Shadow the Grinch - Chapter 1: Holly Jolly Hedgehog

Shadow the Grinch - Chapter 1: Holly Jolly Hedgehog

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“T’was the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was grumpy except Shadow the louse~!” Sonic sang, squirming up to Shadow’s side as he sat alone on the couch.

Shadow grumbled and dug into his ear with an annoyed grimace. For him, it was always a toss up on whether or not he was going to attend these Christmas Eve get-togethers and Sonic almost never made it worth it.

“Do you even know what the word ‘louse’ means?” Shadow asked, disdain evident in every word.

“Sure I do. It–” Sonic stalled and then looked around the room. He then patted his lap with his hands for a bit before reaching into his pajama pants pocket and fishing out his phone. He ignored the sigh and the eye roll from Shadow as the blue hedgehog began looking up the definition. He then came back to him with his analysis. “In slang it means ‘contemptible person’. See? I know words.”

Shadow merely leered at Sonic from the side and the hedgehog held up his hands in a defensive position, grinning cheekily from ear to ear.

They were at it again. It was another Christmas Eve which meant another party for Sonic and the others to throw. Of course, everyone was invited but that didn’t mean everyone could make it. Today it was being thrown at one of Tails’ little humble abodes built within the deep recesses of Central City. It was a big house shaped like his face and because he had so many of them, no one really cared about messing it up. Not even Tails.

He was one of those guys who delighted in fixing things after all. That was the excuse Sonic was using and he was sticking to it.

Shadow, however, would always reluctantly attend via some cheeky pestering from Rouge. He would show up, sit off to the side with his arms crossed and his eyes closed, before eating a few things and then leaving. No one would even guess he was there if they didn’t have video and photographic evidence to prove it.

They did manage to make a memorable party goer of him the year Knuckles accidentally brought hard lemonade to the party. Shadow almost swore off partying ever again when he recalled the events of that night.

Shadow certainly didn’t think highly of these get-togethers and it wasn’t changing today. It certainly wasn’t being helped by Sonic refusing to leave him alone, scouting him out over everyone else who attended the meeting here so that he could mess with him.

“Come on Shadow. Live a little. Want some noggy?” Sonic asked, bringing the alcoholic beverage up to Shadow’s face.

“No. Please don’t call it that. It sounds sickening hearing you say it that way,” Shadow said, wincing with disgust as he got up and let Sonic flop onto the couch. The blue hedgehog had been hanging onto his side rather closely. Personal space was often forgotten when you were both messing around and getting a bit tipsy.

Sonic sputtered his lips in mild annoyance when he saw Shadow retreat towards the crafts table though. The couch jumped again when another person sat down next to him.

“Hey bro. Is he still being a grumpy grump?” Manic asked, grinning with his arms crossed while peering across the room.

“Oh yeah. The biggest of grumpy grumps,” Sonic snickered, eyes narrowing as he felt a wicked sensation permeating the air. “You guys ready for the special event this year?”

As if on cue, Tails and Charmy poked their heads up from behind the couch, holding a small box.

“Are we ever!” They said in unison.

“When you approached me with the idea, I’ll admit to being a bit skeptical,” Tails said, eyes closing briefly as he recalled the conversation. “But the more I thought about it, the more I realized we absolutely couldn’t pass this chance up.”

“It’s gonna be SO awesome! I can’t wait to pull this off! The prank of the century is about to unfold before our very eyes guys!” Charmy said, giggling cheekily as he bounced up and down while clenching the back of the couch. “Last chance to be a part of it, Vector! Espio!”

He foolishly called across the room to them, not really noticing that Shadow was standing in their vicinity eating cheese puffs. Fortunately, Vector was talking his ear off about wanting to get in good with GUN so that more advertising opportunities could open up for the detective agency. Espio heard Charmy though and merely waved him off while munching on chips. Rouge was showing Knuckles pictures of gorillas on her phone for some reason.

