Sonic's P.O.V
I stretch my arms as I wake up. I turn to see Malaika asleep beside me. She looks so content when she sleeps. I gently move a strand of hair out of her face. Not being able to tell her is getting harder each day.
I sigh as I carefully slip out of the hammock, making sure I don't wake her up. Should I tell her? It's been long enough. Maybe I should give her some type of puzzle or riddle.
Having an idea, I grab a piece of paper and write down something for her to figure out. I place it carefully on the table before speeding off for my morning run.
(Time Skip)
My P.O.V
I wake up in the hammock to see Sonic is nowhere to be seen.
'He must have gone on a run.' I thought. I hop up out of the hammock but stop when I see a note on the table. I pick it up. It seems to be from Sonic.
'Blue is me
The same as sea
Purple is you
I'll give you a clue
Red, to you, is unknown,
Only to be discovered when out of the zone.
You probably don't know what I'm talking about,
But come and find me once you've figured it out.'
(I tried my best y'all. Sorry if it's not that good-)
'Red? Zone? What does he mean?' I ponder. There's no point in questioning him because he'll probably tell me to figure it out myself.
'Maybe Tails can help me' I thought. I grab the note and run off to his workshop.
(Time Skip)
"Thanks for helping me put together my Björnvaalden bookcase. I got it from that foreign build your own furniture store!" Amy says.
"That's it?" Tails looks at the box. I went to Tails' workshop earlier but I still can't figure out what the note means. Sonic doesn't seem to be giving any clues either. He's still acting pretty normal with me.
"Ah, you'd be surprised at how much they can fit in one little box!" Amy smiles.
Sonic opens the box, and the contents fly out, burying Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles.
(Time Skip)
"Mm-mm! This are some fine cheeses!" Willy exclaims.
"But where are the crackers?" Barker asks.
Eggman is holding a cheese tray. "I wanted everything to be perfect! Keep calm, everyone. I'll send Orbot out to the store. Whew! Crisis averted."
"So this is why you called me here..." Everyone turns their attention to the voice, belonging to Shadow The Hedgehog.
Eggman gasps and drops his tray. "Shadow the Hedgehog! Hey everybody, look! Shadow's here! I knew springing for those embossed invitations would impress!"
"Who's he?" The weasel bandit asks.
"He's only the second most popular character in the whole canon! Let me get you a chair, Mr. Shadow!" Eggman pulls the chair out from under Dave the Intern, sending him crashing to the floor. He then pushes the chair over to Shadow.
"Hm. I prefer to stand." Shadow says.
"Of course. You rogue, you! I like standing, too! Everyone, on your feet! "Eggman says. Everyone else stands up with groans.
"Where were we? I'll just start at the beginning."
(Time Skip)
Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are looking at the directions for the bookshelf.
"There are no words. Just pictures." Tails states.
"Just like the novel I'm writing!" Knuckles pulls the directions away and looks closer. "Hmm... the plot's there, but the characters are all over the place."
"Um, maybe we should just take a break?" I suggest.
(Time Skip)
Sooo, yeah. Since building isn't going too well. We're just taking a break. I went back to Tails' workshop to try and figure out Sonic's note.
"Ugh." I slam my head on the desk.
"Why's Sonic making this so difficult?"
Tails laughs. "Come on, Malaika. Just look at it properly! I may be a genius but I'm not just gonna give you the answer."
I take a look at the note and read through it again. A lightbulb suddenly goes off in my head.
"Wait, red...." I mutter.
"Yeah?" Tails smirks.
"Red symbolizes love and zone..... zone means friendzone!" I exclaim.
"See? You figured it out!" Tails smiles.
I quickly jump up. "Thanks Tails! Couldn't have done it without you!" I say quickly, running off to find Sonic.
(Time Skip)
I head to Sonic's shack, thinking he'd probably be there.
"Sonic? You here?" I call. He hops out of his hammock.
