Chapter 1

It was mid-afternoon in Central City, where no one could be seen except for Shadow the Hedgehog.

Actually, that's a lie. There were a shit-ton of people who could be seen, given that it was, you know, Central City.

But, in line with his tendencies, Shadow the ultra-angsty Hedgehog was sitting alone by himself on a secluded park-bench, wet with dreary dark wood from the recent dreary rain and hidden behind a wall of dreary dark green trees that were dripping with yet more dreary raindrops.

The dreary leaves of the trees formed a sort of dreary roof, and dreary rain trickled down until it splashed on Shadow's dreary fur, causing his dreary eyes to briefly glance up before drearily shifting downwards again to gaze at the dreary ground scattered with dreary leaves and dreary broken twigs.

It so happened that at this very moment, a girl named Amy Rose, who was probably the exact opposite of dreary, was walking home after buying some flowers from the store when, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a blue object which seemed to blend in with its surroundings.

In an instant, with her superior eyesight, she realized who this was, and ecstatically rushed over to greet her one true love.

"SONIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC! I missed you so much!" she cried, jumping into his arms and immediately attempting to smother him with kisses.

"OW! What the fuck?" yelled "Sonic", who had just been tackled and now had a bruise from hitting his head hard on the ground.

"Wha-?" Amy said, looking confused, because the voice coming from this blue mass did not match the one that usually came from her boyfriend.

After a few seconds, however, she came to a stunning realization.

"OHHHHHHH! You're not Sonic at all!"

"How the fuck did you think I was? We look absolutely nothing alike!"

"Sorryyyyyyyyyy Shadow! Anyway how's your day? "

Shadow groaned and looked at the ground. She had been making this exact same mistake since the SA2 days.

How the fuck, he thought, do you confuse the color black for the color blue?

You'd have to be a fucking idiot. Or Amy Rose. Or both.

"Fine. What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for my darling Sonic and I thought he was here! I haven't seen him in so long! By the way do you know where he is Shadow?"

"No."

"Awwwwwwwwww! I asked around the city and no one knows! You sure you haven't seen him?"

"How the fuck should I know?"

"You should! You're his best friend! By the way you should really stop swearing Shadow, it's not nice!"

"Fuck off."

Amy pouted. She stood there for a few seconds, waiting to see if Shadow would try to console her or offer advice. In typical fashion, he did neither.

"Come on Shadow! Will you help me look for him? Pleeeeeeeeeease?"

Shadow thought for a second.

There was something he wanted, but he knew he probably couldn't get it himself even if he asked. It was too risky.

There was a storeroom in the back of Rouge's club, which he knew contained a trove of jewels she had stolen on her recent "treasure hunting" missions.

One of those, he knew, had chaos powers.

If he could get his hands on it, he would be able to get through the Underground Vault and defeat the ChDegon, the last barrier impeding his access to the room where he could find the truth about his origins.

And Amy seemed pretty desperate, and he knew that she had the key. He decided it was worth it.

"Alright. I'll do –

"YAYYYYYYYYYY!"

…. – it. But you have to give me something in return."

"Wha-?" Amy looked confused again.

"I want you to give me the key to Club Rouge."

Silence. Amy said nothing for a few seconds, just standing there with a puzzled expression on her face. Eventually, however, something seemed to click, and she burst out laughing.

"Hahahahaha! Shadow has a crush on Rouuuuuuge!"

Shadow's ears turned bright red.

"NO!"

Amy laughed hysterically, while Shadow seethed in anger. After a while, though, the rose girl calmed down and stopped laughing, though she still smiled from ear to ear.

"Alright, Shad, I'll help you make Rouge your girlfriend –

Shadow glared at Amy.

- and you help me get my darling Sonic back! This'll be so much fun!"

Then she hugged Shadow as tight as she could, and ran off into who knows what direction, looking for signs of a fast-running blue hedgehog.

She turned back briefly, waving to Shadow.

"Come on Shad! Let's go!"

Shadow just stood there stunned. It was the first time a girl besides Maria had hugged him.