Chapter 15 - Brief Relief

Having been significantly slowed down all of a sudden, Shadow the Hedgehog was running out of options and places to investigate. Along with an unconscious blue hedgehog in his arms, who held onto him as if he were made of Velcro, he basically walked right into a complicated system of rooms that seemed neverending from his position. There were no maps hanging anywhere in this horrendous place, slightly boggling the black hedgehog how the building operated in its prime days. The abstract silence was another thing that kept getting on his nerves, if he hadn't mentioned it already. Other than the harsh sounds of working machines and other contraptions, there were no suspicious noises. Yet, they seemed perfectly fine to haunt them both some time ago for no good reason besides giving them a good scare or discourage them from investigating further. He was still expecting the noises to return at some point. While he couldn't hear the lightning or the rain hitting against the steel roof anymore, the weather was probably still awful outside, but he didn't bother checking it out right now.

The Ultimate Lifeform eventually made it into a long room that could've been used for storage, but was instead completely ridden with endless tables as far as his eyes could reach. It was almost scary just how much of this place was practically unscathed as if no one ever walked in it. In the background, only one door managed to hold his interests long enough before shrugging the room off as just another useless barrier in his way. It was also the only door in the entire place other than the entrance, so that was something to cheer about, albeit not as enthusiastically as it was necessary. The older mammal didn't really think the whole ordeal could get anymore depressing than it already was, but it will probably come back to smack him in the face for even mentioning the idea.

When he approached the door, he only had two questions in his mind at the moment; is the place behind it any good and is the door locked. Considering he was lacking in patience ever since the emerald eyed hero fainted, Shadow was fed up with anymore questions that frequently elongated his unexpected visit here. Instead, the black one grabbed onto blue annoyance a little tighter to position himself just correctly and kicked the door open. Slightly surprised it worked so well the first time around, he didn't beat around the bush anymore.

Pushing the door aside with his shoulder, he carefully steeped into the room, revealing the lighted area before him through a very exquisite if slightly broken chandelier. It appeared to be a pretty prestigious office, if somewhat covered in cobwebs and dust but the wealth stood firm above all. The black hedgehog wasn't expecting to find anything like this in a factory. A room like this was more fitted for a mansion or a skyscraper. Numerous bookshelves, a wall sized window hidden behind torn drapes and faded paintings were merely the beginning, with the only thing at least vaguely disturbed being the mirror, shattered into million pieces by an outside force of some kind. However, one thing was for certain; the table with the computer was the most important thing on his list as far Shadow was concerned.

Appearing as a reasonably safer place than anything out in the open, the black hedgehog was about to take any excuse to stop for a moment. And get Sonic off him, since he was getting cramps in his arms from carrying him around for so long. He put the blue one on the nearby couch as carefully as he could without waking him up and eventually had to literally fight for his neck considering his counterpart wasn't about to just let him go. Shadow sighed out heavily at him, viciously grateful something like this happened on a completely deserted island and not in the middle of a crowded street with numerous paparazzi stalking their latest victims. Because a picture of the Blue Blur seemingly cuddling with his informed darker rival would obviously make for an interesting magazine cover… not to mention incredibly embarrassing. The Ultimate Lifeform wouldn't be able to show his face in public anymore, much less step outside.

As he soon found out, it wasn't easy to get him off at all. Even an entire building worth of a fall into the underground or knocking himself unconscious didn't seem to do the trick, since the younger hedgehog had enough strength to keep clinging onto the black hedgehog this entire time. For an added measure, Sonic started shaking all over and buried his head into the other's chest whenever he even remotely indicated that he wanted him off. If he wasn't going to show himself cracking under pressure when awake, his sub-consciousness would beat him to it. If the older mammal didn't know any better, he would even consider the emerald eyed hero to be extremely pitiful at this moment. However, it was the kind of pity the blue wonder wouldn't accept. Mainly because he was too prideful, arrogant, misleading and oh so childish…

Just like a kid.

How Shadow's perception of his supersonic rival changed from an annoying hero into an oblivious kid who doesn't know when to quit in just barely a day astounded even him. However, the black hedgehog couldn't deny that this place was going to leave a permanent mark on the blue one, so he might as well keep him from breaking down completely and push him forward. Sonic wasn't a quitter as far as he knew but he could never be too sure, especially in this kind of situation.

