The Further Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

Chapter 20's up! [it's not the end yet. It'll say "THE END" when the story ends]

CHAPTER 20

Back in the closet, the feeling inside Shadow’s stomach only worsened. He wondered what his dream meant. “Plans for your welfare and not for harm.” He repeated. Shadow felt dizzy. His head was spinning, and his heart thundered against his chest. A cold sweat streaked down his face. Shortly after, he did something that he would never have done, but it just happened. He threw himself to the ground and uttered this to himself:
“What does all of this mean? I don’t understand it. I’m trapped. Every way I turn I get even more confused. This feeling inside me...I don’t ever remember having it before. What is this sensation that burdens me? Once a friend is now an enemy. Once a sworn enemy now acts as a friend. What is the reason for these happenings? I need answers.” He lay still a moment, then he heard the sound of the door being unlocked. He looked up, and watched. It opened, and of all the people—Knuckles stepped in. He began. “Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you were destined to be a hero instead of a villain?” Shadow shook his head. Knuckles continued. “Or have you ever thought that you could have friends that aren’t servants of Egg-man?” Again, Shadow shook his head ‘no’. They were both silent. Then suddenly, Shadow realized what it all meant. The feeling that he had suffered from so harshly was guilt. He had felt guilty for what he had done without even knowing it! And now, Shadow made a decision. Right then and there, he decided that he was not going to help Eggman destroy the world. He was going to help his true friends stop the evil-doer. “Knuckles,” Shadow began. “You’ve got to let me out of here. I...I want to help you stop the doctor.” Knuckles hesitated, “Alright...I trust you.” He opened the door and they headed towards the scene of battle.

Woah, and Knuckles just trusts him?! Shadow doesn't deserve it! He doesn't! *rambles on and on*

Teehee, nice job. ;3

Maybe he doesn't, or does he..?

CHAPTER 21

“Good, you changed your mind. We could use all of the help we can get!” Sonic said, nodding to Shadow. “Knuckles! We need someone strong to hold up that beam before it falls on the buildings!” Tails pointed to a large beam that was leaning towards a series of houses and buildings. Knuckles rushed over, and began to stabilize it. Shadow powered up his hover skates and sped towards Dr. Eggman. When he came closer, what he saw made him stop in his tracks. A string of bombs was loaded in a queer gun that Eggman was firing. He looked to the left. Knuckles was still holding up the beam, but five sticks of dynamite had surrounded him. Knuckles hadn’t noticed, and they looked as if they would blow any second. If someone didn’t do something soon, it would be too late. Without thinking of his own safety, Shadow rushed at him, and pushed Knuckles out of the way just in time. The ring of explosives detonated, and a building came crashing down on Shadow. Furious, Sonic hurled Eggman’s ship so harshly that it spun out of control and disappeared. “Shadow?” Sonic looked towards the remains of the building that had come down. Desperate, Knuckles flung aside boulders and dragged Shadow’s limp body out from under the wreckage. “Come on, Shadow. Talk to me.” Knuckles urged. Slowly, Shadow’s eyes opened and he gasped. “You’re alive!” Amy threw her arms around him. “Thanks for saving me, Shadow.” Knuckles said gratefully. “I think we’re even.” Shadow said hoarsely and grinned. “So...who’s hungry?” “I sure am.” Sonic agreed. “Me too!” “Me three!” “Me four. Do you know how hungry it makes someone when a big tower comes crashing down on my stomach? I think I coughed up my spleen.” And so they all walked to the pizza parlor bloody, sweaty, and satisfied.

Finally Knuckles avoids getting hurt! xD Maybe Shadow isn't that bad after all.

:3 That was a good story.

Thanks! I worked on it for months. Took me forever.

Gee...now what can I put up?

Try writing a new story! :3

Good idea! Tho I'm inspiration-less at the moment, I'll think of something.

That was a REALLY good story Soxpaws! Great job!!! I'm sad it's over. Could you figure out some way to make a further-further adventure?

Lol!!! I might make a sequal. I actually already have three title names I might make this a trilogy.

First book: The Further Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
Second book: The Even Further Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
Third book: The Furthest Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

xD Creative, aren't they?

