And the saga continues…

Sonic the Hedgehog © Sega

Trixie Vennet © Me

Chapter 2

I leaned on my porch railing and watched the colors in the sky. This is where you could find me every Saturday night since I was 3. I was 17 now, on my own. There was a large tragedy about a year ago involving the destruction of our town library, where both my parents worked. About lunchtime, a smoker had left his cigarette on the floor, and began a fire in an area few people wandered. By the time my parents knew what was going on, it was too late. The ceiling collapsed due to the flames, and they never made it out. The city had agreed to let me keep my place and even lowered the rates I'd been paying on it. They wanted me to stay in my small town, and I stayed for the fireworks.

Shadow's father had since passed away, a short time before my parents actually. Shadow had taken over the fireworks, but everyone, including Shadow himself, knew he could never do what his father did. I sighed again. I hadn't seen Shadow since I snuck into his backyard. He would be 21 now. I wondered if he still had those red eyes that sounded frightening but once you saw them you knew you were safe, or those red streaks in his quills, or how much he'd grown.

"Perhaps I should go see how he's doing. He probably doesn't even remember me." I went back inside my house and grabbed a coat and a pair of boots. I locked the door behind me and walked toward the shack where the show had just ended. Cries of applause and laughter filled the air after the mini show. I continued to walk along the sidewalks, watching families pack up their lawn chairs and coolers and head back inside to go to bed. I knocked on the front door, awaiting an answer. The door swung open.

"Well well well, if it isn't Miss Amy Rose. I was wondering when you would show up on my doorstep." Leaning on the doorframe in front of me was the most gorgeous hedgehog you'd ever see. His fur was still deep black, the red streaks now more prominent. He had the traditional white gloves on and the white shoes. His eyes were a welcoming ruby red color, and his smile made my heart melt. Well, there was my first in town crush.

"You've been waiting for me?"

"Course. I haven't forgotten that little girl that trespassed on my property 9 years ago." I smiled. "Lemme guess, you wanna see the fireworks?"

"Well I actually came over to see how you were doing, but since you offered…" He laughed. I felt my heart skip beats hearing his laugh; it was perfect.

"Sure. C'mon in." He stepped out of the way and let me in. I stepped into his quaint home. "As long as you don't mind being the only guest, you're welcome to stay for a bit."

"Shadow! Who's at the door?!"

"Come here Trixie!" A mint green hedgehog with sandy blonde hair walked out. She had purple eyes and bright pink lipstick. I knew her; Trixie… Trixie Vinnet. She was in my psych class. "You know Trixie, right?" I nodded.

"Yeah, we go to school together. You're a senior too, right?" She looked me over.

"Yeah, but I don't recognize you." I wasn't surprised. Trixie was your typical high school drama queen bitch.

"I'm Amy Rose. We take Psychology together I believe."

"Ohhh, that Amy Rose. Why are you here?" I bit my lip. Shadow jumped in.

"Relax babe. She's just a friend visiting." Babe? Did he just call her babe?

"Whatever. Get back to me when you're done with her. I'll be waiting in your bedroom…" She winked before walking off. I shivered. That girl gave me the chills… Shadow chuckled.

"I just love that girl. Sometimes she's a handful, but she's the best." My heart just cracked in two. Well there went that chance…

"How long have you two been dating?"

"About a year I suppose. We got together right after my dad passed." I nodded. "Now, back to the fireworks. It's kinda nice to have you around though; Trixie isn't into this thing." We walked out to the famous shed together as he unlocked the door. The door creaked open and he pulled the light chain. The shack looked the exact same way it did all those years ago. I smiled and looked around.

"Everything you do… it's just amazing. It's such a shame you don't have a bigger audience." He looked me over for a minute.

"Is this your passion?" I blinked for a minute.

"What?"

"Is this your passion?" I looked around the shack again.

"I suppose so, sure."

"Would you like to learn?" I whirled around immediately, grinning more than ever.

"Will you really teach me?!" He laughed again.

"Sure. Get good enough and I'll make you the apprentice around here, since Trixie doesn't care about it." I squealed with delight. I ran and threw my arms around him. He chuckled and hugged me back.

"Oh thank you thank you thank you!"

"Ahem." I looked up to see Trixie standing there, looking pissed. "Someone wanna tell me what's going on here?"

"I, um, I…" I couldn't find the right words.

"I offered to teach Amy how to launch and build fireworks and she said she'd like to learn." Trixie's mood didn't change.

"Whatever. We're talking inside, right now. As for you, Amy, I suggest you just go home." I opened my mouth to talk, but stopped myself before walking out the side gate and toward home. I unlocked my door, got ready for bed, and crashed.

