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The group arrived in a desert area, tumbling across the ground since the force of them running then chaos controlling sent them tumbling when they arrived. Shadow landed on his front, panting weakly from all the energy he'd used.
Sonic went over to him. "Shadow! Are you okay?"
Shadow shakily tried to push himself up, gritting his teeth but collapsed again. The light aroud his wrists blinking red.
"Shadow.." Sonic lift him onto his lap.
He looked at him hazily, pupils dim.
Sonic grumbled and summonded up some of his own faint Chaos Energy and got a little closer to his face.
"Wh..what are you...doing...?" Shadow blinked, confused.
"I'm going to help you..." Sonic muttered before he kissed Shadow, giving him a little bit of energy.
The dark hedgehog's eyes widened, trying to ignoring the fact that he..liked it...! The lights around his wrists slowly turned orange and then stopped blinking as they came back to green.
Seeing that, Sonic broke the kiss. "Better now?"
He looked at Sonic for a little while before nodding slowly.
"Y-Yeah. Go check on the fox"
Sonic went over to Tails. "He's unconscious still.."
The flash of terror he had seen in Tails' eyes haunted him when he shut his eyes, ears drooping. He flinched when he felt a hand on his shoulder and gave it a comfortable squeeze.
"It'll be okay...Sonic" he smiled, for once saying his name in a nice tone.
Sonic was a little confused, but he smiled. "Thanks, Shadow.."
He nodded back to him then looked at Tails who was stirring.
"Urg..."
Sonic held Tails. "Tails, are you okay..?"
He could feel the kitsun shaking a little in his grip. Something was wrong when he didn't get a reply from his 'little' brother.
"Tails...?"
Shadow's eyes slowly looked Tails over, stopping where Mephiles had stepped on him. He noticed the crystals still stuck in his back. He pulled one out carefully, ears pinning down as he watched some dark purple liquid drip off the part that had been stabbed into him.
"He's been poisoned...A-At least I think so"
"Oh god... How are we going to help him?"
"I..I don't know..." His eyes saddened.
"T-Tails... This is all my fault... I couldn't do anything.."
Clyde limped over, his back leg bleeding.
"Looks like he wasn't the only one hurt..." Shadow sighed and made Clyde lay down.
Sonic sighed sadly.
Shadow looked up quickly when he saw a portal opening made by Mephiles. He quickly grabbed Sonic's arm and a chunk of Clyde's mane and warped them away before they could be seen.
Sonic sighed again, this time in relief.

Shadow leaned against a tree, he hadn't used up as much energy as before but he was still out of breath.
"I don't remember Chaos control being THIS difficult..."
"Do you need me to give you a little more energy again?"
As much as Shadow wanted to say yes, he shook his head.
"Im fine. Just abit tired"
"Okay.."
"Uhh..." Tails groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, "S..Sonic..?"
"I'm here, Tails." Sonic smiled a little at him worriedly.
He coughed a little, balling his hand into a fist.
"Arg.."
"Tails..." Sonic frowned.
His gritted teeth and fist relaxed as he looked back at Sonic, confused by the sudden pains.
"You were poisoned by Mephiles, Tails.."
"P-Poisoned..?" he grunted as he sat up.
"Sonic" Shadow interupted as he looked at them, "Maybe a chaos emerald would help"
"Urg..the chaos emeralds..have been lost for ages...even Mephiles has been looking for them..."
Sonic tried to think. "Chaos Emeralds are our only option though.."
Tails smiled a little.
"F-for something like this...I installed...a chaos detector in your wrist Sonic...I used my old watch and fixed it" He coughed as he gripped Sonic's arm.
Sonic held him a bit. "How do I turn it on, Tails?"
Tails slowly moves his hand over Sonic's wrist, pushing 3 fake bolts that were really buttons. A small metal panel turned over to reveal the screen of Tails' old watch a little more teched out then Sonic had remembered. Although there was a crack going through the middle of the screen.
It picked up Shadow's Chaos Energy and beeped a little.
"Well at least we know it works" Shadow said as he looked at the watch.
"Now we just have to use it to find an Emerald."
"Theres a..cave that M-Mephiles has...his 'pets' working in...their m-mining for something..." Tails said, sounding out of breath alot.
"Save your breath, Tails. Just point us in the right direction."
He looked around slowly.
"Where....are we..?"
"Um..." Sonic looked around as well.
It was just wasteland as far as the eye could see. No signs of life or any signs of something that stood out.
"We're in the middle of nowhere..."
"Fly up and have a look around" Shadow suggested, offering to hold Tails.
Sonic flew up into the air and looked around for any sort of landmark.
He saw something in the distance, but couldn't quite make out what it was.
"I see something but I don't know what it is.. I'm gonna go fly over to it."
"Be careful" Shadow said as he started walking slowly in the direction of where Sonci was going, Clyde limping after him.
Sonic started to fly closer to what he saw in the distance.

His eyes widened when he stopped at his destination. There was an army that stretched on for miles. They were all frozen in battle in tombs of crystals.
Sonic rushed back to the others.
Shadow was on his way there, going slow so Clyde could keep up.
Sonic dropped down next to him. "Trust me, you don't want to go there. What I saw was an entire army in battle.. frozen in crystals."
"The..frozen a-army.." Tails coughed as he looked at Sonic, "It was..the f-first army to fall...The m-mine isn't far..."
"What direction is it then?"
He lifted a trembling arm north-west.
Sonic picked him up. "Let's go, Shads."
Shadow nodded and followed close behind him, now carrying Clyde easily.
"S-ss..Sonic..." Tails said in a weak, quivering voice, "D..do you th-think we'll..m..mmake it...?"
Sonic smiled reassuringly. "Of course I do.."
He rested his head on Sonic's chest, smiling a little.
Sonic sighed a bit.
Tails' smile faded when he heard the sigh, it sounded sad. He teared up but closed his eyes as the tears went away.
Sonic continued to lead the way.
They treked on for about 2 hours none stop, Tails was getting weaker, seeing illusions as he flinched in Sonic's grip, sweating and shaking.
Sonic was starting to become desperate. "Where is that mine?"
"S...Sonic...M-Mephiles...H-he's there..!" he flinched in Sonic's arms, trembling as he pointed to a blanket part of the wasteland, seeing things.
Sonic pet him. "Nothing's there, Tails... Just try to relax.."
"N-no no! He's r-right there!" he was starting to get panicky now, trembling more.
Sonic held him a bit tighter. "He's not there, Tails.. You must be seeing things.."
"He's getting worse" Shadow said with his ears pinned down in worry, "I'll scout ahead to try and find the mine"
"Okay, but be careful..."
He nodded and gently set Clyde down.
"Don't move" he said to them all before skating off.

