Song lyrics from "Longview" by Green Day. All respected shows, commercials, and all the stuff that's on the TV belonging to Team Dark belong to their respectable owners, of course. All that is mine are the ideas and interpretations I come up with. Ya know the drill.

Part Two: Life is Kinda Boring

Shadow the hedgehog skated, leaped, and grinded back to the motel that was picked by Rouge for their hideout. It was such a dump that she must have figured no one looking for them would find them here. And it was mostly so dark…

He opened the door, since there was no need to knock. The two he shared this place with could find his face in a crowd, no doubt. "SHADOW…WELCOME," Omega-123, an ex-servant of Dr. Eggman, as well as he and Rouge were. Shadow just nodded his head once. He was usually so little of words. There was no need to talk unless needed to. The TV was off, so he grabbed the thin black remote and turned it on. Rouge was no where to be seen. Not yet at least. Huh, she must be out picking up a few extra things on her next treasure hunt, he thought as he switched to the news. It was nothing out of the ordinary he's seen really. The bank being robbed every once in a while, Mr. Celebrity or Mrs. Celebrity cheating on some other Celebrity or someone outside of fame. Even the museum robbery Rouge had gotten herself involved into was no surprise. It was going to be another hot day, the weather man had reported. Dull, unentertaining… So, Shadow began to flip through the channels. Omega did this often, usually gathering information to the world around them. In fact, the robot had joined him shortly.

I sit around and watch the tube, but nothing's on.

I change the channels for an hour or two…

"Buy the one and only Diesel Vacuum! It goes on carpet, tile, wood-"

"I'll buy a vowel." "Alright…" "How about…I?" "No, sorry, there's-"

"Nod your head, get them chicken fries-"

"No, you can't! You can't, Tom!" "…THIS IS THE LIFETIME CHANNEL," Omega cut in as a human woman kept trying to talk to her husband into giving some punk kid another chance to letting him stay at their home. It's junk, thought Shadow in disgust.

"Whoa, look at this! Crikey! Ain't this a beaut-"

"You put 'em together! New, from Mattel-"

"Let's put some barbeque sauce on that stain. See? Oxy-Clean gets out-"

Twiddle my thumbs just for a bit.

I'm sick of all the same old shit…

Infomercials, boring animal shows, dramatic films, ah, what about the Comedy Channel? Shadow changed to channel sixty-five. The British version of "Whose Line is it Anyway?" was on. A re-run. So far, not a thing could he find on television worth watching. For a while longer, he channel surfed some more.

"Extreme close up! WHOOOOOOA!" "WHOOOOOA-"

"I've got great news!" "What is it Trixie?" "I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switch-"

"Weapon cases." "These weren't meant for us." "We don't need weapons! We need-"

Bite my lip and close my eyes.

Take me away to paradise.

I'm so damn bored, I'm going blind…

It wasn't until Shadow found channel MTV2. A song was being sung, and it sounded nice to Shadow's ears. It was strange to see though. It looked like a classroom and there were people sitting at desks, and then getting up to attack each other. "So lay down… This threat is real…" "A MUSIC VIDEO CHANNEL," Omega informed. "DIFFERENT MUSICIANS PROMOTE THEMSELVES BY PERFORMING ON TELEVISION. I'VE ALSO WITNESSED A SHOW CALLED 'MAKING THE VIDEO', IN WHICH THEY EXPLAIN WHAT THE MUSIC VIDEO IS ABOUT. THEY VARY IN DIFFERENT STYLES."

Shadow was only half paying attention as the video was ending. By the time the words appeared on the lower left corner of the small square screen, Rouge had come in, shutting the door behind her. "Hello, boys…" Shadow ignored her, but Omega emitted the usual greeting from his wired vocal box or whatnot. "Hey Shadow, could you turn the volume down just a bit? I'm about to get some sleep," Rouge asked. Shadow did so with no problem. He understood that unlike Omega and himself, Rouge would need rest during the night. Shadow never felt that need. He could rest, close his eyes, sit down, and think, not making a sound, but so much supernatural abilities flowed within him that it was impossible for him to sleep. Omega could just stand still and remain passive, but he'd never sleep either. Shadow may not be able to sleep, but he could eat, drink, and go to the bathroom. The ultimate life form was a living organism, after all.

Throughout the night, Shadow was just a bit into the music video channels, mainly with rock and roll music. Something he grew a slight interest in, until his eyes couldn't take anymore television. Then the place became quiet.

He watched the sunrise, witnessing one of Earth's true beauties. Maria was right all along when she told him about Earth, back before… No, he wasn't going to think about her. Not right now. It brought too much pain. He kept watching the sky though, hour by hour while fixing himself a bagel and a small glass of orange juice for breakfast. The noise of cars' engines were out there, and he saw the early rising humans in their grey, black, or blue suits and suitcases. Reporting to do their jobs, or whatever it was they all did to keep going.

He had helped to save Earth, but never got the smallest bit of gratitude. He had vanished from that blue hedgehog and his friends for quite a while now. They had gone their separate ways it seemed. Shadow respected Sonic, as long as he wasn't in his way.

He heard Rouge yawn as he turned to watch her enter the living room area. Shadow's breakfast had been eaten. Omega came to life and started to move around. "Oh, you already had breakfast without me," cooed the bat girl, batting with her big eyelashes. Disturbed, Shadow looked away from Rouge and saw the tiniest glint of the sun, peaking around the thin, shadowy shapes of the tall buildings in the distance. Today, he just felt like he wanted to get out of the motel for some reason. Without looking back, he stepped outside and decided to follow his instincts.

The red, black and white, apathetic hedgehog was bored of staying hidden in the motel day after day. There was a calling to do something different…

I got no motivation.

Where is my motivation?