FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The night passed quickly for the two hedgehogs. Soon the sun came up, and the light gradually peeked at the sleeping forms from between the blinds. Shadow was the first to rouse, doing so suddenly, as if waking from a nightmare. He sat up in his bed, his eyes wide and his arms covering his face. Eventually he lowered his arms, glancing around, making sure that Sonic had not seen him wake in such an embarrassing position, but the blue one was still fast asleep.

Shadow pushed the covers back from his body and rose, walking to the window and opening the blinds. The sky looked cloudy, threatening rain. He closed the blinds again and turned back towards the beds, and then to the dressers, glancing at the alarm clock he hadn't noticed the night before. It read 8:03 am.

He headed for the dresser that Sonic had said was his, and opened it. He began shuffling through clothing, looking for something to wear that would be suitable for today's weather, as well as suitable for searching through dumpsters for the next emerald, should the need arise. As he finally settled on something, though, he heard Rachel's voice float up through the floor.

"Sonic! Shadow! Time to get up and get ready for church!"

Church. Shadow knew what church was, but had not been to church since before Maria had passed away, when he went to service aboard the ARK with her. Just the word ‘church' seemed to reverberate around in his head, bouncing back and forth, growing louder with each pass. It brought tears of pain and sadness to his eyes. When Maria died, Shadow swore he'd never go to church ever again, because the same God that Maria loved and worshiped had allowed her to be taken from him.

The sound of Rachel's voice had awoken Sonic from an almost rock-like state of sleep. He sat up, trying to rub the cobwebs from his eyes, and pushed the covers back from his body. He felt like he needed a shower, even though he had gotten one the night before. He concluded that this feeling was more of the want variety, as a cold shower should quickly chase the sleep from his loins.

Gathering himself from the bed, he stumbled to his dresser and grabbed some clean undergarments, then headed for the bathroom. He shuffled down the hall, unaware of the glare of hate that Shadow was giving him. His mind was focused on only three things right now: Rachel, shower, and whatever this ‘church' thing was.

Once Sonic was out of the room, Shadow's attention was diverted to Sonic's bedspread, and perhaps an emerald? Shadow knew the blue hedgehog to be quite resourceful, and thought that maybe he had recovered an emerald or two while Shadow himself was otherwise occupied with finding shelter and... bunnies. Oh god, the bunnies...

Sonic, having tuned the water to the temperature of a springtime waterfall, was busy with his shower. He went over Rachel's words in his head, listening to them over and over, picturing her mouth shaping each vowel and consonant, her ample chest heaving up and down gently with each breath... He resisted the urge to jack off, instead forcing himself to come up with a definition for ‘church.'

See, Sonic had never been to ‘church,' and didn't know about religion at all. He was always too busy saving the world from the evils of Dr. Eggman, and had never even stopped to think about the existence of a divine entity. Hell, the only "god" he knew of was Chaos, and even then he had defeated Chaos with help from the emeralds.

Once the shower was over and Sonic was sufficiently awake, he wrapped a towel around himself and started back to the bedroom. He couldn't see Shadow from his vantage point, and figured that he had already dressed himself and headed downstairs for breakfast, considering the his shower was a lengthy one. Sonic was so focused on seeing whether or not Shadow had left the room that he wasn't watching where he was going, and ran into Rachel, who had headed upstairs to see what was taking Sonic so long.

Rachel was rather tall for her age, but so was Sonic. His chest bumped into her backside, his face pressing into her tail, and then he lost his balance and fell backwards onto his butt. The towel he had wrapped around himself fell open and all that was Sonic was open to the public. Rachel turned around to see who had bumped into her and her mouth dropped open at the sight, but Sonic was too dazed by the collision to notice, and by the time he had recovered and re-wrapped the towel around himself, Rachel had recovered and was acting like she hadn't seen anything.

She bent over and reached down, offering Sonic her hand to help him onto his feet. She was dressed modestly for church, so Sonic wouldn't have been able to see anything had he looked up at her. He was too embarrassed to look at her properly, though, as she helped him up.

Sonic muttered a thank you and hurried to the room, shutting the door behind him. He ran to the dresser and threw it open, completely forgetting about the undergarments he had taken with him to the bathroom. He grabbed some others and put them on, making sure he was decent, should she come knocking.

