Me: There's not much left in the story.
Sonic: Really?
Me: Unfortunately, yes.
Shadow: Why can't you just keep writing?
Me: Because I don't have enough plot!
Sonic: What about the sequel?
Me: New story, new plot. It wouldn't work well to just keep going.
*Sonic sighs*
Sonic: Keep writing.
The four friends appeared deeper in the forest. Silver looked around. "Sonic, you need to work on that," the ivory hedgehog said. Sonic laughed nervously.
"Yeah…" Shadow reached over to Tails and picked up a Chaos Emerald.
"Go for it, Shadow," Sonic said.
"Chaos control!" Shadow shouted. They disappeared once more and appeared in Tails' workshop. Sonic looked around.
"Jeez, how are you so good at that?" Sonic asked.
"Probably because I keep my mind focused. Unlike some other hedgehogs I know," Shadow said cheekily.
"Hey!" Sonic protested. Shadow laughed and held Sonic closely.
"But you do know I love you, right?" Shadow said. He pecked Sonic on the lips.
"Yeah, yeah," Sonic said, rolling his eyes, but he was smiling. They kissed once more.
"Hey guys, we've got work to do!" Tails said. The couple separated and made their way to the computer where Tails was sitting. "I need you guys to put the emeralds on the shelves. I need to analyze the emeralds' powers." The walls opened up and a few shelves pushed forward. Shadow, Sonic and Silver brought the emeralds and placed them on the shelves.
"Hey Tails?" Shadow called.
"Yeah?" Tails responded.
"How come all your machinery is behind the walls and not out here on the floor?"
"Well, I think it looks neater this way. Storage is easier, and it's easier to manipulate everything this way."
"If you say so…" Shadow said. The screen jumped to life with data collected from the emeralds. Tails looked at the data intensely, clicking on new windows that opened, reading everything and taking it in.
"It's weird," Tails finally said. "The emeralds are a pure power source. They generate more power than even an atomic reactor! But this power seems more benign. Imagine powering the world with these!" Tails blue eyes shone with wonder. "There is so much I could learn from these!"
"Let's worry about that later. We have to find Black Doom!" Sonic said.
"You're right, you're right," Tails said. He began to mumble to himself. "Now, I have to prevent the energy fluctuations from devolving into uncontrollable oscillations… Remove the crosstalk interference between the Gaussian Wave packets… Ooh! Maybe if I use D'Alembert's formula to solve the one-dimensional wave equation…" Sonic shook his head.
"I will never understand half of the things he's saying."
"Me either," Shadow responded. Tails started clacking away at the keyboard. He smiled broadly.
"I've got it!" Tails suddenly cried out. A loud whirring could be heard behind the walls. Tails feverishly typed at the keyboard and started to click on different programs. After a few minutes, the walls parted once more. The Chaos Emeralds were floating on the shelves, and on the bottom shelf were three golden rings. Shadow walked over and picked one up.
"This is it?" he asked, confused.
"Yep!" Tails replied proudly. "These rings effectively cancel out the negative energies associated with the Emeralds, letting you stay in your super form!" Sonic walked over and picked one of the other ones up. He got down on one knee and locked eyes with Shadow.
"Shadow," Sonic said seriously. "Would you…" Shadow's breath hitched. "Please wait while I put on my ring?" Shadow sighed, and rolled his eyes. He gently pushed Sonic to the floor.
"Hey!" Sonic cried out as he tumbled to the ground.
"That's what you get for doing that, faker," Shadow said with a grin.
"I am not a faker. I just like to tease!" Sonic replied, laughing.
"Just put on the rings," Tails said. "We have to catch Black Doom!" The four hedgehogs placed their rings on their right ring fingers. Sonic reached up and scooped up the Chaos Emeralds. The cobalt hedgehog brought them back to the group. Once more, they began to float around the hedgehogs. They braced for the impact and felt a surge of power. They all groaned and grunted, feeling the massive amounts of energy flowing through them. The sensation lessened and the three stood up taller. Each of them was yellow with a bright aura surrounding them. Tails grabbed hold of Silver's hand with one hand, and shifted around something in his other hand.
"What are you carrying?" Sonic asked.
