Chapter 1: Chase- The Thrill

Sonic

Westopolis was a disaster, and Sonic couldn’t be everywhere at once…

The whole morning had been spent cleaning up. Obviously Shadow was busy doing things on his own, and Sonic couldn’t stop him and ask him the questions he wanted to.

He’d never felt so tired in his life. Or so curious.

Especially about Shadow, since Shadow was probably the least of his problems. Yet, he was up there with Sonic’s schemes to get away from Amy and the clean up of Westopolis, ranking high among his thoughts.

The hedgehog who had to have died, the fiery hedgehog who had confused Sonic beyond belief by sacrificing himself to save the Earth... The Earth, who hated him, was in his debt.

If Sonic could change everyone’s mind, even one person’s mind, about Shadow, he would do it gladly. But it was hard to do that with every live person in Westopolis cursing the dark hedgehog.

Sonic shook himself out of his thoughts. It wasn’t the time to think about Shadow. He needed to help clean Westopolis… not dream about someone who he hadn’t seen since the war had began.

“Sonic?” Tails looked tired too. His tails were drooping, and he looked worse for the wear.

“Hey, Tails.” Sonic said. He tried not to sound half as tired as he was. Tails didn’t seem to notice or care.

“…I…I can’t fix anymore.” He whined. He held out his hands. “I have blisters on my blisters, and there are blisters on those blisters!”

Sonic managed a smile. “Lotta blisters.” He replied.

Tails groaned. “While I was working, I saw Shadow. He seemed busy too, but he’s not cleaning up or anything.”

“What?” Suddenly energized, Sonic widened his eyes. “Shadow’s here?”

“Yeah.” Tails looked suspiciously at Sonic. “You aren’t going to challenge him to a race or something, right?”

“No, not like that.” Sonic reassured his friend. “I need to talk to him. Where did he go?”

“I’m pretty sure he was headed towards the middle of the city.” Tails said. “But he was in a hurry. You’ll have to chase him. Aren’t you tired?”

Sonic shook his head, a truthful lie. He wasn’t feeling tired now, but he was sure once he started running, he would be. Even Tails seemed to realize that, but he said nothing else about it.

“If you want to catch up, you should go now.” Tails said, instead.

Sonic grinned at his orange fox friend. “I’ll be back in a quick sec.” He promised, dashing off towards the center of the city. He was sure that Tails wasn’t going to be too devastated on his own.

But the thought of seeing Shadow again made Sonic happy, which made him confused, which made him angry, and he wasn’t even sure what he was feeling in the first place. Another reason he had to talk to Shadow, if Shadow wasn’t busy doing whatever he was doing, which was probably a big gigantic deal that Sonic shouldn’t get himself involved in.

That was the thrill that Shadow offered- a whole new adventure. Sonic liked that aspect of Shadow; he was never not doing anything.

Sonic was surprised that the city hadn’t been drained of the acidic green sludge that had been flooding the streets. That was the first thing that the rescue squad had attacked when they talked about the rebuilding of the city. He had to go different routes to avoid being burned to death. Shadow must have known exactly how to get to the center of the city, Sonic reasoned, because if he hadn’t, he was probably dead.

Just as Sonic made it into the center of the city, completely wiped of energy, he saw Shadow leaving. Feeling just a little energized; he followed, calling after Shadow.

Of course Shadow didn’t wait. He didn’t like waiting for anyone, including Rouge, who Sonic considered Shadow’s closest friend. Sonic managed to keep Shadow in his sights.

The inky colored hedgehog was hard to follow, but he knew his way into and out of the city’s center. That was good, because Sonic sure didn’t.

Shadow was slowing down, and Sonic was sure the game of chase was over. Just as he suspected, Shadow stopped, turning. He was waiting for Sonic? That was weird.

Sonic hurried, stopping right next to Shadow. They started at each other, until Shadow grumbled, “What do you want?”

Indignant, Sonic replied, “Why aren’t you helping us clean up Westopolis?” He didn’t blame Shadow for the destruction, although in his head, he thought, part of this destruction has to do with you, you know.

Shadow was quiet. He finally responded, “I can’t.”

“Why not?” Sonic asked, as soon as the words made their way out of Shadow’s mouth.

“…” Shadow glared at Sonic. “Because I can’t. I don’t need a reason.”

“You kinda do need a reason.” Sonic argued. “Because everyone else is cleaning.”

Shadow made a disgusted face and turned away. “Fine. I can’t because I don’t know what to do.”

“What? Are you serious? Did you not see the big pools of acid on your way out of the city?”

“…No, you idiot. Not about the city, I know how to fix the city.” Shadow’s ruby eyes narrowed. “I don’t know what to do with myself. Even if I fix the city, I’m...” Although he trailed off, Sonic figured what Shadow was trying to say. Shadow was still struggling with his being alive, and mostly with his purpose.

Sonic was quiet now, thinking. Obviously Shadow was still struggling with that… series of problems. He had gotten three different stories in the course of a couple weeks. One story was that he was an android, which Rouge backed up. The other story was that he was created to save the world, which Sonic found himself backing up. The last was that he was created to destroy the world, which the Black Arms had sufficiently backed up. Like a puppet on strings, Shadow had danced between each idea and was about as close to finding out who he was as Amy was to deciding that she really liked Knuckles better than Sonic.

Shadow spoke again. “I want to know a lot more than I do know. I want to be able to put this behind me.”

“…But why are you running through the city?”

Shadow sighed impatiently. “Why do you ask so many stupid questions?” He grumbled. He was avoiding the question, Sonic realized.

“You haven’t answered my question.” He reminded Shadow.

Shadow huffed. “I was just here. I decided I’d see what was going on in there.” He grumbled. “That’s all that happened.”

Sonic didn’t believe that, but he let it slide. “What are you going to do?”

“Not get you involved again.” Shadow said, rather harshly. “You just make things that much harder to do.”

Sonic riled at that. “I do not!”

Shadow didn’t respond to him, just looked back at Sonic as if to say who do you think you’re kidding?

Shadow was a little bigger than Sonic was, and Sonic had never realized it before. It made him remember that Shadow was about fifty something years older than he was.

“Shadow?” He asked. The other hedgehog did not acknowledge his counterpart, just turned his ruby eyes away again. “Are you just going to run away?”

“From what?” Shadow asked. “The city? Look, I know I have to do something about that, but that isn’t even getting me anywhere near to my goal.”

“No. I mean, are you just keep going to keep running away from me? I want to help you.”

The older hedgehog’s eyes widened in what looked like shock, and then, he turned to face Sonic completely, cocking his head to one side. “What makes you think I’m running away from you? You just like to chase me.”

“…” Sonic fidgeted under Shadow’s immediate gaze. “You know… you always tell me it’s none of my business.”

“Probably because it isn’t any of your business.” Shadow muttered.

“But even if it isn’t, it’s easier to do things when you get help.” Sonic continued.

“I need to do this myself.” Shadow said. He hadn’t moved his gaze. “Look at what happened because of all the ‘help’ I’ve been getting. A city in ruins… and nothing that helps me figure out who I am.”

“Shadow”

“No. I don’t care if you’re supposed to be my friend or my enemy. Just don’t get involved anymore.” Then, Shadow paused. “I mean, knowing you, you’ll get involved anyway, since you’re constantly trying to ‘help’ me. But I’m asking you not to. Okay?”

Sonic was surprised Shadow would even ask him a question like that. But, he responded, “Alright.”

Shadow turned away. “Now that that’s done, you can stop chasing me around. I’m leaving.”

“Wait a second!” Sonic cried, but in vain; Shadow had left, with nothing but dust in his path. Sonic watched him skate out of sight, and then wondered to himself where is he going to look for his answers?

Chapter 2: Little One

Vamo’alla

Vamo’alla. It meant ‘little one’. That was what she had been told.

She had not been created like the others that she had known. She was made of Black Doom’s blood, while the others were just spawn. Was she supposed to feel good about that?

She was born, and grew to be five years old, under careful surveillance. And then she stopped growing. It was strange (though she had no idea that her stunted age and growth were strange) that something like that could happen.

It was around then that Black Doom realized he needed a little aid when creating creatures, and turned to Gerald.

She had been left to die, a five-year-old with no one to protect her. She had been put into a chamber and considered dead. Such was her state when she was dropped and left on Earth.

Little one of little importance. She was not strong enough to destroy the world, not big enough to make a difference, and not wise enough to be considered an asset. All she had was confusion. And the dark evil that lurked within her, swimming through her veins, bursting through her every pore…

For Vamo’alla, the little one, may not have been big or strong or wise, but she was one thing that her brother was not.

She was pure and total evil.

Not by her own choice of course. She had grown up learning the way of Black Arms, and to herself, she seemed completely good. But, when compared to her brother, Vamo’alla was the epitome of evil, and she had no clue.

Stuck as a five-year-old, this creature was the most innocent and cruel of all creation, a baby with the power to destroy the world... Only if, by chance, she woke from her slumber and walked the Earth. But she had not awoken just yet.

The little one would sleep until her brother came and awoke her. And when he did, he would have released a terror like no other upon what he considered his planet.

There would only be more animosity.

Chapter 3: Alone

Shadow


There were many things Shadow had decided that he would never understand and had shoved them aside, to think about when he understood the things that he could understand. But no matter how many times he pushed his counterpart aside, Sonic the Hedgehog would return.


And Shadow had no time to wonder or worry about his cerulean adversary, particularly because there were other things on his mind. Like, for example, his real purpose.


He had been dragged along so many different paths during his journey to find himself. First, he had been told that the Doctor had created him. When he delved deeper into that, he was told that he was a Shadow clone, that he wasn’t the real Shadow.


And he had begun to believe that. But of course, his sense of stability was ruined yet again. Black Doom had told him that he was the original, and had backed up his arguments very well. And so Shadow was dragged back to the start, and just when he thought he knew himself…


It was Sonic who turned him topsy turvy. Sonic, with his emerald eyes and his heroic motifs, who had told him that he was better than what he thought he was. Once again, Shadow was brought back to the start, finally banishing the Black Arms.


And what was he to do about it? Now he was confused, without any idea of his purpose.


