The Big Diaries

Chapter 3: Shadow the Hedgehog

It was long past midnight when Big suddenly sprang up from his hut bed in the Mystic Ruins. Froggy, who was lying on his stomach, went flying into a nearby tree. Big noticed this and immediately went over to pick him up.

"I'm sorry, Froggy." Big said slowly. Froggy croaked weakly in response as Big gently caressed him. "I accidentally left my umbrella at the beach!" Big exclaimed. Froggy looked up at him and hopped onto his shoulder. "Let's go, little buddy." Big said as he strolled out of his hut, eager to make his way all the way back to Emerald Coast.

When the pair had finally made their way to the beach, they stopped dead in their tracks when they saw a certain shady figure in the distance. Froggy quickly hopped off of Big's shoulder and onto the sandy, beach floor. Big tilted his head to the side then adjusted his belt. Big did not need much courage to approach the mysterious character before him because he was quite oblivious. He slowly, but calmly, made his way over to the dark figure.

"Hello there!" Big called out with a wave of his arm. The character's head seemed to turn in his direction. Suddenly, Big noticed an object in the character's right hand. "My umbrella! You found it!" Big again called. The character looked down at the umbrella, then back at Big. Understanding, the character swiftly began to make his way over to Big. Soon the moonlight shone upon him and revealed him to be Shadow the Hedgehog. Big clapped his hands together happily and bounced from one foot to the other. Shadow, now directly in front of him, stood staring with an emotion-

less expression. Once his "happy dance" was over, Big happily reached out and took his bright, yellow umbrella from the grasp of Shadow. Having completed his mission, Shadow turned to leave. "Wait!" Big said. Shadow stopped in his tracks. "How can I ever thank you, Mr. Shadow?" Not even bothering to turn around, Shadow replied,

"Just stay out of my way." He pulled a bright, green Chaos Emerald from his quills and shouted, "Chaos Control!", disappearing instantly.

Shadow reappeared on a thick, brown branch of an oak tree. He began to search around him to make sure he was alone. From the corner of his eye he noticed a giant, purple figure below. Looking down he asked,

"How did you get here?" Big, holding his umbrella tightly, replied,

"When you took that pretty jewel and made that big flash, I got caught in it! Then, sure enough, I was right here!" Shadow could only express his displeasure by placing a gloved hand on his forehead. Big smiled up at Shadow as he watched this display. Then he said, "Maybe we could watch the sun rise together. Or we could go fishing while it's still dark! I know lots of rare fishies that only come out around this time." Shadow removed his hand from his head and stared in disbelief at the huge feline below him.

"Why would I want to do those things?" Shadow said harshly. Big looked up pleadingly at Shadow and said,

"I still have to thank you properly for everything you've done for me!" Shadow quickly jumped off of the oak tree branch and landed perfectly on the grassy floor. Shadow looked up at Big as Big looked down at him. They stared into each other's eyes for what seemed like hours until Shadow finally said,

"Do you really want to help me?" Big nodded quickly and added,

"More than anything!" Shadow crossed his arms and closed his eyes as he fell deep into thought. Big watched silently as Shadow tried to think of a way to quickly and easily get rid of him. Finally, giving in to his lack of ideas, Shadow uncrossed his arms and looked back up at Big who had his eyes closed shut and his mouth hanging open.

"Hmph." Shadow said as he turned to leave. Froggy suddenly jumped off of Big's shoulder and onto Shadow's head. "What is it?" Shadow said emotionlessly.

"Ribbit." Froggy croaked.

"What do you want?" Shadow asked again.

"Ribbit." Froggy croaked.

"What the hell do you want!" Shadow shouted. Big's eyes shot open and he looked all around him in an attempt to discover all of the commotion. Then he spotted Shadow and Froggy and a cheerful smile spread across his lips. He walked over and looked down at the pair asking,

"Did you get an idea yet, Mr. Shadow?" Shadow closed his eyes and sighed heavily. Re-opening them he replied,

"My mind is blank. I couldn't think of anything. Just go home and leave me alone." When Big heard this he frowned. Then, not even a second later, he began to smile widely.

"Shadow, if you need ideas, just go to the library!" Big said happily. Shadow stared at the creature before him for a minute.

'The sooner I get an idea, the sooner this idiot can leave.' Shadow thought.