And knock she did. Rachel gave Sonic a few minutes to at least put some underwear on, then knocked on the door and asked to come inside. Sonic allowed her entry, so she entered the room, shutting the door behind her and sitting on his bed. She glanced over him, noticing that he had been much quicker at dressing than she had expected. He'd thrown some nice jeans on, as well as a blue t-shirt, and figured those would be good enough for church.

In her mind, Rachel was ecstatic. She had always liked much younger guys, and she didn't know why. She had never messed with any of them, though, because she had never wanted to be labeled a pedophile. There was something different about this one, though. He seemed older, and not just in a more mature way. He seemed like he should be physically older.

Another plus for Sonic was that he was blue. Not blue as in sad, but blue-blue, like the color blue. Her favorite color was blue. She had never met a blue hedgehog before. Add to this fact that he seemed to have such an outgoing personality, and protective as well. It was like his personality attracted people to him, just like his cousin Shadow's personality repelled people.

She had come up here for a reason, and until now she had forgotten what that reason was, but then in a flash it came back.

"Sonic, I was wondering why your were taking so long to come downstairs. It's almost time to leave, and you haven't had breakfast yet." She had to concentrate to keep herself from giggling like a giddy schoolgirl.

Sonic seemed to be trying to control himself as well. He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, miss Speedz. I just felt like I needed a cold shower to wake m'self up."

Rachel actually laughed. "You don't have to call me ‘miss Speedz,' Sonic. Just call me Rachel."

Sonic nodded. "Alright, mi- er, Rachel." He stopped for a second, then addressed her again. "Rachel?"

Rachel had risen to leave the room, but stopped and looked at him. "Hmm?"

"Rachel, what's this ‘church?' I've never heard of it."

Rachel stopped. She had never in her life been asked this question. In fact, churchgoing had become more of a habit to her than an actual following of faith. She only continued to go because her father had insisted she go, but the whole thing seemed like some big façade. She wasn't even sure she believed anymore.

"Church," she began. "Um... that's tough to explain, actually." She paused, and thought to herself. 'How do I explain what church is to someone that's never heard of it?'

Almost immediately, an answer sprang forth from her mind. 'You don't. You and your father never sat down to discuss religious followings with these two, and it would be disrespectful to them if you were to try to force your beliefs on them. You should go confront your father about this. And while you're at it, confront him about your own faith as well...'

"Gee, Sonic... you've stumped me. I don't know how to explain it, but I do have to talk to my dad about something related to it. If you'll excuse me..." Rachel made a hasty exit and left the room, leaving the door open. Sonic watched her leave, staring at her ass until it disappeared as she went downstairs.

Rachel headed straight for her dad's office, through the den where Shadow was sitting on the couch, watching TV. She knew her dad was in his office, because that's where he always was when it was time to leave for church. She knocked softly on the door, and heard him give her permission to enter, at which point she entered the room and closed the door behind her.

"Dad... we can't go to church this morning." It was straight and to the point, and Jon looked at his daughter warningly.

"Not go? We have to go! It's a blaspheme of our faith not to go!"

Rachel shook her head. "We didn't ask them if they even go to church! I have reason to believe that Sonic has never even heard of our God, and Shadow may not have either. We can't force that upon them when they've just gotten here, you know? It's not something you force upon someone that's never heard of it."

Jon blinked. He blinked again. "We wouldn't be forcing-" He stopped and thought about the statement he almost made. In every sense possible, except for the sense of the church, they would in fact be forcing their faith on the two foreigners. He took a deep breath. "Okay. We stay home today."

Rachel gave her dad a big hug and smiled. "I'm glad you listened to me." With that, she turned around and left his office, shutting the door behind her.

Jon watched her leave, and after the door shut, a tear formed in his eye and rolled down his cheek a ways before being absorbed into his fur. 'She doesn't believe in You anymore.'

Rachel informed Shadow that they wouldn't be going to church today as she bounded through the den on her way back upstairs. She didn't hear Shadow mutter under his breath that he wouldn't have gone anyway, and the black hedgehog turned back towards the program he was watching, which was momentarily interrupted by a emergency broadcast about a thunderstorm approaching the Pouncefield area.

