Chapter 5
Early the next morning, Shadow was peacefully asleep in his bed when suddenly, a loud crash came from outside.
He sat up in bed in surprise. Had an intruder infiltrated into the base?
"Shadow." A knock came from his bedroom door and Dr. Eggman walked in.
"Doctor, what is it?" Shadow asked as he threw the covers off himself and pulled his shoes on. "I heard a noise. Is there an intruder?"
"Possibly." Eggman nodded. "It came from the training room. The robots are still powered down, it's up to you to find out what's in there."
"I'm on it." Shadow nodded, quickly speeding past the fat doctor. He skated as fast as he could to the training room. When he got to it, he stood with his back to the wall outside the door, waiting to hear another noise.
Suddenly, he heard… chirping?
Shadow dashed into the room, ready to fight whoever this intruder was, but he saw nothing. There was no intruder. The only thing that was there, was the training room all in disarray. The equipment was all chewed up, stuffing flown everywhere. Scratches were portrayed here and there, and much to his disgust, there was a small urine puddle on the floor. A small patch of light was on the floor, and when Shadow turned to look where it was coming from, he saw a small hole in the wall.
"A dumb animal." Shadow growled, stomping out to the hallway to call to the doctor. "False alarm! It was an animal! It got in!"
…
Eggman grumbled as he set up the wire trap in the training room. From across the room, over by the hole, Shadow watched as he multitasked with fixing the hole, hoping the animal would not get in again.
"Pesky rodents." Eggman grumbled, attaching half of an apple to the hook inside the cage, baiting it. "If it wasn't enough that I have to deal with Sonic every day, now I gotta deal with everyday normal animals too?!"
"Well, I fixed the hole." Shadow tried to assure him as he hammered the last board over the hole. "So it shouldn't be getting in anymore."
"I hope not, but if it does and this trap captures it, you just let me deal with it, alright?"
"Deal with it?" Shadow tilted his head curiously. "Deal with it how?"
"By killing it of course."
"Kill it?" Shadow was a bit shocked and horrified.
"Of course." Eggman laughed. "Gotta make a statement Shadow. A statement to all wildlife that their kind isn't welcome here."
"Well, hopefully it doesn't come to that." Shadow whispered to himself, then said aloud, "Is there anything else I can help you with, doctor?"
"No, that's all, Shadow. You go ahead and do whatever you want." Eggman disregarded him, too busy trying to find the perfect spot to put the trap.
As Shadow witnessed this, he couldn't help but feel a bit neglected. Eggman has been ignoring him a lot more than usual lately, and it bothered him greatly. Technically, Eggman was the only family Shadow had left, so couldn't they act like it? Hopeful that the man still cared for him, he tried a different tactic.
"I'm gonna go find Sonic and see if he wants to spar."
The fat man only gave a half wave before going back to what he was doing.
Shadow's bottom lip quivered a bit and he ran off, feeling completely hurt and neglected.
Perhaps Eggman didn't care about him after all.
The ebony ran and ran, his legs unconsciously taking him to Terabithia. Realizing where he was going, and not really wanting to be alone, Shadow reached into his quills and pulled out his cell phone… the one he got without the doctor knowing about it.
Hey, he was still a teenager too!
The ebony went into his contacts and searched in the S category, giving a small smile when he saw Sonic's name pop up.
Yesterday, before they had left Terabithia, Sonic had assured Shadow that if he ever wanted to talk or meet up somewhere, he could call him. Surprisingly, Shadow had taken up his offer and they swapped numbers with each other. Now, Shadow was glad they did so.
Shadow clicked on Sonic's name in his phone and speed dialed him. He brought the phone up to his ear and waited. The other line rang two times before somebody picked it up.
"Hello, Shadow?" Sonic answered from the other line.
"Hey, Sonic, can you meet me at Terabithia, please?" Shadow sniffled a little, his emotions starting to catch up with him.
"Is everything alright? You sound a bit upset."
"I am a little." The ebony admitted. "Can you just come to Terabithia, and I'll explain everything there?"
"... Ok, yeah, sure. I'm on my way."
"Thanks."
With that, Shadow ended the call and put his phone back in his quills. Before he knew it, he had reached the river. He grabbed the branch and pulled the rope over to him, quickly climbing up the log and swinging to the other side of the river. Once he landed, he quickly ran to the treehouse, getting there quickly with ease. He grabbed the rope and climbed up into the treehouse, sliding his body close to the corner. As he waited for Sonic, he pulled his knees to his chest, and silently cried.