Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter of this story of mines. Surprisingly, I'm starting to find my ability to write all this drama to become easier. I suppose the old saying "practice makes perfect" really is true. Hope that would also translate in having me keep up with trying to give all of my readers, which is you, some good quality stuff to read while you're on here.

Anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed my other chapters and the attempts at some funnies on my part from Sonic and Knuckles. Hope you also end up enjoying this chapter. Don't forget to leave a review after you're done reading so that I'll know how I'm doing. Any kind of constructive criticism that you can come with, provided that there's any on your part, is always more than helpful. Just don't give me flames or anything that sounds like a flame concealed in the form of a constructive criticism. Until the next update everybody!

Chapter 4: A Lonely Black Hedgehog on Board

"Oh Shadow, isn't it exciting to be standing on the side of the Titanic watching Robotropolis become smaller every minute?" Rouge exclaimed in a calm feminine way as she wrapped her fingers over the railing and looked at the now barely noticeable land in the distance. "I never thought that I'd be able to see our home from such a distance away with such a beautiful view of the sun glazing over it. Don't you think the view is beautiful honey?"

"I suppose it looks nice," Shadow responded uninterestedly as his arms were folded across his chest and a small frown present on his face. It was clear to anybody within the sound of his voice and eyesight of his face that he did not truly enjoy the scenery in front of him. "I'd rather be looking at Robotropolis from inside the city streets than staring at it from out at sea. Makes it seem way too small than it really is."

"Oh, you need to learn how to think more romantically dear," the bat responded sweetly as she let go of the railing and lightly hugged her fiancé in a loving embrace. "Don't you think the slight orange hue in the sky due to the slowly setting sun makes the entire ocean look beautiful? I've never seen anything more beautiful in my entire life, and you're talking to a woman who's made a living designing and creating luxury clothing."

"I don't think it's that much of a good reason to get all excited over," the ebon hedgehog sighed out as he mindlessly stroked along one of the red streaks on his quills with his white gloved hand. "It's not like you never seen the sun set over the sea before. It's a commonly reoccurring thing that happens every twenty-four hours."

"My, someone's feeling a bit bitter today. Why don't you tell me what it is that's bothering you this afternoon? I don't think I've ever seen you with something eating away at your mind like this. Come on, you know you can tell me what's wrong."

"I'm sure that you, of all people, should know what's wrong with me. I never wanted to leave Robotropolis for one single second. No one even saw fit to ask for my opinion first before going to buy tickets on the next ocean liner out of there. At the very least, my father could have given me some time to say goodbye to the friends I was forced to leave behind without any warning or explanation whatsoever. Imagine how they'll feel once they notice me gone for over a week and see that I'm not even at home."

"I'm sure your friends will understand and come to accept the fact that you're no longer there with them in time. I must admit, though, that the idea to move to Mobius with hardly any warning from your father was quite the surprise. I barely had enough time to put all my affairs in town myself before we had to leave. He was always a man who preferred to bide his time and wait for the right moment rather than rush into a single idea, although I can clearly see why he had to make an exception at this time."

"He could've tried to start over with a new job or try to rebuild off of his old one. He didn't have to go and drag me into his money woes and force me to follow him around as if I were still a ten-year-old hedgehog."

"You really are bitter about this whole affair, aren't you?" Rouge stated with a frown approaching her beautiful face. She then said in a loving tone with ever the smallest hints of seductiveness that could have been easily missed by anybody, "Well, I'm sure that I'll be able to help you unwind and forget some of your troubles tonight."

"I thank you for the offer Rouge, but I'm afraid that I'll have to pass on that," Shadow responded politely, cleverly masking the disgust he felt bubbling in his chest and easily catching the seductive tone in his fiancée's voice as if it was being shouted out at him. "Besides, I don't like the thought of performing premarital sexual activities with my soon-to-be wife. That and I'm sure that my father feels the same as I do on that."