Tails squirmed a little in Sonic's arms, eyes fixed on the spot he thought he saw Mephiles in.
Sonic held onto Tails tightly.
"Nnn..!!" the fox suddenly went into rough fit in his arms.
"Tails..?!"
Sonic was having a hard time just holding him.
He tried to prevent Tails from breaking free.
The fit slowly stopped as the fox lay limp in Sonic's arms, panting from exhaustion.
Sonic was getting really worried.
Shadow came running back.
"I found it!"
Sonic looked up at him, tears slightly forming in his eyes from worry. "W-well then let's go!" He got up. "Lead the way!"
He nodded and picked up Clyde again, running ahead as he started skating.
Sonic followed close behind with Tails in his arms.
The fox went into a coughing fit, some blood staining his matted chest fur.
Sonic's eyes widened and he started going a little faster.
"Sonic..." Tails whispered, it hurt to much to talk normally.
"W-we're going to get you help, Tails..!!" Sonic assured, his worry showing through in his voice.
"Im so..cold..." the fox nuzzled into him slowly, being more quiet and gentle due to his vision blurry and getting abit confused.
Sonic felt he was about to cry. "Shadow..! How far is this mine..?!"
"Just beyond those hills! We'll have to fight our way in though. Think you can handle it?"
"I don't think I can, I know I can! Because if I can't... then Tails..." He shook it off. "Let's just get in there and find the Chaos Emerald!"
Shadow nodded and ran to the hills.
"I have to set Clyde down somewhere so I can fight too. Do you think he'll be safe here?"
"Maybe.."
Shadow spied some bushes and gently set Clyde hidden amungst them.
"Perfect. No one can see him here" Clyde whinnied quietly to them, laying his head down to rest.
"What about Tails..?"
Shadow looked at the shivering fox, ears drooping.
"He should wait here. We'll have a better chance of coming out with the emerald if we go in empty handed"
Sonic gently put Tails down near Clyde. "Let's go..."
When he turned away he heard Tails rasp out his name, tears in his eyes as he trembled from the cold pitifully.
"Tails..." Sonic pet him. "We're going to go find the Chaos Emerald... We'll be back, I promise..."
He nodded a little, nuzzling into Clyde.
Sonic stood. "Come on, Shadow."
Shadow nodded and led the way quickly.
Sonic tried to stay low but knew they'd be spotted.
"Lets go!" Shadow shouted as he lept over the hill and jumped down into the mine, kicking some of Mephiles' demons back.
Sonic did the same.
"You scout ahead! Find the emerald!" Shadow yelled over the roars of the demons and kept fighting them.
Sonic turned on his Chaos Energy detector and headed deeper into the mine.
The detector beeped quicker the deeper he got and the darker it went.
He kept going.
He came to the end of the tunnel, his radar beeping frantically as the mining demons looked at him and growled.
Sonic attacked them to get their equipment.
He took down the last one as it dropped its pick axe.
Sonic picked up the pickaxe and started mining down toward the signal.
He tore through chunks of the rock thanks to his robotic arm.
He kept mining as the signal got stronger.
He suddenly broke through to a walk in temple, the blue chaos emerald hovering over a pedastal.
He ran over and grabbed the Emerald.
The second he took it off the pedastal the mine started to shake.
Sonic hurried to get out.

Shadow was waiting at the exit for him.
"Come on!"
Sonic went to him. "I got the Emerald. Let's heal Tails!"
He nodded and ran close behind him.
Sonic got back to Tails. "Tails, we got it!"
His eyes widened when he saw the fox. There was blood coming out of his mouth heavily, gaging and coughing roughly as he squirmed a little.
Sonic ran over and held him in his lap. He held the Chaos Emerald up in the air. "Please Chaos Emerald, please heal him!!"
The emerald glowed brightly in his hand as Tails' squirming stopped and his panting turned to quiet, normal breathing. Though he kept gagging on the blood in his mouth.
Sonic changed the way he held Tails to let him get the blood out of his mouth.
He coughed up the blood heavily.
The blue half-metallic hedgehog tried to help as best as he could.
Shadow quickly found a big leaf and got some water from a shaded pond, bringing it back.
"Here"
Tails quickly drank it, getting rid of the taste of blood.
Sonic gently pet Tails.
The fox looked at him, tears in his eyes as he smiled.
Sonic smiled back.
He hugged Sonic tightly as Shadow walked over.
"We need to strike back. If we can find the chaos emeralds we have an even chance of taking both of them down"
"Yeah." Sonic agreed.
Shadow looked at Tails and Clyde, seeing that it had healed them both and that they were now fast asleep.
"Heh, how can they sleep at a time like this?"
Sonic shrugged. "Who knows?" He smiled a little.

Shadow smirked, arms crossed.
"Okay then. YOU can carry the horse this time"
"Fine then. But shouldn't he be able to walk after us now that he's healed?"
"Well, unless you want to wake him up"
Sonic sighed and gently picked Clyde up.
Shadow put a hand on his shoulder before he could lift the horse.
"I was joking" He frowned when he saw the hopless look in Sonic's eyes, "Whats wrong, Faker?"
Sonic shrugged. "Nothing, really.."
"You can talk to me you know...whats wrong?"
Again Sonic sighed. "It's just... Knuckles always had a good sense of Chaos Emeralds. Now that we have this, wouldn't that mean that Enerjak would have a lot easier a time of directing Mephiles right to us?"
"Oh..geez...I didn't think of that..." Shadow rubbed his neck as he thought for a moment, "Got any ideas?"
"Not really..."
"Well...I guess we could always just keep chaos controlling..."
"But he'd just keep following us... I'm sure Enerjak can probably Chaos Control."
Shadow's ears drooped as he looked down.
"There has to be some way to bring them..." he thought of something a second after he said that and grinned, "Sonic! Turn on your emerald detector!"
Sonic turned it on.
Shadow held the emerald as he put the cloaking device to work on just his hand. Slowly the emerald went invisable too as it dissapeared from Sonic's radar.
"Wow! Well, that solves that problem."
"Now if only we could find a way to keep them like this on their own. Cause I can only hold two at a time"
"Well, I have a cloaking device too... But then we'd only be able to carry four..." Sonic thought of a way to make them all invisible.
"Maybe Miles will be able to help with this. He did create us after all"
Sonic looked at Tails, who was still sleeping peacefully. "... Could we maybe ask him when he wakes up? I don't want to wake him.."
"Yeah he needs his rest. If only we could find a place where they could never find us..." Shadow thought for a while.
Sonic thought too.

