PoV: Shadow

"I found Sonic 2 weeks after he went missing," I sighed as I told Knuckles everything.

--- 7.5 months ago ---

  It was raining all day, I didn't have any tasks so I had the day for myself to rest. That was until I sensed an odd energy nearby. It felt familiar yet unknown all at once. I couldn't resist the urge to inspect the energy so I quickly left to find the source. I ran through the rain and followed the energy until I found a small hole dug into the side of the cliff. The dirt was freshly dug up and rain water was beginning to make a puddle inside. Something was shifting around underneath the hard rock. I carefully dug around the edge and that was when I found him. It looked as if he hadn't slept for days. He was covered is a variety of injuries; minor scratches, bruises, even burns. What concerned me were the bites along his arms, they looked self inflicted.

"Sonic, what the hell happened to you?" I shook him to wake him but he wasn't moving. His gloves were covered in mud and he was unconscious in a flooding hole. Something happened to the point where it triggered his burrowing instinct to seak safety.

"Damn it Faker," I grabbed him, dispite my disapproval of his existence he was still needed to keep mobius safe, "You better tell me exactly what's going on that you can't even handle your job as hero."

  I brought him to my house treated his injuries. The burns were mostly on his back, which ment he was in battle. But after cleaning off the mud it was obvious that many of the wounds were much older. Sonic's usual figure had tinned, his face was pale with heavy bags under his eyes. My guess was he hadn't eat anything for days, but why?

It wasn't until the next afternoon that he finally woke up. I hadn't even noticed he was awake at all. He had just been laying on the couch in silence, his eyes open and staring at the wall.

"Sonic," I had to confirm he new his name and where is was. If his memory worked it ment information, "I found you buried under a cliff. You're at my house for now. I don't plan to get involved with your friends but if you contact them to pick you up that's fine."

  He didn't say anything and didn't move. Maybe a minute passed before his eyes shifted to stare in my direction. He eventually turned his head to look directly at me. Maybe I should take him to a hospital...

"... Oh... Shadow... you found me?" He finally spoke.

"I did," he recognizes me and his own name, but he's acting weird.

"... Thanks..." he turned his head back and continued staring at the ceiling.

"What happened to you? I've rarely seen you this hurt, Eggman only occasionally lands a hit on you," I asked, his behavior was uncomfortable to watch.

"Nothing happened," he replied, his eyes were starting to close again.

"Don't give me that crap, you're hurt and you're telling me nothing happened," I grabbed him and pulled him up to sit, "Look at yourself. You're clearly starving and exhuasted. What happened!"

"Just a battle, that's all," he wasn't going to give me information.

"Tsk," I handed him a cup full of broth and left the room. He's more obnoxious now. I need to get rid of him and send him back to his playgroup. They can handle him.

Beep! The comminicator hidden in my glove went off. It was Eggman contacting me.

"What do you want?" I answered, "I'm in the middle of something."

"Ohohoho! Don't have the time for the relative of your creator? How rude. Shadow, I've got some intel on a certain blue thorn in my side who's gone missing after my latest attack," Eggman was a new source of information, he had his side of the story and could resist bragging.

"So tell me how you achieved this victory, then I might consider working with you again for the right price," I left the area around the house to avoid being heard.

"Oh it was a great surprise. I finally located angle island to preform a sneak attack on that red weseal and get the master emerald for myself. And as a surprise, Sonic was already there. My plan worked perfectly. I remembered something important from a former battle and it weakened him greatly. That was until that red oaf destroyed the master emerald and my precious eggmobile. I had to retreat without it but I left with that last vision of my robots having defeated Sonic and leaving him where he laid in failure. It was a bitter sweet battle where I was at last victorious against Sonic! Ohohohoh!" Eggman laughed louder as he rejoiced in his so called victory, "So then, Shadow my dear teammate. I know you can find Sonic, he's probably near a chaos emerald knowing him. I know you have an emerald on you at all times, use that to find Sonic and we can begin crafting my Eggman Empire. In exchange you can have the Chaos Emeralds, all I need is the Master Emerald and I can manufacture everything I need."

"Alright... send me the location of your base. I already have Sonic with me, he's injured but he's alive," I responded, getting all seven emeralds to myself was worth giving up a fake.

  Eggman arrived in ten minutes time and had his robots armed and ready. He arrived with the largest smile on his face and hand cuffs in his fist.

"I've finally done it," he cheered himself as he entered my livingroom to see Sonic on the couch, still unchanged, "I've defeated Sonic The Hedgehog! Ohohohoh!"

  He cuffed Sonic arms behind his back and placed another set around his ankles to keep him from running. Eggman had a portable cage which had lazer bars and he gleefully shoved Sonic inside. He quickly placed Sonic inside a reinforced cell in his hq.