I like them!

Hehehe, thanks.

Okay guys, I'm working on a sequal to this book. STAY TUNED!

YES!!!!

Guess what? ^^ I added more to the story! [yay!]

BACK AT HOME... [CHAPTER 22]

“Hold still, Shadow!” Amy scolded as she wrapped a bandage around his middle. Shadow twitched, and gripped the edge his seat tightly. There was a knock on the door. “Come in.” Amy called, and Knuckles walked in. “How is he doing?” He asked Amy. “He’s got some pretty serious burns. He says he isn’t in any pain, but I don’t believe him.” All of a sudden, the door opened, and Rouge the bat strolled in. Amy’s jaw dropped. “What are you doing here?!” “Relax, Amy.” Sonic reassured as he followed Rouge inside. “She’s staying here for a while with Shadow. Don’t worry, I got her word. She won’t steal anything, and she’ll try not to make any trouble.” “Try?” Amy snorted doubtfully. “Come on, Amy. It’s only until Shadow’s better.” “Ugh....fine. But I’m keeping an eye on you!” She pointed a finger at Rouge. “What? Little old me? Don’t you worry your pretty little head, I won’t do anything to upset you.” Amy turned her back on Rouge. Rouge sauntered out of the room and the door closed behind her. “The nerve of her!” Amy fumed as she patted a burn on Shadow’s arm with a damp cloth. “Chill out, Amy. She won’t cause any trouble.” “Chill out? CHILL OUT?! How can you say that? Rouge is a gem thief!” “What? Are you saying you don’t trust me?” “No...Ugh, never mind. YOU wouldn’t understand.” While they were arguing, Knuckles told Shadow “You sure are quiet. Are you sure you’re feeling all right?” Shadow grimaced, and the fur on his back bristled. “I’m fine...just a little sore.” Knuckles nodded. “See? What did I tell you? He is in pain!” Amy exclaimed. “It’s all right. I always get like this after a battle.” “Oh really?” “Really.” “How can I believe you?” “I hate to crash the conversation, but Amy, shouldn’t you be keeping an eye on our guest?” “Oh, right.” Amy walked out of the room. Sonic patted Shadow on the back. “I’m sure you’re fine. I wouldn’t blame you for being sore.” “Yeah, you’re a tough cookie; I wouldn’t worry about those burns.” Knuckles added.

[CHAPTER 23]

“What are you doing?” Amy asked rudely as the marched up to Rouge. “Just looking around. You sure are a timid little thing.” Rouge smiled slyly. “You better not be thinking about stealing anything!” Amy fumed, her hands on her hips. “Me? No, I won’t steal any of your useless junk.” “It is NOT useless junk!” Sputtered Amy indignantly. “Fair enough. How’s Shadow doing by the way?” Rouge asked, smirking. “If you want to know, go find out yourself!” Amy spat, and stormed out of the room. “I suppose I have no choice.” Rouge walked down the hall and opened the door. As she entered, Shadow looked up. “Shadow, you should rest. You’re probably tired.” Amy said. “Shut up. I’m not tired and I don’t need to rest.” “Amy, stop fussing over the poor dude. He needs some space.” “Be quiet Knuckles, I’ll handle this. Shadow, I’m going to have to give you some pain medicine, and then you won’t be so sore.” While Amy was busy with Shadow, Rouge slipped into the other room. “Hmmm, what do we have here?” Rouge stood before the Master Emerald. “How pretty.” “Hey! Batgirl! What are you doing?” Rouge whirled around and came face-to-face with Knuckles the echidna. “Get away from the Master Emerald!” “Just looking! Moving along.” “You better be!” Knuckles watched as Rouge walked past the Master Emerald, out the door, and back into the previous room. Ugh, they sure keep a watchful eye on their stuff around here. I’ll have to be extra sneaky. Maybe I’ll turn on the old charm. “Hey Shadow, remember the last time you got hurt like this?” Shadow said nothing, so Rouge continued. “That was the time you almost got killed!” Shadow still said nothing. “That was on Space Colony ARK.” Shadow froze. “That reminds me, wasn’t that the home of your friend Maria?” “No!” Shadow sank to his knees, and put his hands over his ears. “Shadow? Are you okay?” Amy knelt down next to him and Sonic and Knuckles ran over to him. Meanwhile, Rouge snuck out of the room. “Baby, that is one big emerald. How am I going to get it out of here?” “Hey! Rouge! Get back here!” Knuckles ran after her, and caught up with her. “Don’t touch the Master Emerald or I’ll teach you a lesson you’ll never forget!” Rouge took a step back. “I wouldn’t think of it! Just admiring it. Sure is a ‘beaut, isn’t it?” “Hmph.” Knuckles marched away and back over to Shadow. “Is he alright?” He asked Amy. “I don’t know. He won’t talk.” “Shadow, what happened?” “M-Maria...” Shadow gasped. “Who’s Maria?” Amy asked, turning to Sonic. “Isn’t she that girl that Shadow knew on Space Colony ARK?” “Oh, right. She sent Shadow down to Earth, but unfortunately, she was shot and killed by the Space Colony ARK troopers.” “That’s horrible!” Amy exclaimed. Knuckles nodded. “He must have been devastated.” “Uh huh.” Sonic nodded sullenly. “Shadow...” “I...I just want to be alone.” Shadow stood up and staggered into the other room, and the door closed behind him.

