Chapter 7: Misunderstanding

Near the edge city, living in a small building, was Shadow the Hedgehog. He was sitting alone, drinking hot cocoa, and starring out the window, lost in thought.

"...That girl," he muttered, "who was she? What does she have to do the Sonic?"

"Are you still brooding, Shadow?" a sultry voice spoke at the door opening.

Shadow turned to his visitor. "Rouge."

Rouge walked into the room, and stood behind his chair, leaning on it and looking down at him. She was of Shadow's closest friends, as well as one of his only true friends. She was flirty, and a bit greedy, having a love of precious jewels.

Rouge was a mobian bat with white fur, bare, tan skin on her arms and muzzle, and teal eyes. She had large pointy ears, sharp bat fangs, a short tail, and large black bat wings on her back. And her figure was quite well developed. Her short hair was flared back, she had blue eyeshadow and some lipstick on. She wore a black, sleeveless unitard with a pink heart in white trim on the upper-chest, revealing some cleavage, and had long white gloves and tall high-heeled boots, both of which had pink cuffs, and the boots had pink hearts on the toes.

"I know you do this on occasion, but you've been really down in dumps lately. What's going on with you?" Rouge asked.

"Do you have a mission for me?" Shadow responded.

"That's all you've said for the past few weeks!" Rouge exclaimed, starting to walk away.

"It keeps my mind off things."

Rouge spun back around. "So you admit something is wrong!"

"Rouge…"

"Yes?"

"This is none of concern," Shadow said sternly.

"Oh, come on. We're friends, rights? You can tell me," Rouge pleaded.

Shadow gave out a big sigh. "If I tell you, will you stop bothering me about this?"

"Of course!"

"Fine… If you want your answers. Go to Sonic's home, ask about Sapphire."

"Ugh, so cryptic," Rouge replied as she began flying low out of the room. "…Though," she said quietly, "if Sonic has a jewel like that, I wouldn't mind… taking a look at his possession."

As Rouge left the building, Shadow, looking out the window, watched her fly off.

"Wait… I probably should've told her that Sapphire is a person."

Sonic and Sapphire were visiting a café to grab some lunch. It was called the "Violet Café", and was a small restaurant with both indoor and outdoor seating areas, with, of course, a general purple color scheme, with flower designs painted on the walls. Neither of them had been there before, but Saph wanted to give it a try.

As they sat inside, and waited for their food, they had a nice chat.

"Oh, okay, so Saph, huh?" Sonic said, chuckling a bit. "You know, that is a pretty good nickname. Mind if I use it?"

"Oh, sure, that's fine," Sapphire said, "I mean, I don't think my name is that hard to say, but short versions of names aren't bad. Amy and Cream wanted to use it, so you can, too."

"Heh, alright," Sonic said, as their food arrived. Sonic got chilidogs (no surprise there), while Sapphire got some pizza and a few pastries she wanted to try. Both got cups of sodas for drinks.

As they ate, Sonic asked Sapphire, "so, are you enjoying your new life here?"

"Oh, it's great. I'm learning so from Tails, I've made some new friends, I… I have a family now," Sapphire told him.

"Well, I'm glad that you're liking it here. You know, I've never had a sister before. I have tons of friends, ones that I care about a lot. But a sister... that's something I need to get used to."

"I feel the same, but I've never had friends either. It's hard to believe I do now, but it's… really nice."

Sapphire reached for her soda, but she accidentally bumped it, and it fell over and spilled on her clothes.

"AH!" she screamed.

"Ah, geez, you got to be more careful, Saph," Sonic said, laughing a bit.

Sapphire pouted at him, but quickly calmed down. "At least it didn't land on my food. I'm going to the restroom to try to clean up."

As Sapphire left, Sonic called for someone to come clean up and get her a new drink.

A few moments later, just as Sonic was leaning back to relax, someone spoke behind him.

"Ah, there you are, Big Blue!" the sneaky woman said, walking out from behind him, in front of Sonic.

"Oh, uh, hey, Rouge," Sonic replied. "Always have to sneak up to us, I see. So, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Oh, you know, business as usual. So, do you mind if I join you?"

"Uh, sure…" and Sonic tapped by an empty seat, between his seat and Sapphire's.

As Rouge sat down, she noticed the other plate of food. "So, are you on a date with someone special, Big Blue?"

"Well, not a date, but she is important to me," Sonic replied.

"I see. Well, enough about that. I'm here to speak with you."

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "What about?"

"A little birdie told me that you have something… precious."

"Oh, okay, now I know what this is about. You think that I have some jewels, and you're trying to get me to tell where they are."

"What, of course not!"

"Please, we may not hang out much, but I know you. You probably snuck into Tails' place, found nothing, and then decided to get the info from me. Well, here's the honest truth… I don't have any."

"What?" Rouge replied, trying to sound more confused than annoyed.

