=Chapter 13=

The very next morning had a bit of a late start but no one seemed to mind or care. The big events that were planned and reserved were to begin at nightfall. Plus there were no more rehearsals for the ceremony so everyone was entitled to sleep in that morning. Amy was still very sound asleep by the time the sun came up. Shadow watched her slumber as he held her close. Her form slowly rising and falling as she breathed in and out shallowly. When the ebony hedgehog began stroking her soft quills, she stirred a little bit and nuzzled into Shadow's tuft of snowy white fur. Finally, Amy slowly batted her eyes open.

"Morning already?" she sighed tiredly.

"Mmhmm." Shadow quietly replied.

The cherry-pink female let out another sigh and rubbed her eyes.

"I can't believe the wedding to tomorrow." she said. "This is all happening so fast."

"Does that bother you?" Shadow asked.

"No, not really. It's just...wow."

The crimson-splashed male lowly gazed at her and started nipping at her neck. Amy began purring and wrapped her arms around his head and gripped his flared up quills.

"Things are happening rather quickly aren't they?" Shadow said before diving his nose back into her neck.

Seconds later, Amy's shoulder scrunched as she started feeling ticklish.

"Shadow...stop." the sakura hedgehog giggled.

But he persisted and wrapped his arms playfully tighter around her torso so she couldn't squirm away.

"Come on, Shadow!" Amy cried with laughter.

"Mmmm?" Shadow mumbled in her neck.

Amy let out a whine and tried getting him off of her, but it was no use and kept right on giving her ticklish kisses and nips. Amy was starting to laugh hard enough to cry.

"Shadow! I'm gonna burst! Ha ha ha ha!" the cherry-pink female wailed.

Finally, the midnight hedgehog stopped and lifted his head to look at her. Little trails of tears were leaking out of her eyes from laughing so hard. Shadow wiped them away with his thumb as she regained her breath and nuzzled her head.

"You're a jerk, you know that?" Amy muttered.

"Am I?" Shadow asked with a smirk.

"Uh-huh."

The two then embraced with a deep kiss.

XXXXXXX

The rest of the day went on uneventful. When it got to be the late afternoon, the residents and some of the guests in Castle Mobius were preparing for the Bachelor and Bachelorette parties. The guys planned to leave an hour before the ladies. Amy help Shadow get ready laying at his clothes and other things. It felt like they were living married life already. Strangely enough, Shadow also laid out Amy's outfit but unlike the sakura hedgehog, he chose her outfit.

"Please no strippers, Shadow." Amy said.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Shadow replied. "But please remember not to let any of the other males who might be at wherever you're going to come near you."

"Don't worry. I'll be sure to bring my hammer."

"Very good."

"Well, I hope you have a good time, Shadow."

"Same to you, Rose."

They both exchanged embraces after Shadow pulled her closer to him and bit her neck to mark his territory. Then they went out into the hall to join the others. Shadow went along with the guys and Amy watched them all from a window as they piled into Knuckles' Jeep and Silver's Volvo. Pretty soon after they left, the girls were eagerly pushing Amy into Rouge's van and they were off on the road. Amy suddenly got an idea on the way over to their mystery venue.

"Hey, now that we're on the road, could you guys please tell me where you're taking me?" she asked in a pleading tone.

"Not just yet, Amy." Rouge said.

"Dammit!"

"Oh relax, Amy." Blaze said. "You're gonna need it when we get there."

Then the lilac cat placed a plastic tiara with a little veil on the cherry-pink female's head.

"Wait, what's this?" Amy asked.

"Your honorary bridal crown." Blaze replied.

"Oh goody.

XXXXXXX

Meanwhile, Shadow and the guys arrived at the Laser Bar. It was like an arcade playground for adults. The interior was illuminated with black and party lights. The guys promptly went to the counter to order hard drinks.

"Hey Shads, we ordered a special keg for ya!" Sonic quipped as Knuckles brought over the liquor container along with an attendant.

"Oh cool!" Silver quipped.

"So how 'bout it, Shadow?" Sonic asked. "Think you can take the heat?"

Shadow raised an eyebrow at the cerulean speedster and approached the keg, taking the nozzle into his mouth.

"DRINK, DRINK, DRINK!" the guys all chanted.

After a good fifteen minutes, Shadow took the nozzle from his mouth as the others cheered him on.

"Freaking awesome, man." Jet leered.

"And it's surprisingly good liquor..." Shadow added.

"Well lets not waste it while the night's still young." Knuckles said.

XXXXXXX

Rouge's van pulled into La 'Rouge parking lot with Amy marveling out the window.

