"BOREDOM" - Chapter 14
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Disclaimer: No, no and no.
Hiya!
You don't have to read this chapter... it's all boring lines and stuff. I just did it so I can finally finish with this thingy!! Cuz I have a BUNCH of ideas for future chappies!! Must.... finish…!!!
But they still mess up the lines though. :)
Oh yah, and by the way, I DO SUGGEST that you start reading from this part, which is near the end of the chappy:
Shadow faces the audience. "Oh, yes! God bless us every one!"
Okay? Because from that part on, it explains what happens after the play and what they're going to do the next day. Now, start reading!
-----~*~-----
"DO YOU REMEMBER?!?!" yelled Tails.
"I remember, yes I do!!" Shadow sweatdropped.
"Great!" the kitsune waved at the audience and once again disappeared behind the curtains.
"Jeesh. Now, where art thou, Romeo? For blah blah blah, BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!"
"O___o;;" the audience and the cast stared at him.
"Oh sorry, wrong play. ^^;; Okay, so where am I?" Shadow looks around and gasps happily. "Yay!! I'm BACK in my room!! Oooh yeah! Yeah yeah yeah!! Live and Learn!! Hanging on the edge of tomorrow!" Suddenly, Shadow broke into song.
"Live and Learn!
From the works of yesterdaaay!!
Live and Learn!
If you beg or if you borrow!
Live and Learn!
You may never find your waaaaay- OUCH!! PAIN!!!"
Cried Shadow as he clutched his aching head.
"You deserved it!" I said, sheathing my sword.
"You didn't have to hit me so hard with the handle of your freakin' sword, man!!"
"Oh well. >:)" I walked back offstage.
"Jeez!!! So... what were my lines? EEP!!" the black and red hedgehog ducked just in time to dodge the flying hammer. "Where does she get all of those hammers anyway?!?!" I held up a bucket full of them and Shad fell over.
"GOD!!!"
Chaos runs in. "LEPER!! LEPER!! STAY THE WAY!! LEPER!! LEPER!! KEEP AWAY!!!" then he exits.
"o_O;; What a weird scene..."
Shadow looked up at the clock as it began to chime. "Eight... nine... ten... eleven... it can't be... twelve. Midnight? No. Not twelve... It can't be! I haven't slept the whole day through, have I? Twelve... yes, yes, twelve noon." Shadow hurries to the 'window' and looks out. "Black... twelve midnight..." He pauses. "I must get up. A day wasted. I must get down to the office..."
Two small chimes are heard.
"Quarter past? But it just ran twelve... STOP IT!!! YOU'RE HURTING MY BRAIN!!!!"
The audience stares at him. "O____O;;;"
"Sorry. Fifteen minutes haven't gone past, not so quickly."
Again, two small chimes are heard.
"Quarter to one? Weird!! Stupid time!! Wait... the spirit... It's to come at one...."
He hurries to his bed as the chimes ring again. "One. Holy crap."
---
The curtains close and Metal Sonic goes out and puts a sign that says: "Intermission." then he goes back backstage where the cast is celebrating.
"Yes!! Our first part completed!" said Sonic, happily jumping up and down.
"You screwed up so many lines, everyone!!" I scolded them. They looked down in shame and sadness but then I yelled, "GOOD JOB!!!"
Everyone screamed and high-fived each other.
"Can you believe the audience was laughing at some of the scenes?" asked Rouge in disbelief. "I didn't think that they'd laugh!"
"Me either!" answered Tikal.
"You play a good Bob Crap****, Knuckles!" Shadow commented, laughing. Knuckles was laughing too and slapped him on the back, HARD, causing Shadow to fall on the floor.
"THANKS, ultimate life form!" laughed Knuckles. Shadow sweatdropped on the floor. "No problemo..."
So, they all took a break for a brief 30 minutes. During those minutes, they got a small snack, got a drink, or rehearsed their lines. Shadow was sitting on a chair, eating a chocolate cupcake, looking at all his lines.
"Jeez.... why do I have to be Scrooge, so many liiines...." Sonic walked over to him and slapped him on the back while he took a bite of his cupcake.
"Great job, Shad!" said Sonic to his friend but then realized that Shadow was choking on his food. "Whoa!! Dude, you okay?!" He helped Shadow cough out the cupcake piece. "Oh, um, sorry Shadow, I didn't notice that you were eating something while I whacked ya..."
Shadow just narrowed his eyes at him and Sonic sweatdropped. "I said sorry!!"
"S'okay..."
"Anyway, whatcha' doing?"
"Looking at my lines..."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"... YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEEEEND!!!" yelled Sonic, hugging Shadow tightly.
"Um, thanks, I guess...." Shadow said. "NOW STOPPIT BEFORE SOMEONE SEES US AND MIGHT THINK DIFFERENTLY OF WHAT WE'RE DOING!!!"
"Too late, Shadsie." said Rouge, winking at them. Sonic let go.
"Sorry, I just wanted to hug someone." said Sonic.
"Why me?!" Shadow said.
"Because you're my best friend and you were the closest person at the time."
"Oh."
Rouge giggled. "Hedgehogs are weird."
"HEY!!" Amy said from behind her, surprising the bat.
"Sorry." then, Amy faced Sonic.
"Sonikku, if you wanted to hug someone, why didn't you go to me?" she winked at him.
"Because you annoy me!!"
"You know you want me, Sonic." Amy winked. Rouge backed away from her and Shadow raised an eyebrow. Amy giggled and skipped away, Rouge followed her.
"Hey Sonic, do you like Amy?" asked Shadow in a small voice.
"No!" Sonic said.
Shadow smirked. "Suuuuure you don't..."
"I don't 'like her-like her', Shadow!! Believe me!! ... But now that I think of it..."
"YOU LIKE HER!! YOU LIKE HER!!!"
"No I don't!! Um, I must go! Bye!" Sonic ran off.
"Don't worry buddy, I'll keep it a secret!!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
"O_o;;;"
"Guys, we're going back on in 10 minutes! Get ready!" I said, calling out to everyone.
"I guess I better get cleaned up..." Shadow tossed the cupcake wrapper into the trashcan and went to change into his costume again.
---
The audience was back in their seats after the intermission, and just in time too. The lights brightened to reveal Shadow sitting on his bed, staring blankly at the clock. He continued where he left off.
"One."
In a sweep of wind, the first spirit appears. Amy Rose is dressed like the little girl's doll.
Shadow stares at Amy. "Are you the spirit whose coming was foretold to me?"
"I am." Amy replied.
"Nice costume."
"Thanks, Shadow!"
"Who and what are you?"
"I am the Ghost of Christmas Past."
"Long past?"
"No no, your past."
"I have a past?" Amy smacks him across the head. "Sorry!!" said Shadow. "Why are you here?"
"Because it says on the script."
"Cool!!"
Sonic stared at Amy in her doll costume while she and Shadow were doing the scene.
'Wow, she looks pretty... wait, what are you thinking, Sonic?! She's Amy Rose!! The girl whose been aggravating you for the past I-have-no-idea years!! I can't like her!! She's annoying... but then... she can be sweet at times... Shadow might be right...'
He watched as Shadow grasped her hand tightly. Sonic silently growled in envy.
"Where are we going, spirit?" asked Shadow, still holding onto Amy's hand.
"We're going... INTO THE PAST!!"
"YAY!!!"
The lights dim and Shadow and Amy run off the stage. The Stage Crew moves the scenery around again and the lights brighten. The two walk into the scene, which is a street with a bunch of kids talking.
Two boys greet each other. "Halloo, Jack!" says an extra.
"Ben! Merry Christmas, Ben!" says another extra.
Shadow gasps. "Jack Walton! Young Jack Walton. Spirits...?"
"Have a good holiday, Jack!"
"Yes, yes, I remember him." says Shadow, continuing, "Both of them. Little Ben Benjamin. He used to..."
"See you next term, Jack. Next... term..." repeats the extra. He and the other man walk offstage.
Shadow whispered, "They... they're off for the holidays and going home from school. It's Christmas time... all of the children off home now... No... no, not all... there was one..."
Amy motions for Shadow to turn, and he sees a young boy playing with a teddy bear and talking to it.
"Whoa, is that boy retarded or something? He's talking to an inanimate object!"
"Dude Shadow," Amy started, "That's your younger self!!!"
"Oh yeah!!!" Amy fell over.
"Jeez!!"
"What were my lines?" Amy shoves a huge stack of papers towards his chest. He flips to that particular scene and reads over it. "Oh yeah!!" Shadow a-hems and throws the stack of papers over his shoulder and backstage. "Yes... reading... poor boy."
Amy looked at him confused. "What, I wonder?"
"Reading? Oh it was nothing. Fancy, all fancy and make-believe and take-me-away. All of it. Yes, nonsense."
"Take me away? Did someone kidnap you while you were a child, Shadow? I mean, Scrooge?"
"Amy, that wasn't in the script!"
"I know that!! But I wanna know!!!" she looked up to Shadow with puppy dog eyes. Shadow stared at her then sighed.
"Aww, crap!! Don't ever make that face, you know I can't handle it!!!" Amy continued making her cute, wanting-to-know face.
"Oh fine!!! OF COURSE I DIDN'T GET KIDNAPPED WHILE I WAS A KID!! I was living in SPACE for crying out loud!"
Amy squealed in delight. "Yes! I always get what I want with that face!"
Shadow rolled his eyes. "You know that face only works on me."
"I know! And I want everything from you!"
"O_O That sentence sounded weird..."
"Now that I think of it, yeah it does..."
Sonic was infuriated at their closeness. "SHADOW!!! HURRY UP WITH THE FRIGGIN' PLAY!!!!! NO ONE NEEDS TO KNOW HOW CLOSE YOU AND AMY ARE!!!!!" he screamed from backstage.
"o______O;;;" Shadow and Amy stared at Sonic.
"Um, dude, girl, I think he likes you..." whispered Shadow to Amy. She giggled happily.
"AND STOP WHISPERING THOSE SWEET NOTHINGS TO HER, SHADOW!!!" he continued yelling.
"o_O;;"
"Sonikku!! You like me, dontcha'?"
"o.o..." the blue hedgehog slunk even farther backstage, but was still watching the play, glaring at Shadow.
"o_O Dang!! Let's continue before he goes rabid and starts attacking me..." Shadow suggested.
"I agree. Where were we?"
The small Shadow clone, which played as Child Scrooge, spoke up. "It's my turn now!" he said with Amy's voice.
"o_O;; DUDE!!" Amy pointed her finger at the small Shadow. "An exact imitation of my voice!!!"
"^____^"
The Shadow fangirls gasped in the audience. "AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!! HOW CUUUUUUUUUTE!!! KAWAIIIIIIIIIII!!!" they squealed, staring at the small child Shadow clone. He smiled cutely.
Amy and Shadow turned to face him. The small Shadow ahemed. "Ali Baba."
"O___o;;;" Amy raised an eyebrow.
"Yes... that was it..." murmured Shadow.
"Yes, and remember... and remember... remember Robinson Crusoe?" asked Child Shadow.
"And the parrot!!"
"Yes, the parrot! I love him best."
