Changed Seasons Chapter 7
(Shadow's POV)
Pain
That was all I could feel at
this point, as I squatted behind one of the dumpsters of Station
Square waiting for a moment when the huge spherical robot that was
after me would be distracted, and I could attack.
It had been a
regular Saturday; I was running around Westopolis trying to find
something to do. I had gone to the park for some peace and quiet, and
then I had gone on one of my weekly runs. This week it had been to
some mountain peaks I had heard of from a couple of Mobians. They had
been talking about seeing this amazing lake that had been completely
untouched by civilization. It sounded like a good place to just
chill. Fortunately it had been just as the group had described it,
the water was a crystal clear blue teaming with life, and surrounding
it was a field of wild flowers stretching out for several long miles.
In the distance you could see the mighty peaks of surrounding
mountains, which from the distance had the color of a majestic blue.
It seemed a place of the many fairy tales that Maria had told me
about when I was younger; it had the air of complete innocence, and
magic. For at least an hour, I had sat leaning against a boulder
watching the clouds pass by over head, and then I began to feel
restless. I had stood up taking a glance at the beauty of the field,
before running off, letting my surrounding blur pass me as I gained
speed. I was just in the middle of station square when I thought I
heard a scream. I skidded to a halt and looked around trying to
identify the noise, when the ground started rumbling. The
right in front of me, a humongous spherical robot with four legs and
a small flat head rose from the ground.
Its head focused on me
for a second then it attacked, using its razor sharp claw like hands
to grab me. I dodged its two arms as they came for me, and then
quickly sent two Chaos Spears careening into its hull, but if
anything all it left was a burn mark.
I scowled at the monster as
it brought up its two front arms and rotating the hands in buzz saws.
I jumped up at least a story high and spin dashed straight into its
head. It started to fall back from the force, but as I uncurled my
self out of the spin dash, one of its arms came down, crushing me
into the ground. I winced at the excruciating pain in my not fully
healed rib cage, then ignoring the pain; I pushed the arm off of me,
and then held it, pulling the arm, and spun it around the square,
crashing it into one of the buildings.
Then I hit it with several
Chaos spears. This time, they actually made a big dent in the robots
hull, but that wasn't enough. It started to stand up, and while I
was distracted by the main body, I didn't notice one of its arms
grip onto my right leg with its razor sharp claws until it was too
late. It crashed me into one of the third floors of a near by
building, leaving a hole in one of the walls. The people inside the
office where I had landed ran from their cubicles panicking. At least
they got to safety; the robot then grabbed me by the torso, and threw
me in the air, then started kicking me like some sort of soccer ball.
As I went up for the third time, I went into a spin dash, and crashed
into its hull, this time I broke through the main shell exposing the
inside wires. I landed on the ground as it fell back, but immediately
felt a pain right through my leg. This wasn't working, I had to buy
myself time to come up with a way to beat this monstrosity. I ran to
an alley way and crouched behind a dumpster. 'This robot's shell
is just too strong for my regular attacks' I thought as I glanced
from behind the dumpster. The robot was searching for me, and would
find me in a few more moments. I looked around; there was nobody
around to get hurt by my next idea. I took a deep breath standing up,
then too off my rings. Immediately I felt my power threaten to
overwhelm me. I slowly opened my eyes seeing that everything seemed
to go by so slowly, which usually resulted from this sudden rush of
power. Finally the robot seemed to see me, but it was too late for
him. I jumped up next to his head, and letting all my pent up
aggression and anger rush forward, and feeling chaos energy flowing
through my body, released it all in my deadly, signature move;
"CHAOS, BLAST!!!"
Everything in the immediate radius was
blown to dusk. One minute the robot was standing there, and then next
moment there was nothing but a crater of burn ash.
I feel to my
feet still in pain, and picked up my rings. As I put them on, I felt
a little more energized, but only a little. I needed help. Holding my
bleeding right arm, I limped away, pain dazing my thoughts. Who could
I go to for help, at this time, the sky was already darkening. Amy;
she was the closest person to where I was at the moment. I took out
my Green Chaos emerald and summoned the energy I needed, to chaos
control right outside the house of Amy Rose. With the last of my
strength I limped to her doorstep, and knocked on the door. She
opened the door and the last I saw was her shocked face as I croaked
the last few words; "Amy… please…help." before my vision
darkened.
