#nobody gets me no one understands i am shadow the hedgehog

[civetcider]

My toxic masc trait is having a really hard time putting my emotions into words unless they are somewhat aggressive ones and i have been slowly trying to express my affection for people into words more but at the end of the day I'll always be somebody who expresses my love more with actions then anything else, and normally I wouldn't make a dumb ass tumblr post about my feel feels either cuz like who cares but I need to know if other masc and butches or like anybody else have experienced this too where, people just WONT GET IT? like I'll try to SHOW someone I love them in every physical way I know how and then they will be like "how was I supposed to know how you feel, you never said anything" crushing my heart into a million pieces, like a punch in the gut, i was trying to show you but i guess you just like didn't notice or my actions didn't mean as much to you as they do me, it's fine I'm fine

[tenebraevesper]

Sonic Cyber Revolution, Entry 45: I Will Fight Like I Always Have

''Suffer long and it will set you free! Only through trial do we find the strength we need! It's never over, just another day! All hope and tragedies and everything that comes our way!''

– All Hail Shadow by Shadow the Hedgehog (2005, Shadow Theme Song)

xXxXxXx

''Here we are, Infinity Forest,'' Touka muttered as the helicopter lowered, trying to find a place to land, but the forest was too dense for it. However, Team Dark had no problem leaping out and landing using their own means. They looked up, observing the helicopter as it left, then turned to their surroundings.

''It has been quite a while since you've last been here,'' Rouge commented, turning to Shadow. ''It must bring back a lot of unpleasant memories.''

''Tch,'' Shadow scoffed, folding his arms across his chest. Rouge just shrugged, understanding that Shadow wasn't going to get sentimental about the place where he was abused. All he wanted was to find Mephiles and battle him, with Omega sharing the sentiment.

''Scanning for any hostile lifeforms.'' He turned to his surroundings, only for his eyes to suddenly flash brightly. ''Hostile lifeforms found! There!''

''It has started!'' Shadow gritted his teeth as he, Rouge and Touka tensed.

Suddenly, the ground below them turned into crystals, spreading all around the open field before the Codex Research Facility. Not only that, but walls out of crystals rose around them, encompasing them into a crystal structure with a ceiling forming above them.

''Wh-What? What is this?!'' Rouge exclaimed, suddenly feeling nervous. This was certainly not part of their plan.

''Vision and senses have decreased!'' Omega informed them. ''The crystal structure is interfering with my sensors!''

''Stand your ground! This field has just been turned into a battle arena!'' Shadow ordered, managing to stay calm. His gaze was fixed on the sudden shadow that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, followed by a familiar figure. The shadow stopped right before them, with Shadow glaring daggers at his foe.

''I had figured that it would be better to make sure nobody interferes in this battle. Do you like what I had done?'' Mephiles asked, his eyes flashing in a dark periwinkle purple colour, only for the glow to fade. He then chuckled darkly, waiting for a response from Shadow. However, much to his annoyance, the dark hedgehog remained silent. Mephiles' eyes narrowed. ''Tch, what an Edgehog.''

''Don't mind him. The point is that we had finally got the attention of ARMS,'' Toshiro said, walking up to them. He gave Touka a malicious smirk. ''Hey there, big sister!''

Touka gritted her teeth in anger, a vein popping on her forehead.

''I am not your sister!'' Touka shouted back furiously. ''Only because we share DNA doesn't mean we're family!''

''I didn't expect her to get so worked up over that. But, let's be honest, sharing DNA with the very person who attempted to traumatize you and murder you is an inconvenience,'' Rouge commented, glancing at Shadow for a response. The dark hedgehog just narrowed his eyes, his scowl and side-eye being clear enough for an answer. Rouge smiled knowingly. ''Yeah, I had figured you'd feel the same.''

''Also, what's the big idea? Have you really attacked the Hunters so ARMS would send us here or is there an ulterior motivation for this challenge?'' Touka continued.

''Well, I won't lie that one of the reasons was because I still had been trying to become an only child, but I had hoped that you would be a bit more thankful,'' Toshiro replied, with Touka giving him a confused look.

''Thankful for what?'' she asked, blinking in surprise.

''Thankful for finally getting you out of ARMS HQ, obviously! That's what you wanted all along, isn't it?'' Toshiro replied, grinning proudly. However, when Touka didn't respond, mainly due to being too stunned by this revelation. ''Oh, please, don't tell me that you actually wanted to stay there. There is no way they have treated you that well.''

''No, I'm just stunned that you know all of that,'' Touka responded in a deadpan tone.

''It helps that my partner is someone who has eyes and ears everywhere,'' Toshiro said quite proudly, taking note of the paranoid look Team Dark just gave them. ''Also, it was a lucky guess.''

''What?''

''Hiroshi Sakamoto had quite a lot to tell us about ARMS before his unfortunate death. Considering what we knew about Project Shadow and ARMS' general attitude towards it, it wasn't hard to guess how they would treat you,'' Mephiles explained, turning towards Shadow. ''It must be quite frustrating to be surrounded by people who see you as nothing but a weapon of mass destruction.''

''It's no different than my time at the Codex Research Facility,'' Shadow responded in a blunt tone.

Mephiles gave him a hard stare, clearly expecting a more emotional response. ''I suppose that's a fair answer. Nevertheless, I'm certain that the cruelity you had experienced has only been amplified since they finally got to use you the way they wanted. In fact, it wouldn't be surprising if things escalate even further.'' Shadow narrowed his eyes, with Mephiles floating closer to the dark hedgehog. ''Nobody cares about you, and eventually, you will lose your own will. ARMS has indeed more plans for you and for Touka, and this is just the beginning.''

Mephiles was suddenly startled when an orange spear of energy appeared under his chin, with Shadow pointing it at him. The dark hedgehog was glaring at him, clearly irritated with this one-sided conversation. Mephiles managed to keep his cool however. ''Don't you want to know your future? I could help you escape the horrors you'll be subjected to.'' The Chaos Spear was pointed even closer to Mephiles' neck, but he continued to speak without any sense of fear. ''Don't tell me that you're fine working for them. Do you really want to subject Touka to further suffering?''

This made Shadow snap, as he charged at Mephiles, swinging the Chaos Spear in an attempt to impale the latter, but Mephiles disappeared into the void on the ground, the black hole then splitting off into multiple of them, causing shadow-like entities to rise from them. Mephiles appeared next to Toshiro. ''You should've listened to me.''

Shadow frowned, glaring daggers at Mephiles, only to hear Rouge addressing him. ''Omega and I will take care of those things. You and Touka focus on Mephiles and Toshiro.''

''Destruction Mode: Engaged,'' Omega announced, his arms turning into cannons and turning towards the immediate threat. Shadow turned to Touka, who nodded in determination. This time, he wasn't afraid of tapping into her BioEnergy. This time, he was going to go all out in this fight. He could see Mephiles and Toshiro reaching out for each other, both sides shouting and signaling the start of the battle.

''CHAOS SURGE!''

xXx

Lucas's eyes widened as he stared at the documents that were listed before him. ''That's… disturbing.''

''You mean, the possibility of using Irregulars as weapons of war or selling them off to… 'trusted clients' for experiments… Calling it disturbing is an understatement,'' Warren said, feeling quite tired. Fortunately, he and Tails were finally done with their work, and while there were still some things they needed to sort out, the majority of work was finished.

''You'd think that ARMS was the least of our problems,'' Tails muttered, rubbing his forehead. ''I guess that kidnapping Shadow and Touka was just the start.''

''Honestly, if you go by history, the military has always been up to some shady practices, and one would think that nowadays, such things wouldn't happen, but that's not the case,'' Lucas said. ''To make things worse, they're treating all of the Irregulars as non-entities. While it's understandable to be cautious around an Irregular, they are still living beings. This kind of treatment is just downright inhumane.''

''It also seems that their promise not to go after us was only temporary,'' Tails added, reading another file that contained the profiles of all of Team Neos and a note that they would also be targeted again. ''It's a good thing we made a move before ARMS could. What do we tell the others?''

''Obviously, we'll tell them the truth and the same goes…'' Lucas sighed in annoyance. ''Yeah, and the same goes for Dr. Eggman. If I had to choose between the shady military who kidnapped our friends and forced them to work for them and the guy who is interested in turning all of this into a game of conquering the world while following the rules… I'd choose the mad scientist.''

''Better the Devil you know, I guess,'' Warren said, shrugging. Lucas nodded, taking a deep breath.

''I'll go get Dr. Eggman on the line to tell him what we got. We will need his help to get to ARMS HQ,'' he said, adding under his breath. ''Unfortunately.''

Both Warren and Tails gave him a sympathetic look, well aware just how much of a pain it is to deal with Eggman and silently wishing Lucas luck. Lucas observed the holographic screen opening, inhaling sharply. ''Hello, Dr. Eggman.''

''Ho ho ho, Kinomoto, I did not expect a call from you so soon,'' Eggman grinned in amusement.

''It would've been even sooner if you hadn't been harrassing Warren and Tails,'' Lucas responded in a sharp tone. Eggman just waved his hand in a dismissive manner.

''Don't play the blame game here,'' he said, with Lucas rolling his eyes. ''Now, I assume you're calling me because you want something from me.''

''How'd you guess?'' Lucas asked in a slightly deadpan tone.

''Oh, please, this alliance is based on mutual interest, and not on the power of friendship as your team is,'' Eggman said in a mocking tone. ''You'll tell me what you want, and I'll tell you why I won't comply.''

Lucas frowned, glaring at the Doctor. ''I want to know whether you have figured out where ARMS HQ is and how to get there. Or is that something my team has to figure out as well.''

''Heh, fortunately for you, I'm way ahead of the game. Of course I know where ARMS HQ is, I was just waiting for you to catch up,'' Eggman replied with a devious grin on his expression. ''However, if you really want me to help you and your friends to get to it, you will have to give me a report on the information you had gathered about ARMS. Then you, the Hedgehog and… where is that blue menace anyway? It's not fun to gloat when he is not around!''

''Honestly, I don't know where Sonic currently is. He had just left a bit earlier,'' Lucas admitted, glancing at Warren and Tails, all three of them suddenly realizing where their friend might be. ''Don't tell me…''

''He wouldn't want to miss the battle,'' Tails replied, ignoring Eggman in the background as he tried to get their attention and getting more irritated in the process when they didn't pay any attention to him. ''Let's hope he'll come back in one piece.''

xXx

Sonic raced from Eas towards the western side of Neos City where Infinity Forest was with a determined look on his expression. Sure, he did promise that he wouldn't be reckless and he certainly was going to leave this battle to Shadow, but that didn't mean that he could watch from afar, just to keep an eye on Mephiles. It wasn't as if he was bored from the lack of action; no, absolutely not!

''You're such an idiot!''

Sonic grinned, completely ignoring the Shadow-like voice in his head as he got to Sentoraru and made his way towards Westoru, avoiding pedestrians and cars. He was actually quite in high spirits, as Tails and Warren had informed him and Lucas earlier that they were close to finishing sifting through the data they got, and what they had found was actually rather shocking. They haven't told them yet what it was, but Tails said that this would get them into a lot of trouble with the public. In Sonic's mind, that was good enough.

The azure hedgehog then sped through Westoru and towards Infinity Forest, trying to remember the path towards the Codex Research Facility. It has been a while since he had been there, but he was certain that he would be able to find it. However, what he didn't expect to find was a huge structure made of crystals and surrounded by fire.

''Yikes!'' Sonic realized that this self-imposed mission might be a bit harder than he thought. The crystal wasn't transparent, but more of a purple and red hue, making it impossible for him to see inside. All he could conclude was that there were several layers of crystals placed at the field, keeping him away from whatever battle was happening inside the structure. Sonic then smirked, clenching his fist. ''Well, something like this has never stopped this hedgehog!''

He leapt into the air, curling into a ball and burrowed into the ground, creating a hole just in front of the structure. Less than a minute passed and he emerged again from the hole, breathing heavily and raising an eyebrow. ''Great, even the ground is crystal. Mephiles made sure that no one can enter it.'' He then shook his head. ''No way! If I cannot find a way inside, how will Shadow and the others find a way outside? I have to solve issue as soon as- aaagh!''

Sonic was startled when suddenly a bunch of figures made out of pure shadow and darkness appeared, confronting him. ''Ah, so Mephiles also left a couple of guards. At least things won't be boring!''

xXx

Rouge flew up, delivering a swift kick to the shadow Mephiles had summoned, which was followed up by her quickly flying away when Omega aimed and destroyed that damn thing with a missile. It appeared that the robot was quite enjoying himself, blowing holes into the shadow-like entities. Unfortunately for them, for every shadow-like entity they brought down, at least three more of them had spawned.

''Nobody said that this is going to be easy,'' Rouge grumbled, kicking another shadow-like entity away and hitting another one on the head. ''Still, you'd think that their numbers would decrease eventually.''

''Don't be worried. I have enough ammunition for all of them,'' Omega responded. Rouge wanted to reply how that's not what she meant, but she figured that it was better to say nothing. She did appreciate having a powerhouse like Omega on their side, and his bullets and rockets were easily piercing through the enemy lines. She also took note that some stray rockets did hit the crystal structure surrounding them, but unfortunately, the explosions left only small cracks in it. If they wanted to escape, they'd need to bring out the big guns.

Speaking of which, Shadow was currently locked in combat with Mephiles, both empowered by Chaos Surge. Shadow was currently avoiding crystal-like spikes coming out of the ground, using his natural speed to his advantage, but also being aware that he had trouble getting closer to Mephiles. His dark counterpart was making sure to keep him away from getting closer while also keeping him occupied. However, Shadow knew that he only needed an opening and he'd be able to land a hit on Mephiles. He leapt backwards, summoning a Chaos Spear and destroyed the spike that shoot out of the ground right in front of him. He then charged towards Mephiles, doing his best to avoid more spikes and closing in on the latter.

Mephiles suddenly realized that Shadow was getting too close and summoned a dome of flames around himself, which acted like a barrier. Shadow summoned another Chaos Spear, throwing it at the dome in an attempt to pierce it, which resulted in a minor explosion, only for Mephiles to send a wall of flames towards the dark hedgehog. Fortunately, Shadow used Chaos Control to warp away to safety… at least, that's what Mephiles thought, not expecting Shadow to suddenly appear behind him and kick him in the head. He flew forwards, hitting the ground hard, but Shadow didn't even let him recover as another Chaos Spear formed in his hands. Shadow then leapt forward, attempting to pierce through Mephiles' back, only for his opponent to vanish into a dark void on the ground.

Shadow gritted his teeth, trying to figure out where Mephiles would resurface, taking note that all of his surroundings were dark, only to turn into a purplish-red colour. His eyes widened, and he quickly warped away as a tower of fire emerged from beneath where he stood just a moment earlier. Shadow warped just a bit away from the tower of flames, his eyes narrowing as he observed it, with Mephiles emerging from the flames.

''It appears that we are evenly matched,'' Mephiles said, observing Shadow carefully. ''I am amazed that you are not taking full advantage of the power you had been given. I know you can do better than this.''

Shadow gritted his teeth, knowing that he shouldn't give into Mephiles' taunts. Even if he and Touka had practiced maintaining the Chaos Surge for much longer periods of time, he still wasn't going to take advantage unless he was certain that he had no other choice. So, using a time-stop Chaos Control or a massive Chaos Blast was out of question until he knew that he had Mephiles right where he wanted.

As for Touka, she had to rely on the Chaos Surge not to get killed by Toshiro. Her so-called younger brother summoned miniature crystals in the air and forced them down on her, almost impaling her if she hadn't warped away. Touka gritted her teeth, hoping to finish this battle as quickly as possible. She needed to cut off Mephiles' supply of BioEnergy by defeating Toshiro and she had hoped that he wouldn't have as much fighting experience as she had, but unfortunately, it seemed that Toshiro actually knew what he was doing. She snapped her fingers, summoning a Chaos Spear and held it tightly.

''What's the matter, sis? Are you already getting tired?'' Toshiro asked, giving her a deranged smile. Touka furrowed a brow, giving him a glare. One thing was certain; after having gone through all of the suffering her so-called sibling put her through, Touka wasn't going to let him get into her head. She had already dealt with one mental breakdown and managed to get through it, and she wasn't going to allow herself to suffer another one.

''I could ask you the same,'' Touka told him, holding up the energy spear and pointing it at Toshiro. ''Seriously, if you're calling me your sibling, why do you want to kill me so much?''

''I had been created to surpass you, and the only way to achieve that is to make sure you're gone,'' Toshiro replied in a casual tone, snapping his fingers and causing multiple crystals to surround Touka. Fortunately, using the spear in her hands, she destroyed them with ease.

''You're such a dumbass!'' she responded, with Toshiro being a bit surprised by her tone. It really sounded like an older sibling scolding a younger one. ''So, Hiroshi Sakamoto is gone, but you're still following his wishes? I thought you'd be better than that!''

To Touka's satisfaction, Toshiro frowned, clearly not happy to hear that response. ''I don't care about that man's wishes! I'm doing this because I want to!''

''Yeah, yeah, sure…'' Touka had figured that, if Toshiro could play mental games, then so could she. Despite being enemies, both still had in common one thing – their mutual hatred for the man who had created them. ''Idiot…''

''What was that?!'' Toshiro growled, raising his clenched fist. Touka smirked.

''I'm just saying, unlike myself, it seemed that Sakamoto forgot to give you a sense of maturity! That's why you'll never surpass me, little brother!''

''Why you-?!'' Toshiro rose a row of spikes, hellbent on impaling Touka, but she suddenly vanished, and as he searched for her, she warped right in front of him, hand clenched into a fist, and delivered a hard punch to his face, sending him flying.

Touka then sighed, waving her hand and turning to Rouge and Omega, who looked quite impressed by her move. Rouge then commented, ''That was sure satisfying.''

''You have no idea how long I wanted to just punch him in the face,'' Touka replied, looking quite pleased with herself, only for her smile to fade into a frown and shuddering. ''Though, calling him my brother still sends shivers down my spine.''

xXx

Sonic shredded through the shadow-like entities, pinballing from one to another easily, but the issue was that he also needed to avoid the flames and the crystals that were keeping him from getting through the wall. He had actually managed to run around the structure, taking note that it was way bigger than he initially thought. He had to give it to Mephiles, the guy was determined to make sure no one gets inside those walls.

''Woah!'' Sonic suddenly stopped due to a black hole opening right beneath him. He sunk, trying his best to free himself, but when he looked up to find a branch or something to lift him up, he saw the crystal walls suddenly turn black and purple. His emerald eyes widened. ''Oh, no…''

However, before Sonic could move, everything turned black. Only a moment later, the light returned and he was quite disoriented, only to hear a car horn and quickly leap off the street. It took him a bit, but he realizes that he was somewhere in the eastern part of Souto. He was quite baffled when he realized what had happened.

''How in the world did Mephiles teleport me to Souto?'' he muttered under his breath, his gaze turned towards the west where Infinity Forest was. A sense of worry bubbled in his chest, but he shook his head. He knew that Shadow could handle this.

xXx

Mephiles suddenly fired a sphere of black energy spawned from his hands, which homed in on Shadow. The dark hedgehog spam warped around, trying to dodge it, only to be met by a beam of energy, knocking him against the crystal wall.

''Shadow!''

Shadow groaned, feeling a wave of pain washing over his body, but managed to get up. It appeared that Mephiles had even more ways of fighting than summoning shadows, crystals and flames. However, Shadow wasn't going down so easily. He saw Mephiles summoning more of those black spheres, firing them towards Shadow, who quickly warped away, stepping right in front of Mephiles and throwing a punch. Fortunately, it connected, with Shadow following with more, only for Mephiles to disappear right before him, merging with his own shadow. The dark hedgehog was caught off guard for a moment, only to get his point-black from behind by a blast of energy. There was a smell of burnt fur in the air, which Shadow's back quills being scorched.

Shadow could hear his teammates crying out for him, but he ignored their voice, forcing himself to get up. He looked up, realizing that Mephiles was before him. ''Your attempts to defeat me are pathetic.'' Suddenly, he rose his hand and Shadow heard cries of surprise from behind him. He managed to turn his head just to see Touka having thrown a Chaos Spear at Mephiles, only for it to get blocked by a wall of crystals. Then, more crystals appeared around her wrists and chest, suddenly pinning her to the wall. Touka struggled to break free, with Rouge attempting to help her, but both her and Omega got also subdued by the crystals.

Shadow made a move to help them, only to be stopped by an arm, with Mephiles being now right next to him, way too close for comfort. ''Don't worry, they're not in any pain. As for you, I will give you one last chance to join me. You have gone through so much already, and soon, there will be people who will make you suffer even more, whether by imprisoning you because they fear you or mentally break you until you are nothing more but a husk of your former self.''

''That is what ARMS plans to do to me, isn't it?'' Shadow muttered in a calm tone, matter-of-fact, his eyes fixed on Mephiles.

''Indeed. There is much more to their plans than you could even imagine. But, there is still time for a proper retribution. If you join me, we could teach them and the whole world a lesson they will never forget,'' Mephiles told him.

''Tch, don't try to deceive me,'' Shadow responded, feeling the Chaos Surge energy coursing through his body, growing stronger with every moment.

''What?'' Mephiles stared at the dark hedgehog as he took a step forward, passing Mephiles and turning his head slightly.

''You have no desire for revenge. You only crave destruction. Your only lust is to see this world turn into ashes,'' Shadow told him, and kept walking calmly towards his teammates with the intention to free them. Mephiles closed his eyes, sighing in disappointment.

''It's a pity, Shadow The Hedgehog,'' he whispered quietly, only to raise above Shadow. ''Truly a shame that you wish to go against me!''

Mephiles suddenly summoned an sphere of black energy, only to feel a sharp sense of pain spread through his chest, the glow in his eyes dimming for a moment when he realized that he was struck with a Chaos Spear. ''Y-You planned this!''

Shadow just glanced at him, a smirk appearing on his lips and then quickly rushed over towards his teammates, spin-dashing and destroying the crystals that kept them pinned, with Touka, Rouge and Omega giving him a quick nod of acknowledgement that they were unharmed.

As for Mephiles, he placed his hand on the Chaos Spear in his chest, and broke it, with the wound on his chest healing. He took a deep breath, feeling a wave of pain in his chest, despite having healed his injury. He was joined by Toshiro, who suddenly felt his own BioEnergy getting drained. However, he couldn't care less about that.

''You will not stop me… It is futile…''

Shadow, Rouge, Omega and Touka turned towards Mephiles and Toshiro, taking note of the fact that both of them were glowing in a dangerous purple aura. It felt as if Mephiles was pulling all of the energy not only from Toshiro, but also from his surroundings, as the shadow-like entities vanished and the crystal walls that surrounded them started to crack.

''So you say…'' Shadow responded, observing Mephiles carefully.

''This world will betray you, like many others that came before you.'' Mephiles started with a whisper, his voice growing louder and louder. ''Yet, you are willing to risk your life for all these people, all of these strangers.'' To Team Dark's shock, a whirlwind of darkness suddenly started to surround Mephiles, engulfing him and Toshiro and growing larger and larger, even destroying the walls of the arena he had created.''Why fight it all?! Why risk your life for those who will persecute you later?!''

Suddenly, a giant entity rose from the darkness, its body consisting of shadows, crystals and flames, with the crystals forming the armor around its formless shape. It sprouted four arms, breaking the crystal ceiling and causing shards to rain down. There was a sudden chill in the air as they heard Mephiles laugh darkly, his voice like ice and filled with nothing but calculated intelligence and insanity.

''Your heart was filled with nothing but hate for this reality and its people! So, why don't you join me in destroying it?!''