It wasn’t only that. No one was like him, and as much as he pretended to ignore it, there was an ache in his chest, which Shadow knew could only be one thing.


He felt alone.


Yes, he was the only one out of everyone he knew who had to run around, looking for a purpose. Sonic didn’t, and Tails didn’t, Knuckles had figured out his and Rouge just lived without one. And if Amy considered making Sonic go absolutely crazy a purpose, then she had one too.


He was jealous. He could live without one, but he couldn’t justify his existence to himself. He needed to… he wanted to be able to know why he was created and whether or not he agreed with his acclaimed purpose.


And that’s why he was trying to find his purpose by retracing his steps, going over everything. There was so much he wasn’t sure of. The original Shadow, if he wasn’t the original Shadow, must have been dead. Why did Black Doom think that he was the original Shadow? Black Doom had said that he only wished to bring salvation to the human race, to erase the sin. Was that the right thing to do? Was he really only trying to bring salvation to the humans who had been killing each other for years? Sonic had said that he didn’t want to see anyone else hurt. Shadow didn’t think it was possible to bring about pain without hurt. Was that because he had been created to destroy the human race? But Gerald, hadn’t he decided to make Shadow destroy the Black Comet? That would have hurt the Black Arms…


Retracing his steps had helped him realize that he needed time. It had taken him awhile to amass his information, and now he needed to assess it. Once he did that, he could be in business.


But he wanted it done now. He didn’t want to be alone anymore, especially not now, when the whole world was against him. He had turned Sonic away, against his own personal wishes, but the azure hedgehog was much too meddlesome and besides that, he made Shadow feel funny when he was around. No, it probably was a good idea to have sent Sonic away, although Shadow was sure that his busybody of a rival would poke himself back into Shadow’s business and would be welcomed. Shadow hated that he tended to be wishy-washy with Sonic and wished he had just killed him a long time ago, so that he didn’t have to put up with conflicting feelings.


He stopped running when he reach a cliff. He figured he had distanced himself enough from the city, and sat down.


What had Devil Doom said before he had destroyed him? That there was another one like him wasn’t there? A girl. Shadow had a sister, one who was older than he was. And… maybe she would be the one who could help him not feel so alone. Shadow couldn’t stand another day… of that pain.


Devil Doom could have been lying, just to stop him from blowing up the comet. But he had mentioned his sister once before, and so Shadow was sure that he could find her and understand his roots, why he had been created, if he was created for something more than just killing humans. He felt like he had been created like a car had- like his pieces had been put together, and this was his test drive. He had failed twice…


And more importantly, her purpose. She was created first. Why wasn’t she the one to destroy the humans? Was there a fault? A reason? Or maybe had she been created to do the opposite function, and then Black Doom changed his mind?


All the creatures he had sent to space and killed… they were not like him. They didn’t act or think on their own, and besides that, were gender neutral. So none of them was his sister.


Had his sister been killed when he destroyed the comet? He hoped not. She had to be alive. He had questions for her. He needed answers; he needed her to be alive and well.


If not, what was he to do? Run aimlessly around, following the tracks of creatures that no longer existed?

Chapter 4: Sky

Vamo’alla

Sometimes, Vamo’alla’s eyes would open, but she could not see. Everything about her was black.

Sometimes, she would sing to herself, and she would feel movement. But then, she would return to sleep again.

She could breathe, talk, and open and close her eyes. That was all. It hurt to move any other part of her body, and so her body had become useless.

She no longer dreamt. Sleep was not a relief from being awake, because it felt the same. And she wasn’t quite sure that she was awake.

Her mind had stressed to her the importance of waking up soon. She agreed with herself. It would be a good idea to get up and stretch soon.

So she needed to get her brother to come to her. How would she do that?

She settled into her sleep and began to plot.

Sonic

“What’s wrong, Sonic?” Sonic jumped at Tails’ voice. He must have been standing on the top of an apartment building for at least an hour, staring off into the sunset. He was worried about Shadow, and worried that he was worried about Shadow, and worried that because he was worried about Shadow something strange was happening.

“Uh…” He turned to his younger fox friend, wondering how exactly he could explain himself. He wasn’t always truthful with Tails, because his younger companion wouldn’t understand what Sonic wanted to tell him. Tails was oblivious, outside of his work, and it made Sonic wary of telling him things that would cause his friend to become too confused. “…Nothing.”

Tails made a face. “It’s gotta be something.” He urged. “You’ve been up here all day. It’s a good hiding spot though. Amy’s been looking for you.”

“You don’t say.” Sonic said dryly.

Tails smiled. “I told her you were cleaning up the outskirts of Westopolis.” He explained. “This is the last place she’d look.”

“I think Amy has like, a sixth sense for me or something. She manages to find me everywhere.” Sonic looked back at the sunset. “Yeah, tomorrow I’ll have to hide somewhere else.”

Tails snorted, and Sonic, surprised, looked at his friend. “Amy made a discovery today. She’s so excited about telling you…” He trailed of and Sonic moaned.

“Amy’s last discovery was a set of stars that somehow looked something like me, Tails! I don’t even want to know!”

Tails wagged his tails. “It’s not like that. She found a huge capsule, and there’s something inside. It sings.”

“A capsule?” Sonic wondered. “A capsule that sings?”

“Yeah. The Black Arms must have left it. We tried to destroy it, but Amy won’t let us until you see it.”

“Figures.”

Tails chuckled. “Maybe you ought to give Amy a chance, Sonic.”

“I think we’ve talked about this before.” Sonic was right, they had. It had ended in Sonic cursing all things pink and hearted.

“Well…” Tails said, with a sigh. “She’s going to keep bugging you until you tell her you’re not interested.”

Sonic wished Tails wasn’t always so right when he spoke about the ‘relationship’ that Sonic and Amy supposedly had. He blamed all of Tails’ knowledge on relationships on TV. Darn that Dr. Phil! “I guess so.”

Tails changed the topic. “So where was Shadow going?”

“He’s still trying to figure out his purpose.” Sonic said, looking away from Tails nervously. “He doesn’t want any help.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. Actually, he said I made things worse.”

Tails sounded a little surprised. “I thought you and Shadow were friends.”

“Yeah, I did too. But I guess not.” Sonic sighed. “Anyway, he left in a hurry.”

“Yeah. But you never came back.”

Sonic gulped. He hadn’t returned. He had totally forgotten. “Oops.”

“S’okay.” Tails said cheerfully. “I thought maybe you had chased Shadow around for a while.” Tails paused suddenly. “Sorta like how Amy does to you.”

Sonic froze, shocked. “…What are you saying?” He asked.

Tails grinned cheerfully. “Nothing.”

“You’re saying something, and I want to know what it is!”

“What am I saying?”

“You’re saying that I’m Amy!”

“I never said that!”

Sonic glared at his best friend for a couple seconds, then grinned. “Alright, alright. I do act like Amy a little bit.”

“All you need is a hammer.” Tails nodded to himself. Sonic laughed.

“Yeah, and I’d need to be psycho.”

“SOOOOOOOOOONIC!”

“Holy crap! Do you think I’ll survive if I jump off this building?”

Tails sighed. “I don’t think you have to try to be psycho, Sonic.”

Chapter 5: Enigma

Amy

Sonic’s got to be out here somewhere. Amy thought to herself. She had to show her lover her discovery.

The capsule that she had just put down shuddered. A melody came out from inside of it, and Amy turned to it, listening.

It was a very pretty song, and Amy was confused. Weren’t the Black Arms all about death, killing, and murder? Why did they have a capsule that played pretty music?

“You know,” She said to the capsule, “you’re a big gigantic enigma. That’s my word for today. It means mystery.”

The capsule continued to play music, until it died out and lapsed into silence. Amy started at it, then leaned closer. She could make out a figure inside, but she wasn’t quite sure exactly what it was. Maybe it was a big battery.

“Can you play something romantic?” She asked it. The capsule made no noise. “Maybe you’re broken… I bet Tails could fix you!” The capsule remained quiet. Amy wondered why she was talking to it as if it was a person. “Oh well. I’ll find Tails and he’ll tell me where Sonic is, and then we’ll get this thing fixed.”

The capsule shuddered, and made no noise. Amy didn’t know what she’d do with it. Maybe she could get Tails to come to it?

“I bet Tails is with Sonic! Good thing I have a Sonic radar!” Amy whisked a pink suitcase out of thin air and opened it. Inside was Amy’s claim to fame: a fully operational Sonic tracking device made specifically for making Sonic hers (and then perhaps to take over the world and make it red and pink). She had a knuckles radar and a Tails radar, and was considering buying a Shadow radar (which she saw on the black market for 25,000 rings) and then her Sonic radar, which she used sparingly because it was liable to break. But it had never been wrong!

As soon as she found out where Tails was, she took off. She wouldn’t let Sonic get away from her this time!

Shadow

Shadow found himself once again in Westopolis. The city was the connection between all three stories. This was where he needed to be. For now, anyway.

He saw a blur of pink and inwardly sighed, feeling sorry for Sonic. Amy was pretty cloying and also generous with her usual annoying chatter. He sort of wished she would keep it to herself. Or away from him, anyway.

“Shadow!” Shadow cringed. That was Sonic. And if Sonic was there, then Amy would come, and if she came, then it would just be a big old reunion, and he’d only been gone for two days!

“What?” He asked, grudgingly, turning. To his immediate dismay, Sonic was not alone. Tails was with him. Shadow groaned. As usual, the fox was giving him the sort of look Shadow expected from a doctor.

“You’re back already?” Sonic sounded genuinely surprised. “We haven’t really made much progress. Have you come to help?”

“No.” Shadow grumbled. “I’m here because I felt like coming.”

Sonic was quiet. Shadow hated when he did that, because he knew that Sonic was plotting in his head, probably something that would help Shadow until Shadow botched it and it all went to hell. “Now that I think about it…” Sonic said, suddenly, “Westopolis is where everything began, over and over again.”

Shadow sighed. He had already come to that conclusion, but why ruin the younger hedgehog’s revelation? “Yes.” He nodded.

“Maybe you ought to stick around.” Sonic said, his verdant eyes managing to make Shadow feel much like a younger child.