Feeling his grip on the back of his neck finally faltering at some point, he quickly took the chance to untangle his younger counterpart's arms from him. Leaving out a short sigh when he finally got himself enough room to stretch his body, the Ultimate Lifeform was mildly pleased in this very short moment but he wasn't going to hold onto it for too long.

The G.U.N. agent also examined his wounded arm, making the blue wonder twitch and wince slightly in his sleep as he touched it. The white handkerchief was almost completely soaked with blood, but as he removed it, the bleeding seemed to have stopped significantly for the most part. Since Shadow didn't exactly hoard tissues in his hammerspace to have his opponents wipe their tears after defeat, he instead searched for an alternative. Ripping apart the fabric covering the couch, the black one folded it precisely and wrapped it around Sonic's wound. Unexpectedly, he tightened the knot very harshly and he winced again. Watching over him for a short while to see if he was about to wake up, the Fastest Thing Alive eventually calmed down and drifted back to sleep.

Lastly, Shadow put his hand on his forehead. He didn't seem to have high temperature or anything similar, so he stayed convinced the entire reason behind his sudden collapse was exhaustion and nothing too serious. That was good. He didn't need anything else to complicate matters even further.

He left the younger one to his rest for the time being and instead turned his attention to the table. It was quite the majestic case, with a giant computer, a cobwebbed lamp, various picture frames and just about any sort of office supplies that's usually important in a director's life. It was also covered in extreme amounts of dust which lifted up with a mere footstep and he almost sneezed due to it. Shadow mildly pushed away the drapes covering the large window and looked outside. It was just as depressing and gray as the inside of this building did. The rain stopped, but the heavy wind and occasional lightning strikes were still present in the ragged environment.

Finally, the black hedgehog took a seat behind the desk, ''Let's check this out…'' he said to himself with an utmost irritation but vague relief as he rubbed his aching neck. Just like everything else in this place, the computer was turned on by some strange miracle. Moving the mouse only slightly, the screen eventually cleared out the black void before him and spelled out the exact thing he imagined to see in this very moment.

''A password… of course, what else would it be?''

In the worst case scenario, it was probably the most random word in the history of the known dictionary that will only take an eternity to find. The older mammal started thinking aloud to himself if only to disturb the silence, ''Christmas Island? Too easy. GenEXE? Too short…''

With no other ideas in his head, he started opening drawers to find absolutely nothing but decaying papers or cockroaches fiddling around and eventually running away to hide from his sight. Leaning on the table with a deep sigh and brushing his eyes in the process, Shadow propped his chin against his hands to think for a short moment on what to do about this. It wasn't long until his eyes caught a peculiar framed sight in front of him out of sheer coincidence. It was a generic family picture of happy hedgehogs, but nearly unrecognizable behind the smoky dust and faded areas of the sepia colored snapshot.

All this technology and they still used 19th century styled photography? How grossly old-fashioned.

He snorted at himself when a thought flashed through his mind, ''If it's really this simple, I'll smack myself.''

Without further hesitance, the Ultimate Lifeform quickly typed in the most obvious word anyone could think of in this moment. As expected, the annoyed computer beeped mercilessly at him for even getting the idea in the first place, ''What am I thinking?'' he nodded at the sheer possibility that anyone would be so stupid to put his own specie name as a security password.

Completely stranded and out of words, the older mammal took another look at the supposed antique picture and picked it up in his hands somewhat carefully. It didn't seem as interesting as before, but as he turned it around, the black one found out that the back of the photo was somewhat openable, possibly for the photo to be inserted in. Somewhat intrigued by it, he removed the top from its place to be instead greeted by a blank piece which wasn't exactly helpful at first. Interestingly, only one single word was written on the back of the photo as if to leave a hint. Having faded away by numerous years and constant removes, it was still there if barely readable.

''Ha…'' he started whispering to himself, thinking what the word was supposed to spell out, ''… rine?''