Sonic was on his way downstairs when Rachel bumped into him. It wasn't a literal collision like this morning, but it was damned close. Sonic was greeted by Rachel's chest as he came to the bottom of the spiral staircase, and his face turned red as he almost collided with her.

Rachel was surprised as well. "Oh! Sonic... I talked to my dad, and we aren't going to church after all." She gave Sonic a smile, and Sonic turned even more red. Rachel noticed his shyness. "What's wrong?"

Sonic swallowed. 'What's wrong? What's wrong?! I'm eye level with your chest, and I'm having to concentrate to keep a boner down, that's what's wrong!' Of course, this was all thought. Sonic would never have said anything to her directly. Instead, he muttered, "Nothing," and turned to head back upstairs. If they weren't going anywhere after all, then perhaps he could catch some extra shut-eye, or maybe take care of this boner...

Meanwhile, Shadow had shut off the TV and was headed for the front door. He was going to head out to walk around town again, and perhaps look for another emerald. But as he opened the door, a blast of wind and water hit him, and a glass shaking rap of thunder sounded. Outside, it was raining like mad. Seems the thunderstorm warning had come a minute too late.

The opening of the door caught Rachel's attention. She would have turned to see who was leaving had the thunder not sounded at that time. Up ‘til now, the rain outside had been gentle, but it's like the storm had picked the most precise moment to sound off and scare whoever might be foolish enough to listen.

Indeed, Rachel was foolish enough. She hated storms, as the thunder scared the dickens out of her. She rushed upstairs and into Sonic's room, diving into his bed and hiding under his covers. Sonic had heard the thunder, and was reminded of Tails as Rachel rushed past him into His and Shadow's room. He glanced at Shadow, who shrugged and left the house anyway, closing the door behind him.

Shadow had his emerald, so he'd be alright. Sonic, however, had no intention of getting soaked needlessly in a rainstorm, so instead he went up to the room, on the lookout for Rachel.

A quivering bundle of blankets gave away her position. As he entered the room and closed the door, another loud boom of thunder sounded, and a little squeak of fright could be heard from the blankets. Sonic had a look of sympathy on his face, and walked slowly to the bed, pulling the covers back from a very frightened Rachel.

Rachel didn't know what to do in this situation. She was petrified of storms. She always had been. It was the one fear she had never gotten over as she grew up, and most of the neighborhood kids had laughed at her for it. She had even expected Sonic to be laughing his ass off right now, but no...

Tears of fright were rolling down her face, and she was shaking so badly, but she looked up at Sonic when he moved the covers back from her. She looked into his eyes, and he sat on the bed and wrapped his arms around her.

This was the way he had been able to calm his buddy Tails whenever a bad rainstorm had scared the dickens out of him. He just wrapped his arms around Rachel, holding her close. He forgot about how aroused she made him feel, forgot about everything that even the mere thought of her did to him, and just concentrated on making her feel better.

Rachel started to relax, then another boom of thunder sounded, and she wrapped her arms around him and shook more. She was crying, her face dug into his chest, and shaking with such ferocity that it was causing him to shake as well. She didn't care, she just wanted to make the storm go away.

"Ssssh, Rachel, it's alright." Sonic was still holding her, talking to her softly, patting her back and stroking her tail as it had wrapped around the two of them. "I won't let the storm hurt you."

Rachel was slowly relaxing. The rain seemed to have let up a bit... at least it wasn't thundering as loud now. She didn't let go of Sonic, though. She stayed there, her arms around him, still shaking somewhat, her eyes red from crying. He had begun to rock her back and forth in an attempt to relax her, to let her know that he would protect her, and it was working. The storm wasn't bothering her as much now.

Sonic didn't let go of Rachel for a while, and Rachel was glad for that. It was a while before the storm let up, and Sonic held onto Rachel until the rain stopped and the sun came back out. When finally the light peeked into the room through the blinds one more, Sonic let his arms unclasp from around Rachel and looked down at her. He was surprised to find that she had fallen asleep in his arms, but figured that all her crying had done that to her. Her arms were still hugging and holding onto him, as if even in her sleep she didn't want to let go.

