Sorry for the not updatingness. This chapter takes place a couple of months after the first day of school. You know, in about the fall area. Also, I don't own any of the songs in this chapter. Here's Chapter 8!

Chapter 8

Reviving Hope

A couple of months had passed since the first day of school. Tails had gotten taller and a tad more muscular. Tails was only a couple of months younger than everyone else. Tails was almost as tall as Sonic, about 1 or 2 inches shorter still. Tails was doing good in school. He had an A+ in every class except Gym, in which he had a B+.

Tails woke up at about 6:00 AM due to his alarm clock. Tails got out of bed and got in the shower, taking off all of his night clothes. He turned the knob to warm water and got in as an automated voice from his bathroom ceiling said "Water: warm. Perfect shower temperature."

"Thanks T-7." Tails said to his robotic invention which told Tails the status on all the rooms in his house. Tails stepped into his shower and pulled the shower curtain in front of him so he wouldn't reveal himself. Tails lathered his fur with shampoo on the top of his body and rinsed it off. Tails had quickly finished his shower. As Tails reached for the Shower knob, Sonic came out of nowhere and pulled open the shower curtain.

"Tails! You're never gonna believe this!" Sonic screamed in Tails' face as Tails was flabbergasted as to how Sonic got in his house.

"SONIC! I'M IN THE SHOWER! WHAT'S SO IMPORTANT THAT YOU HAD TO INTERRUPT MY SHOWER?" Tails screamed at the top of his lungs. Sonic looked down at Tails as Sonic was excited/dumb enough not to notice.

"Holy crap! You're naked! I'll just wait till you're done." Sonic said slightly disturbed as he exited the bathroom. Tails wondered why he hung out with Sonic sometimes. Tails turned the shower knob off and dried off with his towel. He then took his clothes, put them on and walked out of the bathroom with the top of his head still slightly moist. Sonic was watching 'Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends'.

Sonic laughed at the cartoon hilarity. "Haha, Bloo, you and your sarcasm."

Tails was really steamed at Sonic. "Now Sonic," Tails ran over to Sonic and grabbed his throat, disabling Sonic's ability to breathe. "What was so important before?" Tails let go of Sonic as he coughed and caught his breath back.

"I'm sorry buddy. Anyway, Knuckles just said that he was going to ask out Tikal today! Which is weird because Knuckles hardly plans things out." Sonic stated with excitement.

"Wow, that's great." Tails said simply without too much exposure of emotions. "Any news about Amy?"

"Yeah, she told me she's kinda stressed ever since Shadow started hanging out with Blaze. But if you ask me, I don't think it's too intimate. I think Amy has a strong chance of getting Shadow." Sonic chuckled. "You remember when Amy had a crush on me in the 2nd grade?"

Tails shrugged. "How could I forget?"

Flashback

Flashback?

Yes, Flashback!

Why Flashback?

We're doing a flashback, dammit!

But I don't wanna do a flashback.

(First flashback beats up second flashback)

Now, as I was saying...

Flashback

Sonic, Tails and Knuckles were little kids in the 2nd grade playing their Game Boy Advances.

Sonic was wearing a dark blue T-shirt with a picture of his shoe on the front, blue shorts and his shoes.

Knuckles was wearing a T-shirt with his fist on it that said "Hard As A Rock." He also wore red shorts and his normal shoes.

Tails wore a little yellow T-shirt with a picture of the X-Tornado on it, tan shorts and his usual shoes.

As the boys were enjoying their games, a cry of love came from out of nowhere. "SONIC!" the voice screeched out. Sonic's eyes widened in fear as he turned around and saw Amy. Amy had a little pink bow on the top of her head and she wore a little pink T-shirt and a pink skirt. She jumped towards Sonic attempting to pin him to the ground so he wouldn't escape. And she succeded. She hugged Sonic as hard as she could not taking into consideration that she could kill him that way. Sonic tried his best to escape. "Knuckles! Tails! Help me!"

"Geez Sonic. I don't know why you can't stand Amy." Tails said sounding annoyed.

"Yeah, I mean, Amy is cute after all." Knuckles said trying to cheer Sonic up.

Sonic wasn't amused. "Well if you think she's so cute, why don't you take her? Take her! Please!"

Just then, a little black hedgehog known as Shadow walked into the class. He took a little cardboard box, some string and some tape. He configured all this into a little string guitar and started plucking the strings. He did a little string guitar riff of AC/DC's 'It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock N' Roll) as he started to sing the words of the song to himself.

Amy looked at him, as did the rest of the class. Amy, for some reason, let go of Sonic like he was a nobody. She looked at Shadow as hearts popped up in her eyes. Amy was looking at the person she was going to be in love with for the rest of her life.

End Flashback

"Thank God for AC/DC." Sonic said in relief.

"And the materials, because no other class had them at the time." Tails pointed out. "So, you ready to head out?"

"Sure. Let's go!" Sonic said as they headed out into the darkness of the morning.

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Shadow was in the gym of his house, surging his rage by punching a punching bag while listening to 'Headstrong' by Trapt. He let the hard rock fuse with him, allowing him to channel his fury and anger into raw strength. He punched the bag over and over again. As the song ended, he was really furious and punched the bag so hard, his knuckles literally ripped the sack. He jumped quickly and kicked the bag as it was unlatched from it's chain that held it to the ceiling and smashed into the wall.

Shadow then walked over to the gym wall and got out a can of spray paint. He started to spray graffiti on his own wall. He wrote "The underdog shall rise. The ignorance must and shall stop." Shadow put away the paint and walked to his living room to grab his school binder and walk out of his house to school.