“Whatever.” He grumbled, glaring back at Sonic. “Wait. I just saw Amy running around here. I am not going to stay around for that.”

Sonic and Tails visibly shuddered. “Yeah… then I guess we aren’t either.” Tails piped up. “We’re going to see Knuckles and help him repair parts of his island.”

Shadow was silent. Finally he said, “I never went to Angel Island.”

“Yeah, but we destroyed that place the last time we visited, so we figured we’d clean up. A little.” Sonic said. He added, “Do you want to come?”

Shadow was torn. One, he didn’t want to stick around and deal with Amy, and two, he didn’t want to deviate from his ultimate goal. But Sonic was almost pleading with him, and he had a hard time turning Sonic down.

“…Fine.” He decided. “If it’ll keep me away from Amy.”

Sonic grinned. “Then let’s get outta here!”

Chapter 6: Warm

Vamo’alla

She had discarded the idea for a plan to make her brother find her. Her five-year-old mind was much happier with playing with the toys in her imagination. She found that she liked to play on her own, but she liked it better when someone else played with her. That was why she needed her brother with her, so that they could both play.

Would her brother play her sort of game? She hoped so. She
wanted her brother to understand her games, even if her games had to do with items like Heretic's Forks or Iron Maidens. Would they be alike? Would they both enjoy the same things?

She snuggled into her warm thoughts. Of course she and her brother would be similar. They were brethren.

Sonic

Sonic was worried Knuckles and Shadow wouldn’t get along, which, of course, they didn’t. Tails had to drag Knuckles away from Shadow forcefully, which was quite a feat.

Sonic was alone with Shadow, and for some strange reason, he couldn’t have been happier.

Initially, his idea was to just leave Shadow alone. But he found that he couldn’t. Shadow was cold, alone, and all Sonic wanted to do was to warm him up again, make him realize that he did have friends. He wanted to have the Shadow who he had only seen weeks ago, with a fervor for life and a sense of humor. True, that was when Shadow had found a path to his purpose, but all the same, Sonic wished…

He wanted that Shadow back. Right now, Shadow was a shadow of his former self. He was moody and silent, dismal. It made Sonic sad. He knew Shadow could be just as lively as the rest of them, so why didn’t he act that way?

He turned his attention to the black and crimson streaked hedgehog, who was not paying him any attention at all. Sonic was surprised by Shadow’s strength, amazed that he could pick up buses and fallen walls with such a slight figure. Sonic couldn’t, and he was about the same, figure size. Shadow was just as easily putting back together the arch that used to sit above the Master Emerald.

“Shadow?” Sonic asked. The older hedgehog did not respond, so Sonic continued, meekly. “Why is it that you’re so strong?”

“…” Shadow looked at the arch, and then back at Sonic. “I don’t know.” He said. For once, Sonic couldn’t detect any sarcasm or disgust in his companion’s voice. Shadow continued, “I don’t lift weights or anything. I guess I’m just top heavy or something.” His ruby eyes glazed over slowly, as if he was thinking of something. Then, almost dreamily, he said, “Weird, huh.”

Sonic agreed. He couldn’t help but watch in fascination. Shadow had some funny ways about him, and Sonic could never figure him out.

“How are we going to make this stick together?” Shadow asked. He had turned back to the arch, speaking like he normally did, tinged with some sort of anger.

“I’m sure Tails has some sort of idea. But Shadow, I haven’t helped out at all!”

“So what? You don’t need to help all the time. Jeez. Take a break, will you?” Shadow grumbled at him turning away from his handiwork. “It’s stupid that you always need to be working. There’s no point. The humans can build up their city without your help, you know.” Sonic blinked.

“But…”

“Yeah, I know. But you think it was your fault. Get over yourself.” Shadow said this with a wave of his hand, seemingly dismissive. “The fact is that you don’t owe anyone anything. You’ve saved them all. You don’t have to fix cities or repair relationships…no one owes you. So just sit back.”

Sonic riled. “But I want to help.” He said, instantly. “Even if I wasn’t the one to cause all the trouble, this is the quickest path back for everyone to being normal again!” Shadow looked at him as if to ask, and what’s normal? “And Shadow, I think it’s really selfish of you not to help, even if you are still looking for your purpose! What if part of the reason you were created is buried under the rubble in Westopolis, Shadow?”

Shadow glared at him. “Don’t accuse me of anything.” He said.

“I’m not!”

“You just accused me of being selfish, faker.” Shadow said, his eyes narrowing. “I’m not selfish. I just don’t like working with people, that’s all. Especially people who hate me.”

Sonic backed down, his heart slowing. “But… I don’t hate you.”

“Well, I know that.” Shadow snapped. “But just about everyone else does. I don’t need to be told twice, I know when to get lost.”

“Shadow…”

His counterpart gave him a very evil sneer and turned away. “Leave me alone.”

“But…” Sonic started. But when he realized Shadow was going to give him the cold shoulder, he sighed and gave up.

Chapter 7: Planning

Shadow

Although he was sorry he had snapped at the young hero in azure, Shadow was angry that Sonic could even think of calling him selfish. He was not.

So he didn’t want to help the people who hated him. Big deal. The fact was that they hated him, and he hated them too. No point in helping them, because he didn’t care to get on their ‘good side’.

What he did like about the Earth was the nature. He could spend hours by himself in a forest and feel very much at home. Why Sonic was attracted to cities was beyond him.

Rather than help the people in Westopolis, he went to Glyphic Canyon and put together what he had destroyed. That had been what he did the past few days, while thinking over his purpose.

“Shadow?” Sonic said meekly. Shadow continued to ignore him. “…Sorry. I…I guess I kinda went a little overboard. But…”

Shadow wrinkled his nose. “A little?” He asked, turning.

Sonic had turned very strong emerald eyes on Shadow, which made Shadow shiver. It was so strange that his voice could sound weak while he was still confident.

“Yes. A little.” Sonic said, his eyes catching Shadow’s. They looked at each other.

“I haven’t fixed the Digital Circuit yet.” Shadow said uncomfortably. “But I don’t just wander about aimlessly. I went to Glyphic Canyon.” He didn’t know why he was justifying himself to his smaller companion, but he did anyway.

“…You did?”

“Yes. I told you I don’t like people.” He looked away. “But there were people there who were dying. The city is the only place people care about. But there are wounded people everywhere. Even if I hate them all, I can’t get away from them.”

“Tails fixed the Digital Circuit. Espio told us how you went in and… Eggman tossed it to the wind after you left…” Sonic said, softly. “But… I didn’t think…”

“Duh, you didn’t.” Shadow grumbled. “Just because I had decided to get the Chaos Emeralds and destroyed a lot of things, no one thinks I can be even a bit nice… well… that’s kinda true.” Shadow shrugged. “I don’t do nice.”

Sonic broke into a childish smile. “Don’t be stupid. You’re nice sometimes. Not all the time, but whatever.”

“…Okay.” Shadow said, nervously.

Sonic continued, gaily. “I’m glad you helped Glyphic Canyon! You’re right… we’re all really focused on the city now. How about you and me go to Prison Island and fix there up too?”

“…Well…you seem kinda… excited about it…” Shadow said, a little disturbed. “But I guess it wouldn’t hurt.”

“Cool! We could go right now!”

“…” Shadow thought about it. It would be best if they just left. Of course, people would question Shadow’s motifs, but the further he was from society’s laser glare, the better. “Let’s go.”

Chapter 8: Bliss

Sonic


“It’s covered in guts.” Shadow had told Sonic before they had reach Prison Island. Sonic had expected lots of the green acid, but was greeted with piles and piles of dead bodies and robot pieces.


“Gross.” Sonic managed.


“That’s not even half of it.” Shadow murmured softly. Sonic turned to the evil hedgehog in confusion.


“What’s wrong?”


Shadow sighed. “The trees are dying.” He muttered. “Jeez. This is all my fault…”


“Oh, no. Never, Shadow.” Sonic murmured trying to make his older companion at least give him a glance, even if it was out of contempt. He hated seeing Shadow dejected. Shadow would not be swayed. He seemed genuinely sad that the trees were dying. Sonic wondered why.


“These trees… I feel like they’re the only things that don’t judge me.” Shadow said, as if to answer Sonic’s unasked question. “I don’t have to change who I am to sit in a tree. I like it.” The way he said it almost sounded wistful, as if he wanted to be sitting in a tree just then.


The trees here were wilting away, small and black. He would have to work hard to coax them to grow. Sonic could imagine Shadow working alone to do that task, but he resolved to help his friend bring the trees back to life.


Sonic wondered what else made Shadow happy. He didn’t ask anything, just said, “We need to drain the liquid and move the bodies to save them. The trees, I mean.”


Shadow turned his ruby eyes to the green acid. “There’s an easy way and a hard way.” He said.


“Okay. What’s the easy way?”


“We Chaos Control the acid into far space.”


“That sounds hard.”


“Well, we could reverse the effects of the acid, if you want.” Shadow said, giving Sonic an evil eye.


“Okay, that sounds harder... But how far into outer space will we have to throw it?”


“…” Shadow looked thoughtful. “Maybe we can just send it into a star.”


“Into a star?”


“Yeah, then the acid will eventually become a part of the stars… I mean, sure, there’ll be green stars around for a while, but nothing too weird.”


“Whatever you say, Shad.” Sonic said. He expected Shadow to tell him not to call him Shad, but the hedgehog didn’t seem to care. He had turned his attention to the massive amounts of bodies. Although most of the Black Arms bodies were gone, their blood remained, staining the ground black and yellow. Pieces of metal stuck out of the pools of blood, and many bodies were still there, dripping with blood. Sonic sucked in a breath. “What caused all of this?”


Shadow was silent. Finally he replied. “Me.”


“…Shadow…” Sonic said, nervous.


“I know. Hard to believe, since you have such low expectations of me.”


“…No… I just… I thought you’d…”


“Changed?” Shadow eyed Sonic suspiciously. “You’re being way too friendly.”


“…Sorry. I’m just worried about you.”


