Sonic Wild

Three Down

With Rouge and Shadow. (Shadow's POV)

    I held in a laugh with a great amount of difficulty. Sonic's face had been priceless! And I began to wonder if that's what I looked like whenever he used one of his annoying nicknames with me.

      "So where to next?" Rouge asked, snapping my mind back to the mission. I looked around at the dim scenery. I honestly didn't think very much about where I was teleporting to, but from the looks of it, we seemed to be in an abandoned castle. I closed my eyes and tried to feel where the next heart would be. After a few seconds, I found it, which meant it was closer than I thought.

      "Down," I replied and started following the hallway. A moment later, I could hear her sharp heels clicking behind me. 

     "So," she began, and I groaned. I guess it was stupid of me to think the silence would last forever, "Why'd you call Blue 'Pipsqueak'? I was sure you were going to call him 'Faker' or something."

    I felt my ear flicked as I answered, "Well, Faker was getting over-used, in my opinion, so I chose something a little more fun." 

    She rose an eyebrow at this, and I worried she might have caught on that I wasn't telling the entire truth. "Uh, huh, sure. Whatever you say, handsome. This place certainly is spooky, isn't it?"

    I shrugged, but she had a point. The place was covered in dust and cobwebs, and there weren't many windows to let in any sunlight. Still, it wasn't something I had listed under "spooky," more like..."dirty." I have to admit I can be a bit of a neat freak when the fit is upon me, hence why the Tortuga had remained almost spotless since our arrival. Growing up on a constantly sterilized space colony does that to a hedgehog.

    We descended down several flights of stairs that was covered with a tattered red carpet. Why could, just once, the Continent Heart be above ground? A small voice reached my ear, and I knew it wasn't Rouge. However, her voice wasn't far behind. 

    "EEEK! It's a mouse! Do something before it bites me!" she shrieked, her voice even doing that echolocation thing she could do, which was deafening to my highly sensitive ears.

     SQUEAK! Giants! the mouse screamed, and I almost forgot about my new gift, They're going to step on me!

     "Rouge, calm down. He's just as scared as you are," I said slowly and knelt to get a better view. A small brown mouse crawled out of the shadows of the wall and cautiously scurried closer to my outstretched hand. 

     "Shadow! What are you doing?" Rouge whisper-shouted, "That thing is riddled with diseases." 

    He gently crawled into my hand and sniffed my gloved palm as I stood. I smirked and brought him closer to her. 

     "Awe, this little guy? He couldn't hurt you," I said as I brought him closer and closer. 

    "Ew! Shadow, get it away from me! Get it--get it away!" she squealed. I only obeyed when she started trying to swat him away. He grinned as he stuck his tiny pink tongue out at her. 

               "Is she being rude to you?"

    He nodded emphatically, and I gave Rouge a playful look, "See, Rouge? You might have just hurt his feelings," I moaned, and the mouse giggled. 

     She hmphed and crossed her arms, "You're just as bad as Sonic, except you're messing with me with a live rat and not a rubber one."

                   "Mouse, not rat," I corrected. Wait a second, just how fast am I becoming like Sonic?! A terrified shiver ran up my tail at the thought.