"Darn, and here I thought that I'd be able to reel you into the bed with me tonight," the bat stated with a small playful pout as she turned back towards the railing and placed her hands on it once more. "Oh well, you can't necessarily blame a girl for trying, especially when the girl trying is the one you're going to be marrying as soon as we land and settle in to our new home in the lands of Mobius. Then again, I'm surprised that you haven't had any other girls asking you to come over and show them the time of their lives. You're definitely too cute of a guy for any girl to pass up, you know that? You're too cute for your own good."

"If you want to help get my mind off the frustration of this unnecessary move my father has us going on, then please try a tactic other than wanting to participate in explorative activities in bed or attempting to impress me with remarks that are neither flattering or enticing," the hedgehog responded bluntly as he moved away from the railing and made to sit on a brown wooden bench a few steps behind him that overlooked the scene he now had his back towards. He then added with a slight sarcastic bite to his words, "I'm sure that I'm as explorative as any other teenager around my age, but I'm nowhere near ever wanting to do anything crazy now or anywhere in the near future."

"Oh, you're not a lot of fun to joke around with when you're acting all pouty, you know? Can't you tell that I was just trying to make a friendly joke with you and put a smile on your face? I don't think I've ever seen one since you were first told of the move. Don't you know that it's a bit unhealthy to be feeling unhappy with a frown on your face for almost the entire day over an extended period of time?"

"I'm sorry for having to feel so somber as of late and to ruin your good mood, but I'm sure you'll agree with me that all of these events happening so quickly right after the other would even make the most emotionally hardened person feel somewhat depressed. You'd have to be a darn robot to not even feel a bit sad about everything that's happened, and I have yet to have met anybody capable of pulling something like that off."

"I'm truly sorry that you feel that way son," a familiar voice from somewhere behind Shadow apologized with a small clearing of his throat. The teen turned his head around in a silent way of greeting the owner of the voice he knew all too well, his father. "Had I more time to try and salvage what was left of both my business and my money, I would have given you just as much time to adequately tie up whatever loose ends you had. And although it might not be how you wished it to be, you can always write to them about what happened once we've settled down in the new grand house I bought us in Mobius."

"It's not the same as physically being there and telling them what was happening," the teen hedgehog responded with a small sigh leaving his mouth while keeping the disgust he had for the other's immense care for money in check as Dr. Robotnik took a seat on the empty space left on the bench next to him. "It almost feels like I purposely abandoned them without any warning or reason as to why. I know you know how I feel about abandoning things and having stuff left unfinished for no good reason. It doesn't leave a good feeling in me, especially when it has to concern my friends."

"Isn't your wellbeing and safety concern enough for you to 'abandon' your friends as you so called it?" the portly man questioned softly in a tone that was clearly meant as a comforting gesture to his son. "In times when money is in both high demand and short supply, people commit to a myriad of crazy things in order to have some. This, unfortunately, tends to include those participating in prostitution rings or even becoming murderers-for-hire. I don't know about you, but I don't care to live in a city that's now on the verge of collapsing both morally and financially."

"I appreciate your concern father, but I can take care of myself in the streets just fine. You do remember that I took some self-defense training back at the boarding school you sent me to despite your ever tenacious protests, do you? I could easily take on anyone who dared to take advantage of me or hold me up at knifepoint."

"And what if the unfortunate were to happen and your attacker has a gun to your head instead of the blunt end of a steak knife to your neck? I doubt that all of your teachings from your self-defense classes would be able to help you survive against the frightening speed of a bullet. You'd be dead on the floor before you even have the chance to turn around and lay eyes on your assailant."

"If they had a gun, then I'd think that they'd shoot me from a far distance rather than walk up to me just to put the thing against my head. It'd serve as a less risky mode of attack for the attacker and insures a cleaner death in that they wouldn't easily be caught. Only a dummy would want to kill someone somewhere where they could easily be out in the open and identified by any passersby."

"That's even more reason why you should leave Robotropolis behind with me and Rouge. You definitely won't be able to stand up against a sniper firing at you from an unknown location. That and your killer wouldn't be brought to justice because nobody would know who he or she is. If you were to have stayed behind and died, I don't think that I'd be able to get my business back up and running. I'm not getting any younger, and I'll need your help soon to run the stock business in Mobius."