“Hm.” Shadow said, characteristic behavior on his part. Sonic considered that uncomfortable revelation finished, but Shadow spoke up. “Why?”


“Why what?”


“Why would you bother to be worried about me?” He asked, turning his ruby eyes away from Sonic when Sonic fixed his eyes onto him. “Didn’t I try to kill you before? Wasn’t I the one who caused so much destruction?”


“Yes… but…I mean, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t give you the light of day.” Sonic thought hard. “Actually, I don’t know why I care so much about how you’re doing. I mean, Tails cares too, and I know Rouge does, but they don’t keep after you. But I want to make sure you’re happy. If I’m sure, then maybe…” He paused. “Maybe then you’d be able to find a purpose, even if it’s not the one you’re looking for. Besides… I…like you, Shadow. You did cause this destruction… but at least you’re cleaning it up.”


“What do you mean?” Shadow made a face, on that Sonic was afraid to challenge.


Instead, Sonic started towards a pile of bodies, determined not to reveal anymore of his inner thoughts to the dark hedgehog. For a while, they worked in silence, but then Shadow turned and knocked Sonic backwards onto a clearing.


“Shadow, what are you doing?” Sonic started to get up, but Shadow pinned him to the ground.


“What you said.” Shadow said, simply. “Explain.”


Sonic squirmed. “No! Get off!” But Shadow was strong, and he was surprisingly patient. He straddled Sonic’s hips and waited for the smaller hedgehog to cease his struggles and confess. Sonic was feeling very violated and extremely vulnerable. “Shadow!”


“I think I like hearing you beg, Sonic. But despite that I will ask you again to explain what you said.” Shadow said, quite evilly.


“Shadow, that’s not right!” Sonic cried. He lashed out with his hands and ended up with those pushed over his head, Shadow holding both wrists down with one hand. He was leaning over Sonic, close enough that Sonic could touch his nose. “Shadow!” He yelled, twisting to get away.


“Well?” Shadow asked, his voice almost happy. There was no emotion on his face, he was staring down at Sonic with his scarlet eyes and they were burning with a need to know.


Sonic squirmed frantically. “Get off of me, Shadow!” He begged. “Please?”


“No.” His captor said, without a second thought.


“What the hell, Shadow, just get off!”


“I want you to tell me what you know. When you do, I’ll get off of you.” Shadow said. He smirked. “You look terrified, Sonic. What’s wrong?”


Sonic had never felt so trapped before. He wanted to get up and run away. Shadow had been looking at him like he was prey, and it frightened him. It disgusted him how small he felt compared to Shadow, and how he was considerably weaker, at the moment. He could not fall into the same trap again. “Shadow…” Sonic grumbled. "Whaddya want to know?"


Shadow’s eyes turned to slits; he seemed to be analyzing the younger hedgehog. He didn’t budge, finally saying, “Tell me why you’re worried about me.”


“I told you!” Sonic protested. “I think it’ll be easier for you to find a purpose if you’re happy!”


“That wasn’t what I was asking about, but I’ll bite. Why do you think so?”


“Because you’re only trying to justify your own purpose, the one that you’ve made for yourself!” Sonic groaned. “I can’t breathe, Shadow!”


“...” Shadow shifted. “But you haven’t answered my question. I asked you to explain yourself.”


“Please.” Sonic gasped. “I just want to get up.” His head and heart were pounding in unison. He wasn’t sure what Shadow wanted to know about. Was it about him liking Shadow? Didn’t he know that already?


“No.”


“Shadow!” Sonic couldn’t think fast enough, or well enough, to come up with something to tell the older hedgehog. “Come on, Shadow… you hafta.”


“I don’t if I don’t want to, and I don’t want to. I like the way you beg.” Shadow smiled cruelly at Sonic. “And I think I like you better in this position too.”


“What? Why?” Sonic asked, bewildered.


“I’m asking the questions here. Tell me what you meant.”


“…” Sonic was growing more and more fearful of the older hedgehog every second. Even though Shadow probably meant no harm, he was acting strangely. Sonic couldn’t understand his counterpart’s words. He was stunned that Shadow would have tackled him in the first place. And now he wouldn’t let him up, calm and cool, waiting for Sonic to answer him. When he didn’t, Shadow began to speak.


“I wonder how I can make you tell me.” He said, thoughtfully. Sonic clamped his mouth shut. He wouldn’t give in to Shadow. “…Hmm…” Shadow said, almost dreamily. “I could just torture you, but that would be cruel.” Sonic agreed. “But there are many different ways to torture someone. Do you agree, Sonic?” Sonic glowered up at Shadow, who grinned. “I guess you do.” Shadow’s other hand trailed down Sonic’s side, much to Sonic’s surprise.


“What are you” He spluttered.


“I’m making you talk.” Shadow said simply, his fingers running through Sonic’s fur. “It’s the only way. You agree, don’t you?”


“Shadow, I- Shadow!” Sonic bucked as Shadow’s fingers played on some strange, sensitive nerve.


“…” Shadow smiled. “You should talk.” He drawled, his fingers lazily drawing circles around that general area. Sonic wasn’t sure where it was, but he didn’t want it to happen again.


“It’s just…” Sonic started, trying to look away. That earned him another poke, a sensation quite like electricity shot up his spine.


“Look at me.” Shadow commanded.


Sonic did not. A third shock to his system taught him otherwise. He glowered up at the very happy Shadow, who was biting down on his bottom lip thoughtfully.


“Maybe you need more incentive.” Shadow said. Indignant, Sonic nearly shouted:


“Get off of me, you crazy hedgehog!”


Shadow chided, “That won’t do.” He looked down towards his hand, and then back up at Sonic’s eyes. “…If you know what’s good for you…” Shadow said, a mysterious grin taking over his features, “You won’t make a fuss. You’ll tell me what I want to know.”


“I refuse!” Sonic snarled. “You’re going too far Shad” But even as he spoke, he felt Shadow’s fingers dig into his sensitive area, and Shadow’s voice warning him again, telling him that he had used up his last warning.


“Is there something you wanted to tell me, Sonic?” He asked, his ruby eyes dancing merrily. Dazed, Sonic said nothing. He stared, his eyes unfocused, up into the sky for a short period of time, finally snapping out of his daze and cursing Shadow in his head, then spoke up.


“If I answer, will you let me up?”


“That was my original promise.”


“Fine, I like you, Shadow. I like you but I don’t even know why. And I worry because I don’t want you to get hurt or die before I figure exactly why I like you. Or else it’ll just be one big mystery, and I hate mysteries.” Sonic grumbled, “But you already knew all of this. That I liked you, I mean.”


There was a pause, and Shadow’s eyes flashed dangerously. “I didn’t. Elaborate.”


“You didn’t?” Sonic asked. “Did…did you really just think that I hated you or something?”


Shadow responded just as Sonic finished his question. “What if I did?”


“Well…now you know, Shadow!” Sonic nearly shouted. He was silenced swiftly. Shadow did not touch him again; rather, he got off of Sonic and turned away. “…Shadow?”


“I don’t have many friends who are alive.” Shadow said over his shoulder. “Even if I wanted any, they’d die.”

Chapter 8: Care For Me

Vamo’alla

Her insides were buzzing. She knew her brother was alive, but she would die if he didn’t come for her, soon. She needed him to care for her, because if he didn’t, then she could not survive. Such is the way with babies, they are dependent and they grow independent. It was no different for the little one. She had to grow independent, but she needed to be dependent on someone first.

And she was now dreaming, hoping her brother would realize his duty to awaken her. If he had one purpose, now…

It would be to unleash untold horrors onto the Earth and watch as a legacy unfolded.

Tails

As much as Tails wished Sonic would tell him why he was so interested in learning about Shadow, he was afraid to learn the truth as well. He knew the answer, and he wasn’t willing to accept it as the unavoidable truth.

But it seemed that Sonic and Shadow were on their way to making that truth into something unavoidable already, and Tails wasn’t sure how he could deal with that.

To begin with, Sonic and Shadow were completely different. Sonic was tempered, at least, easy to get along with, amiable and generous with his time, willing to help his fellow… hedgehog… with any problem that he or she might encounter. Shadow, on the other hand, was violent, stubborn, and impulsive, and Tails knew Shadow would help anyone, as long as he saw it fit to help them. That was why he worried.

Sonic was easy-going until he was with Shadow. Since he couldn’t understand Shadow, Tails had realized, he hadn’t acted like he had around others. He was careful not to hurt the feelings of the evil hedgehog, even when the latter deliberately tried to hurt him. And Shadow, he acted so cruel to people and to Knuckles (mostly), but he did act civil around Sonic sometimes.

And Tails didn’t understand how they would fit together, unless it was on opposite sides of a Yin Yang. They were nice to each other, true, but that didn’t necessarily mean they’d go together, hand in hand. There was more to relationships than the way you treated the other, wasn’t there?

“Tails.” Tails blinked and smiled halfway at Knuckles.

“S-sorry.” He murmured.

Knuckles stared at Tails for a couple seconds. “What were you thinking about?” He asked gently. Tails didn’t think very hard about his answer.

“I was considering how I could use the power in a chaos emerald to create shoes like Shadow’s.” He lied, crossing his fingers behind his back. Knuckles seemed to accept that, to Tails’ relief.

“Where did Sonic and Shadow go?” Knuckles asked. Tails was relieved that Knuckles seemed oblivious to the two hedgehog’s interaction with each other as well.

“I think Sonic was called back to the city. Shadow just… well… you know how much he doesn’t like you.”

“Well, the feeling is mutual.” Knuckles grumbled. “…Do you think something strange is going on between them, Tails?”

Tails felt his tail twitch. “What do you mean?”

Knuckles picked up on the movement and he smirked. “So you do.” He said, nodding. “And what is it?”

Tails clamped his mouth shut. He knew better than to tell Knuckles anything. Not because Knuckles wasn’t capable of keeping secrets, but because if Knuckles had anything, anything, over Shadow, he would make a rope out of it and hang Shadow in his own family tree.

Knuckles continued, “There’s something funny about the way Sonic seems to change around Shadow. I’m getting sorta worried.”

“Why?” Tails asked, unable to keep that from passing.

