Chapter 2- Unsure Futures

Tails powered up his machine that would turn every member of the team into humans. Needless to say, Shadow wasn't exactly thrilled about it because his hair would bug him constantly after the transformation,but they had to do it. He took one last look at Amy before she got inside the machine. The way her short, pink hair fell on her shoulders, the way her jade eyes hypnotized him, it would all look very different when she came out. Scourge, who had already been changed, snuck up on him. "Ah, don't worry 'bout it Stripes, she'll still be the same girl inside. She's still yours, no matter what…" he reassured him. Shadow rolled his eyes and grinned "Wow Scourge, that was deep…" he teased. They both laughed, "Ha ha, very funny… Now if you'll excuse me, I must return to my task of annoying Fiona." he said, slipping off to find her.

"Oh brother…" Shadow mumbled. He glanced up just in time to see the newly transformed Sonic flipping his hair out of his eyes "So, how do I look?" he asked to no one in particular. "Couldn't get any uglier than that. Here's a hint Sonic, stay away from mirrors! We can't afford to buy any more if you break 'em!" his brother, Manic, piped up. Sonic scowled at his brother, but all the other boy s nearly cracked up. "Good one man! Couldn't have said it better myself." Shadow managed to gasp between laughs.

When everything calmed down, Tails finished transforming everyone , including himself. You probably couldn't recognize anybody if you had just walked in, mostly because of the different hair and in some cases, eyes, but otherwise you could tell who was who very easily.

Shadow still had jet black hair. Arin, Misty, Scourge, Fiona, Charmy, Manic, Tails, Jewel, and Blade still had the same sky blue eyes. Not much to anyone's surprise, Blade and Knuckles had flaming red hair, and Knux had a temper to match.

But Blade was unusually quiet, and he would often slip out of the room without anyone noticing. Shadow and the other boys began to get suspicious again, and Shadow finally cornered him out side that cold, September night. "Alright Blade, what's brewing in that twisted mind of yours?" he snarled, ramming him against the wall.

The only response he got was an evil grin plastered on his rival's face, "Oh, don't worry Shadow… you'll find out when school starts." he snickered. That only made him tighten his grip on his collar,

"Well, you're not going anywhere until you cough it up, so I suggest you do so now." Shadow snapped. Blade only grinned and didn't say a word until he was released from the ebony hedgehog's furious grasp. They exchanged challenging glances before heading their separate ways.

"Mark my words, you and Amy won't be able to escape my plans this time!" Blade thought viciously. He shoved his hands deeper into his jacket pockets before disappearing into the night.

Meanwhile, Amy watched the whole escapade from the window of Tails' workshop "Hey Rouge, do you think Blade's up to something?"

"Honey, I don't know. All I know is that he's been acting kinda kooky lately. Don't ask me." she replied, brushing back her long, silvery-white hair. Knuckles called for her to hurry up and she waved goodbye "See ya tomorrow Ames!" she called over her shoulder as they sped off on his motorcycle. Amy waved and then turned to Tails and Streak, who were pretty much the only ones there besides her. "Bye guys! I'll see you later!" she said as she walked out. They waved and turned to get their stuff.

"You know, I think we should walk with her. I think that Blade guy is planning something.." Streak said nervously. Before he could even object, there was a high-pitched scream coming from the direction Amy had gone. They made a mad dash for the source, which only confirmed their fear that Blade was up to something. Amy was kneeling over Shadow's motionless form, desperately trying to get him up "Shadow! Shadow, please get up! Oh, don't do this to me, please wake up!" she wailed, finally rolling him onto his back. The second the back of his jacket hit the ground, he bolted upright and let out a sharp cry of pain. Blade had apparently slashed him with his machete in a sneak attack. "Oh, Shaddie! Are you okay? Do I need to take you to a hospital?" Amy asked, her eyes darting around to check for any signs of her ex-boyfriend lurking in the shadows. Streak must have seen him, because she suddenly punched the nearest tree, and out he fell.

"Uh… hehe… hey guys. What's up?" he stuttered sheepishly. The next thing he knew, he was up against the tree with a very angry multi-colored hedgehog glaring at him. "If you ever do anything like this to Shadow or Amy ever again, I'll be sure to report you to the cops. You're not even supposed to be near any of us, but Sonic is being nice and giving you a chance to redeem your past actions. If you blow this, that will be it…Got it?" Streak growled in a menacing tone. Although she is only half Blade's size, she had him at least two feet off the ground in a death-grip. He nodded "Yeah…er, I mean… yes ma'am." he whimpered. "She may be tiny, but she's stronger than Ally and Shadow's sister put together, I'd better not tick her off anymore…" he warned himself. She lowered him to the ground, not easing her piercing gaze for even a second. "I'd suggest you get out of here before Amy and Shadow get up…" she said flatly before whirling around to help Tails and Amy get Shadow on his feet. Blade watched them for a few more minutes, but when Amy shot him a vicious look, he turned and left.

- - - -At Blade's house- -- -

"Blade how can you be such an idiot?! If you keep up this crap, Amy's never gonna forgive you…" his little brother, Alex, scolded when he explained what he had just done. Blade slapped his forehead and ran his fingers through his hair, "Yeah, I know… but I can't help it! It's like I'm not in control when I do it, someone else is. I know that sounds whacky and crazy, but it's true." he defended himself. Alex looked at his brother inquisitively "You mean… you think you have a split personality?!" he asked excitedly.

"Huh? A what?"

"A split personality! It means you have two different personalities, you know, kinda like Dr. Jekyll/ Mr. Hyde."

"Oh, I get it! Yeah, guess I do. 'Cause when I try not to get in trouble with her, another part of me takes over and makes me do stuff that gets me into trouble. Then I flip-flop back and forth between the two personalities from that point until Amy leaves my sight or I walk out." Blade explained. Alex's grin widened, and then quickly faded.

"I hope it doesn't happen at school. If it does, you might get expelled for threatening them, and Ally would probably hunt you down and kick your butt… big time. " he said solemnly. They were both silent until Blade got an idea.

"Maybe I should just stay home from school so I don't cause any trouble. Amy and the others might think I'm crazy playin' hooky for no reason, but it would save them a lot of heartache. They don't know how devastating that plan I had would've been if I had gone through with it…" he sighed and looked in the mirror at his human self. "I guess Tails is gonna have to change me back, since I'm not goin'." he groaned.

"Well, it's whatever you want to do, but I was looking forward to seeing your yearbook this year… ya know how we always used to go through them and look at the pictures and you'd read what everybody's name was and you'd tell me what they wrote. I guess I'll have to miss that for the 6th year now." Alex said, half angry, half sad. Blade felt terrible that he was putting his brother through this, but he had no other choice. If he went to school three days from now, his "evil side" would probably overtake him and the school would be all out of control. "I'm sorry Alex, but I just can't do it. I honestly think it would be better for everyone if I left altogether. Maybe I should just go back home." he sighed. He didn't really want to leave Amy and the others behind, but if he wanted her to be safe, he had to.

"But…but.."

"No buts about it Alex!! I'm telling Tails to change me back and send me home tomorrow, and that's final!!" Blade said a little too harshly. Alex's diamond blue eyes began to swell up and his voice began to shake. Blade quickly realized what was wrong,

"Alex, I'm sorry, I…"

"You sounded… just like Dad." he whispered just before he burst from the room