"Oh, hey Laika-" he pauses once he sees the note in my hand.
"So, I'm guessing you figured it out?" Sonic smiles.
"Maybe, then again, I don't know. You might have to tell me yourself." I tease.
Sonic rolls his eyes with a smirk before pulling me closer to him. He leans down to my ear.
"I love you." He whispers.
"I love you too." I smile. Sonic smirks before lifting my chin up and kissing me gently. It was short but sweet. He smiles as he pulls away.
"Hey, Sonic?" I ask.
"Yeah?"
"When are we gonna tell the gang? I mean, I think Tails knows since he helped me with the note. I knew there was no point in going to you because you would just tell me to figure it out myself."
"You already know me so well." He smirks. "But to answer your question, I don't know. We'll tell them at some point."
"Yeah, I guess so. We should probably get back to helping Amy with the bookshelf. She'll come to find us all at some point anyway." I say.
Sonic chuckles before picking me up and running off.
(Time Skip)
"And so, with my superior leadership, and your blind loyalty, we'll finally be rid of those meddling muskrats!" Eggman looks at Shadow with anticipation. Shadow barely reacts.
"Hey! How come you're calling the shots? I'm the best villain here! I spent more time in the pen than all of you combined!" Willy states.
"All that proves is that you're the best at getting caught!" Charlie snaps at him.
"What we need is an educated fellow. An organized leader who knows how to keep hotheads like you under control and maintain parliamentary procedure." Barker suggests.
"Objection! Anyone can learn parliamentary procedure." The tree spy adds.
"Point of order! "Objection" is courtroom terminology, not parliamentary!"
"Sustained!"
"As anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the sci-fi classic Battleforce Galaxia knows, our leadership needs a young, inexperienced teenager who's destined for glory, lest you want to repeat Admiral Glork's mistakes." Dave says.
"You're losing focus! Remember, I'm the one who called this meeting!" Eggman snaps.
"And great job, by the way. Who picked out this stemware? It's barely worth stealing!" The weasel bandit swipes it and sticks it in his robe.
Everyone begins to argue over who the leader should be.
"Come on, Eggman. Get it together. I know what this group needs!" Eggman mutters to himself.
"Time for some team-building exercises! Fall backwards into your buddy's arms and let them catch you. This is called a "trust fall." Eggman exclaims.
Weasel Bandit is caught by Tree Spy. Charlie catches Dave. T.W. Barker catches Willy. Stuntbear 1 catches Stuntbear 2. Shadow doesn't even try to catch Dr. Eggman, who crashes to the ground.
"My fault. Should have given you a heads up. That was on me!" Eggman says.
"You never know what's going to happen on the battlefield. Which is why it's important to think on your feet. This is a little game I used to play with my old improv troupe, The Gigglesnorts. It's called "Zip Zap Zop." We pass around an imaginary ball, saying "zip," "zap," or "zop" as we go. I'll start. Zip!" Eggman passes the "ball" to T.W. Barker.
T.W. Barker catches the "ball," and passes it to Shadow. "Zap!"
Shadow just stands there, doing nothing.
"Ehh... that's to you, Shadow. You wanna zap that one over to Dave? Or maybe zap that bad boy back to me? Heh... no?" Eggman laughs nervously.
"Tch."
"He pfted it! We'll count that. Great job, Shadow!" Eggman days.
"Silence, fool!" Shadow snaps.
The other villains gasp.
"I've suffered your presence long enough."Shadow turns to leave.
"N-no! Don't go! We're not done bonding yet! We were gonna roast wieners and play flashlight tag. We're making history here! A collection of villains like this has never been assembled before!" Eggman pleads.
Shadow turns around. "I see no villains, just some fools whose only ability is wasting time!"
"That's something, isn't it?"
"No, not really." Shadow disappears. Eggman sighs.
(Time Skip)
"How do we tell the difference between Side A and Side C?" Amy asks.
"Side A should have one more L-Bracket." Tails says.