"...So you only thought of bringing me along with you so you can have a better chance at solidifying your future in Mobius financially?" Shadow asked in a tone that could easily have been construed as being cautious when it was actually concealing the anger vigorously boiling away deep inside the pit of his stomach. "You only see me as a valuable asset to your work rather than your only son, do you?"

"Now you know that that's not true Shadow!" Dr. Robotnik exclaimed pointedly, being careful as to not let his voice rise any higher than it had been for the entire conversation. Rouge, feeling that this was not her place to speak, simply directed her attention on the horizon and at the barely visible silhouette of the city they had just left. "It's because I love you that I made the hard decision of moving out of our home to a land unfamiliar to you. I would rather start a new life in a new land than to live on in a familiar town without you."

"Oh, stop with the fake caring scene befitting for a soap opera," the black hedgehog responded as he abruptly got up from the bench and started to move towards a set of double doors that would lead him to the inside of the Titanic. He did not try to hide the anger that he had been feeling for the past few minutes and let it show through his words and his feet that stomped across the deck. "You never really cared for me as a son before the economic crisis came around. I doubt that that would've been enough of a shock to make you change your 'loving' feelings about me."

"Shadow, come back here!" the doctor called out to the quickly retreating form of his son to no avail. All he received as an answer was the sight of a door opening and his son retreating into it before being shut closed with a very audible slam. "Oh, I honestly don't know what I'm going to do with the boy at this point," the man added with a frustrated sigh as he rubbed at his balding head. "I understand that I'm not the best at showing my feelings to him as a father, but he should surely know that I wouldn't have done this if I truly didn't love him. He could at least try to grow accustomed to this for the sake of the company he's going to be inheriting from me sometime after we manage to settle in at Mobius."

"He's only seventeen doctor," Rouge simply commented as if that were the very answer to the problem while never tearing her gaze at the horizon beginning to glow with a bright orange flame. The evening hours were quickly approaching them, and that meant that they would have to go back inside soon and enjoy their first meal aboard the ship. "This is a time when most boys his age would naturally feel confused over a few choice things. If you put that on top of everything that's happened, he has a lot of frustration pent up inside him that has had no time to be directed anywhere. You were most likely the unfortunate recipient of his rant of confusion just now."

"You feel that it's his hormones that are to blame, huh? I suppose that's a suitable thought, although I hardly find that to be the case. He's most likely angry at the fact that he didn't have a chance to say a proper goodbye to all his friends. I just hope he knows that it really isn't a permanent goodbye, especially when he could simply just write back to them once we settle down in Mobius."

"It isn't the same thing to him," the bat responded with a small shrug of her shoulders as she finally tore her gaze from the horizon and went to sit next to the doctor. "Teenagers tend to like to do things like saying goodbye physically rather than having to write it out in a letter and force it to be a delayed reaction of sorts. I remember the same thing happening to me when I was his age, and I was just as stubborn as he was when I was told by my parents that we had to move to Robotropolis. It took me a good while to settle in, but I managed to get back to my normal self once I made some new friends. I'm sure that that's what he needs right now, some new friends to help him feel at home quicker."

"Are you sure that that's a good way to help him accept the move?" the portly man questioned skeptically as he raised an eyebrow and idly scratched at his moustache in a thoughtful manner. "Although it might help somewhat, I doubt it'll help fix the more prominent matter at hand. You heard what he said about him feeling like I care more about my business and money than I do for him."

"I'm afraid that's going to have to be something he and you would have to work out," she stated politely as she tried to make clear that she did not want to get into problems that involved immediate family. "I don't feel that it's my place to speak of the things that happen between you and him. I'll try to talk to him tonight, though, about trying to give your actions some more consideration than he's been showing. Knowing how stubborn he can get when he's like this, I doubt it'll do much good."

"Regardless, I do appreciate you helping me out with this. I feel that you're the only one on this ship who can get through to him and help him out with whatever it is that's bothering him. I don't think it matters much to him whether or not I'm his father; he seems too angry to listen to reason with me."