Knuckles closed his eyes in thought. “I know you’ve noticed it. Even you’re not as stupid as Amy.”

“That’s not fair.” Tails told him.

“Don’t act all judgmental. Amy got Shadow and Sonic confused. I mean, basic colors right there, you know? You have to be an idiot to”

“Okay, okay. I know how much you can’t stand Amy and the fact that she decided to beat you with her hammer. Repeatedly.” Tails cut in. Knuckles glared at him.

“Anyway. You know, how Sonic gets all misty eyed whenever Shadow spouts some meaningless garbage and how he’s always making excuses to find Shadow.”

“…What garbage?”

“Well… what he’s saying isn’t really garbage. Shadow is just garbage.”

“…” Tails sighed. He wouldn’t be able to convince Knuckles to leave Shadow alone, but Rouge, over time, would be able to do something… he hoped. “What do you mean by misty eyed?”

“Sonic has a tendency to ignore what people tell him.” Knuckles nodded. “He defies law and order. That’s how he wins battles. Right?”

“Uh…”

“Come on Tails. When Shadow was destroying the city, Sonic had been told time and time again to leave Shadow alone. Yet he purposely chased Shadow down with the intent of doing what…?”

“That did have a point, and whether you like it or not, we all chased Shadow down. He’s one of us.”

“Okay, how about when”

“I know Sonic defies authority sometimes, but I don’t understand still. Sonic doesn’t defy Shadow?”

“He obeys Shadow, Tails! Once, I was watching this, Shadow said, ‘Sonic, get out of here. I don’t want to look at you.’ And Sonic, he gets up and says, ‘Okay.’ And then he leaves.”

“Shadow’s much more violent than anyone else we know, Knuckles. He might have hurt Sonic if he didn’t.”

“Has that ever stopped Sonic before, Tails?”

Tails had to admit to himself, that stumped him. He had been Sonic’s friend for as long as he could remember, but he wasn’t the clingy friend that Rouge loved to portray him as. The fact that Sonic had to lead his own life had hit home when Tails was the one who saved Station Square so long ago. He couldn’t always rely on Sonic, when Sonic couldn’t be there, Tails had to rely on himself. But for all the times that Sonic was there, never once had Sonic adhered to the law unless he thought it was necessary. Shadow was like that, except that he went out of his way to break every rule in the rulebook.

“Knuckles, you seem awfully worried about it.” Tails picked his words carefully. “Is there something you suspect going on?”

“Yeah, but you already know what it is. Come on, Tails, Sonic might fall for your little innocent boy act, but I know better.” Tails smiled ruefully when Knuckles pointed that out. Because they were best friends, Tails and Sonic had given each other a blind side- Sonic thought Tails could be oblivious, possibly because he was too innocent, and Tails thought Sonic wouldn’t be able to deal with serious issues that came his way, probably because he was so free-spirited.

“What do you mean?” Tails played dumb. It was easier to deal when he wasn’t flaunting his knowledge everywhere.

Knuckles sighed. “Seriously. Your mind games don’t work on me. You and I both know that Sonic is debating starting a serious relationship with Shadow.”

“And that doesn’t make you happy?”

“That worries me. Shadow has lashed out at many people who ‘care’ for him. I mean, he’s hurt Eggman, who released him, he’s repeatedly left Rouge in trouble to fend for herself, and he’s pushing us away; face it Tails, he’s not exactly friend of the week material, never mind relationship material.”

“Well, if we stopped examining him like a piece of meat…” Tails murmured.

“It’s difficult to even imagine Shadow in any sort of relationship.”

“What about the girl? The one that he talks about?”

“…Rouge?” Knuckles asked, obviously confused.

Tails dropped his topic. Knuckles didn’t know, or hadn’t heard, the way Shadow spoke about the girl he once knew. “He had a friend. Before. Before all of this, fifty years ago.”

“Huh.” Knuckles said. “And what happened to his friend?”

“I think she died. Not because of Shadow- I mean, not directly because Shadow killed her- but it wasn’t a natural death. You know that ARK was completely run in by GUN soldiers.”

“…” Knuckles was silent. “So they went on and killed her, but missed Shadow? What kind of crap is that? It sounds like Shadow killed her himself.”

“Don’t count Shadow out just yet… I mean, I know Shadow wouldn’t hurt us if he could help it. He doesn’t know what else to turn to but his anger, that’s all.” Tails remembered how nice Shadow had been when Tails had been in Circus Park. Shadow didn’t always act like he wanted to kill everyone. He knew that. “Right? You saw him at Glyphic Canyon.”

“Yeah… I guess he was alright.” Tails hid a smile. Shadow had complained to Tails that while he was helping Knuckles, he and Knuckles had gotten into plenty of arguments about who was more frightened of the dust storms that kicked up every now and then. Shadow mentioned that Knuckles managed to scream every time that they had gotten sucked up, which could have explained why Knuckles had been hacking away for a week after his ordeal was over.

“Shadow had nothing but glowing comments about you,” Tails said, and Knuckles snorted.

“Glowing. Yeah, whatever.”

Chapter 9: Speak

Ivan Robotnik

This was the machine that would destroy the blue blur once and for all, and Dr. Ivan Robotnik was holding it in his very hands.

There wasn’t much he could say he did himself with this project. He and the Blank Arms had been in a very loose allegiance, and Black Doom had leaked to him about a weapon called the Vertical Infinity. It was a powerful weapon that needed to be used with an infinite power, which Robotnik inferred was the ultimate power, since infinite and ultimate were practically synonyms.

The Doctor could not have been more pleased to realize that the ultimate power was already on Earth… a creature by the name of Shadow the hedgehog.

Getting Shadow to willingly work with him would be a problem, since the dark hedgehog held a grudge against him worse than Amy did. It would take planning, and that was Dr. Ivan Robotnik’s strong point- except if that damned blue hedgehog was involved!

But, to get back to the Vertical Infinity, it was a weapon of extreme power, but was in fact a tiny box. The Doctor had no idea what it would or could do, just that it was a purely biological weapon without a trace of metal. In the time that most of the creatures he hated were rushing about in the confusion of Shadow’s memories and the siege of the planet, Ivan Robotnik was hard at work creating this little box that he could not use without Shadow.

The Vertical Infinity had been explained to him by Black Doom himself. “When combined with infinite power,” he had said, “It will give my creation a powerful boost. Its powers are dormant now, but this should awaken them. It should lift the seal.” When Dr. Ivan asked about the control he could have over the power of the Vertical Infinity, the Black Doom said, “There is a component of the Vertical Infinity that could be altered to give someone else a little control over my creation. However, I do not think it would be wise to use that component. It will make the power significantly weaker.” But, Dr. Ivan thought gleefully, still strong enough to destroy the wretched hedgehog of cerulean color and mild-manner nature!

The mere thought that there was more to Shadow than met the eye made the doctor shiver. After all, Shadow was much stronger, physically, than Sonic was. He was also probably much smarter than the sometimes-too-slow-for-his-own-good blue hedgehog who terrorized Dr. Ivan’s night and day. If Shadow had powers to unlock, then perhaps he was more than the doctor himself had expected…

Shadow

There were two tugs at his heartstrings now. Firstly, he wanted to find his sister, with all his heart. He felt like she was alive and he needed to talk to her, to understand his real true purpose. He was sure that since she was not created by Gerald, but had been alive the entire time that Shadow had been created, she would also be able to tell him about how his purposes worked and what made them change and more importantly, if he had already fulfilled his purpose. If he could figure out what he was supposed to do, to be less confused about what he was, then he could easily fall prey to his other heartstring, the one pulling him to Sonic.

Sonic, he was strange, and even Shadow didn’t know why he hadn’t tried to pummel the smaller hedgehog into telling him what he wanted to hear. No, instead Shadow had done something he would have never done before. Normally, he would have probably strangled his opponent until they seemed close to death, and then he would drop them and order them to talk to him. But he hadn’t done that to Sonic.

He had straddled the smaller hedgehog, and that was making himself close with the enemy. If Sonic was his enemy.

Next, Shadow slightly remembered telling Sonic he liked the way he begged. That wasn’t like him either. Ordinarily he just commented on how pathetic it was for this prize to be begging for mercy. Shadow didn’t do mercy, just like he didn’t do pity or windows.

He did like the way Sonic begged though. Sonic tried to weasel his way out of every and any situation, even if his own pride was wounded. And that, Shadow realized, took great pride to do. Sonic was honorable, sure, but he had no problem hurting his own pride to get out of a situation… Shadow wasn’t sure about that. He wouldn’t sacrifice his own pride to… maybe Sonic was just trying to be nice, or something, because he had never done that before. Shadow thought, anyway.

What else had he done? He had terrorized his cerulean companion’s nerves. He would have to stop doing that, he realized. Touching Sonic in anyway caused him to lose control, and he couldn’t afford to lose control. Not yet.

But that was besides the point. Sonic had put up such a fight when Shadow had done that, and he had also moaned so beautifully that Shadow had been tempted to just poke him there, over and over again. And speaking of that, he had no idea that Sonic had such long fur or that Sonic actually had a curvy sort of figure. Or that he was so sensitive so far down his back.

Okay. He’d have to stop thinking about that, because he was sure he was drooling. That wasn’t good either.

He concentrated on his work. Sonic was much too weak to move walls and such, so Shadow had told him to clean up the bodies of the remaining Black Arms. Sonic had done so happily, as if he had already forgotten about Shadow’s last assault on him. Shadow hadn’t even started considering the worst part of his assault on Sonic, and he was already stumped.

Why did the blue hedgehog trust him? Certainly Shadow had done all in his power to chase him away.

But Sonic still managed to be all cheerful and busy, continuously annoying Shadow with his chatter about how next time Shadow had to let him have some fun too. Shadow was surprised he let Sonic annoy him. If Sonic had been Tails, he would have long since crushed him with a box.

“Sonic.” Shadow decided, aloud. His friend looked up at him, from where he was busily removing metal GUN robot parts from acidic blood.

“What’s up?” Sonic asked, cheerfully if nothing else. Shadow snorted.

“What are you all cheerful about?” He muttered.

