A/N: This is Koko-Bandiku with the first chapter of Live, Bet, Love. It is an honorto be coming out with my first Sonic the Hedgehog fan fiction, which is a collaboration with Xada91. So with that, read, laugh (or pretend to laugh),and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original characters from Sega. If I did, Iprobably would be here. ;)
A note from the Xada:
This story was not written by me, it merely takes place within the Living Pains universe. As such, it is LP cannon but belongs to Koko-Bandiku. The only thing I contributed was a few minor edits.
Disclaimer 2: Xada91 does not own Sonic the Hedgehog, its characters, Sega, or 4Kids! Entertainment.
Living Pains: Live, Bet, Love
Chapter 1: Bet
As if she didn't have anything better to do, the pink hedgehog was lying on top of her messy pink-lush comforter, which exposed another set of pink sheets as she attempted to dial her beloved, for the thirty-third time that day. "Sonic..." Amy whined lightly. " Pick up!" She slammed her pink wireless phone down, and stared at her wall. Which matched the rest of the room in pinkness. What made that wall special was a large, framed photo of Sonic smiling brightly, giving his famous thumbs up in Amy's presence. She sighed heavily, but pressed the redial once again, her determination unfazed. This try will do it! She waited patiently for the other line to pick up. " C'mon, C'mon..." She whispered in anticipation...
" Hello?" Sonic's triumphant voice rang through the other end. Amy sighed in relief.
" Oh, Sonic! You don't know how long I've been trying to reach you!" Amy cried happily. She twirled a finger along one of her long quills. "I wanted to tell you that-" She was cut off by the blue hedgehog's laughter.
"Gotcha! Please feel free to leave a message after the-" Beep. Amy threw her phone furiously on the floor and collapsed on to her mattress.
"Are you KIDDING me?" She shrieked to the ceiling, which also proudly displayed a photograph of her proclaimed boyfriend. It was obvious to herthat he was, but his seemingly harmless voice message momentarilyfrustrated the pink hedgehog. However, within a few moments she was sittingup right again, and had the somehow undamaged phone placed firmly inher hands ready to try again. She eyed the redial button and gave a sigh of determination before pressing it. With that she waited. And waited... "Sonikku..." Amy said tapping her fingers on her nightstand, her back facingher open door. Sonic's recorded voice played on the phone, and Amy rolled hereyes. "I guess I'll just leave a message." She brushed any doubts, and smiledso brightly that it could probably be seen on the other end of the phone. "Good afternoon my darling Sonic, I tried calling you before, but I just wanted to tell you that-" Instantly, her phone was snatched from her reach. "Hey! Give that back!" Black-furred arms held the phone high above her head.
" No." The owner of the arms said coldly. Shadow the Hedgehog sighed as Amy continued to fight him for the phone. Swiftly, he tossed it out of the room, hitting the wooden floor. He then stood in front of the doorway, blocking all access to it. "Don't you have anything better to do on your day off?" He asked his roommate. Amy huffed, and collapsed once more on her mattress.
"Hmm..." She thought about it lazily. She didn't have to go to work today at Pinkness, Inc., and there was nothing she really wanted to do, but pursue Sonic. "No, I guess not." Shadow looked down at the obsessive hedgehog shaking his head slightly inirritation.
"Either way, that doesn't mean you should waste all of your time," Shadowstopped briefly and eyed Amy's alarm clock, which displayed 12:30pm, "on that faker." The last word caused Amy to throw a pink pillow at him, which he dodged easily.
"Shadow, don't call him that! If you do that again, I'll have to kick you outof my apartment." Shadow eyed Amy.
"Our apartment. I pay rent as well." Shadow started, "Which is why I'm heading out to Club Rouge." It was true, Shadow and Rouge the Bat were the owners. He stopped in during the day to make sure that everyone, specifically a certain bartending cat named Tim, were doing their jobs. He stepped out of the room to get his keys from the kitchen table, and picked up Amy's phone. He took it up to her, but then withdrew it back, second guessing his decision. "Go do something. If you must, you can come with me." Amy shook her head.
"No, I'll relax, I promise. Just give me back my phone." Shadow sighed, but gave it to her regardless. Despite the kindness the pink hedgehog had shown him over the past few months, Shadow was never one to take care of other's problems. He had enough of his own. With that, Shadow said his goodbye and retreated out of the apartment and down the stairs leading outside. Still, he wasn't convinced that Amy was letting go of the faker. But what did he care? He had work to do. Shadow adjusted his green scarf above his coat as he was exposed to the cold January air. His shoes mashed along the snowy pavement as he was trying to reach his black vehicle, parked inconveniently farther than he had expected. He looked up as he finally approached it, but soon became enraged. There was Sonic, writing on his windshield. As if on command, Sonic then capped the blue marker, and turned to unexpectedly face Shadow.