Team Dark couldn't see Mephiles nor Toshiro anymore, as it seemed as if they had been swallowed by the entity they had created. All they could hear was Mephiles' voice, seemingly speaking through the entity. Touka, Rouge and Omega turned to Shadow, with Touka and Rouge's expressions clearly showing concern for Shadow, and even Omega was apprehensive to the whole situation, his cannons already pointed towards the entity Mephiles had just summoned. Shadow, on the other hand, was just staring at the entity silently, his expression unreadable. He then turned to his teammates, his expression slightly shifting to that of pure of determination, only to face the entity once again.

''I may have hated this world once, because it stole someone precious from me. I also feel no obligation towards it or towards its people. Even if the world chooses to become my enemy, I will fight like I always have,'' Shadow responded, reaching for the golden rings on his wrists, twisting them and letting them fall on the ground. He could feel the Chaos Energy flowing through his body, almost bursting out, his hands crackling with energy. ''That said, you made a mistake endangering those I care about!''

Suddenly, everything stopped, and time and space warped. The entity couldn't even move, despite Mephiles efforts to break through. For some reason, he wasn't affected by whatever was going on, and his attempts to control this entity – Iblis – have failed. Then, Shadow appeared right in front of the entity, his size diminutive in comparison to the monstrous being, but his whole body was sparking with orange energy, his eyes glowing as he gathered all the power he could muster. His fingers were curled and he placed both of his hands together at chest level facing the same direction, with the palm on the back of the other. He knew that he only had one shot, and he could sense the Chaos energy, Mephiles' Chaos energy, within this monstrosity. All he had to do is to aim.

''CHAOS BLAST!''

Thrusting both of his hands forward, he fired a powerful blast of energy, the beam tearing right through the entity, not only powered by the Chaos Surge and the latent Chaos Energy that was concealed by the Inhibitor Rings, but also by Shadow's strong emotions and desire to protect everyone. He could hear a wail of distress as the entity, which had just formed before him was shredded, its wretchedness only gracing this reality only for a moment. Shadow was not going to allow it to exist any longer than that.

Then, everything went silent, and Shadow closed his eyes. Everything went dark, and he found himself falling into a deep abyss. His body couldn't move anymore and his mind was as empty as the nothingness that embraced him. Or was it?

''Shadow? Shadow?!''

Shadow could feel a sense of warmth, and he forced his eyes to open despite the pain and numbness. He never felt so broken and exhausted before. Staring back at him was Touka, having somehow managed to catch him mid-fall, her eyes having gone from crimson back to dark brown with that hint of red in them. She looked just as exhausted as he was as she cradled him in her arms, kneeling on the ground. On her right was Rouge, holding one of Shadow's Inhibitor Rings and looking relieved to see him alive. On her left was Omega, holding Shadow's other Inhibitor Ring, and while he certainly had no expression to show, it was clear that he was quite impressed by the destruction the dark hedgehog had caused.

As for Mephiles and Toshiro, they were gone. The crystal walls were still standing, but only barely, as more and more cracks started to form inside them, shattering and falling apart. Shadow narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the empty field, aware that despite the destruction he had caused, they were probably still alive, only barely escaping his wrath.

''What was that?'' Rouge broke the silence, still shocked by what had just happened. Shadow wanted to answer, but Touka was faster.

''That was Chaos Control, but in the sense that Shadow had stopped time itself,'' she responded. Rouge gave her a baffled look and turned to Shadow.

''Wait, you can actually do that?!'' she asked, her voice a bit too loud for Shadow's comfort.

''That is only possible with the power of Chaos Surge,'' Touka added, sighing tiredly. ''Even then, it is a technique that drains both of our energy, so we have good reason not to use it too often.''

''It was my last resort, and I was fortunate Mephiles had drained all of his own energy and Toshiro's BioEnergy to summon that entity. It only took one blast…'' Shadow explained, trying to get up. His and Rouge's ears the flicked as the group heard the helicopter getting closer and closer. None of the members of Team Dark were happy to see it, as that meant returning back to ARMS HQ and have to endure their frustrating stay even longer. Still, they were too exhausted to fight back… well, three of them.

''If you don't wish to return, I will just shoot the helicopter down,'' Omega offered.

''No!''

''Absolutely not!''

Touka and Rouge made an ''X'' sign with their arms, denying Omega the opportunity. They were well aware that they would suffer the consequences, because there was no way they would get away with this. Shadow, on the other hand, remained silent, having put the Inhibitor Rings back on his wrists and deciding to leave this conversation to his older sister and the treasure hunter. He managed to recover enough to climb into the helicopter on his own, wondering how long it would take for him to get back to his old condition. He pressed the lower part of his palm against his forehead, knowing he'll probably sleep like the dead in their graves the moment he was back in his bed. The helicopter then took off, but not before another scream pierced the air before it could be drowned out by the noise of the helicopter.

''Shadow! Shadow!!''

''Wait, is that Sonic?!'' Touka gasped in surprise, as the door to the helicopter hadn't been closed. Shadow immediately got up, his eyes wide as he leaned out of the helicopter, holding onto a nearby strap. To his bewilderment, Sonic was shouting and waving at him, and he could see the playful grin on his expression. Shadow mentally facepalmed, and despite saying nothing, it was obvious from Sonic's expression that there was nothing he needed to say. Sonic was simply relieved to see that Shadow was fine, while Shadow couldn't help but crack a genuine smile and even chuckle lightly, well aware that there was nothing that would stop Sonic from supporting his friend and rival, regardless of the methods.

Sonic, you're such a reckless idiot… Thank you.

Links:

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#Sonic Cyber Revolution (Masterlist)

[sku11s-pot1ons]

I. Need. To. Rant.

I need to word vomit about how much the sonic fan base means to me. Specifically Shadow.

I don’t want to go to my Instagram because I lowkey feel like nobody really..understands..how much this means to me.

Let’s start with the sonic fanbase first. I’ve liked Sonic ever since I was a kid. I’ve drawn them, collected plushies, watched that one Skillet sonic unleashed edit (iykyk) and so much more. I was an unsupervised internet user tbh and all the silly videos on YouTube made me a sonic fan.

But when things in my home life got extremely scary or stressful, this silly blue guy was there when nobody else was. Growing up, I’ve had a lot of family problems and my only escape was Sonic.

And that brings me to our lovely fellow, Shadow.

Now, lots of my friends believe I find him ‘attractive’ but that’s so unbelievably far from how I think of him.

My first sonic plush was Shadow, one time, his arm tore off and I bawled my eyes out until he was fixed and good as new because in my little kid brain, he was in pain.

Now that I’m grown, I probably have a lot unresolved problems and there are times where my brain tells me things that aren’t true which makes me extremely depressed. I have a big Shadow plush that I hold onto that that happens.

When my mom gets upset with me for things I can’t control, or my dad isn’t there for me, Shadow is there.

This fictional hedgehog has been there for me when no one else was.

He’s a big comfort character for me and I love to share my love for him and tell others how much he genuinely means to me but when I do, it feels like I’m looked at weird.

I love Shadow.

I needed somewhere to rant that wasn’t Instagram.

[heckinconfusedparade]

Part 6: Robbing the Robber

Sonic calls Tails’ Miles Electric and hopes he answers. He and Amy are keeping up on foot with the flying figure.

Finally, Tails’ voice is heard on the other end “Hi, Sonic!”

“Hey lil bro, we need some help over here. Bring the Tornado.”

“Got it! I have your coordinates, I’m on my way!”

“Thanks bud!”

A few moments later they see Tails flying overhead. Tails seems to spot the figure they’re chasing and boosts to keep up. He gets alongside, and Knuckles jumps from the planes wing, grabbing the figure and pulling them down with him to the ground. Knuckles makes sure he is the one to hit the ground first, so nobody is hurt too badly. In doing so, he realizes this is the bat he met in the cave.

The two hit the ground. The bat scrambles off of him, and has a double take to get a good look at him. She rests her hand on her hip “well well, we meet again.” Knuckles stands up and dusts himself off “What are you doing? Please hand over the emerald.” Knuckles reaches for the Chaos Emerald, and the bat pulls away “hey, watch it big guy, haven’t you heard? Finders keepers? Losers weepers.”

“Hey, I have a name! I am Knuckles Wachowski the Echidna. The last of the Echidna Tribe.”

“Rouge the Bat. Now that we know each other, you can say the emerald is in trusted hands, right~?”

Knuckles steps closer to her “I do not trust easily. You do not understand how important it is.”

Rouge starts to walk away “oh, but I do.” Her path is blocked by Sonic. She jumps, startled by his sudden appearance. “Hello! That lil gem right there? Yep that’s mine.”

Rouge laughs “is it now?”

“Yep! Inherited it! Absorbed it, me and that lil gem go way back.” Sonic holds out his hand, awaiting the emerald. “Well, you’re a pretty bad owner if it’s just out here! Leaving a powerful gem out in the open.. someone is bound to steal it!” Rouge says.

Suddenly the emerald is snatched from her hand by Amy who throws it up. It’s caught in the air by Tails who has landed the plane nearby, since it can’t go into the trees. He flies away with the emerald cackling like a mischievous little child. Rouge gasps “you little-“ she lifts off into the air and begins chasing the fox. Tails is going juuust fast enough that she can barely keep up.

“Give that back, kid!” Rouge shouts.

“Nope! Finders keepers, losers weepers!” Tails turns around and blows a raspberry at her which just makes her more angry. She almost catches him but he manages to dodge her.

Flying by the cliff edge, someone jumps from the cliff and collides with Tails, then in a flash they have teleported back to the cliff side.

Tails hits the ground harder than he would have liked, but not enough to badly injure him. Above him stands none other than Shadow the Hedgehog. “S-Shadow..?” Tails says shakily, struggling to get off the ground. “I’m sorry kid. But this has to be done. You’re in the way of my goal.”

Tails grimaces “I..I knew we shoulda kept you locked up!” he finally manages to stand up. Shadow is a bit impressed with how durable this little fox is. Rouge finally catches up “serves him right, little scamp!” Shadow looks at Rouge “you found this emerald?” “Sure did, dearie.” “Hm. You’re coming with me.” Shadow places a hand on her shoulder and shouts “CHAOS CONTROL” and teleports with her to some unknown location.

Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy emerge from the tree line, rushing to Tails’ side.

They sit him down on a rock to check him out. His elbows have some small scrapes, and he’s definitely going to be sore in his torso area. “Tails are you ok??” Sonic asks, pulling out his very small first aid kit that he has hidden in his quills for safe keeping. Tails nods. Knuckles cracks his knuckles “who did this to you? Was it that bat?”

Tails shakes his head “no.. Shadow.” Sonic feels his blood run cold.. this is his fault. “Tails, I.. o-oh my god I’m so.. I’m so sorry. It was my fault! I was the one who suggested we release him! If I hadn’t-“ he’s cut off by Amy “Sonic, stop. You can’t predict the future. Don’t blame yourself for the actions of someone else.” Sonic sighs, still feeling very guilty. He opens the bandaid box “fire trucks, or space ships?” He asks Tails who considers his options for a moment. “Space ships, please.” Tails shows his elbows so Sonic can put the bandaids on him.

Knuckles is standing silently in thought. He thought that maybe Shadow could be redeemed. Maybe he could see the light like he did. But he did something unforgivable, Robotnik or not. And that is hurting his family.

Tails in the meantime is silently blaming himself. Twice had he let the bad side get what they want, the compass to the Master Emerald, and now a Chaos Emerald. Feeling heavily discouraged, he leads everyone back to the Tornado and they go home.

. . .

Shadow and Rouge arrive at Robotniks lair. Agent Stone welcomes them and brings them to Robotnik who’s in the middle of a dinner break.

“Ah! Shadow welcome back! Who’s your.. friend?” Robotnik wipes some food from his moustache and approaches the pair. “Rouge the Bat. Pleasure to meet you.” Rouge extends her hand for a handshake that Robotnik awkwardly accepts.

Shadow catches Robotnik up on everything that has happened, from Rouge finding the emerald, to the others showing up, to Rouge chasing Tails, to nearly breaking Tails, and then coming here.

Robotnik thinks Rouge could be useful.. and he’s correct. Rouge is willing to assist. Little does he know, she’s just here for the jewels. Agent Stone is suspicious of her, so he’s keeping an eye on her.

Which is a good thing to do. Rouge is already working with G.U.N.

Shadow in the meantime is helping Robotnik uncover some files. “The ARK is a space colony your grandfather built. It has the ultimate tool to destruction, but we will need 7 chaos emeralds to power it fully.” Shadow says, handing Robotnik some files. Robotnik flips through them “we will have to start looking right away, then. We will destroy the world that has been so unkind to us.” Shadow nods.

Shadow will avenge Maria. Her death will not be in vain.

That very night, Shadow goes into the city to look for any possible leads. Then he hears about this new gem that’s been discovered and being kept in the bank of a city called Station Square. Rouge is able to confirm that the gem is a chaos emerald.

Shadow isn’t great at stealth, so him breaking into the bank did not go unnoticed. He gets what he needs and leaves the scene. Unfortunately for Sonic, Shadow was spotted on the camera, and now there is a warrant out for Sonics arrest. He’s very upset about this.

Sonic decides to go confront Shadow once he figures out where Station Square is. Shadow is beating up a G.U.N. robot when he does find him.

“EXCUSE ME?? UHM. SHADOW?” Sonic is tired and very upset, “YOU WANNA EXPLAIN TO ME WHY THERE IS A WARRANT OUT FOR MY ARREST??“ Sonic rushes to Shadow but immediately gets punched in the face “hmph. Anything to get you off my path. You’re interesting, Sonic.. running right into their trap.” Shadow beams a grin that sends chills down Sonics spine. Sonic is about to speak when he hears “THIS IS STATION SQUARE POLICE DEPARTMENT, PUT YOUR HANDS UP!” he turns around to see armed officers pointing guns at him from every direction, and a helicopter overhead. When Sonic turns to look at Shadow, he feels a pit in his stomach when he sees that there is nobody there. He turns back to the officers, with nowhere to run, and raises his hands in a surrender.

Headlines are made that night about the arrest of Sonic the Hedgehog.

His family doesn’t believe for a second he robbed that bank.

Tom and Maddie are attempting to negotiate with the G.U.N. general, and Tails, Knuckles, and Amy are hatching a plan to break Sonic out of prison island.

[purplecatghostposts]

Jumbled AU Character Information Time!

What’s the Jumbled AU? Another Roleswap except it’s less swap between two characters and more... Jumbled! Created for fun of course!

I ended up tweaking it all up a bit and I’m pretty happy with it now!

Meet The Crew:

FORZEN-

“No, I’m right there with you. Black Mesa is the worst.”

- Takes Gordon’s role as Team Leader

- Graduated from MIT and was recently hired by Black Mesa. He’s been there less than a year and he’s already regretting it.

- Gets stuck in a HEV Suit and would very much like out of it, thank you very much.

- Originally wanted time be a streamer but his mother talked him into going into Science like everyone else in the family did. Forzen and his family have a rocky relationship and this is one of the reasons why.

- Hates his job and is miserable but he does it anyways because he’s good at it and it makes him money.

- A lot smarter than he looks or acts.

- Very protective over his team and is quite the shot. Prides himself a little on his good aim.

- Carries around a ‘Lucky Bayblade’ wherever he goes. Insists it’s kept him safe as a kid and as long as he has it, he will make it through alright.

- Is a single father as his partner left as soon as the kid was born. Forzen is determined to be a good father because of this. His kid’s full name is Scythe Kronos (Yes, that’s all their first name) but Forzen also calls them Scye for short. Forzen will do anything to make it back to his kid. He doesn’t want them to end up orphaned.

- Loses his right eye in the betrayal. Without his depth perception, his aim is worse than ever and he struggles to protect his team.

- Gets a robotic eye from the Cybernetics Department later that gives him better aim than before.

TOMMY-

“Get- get out of my way or I’ll make you.”

- Takes the place of Benrey as inhuman antagonist.

- Is a Shapeshifting alien who takes the shape of a human to blend in for his mission. Has a lot of power but never got to properly learn how to use it as he was separated from his father when he was young.

- Sunkist is his alien pet who takes the shape of a golden retriever to do the same. She fights alongside him.

- Initially takes on Earthly Interests such as Beyblades, soda, and certain TV shows as a way to blend in but actually starts to like them.

- Takes on a job at Black Mesa as a security guard so that he can search for his dad. Doesn’t actually find him until the Resonance Cascade.

- Tampers with the experiment and causes the Resonance Cascade in order to lower Black Mesa’s defenses so he and his dad can make their escape.

- Makes a deal with the military that if he sells Forzen out, they’ll leave everyone else alone. However, the military double crosses Tommy once they realize that his dad is a valuable experiment to Black Mesa. Tommy is not happy about this.

- Eventually comes to the conclusion that his dad will never be safe as long as Black Mesa is around. Goes to Xen with the others, keeps his cover the entire time, and once they reach Xen’s power source, Tommy takes it for himself and tries to destroy Black Mesa and everyone in it.

- It’s all for family. Step aside or you’ll just get hurt.

GORDON-

“There’s absolutely no way that’s up to code... You guys seeing this?”

- Takes the place of Tommy as Main Support.

- Has worked for Black Mesa for a while now but isn’t entirely fond of it. He’s aware it’s morally gray at best (And that’s sugar coating it) but he can’t quit because he’s bound by contract to stay there for a certain amount of years. At least it pays well, right?

- Lost his arm in a lab accident a few years ago. Luckily, cybernetics fitted him with a robotic prosthetic. The one who made him the arm also outfitted him with a gun-arm he can put on. Gordon didn’t understand why he would need it but after the Resonance Cascade happened, he’s glad he has it.

- One hell of a shot, especially when he’s freaking out a bit (“Gordon going ham!” @ himself).

- Has been a bit obsessed with safety regulations since he lost his arm (But honestly who wouldn’t be?) and is constantly baffled by Black Mesa’s OSHA Violations.

- Has a son back home, Joshua, who he would very much like to make it back to. Forzen and Gordon swap telling stories about their kids sometimes.

- Helps Forzen out after he’s lost his eye and tells him that he can get help from Cybernetics given Gordon knows a guy from the department.

- Is pretty good friends with Tommy and while he does try to stop him from destroying Black Mesa- he hates the place too but there’s a lot of scientists there who are bound by contract just like he is- Tommy spares him from his attacks.

- Seems to be fairly good friends with the mysterious being who keeps popping up, Bubby. Apparently Gordon has helped hide him away more than a few times when he gets stuck so he owes him.

DARNOLD-

“Uh oh... That might be one of my evil clones...”

- Takes the role of Dr. Coomer as the enhanced scientist with clones.

- Has biological enhancements such as built in rocket boots and extendo arms but they were all given to him when Darnold tested his own potions. He mostly uses these to get the group out of trouble.

- In the same situation as Gordon when it comes to being bound by contract. Neither are very thrilled about it but at least Darnold has been in Black Mesa long enough that he can influence change.

- Head of the Mixology Department but took interest in Xen for a while and oversaw the experiment that caused the Resonance Cascade.

- Signed onto the cloning experiment and now has a lot of clones that help around Black Mesa. Darnold is pretty friendly with them and tries to help some escape when the Resonance Cascade. Unfortunately a lot of them die, which gets to Darnold.

- A few clones drank his Evil Powerade and went rogue a while ago. Fortunately, they’re version of ‘Evil’ is essentially a cartoon mad scientist/supervillain. Unfortunately, they’re still a bit of a nuisance and the gang has to look out for tripwire traps and a few of their minions.

- Carries around a lot of potions to help. Has a strength potion that is particularly helpful in a pinch. Also has a special Forbidden Potion that he uses in the final battle.

- One of the few people that treated G-Man like a person rather than an experiment and thus, has his favor.

- Introduces Tommy to Earthly things and customs. Doesn’t piece it together that he’s an alien until later.

- Tried to help in the betrayal but Tommy held him back, saying it was for the best. Runs as soon as he realizes he’s in danger and hides away from the rest of the team. Actively avoids Forzen and Gordon for a while out of stress but eventually has to step in when one of his Evil Clones captures them.

G-MAN-

“Oh believe me, I am just as... Eager to get out of Black Mesa as the rest of you.”

- Takes the role of Bubby as Black Mesa’s favorite experiment

- If Bubby is like Shadow the Hedgehog, then G-Man is like Mewtwo.

- Is an alien that has been alive much longer than Black Mesa itself. A powerful one at that.

- Black Mesa started hunting him down as soon as they learned of his existence. G-Man had just created Tommy not too long ago and was weak when they came. Managed to protect Tommy but was captured as a result and imprisioned in Black Mesa.

- Nicknamed Project Goodman as Black Mesa wished to one day use his powers for their own benefit. The nickname ‘G-Man’ came later and stuck.

- Has a lot of powers relating to the mind (I.E. Levitation, telekinesis, telepathy, etc.) but Black Mesa keeps power dampeners on him so he can’t escape, no matter how much he may try. G-Man and Tommy search for a way to get these off of him, but little do they know that Black Mesa has other ways of ensuring he can’t go rogue...

- Started acting polite and professional a while back and keeps up the facade as it keeps him out of trouble and gets him more freedom. He now works as a scientist to ‘Help’ Black Mesa but is just biding his time until he can make his escape.

- Absolutely despises being in his tube and tends to get aggressive when in small spaces because of this.

- Has very few scientists he actually likes. Darnold is on this short list as he is kind to him.

- Finally reunited with his son after so long and wants nothing more than to escape together.

- They were so close...

BENREY-

“Oh yo, what happened to your eye, dude? Psh, no worries, I got a cybernetic eye for ya that’s gonna look sick as fuck!”

- Takes the role of Darnold as the guy who has a solution to a certain missing body part.

- Is one of the best in the Cybernetics Department and was the one who made Gordon his arm and gun-arm when he lost it in the accident.

- Became weird friends with Gordon after he helped him out. Benrey may or may not send cryptic messages and cat photos at 4AM to Gordon, who is very concerned for his health.

- The Cybernetics Department was originally supposed to be laid off due to budget cuts and the Mixology Department was going to expand and take over the lab but Benrey refused to leave his lab like everyone else and hacked the doors so nobody could get in. They would’ve dealt with it but soon after, the Resonance Cascade happened and Black Mesa has bigger worries than a rogue cybernetics scientist so Benrey just kinda. Stayed. He’s the only remaining member of the Cybernetics Team.

- A good mechanic and a master hacker. He ends up hacking into the security cameras and the VOX to watch the team as they go. He speaks via the VOX- and never tells them who he is- but as soon as they reach his lab, Benrey greets them like old friends.

- While he does like to mess with the team a little, he’s pretty helpful for the most part. He opens up a few locked doors and gives a few heads up every once in a while.

- “ROCKET. LAUNCH. GOOD.” Yeah that was Benrey. Gordon actually hits himself once he realizes it’s Benrey because everything suddenly makes sense.

- Gives Forzen a cybernetic eye that actually gives him better aim than before. Said eye also “May or may not have other sick features.”

- Benrey refuses to elaborate on this.

COOMER-

“OH HO HO HO, BAD MOVE! TIME FOR ME TO GO IN FOR THE KILL!”

- Takes the role of Forzen as minor antagonist.

- Joined the military because of his Ex-Wife’s pressuring to do so. They’re both still in the military but they don’t talk anymore.

- Volunteered to test out a new serum that would genetically enhance him to be an one man army due to his love for Science. He didn’t expect for it to work like it did.

- The serum gave him superhuman abilities such as strength, high leaping power, endurance, regeneration, and other such. However, there was a side effect to the serum as it also gave him a bit of a bloodlust. “I crave violence” is very literal now.

- Very powerful but unfortunately a bit of a loose cannon. They only send him in if they’re getting desperate since he causes a lot of collateral damage.

- Can calm down and have regular conversations but it takes a lot of effort. The serum screwed with his head a lot.