"Wow Rouge, your old club?" she cried.

"I thought you might get a kick out of it." Rouge snickered. "I also had it remodeled."

"Really?" Blaze asked.

"Yup."

The piled out of the van and headed indoors. The interior had dim lights and lit candles at every open small space. There was also black and white velvet sheets draped over tables, counters and other things and red and black rose petals strewn about the floor. Giving it a gothic-and Halloween theme-touch.

"This is awesome!" Amy marveled.

"Yeah, just in time for Halloween too!" Wave added

"Sally and I put a lot of effort into it." Rouge said.

"You guys did a beautiful job." Cream commented.

The girls all agreed with the young rabbit. Then Rouge put on some dance music which greatly enticed the others to begin boogying to it.

"So lets get this party startled, ladies." the ivory bat quipped.

XXXXXXX

Both Shadow and Knuckles competed against each other on a dancing themed arcade game. Shadow was following the light up squares on the mock up dance floor almost perfectly while Knuckles was having difficulty keeping up. When the match was over, they were evenly tied.

"Damn, that's the third round already!" the ruby echidna ranted.

Then Sonic suddenly came swervingly around with a funny on his face.

"Heya guys...howya doin'?" the blue blur said in a slurred speech.

Both Knuckles and Shadow looked at him and then exchanged glances.

"Pay up." Knuckles told the ebony hedgehog. "He got drunk first."

Shadow gave a growl and reached into his pocket where he held a few mobiums inside.

"I'm not drunk!" Sonic protested lazidly. "I'm just...schmoozin'."

"Boy is Sally gonna be pissed when you get home." Knuckles said.

"Awwwww, she gets pissed about ieverything!/i Have I ever toldja?"

"Oh lots of times." Shadow replied.

Then Tails with a small glass of screwdriver came over to see what all the commotion was all about.

"Sonic drunk already?" he asked.

"Yup." Knuckles replied.

"How many times do I gotta tell ya? I ain't drunk!" Sonic cried.

The blue blur gave a hiccup and staggered over, almost knocking into Shadow. He managed to keep Sonic up straight by simply raising his arms.

"Hey, hey! Where'z da keg?" Sonic asked.

"I think you've had enough for one night, Blue." Knuckles said pushing the cyan hedgehog into a booth.

"Awww c'mon Reeed."

Both Tails and Shadow watched the crimson guardian lead Sonic away with the kitsune chuckling. Shadow reached into his pocket again and pulled out his cell phone.

XXXXXXX

Amy and Blaze both took down straight shots of vodka in just seconds. When they placed shot glasses down, Amy started coughing as if she swallowed the wrong way.

"Oh Guh-God!" the sakura hedgehog choked.

"Strong, huh?" Blaze added.

"Very."

While the lavender female patted Amy's book, Rouge was serving drinks, and Sally, Cream and Wave were dancing to the hard core techno music. Then Rouge felt her phone vibrate and took it out. She smirked at the text message she received.

"Awww how sweet." the ivory bat cooed.

"What is it?" Blaze asked.

"Shadow sent me a text."

Rouge held out her phone so Blaze and Amy could read it.

'Make sure Amy's stays safe'

-Shadow

Amy grinned at the message. Almost wishing that the crimson splashed male with her right now.

"Tell him I'm doing just fine." she said cheerfully.

As Rouge began punching the keys on her phone, the song on the stereo changed and caught Amy's attention.

"Oooo, I like this song!" she sang.

The cherry-pink female jumped out of her chair and joined the other girls on the dance floor full of energy.

"Well the straight vodka certainly perked her right up." Blaze commented.

"Yeah. Better not give her anymore alcohol." Rouge added.

"Agreed."

XXXXXXX

Shadow's phone vibrated and it prompted him to pick it up. He gave a small grin when he read the message from his ivory comrade. The ebony hedgehog went back to the bar and ordered a White Russian before rejoining the other guys. Charmy and Silver got almost as drunk as Sonic but not so bad like him. The rest of the guys then engaged in a first person shooting game.

XXXXXXX

As the night wore on, the two parties got a bit wild. The Bachelor Party left a few guys drunk from the surplus of liquor. The Bachelorette Party on the other hand, only left one person feeling tipsy. Namely, Amy. Finally, at 1 am they all made a slow retreat back home with the girls being the first to leave. Sally was a bit concerned that some of the guys might come home with hangovers but Rouge alluded that, that was the reason why she scheduled the ceremony in the evening. Amy went to bed in the dorm she had before having to move in with Shadow after Rouge helped her put some overnight necessities in there. The only thing Amy regretted before falling asleep was not having Shadow in bed with her.