Somewhat surprised by a terrible lack of sense of whoever owned this office all those years ago, the crimson eyed agent repeated the word for sheer clarification as his black eyelids fell down a notch, ''Harinezumi? Are you serious?'' Shadow typed it in anyway due to lack of any better word to fit in. As soon as he confirmed the password, the computer buzzed cheerfully and the older one was finally allowed into investigating its mysteries.

''Well, what do you know?'' he snorted with an obvious sarcastic episode and pressed his fingertips against the keyboard, ''Tell me what I need to know.''

XXX

''Where is that spiny furball?!''

The G.U.N. base suddenly trembled under a loud voice of an extremely pissy individual with a big hammer quite dangerously looming over the yellow fox's head like a gigantic kaiju ready to stomp onto fragile streets for the millionth time. Tails was willing to talk to the pink hedgehog as soon as it was necessary to explain a few details here and there, all while the red echidna continued to lean against the wall with folded arms with an unexcited look on his face, seemingly still agitated by the wait they were put through. In the meantime, Rouge the Bat and the human Commander disappeared elsewhere, most likely to continue with the work and get the new plan up and running as soon as it was physically possible.

''He stood me up… again!'' Amy Rose shouted on the top of her lungs, with the slightly intimidated pilot doing everything in his power not to be smashed right into the ground by her Piko Piko Hammer, ''This is the third time this month and now he's gonna pay. I know he's here, the cards told me so.''

Awkwardly smiling and defending himself with lifted hands, the two tailed fox tried to make her understand, ''Amy, please. Let me explain.''

''Oh, don't tell me. He's out on another adventure, right?'' regardless of what Tails' response was going to be in that favor, the female hedgehog already seemed to realize that was probably the case with the speedy blue wonder, ''Jerk. He always has time for that…''

Straightening himself out and gulping quietly, the pilot started rubbing the back of his head and confirmed her statement, ''Yeah, you're right about that. He's on an adventure.''

''Figures,'' the pink girl rolled her eyes in irritation.

When he noticed she was at least somewhat calmer than before, Tails asked her hesitantly as he pointed above him, ''Umm… can you put the hammer away?''

''Well… I was gonna save it for his big lying head when he comes back,'' she exhaled out and put her signature weapon on her side, leaning on it with an unappreciated grunt. Being left standing right next to the park's most beautiful fountain like an idiot for over an hour does things like that to a girl's mind. The pink hedgehog eventually asked with a slight pout on her face, ''But didn't you and Knuckles go with him? Or did he dump you too?''

Relieved significantly, the child prodigy tilted his head with a simple shrug, ''Actually we should've returned yesterday but… something came up.''

''Yesterday?'' the hammer girl blinked as she thought for a second, ''But… that means he could've been home sooner, right?''

He nodded, ''Yeah.''

Turning her back on the younger fox hesitantly, Amy rubbed her temples with a questionable grunt. She mumbled about her earlier words and eventually realized she might have been jumping to conclusions a little too early this time around. She replied to herself as the pink one looked at him again, ''Maybe it's not his fault this time.''

''It really isn't, I swear it,'' the yellow furred fox confirmed it as quickly as possible and pointed toward the jittering screens to inform her of the situation, ''See that? That's a storm and it's completely covering the island he's on. We weren't able to get through as of now.''

Gasping roughly, she ran toward them with widened eyes and yelped out at the sheer possibility, ''Don't tell me he's there all alone?''

Joining her side, Tails immediately answered with a small smile, ''Don't worry about it, Shadow is with him too.''

''Shadow?'' the pink hedgehog was somewhat confused by that statement and replied with a doubtful expression, ''But I thought you three were a team.''

The two tailed fox rubbed his neck in slight awkwardness. She was right about that since they almost always went on various missions together and couldn't imagine leaving anyone of their team behind in times like this. It might have been a good idea to try and explain it to the girl more thoroughly, but the yellow furred pilot couldn't find the right words at the moment. He instead tilted his head toward the echidna in the corner, prompting the female hedgehog to turn her eyes to him as well. When he noticed that the two were staring at him with dumbfounded faces, he proceeded to shout at them, ''What?! Don't look at me like that!''

''I'll tell you later,'' Tails quickly decided and explained the plan instead, ''Right now, we need to get on that island and bring them back safely.''