Shadow imitated the parrot. "With his stripy green body and yellow tail drooping along and couldn't sing-AWK-but could talk, and a thing like a lettuce growing out the top of his head... and he used to sit on the very top of the tree-up there."
"And Robinson Crusoe sailed around the island, and he thought he had escaped the island, and the parrot said, the parrot said..."
Shadow imitated the parrot again. "Robinson Crusoe, where you been? AWK!!! Robinson Crusoe, where you been?"
"And Robinson Crusoe looked up in the tree and saw the parrot and knew he hadn't escaped and he was still there, still all alone there."
"Poor Robinson Crusoe."
"Poor Robinson Crusoe."
"Sheesh, even as a kid Shadow's still weird!" Amy whispered.
"Poor child. Poor child." says Shadow.
"Why poor? asked Amy.
"Fancy... fancy... It's his way, a child's way to... to lose being alone in... in dreams, dreams... Never matter if they are all nonsense, yes, nonsense. But he'll be all right, grow out of it. Yes. Yes, he did outgrow it, the nonsense. Became a man and left there, and yes, and he became, yes, and he became a man and... yes, successful... rich!!"
"Are you delirious?!" asked Amy, tired of seeing Shadow repeat himself.
"No... no, I don't think so... no, no, no I'm not.... I don't think so... don't think so..."
"O_o;;"
Rouge runs in and goes to Child Shadow.
Shadow gasped. "Fan! It's Fan, my beloved sister!"
"Brother, dear brother!" says Rouge, kissing Child Shadow on the cheek.
"Dear, dear Fan!" replies Child Shadow. "Wait, how am I related to you? You're a bat and I'm a hedgehog!"
"Oh, um... adoption?"
"Oh okay!!"
Shadow and Amy sweatdrop.
"But anyway, I've come to bring you home, home for good and ever. Come with me, come now." Rouge takes Child Shadow's hand and they start to run off when Amy stops them and signals for the light on them to fade. They look at the First Spirit, Amy.
"Let me watch them go? Let them be happy for a moment!!" cried Shadow. Amy says nothing and Shadow turns away. "A delicate, delicate child. A breath might have withered her..."
"She died a woman and had, as I remember, children." Amy says.
".... One child..."
"Your nephew."
"Yes, yes, Fred, my nephew. We-"
"Wait, wait, hold on a minute!!"
"What is it?"
Amy put on a thoughtful look on her face. "Fan is your sister... and she's a bat... and she had a kid... Fred... who is.... A... pure hedgehog.... o_O;;;"
"o_o;; I never noticed that."
"You've got a weird family." Amy ducked in time to avoid Shadow's swing. "Wow!! You attack girls too?!"
"Only girls that know how to dodge and attack."
"Oh. But still, you've got a weird family." Amy back flipped her way out of Shadow's kick.
"See?" Shadow continued, "You're pretty..."
Amy smiled. "Thanks."
"Pretty ugly!!" Shadow side jumped in time to dodge Amy's high kick.
"WOO!! KUNG-FOO!!!" yelled a man from the audience. People stared at him. "Sorry." a shoe flew towards him and hit him in the head. "OOOH, I WILL GET YOU FOR THIS, MAURICE!!!"
More people stared at him.
"I'm sorry!! The pig made me do it!! The pig and the water bottle container! They did it!!"
"Will you shut up?!" Amy and Shadow yelled to him.
"AHHHHHH!!! EVIL MONKEY SPANKS OF DOOOOOM!!!!" the man ran out of the theater.
"Who knew that there could be someone as weird as you, Shadow!" Amy said, smirking. Shadow rolled his eyes.
"For a spirit who's trying to help me become a better man, you're no good!!"
"Sorry."
"It's okay. (ahem) Well? Well, all of us have that, haven't we? Childhoods? Sadness? But we grow and we become men, masters of ourselves."
Amy gestures for music to begin. Eggman, a teenage clone of Shadow, and a random walk to the stage.
"Yo ho, there! Ebenezer! Dick!" Eggman shouts, playing as Fezziwig.
Nack and some other immature people burst out laughing because of what Eggman said. He glares at them all and a hammer whacks Nack, shutting him up. The others shut up too.
Shadow and Amy sweatdropped. "Fezziwig!" said Shadow happily. "It's old Fezziwig that I 'prenticed under!"
"Your master?" Amy asks.
"Oh, aye, and the best that any boy could have. There's Dick Wilkins! Bless me. He was very much attached to me was Dick. Poor Dick. Dear, dear."
By now, Amy was giggling like crazy and people in the audience were laughing out loud.
"Hey!!" shouts Shadow, "I'm serious!! But who in the right mind would name their child "Dick"?! No offense to all the people out there though."
"NONE TAKEN!!" says a man from the audience.
"..."
Eggman continues his lines. "Yo ho, my boys! No more work tonight. CHRISTMAS EVE, DICK!!!!!! Christmas, Ebenezer! Let's have the shutters up before a man can say Jack Robinson!"
"What's with all the Robinsons in this play?!" Amy yelled.
Decorations were hung as more extras entered and started dancing at Eggman's Christmas Party. Young Shadow, the teenage clone of the original Shadow, calls out to Eggman...
"Mr. Fezziwig, sir, you're a wonderful master!"
"A wonderful master!" says Shadow and Young Shadow.
"A wonderful master!!" echoes Shadow. "Wonderfulwonderfulwonderfulwonderfulwonderfulwonderfulwonderfulwonderfulwonderful!!!" Amy fell over.
The music suddenly changes and a few people exit the stage, leaving some other people to dance.
Amy spoke up. "Just because he gave a party? It was very small."
"Small!" said Shadow.
"What about small?"
"I don't know. Jeez, nothing makes sense here!!!"
"Oh well, just follow the lines before- (a flying hammer comes from backstage and Amy and Shadow dodge it.) Nevermind. Just follow your lines!!"
"Yes sir!!" Amy glared at him.
"He spent a few pounds of your "mortal" money, three, four at the most. Is that so much that he deserves this praise?"
"But it wasn't the money. He had the power to make us happy, to make our service light or burdensome."
Eggman is laughing jolly-like in the center of the stage. o_O;;
Eggman: *laughs jollilie-like*
"o_O;;" Amy and Shadow... said... (shrug)
The pink hedgehog turned to Shadow. "What's with the script form?" The ultimate life form shrugged and adjusted his glasses.
"Oh well. The happiness he gives is quite as great as if it cost a fortune. That's what... a good master is."
"Yes?" Amy asks.
"What?"
"Who?"
"Why?"
"What?!"
"No, no, nothing."
Amy sighed. "Something, me thinks."
"Me thinks?" Shadow asks.
"Yesh."
"I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now, that's all."
"But this is all past. Your clerk, Cratchit... Knuckles... couldn't be here."
"No, no, of course not, an idle thought. Are we done yet?"
"Nearly." Amy motions for the waltz to begin. Shadow hears the music and remembers it.
"Surely it's enough! Haven't you tormented me enough?!"
"No Scrooge, nothing is enough to torment you." Amy grins and Shadow sighs. He sees Young Ebenezer dancing with his Sweetheart, Rouge.
"o_O;; Wait, wasn't she my daughter?"
"O.O YOUR DAUGHTER?!?!?!" Amy yelled.
"OH NO, I MEANT MY SISTER!!!!"
"Oh yeah. Um, no, no, she wasn't your sister!" Amy said.
"But I'm sure she was.... same white-grayish fur, purple wings..."
"Shadow!! You KNOW Rouge plays two parts!!"
"Yeah, I know! ^___^"
"-_-;; But anyway, I only show the past, what it promised you. Look. Another promise." She points at Rouge and Young Shadow.
"A promise that I was to wed with my sister?" Amy whacked Shadow HARD across the head.
"STOP THAT!!!!!!" Amy yelled.
"I'm sorry mommy!!!!"
"-_-+++;;;;;"
"Oh. Oh, yes. I had forgotten... her. Don't they dance beautifully? So young, so young. I would have married her if only..."
Rouge looked at Young Shadow lovingly. "Can you love me, Ebenezer? I bring no dowry to my marriage, only me, only love. It is no currency that you can buy and sell with, but we can live with it. Can you?" Rouge pauses, then she returns the ring Young Shadow gave her as his pledge.
"I release you, Ebenezer, for the love of the man you once were. Will that man win me again, now that he is free?"
Shadow tries to speak to Rouge. "If only you had held me to it. You should not have let me go. I was young; I did love you."
Rouge ignores Shadow who is beside her because of him and Amy being spirits and everything. She talks to Young Shadow. "We have never lied to one other... may you be happy in the life you have chosen... good-bye!!" Rouge runs out as Young Shadow slowly leaves.
Shadow watches sadly as the two separate. "No, no, it was not meant that way...!"
Amy sighs. "You cannot change now what you would not change then. I am your mistakes, Ebenezer Scrooge, all of the things you could have done and did not."
"Then leave me!!" yells Shadow, "I have done them. I shall live with them. As I have, as I do; as I will!"
"There is another Christmas, seven years ago, when Tails died."
"TAILS DIED?!?!" Sonic shouted backstage. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"
"Sonic-kun, I'm right here." says Tails from beside him.
"OH TAILS!! I MISSED YOU!!!!" Sonic scoops Tails into a tight hug.
"^^;;;"
Amy sweatdropped. "Oops. I meant that when Marley died."
"No! I will not see it. I will not! He died... I could not prevent it!! I did not choose for him to die of Christmas Day!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! JACOB MARLEY!! I MISS YOOOUUUUUU!!!!!" cried Shadow, dropping down on his knees and sobbing wildly. Amy fell over, got up, and pulled him back up.
"And when his day was chosen, what did you do then?"
"I looked after his affairs."
"I DID NOT HAVE AN AFFAIR!!!!" yelled Tails from backstage. Everyone in the entire theater sweatdropped.
"His business." Amy continued.
"Yes! His business! Mine!!" Shadow said.
"Greedy rat."
"Why is everyone calling me a greedy rat?!?!"
"Because Scrooge really IS a greedy rat!!"
"Oh okay! It was all that I had, all that I could do in this world, nothing to do with the world to come after."
"Then I will leave you."
"Not yet!! Don't leave me here! Tell me what I must do! What of the other spirits."
"They will come..."
"And you? What of you?"
"I am always with you."
"Aww.... gimme a hug!!!"
"Okay!!"
Amy and Shadow embrace each other for a while. Sonic is offstage, obviously angry because Mighty and Vector were holding him back from beating the living crap out of Shadow.
"LEMME GO!! LEMME GO!!!" yelled Sonic, trying to escape their hold of him.
"No way Sonic, you're gonna rip Shadow to pieces!!" Vector said.
"Well, DUH!!!"
"^^;;;"
Onstage...
Amy and Shadow finally let go of each other.
The pink hedgehog smiled. Sally, the little girl, appears with her doll. Amy slowly walks backstage. Sally takes Shadow's hand and gently leads him to the bed. Shadow sits upright in bed as Sally walks away.
"A minute until one. No one here. No one's coming."
A larger clock strikes one. A light comes on. Shadow becomes aware of it and goes slowly to it. He sees the second spirit, the Spirit of Christmas Present, who is wearing a Christmas robe and looks like Fezziwig.
