Chapter 4: The Day Out
It had been about five days since Shadow and Rouge had first met Sonic in the hospital.
In that time the doctors at the hospital deemed him well enough for him to start attending school. So now Shadow was sat at the back of a classroom full of 2-3 year old and watched Sonic.
At the front of the class was the teacher Amy Rose.
Amy was a 21 year old, pink-furred hedgehog with jade green eyes and peach skin on her muzzle and arms. Unlike other hedgehogs, her spines were not spiky but they were rather worn down like that of ordinary hair.
She wore a red, sleeveless dress with white trims, tall red boots with a white stripe down the centre and white cuffs.
In front of her was a girl with long blonde hair in a wheelchair. Next to the girl was a boy with ginger hair and next to him was Sonic. All three of them were holding small balloons.
"OK Sasha, how many balloons do you have?" Amy asked a small girl.
"Four." Sasha replied.
"And how about you Jack, how many balloons do you have?"
"Three." The boy replied and Sonic looked at the balloons in Jack's hands in confusion.
"I think you want to take another look at those balloons, is it three or is it actually two?" Amy asked with a sweet smile. As Jack thought long and hard Sonic suddenly shoved his balloon into the little boys hands.
Shadow quickly wrote down in his note book.
"Well thanks to Sonic, it's now certainly three." The pink hedgehog chuckled as she stood up and gave Sonic a gentle hug. "Very good Sonic." She whispered as they parted.
"Good." He mimicked.
Shadow's eyes widened. It was the first time he had ever heard Sonic speak. He quickly looked down and wrote it all down in his notebook...
Soon playtime came around and all the little children were outside playing. Shadow silently watched as Amy showed Sonic how to play with the toy cars in the sandbox.
He then noticed Amy walking over to him.
"Hello Miss Rose, I'm Dr. Shadow Doom." He said calmly and extended his hand towards her.
"So you're the one the hospital has trusted to teach Sonic how to talk?" The teacher laughed coldly. "I would have thought that with the money the government gave them they would get a professional."
"Well they hired me because I have no time constraints or family obligations." He explained.
"No experience." She added with a smirk. "Do you really think that you're actually qualified to teach this boy how to speak?" She mocked as some kids ran around them.
"I'm not here to teach him how to talk, I'm here to document how he goes about acquiring language, there's a huge different." He glared.
"Whatever." The pink hedgehog sneered and walked over to some children who were fighting about something. Shadow glared at her before he went to find Sonic.
He soon found him sat on one of the swings as one of the teachers gave him a small push.
"So Sonic, are you having fun?" He asked as he walked over to the two with a smile. The teacher helped Sonic off the swing and the boy quickly sat down and started playing with a fire engine.
He smiled and held up the fire engine he was playing with.
"Red!" He exclaimed happily to Shadow.
"Yes, that's red." He smiled and sat beside Sonic who was pushing the fire engine back and forth...
It was Saturday afternoon and Shadow and Miles brought Sonic to a grocery store near the hospital and watched him examine all the different things in the store.
"What you got there Sonic?" Miles asked when he saw Sonic pick up a tin of peas.
"Green." He muttered.
"Very good." Shadow smiled as he carefully took the tin off Sonic and placed the tin back on the shelf. Sonic slowly walked over to a man who was buying different soups.
He suddenly started to pull hard on the man's red coat.
"Oh no Sonic, don't do that!" miles exclaimed as he and Shadow tried to get the blue hedgehog to let go of the man and after three minutes they finally got him off.
But no sooner did they let him go he went over to the butcher section and stared at different meats.
One of the butchers noticed him staring at his meats.
"Hey there." He smiled, recognising Sonic from the TV. "You want this?" He asked and held out a piece of meat.
Sonic quickly took the piece of meat and started to feel the meat in his hand. He started to put it against his lips and rubbed it against his face.
Shadow, Miles and butcher watched him in wonder...
After they went to the store, Shadow and Miles took Sonic to the park. They played on the swings and the slide then they bought him some blueberry ice cream.
All the time Sonic had a huge smile on his face.
As they walked along the park Miles was talking to Shadow about how well Sonic was doing with the ebony hedgehog asking him questions about Sonic's recovery and development.
However, they both didn't noticed Sonic walk off and he soon found himself in front of a Rottweiler.
Suddenly the dog started snarling and barking at him and Sonic's eyes widened in fear saw something playing out in his mind.
(Flashback)
A terrified 5 year old Sonic Maurice was sat and strapped down to his potty chair in his cell. His father was kneeling down in front of him on his hands and knees.
"Grrrrr!" He growled.
Sonic had tears in his eyes as he shook in terror.
His father kept snarling at the boy and lunging at him again and again...
(End Flashback)
"AAAAHHHHH!"
Shadow and Miles suddenly jumped and quickly turned around to see Sonic curled up on the ground, cowering in fear as the large dog continued barking louder.
"Sonic!" Miles cried.
When he and Shadow got to him they saw he was mercilessly clawing his arms until they started to bleed. Shadow quickly grabbed his arms and Miles tried to pull the dog away...