Charmy stuck his tongue out at the chameleon. “Bah. They’re no fun.”

“Alright boys. I know a weird huddle when I see one. What’s going on?” Amy said, approaching the four of them with her fists at her side. Her white shirt with a nice little heart on it and cute purple plaid pajama bottoms made her look very at home here. Seeing Tangle, Whisper, Blaze, and Silver approach while wearing similar stuff made this give off quite the sleepover feel to it.

“Uh… nothing?” Charmy asked, looking over to Manic for confirmation on whether or not they should tell the truth. Manic shrugged.

Sonic raised his hand and with a wink and a finger gun of slyness said, “Hey Ames. Check this out!”

He then snagged the small box that Tails and Charmy held in their possession. He seemed to have no fear about coming right out with it.

He opened it up and the four newcomers swooned with surprise at what they were looking at.

It was a bright hypnotic pattern on a small tablet.

The dark and light blue swirl seemed almost endless.

“Don’t stare at it too long guys,” Sonic warned.

The girls winced and backed away. Silver, however, didn’t. He was still peering down into the box in awe, eyes turning into hypno-swirls themselves. Before long his “0” shaped mouth began to ebb out a bit of drool.

“Blaze? Could you–?” Sonic asked.

“Hmm? Oh! Sure.” Blaze raised her palm and delivered a hot karate chop to the back of Silver’s head.

“AGH!” He snapped out of it instantly and rubbed his noggin. “Oww… what–?!”

“That’s the hypno-spiral phone I’ve been working on,” Tails said. “I constructed a never ending hypnosis spiral in that device strictly for the sole purpose of inflicting it upon one super strong individual at the party.”

“Oh? Who would that be? Is it me?!” Tangle asked, almost sounding excited by the idea for some reason.

Tails and Sonic gestured in unison with a thumb pointed sideways at the Grinch over there, Shadow the Hedgehog.

Amy couldn’t help but smile. “No… what are you guys going to do?”

“He’s always the Grinch whenever he comes to these parties so we figured it’d be best to get him excited about being here,” Sonic said. “Why not right? He’ll finally enjoy himself and we’ll have a new way to have fun with Shadow.”

“Not seeing how that could go wrong,” Manic said, seriously meaning it.

Amy rubbed her chin. She glanced over at Shadow then back at the grinning boys.

She then stole a glance at Blaze, Silver, Tangle, and Whisper whose faces all read as though they had some iota of interest here. Whisper was showing it the least but her brow was at least raised.

Amy smiled. “Oooh. I can’t find it within me to say no. It seriously does sound like a lot of fun.” She giggled even.

Sonic and Tails hi-fived and Charmy fist-pumped.

“How does it work?” Blaze asked, finding this curious by nature.

“Simple. The transformation from Grinch to Santa happens when we point it directly at him and give the command. Then, once he’s changed, he’ll be subject to all our suggestions so long as we each hold the device and speak our name before we give the command,” Tails said, lifting the device out of the box. “Don’t look at it now.”

Everyone made sure to be careful as they took a step back and watched Tails turn towards Shadow at the crafts table.

With a reassuring nod from Sonic and a thumbs up from Manic, he was given the okay to approach Shadow and finally get this underway.

By now Shadow was barely paying attention to Vector’s ramblings, Rouge had turned away to check her Twitter, and Knuckles was busy trying to scarf down grapes in a way that he hoped would be inconspicuous. It was so odd that it was capturing Shadow’s attention for a bit until Tails tapped him on the shoulder.

Shadow turned his head on instinct. “What do you wa–? Huh?”

“Oh nothing,” Tails said. “I, Miles Tails Prower, just want you Shadow, to look into this pretty hypnotic spiral.”

Shadow felt a shiver run down his spine and travel all throughout his body. He stood there with his arms crossed and eyes wide. His mouth hung open just a tiny bit as he felt a weird sensation pass through the mental confines of his body.

