𝙰𝚙𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚎

      A few more days passed and it started to rain. It was raining all over the forest. Occasionally there was even a thunderstorm. Although no one in the village panicked, but was absolutely calm, since no one was afraid that they would drown, then in the forests, and even more so in the swamp, almost a real flood began, for the forests and jungle were a little lower, while the village was built on a small hill or knoll or something like that. A small cloud even fell over Shadow's house. It rained and rained and rained. And drip-drip-drip, and drip-drip-drip. The sky, the ground, and even the nag’s nest were wet. Even poor Sonic was scared, shivering from the dampness. Fortunately, they managed to leave the house and climb onto a small hummock, where it was dry. Fortunately, the rain finally stopped, but the water remained for now. It took a very long time to wait for her to slowly leave. — It's time to save our dinner. — the striped one said to himself and decided to go back into the slightly cold water. — Wait for me here! While Sonic was waiting for his foster daddy on the hill, Shadow quickly returned to the house, dived to the refrigerator, took out all the contents and immediately, without hesitation, hid them in his stomach. Finally, he also hid all his belongings from the first chest in his stomach, as well as from another in the attic, which fortunately the water did not reach. Afterwards he returned back to Sonic. The latter, without hesitation, took out a piece of paper and wrote down a note: “Help! Our forest is flooded and we are about to drown. Sonic and Shadow." Having finished writing it, he folded it into a bundle, put it in an empty glass bottle and threw it far into the water. The river slowly carried away that very bottle with the note towards the village, because Sonic knew this road. At that moment, Shadow returned to that same hummock and saw how the river carried that bottle away from them. — Why did you throw that bottle into the water? — Shadow didn’t understand why the kid allegedly littered. — What do you mean why? I wrote a note for help. Well, you never know. What if someone finds it, gets it, reads our request for help, comes running here and saves us so that we don’t drown. — Sonic explained. — A! — at first he made a noise, and then he smiled. Five seconds later, he then widened his eyes and asked: “Are you serious?” — Absolutely! And what? Don't we need help? — Needed, but not from people with Mobians. I thought the other nagas would save us. — Are there other nagas here? — I... I don’t know myself. I've been living here alone for a long time. — So why don’t you want one of the Mobians to save us? — Because I don't trust them. — As I. But now we have no other choice. — explained the little hedgehog. — Yes, why don’t you trust them? Does this have something to do with your parents? Shadow's eyes widened again. — How do you know that I had parents? — Sorry, dad. One day I climbed into your chests without your permission and noticed children's drawings. Are they yours? Shadow became thoughtful, spat out one of his drawings and looked at them, answering: — My. I looked like this a long time ago. — he pointed to his young self in that same drawing. — I had my beloved mom and dad. Mom loved me with all her heart and fattened me up. She even somehow wanted to devour me herself. I should have guessed earlier. It’s not for nothing that instead of regular water, she bathed me in a bathtub filled with ketchup or mayonnaise and put me to bed with an apple in my mouth. My father was strict. He always treated me rudely and punished me even for any little thing I did. But I still loved them, since they were still my parents. — And then what happened to them? — the little hedgehog asked. The snake was silent for a long time. He could hardly hold back his tears and didn’t want to talk about it, but apparently he’ll have to, since he’s asking. — They were killed by N. H. — N. H.? — Sonic didn’t understand, and Shadow explained: — Naga hunters. They attacked us in the forest, caught us and imprisoned us. into cells. My parents tried to escape, but they were immediately caught and then killed. I was left completely alone and already despairing, since I was young. I couldn't even escape on my own. I had to stay put and was kept in a cage for a long time. Some people and Mobians even pointed fingers at me, mocked me, and called me a freak. Only one of them looked at me with a smile and even regret, as I noticed. One beautiful girl with yellow hair. This is her doll and her hair ribbon. — the striped snake immediately spat out and showed Sonic the doll itself with a ribbon, which he also noticed in those chests. — She was the only one who saw in me not a monster or a freak, but rather an unfortunate animal who wanted to be free.

