Chapter 4
The next day, I was talking to Rouge about Jackie. "She's really nice and all, but I
don't know if I should go on the next date with her," I said. "I'm not so sure if I could handle it."
"Well, if you think she's nice, then maybe you should, but that's your choice," said
Rouge.
"Ahem." Rouge and I turned to see Jackie standing in front of us.
"Oh, hey, Jackie," I said.
"Who's she?" Jackie was pointing to Rouge.
"This is Rouge the Bat. She's a friend of mine."
"Shadow's been telling me about you," said Rouge. Suddenly, Jackie was circling
and looking at her. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I'm just examining your outfit," Jackie replied. "It's really lovely on you."
"Thank you. I appreciate your compliment."
"Yeah, I wish I had an outfit like yours. It's really…stylish."
"Okay."
"But if I were you, I wouldn't wear pink over my boobs."
"Excuse me, but what's that suppose to mean?"
"Oh, nothing, I'm just saying a darker color would better for an outfit like that. I'd
like to borrow it, but it would probably be too big for me. Maybe it's because your butt's so huge."
Rouge and I were shocked when she said those words. "I can't believe you just
said that! Where are your manners?!"
"Probably at my house." Jackie laughed about her joke, but Rouge and I didn't like
it.
"Jackie, maybe you should get going," I said.
"Okay. See you later, Fat-Bat. Bye, Shady!"
As Jackie walked away from us, Rouge said, "Did you just here the way she talked
to me like that?!"
"I know," I said. "She never usually does that." I took out my cell phone and looked
at the clock. "I've got to get going. I'll call you tomorrow."
"Alright, see ya."
As I walked away from Rouge, I dialed Halley's cell phone number and waited for
her to answer.
"Hey, Shadow. How're you doing?" I heard her voice on the other line.
"Halley, there's something I've got to tell you. It's really important."
"What's wrong?"
"I don't think I can take your friend out anymore. A few minutes ago, she just
insulted Rouge and called her Fat-Bat."
"Wow, that's a better insult than what I would've called her."
"What was that?"
"Nothing. Why don't you want to hang out with Jackie?"
"I don't know, besides the insult, I just don't feel confident about this. What do I
do?"
"Well, I think maybe you should just stay calm and--" The call was broken up. I
only heard ringing noises.
"Halley, you still there? Halley?" I checked my phone; it said that my call was
disconnected. "Dang. Now what do I do?" Then I thought I should just try to reassure myself on my next date.
A couple hours later, I met Jackie at her house. I held a box of dark chocolate in
my hand, I figured that she liked them.
"Thanks a lot," said Jackie, eating one.
"You're welcome," I replied, still feeling a little nervous.
"Oh, guess what, I've found the perfect place for us to go on this date."
"And where's that?"
"We're going to…Gothic Park!"
I was startled. "Where?!"
"Gothic Park. It's where all Goths go to have fun. They've got concerts, horrific
rides, piercings, tattoos (fake ones, not real), and you get to dress like a Goth too. Plus, couples get in
for free."
I was even more nervous at that time. "Uh…Jackie, I don't know about this."
"C'mon, Shadow, it'll be fun. Besides, you got to pick on our last date, so now it's
my turn."
"We're not going there!"
"Please…?" Jackie made a girly face with the pouted lips. I tried to resist, but it
was too cute.
I finally gave up. "Oh, all right. We'll go, but I won't like it."
"Great, let's go!" Jackie grabbed my hand and ran.
"Whoa, slow down. You're dragging me."
"Sorry, but I want to get there early so we won't have to wait in line."
I sighed. "I'm going to regret this."
When we got to Gothic Park, I wasn't too happy about it. "This is it?!" I asked.
"This is Gothic Park you were telling me about?!"
"Oh yeah," said Jackie. "It's very dark and mysterious. A lot of Goths come here,
usually to get away from their parents or to go on a date. Don't you think it's awesome?"
"I guess…" In my mind, I thought, "Not really."
"Hello," said a raccoon in a black cape. He came out of nowhere and startled me.
"Um…hi," I said.
"It's a pleasure to see you, Master Zeppelin," Jackie hissed.
"Same to you, my dear," said the Goth in a dark voice. He kissed Jackie's hand.
"You on another one of those dates?"
"Yep. This is Shadow the Hedgehog."
"A pleasure to welcome you here, Shadow."
"You too, uh…Zeppelin," I said, shaking his hand. I felt something wet and sticky
on my hand. I took it away from Zeppelin and looked at it. It was covered with fake blood. It crept me
out.
"Sorry, it's part of my makeup."