Hmmmm...I'm honestly not sure if it's just my story has been forgotten, or that no one reads semi-fanfics anymore.

In any case, here's the next chapter.

[CHAPTER 24]

“You think we should do something?” Sonic asked, turning to the others. “I do, but what can we do? It’s not like he’s gonna want to be comforted.” “Amy’s got a point. But I still don’t think we should sit here and wait for him to come out again.” “That would take forever, you’re right.” “Then what can we do?” “He gets like this every time someone talks about Maria.” A voice interrupted. They all looked up and Rouge the bat standing in the doorway. “You little! You were spying on us!” “Hold it, Knuckles. Rouge, if you say he does this all the time, then what do you do?” “I usually just tell him it’s okay to be sad and that he can cry all he wants, I won’t mind. Then he usually gets mad at me and stops.” “That’s real nice.” Amy rolled her eyes. “Actually, that might work.” “What, make him mad at us? That’s the last thing we need!” “No, not get him mad at us. Rouge should go and talk to him.” “Why me?” “Because, he won’t let us talk to him.” “Fine. But I don’t do this with any old person.” Rouge grunted and knocked on the door. There was no answer, so she opened it and walked in. Shadow was on the floor on his knees with his eyes closed. Rouge knelt down and rested a hand on his arm. “Shadow,” He looked up, and his eyes were watering. “Don’t get mad at me. I just want to tell you that it’s okay to be sad.” She looked to see if he was listening, then continued. “You don’t need to run into the other room when you’re upset. I mean, if you feel like you need some space just tell us and we’ll back off, but we’re not going to make fun of you for crying. Everyone does it. Sonic’s done it, Amy’s done it, and I’m sure even Knuckles has done it.” Shadow wiped his eyes with his hand. Rouge kept talking. “You may feel embarrassed to cry, and that’s understandable I guess, but none of us will make fun of you for it. And even if they do, I’ll beat them up.” Rouge grinned and held out a hand to Shadow. He took her hand, stood up, and embraced the bat with a hug. Then he stepped back and said, “Thank you, Rouge.”

Oh yeah, just so you know, it's gonna get a little lovey-dovey in these next few chapters. Heh, I'm not really into romance, but I thought I'd give it a try.

[CHAPTER 25]

