Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Shake Me Down ❯ Chapter Eight ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter Eight

Shadow eyed the kitchen entrance. What could possibly cause Rouge to take so long to get a glass of water? After some thought, he decided he was going to find out.

He made his way through the dancing couples with a bit of push and shove, and entered the kitchen expecting to see the white bat there, drinking more wine instead of water...or possibly going at it with Knuckles on the kitchen counter, he had a weird feeling about those two…His blood began to boil and he braced himself for a confrontation. Instead of Rouge or Knuckles however, he was met with an orange echidna. She was bent over, rummaging through the fridge.

His blood began to boil in a different way, as his eyes widened, unable to tear his gaze from the tantalizing view. Her dreadlocks had grown longer since he last saw her, cascading over her back and shoulders. Unlike Knuckles, Tikal's dreadlocks were styled and accentuated with random jewelry and hair ribbons; they were also less wild looking and better groomed, most likely due to the fact that she isn't a wild Neanderthal like the red demon. She was wearing a tight forest green dress that reached mid-thigh and accentuated her curves, as well as the shade of her pretty orange fur. Bent over, Shadow couldn't help but admire her other asset.

Holy shit what are you doing Shadow? First Rouge starts acting all weird and now you're checking out Tikal? She is really pretty though...how come I've never noticed before? stop Stop STOP!

He cleared his throat. "Tikal right?"

She closed the fridge door and turned around at the voice. Her eyes widened a bit when she realized it was Shadow, and he was staring at her intently, those red eyes of his almost glowing in their intensity.

"Shadow!"

Tikal took in his appearance. He was noticeably taller than her, his black-red fur and crimson eyes giving him a menacing, but tall, dark and handsome appearance. He was very toned and in shape as well, with a built chest leading down to a small tapered waist and strong legs. In other words, Tikal found him very attractive and was desperately trying to find her voice, not wanting him to think of her as a gaping, mute idiot.

"Want a drink?" she managed to say.

"Sure, what do they have?"

Tikal turned back around, opened the fridge and started naming things, being careful not to bend over to the severity she was before. She liked Shadow, but she didn't want to give him the wrong impression of her. She couldn't help but feel a bit more confidence in herself however, as she pictured the expression on his face when she turned around earlier. Either he was checking her out, or he was really interested in what was in the fridge based on the expression on his face. She hoped it was the former.

"Hmm, Gatorade, some soda, milk, beer..."

Shadow knew he was just scolding Rouge about drinking, but he really needed something to calm his nerves for many reasons. First, he noticed Rouge was acting strange ever since he arrived to the party, second, being around so many giggly happy couples was starting to irritate him...and to top it all off, he was now checking out one of Rouge's good friends.

"Beer."

Tikal pulled one out of the fridge, popped the top off and handed it to the black hedgehog. He accepted it and immediately took a sip, hissing through his teeth as it went down his throat. Ice cold, fizzy and crisp...just what he needed. Beer in hand, Shadow walked over to the kitchen table, pulled out a chair and took a seat.

"Have you seen Rouge anywhere?" he inquired.

Tikal absent-mindedly bit her lip, "Actually, when I came in here, I saw her going upstairs, probably to use the bathroom or something." She hoped she sounded convincing, as she wasn't entirely lying...she just didn't say everything she witnessed. When she was walking in the kitchen earlier she saw Knuckles running up the stairs, and Rouge stumbling behind. Hopefully they were just talking...

"I hope she didn't get sick," Shadow said, taking another sip of his beer.

"Yeah, that wouldn't be good." Tikal joined Shadow at the table, nursing her can of ginger ale in her hands. Shadow watched, his ruby eyes instantly picking up on something he never noticed before.

"How come you don't have spikes on your hands like Knuckles, you two are the same species right?"

"Female echidna's don't have the spikes. I'm not much of a fighter anyways so I'm glad I don't' have them, not very feminine like," she reasoned.

"You're practically related to the knucklehead and you don't have fighting in your blood?"

