FOR YOUR HEART-BOOM

☆Ch36

"Pathetic," Shadow uttered under his breath.
"You are pathetic!" Sticks instantly hissed at him, making him hiss in response whilst they both got into a fighting stance.
"Say that again to my face!" Shadow challenged the female.
"You! Are! PA-THE-TIC! There, happy now?" Sticks was very bold to indeed dare to repeat that to the hedgehog's face and it caused Shadow hold a chaos spear in his hand.
"Fine, you're asking for it!"
"Woah, hey, guys! Stop right now!" Sonic yelled out as he held Shadow back, while Tails tried to prevent Sticks from attacking the hybrid.

"I said we're on good terms!" Sonic complained and Shadow let the spear vanish before crossing his arms, whilst Sonic had his arms wrapped tightly around him from behind.
"I will never be on good terms with this demon!" Sticks exclaimed and biting Tails' hand she made him let go of her before rushing out of the village, feeling completely misunderstood and unheard. She was always so much alerted in Shadow's presence and for actually a good reason, because - especially after what he has done earlier - he was pretty much unpredictable and one couldn't know, what exactly they could expect from him. What might be his next move. But of course, due to her usually paranoid personality nobody listened to her warnings.
"Ouch...," Tails hissed and saw a little teeth marks in his glove, luckily no blood was spilled despite Sticks' sharp teeth. Sonic then released Shadow and backed away, not wanting to make him feel uncomfortable. Exactly as he promised back in Shadow's cave.
"You okay, buddy?" he asked Tails in concern and taking Tails' glove off he could see the little marks, but luckily no blood.
"Yeah, I am fine. Forgot how sharp Sticks' fangs can be," Tails just nervously laughed the little incident off and smiling at Sonic he pulled his glove back on. There was a brown fur here and there on his hands the older he was growing, his paw pads were white with a soft pinkish hue and he also grew a bit longer, sharp black claws, which he needed to regularly cut short, else they might overgrow. It was one of the things, that irritated him about his body, but well, nature was unstoppable.

Shadow, in the meantime, felt a little awkward there, so turning around he casually sneaked away from the two, using advantage of them being focused on each other.
"Heh, yeah, she can be feisty, when she wants," Sonic laughed it off along with his brother and Tails then widened his suddenly sparkling eyes.
"Will you help me pick a gift for Zooey?" he asked while pouting as he held onto Sonic's arm.
"You didn't get her one yet?" Sonic raised a brow.
"No..., it's so hard, ya know. I mean, I do know what she likes and what not, but.. heh, I just want the gift to be special. So it would, well, express how much I love her," Tails rubbed his head in shyness now while having a dark blush on his cheeks.
"I got ya, bro. Let me just- oh... wait, where is Shadow?" Sonic just now noticed the absence of the ebony hybrid, when he was going to talk to him about his new plan. Tails looked around before shrugging.
"You'll meet him later again, now come on!" he grabbed Sonic by his wrist and dragged him towards the local stores.

~•~

Shadow wandered around the island with no certain destination in mind. He was mostly lost in thoughts, as he recalled all the memories from the passed weeks till today. Many things happened, both good and bad and he was still having some doubts regarding his strange relationship with Sonic. Were they just acquaintances? Or still rivals, but treating each other kindly in private? What he knew for sure, they weren't enemies at all, Shadow does not hate Sonic that much, it's just Sonic's cocky attitude, that annoys him. Else, the blue hedgehog is not that bad of a friend, or... even a partner? Shadow shook his head at the thought. It sounded so weird. Besides, he still thought and believed, that Amy is crushing on the blue hero, especially after he witnessed her acting so protective over him back in Eggman's base. Yeah, this must be it. Despite Sonic saying how much he loves him and that he chooses only him over everyone, Shadow couldn't accept it. No, he couldn't. He was now on good terms with the hero, thus pretty much also with his friends, but that's all, right? He should remain as Sonic's friend and let the love between Sonic and Amy bloom naturally, without him interfering.