouge's – and replied, "Yes. Just a minute."

The coworker walked back inside and he looked to Rouge with his resting, neutral expression. "Does 8pm sound alright?"

"Perfect," she answered, slipping her hand off of his arm. "Let me give you my phone number so we can set up a location."

They both stood and pulled out their cells, Shadow programming her number into his and sending a text to make sure she got it. Then they wished each other a good night, the bat taking her drink with her to finish on the drive home.

Rouge smiled to herself as she saved the handsome hedgehog's contact, taking her phone off of silent before opening her car door. She looked back once more and allowed herself a moment's glance at Shadow through the window as he donned his apron, then climbed behind the wheel and backed out of the parking lot.

***

When the jewel hunter arrived home, she felt more energized than when she'd woken up, pulling out her phone again and opening up the near-empty message history under Shadow's name. She suggested an upscale restaurant, revealing it to be her favorite establishment and offering to pay her own way.

He responded, "I've never been. But I trust your taste," making the bat bite her lip as she subconsciously swooned over the compliment.

Soon, she was preparing a meal to fill her grumbling stomach and tapping her foot to lively jazz music. Her melodic voice harmonized with the instrumental while she cooked, shutting out any detrimental thoughts and preventing her previous worries from ruining the evening. After dinner, she went up to her bedroom and began preparing an outfit for the following night out with Blaze and Silver, putting on calming classical tunes to wind down.

The stylish bat didn't spend too much time ruminating on what would look good enough to wear on a casual friend-date. Instead of her typical heart-shaped chest piece and purple bodysuit, she chose a dark blue blouse with long fanned sleeves, deciding to drape it over simple black leggings. She would couple the ensemble with plain black boots, opting to skip wearing any gloves.

Once she was happy with her choices, she hung the outfit on the outside of her wardrobe and went through her nightly routine before throwing on a thin black night gown. She briefly thought about going through the pictures on her phone again, but denied herself when the idea still caused a tinge of hurt to rush through her chest. Instead, Rouge let her body sink into her soft mattress, calming her mind before drifting off to sleep.

***

After the captivating woman had told him goodbye, Shadow stole a glance as she walked away; he couldn't help but swiftly run his eyes over her curves before turning and entering the coffee shop to let his coworker go home.

After the hedgehog put on his apron, he looked through the lobby and at the front door to make sure there were no customers around. The headlights of Rouge's car shone through the window shortly before she pulled away, Shadow disappearing into the back room as soon as she was out of his sight.

He leaned his back against the cold cement wall and let out a deep sigh, tilting his head up and closing his eyes. His hand raised to press against his chest, feeling the heart inside thumping firmly against his palm.

Trying to steady the pulse, he took a few deep breaths and opened his eyes again. The bumping slowly subsided until his heart rate was back to its resting state, the hedgehog confused at the shaky feeling fluttering through his body.

He got back to work, soon addressing a customer while thoughts of Rouge still lingered in his mind. A little while later, he received a message from the bat telling him about a fancy restaurant; the name was unfamiliar, but he skimmed the reviews and decided that it was a good choice. His lips curved into a smile more naturally as he typed out a response, the reserved man finding it easier to compliment her through the screen.

His gaze scanned over their short conversation for a moment before he slipped his cell phone into the pocket of his apron, continuing the evening shift with little enthusiasm until it was time to lock up for the night.

When he did, he contemplated texting Rouge with a good night message, wondering if it would be rude to leave their exchange where it was; but he concluded that he was overthinking things. Shadow closed out the night by taking one last look up at the stars, silently thanking the universe for letting him meet her.

[heckinconfusedparade]

Part 4: Have You Seen My Hedgehog??

It’s Tails’ turn to visit Shadow. Not because he wants to talk, but because Amy said they should probably feed him. Shadow is just sitting, tapping his fingers on the metal top of the table. He stopped trying to lift it up. It’s far too heavy for him.

His attention is directed to the opening door. He hadn’t realized how small Tails was before. Tails places a plate of food in front of him. Shadow gets a forkful of his meal “thank you..”

Tails only lets out an “mmn.” In response. He starts heading for the exit, when Shadow calls out “hey, wait. I have a question.” Tails turns around silently.

“How old are you?”

Tails is taken off guard. “Hm?”

“You look.. fairly young.”

“I’m 8.”

Shadow blinks “you’re- you’re 8???”

Tails nods “Mhm”

Shadow is shocked, almost appalled. He mutters to himself “the doctor spoke of the fox with such… astonishment, yet hostility.. like a rival.. Why is Robotnik so hellbent on destroying a child he considers a prodigy?..” he wonders. Can’t they just simply learn and grow off each other? If Tails is as gifted as Robotnik says, wouldn’t teaming up be a better option?

Shadow stares down at his plate.. now that Knuckles had mentioned it.. the red flags he was warned about are waving frantically for his attention. Tails gives him a dirty look and leaves.

As Shadow eats, he wonders why nobody has come looking for him yet. Robotnik would have surely noticed he’s missing by now..

To his surprise, Tails returns, this time looking annoyed. He frees Shadow from his cuffs “dad wants these back for his shift.” He says then mutters “can’t you just get new ones??” He quickly leaves, and presses a few buttons outside the door. The door slams shut and “PRISONER MODE: ENGAGED” can be heard throughout the treehouse. Ain’t no way this hedgehog gonna escape.

Shadow does some stretches, stiff from being in one place so long. He decides to investigate the room for an exit.

What he doesn’t know is that the cell is Sonic and Knuckles proof. That was the standards Tails had built it to in order to keep the prisoner IN. Originally it was meant for Robotnik, or a fun game of Cops N Robbers.

These new people are certainly interesting.. two of four treated him with kindness. Even Sonic, the guy he was supposed to destroy. Sonic didn’t seem to have any feelings of anger towards him. Not that he’s showing, Anyway. Shadow takes Knuckles’ warnings into consideration. Amy and Tails bring only questions. Amy was not mentioned by Robotnik, and Tails is much younger than he expected him to be, and he is not comfortable fighting a literal child.