(End of POV)
(Normal POV
Amy couldn't help
the feeling of shock as she opened the door to find Shadow completely
covered in blood and scratches, and she almost panicked when she
heard his say in such a weak voice; "Amy…please…help" before
he completely lost all consciousness. She caught him recovering
quickly, and brought him to her couch. He would need to be cleaned up
first to make sure she didn't miss anything. She took his skates,
which she noticed were cracked up and broken, as well as his gloves
and rings, then carried him up to her bathroom. She set him in the
tub, and using the shower hose, sprayed him down with the warm water.
Then when all the blood had been cleared away, she dried him up with
a towel and carried him to her guest room. The walls were a gray
color, with a black bookshelf, cabinet, and desk, with a silver
computer, and silver lamps. The windows had gray blinds and black
curtains attached to a silver curtain rod, and completing it was a
bed with black sheets and comforter. She laid him on the bed and went
downstairs for her first aid kit. She then went back to examine her
guest. He had a long deep cut on his leg, and one across his chest,
then she noticed with almost annoyance, his rib cage, which were
already damaged were in even worse state than before. She sighed as
she tightly bandaged his rib cage, and then applied Neosporin to his
wounds. Other than his broken rib cage, and the deep cuts on his leg
and chest, and the minor wounds, he was okay. When she finished she
packed her stuff up couldn't help smiling at his sleeping form; the
sight was adorable. He was curled up in a little ball with a peaceful
look on his face. She patted his head affectionately. 'I hope he's
going to be okay' she thought. 'I wonder what happened to him.
She went downstairs to put her first aid kit up, and then went to
her living room to turn off her lights. Before she left she saw
Shadow's gloves and skates were she had left them, and put them on
the desk next to where he was silently sleeping.
She went to her
room right as the telephone rung.
"Hello"
"Hi, Amy its
Rouge, do you know where Shadow is, I just heard that he
was last seen fighting a huge robot in station square, and we cant
seem to find him."
"Yeah, he's here, looked pretty banged up
too"
"Oh, good, how's he doing?"
"He's fine, asleep
at the moment."
"Good, at least he's okay. Anyway, sorry to
bother you, see you at the party next week."
"Nah, its okay,
see you later."
She hung up the phone yawning, and went to
bed.
The next morning Amy woke up at ten in the after noon,
and stretched. Then after getting ready to start the day went down
the hall to see if he was awake. She found him just as she had left
him. She went to the kitchen and started making a breakfast of
pancakes, cinnamon take-aparts, with scrambled eggs, and bacon. She
had just come through the door when Shadow had woken up. It took him
a moment to take in his surroundings.
"So you're finally
awake, I made you breakfast." She said smiling brightly, as she
brought him his tray.
"Huh, oh, thanks. What happened?" He
said, evidentially still confused.
"I was going to ask you the
same thing. Rouge called and said you were fighting a robot at
station square though"
"Oh yeah, that's what happened" He
said as it all came flooding back. He finished eating then said
"thank you for breakfast, it was good"
"Your welcome" She
said brightly taking his tray. "Are you feeling better?" She
asked when she came back.
"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you for all
your help. Umm, I had better go, and stop intruding on your
hospitality. Where are my skates?" He asked trying to shake the
dazed feeling he had out of his head.
"Umm, I'm sorry to tell
you this, but they're sort of broken" She said cautiously
awaiting his reaction.
He groaned as a cold feeling filled his
stomach. "How badly"
"See for yourself" She said handing
him his pair of skates.
He started in
horror for a second at them. They were utterly useless to him now.
'That's just great' he thought. Now how was he supposed to do
anything now? With out his skates, he was no faster than Amy. How was
he supposed to compete with Sonic now?
He grimaced at that last
thought, and Amy took it as a sign that he was angry.
"Are you
mad at me?" She said quietly.
"What? No, of course not, you
helped me as much as you could, and I'm thankful for that. No, I'm
mad at that stupid fat-so, Eggman, for freaking sending his damned
robot at me."
"Oh" she said, as her spirit lifted. "I
think I have a pair of shoes you could borrow."
