Love Chao are Never Wrong

Shadow was walking down a quiet dirt path in the Station Square city park. The dark hedgehog was thinking about moving out of Rouge's mansion. Sure it was a nice place to live, but all she ever talked about anymore was stealing jewels and her new boyfriend Knuckles. 'I can't take any more of their love talk. It only reminds me of…her.' He thought. Then he shook his head.

"To hell with thinking." He said to himself. "I need to start living." Shadow stopped walking and looked around for something interesting to do. Then he felt a huge gush of wind lift his quills as a blue flash rushed past him from behind. He blinked a few times and then said: "That must be Faker. He never runs from anyone, unless it's…" his verbal thinking was interrupted by a loud shout.

"Sonic!" a pink hedgehog yelled as she ran towards the unsuspecting dark hedgehog. "Sonic? Where are you? Wait up!" she continued. Then she saw Shadow's outline and without a second thought, she started sprinting for him with her arms outstretched, ready to pounce.

"Sonic!" she squealed happily as she got closer.

"Huh?" Shadow mumbled as he turned to face Amy.

"Shadow?" she asked, forgetting that she was still running at full speed straight for him.

"Amy!" he shouted, putting his hands up defensively. Then she realized that she had still been running but she had too much momentum to stop.

"AAAAHHHHHHH!" she screamed as she barreled into Shadow's chest, knocking them both over. They both rolled down a small hill and landed in a pile of autumn leaves. Amy's eyes had been shut tightly the whole time and when she finally opened them, she couldn't stop staring. Shadow was on top of her, his muscled arms on either side of her body holding up his well developed torso and the leaves they had just crashed into were falling gracefully to the earth they lay on. She blushed a little at the position they were in and then looked up at Shadow's face. When she realized that he had been watching her eyes the whole time her face grew an ever deeper shade of red. His expression was confused for a second and then he smirked seductively.

"Must we go through this every week Amy?" he asked. Every week, Amy mistakes Shadow for Sonic at least once and they end up falling to the ground together. Shadow secretly enjoyed it but he didn't want Amy to know.

"Heh heh heh, sorry Shadow." Amy apologized as she looked up into his fiery scarlet eyes.

Shadow just shrugged. "It's okay Amy. It stopped bothering me after the 56th time." Then he leaned his body closer which made Amy's heart rate increase. Right as they were nose to nose, Shadow's arm muscles contracted with the speed of a cobra and when Amy blinked, he was looking down at her. "Need some help?" he asked courteously.

"Yes please." she responded as she reached for his arm. He grabbed her outstretched hand and pulled her up very quickly. So quickly that she flew into the air above his head. Amy held her skirt and yelped in terror as she started falling through the air. She squeezed her eyelids shut and prayed that she wouldn't slam into the ground. Right as she was about to hit the dust, Shadow caught her in his arms and watched her with amusement. When she opened her eyes and saw that he was entertained, she tried to reach over and smack his face. When Shadow saw her futile attempts, he chuckled and set her down, firmly locking her wrists in one hand.

"Are you done?" he asked.

"Whatever." Amy pouted. Shadow released her and she turned away from him, raised her nose into the air with her eyes closed, and 'hmphed' at the sky. Then an idea struck Amy.

"Hey Shadow?" she asked, turning back to him.

"Yes Amy?" he replied.

"I know you're Sonic's rival but you know what he likes right?" she asked hesitantly.

Shadow frowned. "I suppose." He answered.

"Do you think you could help me to become his girlfriend?"

"If I do, will you stop running me over every few days?" he asked.

"Of course!" she exclaimed, looking frantic. Shadow sighed.

"Alright then Amy."

She ran up and hugged him around his neck. "Oh thank you Shadow!" she squealed in delight.

'Damnit! I definitely never wanted to help Amy and Sonic fall in love.' the dark hedgehog thought to himself. 'Why am I doing this again?' He looked over to Amy's joyous face and heard her bubbling laughter. 'Oh yeah, that's why.'Amy had dragged Shadow to a part of the park with many close trees. Then she pulled out a pink whistle with red hearts on it.

"What is that?" Shadow asked.

"Oh this? It's a whistle I use to call my pet chao to me." Amy replied perkily.

"Hmm." He answered as he closed his eyes and crossed his arms. He heard Amy draw in a deep breath and then he heard a high pitched noise that would have been silent to most ears. But of course Shadow could hear it clearly. He opened his eyes just in time to see a pink chao with white wings, red eyes, and a red heart above its head flying towards them."Shadow, this is my chao Penelope." She introduced. He looked at the adorable little chao and snorted.

"And what is the point of bringing her here?" he asked rudely.

Amy replied: "Penelope here is a love chao. She's gonna read my heart and then go catch Sonic for me!"

"Why didn't you just do that in the first place?" Shadow asked curiously.

"Because I didn't want to come off as desperate. It's very unattractive." She replied matter-of-factly. Shadow arched his eyebrow and replied:

"And stalking him on a daily basis is normal~?"

"Oh shut up!" she grumbled. "Now let's get this over with so I can spend the day with Sonic." She continued dreamily.