"What about the Knothole place?" Shadow suggested.
"Well... I don't know..."
"Maybe that Nicole robot will be able to help us. Its worth a shot isn't it?"
"I guess.."
"We have nowhere else to go, Sonic...Its the only safe place I can think of" Shadow sighed.
"Okay. We'll try there."
Shadow went to Clyde and gently woke him.
"COme on, horse. We can't carry you everywhere"
Clyde looked at them both before slowly standing, looking at his now healed leg.
Sonic smiled a little. "We healed it for you."
He whinnied softly as he nuzzled Sonic as if saying thanks.
"It was nothing."
Shadow gently picked Tails up, making sure not to wake him.
"You now where it is. You should lead the way"
Sonic nodded and started leading the way.
Shadow walked close behind, letting Miles nuzzle into him.
Sonic gently pulled Clyde along.

Meanwhile

"How was that MY fault?" Mephiles hissed to his partner.
"You control your minions, don't you? Well, maybe you should have actually had them attack Shadow instead of just sit there on top of him!" Enerjak complained.
Mephiles crossed his arms
"At least I poisoned the fox. They won't get far"
"Hmph, I suppose you're right. But what will we do if they somehow manage to stumble upon a Chaos Emerald?"
"Impossible. My pets are mining for the only gainable emerald I could find. They would never get one in time"
Enerjak seemed a little on edge. "Maybe we should check on your pets anyways. Just a minute ago my sense of Chaos Energy grew weaker.."
Mephiles merly shrugged and waved his hand as a portal opened.
Enerjak went in but came back quickly. "Either you sent me to the wrong place or your pets aren't there and the mine is no more."
Mephiles frowned as he walked through, snarling in anger.
"No!" he walked to the caved in mine and went to a creature that had not yet died but was half crashed under the entrance by rocks, "What happened!" The monster looked at him slowly, speaking through its mind 'Two hedgehogs...cave in...emerald taken...' Its head dropped again as the mobian it had been turned from appeared in the place the creature was.
"Damn it!" Mephiles growled as his aura flared in rage.
"What are we going to do now?" Enerjak asked after he came back through the portal.
"I'm THROUGH playing" he clenched his fist as the ground shook with his rage, "We end this NOW!"

Back with Sonic and the others

They made it to Knothole, the place was actually in good shape. There were still a few trees, though most had died off.
Sonic sighed, not seeming happy to see Knothole in this state.
"How do we find this, Nicole?" Shadow asked.
"I'll search through the buildings to find her system."
He nodded and set Tails on the soft grass.
Sonic searched.
There was a computer shattered in the main base, three words on the screen.
"Are you there?"
Sonic tried to type a reply on the banged up keyboard.
"...Sonic? Is that you?" she recognised his bad spelling of some words.
"Yes." He typed.
"But I thought you were...dead" she typed back.
"I was, but Tails brought me back as a cyborg, I guess."
"Sonic do you think you could transport me through the hand held device to my projector? I can't do it alone. The signals blocked"
"I could try..."
The keyboard sparked, making Sonic flinch back.
Sonic tried to think of a way to get Nicole to her projector.

He saw the handheld device Sally had always used to carry Nicole around. It was laying on the floor.
He thought of Sally for a moment, but shook it off and picked up the handheld.
It looked like it could still work so he plugged it into the computer Nicole was on. Her data transferred onto it before Sonic unplugged it and put it in the projector. When she came to view she was all static and abit blotchy.
Sonic was going to try to adjust the projector but he didn't want to screw anything up so he didn't.
Nicole was in a knelt position, resting on her knees and her head bowed.
"Everyones gone..." she whispered with drooped ears.
"We're trying to stop Mephiles." Sonic said.
"Thats what everyone else said..." she looked at Sonic, eyes sad, "Sally was first to get taken..."
Sonic's eyes saddened as well. "... We... We already have a Chaos Emerald, but we need to find more.."
She forced a small smile when Sonic helped her up.
"I can help"
"Really?"

"It'll be hard...but I can try. If its to take down that demon and that backstabbing traitor then I'll help you until im shut down"
Sonic smiled a bit. "Thank you, Nicole."
She smiled and cupped his robotic hand in both of hers.
"Do you mind if I go through your mechanics and see if I can upgrade you?..." she giggled a little, "That didn't come out as I'd imagined"
Sonic chuckled a little too. "Go ahead, I guess."
She smiled and closed her eyes as his hand and hers glowed a little.
Sonic waited patiently for once.
Nicole slowly finished as she opened her eyes, the glowing stopping.
"I can add 2 more upgrades of your choice from a small list. There isn't much room for more"
"What's the list?"
She brought up the list on the projector and showed him.
'night vision'
'Underwater Sonar'
'Stronger chaos detector'
'Heart monitor'
'wings for smother flight'
"Anything here you like?"
"Hmm... How about the Stronger Chaos Detector and Night Vision? Both of those would be pretty useful."
She nodded.
"I can just load those straight in" she smiled and held his hand again.
Sonic waited again.
He heard a voice in his head.
'Upload complete'
He tried out the Night Vision.
Everything turned a light shade of green.
"Heh.. Maybe you should try to upgrade Shadow too."
"He's alive too?" her eyes gleamed with hope.
Sonic nodded. "Tails is too."

She smiled widely.
"He's alive?! I got worried when he went with Amy and Knuckles! Where is he now?"
"He's outside."
She went back into the device after telling Sonic to take her to him.
Sonic took her outside and got Tails.
Tails looked up, now awake.
"Is that Nicole?"
Sonic nodded. "She wanted to see you."
He smiled and held the device.
"Hey, Nicole!"
"Its so good to hear your voice Tails!" she typed in on her screen.
Sonic smiled a little.
Tails slowly stood, going to the projector close to them as he plugged Nicole in.
Sonic leaned against a wall.
SHadow smiled as he watched Nicole and Tails hug. Though once he saw Sonic looking at him he quickly made his smile dissapear.
Sonic sighed quietly.
Shadow silently walked outside.
Though hesitant, Sonic quietly followed him.
The dark hedgehog silently walked though that used to be a thriving town. His head was bowed in thought.
"... Shadow?"
Shadow's heart skipped a beat, not knowing Sonic was there. He looked back abit, his face unreadable.
"Hmm..?"
"Is something wrong?"
"No...I was just thinking..."
"A penny for your thoughts, Shads." Sonic said.
"Hmm..?" Shadow glanced back, only half hearing him, "No, im fine. Really"
Sonic sighed.