He placed a clam hand on her shoulder and gently shook her, to wake her up. "Rachel. The storm's over now." He rubbed her back and slowly her eyes opened and she looked at him, her face going red with embarrassment now that the fear had passed.

"S-sonic... I'm so sorry you had to see that. I-I hate storms. I've never been able to sit through one without hiding..." Rachel began to look down at the floor, but Sonic placed a hand on her chin and raised her face, looking into her eyes.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone has their fears, even me. Even moody ‘ol Shadow is afraid of somethin'." Sonic smiled.

Rachel smiled too, then leaned up and kissed Sonic on the lips. The kiss was soft, gentle, and Sonic hadn't been expecting it at all. Not that that stopped Rachel. Her tongue invaded his mouth, searching for his tongue, and soon both tongues were wrestling back and forth between their mouths. The kiss lasted almost a minute, and when it was broken at last, a light trail of saliva briefly linked their mouths before breaking.

Sonic was dazed. He'd never expected something like that to happen, and it was a while before he was able to react. By the time he had recovered, Rachel had scribbled him a hasty note and had left his room.

'No mention of this to daddy...'

Sonic nodded to the note as if it had come from Rachel's lips instead. He folded the note up and hid it with his emerald, behind a loose board in his dresser that he had found when he had changed clothes the first time. Feeling content that the emerald and note were completely hidden from view, Sonic grabbed his flash drive and headed downstairs. Since the rain had let up, perhaps he'd be able to go outside, and maybe even use Pokeinfo's computer to download some song courses for the arcade.

His stomach growled, and he was reminded that he had not eaten since he had awaken, and that was a good three hours ago. The rain storm had lasted almost two hours, and his shower had lasted almost 45 minutes. He made his way into the kitchen once he reached the ground floor, and met Jon, who was cleaning.

"Hey, Mr. Sp- er, Jon." Sonic barely caught himself.

Jon looked up. "Oh, hi Sonic." He seemed down about something. "You need something?"

Sonic nodded. "I haven't eaten all morning, and my stomach is grumbling." Perhaps to emphasize the point, Sonic's stomach growled. "See?"

Jon laughed. He turned to the freezer and opened it, reaching inside and pulling out a box labeled Lunch Pockets. He opened the box, threw two sandwich-looking pastries in the microwave, and turned it on. "Go take a seat at the table and I'll join you with some food. Is Shadow hungry?"

Sonic shrugged. "He left the house while it was still raining, so I dunno."

Jon blinked. "He went out in the storm? And you didn't stop him?!"

Sonic held up his hands. "Hey! He does it all the time, whether you try to stop him or not. Even if I had tried to stop him, or even came and got you, he would have left."

Jon sighed, and the microwave dinged. "Go sit at the table."

Sonic turned and walked to the table, and sat down. He turned his head to view the den where he could see Rachel sitting, watching TV. She must have sensed he was looking at her, because she turned her head to look at him, and her face went red. She quickly looked back at the TV and tried to slouch down and hide behind the arm of the couch.

Sonic was puzzled at her reaction, but didn't have time to ponder it as Jon came into the room and sat next to him at the table, placing a plate with one of the hot sandwiches in front of him. He gave it an odd look.

Jon saw the odd look and smiled. "You've never had one of these have you? They're pretty good, and they come in all different flavors... it's like a calzone, but instead of pizza toppings, you can get cheesy chicken and broccoli, or roast beef and potato, or about anything else. This one is chili dog filled." Jon gave Sonic a fork, and then took his own fork and started cutting into his own hot sandwich. "Careful, though. It's hot."

Sonic had no idea what a calzone was, either, but he took his fork and cut into the sandwich as well. Steam rolled out of the thing like a sauna, and the smell was incredible. Sonic cut a good-sized bite, stabbed it with his fork, and blew on it until it was at a good temperature to eat, then placed the bite in his mouth and started chewing.

After lunch, Sonic left the house and went over to Pokeinfo's, but they weren't home. He thought about going over to Edward's, but figured they might not be home either. Maybe they were all doing that ‘church' thing.

