Hero
By Formerly Known As
Chapter 8
Slight Changes
Author's Note: Sorry about the shortness of the chapter...
It was two past midnight by the time Knuckles caught up with Sonic. He'd been frantically searching for the hedgehog ever since Sonic had taken off at the Dikes with no luck. Several times Knuckles thought he had come close, spotting a trail of up thrown debris caused by Sonic's swift passing, but the hedgehog had already been long gone by the time Knuckles had made his way along the dizzying maze of rooftops to the spot he'd seen the hedgehog's passing. Knuckles had very nearly given up on ever finding Sonic again, when he had finally spotted him exiting the Dikes into friendlier territory.
Now the echidna once again trailed along the rooftops, following his blue friend.
Watching Sonic make his way down the now mostly deserted streets, Knuckles could see a change had come over Sonic. Sonic still paced the streets at an impossibly slow, but now...
Sonic seemed more thoughtful. He didn't look ready to kill the first person to cross his path. His slow pace wasn't due to anxiety and grief weighing on the hedgehog's soul. Sonic had something on his mind and it wasn't eating him alive from the inside out.
Knuckles didn't know what had changed, but he honestly wasn't sure he liked the change. Something was different. Sonic was no longer wallowing in a pit of self pity and despair. That should have been a good thing.
But Sonic wasn't one to be thoughtful. He liked action. He liked speed. He wasn't acting himself, but why, Knuckles couldn't tell. But it was important. It took a lot to move the hedgehog into such deep thought. Something ground moving and life shattering. Something important.
Knuckles sat perched on the edge of a building, watching the hedgehog slowly vanish down the street. Knuckles contemplated what could have changed, deep in thought himself.
A sudden kick to the head ended his thought quickly, as the guarding toppled forwards, towards the street below. Only some quick twisting and the spikes on his hands saved Knuckles from a plummet to the ground. As Knuckles clung to the building, trying to keep himself from losing his grip and trying to stop his head from spinning, a pair of hands reached down and hauled the echidna to the roof. A quick punch to the gut doubled Knuckles over and another kick sent him sprawling across the rooftop.
For a time Knuckles lay there, content to try and catch his breath and once again keep the world from spinning. His attempts were cut off, when he was shoved onto his back and a foot was placed on his throat, making breathing even more of a task than before.
Knuckles looked at the shoe on his throat in shame. Never before had anyone thrashed the echidna so thoroughly and in such a short time. Hey, wait a minute, thought Knuckles. That shoe looked familiar. In fact it looked really familiar. Reminded him of the kind Sonic and Tails wore. Only the coloring was all off. And these were more angular.
Slowly, Knuckles the Echidna looked upwards from the shoes and into the merciless red eyes of Shadow the Hedgehog.
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Author's Note....Again: That was really fun to write. Can't say why but it really was! I won't promise when the next chapter will be coming out because there's no way to tell with me. I sat down at ten tonight and the chapter just sort of came. Writing is unpredictable like that.
Ooh goody! Now it's time to answer fan mail! My goodness...I HAVE FAN MAIL!
THIS IS SWEET!
Sometimes life can be quite sweet.
But to the fan mail!
From Hackage (Cool name by the way):
"This was beautiful. I wish it was a shadow/sonic romance fic, though... Keep writing! IF YOU DON'T I WILL PUNISH YOU!!!"
Uh oh....The fans are getting violent! Must run for shelter! Or write a new chapter...yeah, I guess that works too...
I know I disappointed a lot of people back there when I told them this fic isn't a Shadow/Sonic romance. But the truth is...that it isn't. There is no romance between Sonic and Shadow. At least not here. I figured I might as well keep people from getting their hopes up for something I wasn't going to deliver.
To SonicFan#1:
Don't worry, it doesn't cost a thing. I don't know much about the privacy thing, but I think it's pretty safe. As for the whole issue with parents...Yeah, I know all about that. My parents are paranoid about technology. Sigh....
Oh, and if you (Or anyone else for that matter!) sends me an email (and I LOVE getting email from people other than those trying to sell me Viagra...) make sure you mark it very clearly so I know it isn't junk mail and don't delete it by mistake.
Here's my email address again, just in case you don't know it.
Finally MiKoMiTeNsHi:
Thanks for the comment. Just...Thanks.
And to everyone else who sent me in comments...Thank you. It means the world to me. Gives me strength and lets me know I'm doing SOMETHING right. So thank you.
Hmmm....You know, I feel a little cheap adding all of my comments to my fans at the end of my chapters. But then again, I don't know where else I'd put it...
I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you don't like my habit of adding commentary to the end of my chapters, you don't have to read it.
Yeesh! The commentary is longer than the story! I think it's time for me to shut up and go to bed!
Peace out yo!