Knuckles: Hey. It's time for the fourth chapter of Sonic Bloopers. This time, there will be dancing involved! And Shadowpaw will totally kick Shadow's butt at it! And the best thing about it is she doesn't even cheat! And - wait, what's that smell? (sniff, sniff) Is that nachos? NACHOS! MUST HAVE NACHOS! (Knuckles runs off camera, followed by crunching sounds)

(Sonic pops up)

Sonic: Sorry about that. He's just…being himself again. Well, read and review!

(Note: the numbers mean time gap)

"I'm so bored."

Shadowpaw was laying on her bed. Shadow and Tails were in there, too. They were standing around, staring at the ceiling. Shadow sighed. "What can we do?" Tails motioned to the TV. "Wanna play Sonic Heroes?"

Shadowpaw sat up. "Did you notice you sound different in that game?" Tails nodded. "Yeah. I feel conned." Shadow shook his head. "No thanks. I don't want to play as that hunk of metal." Tails frowned at him. "You only have to be Omega when you need to."

Shadow scoffed and looked away. "Being near a bunch of machines is one thing; fighting one is another. But being one? No." Tails shrugged. "Okay, I guess I'll play alone." While he turned it on, Shadowpaw picked up her Gameboy Advance SP and started playing Pokemon Yellow.

Shadow looked over her shoulder. "You know that's out of date, right?" She nodded, still looking at the screen. "Yeah, but I like to play this sometimes. Besides, it's the only game with Pikachu following you everywhere."

Suddenly she yelled in rage, "DUMB ONIX! I'LL KILL YOU, YOU RETARDED…ROCK…THING!" Shadow stared at her for a second, then looked around for something to do. He saw a DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) mat sticking out of a drawer in Shadowpaw's dresser.

He tapped said cat's shoulder and said, "Is that your Dance mat?"

She paused the game and looked to where Shadow was pointing. She nodded.

"Can I use it?"

She smirked. "You know how to dance?"

Shadow shrugged. "I'll try."

Her smirk got wider, and she snatched the mat, hooked it up to another TV, and threw it on the ground.

"Think you can beat me?"

Shadow smirked. "I can beat you any day!"

Tails turned to watch them. He had already beaten Sonic Heroes, (he's a wiz at technology remember) and he wanted to see who'd win. Shadowpaw yelled, "I call the first song!"

Shadow snapped his fingers. "Darn it!" Shadowpaw scrolled through the songs, until she came to one titled 'I do, I do, I do' and yelled, "I pick this one!"

Shadow frowned at the name, but snapped back into reality when the screen came up. Shadowpaw was twitching her tail to the tempo. This was her game; she was the MASTER of this! When the arrows scrolled, she was a whole different cat.

Shadow could keep up, but she was getting a lot of perfects. He was sweating trying to hit all the arrows, but Shadowpaw was just grinning evilly and sailing through it all. Shadow was wondering how she managed to do this. When the song was over, Shadowpaw cracked her knuckles. "Alright, you pick the song."

Since Shadow had never danced before or heard these songs, he didn't have a clue what any of them were. He just scrolled through and picked a random song.

As he realized he would definitely lose, his mind went to more pleasant topics. He wondered what he would say when Shadowpaw started bragging about how superior she was to him in DDR. Finally, the song ended and Shadowpaw squinted at the screen, still smirking, as she picked a song. When she finally picked, Shadow kept an eye on her. Maybe she somehow rigged this thing; she might have purposely put me on the side that doesn't work as well, or… Aaargh!

When the last song was done, and the final score was up, Shadow chuckled. "Well, you beat me."

"Yeah, I guess…" Shadowpaw looked like she was thinking about something. Then, she shook her head and grinned. "And you were so cocky. Just remember, it's only a stupid game!"

"Well, I bet I could beat you at Shadow the Hedgehog!"

"You mean the new game? Bring it on!"