“Are you SURE you’re strong enough to go out in battle?” “Positive.” “How can I believe you?” “You can’t.” “I know, that’s not what I’m concerned about.” “What is it, then?” “I’m worried about you! You have 3rd degree burns all over! And don’t tell me you’re not in pain, I know better.” “Amy, YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER, SO DON’T ACT LIKE YOU ARE.” “Alright, but you’d better be careful out there!” “I don’t need to be careful when I can fight like a wolf.” Shadow reassured her as he snapped a ring bracelet on each of his wrists. “Okay, we’re ready for battle.” “Let’s do this!” They all sped towards the battle scene. When they reached the site, Sonic turned to Knuckles and Shadow. “Knuckles, you and I are going to be the offense of this attack. Shadow, you are going to guard the entrance of our attack point. Don’t let any enemies get in, or we’ll be toast. Got it?” They nodded. “Here we go!” While Sonic and Knuckles continued on to the attack point, Shadow put up his guard and began defending the entrance. “Let’s make this quick! The sooner we launch the attack, the less we’ll have to keep Shadow waiting.” As the enemy’s attacks became more vigorous, Shadow began to get overwhelmed. “Are we ready to launch our attack?” Knuckles asked Sonic. “We can’t yet. There aren’t enough enemies gathered around us.” So they waited for a half-an-hour before they could finally attack. Shadow fought until the very end, when the enemies swooped in with a huge wave of robots, and Shadow was thrown off to the side. By then defense didn’t matter, Sonic and Knuckles had successfully launched their attack, and had overpowered the enemies using Sonic boom. “Amy Rose to Sonic. Are you there?” “Sonic here.” “What are the results of your invasion?” “Mission completed.” “And none of you are hurt?” “Well...” “I’ve heard enough. Rouge and I will be over shortly. Amy Rose out.”

[CHAPTER 26]

As soon as Amy and Rouge appeared, Amy marched over to Sonic. Rouge flew over to Shadow. “Sonic! How come you can never have a battle without someone getting hurt?” “Chill out, Amy.” “Hey! We could use a hand over here!” Rouge called, and the others rushed over. Shadow was lying on the ground unconscious, and Rouge was shaking him, trying to wake him up. “We’d better get him back home. Then we can see how hurt he is.” Once they got home, they all waited for him to wake up. While they were waiting, there was a knock on the door. “Come in.” Amy called, and Tails stepped in. “Hi Sonic, Knuckles. Oh my gosh, what happened to Shadow?” “He was hurt in battle.” “Oh.” Just then, Shadow groaned and one eye slid open. “What happened?” He asked. “You kept the enemies from coming in, but you must have passed out when being trampled by the enemies.” “How do you feel?” “I’m not telling you, because you’ll just worry.” “I’ll get you cleaned up in a minute.” Amy said as she left the room. Shadow sat up in bed and rubbed his arm. “You’re lucky to be alive.” “Humph.” “Well, you were a great defense and we couldn’t have launched the attack without you.” “I’m back. Shadow, can you tell me what hurts?” “Nope.” “Why not?” “I already told you, you’ll just get all paranoid.” “Alrighty, well, it’s not burns this time; it’s cuts. You have them all over.” “Hey! Look!” Sonic pointed out a window. “Looks like another invasion.” “Well, we’d better get moving.” Shadow stood up and started walking towards the door. “Shadow! You can’t go out in battle like that!” “Yes I can.” “You’re hurt!” “This is not your decision!” “So, if you’re hurt you should rest.” “Nonsense.” Shadow opened the door and stepped outside. “Shadow!” “Amy, cool it. He’ll be fine. We’ll look out for him.” “But...” “No buts. We’ll make sure he’s okay.” And with that, Sonic and Knuckles ran out after Shadow. Amy stood in the doorway with Rouge and they watched them go. “I sure hope Sonic’s right.” “When was the last time he wasn’t?” Sonic and Knuckles stopped as thousands of robots were revealed. And right in their midst stood Dr. Eggman. Shadow was standing in front of him, and they appeared to be talking. “I should’ve known, Doctor.” “Yes, if you think about it, my plan is quite revealing, isn’t it? And now I shall destroy your two friends!” “You can try that, Doctor, but you’ll have to get through me, first!” He signaled for Sonic and Knuckles to move back, and exclaimed, “CHAOS BLAST!!” A huge wave of fire exploded everywhere, and the robots were all blown to pieces instantly. However, Eggman pulled out a mirror and directed the fire back at Shadow. But Shadow was too quick, and jumped out of the way. “Well, things have certainly changed, haven’t they?” Eggman mused gruffly. “Are you sure you want to live your life against me?” Shadow nodded. “You’ve never done anything for me!” “Ah, but think of your conscience, do you think Maria would be happy with your decision?” “Maria...No!!!!” Shadow fell on his knees and cloaked his ears with his hands. Sonic and Knuckles ran over to him and pulled him to his feet. “C’mon Shadow, you can do this. Take a deep breath, and let it out.” Shadow paused. Sonic and Knuckles stood and watched wide-eyed at what happened next. Shadow’s eyes glowed an evil red, and he walked towards Eggman. Making a terrible face, he said, “Don’t EVER mention that name to me.” Eggman began backing up, but Shadow kept walking towards him. Eggman’s eyes got wide, and he climbed into his ship. “You may have won this one, but don’t think you’ve seen the last of Dr. Eggman! I’ll be back!!” He yelled as he sped away.

