Chapter nine

You want me to do what?

The day was a nice calm day, no bad weather forecasted for many weeks to come, and completely tranquil inside and out of the palace. The reason to that was maybe due to Collin's cousin Joes staying over for a few weeks to help Shadow with his gift. For the fifth day in a row there has been no disappearances of Shadow, no upsets because of his gift and no negative vibes coming from Shadow himself. Shadow would argue it was because he has a huge level of respect towards Joey and didn't want to upset him in anyway but truth was Shadow was a little scared of Joey. It wasn't the fear of authority or because Joey and his father were very close. It was because of Joeys gift of sight and whatever decision Shadow made, Joey would see it happen before he could even began to execute that decision and make it a reality.

"You want me to meditate every day after breakfast for two whole hours." Shadow dryly said as he looked at his fathers cousin with a raised brow.

"Yes Shadow I believe it will help you to keep a calm aura and thus you will slowly gain control of your gift. Granted it will take you many years before you are in full control but I promise you it is all worth it in the end." Joey smiled at Shadow with confidence as he spoke back in a casual tone.

"You do know I'm only twelve and not an old man right? What twelve year old meditates anyway?" Shadow rolled his eyes as he just couldn't see how doing this is supposed to help him in the long run.

"Shadow I meditate and have done since before your age. Does that make me an old man before my time?" Joey grinned as he replied back.

"…Yes." Shadow teased as he never new that about Joey but wanted to stand by what he had said.

"You are still going to do it Shadow, there is no getting out of it. You know I will find out if you don't." Joey confidently said as he and Shadow were sitting out in the garden on the ground facing each other.

"Yeah I know." Shadow sighed in defeat as he bowed his head down slightly, he really didn't want to waste two hours a day on doing something that wouldn't work straight off.

"So will this mean my classes will start later than usual?" Shadow casually asked as he lifted his head up and gave Joey a playful smirk.

"Unfortunately yes which will also mean you wont finish your lessons until around five in the evening instead of the usual three in the afternoon. Me and your parents do realise this is a lot to take on at your age but the benefits will be worth all the hard work and effort. So long as you keep at it and do not quit, you will overcome the darkness of that gift and have control over it." Joey sincerely said with a soft smile.

"Right so where would you suggest I erm meditate?" Shadow asked with an unsure look in his eyes, unable to believe he was going to do this.

"It has to be somewhere peaceful and lacking distracting noises. Somewhere you feel calm and relaxed so that you can clear your mind without there being anything to disturb you. Before you start thinking remember this, no leaving the palace grounds, including the passageway system. Oh yes I am very aware you were going to think about going down them to get to the forest to do this meditating." Joes grinned as he spoke in a slightly teasing manner.

"No fair, there isn't a single area around here that I find remotely calm and relaxed." Shadow pouted with crossed arms, looking away from Joey's grin that only softened into a smile.

"What about the entertainment room? We can also set it up as a some sort of relaxation room for you to go to whenever you are feeling angry or upset about something. I think if we work together, we could get it done in a few hours and be in time for dinner." Joey suggested with a bright smile and tone, making Shadow uncross his arms and look at him.

"Like use that room as an escape from stresses that may trigger my gift?" Shadow asked as he was liking this idea.

"Somewhat yes but you have to remember not to lose yourself and learn to face what is bothering you. If you ignore the problem then it will only become harder to face therefore the problem will grow stronger." Joey calmly said as he smiled at Shadow.

"Yeah, yeah I get it." Shadow brushed Joey's words off like they weren't all that important then stood up with a stretch.

"Oh and no using this as an excuse to miss your booster shot next week either or to miss any lessons you dislike. I will call your father up if you do plan on doing such a thing and you know I will Shadow." Joey warned with a slightly devious grin at the child in front of him.

"I hate it when you do that sometimes but fine you have my word I will not abuse the system on this or break the rules. So lets get started before the day is over with." Shadow said with a frown and a level of seriousness as he looked down at Joey still sitting on the ground.

Joey chuckled at the level of Shadows seriousness behaviour then stood onto his feet. He motioned Shadow to follow him back into the palace, which Shadow did, and they entered after climbing up those small steps.

"Say can I ask you something Joey?" Shadow said as they walked side by side towards the entertainment room.

"Sure go right ahead." Joey smiled as he looked at Shadow, having a feeling what the young hedgehog wanted to know.

"When you have a vision of the future, do you tell everyone you do?" Shadow asked with a puzzled expression up at his fathers cousin.