"Shadow, Zeppelin's one of the managers of Gothic Park. He was actually my
first date, until he dumped me and then fell in love with another Goth; Suzie the Chipmunk."
"Shut it." Zeppelin turned to me. "I can see that you're new here. Soon, you'll
become one of us."
"I'll, uh…have to try to remember…that," I said nervously.
"Enjoy yourselves at Gothic Park. May darkness be with you." Zeppelin smirked
and walked backwards into the shadows.
"Creepy," I said to Jackie.
"Yeah," said Jackie. "That's what I love about him. Anyway, let's go in." Jackie
took my hand and we went inside the 'haunted' theme park. I swallowed nervously, feeling less
confident about it.
"So, what are we going to do first?" I asked.
"Well, if we're going to have fun here, we need to dress properly," said Jackie.
She pointed to her left side. "There's a dressing room for boys and girls. We should get some good
clothes from there."
"Are you sure we have to do this?"
"Hey, don't worry about it. I promise you can take them off afterwards."
About fifteen minutes later, Jackie came out form the dressing room in her
gothic clothes. She had her hair down and she wore a lot of facial makeup. She also wore a black jacket
over her tank top, Gothic gloves, and baggy pants with silver chains on them.
"Now this makes me look sexy," she said. "C'mon, Shadow. We don't want to
be late for the ceremony."
"No thanks," I said.
"Shadow, c'mon. Let me at least see your outfit." I came out of the dressing
room, looking like an idiot. I had fake blood dripping from my red quills, a lot of black eye liner near my
eyes, a T-shirt with torn sleeves a red pitchfork on it, baggy pants, and black bat decorations on the red
cuffs on my gloves and socks. I also had a fake tattoo of a skull on my arm. Believe me, I hated it.
"Jackie, I look stupid."
"Aw, Shady, you don't look that bad. Besides, it's the perfect outfit for the
ceremony."
"Uh, what's this ceremony about again?"
"You'll find out when we get there." Jackie grabbed my hand and we ran to
watch the opening ceremony. On the stage, we saw Zeppelin and another Goth appear from a smoke
screen. I figured that the Goth was Zeppelin's girlfriend, since she was a chipmunk and I was right because I saw them
kissing. Zeppelin checked to see if the microphone was on and he made his speech.
"Attention all gothic teenagers, this is your master speaking. Welcome to Gothic Park, the most
brainwashing theme park in all of Mobius. Tell me, are you tired of parents telling you what to do or not
do?"
"YES!" the audience answered, including Jackie. As for me, I just stood there
quietly.
"Do you wish to go out to a place you think is cool and filled with nothing but
suspense and excitement?"
"YES!"
"One more question, do you want to experience all the darkness of this theme
park?"
"YES!"
"Then scram and have the time of your life!" After that, everyone scattered all
over the place. Zeppelin and his girlfriend did the same thing.
"Let's go, Shady!" Jackie screamed as she pulled my hand and dragged me, again.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked.
"To one of my favorite games in this theme park, Chao Hunting."
I was surprised. "Chao Hunting?"
"Yeah, all you have to do is shoot all the Angel Chao, not the Dark Chao. They can
go by pretty quickly, so stay on your toes." Jackie went first for her game. She took out a coin and put
in the slot. The person at the stand gave her a fake gun and she got ready for the game. "As Solid
Snake would say, 'it's Showtime'." When an Angel Chao appeared, Jackie shot it and it fell down. She got
100 points that time. She did the same to all the other Chao in the game. I kept hearing her say, "Die,
Chao! DIE!!" I was a little bit embarrassed when people were staring at us. Jackie just ignored them and
continued shooting the Angel Chao. However, by accident, she shot a Dark Chao and didn't notice. She
lost the game. "Oh, man. I always keep shooting that cute little Dark Chao. Why do they make this
game so difficult?"
When I saw Jackie's ears droop with sadness, I suddenly said, "I'll play it for
you."
Jackie looked at me. "Really? You want to try it out?"
"Sure. I bet you I can win a prize for you."
"Knock yourself out." Jackie handed me one of her coins and I put it into the slot
machine. The same person from the stand gave me the fake gun and I got ready for action. "Be
careful, Shadow. This game isn't so easy."
"Don't you worry about me. I can handle it." When the game had started, an
Angel Chao appeared. I shot it with my gun and earned a hundred points. I kept shooting them all and I
didn't miss a single one. Nor did I shoot any Dark Chao. After the game was over, everyone clapped and
cheered for me.
Jackie was surprised. "Oh my God. I can't believe it. You won and beat the
record!"
"Now that's what you call Chao Hunting," I said with a smirk on my face.
"Congrats on that spectacular performance," said the person at the stand.
"Pick any prize that you want."