'God damn these fuckin feelings...Why can't I yell at him..? Is it because he reminds me of...her...?' Shadow thought to himself, head bowed again.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Sonic asked.
He nodded, staying silent.
"Im fine, Faker...why do you worry so much..?"
"Well, because you just seem so lost in your thoughts. I can't help but feel that you're probably thinking of something that makes you stressed."
"Its just..." he sighed and shook his head, "Nevermind..." he walked on.
"But Shads, you know you can tell me anything, don't you?"
"Sonic...Even I don't know whats really wrong...Im just..confused..."
Sonic sighed a little. "I wish I knew how to help you.."
They stood there silent for a minute before Shadow spoke up.
"Want to...come for a walk for patrol?"
"Sure."
The two walked out and started their rounds around knothole.
Sonic opened his mouth occasionally to say something, but every time his mind threw up a blank on what to talk about.
It was awkward for a while. Neither one knowing what to say to the other.
"So..." Sonic muttered.
"This is....awkward..." Shadow couldn't help but chuckle a little.
"Tell me about it... Do you have anything to talk about?"
Shadow blinked as he noticed his hand was touching Sonic's. He blushed and pulled his hand away. Though SOnic had seen the blush.
He smirked a little. "You're blushing a bit, Shads.."
"No im not.." Shadow denyed.
"Yeah, you are..." Sonic smiled.
"No. Im NOT." Shadow grumbled and looked away.
Sonic chuckled. "There's no reason to be embarrassed, Shads."
"Why am I blushing..?"
"I'm pretty sure it had to do with our hands touching.."
"Yes but..it was an accident..."
Quietly Sonic reached out and held Shadow's hand.
Once again, Shadow blushed heavily.
"Yep, definitely from our hands touching."
"S-stop it!" Shadow yanked his hand away.
Sonic smirked a bit.

"Why am I blushing over this!" Shadow snarled, now deeply confused.
"Maybe you like me..." Sonic chuckled, not actually believing that was the case.
"WHAT?!" his whole muzzle turned bright red as he flinched away.
"It's a possibility." He joked.
"Don't be stupid, Faker! We're both males!"
"Heheh, I know, but maybe you just swing that way." He giggled, having too much fun picking on Shadow.
"Are you calling me gay!" Shadow snarled, practically towering over Sonic now.
"How about we find out?" Sonic puckered his lips before cracking up and laughing hysterically.
Shadow growled and grabbed Sonic's arm forcefully.
"Im warning you!"
Sonic's laugh died down to a chuckle. "Warning me of what?"
"Im NOT gay! Get that through your thick skull! or I'll put a dent in it!"
"Whatever you say, Shads." Sonic then gently put his hand on Shadow's arm to remove his own arm from Shadow's vise-grip.
Shadow let his grip go as he went back to walking.
Sonic walked after him. "Well, Shads, if you're so convinced you're not gay, then tell me who you love." He smirked.
"I am the Ultimate Life Form. I do not need love" He answered plainly.
"You may not need it, but I'm sure you want it."
"Hmph..." he didn't know how to reply to that. It was true he wanted it. But he didn't want the trouble of having a partner.
"Maybe you're just so against it because of what happened to Maria?" Sonic asked.
Shadow froze, fist clenching.
"Don't you DARE say her name!"
"Okay, okay. Maybe you're just so against it because of what happened to 'her'?"
"What does her death have to do with ANYTHING thats happend!" he snarled, Sonic now pushing his luck.
"Well maybe you're just scared to be close to someone because of that.."
'Shit, I'm blowing my chance..!' Sonic thought as he tried to come up with something else to say.
This time, Shadow hesitated for a moment.
"What do YOU know!"
"Well... Let's just say I've had a similar experience in the past."
"Similar, but NOT the same! So keep your trap shut! You will NEVER mention her name again! Understand?"
Sonic nodded slowly, looking away.

There was a moment silence before, surprisingly, Shadow's eyes saddened and he looked back at Sonic.
"Hey, listen...Im sorry"
Sonic looked at him, a bit surprised.
"I just..." he sighed and walked off again, ears drooped.
"Hey, wait..." Sonic followed him. "I'm sorry I brought up a personal subject of yours.."
Shadow didn't intend for Sonic to follow and quickly hid the tears in his eyes.
Sonic didn't notice; he was too busy apologizing. "I shouldn't have mentioned it at all, since it only made you angry.."
"I-Its alright, Faker..really..."
"You sure..?"
He nodded and walked ahead, still trying to hide his tears.
Sonic still followed him.
"What else do you want!" Shadow snapped, his voice cracking from his tears.
Sonic hesitated. "Are you... crying?"
He looked away, silent.
Sonic gently put a hand on Shadow's shoulder.
Shadow hesitantly looked at him.
"If... you need comfort..." Sonic hesitantly spread his arms a bit. "You have a shoulder you can cry on right here..."
"No...I don't NEED comfort..."
Sonic frowned disbelievingly.
His ears suddenly perked up when he heard something.
"Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"Follow me" he ran ahead quickly, going to the exit.
Sonic followed him.
They stopped at the enterance, getting defensive when they saw one of Mephiles' pets limping over the hill before it collapsed.
Sonic looked at Shadow. "Do you think it's one from the mine?"
"No doubt. Its filthy. What should we do?" Shadow questioned, still watching the withering creature that lay on its side.
"Finish it off..?"
"Wh-whats it doing?" Shadow blinked as he pointed. Black and dark purple mist slithered off the creature, revealing a skinny, trembling mobian child that lay unmoving on the ground.
Sonic's eyes widened. "D-does... Does Mephiles make his minions out of Mobians....?"
"Oh for the love of chaos, I hope not...I've killed so many of those things..." he climbed out the entrance and slowly walked over to the child, feeling for a pulse, "Th-the kids alive. But barely..."
"What do we do?" Sonic was having a judgmental battle against himself. He wanted to help the child, but what if Mephiles was still watching it somehow?
"He's not going to last long...Even if we did help him.."
"Nnn..M..ma.." the child murmered, tears in his eyes.
Sonic went over.
"He's got a horrible fever...Even I don't have the heart to leave him out here, Sonic..."
Sonic cringed a little. "But..." He sighed. "I guess we should take him in..."
The dark hedgehog gently picked up the child, resting his head on his shoulder before running in.
Sonic followed.
The child opened his eyes a little.
"B..black..d..demon...." he groaned.
The blue hedgehog was quiet.

