In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me

Yay! 1000 hits, *sigh* only 10 reviews. Doesn't anyone have anything to say about Shadow's little adventures?

Chapter 22

Not Apologies

The next day Shadow came to Amy's house at the appointed time. Sonic kept his word, and the door was slightly ajar allowing Shadow to sneak into the house. Gingerly Shadow snuck over to the group, and saw the whole gang sans Knuckles in the back yard discussing the surprise party.

"You know how paranoid Knuckles is," Amy said. "How can we all get up there and set up a party without him knowing something is up?"

"I could distract him for an hour or two playing tag with the Master Emerald," Rouge said.

"I could transport everyone and all the stuff we need with the X Tornado," Tails suggested.

At that moment Cream noticed Shadow lurking in the back, and almost gave a squeal of glee. Quickly Shadow shook his head, and covered his lips with a finger indicating the girl should remain quiet. A mischievous look crossed the girl's face, and she nodded eagerly not making a sound.

"No good," Rouge told Tails "Even Knucklehead would notice that contraption flying around his Island even if he were chasing me."

"We could use Chaos Control," Sonic suggested.

Amy gave Sonic a skeptical look. "I don't know Sonic you only use Chaos control for emergencies. Are you good enough to Chaos Control us up there along with the Party supplies?"

With only a quick wink to warn him, Sonic said, "Well if Tails and I get to the island on our own, Shadow shouldn't have any problem teleporting you, Cream, Cheese and the party stuff up to the island." Then before anyone could react with shock at Sonic's statement he turned to Shadow and asked, "Right Shadow? You can transport the girls and the party stuff up to the island without any problems?"

Shadow didn't allow the shock to sink in either. "I'm surprised you asked me for so simple a thing, Sonic. I could transport three times that if you needed me too. "

The others were still staring at Shadow speechless. Sonic with the most evil look in his eye simply went on as if Shadow hadn't been away at all. "You haven't seen what Amy plans to bring yet pal."

Shadow couldn't help himself. Sonics giggle on behalf of his friends was infectious. "I'll take your warning under advisement," he said.

Finally Tails managed to find his voice. "Shadow?" Shadow simply nodded his usual greeting.

"When did you get back?" Rouge asked.

"Recently," Shadow said remembering something Sonic told him. Keep them guessing about stuff. If you keep them off balance they might forget to be nervy around you.

Cream couldn't resist. The little rabbit launched herself into Shadow's arms, he caught her almost absently. "Shadow! I'm so glad you decided to come home. I've been taking good care of your home while you were away."

"So you were the one redecorating. I wondered," Shadow said. Now he took a mischievous pleasure in being cool about his arrival.

Amy and Rouge were looking at Shadow puzzled. "Well I guess that's settled then," Amy said.

Tails first approached Shadow when he and Sonic both joined him in his workshop after the meeting. The moment Sonic left the room the little kit looked at Shadow. "It was you whose been cleaning the hanger."

Shadow shrugged. "I felt I needed to," he said simply, and it appeared all was forgiven there.

With Amy it was a little harder.

"You know it's bad manners to sneak into someone's house like that," She complained.

"It would have been a lousy surprise if he hadn't," Sonic countered. Never one to let a friend down Sonic decided to help Shadow deal with the irate pink hedgehog.

"So why were you sneaking around my house like a criminal anyway?" Amy asked wryly.

"Amy," Sonic warned gently. Shadow noticed a slight crease between the blue hedgehog's eyes and a familiar tingling at the back of his head.

Keeping to his arrogant mask, Shadow said, "Sonic if she can't figure it out don't help her. She should at least be thanking me for showing that her home security needs to be upgraded."

"Harumph!" Amy snubbed him for the rest of the evening, but Shadow suspected that Sonic had silently lectured Amy on why he did so.

That evening before they parted company Sonic said, "I just want to warn you, Rouge kept up the tree house, at your place but she's been staying over by Knuckles at the one on Angel Island."

Shadow nodded, "is she angry with me because I left?" He asked

Sonic shook his head, and shrugged. "Honestly pal, I couldn't tell you. She's been keeping to herself a lot these past few months, and spends most of her time with Knuckles. You'll see her again at the party, but I don't have a clue how she's gonna greet you.

Shadow nodded. He didn't expect that everyone would accept him back the way Sonic did. When he arrived at his own home he again took careful note of the changes made to both his own part of the house and Maria's room. He noted to his amusement that Maria's room had far more changes than his own. Each change somehow fit in the room. Shadow wondered if possibly through Cheese or through Cosmo that Cream understood the nature of Maria's room, and tried to treat the room the way he would. Following some unknown impulse Shadow opened the window and leaned against the sill enjoying the night air.

Suddenly Shadow saw a bright light admits the trees. It only took a fraction of a second for Shadow to realize that the light came from Rouge's tree house. Instantly Shadow raced up the tree, but by that time the light vanished. Not one to be daunted by the lack of light or personal boundaries Shadow entered the tree house. Inside he saw that Rouge did keep the place neat and tidy. She had all number of shiny knickknacks scattered about, but that only gave the place a homey feel his own home lacked sans Maria's room. There didn't seem to be any indication that Rouge had been there, but when Shadow touched the kerosene lamp by the bed, he could tell by its warmth that she had.

So she'll watch me, but she wants to avoid a confrontation. I suppose it can wait for the party. With that Shadow went back to his own home, closed his window, and went to bed.

Coming Soon:

Chapter 23 Homecoming

"Was that the purpose of my trip, to have this sorcerous change me?" Shadow asked.

Sonic gave Shadow this knowing look. "You decided to go wandering Shadow. Nobody else made that decision, but you. Nobody told you what direction to go in either. You decided what to do that entire year you were on your own. I figured you wanted to be on your own, so we left you be."