Chapter 1- The Love Birds Have Flown the Coop

It was a rather warm, sunny day in Sonic's town. To celebrate their summer vacation, they decided to have a huge cookout/pool party at Sonic's place. They were all lounging around lazily, waiting for his dad to come back with the hamburgers and hotdogs, when Manic got the devious idea of throwing his brother Sonic in the pool when he wasn't paying any attention. He snuck over to Shadow and elbowed him in the arm "Psst Shadow, you thinking what I'm thinking?" he whispered. A evil grin crept onto Shadow's face "No, but I have an even better idea…" he said mischievously, pulling out an Artic Blast SuperSoaker that was filled to the brim with icy cold water. "Oh dude, you are the definition of awesomeness!!" Manic exclaimed. Shadow just grinned and snuck off to find his unsuspecting cousin. When they finally found him, he was with his girlfriend Sally under the big oak tree "Well Manic, it looks like I get a bonus target." Shadow chuckled, aiming right at Sonic's back. But instead of getting to enjoy his cousin's high-pitched squeals of terror, he let out a yelp of surprise as a stream of ice flowed down his own back. He jerked around to see who had sneak attacked him, only to find his girlfriend Amy standing behind him with the other SuperSoaker. "That's revenge for tossing me in the pool last Saturday!" she giggled with glee at the ridiculous look on her boyfriend's face. His expression changed from terrified to smug as he realized he could get back at her as soon as her back was turned, which didn't take long because her sister Rosie had called her to watch her go down the Slip'n'Slide into the deep end of the pool. The second she wasn't looking at him, Shadow jumped up and blasted her with the freezing water. She shrieked and swung around to search for her boyfriend, but he had already escaped "Oh it is SO ON, Shadow the Hedgehog!!" she exclaimed as she ran off in search of the water-gun wielding hedgehog.

Meanwhile, Shadow and Manic had dashed to the safety of the shed "Whew, she'll never find us in here…I hope." Manic gulped nervously. "Ah, don't worry about her, I'm more worried about JayJ and CJ getting us with some kind of prank." Shadow assured him. As if on cue, the 2 younger boys, who had been hiding in the rafters of the shed, tipped over a 5 gallon bucket of cold water onto the already drenched boys below. Their eyes darted upward as the 2 mischievous boys nearly fell off the rafter laughing at their older brothers. Suddenly there was a knock on the door "Hey you 4 better get out here or you'll miss the food!" Shadow's friend Ally said through the door. Being given the offer of food sent them flying out the door towards the grill on the huge deck. Everybody ate at least 3 hot dog s or 2 burgers before they got a little drowsy from all the playing and eating. They all stretched out on the front lawn and gazed up at the treetops and the clouds rolling by. It didn't take long for everybody, except Shadow and Amy, to doze off in the cool, shady grass. As soon as they were sure that everybody was snoozing soundly, they crept off to the edge of the block and turned to each other "OK remember, you go and get ready and I'll be over as soon as I get done and then we'll go to the park, got it?" Shadow reminded her. She nodded "OK. But try not to take forever to get dressed this time, OK Shaddie?" she teased. He rolled his eyes playfully "Actually, it'll take an hour to shower, 45 minutes to get dressed, 15 minutes to put my shoes on, umm… let's see what else do I need to do?" he joked, knowing it would make her giggle. "Seriously, do not take that long. Jordin and Chris agreed to cover for us from 6:00 til 11:00 ." she reminded him. "Oh yeah! Remind me to thank them for that." he said giving Amy a peck on the cheek before dashing off to his place. Although they had been dating for 3 months, Shadow had never kissed Amy, and it surprised both of them when he did. "Well, THAT came outta nowhere!" they both thought as they each walked up their driveways.

Back at Sonic's place, everybody was just awakening from their afternoon naps, when Rosie noticed that her sister and "Shaddie" were gone "CJ! Where's your brother and my sister?" she asked, looking at her boyfriend. He rubbed his eyes and grinned "I think the love birds have chickened out on us and flown the coop!" he laughed hysterically at his corny joke. Rosie rolled her eyes and ran over to Amy's friend Misty "Hey Misty, have you seen Sissy or Shaddie anywhere?" she asked, beginning to get worried about the 2 of them "No. But it's getting awful dark, I'm sure they'll show up." she assured Rosie, hoping that she was right.