"Fezziwig!!" Shadow gasps.
"Hello, Shadow. I MEAN, Scrooge!" says Eggman.
"But you can't be... not Fezziwig."
"Do you see me as him?"
"I do."
"And hear me as him?"
"I do."
"Well.... I'M NOT HIM!!!! AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!!" Eggman points at Shadow, throws his head back and laughs.
";___;"
"But anyway, I wish I were the gentlemen, so as not to disappoint you."
"But you're not...?"
"I JUST SAID IT YOU MORON!!!"
"But...."
"You see what you will see, Scrooge, no more. Will you walk out with me this Christmas Eve?"
"But I am not yet dressed! I'm in my friggin' nightgown for Sonic's sake!!"
"What about my sake?" asks Sonic backstage. Thud. ("You talk too much, sheesh," murmured the author’s voice from backstage.)
"o_O;;;"
"Err, anyway, take my tails, dear boy, we're leaving." Eggman continued.
"Wait!"
"What is it now?!"
"Christmas Present, did you say?"
"I did."
"Then we are traveling here? In this town? London? Just down there?"
"-_- No, we're gonna go ALLLLL the way to China!!!"
"OH JOY!!!" Eggman smacked him across the head.
"IDIOT!!! We're gonna stay here, of course!"
Shadow clutched his head. "So many brain cells have been killed today...."
"-_-;;"
"But anyway, then we could walk? Your flying is... well, too sudden for an old man. Well?"
"It's your Christmas, Scrooge; I am only the guide."
"Then we can walk?" Eggman nods. "YAY!!!! Where are you guiding me?"
"Bob Cratchit's."
"Knuckles? My clerk?"
"You did want to talk to him?" Shadow pauses. "Ah nevermind. You wouldn't have to anyways."
"'Kay!"
Lights dim, scenery changes, and the two walk over to Bob Cratchit's house. They see Mrs. Cratchit, Tikal, tucking in her 'children'.
"To sleep now, all of you. Christmas tomorrow." She kisses them and goes to Knuckles, who is by the hearth. "How did our little Tim behave?"
Knuckles answers, "As good as gold and better. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in church because he was a cripple and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day who made the lame to walk and the blind to see."
"Wow, good job Knux!" Tikal commented. "You are a great actor."
"Thanks."
"He's a good boy." Tikal smiles. Eggman and Shadow enter and Tikal feels a sudden draft. "Oh, the wind." she gets up to shut the door.
"Hurry up, Scrooge!" Eggman said, pulling Shadow into the 'house'. Unfortunately, he didn't pull hard enough because Tikal shut the door at Shadow's face.
"HEY!!"
"Um, sorry!!" Tikal opened the door and let Shadow in. Eggman sweatdropped.
"Hardly hospitable is what I'd say." says Shadow. Tikal flashes a cheesy grin.
Eggman smirked. "Oh, they'd say a great deal more, Scrooge, if they could see you."
"You mean they can't see me?"
Tikal whacked his head. "Oh, I saw a fly. A big one indeed." Knuckles gave her thumbs up, Eggman snickered, and Shadow, once again, clutched his head.
"Grr... oh, they should, should they??" Shadow asked, glaring at Tikal who sat down in a rocking chair. She grinned.
"Oh yes, I'd think they might. ^^" Eggman replied.
"Well, I might have a word for them..."
"You're here to listen, baka."
"-_-;; Oh. Oh yes, all right. By the fire?"
"You want me to push you into the fire?"
"NO!!!"
"Oh. But anyway, yeah, by the fire. But not a word."
Knuckles raises his glass. "My dear, to Mr. Scrooge. I give you Mr. Scrooge, the founder of the feast."
Tikal looked at Knuckles surprisingly. "The founder of the feast indeed!! I wish I had him here! I'd give him a piece of my mind to feast upon, and I hope he'd have a good appetite for it!"
"My dear, 'tis Christmas Eve!"
"It should be Christmas Eve, I'm sure, when one drinks the health of such an odious, stingy, hard, UNFEELING man as Mr. Scrooge. You know he is, Robert! Nobody knows it better than you do, poor dear."
"You forgot greedy rat."
"Oh yeah, that too."
Shadow glared at them both. "Why those little..." Eggman held him back and repeated the words of Knuckles.
"'Tis Christmas Eve!"
"Oh all right. -_-;;"
Knuckles smirked at Shadow but then continued. "I only know one thing on Christmas: that one must be charitable."
"I'll drink to his health for your sake and the day's, not for his. Long life to him!! A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. He'll be very merry and very happy, I have no doubt."
"If he cannot be, we must be happy for him. A song is what is needed. Tim!"
"Shush, I've just gotten all of them to sleep!! What, do you want to ruin their peaceful dreams?! WHAT KIND OF FATHER ARE YOU?!?!?!?"
"o_o;;"
"Was that in the script?"
"Uh, no."
"Oh... sorry. I got carried away. ^^;; He needs all the sleep he can get."
"If he's asleep on Christmas Eve, I'll be much mistaken. Tim! He must sing, dear; there is nothing else that might make him well."
"But wouldn't that make his throat sore?"
"... Oh yeah."
Tikal fell over. "Hehe..."
Tails walks in anyway. "Yes, Father?"
"Whoa!! It's Marley!!!"
"... I play Tiny Tim too."
"Oh yeeeeeaaaaaeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaeah."
"...'kaaay..."
Knuckles looks at Tails. "Are you awake?"
Tails rolled his eyes. "No, I'm sleepwalking."
"A song then!!"
"O_O;;"
All the children get up and the Cratchit family sings a song with their horrible, HORRIBLE, voices.
"LALALALALALALALA!!!
LALALALALALA!!!
LALALA!!!
LA!!!
LALALALALA!!!
LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! LA!
LALALALLA-"
Shadow raises his hand. "I HAVE SEEN AND HEARD ENOUGH!!!!!" the Cratchit family stops singing. Eggman lowers his hands from his ears and lights dim.
Scenery changes.
Actors scurry off the stage.
You know the whole bit.
Lights brighten, showing Shadow and Eggman standing in the street.
"Tiny Tim... will he live?" Shadow asked sadly.
Eggman sighed, shaking his head. "He is very ill. Even song cannot keep him whole through a cold winter."
"But you haven't told me!!"
"Told you what?" Shadow shrugs.
Eggman imitates Shadow earlier. "If he be like to die, he had better do it and decrease the surplus population." Shadow turns away. "Erase, Scrooge, those words from your thoughts. You are not the judge, then. It may be that in the sight of heaven you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. Oh God!"
Shadow raises an eyebrow.
Dr. Robotnik continued. "To hear an insect on a leaf pronouncing that there is too much life among his hungry brothers in dust. Good-bye, Shadow- er, Scrooge."
"But is there no happiness in Chismas?"
"o_O Don't you mean CHRISTMAS?"
"Oh yah."
"There is."
"Take me to the happiness."
"It is at the home of your nephew, Sonic- Erm, Fred!"
Shadow wrinkled his face in disgust. "No!"
This time, Eggman wrinkled his face in disgust with Shadow. "Then there is none."
"But that isn't enough... You must teach me!"
"Would you have a teacher, Scrooge? Look at your own words."
Shadow pouted. "But the first spirit gave me more...!"
"She was Christmas Past. There was a lifetime she could choose from. I have only this day, one day, and you, Scrooge. I have nearly lived my fill of both. Christmas Present must be gone at midnight. That is near now."
Eggman speaks to two beggar children and they rush to his side. Shadow looks at the kids.
"??"
"They are real. Hunger, Ignorance. Not spirits, Scrooge, passing dreams. Blahblahblahblahblah, and I don't remember the rest. Come on, children."
Eggman leads them off the stage while the lights dim and you know what happens.
Shadow sits on his bed. "Uh oh, the third spirit... the mystery guest!!! Yay!!!"
The clock strikes midnight and a tall figure cloaked in a black cloak stands- er, floats near him.
"o_O;;; Who are you?"
"..."
"No, I mean, who ARE you? As in, are you Sonic? Are you Big? Are you L-Gurl?"
The figure shakes its head.
"o_o Weird."
(A/N: By the way, I want the third spirit's round to be very quick and short so I can get this over with. So don't complain to me about how short the third spirit's scene is cuz I know already.)
Shadow and the cloaked figure run offstage as the stage crew changes the scenery. The lights brighten and show the side of Shadow's house.
"What's this?" asks Shadow. He and the spirit look into the window to see Linzy, Metal Sonic and I.
Linzy grins. "He ain't about, is he?"
I, the charwoman, laugh. Linzy the cook continues. "Poor 'ol Scrooge 'as met 'is end."
I laughed evilly. "An' time for it, too; ain't been alive in deed for half his life."
"But the Sparsit's nowhere, is he...?"
Metal Sonic emerges from the darkness. "Lookin' for someone, ladies?" Linzy shrieks but I treat the matter more practically, anticipating competition from Metal.
"There ain't enough but for the two of us!"
"More 'an enough..." Metal grinned. "If you know where to look."
"Hardly decent is what I'd say, hardly decent, the poor old fella hardly cold and you're thievin' his wardrobe." Linzy said.
"You're here out of love, are ya?" said Metal.
I rolled my eyes. "There's no time for that." Metal acknowledges Shadow for the first time, gesturing toward him as if the living Shadow were the corpse. Shadow stands as if rooted to the spot, held by the power of the spirit.
"He ain't about to bother us, is he?" asked Metal.
I smirked. "Ain't he a picture?"
Linzy snickered. "If he is, it ain't a happy one." All three laugh.
Metal bowed and held his hand out towards the "dead" Shadow clone on the bed, extending his arm out to it. "Ladies, shall we start?" he said jokingly. "Cook?"
"They're gold, ain't they?" asked Linzy as she snatched the cuff links from the shirt Shadow wears.
"The purest, madam."
I reached out and took the nightcap from Shadow's head. "I always had a fancy for that nightcap of his. My old man could use it."
Metal removes Scrooge's outer garment, the coat or cloak that he has worn in the previous scenes. "Bein' a man of more practical tastes, I'll go for the best and hope the smell ain't permanent. Cook, we go round again."
"Do you think that little bell he's always ringing at me is silver enough to sell?" The three of them move towards the nightstand, and Shadow cries out.
"No more! No more!" As the spirit directs Shadow's attention to the tableau of the three thieves standing poised over the silver bell, Shadow bursts out of the house clad only in his nightshirt. "I cannot, I cannot. The room is... too like a cheerless place that is familiar. I won't see it. Let us go from here. Anywhere."
The cloaked figure directs his attention to the Cratchit house; the children are sitting together near Tikal, Mrs. Cratchit., who is sewing a coat. Espio, who plays Peter, reads by the light of the coals.
"Past it, I think, but he walks slower then he used to, these last few days, Mother."
Tikal sighs. "I have known him to walk with... I have known him to walk with Tiny Tim upon his shoulder very fast indeed. But he was very light to carry and his father loved him, so that it was no trouble, no trouble." She hears Knuckles approaching. "Smiles, everyone, smiles."
Knuckles enters. "My dear, Peter..." he greets the other children. "How is it coming?"
Handing him the coat, Tikal says, "Nearly done."
"Yes, good, I'm sure that it will be done long before Sunday."