- Is sent to take down the Science Team. 90% of the time, they have to run from him and shake him off their trail other than fight him as he’s a lot stronger than the rest of them.

- Kidnaps Gordon rather than Sunkist at one point and holds him hostage. The Science Team has to work together to take him back.

- Saved Bubby’s life once and now whenever Coomer gets into real danger, Bubby teleports him away. Bubby is one of the few people who can calm Coomer down for long periods of time and Coomer is very fond of Bubby.

BUBBY-

“Who I am is none of your goddamn business.”

- Takes the role of G-Man as a powerful being who keeps showing up.

- Originally was created by Black Mesa and worked for them but in an experiment gone horribly wrong, Bubby abruptly disappeared with no trace.

- The accident gave Bubby dimensional powers over Time and Space but unfortunately, Bubby struggles to figure them out and they’re rather unstable at first.

- Because of their instability, Bubby sometimes randomly will teleport and get stuck in places he doesn’t want to be in. This happens far too frequently in Black Mesa but luckily, Gordon knows him and starts hiding him from Black Mesa whenever he gets stuck.

- This also happened once when Bubby ended up in the middle of an active battlefield and nearly got killed had Coomer not saw him get teleported in and rescued him.

- Bubby has taken a certain fondness for both of them and watches over them from the shadows as his own way of saying ‘Thank You’.

- Black Mesa is vaguely aware that Bubby is still out there but he’s become a bit of a cryptid to them. There’s some security footage of him teleporting in but all security footage gets really staticy and stops working after he appears in it.

- Bubby absolutely despises Black Mesa.

- If he wants something changed, he will change it, by force if necessary.

- Starts watching the team closely after the Resonance Cascade. At first thinks that some of them are aligned with Black Mesa and actively tries to stop them until he figures out that they’ve all fallen victim to it as well and becomes somewhat of an ally.

Anddd that’s the team!

That took a LONG time to type out but hopefully it’s interesting! I’m having a lot of thoughts about this AU currently so if you’re curious at all, send me an ask and I can talk about it more!

[another-sonic-blog]

A Perfect Night

ShadAmy  7K

Synopsis: Ugly Amy Rose never thought she would be dating Shadow the Hedgehog and he never thought he would fall head over heels in love with the ugliest hedgehog in town. 

Angst.

.

  Many could argue that the night of January 3rd was perfect. It was a full moon and the stars twinkled in the night, the wind ran through the fields of flowers and tall grass. The city lights of Central City were bright and it was as lively as it could get. Couples, families, and friends were at total peace as they enjoyed the cold of the night.

But that wasn't the case for a pink and black hedgehog.

Shadow tried his best to keep drinking vodka in order to forget that he was about to make love to ugly Amy Rose. Awkwardly, they were sitting on the edge of a hotel bed, waiting to see who would take the first move.

"Do you ... want me?" Amy asked Shadow as her voice tremble and she had sincereness in her eyes.

How did they end up in this situation?

Shadow the Hedgehog was everything a Mobian ever wanted to be. From working at G.U.N with famous Team Dark to becoming top commander of the agency, Shadow was a hedgehog of many responsibilities.

And freedom.

He was a complete womanizer and rich. He was gifted in the looks department, skills and technique. Although he still kept that gloomy side of his, throughout the years, Shadow has learned to enjoy the little things in life.

With that came his passion for beautiful women. Shadow couldn't be tied down to one girl. He has never been in love before and he doesn't believe in it. He only cared for the small moments of pleasure the girls brought.

Ugly Amy Rose. When she was younger, everyone thought that Amy was going to grow into a beautiful hedgehog but to her dismay, she turned out to be quiet the opposite. At the age of 21, Amy was as ugly as it could get. Ugly Amy, they called her. She wore red round glasses as she had always needed them. Her hair was tied into a tight braid and she had braces on her teeth although it seemed she didn't longer need them. Her physic wasn't one many desired and she still wore her classic red dress.

When Shadow was named Commander of G.U.N., a lot of duties were given to him. He needed to fill out lots of paperwork and with that came the need to hire a secretary. That's when Amy came into the picture. At first, he wanted to hire a beautiful girl but sooner, he realized that that would include too much distraction. Shadow as well was known of Amy. She was there on the ARK, when the Black Arms attacked and many other world-saving missions along with Sonic and friends.

He trusted her and looking at her qualifications, he hired her.

She wasn't a problem. The problem was that Shadow is too conceited for his own good.

One night, he was drinking at a bar with his rival, Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic was Captain of the Resistance, another organization like G.U.N. which tried to create a better world for the Mobians.

"Let's make a bet!" Sonic said, he was drunk but not as much as Shadow.

"Bring it on!" Shadow tried to keep his eyes open. The bar had very dim lights, the music was soft and it was quiet overall, it made him sleepy.

"You have been with many beautiful girls! But you have never been with an ugly one," Sonic added. "So, this is my bet! You have to date Ugly Amy for two months and you need to make her fall in love with you."

"What?"

Since the beginning, Sonic didn't want Amy to be part of G.U.N. He had tried convincing her to go back to the Resistance but nothing worked. He cared too much for the pink hedgehog to let her innocence be tainted by the likes of G.U.N. Sonic was aware of the platonic love Amy had for Shadow and she was so loyal to him that it seemed that nothing was going to make her realize how bad he was ... unless Shadow breaks her heart.

"You heard me," Sonic looked around the bar to make sure no one was watching them. "If you win I will give you the Resistance but if you lose... you give me G.U.N."

Sonic knew that this was extreme. But he had nothing to lose. Shadow didn't know that Sonic still kept friends with Amy. If it seemed that Shadow was going to win, then Sonic only had to tell show Amy proof of Shadow's doing. Which he had already prepared. Joining the Resistance and G.U.N was something that Shadow had always wanted. Sonic had the possibility of losing the Resistance but if it meant that Amy can realize how bad G.U.N. was, then it didn't matter. On the other hand, he also had the possibility of winning G.U.N. and he would make drastic changes to it.

Sonic pulled out some documents, he was prepared for this night. The rules and laws were established in a single sheet of paper. He just needed a drunk Shadow the Hedgehog to be stupid enough to sign the paper.

Sonic smirked at the black hedgehog, almost as if to make fun of him. "What? Are you going to tell me you can't do it?"

How much Shadow regretted that night.

If he wasn't stupid enough, then maybe he wouldn't be in this nasty situation. Shadow looked at the bulb light in their hotel room and he tried to avoid the question Amy had thrown at him.

He regretted not taking more shots of vodka because Chaos, he needed it. Nothing was pleasing about her. Amy was ugly ... too ugly and although Shadow had tried his best to pint point her best qualities he could only come up with two ... her personality and good persona.

They had been 'dating' for a month now and of course, it wasn't a surprise that Amy wanted to step it up to the next level. Shadow was already halfway there, he just needed one more month so he could be free of this madness. He just couldn't let Sonic have G.U.N.

Don't misunderstand him, Shadow cared for Amy. In the month that they had been secretly dating, he realized that she was too good. After this, he was sure he was going to go straight to hell because he was betraying such an angel.

Amy placed her arms around Shadow as she closed her eyes, ready to kiss him.

Shadow passed down saliva and he closed his eyes as he tried to imagine that he was kissing one of the many models he had dated.

Their kiss became more heated and Shadow opened his eyes slowly, realizing again who he was kissing.

Ugly Amy Rose.

"I am sorry," Shadow said as he pulled away. He stood up from the bed, a disgusted look on his face. "I can't I am sorry, I just can't do this with you."

Amy looked down to the floor, she tried to stop the tears from coming out of her eyes. "It's alright ... I understand."

Shadow sighed in relief. He let out a small laugh as he went back to sit next to Amy. "Thank you, thank you for understanding."

"Deep down, I always knew ... that you didn't desire me," Amy gained the strength to look at Shadow. "It was a miracle enough that we even began dating. I had hoped but ... I was wrong."

Shadow couldn't stop feeling guilty. Even now he regretted taking Amy to such an ugly hotel like this but once again he couldn't' afford to be seen with her. "No, no Amy you are misunderstanding me-"

"No it's alright I understand that ... you don't have that type of attraction towards me," Amy struggled to put her words out as more tears rolled down her cheeks. "We have a beautiful relationship and me being in love with you ... that doesn't obligate you to have that attraction towards me. You don't have to feel obligated to make love to me."

If there was one thing Shadow didn't want to do was to inflict any kind of pain towards Amy. Watching her cry, tremble in embarrassment was breaking every single wall he built up around him.

"I am sorry, Shadow, I am sorry for pressuring you to do this." Amy added, "I am sorry for being in love with you."

He couldn't believe just how pure-hearted she was. Amy was unlike any other girl he had been with. Their dates were always filled with amusement. Although he always tried to go to private places. He didn't want to be seen on a date with Amy under any circumstance. He had a reputation to maintain after all. However, he was always amused at how the simplest of things would make her happy.

The cheap poetry he found online but she loved it. The ugly teddy bears he gave her and the one-dollar flowers made her eyes shine in delight.

Amy was a complete angel that had been with him since the beginning.

Since the first day she joined the company, she had been there on his sad, happy and angry days. And right now ... maybe it was time to repay all of that. Even if the thought alone disgusted him.

"No, Amy, don't misunderstand me." Shadow grabbed her hands delicately. "Of course ... Of course, I desire you."

"No, please! I don't want you to do this out of pity don't-"

"No, Amy it's not because of that," Shadow placed a hand on her cheek, caressing it softly as he wiped away her tears. "I desire you because ... I love you, Amy."

Slowly, so very slowly he placed his lips on hers. For the first time, he wasn't imagining any of the many models or actresses he dated ... he was actually kissing ugly Amy Rose. Ever since they began dating, Shadow knew she was inexperienced in kissing. Especially because this was the most heated kissed that they ever had. Shadow at most would only give her a small peck on her lips because in all honesty that's as much as his conceited self let him.

But to his dismay, he realized that kissing Amy wasn't so bad. It was actually different. He was kissing a girl who was utterly in love with him. For Shadow, who didn't believe in such a thing as love, it was a sign that maybe love did exist.

In the form of a person.

Amy Rose was love.

and love they did.

.

When Amy first arrived at the G.U.N. as secretary, nobody could believe that someone like her would be 24/7 with Shadow the Hedgehog. They pity their Commander to a certain extent because he had to see such an abomination all the time.

It was such an irony that Amy used to organize Shadow all the dates he had with different females and she ended up being one of them. He remembers how much of a jerk he was to her once. One of his many lovers had come to visit him to his office and Shadow had order Amy to stay in her office until he notified her she could leave.

Long story short, Amy spends the whole night at her old office while Shadow had left with his lover to his house. He had forgotten to tell Amy she could leave. And like the good secretary she was, she stayed there all night long.

Her office was placed inside Shadow's office. It was an old forgotten storage room where ants, spiderwebs and even rats at times used to be. However, when Amy arrived, she cleaned everything and turned that storage room into her small office.

One day Shadow asked Amy if she wanted to move into a bigger office, with windows and everything. She almost cried to him, begging him to let her stay at that dusty office next to him. That's when Shadow realizes that Amy probably was in love with him.

However, he didn't give to much thought about it. As time passed, Shadow realized how good of a Mobian she was. She never complained even when Shadow screamed at her just because he was angry at someone else. She took care of him when he was sick and prepared him, all the types of tea he loved. Amy was there with him every single night he needed to finish paperwork late at night.

Amy had won the appreciation of the black hedgehog, he cared deeply for her.

But did he love her?

Absolutely not. Shadow knew that if he ever was going to be in love, it would be someone beautiful and not as ugly Amy Rose.

He had the right to have his preference, didn't he?

Shadow entered Amy's office. It was late at night already and he had gotten into the costume of taking her home after work.

"Hey, Amy-" Shadow entered the dark office as he closed the door behind him. He was stopped mid tracks as he felt strong arms around him.

"Hello, my love!" Amy gave him one of her famous hugs. In the beginning, he hated them but slowly he had grown fond of them.

Shadow had to admit that seeing Amy happy, made him happy as well. Of course, she was going to be happy, they made love last night after all. Even for Shadow, yesterday night was completely different from the many he has had with other girls. He even dared to call it a religious experience.

Shadow placed his hands around her cheeks, pressing them softly. He always liked how she would look like when he does that.

"Are you ready to leave?" Shadow asked as he planted a peck on her lips. It was strange, it was the first time he has ever done that voluntarily. He didn't give it too much thought, however.

"Not today, I made plans to go eat dinner with Knuckles today, hehe," Amy smiled at the black hedgehog, still her arms around him but had lost her grip and now her hands laid delicately around his waist.

"Knuckles?" Shadow blinked two times as if thinking he heard the name wrong.

"Yes, Knuckles. He is outside waiting for me already."

Shadow didn't know what it was but he could feel his fur frazzle up. "Oh, so you prefer to go with him than to go with me?"

Amy raised an eyebrow, questioning him. "No, but we have been planning this dinner since weeks ago. He is being really busy in Angel Island and we haven't been able to see each other-"

"Week ago?" Shadow raised his voice. "So when you were with me, you were talking to him."

Amy blushed a little as she concluded something on her head. She let out a small giggle and proceeded. "Shadow ... are you jealous?"

Shadow opened his mouth a little as he was trying to figure out what to answer. He rolled his eyes, of course, he wasn't jealous. That would be too stupid of him. "Of course not ... Look, I'll see you tomorrow. Go have fun with ... Knuckles."

Placing his hands around her waist, Shadow brought her body closer to his. He looked at her in the eyes and passionately kissed her just to make sure that she knew that she was still his. Between kisses, Amy smiled and was very thankful to have the black hedgehog in her life.

.

Knuckles was a very busy echidna. Well, mostly he would be taking care of Angel Island. After the war with Eggman, he didn't want to dissolve the Resistance and therefore, he gave the CEO position to Sonic. Sonic could do whatever he wanted with it, however, Knuckles was still pretty much the owner. Of course until Sonic was able to pay off the land debt he had with Knuckles which was pretty much never going to happen. The land was valued over 7 million dollars and Sonic monthly paid 100 dollars to Knuckles. He really didn't care about it that much.

Now, Amy was very happy to meet the red echidna after a very long time of not seeing each other. Knuckles and Amy were really good friends, best friends even. They had a brother and sister relationship and they knew each other's deepest secret.

Knuckles invited Amy to eat at Emeralds' Restaurant, Central's City most luxury's restaurant. Amy wasn't used to this kind of treatment and she was happy that she was able to experience such scenery with her best friend.

They were fairy lights decorating the ceiling of the restaurant. Fancy people showing off their jewelry and expensive outfits. It was lively and Amy felt like she didn't fit in.

They were sitting on a wooden table and Knuckles noticed Amy's discomfort as they read their menus.

"I am sorry, I thought you may have wanted to go somewhere nice and-" Knuckles tried to apologize but Amy stopped him as she puts her menu down.

"No, I love it! I really don't get to do this often," Amy let out a giggle. She was actually happy, she was living in a fairy tale to a certain extent at the moment.

"What? Your boyfriend doesn't take you out?" Knuckles teased. He knew Amy had a boyfriend because she told him so. However, no matter how much he insisted, Amy wouldn't tell him who this mysterious boyfriend was.

Now the Amy thinks about it, Shadow never takes out in places like this. It was usually a place where they could be alone or where there were few people. A small bar, a park or his house. They had an agreement that they will keep their relationship a secret. Shadow told her that a Commander dating his secretary would leave for too many conflicts with the upper officials and he didn't want any problems with Amy. As well that she could be targeted by his many enemies.

Amy was saved by the waitress as she came to ask for their order. As fast as she came, she left. Now it was a matter for Knuckles to drop the topic.

"Well, at least tell me," Knuckles said. "How is your relationship going?"

Well, that was something Amy could answer. Knuckles immediately saw how Amy's eyes shone in delight. She was always the happiest when it came down to talk about her secret boyfriend.

"It's going so very well! I love him very, very much!" Amy said. "I honestly never thought that someone like him would ever look at me twice. He is perfect and I am so blessed to have him in my life."

"He seems like a good guy," Knuckles added. "But if he ever hurts you, I will make sure to break every bone in his body."

"Knuckles!"

If there was one Mobian in the entirety of Mobius who Knuckles would give everything for, that was Amy. After the war with Eggman Amy had stayed to live with Knuckles for a while in Angel Island. They created a strong bond and without notice, he began to deeply care for the pink hedgehog. He watched her grow from a sweet delicate hedgehog to a strong, still very sweet, grown woman.

He was extremely happy for Amy now. She had loved before and ended up hurt and he was there to pick up the pieces. Now she found love again and it seemed like it was going nowhere.

They kept talking for a while and without noticing it, time passed by flying. They talked about many things besides Amy's love life. Knuckles, life on Angel Island, Amy's job as a secretary at G.U.N and the Resistance.

Many people had left the restaurant, and Knuckles and Amy felt that they had only been talking for a few minutes.

.

It was 3 a.m.

3.A.M.

Shadow wasn't angry, no. He was infuriated.

Because he cares so deeply for Amy, he decided to wait outside Amy's house and see that she arrived safely. He parked his bike under a nearby tree where the blackness of it camouflaged with the night. He couldn't be seen and so, he waited for the pink one to arrive. Arriving at 11 p.m. exact, Shadow waited until 3 a.m. and his mind was already running wild with angry thoughts.

Just what in the world was Amy Rose doing with Knuckles at this time? The worst of it all was that Amy wasn't answering her phone. Dammit, why is he feeling such anger?

"Well, isn't this a nice bike?"

On his anger, Shadow didn't notice that a group of males had approached him. It was five of them, two wolfs one grey and the other blue, and eagle, a rabbit, and a fox.

Shadow rolled his eyes if they were smart they should know to not mess up with him and especially his bike. But now that he thinks about it, maybe they could be useful.

"Are you guys from here?" Shadow asked as he watched the group of males surround him.

"That's right, welcome to our neighborhood." The grey wolf said not really paying attention to Shadow but to the bike.

Shadow felt annoyed, this guy was trying too hard to be cool. "By any chance, do you know Amy Rose?"

"Ugly Amy Rose? Of course, we know her! She is the ugliest Mobian in the neighborhood, Central City even!"

The group burst into laughter. They had known Amy since they came to live in the neighborhood. Of course, they took into notice Amy's appearance and they didn't take long to bully her about it every single time they had the opportunity.

"I remember when she first came to the neighborhood, we made her cry so many times!" The eagle said as he held his stomach from laughing too hard.

"Yes, we did! But now she is so used to it that it takes longer to make her cry," The fox who was more controlled but still laughing, was the first to notice that maybe they had messed up with the wrong hedgehog.

The night's wind ran through Shadow's quills, messing them up. His fur spiked up with every word the males dared to say in his face. In the dark night, Shadow's vermillion eyes glowed, ready to take some bloodshed.

Now it was a matter to see who was going to throw the first punch.

Of course, it was Shadow.

He was already angry as it was and these bastards showed up as if they were sent by Chaos. Shadow felt his anger being release by every single punch that landed on the male group. However, he felt his blood boiled in fury each time he saw their faces and remembered all the things they said about his Amy.

The blue wolf-boy was able to land a hit on Shadow but that was just a tickle to him. Shadow picked him up and threw him across the street and then he turned his body to throw another punch at the red rabbit who had a knife. They were pathetic and usually, Shadow wouldn't get involved in such clandestine fights. However, they made the terrible mistake to bother Amy Rose.

Shadow picked up the body of the other grey wolf by the jacket he was wearing. He made him look straight into the eyes and with the most serious voice, he intimidated the grey one.

"Don't you ever dare to call Amy ugly again because if you do, I'll make sure to come back and leave you worst than this."

The grey wolf's body touched the ground again as Shadow left him go off his jacket. He looked around, proud of his work. Walking back to his favorite bike, Shadow mounted his bike, ready to leave the place. However, anger still haunted his mind. He thought that the anger would be gone by now but on the contrary, it was stronger than ever. Looking at Amy's house, there was still no sign of the pink one. She still most be with Knuckles ... together and alone.

Shadow let out a growl and rolled his eyes as he turned on his bike.

Tomorrow, Amy needed to give him a lot of explanations.

.

The house of the black hedgehog was located on the outskirts of Central City. Although Amy has been there many times already, she still couldn't believe that she welcomed to such a place.

It was 9 a.m. and Amy was still sleepy from the night before. Knuckles and she stayed talking until 4 a.m. and they would have kept talking if it wasn't because the workers at the restaurant told them to leave.

At the end of their night, Knuckles drop off Amy at her house around 5 a.m. She really wanted to stay home and sleep. However, considering that Shadow wanted her to be at his house at 9 a.m., she mustered the strength she needed to wake up.

The black hedgehog was a fan of punctuality. It was 9:10 a.m, already and Amy knew that she was going to be hearing the best of Shadow. She did little hops as she tried to make the least sound possible. She picked her head into the garage and she found her black lover.

Shadow was concentrated on fixing his bike. Yesterday, his bike light stopped working. He didn't know why maybe it was because he was so angry that he became distracted and crashed against a light pole. Maybe, he wasn't too sure.

He turned to look for a screwdriver on his toolbox and right there he found the pink hedgehog.

Amy smiled awkwardly. Dark circles under her eyes and her hair was tied into a messy braid. Shadow rolled his eyes and let out a growl as he went back to repair his bike.

Amy noticed his discontent and hurridly she went next to him. She kneels and tried to get his attention. "Morning my love."

Shadow remained quiet. He was still angry at her. However, he just couldn't help himself but look at her and that was his mistake. With her big green eyes, he felled right into her trap. "Why didn't you answer your phone yesterday?"

"My battery died," Amy replied.

"What time did you go back home?"

"5 a.m."

Alright, Shadow had enough. He stood up from the ground and walked to the other side of the motorcycle as he didn't want to be next to Amy.

"It was just Knuckles, I love him like a brother." Amy looked over to Shadow who seemed to fume fire from his ears. "You can ask me anything!"

This could be a perfect opportunity for Shadow to clean the doubt that has been haunting his mind for a while. Actually, he could let go of all this thing with Knuckles if Amy answered his question with honesty.

"Anything?" Shadow asked as he arched an eyebrow.

Amy raised up her left hand and placed her right hand on her chest where her heart is. "Anything, I promise!"

"I wasn't your first time ... was I?"

Amy opened her eyes in suprised. She was expecting something like 'What did you both talk about?' or "What did you both do?' She wasn't expecting that kind of question. Actually, that was one of the secrets that she only shared with Knuckles. But if the love of her life was aking about that then ...

"No ..." Amy looked down at the floor. A light blush covering her cheeks and embarrassment in her mannerism. "I know it's a bit amusing that someone as ugly as me ... Well, you know ... made love before."

Shadow didn't want to admit it. But right now, he had to admit that this anger building up in him wasn't just anger. It was jealousy.

"Who was it?"

"You really want to know?"

Shadow has never more sure in his life. He nodded his head and Amy sighed, maybe this was the time she could finally let go of that memory by sharing it with the hedgehog she loved the most.

"Long story short ... When I first arrived at my house well, I was bullied a lot by my other neighbors." Amy began. "But one day, this orange hedgehog came to defend me. His name was James and well ... We just fell in love."

Amy looked up to Shadow who had his red eyes glue on her. "We dated for a while and he was really kind, he cared for me and he loved me."

"And one day we decided to do it. I was really happy, I was giving myself to the one I loved and I just couldn't think of a better way to express my love to him," she continued.

As he heard Amy, Shadow couldn't stop from feeling the jealousy take over him. He was imagining very clearly and was disgusted with the idea alone.

"After we made love ... I never saw him again," Amy remembered clearly. Although it pained her still, she wasn't going to cry. She was left with no tears since that day. "I looked for him everywhere and then ... Alex, a grey wolf who lives close to me told me that ... His friends and James had made a bet. If he could take to bed the ugliest girl in the city, he would get 50 bucks ... and he won."