"You mean T-Bracket, right?" Amy looks up.
"Uhh..."
"Tails, so help me, if you've been confusing L-Brackets and T-Brackets this whole time...!" Sonic exclaims.
"Who used all the D-Screws? All I have left are J-Knobs, which are worthless! And has anyone seen Back Panel G?" Sticks asks.
"Uhh..." Knuckles holds up his arm, which has a panel stuck to it. '"I think I found it." He tries to shake it off his arm, to no avail. He then grabs it, but it breaks in half.
"Great! Now we have to go back to the store and exchange the whole thing! Come on, let's pack it up." Sonic complains.
They try to fit the pieces of the bookcase back into the box, but there's no way to make them all fit.
(Time Skip)
"We got a brand new Blork...splargin. Let's just build it right here." Sonic suggests.
"Then when we mess up, we can get yet another one! Great idea, Sonic!" Tails says.
"That's why I'm the leader! Now let's dominate this cheap piece of furniture! ...To the best of our limited ability."
*
"Welp, we're out of parts and instructions. I think we're done." We look over at the results of our work... a terrible looking mishmash of pieces.
"Great work, team." Amy says sarcastically.
Eggman suddenly arrives with Giant Robot.
"Did somebody call for a dramatic entrance?"
"Tails, get us an aerial survey! We'll take him out from down here." Sonic says.
We leap back as Giant Robot smashes his fists down. Eggman begins firing lasers, but Sonic easily dodges. Tails flies by in his plane, distracting Giant Robot. Another laser blast misses Tails, who sees Willy flying his own machine.
"Bogey on my tail. Gonna try and shake him." Tails flies off with Willy in pursuit. The rest off us run off to avoid Giant Robot's laser, but we see Weasel Bandit running off with Lady Walrus's purse.
"He stole my purse! My baby! Pictures." Sticks and Amy take off after Weasel Bandit, only to find themselves surrounded by Dave and the Stuntbears.
"An ambush!" Sticks exclaims. I run off to help them.
The tree Spy is watching Sonic and Knuckles fight Eggman and Giant Robot through binoculars, then uses flags to give a signal. T.W. Barker swoops in with Octopus Bot and attacks an ice cream stand, sending the patrons scattering.
"Knuckles, that one's all you." Knuckles runs off, leaving Sonic alone against Eggman.
"Looks like your team is stretched a bit thin, you periwinkle pipsqueak!" Eggman says.
"I can take you one-on-one any day, Egghead!" Sonic smirks.
"Who said anything about one-on-one?" Charlie charges with his mech, followed by Motobugs and Bee Bots.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me..."
Tails is still trying to evade Willy, without much success. Amy gets hit by a robot. I grab her arm before she falls. Sticks kicks the robot away, but gets a burger to the face. Knuckles punches Octopus Bot, but gets splattered with ink and smacked away. Sonic gets caught by the explosion of one of Giant Robot's missiles and is knocked away as well.
"It's working! The plan's actually working!" Eggman exclaims.
Sonic sees the bookcase mishmash and gets an idea, running over to it.
"Over here, you oversized can opener!"
Giant Robot tries to smash Sonic, but Sonic cuts to the other side of one of the bookcase shelves and is catapaulted into Charlie's Mech. The resulting short-circuiting shuts down Giant Robot as well.
"No!" Eggman yells.
Sonic jumps up onto the Eggmobile.
"Call off your goons, or I'll smash you into next week." Sonic growls.
"I'm busy next week. I mean, I could probably reschedule, but I--"
Sonic is knocked away by someone, who is revealed to be Shadow.
"Pathetic. Even with all this help, you still couldn't defeat Sonic."
I turn around at the sound of the voice, startled to see another hedgehog who looks very similar to Sonic.
'Who the heck is he?'
Sonic leaps at Shadow, who does the same to him. They bounce off each other.
"It's happening. Shadow has finally joined Team Eggman! I'm geeking out here!"