"I believe that it's a far stretch to say that I'll be able to have him open up to me. Don't forget that he also wasn't so keen on the idea of becoming my fiancé when we introduced it to him a month ago. That and we only know each other by name only before the engagement plans took place."

"Still, he'd have to start opening up to you sooner or later if he wants to be able to take over my business. At the age he's in right now, I don't feel comfortable leaving him with everything on his own if I were to pass away now. I know that you have great business skills and know how to make successful deals, so I need him to start opening up to you and trusting you with some of the problems that he's facing. What better time to make that happen than right now on this cruise?"

"Oh, I already tried my hand at making a little joke with him about having some fun with him tonight in bed. He was too bitter to even tell that I was simply just joking with him and not being anywhere near serious. If I couldn't make an innocent joke without having it backlash on me, I don't think that I'll be able to earn his trust within a month's worth of time that we'll be spending on this ship."

Unbeknownst to the two, they were being watched and listened on by someone nearby. He was standing just behind the door leading to the interior of the Titanic with it slightly ajar and looking at them with eyes that reflected anger. This person was none other than the doctor's son and Rouge's fiancé, Shadow.

All father cares about is me taking the over the reins of his business once we've settled down in Mobius, the ebon hedgehog thought nastily as he had an angry scowl plastered on his face that caused those around him to keep a small distance away from him. Not once during his conversation with Rouge after I left did he say anything caring about me without tagging me on to his business. I swear, he's only taking care of me so he can marry me off to that woman and insure his financial stability even if the stock business falls apart in Mobius. She has more than enough money along with a business still staying afloat for him to fall upon as a backup plan, for crying out loud.

Without watching the two continue to discuss whatever it is they were discussing, he made his way down the hallway towards the main foyer. Once there, he was greeted by the grand staircase that stretched both upwards towards the highest section of the ship and down to the belly. The area was beauty personified due to the immaculate design created by wood carvings, the bright and elaborate paintings of people and landscapes, and a colorful stained glass window mounted on the ceiling that bathed the room in a glorious myriad of colors when the sun shown directly through it. Were he not in such a sour mood right now, he might have noticed all this and appreciated the beauty of the room he was in now. Instead, he continued towards another set of double doors on the left that he knew led to the first class rooms where he, Dr. Robotnik, and Rouge were staying.

Both Rouge and father probably think that I don't know what it is that they have planned for me, he continued on with his thoughtful rant as he opened the double doors painted white with a beautiful green vine motif all over the front and walked down the hall. Those that were inside and walking towards the ship's main foyer felt the negative aura radiating off of him and tried to steer clear from him for fear of being the unfortunate recipient of a verbal lashing. He wants me to marry her because she still has a successful business under her name along with a wealth that can allow him to keep his social title as a first classman. She wants to marry me because she claims that she loves me, something I'm sure is a fact for her if the flirtatious things she tries to whisper to me isn't any indication of it. She just can't seem to take the hint that I don't love her like she loves me. That and I'm quite disturbed by the thirteen year age difference between the both of us.

The both of them only have themselves in their minds when it comes to me, he continued angrily as his blood began to boil and his hands balled into fists. Even his footsteps began to gain a slight stomp to them and his nostrils flared slightly. They have little to no consideration as to what I feel or want on any of this. They all want me around just so they can satisfy their own selfish desires. It's almost as if I'm only a tool meant to be used to their satisfaction until they get what they want and throwing me away. I may be seventeen to their eyes, but I can clearly see right through every single plan and lie they throw at me. Oh, it's times like these that I wished I was never my father's son.

Once Shadow turned a corner, he calmed down somewhat as he quickly approached the room he and his father were sharing. Instead of making a beeline to the only sanctuary he knew of on the entire ship, he stopped momentarily in his tracks as he noticed someone standing right in front of the door and knocking against it with his fist. Quickly losing his steaming demeanor and raising a questioning eyebrow, he slowly approached the visitor in front of his door in a friendly manner.

