Chapter Seven – Vindicated
Sonic smirked, yes he was, but now was not the time to stand on ceremony. He still had a fight to win. Destroying the Badniks in this way, once he had the technique, it was relatively easy, but it was just tiring and very laborious. Both the Hedgehogs felt it, as waves for further Badniks came in but finally, after several hours, the last of the Badniks were gone. Thankfully, there was no Boss Robot to contend with. It seemed like Eggman had just set them loose to cause a nuisance. Both Sonic and Shadow looked at each other, but quickly clocked as they were getting company and fast, as the other's raced towards them.
Shadow formulated a plan, and relaying it to Sonic a super-high speed, a role play between them kicked in, as Sonic, appearing to the on-comers, to be full of himself, only for have Shadow pull a fully loaded revolver on the Blue Blur, which immediately stopped him, and the on-comers in their tracks. Then after some 'pretend' conversation between them, Shadow lowered his gun, and stormed off, meeting Rouge and the others, halfway. Sonic was left where he was. He'd clocked the representative from the Mobian Authorities, mainly by Shadow subtly telling him he was there and thought it best to linger back and wait to be called forward.
Rouge giggled but Shadow huffed, folding his arms, acknowledging that she was alright, the Blue Blur still behind him. She grinned.
"I see, there's still no love lose between you two." She smiled, but Shadow just growled, swearing hard.
"That idiot does a dam runner for the last five years, is absolutely no help to anyone, and then expects to be welcomed back with open arms. No thank you." He hissed. Tails gulped, staring at the Ultimate Lifeform.
"Wait, you knew." He gasped. Shadow leered, very coldly.
"Knew what?" He spat. "I clocked him on the Ark, traveling, years ago. No idea why. Couldn't have cared less, to be honest." He sneered, but then he raised an eyebrow. "Wait. You didn't believe that crud Eggman told you about him, did you? I heard about that." He smirked. Suddenly, everyone looked at each other, going very white. Shadow smirk broadened. "Well, that was stupid, and I thought you people were intelligent." He hissed, eyeing specifically Tails, and the Dog from the Mobian Authorities. The canine gulped, terrified, in actually being, in the presence of the infamous Ultimate Lifeform. He needed proof of Shadow's statement but knew better them to ask. If he was willing to pull on a gun on the famous Hero of Mobius, then he, himself, wouldn't stand a chance. He had no choice but to believe him. However, it was lining up with what he already knew. The Dog heaved.
"Yes, but it seems that the 'crud' as you call it, that Eggman told us does now appear to be false. My colleagues back at the Mobian Authorities have literally just sent me that confirmation." He heaved, to be immediately stared at. But Tails rounded on him.
"What? But Sonic's acts of treason, his interventions in helping Eggman, their fights and conversations." He whimpered. He seen a good chuck of the footage himself, but the Dog shook his head. He heaved.
"All fake, I'm afraid. When you came to see me, and told me that the Blue Blur was still alive, I didn't believe you at first but on a hunch, put a request in for the original footage to be time in in-depth detail. But while the Badnik fight was happening, I got a message." He paused, holding his communicator. "Relaying the fact that every piece of evidence that Eggman provided five years ago, is all showing signs of falsification. We didn't see it on our initial sweep, because." He admitted. "We didn't look that deeply. We, like everyone else, with Sonic gone, idiotically believed Eggman." He added, hanging his head. "He conned us all, right royally, with his lies. But." He added, turning to the Ultimate Lifeform. "You are correct in saying that Sonic leaving was of no help to anyone. However, he will not be charged for abandonment of duty. He left believing that Eggman was down, which at the time he was, genuinely thinking that his friends would find him, if any trouble started. Nothing he hadn't done before. But the Human took advantage of the situation, leading everyone to believe that the Blue Blur was dead. Therefore, no one went looking for him, so after five years of solid traveling, he genuinely thought nothing was wrong. I suspect Sonic came back home having absolutely no idea of what was going on." He heaved. Knuckles and Tails looked at each other and nodded. Knuckles sighed.
"Yeah, that's exactly what we saw." He agreed. But the Dog frowned.