&&&

At school, Sonic and Tails reached the doors of the school where Alyssa was waiting for them. Alyssa picked up her things and ran to Sonic and Tails. "Hey Sonic! Hi Tails!" she greeted them.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite little girl!" Sonic said as gave Alyssa a Hi-5. Alyssa turned to Tails. "Hi, Tails." She said as she walked over and gave him a hug. Tails was almost lifted off the ground by the gift he was just given. She let go of Tails and Sonic started conservation. "Hey Alyssa, you seen Amy anywhere?"

"Nope. She probably hasn't got here yet." Alyssa said also curious to where Amy was. Tails turned away and said "Spoke too soon." Sonic and Alyssa turned and saw Amy walking towards the school and she was looking good.

She had on a white school girl shirt along with a pink mini-skirt and her red and white boots. She also had a red flower placed over her ear. Amy walked over to Sonic, Tails, and Alyssa. "So, what do you think?" She asked, looking for a second opinion on her look.

Alyssa squealed and rushed over to Amy. "Girl, you look awesome! You're absolutely gorgeous!"

"Yeah Amy. You look really beautiful." Tails complimented. Amy blushed till her face was completely red. "Gee, do you really think so?"

"Yep. So what's the occasion?" Sonic asked out of curiosity.

"Well, I've decided. If I'm ever going to make Shadow mine, I've got to get his attention now! Otherwise, he may ask Blaze out!"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Amy, you're overreacting. Shadow doesn't have anything for Blaze. They're just good friends. Quit your worrying."

"Maybe you're right. But I still have to talk to Shadow though." Then, Knuckles walked towards the gang, with his eyes twitching and his knees weakened. All of them stared at Knuckles slightly scared. "Knux, what's the matter?" Sonic asked with concern in his voice.

"I-I-I-I'm n-n-n-n-ner-nervous. About asking out Tikal. I mean, she's so beautiful, she's worthy to be God's daughter. I'm just so weak when I'm near her." Knuckles weakly said. Then a voice came from behind Knuckles. "You just got to keep your confidence mate." Knuckles turned and it was Axel.

"Axel?"

"Like I said, you can't let her know that you're nervous or else you could fail your chances. I felt the same way you do right now when I asked out Alyssa back in Junior High." Axel looked at Alyssa and winked as she blushed thinking back about her happy days with Axel in Middle School.

"Don't let your fear get in the way of someone you love. Go for it all! Otherwise, you and Tikal may never be together." Knuckles was inspired by the words of Axel as was Amy who decided she should do the same thing by asking out Shadow.

Shadow walked by the guys as though they weren't there. He just continued to walk into the school. Amy watched him walk by and nearly turned paralyzed. She then realized if she didn't ask him now, she wouldn't get to for a long while.

"Guys, I gotta go! I got to catch up with Shadow!" Amy said as she sped into the school afterwards.

Amy ran in the school and tried to find Shadow. She glanced at the end of the hallway. She saw Shadow turning towards his locker which was towards another hallway. She ran down the hallway and tailed Shadow. He was right in her sight and just as she came close, she slipped and fell down. As Shadow was opening his locker, he saw Amy fall down. He walked over to her and held out his hand. "Need some help?"

Amy looked into his eyes and saw the true beauty he held inside. Shadow was truly a good person. Trying to do the right thing all the time. He was a good person out of a sea of corrupted beings. "Um, sure. Thanks." Shadow pulled her up and looked at her. "Hey, I've seen you before. Yeah, I saw you in 2nd period that day."

"Yes...that was me. How kind of you to notice." Amy said blushing.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around." Shadow opened his locker and got a book out and started to walk away. "Wait!" Amy blurted out not thinking. Shadow turned around to see what she had to say. Amy froze, nervous about what she was about to say. "You have the time?"

"I think we have about 20 minutes before class starts. Anyway, see you later."

"Same here." Amy sighed as her inner self kept punching herself over and over again. She thought to herself, 'CRAP! YOU IDIOT! WHY DIDN'T YOU ASK HIM? NOW I'LL NEVER BE WITH SHADOW! THIS CANNOT GET ANY WORSE! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!'

As Amy felt sorry for herself, someone patted her back. "Don't worry. You'll get another chance. I guarentee it." It was Rouge. She had on a black tanktop, black pants and black leather boots. "You'll do fine next time. I got somebody who can help us out..."

&&&

"You want me to what?" Bruce asked after a proposal was made my Rouge before 2nd period was about to start.

"I was wanting to loan some money from you. You know, to help Amy out. I have an idea. I was going to ask me and the guys to go out on a quadruple date. Amy with Shadow, Knuckles with Tikal, Tails with Alyssa, and I know Sonic will go with me. What do you say?" Rouge asked.

"What's in it for me?" Bruce asked expecting something in return. Rouge frowned and exposed her chest as she slowly lowered her shirt.

"Come on, Rouge! I'm a cyborg! Sex doesn't interest me."

"Um, I'll pay you the money back?"

"It's not the money I care about. I got a pant load full of money."

"Then, what do you want?"

"Hmm...you know what? I'll just give this one to you. But you owe me. Not now, but whenever I may need a favor, I'll think of something."

"Oh, thank you Bruce!" Rouge said as she sped out of the room to tell Amy. She knew she would be thrilled.

Bruce picked up a book and started to read. "Heh, normies. When will they learn?"

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This chapter was a bit long, but I liked it! I hope you guys did too! So, please review and stay tuned for the next chapter. The quad date!