Shadow felt his heart break into a million pieces. For a moment he felt like he wasn't breathing like time had stopped and he wasn't long in this world.

The last thing Amy wanted was for Shadow to pity her. She gave him a dry smile and continued her story.

"After he left I never saw him again," said Amy. "I was devastated. I thought I could die. I didn't eat nor sleep. I just dedicated myself to cry. Knuckles was there for me all the time, honestly, I think he is the reason why I am alive today."

Amy made a pause and she could swear that for a fraction of a second, Shadow's hands trembled and he had a bit of water in his eyes. "Up until now, I thought I wasn't worthy of love because I was so ugly ... but then you entered my life and showed me that I am worthy of love! You really have changed my life and I thank Chaos every day for giving me someone like you."

Suddenly, Amy felt strong arms wrap around her. Shadow was hugging him so tenderly, so gently as if he was holding the most precious thing in his life. Although Amy loved the affection, she didn't want Shadow to feel bad for her.

"Don't worry about it! I am over it! Besides the amount of happiness that I feel with you doesn't compare to the sadness I felt before," said Amy as she gave Shadow small pats on his back.

Once again, all the pain and doubts he had, disappear with just a small touch from her. He felt his air go back to his lungs and his mind cleared out for a moment.

Maybe it was time to stop.

It was time to stop pretending that he didn't care when he absolutely did. He needed to stop pretending that he wasn't jealous when he was. He needed to stop pretending he wasn't lonely when she was not there because he was.

And he needed to stop pretending that he wasn't in love with her ... because he was.

He was in love with Amy Rose.

To many, she was ugly. In the beginning, he thought the same. He thought of her as the ugliest creature in the world and even made fun of her with his co-workers. Now, he was in a position that he couldn't think of anyone else but her.

The day that they made love, he had concluded that he wasn't to be with any other woman but her. There was no need, Amy satisfied him physically but most importantly emotionally. There was peace when he was with her, and she had opened her heart to him many times. Every time she did so, he would take a peek at Amy's soul. Which was beautiful in every sense of the world.

He had a dark past and made many mistakes but is there was the only single thing he was sure of was ...

That falling in love with Amy Rose wasn't a mistake.

It was a blessing and maybe even more than that.

It was a perfect morning on the morning of January 5th. The pink and black hedgehog still embraced each other in the comfort of an old garage. And they couldn't deny just how perfect the moment was.

.

On the same day, Knuckles thought it was proper of him to pay a visit to the Resistance while he could.

He entered the building and he was glad to see that it was maintaining itself well. The agents greeted him and he went towards Sonic's office. Knuckles had hoped to see him there but of course, he wasn't. Sonic was still on the go, taking as many missions as he could and living as free as the wind. He still entered, however, just to do a walk down memory lane.

He looked at each rusty wall and window. Personally, he wasn't a big fan of offices either. The last time he was there was he had lost a pair of sunglasses he really liked. Another thought crossed his mind, maybe, he could find his sunglasses now. Knuckles looked down the sofa, under the carpet and finally on Sonic's desk. He opened some cabinets to find nothing and in some others, documents. However, one envelop caught his attention.

Proof of Shadow

Proof of Shadow?

Curiosity got the best of him and he opened the envelope. There were two things inside of it. An old voice recorder and typed documents. Without any further due, Knuckles clicked the play button on the recorder while he read the mysterious document.

.

The next day, Sonic was surprised to have a guest at the office of the Resistance. Shadow the Hedgehog had requested to speak to him privately and after coming from a long mission, he didn't t have anything else better to do.

Sonic sat down on his office chair as he kept eye contact with the dark hedgehog. "So, what brings you here?"

Shadow couldn't believe that he was in front of Sonic the hedgehog, about to ask for mercy. But if it was for Amy, then he could put his pride aside.

"I came to ask you ... you beg you ... to stop that ridiculous bet we did a month ago," Shadow said.

Now, this was something Sonic wasn't expecting. "What happened? You couldn't make Amy fall in love-"

"She is in love with me," Shadow interrupted him. "But it's not about that ... I am asking you to stop this because I can't just do this to Amy anymore. She's too pure and she doesn't deserve this."

"Shadow, I can't just-"

"I am in love with her," Shadow said. "I am in love with Amy Rose."

The desperation in his eyes, his strange mannerism and the fact that he was here was proof enough that Shadow the Hedgehog had completely fallen in love with Amy. Sonic had never seen Shadow in such s state. He looked like a lost child, like a sinner looking for forgiveness, like a vagabond looking for a home.

"Are you serious?" Sonic asked. Maybe it was time to reconsider his plan.

"I can't of anyone to be with but her," Shadow responded. "That's why I am asking ... please, I don't want to do this anymore."

Sightly, he nodded. All of this was made into the intention that Amy leaves G.U.N. But now his plan had backfired, Shadow was in love with Amy. What should he do now?

"To be honest with you ... Before the two months expired, I wanted to expose with Amy." Sonic made a pause. "I wanted Amy to hate you and hate G.U.N. ... I am sorry Shadow, but I just can't believe in someone who works for a company that only cares for those who have money."

G.U.N. was an elite service. Basically, they would do humanitarian missions only if they were paid enough. The rich and politicians were the only ones who could enjoy their services so far. So what about the people who needed help but they didn't have money?

They left them to their luck.

"If you really love Amy ... then you will tell her the truth," Sonic said. "Otherwise, I will be the one to-"

Sonic diverted his eyes to one of the cabinets of his desk. Before he left for a mission, he made sure that everything was close and that nobody shall enter his office ... so why was his right cabinet open?

He paused down saliva as he began to look for the envelope. He took everything out, documents and files. He looked to his other cabinet ... and nothing.

"What happened?" Shadow asked as he looks with confusion at the blue bur.

Shadow began to panic as he realized that Sonic's face showed nothing but regret.

"The envelope ..." Sonic said almost in a whisper. "It's not here."

.

"Look, I've been with lots of women. And all of them beautiful! You don't know how surprised I was when I saw Amy Rose. She is horrendous! The ugliest thing I have ever seen and let me tell you I have seen a lot of them! But you know, I most give you props, this is a challenge! I'll make Amy Rose fall in love with me! If I have to I will even bring her to my bed, even if I am fucking disgusted with her. I will even bring a picture too! By the end of the next two months, I will have G.U.N and the Resistance for me!"

It was already the 5th time Amy listened to the voice recorder. She knew something was wrong when she found knuckles on her door with a strange envelope on his hand.

This was her fault. It was her fault for believing that she was worthy of love, that someone as ugly and disgusting as she deserved something as beautiful as love.

It was not possible that Shadow the Hedgehog could be in love with Ugly Amy Rose. Not in this lifetime, and never.

Knuckles was left again to clean up the broken pieces and he would do it again and again. Lending her shoulder to cry on, to hit on, to let out every single thing she needed to say. It pained him, it pained him so much to see her like that.

And he made a promise to himself that no one was ever going to hurt Amy ever again.

.

Shadow didn't know what pain was until he saw the emptiness of Amy's house. It was dark already and the moonlight crossed through the windows. Everything was there, the sofa, the tables even her scent was predominant but she wasn't there. The thing that matters to him the most wasn't there.

Shadow sat down on the sofa as thoughts clouded his mind. Memories of Amy flooded his mind, her smile, her scent, her personality ... He was comepetly, unconditionally in love with her. If Shadow had a soul, then he was sure that it belonged only to her.

He knew he was the worst type of scum for agreeing to that stupid bet and this was his punishment.

He didn't believe in love until Amy entered his life.

To finally be able to love and lose it.

That was the best punishment he could ask for.

Shadow pressed his right hand on his chest where his heart was located because he really thought he had died. He held into it tightly, knowing that if he let it go, his heart will break again.

Many could argue that the night of January 6th was perfect.

But for Shadow the Hedgehog, it wasn't. He spent more nights like this.

Because he never saw her again.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

A/N: This was amazingly rushed. This is a drabble for a story that I am probably never going to finish. The reason is that this is based on the Mexican version of 'Ugly Betty', which has more than 300 episodes, one hour each! I am currently in episode 204 and to be honest, I don't' think I will ever make the story justice. They really took their time to develop the whole characters and story. If I were to write something similar then it will take around 50 chapters around 7K to 10k words each chapter to make a good satisfying story. But if you have read my other stories, you all know I don't like to write stories that are more than 15 chapters long. If anyone would like, maybe I will write a shorter version of it. But I really do think that this AU has more potential than that. Anyways, it has been a long time since I wrote some ANGST, and you all know I love the hurt lol.

Like always, thank you for reading!

Also, I am wringing next week's prompt request, please be patient it's almost out! Thank you.

[historianatlarge]

1917 - Film Review

A few days ago, my wife and I went to see ‘1917’. I’m certainly a bit behind the curve in terms of writing my review of it, but the film has stayed with me since we were there, and I feel the need to get my thoughts down. Really, that in a nutshell is the best recommendation I can make to you about this film – well over a week later, I am still turning over what that moment means to me, what the memory it created will mean in the future.

I had been hesitant to go see it in theatres, in part because I had seen so very many films about the First World War. All these films had a sort of rhythm to them, an almost traditional way they played out, dependant on the country that made the film, or whom it was portraying. In short, I had expectations – certain themes, certain notes I expected ‘1917’ to strike. In the end, it was my mother who convinced me I should go see it and she was not only correct but extremely correct in urging me to do so. At every turn, ‘1917’ caught me by surprise – it struck hard and gave me a moment of renewed belief in the power of cinema to reinforce the importance of history to a mass audience.

Before I review it in further detail, I will indulge in an aside; one that represents those little moments of life that we tend to remember for a long time after as odd or strange, perhaps even a little bit humorous. We went to see the movie on the 14th – perhaps not the most obvious choice on Valentine’s Day – the same day that Sonic the Hedgehog premiered. By coincidence, 1917 was showing in the theater next to it, and both movies emptied out within a minute of each other. You can imagine the very, very odd juxtaposition between a roomful of gleeful children, teens and parents compared to the very, very somber and even sorrowful people coming from next door. In short, I now have a superb example of ‘contrast’ to use when teaching an English class.

To return to my main theme, however, all of this – even the aside – speaks to the idea of the unexpected. At its core, I believe that is the key to 1917’s power and very real feeling. It abandons many of the old tropes to focus on the moment, with a galaxy of circumstances the audience, and the movie’s characters, can’t know about all circling around in the distance. This, in a very critical way, was the First World War. To the individual, the war was beyond comprehension – and in many ways it remains difficult to understand today. A war of millions of people in a labyrinthine, mud-soaked hell couldn’t fail to be anything other than that: a grand, confused mess on which a great slaughter was carried out. Throughout the film, every character finds themselves not only part of events they do not have any control over but are surprised by it – something I can assure you happens to the audience as well.

The violence in the film is sudden, and unexpected. Death is never predictable, never something forecast – it is at once a routine part of the larger tapestry but a sudden, awful surprise in moments that arrive either with pure shock or by unusual circumstance. This emphasis on circumstance is a crucially important concept to understanding the life of the individual during the war. By abandoning the look at the big battles, director Sam Mendes has crafted something unique. It gets us past mere statistics, past stereotypes or national myths and to the crucial reminder that these were ordinary, real human beings and not just names on a cenotaph or a granite monument. Years of a family’s love and care, a bundle of hopes and memories and emotions – all of it suddenly ended in sometimes absurd ways in a war that was itself absurd and, in many ways, unreal.

This air of unreality is reflected in the reactions of the film’s characters, and the audience. The movie is all about reactions, of course, since nobody has any mastery of the world they find themselves in – another very real take on the conflict. But as they make their way through the film, practically every character must come to terms with something unreal to them. The larger event that frames the film is the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line, a measure taken in 1917 to shorten the German defensive front by falling back to a heavily prepared defensive line and freeing up resources. This they achieved with near complete surprise, so much so that apparently at least one soldier left up a sign for the advancing Allies saying “don’t be angry, be amazed!”

The very idea that the Germans would retreat without making the enemy wrench territory from them inch by bloody inch is an astonishing surprise to the characters in the film, to the point where some simply don’t believe it, and you simply cannot blame them for their error. Again, these characters – these people - are not masters of their own fate. Advancing into the abandoned German defences brings yet more surprise, at the solid, clean and well-prepared nature of German positions (which often were superior to Allied entrenchments for reasons best gone into elsewhere) – and then further surprise at the nasty surprises left behind.

All of this world of surprise, of sudden and unexpected violence, or strange events that are difficult to accept, is painted onto a background created with great care and even greater skill. Much has been said about the cinematography of the film, and the long shots are certainly unique in that they keep the audience from resting. You keep watching for the sudden changes, the unexpected twist – in short, the audience undergoes a shadow of the experience of the soldiers themselves. Their world did not cut away, it remained a constant threat where the most (seemingly) inconsequential decision could result in death.

This unreal world is depicted with both the grim reality and the strange, horrible beauty that war art often evokes. The ruins of a French town illuminated by starlight shells, for instance, presents a remarkable and grand tapestry while still depicting just one small place and one small moment. It is at once beautiful and terrible, and I am certain that any dedicated student of the First World War will understand this feeling, even if they struggle to put it into words. It certainly isn’t easy. For me, it reminded me of seeing Regeneration Hall at the War Museum in Ottawa. For all the beauty of the space, for all the care in its construction and message, the statuary was disturbing – and the image of their faces has stayed with me ever since. While the Hall is explicitly about hope for a better future, it reminds us about the horrors endured to get there. This is an unspoken and complex discussion, one that the movie carries on with expert skill.

The movie also abandons the stereotype of the officers as being almost evil and unfeeling, a hallmark of many First World War movies. This is replaced instead by an officer class just as overmatched by events as the regular soldiers, just as unable to adapt to the sudden changes on the battlefield. Some of the officers you will see in other First World War movies are almost comically inept and without any human feeling whatsoever – and while these people did exist, it certainly paints a more realistic picture to show the wide range of emotional responses to the war, rather than fall back on a singular image. Once again, this is a complex discussion – and I am glad the movie provokes it.

The film does more to conceptualize the war accurately, but I will avoid discussing that to avoid revealing any major plot revelations for those still planning to see it. To sum up, then, all I can say is that this movie sticks with you. You turn it over in your mind time and time again, and that is some of the highest praise I can think of for any motion picture. It brings a vanished world back to us, one that is at once very far away and just over the horizon if we fail to learn from the past.

The score, the cinematography and the acting are all superb – and by and large beside the point. It is the frank and new way that it deals with its subject matter that makes this stand out, at least from my perspective. I cannot recommend it more highly, for it has been a very long time since I left a movie theater with the words of Siegfried Sassoon so clear in my mind:

“Sneak home and pray you'll never know

The hell where youth and laughter go.”

[wafflewarriors]

The Not-So-French Mistake

Chapter 7: Inner Demons

Castiel devoured his cheeseburger like Famine had strolled into town.

As for Sam, he was grinning into a biteful of food as he stabbed another with his fork, and then proceeded to jab a few sweet peppers in amusement. Pasta salads were a rare treat when on the road. Dean usually protested against his healthy habits, but it was no use. Sam preferred naturally sweetened foods over the artificial pounds of meat, grease, and cholesterol Dean usually supported.

He cast his eyes from his meal to his laptop screen for a moment, mapping out Bobby's present location. “His cell is at a warehouse about seven hours from here. It's a long drive. You sure you don't want to stake out at a motel for the night? I mean, we can't search for Bobby if we're sleep deprived.”

“No. Unless you feel it wiser. I'll be alright.” Cas assured and then gestured toward the burger in his hands. “Thank you for this, Sam. I appreciate it.” A frail string of cheese laced onto Castiel's lip as he spoke. He pulled the burger further away, letting the line of softened cheese thin out until it snapped, latching onto the bottom of his chin. Cas made a huff, frowning at his nose in regard to the loose strand of cheddar.

“It's nothing, Cas,” Sam dismissed contentedly, relieved that Castiel was satisfied. His angelic friend had been uncomfortable in the car, whiny snarls resonating from his stomach. Sam disliked watching him hunch into himself, a pinching expression similar to pain decorating his face.

Castiel set his burger down respectfully, adding emphasis to his seriousness. He softly disagreed, shaking his head. “No, Sam. It isn’t ‘nothing’.” 

While the added finger-quotes were a tad hysterical in the sincerity of the moment, Sam listened without a crack of a smile breaking along his face. Cas was serious, so he was as well.

“I... understand I am difficult as a human. This was all very sudden, and I am unfortunately slow to adapt. Hunger is foreign… and these, inner emotions of turmoil and guilt… I was capable of feeling as an angel, but this…” he struggled to explain, “Sam, I constantly feel this… panic, and it’s all very compressing within my vessel.” He took a breath. “Every nerve reacts to my being, and they bring overwhelming sensations. How do you cope with such complicated feelings?” Castiel almost looked distraught.

Sam held a soft, understanding gaze. “Cas, you’re anything but difficult. Sure, you’re not used to being human, but you’re our friend. You’re no burden to us. We can teach you.”

Cas looked uncertain. “I am also unsure of the social customs among humans. I had once believed I understood, but there are so many rules. Hidden, unspoken rules which determine your functionality. And the lying… I cannot even begin with how to lie…”

Sam set his fork in his dish, rolling a lone pasta noodle in thought. “It's about the body language. Looking nervous or tense tends to give you away. Hesitating doesn't help. The genuine expressions are what tells a lie from a truth. Not that lying is all that great, but sometimes it's necessary for cases.”

Cas nodded, worn. “Thank you, Sam. You have been very kind to me,” he murmured.

“You're welcome, Cas. Anytime.”

By the time they had finished their meal, the sun was touching the horizon, ambers and ochres illuminating the landscape. The clouds reflected salmon pinks and dusty blues. While the noontime sun had set a nightmare upon the previous town, the sunset was gorgeous. Sam admired the sky as if it were a delicate acrylic painting. Geese flew in an uneven V above the stolen truck, faint honks ringing into the evening air.

Cas fell asleep on the drive, his head lolling onto the window, sometimes jolting forward and startling him awake until he was lulled to sleep once again by the engine's purr and the setting sun's warmth blanketing his skin. It was no Impala, but drive was smooth and the road was velvety.

Sam knew angels shouldn't sleep, and that he should be concerned over Castiel's recent humanity, but all he could manage was guilty contentment. Castiel was rarely so peaceful.

When Dean slept, he either looked like he was ready to stab you in the gut or he was stupidly drooling on a pillow with his morning hedgehog hair at attention. But… that was Dean.

Castiel woke drowsily to silver lines of clouds weaving into the horizon, having furrowed downward into the silhouettes of spindly trees. Looming shadows and blinding streetlamps flickered past as the night defeated the light. He knew that as the sky darkened, so did Sam's thoughts.

Sluggishly, he shifted his head toward Sam, still leaning against the door of the vehicle. “Sam?”

Sam startled a bit, as if snapping out of lost, intense thoughts. “Yeah, Cas?”

“Are you alright?” He needed the truth.

Sam stared at the road, letting the silence envelope the innocent question until he whispered, “No. No, I'm really not.”

Castiel nestled his head between his chair and the window. “I suspected such. You seemed troubled after we left Sydney.”

Sam shifted his hands along the steering wheel. “She just… she dug up a lot of memories that I'd buried, you know? She's struggling… like I was… with the, uh, with the demon blood.”

Castiel shot a soulful look at Sam, sympathy washing over his features.

Sam paused thoughtfully. “You know… I used to really believe that I was a freak. Everyone knew it. Even you knew it. I was titled ‘the boy with the demon blood’ before I could walk. But then, I thought: maybe I can make that part of me my strength. Maybe I can use it to save people. I trusted Ruby, I trusted my powers, and ended up unleashing the one thing I was trying to stop. The one thing that caused me the most pain. The most sacrifice. The one ghost, to this day, that still haunts me.”

“Sam…” Guilt bled into Castiel’s features. “Others led you on that path. It wasn’t your fault.”

“And it’s kind of funny. You’d think I’d be worried about vampires, or demons, or witches. Every monster that I face daily. I’ve lived my whole life hunting the creatures that lurk behind people's shadows. But no, it’s the creature lurking behind my shadow. It’s the devil that haunts my sleep. It’s Satan. Lucifer gives me nightmares.”

“Sam.” Cas pleaded.

“But, it’s not even the nightmares... I’m just… I’m afraid Sydney will fear herself like I did once, and she’ll just wind up inflicting more pain―more suffering. I’m afraid she’s going to unleash her own Satan, you know? I’m terrified that it’ll be something that we can’t fight with bullets or brawn.” Sam’s eyes never left the road, deep-threaded pain shimmering along the whites of his eyes. His fists clenched the steering wheel like a life-source. “I don’t want anyone to go through that, Cas. The guilt I felt…” his voice cracked shamefully. “I don’t want her thinking she’s a freak. I can see it in her eyes. It’s the exact same look I saw in the mirror during the apocalypse.” Tears pooled in his eyes, his lashes dampening, but nothing dropped. “Nobody should ever feel that. Because not only can you not trust the world, but you can’t trust yourself. And that's scary.”

Castiel silenced as Sam’s heavy final words sank in. The thought invaded Castiel’s heart like a worm―a parasite―shimmying into the crevices of his aching soul. Not that Castiel had a soul, only humans had such, but it felt like it. And past Castiel’s brave face and stony appearance, his grace wept for Sam Winchester. He wept for Sam's losses, for his sorrow, for his fear, for his centuries of pain and torture in the Cage. He wept for Sam Winchester because Sam Winchester deserved to be wept for. 

Unfortunately, Sam did not see past the hardened facade of Castiel's vessel.

Hours past. Cas frequently volunteered to drive, but Sam insisted he was ‘okay’ and he was ‘fine’. However, after his confession, it was clear he was far from such a claim. 

Sam finally shredded the burdened silence with a sigh. “How are you holding up, Cas?”

Cas seemed genuinely flustered. “Me?”

Sam nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah. I think we've heard enough of my baggage for one night. Anything been bothering you lately?”

Cas wondered if there wasn't something that bothered him lately, but he replied, “Other than my wings having been reduced to nothing but feather dusters, I am adjusting.” The angel was rather proud of that metaphor (even though he’s stolen it from Dean).

Sam let his brow lower in puzzlement. “How can you still have wings and not be able to fly?”

Castiel was thankful for the questions he could answer. “My grace allows me to bend distances. so I can fly into the next space within the matter of a microsecond. Much like the theory of black holes. Picture taking a string as a representation of two distances, and then folding the string until both ends meet. I allow two places to become one.” 

“Interesting.”

Cas continued to explain it simply, “Sigils generally control the bending of space. Whether it be banishing an angel or preventing it from entering warded areas. They hold an aura we cannot break unless disassembled. It targets our platform, if you will.”

“Platform?”

“You could say it's a layer of existence. It is very… complex. Difficult to visualize.

“Our blades, for example, exist in many platforms. Our grace, however, lives on one. Since only a shadow of our grace remains on this platform, normal weapons will not penetrate it. Normal weapons will only harm the vessel, and our grace will work to stitch the wound immediately.” Cas tried to aid Sam in visualizing it in a way he could understand. “There are other platforms, but they are generally irrelevant. Picture them as layers to reality.

“Simply put, a blade can kill grace as long as it exists on the same platform. They cannot penetrate shadows of grace,” he took a heavy breath.  “It gets much more complicated when you visualize alternate universes as layers going vertically. Sydney managed to jump those layers when she entered our reality.” He added, “Humans cannot jump horizontal platforms without dying. Such as heaven or hell.”