Shadow laid the child against Clyde gently as Tails and Nicole looked over.
"B..Black..demon...s-snak..snake..eyes...' the child murmered as Shadow glanced at Sonic.
"I think he means Mephiles"
"What did he do to you..?" Sonic tried to ask the child.
Shadow supported the child's head, gently keeping track of the child slowing pulse.
"T..took...m-ma a..way...T..turned..her into...monster...'
"Oh god... So... those creatures really are Mobians..."
The child gave a shuddered breath, the colour dulling in his eyes as they pleaded for Sonic to help him.
Sonic shook under pressure, not sure what to do.
Shadow gently cradled the child in his arms again, ears drooped. Sonic had never seen him act like this before.
Sonic sighed. "Is there anyway we can help you."
"D...Don't...know..." the child whispered.
Sonic went quiet again.
Shadow sighed as he stroked the childs head gently.
"It'll be okay, kid...You'll get to see your parents soon" he said softly.
Sonic wished he could help.
Sonic had never seen Shadow act so nice to someone before.
He watched silently.
Shadow bowed his head when the child's eyes closed.
"Is... is he...?"
The dark hedgehog looked up at him, eyes sad.
Sonic looked down at the ground sadly.
"We have to end this..." Tails muttered sadly.
"... My god... We've killed so many Mobians..." Sonic mumbled.
Tails gently took his hand.
Sonic looked over, tears started to swell up in his eyes from guilt.
"You didn't know, Sonic...none of us did or we'd have found another way to fight back..."
"St-still... we took so many innocent lives..."
Shadow set a hand on his shoulder.
"They would have been lost in those demonic bodies hadn't we not, Sonic. Unless we can find a way to disolve Mephiles' dark magic, then we'll have to keep doing what we're doing..."
Sonic sniffled. "I guess you're right..."
"If you need comfort, you have a shoulder to cry on right here~" Shadow smirked, copying Sonic's words to make him smile. He didn't know why, but he couldn't stand seeing the energetic hedgehog look so sad.
Sonic did smile a little. He clung onto Shadow and cried a little.
Shadow blinked, he hadn't meant literally. But...He couldn't help but watch the blue hedgehog with the faintest of smiles, finding him adorable with his face buried into his chest fur.
Sonic tried to calm down.
Tails smirked as he left the two alone, walking past Clyde who was asleep and going back to talk to Nicole in the other room now.
Shadow accidently put his hand over Sonic's which was on the ground for support. The two looked at each other quickly, noses touching.
The sapphire blue hedgehog blushed a bit. "U-uh..."
Shadow looked abit dissapointed when Sonic turned his head in embarressment at the blush. His ears pinned down nervously as he tilted his head under Sonic's to try and look him in the face, getting him to slowly look straight at him again as he put a gentle hand on his cheek. At first he wasn't quite sure what to do. Half of him wanted to hit the hedgehog for giving him these feelings and emotions...but the other half wanted him to trust his heart...to let Sonic in to mend it...To love him.
Sonic blushed more. "Sh-Shadow...? Wh-what are you doing...?"
"Sonic...You were right...I was to afraid to let anyone close after Maria's death...I was afraid the same would happen to them...Tell me, Faker...Are you willing to risk that chance...?"
"Are you asking me to... to be with you...?"
"Just answer the question, stupid hedgehog" Shadow murmered, not wanting to straight out admit that he was gay, or at least bisexual. It just didn't sit right with him. He just felt comforted that he only liked Sonic and not other males.
"Well... yes, of course." Sonic smiled a bit.
"Well then, explain to me how this 'Love' thing works then" he asked so innocently that Sonic just wanted to smother him with hugs.
So Sonic hugged him. "When you're in love, you can't stop thinking about the person and thinking about them makes your heart race. When you're with them you never want to leave their side."
Shadow blushed as he hesitantly hugged him back, his tail slowly wagging as Sonic saw it since he was looking over Shadow's shoulder in the hug.
Sonic smiled more and gripped the dark hedgehog's tail.
The dark hedgehog yelped softly in surprised and looked a him.
Sonic rubbed the tail with a smirk on his face.
Shadow struggled against the purr in the back of his throat and pulled back, looking Sonic with the cutest confused face.
"Wh-what are you doing?"
"I'm rubbing your cute little tail."

"M-My cute little tail..?" Shadow blinked, curious by the words. How on earth was his tail considered cute in Sonic's eyes.
Sonic continued rubbing it.
Shadow's tail wagged under Sonic's grip.
"I-Is grabbing my tail..considered normal?" he blinked.
"Probably not. But that's not going to stop me."
He yelped when Sonic gently pushed him onto his back.
Sonic sat on his stomach.
"S-S-Sonic..?" SHadow stuttered, normally he would have shoved the blur blur off. But now he couldn't bring himself to even hurting him.
"But this is normal." Sonic's face got closer to Shadow's.
"I-I-I-" Shadow stammered, eyes wide since he didn't know what to expect.
Sonic gave him a small kiss.
The black hedgehog's pupils shrank in shock before his eyes softened and seemed to be in a daze.
Sonic pulled back and smiled. "You like that, huh?"
His eyes focused again as he looked at Sonic and then at his lips before back at his eyes again. He was speechless.
Sonic kissed him again.
This time, since he expected the kiss, he welcomed it and wrapped his arms around the loveable blue hedgehog and pulled him close, on instinct, kissing back.
Sonic blushed a bit.
Shadow slowly pulled away, eyes closed as he smiled a little.
Sonic smiled too.
He gathered the cute, blue hedgehog into his arms, cuddling him gently as he chuckled at Sonic's blush. He'd never felt so...warm. So mortal before. Not even when he'd been with Maria. And that was saying alot. He smiled little more as Sonic nuzzled into his chest fur, playing with it mindlessly.
The blue hedgehog was very comfortable in Shadow's grip.
Shadow laughed softly.
"Well at least my trademark chest fur got to stay" he said as he ran his fingers through his beloved chest fluff, half showing it off.
Sonic laughed a little too.
"Come on you two" Tails smiled from the doorway. He'd known of Sonic's crush on Shadow. The blue blur had told him so the day Sonic first set his eyes on the mysterious faker. So he wasn't fazed when he saw them snuggling and Shadow actually smiling in good nature.
"Alright, fine." Sonic smirked.

