The day went on just fine after Amy returned from meeting the monster who saved her from both the night of her dare, the bear, and now when she was about to tumble again. She was able to return before her mother came, which was at least few hours after she went into her house. Her mom didn't know a thing about her leaving, and Amy was going to keep it that way. She made a list of questions about Shadow and what he is since no one has ever heard of a "naga". Maybe her teacher would give her a perfect A if she twists things around so his name wasn't on it. She did make sure he wasn't going to be found out. Or it would be her head in his mouth, or life squeezed out of her body.
The next day was anything, but normal. Tho Amy was still told to stay home since it was a weekend, luckily. She did however wanted to check on her friends since she barely spoke to them about how they made it out okay and how Scourge and his group were dealt with. Amy was sitting in her room working on a few files on her computer while she was talking with her two friends on screen. Her mother was, again, out for work, and will be getting home late. Again. Which helped Amy a lot since she was hoping to go out and see Shadow and ask him some more questions.
"I heard you two got off with a warning, right?" Amy asked while she searched the internet for ideas on nagas.
Cream answered first, "Well...I'm grounded from the television and my computer, but mom said I can be on as long as I'm doing school work. So I'm kinda being sneaky here." Sally replied after sounding more annoyed.
"My dad said I won't have a phone for a long time. I got my computer, but that has my Instagram photos! Damn..."
Amy chuckled at her little banter, "At least we don't have to do that stupid dare. I'd hate to see myself in a latex suit..." she sighed with a small uncomfortable shiver.
"No kidding! By the way, have you seen Sonic yet? He's been asking about you since that night. He wasn't able to see you in the hospital since his father grounded him." Sally asked.
"Yeah. He and I talked yesterday and he said both he and Scourge were grounded. But he's glad that I'm okay, tho."
Cream sighed, "That's good to hear. But I'm worried for what Scourge might do to us since he got in trouble. He might blame it on us and would probably do something bad.." she answered sadly.
"It'll be okay, Creamy. I doubt he will. He never killed anyone and he hasn't hurt anyone since. The least he could do to us is talk trash like always to annoy us."
Sally groaned out loud. Amy could almost tell that she was rolling her eyes at that, "I think that's still worse. We dealt with him a lot, but his annoying lewd talk is driving me nuts!"
Amy shrugged, "I hear ya. I still don't know what Fiona sees in him?" she heard Cream giggle on her side.
"Maybe because she wants his money. I heard she's a gold digger who mooches off a couple of rich guys. Even during her relationship with Scourge!" this made the other two girls chuckle at her small joke.
"Wow, Cream! I didn't think you can be a bad girl! But I totally get ya on that!" Sally joked, "I'm glad she's not into girls and would try to get my parent's money. Little tramp already has filth for cash." Amy continued to laugh at their mean jokes.
"Yeah. Your right. Hey, before I hang up...you guys know anything about a "naga"?" Amy asked while staring at her screen at a window full of stuff on half snake, half people hoping to hear anything from them.
"This again..? Amy, I know you want to know more, but we don't know anything about it. Plus, that thing at Black Hills probably isn't a nega." Sally asked suspiciously.
"Naga, Sally. Na-ga. And..I just wanted to ask because my project just needs a bit more details about it. So I was just checking.
Cream spoke up softly, "Sorry, miss Amy. I wish I could help you more with it.
"Ahhh! Don't worry about it. I'll look up on good ole' Google. Even tho it sucks most of the time.."
Sally chuckled, "You got that right. I think it's much better than asking "Siri". Seriously! I said "Why don't we go and get milkshakes" then I noticed it actually read "Why don't we bow and get milk quakes". I hate that so damn much..."
All three started to laugh at her little joke till Amy checked at the top of the screen to see it was time to leave, "Hey, I'll talk to you two later. Well I hope to at least since I'm practically gonna be stuck in the Stone Age.."
They both shouted out excitedly, "We'll send you a post card! Later!"
With that, Amy hanged up on them with a couple clicks from her bluetooth mouse all the while chuckling at those two. Of course they wouldn't know about nagas. They're not real, well Shadow is real, but no one knows about them. Google seems to know, but showing him this webpage might be interesting to see what his answer might be to it. After taking a few minutes for it to print and get things ready for her departure, she made sure to pack up something better than a can of pepper spray. She kept a steak knife from the kitchen from her mother's peeping eye to use as a makeshift weapon for any other attacks in the forest.
Stuffing the knife carefully in the bag, she holds it up and moves over to the printer taking the paper after it was done printing. She neatly folds it and stuffs it in the bag along with her other things she took yesterday. Now that her mom was gone, and the day is , she was ready to go out and venture back to the forest.
