Little ShaDows

Chapter Two (In which the greatest danger of being three inches tall is painfully realized)

Where in the world was he? Shadow had warped out of his apartment an hour ago, intending to go to Rouge's place, only to find himself lost in a neighborhood utterly unfamiliar to him. And to make matters worse, his Chaos powers had decided to stop working. Now he was stuck wandering down a seemingly endless road, his bare feet bruising from the roughness of the ground. Unfortunately, his shoes hadn't been shrunk along with him.

'This is ridiculous!' he growled inwardly. 'How in hell is this supposed to answer my wish?'

In his anger he kicked at a small stone, which instead of flying off, proceeded to remain in its spot and deliver a fierce blow to Shadow's big toe. He went rigid, biting down hard on his bottom lip to hold back the cry threatening to break forth from his mouth. Tears of agony prickled the corner of his eyes.

'If you are listening to me, star, know this-I will never forgive you!'

To his surprise, the star then spoke, her light voice carried on a breeze. "Look to your left..."

'Why?' he demanded but turned his head anyway. Not too far from him stood a little yellow house, disgustingly cheery and obviously belonging to a female as no self-respecting male would dare plant bright pink flowers in front of his home. The place didn't look familiar.

'Okay...it's a house.'

The star giggled and Shadow's ear twitched irritably at the sound. "Silly, read the sign."

Though annoyed at the nickname he was given, Shadow did as the star told him. His expression brightened somewhat when he saw the name painted on the the wooden sign. This was Amy Rose's house.

"This is all the help I can give to you. You have to do the rest on your own, Shadow."

'Help? If you want to help me you can start by making me normal.'

The star didn't respond. Shadow glared at the sky.

'Some friend you are. First getting me into this predicament and then telling me I have to find my own way out of it. Well, that's fine by me. I'm better off on my own...'

His gaze trailed back to Amy's house. She would probably be more trouble than help, but what other options did he have? He started forward, limping ever so slightly...

ooOOoo

Hammer polished and dressed to kill, Amy was more than ready for another day of chasing her elusive blue "boyfriend".

"Today I'll get Sonic to go on a date with me for sure!" she proclaimed, clenching her fist in the air. "When he sees me in all my feminine charm, he'll no longer be able to resist the attraction! Then he'll confess his undying love and we'll get married and buy a big house for all the little Sonics to run around in. Eeee!"

She squealed in delight, bouncing up and down excitedly. This was it. Her dreams were going to come true today.

"Onwards to true love!" she shouted and rushed for the front door to her house.

Sonic was going to be hers. She was going to get her first kiss. They were going to marry in a beautiful outdoor ceremony with cherry blossom petals raining down on them as they exchanged vows. And what would they name the boys? Dash sounded pretty good. Flash, too. Ooh, if she had twins she could make their names rhyme!

'Sonic, here I co-'

"Yeee!"

Amy had taken two steps out of her door when she heard a shriek and felt her foot come smashing down on top of something. Horrified, she immediately pulled her foot back, revealing a strange sort of black creature. It lay motionless.

"Omigosh, omigosh..." she muttered, cupping her hands over her mouth. Slowly she knelt down to examine the poor creature. A closer inspection revealed it to have red stripes and a white patch on its chest, which reminded her of...

Her eyes grew wide in disbelief. "Shadow?"

He moaned. Her heart skipped a beat.

He was alive!