𝐖𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐠 𝐒𝐡𝐞-𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫

      Why?.. Why did he spare me and let me leave the forest alive and unharmed? These questions have been spinning in her head for a long time. Especially every night and every full moon, when she hears a wolf howl from the street, which is noticeably different from other wolf howls. All her thoughts were only about this hedgehog werehog. Who is he? Where is he from? Why did he settle in their forest and most importantly, when did he manage to do it? She remembered perfectly well how she was on the verge of death in front of his terrible muzzle and her whole life at that moment was transferred before her eyes in a second. Then it seemed that he was going to eat her now, but instead he only sniffed her and licked her, an obedient puppy. And then he left her there alone. After that, she was afraid to go into the forest for a long time and never went there again. She was afraid to run into him again and that this time he would definitely not spare her, but eat her. However, the questions tormented her even more. Whether she wanted it or not, she understood perfectly well that no matter what it was, she had to find out the answers to her questions. And for that, she would still have to go back to that very forest, at night and during the full moon. She never wanted to go back there, but she had to find out the answers to her questions, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to sleep at night and would suffer over this for eternity. — Amy! Amy! Amy! — Of course, Amy was only thinking about this, sitting at the table in front of a cold cup of soup, until Cream distracted her from her thoughts. — Ah! What? — was all she could say, going inside herself. — Don’t you like mom’s soup? — asked the rabbit. Yeah. Apparently, Amy had been thinking about hers for too long that she hadn’t even noticed how her soup had cooled down, she hadn’t even tried a single spoon. — Sorry, Cream, I was lost in thought again and didn’t notice how quickly time had passed. — answered the hedgehog, stirring the already cold soup with an empty spoon. — I hope this isn't connected to that werehog again? — Cream asked, clutching her ears in her hands. — I told you then that you shouldn't have gone there! You were lucky that we were able to find you alive and well. — That's the point, Cream! — she was just about to take a sip of soup when she spat it out. - Cold! — Of course! You sat and thought about it for too long that the soup had time to cool down. — the rabbit scolded her, got up from her chair, took the bowl of soup from Amy and put it in the microwave to warm up. Of course, she didn't forget to remove the spoon so as not to overload the microwaves. — Go on! The hedgehog sighed heavily and began to explain: — I’ve been awake for probably forty nights already, thinking about this... Why didn’t he eat me, but left me alive and just left?.. Anyone in his place would probably have eaten me long ago... But he... Maybe this beast... Knows me? — And forget about it, Amy! — Cream declared. — This beast only lives in the forest there and he wouldn’t even think of flattering us in our homes. And forget about thinking about returning there to die! The last thing I needed was to lose my faithful friend! You can’t even imagine how long I cried and feared for you when I returned home to my mother late, and neither she nor I met you. As if you had never shown up before me. — having said all this, the rabbit stretched out her lip and almost burst into tears. Amy, in order to distract her from these thoughts, came up to her, sat on her lap and hugged her. Just hugged her! Their relationship is not as big as you all think! Having shed only one tear, the rabbit forgot about her sadness and responded to her friend with a hug. — I promise you, Cream! No matter what happens, no matter where I am and no matter how long I stay, I will not disappear anywhere and nothing bad will happen to me. And you will not have to worry about me. Think about your health first of all! However, Rose only lied a little so that she would not worry about her so much anymore. She knew perfectly well what she had to do and where she was going. The soup was already warmed up in the microwave by that time.