Meanwhile, Robotnik is trying to pinpoint where the heck his hedgehog went. He is this close to putting up MISSING flyers. He’s been both on his computer and pacing by the door. He shouts in anger “WHERE IS HE?? He should be back by now. I can’t go over there myself…” idea! “STONE!! get in your disguise. I have a mission for you.”

The doorbell of the Wachowski house rings around noon. Maddie answers. In the door stands a man dressed in a G.U.N. uniform. She begins to shut the door, when the man stops her “ma’am I would just like to speak with you about recent accusations against your…son.” Stone can’t believe the blue blur got himself adopted.

Maddie glares at him “I’m not going to speak with you, nor is anyone else in this house until we have our lawyer here.” She slams the door shut. Stone sighs. This is gonna be harder than he thought.

He looks around the yard and spots the treehouse. He scans it, but the readings come back as a normal treehouse. Stone checks it out anyway, because he is aware of the little genius that resides in the household. As he gets closer, he notices some security measures. There’s security cameras, a lock pad, a ring doorbell, and even a sign that says NO ADULTS ALLOWED.

He sends all data to Robotnik for further inspection. Something is off about this little treehouse.

Sonic is hiding. He’s very good at hiding. He takes a picture of Stone’s face. He adds the photo of his list of people to avoid.

He shows his brothers, parents, and Amy the picture. They all have the same feeling of deja vu like they’ve seen him before.

Robotnik is not very happy with Stone’s initial update. Then he receives the data. As he digs deeper and deeper, he discovers there much more to this treehouse than meets the eye. Whoever built it took good care to hide as much secrets as possible, and Robotnik wants to upturn every stone. As much as he would love to go there himself, he doesn’t want to run the risk of another 3 vs 1 situation. Stones not a fighter.. that he knows of.

Stone gets a motel in Green Hills. It’s been decided they’ll wait another day for any new sign.

Shadow receives his dinner from Sonic in the evening. Tails has refused this time. He places Shadows food on the table. Shadow hardly acknowledges Sonics existence, as he is ping ponging around the room. Sonic has done this himself to test the strength of the walls, but actually getting to witness it is quite neat! And a little freaky with how fast Shadow is going.

“Hey! Dude! Calm down, dinners ready.” Sonic says, hands on his hips. Shadow stops, looks at Sonic, and goes to his table to eat. “Why are you giving me the silent treatment?” Sonic asks, a little sad.

“I have nothing to say.” Shadow responds “you’ve trapped me in a dark metal box with no escape. Why do you have this thing here anyway?”

“Oh! It was originally built just in case Eggman is still alive and shows his bald head and freaky moustache around here again. Just to hold him until we get someone to get him.”

“..Eggman?”

“Eggman is what I call Robotnik.

Shadow wonders for a moment.. then tries to hide a small amused grin “..he does look like an egg.”

Sonic laughs and lets Shadow finish his meal. He then remembers “oh right! There was this guy snooping around our yard. You don’t happen to recognize him do you?” Sonic shows Shadow the photo he took. Shadows eyes widen “..that’s Dr. Stone. He’s Egg-…Robotniks assistant.”

Silence. Sonics heart has dropped. Shadow sighs “you should let me go. But if you want to die at the hands of brilliance, you be my guest.”

Sonic stands up “I’ll talk to the others..” he leaves Shadow to finish his meal and drink. Shadow balls up in the corner of the room to take a nap.

Sonic finds the others and gathers them in the living room.

“Everyone, we need to have a talk. Remember that guy that came by today? I showed a picture of him to Shadow, and he says that the man is Dr. Stone, which means Robuttnik is trying to find him. He wants to know if we can let him go, to spare us whatever Eggmans got coming. I.. I wanted to know what the rest of you think.” The others think on Sonics words.

On one hand, if they let Shadow go, he could lead Robotnik back or, because he knows where they are, tell Robotnik about any secrets.

On the other, if they don’t fork the hog over, someone’s gonna get hurt.

Ultimately they decide to let Shadow go.

Shadow and Sonic race back to San Francisco.

They make it there at the same time. Sonic cheers “I win!” Shadow scowls “no you didn’t, hedgehog. I won.”

Sonic sticks his tongue out childishly “nuh uh!” Shadow rolls his eyes back playfully “yeah huh!” And suddenly he freezes.

. . .

“Maria! You ate my chips!”

“Nuh uh!”

“Yeah huh!”

“You literally have the bag in your hand.”

“I didn’t see your name on the bag, Shadow!”

“Fine then. I’m eating your cookies.”

“NOOOO-“

. . .

Shadow comes back to present time to Sonic waving his hand in front of his face “hellooooo? Shadow, you there? Earth to Shaaaadz”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Oh you’re back! What was that, dude?”

Shadow avoids eye contact. Frankly, he doesn’t know what that was. But.. it gave him a warm fuzzy feeling of familiarity. Whoever this Maria was, she was important to him.

“None of your business… and next time, I’m beating you. Til we meet again, Sonic the Hedgehog.” Shadow turns his back and starts to walk away.

Sonic waves “bye Shadoooow!” And off he zooms to get home.

[duckwithablog]

Hey duck! Little update! I’m feeling better. Thank you for the kind words! The good vibes were very much appreciated. <333

As a follow-up to your response, I also liked happy wheels back in the day! I never played it myself, but I loved watching happy wheels on YouTube. Furthermore, I too enjoy the Sonic franchise… despite how terrible I am at playing the games heh… I’m starting to realize that we have a lot of the same interests. 🙃😅

Anyways, I’ll leave you with a few questions as always. <33

What’s your favorite sonic character? As edgy as he is, Shadow is my favorite. (I’m sorry, but like- guy actually has a good backstory with Maria.)

Also, have you seen Sonic Prime, or Sonic X? 👀

-🍑 anon

Man, it's like we're the same person frfr,, Insert spiderman pointing meme here

Honestly, valid!! I can see why Shadow is such a fan favorite, he's such a silly and traumatized little blorbo. His backstory with Maria is so tragic, like.... Bro sees his sister figure get gunned down in front of him, and not only that, ever since waking up from the pod he is literally alone. Everyone on the ark that he knew, the only family he's ever had, they're all gone. RAHH HES SO TRAGIC!!! BUT HE ALSO OWNS A GUN IN HIS OWN GAME AND THATS FUCKING HILARIOUS

I can't believe u got me thinking about Shadow the Hedgehog at one in the morning LMAOOO

Anyways!! You are NOT ready for my fav sonic character. He is literally peak blorbo to me. I love him with all my heart.

