Kings Of Terabithia

Chapter 6

About 15 minutes later, Sonic was climbing up the rope to their treehouse, carrying a small bag and a chilled thermos. When he finally got to the top and climbed in, he was shocked to see Shadow, sitting in the corner and crying to himself.

“Shadow.” He whispered soothingly, getting down and crawling over to him. “Are you alright? What happened?”

Shadow was a little embarrassed to tell Sonic why he was crying, but he knew that the blue hedgehog wouldn’t stop bugging him until he did. He gave a deep sigh before he started telling him everything that happened that morning and how he felt about it.

As he spoke, Sonic contently listened, giving his rival his full attention. When at times the ebony started up his sniffling again, Sonic would quickly reach into the bag and pull out a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie, giving it to the ebony, who gratefully took it and started nibbling on it, calming down a little bit. It also helped a bit when the blue hedgehog would pour some chilled milk from the thermos into the cup and gave it to him.

These methods seemed to calm him down quickly.

“Thank you, Sonic.” Shadow sniffed, wiping his eyes a bit. “I just needed to let my thoughts out for once, and you were nice enough to listen.”

“Of course, Shadow.” Sonic smiled at him. “Anytime you need to vent, I’m here for you. I’ll listen, no matter how absurd or hysterical your rants might get. I’m here for you.”

Shadow looked down and smiled, a small blush adoring his cheeks. It made him feel good to know that at least one person still cared about him.

“Thanks.” Then he laughed. “You know, I think we might be taking the phrase ‘keep your enemies closer’ a bit too seriously.”

Sonic laughed too, which caused the both of them to start a full on fit of laughter, both knowing very well that here in Terabithia, they did not see each other as enemies, but as mutual friends.

Their laughter was suddenly interrupted, when almost out of nowhere, a large tree began to fall, tipping directly toward them.

Seeing the attack, both hedgehogs stood up in fright and backed up, fear coursing through their veins as they thought they were about to be crushed. Fortunately, however, they were saved when a branch from the falling tree caught on their tarp and slowed it to a stop.

“Oh my gosh.” Sonic gasped. “It was a giant troll!”

“What?” Shadow frowned at him. “No, Faker, it was a giant tree that almost killed us!”

“Do you honestly think that tree fell all by itself?” Sonic asked him.

At this, Shadow had to think. To his surprise, the blue hedgehog was right. There was no way that tree could’ve possibly fell by itself.

Suddenly, they heard stomping coming from outside. They both looked at each other in shock and curiosity as they quickly scrambled out of the treehouse and jogged towards the sound of the stomping. As they got closer, they came to the base of the tree. It was completely uprooted, as if somebody had pulled it out of the ground as if it was just a weed.

“Wow.” Shadow gulped, looking to Sonic. “How big do you think this thing is?”

Sonic looked back at Shadow and shrugged, shaking his head in an unknown fashion. They suddenly heard stomping again and the two curious hedgehogs ran after it. They suddenly stopped when they came across a giant footprint. They both stared in shock and horror.

“Well… that’s how big it’s feet are.” Sonic gulped.

The footprint was at least five feet wide across and 23 feet in length. If by those estimates… the troll was most likely bigger than the trees.

“What do we do now?” Shadow asked his companion.

“We have no choice.” Sonic shook his head. “It’s a worker of the Dark Master, it has to be. We’ll have to find it… and kill it.”

“What?!” Shadow gasped. “You’re crazy! We’ll be crushed, hedgehog!”

Sonic frowned and looked around. He saw a short tree stump nearby and quickly climbed up it.

"What are you doing, hedgehog?" Shadow frowned, crossing his arms over his chest.

At that moment, the wind began to holler through the trees again, creating that applauding noise. Sonic took a deep breath and shot his fist into the air, shouting determinedly.

"WE RULE TERABITHIA! AND NOTHING CRUSHES US!"

That determination and the roaring wind was all Shadow needed to smile in agreement.