12:00 — midnight

      Rose did not go to bed and for a long time looked towards the forest and at the same time at the moon, which was not yet completely full. However, just a little bit more and the moon will become full. And that means the werehog will mutate and end up there. She could no longer wait and suffer from questions for several nights already. She had to go there right now and find out the truth to all her questions. And it didn't matter! Would she die there or would she return home alive, like after that time?! Having left the lawn of her house and crossed herself, the hedgehog went along the path straight into the forest. On the way, she sometimes looked back at the houses, suddenly in some window of the houses the light was still on, which meant that someone was still awake and would accidentally see her as she walked into the forest at nightfall. Thank chaos, there was no one there and absolutely everyone was asleep. And Cream had already gone to bed a long time ago, as her mother taught her. The only one who was not sleeping, it seemed, was only Amy herself. Well, and the werehog too! Walking along the path into the forest, Rose also began to occasionally look up at the moon to make sure it was full. She walked further and further. She stopped only a couple of steps from a whole bunch of trees in front of her. The same forest where she had entered last time and was afraid to leave it all alone. Feelings of fear were already catching up with her. Terrible memories immediately stopped her and did not allow her to go further. Fear made her afraid of what almost happened to her last time. Amy even wanted to turn around and quickly, with a loud scream, run home before she was grabbed. However, she felt that she had to go there. Finding out the answers to your questions is much more important than suffering further from the fact that you will forever be tormented by them and not know the answers to them. Overcoming herself, the hedgehog nevertheless forced herself to enter the forest, clenching her hands into fists. She knew very well what was waiting for her there, but there was no time to indulge her fear! — Don't be afraid, Amy! If anything happens, you'll use this! — she kept saying to herself, snapping her fingers and hinting at her big hammer, which immediately appeared in her hands with a snap of her fingers. Not yet, though. After all, she was snapping her fingers just for show, so as not to be afraid. As she walked along the path, she accidentally stepped on a puddle with her right red shoe. She didn't feel any moisture, but she shuddered a little because she stepped on something and it made a sound she had forgotten. Removing her foot and looking closely at the puddle, she noticed that the puddle suddenly turned red, like blood. The reflection in it narrowed into a whirlpool for a couple of seconds and leveled out again. Then, in this very red puddle, the head of the metarex appeared. And not in the form of a robot, but in the form of a monster. It looked at her menacingly through the reflection in the puddle with its terrible eyes and addressed her personally in a terrible voice: — You don’t deserve this! Why didn’t you finish earlier? Now no one needs this and everything that your colleagues and readers do, who laugh at your flawed attempts to regain your former glory, is absolutely fair. You are left alone and you have no time for anything! Go away from here and don’t come back! NEVER!!! After a bright flash, she came to her senses, shook her head and walked on, gritting her teeth and catching her breath from what she had just seen and heard. She didn’t even really understand what it was all about? Then she decided to pretend that she hadn’t seen or heard it, and then walked on. On the way, sometimes the sounds of leaves and branches that she sometimes stepped on made him shudder. — I’ve never heard such noisy leaves and branches in my life, so that they crunched so loudly under my feet. — She was indignantly whispering to herself. She looked up again and the moon had finally become full, round and was shining a little brighter, after which she heard the familiar wolf howl again. Of course, she knew that this was not an ordinary wolf howl, but an old acquaintance of that monster. So he was somewhere nearby and was about to appear on the way. Snapping the fingers of her right hand, she immediately summoned the hammer into her hands and, getting into a fighting stance, slowly crept along the path further, looking around. — Well, come on! Come out! I'm already waiting for you! — she whispered out loud, as if he would hear her anyway. Sometimes the hedgehog tried to listen, hoping that he would sneak up behind her to be ready. Although maybe this was