"Oh, this?" Tails asked, lifting up his other hand. "It's just a video recorder. I want to watch you guys use your powers so I can study them later." Sonic shrugged.
"How are we going to find Black Doom?" Shadow asked.
"That's the easy part," Tails said. "Silver, I'm sure you can focus on his mind and track him that way."
Silver smiled. "You got it. Just hold onto me." Silver closed his eyes for a brief moment. "Got him. Chaos control!" Silver shouted.
The four vanished from Tails' garage and reappeared in a small clearing. Sonic looked up. True to Silver's prediction, Black Doom was floating above them.
He narrowed his eyes. "So you have managed to find me once more. A pity."
"No, not a pity," Sonic said. "I'm not going to let you destroy our home!"
"I would like to see you try," Black Doom sneered. Shadow roared and shot up to hit Black Doom square in the chest. With a thud, Black Doom was propelled backwards. Shadow flew back to his friends and Sonic and Silver joined him in the air. Black Doom narrowed his eyes.
"So your powers may match my own. Very well." The third eye on Black Doom's forehead began to pulse. It suddenly detached to form a floating six-pointed creature. Something in the three hedgehog's minds clicked. They suddenly knew every power they could possess. With a smile Shadow brought his hands to his front and aimed them at the eye creature,
"Chaos Spear!" Shadow shouted. A beam of light shot out from his hands and pierced the creature. It launched backwards, trailing sticky black blood. Black Doom roared and brought back his hands. A ball of darkness formed and he shot it at the three friends. The three scattered wordlessly and reformed in a ring around Black Doom. They all suddenly shot forward and pummeled the alien. With a shriek, Black Doom fell to the ground. He picked himself up and closed his eyes in concentration. Silver read his mind and saw the powerful and fast attack that was coming their way.
As soon as Black Doom released his built up energy, Silver shouted. "Time stop!" Sonic, Shadow and Silver were still moving around, but Tails, Black Doom and the purple beams aimed at the trio were stopped.
"Nice save!" Sonic commented.
The three moved in closer to Black Doom and suddenly time resumed. The attack flew off into space, harmless. Tails gasped at the sudden movement of his friends. Seizing the opportunity, the three dashed into Black Doom once more, pummeling him into the ground. They separated and Shadow focused his will.
"Chaos Blast!" A ring of pure energy shot from his hands, aimed at Black Doom. The blast burned the ground to a crisp, but Black Doom floated up, unscathed. He laughed coldly.
"Foolish. I am immortal! Do you not remember? I will conquer this Earth for myself. All of its peoples will be under my rule to be used as food for my growing army. I will conquer the universe!" Black Doom said.
"Oh, I know you said that," Shadow commented. "But nobody's immortal. Chaos Rift!" A wormhole opened next to Black Doom and it began to pull him in. But the alien held tightly to his position. The rift closed and Shadow heard a small chink. It almost sounded like metal cracking. Suddenly, an intense pain raged across his body. He cried out and fell to the ground in a heap. His ring broke in two and fell off his finger. The yellow glow faded and he returned to normal.
"Shadow!" Sonic cried. He flew over quickly. "Are you all right?" he asked worriedly.
"I… I'm fine…" Shadow croaked. "Just get this bastard for me." Sonic pecked him on the lips.
"You know I will." Sonic scooped him up and brought him to Tails' side. "Stay here. I want you out of danger." Shadow weakly nodded. Sonic flew back to the battle zone, where Silver was pummeling Black Doom with Chaos Spear after Chaos Spear. He suddenly fell to the ground with a cry. His aura faded. Sonic was the last one with any Chaos Powers. Sonic flew over and brought his ivory friend back to Tails. Sonic dashed back to Black Doom.
"So it's just you and me now," Sonic said, floating in the air.
"Pity this won't last long."
"You got that right! Spear of Light!" A longer, brighter spear launched out of Sonic's hands and hit Black Doom square in the chest. It pierced straight through and lodged in place. "Yes!" Sonic celebrated. The alien looked down at the spear protruding from his chest. He brought up a hand and pulled it out. No blood came out with it and no wound appeared on his chest. The spear vaporized.
"That's impossible!" Shadow shouted.
Black Doom chuckled. "But I am immortal." Sonic closed his eyes and thought for a moment.