"Fine, but I'd like to hear it from him." He spat, indicating Sonic down the hill. "Where has he been for the last five years?" He hissed, of which the Dog walked past everyone, straight towards Sonic, to speak to him, alone. Shadow watched him go, still staying with the others, but struggling to contain a very large, triumphant smirk. His plan was working flawlessly, and nobody suspected a thing. It was all lies, but only he and Sonic knew that, and potentially Eggman. Now all the Blue Blur had to do, was produce a plausible, but fake story as to his worldwide travels over the last five years, and he should be officially off the hook.
It worked.
For over an hour they talked, Sonic telling an outlandish story, just out of earshot of everyone. Except Shadow, who had to slightly reign him in a little, speaking, almost silently, under his breath, down the communicator, of which he knew Sonic's Super-Hearing could pick up. But the Blue Blur held his nerve and finally, it was all over, as the Dog walked him back up the hill, to join the others. He was very satisfied. He nodded.
"It seems that with all the evidence and Sonic's testimony." He smiled, indicating the Blue Blur next to him. "That Eggman was indeed lying. I have sent my report to my superiors, and they had just messaged me back, agreeing with me, giving Sonic a full pardon." He smiled, to much cheering around the group, which ratted Sonic's Sonar slightly. "The black mark of treason will be removed from his record." He paused, rounding on the Blue Blur. "Next time, you decide to go traveling, One, take a communicator with you, and two, tell someone where your going." He spat. Sonic just grinned and nodded, but the Dog held out a hand, and beamed. "Welcome back." He announced.
Sonic stopped for a nanosecond and looked down at the hand. The Dog's scent had giving him a nice clean outline to follow, but the sudden movement of the hand, out directly towards him, got slightly lost within his outline, as Sonar could sometimes severely struggle to process depth. Sonic realised that he had to grab that hand in one singular, fast flowing movement, otherwise their cover would be completely blown. But he was almost blind to it. None of his other senses could see it either, not to distinguish it from the rest of the Dog's body. But thankfully, his righthand Hedgehog was as heavily clued into Super-Speed as he was, had immediately spotted his hesitation. Suddenly, Sonic heard an almost silent, under the breath, whisper echo come through to him, as he heard Shadow's voice with both his ears and down the communicator, as he proceeded to very quickly talk Sonic through as to where exactly the hand was.
Done both silently and Super-Speed fast, no one noticed this as within a few seconds of being offered the hand, Sonic took it, as normal as anything, giving absolutely no indication as to the real truth of what was going on. That he was blind, and Eggman's story entirely truth. That the Hedgehogs were the ones really lying. They shook hands and the Dog left, leaving Sonic hugely relieved, but he didn't let it show.
Now with a clean record, he was now free to do as he pleased. If someone found out he was blind, so what? Who was going to believe them? The reason why the Hedgehogs did this, was that Sonic had been tried for treason and then officially pardoned. Under the Mobian Authorities Laws of Double Jeopardy, Sonic now can't legally be tried again for treason for the exact same reason. He had been proven innocent, he now can't go on trail for the same crime twice. It's not fair, and Shadow was well aware of this. So if word now got out that Sonic was actually blind, and that Eggman had in fact spoken the truth, there was nothing the Mobian Authorities could now legally do about it.
It was a stoke of pure genius of Shadow, it completely gave the Blue Blur back his freedom, or as he simply saw it, returning the favour. Sonic had procured his freedom after all. This wasn't the first time Shadow had used the Law of Double Jeopardy to his advantage, getting multiple charges of murder off his own record. All true, of course, but now nothing could legally be done about those, either. It was Shadow who had completely fooled everyone, not Eggman, and Sonic had to admit, he was proud. He never knew that Shadow could be so sly, so sneaky, so incredible subtle at twisting everything. How long had Sonic not noticed.
Potentially years, but now he knew, and truthfully, he loved witnessing the master at work, and now relished being a part of it. It deeply fascinated Sonic, how Shadow thought. That was why he always did nowadays exactly as he was asked. Shadow's mind was completely different to everyone else's, so dark and sinister and yet not selfish or evil. Some weird middle ground, that proved Shadow not only unique but, the best of the best. Sonic couldn't see Shadow anymore, just his scent outline and his slow, steady incredible heartbeat. He sniffed, as he realised he never would again. His stunning black and red striped physique that Sonic just never noticed before. Only now, after loosing his sight, did the Blue Blur truly learn the real Shadow The Hedgehog. Did he regret it? No, but he wished he given more time with his rival sooner.
