Chapter two
To help a merhog
"Hay!"Shadow said walking into the restaurant,followed by a somewhat large crowd or people.
"Hello Shadow,hello to you too Mephiles."Amy said walking over to them,"Alright,I don't have enough seats for everyone,so most of you have to wait!"Amy said to the people waiting outside.
"Thanks Amies."Shadow sighed as most the crowd left in disappointment.
"No problem."Amy said smiling and let both Shadow and Mephiles sit down at a table,"Why were they following you?"she asked as they ordered.
"We told them we saved the merhog."Mephiles responded which made Amy tense up.
"Really? What was it like? The merhog I mean."She said,already knowing the answers. Mephiles let Shadow tell the story,which Amy listened to,"That's amazing!"she lied,she knew of the dangers Sonic went through on a daily basis.
"Amy?"Tails said,"Can you come out back for a moment?"he asked urgently.
Amy nodded and followed Tails,"Sonic!"Amy said as the merhog was about to leave.
"What?"He asked,turning back to face Amy and Tails,a bit annoyed.
"You'll reopen your wounds if you leave,"Amy said sternly,"Get back here."Sonic sighed and went back to Amy.
"I can take care of myself."He said once he reached them.
"We know,but we don't want to risk losing you,or having your wounds reopen."Tails said frowning.
"Fine,but only for a week,"Sonic said,keeping his head down so no one could see him,"I feel vulnerable here."He growled.
"We know,but sit tight."Tails said with a smile that made Sonic smile.
Amy went back inside and went back to Mephiles and Shadow,"What was that about?" Mephiles asked Amy.
"Oh,just some people keep throwing trash back there." Amy responded with a slight frown. Shadow's eyes narrowed,he's known Amy for a long time,long enough to know when she lies.
"Amy." Shadow said softly,"Tell us the truth."
Amy knew there was no escape so she beckoned them to follow her,before she opened the door to the deep water alleyway,she stopped them,"You must promise to NEVER tell anyone."Amy seemingly growled the word 'never'.
"We promise." Shadow and Mephiles said seriously,they knew never to get on Amy's bad side. When Amy opened the door,they only saw Tails who seemed to be playing in the water.
"Amy,your-" Tails stopping mid sentence,noticing Shadow and Mephiles,"What are you two doing back here?" he asked nervously.
"Amy what's going on?"Shadow asked confused,as was Mephiles as they walked over to Tails.
"It's no use hiding him Tails,"Amy said crossing her arms,"And I made them promise not to tell,just tell him to come out."
Tails nodded and whispered something to the water,to which both of Shadow's and Mephiles's surprise,was the merhog.
"You've been hiding him here?"Shadow asked,astonished that no one had noticed any strange activity here.
"I've been hiding him here."Amy said,"For a long time too."
"Since I was ten."Sonic said,his back towards Shadow and Mephiles.
"TEN?!" Shadow and Mephiles exclaimed.
¨Hush!"Sonic growled.
"Sorry."they both muttered before going over to the water.
Sonic's only response to this was a growl,"I already have enough problems,leave me be."
"Sonic! Stop being rude!"Amy snapped.
"Sonic?"Shadow asked.
"That's my name,don't wear it out."Sonic said crossly.
"Ugh! You're more stubborn than a mule."Amy said crossing her arms,"But I kinda understand why,"she sighed
"So,er,"Shadow started,"What happened to all the merhogs?"He asked. Sonic turned towards Shadow,anger blazing in his eyes,and with a low growl,he sank deep into the alleyway water.
"I've never seen him act like that before."Amy said wide eyed at what Sonic did.
"I don't think he wants to talk about it."Tails responded.
Over the next week
Shadow and Mephiles visited Sonic,who was very unresponsive to their questions and eventually snapped at them to him alone.
"Finally,just one more day and I'll be back at sea,protecting the ocean."Sonic sighed and heard the door open.
"Hay Sonic."He heard Amy's voice,"Why are you so mean to Shadow and Mephiles,they're only curious as to what happened to your kind.¨ Amy said fronwing,going over to the water which was kept clean for Sonic's sake thanks to Mephiles and Shadow.
"I don't wanna talk about it."Sonic growled,holding back tears.
Amy noticed this and felt anger boil inside her,"Sonic! You can't bottle up your feelings like this! "She snapped,surprising Sonic.
"I can do what I want."He growled back.
"It's not good for you."Amy whispered sadly.