Tikal turned her deep blue eyes towards Shadow. "I grew up in a very different time period. I prefer peaceful negotiation to blood and gore, that's pretty much how I got sealed in the master emerald in the first place."

Shadow smirked, making eye contact as he leaned towards her, "Well, then I'm glad you're a peaceful person otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. Though…you may not like me very much, I prefer the blood and gore."

'Are you flirting now Shadow? What is going on with you tonight?' his conscience spoke up.

Oh shut up, what I'm doing is harmless.

'Keep telling yourself that. That's how it starts.'

I'm tuning you out, goodbye.

Shadow tuned back in as Tikal was speaking. "That's just who you are though, I can't change you, I wouldn't want to. I don't expect everyone to think the same way I do."

Shadow furrowed his brows, baffled by her response. Could she actually understand him and accept him for who he was?

Tikal leaned back in her chair. "Don't seem so surprised Shadow, I am over four-thousand years old, I have gained some wisdom over the years."

"It's easy to forget you're not from this century, you act just like one of the group now. Was it hard adjusting to modern life outside the emerald?"

Tikal fiddled with one of the bracelets on her wrist before answering. It was one her mother had made for her, for her fourteenth birthday. Knuckles didn't know, but it had a very tiny sliver of the master emerald woven into the design. When she noticed Shadow watching her and waiting for an answer, she stopped fidgeting with it, not liking attention being drawn to her most cherished possession.

"Yes, it's been very hard. I miss my family and how simple everything used to be. Nowadays, everything is so mechanical and harsh. It does beat life being trapped in a rock though, especially since I've made friends."

Shadow grunted. He liked mechanical and harsh.

"What is it you call yourself, the Ultimate life form right? Why is that?" Tikal questioned, hoping she wasn't prying too much.

Shadow smirked, a few different answers running across his mind, some not so nice and sweet. He ultimately settled for the nice answer. "I am called the Ultimate life form because I was created to be so over fifty years ago. I will never age, and I will never die."

Tikal nodded her head in thought. "Then there's something we have in common. I suppose I could be called immortal. After spending so much time in the emerald, I've stopped aging completely. I think I'm about four-thousand, five hundred and twenty-three? Give or take a few years."

"How old were you when you were sealed in the emerald?" Shadow questioned with curiousity.

"I was fourteen. Though, I continued to age until I could be considered an adult, so I guess you could say my body is twenty-three-ish in appearance. Ever since then there has been no change."

"So even though we look like everyone else with regards to age, we are the two oldest in this house."

Tikal giggled, "I think I've got you beat by quite a bit Shadow, but you're right." They both took a sip of their drinks, respectively.

They continued to talk about anything and everything, the conversation flowing naturally, awkward moments of silence absent. The clock chimed eight times indicating an hour had passed since Shadow entered the kitchen looking for Rouge. He suddenly realized that during the hour, Rouge did not cross his mind once…He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

Tikal glanced at him over the top of her ginger ale can and considered something she was told many times. "You know, everyone says that you're hard to talk to, but I find you to be quite the opposite."

Shadow lowered his beer and narrowed his eyes at Tikal in thought. She smiled at him and looked away.

She has such a cute smile...and she's very easy to talk to as well…Argh, I've got to stop thinking this way! Rouge would kill me if she knew…right? I'm not so sure anymore…she doesn't realize it, but she's been distancing herself from me. I wish I knew what was wrong; she never says I love you back. I know she doesn't think I notice it, but I definitely do.

"I think you're easy to talk to as well, Tikal." Shadow finally said, noticing a small blush form on her cheeks.

Sonic stuck his head in the doorway at that very moment, "Hey guys, me and Amy have an announcement, could you come to the living room?"

Tikal and Shadow looked at each other, then looked at Sonic.

"Sure, yeah," they both mumbled while getting up and exiting the kitchen, Shadow bringing his unfinished beer with him.

