Sonic's curiosity about the lady with the wonderful voice faded quickly. He was much more interested in where Shadow had disappeared to. Once a week, Sonic would hear about Shadow's latest bar antics and now-notorious all-nighters and he would wish that for once he could join in- of course, with his luck, that would be the night something would come to destroy the world as we know it and he would be to inebriated to do anything about it. Not only that, but he could never pin down exactly where Shadow was going to be and when. It seemed to be a different night every week, in a different one of the four bars in town, coming in at about ten at night and leaving about two in the morning.
Sonic felt like a stalker, reading over all this information he'd written down about Shadow. He sat in his spot with a small notepad he'd scribbled all over with notes about the black hedgehog and looked out over the city, the quickly darkening sky and cooling air of late September forcing him to stay up in his tree all night with a flashlight and a, well, no pencil anymore. He'd dropped it by accident and couldn't see it in the darkness. Unlike the rest of his species, Sonic had trouble seeing in the dark. He wasn't sure how, but his eyes had been damaged at a young age; the rods, used to see in daylight, were just fine, but the cones, shaped to magnify light at night, were completely shot. Added to that was the fact that the city required orange street lights to avoid bothering the surrounding wildlife. It was out of Sonic's sight range naturally, anyway. Therefore, Sonic had to stay put at night, unable to go out and search the bars or wait at the apartments to find Shadow, and it had been this way for the past three months.
However, the fact that Shadow was still in the city gave Sonic an odd feeling; sort of a cross between hope and indigestion. He would keep searching.
Shadow the waitress was fairly successful at her job. People liked her, and since she'd become somewhat indispensable to the manager, she stopped considering other jobs. Of course, her income paid for everything she needed and the fortune she'd amassed in the previous years lay untouched in a small safe she kept in her apartment. She still hadn't seen Sonic yet, but the blue hedgehog was something you couldn't chase down, as Shadow knew, but someone else had yet to find out.
Sonic's last fifty-two sightings were sent in from around Redwood Park City. The young girl smiled. She had him cornered, now. Even the ever-drifting wind stops at some point. She stared out the window of the perilous bus at the redwood trees along the side of the road and frowned. Couldn't they make a decision about that? Either the city stayed and the forest went or the forest stayed and the city went- that was her opinion. She would prefer to keep the city. More shopping. More people. That was how she worked. She thought it funny, ironic, even, that Sonic would chill out in a city founded almost entirely on romance. Redwood Park got most of its tourism income from young couples looking for some time alone, older couples searching to regain that romantic spark, and singles hoping to get started in the dating scene. That last one was her. As soon as she found Sonic, she would make him show her around. She fluffed her hair and glared at the trees some more. Amy Rose was ready. She was going to see the sights, stay a week or so, and leave with Sonic in tow. It would be perfect.
Amy booked herself a hotel room and went to a nearby diner for breakfast. It was a quaint little place, not much décor besides the silly music memorabilia all over the walls and a terrible-looking jukebox in the corner by the counter. Old rock music offended Amy's ears as she sat down at the table closest to the door. She already didn't like this place. "Hello," said a waitress, coming over to Amy's table, handing her a menu, "Would you like anything to drink?" Amy looked up at the waitress and her eyes widened in incredulous disapproval. "Shadow, is that you?" "Amy," acknowledged Shadow, "what brings you to Redwood Park?" "Sonic, of course," boasted Amy, "once I find him, he's as good as married!"
Shadow felt her hangover coming back, bringing his friend migraine for a visit.
"Amy," sighed Shadow, "I've been here three months and I've not seen head or tail of that hedgehog. I doubt you'll find him. Would you like anything to drink?" Amy grinned, crossing her arms. "You just haven't been looking hard enough," she laughed, "I'll have Sonic by tonight, you'll see." "Would you like anything to drink?" asked Shadow, glancing around at the other tables she had to check on. Nobody seemed too impatient or needy right now, so she had some time. "I bet it'll be easy," continued Amy, ignoring Shadow's pleas to drop the subject and return to the business at hand, "One glance and Sonic will be running to me!" "Do you want anything to drink?" Shadow's patience wore thin. She had other things to do right now. Other patrons attempted to get her attention. "You know, three months is a long time for two people to live in the same little town and never see each other. Do you think he's just avoiding you?" "Are you thirsty?" insisted Shadow, teeth clenched, looking at the other customers. When was her shift over? "Maybe he's already seen you and decided that you're really not the Shadow he remembers. That's what I think. Or maybe he just heard about that whole thing about them putting you in the loony bin…" Shadow's face blanched. She couldn't believe Amy was doing this to her. In public! "Or maybe it's just because you're as big as a house. Have you ever considered losing some weight?"
In a flash, Shadow was knocking on the manager's door.
Mr. Eiglestein was a nice man, very understanding, but if there was one thing he didn't like, it was tourists. True, they were business, but he'd rather live in his little bubble of familiar faces. Mr. E stepped out of his office and was surprised to see his star waitress in tears.
"Table one," she sniffled, "I'm going to take a two-minuter, okay?"