"Sunday! You went today then, Robert?"
"Yes. It's... it's all ready. Two o' clock. And a nice place. It would have done you good to see how green it is. But you'll see it often. I promised him that, that I would walk there on Sunday... often."
"We mustn't hurt ourselves for it, Robert."
"No. No, he wouldn't have wanted that. Come now. You won't guess who I've seen. Scrooge's nephew, Fred. And he asked after us and said he was heartily sorry and to give his respect to my good wife. How he ever knew that, I don't know."
"Knew what, my dear?"
"Why, that you were a good wife."
"Everybody knows that." says Espio. Tikal smiles at him.
"I hope they do," Knuckles says, "'Heartily sorry,' he said, 'for your good wife and if I can be of service, to you in any way-' and he gave me his card- 'that's where I live' -and Peter, I shouldn't be at all surprised if he got you a position."
"Only hear that, Peter!" Tikal says.
"And then you'll be keeping company with some young girl and setting up for yourself."
"Oh, go on," said Espio.
"Well, it will happen, one day," Knuckles says. "... But remember, when that day has come- as it must -we must none of us forget poor Tiny Tim and this first parting in our family."
Knuckles, Tikal and Espio bow their heads in sorrow.
Shadow gasped. "He died! No, no!" Shadow steps back and runs offstage. The spirit goes offstage too and all becomes dark.
A light focuses on the cloaked spirit figure and Shadow. The black and red hedgehog tries to talk to the spirit.
"Because he would not... no! You cannot tell me that he has died, for that Christmas has not come! I will not let it come! I will be there... It was me. Yes, yes, and I knew it and couldn't look. I won't be able to help. I won't. (pause)
"Spirit, hear me. I am not the man I was. I will not be that man that I have been for so many years. Why show me all of this if I am past all hope? Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me. Let the boy live! I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The spirits of all three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.
"Oh, tell me that I am not too late!!"
Blackout. Figures are seen moving in the dark and colliding with each other because it was so dark. ^_^;; The lights brighten. Shadow is in his 'room', tossing and turning under the covers of his bed.
"No, no.... he died... AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Shadow bolted out of his bed. "A... dream? No, it can't be a dream! It was real! The spirits did it all in one night!! Ooooaaahhh!!!" he leaps from his bed and to his window. "HALLO DOWN THERE!!!"
The boy, Bean, looks up. "Eh?"
"What's the day, my fine fellow?"
"Today?"
"Today!"
"Today?"
"Today!"
"Today? Why, Christmas Day!"
"It's Christmas Day! I haven't missed it!! Yay!! Hallo, my fine fellow!" shouts Shadow, overly happy.
"Hallo!!!!" Bean yells back.
"Do you know the poulterers in the next street at the corner?"
"I should hope I do."
"An intelligent boy. A remarkable boy. Do you know whether they've sold the prize turkey that was hanging up there? Not the little prize; the big one."
"What, the one as big as me?"
"What a delightful boy! Yes, my bucko!"
"It's hanging there now."
"It is? Go and buy it!!"
"G'wan!!"
"What? Guacamole?"
"The script, yo yo!"
"STOP TRYING TO BE A WANNABE OF ME!!" shouted Knuckles backstage. Thunk. "OWWW, PAAIINN!!!"
"o_O;;" both Shadow and Bean sweatdropped.
"Anyway," Shadow continued, "I'm in earnest!"
Bean sighs. "GOOD FOR YOU!!" Shadow throws a bag full of 'money' to Bean.
"JUST BUY THE STUPID TURKEY!!"
"YESSHIR!!" Bean runs offstage. He and Vector, the butcher, are carrying a large turkey. Shadow smiles at them and throws both of them bags of money. "Bring that turkey to Bob Cratchit's house! And don't tell him who sent it!" Vector and Bean nod and run off.
Shadow dresses himself up and leaves the stage. Lights dim, scenery changes, and Shadow comes back onstage with his clothes on. He passes by Big.
"My dear sir, how do you do?" Shadow asks.
"... Mr. Scrooge?" Big asks in disbelief, surprised at Shadow's kindness.
"Yes, that's my name and I fear it may not be pleasant to you. Allow me to ask your pardon, and will you have the goodness to add this (throws Big a purse) to your good work!"
"Lord bless me! My dear Mr. Scrooge, are you serious?"
"Yeah!"
"Dude!! I don't know what I can say to such generosity..."
"Say nothing! Accept it. Come and see me. Will you come and see me?"
"I will."
"Thanks! I am much obliged to you. I thank you fifty times. God bless you and Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas to you, sir!"
Shadow runs to the street while Big exits. "Now which is the way to that nephew's house. Girl! Girl!"
Sally appears immediately. "Yes sir?"
"Can you find me a taxi, miss?"
"I can, sir." Sally rings her doll and a coachman appears.
Shadow hands Mighty, the coachman, a card. "Can you show me the way to this home?"
"I can, sir." Mighty replies.
"Good man. Come up, girl." Sally and Shadow climb into the taxi. "Would you be an old man's guide to a Christmas dinner?"
"I would, sir, and God bless you!"
"Yes, God bless us! Driver, to Christmas!" they exit. Blackout. The lights come up for the finale at Fred's (Sonic's) house. The Cratchits are there with Tiny Tim. All stop moving and stare at Shadow in the center.
"Well, I'm very glad to be here at my nephew's house!" he starts to fake cry and sobs at Sonic's feet. "MY DEAR NEPHEW!!!" he hugs Sonic.
"Uuhmm... ^^;;;"
"Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!" Shadow shouts.
"Merry Christmas." everybody says softly. They sing Deck The Halls and Shadow puts Tails on his shoulder.
Tails shouts as the carol ends. "God bless us, everyone one!"
Shadow faces the audience. "Oh, yes! God bless us every one!"
The curtain close and loud claps, whistles, and screams are heard from the audience. The cast knew they did a great job. Suddenly, Metal Knuckles runs in on the stage in front of the screaming audience.
"HEY!! NOT FAIR!!! I DIDN'T GET A PART!!! YOU SAID I'D GET A PART!!!! WHY DON'T I HAVE A PART?!?!"
Sonic and Knuckles spot him first and run on the stage. They lift Metal Knuckles up and carry him offstage, sweatdropping.
The curtains re-open and the entire cast of A Christmas Carol - Sonic Style is standing there.
More louder claps and whistles are heard from the audience. The cast is standing there, in a row, holding hands, bowing and smiling broadly.
Shadow turns to Sonic who was to his left. "That was so cool!!"
"I know!" replied the blue hedgehog.
Amy, who was on Shadow's right, turned to look at Sonic. "Sonic, did you think I did a good job?"
"Totally!"
"YAY!!!" she pushes Shadow aside and glomps Sonic right there. Shadow blinks and gives Sonic thumbs up. The emerald-eyed hero grins stupidly.
"Oooh, Kodak moment!!" Knuckles whipped out his camera and took an instant snapshot of Amy and Sonic. This time, Sonic didn't mind at all.
Note that this all happens right onstage, in front of the audience. ^^;;;
"Sonic, I'm so glad you suggested doing this play!" winked Rouge. "All of us had a blast!"
"Hey," said Sonic, winking back, "it wasn't my idea."
"Really? Who's idea was it?"
Eggman sighed. "Rouge, and I thought you were smart." The bat glared at the egg-shaped man. "Who else can it be? It was L-Gurl!!"
"Whoa!" everyone fell over.
"Yep, it was indeed L-Gurl's idea. She thought it would be fun!" smiled Sonic. "She only told me though because she thought that any of you other guys would spoil it until the right time."
"Hey!! But, I'm her muse!!" Shadow said, tilting his head. Sonic smirked.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that you can keep a secret."
"HEY!!" the two hedgehogs started chasing each other on set, laughing like they had no cares in the world. Which was true during that moment.
"You guys were REMARKABLE!!!" I said, stepping out into the stage. The entire cast came running towards me with huge grins.
"THE DIRECTOOOOOORRR!!!!" they yelled. "AND THE PERSON WHO HAD THIS IDEA IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" I started running for my life. "NO GLOMPING!!! NO GLOMPING!!!"
"WE LURVE YOOOUUUUU!!!"
"I HATE you!!" Metal Knuckles sobbed. "I didn't get a part!!"
"I have an idea for you!" I said, still running. "Go entertain the audience while I RUN FOR MY LIFE!!!"
"OKAY!!" Metal Knuckles goes out to the audience and starts entertaining them.
"... 'kay!! Now, where was I? Oh yah... AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" I screamed. Suddenly, I realized something and turned to face them, my palm up. They stopped instantly.
"I LOVE author powers!!"
"^____^"
"Now people, go to your rooms and have a good nights' rest! You deserve it!" I told them. The cast nodded and turned around. "Oh, wait! Sonic, Shadow, Amy, Tikal, Knuckles, Rouge, Tails and Eggman, follow me to my room."
The main Boredom characters nodded and followed me to deck 12, room D123.
"Jeesh, your room is still as big as ever!" Rouge said.
"I know! ^_____^"
They followed me to the huge bed and sat on the edge again.
"Now, I wanted to talk to you guys about something-"
Shadow bursts out sobbing. "I KNOW, I KNOW I DID A BAD JOB!!! FORGIVE ME!!! I SHALL DO GOOD NEXT TIME!!!!" he crawled across the bed to me and hugged me, sobbing.
"o_o;;;"
"Shadow?" Sonic asked.
"STOP CRITICIZING ME!! I KNOW I SUCKED!!!" he squeezed me tighter.
"o______O;;;;"
"Shadow???" Sonic repeated.
"(sob)"
".____________________.;;;"
"SHADOW!!! L-GURL'S TURNING BLUE!!"
"I'M SORRY MOMMY!!!!" he lessened his grip on me.
"Phew!! I didn't want to talk about your performance. About tomorrow."
Rouge raised both eyebrows in interest. "Tomorrow?"
Tails smiled. "We're landing on an island tomorrow, right?"
"In Canada, not an island."
They all grinned. "WOO HOO!!!!"
I smiled. "Set your alarms to 6:00am."
"WHAT?!?!" everyone yelled.
Sonic blinked. "That's too early!!"
"No it is not, Sonikku. We arrive at the dock at 6am. When you guys wake up, you'll have an hour to take a shower, get ready, etc. Then, at 7am, we meet at the breakfast buffet. I'll be sitting on the first biggest table you see nearest to the entrance. 'Kay?"
Everyone blinked. "Um... yes?"
I sweatdropped. "All righty then! See ya tomorrow morning! Remember, 7am at the breakfast buffet!" I pushed everyone except Sonic19902 (he's my roommate, remember?) out. "G'night!" then I slammed the door close.
Everyone blinked once again. Knuckles coughed. "Okay, see ya tomorrow." He and Eggman walked to their room. Everybody nodded to each other and walked to their rooms. The two male hedgehogs SKIPPED to their room because they were moronic idiots.
-----~*~-----
Well, there you go!!! Sheesh, what a long chapter... took me a LONG TIME!!! Hope you enjoyed it. Bye bye!
~L-Gurl
P.S. - Finals are coming up... I must study... so the next chapter won't be out for a few weeks. I HATE FINALS!!! Don't you?