He immediately noticed that Rouge was sitting back on the loveseat, curled up against one of the arms of the couch, passed out. He chuckled to himself; at least she skipped the getting sick part this time. He also noticed that Knuckles was back in the room as well. Weren't they gone at the same time?

Shadow, don't start this again. It's probably just coincidence. Even if they were together somewhere in the house where no one could find them, maybe they were just catching up…

Tikal walked over to Knuckles, who was once again leaning against the wall where they had their last conversation.

"I hope all you did was talk," she spoke into his ear.

He blushed.

"Knuckles!" she whispered loudly.

"Shh, I noticed you came out of the kitchen with the emo one."

Tikal raised a brow, "Well, we were just talking. Did you tell Rouge how you feel?"

Knuckles grinned.

"Oh I don't even want to know what that look means," Tikal mumbled while turning away from the happy echidna. Sonic and Amy were chatting with Tails and Cream near the fireplace, waiting for everyone to settle down before saying whatever it was that they wanted to say.

Meanwhile, Shadow was making his way towards Rouge; grateful he didn't have to dodge Sonic's spastic limbs and Amy's death glare for bumping into them this time. He sat down next to his girlfriend and observed her while finishing his beer. She always looked so peaceful and angelic when she was asleep, a definite contrast to her true personality. However, he couldn't help but notice that her face was a bit flushed. Maybe she did end up getting sick? He took a closer look, was that a hickey on her neck? He didn't remember marking her. He put the empty beer bottle down on the floor, and gently shook the white bat awake.

"Rouge, wake up, Sonic and Amy have an announcement."

She lazily opened one eye, closed it, and then sat up, stretching and yawning at the same time.

"Sorry Hun, I guess I'm just really tired." She smiled at him, but noticed he wasn't returning the expression.

Oh shit, does he know?

"Did you get sick? You look kinda red."

She unconsciously put her hand to her neck to cover the red mark that Amy had pointed out earlier while nervously giggling. "No, I'm fine, it's just hot in here, it's hot in here right? Or is it just me, I'm on fuckin' fire!" she rambled.

Shadow raised an eyebrow. She was definitely acting weird.

"No, it's actually pretty comfy in here." He leaned closer to her and turned his gaze on Knuckles, who was directly across the room in his line of vision. He wasn't surprised at all to see the red demon glaring in their direction. Smirking, he turned back to Rouge, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in close.

"Shadow what are y…" she was cut off as his lips were suddenly on hers, kissing her hard. Rouge's eyes widened, startled, as she knew he wasn't one for public displays of affection. She closed her eyes and hesitantly kissed him back at first, still sleepy and disoriented, but was soon returning the kiss with just as much gusto. She couldn't help it. Even though she didn't feel as much for Shadow as she did for Knuckles, there was still something there, and he was one hell of a kisser.

Shadow broke the kiss first and smirked at Knuckles over Rouge's shoulder, still holding her close. If looks could kill, Shadow would be dead ten times over.

So I was right, there is something going on…at least on Knuckles end. Rouge may be able to hide her emotions, but Knuckles definitely never learned the skill. His face is like an open book.

Hatred was the most prominent look in the echidna's eyes, followed closely by jealousy and a touch of sorrow.

Shadow coughed and put his middle finger up in Knuckles direction. Rouge was too busy trying to stop the room from spinning to notice. The echidna saw it clear as day however, and tore his eyes away while gritting his teeth. It was obvious he wanted to return the gesture, but Shadow could tell he didn't want to bring attention to himself.

"Jeez Shadow, what was that all about?" Rouge breathed out, feeling flustered.

"Is it wrong to want to kiss my girlfriend?"

She bit her lip, "Well, no…it's just unusual for you. You usually avoid PDA like the plague."

He leaned back, "Well, I'm feeling amorous tonight."

Rouge nonchalantly glanced at Knuckles. He looked like he wanted to bolt at any moment, looking everywhere but her direction. She gulped, suddenly realizing something. Shadow kissed her for a reason, and based on the smug look on his face, it looked as though he got his answer. She wished Knuckles wasn't so easily provoked sometimes.