"So, what do you say Mr. Shadow?" Big said. Shadow nodded slowly, but before he could even say a thing, Big had picked him up and put him on his right shoulder. Froggy hopped off of Shadow's head and onto Big's left shoulder. "Yay! I'll take us all there! I even know a long cut we can take!" Big exclaimed.

"A "long cut"?" Shadow questioned. Big nodded.

"If we take the long way, we can spend more time together!" Shadow face-palmed once more as Big made his way to the Station Square library.

It took them forty-five minutes to make it to Station Square, and it took them another five minutes to get to the library. The building was massive. It was built with burgundy bricks, a see-through, sliding, glass door, and a large, rectangular window above the door. Above the window were big, red letters that read "Station Square Library".

"We're here!" Big shouted. When he got no response, he clapped his big hands together. He still got no response. He took in one big breath, and when he let it out, he shouted very loudly, "WE'RE HERE." This was enough to make Shadow and Froggy both fall right off his shoulders. They hit the hard, cement sidewalk with a 'THUD'. Big gasped in horror at his friends. "Are you ok? I didn't mean to scare you like that." Big said sadly. Shadow sat up and rubbed his back.

'If this city weren't so noisy and busy, I would've heard the dolt the first time.' Shadow thought angrily. As he began to stand up, Froggy hopped onto his shoulder. Shadow looked at the frog, then at Big. Big looked at the frog, then at Shadow. Shadow sighed once more and made his way through the sliding, library doors. Despite his size, Big quickly followed him through. Inside the library, the first thing you see when you walk in is the very large desk where the many librarians work at. Behind them are the many, many rows of books every library should have. Behind the books are computers and a DVD and VHS section. Big clasped his hands together and said,

"This is so much fun! Come on Shadow, I'll show you where the computers are." Shadow suddenly had a terrible flashback. The words,

"Find the computer room!" echoed in his mind. He shut his eyes and took in a deep breath.

"Let's get this over with." he said dangerously. Big nodded and made his way past the library desk with Shadow and Froggy following him close behind. As he passed, a pretty, librarian woman with long, flowing brown hair greeted them saying,

"Hello Big." Big looked at the lady quickly and replied,

"Hello Missus Librarian Lady." The lady giggled, and Big's group continued on their way. Soon they had made it past the books and they walked over to a shiny, silver computer monitor. They stood in front of it for twenty seconds before Big finally said, "Do you know how to use it, Mr. Shadow?"

"Of course I do." Shadow snapped. Big rephrased his sentence and said,

"Can you use it, Mr. Shadow?" Shadow shot a death glare at Big, but before he could open his mouth to speak, Big said quickly, "You're going to need a library card to use the computers here." Shadow's eyes widened and he looked at the monitor then back at Big.

"I know I probably shouldn't ask, but how do you know all of this?" Shadow asked curiously. Big put his hands on his hips (does he even have any?) in a feminine way and said,

"I'm not stupid, Mr. Shadow! I come here all the time. The people here are so nice. They helped me with everything. They even gave me my own card!" As he said this, he pulled a plastic card from his belt and handed it to Shadow. Shadow looked at the card in utter confusion.

"This is.. a driver's license." He said quietly. Big suddenly got wide-eyed, and he snatched the card back from Shadow.

"That's not the right card! Here ya go!" Big said, exchanging the card with another. Shadow looked at the card carefully and recognized it to be a library card.

"Interesting." Big nodded and pointed to the computer.

"Login, Mr. Shadow. Use my card." Shadow looked at Big, then at the computer. He looked down and saw a turquoise chair. He quickly slid himself into the chair and pressed a button to access the log-in screen of the computer. The bright, blue screen appeared with a big, white bar placed right in the middle of it. In front of the bar was the word 'Log-in'. Shadow took one glance at Big's card, found the log-in code, and typed it in. He quickly pressed the enter key and watched as the computer did the rest. While waiting for the computer settings to load, Shadow looked back at Big, and much to his surprise, he was asleep. Big had fallen asleep while standing up. Shadow closed his eyes once more and sighed. He got up from the computer chair, pushed it in, and walked over to Big.

"He obviously did not get enough sleep. I can't just leave him here though." Shadow said quietly. Shadow grabbed a hold of Big's left arm. Lucky for Big, Shadow had explored the Mystic Ruins once before, and he knew where his hut was located. Shadow pulled his Chaos Emerald from his quills, raised it, and said strongly,

"Chaos Control!"

The dark hedgehog and the bright, purple cat vanished from sight within a matter of seconds.