How can I defeat something that's immortal? Sonic thought to himself. Suddenly, he got an idea. A steely look came into his eyes. "Chaos Bind!" Sonic shouted, putting as much energy as he could into the Chaos Power. Black Doom froze in place. Sonic touched down and grabbed hold of his arm.
"What are you going to do with him?" Shadow demanded.
"I'm taking him to the center of the sun," Sonic said. "If he's truly immortal, then I can only trap him. And nothing can escape from the sun."
"But you'll die!" Shadow screamed, tears forming in his eyes.
"I will," Sonic said grimly. "But I will die a hero. Tails, I know you have your camera running. I want everyone to know what could have happened and what we did to stop it. I want my Mom, Knuckles, Amy, and everyone else to know that I did my best. Even if I could do this all over again, I would still choose this."
"There has to be another way!" Shadow shouted, tears running freely down his cheeks.
"But there isn't," Sonic said calmly. "You and Silver lost your Chaos Powers. I'm the last hope. And Shadow…"
"Yes," Shadow whispered hoarsely.
"I love you," Sonic whispered. "Chaos control!" Sonic screamed, putting all of his will, power, and energy into this one final act. In a blinding flash of light, Sonic and Black Doom vanished. Shadow saw a glint of gold fall from where Sonic's hand once was and he swore he heard a small chink as it hit the ground. He numbly walked over and found Sonic's ring on the charred ground, broken in two. He had lost his powers. Shadow sank to the ground and lost all his inhibitions. He cried out loudly, the tears flowing like a river.
Tails and Silver were both crying, but neither could compare to the grief Shadow felt. They brought up their ebony friend and held him tightly. No words were spoken and none could compare to the grief they all felt. Even though Shadow hadn't known Sonic for much more than a week, it felt like a lifetime. His friend, his lover, was gone forever. With a wail Shadow sank to the ground once more, inconsolable.
Epilogue
Shadow walked numbly forward. It was one week later and he had returned to the place where Sonic had disappeared. Everyone else had visited to put flowers down. It was Sonic's unofficial grave. Shadow was carrying a few flowers and set them down on the spot Sonic had disappeared from. He had been avoiding the place all week. He couldn't deal with the pain, but today, he knew he had to face it. The black hedgehog smiled sadly.
"Hey, Sonic," Shadow said. A tear rolled down his cheek. "I miss you. Everyone misses you. The whole school is actually in mourning. If things hadn't turned out this way, it would have been a lot different. No one believed our story at first, but knowing you, you would have convinced them then and there. We showed them what we found in Eggman's base and the video Tails took. But at first they still thought it was some long prank we were pulling.
"But after seeing us—all of us crying, I think they started to open up. The video would have been hard to fake, but there are still people out there who think it was some grand scheme to get out of classes.
"Knuckles has already moved on. Yes, he was upset for… I think a day, but he now has his eyes elsewhere. Amy was so upset that you were gone. She's still crying and wearing black. Some girlfriend of mine. I guess she always loved you, even though you never loved her. Tails and Silver are doing okay now. They're still together, but wish you could have seen them without worrying about Eggman. And as for me… well… I miss you… I miss your smile, your laugh, that cocky grin you get once in a while. I miss having your arms around me." Shadow stopped to sob loudly. "I just miss you." He sank to the ground, bawling. After a minute, he recovered. He wiped away the tears and stood back up.
"I'm sorry… well, it turned out that Eggman caused my house fire. Figures. But my mom was inside. I was homeless and an orphan. But your Mom saw the feelings we had for each other in the video Tails took. She took me in and said it would be what you would have wanted for me. She didn't care that you were gay. She was just glad that you had found someone to love. Tails' and Silver's moms were so happy that they were okay. But… I'm alone… I lost you. My best friend, my lover…
"I just need you, Sonic," Shadow whispered hoarsely. Shadow felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around. "Sonic..."
Me: The end.
Shadow: That's it?
Me: Yes. "Changes" is now officially over.
Sonic: So get to writing that sequel you were thinking about!
Me: I will try, but I have a busy summer ahead of me.
Shadow: Then make time.
Me: All right, all right. I'll get to work. Well, I hope you guys have enjoyed this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it!
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