"It depends on the vision Shadow. Some I can mention and some I just cannot. If I were to see an event for example and go about changing it. I will be changing the outcome therefore the future changes, not always for the better." Joey explained the best he could without confusing Shadow.

"So if you did say something and changed the original outcome then you could set of a chain of new events then completely destroy the future…sounds like a horror movie to me and a huge responsibility too. How do you know what you can and cannot share?" Shadow asked as he tried to get an understanding as Joey had told him a while ago he would one day be able to see into the future like Joey can.

"It does doesn't it and what a hell of a movie it would be. It's a little hard to explain. You get this feeling and depending on what you feel, it will determine if you should mention the vision or not." Joey said as they stopped walking.

"It's a little like when you have a secret and you know you shouldn't tell but you really want to. The stronger the feeling the more you should avoid saying something about it. Of course not all visions will be bad or an event, you might see a person you have yet to meet or a place you have yet been to." Joey explained further as he and Shadow locked eyes.

"I think I understand…do you have people come to you to look into their future?" Shadow grinned as he made a little joke.

"Sometimes but I tell them I can tell them anything that might change their future. You want to know your future don't you Shadow?" Joey grinned back with a wink at Shadow.

"Hell yeah I do. I want to know what I'm going to be like and if there is anything exciting will happen." Shadow said with excitement, a huge smile on his muzzle.

"Oh yes I've seen moments in your adult life." Joey chuckled lightly at Shadows eager expression on wanting to know.

"Yeah go on, what am I like?" Shadow asked as he was dying to know.

"I've seen moments that are good, moments that are not so good and a vision that was on the dark side of things…all things you will have to live through and not be told what they are. A lesson for you Shadow, sometimes it is better to not know what your future is or you might avoid something that could have led to something worthwhile." Joey softly said with a gentle smile.

"Yeah I suppose you are right, besides where is the fun in knowing? It would be more of a surprise if you didn't see it coming. Oh right that has to be one of the down sides of that ability." Shadow replied with a small frown.

"Another lesson, you can't see your own future unless you are deeply involved in an event that so happens to show itself to you." Joey winked with a grin at the child.

"Awesome." Shadow happily said then the two once again began to walk to where they were originally going.

When they reached the entertainment lounge they entered and stood in the middle beside the coffee table. Looking around in thought Joey hummed as he thought of a few ideas on how to turn this into a relaxation place for Shadow. At the moment alls it held was the sofa, TV with the essentials and a coffee table.

"Ok here's what we are going to do, I'm going to go out to the city and getting a CD player and a selection of calming CDs. I want you to have a little practice with meditating and see if doing it in here will relax you." Joey said with a grin down at Shadow who was looking a little disappointed in not coming too.

"And I cannot come because?" Shadow asked with a small pout with crossed arms.

"Because it will be a bad idea for you to leave the palace at the moment, trust me it is chaos out there and you might get separated from me." Joey sighed at the pouted look of Shadow.

"Oh yeah it's that huge discount sale in all stores thing today right? Don't understand why people go nuts just for paying less than the recommended price of an item once a year." Shadow raised an amused brow and uncrossed his arms.

Imagine black Friday, add an extra dose of chaos and you have the Underworld city during this event. It is a good job it only happens once a year which is why the citizens probably go a little nuts during the whole day, to get that bargain before stocks are gone.

"Yes it is and like I said it will be chaotic out there, just stay put and practice ok. I'll be back as soon as I have everything." Joey smiled with a wink then left the room and closed the door shut so Shadow had no interruptions.

"Right, ok this shouldn't be too hard to do." Shadow whispered to himself as he was still unsure of doing this or even how to begin.

Shadow shrugged his shoulders and decided to at least try so he picked a nice spot on the floor and faced the closed balcony doors while sitting right in front of them. He crossed his legs and placed his hands on his knees then closed his eyes. He look in deep calm breaths and tried to get a calm aura inside of him.

Fifteen minutes later…

"This is pointless." Shadow groaned out in frustration as he opened his eyes and rested his head in one hand, had that arms elbow resting on his knee while he glared outside up in the sky.

"How can I possibly do this for the time Joey wants me to…it's so boring and not at all relaxing." Shadow muttered with a frown in distaste to his given task.

"I don't even know if I'm even doing it right." Shadow sighed as he looked outside through the glass doors.