When I faced Jackie, she pointed to a plush toy of a vampire. I smiled with
agreement.
"I'll take the vampire plush toy," I said. After the guy handed it to me, I gave it to
Jackie.
She smiled and hugged me. "Thanks, Shadow."
"You're welcome." I pulled her away from me. "I was just trying to make you
happy, that's all." Suddenly, I felt someone touching my arm. I turned to see another Goth looking at it.
"Uh…can I help you?" I asked.
"Sorry, it's just that your arm is so sexy, especially with the tattooed skull on it,"
said the Goth.
I didn't know what to say. "Uh…thank you?"
"Hey, I heard you broke the record in Chao Hunting. That totally rocked."
Suddenly, a bunch of other gothic girls came up to me, talking to me very fast.
"You're such a hottie."
"You've got a lot of fake blood on your quills. I like it."
"Can I touch your neck?"
I began to become very nervous when they all surrounded me. "Whoa, wait a
minute," I said. "One Goth at a time."
"What's your name?" said a Gothic pink cat
"…Shadow," I answered.
"Shadow!" I heard all the girls say at once. They had creepy smirks on their faces
and it scared me. Suddenly, out of nowhere, one of them jumped on me and screamed, "I get his
shoes!"
"Well, I'm grabbing his shirt!" said another Goth.
They all jumped and attacked me like wild animals. "Hey, ladies, please. Not so
rough! Ouch, hey, cut it out! My quills are attached, you know."
Just when I thought I was going to be killed, Jackie pulled the girls away from me.
"Hey, get your hands off of my man!" She took out a bunch of bombs from her pocket. "I've got
bombs here and I'm not afraid to use them!" The girls suddenly got scared and ran away. "That's right.
Just keep on running, you skunk bags! Get out of my site!" Jackie helped me up from the ground.
"You're welcome."
"Thank you," I said. "You sure know how to handle those girls."
"I know. I wouldn't want anyone to try to hurt you. You're lucky that I'm here."
We smiled at each other. "Oh, speaking of girls, remember how yesterday you told me about how you
were created fifty years ago?"
"Yes, why?"
"Well, you never told me anything about your creator's granddaughter. What
was she like?"
I was thinking about Maria. "Well…she was a human girl. She had long blonde hair,
blue eyes, and…I believe her dress and shoes were blue too."
"Wow, I hear that humans are extremely rare. Was she your best friend?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact. She was the only friend that I had in my entire life. We
used to talk about stuff and sat next to each other, watching Mobius from outer space. We've always
wondered what it would be like to visit there or what was my purpose."
"That's cool to know."
"Yeah, but I don't get a chance to see her anymore."
"Why? Did she move away?"
I sighed. "No. She…she died on the ARK. It was a tragic moment." I was thinking
of a flashback inside my head. "We were running from the GUN soldiers because they were about to kill
me. I didn't want Maria to get involved, but she insisted on running away with me. We ended up being
trapped in a secret room. One of the soldiers tried to shoot me, but it was blocked. Maria sacrificed
herself to save me, but I was very shocked. I couldn't bear to see her get hurt.
"Suddenly, I was sealed inside a capsule and I tried to break free from it. Then, I
saw Maria near the switch to transporting the capsule to Mobius. I begged her to not do this, but she
didn't listen to me. Before she died, she asked me to keep a promise to her. After she said her last
words, she pull the lever and I was sent to the planet. I never saw that girl ever again." My flashback
ended.
"I'm very sorry, Shadow. I remembered when my third date died of pneumonia.
He had an infection inside his lungs, but he didn't know why. I told him that he should stop drinking, but
he wouldn't listen to me. That's sort of one of the reasons why he dumped me, 'cause he thought I was
a freak by telling him to cut out drinking. I finally realized that he loved his drinks more than me."
"Gosh, I didn't know about that."
"It's okay. Why don't we just continue our fun before the park closes?"
Before Jackie grabbed me, I said, "Jackie, this date has been…alright and all, but
I'm getting really tired and I'd like to go home."
"Aw, c'mon, Shady. Just a few more rides and then you can. Please?" She made
the girly face again and it was getting annoying. I still couldn't resist.
I shrugged. "Oh…okay. But just a few rides, no more, no less."
Jackie grabbed my hand and dragged me again.
I sighed. "Here we go again."
At midnight, I went home and took a quick shower and washed off the makeup.
When I got out, I put my clothes in the hamper and my shoes in my closet. When I went into my room, I
found something shocking. There were pictures of Jackie all over my walls and the ceiling. It was a
nightmare. When I climbed into my bed, I tried to hide in the covers so I would try to ignore the
horrifying images. However, it didn't work.