Are you ready. Are you ready to be fucking blown away with how AMAZING my blorbo is. (/lh)

THATS HIM. THAT IS MY BOY. HIS NAME IS IAN JR AND BEFORE YOU SAY ANYTHING, HE IS AN OFFICIAL (YET VERY MINOR) SONIC CHARACTER AND I LOVE HIM HE IS SO FUCKING SILLY RAAHGHHG

His lore and how he became official is honestly very simple, but it's like 1am so I'll just link a video if you want to know more abt him!! (The Sonic OC That Became Official - YouTubewww.youtube.com › watch)

But aside from Ian Jr, my other favorites has GOT to be Knuckles (he is my babygirl) and Chaos Sonic from Sonic Prime (my fav beepo ever)!!!

Man.... Blorbo, Babygirl, and Beepo.... It's like the Holy Trinity of my brainrot

As you can tell, I've seen Sonic Prime! It's one of my favorite pieces of Sonic media, and one I'm looking forward to the most, bcs I think s3 is coming out somewhere around early 2024. I haven't finished Sonic X, but I've watched a majority of the first season and I loved it! I've been planning to go back to it and watch the sub version instead, because I wanna see any cut scenes the satan of censorship (4Kids) left out in the dub.

That's all from me!! Hope you continue to do well, 🍑 anon!! Until then, do you have a fav piece of sonic media? Are there any games youve played?

[redpenship]

jumper (2/14)

Sand is not kind to Shadow's air shoes.

For the sixteenth time that day, he is thrown violently into the desert floor after too much sand slipped into his shoes' jets and stopped their propulsion. He rolls once, twice, until he comes to a stop in the scorching sand.

With a hiss, he scrambles to his feet and shakes the sand out of his fur. All of this is terrible. Those stupid motherfuckers at the colony are going to pay for dumping him out here to die.

Don't they know killing him is really hard? If he were as fragile as everyone else, he probably would've kicked the bucket a long time ago. Does his existence as the Ultimate Lifeform mean nothing to them?

Whatever. He's sure that they'll realize the error of their ways when he returns to kill them all.

After an hour or so of walking, he finds a rock formation flat enough to sit on. Some of it is covered by the shade of a boulder, so he might even be able to rest out of the sun for a bit! How lucky.

Once he's settled in, he takes off his air shoes and carefully cleans the sand from the jets. The process takes at least twenty minutes per shoe. Really, it might be worth walking the rest of the way if it means he won't have to clean out his shoes twice an hour. He'll reach the colony later than planned, but at least he'll be less frustrated by the time he gets there.

He straps his feet back into his shoes, and then hears a sonic boom in the distance.

Oh, now isn't this just perfect.

He follows a cloud of kicked up sand with his eyes as Sonic approaches his location. Like usual, it takes no time at all for the blue hedgehog to get there.

Sonic skids to a stop next to him. He pants with exhaustion and looks at the sky with apprehension. "The sun is really killer these days, huh?"

Shadow gives him a level look. "You could say that."

In a stupid gesture, Sonic feigns wiping sweat off his forehead and then finally meets eyes with Shadow. It's stupid because hedgehogs sweat through their bellies. Why bother even going through the motion if it has no benefit?

"Whew! Anyways, long time no see." Sonic breaks eye contact to survey the area. "Is it really like this everywhere? I thought the colony people were lying when they said the whole world was a desert."

"They're telling the truth. The world fucking sucks."

For a moment, Sonic looks like he wants to say something. He seems to decide against it with a small shake of his head, then awkwardly leans back on his heels. A few minutes of silence pass before he speaks again.

"Are you going to kill them?" Sonic asks. He says it casually, with the levity of someone inquiring about another person's weekend plans.

Shadow raises an eyebrow at the question. "Will you stick around long enough to stop me?"

Sonic clicks his tongue and puts a hand on his hip. "You're not allowed to ask me that."

No matter how important the rules of their interactions are, they can be pretty annoying. "Fine. Then yes, I do plan to kill them. They deserve it."

He wonders how Sonic feels about it. If he met the same colonists that Shadow did, then he would know all about their post-apocalyptic slave empire. He would also know that Shadow had been banished after attempting to destroy them.

Sonic probably has very strong thoughts about that colony. Perhaps those thoughts carry more weight than his personal ethical philosophy.

Like usual, Sonic does not make these feelings known. He simply nods and says, "Yeah, okay."

Shadow gives him a once-over, then stares at him for so long that Sonic becomes visibly uncomfortable. Still, he does not let up. There is something about this situation that feels wrong. There is something missing.

Finally, he finds it.

"You're a bad actor," he says with a smirk. Sonic's eyes widen a little in surprise. "You've gone farther than this before. This entire world is the result of a massive ecological disaster--a personal nightmare scenario for you, I'm sure. Shouldn't you be freaking out right now?"

Sonic groans. He holds up a hand. "Stop. Just--stop. You are breaking so many rules right now."

Still, Shadow pushes. "If you're going to do this, you need to get better at acting. You can't make it so easy for me to figure this stuff out."

"These are your rules too, Shadow." Sonic is now visibly frustrated; his arms are crossed over his chest and one of his ears twitches in annoyance. "You have to follow them as much as I do."

With a shrug, Shadow leans back and lays down on the rock. He closes his eyes and smiles. "Leave, Sonic. This isn't a good place for you."

It takes some time for Sonic to finally cave to Shadow's request. Without saying goodbye, he takes off in a cloud of sandy dust and disappears into the distance.

They don't really need to say goodbye. They will see each other again soon.

[writingtraumaforever]

Sonadowtober Day 1: “I found you, Faker!”

