Shadow's Journal:
When I first told Rouge about my problem, she laughed at me, thinking I was joking. When it first happened I got annoyed with her, but now that I think about I can understand why she laughed. I'm Shadow the Hedgehog. No one would ever think I was careless enough to lose anything or ask for help. Even still, I told her, "Rouge, I'm Shadow, have I ever been one to joke?" and that got her to be serious.
We searched until the sunset. It was fruitless. Rouge told me the signal was far away, off of this continent and by the ocean. She couldn't fly that long, so we needed an airship of some sort. Tails wasn't around and it's not like he would help me without skepticism anyway. We would have to request one from GUN headquarters in the morning. And me, being the good friend I am, invited her to stay the night, since it would be a waste of time for her to go all the way back home only to come right back here in the morning. I led her to a guest bedroom, "See you in the morning Rouge," I told her. And she replied somewhat sulking, "Yeah, goodnight Shadow."
Later that night, things got very strange. I woke up to a light in my bathroom, and I become furious. A burglar, Now, of all times?! I grabbed the gun in my nightstand and sidled over to the bathroom. I kicked the door open and pointed the gun right at Rouge's head.
She was only wearing a see through purple nightgown. I dropped the gun and told her to get out. "Shadow, what's wrong? I just came in here since this bathroom is bigger, or are you bothered by what I'm wearing?" she asked with lust in her voice.
"Get out," I told her again, with more anger in my voice. I didn't want her to do what she was doing; she was one of my best friends, that's it, nothing more. She stepped toward me as she whispered, "I've been there for you for years Shadow, be there for me just this once, and then we can forget about it and just be friends." Apparently she had forgotten the times I've saved her.
She grabbed my hand, and slid off my glove, then reached for my power ring.
"Don't touch that," I told her. She nodded and removed my other glove. As she was feeling my fingers, I took off her nightgown. As the scene played through, I kept telling myself, just this once, I've put the past behind me, forget about Maria.
I laid Rouge on the bed and told her, "Remember, come tomorrow, this never happened." She nodded with a crooked smile. And throughout that night, I lost myself completely.
Maria's POV:
I awoke with tears in my eyes and I didn't know why. Perhaps it had been a nightmare, or maybe I was hoping to wake up on the ARK with Grandfather telling me breakfast was ready, and that Shadow was waiting for me. But no, I was in an unfamiliar royal bed in a royal room in some abandoned castle on Earth. This is just like a fairy tale, I told myself.
"Amy?" I said weakly, "Are you nearby?" My voice was weak and cracked, but at least I could finally talk.
"Oh good you're awake," she exclaimed as she walked in carrying something, "And you can talk too! I have so many things to ask you!" I smiled; Amy was such a sweet and bubbly little pink hedgehog. She handed me a pair of white gloves and a pair of blue boots. "These are more practical than human clothes, they were mine but I like pink better."
As I put them on and examined myself in the mirror, I listened to her onslaught of questions and answered each one thoughtfully.
"Where are you from?"
"I was born on Earth, but then immediately taken into space."
"Why?"
"I was very sick and needed to be away from others."
"Are you better now?"
"I...I think you could say that."
"Is that why you're back on Earth?"
"I don't know how I got here."
"Why were you naked?"
"Um...well...You see when I went to sleep, I was a human, and when I woke up, I was in a strange fairy tale like place as a hedgehog, and I didn't feel sick anymore. Then I ran and you saved me."
She smiled sweetly and told me, "We'll figure this out together, but for now, what's your name?"
"Maria."
Her eyes grew larger as she whispered to herself, "Must be a coincidence."
"Where are we?" I asked her. "We're in Soleanna, the city of water; this is the abandoned old castle outside the forest. The main city is that ways some." I told her I wanted to see the main city. Her eyes lit up as she said cheerily, "Oh this'll be fun, I was visiting this place with Sonic but he ran off for some reason. Now we can go sight-seeing like best friends!" I smiled rather giddily. Never having a girl best friend before, I decided to savor and enjoy the experience and get serious later. Besides, maybe I would learn some things about Shadow and Grandfather from the people in the city.