"Damn...first I had to deal with people coming into my forest, and now I have to deal with this weakling.."
Shadow was nestled high into a tree. His lower half was curled around the trunk so he wouldn't be able to fall. He had his back against the trunk with his arms behind his head and eyes looking up at the sky. He wasn't hungry since the bear was a pretty good size to last a while, but he had some fruit that he stored away which helped him settle for now. All he was doing now was watching the birds fly over the tree tops and the clouds float on by. It was one of the places he thought was a good way to think, or relax. His cave was fine, but being outside was also good, too.
He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before slowly and quietly letting it out. This was nice. He loved how fresh the air considering the putrid air that is around the city. He was lucky that he hadn't stayed there long till he had changed. This forest was nice and it had plenty of animals to eat. Sure, he'll eat every one of them in time, but it won't be for long at least. All he can do is sit and relax...till that pink menace comes to see him.
Right on cue, Amy had ventured in the forest after parking her bike. She gripped her bag tighter ready to throw out the knife she kept hidden just in case. She started her way down the path she had taken yesterday. She did her best to remember where Shadow's home was, but she still took her time walking around the place to look at the beautiful scenery. Sure, the bear attack was terrifying, but she still loved to look around the forest listening to the calm sounds of animals and the breeze.
Amy continued her track down a dirt path she possibly took while keeping both eyes and ears out for anything dangerous, or familiar, "Hello? Shadow?" she called out.
Shadow's eyes opened slightly once he heard the small sound of her voice echoing out. He quietly groaned to himself seeing that his quiet time was interrupted again. He looked down to the ground which was quite high. Almost at two-hundred feet tall. So falling from how high Shadow is would probably kill a person. Down below, he noticed a little pink blob walking towards his tree, but her eyes were forward than up. He was close to the entrance so it didn't take long for her to be seen by him.
Shadow was tempted to just let her roam around the forest till she possibly gets lost, or maybe even find his cave. But since he was up in the tree, he thought that she would just leave him and come back some other time. This girl didn't look like she could climb it anyways. The thought made him smirk wider. When she called out again, he responded by shouting, "Up here, dumbass!"
Amy whipped her head back and forth trying to find where he called out from till she looked up and saw him way up high. She could barely see him smirking down at her in a teasing way. She smiled up at him and waved, "Hi, Shadow! I didn't think you could climb with that tail of yours!" she called back.
He rolled his eyes, "Stupid! I can climb easily with my tail! It's you humans that can't climb unless you have equipment with you!"
She smiled with determination, "Oh, you think. Huh?" she tightened her bag by the straps so it wouldn't move around much, then jumped up and grabbed a lower thick branch and begins to hoist herself up.
Shadow was a bit surprised that this puny girl could make her way up the tree. Was she half monkey, or something? Truth is, Amy loved climbing trees growing up. She even climbed high enough that she got stuck up at the top and her mother had to call the fire department to get her down. That would've scarred a child, but to Amy, she loved to do stuff like this. Sure, it was scary then and now, but she always made sure to keep her mind away from any sort of bad predictions. While watching her climb, Shadow slowly moved his tail a bit so it was less tight around the trunk. What happened from yesterday could happen again and he was prepared for it.
And a good thing he did. Amy was half way up in no time till she grabbed one branch thinking it was a sturdy branch to climb up on. But when she pulled herself up, it suddenly broke off the tree causing her to drop down on the branch below her. Amy wasn't quick enough to catch her fall so by doing that, her knees scraped against the lower branch as she started to fall. She cried out in fear and closed her eyes tightly waiting for the massive pain to come to her lower half of her body. But she suddenly felt the familiar feeling of a long and thick tendril wrapping around her waist and torso stopping her from falling further.
Amy slowly opened her eyes and looked down at the ground, but all she saw was the black and red snake tail. Looking up, she saw Shadow, who was again, gripping the trunk tightly with one hand and the top of his tail wrapped once around one branch below him, and the rest lowered down to grab her. She smiled with a huff of relief, but she slowly lost it from the look he was giving her.
"Uh...thank you...again?" she chuckled nervously.
Shadow said nothing, but pulled his tail up along with her till she was up on the same branch he was on. Luckily the weight of one hedgehog girl and a slightly heavier naga with extra weight wrapped back around the trunk was able to keep the branch from breaking. After Amy was let go, she nestled herself down with both legs on each side of the branch. She sighed again feeling happy that she escaped death for the fourth time.