"Hmph, whatever." He said and went to sit under an apple tree, closing his eyes and just relaxing. Amy smiled at his cooperation and turned to her chao. "Now Penelope, I need you to look deep within my heart and bring my true love to me, okay?"

"Chao chao!" Penelope cheered.

"Good, now do your stuff so that Sonic will be mine!" Amy exclaimed.

Penelope's eyes started to glow as her eyes became fixed on Amy's. After a few minutes of silence, Penelope's eyes dimmed down again and she beamed with happiness. Then the chao turned away from Amy and rushed over to Shadow under the tree. Amy's eyes widened in shock and she blushed lightly. Penelope grabbed Shadow's leg and his eyes shot open. She started to drag him towards Amy as he was clinging to the tree and mumbling profanities under his breath.

"Damnit Amy!" he growled "Is this thing's powers defective or does it think I'm Sonic too?" Then Penelope gave a sudden powerful tug and Shadow gasped as his hands flew from around the tree and his face fell into the dirt. As the young chao dragged Shadow along the ground, he clawed the dirt and tried to pull himself away. But this chao was strong! Surrendering, Shadow crossed his arms and growled while he allowed himself to be pulled over to Amy. When Penelope released him, he got to his feet and brushed the dirt from his body.

"Why did she attack me?" he asked.

"I don't know." Amy said shyly. She actually did know why. She was in love with Shadow. Amy never knew it and she certainly never expected it but if there was one thing she knew, it was that love chao were never wrong about true love.

"Well maybe it's not working for some reason. Let me try it out." He requested. Amy looked at him with a dumbfounded expression.

"Shadow; you're in love with someone?"

"Maria." He said, "while she was here anyway, but I still feel her spirit with me." He lied. Yes, he did feel Maria's presence at times but he already knew that he was in love with Amy. Her bright smile, glowing jade eyes, silky pink hair, cheerful personality, and self assurance had Shadow head over heels. But he didn't want her to know, at least not until he knew that she loved him too.

"Alright then Shadow, I guess you should just tell Penelope to project an image of the person you love instead." Amy said. Shadow nodded and then turned to face Penelope. They stared down each other for a few minutes while Penelope's glowing eyes roamed through Shadow's heart. When the process was done, Penelope was twice as excited as before. Her eyes glowed once more and they shone a bright image onto the dark bark of the apple tree Shadow had been under just a short while ago. Amy gasped. It was a picture of her in one of her beautiful summer dresses. Flower petals danced in the wind around her body and her hair flew with them. She was frolicking and laughing while her bright green eyes shimmered like emeralds. It was silent for a few minutes and then Amy turned to Shadow. She was about to speak but the words got stuck in her throat when she saw Shadow with a small genuine smile in his face as he watched her.

"Shadow." Amy breathed. He smiled even bigger and took two huge strides to Amy and closed the distance between them, hugging her close.

"It works Amy." He whispered. "I've always loved you and now I know that you love me too." Amy smiled as happy tears rolled down her cheeks. She squeezed him tightly and said:

"Oh Shadow! I never thought I would be in love with you! But I feel so happy and safe and confident with you. And I'm glad that we can make each other happy."

Shadow squeezed her one more time then released her but kept a firm hold on her hand and led her to the tree. He sat down and leaned against the trunk while Amy sat in his lap. Penelope "chao"-ed once happily and then poofed away to give them some privacy.

"Amy." Shadow began.

"Yes Shadow?" Amy asked, smiling at him.

"I never thought that I would get a chance at any form of love after I lost Maria. I was angry and committed many wrongs, so I know that I probably don't deserve to be this happy, but…"

"Stop." Amy cut him off.

"Huh?" Shadow questioned.

Amy leaned her side against his chest, resting her head on the white fur that lay there. "You deserve to be happy just as much as anyone else here on Earth. Probably even more than most deserve to. You risked your own life to protect everyone even though they had treated you with coldness and hatred 50 years ago. Yeah, you've made some bad mistakes, but even then, they weren't for you. They were for Maria. And you regret those mistakes; you're sorry for them. That's what makes you deserve happiness Shadow. You really care about others even if they can't always tell. You are still fighting evil and you don't expect an ounce of thanks or credit or glory like Sonic does. He's a great person but he isn't as selfless as you truly are. And I hope you don't think that you aren't worthy of me because you are everything I admire and so much more! So please don't think for one second that you don't deserve anything good that comes to you because if you didn't deserve it, then you wouldn't have it." She smiled and cupped his chin with her right hand. Then she leaned in and sweetly kissed his lips as Shadow closed his eyes and leaned in as well. After ten seconds, they leaned back and looked into each other's eyes.

"Am I a good kisser?" Shadow teased. Amy giggled and then looked back at him alluringly.

"I suppose, but I'm better." Shadow then looked at her lips hungrily and tackled her backwards to the ground. They both laughed as they remembered this happening earlier that morning. "Can we do this every week please?" Amy asked, smiling up at her love. Shadow dipped his body close to hers and whispered into her ear: How about every day." Then he leaned into her and kissed her passionately. And for the rest of the day, two of the happiest, lovesick hedgehogs could be seen together—cuddling in Station Square city park.

The End