Amy Rose didn't hesitate to reply as soon as she got the chance to do so, ''If that's the case, I want to go too.''

With a grunt, the yellow furred pilot warned her about the situation just like he always did, ''But you know, it could be dangerous. With the storm, rain and all that… even we don't completely understand what's going on.''

''If it's for our friends, it doesn't matter what I need to go through,'' the pink hedgehog quickly put her hands on her sides, all while one of her boots started tapping impatiently against the metallic surface. She leaned toward the two tailed fox with slight annoyance, ''Did you really think something like a little rain would scare me away?''

He only shrugged nonchalantly, ''Not really.''

XXX

Feeling an unreasonable throbbing pain in his head, the blue hedgehog stirred in his disrupted sleep and began opening his heavy eyes. He could barely think without numerous scrambled thoughts bouncing around in his mind like a flock of disoriented seagulls and ringing at every opportunity like an emergency siren. Sonic wasn't aware of anything around him, neither himself as he tried to see through the dark void in search of a vague light. Blinking a couple of times before it finally dissipated away into a depressing but warm toned blurry environment he was stranded in, the younger one felt completely stiff and devoid of any motor skills. He wasn't completely sure if he even knew how to move anymore as none of his commands seemed to put his body back into working order.

Leaving his mind blank, the Fastest Thing Alive tried summoning as much strength as he could in one of his limbs, lifting his hand slowly up to his forehead and brushed at it with an annoying grunt. The blue one never felt so equally tired and weak in a million years. As if fainting wasn't already enough, the echoing headache decided to keep on invading his mind. Sighing heavily, his lifted arm dropped over his eyes in an unexpected way, needing some time to focus his mind before trying anything else. Just how deep is he going to continue falling into this mess he brought upon himself? Sonic was getting tired of this place and its questions that might never be answered for him, if things keep going the same way as they had now. As much as he felt this was just another way of torturing his very soul with details he never really cared about until the moment he had heard about this place actually existing. Giving up at this point would be just saying to himself that he isn't good enough to handle the pressure.

That wasn't right. He was Sonic… the Hedgehog. Little details like that never bothered him. The need to search for a forgotten feeling, to find wherever or not there's anything out there to tell him what his past was like and what his future would've been like.

He snorted at his own mind. The blue mammal started wondering if this was actually him and not some other disoriented hedgehog he knew about. Maybe it was the sudden forced situation that allowed him to finally stop for a brief moment and think this over. Was this how his darker counterpart used to feel like? Completely lost and on the edge of his nerves? If this is how it's like, then this isn't something he's enjoying. After so many successful travels and battles, one location messes him up beyond recognition. Magma caves, watery graves and technological lairs proved themselves to be a walk in the park compared to this.

One place he's yet to acknowledge decided to take one step further and destroy everything he believed in all these years.

It was awkward just thinking about it.

''About time you woke up.''

When the Blue Blur moved his arm away from his face, he heard that deep but strangely soft voice again that followed him wherever he went in this place. Still, it was nice that anything at all even sounded familiar anymore, if not the location itself. The Fastest Thing Alive moved his head slightly upwards, encountering the black and red rival sitting on the edge of the armrest with folded arms and a stern look on his eyes. He was wondering just how long the black one had been sitting there.

''You alright?'' the crimson eyed agent asked him.

Dropping his heavy arm back onto his face, the blue hedgehog sighed out a weary grunt, ''I feel like I've been run over by a train.''

''You fainted. It happens…'' Shadow replied with no concern. As soon as he jumped down from the armrest back onto the squeaky wooden floor panels covered by a chewed out carpet, he caught a recognizable whiny mumble from the other mammal. The blue one was either annoyed or embarrassed due to suddenly dropping unconscious right in front of his worst rival who probably shouldn't have even seen him in this situation. Not like this when he was weakened and damaged to an inch of his life to return a small favor, became teary eyed and suffered a sudden blackout all in one short day. He couldn't even rely on his strengths anymore, as his speed was already lost and his head filled with too many thoughts to count.

Worst day he ever experienced in his life.