"Really,
Thanks" He said, as she went to her closet and took down a box of
shoes. They fit perfectly. "Thank you for all of your help, Amy.
I'll return the shoes as soon as I can."
He said before he
left.
Amy then went to clean up when she found Shadow's old
skates still in the guest room then as she picked them up got an
idea.
(A week later)
Shadow walked down the streets of
Westopolis in a bad mood. He had already returned Amy's shoes, and
was wearing black boots and a dark crimson colored jacket. He looked
up at the sky which was a blanket of dark gray clouds leaving the
entire tri-state area with not a ray of sunshine. He shivered as a
blast of cold air hit him, and then sighed. Now that he didn't have
his skates, he felt glum. Now he couldn't take his runs around the
world, and escape the dreary atmosphere of the city. Another thing
was the idea of everyone celebrating Christmas Eve all around him,
but leaving him by himself in the cold streets of the city. He
growled in annoyance as he stepped into a slushy puddle. Even though
it hadn't snowed at all, it was so cold outside that the puddles
were beginning to freeze but the passing of cars kept on getting in
the way of the freezing process leaving them in a state of slushy
water. With a sigh Shadow continued his walking and had just entered
the park.
Amy was jogging home down the streets of Westopolis
wearing her short red Christmas dress. It was long sleeved with white
fur at the end of the sleeves, and the bottom and at the top of the
dress, which showed the top of her arms, and a black belt at the
waist. She was also wearing matching boots, and a Santa hat. The
Christmas party had just ended at eleven it had been a huge success.
Almost everyone was there. They had a lot of fun conversating, and
playing games like charades, they had also exchanged gifts. It had
been a lot of fun, but she still felt a twinge of sadness at the
thought that Shadow hadn't attended. Then her heart gave a sudden
start when she saw, as if on cue, Shadow sitting on one of the
benches at the park deep in thought. As she walked down the path he
stood up as he saw her coming.
"Amy, what are you doing
here?"
"Hello Shadow, I just came to give you this" She said
smiling as she held out a beautifully rapped present.
Shadow was
shocked. Usually nobody even bothered to remember him.
"Really,
what…what is it?" He said still trying to recover from his
shock.
"Open it and find out silly" She said laughing warmly.
He slowly opened the lid and was astonished when he found his
skates, only this time they looked brand new as if they had never be
used before. Then more shock was added, as Amy, smiling warmly, put a
dark green scarf around his neck. He could feel the extra warmth
immediately.
"I got Tails to help me fix them." She said
cheerfully "They're suppose to help you go faster, but don't
tell Sonic that." She said jokingly. Then it was her turn to be
completely shocked as Shadow flashed the most heart warming smile.
"Amy…Thank you."
She returned the smile, as she felt
her spirit taking off completely. Then she chuckled as a snowflake
floated down right to the tip of Shadow's nose. They looked around
at the marvelous sight as it began to snow surrounding them in a
white moonlit glow.
Amy smiled around then her gaze found
Shadow's watching the sight with his smile still playing at his
lips.
"Hey, it's getting cold out, want to come over for some
hot chocolate?"
"I don't want to impose; you've done so
much for me already"
"Nonsense, it's no trouble at all"
then before he could say anything else, she grabbed his hand pulling
him along.
It was passed twelve 'o' clock. Shadow put
down his second mug of hot chocolate feeling warm and sleepy. Amy had
taken the opportunity to ask him a few questions, trying not to be
too nosey.
"So, you haven't celebrated Christmas in almost 60
years!?" She said shocked.
"Well, yes, but I was asleep in an
ice cube for 50, so it's not entirely my fault." He said
shrugging.
"So what was it like celebrating Christmas in
space?"
He almost chuckled at the question.
"Its pretty
much like celebrating it here I guess. The only complication was, the
Professor and Maria liked natural trees better, so it was a challenge
getting it to the ark and back with out killing it."
"Hmm"
She thought this over. When her mug was empty she went to the kitchen
for more hot chocolate, but when she came back, Shadow was fast
asleep, curled up in a little ball again. The only thing that was
different from the last time was, this time he was smiling. Smiling
she took the cups to the kitchen sink, got him a blanket, and kissed
him on the forehead before going to bed.
"Merry Christmas,
Shadow the hedgehog"