He was staring hard at the device now and slowly his arms came undone from his chest, limply falling at his sides as he grew more and more entranced by the device being held towards his face.

Tails did a cute motion of eyebrow spasms and a bratty grin at the others, which got everyone over there to laugh a bit, before he turned back to Shadow.

“Now Shadow, every year you come to these parties and act like a grumpy ol’ mean one. Well, Mr. Grinch, it’s time you turned that frown upside down. You’re no longer The Shadowy Grinch. You’re the Shadowy Santa!” Tails exclaimed.

Shadow’s body lurched.

Suddenly, he froze in a weird position and a dumb smile grew on his face. His tongue poked out the side of his mouth as bubbles popped around his head.

He then felt the sensation die down a bit, leaving him tingly all over.

He slumped forward again, seemingly shutting down while standing up.

Vector took notice of this and with a brow raised, reached over to try and touch him.

That’s when Shadow poked his head up and squealed with excitement, scaring both the Crocodile and the Echidna off to the side. Rouge took no notice of this.

“HURRAAAAY!” Shadow shouted, a bright and cheery smile on his face. “MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL AN AWESOME PARTY!”

“Whoa! Shadow is that really you?” Tails asked, knowing the answer but still finding it hard to believe.

Shadow answered by racing over and pulling the smiling, yet astonished, fox into a cheek to cheek hug.

“Yes it’s me you silly goose!” Shadow giggled. “Huggies for you, you cute whittle fox brain you!”

“D’aaww. Thanks so much!” Tails said, hugging him back.

“Huggies for everybody!” Shadow let Tails go and pranced on over to Sonic and the others with his arms raised.

“Uhm, maybe this worked a little too we-OOF!” Sonic’s eyes bugged out when Shadow practically squeezed the life out of him.

He went over to Manic next and surprised him with a bearhug that lifted him off the floor.

Charmy gladly gave in and accepted the hug. Tangle did too.

Amy was a bit taken aback but gave him a hug with a bit of a sweatdrop. Blaze and Silver did so awkwardly too.

Shadow never got to Whisper due to him instantly face planting into the carpet when she slammed her weapon over his head the instant he attempted to pull her into a hug.

“Whisper!” Tangle exclaimed, shocked.

“No.” Whisper merely said.

“But he was just-” Tangle began.

Whisper put up a single finger. “No.”

“Oof…” Sonic bent down with his arms resting over his knees to observe Shadow. “That went a little too well.”

Shadow was on the floor, butt in the air, eyes rolling, birdies circling his head, and face in a doofy smile with his tongue flopped out onto the carpet.

“He’ll do anything we want right?” Manic asked, pointing down at him.

Tails nodded. “Sure. So long as you give the command by stating your name first.” He tossed the device over to Manic.

Manic caught it and cleared his throat. “Okay then.” He bent down to Shadow and shoved the hypno swirl phone in his face. “Stand up Shadow Santa. Strip out of those pants and do a nice underwear jig for us!”

Shadow’s entire body shivered. He sprung to his feet and got all excited and peppy again.

“YAY! I love me an undies jig!” He said, acting as though he’d even heard of such a thing before. No one really knew what to make of Manic’s command and they didn’t have time to protest or ask questions as Shadow ripped his bottoms off his butt in a fluid motion soon after.

Standing before everyone in a gray top and now an exposed pair of Cinderella briefs with a cute blue elastic on them, the hedgehog boy was prepared for an underwear dance.

Shadow got into a cute stance first. He made a heart with his hands and winked at the camera that Sonic was now holding up while grinning from ear to ear. He even did a little hip swivel and stuck out his tongue all cute like.

He then began to swish his butt back and forth, eyes closed and smiling brightly. He danced to the music that was now playing in the background, a dance mix of some holly, jolly Christmas Songs.

“Uh-oh. She’s burst out her cage!” Charmy exclaimed when “All I want for Christmas Is You” began playing. Shadow’s butt swished back and forth with delight as he danced to the music.