"Hey buddy!" Sonic said attempting to pat Shadow's shoulder, as if to lessen his previous actions. "What's up?" Sonic stuffed the marker into his coatpocket. Shadow was momentarily silent.
"FAKER. What the hell did you do to my car?" Shadow was ready to pounce on him.
"Oh," Sonic said turning around to look at the numbers displayed on thewindshield. "Tell Ames I got a new cellphone number. If she tried calling myold one, it would go straight to my voice mail. Don't know why..." Shadow glared at Sonic ready to kill. All of that trouble, for nothing.
"So why the hell did you write it on my car?" Sonic's reasoning would be thedeath in the blue hedgehog. "She's upstairs, in the apartment. Whycouldn't you have just given it to her?" Sonic let out an exaggerated laugh.
"Dude, you're kiddin' me right?" Sonic looked at him as though expecting the punch line. Shadow fought the urge to literally oblige him. "I guess not...Anyways, if I went up there, Amy would never let me go! She'd beg for a date, beg for me to goshopping with her, beg for me to get married to her, and beg me to let her have mychildren. I love her, but she's nuts man!"
"Hedgehog." Shadow began in a low growl. He then shook his head. How the hell did he get into this conversation? "Has it occurred to you that the only reason she actsthis way, is because you neglect her?" Sonic scratched his quills and thought about it briefly.
"No." He said finally, "But it doesn't matter, she's way too unstable to actually see if that's why she acts that way. Either way, I'm not ready for a commitment. I'm fast, I'm my own person, and I don't want her to get hurt."
"Get hurt?" Shadow repeated. "Listen. That girl has been in her roomcalling you for the past few hours!" She was probably on her what? Seventy-fifth attempt? The ebony hedgehog thought in irritation. "Maybe if you didn't lead her on, or just went out with her once, she could be her own person, and leave you, and most importantly me, the hell alone."
"Yeah but-" Sonic stopped himself. "Wait. Since when does Amy bother you?"Shadow slapped his forehead.
"For the love of God Sonic, I live with her." Shadow started. "I have to see your face every day, even when you aren't there. I've only been living with her for a few months now and I don't know how much longer I can tolerate her obsession."
"Then why don't you go out with her?" Sonic pointed at him childishly. "Maybe your angst will balance out her crazy."
"What the-? No, are you kidding me?" Shadow felt the urge to punch him once more. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"I have no idea. But I'm on to something." Suddenly Sonic smiled widely. Shadow's eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"What?" Shadow said irked off by Sonic's malicious grin. "Let's make a bet." Shadow raised a brow. "If you go can go out with Amy for one month without breaking up, no matter who does the breaking, I'll take her out on a date."
"What?" Shadow was slightly shocked at his rival's proposition.
"You know what I mean. If you can go out with her for a month, no matter how much you don't want to, she will stop obsessing so much over me, stop bothering you, thus proving that she is not crazy, and in the end, she will still pick me over you."
"And you are really sure that that is going to work?" Shadow asked in an annoyed manner.
"Sure. It's a win-win. You're angst will be cured; she'll stop obsessing over me, and she'll no longer be crazy. Would I lie to you?" Sonic said, flashing the same expression of Amy's poster: pearly white smile, legendary thumbs up...
Outwardly, Shadow looked disgusted, and as always, intimidating, but Sonic'swords were beginning to sink in. Maybe he was right. If only slightly. Shadow genuinely liked Amy, she helped him out when he needed it, and he wanted to do what was best, even if it was sort of stupid. However, the way things were going now, Shadow had no plan to combat it. This could be his only option. But that didn't answer all of the questions soaring through the black hedgehog's mind. "First off, I do not have angst you moron." Shadow said. "Secondly, what do I get if you lose, and what do you get if you win?"
"Well..." Sonic frowned in thought. "I don't know. It will be something. But we'll leave that for later." Sonic looked at Shadow. "But do we have a deal?" Sonic held his hand out for a handshake. Shadow eyed it steadily, before giving in. "Well faker, you got a bet." "Alright!" Sonic jumped. "This is going to be interesting...Well see yah!"With that Sonic began to walk off, preparing to run.
"Wait a second... Clean this mess up you idiot." Shadow said grabbing him by the coat and pointing to his vandalized vehicle.
"Really Shad? Would it kill ya to cut a guy some slack?"