not necessary, because if he spared her last time, then this time there was no need to defend herself from him? Taking a step forward, then another, and another, and another, she slowly crept up to the bushes. Looking out there, she found herself in a rather familiar place. Ahead was a puddle and a stone next to it, near which two fly agarics grew. The place was indeed familiar, because last time she got lost near it. Amy firmly decided that she would wait for the werehog here, since last time they first met in this place. Putting her hammer nearby, the hedgehog sat down on that very stone, next to the puddle, as if on a bench and began to wait for the werehog to arrive. She was sure that he would probably find her himself at least by smell, or how did he find her last time? She turned her attention back to the puddle, hoping that she would have those hallucinations again to see them better. This time, the reflection of she-hedgehog in the puddle was replaced by the reflection of the rabbit Cream. Only she was not calm and sweet, as always. She looked menacingly at her friend. — Cream? — Why did you disobey me? You promised me, and I trusted you! — she-hedgehog was immediately distracted by the crunch of the bushes, through which something was approaching. Amy was already wary that she clenched her teeth, and Cream's voice was now screaming in her head: — STAY HERE, AND HE WILL EAT YOU WITH YOUR ASS!!! Not wanting to listen to this, Amy continued to sit calmly in place. Suddenly, a badnik in the form of a ladybug on wheels appeared from the bushes. Rose first shuddered at what she saw, and then got angry at him. — You stupid piece of iron! — she growled, took out her hammer and ran with a loud scream, breaking the robot with her hammer. A bunny immediately jumped out of the robot and ran away. Looking around again, the hedgehog made sure that there was no werehog nearby. Although maybe he heard her scream and was already coming here? — How long are you going to hide, puppy? — she whispered and without looking, slowly walked backwards. Suddenly, a sound was heard behind her, as if someone jumped down from above and landed on their own two feet, without even breaking bones. Rose turned around sharply and saw him. This same hedgehog werehog, who looked at her menacingly and growled, like an evil dog guarding its territory. She-hedgehog was scared at first, but remembering how he had spared her last time, she naively believed that he would not touch her this time either. The werehog was slowly approaching her on all fours. She-hedgehog only extended her right hand with the hammer to the side and threw the hammer to the ground, disarming herself. Taking a couple of steps back, Rose tripped over a small stick and fell onto the cold and wet ground. The beast was already very close. He almost came close to her muzzle and it seemed that at one moment he would bite her painfully on the neck. As soon as the animal's muzzle and his eyes appeared before Amy's frightened eyes, he stopped and began to sniff. The hedgehog was stunned for only a couple of seconds, but her fears were confirmed. He really did not even touch her with a finger, he only sniffed and, like that last time, licked her cheek again. This time the hedgehog did not push away from the disgust and did not close her eyes, but tried to carefully examine the monster. She was more attracted by the werehog's gaze. In his eyes, he himself was slightly frightened and so sad. — Who are you? — she asked him, but the beast did not answer her. He stood up on his own two feet and ran away. Amy immediately stood up, picked up the hammer in her hands and ran after him. — No, no! Stop! Don't run away! Wait! — she shouted at him all the way, but the werehog did not listen to her and ran away from her further and further. The hedgehog ran further after the beast, despite the fact that he kept retreating from her. On the way, she even thought that the werehog reminded her of someone with his strange behavior, running away from her. Even by the appearance of the head and clothes. Despite the large amount of dark blue fur. The werehog had already disappeared into the dark fog, between the trees, but Amy continued to run straight, where he actually ran away from her. Jumping out of the bushes, she almost fell off the cliff into the river. It's good that she slowed down in time? Looking around, she realized that she had lost him. Now she would never know the truth, who he was and where he actually ran away from her. This excited her so much that in a fit of rage she hit the ground with her hammer, clenching her teeth and screaming at the top of her lungs. Her scream was so loud that all the birds and crows from the trees flew away to the sides.

