[Sonaze] Love At The Olympics

Shadow's Turn To Play

Shadow the Hedgehog was normally one to help his rival Sonic deal with certain issues such as the BioLizard, the Metarex, and even the Black Arms; Sally was no exception. He never was too fond of the Freedom Fighters in the first place, but to learn that she knocked out Amy Rose, in whom he saw a bit of his late friend Maria Robotnik and also saw as a little sister (especially given his age), he grew even more furious with the princess.

Since he had the day off from Winter Olympic events, he figured that he would trap Sally into a corner to start making her talk. He wanted to know why she would knock out Amy, and then try to manipulate Silver in front of Sonic and Blaze. He spotted Sally walking along as well as Antoine running towards her. No doubt he eavesdropped on the conversation from the room next to Amy's.

"Princess! I fear you may be in danger!"

"How's that Antoine. I've already got Silver in my grasp."

"Oui, Princess, I know! But they also have Shadow on their side and he heard about what happened to Amy!"

"WHAT!"

"Oui, Your Majesty! You need to run!" They then heard an all-too-familiar voice.

"CHAOS SPEAR!" Shadow shouted, unleashing a barrage of Chaos Spears, thus knocking Antoine back several yards. The black hedgehog jump to the ground, landing on his feet and right in front of Sally, who was scared at his mere presence. "Don't worry yourself. I just have to have a talk with you 'Princess'," he said, using the same mocking tone Sonic used the other day.

"W-What d-do you want, Shadow?!" asked Sally, who was still frightened by him.

"All I want to know is why you attacked Amy Rose. She is like a little sister to me!" Sally couldn't take the pressure Shadow was putting on her by squeezing her arm.

"Okay! Do you really want to know?" Shadow nodded. "It was to get to Silver! I figured that with Amy out of the picture, I could easily manipulate him into breaking up Sonic and Blaze!" The black hedgehog was not at all surprised about this. He WAS surprised that she would implement some mistrust in Silver right in front of Sonic and Blaze themselves.

"You know, to actually do this in front of your other two targets is a pretty stupid move. If I didn't know any better, I would say that the great Sally Acorn's brain cells were freezing in this weather. Since you said it in front of two of the most stubborn people between two worlds, Silver's not going to believe you."

"What if I told you that one of your friends has been acting as an agent this whole time? They know exactly what Sonic and Blaze would be doing under my nose," Sally said, trying to manipulate Shadow, who only proved to be yet another stubborn one with a strong will.

"You are full of bull-crap, do you know that? My only friends, besides Amy, Silver, and the loving couple, are Rouge and Omega. I've ran a scan through everyone before going off to meet you. Nobody had a homing beacon on them." Shadow knew he had her cornered. He always had a method of frightening her. "And before you say it, I even checked Eggman and Bunnie."

Sally was at a loss for words. Shadow was, once again, a step ahead of her. Her option to run was out of the question, given that he had her arm. She knew that the only one loyal to her was Antoine, who vanished to get help. He eventually ran into Tails and Cream, who were sharing a big bowl of chicken noodle soup (A/N: Doesn't this scene look familiar, Disney fans?).

"TAILS! You need to come quick! The princess, she is in danger!" exclaimed Antoine.

"And what makes you think I want to help her after what happened between her and Sonic?" asked Tails.

"Because Shadow could kill her!" Cream gasped at this and Tails knew why.

"Shadow made a promise to his childhood friend that he would protect this planet. Despite his dislike for you Freedom Fighters, Shadow would never do such a thing. I would only hurt a little bit if she did die, though, Antoine."

"At least you fear for her life in some ways, even if Shadow isn't one of them."

"Tails, don't you think that you should help her, even if she did do Mr. Sonic wrong? I know how you felt when he got kicked off the roster of Freedom Fighters, but deep down you know she is still your friend, someone you would definitely help at any time," Cream said. As it turns out, being a referee doesn't always mean you'll be in the loop. This was the case with the overly-polite rabbit.

"Shadow won't kill her, Cream. He'll just scare the life out of her, along with some information about her plan. Sonic and the others told me about this." Antoine heard all of this and to say he was shocked was an understatement. "I can see that you haven't gotten the full details, have you, Antoine?" asked Tails while smirking.

"I...I...I had no idea," said the coyote, who was then speechless. He then left back to the spot where he left Sally, but there was no sign of Shadow. Sally was scared out of her wits. "Princess Sally...?"

"I think I'm going to lay down, Antoine," she said. She then left for her room, the words Knuckles said burning through her mind: 'Do you want to know the best way to be someone's friend? Support the decision they made, even if you don't agree with it. That goes the same with Sonic and Blaze's relationship.' Sally knew that Knuckles was right; even if he spends all of his time on Angel Island, he was never dense on topics like this. She cried herself to sleep over this.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! It is my pleasure to announce the Skeleton race event! The competitors for this one are Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario, Daisy, and Dr. Eggman!" Toad said over the loudspeaker. The first one up was Eggman, who managed to make it to the end in 1:08.325. Daisy was next. She made it at 1:07 on the dot, knocking Eggman down to second place. The doctor knew he was going to be beat by Sonic. He did not expect the hyperactive princess to beat him. The next up was Mario, who, in the middle of his run, fell through a trap door hidden on the course. Sonic saw Dry Bones cackling away next to him.

"I thought Mario and Donkey Kong took you and Dry Bowser down," he said.

"Not for good. Dry Bones always comes back in one piece," Dry Bones explained, albeit vaguely. The skeleton took Mario's place on the Skeleton course (A/N: Sorry. I couldn't resist that one) and finished at 1:03.475, further putting Eggman even lower.

Sonic just yawned at Dry Bones' time as the crowd cheered the blue hedgehog on. Silver, Tails, Amy, Bunnie, Rotor, and Blaze were waving flags with Sonic's logo on it, Blaze waving a flag in each hand and both her and Bunnie in cheerleader outfits that were suitable for the winter. "Is that really the best he's got? I'll have to show him what true speed really is."

Sonic got a perfect running start and got on his skeleton sleigh at the perfect time, allowing him to go at his usual Olympic speed. He even dodged the trapdoor that Mario fell through, as well as all of the others that the plumber's captor had placed. Despite the frequent dodging, Sonic got to the finish line the quickest, obviously, and slammed into Dry Bones, the said skeleton's parts scattered all over the place. Sonic's time was 56 seconds.

Everyone cheered for the hedgehog as Blaze ran up to him, wrapped him in a hug and kissed him on the cheek. The crowd was also laughing at the fact that Sonic scattered Dry Bones all over the place. Even though Eggman got the slowest time, he still got 3rd place, with Daisy getting 2nd as Dry Bones, like Jet, wasn't even supposed to be there.

Everyone was in the lobby congratulating Sonic, but at the same time remembering that they had to find Mario. During the talk, Bowser got the gold in the Biathlon event while Yoshi took it in the Snowboard races. "If there are no objections, I would like-a to lead the search squad to find-a Mario," Luigi said, shocking everyone.

"Luigi are you sure? What if King Boo challenges you to a competition?" asked Tails.

"And don't forget that Eggman Nega could be behind this as well," Blaze added.

"I'll be fine. But the sooner we find-a Mario, the better."

"I'll help too," said a familiar voice.

"Same here," said another. Everyone looked at the entrance and saw Shadow and Sally standing in the doorway.

CHAPTER 9 DONE