Shadow knocks away the Eggmobile, then goes after Sonic again. They begin bouncing off each other around the Village Center, with Doctor Eggman trying to keep up.
"Need any help, Shadow? Okay, you've got this one. Ooh, ha ha ha, just missed ya. Allow me to... uh... okay. Just tag me in when you're ready." Eggman says.
"Out of the way, you buffoon." Shadow stops and glares at Eggman.
That slight distraction allows Sonic to nail Shadow, launching him through the wall of a house. Shadow leaps back out, grabs Sonic by the scarf, and leaps upwards with him. They end up flying right between Tails and Willy, making Willy stop short. Doctor Eggman flies up after him.
"Excuse me! I'm with Shadow." Eggman says.
Shadow attempts to slam Sonic down, but Sonic manages to break away and lands safely. Shadow lands on the "bookshelf," crushing it completely.
"Hey! We worked all day on that!" Sonic says angrily.
"Your shoddy craftsmanship brings shame on all hedgehogkind. And for that, you shall perish." Shadow suddenly disappears, shocking Sonic. Shadow appears right in front of Sonic and knocks him skyward with an uppercut, then disappears again. He then reappears above Sonic, slamming him down with a kick that leaves Sonic in a crater.
"Sonic!!!" I shriek. I'm about to charge towards Shadow but Amy grabs my arm.
"Malaika, don't!"
"We did it! Sonic was defeated by Team Eggman!" Eggman holds up a camera. "Victory selfie!"
The resulting camera flash temporarily blinds Shadow, allowing Sonic to race up and lay him out with an uppercut of his own. Tails manages to outmaneuver Willy into crashing into a mountain. Me, Amy and Sticks take out Dave and Weasel Bandit. Knuckles rips a pair of legs off of Octopus Bot, then uses one of them to wrap up The tree Spy.
"You fool! I had him just where I wanted him!" Shadow snaps angrily.
"Sorry! That one's on me, Shadow. Forgot to turn off the flash. Pic looks great, though, if it's any consolation." Eggman says.
"Enough! How's a guy supposed to destroy his foes with dolts like you wandering around? We'll fight again soon, Sonic, but next time, on my terms.
Shadow disappears as the rest of us run up and do a group fistbump.
"Yeah!"
"Great job, everybody!" Amy smiles.
"We may not be able to build a bookcase, but we sure as heck can clobber some creeps!" Knuckles says.
"Speaking of which... We turn and glare at Eggman.
"Now guys, let's not point fingers about who's to blame for this little scuffle..." Eggman backs away.
Everyone runs forward and starts playing volleyball with the Eggmobile.
"Ooh! Ow! Hey!"
Orbot and Cubot pop up.
'What a swell adventure! I sure hope there's more next year." Cubot says.
"Just think of all the hundreds more stories to be told using the same nine. characters and four locations. The possibilities are limitless!"
"Just to be on the safe side, maybe we should start an internet petition." Cubot says.
(Time Skip)
"Um, Sonic?" I ask, as we arrive back to the shack.
"Yeah?" He turns to face me.
"Who was that other hedgehog? The one you were fighting with? I've never seen him around the island."
"Oh, that's was Shadow. You don't need to worry about him though." Sonic shrugs.
"Yeah, well, he seems pretty powerful...." I say. I'll admit, Shadow was a little intimidating. If Eggman hadn't gotten in the way, he would've probably defeated Sonic. That was what I was scared of.
Sonic turns around to face me. "Listen, Shadow's not gonna hurt you. If that's what you're worrying about. If anything he'll probably target me-"
"But that's what I'm worried about." I cut him off. "You only got the chance to attack him because Eggman got in the way with his camera."
"Listen, don't worry. Shadow probably won't be back for a while anyway. It'll be fine. And if he does come back, I'll protect you. You trust me, right?" He smiles. I give him a small smile back.
"Alright, I trust you."
"