Shadow smirked, as he caught Sonic absentmindedly staring at him for a few nanoseconds. He leered.
"Concentrate." He hissed, almost silently. Absolutely no one heard him, except Sonic, who immediately looked away, a small smile on his face. Shadow knew that there was a great challenge how ahead of the Blue Blur, as immediately she ran for him, and threw her arms around him.
Amy.
Immediately, Shadow saw Sonic wasn't happy. He barely hugged her back. He stood there stiff as a board, borderline panicking. The anxiety though the roof. He wanted out, but as Shadow subtly slipped into the background of the group as the others crowded around Sonic, but there was no way he was leaving. Dealing with years of Sonic's severe anguish over this girl, had left Shadow permanently angry at her, and was very aware that his conditioning of Sonic and the genetic engineering on his emotions was the only reason that the Blue Blur wasn't immediately running terrified away from Amy, his anxiety exploding.
Sonic was almost in tears with fright, but as Shadow saw, coping rather well, under the circumstances. Suddenly, their eyes met again, or more specifically, Sonic's eyes looked at his chest fur, and his calm, super soothing heartbeat beneath, the Blue Blur's Sonar could see. He leered, nodding, mainly out of habit, temporarily forgetting that Sonic couldn't actually see that, and hissed, quietly down the communicator.
"Be still." He smirked. "I've got you." He reassured. Sonic nodded, but Amy wouldn't let go. But he was very confused. If Amy was married, with the mention of the husband earlier, then why was she so clingy around him? Granted, he'd been gone for five years but still, after ten minutes she still hadn't let him go, to much complaining of the others. It was getting ridiculous. Sonic just stayed still and silent. He found doing that, made the whole situation easier to cope with. He still feared her. Her hammer, dominating personality and rage, at the truth of his sterility. But he had backup. Powerful backup. Shadow was still around, deep in the background, his heartbeat gently calming the Blue Blur with every thump. His ears concentrating on it. The Ultimate Lifeform didn't care how Sonic dealt with this situation, but to just pick something and run with it. He very much disliked unfinished business. Sonic heaved, fair enough. But if Amy got violent, Sonic was sure Shadow would intervene, their bond between was now very strong, with the end results not being good for the girl. Sonic prayed that it wouldn't have to come to that. He deeply sighed.
"Amy." He heaved. "Please let me go." He begged, but Amy just squeezed him harder. She dug her face into his chest. She growled.
"No." She spat, defiant. Sonic blinked, as the others talked around him, but he just completely fazed that out. He was struggling. With the crowd, he didn't get a good look at Amy's Sonar outline before she ran for him, and it happened so fast that he'd missed it. But he also been partially distracted. Now all he was getting were permanent lungfuls of her extremely strong scent, and it was very weird. Sonic knew what the scent of a female Hedgehog should be, he'd met others, but Amy's now had bizarre element to it, that Sonic just couldn't work out. He ran his hands down her sides slightly. Same stunning figure, as always, with what felt like a close skin-tight dress. Colour, no idea, but he felt spines at her waist. Her quills. They had been at her shoulders, forming a bob-cut style, but she had obviously grown them, and they hung long, and soft, almost all the way down to her tail.
For a female Hedgehog, she did smell fantastic, if Sonic wasn't still so scared. He would have been interested but that weird element, slicing though it all, was just so confusing. What was that? For the first time, he concentrated his Super-Hearing fully on her, tearing it away from Shadow, and the deeply frowned. With Amy being so close to him, he immediately got her heartbeat, and her purring. Then her slow breathing and bowel movements. Sonic heaved, throughly unimpressed. Stupid ears. But then he heard it, narrowing the sound near her groin, an extremely rapid thump, thump, thump. Definitely a heartbeat, a second one, but extremely tiny and very fast indeed. Sonic frown deepened, still unsure as to what it was, until after another five minutes, the penny dropped and hard.
He gasped, was she...?
But his train of thought was immediately interrupted as someone, who came storming right up to them, stood directly behind Amy. Sonic looked at him, and got the scent outline of a tall, but strong male Hedgehog, his whole body language was indicating he was very angry. Sonic had no idea who he was, having never met him before and to his surprise, he growled straight at him.
"Hey." He grilled. "Get your hands off my wife." He hissed. Sonic eye's widened.
The husband.
But the Blue Blur just heaved.