“She doesn’t look as fabulous as I do right now though!” Shadow said, taking off his shirt next and swirling it around overhead. “WOOO HOOO!”

The onlookers in the group that knew what was happening were beginning to laugh. Whisper actually snorted.

The confused ones in the back, that being Vector, Espio, Rouge, and Knuckles, just looked on while munching on snacks.

“Shadow must be drunk again,” Vector said.

“Welp, it’s not my fault this time. The Egg Nog was clearly marked as being alcoholic,” Knuckles said, crossing his arms.

The others were drinking this in splendidly though. Eventually, as Shadow’s butt dance continued, Charmy leaned over to whisper into Sonic’s ear. Sonic’s grin grew to a tremendously wonderful size and he leaned over to whisper something in Amy’s ear. She began giggling.

As the show continued, the three of them scrambled about to gather together a bunch of things they would need to carry through the next phase in Shadow Santa’s wonderful gift giving session. The phone was tossed to Manic for him to record the festivities as they were going on.

Shadow was in the middle of a twirl and then stopped to do a wonderful pose with his hand raised and his other hand down by his side, tongue out and winking at his adoring audience. It got him a nice round of applause.

However, his interest was piqued again when he saw a box and a bookbag being brought towards him.

“Hey Shadow, I loved your performance!” Charmy said, rummaging through the box.

“Awww~! Thank you sweetie~!” Shadow blushed and cooed, pressing his hands to his face and giggling, all bashful.

“I think I want to see you do a different performance though,” Charmy grabbed the hypno phone and held it up to Shadow’s face. He instantly slumped and stared into the spirals, drooling once more as Charmy carried on. “Charmy Bee wants you to dance like a cowboy in this goofy little get-up!”

The bee produced a pair of boots with spurs and a nice ten gallon hat. He also brought out a bunch of Christmas Lights and lit them up. “These will be for decoration.”

Shadow nodded, a sly grin crossing his face. “Why I do believe that’d be within my best interest to give a shot there partner.”

He put on the cowboy shoes, the hat, and a sheriff woody vest from a costume party of the past, while still sporting the same girly briefs from before. He posed a couple of times as Charmy fixed the Christmas lights around his feet and hat.

Eventually, he was shining brightly. It was like he was a glowing sign, ready to be the best party favor of the bunch.

“Now who wants to see little ol’ me get it on?” Shadow asked.

“WOOOOOT!” Everyone cheered, fist pumping with excitement as he made this declaration.

Shadow obliged them rather quickly. He began swishing his body back and forth and did wonderful pelvic thrusts that were supposed to be sexy but just made him look like a dork.

The tipping of the hat, the weird sensuous booty shakes, and the kicking of his spurs were a show alright. He probably would have killed at a club down the street or something. Here, he was a success but not for the reasons his mind currently thought. The flashing lights really did a lot to make him look sillier than ever though.

Amy chuckled a lot but eventually raised her palm and asked for them to stop… briefly.

It was her turn now.

She was handed the hypno phone and with a swift turn upward the spiral was pointed at Shadow again, making his entire body rattle and shake. The dumb smile returned to his face again.

“Alright Shadow, Amy Rose wants you to match outfits with the girls of intricate dance and do a nice little ballet routine for everyone.”

Blaze took the phone to make an addendum. “Uh, hello, Blaze the Cat here requesting that he dance to music from the Nutcracker to make things even more succinct.” She grinned.

Shadow nodded dumbly.

In mere seconds, the cowboy stuff was stripped off his body and on came a light blue themed tutu.

An imaginary spotlight was cast on Shadow in his mind. His eyes were closed and he was smiling as he did a courtesy and then proceeded to flex into many different poses for the audience. He did many an arabesque before diving off the ground, spinning in mid-air, and landing in another arabesque for the onlookers.