Sonic eventually propped his hands against the couch, trying to get up into a sitting position by any means possible. He asked with a drowsy voice, ''Where are we?'' slightly confused at the sudden change in environment he only vaguely remembered from before, the Blue Blur started rubbing his ruffled spines. They proved to be a lot sturdier than he thought at first, having gone through more than the rest of his body and thus remained as sharp as always.

''It looks like some private office,'' the black one proposed, ''It seemed like the best place to find some information.''

''Did you find anything?'' widening his emerald eyes and heightening his voice all of a sudden, the blue hedgehog scrambled to his feet as quickly as possible only to be eventually swayed by a lighthearted dizziness that sent him back onto the couch with an incredible headache. With a tightened jaw, he ignored it for the time being and stood up again right in front of the unconvinced older mammal who wasn't about to just leave him to wander around like that.

Nearing closer, Shadow merely flicked with his finger at his peach chest, ''Don't rush me. Sit down, you look like you're gonna pass out again.''

''I'm perfectly fine,'' the Fastest Thing Alive merely shrugged and pushed the black hedgehog's hand away from him, ''I just wanna be done with it already.''

''Not if you're going to be pulling blackouts on me when I'm not looking,'' the more Sonic insisted on being alright this entire time and thus refused to tell him whenever something was wrong with his head, the more this peculiar mission was going to drag on. Did he even trust him anymore or was he just stubborn and too convinced in his own abilities? If the Blue Blur doesn't drop the attitude and actively starts asking for help, this isn't going to work out any better for him. Shadow won't be able to tell what will be the next thing striking his younger rival upside his head and the next time he might not be able to help him properly.

''It happened once,'' Sonic once again saw no harm in it, ''Big deal. It's not like it's gonna happen again.''

The Ultimate Lifeform replied with at least some sort of knowledge in his head, something his younger counterpart lacked, ''Have you fallen on your head one too many time? It's not just over. Until you get some proper medical help, you are in no position to say or do anything.''

''What are you, my doctor?''

And so it begins all over again. Shadow somehow believed the more the blue hedgehog suffered, the more he became ignorant of his own health and absolutely lost his head to that one specific goal he wished to achieve right now. It was a sort of an unconscious self-defense mechanism to avoid torment and navel-gazing at all costs which actually sounded appropriate for his rival. Sonic did not engage in such acts, especially when it was his own life at stake, as he was known to brush away his problems in mere five seconds and went back to work immediately. Crying and constantly thinking about your problems wasn't any better than stuffing them in the deepest corners of your mind, but the black hedgehog really needed his honest cooperation.

''You can prescribe my narcotics later, we gotta get a move on,'' the younger one replied with nonchalance. The fact was that the Blue Blur was getting tired of this island and he only wanted to know wherever or not anything disastrous happened to what he called his forgotten home. After all, a whole civilization cannot just disappear without any trace, no?

When the blue mammal was about to move away again, the black hedgehog stopped him, ''Sonic, this isn't going to work out.''

''What now?'' Sonic sighed out at him, gaining a genuine annoyed look in his eyes. If they don't hurry up already, they won't leave this place anytime soon.

''Didn't you hear me?'' the Ultimate Lifeform had enough of repeating himself for every single word he ever uttered out to his counterpart. It's like he needed to specifically inform him that he was not in command anymore and should stick to the background from now on, ''You're in no condition to continue like this and until we're done here, you'll listen to me.''

Not surprisingly, he only largely smirked at him as if he was kidding. The Blue Blur lifted his finger up to Shadow's face with a surprisingly childish tone of voice, ''Give me one good reason why should I,'' passing his authority to someone else wasn't needed at all.

It seemed the younger hedgehog still liked to believe he was in control of everything around him.

At this point, the Fastest Thing Alive was just asking for extreme consequences to take place, ''Take one good look at yourself and then tell me,'' before the blue annoyance happened to notice the older mammal flicked at his forehead quite lightly, only for the other hedgehog to stumble backwards and land on his backside, hitting his head against the sturdy couch with a painful grunt. Even the black one was incredibly surprised just how easy it was to topple him over. He only wanted him to realize how weak he was at the moment, but not out rightly hurt him like that. He somehow knew Sonic wouldn't be able to stand correctly if it wasn't for him in this situation.