"My victory against you might be bitter sweet but it's sweeter than all of those defeats, and I will savor it," Eggman grinned before walking away with laughter, "Shadow, don't unchained him but of you feel like roughing him up have at it."

"Shadow..." Sonic finally spoke up after being quiet for so long, "... I like you..."

"So what if you do. You're obnoxious and now you live in a cell," It was hard to look at him, "Look at you, you can't even handle loosing a battle."

"...I'm hungry..." his stomach growled.

"What actually happened out there tell me and I'll get you something to eat," I came closer to him.

"... I lost, that's all," Sonic didn't say anything else dispite the sounds his stomach repeated.

  It took a few days after that but Sonic started staying awake longer and his injuries healed quickly. Eventually, he started talking a lot more too. He still wasn't quiet himself even once he was fully healed a month later.

"Sonic, eat," I handed him the grey sludge Eggman was feeding him. The only time a day where Sonic's chains around his wrists loosened at all was for his meals. He was given thirty minutes to eat and then the chains retracted to being stiff again.

"Gross..." he looked down at the bowl but ate anyways, "You really won't sneak me in a chillidog?"

"Absolutely not," I was incharge of feeding him while Eggman used his robots to guard the cell and construct his new airship.

"Boo~" he took another unpleasant looking bite, "Hey Shadow, I like you."

"You've been saying that crap daily, what is wrong with you?" I shuttered.

"It's true though. If I escaped I wouldn't be around you anymore," he had gone from just responding to my questions to commenting on his own again. However, every comment somehow related back to him liking me.  I still couldn't get him to tell me what happened during those weeks he was gone.

"I won't stop you from escaping so you can go play hero," I turned away from him.

"No, I'm staying here. Who cares about being a stupid hero," his response wasn't expected at all, Sonic always saved people. He was famous because he always saved people.

"You care about being a hero. You're mobius's hero," I reminded him.

"No, not anymore. I don't want to save anyone anymore, I'll just stay here with you," Sonic laid down after finishing the sludge, "Nothing else matters."

"Well well looks like his spirit is finally broken," Eggman came in with a grin, "Sonic how about you swear your loyalty to me? Fight to me and help me create an empire. I'll even leave green hill untouched just for you."

"No, I'll stick with Shadow," he answered as the timer went off and the cuffed pulled his wrists back together again.

"Shadow huh? Alright then, Shadow. Sonic is yours to control. Get the hedgehog to offer me his loyalty or I won't give you a single emeralds," Eggman scowled, "Understand?"

"Tsk, fine," I agreed, but only for the emeralds.

From then Sonic was unchained but he was restrained with a shock collar and shackles which only let him walk and prevent him from running. In addition an iron ball was connected so he had to drag and carry it around. Not once did Sonic try to run away, he followed me around and did what I told him without putting up ant fights or complaints. Then another month went by and he started becoming more affectionate.

"Shadow, I love you~" When that happened I decided to play along and test exactly how loyal to me he could be.

--- Present Day ---

"You traded Sonic to Eggman for the Chaos emeralds?" Knuckles growled.

"How is that any different from you sacrificing him to save the Master Emerald. We both abandoned him for powerful gemstones, so don't get aggressive with me. My actions didn't result in his injuries. Regardless none of us know what happened in those two weeks. Sonic is the only one who knows and he never once said even a word to me," I got up and dusted myself off.

"Wait, you said Eggman won that fight by weakening Sonic. Do you have any idea what that means?" Knuckles looked paler, he had finally realized what he had truely done.

"That you abandoned Sonic when he needed you the most and let him get so hurt that he wasn't even able to fend for himself in the woods and almost starved to death if I hadn't found him," I answered.

"I almost killed him... He has every right to hate me," Knuckles let his head fall into his hands, "I didn't even know Eggman had weakened him. I didn't even know that was possible..."

"We stole a copy of all of Eggman's files. We'll find footage of that fight and his plans for it. Once we know what he did to weaken Sonic we can decide whether or not to use it to our advantage in our next battle," I started to leave.

"Shadow... do you think he'll forgive me?" Knuckles asked, getting up and rubbing his eyes.

"I can't say for sure. Sonic is a kind person, once we kick Chaos out of his body and you explain everything, I'm sure there's a chance he might," I felt after that and headed towards Sally's hut to help sort though data.

  Sonic might forgive Knuckles but... I don't think he'll ever be able to forgive himself for what he's done once he wakes up...

~~~

1949 words just for you lovely book works. Now you know Shadow's story but there's still so many plot holes. And they still don't know where present Sonic is. What will they do?

Find out next time! Bye bye~ 😚 😚😚