This all happened while music from the nutcracker played. His tutu was small so his undies remained on open display but thanks to the color they matched his outfit quite well.

Shadow’s performance was dazzling and radiant. He was smiling lightly as he spun through all the moves and was applauded by all. Whisper was smiling as she watched him unknowingly humiliate himself, eating popcorn as the show went on and sharing it with Tangle while she found herself invested in ballet for the first time in her life.

Manic giggled and turned to Tails. “Watch this~!”

Tails raised a brow, confused.

Manic snuck onto the scene like a little creep just as Shadow finished his dance and splayed his arms and legs out to bask in the praise for his performance.

The praise came when they all began clapping but then Manic took a swing of his foot at Shadow’s crotch and made a loud shriek of pain come from the black hedgehog. Shadow grabbed his front and fell to his knees, tearing up with his lips pursed in pain before he fell over and swished his butt back and forth.

The claps were a bit disrupted from the surprise of Manic’s move and some laughter was sprinkled in there now. Tails continued to clap while smiling and shaking his head at Manic.

“What?” Manic shrugged. “It’s called the Nutcracker for a reason right?”

Silver giggled and beckoned for the phone next. His wish was granted when he was tossed it and with a sly grin, he leered down at Shadow while holding it up.

“Hey there Shadow. Silver the Hedgehog wants you to be a clown for us now. Don’t wear any makeup. Just keep what you’ve got on and put on a show!”

Shadow jolted again, eyes crossing and his limp tongue still flopped out the side of his mouth. He nodded like an idiot and jumped to his feet. “Yes sir! Who’s here to see me make a fool of myself? Wanna have a good time right? Then let’s hear it for me, the master of the pie to the face!”

Shadow then raced over to the table, grabbed a pie off of it, held it up to Manic and waited.

Manic grabbed it and smashed the pie into Shadow’s face.

Everyone laughed. It was a great show of force, for certain.

Whisper finally decided she wanted in on this. With a show of joy she rarely ever expressed, she grabbed the phone from Silver and held it up to Shadow’s gloopy face.

“Hello. I’m Whisper the Wolf asking you to please bounce around the room on all fours like a bunny rabbit…” She said, trailing off and stealing glances at Tangle, almost as if asking for approval.

Tangle responded with a grin and a thumbs up which kept the open mouthed smirk on Whisper’s face.

Shadow responded by doing exactly what was asked of him. He got on all fours and began hopping around the living room, shaking his panty clad butt and looking serene with his eyes closed and his tongue out. One might even think he was enjoying himself.

Tangle swung her tail over to grab the phone, anxious for a chance to do something probably even better.

What on Earth could it be though? Surely they didn’t exhaust all the good stuff right?

That’s when Tangle got an idea.

Nothing felt better than basking in the glow of someone’s reaction to having been pranked.

So…!

“This is Tangle the Lemur asking you to stand up straight and snap out of your hypnosis!” Tangle blurted out.

The laughter around her halted. Everyone there took a gasping breath and let their jaws drop in shock and awe at what Tangle just did.

The lemur stood there posing with a peace sign up and a wide grin before she felt the dagger like stares drilling into the back of her head. She began sweating.

“Bad idea?” Tangle asked, suddenly getting it.

Shadow had stood up straight and then slumped forward with his arms dangling right below him.

Then slowly, ever so slowly, he peered up to look at them, eyes a lit with what seemed to be transcendent rage.

Everyone stood there, sweating with bugged out eyes, and mouths hanging open at different intervals, too surprised to stop Shadow from snatching the phone from Tangle’s hand and tossing it into the potato salad in the kitchen, much to Knuckles’ chagrin.

He leered forward and grit his teeth.

“Bad idea,” Shadow remarked, sparking with energy.

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We’re not done yet folks. This first chapter showed Shadow as Santa. Now we get to see him as the Grinch. This party might just end with the house flipped upside down. Catch you next time for the conclusion.