Okay! So I know it’s November 1st. But I’m feeling super angsty, and I just joined tumblr a few days ago. So I joined right as all this Sonadowtober stuff was ending and I WANNA DO SOME!! So I will continue to unapologetically write these prompts despite them being late. Sorry not sorry.

Though.. I may be a little sorry for this one. c:0

TW: major character death, depression, grief

Summary: What if Shadow didn’t get to watch Sonic grow old??..

Oneshot:

He never thought about this.

It never even entered his mind.

When Sonic and Shadow made the choice to commit to one another all those years ago, it was understood that it was a win-lose situation. Sonic would grow old and Shadow would stay with him through it and eventually watch him pass with time, grateful for the moments they shared and the love they created.

The adventures they had.

Shadow would lose Sonic, but carry him in his heart forever. A lesson Maria taught him.

Sonic was never taught that lesson.

Sonic has lived in blissful assumption that he’d be the one to go. That he wouldn’t have to live without Shadow. He’d die of old age with Shadow holding him in his sleep and his face buried in his partner’s chest fur and the scent of lavender lulling him to an after life of peace.

But here he is at the ripe age of fifty…

And the monument reads ‘Shadow the Hedgehog’.

His eyes are lifeless. He doesn’t worry about being recognized. No one would spot him like this, so drained and broken. And even if they did, they wouldn’t dare approach..

His ears are folded back against his quills. His quills are longer and duller in color from maturity, going from a cobalt blue to a more muted, dark, cornflower blue. His muzzle is scruffy, the tan fur having messy tufts here and there.. Shadow no longer being around to lick and groom them neat. And Sonic doesn’t bother without him..

Emerald eyes that use to shine with adventure and the promise of tomorrow are now dimmed to orbs that hold no reason. No joy.

He’s never experienced this kind of loss. Even when he has watched other pass into another life, it was always euphoric or riddled with closure and peace.

Shadow’s death was sudden. Unexpected.

Sonic could still see his face. The way the world stopped moving. The way Shadow’s gaze immediately searched out Sonic’s. The way Shadow looked so much like he wanted to speak. Reach out. Say something. Touch him. Even in his final moment, Shadow was just trying to get to Sonic..

There were no words though. No moment of goodbyes where Sonic got to hold his beloved in his arms, cradle him as Shadow weakly smiled up at him and assured him everything would be alright. That they’d meet again someday. That Sonic had to keep going for him. Take care of himself.

No. Anything that hadn’t been instant wouldn’t have been able to kill the Ultimate Lifeform.

Anything less than abrupt and sudden wouldn’t have been sufficient enough to do him in. Shadow was the epitome of perfection. He was powerful. He would’ve gotten through. Would’ve healed. Would’ve recovered.

No. Instead, all Sonic got was a moment of realization. An instant of the two fastest beings alive in the world being able to share a fragment of time measuring less of a second where they knew this was it. Nothing would stop what was coming.

He got a look.

He got a glance.

He got Shadow’s eyes going wide and filling with dread. Not a smile of reassurance. Not peace with his death.

No. Shadow was regretting the fact he wouldn’t get to take care of Sonic anymore.

Shadow was hating himself for not being more careful. For leaving Sonic alone.

Sonic wasn’t fast enough.

And Shadow was gone.

He stares at the memorial.

He had to fight with himself to come here. He hadn’t shown up for the grand reveal. The ceremony. He couldn’t.

It wasn’t for any of those people anyway. It was for him. And maybe that’s selfish of him, but he doesn’t care. They didn’t know Shadow. They didn’t love and appreciate him how he should have been. They only wanted him when they needed him. Sonic always needed him. Even before he wanted him.

‘Shadow the Hedgehog: The Ultimate Lifeform’

That’s all they knew of him. What they made him to be. Not who he was. Not all of him.

It makes Sonic more angry than anything. Honestly, that may not be the worst thing. At least he’s feeling something.

He’ll be okay. It’s all still fresh, he’s broken. Freshly butchered into shattered pieces and unsure what he’s suppose to do now. Where he’s suppose to go from here. What his endgame is anymore.

But time will heal.

It’s a hard battle: time. But it’s doable.

There’s moments of hardship where Sonic wonders if any of this is worth it. If he even wants to be in a world anymore without Shadow. If he even wants adventures anymore if they can’t be shared with his other half.

But he has his friends. Gaia knows without them he wouldn’t have made it far.

Sonic eventually has the strength to pack up and move… and it’s an experience.

Sonic had moved to the guest room after Shadow’s death. Unable to sleep in their bed alone, he moved to the lumpier, smaller one for one miserable night before realizing that he couldn’t possibly sleep there and he moving back in with Tails and his little family. Tails didn’t mind. Anything to help Sonic cope. And Tails’ wife and two adopted kiddos love Sonic. Kept him occupied.. his mind busy with them rather than death. This works for a long time. A little over a year, in fact.

Eventually, though, he does return to his and Shadow’s home.. only to pack up things to move out. He won’t sell it. He can’t. But he can’t live there either. And he can’t stay in Tails’ workshop forever so.. moving it is.

Inevitably, this means Sonic has to deal with Shadow’s belongings as well.

He wears his clothes again, smells his scent for the first time in a long time due to him not touching any of it. Keeping it closed and put away. Shut out. Untouched and unbothered. Still the exact same as Shadow left it all despite everything being different.

But change was inevitable, adjustments needed to be made. And Sonic couldn’t dwell in a home anymore that was meant to be shared.

During this adjustment, Sonic finds Shadow’s journal one day..

It’s filled with entries about Maria.. entries about his nightmares. About how helpless he was. About how he’s suppose to be the Ultimate Lifeform and yet he wasn’t enough to save her..

The entries of nightmares dwindle into entries about his past. Pieces being put together. Then more about his present. His hobbies, things he enjoys.

There’s ones about Sonic. How Sonic confuses Shadow. How he’s annoying and awful and unbearable, but then that’s immediately followed up with ‘must continue thorough and close observation of blue hedgehog’ and Sonic can’t help but smirk and chuckle to himself at Shadow’s oblivious crush.

Entries of Rouge and their missions. Entries of more flashbacks here and there, pieces still being filled after years of waking up again.