"Whatever!"Sonic snapped,but knew he couldn't swim away. After a long time of silence Sonic spoke,"It's been so long."he said,sorrow filled his tone,"Since I last saw them."
Sonic never noticed Shadow,Mephiles,Tails,Silver,or Blaze coming out to listen to the merhog's story.
"The last memory I had of my parents only came in flashes,I was so young,I still don't know how I remember it so clearly."
Flashback
Sonic was playing with his brother and sister,Manic and Sonia when he heard his mother's voice.
"Time for bed you three," Aleena said to her kids.
"Okay!"Sonic said swimming over to his mother while his brother and sister continued to play. Aleena sighed before taking Sonic inside the palace and to his room where he fell asleep quickly to his mother's songs.
As the night wore on,a guard yelled out that they were under attack, Jules and Aleena looked for Manic and Sonia only to find them both dead.
"Get Sonic out of here!" Jules said to his wife,he handed her two bracelets and a necklace.
Flashback stops
"Sonic?"Amy placed a hand on the merhog's shoulder,"You need to talk about this."
"It's too hard."Sonic mumbled,tears threatening to fall down his face.
"We're all here to help you Sonic,but you have to let go of the past."Tails said walking over to Sonic. Sonic mumbled something before he continued.
Flashback continues
Aleena held Sonic gently in her arms as she fled from her kingdom. She swam as fast as she could and never looked back no matter what.
She started to tire and knew she wouldn't get any farther with Sonic,she saw some rocks and placed him in the crevice of the rocks and gave her son the necklace,earrings,and bracelets.
"I'm sorry my son."She said kissing his forehead,tears falling onto Sonic's head waking him.
Sonic reached out for his mother but she told him to stay and be quiet before leading the mersharks away from him.
Flashback ends.
Sonic rested his head between his crossed arms on the ground,hiding his tears,"I waited a few weeks for her to return,but she never did,and that's when I decided to leave and I found what remained of her."his breathing thickened at the memory,"I went back to the kingdom,"Sonic paused,trying to prevent himself from losing it,"All I saw was death and destruction, I saw my family and friends,what remained of them,and worst of all,"Sonic shuddered,"I was only five,when I encountered my first mershark."
That's when Sonic stopped,he could no longer hold back the tears. Amy reached out to Sonic only for him to pull away from her.
"Just leave."Sonic said weakly with his words choked up. Amy and the others hesitated,but decided to leave followed by the others,Shadow didn't leave,but instead went over to the crying merhog.
"Sonic."Shadow said softly,"You don't have to fight this alone,"Mephiles has helped me through some hard times."
"Because he's a daywalker vampire,and you're part naga,"Sonic said,still not facing the surprised hedgehog,"I could tell because you move faster than anybody else,and Mephiles is paler than Amy,I've also seen his fangs."
Shadow looked at Sonic,very impressed,"You still can't fight this alone."Shadow said,leaving Sonic alone.
Three weeks later
Sonic swam the sea,his mind whirling with the words that Shadow had said. He'd gotten familiar with Mephiles and Shadow's ships and Amy and the others pooled all their money together,and with the help of Sonic,managed to by one as well.
"Sonic!"Amy called to him as he passed her ship,"Are you hungry?"she asked as Sonic came to the surface.
"No,not really." Sonic responded,he was thinking over the last three weeks,where Mephiles and Shadow told his friends what they are and were surprised they took easily too it as well as they got to see Shadow in his Naga form.
Sonic was deep in thought when something grabbed his tail and pulled him down into the water. Sonic looked angrily at the black and red tail that belonged to a familiar naga.
"Sonic!"Amy called out when the merhog suddenly disappeared but then reappeared along with Shadow.
"I told you not to do that!"Sonic growled at the beautiful ebony and crimson naga. Yes,beautiful. Sonic did think that Shadow was beautiful no matter if he was human or naga .
"Yeah Shadow,you should really stop doing that,you could attract mersharks."Amy said as Mephiles sailed his ship over.
"Hello Amy,Sonic,Shadow."He nodded to the two swimming hedgehogs.
"Hay buddy."Shadow said with a smile while Sonic freed himself from Shadow's coils. Shadow wore different jewelry from Sonic,the only thing they have in common was the two bracelets which allowed them to change to human,or merhog from,for Sonic,and naga form,for Shadow.
"Whatever."Sonic said swimming away only to find himself in the coils of Shadow.
"You know what happened last time you went off on your own."Shadow hissed slightly.