Monday afternoon rolled around finally. I said goodbye to Rouge and Cream, my best friends, and started walking home. Suddenly, a convertible car pulled up next to me. In it was Sonic Hedgehog, Shadow's younger cousin, Sonic's bitchy girlfriend, Sally Acorn, and non other that Queen Bitch herself, Trixie Vinnet.

"Hey Amy, thought maybe you wanted a ride home?" Sonic said as Sally drove the car. I ignored them and kept walking. They suddenly swerved the car right in front of me, making me jump back and fall. Sonic hopped out of the car. He grabbed me by the throat and held me up. "I heard you were chatting up my cousin yesterday. I hope you know that he's dating my girlfriend's best friend, and I don't think any of us appreciate you just working your way into his life, firework freak." He dropped me on the ground with a thud and kicked me in the gut. I coughed and wheezed for air. He went to deal another punch but missed when I rolled out of the way.

I won't make it home before they catch me with their car… I need someone that lives close…

The light bulb clicked on in my head. As the girls in the car were cheering him on, I dodged another punch and got to my feet. I ran. I ran and I ran and I ran as fast as my track and field legs could carry me. I heard the car engine rumble to life and skid marks on the pavement. I was running out of breath, but I wasn't going to stop now.

"My boyfriend doesn't care about you! Just go home!" Trixie yelled. I kept running.

"Slow down firework freak! We just wanna talk!" I ignored Sonic too. I was almost at the driveway.

"He's not even home genius! Just go join your parents and die in a hole!" Trixie yelled again. I didn't care what she said. I burst through the front door and looked around quickly. Nowhere to hide…

Trixie, Sonic and Sally barged in right behind me, laughing away. I backed up slowly.

"See? You ran here for nothing. He's not even home," Trixie taunted. I backed up until I hit something fluffy.

"That's enough." I turned around to face Shadow. Trixie's mood suddenly shifted. Sally and Sonic stepped back.

"Wait! You don't get it! She tried to beat me up when I was walking with sally because she wants you for her own! I tried to stop her and guide her here to get you! Sally called Sonic for help and-"

"Stop! Just stop. I'll deal with you later, but for now get the hell out of my house." Trixie, Sally and Sonic all slumped out the door and sped away in their convertible car. I turned back to Shadow.

"I know we don't know each other very well, but I wanna say thank you," I replied. He glanced me over.

"You're welcome. You don't look severely hurt, which is good. But you looked pretty scraped up; lemme help." I took slow steps over to the kitchen. Shadow sighed and looked to me again. I limped over. "Just stop where you are." I stopped moving and gave him a questioning look. He came over and picked me up, carrying me over to the kitchen counter before setting me down. "I can't believe Trixie would be involved in something like this. Sure, she can be a bitch, but she can usually keep that on a more humane level. Lemme grab my first aid kit." Shadow wandered off down the hall.

Our partner relationship hadn't started so badly I guess. After all, this might be something to bond over. Maybe it'll even lead to Trixie and Shadow breaking up…

"Ok, I just wanna clean the blood off your fur. The rest of the cuts and bruises I can't do much for except some pain killers, sorry."

"No no no, don't be sorry. I'm the one who should be apologizing. I'm just the stranger who burst into your house."

"I wouldn't call you a stranger."

"Then what would you call me?"

"A friend," he answered. I smiled and my cheeks darkened ever so slightly. He took a wet washcloth and washed the bloodstains off my back and handed me some painkillers. "Sorry there isn't more I can do. I wish there was." He suddenly smiled and got an idea. "Can you walk ok?" I hopped down from the counter and clumsily stood up.

"I think so."

"Come with me then." We walked together out to the shack. He unlocked it and turned the lights on. Shadow walked to the safe in the corner and dialed in the combo. Inside was a smallish laptop computer, which he pulled out and turned on. "I wanna show you this." He pulled up a program onto his computer that looked extremely complex, with a color wheel on one part of the screen and a timer on the other and various lists, numbers, and codes everywhere. "Shortly before my dad passed away, we finally got the money to purchase the computer program for the fireworks. Problem is, I haven't gotten a chance to really mess around with it. Perhaps you'd like to sit down with me and figure this out…?" I smiled widely.

"Would I ever!"

"Great; let's go back inside." We walked back into his house. "Internet service works best in my room. Hey, I'm not distracting you from anything you had planned, right?" Shadow turned to look at me while he continued down the hall. I shook my head.

"Nope, I'm all yours boss," I replied. This made him chuckle.

"Sounds good my apprentice." My heart skipped a beat. Just hearing that made me excited. We plopped down on his bed and got to work, discovering the things we were going to be able to accomplish with the new software.

Hours passed, and I decided that I needed to head home. I began to walk home when Shadow stopped me in the driveway.

"Rose! Lemme grab your number real quick." I smiled and turned to him before writing my phone number on his hand. This was going even better than I'd hoped.

I have now forced myself into doing longer chapters!

All the positive feedback was amazing! :D Please keep it up~