Sonic went back to the Speedz' house and retired to the den, to watch TV. He noticed Rachel was still there, though, so he sat next to her. She didn't say anything, but out of the corner of his eye he could see her face getting red.

Sonic turned towards her. "What's wrong?"

Rachel didn't look at him, but answered. "N-nothing."

Sonic crossed his arms. "Something's wrong. You're blushing."

Rachel's face went redder, and she looked at him. "Even under my black fur, you can see it?"

Sonic nodded, and chuckled a little bit.

Rachel sighed. "I- I just don't know. I don't want you to think less of me. And I don't want you to use what happened earlier against me if I ever do something wrong and upset you..."

Her words trailed off. She was still blushing, and her eyes trailed to the ground.

Sonic pouted. "I'm not like that."

Reaching one hand out, Rachel ran it down Sonic's back, over his spines. While he was relaxed, his spines were like silk, soft and smooth. It was a strange sensation to her to feel them through his shirt, but she continued to rub his back. She also leaned down to his ear to whisper to him.

"I don't want my daddy thinking wrong of me, so he can never know about what happened earlier." Her eyes, had Sonic been able to see them, had a pleading look to them. "Promise me you'll never tell him."

Sonic nodded. The feeling of her hand on his back was like nothing he had ever felt before. The only girl that had ever chased him back home was Amy, and she had never been gentle on the rare occasion that she did catch him.

Rachel smiled, and the blush faded from her face. She hugged him gently, then turned back towards the TV. The two remained on the couch, watching movies on satellite for the remainder of the day, until it was dark outside, at which point Rachel announced that it was time for bed, and Sonic agreed.

Meanwhile, Shadow had been walking calmly around town. He had run as fast as he could to the local library when he realized that the rain was coming down a lot harder than he had anticipated. Once at the library, he was disappointed to find that they were closed on Sundays. Shadow decided to sit under the library awning until the rain stopped, at which point he would find somewhere else to go.

The rain lasted a while. Shadow had quite a bit of time to sit and think to himself, and so he sat and thought. Mainly, his thoughts consisted of just how to use the emeralds to escape this plane of reality, but every now and then a thought or two would go back to that night in the park.

As much as he'd tried to convince himself that the experience with that group of girls was horrible and traumatizing, he couldn't. Deep inside, Shadow liked what had happened to him that night, and part of him even wanted a repeat occurrence. He resolved then and there to find those bunnies and... and... he didn't know what he'd do when the time came, but he was sure he'd think of something.

The rain eventually let up, and the sun came back out. Shadow stood and looked around now that the cascade of rain wasn't obscuring his vision as much. He made out the spire of the school a few hundred yards down the road to his right. Dead ahead was the local town square, and to the left was a road leading to the highway and out of town. Shadow started walking straight ahead.

Something was telling Shadow to head for the local grocery store. He concluded that maybe his innate sense emerald detection was telling him where an emerald was. He had no idea where the grocery store was, as he had not seen one the day before, but the nagging in the back of his mind told him that it was in the same direction as the town square, and Shadow followed his instincts.

Twenty minutes later, Shadow was standing in front of the town's only grocery store, Piggy's. The nagging in his head was gone, so Shadow figured he hadn't gotten here in time and someone else had picked up the emerald, if it were an emerald at all. He was turning to leave and head further down the road when an unfamiliar voice behind him called out his name in recognition.

"Shadow?"

Shadow turned and looked for the source of the voice, spotting the female fox from the day before. She seemed to be collecting donations for something because she had a small metal lidded bucket with her, with a rounded hole in the top of it. Maybe she was collecting marbles?

"That is your name, isn't it? Shadow?" The girl seemed interested enough in him, even friendly.

Shadow nodded, and continued to glance her over. She seemed friendly enough. She swung the bucket back and forth as she meandered over to him, stopping in front of him and smiling her brightest smile.

Shadow needed to say something. He normally didn't mind being rude, but there was something odd about this vixen, and Shadow couldn't quite place it. He finally concluded, however, that it was probably the abnormally short, plaid skirt she was wearing, coupled with the white button-down and black tie... a modified Catholic schoolgirl look. "You're... um..."

Giggling, the fox girl spoke up. "Edna. We helped your brother find you yesterday."