"Yeah."Sonic rolled his eyes,"I got captured by Knuckles and got two scars that go down my tail and stop at the fin."
"Just be careful."Shadow said relaxing his coils and letting Sonic go. Sonic nodded and swam off.
"Shadow."Mephiles said looking at the naga,"Follow him from a distance,just don't let him see you." Amy looked angrily at Mephiles once Shadow swam away.
With Sonic and Shadow
Sonic swam fast,enjoying the feel of the water passing through his gills,he eventually passed a whale that had its tail stuck in a net. With little difficulty,Sonic managed to remove the net from the whale's tail,"There."Sonic said once he finished removing the net,"Now you're free."
Sonic was about to swim off,only to find himself trapped in a net.
"Scourge! We got him!"Sonic heard something from above.
"Well shit."Sonic growled as he was pulled towards the surface. As Sonic's head was about to breach the surface of the water,the whale he'd just freed hit the ship,making the ship rock,and the net drop back into the water.
Sonic struggled in the net,trying to free himself as the whale kept Scourge and his crew distracted.
Shadow used his tail to propel him towards Sonic,"Seems like Scourge got you trapped."he said smiling when Sonic turned to face him.
"Just get me out of this net!"Sonic stopped struggling when he spoke. Shadow nodded and used his sharp fangs to cut a hole large enough for Sonic to escape. Sonic wasn't in the right position to get out of the net,so he had to twist and turn to get into the right position.
"Shit!"Sonic cursed as the net started to move upwards once again. Shadow coiled his tail around the net and pulled down with all his strength. After a long struggle,Sonic managed to get free and escape. Shadow let go of the net once Sonic was free,making the ship rock side to side as the net came up at a fast speed.
Shadow looked around for Sonic,but couldn't find the merhog,"Where did he go?"he said aloud.
"Where'd it go?"Sonic thought to himself,"I can't lose that necklace."
In the struggle to get out of the net,Sonic's necklace somehow fell off. Sonic asked for the help of the sea creatures of the deep to help him find it,which didn't take long when one came up to him,holding the necklace.
"Thanks."Sonic said gratefully to the the fish before putting the necklace around his neck before he swam back up,running into Shadow.
"There you are!"Shadow said once he saw Sonic.
"Yeah."Sonic mumbled,"I just lost my necklace,but a fish found it,thank chaos it didn't fall far."he said as he continued to swim back to the surface only to find Shadow had wrapped his tail around his waist.
"I'm just glad your safe."Shadow said letting go of Sonic.
Sonic just gave a nod,he was contemplating something when Shadow went up to get some air. Shadow maybe able to swim and talk underwater,but he still needed air. Once Shadow filled his lungs with air,he swam back down to Sonic.
"What are you thinking about?"He asked the merhog.
"Nothing."Sonic responded,"Follow me,I want to show you something."Sonic said swimming a few feet away and looked back to make sure Shadow was gonna follow him,which he did.
They swam for a long time,Shadow occasionally going up for air when he needed it,before going back down. "Where is he taking me?"Shadow thought to himself.
"We're here."Sonic said pointing down to a sunken ship.
"What's in that ship?"Shadow asked stopping by the merhog's side.
"Why don't you follow me and find out."Sonic said as he swam down towards the ship,Shadow hesitated before he followed as well. Once Shadow reached the ship,he was confronted by a great white,"He's with me."Sonic said to the shark,who let him past.
"Guard sharks?"Shadow questioned as he and Sonic entered the ship.
"And a few others which aren't here at the moment."Sonic responded,leading Shadow through the ship,and to a treasure room,"We're here."he said letting Shadow go in first.
"Why is there so much gold?"Shadow asked,looking around in awe.
"There are other things like silver,copper,and a little bit of iron."Sonic said,following in after Shadow,"It's all from the treasure room of my former home."He explained a frown forming on his face before he started to look for something.
Shadow watched Sonic curiously as he looked for something,"What are you looking for?"Shadow finally asked.
"Here."Sonic gave Shadow a silver earring that seemed to have small bits of diamond in it,"It'll help you breathe underwater longer."
Shadow looked at the earring before putting it on,"Thanks."He said as the jewels on it started to glow.
"No problem,now let's go."Sonic said leaving the ship.
"He's acting strange."Shadow thought to himself as he followed Sonic out of the ship.
"Sonic."Shadow said once he caught up with the merhog,"How many ships have you sunk?" Sonic looked at Shadow,before looking ahead,not responding to the question. Shadow sighed. "And he's back to his normal self." Shadow thought annoyed.