127436929430475205745395630954395723540256394365025603495458745656063465

Tails stood up and yawned. "Well, I better go to bed; it's 10:30, and I have to get up early so I can work on the Tornado." Shadowpaw waved. "Good night. See ya in the morning." When Tails left the room, Shadowpaw noticed that it actually WAS 10:30. She was sitting next to Shadow playing Shadow the Hedgehog multiplayer.

She tried hard to concentrate on the game so she could beat Shadow, but exhaustion was weighing down on her. She usually went to sleep around nine, and yet woke up whenever she did still feeling tired. So, you can imagine how she felt right now, after playing three hours of video games and dancing herself to her limits.

Suddenly, Shadow's character caught her off guard and shot her with a laser. She had already been hit by him a lot, and that last shot killed her. She growled. "Darn it…" Shadow patted her on the head. She swatted it away. "Don't worry; it's just a stupid game." He said, smirking.

She growled in response. Unfortunately, since she was done playing and wasn't staring at bright lights, she was really drowsy. Everything was blurry, and she was a bit wobbly getting up. Her knees went out on her, and she fell down. Shadow pulled her up. "You need to go to bed now. You can't even stand!" She said something he couldn't catch, and he was about to ask her what she said when she fell asleep right there and fell onto him.

He sighed and pushed her away. "Does she ever sleep? Sure doesn't act like it." He dragged her to her bed and struggled to push her up. She kept sliding off, still asleep. He decided to take a different approach. He flat out picked her up and dumped her on the bed. She twitched her ear, but otherwise she was still asleep.

He sighed again. "She needs to get to sleep earlier." He was about to walk out when he saw her journal lying unlocked on her night stand. He looked at it, then Shadowpaw, who was fast asleep, then the journal again. He carefully picked it up and opened it. It was obviously old; it had things dating back to two years ago.

He flipped through the pages until he came to the day they met. Nothing of interest, other than her saying she thought Kussia was annoying and that talking to him about battling was fun.

But there was something else, too. I hope I fit in this time. What could that mean? This time? He kept flipping, trying to get more information. He landed on one page and started to read.

I just got away from a group of orphanage people. They were trying to put me in that infernal place again, but I escaped. I even had the glory of biting one of those infernal person's hand! I'm at a place by the ocean. In fact, I'm staring at it right now. It's dark and I'm writing by moonlight. The ocean looks so calm, slight ripples on the glass-like surface. The moon is reflected like a mirrored kaleidoscope, a white disk on the water. It is so beautiful. I hope I can stay here and watch the ocean forever. The most beautiful things are nature's untamed masterpieces.

He flipped to another random page, trying to consume time.

I tried to take an apple from a stand to eat, but the owner saw me, and I had to run for it. I've run out of money and need to get a job. Not here, though; too many bandits. I'll get a job at a place farther away, probably somewhere down the northern road. I found a book, and I'm reading it when I have the chance. It's a human book, oddly titled 'Help! I'm a Prisoner in a Chinese Bakery!' It's really funny, at least the parts I understand. Some things are 'adult things'; crazy stuff.

Shadow put the journal back on the night table and picked up a book full of drawings. It had drawings of other creatures, and a sketch of the ocean. He looked through it, admiring how good she could draw. He heard a groan, and turned to see Shadowpaw sitting up and rubbing her eyes. He quickly put it down and dropped to the floor.

He crawled under the bed and tried to be as quiet as possible. He heard her sit up, yawn, and crawl off of the bed. He tensed. He watched her white paws walk over to her door and walk out, mumbling something about milk. He waited a while before crawling out from under the bed. He tiptoed to the door, looked out into the deserted hall, and sprinted into his door right next to Shadowpaw's room.

When he was safely in his bed and 'sleeping', he thought for a while, before he finally succumbed to real, authentic sleep.

123451748697260349562930429562398618969816509237601429230914653790216045

Shadow got up and yawned. After he splashed his face with water, he walked to Shadowpaw's room to see if she was awake. He knocked on the door. Before he could yell 'Are you awake', Shadowpaw yelled, "Go away, I'm trying to sleep in!" He sighed and shook his head. "You can sleep in tomorrow, now get up and eat breakfast! Besides, the Xbox is your room!"