Shadow sighed again and decided to give it another go or he was going to get it in the neck from Joey. He went back into his previous position and closed his eyes, taking more deep breaths slowly. Soon enough, after twenty minutes, he was drifting into a state of calm as he wondered into his mind with a faint smile on his muzzle. Unknown to Shadow but this was when his dark gift became visible in the room with him. His shadow creatures floated in a calm manner around the room above his head in low numbers, four to be exact. A slightly bigger smile appeared across Shadow muzzle as he grew totally relaxed, it mimicking on his shadow creatures as they slowed in their movements a little.

A sudden loud bang brought Shadows senses on high alert and his eyes shot opening in a panic. His darkness became aggressive and shot in all different directions in the room. One smashed into the TV and the screen cracked and shattered loudly then the shadow vanished. Another shot through the glass doors and shattered that and vanished too, making Shadow quickly cover himself from the falling glass. The other two shot into the wall above the sofa and made cracks and scorch marks from the electricity coming off of them both then also vanishing. Shadow carefully stood and brushed the glass off himself then turned around to look at the quickly opening door.

"What happened in here?" Collin asked with high concern as he looked as his not amused son who was glaring in annoyance with crossed arms.

"How the hell should I know? I'm only doing what Joey asked me to do then a loud bang broke my concentration. I can only assume my gift showed while meditating then went out of whack when I was disturbed from that loud bang." Shadow unhappily said as he looked into his fathers eyes.

"I see, come here away from the glass and I will have someone clean up in here. I'll have a word with Joey when he gets back." Collin sighed as he motioned his son to come forward with a stretch out arm and hand movement.

Shadow rolled his eyes, uncrossed his arms and did slowly walk towards his father, avoiding the glass since alls he had on his feet were his slipper boots. He reached his father and was guided out by him with an arm around his shoulders. As they walked passed the library Shadow glanced inside and found out what that bang was. One of the tall seven shelf book case on ground floor had tipped over with books all over the floor. There was three maids trying to get it back up and two picking up books that went flying across the floor upon falling.

"Dad what happened in the library?" Shadow curiously asked as they carried on walking, now looking up at his father.

"I am having the library rearranged and new book cases put in for they are very old and falling apart. I guess one gave way and fell down which would be that bang you heard." Collin answered with a gentle voice, looking down at is son with a soft smile.

"Oh right…I guess I better find a different place to do this meditating thing cousin Joey wants me to do while he is in the city. Hope he isn't too long." Shadow muttered with slight displeasure in doing it, especially after what happened in the entertainment room after being disturbed so suddenly.

"Yes he said he would try to be as quick as he can but I have a feeling he will be gone for at least another hour." Collin chuckled on his cousins misfortune on having to go out into the city on a day like today.

"Know any places that are calm, relaxing and lack disturbing noises?" Shadow asked as he looked up at his father, not sounding very energetic with having to continue meditating.

"Maybe we should wait until he come back son, we don't want anything else to happen and another room damaged." Collin suggested with a smile down at Shadow as he could tell Shadow did not want to continue.

"Fine by me dad, I don't particular want to continue meditating. If that is going to happen every time I'm jumped while in the middle of a session…lets just say I'd rather not even bother begin the session. I do not want someone getting hurt because of me. It was lucky it was only replaceable objects and not a person." Shadow seriously said with a deeply disturbed frown as his mind wondered to an image of someone getting hurt from his creatures of darkness when jumped like he was.

"I'm sure it was only a one off Shadow and just in case we will make sure no one comes near the room you are in until the session is finished with." Collin assured as he pulled Shadow into a side hug as they walked down the hallways of the palace.

"Or I can just not do it and find a different way to relax." Shadow grinned up as he gave a pleading look in his eyes.

"Not happening my child, you are going to continue mediating until further notice besides it was working right? You did find a sense of calmness before you were disturbed, didn't you?" Collin replied with a playful smirk down at his sons disappointed expression of having to continue.

"Yeah I guess I did." Shadow muttered unhappily as he looked away from his father and looked ahead of him instead.

"Also when you do meditate it will be in the mornings after breakfast so there wont be anything to disturb you like this afternoon." Collin assured with a grin as they turned a corner and carried on walking together.

(Thanks for reading the latest chapter of my one-shot based story of Shadows life growing up in the Underworld. I do hope you are still enjoying it and please review your thoughts wont ya. Until the next chap and as a sneak preview it will be about Shadows second assassination attempt so keep your eyes pealed for it or just click the 'follow story' button so you get an email to say when it is uploaded, that way you wont miss it or any of the chapters that follow that one...I think lol…Until the next chap that will be up when typed.)