Shadow and Red's Spark – Chapter 3: Glitchy

Shadow had a rough fall, but he'd suffered that a thousand times. He'd faced worse before, and worse had run away from him in fear. Unfortunately, he wasn't alone, wherever he was. Lying flat on the ground next to him was a pile of red. And it was feathered.

Shadow did feel ok though. His memories seemed to be ok, but one part of them was… different. It was still there, it just felt like it had changed. He knew something out of his beliefs had, but he just couldn't tell which one.

The pile got up. "Urgh, that wasn't nice. Where am I?" Red looked around. He also felt different, because it was a massive part of him that had changed. He felt like he was hated by the world, simply just cast aside and ignored. It felt somewhat terrible, but he was used to it. He had been. Most of his other memories came back to him, but they just didn't seem right. Him being a hero? It didn't seem right.

Looking around, he saw Shadow. "Oh, yay. It's you. Do you know where this is…" Shadow was too busy looking around, and didn't hear him. Red decided to look too. He was in awe.

The place was extremely colourful. There were signs everywhere, with lots of adverts and places to go to, called Amazon and X (which reminded the hedgehog of Dr Eggman. He shuddered at that name's stupidity, and vowed to give the namer a piece of his mind one day) and Google. Futuristic cars and billboards were crammed into this place. At once, Shadow understood their location.

"I know where we are. The internet."

"Ok, easy confusion. You mean the bird-nest."

"What? No, the INTER—NET."

"Call it what you want, how do we get out of here?"

Shadow had an idea. "There appears to be a help point. Maybe they can help us get out." He turned to Red and told him to wait, whilst he went to get information. Red however, would not let him go alone. Truth be told, he didn't want to be left behind. Seeing as they had no time to spare, Shadow relented, and let him tag along.

A large shop-like store, named KnowsMore, stood ahead of them, with a glowing blue box and magnifying glass. "A search box." explained Shadow. Red nodded. Inside the store were tons of books, which seemed to light up whenever the person in charge was asked a question.

In fact, they seemed to be one of the most peculiar parts of the shop. The little man at the front was purple and wore glasses and a graduation cap. Getting closer to them and the person he was currently talking to, it seemed he was trying to guess what they were going to say. There were another two people behind the one at the counter, or desk, or whatever it was, so Shadow and Red joined the queue.

"Sweets? Swans? Swatters for flies? Swedish meatballs? I've heard of some fabulous ones in IKEA." said the little man. Shadow had his Chaos Emerald in his hand, and was tempted to skip to the front of the queue, but Red saw what was going on. "Nope, respect the queue, Shadow."

"Who are you to tell me what I should and shouldn't do?"

"Hey, calm down. I mean, I get you're angry. Believe me, I was angry all the time. Even now, I can get angry easily. But that doesn't mean that you should get angry at everything. It's not always worth it. So maybe just take my advice, don't be angry at the queue, and if it doesn't move, then just do that blast move thingy." concluded Red.

Shadow groaned and muttered to Red, "That was uncalled for. I'm not always angry." The person who was in front however did seem to overheard Red talking, and without swivelling to face them, spoke.

"Wow, that was a great speech! But, I've heard better. And don't try to jump the line, some of us have been waiting for a pr-etty long time." warned the person ahead of them.

"Keep your mouth shut if you know what's good for you," Shadow warned back.

"Hey, that's no way to talk to royalty!" replied the girl, as she finally turned round and faced them. She seemed to have sweets in her hair (tied with… red liquorice?) and she wore a green cardigan, green and white striped socks, a short black skirt and shoes with what appeared to be red icing on the soles.

"Wait a second… You're not a human on the internet. But, you left your sites? How…" The girl seemed confused for a few seconds, but quickly shook it off. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Shadow the Hedgehog and Red the… Bird, I suppose." Red shook her hand and Shadow did too, but both a bit hesitantly. "My name is Vanellope Von Schweetz, but you can just call me Vanellope! You remember me though, right? When I came and visited you and Sonic?"

Shadow looked extremely confused. "This is the first time I have met you. Unless I meet you later on in the future, I have never seen the likes of you before."

"Stop kidding! I remember seeing you two, plus Red when you…" She looked back up at them, and realised they were serious.

"Sorry," began Red, but Vanellope cut him off.

"Jeez, you really don't seem to remember me…" She looked to Shadow again, and then to Red. Shadow sighed and began explaining his story, about how they had managed to get here, into the internet, at which point, Vanallope asked, "Wait, from the Real World, you got into the Internet?" The pair confirmed it, which made Vanellope start asking lots of questions about it.

After answering the majority of it, she managed to understand what had happened. "So basically, after Dr. Eggy hit you with that ray machine, it brought you here, and you need to get back. Ooh, what are those?" She pointed to the regulators on their hands. Shadow moved them away from her. "Lemme see!" She tried to grab them, but he held them up too high. So she glitched up to his hand and popped it off, and fell back on the floor.

"Give it back." said Shadow, "it's the only way we can…" Shadow cut off. His arm started glitching.

"Hey, you never told me you could glitch as well!" she exclaimed. "Hello? Helloooooo?" Vanellope got closer, and realised her mistake. She said, "That doesn't look normal. Ok, here ya go."

She jumped up, and fastened it back onto his glove. He broke out of his trance and finished what he was saying, "... survive these universes." He looked back at his hand and said, "Thank you."

"No problemo! So, I suppose you two need some help navigatin' the internet? Well, folks, follow me!" She started walking backwards, looking at them, and waiting for them to come.

"She's a glitch, but she's the only other person I can see who is actually… present here." said Red aloud. Shadow silently agreed. They started walking towards the Internet's centre, also called Internet Square. "So, how did you do that glitch thing?" asked Red. "Seems cool."

"I agree. Even though Chaos Control is the most efficient way to travel, it is a useful alternative."

Vanellope gave them a look of surprise. "You really want to know? Well, it all began with this crazy racer named Turbo…"