“I…I didn’t realize.” Sonic grinned all the same. “It’s nothing.”

“Whatever.” Shadow muttered. “Why don’t you just run away now?”

“…?” Sonic looked almost as confused as Shadow felt. “Why would I do that?”

“…” Shadow wondered how thick Sonic was. “Let’s go back in time.” He said, slowly. “About an hour or so ago. What happened?”

“You tackled me. That hurt, so let’s not do that again.” Sonic said.

“Whatever. So, I tackled you, and then…”

“And then you started questioning me. You wanted me to explain what I had said to you.”

“And?”

“And I wouldn’t, so you started…” Sonic trailed off. Shadow nodded to himself. Exactly. “But…you didn’t mean for it to come across… like that. Did you?”

“I don’t know. Did I?”

“Shadow!” Sonic glared at him. “Could you stop dodging my questions and answer for once?”

“Sure, if you stop acting like Amy.” Shadow shrugged. “I have no problem answering any question you’ve got.”

Sonic scowled. “Yeah, whatever.” He muttered darkly. Shadow grinned.

“Funny. I would’ve said the same thing.”

Sonic’s dark expression did not change. “Shadow, you’re acting like a real jackass, and I’ve been trying not to curse that much lately.”

“I’ve been on the same diet.” Shadow replied, not bothering to call the younger hedgehog a name in retaliation. He liked making Sonic flustered; after all, Sonic was easy to embarrass.

“Be serious, would you?” Sonic asked, none too calmly. “I want to know why… why you did all of that for such a little thing!”

Shadow wasn’t sure how he could get out of such a pointed question, but he’d done more with less, or less with more, or however the silly cliché went. “Maybe I didn’t think it was such a little thing.”

“Maybe? Is that all you have?” Sonic asked, advancing on him, his emerald eyes flashing. “You mean you jumped me only because you had a hunch that it wasn’t a little thing?”

“Could you reword that?”

“Answer the question, Shadow!” Sonic commanded. Shadow couldn’t help but laugh.

“I can’t do that. I don’t know.” He chuckled, even as Sonic grew even more enraged.

“You don’t know?” Sonic growled.

Shadow only laughed harder. “You don’t scare me, Sonic.” He managed, grinning at his rival. “You’ve never scared me. You’re too good for that.”

Sonic only reach out and snatched his chest fur, pulling the duo as close together as they could possibly be without being smushed into each other. “What’s the deal, Shadow? Do you usually just play with people’s emotions like toys?”

Shadow smirked at this. “What emotion did I hurt, Sonic?” He asked, blithely. “And how am I supposed to fix it?”

Sonic growled again. “Don’t mess around, Shadow! You deliberately tortured me. You orchestrated that whole ordeal! And I want to know why!”

“You know why.” Shadow said, calmly. “But you’re over reacting. Only a few minutes ago, you were happy. So explain yourself.”

Sonic’s hand had long since stopped grabbing at Shadow’s chest fur. Shadow realized that he had spoken a long time ago, and now they were only staring at each other, Sonic’s hand caressing Shadow’s chest fur thoughtfully. Shadow wasn’t sure if he should wake Sonic or wait for him to wake himself.

Sonic managed fine on his own though, even though he didn’t notice his hand at all. “I…You…” He stuttered. Shadow made it a point to look down at Sonic’s hand. Sonic immediately stepped back. “…We…”

“Are enemies.” Shadow reminded Sonic.

“Are friends.” Sonic shook his head. “Friends who are having a problem that we need to work through. We have to stop over reacting.”

“Why is that?”

“Because… I can’t…I can’t deal with that.” Sonic sighed. “Amy always over reacts, and I’ll admit, I would have just as easily been Amy’s boyfriend if she wasn’t so annoying… and sensitive.”

“Speaking of sensitive…” Shadow brushed at his chest fur. “Don’t pull the chest fur. It’s not pleasant.”

Sonic stared at him, then burst into laughter. “You’re such a baby!” He laughed, when Shadow gave him a look. “All because I pulled at your fur a little! There, there, Shadow, I won’t touch it again!”

“I didn’t say you couldn’t touch it.” Shadow said indignantly. “I said you couldn’t pull it. It hurts, not to mention that you could probably rip if off my chest! You should think before you act!”

“Something like you do, right?” Sonic asked.

“I’m not you. I can control my temper.”

“Yeah, right, Shadow. So, what are we doing here again? Oh, that’s right. We’re cleaning up a mess that the Black Arms left behind after a party. Nope. Nothing to do with you destroying millions of aliens.”

“Cute.” Shadow muttered. “But I don’t like it when you’re happy.”

“And why not?”

“Because you’re annoying.” Shadow muttered.

Sonic smiled coyly at Shadow. “Would you like me to make it better, Shadow?” He asked. Shadow wrinkled his nose.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Sonic shrugged, grinning. “Nothing.”

“…You liar!”

Chapter 11: Fate

Amy

Tails had been confused about her alien jukebox, and Rouge was all for destroying it. Knuckles wanted it destroyed too. Charmy, Vector, and Espio all agreed that it was dangerous, but that didn’t mean it had to be destroyed. Cream had been frightened enough to never want to look at the thing again, and she just couldn’t figure out why e-123, Omega, wouldn’t even look at it.

She was confused, and her jukebox would only sing to her in solace. She was sure that if Sonic or Shadow got a chance to look at it, maybe they would be able to make the final choice.

The problem was that Cream and Tails and Knuckles would back Sonic up, and all of team Chaotix would join in on that, and so Shadow would be outnumbered- no one would listen to what Shadow had to say. And Amy thought that Shadow would be able to shed a light on whatever her capsule was. Did the children of Black Doom sing before they were born? How strange. They were all so ugly, and none of the sounds they made sounded pretty…

The receptacle shook again, not violently, but just enough to get Amy to notice it. She looked at it, sighing.

“What should I do with you?” She asked the container. “I have a feeling everyone’s going to want to kill you, even though you play such pretty music. I think even though everything that the Black Arms was disgusting, but… you’re not that bad.” She sighed. “I mean, you’re not exploding on me, trying to kill me… and… I feel like you’re a real… thing. You’re not like those eggs that they planted everywhere… You’re different. You know? I’m sure you aren’t… well… you know…” She lapsed into silence. Sonic was nowhere near, and she had resorted to talking to the container. That wasn’t healthy.

It began to play, the same song it always played. Maybe the song had some meaning to the Black Arms? Amy couldn’t see that happening.

She just really needed Sonic and Shadow to come and tell everyone the fate of her new toy!

Vamo’alla

Her heart was pounding. She would die soon. She couldn’t tell herself not to worry, because she had already begun. Her five-year-old dreams were haunted with nightmares. Evil was easy. Death was hard.

When she was growing up, she had never been taught about her own death. Her death terrified her now, the feeling of slowly, but surely, coming to an end.

She couldn’t bear the thought of dying. She was dead to her father already. She would not die again.

She was fading, like the petals of a lithium flower, her spirit oxidizing in thin air. Soon there would be no more, nothing but a shell. She would die, and she had no idea how to stop it. She had no way out. All the positive thoughts in the world would not keep her from her inevitable death…

No. She had to survive, had to live. She was sure that she could do it. But her brother would have to hurry.

Not hurry. Rush. Speed.

She was dying, and she could not stop herself.

Chapter 12: All of Us

Tails

Amy’s capsule was singing, and for the first time, he understood why the pink hedgehog could not hurt it.

The song was so beautiful. So sad. Even Knuckles agreed, after a lot of debate, that the capsule would get until Sonic returned.

“The song, it’s getting softer and softer…” Amy worried. “Tails. Can you fix it?”

“I wish I could… but I can’t.” Tails shrugged. “We’ve looked it over. There’s no mechanics to it. It’s just a sealed capsule…”

“We have to do something!” Amy waved her arms about drastically.

Cream was inspecting the capsule as if she could do something about it. Tails sighed. What was inside?

“…Chao!” Cheese cried. Cream went over to where Cheese was and gasped.

“Something’s inside! It’s moving!” Cream squealed.

Tails and Amy practically butted heads to go see. Through a very small peephole, they could make out a figure. A thing that stood inside, unaware to the outside world.

“What is it? I told you there was something in there!” Amy whispered.

“I dunno!” Tails whispered back.

Rouge nearly killed herself trying to pass the two to get into the room. “Good God, you idiots…” She muttered. Amy made a face at her.

Cream tugged on Tails’ arm. “Can we do something about it?”

He groaned. “No, no, no, and no again…Remember? I said this the last time… I can’t work this! It’s not a machine, I can’t fix it or take it apart…”

“Well, who’s gonna let that thing out?” Amy asked. “It’s the thing that’s singing! It’s probably dying, look at what a teeny hole it has for air!”

Rouge spoke up from across the room, where she was watching TV. “Shadow can rip those things apart. Just ask him.”

“You think so?” Tails asked.

“I know so.” Rouge snarked. “Now shut up so I can watch CSI.”

Amy murmured some choice words about Rouge that Tails had to cover up for Cream.

Later, Tails was sitting in front of the TV, not quite seeing, but thinking. He wasn’t sure if it would be safe to open the capsule because they didn’t know what the thing inside was. Like, yeah, it could be dying, but then, what if there was a reason it was dying? Like maybe it was something that the Black Arms didn’t want? It wasn’t logical to think that just because they didn’t want it that Tails and the others should gladly accept it with open arms.

But, the think on the inside, it was furry. The fur might have been long and matted, but it was fur all the same…

They had created Shadow. Could they have created something else?

No… Shadow had been with the help of Professor Gerald…

But had Black Doom created Shadow’s body too…?

Tails needed to talk to Shadow. There were questions that needed to be answered before Shadow even started ripping anything open.

But Shadow... would he listen?

Sonic

“Why are you not helping out clean Westopolis…? It would have made the clean-up so much quicker.”

“Are you just deaf, Sonic? We had this conversation.”

“I know… but…”

“Shut up.” Sonic scowled at Shadow. The older hedgehog was busy scooping up acid while Sonic was doing fast work, zipping back and forth picking out pieces of metal and cleaning away the acidic blood that the Black Arms had left behind.