She looked up at him with the same smile, but a little nervous of what he would say to her after that, "Um...well..." He cut her off harshly.
"Don't you even think of thanking me again and wipe that smile off your face! Do I really have to be around you so you wouldn't kill yourself again?" he shouted causing her to flinch.
"W-Well...I...I used to climb all the time. I guess I wasn't lucky this time.." she said making her ears fold against her head.
Shadow looked away and crossed his arms glaring to his side, "Whatever...I'm sick and tired of saving your ass..."
Amy sighed, "I know...I'm not really strong to handle myself most of the time. But I have tried to fight, and I even know how to use a weapon." she loosened the straps of her bag so she could move it off her shoulders
She took out the knife and held it up to show him, "See? I took this from my kitchen. I think it's durable."
Shadow looked at her, then the knife, "...Pretty dull. But I guess you can do minimal damage with it." She smiled again.
"Oh! That's not all I brought!." she moved back into her bag after putting the knife away. While she was doing that, Shadow lowered his eyes down to her knees.
It looked like a pretty bad scrape and some blood was starting to seep out. Not a lot, but enough to maybe get two bandaids, "You got a bandage for your knees?" he asked causing her to look up at him first before lowering her eyes down at her knees.
"Oh...I guess I didn't notice I hurt myself. The excitement must've made me forget." she chuckled a bit.
"Don't chuckle, stupid. It's not good to leave them like that so do you have anything at all?" This was a surprise. Shadow seemed to be caring for her, in his own rude way. Somehow, it made her blush a bit.
"I...think I have something." moving a few things around in her bag, she took out a small handkerchief that was colored pink of course with red hearts printed on it.
Before she could say anything, Shadow swiped the handkerchief from her hand and quickly starts to rip it into two causing her to shriek, "Hey! You can't just ruin someone's belongings!" she shouted angrily.
"Shut up and stay still..." he moved himself off the trunk and slid his way over to her making her flinch again.
Again without saying anything, he grabbed one of her legs and lifted it up causing her to cry out. With that, she was about to fall again, but felt the same tail wrapped around her waist again. It was the tip of it so it wasn't too thick, yet able to keep her from falling. Amy watched him take one half of her handkerchief and wrapped it around her leg a couple times before tying it in a knot. After doing that, he moved on to the next leg. She watched him with so many questions running through her head.
Why was he being this way when he hated to be near her? Is he secretly nice, or is he just doing this for one time only? Does he really hate her, or is he just confused as much as she is? Why was she blushing at this? After tying the knot, Shadow moved his body away and nestled his back against the trunk again, "Alright. You'r done." he said making her come out of her thoughts.
"Uh...th-thank you, Shadow..tho I'm still angry that you tore up my favorite handkerchief." she thanked him with a small glare.
He rolled his eyes, "Whatever..you had something so I used it. Be happy that I don't have the taste of blood like others do." he crossed his arms and closed his eyes.
"No kidding..." Amy moved her legs down so their on each side of the branch again gripping the bag tightly. She still felt his tail wrapped around her waist, but was actually afraid to say something about it, "So...I was gonna give you this because I thought you could see if any of these are real."
Shadow opened his eyes again watching her search through her bag till she took out the folded piece of paper. He looked at it suspiciously, than to her, "What is it?" he asked.
"It's a print out of a sight I went to on Google. I thought maybe this could help with any questions I wanted to ask you."
"Alright. But what's "Google"?" Amy giggled a bit making him a bit angry seeing that she was laughing at him.
"It's a sight on the computer that gives answers to hard questions. You can even learn from it sometimes."
"Then why not look up what I am instead of asking me directly after saving you from death again..?"
She rolled her eyes, "Just take it, please? It's much easier since the real deal is right in front of me."
Shadow let out a heavy groan, then swiped the paper from her hand again and opened it up to read. To Amy's surprise, he was able to read well as he began to read off what the internet thought of what a "naga" is. She thought he was raised in a world with now reading, or writing, or even a way to learn English. She watched his face either turn from angry, to a little smirk as he read each line.
"This is so pathetic. You humans don't know a damn thing about me, yet you made lies about me." he said after looking up from the paper to Amy.
She shrugged it off and replied, "Well..sometimes the internet isn't always right."
"No kidding. It says "Nagas eat humans and animals and would even eat multiple prey in one sitting". I only eat what I can to fill up. I don't eat like four bears in one meal. I don't even eat humans."
Lucky for Amy, she didn't need her notebook this time. Her phone was now on record so she could hear his answers and write them down when she gets home, "So you don't eat humans? I thought you ate the boy and the dog. What about the men that came in to your forest?" she asked.