‘The blue hedgehog smiles at me too much. I hate when he smiles. It makes my insides twist, and I instantly feel like I could be ill.’

‘Rouge brought home more stollen jewels today. Her unyielding loyalty to her thievery is admirable.’

‘Omega shot me in the leg by accident. He insists it was my fault because he isn’t programmed to make mistakes. I told him the same for myself and then shot him in the leg as well. He found this acceptable. We’re now even.’

‘I ran into the blue faker today. He winks too much.. I’m beginning to wonder if our chaos energy doesn’t mingle well. My muzzle grows heated and my heart hurts with how hard it beats in my chest when he stands close to me. Why does he think he can stand close to me???’

‘Rose invited me over to teach me how to make macaroons today. The texture is interesting. We even made lavender ones. Turns out, lavender doesn’t taste as good as it smells. Like an off-vanilla… the coffee ones were best. Recipe as follows—‘

‘The faker came over today. He asked me to go to lunch with him. I hate him.’

Sonic snorts at that, his smile wide as he reads through the entries. Reading Shadow slowly realize he’s in love with him. Reading Shadow slowly realize he’s gonna be okay. Reading Shadow slowly realize he doesn’t need to remember who he once was, just figure out who he’s gonna be from here on despite all he’s lost. Despite how it sometimes feels too hard to go on.

Maria would want him to.

And so would Sonic.

Sonic cries for a long time that day..

Life goes on.

Sonic moves into an apartment since he isn’t home much anyway. Amy likes it because when he is home, he’s in the city like her and she can visit him often. Sonic likes the company. She takes care of him. She never really hasn’t since he’s known her, honestly.

Sonic goes on adventures still. Even when he’s so old he gets cramps from running, he doesn’t quit. He stays in shape the best he can. He watches his friends grow up. Their families grow. Their lives flourish. It’s everything Sonic ever wanted for all of them.. happiness.

But Shadow isn’t there, so it’s never complete. Never filled full. Never perfect.

Sonic and Amy eventually move in together when Sonic’s adventures aren’t doable anymore. It’s easier that way once they’re older. They take care of one another and have adventures in the city. They’re two of the most rambunctious old people one could ever meet. True hoots.

They have their routines. Sonic waking up and going out for a walk while Amy sleeps in in her room, and every time he comes back, breakfast is ready for him at the table with her sipping her tea by the window with a book. Every Monday is yoga. Every Wednesday is Amy’s book club. Every Thursday is Sonic’s cooking lessons with Cream. Every Friday is the day they get together with their friends and have dinner and game night at someone’s house— typically Knuckles’ and Rouge’s since it’s the biggest. They’re a lively bunch of geezers. But Sonic is happy.

He is..

He thinks about this as he goes to bed one night.. brushing his teeth and wishing Amy goodnight before going to his room to call it quits for the day.

He lays there watching the sky outside the window near his bed. The stars are too dim due to the city lights, but the moon is there.

He fiddles with the inhibitor rings Shadow once wore— having kept them since his death and carrying them everywhere as a comfort of sorts— a content smile on his face as he sighs and shuts his eyes.

He’s had a good life.

Not the best. Not perfect. But it’s been good and real. And he’s happy. He’s been happy for a long time.

Shadow would be proud..

He’d be happy for him.

He’d be—

“Of all places..”

Sonic’s lips part with a quiet gasp, his heart stopping and leaping straight up into his throat, “I found you..”

“…Took you long enough.”

Sonic’s eyes open, looking up to see Shadow standing there with a small quirk of his brow and unimpressed look at Sonic.

Sonic smirks in response, slow and easy, “I wasn’t aware it was a race.”

“Hmph,” Shadow huffs, arms crossing as he cocks his head at the blue hedgehog, “I was under the assumption that everything was a race to you.”

Sonic moves a hand to push off the ground, standing himself up with ease and no aching knees or back, “Yeah? Well you know what they say about people who assume.”

Sonic’s smirk stays. Cocky and filled with anticipation. His toes are tapping on the grass under his feet.

Shadow’s eyes narrow, looking at Sonic a long moment as if to just take him in. Observe him. Size him up.

And then his muzzle curls upward, a slow smile growing on his lips as he shakes his head and looks down with a chuckle.

Sonic beams as he watches him, feeling elated and floaty inside. Itching to touch. To reach. To feel.

Shadow looks back to him, an endearing smile on his face as he gazes at his other half, “…C’mere.”

Sonic doesn’t hesitate. A small gust of wind and Sonic’s body is pressed firm and tight to Shadow’s. Tan arms wrap tight over the ebony hedgehog’s shoulders, squeezing him hard and desperate. Not a breath of air between them.

Shadow just chuckles low in his ear and hugs him right back, arms around his waist and bare fingers rubbing through Sonic’s back quills soothingly. Sonic melts into him. Safe. Secure.

Home.

“I’ve missed you..,” Sonic whispers quietly through tears, feeling Shadow’s kiss press and hold to his temple.

“I’ve missed you,” Shadow murmurs against his fur, his ruby eyes shutting as he clings to Sonic a bit tighter.

He’s so tender with his touches. As if Sonic is so delicate. So fragile. Like he’s trying to make up for all the lost time he couldn’t mend him himself..

His hand rubs along Sonic’s back quills while the other moves to cup the side of Sonic’s head and cradle it to hide Sonic’s face against Shadow’s neck protectively.

Sonic just nuzzles against him, rubbing into him and sighing shaky as silent tears fall and tiny sniffles come from him.

“You’ve done so good, darling..,” Shadow says quietly into his ear, a whimper croaking from Sonic.

He didn’t realize how much he needed to hear that..

“But it’s time for you to come with me..”

Sonic’s head lifts then, looking at Shadow and nodding profusely, “Yes—“ he reaches a hand up to wipe at his own tears as he continues, “Yes, please.”

Shadow hums a chuckle at that, smiling sympathetically as he moves his hand rubbing Sonic’s back to cradle his opposing cheek. Bow cupping Sonic’s face in his hands so delicately, he presses their foreheads together, “I’m so proud of you, hedgehog..”