"Er. I'm not." He defended, as he immediately opened both hands and arms out wide, to still have Amy desperately clinging around his middle for dear life. He wasn't touching her, and the husband, less then impressed, could immediately see that. His anger dissipated and he deeply sighed.
"Amy, let him go." He asked, but Amy just buried her head deeper into Sonic's chest. She growled even more.
"No." She spat, but the husband wasn't impressed, and promptly asked her again, this time with a lot of anger.
"Amy, let him go." He repeated, to yet more defiance. This time she didn't even answer. Suddenly the husband exploded with anger and out of nowhere, he immediately thrust his hand out straight at Sonic, which his Sonar completely missed, grabbed his wife by the scruff of the neck and very forcibly, pulled her from the Blue Blur, physically yanking her from of him. She screamed, but Sonic did nothing. He just stared with any extremely numb look on his face, desperately trying to understand the mixed emotions he was having. He made no attempt to intervene whatsoever, to the utter shock of the others who were now silenced around him. Amy squealed.
"Hey, Earl, get off me." She roared. But the male Hedgehog just hissed, still with his hand at the back of her neck. He growled.
"Amy, we have a formal dinner with not only with my family, but the Chief Executive of the Mobian Authorities, in less then an a hour and not only are you not ready, but I find you hugging this traitor." He growled, indicating Sonic, but Tails intervened.
"Er, actually, he's been pardoned. Eggman was lying, everything was faked, it all never happened." He squealed, but Earl just looked at Sonic intensely, and then just shrugged.
"Oh, alright." He heaved, not really caring, having finally let Amy go. Despite the apparent brutality of him grabbing her, she was actually unscathed, but not happy. He then rounded on her. "Amy, we have to go. Please don't embarrass me at this dinner." He heaved, as finally the total absurdity of the entire situation began to kick in, he was just stunned. He's met Amy four years ago, and they had immediately hit it off, falling in love very quickly. They were married a year later, and she had been nothing but an absolutely devoted and loyal wife since. To find her, with her arms around another male Hedgehog, the Hero of Mobius, none the less, was just gobsmacking. Never had he witnessed such defiance from her. He'd known she'd been a fan, but as far as he was concerned, that's all it was. A girly fetish she'd long since grown out of. But Amy was unmoving, placing herself firmly between Sonic and Earl. She hissed.
"I'm not going anywhere." She spat. Finally, her beloved Sonic was back, she was letting him out of his sight, but Earl just stared, and then got angry again, grabbing her firming, but not painfully, by the arm, trying to force her away. She fought back and hard, surprising him with her enhanced-strength. She squealed.
"No, Earl, get off me." She screamed, stubborn as ever but Sonic just stared. His fear of her, was significantly easing, almost to the point of being gone. He liked the husband, Earl. He was fair but firm. You needed to be to deal with Amy, but Sonic got the impression she hadn't done this to him before. He loved her deeply, Sonic could hear in his voice. He'd never hurt her, but there was intense shock of her suddenly siding with Sonic over him. The Blue Blur, however, wasn't. He knew just how obsessed she was over him but now, he wasn't hers, anymore. She now belonged to someone else. Someone whom Sonic deemed worthy, and as for him, now blind and sterile, the chances of Sonic finding a romantic partner now, were zero. Well, one that didn't permanently pity him, which Amy would. What Sonic wanted was company, a lifelong comrade who truly understood him.
Shadow.
Sonic's sensitive hearing suddenly caught the Ultimate Lifeform's heartbeat, move closer to the commotion, but got silence down the communicator. Sonic heaved. Time to intervene before Shadow does. It was better coming from him anyway. He growled. She was being incredibly stupid. Suddenly, Sonic had a burst of confidence to fight against her, for the first time in years, as his anger just exploded. Except this time, it was different.
"AMY!" He roared, with a tone of voice so cold, you could have frozen water with it. It was as un-Sonic like, the Blue Blur could have gone, but right there and then, he just didn't care. He was shaking with both anger and fright, both could clearly be heard on his voice. He got absolute silence from everyone, and Amy whimpering ahead of him. But Sonic just hissed, the coldness not warming one drop. "You have somewhere to be. Go!" He spat. Very much as order, not a request. But Amy just gulped. She'd never seen her Sonic act like this before. In fact, no one had. But Sonic just smirked, as he was about to walk away, he showed four solid years of training and conditioning by Shadow The Hedgehog. The Ultimate Lifeform has seriously rubbed off on him. His lip curled. "Oh, and good luck with the baby, by the way." He added, still very coldly, but with an air of sarcasm.