Heehee, poor Dr. Eggman. XD *cough*wimp*cough*

Oh, I'm very much looking forward to this romance, though.

Good! 'Cuz so am I! Hehe

[CHAPTER 28]

“So what did the doctor say?” Sonic asked Amy as they stood in the hospital. “He said that Shadow isn’t that bad. According to the fire department, a piece of the ceiling fell and knocked him unconscious. He did get a little burnt, but the doctor said that looking at Shadow’s health, he should make a pretty quick recovery.” “That’s good.” “Yeah.” “Well, guess I’ll go in and talk to him.” Sonic walked into the hospital room, where Shadow was seated in a chair, and a nurse was wrapping a bandage around his forehead. “How are you doing, Shadow?” “Ugh...” “I thought so.” Sonic looked him over, and said, “You don’t look so bad.” “Looks can be deceiving.” “Are you still sore?” “More than sore.” “Man, sorry.” “You don’t know the half of it.” “They say you’ll make a pretty decent recovery.” “Good.” “It could be worse.” “Easy for you to say.” “You could’ve died.” “That, in my opinion, would’ve been better.” “Lighten up. At least you’re not in here for a stupid reason.” “You don’t call a stupid little punk-assed fox playing with a match and burning the house down a stupid reason?” “Man, Amy wasn’t kidding when she said you were feeling down.” “Hmph. I have no reason to be happy.” “Oh, that reminds me, Tails said to tell you that he’s very sorry for playing with matches and that as soon as you’re better you can beat him up to get him back.” “Really.” “Yep.” “I think he’ll change his mind when I actually am better.” “Probably...Listen, Shadow? I just wanted to tell you that we’ll be in to visit you every day, and Tails has been feeling really bad about what he did.” “Hmm.” “Well, guess I’ll leave you alone now.” “Fine.” Sonic grinned and waved. Shadow coughed, and gave a nod. When Sonic had left, he sat back in his chair, and heaved a sigh. “You look like you could use a hug.” Rouge said as she entered the room. Shadow groaned. “What, you don’t want to see me?” “Nah, that’s not it.” “Are you feeling okay?” “Physically or mentally?” Rouge laughed. “Both.” “Mentally I’m not sure. Physically, definitely not.” “You still in pain?” “Good God, is that even a question anymore?” “Well...” There was a moment of silence. Then, “Shadow?” “Yeah?” “What did you mean by, ‘I’m not sure’?” “Well, I just don’t know. It’s sort of hard to think when every bone in your body throbs.” “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Rouge stood up. “Well, before I leave, I just wanted you to know that I’ll be thinking about you.” “Yeah, this insane doctor is putting me in isolation. Which means no one’s allowed in for three weeks at least.” “Then I’ll be thinking about you for three weeks.” “I’ll be thinking about you, too.” “Every day?” “Every day.” Rouge looked away, then put her arms around him. Then she gave him a long kiss, and said, “I’ll miss you.” Shadow stepped back, and said quietly, “You too.” Rouge felt like she was about to cry, so she ran out the door and was greeted by Amy and Sonic. “He seems down.” Sonic commented. “He’s just lonely.” “I thought he wasn’t a people person.” “He isn’t...oh, never mind.” “Let’s go home.” “There isn’t exactly a ‘home’ to go to, Amy.” Amy sighed. “I know.” Rouge stood in thought for a minute, then said slowly, “I guess you guys could stay with me at my house until Knuckles is done building your new one.” “Are you sure?” “Yeah, but you’d better take the offer before I change my mind. Do we have a deal?” Sonic shook Rouge’s hand. “Deal.” “Good. Let’s go.” “Alright Amy, now you can say it.” “Okay, let’s go home.”