Sam made a left turn, headlights sweeping across the barren, deserted asphalt. Sam was unsure if grace could apply to physics, but Castiel's description definitely granted him a vague insight on how it worked. “So when your grace drains…”

With the turn, Cas was nudged further into the window as inertia gently pulled him right. “Our vessels rely on human behaviors. Eating, sleeping. Just as human souls do. The less grace, the more human we become. Currently, my grace is very compressed and useless, but present. I believe something within the town was limiting my grace to become completely unavailable to me. I believe now that we have left the town, it is beginning to unravel. I should be able to utilize my grace's abilities very soon.”

Sam looked relieved to hear that. After a minute of thought, he conjured another curious question. “Do platforms apply to dreams?”

Cas nodded into the window. “Yes. That is its own platform. A complicated one. It merges both conscious and unconscious thoughts, depending on your state. It's a platform your soul is in charge of. Hence why those who are soulless do not dream.”

“Demons?”

“Lucifer created them to live amongst their own platform. Your demon knife exists on theirs.” He paused. “I suppose angel blades do as well. The Colt was designed to target their platform, and all other monsters’. There are very few things the Colt can't kill.”

“Witchcraft?”

“Witches discovered they could control platforms with specific spells. They generally target humanity’s.”

They continued the one-sided game of questionnaire until the questions ran dry. Admittedly, they were both thankful for the distraction.

The sun had yet to rise. Pale mountains of clouds had piled along the skyline, their peaks just barely cutting into the sky. Murky darkness had faded into pale, noticeable splotches of cobalt and a modest tone of lime. It was roughly five in the morning, dawn not having broken yet.

Castiel yawned, removing himself from his somewhat suitable pillow for the everlasting night, the window. He stretched, joints cracking and popping as he extended his stiff muscles. “I can understand why most humans abhor mornings.”

Sam parked, squinting at the warehouse that stood three blocks from the hunter. He scanned the windows for movement, and upon finding none, he bundled his gear in preparation for a fight. He squared his shoulders..

“Let’s get Bobby back."   

Tags: @queen-bubble, @rosaren2498

[sonic-wildfire]

Aftermath: A Sonic Forces AU Fanfiction - Chapter 2

Six Months After the War

(Reposting because of a colossal grammatical error I made in the chapter heading)

Sonic was sitting in his living room, feeling incredibly melancholy. Ever since the meltdown, Sonic had experienced repeated sudden mood swings, restless sleep, and has been more physically fatigued. He knew he had to remain calm, but he also knew from experience that was an onerous task.

It wasn’t long before the azure rodent heard a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Sonic invited the unknown guest without so much as looking over his shoulder.

The guest let themselves in; it was Knuckles. The red echidna wordlessly set a coffee mug on the table adjacent to Sonic’s couch before he sat himself down on a couch opposite of Sonic.

“Where are the others?” Sonic asked.

With a moment’s hesitation, Knuckles answered, “They’re running a bit late, but they should be here soon.”

He took a sip of his own drink and slowly put it back down before sloped his shoulders and gazed at the limestone floor beneath his feet. Sonic noticed that Knuckles was enervated; his once brilliant dark orchid eyes had dulled to an uninteresting plum, he was far more pale, and the white streak across his chest had begun to turn grey.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about, Knux? Someone lay a finger on the Master Emerald?” Sonic jested.

Knuckles suppressed a laugh at the unexpected inquiry. Even in his dire mood, Sonic still had some esprit. That was always something Knuckles could count on, aside from his inordinate amount of hubris.

“We wanted to check in and touch base to see how you’re handling things,” Knuckles told Sonic, brushing aside the hedgehog’s previous question.

“Don’t worry about me, dude,” Sonic quickly riposted, the words coming out harsher than he meant them to be. He hesitated for a moment, feeling bad about how that last sentence came out of his mouth.

With a sigh, Sonic apologized and stated, “It’s just…I’m doing alright. There’s really no need to think about me. I’ll be fine. I think it’s more important that you focus on yourself.”

Knuckles saw right through his falsification. Sonic was smirking, but his legs were trembling as he subtly and impatiently tapped his foot and his pointy ears, once standing on his head as sturdy as oak trees, had now sagged.

“You look bad, man,” the echidna insisted. “You’re anything but fine.”

The accusation vexed Sonic. His forehead corrugated and his eyes narrowed, nearly hissing at the prototherian as he clenched his teeth together.

“I know how you feel,” Knuckles continued slowly. “I’m dealing with the same type of feelings. No need to be bashful about it.”

Sonic felt slightly reassured, but quickly began to wallow in his own thoughts again. ‘I shouldn’t be relying on others for comfort,’ Sonic angrily thought to himself. ‘You know who does that? Cowardly pieces of shit.’

The hedgehog repeated these words under his breath. As he repeated it a fourth time, Knuckles heard it. He began to speak, but Sonic steadily raised his voice and the echidna kept quiet. Eventually, his mumbling turned into yelling. It was at this point Knuckles tried to intervene.

“Sonic, is everything alright?” he asked, truly beginning to worry.

“It’s the same thing with me every day! I have no right to calm down!” Sonic retaliated.

Knuckles tried to say something else—anything else—but Sonic’s rampage was so fierce he couldn’t roll the words off his tongue. He was pissed. At last, Sonic practically went postal.

“What kind of maniac am I?!” Sonic roared, twice slamming his fists onto the table. He immediately looked up and realized that, in his episode of blind rage, he forgot that he had company. The rodent instantly felt shame for his actions and denounced himself harshly. He picked up his coffee mug, drank the rest of the coffee inside, and then furiously hurled the mug at the back wall, splintering it.

All the while, the auburn-quilled monotreme sat motionless trying to process what had just happened. It was then that he heard a knock at the door. It was the others, he had figured.

“Give us just a moment!” Knuckles bellowed. He quickly maneuvered over to the couch Sonic was sitting on, trying to console him.

“It’s okay,” the echidna whispered softly. “You’re okay. It’s all right.”

After a few seconds, Sonic, still slightly ticked, let out a long drawn-out sigh as he rubbed his eyes.

“Alright, you can come in now,” Knuckles yelled to the door.

Tails, Amy, Shadow, and Silver filed into the house. Judging by the looks on their faces, Knuckles thought, they had probably heard the commotion. Sonic turned towards the others and lowered his eyelids in chagrin.

“…I’m… uh… I’m s-sorry…” he managed to stammer.

“For what?” susurrated Amy and Tails simultaneously.

Sonic’s ears drooped and he, without answering the question, lowered his head as he clenched his hands together and rested his forearms on his thighs. In a despondent manner, he stared down at his bright red sneakers.

Silver walked over to the couch where Sonic was sitting, sat himself down next to the blue blur, and put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to reassure him. Shadow walked over to the couch and stood behind the two, standing akimbo and looking down upon the limestone floor.

“I’ve failed you,” insinuated Sonic.

“Failed? Sonic, what on Earth are you talking about?” exclaimed Amy.

“I’ve lost all motivation to do anything, no matter how much I want to do it. I’ve been missing out on sleep thanks to…”

Sonic faltered as he felt his throat constrict again. He didn’t want to outright say he was experiencing night terrors. ‘What will they think of me if I say that?’ he thought.

“…outlying factors, if you will.” asserted Sonic.

“Sonic, we kn—” Silver began, but was interrupted.

“Fine, I’ll get to the point.” Sonic took a deep breath, trying not to tear up.

“I phrased the answer to the first question wrongly. What I meant to say was that I’m a failure.”

The others were appalled. They had a thousand words swirling in their heads, but neither could choke out a single one.

“Twenty-seven years, guys. Twenty-seven fucking years. That’s how long I’ve been fighting to keep this world safe, but it never stays that way. Every time I defeat Eggman, I should’ve been beating him to death. But, no, I just have to keep him alive for the sheer thrill of stopping him. Now it’s beginning to all catch up with me. Why didn’t I rid him once and for all when I had numerous chances to do so? I’m a fool, guys.”

Sonic began tearing up and he felt a lump growing in his throat. The silence persisted. Nobody knew what to say.

Continuing his rant, Sonic vented. “It’s my own dumb decisions that gets everybody else into trouble. Not putting the fake Chaos Emerald into the Eclipse Cannon before going to save Amy so we could have avoided the entire thing with the giant lizard. Being careless in my super state and getting captured because of it, subsequently tearing the planet into pieces. Nearly losing my closest friend because of my dimwitted ways back on the Lost Hex.”

Everybody was intently listening now. Even Shadow, who had been relatively indifferent up to this point, was now bewildered by the words coming out of the blue hedgehog’s mouth; him, of all people.

“I don’t deserve any of you as friends. I don’t deserve your respect. I don’t deserve anything from you guys. The majority of you all have nearly been killed because of my actions. I am completely selfish.”

Sonic had been rambling for a while, but the others still knew better than to speak up now. Tails sat on the couch next to Sonic and Silver. Amy sat on the opposite couch next to Knuckles. Shadow remained standing behind Sonic’s couch. Sonic knew this and, thanks to his experiences while incarcerated aboard the Death Egg, interpreted this as a threatening move. As Shadow saw Sonic arch his back, however, he stepped out from behind the couch and sat next to Amy and Knuckles.

Sonic continued his emotional tirade for another five minutes before he finally fell silent.

“Why can’t things just go back to normal, like they’ve always been?” Sonic sadly pondered.

The room was now silent enough that you could hear a fly’s wings flap. Everybody was aghast while reflecting on what the cobalt hedgehog had just told them.

Finally, Shadow piped up. “Did you need advice or did you just need to vent?”

“Both,” Sonic whimpered.

There was yet another brief period of silence.

“Sonic…” Knuckles admitted. “If I’m being honest, I can’t truly understand how you’re feeling, but I want to help.”

“…I know exactly how he feels,” Shadow acknowledged. “After the whole incident with the Black Arms, I swore to myself that I’d put the past behind me. But… it still haunts me to this day. No matter how hard I try, I can never seem to elude it.”

Silver echoed the ebony hedgehog’s statements, emphasizing how his constant duty of keeping his future bright was near-impossible to do, with or without massive stress.

“But what’s important to know, Sonic, is that as we’ve done so much for you, you’ve done so much for us. If the world’s not destroyed, then that must mean you’ve succeeded in your efforts.”

“Sonic… you matter to us.” Tails emphasized. “We’re here for you. That’s what friends are for. I know it probably doesn’t help much, but we just wanted you to know that.”

“It’s okay to feel this way,” Amy added. “You make such a great impact on our lives that it would be stupid of us to abandon you now. We know how much your—”

Amy stopped. She didn’t want to mention Sonic’s 6-month hostage crisis to him, fearing he may become paranoid and panic. Clearing her throat, she resumed.

“We know what’s been happening over the past year. You aren’t weak for having feelings you have no control over. We care.”

Those two words pierced Sonic’s heart like an arrow.

‘We care.’

The blue blur wiped away a tear welling in the corner of his eye.

“I don’t know what to say…” Sonic breathed. “…Thank you. You all are too kind.”

Tails embraced Sonic in a brief hug before the blue hedgehog turned back towards Knuckles.

“What were you all coming here for anyway?” he contemplated.

“It’s been a while since we’ve actually seen each other,” Knuckles proclaimed, “so we all thought maybe we’d head on over here and catch up.”

Sonic simpered. “I suppose we’ve already done all that over the past five minutes.”

He guffawed at his own answer and everybody else, save for Shadow, did so too.

[Prelude] [Previous Chapter] [Next Chapter]

[the-sapphire-general]

Sonic the Hedgehog: My Thoughts on the Series and Fandom

As you may already know, I'm a fan of Sonic the Hedgehog. I have been a longtime fan ever since 2003, and I still am a fan today. Over the years, I have encountered thousands of content online regarding Sonic, a lot of them coming from the fandom. It's been years, and I feel like it's time for me to speak up about how I feel about the Sonic series, how it affected me, what I think about the fandom in general, etc. This will be a lengthy post because I will cover my years of being a Sonic fan and all my thoughts, feelings, and opinions.

The first thing I will begin with is my history with the franchise. Now I have dealt with a lot of bullying as a child, and despite pretending that everything was okay, it wasn't. It was difficult going to school and not get bullied by those jerks, but then I found out about Sonic. I first got introduced to him when I saw a commercial for the upcoming show, Sonic X. So I watched it on that Saturday, and I instantly liked him. Who wouldn't? He's kind, adventurous, confident, and he stands up for what he believes in, and those are all the things I strived to become myself. And I'm still doing so to this day. Sonic taught me to stick with my passions, be good to others, and not look at things in a negative light (it's still a struggle but I improved massively). Shortly after I began to watch Sonic X, I bought my first Sonic game, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. And I had a blast! Sure, a lot of people now call the game overrated and not as great, but I don't think so. It holds a place in my heart. Sonic the Hedgehog himself became my hero and idol, and he gave me hope in life and myself. I developed a crush on him as well that's still going strong, and he just makes me happy. I may have trouble trying to be more like Sonic, but you can blame the bullying that followed after I became a fan. So bullying has happened to everyone (if there's anyone who was never bullied, you are extremely lucky lol), and I wish to explain my experience. Apparently, in elementary school, I was bullied mainly for liking Sonic. Some mocked me for it, others found it stupid, and my friends that I had at the time showed their true colors and betrayed my trust by telling me to stop liking Sonic. Why? I honestly have no idea. It hurt to be told that I shouldn't like Sonic. What, did they want me to like what they liked, which was going boy-crazy, shopping, mocking others, gossiping about everything, and basically bossing others around? No thank you. Yes, I like men, but I'm not obsessed with shopping, I don't judge others or gossip about them, and I don't boss people around by telling them they can't like whatever it is they like. Instead of letting this affect how I feel about Sonic, I just cut those people out of my life and moved on once I moved to a new place, so I started to attend another school. The bullying continued, only this time it was merciless. "Sonic sucks!" is what I usually got from those morons, and as much as I wanted to ignore them, it was hard. People treated my interest in the Sonic franchise as a joke, and some even dared to say that Shadow is better than Sonic in such a rude and taunting manner that was annoying. Dude, Shadow isn't my idol.. Shove off. As much as I strived to be more like Sonic, it was difficult. Thanks to people like them, I'm pretty much broken. They caused enough damage to make me insecure, worrisome, and not as similar to Sonic. Again, Sonic helped me maintain a positive outlook as much as possible. If it weren't for him, I would probably be a worse person than I actually was on DeviantArt. I would have been so messed up because of the bullying. In fact, if I had never gotten to know Sonic, I wouldn't have a Sonic fan character of my own. Now I didn't wish to say this since it's been years ago, but...I used to be a terrible person on a website known as DeviantArt. When I first signed up, I was a horrible writer, and I had a mary-sue/recolor Sonic fan character. Her name was Sonica. I'm not kidding. She was basically a mary-sue that was just a genderbent Sonic with high heels and breasts. Back then I did not accept people's constructive criticism whenever I got it, and I was just plain horrible, not just regaring my crappy "character" but on other things that are common with Sonic fanbrats. To sum this up, I was just like all the Sonic fanbrats you may know. Whether or not the infamous ones I've heard of have changed like I did, I have no idea. I don't keep track of those guys. People may have assumed I would never change, but I began to improve as I got older. It wasn't easy doing so after developing a bad reputation, but with help from a few close friends that stayed by my side, I became the person that I am today. Now I still struggle with constructive criticism, but I can handle it way better than before and I do my best to not take it personally. What about Sonica? Well, first off, her name is now Sorina. Second, she received several designs, but here she is in her new design.

Isn't she cute? I don't draw much, but I had fun drawing Sorina. She came a long way, not just me, and I adore her. She's my baby! She's not the only one I have, though. I haven't drawn all of them because I have a lot of characters, and I'm not an amazing artist. I'm good though if I managed to capture Sorina well. Today, seeing all those mary-sues and recolors is disappointing, and it makes me wonder if those people will improve. Unfortunately some may never will. It's not difficult to create an original Sonic character or improve a terrible character. I improved a lot over the years, and so did my character. And so did my writing and creativity! Although I do admit I am still haunted by my past. More on that later.

Now I will discuss the Sonic fandom. Every fandom has their...toxic side, so to speak. I'm well aware of it, and it's just sad. Besides people making mary-sue/recolor/unoriginal Sonic characters, there are loads of creepers. Believe me, I've looked up some of them. I couldn't believe my eyes, but it was all there. I'm tempted to say some names, but to be honest, some are old news, and I don't know how they are doing today. However, I can express my thoughts on these types of people. Aside from reminding me of my past self, they are just annoying and/or disturbing. Now I am not going to attack any of them, especially those that are the most notorious. Just wanted to say that because I'm not one to talk shit about people just for the sake of it and I honestly don't care to discuss them in full detail. Those I have heard of did make me cringe. Christian Weston Chandler, Akai Dalia, Princess Elizabeth, and PaulandAmy. These are just a handful of these guys in the Sonic community, and I do agree that these guys, along with so many others, give the Sonic fandom a bad name. One is an autistic man that never got the help he needed to deal with his disability and has done...questionable and disturbing things.. Another is a person with weird sexual fantasies that wound up making Sonic incredibly OOC and just plain creepy, which did not go well with me. However, I've heard she has changed, but I don't know if it's true. Moving on. The third person is a teenager with serious anger issues and has caused trouble on DA during my absence (thank goodness I was though). And PaulandAmy.............Ummmm, he went to prison for raping little girls......Enough said. Okay, I get it. I really do. There's a lot of crazy people in the Sonic fandom, plus annoying fanbrats and strange people, which turned the fandom into a twisted kind of place. And because I was one of those people before, it does make me uncomfortable. So I made myself scarce in the Sonic community because of the fandom, my own past, my insecurities, and because of what I have dealt with a few years ago. I remained in hiding in the Sephiroth community. I wanted to run away from my past for fear that someone would recognize me and use my past as an excuse to hate me and to just throw it back in my face as if I'm still that person. Well I'm not that person. I haven't been that person in years, and I will never be that person ever again. To those I have hurt back then, whatever crap I have written, said, and done, I'm sorry. :( I really am. I know I wasn't pleasant to be around with and I was a terrible person. I hurt people and I lost friends, but I've changed thanks to those who stayed by my side. My new DA account and my Tumblr blog are proof. Sorina is proof. Don't you think there are Sonic fans who can change like I did? Not all of them will change, but that doesn't mean none of them will. There's a lot of great, kind, caring, fun, and sane Sonic fans in the fandom if you look past the toxic side of it. Every fandom has its toxic side, you know. It's best to just avoid those types of people or else trouble will arise. I'll give an example. I talked to a fan of the Sonic community long ago. I thought he was cool because he did manage to change from how he used to be, but I will not mention his name. We did start to hit it off, but what turned me away was his claims that Sonic the Hedgehog is a selfish douchebag who cares about nobody and tried to murder Amy or something like that. It was stupid. His logic did not make sense and it annoyed me because I love Sonic (no shit lol). It almost made me angry that he would think such a thing, but instead of causing a fight, I just walked away. I didn't want to waste my time and have him say things about Sonic that I knew weren't true. Arguing wouldn't have done anything, and if you were talking to a fanbrat, you would know that. So it's best to just walk away from those types of people in the fandom.. They'll only cause trouble or try to provoke you, and we would rather not cause drama. And sadly, DeviantArt is a website that has become known for drama.

In addition to the fandom...I don't understand their opinions regarding the Sonic franchise. People say Sonic has lost his charm when he made his way to 3D. People claim he should go back to his Classic ways. Well SEGA made Sonic 4, but even that wasn't enough to satisfy them. People don't think any of his recent games are good. Uhhhh, really?? I happen to like and own the recent games. And what has always bugged me is how people bash on Sonic games whenever SEGA tries to be innovative. I mean, Mario has added new things into the series and nobody complains! Why can't Sonic be allowed to add more to his games?? I understand people have their own opinions, but a lot of them are ridiculous and contradictory. Seriously, Sonic 4 was the answer to those who like the Classic games, but that wasn't enough. What gives?? You got what you wanted. Even more so with Sonic Mania! Maybe I'm a bit unbiased because I like Sonic, so I try to defend the series. You can have your own opinions, but don't shove them in my face and believe I will blindly agree with you.