There was pandemonium, as Sonic suspected the husband didn't know, otherwise Earl wouldn't have treated his wife so roughly. He was just desperate and now, very confused. Amy and the baby were alright, Sonic had checked with his ears, he did trust Earl to treat her well, long term. This incident being a one off. But in Sonic's heart, he would intervene if Earl didn't. He did still care about her, despite his intense fright.
Suddenly, Sonic got an intense smell of tears as they began streaming down Earl's face, as he suspected, as he couldn't see, Amy go absolutely white. She knew, but no one else did. The pregnancy was extremely early. He saw Earl's scent outline round on him, but Sonic quickly defended himself. He threw up both his hands. He heaved.
"Hey." He shrugged, the warmth returning to his voice. "She told me." He added, indicating Amy's outline, outright lying. Absolutely gobsmacked, Earl just wailed, as he looked as his wife. He sniffed.
"Your pregnant?" He stammered, of which Amy nodded. "And you told him, before you told me?" He gasped, pointing at Sonic. The total outcast in their relationship. Amy just stared, utterly stunned. She hadn't told Sonic anything, but yet how did he know? But now, there was no way Earl would believe her. He cried more then he moved away from her. "It's my baby." He sniffed, utter gobsmacked that his wife could be so disloyal. Their first child. But then his looked back at Sonic, boring his eyes into him, unable to believe what he was thinking. "Unless..?" He hissed, rather coldly. But Amy immediately ran up to him, tears now down her own face. She sniffed.
"No, Earl, I swear, I haven't cheated." She whimpered, but it was obvious the Earl was struggling to believe her. Why else would she tell Sonic first? But the Blue Blur heaved. This had gone on long enough, and was getting out of hand. Amy hadn't cheated, and to have her accused angered Sonic, and not the reason why he mentioned the pregnancy. He'd just wanted to rattle Amy a little, as payback, not to break her up with her husband completely. Desperately clinging onto what little confidence he had left, time to get Amy back with Earl, and her, at arm's length from him.
Time the drop the bombshell. He deeply heaved.
"No, Earl, Amy didn't cheat on you. I have been gone for five years, and even if I wasn't, I couldn't father a child even if I wanted to." He paused, gulping hard. "I'm sterile." He sighed, finally admitting it. "My balls hadn't dropped and were removed when I was three years old, that's what the line is down my belly is." He hissed, pointing it out. "The ones I carry now are fake. Believe me when I say, the kid is definitely yours." He added, pointing at Earl. He smirked slightly with the total ridiculousness of it all. Sonic could see Amy's scent outline silently shaking, obviously not believing him, but it was the first real piece of truth Sonic had actually spouted all day. Sonic saw her outline move up towards him, and he immediately backed off several feet and fast, absolutely terrified of her. Earl stared. In fact, everyone did. Sonic stammered hard. "You have a good life, Amy." He panted, indicating Earl. "Don't mess it up." He added, very flatly and all of a suddenly, he ran away. From everyone, leaving more questions then answers.
There was a good reason. His confidence had just suddenly broke, and he now desperately wanted out. Even Tails and Knuckles's calls after him didn't stop him, as he suddenly broke into a run, his crashed nerves immediately pushing him straight through the sound barrier. He just did it. The fact that he was blind, not even registering anymore.
Shadow had watched the whole incident, incredibly pleased, especially at his sterility admission, but immediately recognised the look on his face as he broke. He grabbed a Chaos Emerald and vanished. Sonic's admission, the perfect distraction away from him, and immediately went after him. Shadow caught up with him at Speed Alley, but running beside him, he found Sonic wasn't in the mood to talk. Fine, neither was Shadow, as he grabbed the Blue Blur by the hand and Chaos Controlled them both straight to the Ark and peace. One emerald was enough to teleport two passengers, especially two people who could wield the mighty gemstones.
The day was over, the job was done. Sonic was free and finally, he told the truth to Amy. But his adrenaline crashed and hard, as he just collapsed to the floor. But Shadow caught him, as he allowed the mighty Blue Blur to cry his heart out on his shoulder.