"Well, you can just leave my plate on the table, and you can wait to play Xbox. Now go away!" Shadow kept knocking on the door. "Don't make me blare on the music." She growled angrily, but otherwise she was sleeping. He opened the door and walked over to her stereo. He turned it on and looked for loud music. He picked heavy metal, popped it in, turned it up, and ran out of the room.

(This scene has been deleted for excessive violence, language, and blood. DO NOT ASK)

Kussia walked in to see Shadowpaw trying to kill Shadow. They stopped. Shadow and Shadowpaw stared at him.

He said, "Oh good, your awake. So, want any food?" He took out a mcronald's silly meal. "Hungry?" Shadowpaw gritted her teeth. "No, thank you."

"What, you don't like chicken?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm just tired."

"Oh, okay." Kussia sat down next to Shadow on the floor. Shadowpaw stared at him. "I said, 'I'm TIRED.'"

"So? Why can't you do that with me here?"

Shadowpaw yawned. "Because I can't sleep with people watching me."

Shadow started whistling at this comment.

Kussia nodded. "Okay." He looked away.

Shadowpaw sighed, then picked up her drawing book. She took a pencil and started chewing on the eraser, thinking.

Kussia got bored and walked out of the room. Shadowpaw looked around, and sighed. "What in the world can I draw?"

She frowned, then brightened up and started drawing. She looked at the book, then glanced at Shadow for a moment, then looked back down.

Shadow was curious. He tried to look over, but she covered the book.

"Let me see!"

He tried to take the book away, but she held on tight. He tugged, she tugged back.

Kussia was watching them, invisible, thanks to the technology of cloaking devices.

Finally, Shadowpaw tugged a last time as hard as she could, making Shadow lose his balance and fall on her.

She blushed a lot, and she pushed him onto the floor. She tweaked her ear and heard laughing.

She jumped up and looked around. No one but Shadow and herself. Or so it seemed.

Then, a cell phone ringed in the room, followed by an "Oh, crud!" and then the ringing stopped.

Shadowpaw growled really, really threateningly. A voicemail alert went on, by the plant Shadowpaw put in the corner.

She slowly walked over there, and scratched at the plant.

Nothing happened.

She growled again and looked around.

She heard a sigh, then a little beep, and someone incidentally sounding like Kussia held their breath.

Shadowpaw growled and said, "Who's there? Show yourself!"

Shadow took this moment of shock to pick up Shadowpaw's sketchbook. He flipped through the pages, until he came to the last used page.

His mouth fell open.

She was drawing me! And not too badly, I might add…

Shadowpaw came up and snatched it away. She shoved it in her dresser and took out her book, the funny titled one.

She stomped to her bed, sat down, and read.

Shadow crossed his arms. She can be down right weird sometimes.

A while after she started reading, he saw her smile and nod to herself.

He raised an eyebrow. Yep, definitely weird.

He started pacing again, since he didn't have anything better to do. Finally, Shadowpaw put the book down and lay on her back, eyes closed.

Shadow looked at her. "Why are you so…different then other people? Why can't you be normal?"

She opened one eye. "What is the definition of normal?"

Shadow didn't have an answer for her, so she curled up and was soon sleeping peacefully.

He looked at her, silently breathing in and out, then picked up her journal.

He flipped through the pages, looking for something he could possibly blackmail her with.

Then one page caught his eye. He turned back. It was short, and a little sloppy, but he could read it.

I made a new friend today. Her name is Marissa. She says I can live with her for a while. I can't wait to go to her house and finally have a soft bed and full stomach.

The thing he didn't notice, though, was that Shadowpaw wasn't really asleep. She opened one eye. She watched him, waiting for the right moment. When he accidentally dropped the lock and went to pick it up, she tapped his shoulder. He jumped and started to stammer. "I was, ummm, just, uhh……"

She swatted at him, and he ducked and ran out of the room. She hissed at him, then picked up her journal. She smoothed the bent pages down, and put the lock on. She put the journal back on the night table and lay down again. Soon, all you could hear from her room was a light snoring.