Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. Hasn't Sega figured that out by now...?
A/N: Hey... this has nothing to do with the story, but has anyone else gotten the "Shadow Grinder" toy from McDonald's? :) It's sitting by my computer right now. It gives me inspiration! Ha ha ha...
The next morning, Shadow walked calmly up to the others, who were eating fish for breakfast.
"I want to leave the island..."
Sonic and Tails choked. While they were recovering, Amy asked, "Why? Aren't you afraid the government will come after you...?"
Shadow shrugged. "I like this place... it's very nice... but, I think... there's opportunities waiting for me... somewhere else..."
'Opportunities... to help people,' he thought.
Sonic took a drink of water. Then he grinned. "I know! A disguise!" he yelled.
Shadow stepped backwards. Who knew what Sonic was thinking about.
Sonic leaned his chair back on two legs and smiled, apparently happy with his plan. "Yeah, all we really have to do is change your fur and eye color, oh, and maybe give you an alias name, and boom! No more government chasing you!"
Shadow was confused. "What... you can change your eye color...?"
Sonic snickered at the puzzled hedgehog. "You're not fifty years in the past anymore, my friend..."
~*~
A few hours later, after a short trip to the rebuilt Station Square, Sonic and Amy laid out everything they'd bought for Shadow's "disguise" on the floor. All four of them sat down to take a look.
Shadow picked up a bottle of hair-dye, intrigued by it. Sonic and Tails covered their mouths and giggled at Shadow's lack of knowledge about such things.
Amy rolled her eyes at the boys, then showed the label to Shadow. "See, it's to change the color of your fur..."
Shadow drew back from Amy, shocked at the idea. He stared at the bottle a little longer. "But... but... it's purple..." he stammered in disgust.
Sonic muttered to Amy, "See, I told you, get normal colors..." Amy sniffed and gathered up the more unnatural shades.
Shadow studied the remaining colors: yellow, tan, brown, red-brown, and black. His eyes shifted to the black container.
"...don't you think that might be too close to what you look like now?" Tails offered. Shadow shrugged.
"I don't want to look that different..." he muttered.
"Oh, don't worry... this kind will wash off, if you don't like it. We didn't get a permanent kind," Amy reassured him.
Sonic grabbed the bottle of yellow dye. "...if you use this, people will think it's me in Super form walking around..." He tossed it to Amy.
Shadow looked at the other three colors. Red-brown was the darkest. He picked it up.
Amy suggested, "If you like dark colors, I've got some more..."
"How many did you buy?" Shadow asked incredulously.
Amy set out three more colors: dark green, navy blue, and a dark yellow-brown. Shadow studied them carefully.
Sonic raised an eyebrow and picked up the navy blue color. He compared it to his own fur.
Amy squealed, "Oh, Shadow, if you use that one, people will think you and Sonic are related!"
Tails thought. "That would... work," he agreed.
"What?!" Sonic exclaimed, not too excited with the idea.
Amy continued. "Ooh, and if we used green colored contacts... it'd be just... perfect!" she chirped.
"Uhh..." Shadow stammered, also not too excited.
Amy stood up and dragged Shadow to his feet. "Let's go try it out!" she giggled.
"But... I..." Shadow resisted, not too eager to try it.
"Sonic, help me," Amy whined. Sonic grinned at the black hedgehog's plight, then stood up and began to help Amy drag Shadow to a bathroom. Even Tails started to giggle at Shadow's expression of horror.
Shadow wrenched the other hedgehogs' hands off of him. He snatched the bottle of hair-dye. "I'll do it myself..." he grumbled, then headed off to the bathroom.
As soon as he had gone in, Sonic and Tails fell to the ground, rolling with laughter. Amy put her hands on her hips, but even she couldn't help a smile.
Sonic gasped, "Did you see...?! Did you get a good look at his face when Amy was going to drag him off to the bathroom?! Ha ha ha!!"
Tails giggled. "And when she said to give him blue fur and green eyes, too? How funny! Ha ha ha ha!!"
Sonic stopped laughing. "I hope you mean, 'Shadow with blue fur and green eyes is funny', not 'blue fur and green eyes are funny'..."
Tails stopped laughing. "Uh... of course I mean 'Shadow with blue fur and green eyes is funny'..."
Amy was studying Sonic carefully. He noticed it and scooted away. "What are you looking at...?" he asked.
Amy looked at him a little longer, then asked, "Is that your natural fur color?"
Sonic said flatly, "What, you think some hedgehogs aren't born blue...?"
Amy shrugged. "No, it's just that... it's not very common, is it?"
Sonic sighed. "Do you think I have enough money to actually go and dye my fur?"
Amy sighed. "Sorry. No offense meant."
"None taken."
Tails giggled at the two hedgehogs.
"...I look stupid, don't I..."
Amy, Sonic, and Tails turned in the direction of Shadow's voice.
Amy gasped.
"Shadow...?"
Sonic rubbed his eyes. "Wow... amazing what a change of fur color will do to you..."
Shadow, now a dark blue color, stood before the others, blushing furiously. "Just say it. I look stupid."
"No... you look..." Amy stopped mid-sentence, her face in a huge grin.
"...wow..." Tails grinned.
Sonic stood up. "Put to a vote... three against one. Blue it is," he announced.
Shadow was quiet, but his face continued to glow pink.
Amy giggled. "Now for your eyes..." Shadow groaned in humiliation.
Sonic and Tails laughed.
A/N: ^_^ Poor Shadow.
Well, I'd like to celebrate my 10th chapter! Woo! I've never reached ten chapters before!
Shadow: Yeah you have, with your talk show fic.
Me: . Oh, that doesn't count, half the time someone was screaming for two pages. (Don't bother looking for the fic, I don't have it posted on . It was pretty crazy, for example, Sonic wearing singing boxers and Shadow chicken dancing...)
Sonic: ...oh the horror.
Me: ...I really hope that fic never sees the light of day... on , anyway.
Sonic: ...you rhymed.
Me: ...yes, yes I did...
Well... celebrating the first ten chapters of Wishes Are Eternal are "Wishes Are Eternal Bloopers," which is posted on my website, which can be found on my profile page.
I'll be seeing you all soon!
-Ryuko