"You've been duped, Rouge. You know that I often have Chaos Emeralds, but not at this current moment. And I've never been interested in normal gems," Sonic explained.

"I see," Rouge responded. "Well, I suppose I'll be going now."

Rouge was about to get up to leave, disappointed in her findings, when someone said, "u-uh, hi…" She turned to see a hedgehog girl with yellow fur and quills, blonde hair, and wearing blue clothes, sitting down where the previously unattended plate of food was. "Sonic, is this another friend of yours?" the girl asked Sonic.

"Kind of," Sonic told her. "This is Rouge the Bat. She's… um… Oh, now I see what's going on."

"What?" both girls exclaimed, for different reasons.

"Oh, nothing. Now, why don't you two introduce yourselves."

"Alright, fine. Okay then, Blondie." Rouge turned the new girl. "As Big Blue said, I am Rouge. I'm known as the world's greatest treasure hunter."

"Oh, that's… interesting," the girl said meekly. "I'm Sonic's n-new, uh, adopted sister... And Tails' apprentice. My name is Sapphire."

"Sapphire," Rouge said flatly.

"Yeah, or Saph… for short."

"Your name is Sapphire."

"Y-yes…"

"You're what Shadow was talking about!"

"Sh-Shadow? You know-"

"Of course there weren't any jewels. It was just some random girl!"

"I knew it," Sonic chimed in.

Rouge just gave out a "hmph!" to Sonic.

"W-wait!" Sapphire spoke up. "You know Shadow?"

"Yes, we are part of the same team, Team Dark. What, have you met him?"

"He saved her from some thugs trying to rob her," Sonic replied. "Then he just left, after getting in Amy's face at least. It was a... complicated situation."

"Is that so." Rouge leaned in towards Sapphire. "Okay, so tell me, Blondie, why is Shadow so interested in you?"

"I don't know! And please don't call me Blondie," Sapphire replied.

"Wait, Sapphire is still on Shadow's mind?" Sonic asked. "I mean, I haven't seen him since then, but I don't see why he'd be bothered with her."

"That's what I'd like to know," Rouge responded, "so what exactly happened."

Sapphire explained how after Amy sacred her off, she ran into those thugs, and Shadow came in to save her.

"...Oh! There was one... kind of strange thing he said," Sapphire continued, "I think, before he introduced himself, he called me... Maria."

"Maria?" Rouge responded.

"Y-yeah... Does it mean anything important?"

Sonic and Rouge looked at each other, seemingly thinking the same thing.

"I really haven't seen her," Sonic replied, "I've only heard recordings of her voice."

"I've seen photos of her in G.U.N. reports," Rouge said. She took a quick glance at Sapphire. "I guess, maybe she looks kind of similar... but no, I don't think she the same as that girl."

"What are you two talking about?" Sapphire asked.

"Nothing you should concern yourself with." Rouge got up, and prepared to leave. "I need to go talk to Shadow about this. See you Big Blue, Blondie." Then she exited left the building and flew off.

"Sonic, what's going on?"

"Uh, best leave that up to Rouge and Shadow," Sonic said.

"Oh, okay." Sapphire looked back to where Rouge was.

So Shadow... remembered her. And he was thinking about her. Could she see him again, maybe become friends?

Sonic sighed. "You know, for now, let's get take-out containers, and head home. It's been a weird day."

"S-sure," Sapphire replied. But she still could only think about Shadow.

Why did she bother him so much? Was it anything she did wrong? And what was the deal with this "Maria" character?

Author's Note: I decided to introduce Rouge this time around. She's not my favorite character, not by a long shot, but she is an important Sonic character (one the most recognizable ones in my eyes), and she a member of Team Dark, and when I have a lot of focus on Shadow planned, I think it's kind of important to have her around (Omega, not so much, he wasn't an original member, even if he has been around for almost as long. But he'll come later, trust me, he's one of my favorite characters, I wouldn't leave him out. Just waiting for the right moment). I realized that, of course, Rouge liked jewels, and Sapphire was named after a precious gemstone, so I thought that her introduction could be treated as an amusing misunderstanding.

I kind of wanted to introduce Knuckles before introducing Rouge, but looking at the story pacing I want, I thought now would be a good chance. I'll probably introduce him in the next one or two chapters, don't worry.

Also, this is the first time Shadow has appeared since the intro. To be honest, he's fallen out of being a favorite character of mine, due to his current characterization. To understand why, listen to his racing lines in Team Sonic Racing, or, now that I am reading Sonic IDW Comics... if you read Issue #19, he is the one character that I don't feel sorry for, given his arrogance in the comic (though it is worrisome, considering what he is capable of). But I wrote Sapphire around him a bit, so I will use him, but I want to focus more on why I liked him in the first place... his story in Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, and even his own game, to SOME degree. It's what made Shadow... Shadow, and it's disappointing to see him fall so far from that. So here's hoping I succeed in writing him better.