"I already told you, I never ate them. I think you all are disgusting. Tho feeling you in my coils does sound good for the most part.." he smirked at her almost showing one of his fangs.
Amy felt her body shiver at the sight and what he said. It really didn't help when he was still wrapped around her waist, "I...see..." she gulped.
Shadow chuckled enjoying the look she was giving him, "Idiot...I only kill animals that don't have brains like you. Like that bear that attacked you. Only those kind of animals."
"I know, but it's still kinda scary..I really don't wanna replay that image of how you killed that bear..." Shadow continued to chuckle. He really enjoyed making her tremble. Either he liked seeing her scared, or he was just teasing her like an ass he was.
"Whatever. It was delicious anyways." he lowered his eyes down again after seeing the disgusted look that was on her face, "Alright... Yes I have poison in my fangs, but I don't use them unless I bite into something and inject the venom into my prey."
"Like a spider? Or a rattlesnake?" Amy asked.
"Well...it's more like a stunning sort of venom. The way I stopped the bear is that when I sank my fangs into it's flesh, I injected the venom into it's body. It forced it to stop moving so I could wrap my tail around it."
Amy nodded still feeling a little sickish at what he said, "I see. So like a petrifying poison. No deadly poison?"
He shook his head, "The only thing deadly is my tail and my mouth."
"Which reminds me...how were you able to swallow that bear whole?"
He chuckled again, "Let's just say that what I do is a secret." she groaned seeing that he won't give her a good answer. "...Nagas are mythical creatures, but they can't change their forms. Even if they wanted to. Well...it's kinda right and kinda wrong."
"What do you mean..?"
Shadow was about to answer, but no words left his open mouth. He only lowered the paper down, then turned away from her, "...It's complicated." that was all he said to her.
Amy was about to say something, but the way he looked, it made her stop herself from saying anything about it. But she still had questions about why he wouldn't tell her. Shadow is very secretive sometimes. "Alright. Well..I think there's more on there if you want to tell me more about you."
Shadow quietly sighed to himself, "I'm done. No more questions." he stated.
"Alright.." Amy's ears folded down again. Something about that comment was interesting considering the way he responded to her and how sad he looked. It was one question she'll keep in the back of her mind till it was time to ask.
Shadow remained where he was while keeping his eyes glued forward while Amy was busy trying to think of something to get them out of the awkward moment. She lowered her head down to her bag, but lifted it up a couple times to open her mouth, but slowly shut it and look down again. She still felt embarrassed that his tail was still around her waist, but in time, she was starting to get used to him holding her. It felt kinda nice.
"Hey." Her ears perked up and eyes were up at him again, Shadow still looked away, but continued to talk, "Who were those people that came with you that night?"
Her smile widened, finally a topic that hopefully won't go anywhere awkward, "Oh! Those were my friends! Well...a few of them." she answered happily. "My two best friends, Sally and Cream. And my boyfriend, Sonic."
Shadow looked at her confused, "Boyfriend?" Amy's face grew redder the second she heard him say that word.
"Yeah. Sonic is my boyfriend. He's a kind and caring guy who looks out for me when things got tough. He went with me when Scourge dared me and my friends to come here. Scourge is an awful person."
"Apparently. So he's not your boyfriend either?" he asked making her spat in disgust.
"Hell no! He's so creepy and he hits on almost every girl he comes into contact! He keeps hitting on me and I hate it! Especially his girlfriend, Fiona..."
Shadow continued to look at her with more confusion each time she talked, "Girlfriend...?" She looked at him with the same look he was giving her.
"Shadow...? Do you know anything about my world?" That was a very interesting question, indeed.
"Well...I have what you call a "radio", but I could only get a few weird noises, but mostly fuzzy noises. I only learned how to use it when watching a few people talk about it, but...I don't have a way to get it to work again." it looked like he was blushing himself, but he looked away to hide it the best he could.
Amy chuckled at how little he knows of her world like how she doesn't know much about him, "Hey. Tell you what. We can take turns. I asked several questions already, and since you'r done with them, you can ask me about my world. How about that?" She asked giving him her usual smile.
He looked at her for a few seconds before looking away again. He still had his blush, but it might possibly be from something else that's making him a little flustered, "..Sounds good, I guess. Beats dealing with a broken radio." he answered flatly.
She giggled a bit, "Perfect! Now what question do you have for me besides my friends and such?"
Shadow took a little bit to think, but it really didn't help when she was staring at him with an excited look on her face. He kept his eyes away from her as he asked her his question.
"What's a "boyfriend" and "girlfriend"?"