Tails had found some food in one of the huts and had cooked it up. Nice warm soup. It as the only thing that hadn't spoiled.
Sonic yawned a little.
Shadow sat by the fire, leaning against Clyde as he let Sonic snuggle into him.
"Sonic, eat" he handed Sonic a bowl of soup.
The blue hedgehog smiled. "Thanks, Shads.." He said before he started to eat the soup.
Tails laughed a little at the two snuggling hedgehogs.
"You two are so cute together" he smiled.
Sonic blushed a bit.
Shadow said nothing as he silently had his soup, watching over Sonic.
"I shall keep watch while you all sleep" Nicole offered, still in ehr holographic form next to them.
"Alright. Thank you, Nicole." Sonic said to her.
She smiled and nodded, watching the group lay down to rest.
Shadow stayed up against Clyde, letting Sonic lay his head in his lap to sleep, setting his hand inside the blue blurs, holding it.
Sonic smiled a little more as he fell asleep.

Description
The group arrived in a desert area, tumbling across the ground since the force of them running then chaos controlling sent them tumbling when they arrived. Shadow landed on his front, panting weakly from all the energy he'd used.
Sonic went over to him. "Shadow! Are you okay?"
Shadow shakily tried to push himself up, gritting his teeth but collapsed again. The light aroud his wrists blinking red.
"Shadow.." Sonic lift him onto his lap.
He looked at him hazily, pupils dim.
Sonic grumbled and summonded up some of his own faint Chaos Energy and got a little closer to his face.
"Wh..what are you...doing...?" Shadow blinked, confused.
"I'm going to help you..." Sonic muttered before he kissed Shadow, giving him a little bit of energy.
The dark hedgehog's eyes widened, trying to ignoring the fact that he..liked it...! The lights around his wrists slowly turned orange and then stopped blinking as they came back to green.
Seeing that, Sonic broke the kiss. "Better now?"
He looked at Sonic for a little while before nodding slowly.
"Y-Yeah. Go check on the fox"
Sonic went over to Tails. "He's unconscious still.."
The flash of terror he had seen in Tails' eyes haunted him when he shut his eyes, ears drooping. He flinched when he felt a hand on his shoulder and gave it a comfortable squeeze.
"It'll be okay...Sonic" he smiled, for once saying his name in a nice tone.
Sonic was a little confused, but he smiled. "Thanks, Shadow.."
He nodded back to him then looked at Tails who was stirring.
"Urg..."
Sonic held Tails. "Tails, are you okay..?"
He could feel the kitsun shaking a little in his grip. Something was wrong when he didn't get a reply from his 'little' brother.
"Tails...?"
Shadow's eyes slowly looked Tails over, stopping where Mephiles had stepped on him. He noticed the crystals still stuck in his back. He pulled one out carefully, ears pinning down as he watched some dark purple liquid drip off the part that had been stabbed into him.
"He's been poisoned...A-At least I think so"
"Oh god... How are we going to help him?"
"I..I don't know..." His eyes saddened.
"T-Tails... This is all my fault... I couldn't do anything.."
Clyde limped over, his back leg bleeding.
"Looks like he wasn't the only one hurt..." Shadow sighed and made Clyde lay down.
Sonic sighed sadly.
Shadow looked up quickly when he saw a portal opening made by Mephiles. He quickly grabbed Sonic's arm and a chunk of Clyde's mane and warped them away before they could be seen.
Sonic sighed again, this time in relief.

Shadow leaned against a tree, he hadn't used up as much energy as before but he was still out of breath.
"I don't remember Chaos control being THIS difficult..."
"Do you need me to give you a little more energy again?"
As much as Shadow wanted to say yes, he shook his head.
"Im fine. Just abit tired"
"Okay.."
"Uhh..." Tails groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, "S..Sonic..?"
"I'm here, Tails." Sonic smiled a little at him worriedly.
He coughed a little, balling his hand into a fist.
"Arg.."
"Tails..." Sonic frowned.
His gritted teeth and fist relaxed as he looked back at Sonic, confused by the sudden pains.
"You were poisoned by Mephiles, Tails.."
"P-Poisoned..?" he grunted as he sat up.
"Sonic" Shadow interupted as he looked at them, "Maybe a chaos emerald would help"
"Urg..the chaos emeralds..have been lost for ages...even Mephiles has been looking for them..."
Sonic tried to think. "Chaos Emeralds are our only option though.."
Tails smiled a little.
"F-for something like this...I installed...a chaos detector in your wrist Sonic...I used my old watch and fixed it" He coughed as he gripped Sonic's arm.
Sonic held him a bit. "How do I turn it on, Tails?"
Tails slowly moves his hand over Sonic's wrist, pushing 3 fake bolts that were really buttons. A small metal panel turned over to reveal the screen of Tails' old watch a little more teched out then Sonic had remembered. Although there was a crack going through the middle of the screen.
It picked up Shadow's Chaos Energy and beeped a little.
"Well at least we know it works" Shadow said as he looked at the watch.
"Now we just have to use it to find an Emerald."
"Theres a..cave that M-Mephiles has...his 'pets' working in...their m-mining for something..." Tails said, sounding out of breath alot.
"Save your breath, Tails. Just point us in the right direction."
He looked around slowly.
"Where....are we..?"
"Um..." Sonic looked around as well.
It was just wasteland as far as the eye could see. No signs of life or any signs of something that stood out.
"We're in the middle of nowhere..."
"Fly up and have a look around" Shadow suggested, offering to hold Tails.
Sonic flew up into the air and looked around for any sort of landmark.
He saw something in the distance, but couldn't quite make out what it was.
"I see something but I don't know what it is.. I'm gonna go fly over to it."
"Be careful" Shadow said as he started walking slowly in the direction of where Sonci was going, Clyde limping after him.
Sonic started to fly closer to what he saw in the distance.