As for the Archie comics, they were cancelled recently, but I never read them. I did look up some stuff about them, and they kept me away from them. I heard Sonic was OOC, which is something you obviously know I can't stand, and because of people saying they weren't well-written often. And there's Sonally. I don't like anyone paired with Sonic (canon-wise considering that I pair Sonic with my character Sorina), and to me, the pairing was just unhealthy.. It made me hate Sally Acorn, not just because of Sonic, but because she wasn't right for him. They were far too different, and even I wouldn't date someone similar to Sally. Hey, just because I'm a Sonic fan doesn't mean I like everything. I don't like the Archie comics, I don't like the Sonic Boom games, and I refuse to read Sonic the Comic. You're probably thinking I'm missing one more thing, and I know what it is...Sonic '06. Ay ay ay, Sonic '06. Well, this might be an unpopular opinion, but I like it.. I own the game. I got it for about ten dollars, and I didn't mind playing it. The story was not what I expected, and it was rather dark for a Sonic game, but I didn't mind. The only criticisms I have is the ranking system and the struggles in trying to get S ranks. lol The glitches can be an obstacle, but I did enjoy the one where I can make Sonic, while on top of a box, rise higher and higher in the air. XD Also I like Silver the Hedgehog. Yes, I like him because I like hedgehogs and his powers are cool and fun to use. I'm not one to hate every single new Sonic character for no reason. The only characters I despise in all Sonic media are Mephiles, Princess Elise, Sally Acorn, and Geoffrey St. John. The comics may have had others that I would dislike as well, but again I never read them and since they ended, there's no need. I haven't watched all the Sonic cartoons, but I did watch some AOSTH episodes, and I dislike Breezy. And there's the shipping wars. Now I did say I dislike any pairings involving Sonic, but that doesn't mean I will bash others for liking these pairings, just as long as they don't shove them down my throat. I used to be obsessive about my hatred for SonAmy, but as I've matured, I don't give a damn if others like SonAmy or Sonally or whatever pairing of Sonic. I'm still anti-SonAmy, but I have a friend on DA who is pro-SonAmy. It's fine. We all have our preferences. I don't like any pairings with Sonic, but others do, so why fight? I hate Sally for obvious reasons, and at least I'm being honest. Also, Amy wasn't mentioned on my little list of characters I hate. Well, I've grown fond of her. I still loathe her love for Sonic, but it doesn't mean I hate Amy herself. I don't care what pairings you like. If they make you happy, then it's all good. I like some (that don't involve Sonic) like KnuxRouge, Tailream, ChrisXHelen, and JetWave. I honestly don't have a lot of Sonic-related pairings I support. lol The Sonic series in my opinion hasn't been doing that bad after the 90's. I grew up playing the modern games, and I enjoy them. There's nothing wrong with being innovative in the new games. It can't always be like the Classic games. The fandom is a very, very mixed bag, but there's plenty of good people in the community if you just look hard enough and there are original, creative fan characters too. I'm one of them and Sorina is one of the characters. :) Sonic got me into gaming more than I was before, and he helped me through tough times, so he means a lot to me. He's the reason why I got into writing, and despite my terrible start, I have improved. I realize I shouldn't hide because of my past experiences, and I should be a proud a Sonic fan. If others don't like it and say I shouldn't like Sonic, well too bad. They can't tell me what I can and can't like. I'll always be a Sonic fan, and if it weren't for him and my friends, I wouldn't be the person that I am today. I will go on a bit of a tangent, but it is still linked to Sonic. A few years ago, back in high school, I finally gained relief from all the bullying I endured regarding Sonic. I felt like I could breathe and be free to like whatever I want, and even more so when I met and fell in love with the one man that has the same passion for Sonic as I do. Sonic is what connected us in the first place, and we later started to get to know each other. Turns out he is a lot like Sonic, which is what got me interested in him, but in time, I got to know him other than just his Sonic-like traits. I loved him even more, and he makes me feel wonderful. Just when I thought the pain was over for good at the time, someone else came along and screwed me over just as I started to heal. I will not say her name because just the idea of typing her name causes me to feel intense hate. We started off as friends and like how my boyfriend and I hit it off from the start with the Sonic series, she and I hit it off with Black Butler, an anime/manga series I love but...well, I'll explain shortly. We got along real well, we talked a lot, and I just felt so happy to have a new friend, possibly my best friend...but then she just changed. I don't know why, but she did. She went from a friendly, outgoing girl with a great sense of humor to a heartless bitch who only wanted to hurt me and others emotionally, and she could have harmed me physically when I witnessed her punching her boyfriend at the time. I wouldn't consider my boyfriend's friend her boyfriend exactly. Again, I'll explain shortly. I almost dared to call her out on what she did but someone else did it for me. I couldn't hear the conversation from a distance, but that became a hint for me. However, she never punched anyone afterwards, but we fought several times. Why? Well, from what I recall, the arguments were petty and idiotic, and she accused me of things that weren't even true. Heck, she even gave me the silent treatment. For NO good reason!! I tried talking to her and confront her over why she was acting like this towards me for I was her main target. I never got an answer. Never. And before she moved away sometime in the Spring, she flat-out told me that I was a horrible person, and that I could never be like....guess. Sonic the Hedgehog. That broke my heart. She did other countless terrible things to me like manipulating me into being her "little puppet", tried to change me with help from her stupid lackey of a friend who was so loyal to the bitch that I had nobody on my side. Worse, she dated my boyfriend, who was a crush at the time, behind my back!! And she knew I liked him! She knew!! Also, when we argued over stupid things, I was always the one to blame! Always! Yet I did nothing wrong to her or anyone!!I never even said anything bad to her! But Sonic...Her acting like I can never be like my idol just because she "believed I was a horrible person" really hurt. It also didn't help that she found my interest in the series as ridiculous. So I cut off contact with her. I didn't leave a text or something. She was just gone. I was done. I hated her, and I'll always hate her, but I'll try to not let this hate take over my life or my sanity. Guys, if you meet someone and they behave in a way similar to this, don't be friends with them. They are toxic, cruel, manipulative, heartless assholes who do nothing but hurt others. I don't know why this tramp hurt me. I'll never know. But what I do know is everything she said about me are lies. None of the things she said to me are true. And guess what? We had a conversation on Facebook last year. A friend of mine, who unfortunately is online friends with her, told me that she was sick. Now he told me that it was curable, and being the compassionate person that I am, I decided to message her. I wished for her to feel better. She said thanks...and she knew who I was even though I changed my username and icon. I asked if she remembered me because of how she implied it. And she replied in such a sarcastic manner about my love for Sonic and Black Butler as if those interests were bad. I was beyond furious, but I had to be the bigger person. I would have given her a piece of my mind and told her everything she had made me feel all those years ago, and call her every single name in the book, but no. Instead, I told her to get well soon and to have a good life. Then I blocked her. I thought she had changed after all this time, but no. She didn't. She lost her chance to make amends with me. I don't know why she treated me like dirt, but to be honest, I don't freaking care. She has problems with me liking Sonic or Black Butler or whatever? Fine. It just proves she's a heartless bitch who won't make any friends with that kind of attitude. I can like whatever I want. And fun fact: She's had multiple boyfriends over the years, more boyfriends than she should. I checked her Facebook account before permanently blocking her. I sensed she was a whore. It was then confirmed by a friend. What is also strange is when it came to Sonic, I only mentioned him once to her. I wasn't ready to confess my crush on him or how big of a fan I am because I wasn't sure if I should tell her, but she somehow found out about my crush. I don't know how! I never expressed it in front of her, but our final conversation did confirm she disapproved of it. That, and she disapproved of me being a Sonic fan in general. What I'm trying to say with this little short story is she, and so many others, have bullied me because I like Sonic, making me feel bad for liking the games and the character specifically, whether as a role model or a crush. This is a big reason why I made myself scarce in the Sonic community. I remained in hiding for a while, and when I was introduced to Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7, I hid in the Sephiroth community. The bullying, everything that happened in DeviantArt, my fake friend, they all made me hide for a long time. And you know what? I don't want to hide anymore. I'm a loyal Sonic fan, and if others don't like it. make fun of me for it, or hate me for it, well that's their problem. They don't have the right to make me feel bad for being myself. Sonic has helped me through tough times, and inspired me to never give up. I'm not giving up on any of the things I love. That also includes Black Butler. I made myself distant from the series because of my fake friend, but that will change. I apologize if the last bit went to a different direction, but it felt right to mention it for it was related to Sonic. I revealed my personal opinions on Sonic and the fandom, plus my own experiences associated with being a fan, and I want to let everyone know that I am a Sonic fan and I am proud, and I am sick of hiding from the Sonic community. If others don't like you for being a fan, don't let them discourage you. You are allowed to like whatever you want and be yourself. I'm one of the kind and sane Sonic fans than you can trust, and there are many others like me as well. Well, that's all. I'll see you guys later!

[scrawnydutchman]

The Point Sonic Mania Proves About Relevance

Sonic Mania, The beautifully animated, retro, nostalgic callback to the genesis days of Sonic the Hedgehog has made quite an impact in todays market in a way that the Sonic the Hedgehog brand hasn’t made in a long time. It’s the highest rated Sonic game released in years and to this day receives plentiful praise from fans and critics alike. Much to my dismay, I have yet to play the game hands on in order to completely sing it’s praises, but truthfully I’ve been having boundless fun just watching playthroughs of the game online. It helps when you have both pixel sprite and traditional animation that’s some of the best the two mediums have seen in some time respectively. The game captures the 16 bit aesthetic and feel of the genesis installments of Sonic but includes more frames making for more seamless transitions between movements. And the intro . . .OH MY GOODNESS the intro to this game. The classical animation done by Tyson Hesse and Yotta warms my heart and fills me with joy every time I watch it. It’s just fantastic. The pop in colour, the expressiveness in the characters eyes, the smears, the angles, the smoke effects. It’s simply masterful. 

Now, the visuals of this game are the real reason I’m talking about it in this blog post, because I think the very existence of Sonic Mania and it’s positive reception makes a very important point about what it really means to be relevant. Many people, including the staff behind the Sonic franchise in the past, believe that relevance means keeping up with the times. It means knowing what people are into today and capitalizing on societies current sensibilities. Marketing always tries it’s hardest to adapt as quickly and frequently as we change. But often times it misses the point about why we as an audience cling to the things we cling to in the first place. Fads may get you a quick buck in the moment, but that revenue will die quickly if what you’re selling had no identity outside of being “what the kids are into nowadays”. For a brand to be profitable in the long run and be something so lovable and influential it remains within our culture and continues to shape it, it has to have timeless qualities. More specifically, it has to have qualities nobody will find quite the same anywhere else. I can’t think of a single property more telling of this point then Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic the Hedgehog was invented by Sonic Team and Sega as a means to be as competitive a brand as possible. His sole purpose from the get go was to rival Nintendo’s Italian plumber in popularity, and thus provide the Genesis with the means to compete with the NES because being twice the bits wasn’t enough to push itself forward. When it comes to creating a compelling rival for Mario, goddamn . . .did Sega ever knock it out of the park. I’ve heard people say in the past that Sonic the Hedgehog’s design and conception is genius and I wholeheartedly agree. There should be an entire class around studying the design and conception of Sonic because he was practically destined to become a huge success. His design is the perfect combination of curves + points = cool. I’ve talked in the past about how linework can play an influential role in the impression a character design makes on an audience, and how curves are often associated with cuteness, innocence, youth and a sense of safety, whereas points are associated with danger, sinister motives and villainy. Sonic is one of those designs that emplores both; he’s got a stubby, plump little design with a large head and larger expressive eyes, but his quills give him an edge of adventure and his pointy smirk gives him a sense of mischief. Not to mention he’s a compilation of old sensibilities from retro cartoons. Large shoes, dotted eyes, white gloves, and instead of straight up eyebrows he has this one eyeball two pupil thing that had a narrow gap in the middle that almost makes him look like he’s frowning, very similar to what Felix the Cat has (sounds weird when you say it out loud, but tbf it looks much more natural on classic sonic then the more modern spin). Add these familiar sensibilities with a pop in colour and a great animal theme, plus a game mechanic not featured in any other franchise at the time, and you’ve got a franchise that will fly right off the shelves. Sega set out with a goal to make a memorable mascot and they grasped onto something truly timeless.

It’s too bad they didn’t recognize how perfect their inception was and decided then to try and fix what wasn’t broken. Enter late 90s/early 2000s. Sega is falling out of the console race in a hard time when Sony and Microsoft are beginning to enter the scene and make their stay. They’re clinging on for dear life and know they have to create something that will maintain their relevance. So they premiere with the Dreamcast, a console fondly remembered with a cult following but at it’s time was hilariously outsold by the PS2. More important then that though, they premiered Sonic Adventure . . .and with it, the new Sonic.

So remember that perfect balance of cute and dangerous classic Sonic had to capture that timeless sense of cool? Sega decided to disrupt that balance by making Sonic’s design and overall outlook shift further into the dangerous edgy aspect. He got taller, leaner, looked angrier, hands and feet larger, green in his eyes. He went from speechless to extreme 90s skater dude. And ever since this change he’s been delving further and further into gimmicks, edgy storylines and pretty much drifting as far away from that timeless charm he used to have as possible. Now I don’t mean to bash anybody who likes this version of Sonic; if you’re a fan, more power to you. But this version is more a guilty pleasure for me then anything else. I think of him less as a high quality piece of popular culture and more just a hilarious over the top dated product of his time. This Sonic is like the kid in high school who grew up as the nerd all his life and is trying desperately hard to reinvent himself and live down his past of mockery, hiding behind trends, current lingo and a pseudo personality to try and maintain some credibility. It’s more desperate then anything else. The only difference is, Sonic was never a nerd. He didn’t have anything to prove or to live down; he was ALWAYS loved because he was simple and fun and never needed to be anything beyond that. Plus it’s worth noting that down the line he got more realistic textures like shine in his shoes and eyeballs which, for a design as cartoony as this, it’s not charming; it’s just creepy. That single eyeball thing is significantly more eerie now that he’s demanding to be taken more seriously. 

The Sonic Adventure titles may not be inherently bad games and are quite impressive for their time, I understand that. But they DID introduce some newer issues that would stick to sonic for nearly 2 decades after the fact. Issues that would eventually become so problematic that Sonic would lose further and further credibility with the fanbase it established. Sonic 06, Sonic Riders, Shadow the Hedgehog, bits of Sonic Unleashed, the storybook saga, aspects of Colors, Sonic Boom, Sonic Lost World. While not all of these games are completely awful they do hinge on gimmicks and some sort of experimentation that misses the point on why Sonic was so popular to begin with and, again, it tries to fix what wasn’t broken. Some of the changes they make work, most commonly the changes made to alter the physics based gameplay to not only move faster but to have tighter controls and a greater sense of freedom. It also doesn’t help that design wise Sega would further disrupt what was once a delicate balance in Sonic’s design, making for an awkward unappealing abomination.

*shudders*. Everything I hate about the Dreamcast Sonic design is a million times worse in Sonic Boom.

But, bringing it back to Sonic Mania (like what this title suggests), it seems like Sega is starting to wake back up. Sonic Mania just seems to get everything that’s great about Sonic with nothing superfluous. Bright colours, fluid motion, tight controls, great physics based gameplay. THAT’S IT. No gimmicks. No lingo or speech that will become dated in 5 years. No stepping away from what made your brand the icon that it is today. Notice that I never said 3D was inherently a step backward like many people profess. I’m convinced you can accomplish this in 3D and to an extent Sega has. They just gotta trim the fat.

Now I can already see a few typical criticisms coming. People are going to think I’m a 30 year old Sonic fan blinded by nostalgia governing my opinion rather than an objective look on the series as a whole. They also think I hate experimentation and that I just shun the idea of anything ever changing. Here is my rebuttal.

I am not 30 years old. I am actually 21, and my first introduction to the Sonic franchise was the Dreamcast version. For a while that was my favorite version, up until my brother got me the sega genesis collection on Gamecube disc format. I didn’t understand at the time why sonic was so fat and I was confused as to why none of the games on the disc were the classic sonic adventure titles, because I was a dumb uncultured piece of shit. But I played the games anyway and came out of my shallow sensibilities. And you know what? Those titles gave me more enjoyment then the sonic adventure games ever did. I mainly credit this to just how much more immediately accessible they were. No awkward cutscenes, no loading screens, no walking around aimlessly trying to figure out where to go, no boring alternate character missions. Just press start and go. Like I said, trim the fat.

As for the idea that I hate experimentation . . . no, I don’t. If anything, the biggest reason I love classic Sonic so much is because it brought something for it’s time that was completely new and not recaptured by anything else, and seamlessly altered our sensibilities for years to come. Experimentation is great because it moves culture forward; makes us as people more adept and refined in the kind of things we enjoy and gives us a greater understanding as to why we enjoy them. Without all the experimentation we’ve been given in gaming our opinions on the medium would have never evolved to the culture it’s developed today. But experimentation has to be properly motivated. It can’t be misguided. It should only replace what was established if what was established sucked to begin with, otherwise it should be BUILDING on that foundation. I’ve gone on record in saying that modern day is far too filled with remakes and reboots of old properties and I stay true to that, but I ALSO said that if you’re going to bring back a property it should be for the sake of exploring potential not fully realized the first time around, like with the Samurai Jack series. It shouldn’t be for the sole purpose of just retracing the same steps again. Sonic Mania may be nostalgia based, but what really sells it for many people including myself is the little but NECESSARY changes it makes. The appealing animation is even smoother, the controls are tighter (from what I heard), the nostalgic stages have neat little changes and mechanics they didn’t have in years prior. Sonic Mania does what Sonic has been missing for so long. It builds on it’s great foundation rather then tries to reinvent it entirely. If we wanted a game vastly different from Sonic, WE WOULD BE PLAYING SOMETHING OTHER THEN SONIC. 

Conclusion:

Sonic Mania is a solid reminder and a great lesson on what It means to be truly relevant. It’s not about keeping tabs on current trends, it’s not about straying away from your old self as much as possible. It’s about knowing what you bring to the table regardless of what era we’re in and owning it, and if you DO make changes, make changes that further reinforce and greater purpose the thing you’ve got that people can’t get anywhere else. Sonic remains popular even to this day when it’s copycats like Bubsy have fallen hard from grace (that they may or may not have even had in the first place), and it’s because Sonic’s more then just a few one liners, fourth wall breaks and a “dude with attitude”. He’s an ideal on how games can be played, on how platformers can work and how familiar sensibilities can be made better.

[another-sonic-blog]

Can I request a Shadow and Amy nutcracker au or roaring 20s au ficlet? I just love their dynamic haha

The Great Hedgehog

ShadAmy Roaring 20s AU

3K

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"I remember when he used to be nobody."

"How did he get this rich?"

"Rumor has it that he sells alcohol."

"Can you both please concentrate on your job?"

Cream and Blaze looked at Amy, surprised and relieved that it was her and not a certain black hedgehog.

"If Mr. Shadow hears you, he will scold you."

1927, the economy was good for some and others not so much. Although the prohibition of alcohol angered the civilians, others saw this as an opportunity to become millionaires. Shadow the Hedgehog was not the exception, working all of his life with no results, he was finally given an opportunity to rise in the world of smuggling alcohol.

And in a couple of years, Shadow was the most wanted bachelor.

"Mr. Shadow must be tired from last night." Cream said. "He throws parties as if it was new years every weekend."

Blaze began to mop the floor as she added a small comment. "Or he is tired of attending all the ladies he brought to his room."

"Whatever it was if you want to keep getting paid 40 cents an hour then keep cleaning," Amy said she was cleaning one of the hundreds of windows the mansion had. Her eyes averted to the outside, she noticed a white hedgehog waiting outside the gates of the mansion.

"Guess who is here?" Amy looked at Blaze and teased her. "Loverboy if here for you."

"He is not my boyfriend!" Blaze looked around the room, not sure how to hide her embarrassment. "He is my friend ... besides, I can't see him right now. I need to clean the kitchen first."

Cream spun around the purple cat and smiled at her. "Don't worry, you go to your ... friend. I 'll go to the kitchen."

Blaze smiled shyly at her friends and whispered a 'thank you' to them. She left the two and Crea, was fast to go to the kitchen. Amy was by herself now. In what was one of Shadow's multiple 'resting room.' It was smaller than the others he had. However, Amy noticed that this room was Shadow's favorite room. The resting room consisted of a king-size bed, three windows that showed the outside of the house, a small sofa, and a vanity. Soft white colors and gold, and perfectly clean to show how rich he was. Amy was about to leave the room when she noticed she had missed a spot on the window. She grabbed her rag and as she was cleaning the dirty spot, she noticed a purple cat and white hedgehog.

Outside the gates, they whispered between each other. Sharing smiles and giggles. It was like this almost every day. Silver actually comes from a rich family but Blaze not so much. In one of Shadow's multiple parties, he met Silver and they clicked instantly. They became good friends and after coming to visit Shadow multiple times, Silver found himself falling in love with the purple cat.

But their love couldn't be.

Silver's parents would never allow him to be with Blaze, someone from the low class. For this reason, they could only meet in secret like this.

"It's wrong to stare."

His voice runs down her spine. It seemed like he had just woken up. His husky voice and his sleepy voice was something that Amy found oddly satisfying. Amy turned her body fully to face her boss.

"Good morning Mr. Shadow," Amy said.

"More like afternoon." Shadow walked towards the window and right away noticed the two secret lovers. Amy found herself close to the black hedgehog. She could smell his natural smell and cologne along with other types of expensive perfumes coming from the girls that were certain to be in his room.

"I don't know what is taking him so long to propose," Shadow said out loud. He wasn't meaning for that to be answered by his maid so when she did, he was surprised.

"If Mr. Silver marries Blaze, he will be disinherited." Amy added, "What kind of future will he provide Blaze if he doesn't have any money?"

"She won't be lonely ... they won't be lonely."

Shadow turned around to look at Amy. Within all of her maids, he trusted her the most. After all, she was the one who would arrange secret meetings with a certain white bat. "Just look at me ... I have all the money in the world and I am alone."

Amy felt embarrassed. She was aware of the undying love Shadow had for Rouge the Bat, the most beautiful female in all of Central City and wife of Knuckles the Echidna. One of Shadow's associates and owner of the mining caves outside the city.

Shadow and Rouge used to be in a serious relationship. Shadow was poor and the night he was going to propose to her, Rouge left him to marry Knuckles.

"My apologies Mr. Shadow. I shouldn't have-" Amy said but she was interrupted.

"It's alright Ms. Rose ... Please leave this room."

"Yes, Mr. Shadow."

Amy walked away and she slowly closed the door. Before closing it completely, Amy peeked through the door gap. She saw Shadow looking outside the window, sadness covered his face expression and melancholy was predominant in the air.

She closed the door, for some reason, she always found herself feeling the same grief as the black hedgehog.

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"Come Shadow, I know Rouge and I know she won't leave Knuckles."

"But she loves me!"

"She loves the diamonds."

Sonic looked at himself in the multiple mirrors that surrounded him.

"I can give her that too!" Shadow responded.

"Exactly, if she has you both she will get double the diamonds. Sorry, but you know I think she is just using you."

Shadow looked at himself in mirrors along Sonic, he had gotten a new white suit imported from Italy and thought it would be good to wear it for tonight's party.

"Also, I don't understand how Rouge lets you be with other girls."

Sonic was one of Shadow's friends. He was honest with him, something that Shadow appreciated. Unlike him, Sonic worked hard to be where he is. A famous Olympic winner athlete and although he didn't have as much money as Shadow, Sonic already had a couple of business under his name. However, his main concentration at the moment was to create a new car brand.

"If I am with other girls, no one can suspect that she and I are secretly together." Shadow went outside his room, he looked around and like always he found Amy outside. She was there in case he needed anything. He invited her in, and she softly walked with towards the large closet room where enormous mirrors surrounded him.

Sonic noticed a pink hedgehog enter the closet, he stares more than he wanted but to be honest, it was strange to see a pink hedgehog.

"Believe me," Sonic said. "A girl who loves you would never want you to be with other girls no matter the circumstances."

Shadow sighed and went back to the mirrors. "Amy, pass me my suits as we talk."

Shadow began to undress and he was surprised when he didn't hear an answer from his maid.

"Amy?" Shadow asked again. He didn't hear an answer, he decided to turn and look at the pink hedgehog. What he found was actually interesting. A shy pink hedgehog staring at his blue friend with loving eyes.

Amy felt someone's eyes on her and she realized her position.

"Yes, Mr. Shadow!"

Shadow smirked at the pink one. Maybe it was time to pay off his debt.

"Sonic, Silver said he was going to be arriving around this time." Shadow said, "Would you mind checking outside the gate?"

"Sure," Sonic said and with the left the closet and the room.

Now, a shirtless Shadow and his loyal pink maid. Amy wasn't comfortable at all, she had seen Shadow shirtless multiple times. What made her uncomfortable, was the silence that surrounded them.

"The first time I asked you to arrange a secret meeting with Rouge, you didn't complain." Shadow said, "Everything was kept a secret and even know you never complained about it."

Amy stood quiet, waiting for her boss to continue.

"If you like Sonic ..." Shadow started, "I can help you with that."  

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Amy has had the longest crush in Sonic the Hedgehog since she can remember. She remembers living in the same orphanage as him however they parted ways as the orphanages began closing in the country. They used to be close friends but it seemed like Sonic had forgotten about her.

After they parted ways, Sonic was recruited to run competitively and Amy was simply a sewer assistant.

She still remembers hearing his name on the radio as he won the gold medal for the in the Muigleb Olympics.

And here she was now.

Walking down the stairs to join the party.

Amy has been Shadow's maid since around 3 years ago and not once has she ever participated in one of these parties. She mostly went the day after, ready to clean the mess made by the elites.

Her long black dress accentuated her figure. It was sleeveless and she places her hands in front of her, making her long white gloves stand out, contrasting with the black dress. Beautiful golden patterns decorated the dress, up and down, around her waist and her chest area. Instead of her usual red headband, her hair was decorated with a diamond headpiece that placed itself on her forehead. Amy had always thought of herself as an average looking but she couldn't help and giggle as she felt the male's eyes observing her.

Who could have thought that Shadow had such a good taste?

However, Amy felt out of tone. The biggest party she had been to was Blaze's 21 birthday. They had music playing on the Radio, not live musicians. There was confetti, not all of these bright lights. They were drinking lemonade and of course no alcohol.

She was curious about the taste and of her goals tonight was to at least take a sip of that.

Her main goal was to have a decent conversation with Sonic the Hedgehog.

As soon she finished walking down the stairs, she was approached by multiple males. Asking her name. She had to tell lies, of course, she couldn't say she was a maid.

She was starting to panic until someone came to rescue her.  

"Excuse me, miss?"

She recognized that voice. It was the blue one. The males surrounding Amy opened up the space between him and the girl.

Sonic smiled at Amy and offered her his hand. "May I escort you?"

Amy didn't even think for a second and she held his hands. The other man backoff and Sonic took Amy and they began to walk across the gigantic backyard.

They walked around the pool, and across the water fountain where the buffet was. All class of food was on the buffet table, Amy always had pride in her cooking but the food here made her cooking look like trash. Or so, that she thought.

"You were in trouble back there, right?" Sonic added, "You are Shadow's maid correct? Don't worry I won't anyone."

Sonic offered Amy a glass of water which she accepted sadly. "How ... did you?"