Shadow glared. "That faker isn't my brother."

Edna's smile quickly disappeared, and she even cowered a bit. "Oh. I'm... I'm sorry."

Shadow sighed. "Not your fault. I know we look alike, but we're not related."

Edna nodded, and looked at the ground, afraid of saying anything else that might upset the black hedgehog.

Shadow sighed again. "So... what did you want? You can talk, you know... I didn't mean to glare at you before."

Edna looked up, then behind her, where she seemed to recognize someone. She turned back to Shadow. "N-nothing. Never mind. I'll see you at school tomorrow, Shadow!" With that final line, Edna turned tail and walked quickly back towards the store, where it seemed her brother was waiting. Halfway there, she seemed to notice something on the ground, and bent over to pick it up.

Shadow was watching her make her way to her brother, so of course he saw her bend over to pick up whatever it was that she had found. He noticed the sunlight glisten off of her backside, and by squinting his eyes and staring hard, he realized that she wasn't wearing any underwear! And boy, was she WET.

Shadow felt a stirring in his loins the likes of which he had never felt before. She had deliberately bent over for him, showing him her pussy, and if Shadow didn't know any better, he'd have thought she wanted him.

Edna looked back at Shadow and caught him staring. She smiled and stood back up ever so slowly, placing her fingers to her lips and blowing kissing them, and blowing that kiss back to Shadow. She loved teasing boys, and this hedgehog was cuter than Sonic had been. She wanted Shadow now, even more than she wanted her brother!

Shadow made like he caught the kiss and held onto it. He watched Edna smile again, before turning and walking away from the store. His head was light and swimming, filled with thoughts of Edna and things he wanted to do to her. He'd make her pay for teasing him like that, and she'd like it.

The rest of the day went by in a blur for Shadow, as much of a daze as he was in. Before he knew it, it was getting dark and he had to get back to that house, so he pulled out his emerald and used Chaos Control the same way he had before. He was able to slip inside and up the stairs, gather some clothing, and head to the shower before anyone realized he was even home yet.

After his shower, Shadow dressed and headed for the bedroom. Jon was waiting for him.

"Shadow," Jon started, speaking softly. It was just above a whisper. "I know you're used to independence where you come from, but here, I need to know where you're going before you leave. Do you understand?" He spoke firm, but fair.

Shadow nodded.

"You scared me when I heard you left during the thunderstorm. I thought you were going to get struck by lightening or something. The only thing that kept me from going after you was the fact that Sonic trusted that you would keep yourself safe. But from now on, if the weather is bad outside, you stay inside. Understand?"

Again, Shadow nodded. Inside, though, he was seething. He hadn't followed anyone's orders for years now, so there was no reason in his mind as to why he should start now. He had no intention of following orders.

"Okay. I'll let you two get to bed, since you have school in the morning. Don't forget to set the alarm."

Jon stood and left the room, and Shadow walked over to his bed. In his mind, he was angry. Angry with Jon for getting on his case, and angry with Sonic for having the gall to tell on him. Shadow made up his mind right then and there to get even with both Sonic and Jon, no matter what it took. Shadow would break Jon, not the other way around.

Shadow walked softly to Sonic's bed, and stood there, watching him sleep. He was already asleep by the time Shadow had come up to his room, which explained why Jon was speaking so softly. He made a fist and pulled it back, then let the punch fly, catching Sonic in the nose. He felt a satisfying crunch as Sonic's nose broke, and good amount of blood burst forth, along with a sharp cry of pain from Sonic.

Sonic's first instincts were to cover his face with his hands. This would shield his nose from any further contact with whatever it was that collided with it in the first place, as well as keep the blood from staining the bed sheets. He rose from the bed and looked at Shadow who, despite having been quick enough to get into his bed, still had blood on his fist from where the contact had broken his nose.

Shadow grinned at Sonic. "THAT is for telling Jon when I left the house."

Sonic didn't do anything at first. He didn't shed a tear, either. Finally, he turned and left the room, his hands over his nose, passing both Jon and Rachel in the hallway, who had both rushed upstairs when Sonic cried out in pain. Rachel followed Sonic to the bathroom, while Jon went into the bedroom where Shadow was.