Disclaimer: No, no and no.
Hiya!
You don't have to read this chapter... it's all boring lines and stuff. I just did it so I can finally finish with this thingy!! Cuz I have a BUNCH of ideas for future chappies!! Must.... finish…!!!
But they still mess up the lines though. :)
Oh yah, and by the way, I DO SUGGEST that you start reading from this part, which is near the end of the chappy:
Shadow faces the audience. "Oh, yes! God bless us every one!"
Okay? Because from that part on, it explains what happens after the play and what they're going to do the next day. Now, start reading!
-----~*~-----
"DO YOU REMEMBER?!?!" yelled Tails.
"I remember, yes I do!!" Shadow sweatdropped.
"Great!" the kitsune waved at the audience and once again disappeared behind the curtains.
"Jeesh. Now, where art thou, Romeo? For blah blah blah, BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!"
"O___o;;" the audience and the cast stared at him.
"Oh sorry, wrong play. ^^;; Okay, so where am I?" Shadow looks around and gasps happily. "Yay!! I'm BACK in my room!! Oooh yeah! Yeah yeah yeah!! Live and Learn!! Hanging on the edge of tomorrow!" Suddenly, Shadow broke into song.
"Live and Learn!
From the works of yesterdaaay!!
Live and Learn!
If you beg or if you borrow!
Live and Learn!
You may never find your waaaaay- OUCH!! PAIN!!!"
Cried Shadow as he clutched his aching head.
"You deserved it!" I said, sheathing my sword.
"You didn't have to hit me so hard with the handle of your freakin' sword, man!!"
"Oh well. >:)" I walked back offstage.
"Jeez!!! So... what were my lines? EEP!!" the black and red hedgehog ducked just in time to dodge the flying hammer. "Where does she get all of those hammers anyway?!?!" I held up a bucket full of them and Shad fell over.
"GOD!!!"
Chaos runs in. "LEPER!! LEPER!! STAY THE WAY!! LEPER!! LEPER!! KEEP AWAY!!!" then he exits.
"o_O;; What a weird scene..."
Shadow looked up at the clock as it began to chime. "Eight... nine... ten... eleven... it can't be... twelve. Midnight? No. Not twelve... It can't be! I haven't slept the whole day through, have I? Twelve... yes, yes, twelve noon." Shadow hurries to the 'window' and looks out. "Black... twelve midnight..." He pauses. "I must get up. A day wasted. I must get down to the office..."
Two small chimes are heard.
"Quarter past? But it just ran twelve... STOP IT!!! YOU'RE HURTING MY BRAIN!!!!"
The audience stares at him. "O____O;;;"
"Sorry. Fifteen minutes haven't gone past, not so quickly."
Again, two small chimes are heard.
"Quarter to one? Weird!! Stupid time!! Wait... the spirit... It's to come at one...."
He hurries to his bed as the chimes ring again. "One. Holy crap."
---
The curtains close and Metal Sonic goes out and puts a sign that says: "Intermission." then he goes back backstage where the cast is celebrating.
"Yes!! Our first part completed!" said Sonic, happily jumping up and down.
"You screwed up so many lines, everyone!!" I scolded them. They looked down in shame and sadness but then I yelled, "GOOD JOB!!!"
Everyone screamed and high-fived each other.
"Can you believe the audience was laughing at some of the scenes?" asked Rouge in disbelief. "I didn't think that they'd laugh!"
"Me either!" answered Tikal.
"You play a good Bob Crap****, Knuckles!" Shadow commented, laughing. Knuckles was laughing too and slapped him on the back, HARD, causing Shadow to fall on the floor.
"THANKS, ultimate life form!" laughed Knuckles. Shadow sweatdropped on the floor. "No problemo..."
So, they all took a break for a brief 30 minutes. During those minutes, they got a small snack, got a drink, or rehearsed their lines. Shadow was sitting on a chair, eating a chocolate cupcake, looking at all his lines.
"Jeez.... why do I have to be Scrooge, so many liiines...." Sonic walked over to him and slapped him on the back while he took a bite of his cupcake.
"Great job, Shad!" said Sonic to his friend but then realized that Shadow was choking on his food. "Whoa!! Dude, you okay?!" He helped Shadow cough out the cupcake piece. "Oh, um, sorry Shadow, I didn't notice that you were eating something while I whacked ya..."
Shadow just narrowed his eyes at him and Sonic sweatdropped. "I said sorry!!"
"S'okay..."
"Anyway, whatcha' doing?"
"Looking at my lines..."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"... YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEEEEND!!!" yelled Sonic, hugging Shadow tightly.
"Um, thanks, I guess...." Shadow said. "NOW STOPPIT BEFORE SOMEONE SEES US AND MIGHT THINK DIFFERENTLY OF WHAT WE'RE DOING!!!"
"Too late, Shadsie." said Rouge, winking at them. Sonic let go.
"Sorry, I just wanted to hug someone." said Sonic.
"Why me?!" Shadow said.
"Because you're my best friend and you were the closest person at the time."
"Oh."
Rouge giggled. "Hedgehogs are weird."
"HEY!!" Amy said from behind her, surprising the bat.
"Sorry." then, Amy faced Sonic.
"Sonikku, if you wanted to hug someone, why didn't you go to me?" she winked at him.
"Because you annoy me!!"
"You know you want me, Sonic." Amy winked. Rouge backed away from her and Shadow raised an eyebrow. Amy giggled and skipped away, Rouge followed her.
"Hey Sonic, do you like Amy?" asked Shadow in a small voice.
"No!" Sonic said.
Shadow smirked. "Suuuuure you don't..."
"I don't 'like her-like her', Shadow!! Believe me!! ... But now that I think of it..."
"YOU LIKE HER!! YOU LIKE HER!!!"
"No I don't!! Um, I must go! Bye!" Sonic ran off.
"Don't worry buddy, I'll keep it a secret!!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
"O_o;;;"
"Guys, we're going back on in 10 minutes! Get ready!" I said, calling out to everyone.
"I guess I better get cleaned up..." Shadow tossed the cupcake wrapper into the trashcan and went to change into his costume again.
---
The audience was back in their seats after the intermission, and just in time too. The lights brightened to reveal Shadow sitting on his bed, staring blankly at the clock. He continued where he left off.
"One."
In a sweep of wind, the first spirit appears. Amy Rose is dressed like the little girl's doll.
Shadow stares at Amy. "Are you the spirit whose coming was foretold to me?"
"I am." Amy replied.
"Nice costume."
"Thanks, Shadow!"
"Who and what are you?"
"I am the Ghost of Christmas Past."
"Long past?"
"No no, your past."
"I have a past?" Amy smacks him across the head. "Sorry!!" said Shadow. "Why are you here?"
"Because it says on the script."
"Cool!!"
Sonic stared at Amy in her doll costume while she and Shadow were doing the scene.
'Wow, she looks pretty... wait, what are you thinking, Sonic?! She's Amy Rose!! The girl whose been aggravating you for the past I-have-no-idea years!! I can't like her!! She's annoying... but then... she can be sweet at times... Shadow might be right...'
He watched as Shadow grasped her hand tightly. Sonic silently growled in envy.
"Where are we going, spirit?" asked Shadow, still holding onto Amy's hand.
"We're going... INTO THE PAST!!"
"YAY!!!"
The lights dim and Shadow and Amy run off the stage. The Stage Crew moves the scenery around again and the lights brighten. The two walk into the scene, which is a street with a bunch of kids talking.
Two boys greet each other. "Halloo, Jack!" says an extra.
"Ben! Merry Christmas, Ben!" says another extra.
Shadow gasps. "Jack Walton! Young Jack Walton. Spirits...?"
"Have a good holiday, Jack!"
"Yes, yes, I remember him." says Shadow, continuing, "Both of them. Little Ben Benjamin. He used to..."
"See you next term, Jack. Next... term..." repeats the extra. He and the other man walk offstage.
Shadow whispered, "They... they're off for the holidays and going home from school. It's Christmas time... all of the children off home now... No... no, not all... there was one..."
Amy motions for Shadow to turn, and he sees a young boy playing with a teddy bear and talking to it.
"Whoa, is that boy retarded or something? He's talking to an inanimate object!"
"Dude Shadow," Amy started, "That's your younger self!!!"
"Oh yeah!!!" Amy fell over.
"Jeez!!"
"What were my lines?" Amy shoves a huge stack of papers towards his chest. He flips to that particular scene and reads over it. "Oh yeah!!" Shadow a-hems and throws the stack of papers over his shoulder and backstage. "Yes... reading... poor boy."
Amy looked at him confused. "What, I wonder?"
"Reading? Oh it was nothing. Fancy, all fancy and make-believe and take-me-away. All of it. Yes, nonsense."
"Take me away? Did someone kidnap you while you were a child, Shadow? I mean, Scrooge?"
"Amy, that wasn't in the script!"
"I know that!! But I wanna know!!!" she looked up to Shadow with puppy dog eyes. Shadow stared at her then sighed.
"Aww, crap!! Don't ever make that face, you know I can't handle it!!!" Amy continued making her cute, wanting-to-know face.
"Oh fine!!! OF COURSE I DIDN'T GET KIDNAPPED WHILE I WAS A KID!! I was living in SPACE for crying out loud!"
Amy squealed in delight. "Yes! I always get what I want with that face!"
Shadow rolled his eyes. "You know that face only works on me."
"I know! And I want everything from you!"
"O_O That sentence sounded weird..."
"Now that I think of it, yeah it does..."
Sonic was infuriated at their closeness. "SHADOW!!! HURRY UP WITH THE FRIGGIN' PLAY!!!!! NO ONE NEEDS TO KNOW HOW CLOSE YOU AND AMY ARE!!!!!" he screamed from backstage.
"o______O;;;" Shadow and Amy stared at Sonic.
"Um, dude, girl, I think he likes you..." whispered Shadow to Amy. She giggled happily.
"AND STOP WHISPERING THOSE SWEET NOTHINGS TO HER, SHADOW!!!" he continued yelling.
"o_O;;"
"Sonikku!! You like me, dontcha'?"
"o.o..." the blue hedgehog slunk even farther backstage, but was still watching the play, glaring at Shadow.
"o_O Dang!! Let's continue before he goes rabid and starts attacking me..." Shadow suggested.
"I agree. Where were we?"
The small Shadow clone, which played as Child Scrooge, spoke up. "It's my turn now!" he said with Amy's voice.
"o_O;; DUDE!!" Amy pointed her finger at the small Shadow. "An exact imitation of my voice!!!"
"^____^"
The Shadow fangirls gasped in the audience. "AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!! HOW CUUUUUUUUUTE!!! KAWAIIIIIIIIIII!!!" they squealed, staring at the small child Shadow clone. He smiled cutely.
Amy and Shadow turned to face him. The small Shadow ahemed. "Ali Baba."
"O___o;;;" Amy raised an eyebrow.
"Yes... that was it..." murmured Shadow.
"Yes, and remember... and remember... remember Robinson Crusoe?" asked Child Shadow.
"And the parrot!!"
"Yes, the parrot! I love him best."
