CHAPTER 17

WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR

Later Shadow and Espio went to his house, but they were both still curious about Ker and was wondering where he was at the time.

When they stepped into the house, Lynn smiled, ran over and hugged Espio, "Dad, you're back!"

He hugged her back, "Yeah Lynn, I missed you too." He broke away from her.

"Hey dad, where's Ker? Wasn't he with you?" She asked.

"Well...he was."

"What!" Tonya shouted from the kitchen and had came into the living room confronting Espio. "You were suppose to look after him!"

"I...was?" He said sounding dumbfounded.

Tonya seemed to care about Ker a lot "Ker is apart of the family now and you came here to tell us you lost track of him?"

"He is?" Espio said acting dumb again.

"Hold on, Tonya" Shadow said. "I'll find him and make sure he's safe."

"How will you find him in this big city?" Lynn asked.

Shadow laughed a bit, "Believe it or not me and demons have a connection. I'll find him easily."

"If you say so", she had a feeling that Shadow would find Ker just as he said he would.

"I'll find him and bring him back I promise", he was about to walk out the door until Espio called him.

"Wait a minute Shadow, I want to come too."

"Sorry Es, but I'm afraid you might get hurt again. I can't take that risk."

"I can't believe you!" He shouted with anger. "You were always willing for me to come along with you. Why are you acting this way now?"

"Look, I have as many chances as I need to fight for this world, but for you...you just may be on your last and I don't know what I'd do if I lost you. I care about you and so does your family. So just listen to me and stay your ass behind got it!"

Espio was quiet for a moment trying to take in what Shadow just said. He had no idea Shadow felt that way about him. They were friends for as long as he could remember. "All right, Shad. You win", he said in a low tone.

He smiled a bit and walked out the door beginning his search for Ker.

Meanwhile in an alley, Ker was sitting there thinking about the rest of the demons. He had his head in his knees and was trying to prevent himself from crying. He even remembered what his siblings used to say to him to make him feel bad about himself.

'You're such a baby!'

'He's no demon that's for sure.'

'Peace? What a joke.'

'That's what demons are made for. Killing!'

'You're nothing but a joke to the fourteen demons.'

'Killing! Bloodshed! Destruction! It's all in your blood! You can never change that!'

Just thinking about their harsh words made tears appear in his eyes, "What is my real purpose? I want to know", he said in a hoarse voice. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard voices beside him.

"Who the fuck is this?" A voice said.

Ker took his head away from his knees and looked beside him. He saw a grey fox along with a green and black squirrel, a brown chipmunk, and a red porcupine. He quickly got off the ground, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to intrude or anything. I-"

"Whoa! What is that thing!" The green and black squirrel was surprised by his look.

The red porcupine had his arms crossed, "It's a freak that's what it is."

The grey fox studied Ker for a second or two, "Hmm, you know what guys. This isn't your ordinary freak. This motherfucker's a fourteen demon."

The brown chipmunk let out a gasp, "But I thought Hedgehog killed them all."

The grey fox put his finger to his chin, "So we thought. You here to kill us?"

Ker shook his head, "No not at all. I just want to make peace with everyone."

Except the red porcupine, the grey fox and the rest of them started to laugh.

"What a dumb motherfucker!" The green and black squirrel said while laughing.

Ker stood there with tears, "Don't call me those names! Especially a freak! I am not a freak!"

While the others were laughing, the red porcupine looked into Ker's white pupils in his eyes and noticed them glowing a bit, "You guys should stop laughing at him."

The grey fox placed his hand on his shoulder, but it was smacked away by him, "Come on Appex, stop being so serious all the time. I have a feeling you have a soft spot for him."

Appex crossed his arms, "Humph, some leader you are, Lance the Fox."

The brown chipmunk continued to laugh at him and he never noticed his eyes glowing white.

Ker used his hands and covered his eyes, "No! I won't! I can't!" Soon he couldn't control himself. He lured his hands away from his eyes and glared over to the brown chipmunk with his eyes glowing brightly.

The chipmunk stopped laughing and nervously stared at his eyes. 'What's he gonna do? Oh no, I think that's his attack. Now I'm gonna pay the price.'

Ker clenched his fist, "You're gonna regret calling me a freak! You son of a bitch!"

The chipmunk shut his eyes tightly awaiting the pain that he deserved.

The white beam shot out of his eyes and was headed for the chipmunk, until a black blur pushed him out of the way and the blast missed him.

Afterwards Ker kneeled to the ground heartbroken about what he just did.

The green and black squirrel eyes widened, "Wha-who did that? Who just saved Maxcell?" She looked over to the chipmunk and saw a black and red hedgehog getting off of Maxcell. "What the hell?"

The black hedgehog faced them, "I will forever regret doing that."

Lance's mouth hung open and pointed at the hedgehog, "You! You're...you're..."

"Alive?" He finished.

Appex walked up to him with a smirk on his face, "Hell just couldn't handle your ass could it?"

"Actually I was sent to heaven. I was sent back here for a reason but that's not a story for trash like you. Just crawl back in your hole and eat the garbage you live in."

The green and black squirrel stomped her foot down on the ground in anger, "Why you-"

Lance placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head, "Now Zena, that's not the right way to treat a long lost friend now is it?"

Zena let out am evil smile, "Heh, you're right."

He took his hand away from her shoulder, "Of course I am. I'm always right." He looked over to Shadow helping Ker off the ground. "Hey, Hedgehog! What the hell are you doing! He's a fourteen demon damn it! Kill that fucker!"

Shadow gave him a cold look, "You're the one that deserves to die. Ker is a nice demon."

"But he attacked us!"

"True, but he only does that when people such as yourself makes fun of him. Knowing you, you made fun of him and called him a freak. You can't just make fun of people just because they're different. Every single one of us is different and you know that!"

"Just shut the fuck up, Hedgehog! You're giving me a headache." He looked over to Appex and pointed at Shadow. "Kill that fucker."

Appex made a nod and walked up to Shadow staring into his red eyes, "It's been awhile...maybe too long."

Shadow laughed a bit, "I guess I could use some practice."

Ker grabbed his wrist, "Shadow!"

"It's all right, Ker. I know what I'm doing." He walked up to Appex standing in a fighting stance.

Appex placed his goggles over his yellow eyes and took three sharp quills from his red fur in his arm, "Let's end this, Hedgehog!" He threw the sharp quills at him but Shadow used his incredible speed and dodged the quills.

He looked over to Appex, "Is that all you got for me, needles?"

"I'm just getting warmed up." Then all of his quills stood up from his body.

Shadow turned to Ker, "Ker, move!"

Ker fled behind a brick wall. He had hoped that Shadow knew what he was doing.

Appex then unleashed all of his quills at Shadow and again he dodged them all. He was really frustrated by this. 'What a sly bastard.'

"What's wrong, Appex? I thought you were the strongest of the group?"

The porcupine gritted his teeth and anger. He was going to try again until he heard a scream from Maxcell. He and Shadow looked over to him and saw him pointing to a man with blue hair, wearing a black cloak, around his neck was a necklace with a blue jewel in it, and had a giant knife in his hand. "Shit", he murmured under his breath.

"It's another demon!" Zena shouted.

Ker heard the word 'demon' from one of them so he peeked his head around the corner and saw a blue haired man approaching them. His eyes widened and he quickly turned away from him. 'My brother, Gerkor. I should...no I'm not.' He sat on the ground, 'I did enough damage for today.' Though he still felt guilty for not helping Shadow, but he had to. He just didn't want to kill anyone anymore.