Sonic sniffles, taking a slow breath and sighing it out as he looks at Shadow achingly sweetly.

Shadow’s head tilts to press an ever so small kiss to Sonic’s lips, Sonic returning it on instinct and longing.

It’s been so long..

They part their kiss and Shadow pulls away to instead simply take Sonic’s hand in his and give a small squeeze,

“Let’s go home..”

“I’ll race you there.”

[the-sprog]

EPISODE 4

-i jsut realized the paradox prism is probably what they're calling the broken parts, while paradox emerald is for the whole thing. still don't know what the difference between a chaos and paradox one is.

-OOH purple girls is here again? No it's Big nvm. Does Shadow just never exist in these universes? is it because he found a chaos emerald just in time? why WAS HE looking for those? does he just do that every once in a while? was that for the fight with eggman? he didn't even do anything with that.

-niiiice the shoes and gloves adapt to the universe

-I love you Knuckles. I believe you. trees talk. I can see that. what's on his knuckles? i fully thoght the spikes were part of his body. are they not?

-God sonic is so stupid.is he not wondering where the shard is? should've called them shards btw instead of prisms

-WOAH wolverine moment!

-they fully don't have robots? does tails not exist in this universe? they have no tech, absolutely none?

-NEW YOKE? WAS IT NEW YOLK THIS ENTIRE TIME AND THE SUBTITLES LIKED TO ME?? TWICE?? WHY NEW YOKE

-Ok now sonic is callinf them shards. see he's smart afterall.

-I like mangey tails omg hes feral this is amazing omg

-i love this universe so much omg

-How many times am I going to call sonic an idiot? too many probably. its deserved. it comes from a place of love.

-ok backstory. bark is edible though right. also i havent specukated on what the monster is.

-I really fucking love mangey

-I feel like sonic would've helped regardless. prim didn't need to lie to him like that

-ooh loop-de-loop comeback

-I fully believe Gnarly can talk to plants

-oh no that's so sad cmon not the frog sob

-is.. is amy the monster? shes the only missing. but laos shadow is missing. and i know theres someone called sticks or something in some canons and shes kinda feral?

-it's some kind of harpy? a chocobo? ostrich?

-"enough running" never thought I'd hear that from sonic the hedgehog

-A FLICKY?

-OH. CMON PRIM YOU COULD0VE SAID THAT EARLIER

-"i hate spikes" bru you HAVE spikes. also that hammer? totally Amy.

-Ok she looks cool as shit. she's got a mohawk. nice.

-Sonic does not get the concept of alternate universes does he

-Are amy and sonic siblings?

-Thorn Rose. Of course. wait is she Amy Rose in the... Prime verse?

-HUH? HIS KIND?

-She knows the shard thing! The great green though?

-ok not really a mohawk but i like it anyways.

-they're starving, thorn. what do you eat? that you're so much better?

-oooh that's why the trees ar eso big! theyre feeding on the prism

-why does she want it? nvm probably to fic the forest

ok another "alternate amy is about to kill sonic" cliffhanger

EPISODE 5

-aww flashback to them being friends again!! I love those!

-WHO THE FUCK IS THAT GUY! he keeps dhowing up! who is Big???

-i think it's the right amount of sentimental but yeah ofc he doesn't get it

-truly feels like a boss battle

-did he just get his head stuck in the cage bars?

-the chase scene is really fun. really seems like a video game level

-gosh gnarly never change

-BIG IS A CAT? BUT ROUGE ISN'T?

-ok so they were disfiguring the place lol they weren't following gatherers rules

-bless him he's trying

-GODDAMMIT YOU GUYS IT WAS WORKING

-Thorn if going for the kill

-he's getting the tree thing. nice.

-no no no he's got a point. humans are part of the ecosystem, and taking them out would seriously damage it. and also taking the light yeah.

-birdie is the actual name of that... flicky?

-IS HE TALKING TO THE TREE? WAS GNARLY RIGHT? I always believed in him.

-OFC birdie can fly dude.

-I mean... I'm on thorn's side though, they WERE destrying the jungle

-birdie's the same thingy as in the flashback!!

-Mangey kearned to fly he's gonna be a manace

-are the shape of the eyes indicative fo the species? like some of them have two eyeballs, while amy and sonic have one like a unibrow. I didn't pay attention to shadow in this regard but. does he have only one as well?

-oooooh the frog!

-hes gotta say "gotta go fast" at least once per episode it seems

-ah fuck it's a back to the future mechanic. Shadow i s in the nothing and sonic needs to... well, go fast.

-hey back in new yolk!! and the revolution started huh?

I'm watching Sonic prime because you can't give me multiverse and unlikely allies and think I won't watch it.

But this is the first piece of Sonic media I've ever consumed (sonic underground doesn't count cause I remember nothing of it, and neither do the films) so. Live blog lmao.

-"Shadow is... Complicated. More on that later" can't wait bro

-Ok rouge the bat is a good guy? I thought she was vaguely anti hero ish.

-what the fuck is a paradox emerald. I stopped at chaos emeralds. What's the difference? How are they created? This one was just... In a cave???

-"sonic boom of a headache" ah ah I see what you did there.

-whats with the knuckles slander!!!

-THATS NEW YORK??????

-so they're not allowed to talk to other people I guess?

-why are they making it seem like it's his shoes that make him fast????

-are rings currency? I was under the impression they were currency. Why is he looking for cash rn

-fickeis???

-he knows what smog is. How does he know what smog is. He lives in a forest.

.

.

Does he live in a forest? It's like... All green.

OH ITS WHAT EGGMAN WANTED! A WORLD RESEMBLING HIM AND NOT SONIC.

-What is the prism shatter??? Do they mean the paradox emerald? So sure they called it the paradox emerald and not the paradox prism.

-WHATS WITH THE TAILS SLANDER!!!

-Yes I know he insulted sonic as well but I think sonic deserved it in that moment.

-ok shadow was just. There. Dudes not even helping. You live here you asshole! Do your part!

-"Tails never gets upset" that's unhealthy!

-is 1992 the year the first sonic game came out? Something tells me that's the year Sonic's first game came out.