Shadow imitated the parrot. "With his stripy green body and yellow tail drooping along and couldn't sing-AWK-but could talk, and a thing like a lettuce growing out the top of his head... and he used to sit on the very top of the tree-up there."
"And Robinson Crusoe sailed around the island, and he thought he had escaped the island, and the parrot said, the parrot said..."
Shadow imitated the parrot again. "Robinson Crusoe, where you been? AWK!!! Robinson Crusoe, where you been?"
"And Robinson Crusoe looked up in the tree and saw the parrot and knew he hadn't escaped and he was still there, still all alone there."
"Poor Robinson Crusoe."
"Poor Robinson Crusoe."
"Sheesh, even as a kid Shadow's still weird!" Amy whispered.
"Poor child. Poor child." says Shadow.
"Why poor? asked Amy.
"Fancy... fancy... It's his way, a child's way to... to lose being alone in... in dreams, dreams... Never matter if they are all nonsense, yes, nonsense. But he'll be all right, grow out of it. Yes. Yes, he did outgrow it, the nonsense. Became a man and left there, and yes, and he became, yes, and he became a man and... yes, successful... rich!!"
"Are you delirious?!" asked Amy, tired of seeing Shadow repeat himself.
"No... no, I don't think so... no, no, no I'm not.... I don't think so... don't think so..."
"O_o;;"
Rouge runs in and goes to Child Shadow.
Shadow gasped. "Fan! It's Fan, my beloved sister!"
"Brother, dear brother!" says Rouge, kissing Child Shadow on the cheek.
"Dear, dear Fan!" replies Child Shadow. "Wait, how am I related to you? You're a bat and I'm a hedgehog!"
"Oh, um... adoption?"
"Oh okay!!"
Shadow and Amy sweatdrop.
"But anyway, I've come to bring you home, home for good and ever. Come with me, come now." Rouge takes Child Shadow's hand and they start to run off when Amy stops them and signals for the light on them to fade. They look at the First Spirit, Amy.
"Let me watch them go? Let them be happy for a moment!!" cried Shadow. Amy says nothing and Shadow turns away. "A delicate, delicate child. A breath might have withered her..."
"She died a woman and had, as I remember, children." Amy says.
".... One child..."
"Your nephew."
"Yes, yes, Fred, my nephew. We-"
"Wait, wait, hold on a minute!!"
"What is it?"
Amy put on a thoughtful look on her face. "Fan is your sister... and she's a bat... and she had a kid... Fred... who is.... A... pure hedgehog.... o_O;;;"
"o_o;; I never noticed that."
"You've got a weird family." Amy ducked in time to avoid Shadow's swing. "Wow!! You attack girls too?!"
"Only girls that know how to dodge and attack."
"Oh. But still, you've got a weird family." Amy back flipped her way out of Shadow's kick.
"See?" Shadow continued, "You're pretty..."
Amy smiled. "Thanks."
"Pretty ugly!!" Shadow side jumped in time to dodge Amy's high kick.
"WOO!! KUNG-FOO!!!" yelled a man from the audience. People stared at him. "Sorry." a shoe flew towards him and hit him in the head. "OOOH, I WILL GET YOU FOR THIS, MAURICE!!!"
More people stared at him.
"I'm sorry!! The pig made me do it!! The pig and the water bottle container! They did it!!"
"Will you shut up?!" Amy and Shadow yelled to him.
"AHHHHHH!!! EVIL MONKEY SPANKS OF DOOOOOM!!!!" the man ran out of the theater.
"Who knew that there could be someone as weird as you, Shadow!" Amy said, smirking. Shadow rolled his eyes.
"For a spirit who's trying to help me become a better man, you're no good!!"
"Sorry."
"It's okay. (ahem) Well? Well, all of us have that, haven't we? Childhoods? Sadness? But we grow and we become men, masters of ourselves."
Amy gestures for music to begin. Eggman, a teenage clone of Shadow, and a random walk to the stage.
"Yo ho, there! Ebenezer! Dick!" Eggman shouts, playing as Fezziwig.
Nack and some other immature people burst out laughing because of what Eggman said. He glares at them all and a hammer whacks Nack, shutting him up. The others shut up too.
Shadow and Amy sweatdropped. "Fezziwig!" said Shadow happily. "It's old Fezziwig that I 'prenticed under!"
"Your master?" Amy asks.
"Oh, aye, and the best that any boy could have. There's Dick Wilkins! Bless me. He was very much attached to me was Dick. Poor Dick. Dear, dear."
By now, Amy was giggling like crazy and people in the audience were laughing out loud.
"Hey!!" shouts Shadow, "I'm serious!! But who in the right mind would name their child "Dick"?! No offense to all the people out there though."
"NONE TAKEN!!" says a man from the audience.
"..."
Eggman continues his lines. "Yo ho, my boys! No more work tonight. CHRISTMAS EVE, DICK!!!!!! Christmas, Ebenezer! Let's have the shutters up before a man can say Jack Robinson!"
"What's with all the Robinsons in this play?!" Amy yelled.
Decorations were hung as more extras entered and started dancing at Eggman's Christmas Party. Young Shadow, the teenage clone of the original Shadow, calls out to Eggman...
"Mr. Fezziwig, sir, you're a wonderful master!"
"A wonderful master!" says Shadow and Young Shadow.
"A wonderful master!!" echoes Shadow. "Wonderfulwonderfulwonderfulwonderfulwonderfulwonderfulwonderfulwonderfulwonderful!!!" Amy fell over.
The music suddenly changes and a few people exit the stage, leaving some other people to dance.
Amy spoke up. "Just because he gave a party? It was very small."
"Small!" said Shadow.
"What about small?"
"I don't know. Jeez, nothing makes sense here!!!"
"Oh well, just follow the lines before- (a flying hammer comes from backstage and Amy and Shadow dodge it.) Nevermind. Just follow your lines!!"
"Yes sir!!" Amy glared at him.
"He spent a few pounds of your "mortal" money, three, four at the most. Is that so much that he deserves this praise?"
"But it wasn't the money. He had the power to make us happy, to make our service light or burdensome."
Eggman is laughing jolly-like in the center of the stage. o_O;;
Eggman: *laughs jollilie-like*
"o_O;;" Amy and Shadow... said... (shrug)
The pink hedgehog turned to Shadow. "What's with the script form?" The ultimate life form shrugged and adjusted his glasses.
"Oh well. The happiness he gives is quite as great as if it cost a fortune. That's what... a good master is."
"Yes?" Amy asks.
"What?"
"Who?"
"Why?"
"What?!"
"No, no, nothing."
Amy sighed. "Something, me thinks."
"Me thinks?" Shadow asks.
"Yesh."
"I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now, that's all."
"But this is all past. Your clerk, Cratchit... Knuckles... couldn't be here."
"No, no, of course not, an idle thought. Are we done yet?"
"Nearly." Amy motions for the waltz to begin. Shadow hears the music and remembers it.
"Surely it's enough! Haven't you tormented me enough?!"
"No Scrooge, nothing is enough to torment you." Amy grins and Shadow sighs. He sees Young Ebenezer dancing with his Sweetheart, Rouge.
"o_O;; Wait, wasn't she my daughter?"
"O.O YOUR DAUGHTER?!?!?!" Amy yelled.
"OH NO, I MEANT MY SISTER!!!!"
"Oh yeah. Um, no, no, she wasn't your sister!" Amy said.
"But I'm sure she was.... same white-grayish fur, purple wings..."
"Shadow!! You KNOW Rouge plays two parts!!"
"Yeah, I know! ^___^"
"-_-;; But anyway, I only show the past, what it promised you. Look. Another promise." She points at Rouge and Young Shadow.
"A promise that I was to wed with my sister?" Amy whacked Shadow HARD across the head.
"STOP THAT!!!!!!" Amy yelled.
"I'm sorry mommy!!!!"
"-_-+++;;;;;"
"Oh. Oh, yes. I had forgotten... her. Don't they dance beautifully? So young, so young. I would have married her if only..."
Rouge looked at Young Shadow lovingly. "Can you love me, Ebenezer? I bring no dowry to my marriage, only me, only love. It is no currency that you can buy and sell with, but we can live with it. Can you?" Rouge pauses, then she returns the ring Young Shadow gave her as his pledge.
"I release you, Ebenezer, for the love of the man you once were. Will that man win me again, now that he is free?"
Shadow tries to speak to Rouge. "If only you had held me to it. You should not have let me go. I was young; I did love you."
Rouge ignores Shadow who is beside her because of him and Amy being spirits and everything. She talks to Young Shadow. "We have never lied to one other... may you be happy in the life you have chosen... good-bye!!" Rouge runs out as Young Shadow slowly leaves.
Shadow watches sadly as the two separate. "No, no, it was not meant that way...!"
Amy sighs. "You cannot change now what you would not change then. I am your mistakes, Ebenezer Scrooge, all of the things you could have done and did not."
"Then leave me!!" yells Shadow, "I have done them. I shall live with them. As I have, as I do; as I will!"
"There is another Christmas, seven years ago, when Tails died."
"TAILS DIED?!?!" Sonic shouted backstage. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"
"Sonic-kun, I'm right here." says Tails from beside him.
"OH TAILS!! I MISSED YOU!!!!" Sonic scoops Tails into a tight hug.
"^^;;;"
Amy sweatdropped. "Oops. I meant that when Marley died."
"No! I will not see it. I will not! He died... I could not prevent it!! I did not choose for him to die of Christmas Day!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! JACOB MARLEY!! I MISS YOOOUUUUUU!!!!!" cried Shadow, dropping down on his knees and sobbing wildly. Amy fell over, got up, and pulled him back up.
"And when his day was chosen, what did you do then?"
"I looked after his affairs."
"I DID NOT HAVE AN AFFAIR!!!!" yelled Tails from backstage. Everyone in the entire theater sweatdropped.
"His business." Amy continued.
"Yes! His business! Mine!!" Shadow said.
"Greedy rat."
"Why is everyone calling me a greedy rat?!?!"
"Because Scrooge really IS a greedy rat!!"
"Oh okay! It was all that I had, all that I could do in this world, nothing to do with the world to come after."
"Then I will leave you."
"Not yet!! Don't leave me here! Tell me what I must do! What of the other spirits."
"They will come..."
"And you? What of you?"
"I am always with you."
"Aww.... gimme a hug!!!"
"Okay!!"
Amy and Shadow embrace each other for a while. Sonic is offstage, obviously angry because Mighty and Vector were holding him back from beating the living crap out of Shadow.
"LEMME GO!! LEMME GO!!!" yelled Sonic, trying to escape their hold of him.
"No way Sonic, you're gonna rip Shadow to pieces!!" Vector said.
"Well, DUH!!!"
"^^;;;"
Onstage...
Amy and Shadow finally let go of each other.
The pink hedgehog smiled. Sally, the little girl, appears with her doll. Amy slowly walks backstage. Sally takes Shadow's hand and gently leads him to the bed. Shadow sits upright in bed as Sally walks away.
"A minute until one. No one here. No one's coming."
A larger clock strikes one. A light comes on. Shadow becomes aware of it and goes slowly to it. He sees the second spirit, the Spirit of Christmas Present, who is wearing a Christmas robe and looks like Fezziwig.
"Fezziwig!!" Shadow gasps.
