Innocence (Sonadow)

Chapter 3

“What does he mean ‘the bad man’?” Knuckles asked.

“I'm guessing it's what he calls Eggman.” Sonic answered with a frown. “But I don't know what he means by it. Shadow, what do you mean? What about the bad man?”

“He means me! HO HO HO HO HO HO!”

Shadow cried out in terror as he clung to Sonic with all his weak strength. Sonic held onto the ebony hedgehog and growled as he turned to the voice, glaring straight into the black goggles of his arch nemesis.

“Eggman!” He hissed. “We were just leaving.”

“Oh, I see you were.” The human sneered. “And with two possessions of mine as well.”

“Ok Egghead, calling the Chaos Emerald a possession is one thing, but Shadow is not a thing you can possess!” Sonic growled. “He's a person! A living being! And you've hurt him so much!”

“I only did what I had to to bring his memories back.” Eggman glowered back. “But he insists that he can't recall a single memory.”

“Because I can't!” Shadow cried, refusing to look at the bad man. “You say I'm supposed to remember but I can't! I don't know what you want from me! Please, I just wanna be free!”

“You'll be free when I say you can, you ungrateful rat!”

Suddenly, a large robotic tentacle shot out of the darkness from behind the man, quickly rushing towards Sonic and snatching the black and maroon hedgehog from his arms.

“SHADOW!” Sonic and his friends cried out in shock as they were forced to watch Shadow be manhandled by an octopus-like machine.

“Behold! Octobot!” Eggman introduced the new machine. “Its arms are long enough to reach over 10 feet and is strong enough to lift 10 ton weights over its head, and it's grip is incredibly strong. So go ahead, Sonic. Try to destroy this robot. Just know, you'll be destroying Shadow with it.”

“You wouldn't dare!” Sonic gasped. “Not when you still need his memories!”

“Memories, smemories! I don't need them, I can find the ARK another way. Still though, he is a benefit.”

“AAHH, SONIC HELP ME!!!” Shadow cried, tears of absolute fear running down his cheeks as the arms of the robot squeezed him. “YOU PROMISED!!!”

Hearing those words come from the ebony's mouth made Sonic's heart shatter. He did promise Shadow that he'd protect him, and he wasn't about to break that promise now.

“Don't worry Shadow, we'll get you out!” Sonic called to him before turning to his nemesis. “Let him go, Egghead!”

“HO HO HO HO! You say it like it's that simple.” Eggman laughed. “What makes you think I'll just simply hand him over?”

“You said it yourself. You don't need his memories, therefore you don't need him.”

“I also said that he'd still be a benefit you half-deaf rodent. … However, I may be willing to trade him.”

“Trade him?” Tails questioned.

“The Emerald you stole from me, in exchange for Shadow.” The man sneered wickedly. “So, what will it be?”

“How do I know you're not gonna doop us?” Sonic growled.

“Why Sonic, we've known each other for years.” Eggman mock gasped. “Surely you should know by now that I am a man of my word. The Emerald for Shadow. No tricks.”

Sonic growled in frustration. It wasn't really a hard choice, he'd rather give up the Emerald if it meant saving Shadow's life. It was just the fact that his life was being traded to begin with like he was some object. Sonic sighed and nodded.

“Very well, Eggman.” He sighed, pulling out the yellow Chaos Emerald from his quills. “I accept your offer.”

“Good choice.” Eggman snickered as he snapped his fingers.

At the fingersnap, the Octobot stopped squeezing the ebony hedgehog in its tentacles and lowered him to the floor. The poor thing was still sobbing the moment the robot let go and was replaced by Eggman.

Being suddenly grabbed by the bad man, Shadow's body malfunctioned and urine pooled at his feet. The bad man chortled at his ability to bring fear to something that's supposed to be so great.

“You might wanna stack up on some diapers if he keeps this up.” The man laughed as he held his palm out to Sonic. “The Emerald, Sonic.”

Sonic nodded with a sigh as he cautiously walked toward the evil genius. The moment the Emerald was in his hand, Eggman roughly shoved Shadow into the blue hedgehog's arms, Sonic barely had time to react.

“Sonic!” Shadow whimpered as he hugged onto his savior, crying his little heart out.

“Shhh. It's ok, Shadow. I'm here. I've gotcha.” Sonic gently shushed, petting the ebony's quills back. “You're safe.”

“But, but…” Shadow started, looking up at him. “But what about the… the… the Emmy thing? Don't you need it?”

“The Emerald?” Sonic chuckled at his adorable attempt to remember what it was called. “Don't worry…” Suddenly, Sonic was whispering into Shadow's ear. “I've got it covered.” Then quickly, he looked towards Knuckles. “Knuckles, now!”

At the command, Shadow watched in astonishment as Knuckles quickly leaped forward, gliding through the air towards the bad man before roughly punching him in the face, sending the bad man flying back while letting go of the Emerald. The bad man went flying against his own robot, getting tangled up in its tentacles while Knuckles grabbed the Emerald, teasing the man by throwing it up and catching it again, over and over.

“You should know better than to trust me with such deals.” The echidna chuckled. “I'm the Guardian of all Emeralds, so not a chance I would let you keep any one of them, even if it meant saving someone's life.”

Shadow whimpered again at that, but was quickly calmed when Sonic gently bounced him.

“It's ok, Shadow, he didn't mean it.” He quickly told him. “Knux may be a bit of a hardhead, but he's a real softie at heart.”

“Watch yourself, hedgehog.” Knuckles glared, tossing him the Emerald.

Sonic easily caught it and looked back at the struggling Eggman. “Well, I'd love to stick around and chat, but my friends and I have a new friend that we better take care of. See ya around, Egghead!”

With a laugh the four friends, along with a happily shocked new friend, dashed off away from the fortress and the egg shaped man still struggling to release himself from the robotic tentacles tangled around him.

“GRRR, I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!!!”