“You don’t have to be so touchy about it.”

“How many times are you going to ask me the same question?”

“Because it’s not like you to avoid something that you just don’t like.”

Shadow paused, fixing Sonic with a heated gaze. “And since when… did you know me so well?”

Sonic was reminded of when Shadow and tackled him to find out what Sonic meant when he said that he liked him. Nope. That wasn’t happening again. “I know you a little bit. I think.”

“I think the operative word is think.” Shadow said. “I don’t like showing up in places where I’m liable to get murdered, thanks. I actually want to live, okay? You and I know that Knuckles would have tried, and failed, if I had stayed on Angel Island without you.”

Sonic felt a small surge of pride. “That’s because you and Knuckles are always at each other’s throats.”

“Yeah. Well, I’m not always in the mood for killing people.” Shadow declared, turning back to his work.

Sonic went back to work too, and they toiled together silently. Sonic was thinking about his other friends, for the first time in what felt like a long time. He missed his apartment with Tails, but he couldn’t pass up hanging out with Shadow…

“Hey.” Sonic blinked and turned to Shadow, who was watching him with blank red eyes. “Aren’t you hungry?” Sonic shook his head, but his stomach played him and growled softly. Shadow’s ears picked up the sound, and he smirked. “You’re a bad liar.”

Sonic grinned. “Okay, so I lied. What’ll we do for food? Yesterday we ate most of the food that we’d taken from Knuckles place…”

Shadow sighed. “I’m kinda in the mood to actually eat. Maybe like…”

“A chilidog?” Sonic asked, excitedly.

“…?” Shadow looked confused. “Well…I was going to say Chinese, but… whatever.”

Sonic grinned, happy he was going to get chilidogs, and then he frowned. “Do you like chilidogs, Shadow?”

“Don’t think I’ve ever had one.” The other hedgehog shrugged.

“What? You haven’t lived until you’ve had a chilidog!” Shadow wrinkled his nose, but said nothing. Sonic pretended he hadn’t seen that. “And I know who makes the best chilidogs anywhere!” Shadow made no movement. “Well?”

Shadow sighed as if he had lost some great inner struggle. “Okay, I’ll bite. Who?”

Sonic grinned. “Couldn’t you guess? It’s Rouge.”

“…She… cooks?”

“Yeah. A little.” Sonic grinned. “But she makes the best chilidogs, and, they’re free!”

Shadow smirked. “Huh. Rouge cooks…”

“You wouldn’t think so, would you?”

“I sorta always saw Knuckles cooking.” Shadow smiled evilly. “Actually, I kinda always thought Rouge would have Knuckles doing every little favor she wanted… which meant cooking. I think that was the upside to the Space Cannon fiasco.”

“What? That Knuckles and Rouge decided to get together?” Shadow shrugged. Sonic snickered. “It definitely wasn’t something I expected.”

“Who expects Knuckles to find someone who actually likes him?” Shadow asked, and Sonic almost scolded him for making fun of Knuckles yet again, when Shadow said, “If you don’t hurry, I’ll beat you there.”

“Wha?” Sonic started, and Shadow hurried off, Sonic at his heels, yelling about how Shadow cheated.

Ivan Robotnik

The plan was brutally obvious, to the doctor, anyway.

It had three major steps. First, he would steal the master emerald, and create a distraction by sending the whole Sonic team on a wild goose chase after a robot Robotnik. In the meanwhile, he would pick up at least four of the emeralds as bait for Shadow.

The likelihood of Sonic and Shadow working together, at this point, was high. To separate them, he’d have to create another problem, possibly one for Shadow, but… since Shadow was so strong… perhaps one for Sonic instead. A Mecha Sonic recreation, perhaps, but he would need something more… Something that he could use to trap Sonic, and possibly the silly fox and echidna as well. This was the second step.

The final step depended solely on Shadow. Shadow probably would take the position of hero into his own hands then, either trying to save Sonic or trying to destroy Robotnik on his own. At this point, the doctor would say that his inventions had turned against him, and that Metal Sonic, whose body had been revamped, had created Mecha Sonic. He would hand over the Vertical Infinity and say that the little biological weapon was something the Black Arms had left behind, and ask if he could perhaps use it to destroy Mecha Sonic. Shadow would have to agree, and use the Vertical Infinity to the doctor’s ultimate benefit.

But would he be able to control Shadow, enough so that he would create the Empire of Eggman?

Chapter 13: Lost Heaven

Tails

Tails was in the middle of watching Dr. Phil (his guilty pleasure) when Sonic and Shadow, dragging a complaining Rouge behind them, rushed into the room. Tails quickly flipped the channel, then inwardly groaned when it landed on Extreme Makeovers. This was not his day…

“Hey Tails.” Sonic didn’t even glance at the TV. “What’s up?”

“Uh… don’t go into the kitchen.” Tails warned.

“Why not?”

“Don’t do it. I swear, you’ll regret it.”

Sonic didn’t listen, though, he opened the door.

“SURPRISE!”

“HOLY SHIT!” Tails cringed, dropping the remote. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?”

“I’m surprising you!” Amy had hidden in the kitchen, because Sonic had learned the hard way to lock any opening to his room.

Shadow and Rouge looked at each other. “You cook?” Shadow asked.

“A little.” Rouge shrugged. “You’re friends with Sonic?”

“Until he gets boring.”

“Interesting.”

Tails groaned. How those two could ignore Sonic and Amy screaming at each other was beyond him.

“We have neighbors!” Tails tried to intervene.

“Tails, why would you let her into the house?”

“Oh, don’t be shy, Sonic!” Amy came out of the kitchen, grinning.

“Shy? Shy?!” Sonic turned to Amy again. “You scared me out of my mind! And the kitchen is all pink!”

“I wanted to decorate!”

“You call that decorating? That’s just cruel and unusual punishment on my eyes, Amy!”

Rouge tiptoed past Sonic to see the kitchen. Shadow sat down on the couch and picked up the remote, flipping the channels. Tails wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do.

“I can still cook in there… I mean, everything is child safe… but I could still make chilidogs…” Rouge said.

“Are you not blinded by the…the pinkness?” Sonic asked, peeking into the kitchen again. Tails didn’t even look.

“No, I’m fairly used to the pinkness.” Rouge said.

Shadow sighed loudly. “Could we just eat… soon?” He asked.

Sonic smiled slyly at him. “Don’t you want to see the kitchen, Shadow?”

“I’ll gouge my eyeballs out first.”

“Wait! Now that you’re both here, Tails can show you my jukebox!” Amy cheered.

“For the last time... There’s something living in it. It isn’t a jukebox.”

“Well… my thing! Go get it, Tails, it’s in your room!” Amy exclaimed. Tails went to his room door, followed by Sonic, Amy, and Rouge, dragging along a very upset looking Shadow.

“Okay, but, it’s not a machine.” Tails warmed them. He opened the door and they stepped into his very messy room. The floor was covered in loose papers, a desk was covered in models, and his computer was buried under blue prints. However, one side of his room was kept immaculate. “Amy! It took me weeks to get all of that cataloged!”

“Oops?”

In the clear part of his room, Amy’s capsule leaned against a wall, humming quietly.

Sonic made a face. “That’s from the Black Arms.”

Shadow, on the other hand, gasped. “It’s here!”

They all looked at him. “What?” Amy asked, blinking.

Shadow looked at the group, his eyes widened in shock. “My sister.”

Chapter 14: Images That Might Be Real

Vamo’alla

She had been about to fall asleep again, her eyes had halfway closed, and she was ready to dream… when suddenly, she was blinded. She couldn’t move, not yet, anyway, so she moaned and tried to turn away from the light. But that didn’t work, since she couldn’t move, so she squeezed her eyes shut and hoped that perhaps the light would go away.

"Why would you do that?!" said one voice. "We don't know a thing about her! Do you guys even think before you open things?"

"Stop yelling! Ow!" said another. "If we waited, it would have died!"

The first voice exclaimed, "So what are you saying? Isn't it better to be safe than sorry? We don't need another catastrophe now!"

"Relax, Tails," Said the second voice.

"Whoa," cried a third, "What is that? It's a furball! Are you sure it's your sister, Shadow?"

"Psh." Said a fourth. "Shadow being a big brother is hard to believe."

“Shut up.” A new voice growled. Then, softly, she heard, “Hey... wake up.”

Her ear… twitched. The feeling sent shocks down her spine. It was like her body was reawakening. She felt warm, and realized that she had been cold previously. She shivered and then, without realizing it, had fallen asleep.

Shadow

There was a creature inside the capsule, obviously. He hadn’t expected his sister to be so small, but there she was. Size didn’t determine age, since Sonic and Tails were the same height, basically, even though Sonic was older.

She was not a hedgehog. In fact, she looked more like a fox. But Shadow could see that she wasn’t a fox either. There was just something about her tail that made him realize it…

She was very furry, but then, she might have been in her small prison for a while. Disregarding the long, black fur, he saw that she was wearing very long, black gloves, which had been folded over at the elbow, the insides a very bright crimson. He couldn’t see the rest of her clothes, though. Her ears were twitching a little bit, and Shadow was surprised at the strange coloring. The insides of her ears… they were red, bloody red. He had yet to see the rest of her, she was only a fur ball at the moment.

“Whoa.” Sonic broke the silence. “She’s really, really furry. Like, she needs a cut. Now.” Shadow looked at Sonic, who was grinning like a crazed man. Tails, next to him, looked shell shocked. He was mouthing words, but not speaking. Shadow shrugged that off, Tails was weird sometimes.

Amy grinned. “Amy to the rescue!” She said, disappearing into the hallway.

“You have a sister, Shad?” Rouge asked, and Shadow turned to her.

“What did I tell you about calling me that…?” He grumbled. He hated when Rouge did that, since she already sounded like she was about to hop into bed with whomever she spoke to.

“You said not to. But that doesn’t really stop me.”

“You are the reason why I want bats dead, Rouge.”

She sighed. “Well, answer the question…”

“Isn’t this proof enough?”

“I can’t help but point this out. She isn’t a hedgehog.”

“Well, Black Doom wasn’t a hedgehog either.”