"Hello, Shadow. I MEAN, Scrooge!" says Eggman.
"But you can't be... not Fezziwig."
"Do you see me as him?"
"I do."
"And hear me as him?"
"I do."
"Well.... I'M NOT HIM!!!! AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!!" Eggman points at Shadow, throws his head back and laughs.
";___;"
"But anyway, I wish I were the gentlemen, so as not to disappoint you."
"But you're not...?"
"I JUST SAID IT YOU MORON!!!"
"But...."
"You see what you will see, Scrooge, no more. Will you walk out with me this Christmas Eve?"
"But I am not yet dressed! I'm in my friggin' nightgown for Sonic's sake!!"
"What about my sake?" asks Sonic backstage. Thud. ("You talk too much, sheesh," murmured the author’s voice from backstage.)
"o_O;;;"
"Err, anyway, take my tails, dear boy, we're leaving." Eggman continued.
"Wait!"
"What is it now?!"
"Christmas Present, did you say?"
"I did."
"Then we are traveling here? In this town? London? Just down there?"
"-_- No, we're gonna go ALLLLL the way to China!!!"
"OH JOY!!!" Eggman smacked him across the head.
"IDIOT!!! We're gonna stay here, of course!"
Shadow clutched his head. "So many brain cells have been killed today...."
"-_-;;"
"But anyway, then we could walk? Your flying is... well, too sudden for an old man. Well?"
"It's your Christmas, Scrooge; I am only the guide."
"Then we can walk?" Eggman nods. "YAY!!!! Where are you guiding me?"
"Bob Cratchit's."
"Knuckles? My clerk?"
"You did want to talk to him?" Shadow pauses. "Ah nevermind. You wouldn't have to anyways."
"'Kay!"
Lights dim, scenery changes, and the two walk over to Bob Cratchit's house. They see Mrs. Cratchit, Tikal, tucking in her 'children'.
"To sleep now, all of you. Christmas tomorrow." She kisses them and goes to Knuckles, who is by the hearth. "How did our little Tim behave?"
Knuckles answers, "As good as gold and better. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in church because he was a cripple and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day who made the lame to walk and the blind to see."
"Wow, good job Knux!" Tikal commented. "You are a great actor."
"Thanks."
"He's a good boy." Tikal smiles. Eggman and Shadow enter and Tikal feels a sudden draft. "Oh, the wind." she gets up to shut the door.
"Hurry up, Scrooge!" Eggman said, pulling Shadow into the 'house'. Unfortunately, he didn't pull hard enough because Tikal shut the door at Shadow's face.
"HEY!!"
"Um, sorry!!" Tikal opened the door and let Shadow in. Eggman sweatdropped.
"Hardly hospitable is what I'd say." says Shadow. Tikal flashes a cheesy grin.
Eggman smirked. "Oh, they'd say a great deal more, Scrooge, if they could see you."
"You mean they can't see me?"
Tikal whacked his head. "Oh, I saw a fly. A big one indeed." Knuckles gave her thumbs up, Eggman snickered, and Shadow, once again, clutched his head.
"Grr... oh, they should, should they??" Shadow asked, glaring at Tikal who sat down in a rocking chair. She grinned.
"Oh yes, I'd think they might. ^^" Eggman replied.
"Well, I might have a word for them..."
"You're here to listen, baka."
"-_-;; Oh. Oh yes, all right. By the fire?"
"You want me to push you into the fire?"
"NO!!!"
"Oh. But anyway, yeah, by the fire. But not a word."
Knuckles raises his glass. "My dear, to Mr. Scrooge. I give you Mr. Scrooge, the founder of the feast."
Tikal looked at Knuckles surprisingly. "The founder of the feast indeed!! I wish I had him here! I'd give him a piece of my mind to feast upon, and I hope he'd have a good appetite for it!"
"My dear, 'tis Christmas Eve!"
"It should be Christmas Eve, I'm sure, when one drinks the health of such an odious, stingy, hard, UNFEELING man as Mr. Scrooge. You know he is, Robert! Nobody knows it better than you do, poor dear."
"You forgot greedy rat."
"Oh yeah, that too."
Shadow glared at them both. "Why those little..." Eggman held him back and repeated the words of Knuckles.
"'Tis Christmas Eve!"
"Oh all right. -_-;;"
Knuckles smirked at Shadow but then continued. "I only know one thing on Christmas: that one must be charitable."
"I'll drink to his health for your sake and the day's, not for his. Long life to him!! A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. He'll be very merry and very happy, I have no doubt."
"If he cannot be, we must be happy for him. A song is what is needed. Tim!"
"Shush, I've just gotten all of them to sleep!! What, do you want to ruin their peaceful dreams?! WHAT KIND OF FATHER ARE YOU?!?!?!?"
"o_o;;"
"Was that in the script?"
"Uh, no."
"Oh... sorry. I got carried away. ^^;; He needs all the sleep he can get."
"If he's asleep on Christmas Eve, I'll be much mistaken. Tim! He must sing, dear; there is nothing else that might make him well."
"But wouldn't that make his throat sore?"
"... Oh yeah."
Tikal fell over. "Hehe..."
Tails walks in anyway. "Yes, Father?"
"Whoa!! It's Marley!!!"
"... I play Tiny Tim too."
"Oh yeeeeeaaaaaeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaeah."
"...'kaaay..."
Knuckles looks at Tails. "Are you awake?"
Tails rolled his eyes. "No, I'm sleepwalking."
"A song then!!"
"O_O;;"
All the children get up and the Cratchit family sings a song with their horrible, HORRIBLE, voices.
"LALALALALALALALA!!!
LALALALALALA!!!
LALALA!!!
LA!!!
LALALALALA!!!
LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! LA!
LALALALLA-"
Shadow raises his hand. "I HAVE SEEN AND HEARD ENOUGH!!!!!" the Cratchit family stops singing. Eggman lowers his hands from his ears and lights dim.
Scenery changes.
Actors scurry off the stage.
You know the whole bit.
Lights brighten, showing Shadow and Eggman standing in the street.
"Tiny Tim... will he live?" Shadow asked sadly.
Eggman sighed, shaking his head. "He is very ill. Even song cannot keep him whole through a cold winter."
"But you haven't told me!!"
"Told you what?" Shadow shrugs.
Eggman imitates Shadow earlier. "If he be like to die, he had better do it and decrease the surplus population." Shadow turns away. "Erase, Scrooge, those words from your thoughts. You are not the judge, then. It may be that in the sight of heaven you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. Oh God!"
Shadow raises an eyebrow.
Dr. Robotnik continued. "To hear an insect on a leaf pronouncing that there is too much life among his hungry brothers in dust. Good-bye, Shadow- er, Scrooge."
"But is there no happiness in Chismas?"
"o_O Don't you mean CHRISTMAS?"
"Oh yah."
"There is."
"Take me to the happiness."
"It is at the home of your nephew, Sonic- Erm, Fred!"
Shadow wrinkled his face in disgust. "No!"
This time, Eggman wrinkled his face in disgust with Shadow. "Then there is none."
"But that isn't enough... You must teach me!"
"Would you have a teacher, Scrooge? Look at your own words."
Shadow pouted. "But the first spirit gave me more...!"
"She was Christmas Past. There was a lifetime she could choose from. I have only this day, one day, and you, Scrooge. I have nearly lived my fill of both. Christmas Present must be gone at midnight. That is near now."
Eggman speaks to two beggar children and they rush to his side. Shadow looks at the kids.
"??"
"They are real. Hunger, Ignorance. Not spirits, Scrooge, passing dreams. Blahblahblahblahblah, and I don't remember the rest. Come on, children."
Eggman leads them off the stage while the lights dim and you know what happens.
Shadow sits on his bed. "Uh oh, the third spirit... the mystery guest!!! Yay!!!"
The clock strikes midnight and a tall figure cloaked in a black cloak stands- er, floats near him.
"o_O;;; Who are you?"
"..."
"No, I mean, who ARE you? As in, are you Sonic? Are you Big? Are you L-Gurl?"
The figure shakes its head.
"o_o Weird."
(A/N: By the way, I want the third spirit's round to be very quick and short so I can get this over with. So don't complain to me about how short the third spirit's scene is cuz I know already.)
Shadow and the cloaked figure run offstage as the stage crew changes the scenery. The lights brighten and show the side of Shadow's house.
"What's this?" asks Shadow. He and the spirit look into the window to see Linzy, Metal Sonic and I.
Linzy grins. "He ain't about, is he?"
I, the charwoman, laugh. Linzy the cook continues. "Poor 'ol Scrooge 'as met 'is end."
I laughed evilly. "An' time for it, too; ain't been alive in deed for half his life."
"But the Sparsit's nowhere, is he...?"
Metal Sonic emerges from the darkness. "Lookin' for someone, ladies?" Linzy shrieks but I treat the matter more practically, anticipating competition from Metal.
"There ain't enough but for the two of us!"
"More 'an enough..." Metal grinned. "If you know where to look."
"Hardly decent is what I'd say, hardly decent, the poor old fella hardly cold and you're thievin' his wardrobe." Linzy said.
"You're here out of love, are ya?" said Metal.
I rolled my eyes. "There's no time for that." Metal acknowledges Shadow for the first time, gesturing toward him as if the living Shadow were the corpse. Shadow stands as if rooted to the spot, held by the power of the spirit.
"He ain't about to bother us, is he?" asked Metal.
I smirked. "Ain't he a picture?"
Linzy snickered. "If he is, it ain't a happy one." All three laugh.
Metal bowed and held his hand out towards the "dead" Shadow clone on the bed, extending his arm out to it. "Ladies, shall we start?" he said jokingly. "Cook?"
"They're gold, ain't they?" asked Linzy as she snatched the cuff links from the shirt Shadow wears.
"The purest, madam."
I reached out and took the nightcap from Shadow's head. "I always had a fancy for that nightcap of his. My old man could use it."
Metal removes Scrooge's outer garment, the coat or cloak that he has worn in the previous scenes. "Bein' a man of more practical tastes, I'll go for the best and hope the smell ain't permanent. Cook, we go round again."
"Do you think that little bell he's always ringing at me is silver enough to sell?" The three of them move towards the nightstand, and Shadow cries out.
"No more! No more!" As the spirit directs Shadow's attention to the tableau of the three thieves standing poised over the silver bell, Shadow bursts out of the house clad only in his nightshirt. "I cannot, I cannot. The room is... too like a cheerless place that is familiar. I won't see it. Let us go from here. Anywhere."
The cloaked figure directs his attention to the Cratchit house; the children are sitting together near Tikal, Mrs. Cratchit., who is sewing a coat. Espio, who plays Peter, reads by the light of the coals.
"Past it, I think, but he walks slower then he used to, these last few days, Mother."
Tikal sighs. "I have known him to walk with... I have known him to walk with Tiny Tim upon his shoulder very fast indeed. But he was very light to carry and his father loved him, so that it was no trouble, no trouble." She hears Knuckles approaching. "Smiles, everyone, smiles."
Knuckles enters. "My dear, Peter..." he greets the other children. "How is it coming?"
Handing him the coat, Tikal says, "Nearly done."
"Yes, good, I'm sure that it will be done long before Sunday."