Many years ago

      A little striped snake lay in a cage and cried in the middle of the night. While one of the guards got distracted somewhere and ran to check who was whispering in the bushes, a blonde in a blue dress came out of other bushes. She approached the cage and addressed the snake. — Hello, baby! — she whispered to him and the naked man, hearing her, turned around. He didn't expect to see her and trembled a little. — Don't be afraid! I have come to free you! Do you want me to free you and take you away from here? The hedgehog-snake became thoughtful, looked around and smiled: — Yes. The guard was returning, but the girl managed to hide. She threw a stone somewhere towards a lamppost and the guard went there. At that time, the girl sneaked behind him, took the key to the cage and hid again. The security guard noticed that his keys were missing somewhere, so he bent down and started looking for them, thinking that he had dropped them on the ground. At this time, the girl quietly returned to the cage and opened it with the key. The little snake broke free, put the girl on his shoulders and crawled away from here as quickly as possible. The girl even showed him where to crawl in order to break away from a possible chase. While they were running away, the girl even pressed herself to the baby’s head, hugging him, which he was even happy about. Usually no one ever hugged him like that. They crawled to a small house in this very village and the girl hid the baby in her room at home. Her parents did not yet know that she had saved that snake-hedgehog and brought it home to them. Therefore, she decided not to show him to them, and also asked him to behave quietly and not to be seen by anyone. The kid agreed. Now he began to trust only her among people. When her parents came into her room to check on her, the baby snake himself hid under the bed at that time and did not make a sound, so as not to give himself away. The girl brought him food every day and played with him. Of course, she only brought him meat, because she knew that he was a predator. However, she herself was not afraid of him, as if she had known this snake for a long time and trusted him. In fact, she found him attractive, despite his creepy appearance. That is, this girl was the first, even before Sonic, who did not see in the striped mutant hedgehog a huge, scary and hungry creature, which many still mocked while he was in a cage at the zoo. On the contrary, a small and defenseless child. And also perhaps a future, large, strong and brave naga. The girl even introduced herself to him. Her name was Maria and she unfortunately suffers from a genetic disease, which is why her parents do not let her go outside without their personal supervision. Because of this, she always only goes out for a walk at night alone. And now she began to walk at night not alone, but with her new friend, who is not like everyone else. Maria showed the hedgehog-snake the night fireflies, butterflies, stars and other night beauty, as well as how many people and Mobians live throughout the village. After that night they returned home. Maria even allowed the striped naga to sleep in bed with her under a warm blanket that felt pleasant to the touch. Shadow even slightly raised his right hand in his sleep and hugged the girl by the shoulder. It seemed like they would live together happily ever after. But unfortunately this was not always the case. One night, the naga hunters themselves knocked on their house and their parents let them in. They received rumors that their daughter was secretly friends with that creature, went out with him at night when everyone was sleeping and kept him in her room. Maria fortunately overheard this conversation and reported that those hunters were coming here to kidnap him. The striped naga didn't want to go back to the zoo. Maria couldn’t think of anything except to open the window and ask her friend to crawl out through it, and then run away from here as far as possible. — Run! Crawl! Hide somewhere and don't catch anyone's eye! I'll try to delay them as long as I can. — she explained to the little snake. — Thank you. — he thanked her and was about to crawl away. — Wait! — she asked him to stop for a while and took one blue ribbon from her hair. — Here! Take it as a souvenir! And don't forget about me! The little snake took the ribbon into his palm and squeezed it in his fist so tightly so as not to throw it away or lose it. — I promise you, Maria. I will definitely come back to you. With these words, he crawled out the window and crawled out of the village into the forest. He hid somewhere there and began to live in the forest on his own. About three weeks passed. The future Shadow managed to settle down and settle down in the forest, made himself his own house inside one large and old tree in the swamp and began to live there. He still kept that same blue ribbon with him. Looking at her, he believed that sooner or later, when the naga hunters stopped hunting him, he would return to Maria and they would see each other again. One day he finally returned to the village. At the same time, he got hold of a gray robe with a hood somewhere and put it on. Now any person, as well as Mobians, who looked at him, perceived him as a Mobian. Thus, he calmly walked around the village and went to the house where Maria lived. There he met Maria's parents. They were kind of sad. They really didn’t know that stranger. The disguised naga introduced himself with his original name and said that he accidentally met her at night when she ran away from home and became friends with her. He came to visit her in the middle of the day. Maria's parents were glad to meet him and learn that such a big Mobian was friends with her, despite her unusual illness. This news was shocking for the naga, because Maria herself did not tell him that she was sick. It turned out that Maria had one disease that was inherited. Maria died about a week ago, unable to withstand the last day of her illness. They even took him to a wooden crucifix next to the hole. On the crucifix was a photograph of Mary. The parents also said that before her death, she personally confessed to them about her secret friend, who may sooner or later return for her to visit her. And he himself eventually came to them. She also asked to give him as a souvenir her favorite doll, which she played with as a child. At first Shadow cried himself and was sad, but then he calmed down. She at least gave him unforgettable and wonderful days with nights that he will never forget. — Thank you, Maria. — the baby says, smiling, through tears, taking the doll with him. Since then, he has kept not only a hair ribbon as a memory of Maria, but also her favorite doll.

The End of Memories

      Shadow finished it all: — She was the only one who saw me as a defenseless child, and not a huge and terrible monster. Since then I have kept her doll and that ribbon as a keepsake and have never forgotten about it. Maria Kuznetsotnik was a beautiful and kind person, and most importantly, the only one I could trust. I don't trust other people and Mobians at all. Well, except for you, of course, Sonic. You, too, are the only one at the moment who saw on me not a huge and terrible creature, but a large and brave naga. — Yes, dad. This is how I saw you when you saved me from those guys, and completely ate that bastard. — the hedgehog answered and waved his hand. — It serves him right! Shadow laughed. — And you yourself turn out to be quite cruel, young hedgehog. — he said jokingly and patted the hedgehog on the head. While they were chatting, they didn’t even notice that the water had already completely disappeared. There were indeed a few puddles left, but it didn’t matter. The water went away and they could return back to their home.