-...what's the difference between a trap and a trick?

-why Rouge! The only thing I know is that you're a cat!

-WHY ARE THEY CALLINF IT A PARADOX PRISM NOW?

-the fact the place IS called "the loop-de-loop" and it's not just what Sonic calls it is. Priceless.

-ngl I thought sonic was gonna be more... Sassy? Clever? WITTY! but no. He's a lot more like how I imagined Knuckles to be. Knuckles is my favorite btw. I know nothing of him other than he's vaguely mean and dumb. But not like Shadow's angsty edgy mean. More like a jock kinda mean.

-also no one explained why it's called the paradox prism. Or why Rouge knows what it is/that that's what Eggman was looking for.

-oh there you go end of flashback. Also where the FUCK is shadow. How later sonic? How much later?

-Rusty Rose?? That's Amy isn't it? Like Evil alternate universe Amy.

-i don't know who Babbles is.

-IS THAT A BOP IT?

-Ok no it isn't.

- I don't understand what the shoes malfunctioning means. Is his speed artificial??? Are they like Spider-man's web-shooters?

-EGGMAN IS A FATHER? WHO'S THE MOM???

-Also Rose said there were other rebels. Wonder if it's the same squad- oh they answered my question. Rouge is not Rebel. And I guess Knuckles is also a rebel. Don't know if Tails is gonna be good or not. Cause I remember seeing something about a Tails with robot... Tails.

-YOURE IN AN ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSE! WHY WOULD YOU THINK THINGS WOULD BE THE SAME.

-ok I was right. His name is... Nine? Also these episodes are really long.

-oh he still has the regular tails. It's more of a doc oc situation. I thought they were prosthetics.

-GEEZ "I was trained by the misery of life and this dark and heartless city" GEEZ

-gonna assume he's gonna be like "why'd you save me??? Why would you do this for me??"

-oh lord game footage that's cool as shit.

-sonic is not gonna pierce this together is he? And Nine is not gonna be like "yeah alright this guy is insane"

-MR.DR.EGGMAN. that's... Too much.

-Aww they're doing a little Tails bragging moment. Talking about how they're friends that's sweet.

-CHAOS COUNCIL? We're back to the chaos nomenclature??? what happened to the paradox shit? the hardest part of this is not that I don't have any sonic knowledge, it's that I have SOME sonic lore knowledge gained through osmosis and it's clashing with the lore that they're trying to establish in this cartoon.

-Nine is going for the full spider aesthetic huh?

-yeah. the tails are cool. I've always liked tails too, he's just too smart for me and i feel awkward when i don't understand him.

-COOL SHOES UPGRADE. Ok so the shoes are like... making it so that he doesn't explode due to the natural energy in his body, which i assume is what makes him fast. and that he'd be faster if he didn't have them, but also... more explode-y.

-HE ISN'T MISSING MEMORIES YOU IDIOT

-Oh the baby is back. I don't know how to feel about the baby.

-BLUE STREAK lol

-Ok that's an pixar's incredibles looking trap.

-OH SHIT SHE'S A ROBOT? oh not a robot. Rose is a cyborg and the way she talks about it amkes me sad.

-Nine??? is good or?? confused about his alliances.

-What. who. what. there's a whole family??? is... eggman their dad or?? who's the mom?

-of course he has hair in this "perfect" universe.

-are they like the chaos emeralds that can fuse to become the master emerald? and part of a whole??

-what's with casual dehumanization

-gosh he's such a dumbass but like an annoying one but also like indearingly so?

-I'm never gonna remember which eggaman is which. except babbles cause. yknow. toddler.

-omg the lasers effect is so ucking cool!! thay's a real nice scene ahhhh-

-they're like video games levels. alright. for now I'm really enying the visuals and the storytelling methods. on the story itself i'll see when it really gets going.

-oh no.

-ok I like the baby.

-OH THE PLOT THICKENS! the same energy as what powers the city? is the city powered by the emeralds? or by like- SHADOW??? IS THAT YOU-

-oh flashback 2. I don't know why but somethign about Tails' design looked... off. he felt naked. does he usually have like a scarf? goggles?

-Knuckled is just... hanging on the plane oh lord i'm dying.

-WHAT DO THE RINGS DO??? "in case eggeman gers in a lucky shot: rings" what??

-DOES SHADOW HAVE ROLLERBLADES?? ok he's raising on my list of favourite characters.

[viacursecasting]

Sonadow Scenario #58

He hated Valentine's Day.

Shadow found it to be a frivolous occasion. Why is only one day dedicated to partners when it should be every day? Why give in to corporate greed and capitalism? Why give the single Pringles like himself a bitter reminder that he's forever alone?

Absolutely despised it.

He was sick of all the stupid love songs. Sick of all the pink and red shit. He wanted to shoot every heart-shaped thing that crossed his path.

Worst of all, he was sick of all the couples shoving their love in his face.

In a way, he was kind of glad one of Eggman's robots sent him crashing through a row of carnival stalls.

The pain helped him forget the emptiness.

Groaning, he clumsily attempted to reload his pistol, blinded by the blood that spilled from the cut on his eyebrow.

But the robot stomped on his forearm, forcing him to cry out and drop his handgun. He tried to break free to no avail.

His quills flared. If he had to perform Chaos Blast to free himself, destroying half of Twinkle Park in the process, then so be it...

Suddenly an azure spinball rammed through the robot, crushing the metal as if it were paper. It toppled over with a creak, emitting one last spark of electricity as a dying breath.

Confident the bot was out of commission, Sonic immediately ran to the lifeform's aid. "Shadow! Are you okay?" He brought out a handkerchief.

But Shadow swatted the blue blur's hand away as he got to his feet. "I'm fine. Your concern is unnecessary."

Sonic huffed stubbornly, holding the agent's wrist to keep him still. "My concern is absolutely necessary. You're bleeding, for Chaos' sake!"

Shadow froze, taken aback that someone dared to contest him. His vision was impaired, but he could feel Sonic's firm yet gentle touch blotting away the mess on his face.

No one's... ever touched him like that before.