Three months have passed
And Sonic and Shadow grew closer yet,when they got to close,Sonic would push back and they'd start from square one once again,and it happened again,and Shadow was furious.
"Where's Sonic?"Shadow asked Amy's crew as he boarded their ship.
"Calm down Shadow."Tails said when he said the ebony hedgehog,"He swam by earlier saying he was gonna be gone for a couple of weeks,he didn't say why though."Tails explained to the mad hedgehog.
"He's been acting strange for the last two months."Shadow grumbled and crossed his arms.
"Has he not told you?" Amy asked.
"Told me what?"
Amy's entire crew went quiet.
"Well you see..."Tails started.
"Sonic is…." Blaze continued.
"Kind of a…."Silver said awkwardly once Blaze stopped.
"Ugh!"Amy grunted angrily,"Sonic is a hermaphrodite"Amy said whilst the others looked at the ground.
"A what? Know what,never mind! I know what that is…."Shadow trailed off and there was a long moment of silence,"So that's why he's been acting so strange?"
"Most likely."Amy responded,"When he's with us,he never acted strangely,and sometimes he went missing for days,weeks,and or he turned fourteen."she said frowning,
"But we just didn't think much of it and it kept on happening once a year,once he went missing for six months but when he returned,he never told us where he went."Tails said.
"I've noticed he always seemed cold,like he went to the arctic, or the South pole." Blaze said frowning.
"Hay guys."Sonic said to his friends,he felt very awkward because he was going through heat once again.
"Hi Sonic!"They all said smiling.
"You're back early."Amy said with a wide smile.
"Er,I just left something on the ship."Sonic said,his necklace missing.
"Oh! I forgot!"Tails exclaimed,and ran to get the necklace.
"Looks at Sonic's posture."Shadow whispered to Amy.
"He seems awkward."Amy said,"he's always like that before he leaves." she pointed out as Tails came back with Sonic's necklace,"He's also grown an extra tail"Amy joked.
"Huh?" Sonic said questioningly,"I've always had that,it's just now fully coming in."he explained.
"What?!"Amy said surprised,"Oh….." She trailed off.
The extra tail Sonic had was blue and transparent and very thin,about five centimeters thick. This extra 'tail' was meant to slow Sonic down if need be,and adds an extra burst of speed for a short amount of time. It also stores extra nutrition. When not in use,it justs drifts uselessly behind Sonic. The 'tail' is seemingly elastic alwell,but only to an extent. If it is torn,it lowers the amount of nutrition that can be stored till it is fully healed. But depending on Sonic's health,is what determines how long it takes to heal.
"Well,goodbye!"Sonic said waving his hand and swam off.
"Tails"Shadow turned to the two tailed fox.
"Yes Shadow?"
"Can you make this ship fly,or sail faster?"Shadow asked.
"Maybe,but it'd take a year or two."
"Fine by me," Shadow said with a curt nod as he watched the merhog swim farther away ,"because next time Sonic starts acting strangely,we're gonna follow him."
"WHAT!?"The entire crew said in shock.
With Sonic
Sonic felt that familiar pull,pulling him towards the arctic,he'd never acted upon it for first year when he felt it,but when he got older,the pull grew stronger,making it impossible to now it just was unbearable just like the year before,and on the second time of heat,he finally caved into the pull and followed through with it to the grounds where he was born and spent his first few years of life.
"If I get killed because of this."Sonic mumbled before following his senses to where he was born. Only to find it over run with arctic merhogs.
Sonic didn't like this and searched for the leader until he found him.
"Get out of here."Sonic growled to the leader."
"Why should we,you're the only one who comes here."the leader said,his queen by his side along with a few guards as every arctic merhog gathered around.
"You don't own this ground,I do!"Sonic snarled,his heat making him angry and unreasonable.
"So your the last survivor of the warm seas?"The leader said laughing,which would be his mistake.
Sonic grabbed the king by his neck,and a whirlpool formed around them,making it impossible for the guards to reach the king. After a few moments of trying to negotiate with Sonic,the king finally decided to let him keep the grounds and told his kind to swim off and leave.
"Soon you guys will be dead once the mersharks adapt to your cold climates,"Sonic said as they left.
"And I won't help."he growled.
The place that Sonic was born ensured that mersharks could never get to without going through the many,difficult twists and turns of the arctic maze,and before that,the hot underground volcanoes that only stop erupting when a merhog near.
These are the dangers Shadow and the others are going to face in five years