"You are a pink hedgehog, you don't see that very often." Sonic decided to tease her a little. "There's a royal family in Muigleg that only consists of only pink hedgehogs. You know, the first time I saw you I thought you were a princess that decided to hook up with Shadow."

Amy felt the heat rise in her cheeks. Just the thought of Shadow and her ... no.

Sonic left out a few laughs and he was content with the results. The pink one, although she wasn't speaking much, had funny facial expressions.

"So ... what is your name?"

"Amy."

"Amy?" Sonic tilted his head a bit in confusion. "That sounds oddly familiar ... do you mind telling me your last name?"

"I am Amy R-"

"Mr. Shadow! Let's go to your room!"

Amy's attention was drawn towards the black hedgehog. As always, he was surrounded by beautiful girls.

But this time it was different.

"No, I want to be alone."

"Come one! You will have fun with us."

A girl came closer to him and began to kiss him. He tried pulling her away but she back to kissing.

"No, I said no," Shadow said again. He was having difficulty standing up straight and keeping his eyes open.

Amy looked back at Sonic.

"I think we need to help him."

"Shadow?" Sonic asked. "He will be fine. This is what happens every weekend. Shadow gets drunk, girls get all over him, he says no but they always convince him to go to his room."

"But he is drunk," Amy replied.

"Don't think about it too much, he is ok with it," Sonic walked towards Amy. He placed a hand on her shoulder, making her had her whole attention. "Let's not think about this ... Instead, let's spend the night together, shall we?"

Amy thought that she was willing to give up on everything if that meant she could spend a night with Sonic.

Seeing him smile once again was everything she needed.

But even with that, her answer was clear.

She didn't hesitate, it wasn't even a question. It was her priority.

"I am sorry ladies, but the bank's closed."

Amy interrupted the crow of girls who were dragging Shadow to his room. All of them stopped and looked at her, not wanting to go without a fight.

"And who are you?" One of the girls asked.

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Amy was surprised that she came alive out of that one. One good thing about rich girls is that certainly, they didn't know how to fight. It was over soon, everyone was too into the party to even bother with them and my finish with a small scratch in her cheek.

She was victorious and her trophy was taking a drunk Shadow to his room.

She placed him on his bed and closed the door behind them. Shadow sat down on the edge of the bed, too drunk to know what was happening.

Amy examined him, his suit was tight making his strong physic stand out. Amy had to admit that it made him look very attractive but it wasn't very convenient at the moment.

She began to undress him. She took off his suit and Amy wanted to take off his shirt as well but Shadow stopped her.

"No," Shadow said.

"If you throw up, I don't want you to stain your shirt," Amy said.

"I have more."

"Oh yes ... looking at your like this makes me forget you are rich." Amy replied as she attempted to take off his shirt again. "But I don't want to be cleaning it tomorrow anyways!"

"Why you clean?" Shadow asked with a hiccup.

"That's what I must do," Amy replied. Shadow seemed more comfortable now. He was letting her unbutton his shirt.

"Why? Are you my wife?"

Amy let out a small laugh and replied. "Mr. Shadow, if I was your wife then you wouldn't be like this. That much I can promise you."

"Then marry me."

Amy knew that he didn't mean it but his voice showed so much sincerity that it scared her. She was in almost done unbuttoning his shirt. However, she stopped and looked at him in the eyes.

"I don't want to be like this," Shadow said as he grabbed Amy's eyes. "I don't want to be alone anymore."

Shadow may have gotten all of his money out of selling alcohol. He may have a cold personality but he was alone. Shadow felt alone all the time.

Even with that Shadow had a kind heart, he was caring and selfless. Amy knew this was true because in the three years she had been working with him, he had shown her that and more. Shadow was a great hedgehog.

"I can't promise you life but I can promise you this night," Amy replied. "Go to sleep, don't worry I will be here with you."

"You won't leave?"

"I won't, I promise-"

Blaargh

Amy looked disgusted at Shadow. Not only had he vomited on his pants, but he had also throw up her dress.

"MR. SHADOW! NOT ON THE CARPET!"

It had been hell bringing up Shadow to his room. But it was going to be a whole new adventure to make him shower.

But Amy was willing to that and more ... everything for Mr. Shadow ... the ‘great’  Hedgehog. 

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A.N: I am so sorry this took longer to write. However, I really hope you enjoyed this. It was fun to write and I had to re-watch the Great Gatsby. It's slightly based on that with some twists. Anyways thank you for the beautiful prompt!

[another-sonic-blog]

Stages: New Year’s Dress

Stages: Strangers: New Year’s Dress (Chapter 1)

ShadAmy (Friends or lovers, you decide)

SonAmy hint

2K

New Year’s Dress

    Being captain of the Resistance didn't give Amy time to do the things she liked. She didn't have time to cut her hair even though she enjoyed doing it. Of course, Rouge was there to remind her and cut it off for her. She stopped reading an interesting book by an anonymous author because she forgot the place she left it.

She even didn't have time to hang out with her favorite hedgehog.  

"Hey, sweetheart?"

Amy turned her sight from her computer as she was greeted by the beautiful bat approaching her.

"Hey Rouge, what brings you here?"

"G.U.N. sent me, they told me to tell you to stop stealing their agents," Rouge said jokingly. "I just came to greet my friend..."

Amy took an interest in her tone of voice, she knew that there was something else Rouge wanted.

"And?" Amy asked.

"And to invite you to G.U.N.'s end of the year dance ball."

And?"

"And to ask if you could bake us some stuff for the ball." Rouge then put her hands in front of her, making them clap within the momentum. "Please!"

"I don't know Rouge, I have a lot of things to do and-"

"Please Amy, I am asking as a favor. It's only one night and G.U.N. will pay you handsomely." Rouge added. She looked around the oxidated main Room of the Resistance. "I mean not to judge but...You know that this place really needs it."

Amy looked around the room herself. She knew that since Sonic saved the world from the Zombot virus, the Resistance wasn't much needed. Especially when professional agencies like G.U.N. were on the lookout.

"Fine, I'll do it but I'll only go as a server." Amy sighed, someone could take her place for one night.

"Thank you so much, sweetheart! You are the best, I'll let G.U.N. know. Also, you may want to get a nice dress." Rouge added.

"Why is that?"

"Oh, Sonic will be there too!"

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Amy couldn't find any good dresses because she sold all the ones she had. She only had her regular red dress and some formal clothes and those clothes were the ones she was currently wearing.

White long sleeve blouse and black pants. She tried to cut her hair but she did it horribly due that she was in a hurry.

She was horribly embarrassed and she really hoped Sonic wouldn't see her like this.

"Can you please give me a small piece of that strawberry cake?."

"Yes, ma'am," Amy responded as she hurriedly picked a piece of the cake and gave it to the lovely looking fox girl.

She tried it and nodded in enjoyment. "Give my compliments to the chef." She said as she put the plate down and walked away.

"Thank you," Amy whispered. She smiled to herself, she had forgotten how nice it was to bake.

Maybe coming after all wasn't such a bad idea, she would be able to pay off some debts of the Resistance, she was able to enjoy one of her hobbies and she would be able to see Sonic.

"Excuse me?"

Amy's thoughts were interrupted as her attention was drawn towards the hedgehog in front of her.

"Oh, hey Shadow." Amy added, "How may I help you."

"Can I have a piece of the dark chocolate cake?"

Amy nodded as she smiled. Shadow looked very formal, he was wearing a suit which was a strange sight to witness.

"You look nice, I didn't know you were the type to enjoy dance balls," Amy said as she offered him the piece of cake.

"I would rather stay home, but G.U.N requires me to stay vigilant." Shadow sighed as he took the piece of cake off Amy's hand.

Amy had noticed Shadow's tiredness, she could relate to him since she knew that sometimes work took the best of her as well.

"Would you like another piece?" Amy said as she noticed that Shadow ate his cake in a rather fast manner.

Shadow looked side to side, making sure nobody was looking at him, and whispered. "Can I?"

"Sure, get as much as you want! Not a lot of people like dark chocolate anyways-"

Amy was interrupted once again as she noticed Sonic passing by her booth.

Holding a very beautiful yellow hedgehog by her waist.

She hid immediately under the table as she watched the very handsome couple pass by. Sonic unaware that the pink one was there but noticed Shadow and decided to greet him.

"Hey, Shads, didn't know you were one to party," Sonic said. "I present you my date, her name is Diana."

"Nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine." Diana smiled and Shadow had to admit that he could see why Sonic asked her out. "After all, you don't always get to meet G.U.N's top agent."

"And you Shadow? Where is your date?" Sonic asked, teasingly.

"I don't have one." Shadow simply responded.

Sonic looked down at the cake Shadow was holding and sarcastically added, "Eating cake and alone on a Friday night?"

Shadow just nodded, not really expecting any kind of notorious remark.

Sonic smirked at him only to add fuel to the fire,

"I would say it's a bit sad, but coming for you, I expect it."

Shadow angrily saw Sonic walk away as he laughs among side his ridiculously attractive date.

"That cocky son of a-"

"Is he gone?"

Shadow turned to see Amy who was still hiding under the cake table.

"He is gone," Shadow responded. "Honestly, what do you see in him-"

Shadow turned his attention to Amy and found her looking at the floor, embarrassed. She grabbed her waist mantel with her hands, a strong grip making her hands shake.

"Please, don't start crying."

"I won't!"

"Thank Chaos," Shadow sighed relieved. "I would have left you, just so you know."

"Yeah, I know." Amy added, "Everyone leaves."

Shadow eyes widen at the realization. Amy didn't just mean him. He was well aware that the agents at the Resistance were quitting, must of them are part of G.U.N. now. However, Amy has tried her hardest to keep the Resistance alive with the few members she has left.

Shadow couldn't believe what he was about to do.

"Hey, would you...like to go dance?"

"What?"

"Yeah, nevermind." Shadow turned around to leave but was stopped immediately as he encountered Rouge right in front of him.

Rouge smiled, "She would love to dance with you."

"Oh no, I can't," Amy said as she looked at Rouge.

"See, she can't, now I will take my leave-" Shadow tried to skedaddle but Rouge stopped him.

"She can," Rouge added. "You won't escape from this one handsome."

"You can't make me."

"I'll have Omega play the video of you at the Christmas party at our next meeting then," Rouge walked away, sexily, her black dress sparkled as she walked. "I'll go meet with Omega now, I'll see you two very soon."

They both watched the white bat walk into the Ballroom, Amy waited for Rouge to be out of sight to talk again to Shadow.

"You don't have to do it Shadow," Amy added, "Besides, I can't leave my booth and I am not even wearing a dress-"

"No, we have to go. I don't want to risk it." Shadow got closer to Amy and grabbed her by her wrist. He dragged her towards the ballroom. "I don't want anyone seeing that video."

"Shadow, don't worry, I'll tell Rouge not to-"

But it was too late.

Shadow had placed himself and Amy in the middle of the ball room as everyone looked at them.

The music had ended and people were waiting for the next song to start. It was taking longer than usual and Amy could feel all eyes on them, and hear people whispering between themselves.

"What is agent Shadow doing with...her?"

"Maybe he lost a bet?"

"She is not even dressed properly."

"Wait, isn't she the Captain of the Resistance? What is she doing here?"

"Did she give up already on her stupid dream?"

The music began to play but Amy wasn't going to have any of that any longer .

She broke free from Shadow's grasp and walked off. Shadow tried to go after her but a wave of young ladies who were very interested in him stopped him from doing so.

Amy really was trying to stay positive, but damn, it was hard when people were so leaned to make her feel like she couldn't.

She sat down outside G.U.N HQ's garden, where small wooden stairs met with the grass. Wow, this place was big, it had everything, a garden, pool, training rooms...agents.

Amy stopped herself, thinking negatively won't get her anywhere.

"So, you are Shadow's date?"

Amy turned her head only to find that it was Sonic speaking to her. "He told me was alone, what a lier."

Sonic sat down next to the pink one and she smiled at him softly.

"I am not...Rouge made him do it."

"That explains a lot."

"Anyways," Amy added, "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with your date?"

"Not anymore." Sonic simply said.

"Uh? Why is that?"

Sonic sighed and smiled, he was looking at the moon, but he then looked at Amy. "We had our differences."

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"Look at her she looks pathetic," Diana said as she pointed at Amy and held Sonic's hand.

Sonic smiled at her as he put her hands away from him. "No, you are pathetic."

.

"Sorry to hear that," Amy said and Sonic smiled as he laid back on the stairs.

"Don't sweat it, it's not worth it." Sonic of course didn’t tell her the real reason why he wasn’t with his date anymore. There was no need for Amy to hear such negativity.

"Sonic, your presence was requested by the Commander."

Both Amy and Sonic turned to find Shadow right in front of the entrance door.

"Well then," Sonic said as he stood up from the stairs. "I'll see you around Ames."

With that Sonic left the two black and pink hedgehogs alone. Shadow took Sonic's previous place next to Amy.

"I apologize," Shadow said. "I shouldn't have put you in an uncomfortable position."

"No, I am sorry that I ran away like that." Amy added, "I should have really bought up a dress."

"I don't understand why you are so into the idea of getting a dress. No matter what you wear, you look the same."

Amy looked at her attired, her white shirt was stained with some cake frosting and her black pants were a bit dusty as well. She indeed had forgotten to take better care of her appearance, but she didn't know it was that noticeable.

"I do?" She touched her hair, reminding herself of how crocked and short it was. Now, she was thinking of every single flaw. Her hair, her clothes, her skin, her-

"Yes, you do." Shadow interrupted Amy's thoughts. "I mean, you could wear a plastic bag and still look better than all of those girls inside."

"What?"

"But I am sure you know that already since you picked out your outfit."

Amy moved her body to have a better look at Shadow. He seemed to be acting normal, no sign that he was lying.

"So, you think I picked this outfit because I look good on it?"

"Yes, what other reason can there be?" Shadow said.

Amy smiled as she put her insecurities away. If Shadow could see past them, then so could she.

"Thank you, Shadow."

"For what?"

KABOOM!

Fireworks exploded one by one. The night sky illuminated among the stars and moon. The clock had hit twelve and it was a new year.

"For spending New Year's Eve with me."

"No problem." Shadow stood up from the stairs as he watched the last firework explode in the sky. "But if we see each other again or if people ask, remember I am an edgy, cold-hearted, mysterious hedgehog."

"Why?" Amy let out a small giggle as he watched Shadow take a few steps back, ready to leave.

"I have an image to keep, especially with the new agents."

Amy nooded and Shadow smirked at her as they both look into each other's eyes.

"Happy new year, Ms. Rose."

"Happy new year, Shadow."

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Stages: Strangers: New Year’s Dress: END

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Next Chapter: https://another-sonic-blog.tumblr.com/post/190028206745/the-cake-shadamy

A/N: Happy new year everyone. I hope you enjoy this short ShadAmy ff, (Maybe a one-shot or multi-chapter later most likely, lol) You can tag it as friends or ship. However, I wrote this with the intent of them just being friends (Because tbh this is my first draft for a ShadAmy slow burn ff)

Anyways, thank you, everyone, for reading!

I also would like to add and I started a fashion YouTube Channel, so in case anyone is interested, here is the link:

https://youtu.be/WrWQL3Z6GcY

[another-sonic-blog]

Meaning

There she was again.

With her stupid red dress, her stupid red bandana, her stupid boots, and her stupid flowers.

Alright, no the flowers.

So then, why was Shadow so excited to see her for?

"So, you finally decide to show up, 'Mr. I am too cool for a flower shop'?" Amy teased him a little. It hasn't been the first time they talked. Actually, to her understanding, she considers Shadow a close friend.

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"Aren't you hungry?"

A few months had passed since Team Sonic was aware that Shadow was brought back from the dead. Well, he had never really died in the first place. He had escaped from the secret place G.U.N. had put him in, everyone looked for him but it was no use.

He didn't want to be found until he met her.

"Stay away from me." Shadow had barely enough strength to utter words. He was the Ultimate Life Form and he couldn't die from starvation, but he could still feel his stomach begging for some source of food. It was like hell, he suffered without dying.

"That's not happening any time soon. Come with me, I'll give you a warm bed and food." Amy walked closer to the black hedgehog who was almost completely covered by snow.

"I'll just end up hurting you...I am a biological weapon...I will end you." Shadow could barely move or even recognize the pink figure in front of him. His senses were at its fullest potential, he felt the extreme coldness 10 times greater than the usual species. Everything was enhanced, and each drop of snowflakes against his fur was like a needle piercing through his skin.

But suddenly, he couldn’t feel anything.

Nothing but warmness coming from the pink hedgehog in front of him, holding her pink umbrella on top of them both.

Green eyes and red eyes met for the first time in a while and since then, they couldn't look away from each other.

"Did you know that umbrellas were made so two people could fit in?... and I still have an empty spot to fill..."

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Curse Amy Rose and this strange power she had over him. As Shadow stayed on Amy's house, they got to know each other better. Between conversations, Amy found that Shadow was actually pretty good at flowers arrangements. He also had a lot of knowledge about them and their meanings. After all, Maria had made it a priority for them that whenever they could, they studied all types of lifeforms on earth.

The flower arrangement came later on as a hobby for Shadow. The time he stayed to live with Amy, he saw her taking care of flowers and planting them.

Watching her been so careful, working so hard, and proud...that had awoken something on Shadow.

"I am just making you a favor, I have no need for this." Shadow talked smoothly as he approached Amy on her garden.

"Well then, good luck finding another job. I am sure G.U.N. will take you in anytime."

"You are lucky that I actually get hungry and I need money to pay for my expenses." Shadow bent down and took a moment to appreciate the flowers in front of him. He had to admit that Amy was a natural when it came to gardening, especially her roses. They were probably the most beautiful roses he had ever seen, and its all thanks to her secret fertilizer, or how she likes to call it, 'Rose Fertilizer.'

"No, you are lucky that you are so good at flower arrangements. Ever since you began working at my flower shop our sales began to increase!"

She was right on that part. Before, Amy's business only focused on selling fertilizer (as well as all things about gardening) and flowers once in a while. While he stayed at Amy's place, he didn't want to feel like a burden to the pink hedgehog. Therefore, he dedicated all of his time to learn about flower arrangements so he could help her make her business better.

And it did, Shadow was a natural for these things, just like Amy.

*Ring Ring*

"Oh, I'll answer!" Amy went running inside her flower shop to answer the phone. Yes, their garden was placed in the backyard of their flower shop. It was more efficient, and better this way. They could always give fresh flowers to their customers.

Shadow walked through the garden, which was pretty big in size. He picked up some tulips, some roses, and orchids to work on his new flower arrangement.

He took a look at the rose in his hand. Soft and strong at the same time. He gave a quick look at Amy who was still talking on the phone. She was just like the roses, so beautiful.

Shadow thought that the roses could really match with her stupid red dress, her stupid red boots, and her stupid red bandana-

"Hey, Shadow! Stop looking at me like that!"

Shadow was then taken back to reality. He was so entranced in her that he had forgotten that this wasn't a dream.

"Um, I apologize..." Shadow said, trying to get back his cool.

"It's alright, anyway, we have a big order of flower arrangements for a wedding! I should start planting them soon...Ah, planting flowers for a wedding only makes me wonder if I would be the one planting roses for my own wedding" Amy daydreamed again, this was an usual sight for Shadow. Whenever they had a big order for a wedding, Amy would always get like this.

"You would be there with me, right Shadow?" Amy smiled at him and Shadow could feel his cheeks getting hotter. What did she mean by that?

"What?"

"You will be there with me making the flower arrangements for when Sonic and I get married!"

Tsk, what a way to ruin the mood. Shadow could be used to Amy daydreaming, but he always found it annoying that Amy had to fantasize with the blue one.

"You might want to start looking somewhere else."

"Ah, come on Shadow, it wouldn't be the same without you!"

Shadow felt the pink one grab his arm. He turned around to look at her in the eyes. Those stupid green eyes of hers that made him feel something weird inside of him.

He hated not knowing what it was. He blamed it all on her, her red dress, her red bandana, her red boots...her. Just everything about her made him crazy and he didn't know why.

Curse her.

"Fine"

He turned around as he tried to hide his thoughts from her. He kept walking around the garden looking for the most beautiful flowers.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Amy walked towards Shadow once again, but this time she was holding a particular set of flowers.

"Here are some Yellow Acacias, I planted them on my free time. I just thought on giving some to you." Shadow looked at the plain bouquet of yellow flowers. A brown rubber band holding them together, from all sizes, it was obvious that they were recently cut.

"You already gave me too many flowers last week...I don't need more...why don't you give them to Sonic instead?" With that, Shadow walked away from the pink one, not really noticing her reaction.

"Yeah...you are right" Amy's disappointed face wasn't visible to anyone but her. Shadow was too into his job at the moment that he really didn't pay attention to the effect his response had on the pink one.

Shadow then heard Amy's footsteps going towards the flower shop. "Where are you going?" Shadow inquired as he saw Amy leaving the garden.

"I am going to do what you told me to...I am going to give these flowers to Sonic and may be ask him on a date!" Amy didn't bother to look at Shadow, instead, her back was facing him.

"Fine then! I'll just stay here and do all the work by myself!" Shadow sounded annoyed, more at the fact that Amy was leaving him to go to Sonic.

"I thought you were the Ultimate Life Form and didn't need help from nobody!" This time Amy had turned around to face him, obviously angry at him.

"You are right, I don't need anyone...I don't need you! Not now, not ever!"

"Goodbye then!"

"Yes, goodbye!"

And with that, Amy left Shadow alone on their garden.

Stupid Amy, going after someone like Sonic. Her and her stupid red dress, her stupid boots and her stupid bandana...stupid, stupid, stupid.

The only thing that connected Shadow with her more than anything was their strong interest in flowers and now she was going to give that to Sonic.

All those 'Forget-Me-Nots', 'Angelicas', 'Asters', 'Yellow Acacias' and 'Red Carnations' she had given him...for what? So she could leave him the second Sonic came into the picture? In all the things in the world she could give him, she decided to give Sonic flowers. Something that was special between Shadow and her. Or at least that's what he thought. He felt betrayed, Amy was really going to go to Sonic and show her love towards him with flowers-

Wait a second...

"Forget-Me-Nots? Acacias? Red Carnations?" Shadow gave it a thought for a few seconds. Suddenly, he dropped the flowers he was holding and picked up a different one as he dashed through the exit. He stopped mid-track however, as he realized that he couldn' just leave the flower shop open. He locked the doors first and took an umbrella with him as it seemed like it was going to rain any time soon. Now, he began to run...

Stupid Shadow. With his stupid golden rings and his stupid rocket shoes.

How was he so stupid? All of those flowers had a different meaning but they all shared one similarity.

Love.

From what Shadow can remember, Amy started giving him flowers a few months ago.

Shadow couldn't believe that someone like Amy had this type of feelings for him.

He still was naive when it came down to these things. He didn't know anything about love except the things he read on novels.

Were her feelings genuine? What was this state of bliss? This...soft feeling?

Shadow found Amy hiding from the rain under a tree. Still holding the bouquet of yellow acacias on her hands. Shadow walked towards her and took a seat next to her. She didn't mind his presence. There was no escaping him anyways under this rain.

Shadow was horrible at this. He didn't know what to say, nor how to express himself. He couldn't just go like "Hey, I think you are trying to tell me you love me." It was just a theory he had on his head. If he were to say it and was wrong; then their situation would be...very awkward. Especially since he didn't know if he felt the same way towards Amy.

He just didn't want to ruin the friendship he had with Amy over a stupid assumption of his.

He didn't want to talk about it, not unless he was 100% sure.

But he just couldn't stay and do nothing. Amy was always the one putting on the effort to make their friendship work...now it was his turn.

Shadow didn't look at Amy on the eyes, but he made sure to place a 'Yellow Rose' in front of Amy. The yellow rose symbolized friendship and forgiveness and right now it was what Amy needed. What both needed.