She bit her bottom lip and looked away.

Shadow leaned towards Rouge and spoke low in her ear, "We'll talk later."

She nodded, feeling the blood drain from her face. She wasn't sure if she was ready to have that particular conversation, though knew it couldn't be put off any longer. Twice now, she had betrayed Shadow, in one afternoon! Her and Knuckles may not have gone all the way, but she still felt horrible, not wanting to break Shadow's heart.

"Everyone! Be quiet, we have something we want to say!" Amy suddenly shouted, silencing the room very quickly. No one liked pissing her off, it wasn't fun getting hit with her hammer.

Sonic cleared his throat, "It's nice to see you all again, it's been a long time since we've done something like this." He turned to Amy and grabbed her hand. "Um…me and Amy decided to throw this party to tell you all that…we're engaged."

"It's about damn time!" Someone yelled out while everyone started to clap for the happy couple.

Amy smiled, "Thank you guys!"

Cream squealed, "When did this happen!"

Amy turned towards her, "He proposed last week."

Sonic blushed, hoping she didn't tell the embarrassing story about how he forgot to get down on one knee, and then couldn't get the words out due to nerves. He ended up just showing her the ring and ducking his head over his shoulder, hoping she would know what he was trying to do. Sadly, she was too shocked to say anything either. They both ended up standing there for a few moments, Amy with her jaw dropped, and Sonic sweating bullets waiting for her answer. He got it roughly five seconds later when she jumped into his arms and loudly proclaimed yes. He was sure the echo from her boisterous shout was still ringing around the room somewhere.

Thankfully, just as Amy was about to open her mouth, Blaze spoke up. Sonic relaxed.

"And you were able to keep it a secret? I'm surprised you weren't shouting it from the moon Amy."

Amy turned her nose up, "Well…I did consider that, but thought that it would be much more fun to throw a party. I've missed you guys."

"Yeah, you guys even got Knuckles to show up," Silver noted, making Sonic remember something at the mention of his red friend.

"And Happy Birthday Knuckles! The big 2-1." Sonic cupped his hands and shouted.

Knuckles face blanched as everyone turned to look at him. He really didn't want any attention drawn to him at that moment. He was still seething from what Shadow had just done and was barely holding onto his self-control to not cross the room and shove his spiked fists into the black hedgehogs face.

"Happy Birthday Knuckles!" almost everyone shouted.

His could literally feel his cheeks turning red. "Um, thank you," he mumbled while rising to his feet.

"When we heard that Shadow was going to capture you from Angel Island, we all decided to pitch in and get you a gift that hopefully you'll use." Sonic picked up a box that had sat unnoticed on the fireplace mantle while he waved Knuckles over.

Knuckles hesitantly approached, avoiding eye contact with everyone and eyeing the box in Sonic's hands with open curiosity. What could they have possibly gotten him?

When he stood in front of Sonic, the blue hedgehog took a deep breath. On the exhale, a horrible sound began to persecute the air, torturing everyone's eardrums.

"Happpy birthday to youuu!"

Knuckles bared his teeth, embarrassed for himself and for the creature in front of him. He took one step forward with his right leg while shaking his fist in a threatening manner.

"Sonic, I'm warning you, please do not continue singing or you're gonna regret it!"

Sonic took a step back but continued on, disregarding the threat. "Happy birthday too youuu!"

Knuckles took a step forward.

"Happy birthday dear Knucklehead!"

"You're DEAD!"

Knuckles lunged.

Sonic yelped and ran out the front door, Knuckles hot on his heels.

Everyone ran over to the doorway, watching with either shock or barely controlled laughter as Sonic ran laps around the house, while Knuckles did his best to try and catch him. Every time Sonic ran past Knuckles, Knuckles would lunge for him and just at the last second, Sonic somehow managed to avoid the tackle, causing Knuckles to fall flat on his face.