His eyes widened when he stopped at his destination. There was an army that stretched on for miles. They were all frozen in battle in tombs of crystals.
Sonic rushed back to the others.
Shadow was on his way there, going slow so Clyde could keep up.
Sonic dropped down next to him. "Trust me, you don't want to go there. What I saw was an entire army in battle.. frozen in crystals."
"The..frozen a-army.." Tails coughed as he looked at Sonic, "It was..the f-first army to fall...The m-mine isn't far..."
"What direction is it then?"
He lifted a trembling arm north-west.
Sonic picked him up. "Let's go, Shads."
Shadow nodded and followed close behind him, now carrying Clyde easily.
"S-ss..Sonic..." Tails said in a weak, quivering voice, "D..do you th-think we'll..m..mmake it...?"
Sonic smiled reassuringly. "Of course I do.."
He rested his head on Sonic's chest, smiling a little.
Sonic sighed a bit.
Tails' smile faded when he heard the sigh, it sounded sad. He teared up but closed his eyes as the tears went away.
Sonic continued to lead the way.
They treked on for about 2 hours none stop, Tails was getting weaker, seeing illusions as he flinched in Sonic's grip, sweating and shaking.
Sonic was starting to become desperate. "Where is that mine?"
"S...Sonic...M-Mephiles...H-he's there..!" he flinched in Sonic's arms, trembling as he pointed to a blanket part of the wasteland, seeing things.
Sonic pet him. "Nothing's there, Tails... Just try to relax.."
"N-no no! He's r-right there!" he was starting to get panicky now, trembling more.
Sonic held him a bit tighter. "He's not there, Tails.. You must be seeing things.."
"He's getting worse" Shadow said with his ears pinned down in worry, "I'll scout ahead to try and find the mine"
"Okay, but be careful..."
He nodded and gently set Clyde down.
"Don't move" he said to them all before skating off.

Tails squirmed a little in Sonic's arms, eyes fixed on the spot he thought he saw Mephiles in.
Sonic held onto Tails tightly.
"Nnn..!!" the fox suddenly went into rough fit in his arms.
"Tails..?!"
Sonic was having a hard time just holding him.
He tried to prevent Tails from breaking free.
The fit slowly stopped as the fox lay limp in Sonic's arms, panting from exhaustion.
Sonic was getting really worried.
Shadow came running back.
"I found it!"
Sonic looked up at him, tears slightly forming in his eyes from worry. "W-well then let's go!" He got up. "Lead the way!"
He nodded and picked up Clyde again, running ahead as he started skating.
Sonic followed close behind with Tails in his arms.
The fox went into a coughing fit, some blood staining his matted chest fur.
Sonic's eyes widened and he started going a little faster.
"Sonic..." Tails whispered, it hurt to much to talk normally.
"W-we're going to get you help, Tails..!!" Sonic assured, his worry showing through in his voice.
"Im so..cold..." the fox nuzzled into him slowly, being more quiet and gentle due to his vision blurry and getting abit confused.
Sonic felt he was about to cry. "Shadow..! How far is this mine..?!"
"Just beyond those hills! We'll have to fight our way in though. Think you can handle it?"
"I don't think I can, I know I can! Because if I can't... then Tails..." He shook it off. "Let's just get in there and find the Chaos Emerald!"
Shadow nodded and ran to the hills.
"I have to set Clyde down somewhere so I can fight too. Do you think he'll be safe here?"
"Maybe.."
Shadow spied some bushes and gently set Clyde hidden amungst them.
"Perfect. No one can see him here" Clyde whinnied quietly to them, laying his head down to rest.
"What about Tails..?"
Shadow looked at the shivering fox, ears drooping.
"He should wait here. We'll have a better chance of coming out with the emerald if we go in empty handed"
Sonic gently put Tails down near Clyde. "Let's go..."
When he turned away he heard Tails rasp out his name, tears in his eyes as he trembled from the cold pitifully.
"Tails..." Sonic pet him. "We're going to go find the Chaos Emerald... We'll be back, I promise..."
He nodded a little, nuzzling into Clyde.
Sonic stood. "Come on, Shadow."
Shadow nodded and led the way quickly.
Sonic tried to stay low but knew they'd be spotted.
"Lets go!" Shadow shouted as he lept over the hill and jumped down into the mine, kicking some of Mephiles' demons back.
Sonic did the same.
"You scout ahead! Find the emerald!" Shadow yelled over the roars of the demons and kept fighting them.
Sonic turned on his Chaos Energy detector and headed deeper into the mine.
The detector beeped quicker the deeper he got and the darker it went.
He kept going.
He came to the end of the tunnel, his radar beeping frantically as the mining demons looked at him and growled.
Sonic attacked them to get their equipment.
He took down the last one as it dropped its pick axe.
Sonic picked up the pickaxe and started mining down toward the signal.
He tore through chunks of the rock thanks to his robotic arm.
He kept mining as the signal got stronger.
He suddenly broke through to a walk in temple, the blue chaos emerald hovering over a pedastal.
He ran over and grabbed the Emerald.
The second he took it off the pedastal the mine started to shake.
Sonic hurried to get out.

Shadow was waiting at the exit for him.
"Come on!"
Sonic went to him. "I got the Emerald. Let's heal Tails!"
He nodded and ran close behind him.
Sonic got back to Tails. "Tails, we got it!"
His eyes widened when he saw the fox. There was blood coming out of his mouth heavily, gaging and coughing roughly as he squirmed a little.
Sonic ran over and held him in his lap. He held the Chaos Emerald up in the air. "Please Chaos Emerald, please heal him!!"
The emerald glowed brightly in his hand as Tails' squirming stopped and his panting turned to quiet, normal breathing. Though he kept gagging on the blood in his mouth.
Sonic changed the way he held Tails to let him get the blood out of his mouth.
He coughed up the blood heavily.
The blue half-metallic hedgehog tried to help as best as he could.
Shadow quickly found a big leaf and got some water from a shaded pond, bringing it back.
"Here"
Tails quickly drank it, getting rid of the taste of blood.
Sonic gently pet Tails.
The fox looked at him, tears in his eyes as he smiled.
Sonic smiled back.
He hugged Sonic tightly as Shadow walked over.
"We need to strike back. If we can find the chaos emeralds we have an even chance of taking both of them down"
"Yeah." Sonic agreed.
Shadow looked at Tails and Clyde, seeing that it had healed them both and that they were now fast asleep.
"Heh, how can they sleep at a time like this?"
Sonic shrugged. "Who knows?" He smiled a little.