''Geez!'' the blue hedgehog furiously held his head and angrily pointed at his rival with his free hand, ''What was that for!''

Instead of trying to apologize right now, he decided to turn this little incident into something useful. The crimson eyed agent blurted out immediately, ''You can't even catch yourself falling and you want to continue like this?''

''If you'd stop treating me like some damn patient, probably!'' Sonic was sick of being handled like he needed someone to watch his every move. His darker counterpart acted if he was going to drop dead right in front of him anytime soon if he doesn't hold him gently like some priceless antique vase. So he had an irritating headache and a few accidents happened to him a while ago that both hurt and confused him. Stuff like this was regular for the Blue Blur and they never rested until they got a piece of his mind. Fainting was a different matter in itself, although it never caused any problems for him before.

''You should realize by now I'm only trying to help,'' the Ultimate Lifeform claimed.

''Help?'' the younger one chuckled out sarcastically with a shaking breath. It didn't feel like help or support at all most of the time. Instead he felt like some useless backup sitting calmly on a bench or that little unpopular kid who always got picked last for dodgeball, ''You're limiting me. I only follow and do nothing.''

Shadow merely shrugged with his head, ''So? Get used to watching my back from now on.''

''That's… my line…'' opening his emerald eyes wider than usual, he only now wondered if his darker counterpart might have been doing this out of spite and generally useless position he occupied during the blue hedgehog's time as the self-proclaimed leader of the hedgehog duo, ''Is this a payback because I brought you here? It is, isn't it?''

He was quick to brush it away, ''It has nothing to do with that. I already said I only came with you because I wanted to.''

The black one also wasn't sure if the younger mammal was forgetting things because he just didn't listen anymore or the fall cleared out his memory a little too much at this point. The other hedgehog wouldn't admit it, but Sonic was in desperate need of a watchful eye right now. Who knows what else may happen to him in the meantime, ''The point is that you have almost zero defense rate without me right now. And until you get better, I can't allow you to take any action without me knowing first that you'll be alright.''

Whenever in a team, you're supposed to watch out for those who have been wounded or are otherwise unable to proceed with their orders as no man should be left behind. It's not strictly military strategy, it's just common sense when it comes to teamwork.

''That's weird,'' snorting harshly, the informed hero replied mockingly, ''You sound like you want to protect me.''

''What else can I do?'' that's why he was here in the first place and willing to help him get through this as Shadow replied quickly, ''If you're going to break down on your knees every time you have a headache, we'll have tough time getting anywhere.''

''It's because of Tails too, right?''

Folding his arms around him and looking away for a short moment, the black one nodded almost unnoticeably, ''I always keep my promises…'' he whispered out loudly enough for the other to hear. It managed to be both a weakness and strength in his case. The reason he was still alive was due to a promise. Everything that happened from his revival to this day was because he had a promise to fulfill until the end of time. He promised to take care of those whom he previously wanted to destroy for their insolence. Give them another chance and ensure their survival when everything looked hopeless. Protect them from harm and anyone or anything that threatened to destroy the significant blue planet and its inhabitants.

''Watch over them… like a shadow.''

''I figured that's what it was,'' Sonic bowed his heavy head and leaned against the couch, feeling an uneasy pain bouncing around his mind once again. If anything, Shadow had that going for him. If the Ultimate Lifeform promised anything to anyone, he did so with no hesitance at all times. That actually sounded touching to some degree. Not something he'd usually show and say to anyone, but it felt quite nice anyway.

Finally, the black hedgehog offered him his hand, ''Come on. Let's get this over with. We both have something to fulfill after all.''

Lifting his spiny head and hesitantly taking Shadow's hand, the blue hedgehog grinned slightly, ''Just don't act like the boss of me and we'll get along just fine,'' the older mammal pulled him on his feet, but only to force back onto the couch by the shoulders and a stern look in his eyes. It seemed like he'll need to think of something else before his darker counterpart stops with his all too caring attitude he still wasn't used to at all. Although it was still better than getting punched in the face.

As he landed back on the couch, the Fastest Thing Alive felt a small throbbing sting in his spine, shivering slightly at the mere feeling. He responded quietly, ''Ouch.''