***

      Amy's furious screams were so loud that their frequency was able to reach Vanilla's house. Cream, as soon as she heard her scream with her ears, immediately jumped out of bed as if she had a nightmare. But in fact, she jumped out of bed from fright and silently when she heard her friend's scream. — Amy? — she said out loud and looked towards the forest, because the scream was coming from there. Judging by the fact that Amy screamed not like a coward, but like an angry person, as if something had upset her to the point of rage, she was on the one hand calm, that everything was okay with her. But on the other hand, she was afraid for her and wondered why she had disobeyed her and returned there. — Amy!

***

      There was no way to return home. All the hedgehog did was fall face down on the ground and cry bitterly. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a rustling sound was heard from the bushes. Amy stopped crying and thought that maybe the werehog heard her crying and returned to take pity on her? But no such luck. A huge lion jumped out of the bushes and roared loudly. At this point, Amy was so scared that she immediately grabbed the hammer in her hands and got into a fighting stance. — STOP!!! STAY AWAY FROM ME, STUPID ANIMAL!!! — she shouted at the lion, but the king of beasts turned out to be quite brave and more furious. He didn't even have the motivation to attack a defenseless she-hedgehog just like that. The lion ran first and Amy ran to attack with a scream. The king of beasts jumped up and released terrible claws from his fingers, and the hedgehog managed to bend down and from below, with one blow of the hammer, threw him off the cliff into the river. The lion immediately fell into the river and, like a real cat, began to flounder, meow and try to escape. Amy only seriously looked at the river, which was carrying the beast away to the estate of Dr. Eggman and pointing her finger shouted: — YOU WILL KNOW HOW TO DEAL WITH THE HEDGEHOG AMY ROSE, BRAINLESS ANIMAL!!! After this bold statement, she was just about to turn around and go home, when suddenly a new beast appeared in front of her, even bigger and scarier. A huge black bear with red eyes. Amy immediately screamed from what she saw and did not even think of whether to attack or run away. She did not even have time to dodge, as the master of the forest swung his right front paw and with one blow threw the hedgehog to the left side of the cliff, leaving a wound of three scratches on her chest. Blood slowly oozed out through the wound, and the hedgehog herself, groaning, tried to get up to answer the bear's blow. The bear immediately realized what she would do and immediately ran at her to bite off her neck. All that was left for Rose was to scream at the top of her lungs. It seemed that now her death had come and her whole life flashed before her eyes again. The werehog himself lands on top of the hedgehog's fallen legs and growls terribly at the master of the forest. The bear was not afraid of the werehog and rushed to attack, and the werehog stood up to protect the pink one. The bear tries to stand on its hind legs and attack with its front legs, but the werehog, although acting like an animal, turned out to be smarter than the humanoid and figured out when to block the blow and when to attack. The scratches that the bear inflicted on the werehog were nothing and he even ignored them, like ordinary finger pokes. The bear, in turn, could not defend himself from the werehog's usual blows and ran back with each blow until he fell off the cliff and the river current carried him away to the same place as the lion. The werehog immediately howled, as if he was making a victory cry over his enemy. Amy was very grateful that this beast not only saved her life twice, but even saved her from death at the hands of another beast. She wanted to get up and hug him, but the pain in her chest left by the bear made itself felt, that she continued to lie there groaning, clutching her chest. The werehog immediately paid attention to this and, like a sad little dog, began to make sad sounds, crawling towards the hedgehog. It was clear from his look that he was afraid for her and even almost cried. Coming closer to the hedgehog, he stuck out his tongue again and ran it over the scratches on the hedgehog's chest, wetting them with his healing saliva. From the contact of his tongue and saliva with her wound, the hedgehog hissed, gritting her teeth. She tried to endure, realizing that he was trying to help her. When the pain passed a little, Amy slightly extended her hand forward. The beast did not move away from her or growl, but brought his head closer and allowed her to stroke him, as if he had known her for a long time and trusted her. The werehog even stuck out his tongue again and began to breathe quickly with his tongue out, like a real tame dog. — Thank you. — she told him. — AMY!!! — Cream the rabbit immediately appeared from the bushes with a flashlight in her hands. When she saw the werehog next to Amy, who was lying in front of him. She perceived the dramatic picture completely differently than it looked in the eyes of both the werehog and the hedgehog. Judging by the wound on her chest, she thought that the werehog had already attacked her and it was he who scratched her. The rabbit immediately went into shock. The werehog growled at the rabbit as soon as he saw her and ran. — NO, STOP!!! — Amy screamed, holding out her hand, but the werehog did