When Sonic uncovered his nose, he made sure he was over the sink. Good thing, too, because of the collection of blood that fell from his hands into the sink. Rachel gasped, and Sonic squinted in pain. His nose was bent awkwardly, and it had swelled to twice its original size. Thankfully, it had stopped bleeding.

Reaching up, Sonic gently grabbed hold of his nose. He addressed Rachel.

"Please. I need a bandage, some antiseptic, and some tape."

Rachel nodded, leaving the room and returning with the requested items. While she was gone, Sonic quickly readjusted his broken nose, crying out a bit as he did so, as the pain was more than he had expected. Sonic took the antiseptic and swabbed his wound with it, then took the bandage Rachel had brought and bandaged his nose. The tape held the bandage on.

Sonic returned to the room, where Jon was standing in the doorway, glaring at Shadow. Shadow was glaring back at Jon. Both looked like combatants in an arena, ready to kill each other at a moment's notice.

Jon's mouth was open, and he was speechless. He'd been standing in the doorway staring at Shadow the entire time that Sonic had been dressing his wound in the bathroom. He didn't know what Shadow had done to Sonic, but the blood that was still on the back of the black hedgehog's gloved hand showed that whatever it was, it was pretty serious.

Sonic didn't know how to react in this standoff. He wanted to go to bed, to forget about all this. His nose was throbbing, but it wasn't like he hadn't dealt with serious pain before. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned his head to see Rachel looking oddly at him.

Rachel bent down and whispered in his ear. "C'mon. You can sleep in my bed tonight."

Sonic glanced one more time at Shadow and Jon, then turned around and made to follow Rachel back to her room. Once in her bed, Rachel made sure Sonic was comfortable, then slipped under the covers next to him, wrapping her arms around him and holding him tight as they both fell asleep.

Jon, however, was far from tired. He was very angry with Shadow. When he had left the room after lecturing Shadow before, Sonic had already been asleep. He had heard the hedgehog's even breaths, and had even made sure to talk relatively low so as not to wake him. He didn't know what the final damage was, but he knew his daughter would take care of him and have him sleep in her room tonight. Shadow would have to be dealt with.

Shadow was very angry as well, though his anger was directed at a couple different people. Firstly, Sonic had to pay for not keeping silent when he left the house this morning. Secondly, how dare Jon! How DARE he stare at him with anger in his eyes! He was Shadow the hedgehog, the Ultimate Lifeform!

Jon was the first to speak. "What did you do to Sonic." It was more of a statement than a question.

Shadow answered in a much of a menacing tone as he could grudge up. "I gave that bastard what he deserved." The tension that had been building ever since he and Sonic had arrived in Pouncefield had finally begun to seep outward.

Jon glared. "We don't use that language in this house."

Shadow glared back. "You might not, but I certainly do." An evil smile crept onto Shadow's face. "If you don‘t like it, you can go screw yourself."

Jon had never been talked to like this. Not by his daughter, and not by his son, either, and he was damned if he was going to let this foreigner talk to him like this. "Don't make me take off my belt, Shadow."

Shadow laughed. He actually laughed at that! "What... would you rather I took it off for you? What're you gonna do, old man?"

Jon was getting angrier by the second. He wasted to whip some sense into this boy, but knew that if he were to start now, while he was angry, there was no guarantee that he'd stop. "I'm warning you, Shadow."

"And I'm warning you, Jon. I'm. Not. To. Be. Messed. With." Each of those words were spoken slowly, methodically. They were spoken with the tone of a killer to his victim. And inside, Jon was scared. But not of Shadow... he was scared of himself and how he might react.

Jon stared at Shadow. Shadow stared at Jon. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Jon pointed at Shadow. "Go to bed."

Shadow huffed. "No."

He crossed his arms, outright refusing to get into his bed. He glared at Jon, and Seemingly giving up, Jon turned around and left the room. Shadow waited until the man was gone, then switched the light off and climbed into bed, laughing to himself. It was all a big game to him.

Jon went downstairs and wrote himself a note, to call the authorities and have Shadow placed elsewhere the next day, after school. There was no way in hell he was going to let the boy break him.