"There," Sonic said upon finishing his handiwork. "Now you look less like a serial killer."

Shadow grimaced, but he muttered his gratitude anyway.

"You sure you're okay, though?" Sonic asked once more. "You seemed kinda distracted."

Even as the hero said it, Shadow spotted a couple kissing, grateful for each other's safety.

His heart stung.

Sonic followed his gaze, and he seemed to understand. "Y'know, Shads, Valentine's Day isn't just about romantic relationships." He saw the agent's ear perk up, so he elaborated, "It can also be about relationships that are familial, platonic, and... whatever we have." He chuckled.

But Shadow wasn't amused. He held up his wrist, which the hero still clutched. He leaned close, his tone a threat. "And what exactly do we have, hedgehog?"

Sonic flushed, immediately releasing him. "I... Uh—"

Suddenly a park employee approached them, waving for their attention. Once he caught his breath, he expressed, "Thank you for taking out those robots."

Then he saw how close the hedgehogs were standing. Realization hit him. "Oh. Did you know couples get free admission today?"

They burned red, backing away from each other as they uttered:

"I beg your pardon—"

"Oh, w-we're not—"

It was too late, for the employee stuck some tickets in their palms, giving a farewell wave before helping some other patrons who looked lost.

The hedgehogs glanced at the tickets, then at each other before averting their gazes.

Sonic was the first to speak up, rubbing his neck as he eyed one of the carnival games. "I've kinda... always wanted one of those prizes on the top shelf."

Shadow smirked, gesturing for the hero to follow him. "I'll show you how a pro gets it done."

[beevean]

The ARK, and consolidating Shadow’s corruption

What’s this? I still have Things to Say about ShTH levels nobody cares about? Yes, it’s not my fault this game has gallons of untapped potential :)

I planned to write only one last post, but since it turned out a little too long, I thought it was better to split in two parts. This one is a little shorter than the others, and it’s about Shadow’s trip to his old home with his dad. Fun, right?

The ARK is the darkest 5th stage in the map, and you can reach it in two ways: either Shadow detonated Black Doom’s giant bombs in Central City, destroying at least part of it, or Black Doom succesfully corrupted Shadow enough to let him experience a false memory in which he killed every G.U.N. soldier during the famous raid on the ARK.

Obviously, both of these events are nothing short of a Moral Event Horizon. Either Shadow is a full-fledged terrorist, or he succumbed to Black Doom’s violent brainwashing to the point that he can no longer trust his own thoughts. In any case, if you reach this point, it’s too late for him to redeem himself.

Look at him, he’s out for blood. Even Black Doom is happy that Shadow has “finally come to realize just how abominable these humans are”. And personally, I find the music that starts playing when the cutscene focuses on Shadow’s hatred-filled eyes a little unsettling, as if it’s saying “This is not Shadow anymore. Who is this monster?”.

Much like its mirror counterpart Lost Impact, The ARK has an unbalanced set of missions, only Neutral and Dark. It again emphasizes how Shadow can’t turn “good” anymore; but it also conveys how alone Shadow is now. He has rejected the help of many of his friends and, depending on the route, committed unspeakable crimes: his only ally in the world is the manipulative Black Doom, from which he cannot escape anymore.

There’s actually not much to talk about the level itself: for being the second-to-last stage in a path, it’s incredibly easy, as you literally fly your way through shooting at your targets with the Black Volt. Either you destroy 4 defense systems to allow the Black Arms to get to the Eclipse Cannon, or you… don’t. It’s a needed breather between what came before and what comes next, but it’s a shame that it’s so easygoing considering the heartwrenching context of Shadow violating his old home under Black Doom’s orders.

On that note, the music is worth talking about:

It’s a very catchy remix, the only contribution to the soundtrack from Tomoya Ohtani no less, of Sonic Adventure 2′s Final Rush.

What’s the significance? I think it’s pure irony. Final Rush is the last stage of the Hero Story in SA2, where Sonic has to make a mad dash to prevent the Eclipse Cannon from firing. In ShTH, you return to the same location (with a very similar level design if you bother getting off the Black Volt), but as a villain with plans to fire it again. If you played SA2 before, revisiting a beloved level in this situation just rubs salt into the wounds.

Anyway, much like Lost Impact, what’s really interesting is the endings both missions send you to.

You can suddenly tell Black Doom “nah i can’t be bothered with opening the way for you, cya” and fly to the Goal Ring in 2 minutes or so. Shadow’s musing at the end of the mission implies he’s simply filled with nostalgia for “where it all began”. The big man is strangely okay with this, even though he doesn’t get to use the Eclipse Cannon: he can still threaten humanity, and with reason. He also still trusts Shadow enough to ask him for help with G.U.N. raiding the Black Comet. (It makes me think he didn’t really need the Cannon, he was just being petty.)

Believe it or not, this is the path you have to take if you want to see Shadow becoming Black Doom’s servant: dispatch 50 of the G.U.N. mechs on the Comet, and Shadow will find his place to the right side of the alien lord.

It’s actually creepy how easily Shadow vows loyalty to Black Doom and forgets everything about finding his own identity, and I can’t help but wonder what kind of existence he’ll live with him.

(small comparison: in the Japanese version, he says “My name is Shadow the Hedgehog… The strongest soldier, chosen by the ruler of darkness, Black Doom! Together with him, using this wondrous power, I shall dye the ugly world in black!”. Not only Shadow sounds less servile, but there are several paths that lead to this ending named after the concept of “dyeing in black” and especially being a “soldier”. A clear case of lost in translation, but the English version isn’t bad, so I’ll let it pass)

(and before you ask, I hate the Semi Dark-Hero ending so I refuse to spend more time thinking about it than the writers did, which is “they didn’t”)

But let’s back up a bit. What if Shadow is a good obedient tool and destroys the 4 defense systems instead? In that case, after murdering the poor pilot of the Blue Falcon, he gets a front row seat to watching Central City crumble under the Eclipse cannon.

And then he goes to the last stronghold humanity has left, where he loses what little sanity he had left.

The second part of this post will be about my favorite stage in ShTH. See you then as I try to convey how horribly well-written the evil endings are :)