Heehee! Romance!

Yep, and that's not all!

[CHAPTER 29]

“Dude! You’re kidding!” “Nope.” “That’s ridiculous! What are they thinking?” “Don’t ask me.” “I’m so sorry, man. This has got to be rough.” “Isn’t it always?” “Heh, I guess that’s true. That must suck, though!” “I’m sort of hoping that this is a quick one. You never know what those guys will do to you.” “Yeah. Well, I’d better be going.” “Good idea.” “Take care.” Sonic hung up the phone and turned to Amy. “That was Shadow. He’s getting an operation done, and he’ll be unconscious for a matter of days.” “Days?!” “I know. It’s really weird, though. He seems really nervous for some reason.” “Who wouldn’t be with an operation like that?” “It’s not that kind of nervousness. He seems on edge about something.” As they talked, Rouge listened to their conversation from the other room. As soon as she heard about the operation, she felt horrified. It all makes sense! She thought to herself. If they operate on him, they’ll find evidence and kill him for sure! I’ve got to do something! But what? There’s only one of me, and I can’t trust any of those fools. What am I going to do? “Something wrong, Batgirl?” Knuckles said as he stood in the doorway. “Um...well...it’s none of your business!” Knuckles leaned against the doorframe and raised an eyebrow. “You look jumpy today.” “I said it’s none of your business!” “It’s about Shadow, isn’t it?” “I never said...” “Look, I can tell something’s up. I’m not quite sure exactly what it is, but Shadow’s afraid of something. I’m guessing it has to do with the operation, but like I said, I’m not sure. To be perfectly honest, I’ve never heard Shadow sound so edgy in my life.” Rouge turned her back on him. “Humph! What do you know? All you ever do is guard that stupid green emerald and grumble about Angel Island. Why would you even bother to care about Shadow?” “I have my reasons.” “Ha! Reasons that are too ridiculous to even be considered reasons! What could possibly make you be concerned for him?” “It’s none of your business.” “Oh really?” “Really.” “Well, I guess we’re even then.” “Unless you wanna tell me what’s going on.” “Not on your life! This is my job, and no smelly old echidna’s going to change my mind!” “Oh yeah?” “Yeah!” “Fine then. I guess you don’t need to know about Shadow’s little secret.” “What secret?” “You keep your secrets, I keep mine.” “Fine. What do you want to know?” “I’d like to know why you feel you should do something about Shadow’s operation.” “Well, I suppose I could give away some of that. Well, all I’m going to tell you is that Shadow needs help and the only one who can understand that now is me.” “Well, all I’m going to tell you is that Shadow’s been keeping a secret from you that Sonic knows.” “Do you know it too?” Rouge asked, trying to sound as if she didn’t care. Knuckles shrugged. “Maybe I do, maybe I don’t.” “You’re going to have to give away a little more information to me.” “That’ll come with a price, you know.” “Yeah, I know. What else to you want to know?” “Why is Shadow so nervous?” “That, I can’t tell you.” “You’d better.” “Make me.” “I’m not telling you anything else you want to know until you explain why he’s on edge!” “Okay, okay. You don’t have to be pushy. I’m not telling you anything other than he’s afraid of something they might find during the operation. Happy?” “Good enough, I suppose. Well, Shadow told Sonic something and he’s afraid you’ll be mad at him if he tells you.” “That’s all I need to know.” “Fair enough.” Rouge walked out the door and flew off towards the hospital. Sonic looked at Knuckles, shrugged, and ran after Rouge. Knuckles rolled his eyes and ran after Sonic.

That one was a little harder to follow, because of all the talking . . . XD But I still liked it! Now I really wanna see what Rouge is thinking.

Hehe, here's my favorite chapter!