Meanwhile, Amy was busy getting ready for her date with Shadow "It's about time we got to do something together, most of the time he's too caught up in those missions G.U.N sends him on all the time. Or he's nowhere to be found…"Amy thought as she put on her leather biker hat and zipped up her boots. She was just about to call Shadow to see if he was ready when she heard his motorcycle's engine rev up. "Showoff!" she yelled out the door when she saw the cocky smirk on his face. He was dressed in his usual black jeans, tee-shirt, and his rocket shoes. "Don't ya think you're gonna get hot in all that black?" Amy asked as she hopped onto the back of his bike. "Ames, I'm already so hot, I make the sun look cold!" he joked. "Uh-huh. Just drive to the park, goofy." she teased, wrapping her arms around him so she wouldn't fall off when he gunned the engine and sped off. They practically flew down the highway, unaware that they were being followed…

In the bushes, a mysterious figure stood watching the couple zip down the road "Ha! I finally found you, you little traitor! No one can stop me from getting my revenge now!" he cackled evilly, running after Shadow and Amy. Little did he know, he was also being followed by his younger brother "Not if I can help it!" he thought, angrily running after him.

- - - - At the park - - - -

Shadow and Amy walked hand-in-hand down the path to a small cliff overlooking the ocean. They sat under a pink weeping willow on a small rock just big enough for the 2 of them. "Wow Shadow! This is the most romantic place I've ever seen!" Amy gasped as she gazed out to sea. "Yeah… I used to come out here a lot before I started dating you, just to get away from everything. 'Cause you know back then I had a really short temper and I was NOT about to sit in Egghead's base and listen to him rant about those ridiculous plans for world domination without getting extremely annoyed by his pitiful attempts at conquering the planet." Shadow told her, thinking about his gloomy, dismal life before he met her. She looked at him with her emerald green eyes and smiled "Y'know, after we accidentally met, I always wondered where you were every time I saw Rouge or Eggman for some reason. I guess I had a crush on you and just didn't know it!" she giggled, laying her head on his shoulder. "Hmm… that's strange. I wondered the same thing about you whenever I saw the faker or anyone else on the team." he realized in amazement. "Strange how love works like that, huh?" a voice from behind them said. "Wh…who's there?" Amy whimpered, whirling around to search for the source of the voice. "Aww c'mon Ames! Don't tell me you don't remember me…" the low, growly voice said as a heavy black boot hit Shadow's head, knocking him off the rock as the figure emerged from the trees. Amy gasped in horror as she realized who the voice belonged to… it was her ex-boyfriend Blake "Blade" the Hedgehog. "Hhh…how did you get here!?" she shrieked as the crimson hedgehog leaned nonchalantly against the tree. "Oh… it wasn't that hard. I just followed you and Rosie out of western Mobotropolis when Alex tried to sneak you out of the city while I was busy. It didn't take long to find you, I just had to wait 'til the right moment to make my presence known." he chuckled deviously. "Well pal… ya picked the wrong day to mess with me!" Shadow growled as he charged towards his new rival. Luckily for him, Blade wasn't paying attention when he attacked, so he was caught off guard. Blade shook off the attack and was soon charging towards Shadow with his infamous ninja blade drawn. Terrified of what he might do to Shadow, knowing he would do anything possible to get his way, Amy pulled out her hammer and hit him squarely between the eyes. He jumped back slightly before stumbling into thee tree trunk "I see stars…" he mumbled before falling unconscious onto the ground. Amy pulled out her cell phone and dialed Misty's number "Misty! We need your help! Shadow and I were out in the park and my ex-boyfriend showed up and… no I'm OK, but Shadow needs some medical attention. I think he got cut pretty bad and I know hit got hit in the head kinda hard. Yes, we're still in the same place. Damnit, my ex is still laying here! Call the cops and the ambulance so there's no more excitement tonight. OK, bye." she said before she hung up. Amy quickly ran over to Shadow "Shadddie, baby are you OK?!" she asked as she helped him to his feet. "Ugh… yeah. I think he got me pretty bad in the leg with his knife. Ooooh I hope that ambulance gets here quick, I can't take this too much longer." Shadow groaned as he struggled to stand up straight. Suddenly, Rosie and CJ appeared out of a red light "How did you 2 get here?" Amy asked when she noticed them in front of her. "I Chaos Controlled the whole team out here when Misty told us you 2 were in trouble." CJ announced proudly. Out of nowhere, Blade's little brother Alex came bursting through the trees panting and gasping for air. "Amy… are you… OK? He didn't hurt you… did he?" he choked, still trying to catch his breath. "No. I'm fine. What are you doing here though?" she asked curiously. "I'll explain that later. Let's get your friend to the hospital." Alex said as he helped the other 3 carry Shadow down the path to the ambulance.