not listen to her. Cream managed to figure out in time to quickly flap her ears and fly up, hoping that the werehog wouldn't reach her from above. However, the beast raised his hand up, stretching them to their full length and grabbing Cream by the legs, pulled her down. — NO, LET ME GO!!! — she screamed, fought and tried to break free in every way, but everything was even. The werehog knocked the rabbit to the ground and was already preparing to pounce on her. But Rose managed to get up, take the hammer in her hands and standing between the rabbit and the werehog, she got into a fighting stance and was ready to hit him if he suddenly dared to pounce on her. — GET OUT!!! — she screamed at him. But the werehog, strangely enough, did not run away, but did not attack either. He simply squinted his ears, sank to the ground, began to tremble and again whined with decent dog sounds. Amy immediately realized that she had gone too far, figuratively speaking. She felt ashamed in front of him, and he, in turn, felt ashamed in front of her. Realizing that they were both guilty, each approached the other. Amy extended her free hand forward and the werehog allowed her hand to touch his forehead. — Forgive me! — she said to him, almost crying, and the werehog, standing on his own two feet, licked her cheek again. Cream, strangely enough, saw everything before her eyes and heard everything. However, she did not understand what was happening here? Or maybe this was just her delirious dream and she was dreaming all this? Rose came up to her and leaned over, holding out her hand. — Are you hurt? — I don't think so! — answered the rabbit, holding out her hand to her friend, and she helped her up. Amy, holding Cream's hand, extended it to the werehog's forehead, allowing him to accept affection from her too. The beast, by the way, was not against it and was completely calm. — See! He is not evil or scary at all. He was just guarding his territory. — explained the hedgehog, and the rabbit was almost not afraid of him anymore. — Wait! What about the scratches on your chest? — asked Cream. Amy looked at her chest and answered: — Oh! This? Two other animals attacked me. A lion and a bear. But the werehog stood up for me. Can you imagine? He saved me. While Cream was trying to figuratively digest all the words that Amy explained to her, the werehog walked around the rabbit and sniffed her, apparently trying to remember her by smell, so that next time he could know her in advance and not touch her with a finger in a bad way. While the werehog was sniffing Cream, the latter laughed a little, since the beast's nose tickled her. Suddenly, one cloud covered the moon and the werehog immediately felt that he began to slowly transform back. Black smoke came out of his body, enveloping him from head to toe. When the transformation was over, an old and familiar blue hedgehog in red shoes and white gloves, without fur and with bare hands stood in front of the hedgehog and the rabbit. Of course, this werehog was him. — So... Sonic? — Amy? — he said and looked around as if he didn’t understand what was happening and how he got here. When he noticed the scratch marks on Amy’s chest, he mistakenly thought that he had inflicted this wound on her, until he couldn’t control himself and cruelly blamed himself for it, clutching his head. — No-no-no! It’s not your fault! It was the bear. He scratched me. But you came and saved me. Really. You saved my life. — Mister Sonic, don’t cry! You didn’t even touch me, and even less her! Amy told me all this herself. You’ve been meeting her like this for a long time. — Cream added, in order to strengthen the calm. The blue hedgehog relaxed here and wanted to believe that he really hadn’t harmed them, while the animal’s personality took over his mind. The hedgehog only took Sonic’s hands. — It’s okay, Sonic! — she added and now the pair of hedgehogs were standing in front of each other. Nothing can spoil such a romantic moment. Both hedgehogs close their eyes and, approaching each other, touch each other's lips. Both lips merge into one in a tender kiss. At this time, the cloud that covered the moon flew away, and the werehog who returned, instead of Sonic, slowly and carefully broke their kiss between them. Getting on all fours, the werehog turned his back to the girls and ran further into the forest. Amy and Cream were now left alone in the forest. — Let's go home, Amy? — the rabbit asked and the hedgehog immediately agreed. Both friends slowly walked back, leaving the black forest, and the werehog only saw them off from afar with his sad gaze. Then he stood near the cliff and howled again right at the moon.

***

      After this night, Amy now finally knew all the answers to her questions and could calmly go home to sleep. It turned out that that werehog was Sonic, and since he not only spared her twice, but also saved her, plus ran away from her a couple of times, which also gave him away, said that he still loved her. But not as much as Amy, who was always pestering him. Even Cream was no longer afraid to go to that very forest, because she knew that now the werehog, if he returned, would immediately recognize her and would not attack her. And if you consider that this werehog is Sonic, then he will never harm her in any case. The answers to old questions are generally clear. All that remains is to figure out why, when and most importantly how Sonic became a werehog? And most importantly, is it possible to save him from this?