A Supersonic Summer

It Takes a Village to Defeat a... Cat?

Shadow rolled over in his bed and tried to block out the sound of laughter from outside.

"A snake? A...," Tails guessed.

"An Egyptian!" shouted Sonic.

Big said, "That's right! I'll bet you'll never guess this one!"

After more laughter and guessing, Vector exclaimed, "Wow, Shadow's made a real attitude change! He's like a new, funnier hedgehog," Shadow stretched and peeked out the window. He saw that everyone stood upon the street, in a crowd before Big the cat. Big was wearing a red-and-black hoodie with a derpy Shadow face on top. "Huh," Shadow said as he squinted. He went all the way to his front door and stepped outside. He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes as he stared them down. "Why are you pathetic fools standing here, giggling in the middle of the road?"

Sonic walked over and said, "Nice outfit," "What?" asked Shadow, confused. Sonic laughed and replied, "Man, talk about a poor cosplayer! You barely even look like Shadow," "What are you talking about, faker?" Sonic simply returned to the group, trying to figure out what kind of animal Big was imitating as he leaned over and spread his arms out. "A bird... an eagle! Maybe a hawk..." guessed Knuckles.

Shadow approached them, asking, "If he's Shadow the Hedgehog, I wanna see him hover!" Without a word, Big jumped into the air and floated. "How did you..." Shadow looked down to see that his air shoes were gone, and that only his socks remained. Big's feet somehow fit into the shoes. Angered, he returned to his front door. "Stupid faker, stupid Sonic, stupid--" He felt a chill down his spine as he held the doorknob. He looked behind himself to see everyone laughing yet again. However, Big stood in place, staring at Shadow with his unblinking eyes. Shadow tried to ignore him by going inside. (Ooh, you try and try to ignore! Yeah!)

Shadow searched his fridge for something to drink, for his mouth was quite dry. He picked up a jug of lemonade from Sonic, three months ago. "Ew," he stated as he put it back in. "I guess I'll save it so he won't bug me about it," He passed some Chaos Cola and a half-eaten chili dog. "Ugh, why doesn't that fool ever use his own refrigerator?" He finally shut the fridge's door and headed over to his coffee-maker. "Ah, who am I kidding? As if I'd drink anything with flavor," He munched on a granola bar as he waited.

Much later, at dusk, Shadow was playing Sonic Heroes. "It'll be a date to die for," he said in sync with himself. Preparing for the upcoming fight, he gripped his controller tightly. Suddenly, his phone rang, with the ringtone of Lazy Days, Livin' in Paradise. He was startled, so he dropped the controller. He bent over to pick it up. When he rose again, he saw Big through his window, on the other side of the road. Only his silhouette was visible, but it was clear that he held something close to his face. Shadow answered the call.

He heard heavy breathing for a moment. Then, Big spoke. "I... I am Shadow. You... have been... replaced..." The call ended, but Big remained in the distance. Watching. Shadow realised that the phone which he held was purple. "Huh? What the..." Lightning struck, revealing Big's ever-watching eyes for a short moment. In the brief flash, Shadow saw that Big was holding something in his other hand. It looked like a... Sonic? He was laying on the ground with the Chaos Emeralds encircling him as his hand was held by Big.

Shadow couldn't sleep well that night, but he eventually caught some Zs around one. Then a large thud sounded, followed by a metallic scraping noise. Grounder's muffled voice called out, "Land ho!" Metal smacked against something. Dr. Eggman yelled, "Scratch, Grounder!" Scratch squawked, "You bellowed, your blubberness?" Eggman responded, "Help me out of this hatch, you mechanical morons!" A cartoonish popping sound occurred, and Egghead was free.

Shadow stepped outside to see Sonic and his friends standing before a huge tank. Scratch and Grounder sat in glass pods near the front. Big himself sat in a huge pod in the center, controlling a long cannon. Eggman leaned over the railing and announced, "Behold, the Egg Tank, powered by the seven Chaos Emeralds! Obviously, I had no time for clever nomenclature, but nonetheless here it is!"

Knuckles shouted, "Push!" Everyone attempted to push the tank. "What!?" exclaimed Egghead, "I can't believe this! Send in the backup!" Scratch and Grounder tried but their flamethrowers shot over the idiots. Big's cannon couldn't aim far down enough. Then, a Buzz Bomber carried over a crate labeled "THE BACKUP." The crate busted open on the road to reveal clones of Sonic and Tails... their Japanese versions. The clone of Tails pointed at Shadow and said something in good ol' Nipponese. Sonic's copy nodded and exclaimed "Let's get 'em!" in a very Japanese-y accent.

Shadow effortlessly kicked Tails' copy onto the ground. Sonic screamed, "Never give up, Teisu!" Shadow knocked Sonic out cold with a homing attack to the face. "Fakers." He walked to the back of the Egg Tank and opened a small compartment. "Run them over!" commanded Scratch. Grounder yelled, "For the Oval One!" Shadow rolled his eyes and took out the emeralds. The tank stopped working.

"We did it!" everybody cheered. "No, you fools," Shadow corrected, "I did it!" Jet congratulated him, "Not bad! For a cosplayer, that is.." Shad facepalmed. Sonic led them all to who-knows-where. "Come on, Shad, let's go home! Thanks for freeing him, cosplayer!" Big followed them. He stopped to toss back Shadow's shoes. Then, they left. Eggman and his henchmen retreated.

"Finally," he said as he took his shoes. "What's this? A letter inside..."

This shall not be the last you hear from the all-seeing Big.

....

"Geez, that guy is creepy."

(Sonic:) "You mean geesh?"

....

In the end, Sonic and co. finally realised the truth about Shadow. Maybe. I dunno, whatever.

If you're wondering why I don't add pictures to these, it's because I'm stuck with an iPad for now.