"Can I help you sir?" he asked the person, a dark furred hedgehog like himself except with blackish purple fur and purplish blue highlights, in a friendly manner that was the total opposite of his enraged behavior from moments earlier. "Are you looking for somebody around here?"

"Ah, as a matter of fact, I am," the hedgehog answered in a deep tone as he turned his gaze on the teen, showing him his green eyes that looked completely unnatural on the red color surrounding it. To be quite honest, it freaked him out a bit to see such strange eyes along with a rather ragged look about him from his ruffled fur that made it looked like he was on hard times. "I'm looking for the resident of this room. Do you know where I can find him?"

"Well, you're looking at one of them right now. My name's Shadow," the teen introduced himself as he politely stuck his hand out in an attempt to shake hands with the other. "Might I ask who you are?"

"I'm afraid you're someone I don't feel the need to introduce myself to," the other responded, looking at the gloved hand as if it were something unsightly and unacceptable. "But since you're also a resident of this cabin, then perhaps you can help me by telling me where I can find Dr. Robotnik. I have something that I wish to discuss with him, and he asked for me to meet with him aboard this annoyingly grand ship."

"Uh, if you're looking for my father, then he should still be on the deck talking with my fiancée," the teen answered, taken aback at the bluntness of the other in combination with his apparent bitterness of being aboard the Titanic. "He's just down this hall and towards the back end of the ship."

"Thank you boy," the other thanked half-heartedly as he walked passed him without so much as a second glance. "Perhaps I'll tell you of my name should we chance to see each other again during our entrapment out here in the sea."

Okay..., Shadow thought as he stared at the retreating form of the mysterious man with a raised eyebrow and a cocked head at the very mysterious and somewhat freaky comment. That was definitely one of the strangest things I've ever seen and heard in my entire life. Even the current situation concerning my father and Rouge couldn't possibly compare with this. I wonder what kind of business he has with my father. I suppose I could always ask him when he comes in tonight, provided that he doesn't want to keep it from me.

With that thought in his head, he tore his eyes away from the hallway that the man had now officially disappeared through after turning the corner. He turned the knob and pushed the door open without so much as a creak on its hinges and went inside.

After he had closed the door behind him, he took note that the room was lavishly decorated and was definitely a place fitting for those who were first classmen. It had reddish brown carpeting stretching across the entire room filled with a lush couch and a pretty table with red cushioned chairs around it. It also held standing lamps and a couple of drawers with paper and ink on top of one of them. The carpeting ended at the start of another open doorway that led to the bathroom as indicated by the shower curtain easily visible, yet it continued to stretch on to another open room that was the bedroom.

I think I need to relax a bit, Shadow thought as he walked into the bedroom, seeing that there were two beds along with a bedside dresser drawer next to each. On top of them were suitcases that belonged to both Dr. Robotnik and Shadow. Thankfully, each of them had their owner's name engraved on it, so there was no confusion as to who owned what. Boy, father sure brought his entire life with him. You'd think that he'd only need one suitcase or two to hold all of his clothes. No, he just had to go ahead and use six suitcases to pack up everything that had a lot of value to him, most likely all of them being monetarily valuable. Why couldn't he have been just like me and only use two suitcases for clothes and priceless valuables?

With a shake of his head, the black hedgehog went towards the bed that was situated against the corner of the room and moved the suitcases onto the floor. With that done, he took a seat on the blue and white bed covers and took off his red and white sneakers. After he shoved them off to the side with his now bare feet, he stole a glance at the small black digital alarm clock set on top of his dresser drawer.

Oh, it's only another hour until dinner service begins, he groaned as he laid on top of the comfortable mattress after noting that it was now half past five. Hopefully, I can get myself to unwind a bit before then. It's just so hard to do that when I hear now father cares more for himself than he does for me.

After letting an aggravated sigh escape his lips, he turned over on his side with his face looking at the wall and closed his eyes, wanting to relax and sort out the many things that were plaguing away at his brain and trying to figure out just how many things have gone wrong with his life. He soon felt his mind wander off and he was sound asleep with only the subtle sounds of his light even breathing heard through the room.