“Touché, but you don’t have to be so touchy about it.”

“You could just not be retarded.”

“I’m going to ignore that comment.”

“Go ahead and do that.”

“So explain to me how you knew you had a sister.”

“Devil Doom said so. He said that maybe he shouldn’t have considered my sister a failure. Maybe he should have used her instead of me. Her mind was easier to change, he said.”

“You believed that?”

“He was dying. If I even breathed on him, he might have fallen over. Yes, I believed that.”

“I wouldn’t have.”

“Yes, Rouge. But you also wouldn’t have given two shits and a rat’s ass.”

“How descriptive.” She rolled her eyes.

Shadow smirked, realizing that he had won his and Rouge's verbal battle, and turned his attention back to the creature on the floor. Sonic and Tails were bent over her, Tails prodding at her side and Sonic just being Sonic, which meant he was just looking confused and excited all at once.

“We shouldn’t have opened it…” Tails murmured. “What if she’s really bad? What if she wants to kill all of us?”

“Aww, Tails.” Sonic said disapprovingly. “You can’t be so negative all the time.”

“Negative? This is the fate of the planet we’re talking about! And we’ve learned not to trust Black Doom already!”

“…Well… yeah. But this one is a kid, so she’ll probably listen to Shadow, and as long as he doesn’t try to destroy the planet, she probably won’t either.”

Tails just looked mad.

Amy hurried back in, sitting on the floor next to Shadow’s sister with a pair of scissors. In a couple of minutes, she was clipping away at the thick fur of the girl on the floor. Soon, her face became clear, although Shadow didn’t say a word when it did.

She wasn’t a fox. Her muzzle was much more defined than Tails’… she was something else. Maybe a wolf.

“Well…fuck me…” Shadow murmured, as he looked over the much smaller animal. Sonic punched him in the shoulder, and he sent a glare in his companion’s general direction. Shadow had just realized that he shared the black and red fur that this little creature had. Its red fur had not grown at all, however…

Amy sat back, admiring her handiwork. She had completed cutting all the long fur that wasn’t beneath the clothes that the girl was wearing. The girl seemed to be coming to, though. “Are you awake?” Amy asked.

The girl moaned. “…” She turned over, onto her back, and continued to sleep.

Chapter 15: Blood Dipped Sunrise

Vamo'alla

Sleep was not painful, and for this, of course, she was happy. Life was not a dream, so she knew she wasn't dreaming when she awoke to the sun rising in a window of a room she didn't recognize.

Blood red light splashed on her bed. She frowned at it, confused mostly by what she was doing in a place like this one. Where had she awoken? Where was her brother? Had he left her? Her eyes narrowed, one green and one red. Where am I again? She wondered. She looked out the window. Look at how much there is out there! She sighed. My brother and I can play all day, and it won’t even be all gone!

Her ear quirked, swiveling on her head, listening carefully for noises. There were gentle breathing sounds outside of the door, a little further away. There were honking noises and squeals much farther away, outside the window. She frowned even more deeply, biting her lip. Pretend, She thought. I’m going to play Pretend first. Then we’ll play something else, something more fun. Pretend isn’t that much fun, anyway.

She stared out the window again, at the blood stain that colored the sky. And there are other living things here to play with! she decided. It’s going to be so much fun… I love games!

Sonic

His room had been given to the small creature Shadow called his sister. Tails had identified it, a wolf, of all things.

Shadow had become very quiet, very still, watching it breathe. How long had it been? Probably at least an hour or so. Shadow was determined to see it wake up, but Tails had decided to move her from his room's floor, and Shadow had gotten bored of waiting. He had left without really saying much, and Sonic wasn't sure where exactly he had gone to. He wanted to ask, but figured it would be pointless.

It was around dawn, Sonic knew, because he always woke up at around dawn so that he could take a run through the city. But so far, Sonic found that he wasn't even trying to move. He was lazy, right about now, and he halfway wished that he had bothered Shadow about where he was headed, because he wouldn't be so bored if he was with Shadow...

There was a thump from his room, and he realized that Shadow's sister was awake. He rose to his feet, bumping into the coffee table as he did, and cursed softly.

The door to his room opened just then, silent and slow. An emerald eye peeked around the door, and Sonic relaxed, smiling genially.

"So you're awake!" He exclaimed, softly.

The thing—girl, he reminded himself— nodded, coming out from behind the door fully, though she seemed very bashful. Sonic realized how much shorter than he that she was.

"You're so cute," Sonic exclaimed, bending down to see her eye to eye. Surprised at the two mismatched orbs that stared back at him, he said, "So what's your name?"

"Vamo'alla." She said, softly. Her voice was innocent and small.

"Vamo'alla," Sonic repeated, and she smiled. Sonic realized that she had sharp teeth, and that her smile, though childish and innocent, came out looking rather feral.

Maybe that's part of why she was ...well, not used? Maybe it's because she's actually nice, even though she looks like she'd be evil? He said to himself. "Are you hungry?"

"Yesh." She nodded, widening her eyes. He grinned.

"Okay. Well, it's pretty early..." He looked towards the kitchen, "And I can't cook. And sometimes Tails stays up really late and he's too tired to get up. So how about if we eat out?"

"What is 'Tails'?" She asked blithely, cocking her head to one side.

Sonic grinned. "Tails is a friend of mine," he answered.

"Who awe you?" She asked, carefully.

"I'm Sonic. Sonic the hedgehog!" He told her.

"Sonic?" She said, straightening up. She stared at him for a couple seconds, but then her stomach growled. "I'm hungwy."

"Okay, no prob. We'll hit the streets. Let's go!" Sonic took her hand. They were cold, even through his gloves he could feel the absolute frigidness in her hands. He dropped it, saying, "Whoa, you're cold."

She frowned, but she said nothing, just stared at him.

Chapter 16: Musings

Dr. Ivan

It wasn’t easy, he admitted to himself, to come up with new ideas constantly, but with the ultimate power and the Vertical Infinity in mind, he had come up with a whole new Metal Sonic and Metal Knuckles. He had even allowed them to destroy parts of his lab (the parts he was going to revamp later anyway) and made sure he kept them in tiptop shape. And today, he cackled to himself, today was the day in which everything would slowly but surely begin.

For once, he had no intention of hurting anyone, for the simple reason that he needed all of his enemies alive, to see his monumental moment, so he could laugh in their faces…

“Master Robotnik.” Metal Sonic spoke up from a doorway behind him. Dr. Ivan had programmed this into Metal Sonic and Metal Knuckles as well, the rebellion. He didn’t want to command them to destroy the lab and leave him alive, because Tails- that stupid fox- could easily surf right into their interfaces and figure everything out. So he had programmed the virus, made sure they’d leave him alive, and barely harmed, and just needed to wait it out. And today was that day.

“What is it, I’m busy!” He barked. If Tails could access their interfaces, then he would see this in the video memory, and it would seem even clearer that Dr. Ivan had not been expecting something like the mutiny of his two new creations. He turned, trying to keep a smirk from rising onto his pudgy face. Fear replaced his once amused thoughts, because he had forgotten exactly how it felt to be staring down a gun, or in Metal Sonic’s case, a cannon. “Wh-what are you doing?”

“…Destroying.” Metal Sonic said, and instantly, a wave of Energy blasted out of his arm.

Dr. Ivan’s last, and most prominent thought was I said BARELY hurt, not bleeding from every pore in my body!

Shadow

It was obvious to Shadow that he shouldn’t have left his sister alone with Sonic, King of Optimism, because next thing Shadow knew, his sister would probably be spouting the same garbage Sonic did. Shadow was very suspicious that like himself, his sister didn’t grow and that whatever Sonic decided to tell her would stick in her head to haunt him for a long, long time. Although, Shadow mused, Sonic probably doesn't like G.U.N. all that much anymore, so maybe he'd instill a hatred of them into her! Still, even the threat that his sister would become too much like Sonic hadn’t been enough to make him want to stay for longer than a night in Westopolis. That would have been a terror in itself. So rather than stick around, Shadow waited for Sonic to fall asleep and let himself out. He had, however, watched over his sister while she slept, positive that she’d wake soon so that they could leave together.

Today, Shadow was in the Mystic Ruins, far, far away from the prying eyes of society. It felt really good to be alone again, Shadow decided, but he would rather it if someone like him was around too. Sonic was good company, Shadow supposed, but not when he was trying to think. And right now, he wanted to think.

There was an explosion nearby, and Shadow swiveled his ears to hear it, but didn’t look in its direction. He could tell that the explosion was out of eyeshot.Maybe it had been a boat or something, he thought. It came from the ocean, anyway.

He ignored the couple of researchers who went running towards the explosion. Humans, he decided, were much like moths to a flame; where there was danger, they would be there, if only to become collateral damage in the process. It was part of the reason why he could honestly say he hated just about the entire human race.

His thoughts wandered again, and he began to think about how bored he had become, recently. He hated the waiting period between new challenges, and he never ever felt like racing Sonic, since the blue hog was extremely annoying about the whole affair. Besides that, he was tied up in helping the humans in Westopolis, and Shadow wasn't about to deal with them. Shadow was just itching to do something exciting. He had thought that with his sister around, life would have changed drastically, but that hadn't happened either. Much too optimistic of me, he thought, sitting on one of the stairs to Tails' garage.

And, Shadow began to wonder, what was his sister like? Was she evil or good? Black Doom had shut her off… so maybe, just maybe, he had created a good creature. Or, Shadow thought, maybe she was bad. Maybe she was nonchalant and cold, and killed everything that she saw. I don’t see a reason to shut her down, if that’s the case. Shadow decided. He could have put her to sleep and shipped her off to any planet, and then she would’ve destroyed it and called it a day.

However, Black Doom had never said he wanted to destroy the planet. He said he wanted to purge it. And Shadow supposed that Black Doom had just meant to wipe the existence of the human race off the planet Earth. If that was the case, then why even bother working with one of them to create the ultimate lifeform?

Thoroughly confused, Shadow tightened his hands into fists and squeezed, releasing his hands again. These sort of mysteries could be pondered later, he decided. I’m going to have to go back to Westopolis, just to see if my sister’s awake.