[CHAPTER 30]

“Sorry, no one is allowed in this room. This patient is in deep isolation.” “But I need to get in there!” “I’m sorry, miss, we can’t help you. No one is allowed in our out of this room, it’s the doctor’s orders.” Discouraged, Rouge trudged out the door and met Sonic and Knuckles outside the hospital. “It’s too late.” She muttered. “What do you mean, too late?” “He’s in isolation. They won’t let anyone in.” Sonic and Knuckles exchanged a confused look. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Rouge. Why is it too late? Too late for what?” Rouge sighed, and began explaining the whole entire story. “Okay, so, Shadow has this strange stuff in his blood called ‘internal maxamona’ and it’s harmless. But a small group of scientists have been looking for this stuff, and in order to extract it from Shadow, they’d have to...well, you know. So that’s basically what Shadow’s afraid of. That these doctors will find the stuff and report it to the scientists.” Sonic’s mouth fell open. “You mean to say that if these crazy scientists find internal maximona in Shadow’s blood, they’ll kill him?” “Yes, I’m afraid so.” “We can’t let this happen!” “I know, but what do we do?” “We need a plan.” “I was afraid you’d say that.” Knuckles groaned. “Listen up, I’ve got an idea.”

“This is ridiculous!” Rouge hissed through a nurse gown, respirator, and gloves. “Yes, but it might work.” Said Sonic, dressed as a surgeon. They slowly made their way towards the door. They were afraid someone would stop them, but they made a quite easy entrance. As soon as they were inside, they took off their disguises, and locked the door. Turning around, they saw Shadow lying on the floor, barely breathing. Blood was running down his chest, arms, legs, and face. “What happened?!” Rouge exclaimed, horrified. “They...tried to...k-kill...me...” “Alright, let’s get you out of here. Oh my goodness, you’re covered in blood. Can you walk?” “I...d-don’t think so...” “Okay, Sonic, give me a hand.” Rouge pulled Shadow to his feet, and she and Sonic carried him over to the bed, where they propped him up. “Okay Shadow, can you still use Chaos Control? Here’s a Chaos Emerald.” “I-I’ll try...” He took the Chaos Emerald, and with the last energy he had, shouted, “Chaos Control!”

While Shadow is in a state of unconsciousness, he hallucinates images of a familiar friend... “Shadow, give them a chance...to be happy!” “No, wait!!” “Sayonara, Shadow the hedgehog...”

“Shadow? Shadow? Wake up.” Amy said gently. Shadow moaned and opened his eyes. “W-where am I?” “No, lay down. You need to rest.” Shadow grunted, and reluctantly sat back again. “How are you feeling?” “Annoyed.” “You didn’t sleep very sound. You kept waking up. Nightmares, I’m guessing.” “What happened to Rouge and Sonic?” “They’re fine. Though they’re both very worried about you. They said you passed out after you transported them back here.” “Good.” Amy laughed. “What?” “Nothing. It’s just that you’re so selfless.” Then Rouge came in, and said, “Can we have a minute?” Amy nodded and left the room. Rouge wiped a tear from her eye, and whispered, “I was so worried about you!” Then she stepped back, and said, “I’m just so happy you’re home again.” Shadow nodded. Then, Sonic and Tails walked in and grinned at him. “Hey, dude. You look like a mummy! You’re covered from head to foot in bandages.” Only then did Shadow notice that he was indeed wrapped in bandages. Rouge leaned over to him and said, “Don’t listen to him. You still look handsome.” “Handsome is one word for him.” Knuckles grumbled as he entered the room. “Can you walk yet?” Amy turned angrily on him. “Don’t push it, Knuckles!” “Just a simple question!” Now determined, Shadow sat up, and immediately felt dizzy. But he pushed himself to his feet and slowly took a shaky step forward. “Oh yeah, before I forget,” Rouge turned to him and asked, “What was that little secret you were keeping from me?” Shadow looked at her with an adoring gaze, and murmured, “I think I’m in love.”
Rouge was lost for words, so she threw her arms around him and pressed a long, loving kiss on his lips. Sonic covered Tails’ eyes, and Amy cooed, “Aww, that’s so sweet!” Then, Rouge whispered in Shadow’s ear, “I love you.”
And Shadow echoed back, “I love you, too.”

:33 Oh my gosh. I have to agree with you about this being a favorite chapter, lol.