"Happy birthday to YOUU!" the blue hedgehog finished the song at the top of his lungs going falsetto on the you.

"GET BACK HERE!"

"SONIC, KNUCKLES! THAT'S ENOUGH! GET BACK IN HERE NOW AND PLAY NICE!" Amy shouted as loud as she could causing a few dogs start barking down the street as well as a few cats to meow.

Sonic stopped running and looked towards the house, "But Amy…? We're just having f…" Sonic was unable to finish his sentence as at that moment, Knuckles took advantage of Amy's intrusion and tacked the blue hedgehog to the ground. They rolled around for a little while, Knuckles snarling and growling while Sonic begged and whined for mercy.

~WHAM~

Both Sonic and Knuckles fell to the ground with stars in their eyes.

Amy stood above them, breathing heavily while holding her hammer in a menacing manner. "I told you guys to stop, and you didn't listen, thus, you had to pay the consequence."

Both looked up at her from flat on their backs. She looked very tall, intimidating and angry. She was gripping the hammer so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. Sonic looked up at her face, her eye was twitching and her jaw was clenched in anger. He gulped. Knuckles bit back a chuckle.

"If either of you starts this again, I swear, I will not stop beating you with my hammer until you're unconscious. Do I make myself clear?"

Sonic looked over at Knuckles, expecting to see the same look of fear in the violet eyes that was present in his own. Instead, he was met with red echidna making a very constipated looking face to try and hold back laughter. Knuckles turned his head to look at Sonic and noted the fear in his eyes. A few seconds passed, the only sound to be heard was heavy breathing and crickets chirping in the night. Suddenly they both began laughing hysterically, rolling around on the grass until they were practically hyperventilating from lack of oxygen.

Amy rolled her eyes and stormed back into the house.

"Nothing to see here folks, just two dumb idiots, move along move along!" Amy spoke to everyone while making her way towards the kitchen for a giant glass of wine. She was suddenly regretting her decision to have Knuckles at her and Sonic's engagement party.

Meanwhile outside:

"Here Knuckles," Sonic managed to say between gasps for air. He sat up and held out the present, the box was a bit mangled after the thrash about.

Eyeing it with even more suspicion now, Knuckles sat up quickly, and hastily snatched it out of the blue hedgehog's grasp.

"It's not going to sing to me is it?"

"No, but I can start again if you want!" Sonic grinned, his white teeth sparkling in the moonlight.

"NO!" Knuckles roared, eye twitching.

"Then open it already!"

Knuckles brought the box up to eyelevel, about one inch from his face, and peered down his nose at it. It was a little box, and didn't have much weight to it. He lightly shook it next to his ear. Nothing really moved around to give him a hint. Squinting his eyes, he brought the box up to his nose and sniffed. No weird smells were coming from it, maybe it was safe after all.

"Dude, did you really have to smell it?" Sonic folded his arms and tilted his head to the side.

Knuckles gave Sonic a pointed look. "I can never be too cautious when it comes to you."

Sonic unfolded his arms and waved his arms at his friend for emphasis. "If you don't open it within the next five seconds I'm going to open it for you, hurry up man!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes and carefully tore off the wrapping paper revealing a white box. Quickly, he opened the lid and peered inside.

"You guys got me a cell-phone? Why?" Knuckles spoke, eyeing the small black device.

"I know you might not think so, but we all consider you a friend and want to actually have a way to reach you. Everyone's number is already programmed in there."

Knuckles lowered the box, "Thank you, but…I don't know how to use it," he sheepishly admitted.

Sonic chuckled, "I still don't really know how to use mine…why don't you ask Rouge to help you?" Sonic grinned, a devilish look in his eye.

Knuckles blushed. "If you don't stop looking at me like that right away, I'm going to hit you."

"Only if you can catch me first!" Sonic yelled as he took off towards the house, Knuckles hot on his heels.

Shadow looked out the window, shaking his head.

This is my competition?