''Are you alright?'' the black one still sounded like a worried old nanny.

Reaching behind him, the blue hedgehog eventually found the tiny problem and immediately brushed it away with his hand, ''It's just my tail, nothing else.''

''Don't tell me you hurt that too?'' Sonic was already beat up from head to toe. He could walk, albeit slower with no supersonic speed and a little drowsier as if he had too much to drink at the nearest pub, his head was also okay for the most part and nothing at all seemed broken or twisted. It was almost a miracle he didn't get hurt a lot more than a normal person would in this situation, especially since he pretty much hit metallic flooring on his way down the shaft. The only real problem was his arm, but even there the bleeding slowed down for the time being, so it shouldn't cause anymore problems.

What's wrong with his tail then?

''Shadow, what are you doing?'' it took him a while to actually realize what the other mammal was trying to do. Shadow leaned behind him with one of his hands on the younger one's shoulder to take a look at his back, only for the younger one to almost choke up with a blushing expression. The Blue Blur quickly pulled away from him backwards as if he wanted to join with the couch. Noticing a slightly irritated and puzzled look in his darker counterpart's eyes, the blue hedgehog quickly yelped out, ''Hey, the tail is off limits!''

The Ultimate Lifeform merely shrugged in indifference at the other's slightly flushed face, ''I was just going to take a look at it to be sure.''

''Nuh uh, respect the tail! You don't touch it!'' the emerald eyed hero quickly started nodding his head in a panicky fever and put his hands on Shadow's chest to prevent him from coming anywhere closer than it was necessary.

After all, if there was anything that was incredibly sensitive on his body, it was the tail. That goddamn, good for nothing tail. The blue mammal had no real use for it as far as he knew, it was only there for people to pull it and make him squirm in displeasure whenever it got caught into something or by someone. Even if it was pretty short and almost incapable of doing anything other than wiggle around for no apparent reason, it still managed to bug him just how helpless and embarrassed he got at the sheer indication of anyone touching or pulling it. It was the only weakness of his nobody needed to know about, especially not his enemies or closest rivals.

With no real clue in his head what just happened, the black hedgehog stepped away anyway.

''Geez, finally some privacy,'' Sonic sighed out heavily when he got some air to breathe on his own. The older mammal just liked to get all over the place as of this moment and poke his nose into things that weren't his. He eventually pouted at him, ''Next time you wanna invade my personal space, at least ask first.''

The older hedgehog looked at him weirdly, ''You'd actually allow it?''

''Depends…'' the blue one shrugged at him, grinning as he asked him teasingly, ''How close you wanna get?''

Shadow occasionally heard something like that before, but it was usually from various girls with lovey-dovey looks in their eyes who would apparently kill just to hear his voice calling their names, much less get into his proximity. It was at that point he realized he might've been hanging out at Rouge's club a little too often to attract such attention from anyone at all. The only thing he remembered to say was whatever the thieving bat said sometimes, usually out of boredom, ''So I can see your eyes,'' that however came out awkward between the two males.

That was unusual thing to say, especially for the black hedgehog. Sonic was complimented about his eye color many times before by various people, but he never thought that the Ultimate Lifeform himself would hold the same opinion. With a sneaky tilt of his head and an arising smirk, he asked jokingly, ''Why?''

Contorting his mouth, the black hedgehog only now seemed to realize why he must've thought of that at this very moment. Before he left the other day for work, he accidentally forgot his Chaos Emerald at the bat's place but he never came back for it. Or maybe she just stole it right away yet he never bothered to notice for some reason. He finally responded albeit more to himself than the Fastest Thing Alive before him when he put his hand up to his chin, ''I miss my green Emerald.''

''Yours? Hah!'' the blue one laughed at that sentence, notifying the Ultimate Lifeform with a berating finger point, ''Heck no, I've used that one before you even appeared.''

''I never saw your name on it, hedgehog,'' the older mammal retaliated immediately, ''Besides, you got adjusted to the blue one just fine.''

Grinning even wider, Sonic folded his arms when he leant back in a very sophisticated way and threw one of his no matter how aching legs over the other one, ''Cuz it almost matches my fur color.''

''Egoist.''