"Sunday! You went today then, Robert?"
"Yes. It's... it's all ready. Two o' clock. And a nice place. It would have done you good to see how green it is. But you'll see it often. I promised him that, that I would walk there on Sunday... often."
"We mustn't hurt ourselves for it, Robert."
"No. No, he wouldn't have wanted that. Come now. You won't guess who I've seen. Scrooge's nephew, Fred. And he asked after us and said he was heartily sorry and to give his respect to my good wife. How he ever knew that, I don't know."
"Knew what, my dear?"
"Why, that you were a good wife."
"Everybody knows that." says Espio. Tikal smiles at him.
"I hope they do," Knuckles says, "'Heartily sorry,' he said, 'for your good wife and if I can be of service, to you in any way-' and he gave me his card- 'that's where I live' -and Peter, I shouldn't be at all surprised if he got you a position."
"Only hear that, Peter!" Tikal says.
"And then you'll be keeping company with some young girl and setting up for yourself."
"Oh, go on," said Espio.
"Well, it will happen, one day," Knuckles says. "... But remember, when that day has come- as it must -we must none of us forget poor Tiny Tim and this first parting in our family."
Knuckles, Tikal and Espio bow their heads in sorrow.
Shadow gasped. "He died! No, no!" Shadow steps back and runs offstage. The spirit goes offstage too and all becomes dark.
A light focuses on the cloaked spirit figure and Shadow. The black and red hedgehog tries to talk to the spirit.
"Because he would not... no! You cannot tell me that he has died, for that Christmas has not come! I will not let it come! I will be there... It was me. Yes, yes, and I knew it and couldn't look. I won't be able to help. I won't. (pause)
"Spirit, hear me. I am not the man I was. I will not be that man that I have been for so many years. Why show me all of this if I am past all hope? Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me. Let the boy live! I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The spirits of all three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.
"Oh, tell me that I am not too late!!"
Blackout. Figures are seen moving in the dark and colliding with each other because it was so dark. ^_^;; The lights brighten. Shadow is in his 'room', tossing and turning under the covers of his bed.
"No, no.... he died... AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Shadow bolted out of his bed. "A... dream? No, it can't be a dream! It was real! The spirits did it all in one night!! Ooooaaahhh!!!" he leaps from his bed and to his window. "HALLO DOWN THERE!!!"
The boy, Bean, looks up. "Eh?"
"What's the day, my fine fellow?"
"Today?"
"Today!"
"Today?"
"Today!"
"Today? Why, Christmas Day!"
"It's Christmas Day! I haven't missed it!! Yay!! Hallo, my fine fellow!" shouts Shadow, overly happy.
"Hallo!!!!" Bean yells back.
"Do you know the poulterers in the next street at the corner?"
"I should hope I do."
"An intelligent boy. A remarkable boy. Do you know whether they've sold the prize turkey that was hanging up there? Not the little prize; the big one."
"What, the one as big as me?"
"What a delightful boy! Yes, my bucko!"
"It's hanging there now."
"It is? Go and buy it!!"
"G'wan!!"
"What? Guacamole?"
"The script, yo yo!"
"STOP TRYING TO BE A WANNABE OF ME!!" shouted Knuckles backstage. Thunk. "OWWW, PAAIINN!!!"
"o_O;;" both Shadow and Bean sweatdropped.
"Anyway," Shadow continued, "I'm in earnest!"
Bean sighs. "GOOD FOR YOU!!" Shadow throws a bag full of 'money' to Bean.
"JUST BUY THE STUPID TURKEY!!"
"YESSHIR!!" Bean runs offstage. He and Vector, the butcher, are carrying a large turkey. Shadow smiles at them and throws both of them bags of money. "Bring that turkey to Bob Cratchit's house! And don't tell him who sent it!" Vector and Bean nod and run off.
Shadow dresses himself up and leaves the stage. Lights dim, scenery changes, and Shadow comes back onstage with his clothes on. He passes by Big.
"My dear sir, how do you do?" Shadow asks.
"... Mr. Scrooge?" Big asks in disbelief, surprised at Shadow's kindness.
"Yes, that's my name and I fear it may not be pleasant to you. Allow me to ask your pardon, and will you have the goodness to add this (throws Big a purse) to your good work!"
"Lord bless me! My dear Mr. Scrooge, are you serious?"
"Yeah!"
"Dude!! I don't know what I can say to such generosity..."
"Say nothing! Accept it. Come and see me. Will you come and see me?"
"I will."
"Thanks! I am much obliged to you. I thank you fifty times. God bless you and Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas to you, sir!"
Shadow runs to the street while Big exits. "Now which is the way to that nephew's house. Girl! Girl!"
Sally appears immediately. "Yes sir?"
"Can you find me a taxi, miss?"
"I can, sir." Sally rings her doll and a coachman appears.
Shadow hands Mighty, the coachman, a card. "Can you show me the way to this home?"
"I can, sir." Mighty replies.
"Good man. Come up, girl." Sally and Shadow climb into the taxi. "Would you be an old man's guide to a Christmas dinner?"
"I would, sir, and God bless you!"
"Yes, God bless us! Driver, to Christmas!" they exit. Blackout. The lights come up for the finale at Fred's (Sonic's) house. The Cratchits are there with Tiny Tim. All stop moving and stare at Shadow in the center.
"Well, I'm very glad to be here at my nephew's house!" he starts to fake cry and sobs at Sonic's feet. "MY DEAR NEPHEW!!!" he hugs Sonic.
"Uuhmm... ^^;;;"
"Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!" Shadow shouts.
"Merry Christmas." everybody says softly. They sing Deck The Halls and Shadow puts Tails on his shoulder.
Tails shouts as the carol ends. "God bless us, everyone one!"
Shadow faces the audience. "Oh, yes! God bless us every one!"
The curtain close and loud claps, whistles, and screams are heard from the audience. The cast knew they did a great job. Suddenly, Metal Knuckles runs in on the stage in front of the screaming audience.
"HEY!! NOT FAIR!!! I DIDN'T GET A PART!!! YOU SAID I'D GET A PART!!!! WHY DON'T I HAVE A PART?!?!"
Sonic and Knuckles spot him first and run on the stage. They lift Metal Knuckles up and carry him offstage, sweatdropping.
The curtains re-open and the entire cast of A Christmas Carol - Sonic Style is standing there.
More louder claps and whistles are heard from the audience. The cast is standing there, in a row, holding hands, bowing and smiling broadly.
Shadow turns to Sonic who was to his left. "That was so cool!!"
"I know!" replied the blue hedgehog.
Amy, who was on Shadow's right, turned to look at Sonic. "Sonic, did you think I did a good job?"
"Totally!"
"YAY!!!" she pushes Shadow aside and glomps Sonic right there. Shadow blinks and gives Sonic thumbs up. The emerald-eyed hero grins stupidly.
"Oooh, Kodak moment!!" Knuckles whipped out his camera and took an instant snapshot of Amy and Sonic. This time, Sonic didn't mind at all.
Note that this all happens right onstage, in front of the audience. ^^;;;
"Sonic, I'm so glad you suggested doing this play!" winked Rouge. "All of us had a blast!"
"Hey," said Sonic, winking back, "it wasn't my idea."
"Really? Who's idea was it?"
Eggman sighed. "Rouge, and I thought you were smart." The bat glared at the egg-shaped man. "Who else can it be? It was L-Gurl!!"
"Whoa!" everyone fell over.
"Yep, it was indeed L-Gurl's idea. She thought it would be fun!" smiled Sonic. "She only told me though because she thought that any of you other guys would spoil it until the right time."
"Hey!! But, I'm her muse!!" Shadow said, tilting his head. Sonic smirked.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that you can keep a secret."
"HEY!!" the two hedgehogs started chasing each other on set, laughing like they had no cares in the world. Which was true during that moment.
"You guys were REMARKABLE!!!" I said, stepping out into the stage. The entire cast came running towards me with huge grins.
"THE DIRECTOOOOOORRR!!!!" they yelled. "AND THE PERSON WHO HAD THIS IDEA IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" I started running for my life. "NO GLOMPING!!! NO GLOMPING!!!"
"WE LURVE YOOOUUUUU!!!"
"I HATE you!!" Metal Knuckles sobbed. "I didn't get a part!!"
"I have an idea for you!" I said, still running. "Go entertain the audience while I RUN FOR MY LIFE!!!"
"OKAY!!" Metal Knuckles goes out to the audience and starts entertaining them.
"... 'kay!! Now, where was I? Oh yah... AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" I screamed. Suddenly, I realized something and turned to face them, my palm up. They stopped instantly.
"I LOVE author powers!!"
"^____^"
"Now people, go to your rooms and have a good nights' rest! You deserve it!" I told them. The cast nodded and turned around. "Oh, wait! Sonic, Shadow, Amy, Tikal, Knuckles, Rouge, Tails and Eggman, follow me to my room."
The main Boredom characters nodded and followed me to deck 12, room D123.
"Jeesh, your room is still as big as ever!" Rouge said.
"I know! ^_____^"
They followed me to the huge bed and sat on the edge again.
"Now, I wanted to talk to you guys about something-"
Shadow bursts out sobbing. "I KNOW, I KNOW I DID A BAD JOB!!! FORGIVE ME!!! I SHALL DO GOOD NEXT TIME!!!!" he crawled across the bed to me and hugged me, sobbing.
"o_o;;;"
"Shadow?" Sonic asked.
"STOP CRITICIZING ME!! I KNOW I SUCKED!!!" he squeezed me tighter.
"o______O;;;;"
"Shadow???" Sonic repeated.
"(sob)"
".____________________.;;;"
"SHADOW!!! L-GURL'S TURNING BLUE!!"
"I'M SORRY MOMMY!!!!" he lessened his grip on me.
"Phew!! I didn't want to talk about your performance. About tomorrow."
Rouge raised both eyebrows in interest. "Tomorrow?"
Tails smiled. "We're landing on an island tomorrow, right?"
"In Canada, not an island."
They all grinned. "WOO HOO!!!!"
I smiled. "Set your alarms to 6:00am."
"WHAT?!?!" everyone yelled.
Sonic blinked. "That's too early!!"
"No it is not, Sonikku. We arrive at the dock at 6am. When you guys wake up, you'll have an hour to take a shower, get ready, etc. Then, at 7am, we meet at the breakfast buffet. I'll be sitting on the first biggest table you see nearest to the entrance. 'Kay?"
Everyone blinked. "Um... yes?"
I sweatdropped. "All righty then! See ya tomorrow morning! Remember, 7am at the breakfast buffet!" I pushed everyone except Sonic19902 (he's my roommate, remember?) out. "G'night!" then I slammed the door close.
Everyone blinked once again. Knuckles coughed. "Okay, see ya tomorrow." He and Eggman walked to their room. Everybody nodded to each other and walked to their rooms. The two male hedgehogs SKIPPED to their room because they were moronic idiots.
-----~*~-----
Well, there you go!!! Sheesh, what a long chapter... took me a LONG TIME!!! Hope you enjoyed it. Bye bye!
~L-Gurl
P.S. - Finals are coming up... I must study... so the next chapter won't be out for a few weeks. I HATE FINALS!!! Don't you?