Shadow was the Ultimate Life Form, but even he was so naive when it came to relationships. He didn't know anything about the warm feeling he had every time he was with Amy.

But he was willing to learn, if it was for her, then everything was worth it.

She is worth it.

As soon as Amy grabbed the yellow rose from Shadow's hand, he stood up and opened up the pink umbrella; Shadow placed it above them and with a soft smile he said:

"Did you know that umbrellas were made so two people could fit in?... and I still have an empty spot to fill..."

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A/N: A short ShadAmy FF based on the headcanon @finalhazard made. I thought the concept was really cute and just wanted to write about it. Thank you for lending me your ideas!

[another-sonic-blog]

The Dark Prince:  Chapter Two: The Way He Is

"Alright, so where do we start?"

"Well, our only clue as to right now is that 1. This person had something against the Commander and 2. This person also wanted to incriminate you. So think, who might hold a grudge against you?"

Amy and Shadow began to walk into the forest with nowhere in specific to go. The night and stars were at full bloom and with that the vast cold surrounded them.

"I... I don't know. It's honestly been such a long time since I've done the whole 'heroin' kind of stuff...the farthest I can go is when I pulled out Infinite's eye."

"You what?"

Shadow looked at Amy in disbelief. How could something so small and... innocent do things he, himself was capable of?

"Yeah, it honestly wasn't my intention, I must have hit him really hard that time. Not like it matters, we haven't seen him in years since Sonic defeated him."

Oh, that's right Sonic.

"Maybe it's not about you... but about him. This wouldn't be the first time they use you as a bait to get him."

"I haven't seen Sonic in a year. I doubt that what you say is true."

Shadow noticed that the air around them had changed now. It would seem like talking about the blue blur affected Amy in some way or another. He wished he could of know more, but he was one to blame as well since he wasn't one to start conversations with her about her feelings.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to have more allies around. Believe me, I am not a big fan of this idea either but having the world's hero on our side could be of great advantage."

Shadow stood up in front of Amy and she could instantly feel the warmth radiating from his body. It calmed her down, once again she knew that he was right and that she needed to put aside her feelings for the blue one for the benefit of both of them.

"...you are right, Shadow. You always are."

"Damn straight I am"

"Alright but where are going to start looking?"

"Last time I checked on G.U.N's database, people of the city of Hvalsey have reported seeing the blue one running around their city. So we will check there first...with my speed, we can get there in a day."

"Wait, no running!", Amy was now the one stopping Shadow on his tracks. Delicately touching his chest with her gloves and for one moment Amy stared into his eyes, taking dominance for a second.

"I am aware that running is more convenient but it's also very...flashy. Just like we know Sonic's location, there will be reports of you running around and G.U.N agents and whoever else is following us will keep getting a track on us. So for now, I suggest walking...to be discrete."

Shadow nodded in agreement. Amy was right on this one and if they were going to be a team, they were going to have to listen to each other's ideas and respect them. He didn't want to admit but right now he was more focused on Amy's small hand placed on his white chest fur.

"You are right... if only I had my Chaos Emerald... We could be there right now."

"It's ok Shadow we will figure something out. Meanwhile, we should think about a place to sleep."

Shadow didn't notice until now but Amy must be freezing to death at this point. Shadow could tell that it was going to snow at any second now even if his body was made to be resistant to high and low temperatures, he still was one that could be affected by it.

"Since my house and yours is out the question, I think I know of a place where we can rest for the night."

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"A cave?"

"What were you expecting?"

"Knowing you? At least something similar to the Bat-Cave"

"Toucheé"

Amy took a sit on what it seemed to be solid ground. In no matter or another, she was comfortable, it was cold outside and humid on the inside. Shadow noticed this and with no further due went outside to look for rocks, sticks or anything that might start a fire. When Amy noticed his absence, she went outside to follow him. The white snow made small cracking sounds as her boots made contact with it. A few minutes later she found Shadow on his knees, looking around underneath the snow.

"Shadow?"

"Amy, you should go back"

"Let me help you"

Amy bent down to see that Shadow had a deep cut around his waist that Amy didn't notice before. The blood must have blended with his black fur and Shadow acted so normally that she didn't think that he was hurt at all.

Noticing her concerned, Shadow moved away from her in disapproval. Finally founding what he was looking for he stood up again as nothing happened and walked back to the cave, expecting Amy to do the same. Amy sighed in defeat and quietly back with him.

Once again in the cave, Shadow took two minutes to turn on a bonfire with two Flint rocks. After that, both of them stayed quiet. Looking through to the dancing flames until Amy decided to break the silence between them.

"Why don't you let me help you?"

"There's nothing to help with. The wound already healed, it was a pretty deep cut so my body took longer to heal it. I am alright now."

But that answer didn't satisfy her. Amy still had questions about everything. Including the most important one.

"Why bother so much Shadow?"

"Speak clearly"

"Why bother yourself with me? We barely know each other but you still decided to help me."

"Because..."

Maybe because he was secretly in love with her. However, he still hasn't figured out his feelings completely yet. Shadow didn't feel it coming like in the books, he didn't think 24/7 about her. He didn't miss seeing her every second nor think of her as a goddess. What was it then? What was it about her that attracted him so much but still couldn't get a clue of? Shadow was never one of the words but of actions and so this thoughts never left his mouth.

"It was the right thing to do."

Amy's face changed. That was convincing enough. Shadow was just like that, a nice guy. He would go to any extent to help someone in need and that someone right now was Amy. Amy offered him a warm smile, in which Shadow return by looking away. She knew that it was just that, the way it works.

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Shadow woke up immediately at the smell of black coffee. He sure wasn't expecting to sleep that night but the low key was kinda glad he did.

"Could you walk a little slower?"

"...I thought I was going slow, my apologies."

"And usually, the guy is supposed to be the one who walks by the road."

"Sorry, I am not the gentleman you thought I was."

Amy waited for Shadow to change sides, but that never happened. Once again, Amy thought that this was very Shadow like as well. The ladies called him 'Dark Prince' but he clearly didn't know how to act like one.

"How long, until we get to the rabbit's house?.", Shadow was clearly annoyed, not being able to his speed for the simplest of things really got to him more than he thought he would.

"Just around the corner."

And there it was, Cream's house in its full cuteness. It was nice to see that her friend's house was still intact. The couple walked slowly towards the yellow door and rang the doorbell. From the inside an 'I am coming' was heard and seconds later, the door opened. Cream had for sure grow into a fine lady. Even after her mother died, she still found a way to keep strong. She was smart, strong and independent. It was not a surprise why the top world mechanic, Tails Miles Prower, was completely in love with her.

"Miss Amy! Mr. Shadow!"

"Hey Cream, long time no see"

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"I understand your situation, but how may I help the both of you?"

Amy and Shadow had taken a sit on the red sofa, facing the rabbit girl. "We wanted to ask you for some clothes...and even for some money...like you must know. When a government spy company wants to murder you, all money disappears from your account."

Shadow looks straight into Cream's brown eyes. In a sense, he wanted to intimidate the rabbit girl but was failing at it miserably. He felt nostalgic at the sight. But was strangely proud of it.

"For the Dark Prince anything, as well for his princess." Cream laughed a little as he saw the reaction on the couple. Which to her surprise they did not deny her comment but quietly blushed at it.

"Oh, but Mr. Shadow!" Cream's sweet voice stumble, on Shadow's ears as he came back to reality.

"Yes?."

"There's this box full of clothes on the room upstairs. Its the first one to your left. Can you bring it please?."

Shadow nodded and stood up from his sit. After Cream noticed that Shadow was out of sight, she went to sit next to Amy who was curious by friend's reaction.

"So, Mr. Shadow, uh?." Cream teased her with a smile and Amy blushed more intensely. "It's not like that!."

"Who are you trying to fool? Mr. Shadow totally likes you!."

"He doesn't! He is just helping me out.", Amy gave a slow whisper.

"Amy, let me tell you something about the Dark Prince.", Cream grabbed Amy's hand and began her story.

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If the entire world could crying, then it will be because of Vanilla's funeral. Nobody care enough to put up their umbrella to protect themselves from the rain. Everyone in black and flowers in their hands, trying to be strong enough for the young Cream.

Everyone was there but Shadow The Hedgehog.

So when Cream saw Shadow standing in front of her mom's grave, that really got her.

Not that she was angry at him but was deeply touched seeing him but countless of beautiful flowers all around her grave.

"Your daughter has always been there for the person I care the most and for that I am grateful. I promise to take her of her Vanilla and it's such a shame I didn't get to try your pie one last time."

Shadow turned around as he felt a presence near him. He saw Cream come out of the shadows into the moonlight.

"I'll tell you my mom's pie recipe if one, you don't tell anyone. And two, if you tell me who is that person you care for the most is."

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"Amy, that person was-"

"I have the box."

Both Amy and Cream jumped in a hysteric manner and Shadow appeared in front of them, holding a heavy-looking box on his left shoulder. A puzzled look rested on his face, wondering what were the two girls whispering about.

"Oh, great! Just pick whatever you would like to take. I have some extra backpacks you could take on your trip as well. Feel free to take food too.", Cream added as she calmed herself.

"Thank you so much Cream. I am can't take you enough."

Amy let go of her friend's hand to stand up and look into the box. Some of the things she recognized from Cream's closet and others she didn't. Some of the clothes brought back memories from the times Cream would help her do the heroin stuff. "Do you ever miss going on an adventure Cream?." Amy asked as she pulled out a small orange dress, that her friend used to love to wear.

"Sometimes, but my life is way happier now...I have my friends from school, Tails and you. That's all I need.", Cream said with a warm smile. Amy returned her smile and stood up. "I'll go change."

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Now the black and pink hedgehog were in their way to Hasvely. Having clothes on wasn't something Shadow enjoyed in all honesty. The long light brown coat made his arms movements complicated. The black under-sweater made his skin itchy and his tight skinny jeans made running impossible. And the worst part? He wasn't used to wearing clear round glasses.

"I need coffee"

"You just had a cup at Cream's!", Amy replied. Shadow stood quiet for a few seconds to appreciate her. She was trying to cover as much fur as possible. At the end of the day, it wasn't every day that you would see a pink hedgehog on the streets. Even for Shadow who had traveled the world countless times, a pink hedgehog wasn't something that he would see normally. She put her short hair in a small ponytail and put it under a hat. She wore a white sweater and a black skirt with black leggings to cover her legs and to top it all, a black long coat. Even when she wanted to look 'normal' she looks way too good according to Shadow's thoughts.

"I drink at least 7 cups a day."

Shadow closed his eyes and looked out the window but opened them as soon as he heard Amy's small footsteps come close to him. " Alright Shadow, as soon as we get to Hasvely, we need to do a cleaning."

"If you think I am going to stop drinking coffee, then you are completely wrong." Shadow turned around to find Amy looking at him directly at his eyes with her green emerald ones with a disapproving look.

"We will see about that, Dark Prince."

Amy moved her body and gave Shadow his space. Amy didn't want to admit it but, she would appreciate something warm in her hands right now. It was freezing and the train had no heating system whatsoever. A few minutes passed by and silence surrounded them. Then. Amy felt how Shadow stood up from his seat, opened the sliding door and walked int the train's small hallway. A few minutes passed and Amy began to worry about Shadow. Did he go to the restroom? Did he decide to jump from the window and leave her? Did he decide to go with G.U.N?

Amy was used to be alone, to deal with her problems by herself. But she was absolutely terrified of rejection, to not be enough. Amy had to admit that a few months ago she couldn't even stand to look at herself in the mirror. Whenever she would, she would always pint-point her defects. Like the small freckles on her cheeks, her round nose, nor her double chin. Her acne scars on her back, her stomach, and legs that were becoming bigger; which made her go to the hospital a couple of times since she decided that not eating was a better idea. Just everything about herself disgusted her. It wasn't just her looks. She doesn't remember exactly when everything went to hell. She used to not care about trivial things such as looks when she was a kid, and she certainly didn't have time to think about it when she was captain of the Resistance back in the day. But it wasn't just that, She wasn't good at anything, she wasn't smart, had a boring personality and didn't have any particular talent.

Although she was getting better, the thought that she would never be pretty enough, nor good enough as a person, still haunted her mind once in a while. Rouge would help her once in a while with this, and Amy was now regretting taking her for granted. And as far as Shadow has told her, she just disappeared after the events with G.U.N., which was usual for her to do.

Shadow has told her to not worry too much about her, that Rouge was that way and for her, she will try to be strong.

Amy heard the sliding door open once more and Shadow was standing there with two cups that looked like they came from a coffee shop.

"I am back."

Shadow walked past Amy and took a seat next to her handing her a cup, which she accepted gladly. "Enjoy it, this will be your last cup for a while."

"You know that's not happening," Shadow said as he took a sip from his coffee.

And there was Shadow. It may sound like those books in which the boy helped the girl feel better about herself. But this wasn't the case, because there was a big difference between fantasy boys and Shadow.

Shadow was nothing but himself.

Amy knew that she was being selfish, even towards Shadow. She still couldn't believe that Shadow would do all of this for her. She was asking too much and she knew that.

"Shadow...you can leave....whenever you want."

"If I didn't want to be here, I would have been gone by now."

What Rouge couldn't accomplish in years, Shadow did it in seconds.

He made her feel that she was enough. That she was worth all of this trouble. That someone cared for her so much, that they would put their own life at risk. And it wasn't because it was his duty as a hero, but because he was helping a friend out.

"Where did you get the coffee anyways?." Amy took a deep breath as she appreciated the smell of coffee.

"If I tell you, you will get angry."

"...Shadow...what did you do?", Amy asked in a monotone voice, to show her concern. She saw how Shadow looked up at the window and took a big gulp before answering her.

"I ran to the closest coffee shop and ran back here"

"Shadow, we said no running, what if someone saw you and called G.U.N?. We could be in serious troub-"

Amy said before getting interrupted by the Dark Prince...that goddamn nickname that the more time she spent with Shadow, the more sense it made.

"Fine then, I'll let your hands freeze next time."

...on its own way, it kinda made sense.

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Previous Chapter: https://another-sonic-blog.tumblr.com/post/185966609885/i-am-tired-truthfully-i-am-no-matter-how-long-i

The Dark Prince: Chapter One: Team

Next Chapter: https://another-sonic-blog.tumblr.com/post/185966895240/the-dark-prince-chapter-three-my-old-blue-friend

The Dark Prince: Chapter Three: My Old Blue Friend

[another-sonic-blog]

First Impressions Pt.8

First Impressions Pt. 8

ShadAmy Boom!

Shadow couldn’t get a wink of sleep. His mind was somewhere else, he had conflicted feelings about everything. Amy, Sonic, and of course, the thought he was no longer the ultimate life form, now that his immortality was gone.

“Hey, Shadow are you awake?”- Shadow slowly opened his eyes and pretend to be asleep as he notice Amy leaning over him, covering the sunlight away from his eyes.

“What do you think?”- Shadow said, sounding sarcastic as he stood up. He notice that  most villagers had already woken up and continue on working with building up again the village and their homes.

“Are you alright?”- Amy asked

“Yes, I am”- Shadow responded and he saw how Amy got close to him, putting one hand on his forehead trying to see if he a high temperature. Shadow could smell Amy’s scent, he never thought about it, but she did had a very addictive smell, it was hard to describe but it was making him want to get closer to her.

“Ah, may be you just need something to eat”- Amy said as she pulled away.

“I don’t need to eat, you know that”

“You still get hungry tho, here eat my protein bar”- Amy said as she handed over Shadow the protein bar.

“No, you eat”

“I already ate one”

“I know you are lying”

Amy stood quiet, Shadow saw sadness in Amy’s face. He then took the protein bar, open it and broke it in half, he instantly ate his half and the other one he gave it to Amy. And there it goes again, Amy smile as she grabbed her part of the bar. Shadow looked away, trying to hide his emotions that were showing in his face.

“Where’s your boyfriend?”-Shadow asked, remembering again to himself that Amy was already taken.

“Sonic? He went to try and find some fruits for the villagers.”

Deep down, Shadow wanted to hear Amy say something like “no way, he is not my boyfriend” but this time, she just accepted it, honestly that bother him. “tsk, he is supposed to take care of you and he leaves you here?”

“What?”

“Hey guys! We are back!”

Amy and Shadow turned around and notice Tails who was carrying a backpack, Sticks and Knuckles weaving and approaching  them.

“Well, this is new, how is the couple doing?”- Sticks said as she sat next ti Amy.

“What?”

“Come on Amy, no need to be shy, we can tell from a far that you two are REALLY close~”- Knuckles said as he sat down next to Shadow.

“Close? I think the only real couple here is Amy and I”

Everyone was surprised at Sonic’s sudden appearance, he sat down next to Amy, putting his arm around her shoulders, making it clear who was the real couple in the gang.

“What? Really?!”- Sticks said leaning over by the sudden surprise.

“Sonic I am so proud, but I think I have something important to say”- Tails said.

“Well, what do you have?”- Sonic said.

“I found a way to defeat Lyric”

“WHY DIDN���T YOU SAY THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE!”-Everyone yelled at him.

“I really wanted to see if Shadow and Amy were a couple-”

“OK BUT NOW CONTINUE WITH YOUR PLAN”-Sonic interrupted, not wanting to hear Amy and Shadow’s name in the same sentence with the word “couple” in it.

“ok here is the plan...you know, now that Lyric is immortal, we can’t defeat nor destroy him”- Tails began

“Yeah, what about it?”- Shadow asked.

“However, we can in fact, stop him for all eternity, how you make ask? Easy, we are going to freeze him!”- Tails said as he pulled out a small technological looking like gun, from his backpack.

“I present you, the ultimate freezing gun, the FG-2000! We just one shot, we can freeze Lyric for all eternity. Lyric commands all the army of robots, however if there’s no one to give them commands, then they  won’t do anything! After we freeze Lyric, we can just put him back where he belongs”- Tails finished as with a victory smile.

“Everything sounds good Tails, but how are going to get close enough to Lyric if he has an entire army of robots on his command?”- Sticks asked.

“I also have a plan for that...listen closely...”

It took a while for Tails to explain the plan, after some improvements were made, they were all ready to perform their plan.

“Sonic, is Sonic the Hedgehog here?!”

All of the gang then stood up and saw a very paranoid Orbot approaching them.

“Orbot? What are you doing here? You are with Eggman! An enemy!”- Sonic said looking straight up at Orbot.

“You don’t understand, Lyric reveal against Eggman, all of his robots are now under his command....even Cubot”- Orbot said with a sad tone on his voice. Everyone notice his sincere feelings and hot closer to him.

“What happened to Eggman?”- Shadow asked.

“He’s under Lyric’s mind control... and I really need your help”

“How we know you are not under his mind control too!”- Knuckles asked, having conflicted feelings about the situation.

“I am not! You can even run on test on me to prove it! I am not mind control!”

“What do you need us for?”

“Cubot is still at Eggman’s base...I want to get him back!

“Its too dangerous, Eggman’s base is infested with Lyric’s robots”- Sonic said as he turn around.

“Sonic! He needs us!”- Amy said grabbing Sonic’s by the arm.

“We are at war Amy, our people need us here and we have to stick to our plan, we can help him once he defeat Lyric”- Sonic said and he grabbed Amy’s hand with his.

“It will be too late for him! Lyric will destroy him, please...you have to help me”- Orbot was desperate, he wanted to do anything if order to save his friend.

“Please Sonic... help him”- Amy looked at him with pleading eyes, and Sonic had nothing else but to sigh.

“Fine...But I will go alone” with Orbot- Sonic said.

“What? Are you crazy?”- Tails was preoccupied, he didn’t want his bestfriend to be in danger.

“No, it will be faster this way, and besides you all need to keep the village safe, Lyric is closer than we thought...Sticks, please go back to the bunker and take care of the elderly, Tails before leaving run a quick test on Orbot so we know he is not under mind control, Knuckles protect the outsides of the village in case Lyric wants to attack, Shadow and Amy, help the villagers build their homes and find more water and food for them.”- Sonic said taking his role of the leader. Nobody questioned his words and everyone began working. Sonic saw Amy’s worried face and gently took one of her hands and place it on his cheek.

“I’ll be back soon, you won’t even miss me”- Sonic said smiling to her.

“...I miss you already”

“Sonic, I just scanned Orbot and he seems to be fine, you both can go now”- Tails said and Orbot approached Sonic.

“We will be taking off now...I’ll be back by dinner!”

And with that said, Sonic carried Orbot and headed towards Eggman’s base.

“Stop worrying too much about Sonic....”- Shadow said looking at Amy. They were both in the woods, trying to find whatever it was eatable, by now, they had some coconuts and banana but it wasn’t enough.

“How can’t I not worry? He is my boyfriend after-all...”- Amy began.

“Tsk”

Amy heard Shadow mumble something under his breath and it was weird for him to be acting this way.

“Are you alright? You have been weird since the morning”

“No, its just you that having a new partner makes you think things that are not”

“Are you saying that I am acting different because I am dating Sonic?”

“No, I am saying that you are different because-”

“Sonic!”

Shadow was cut off by Amy’s sudden move, as the blue hedgehog was coming over, a weird expression on his face.

“So-Sonic?”- Amy asked, however Sonic didn’t even flinch and ignore Amy, he went straight up to Shadow. This surprised the dark hedgehog, he wondered what had of happened to the blue hedgehog that made him act this way.

“What happened?”- Shadow asked. Sonic then suddenly grabbed Shadow by the neck and quickly punched him in the face. Shadow then quickly kicked him the face. They began fighting and their hits could be heard all the way to the village.

“STOP IT, BOTH OF YOU!”- Amy yelled at them, she had no other choice but to intervene, she pulled out her hammer and aimed towards Sonic, he received a hard hit on the head however, this made Sonic turn around and with his super speed, Sonic grabbed Amy’s hammer and pushed her away, making her fall to the ground. He then use the hammer and punch Shadow in the face, making him stumble and laid his back on a tree. He took this chance, as he turn the hammer around so the helve of it could face Shadow, and with an incredible force and without hesitation, Sonic stabbed Shadow straight to the middle of his chest. Shadow spilled blood immediately, he grabbed the hammer’s helve and try to push it away, but as he did that Sonic would put the helve inside of Shadow’s chest even more.

“SONIC STOP PLEASE, I BEG YOU!”- Amy yelled and as he heard it, something snapped out of him. Sonic took the helve out of Shadow’s chest and throw the hammer towards Amy’s direction with no intention of hurting her and like that, he slowly walked away into the woods, disappearing once again. Amy ran towards Shadow and slowly grabbed his head and his her hands tried to stop his chest from bleeding.

“...Its no use Amy”- Shadow began.

“Shhh, don’t say anything, I am going to call Tails, he will come and-”-Amy began to turn on her communicator but Shadow stopped her and he put his hand on hers and looked at her directly.

“You were right...”- Shadow slowly began to caress Amy’s hand.

“What?” “First Impressions...They make you think wrong about a person....”

“Shadow its not the time to talk about that right now!”-Amy said already having tears on her eyes.

“The first impression I got of you was...that you were a useless, stupid little girl...but-but in reality...you..have become the only person I care about...a kind hearted girl...I am such a fool”

“Shadow....Shadow I..”

“I know....I know Amy....”- Shadow was slowly closing his eyes.

“Shadow, don’t leave me...please...”

“Be safe...And Amy...I-I lo-”

And with a trembling voice, Shadow whisper a three word sentence that only Amy Rose could hear. That day, Shadow the Hedgehog was killed by the only friend he thought he had...Sonic the Hedgehog.

A/N: Thank you so much guys for reading this far, sorry for not updating in weeks, the reason is that I was busy writing for ShadAmy Week. I’ll post some more if I see that people still read this story lol. Once again, thank you~