Shadow smirked, arms crossed.
"Okay then. YOU can carry the horse this time"
"Fine then. But shouldn't he be able to walk after us now that he's healed?"
"Well, unless you want to wake him up"
Sonic sighed and gently picked Clyde up.
Shadow put a hand on his shoulder before he could lift the horse.
"I was joking" He frowned when he saw the hopless look in Sonic's eyes, "Whats wrong, Faker?"
Sonic shrugged. "Nothing, really.."
"You can talk to me you know...whats wrong?"
Again Sonic sighed. "It's just... Knuckles always had a good sense of Chaos Emeralds. Now that we have this, wouldn't that mean that Enerjak would have a lot easier a time of directing Mephiles right to us?"
"Oh..geez...I didn't think of that..." Shadow rubbed his neck as he thought for a moment, "Got any ideas?"
"Not really..."
"Well...I guess we could always just keep chaos controlling..."
"But he'd just keep following us... I'm sure Enerjak can probably Chaos Control."
Shadow's ears drooped as he looked down.
"There has to be some way to bring them..." he thought of something a second after he said that and grinned, "Sonic! Turn on your emerald detector!"
Sonic turned it on.
Shadow held the emerald as he put the cloaking device to work on just his hand. Slowly the emerald went invisable too as it dissapeared from Sonic's radar.
"Wow! Well, that solves that problem."
"Now if only we could find a way to keep them like this on their own. Cause I can only hold two at a time"
"Well, I have a cloaking device too... But then we'd only be able to carry four..." Sonic thought of a way to make them all invisible.
"Maybe Miles will be able to help with this. He did create us after all"
Sonic looked at Tails, who was still sleeping peacefully. "... Could we maybe ask him when he wakes up? I don't want to wake him.."
"Yeah he needs his rest. If only we could find a place where they could never find us..." Shadow thought for a while.
Sonic thought too.

"What about the Knothole place?" Shadow suggested.
"Well... I don't know..."
"Maybe that Nicole robot will be able to help us. Its worth a shot isn't it?"
"I guess.."
"We have nowhere else to go, Sonic...Its the only safe place I can think of" Shadow sighed.
"Okay. We'll try there."
Shadow went to Clyde and gently woke him.
"COme on, horse. We can't carry you everywhere"
Clyde looked at them both before slowly standing, looking at his now healed leg.
Sonic smiled a little. "We healed it for you."
He whinnied softly as he nuzzled Sonic as if saying thanks.
"It was nothing."
Shadow gently picked Tails up, making sure not to wake him.
"You now where it is. You should lead the way"
Sonic nodded and started leading the way.
Shadow walked close behind, letting Miles nuzzle into him.
Sonic gently pulled Clyde along.

Meanwhile

"How was that MY fault?" Mephiles hissed to his partner.
"You control your minions, don't you? Well, maybe you should have actually had them attack Shadow instead of just sit there on top of him!" Enerjak complained.
Mephiles crossed his arms
"At least I poisoned the fox. They won't get far"
"Hmph, I suppose you're right. But what will we do if they somehow manage to stumble upon a Chaos Emerald?"
"Impossible. My pets are mining for the only gainable emerald I could find. They would never get one in time"
Enerjak seemed a little on edge. "Maybe we should check on your pets anyways. Just a minute ago my sense of Chaos Energy grew weaker.."
Mephiles merly shrugged and waved his hand as a portal opened.
Enerjak went in but came back quickly. "Either you sent me to the wrong place or your pets aren't there and the mine is no more."
Mephiles frowned as he walked through, snarling in anger.
"No!" he walked to the caved in mine and went to a creature that had not yet died but was half crashed under the entrance by rocks, "What happened!" The monster looked at him slowly, speaking through its mind 'Two hedgehogs...cave in...emerald taken...' Its head dropped again as the mobian it had been turned from appeared in the place the creature was.
"Damn it!" Mephiles growled as his aura flared in rage.
"What are we going to do now?" Enerjak asked after he came back through the portal.
"I'm THROUGH playing" he clenched his fist as the ground shook with his rage, "We end this NOW!"

Back with Sonic and the others

They made it to Knothole, the place was actually in good shape. There were still a few trees, though most had died off.
Sonic sighed, not seeming happy to see Knothole in this state.
"How do we find this, Nicole?" Shadow asked.
"I'll search through the buildings to find her system."
He nodded and set Tails on the soft grass.
Sonic searched.
There was a computer shattered in the main base, three words on the screen.
"Are you there?"
Sonic tried to type a reply on the banged up keyboard.
"...Sonic? Is that you?" she recognised his bad spelling of some words.
"Yes." He typed.
"But I thought you were...dead" she typed back.
"I was, but Tails brought me back as a cyborg, I guess."
"Sonic do you think you could transport me through the hand held device to my projector? I can't do it alone. The signals blocked"
"I could try..."
The keyboard sparked, making Sonic flinch back.
Sonic tried to think of a way to get Nicole to her projector.

He saw the handheld device Sally had always used to carry Nicole around. It was laying on the floor.
He thought of Sally for a moment, but shook it off and picked up the handheld.
It looked like it could still work so he plugged it into the computer Nicole was on. Her data transferred onto it before Sonic unplugged it and put it in the projector. When she came to view she was all static and abit blotchy.
Sonic was going to try to adjust the projector but he didn't want to screw anything up so he didn't.
Nicole was in a knelt position, resting on her knees and her head bowed.
"Everyones gone..." she whispered with drooped ears.
"We're trying to stop Mephiles." Sonic said.
"Thats what everyone else said..." she looked at Sonic, eyes sad, "Sally was first to get taken..."
Sonic's eyes saddened as well. "... We... We already have a Chaos Emerald, but we need to find more.."
She forced a small smile when Sonic helped her up.
"I can help"
"Really?"

"It'll be hard...but I can try. If its to take down that demon and that backstabbing traitor then I'll help you until im shut down"
Sonic smiled a bit. "Thank you, Nicole."
She smiled and cupped his robotic hand in both of hers.
"Do you mind if I go through your mechanics and see if I can upgrade you?..." she giggled a little, "That didn't come out as I'd imagined"
Sonic chuckled a little too. "Go ahead, I guess."
She smiled and closed her eyes as his hand and hers glowed a little.
Sonic waited patiently for once.
Nicole slowly finished as she opened her eyes, the glowing stopping.
"I can add 2 more upgrades of your choice from a small list. There isn't much room for more"
"What's the list?"
She brought up the list on the projector and showed him.
'night vision'
'Underwater Sonar'
'Stronger chaos detector'
'Heart monitor'
'wings for smother flight'
"Anything here you like?"
"Hmm... How about the Stronger Chaos Detector and Night Vision? Both of those would be pretty useful."
She nodded.
"I can just load those straight in" she smiled and held his hand again.
Sonic waited again.
He heard a voice in his head.
'Upload complete'
He tried out the Night Vision.
Everything turned a light shade of green.
"Heh.. Maybe you should try to upgrade Shadow too."
"He's alive too?" her eyes gleamed with hope.
Sonic nodded. "Tails is too."

She smiled widely.
"He's alive?! I got worried when he went with Amy and Knuckles! Where is he now?"
"He's outside."
She went back into the device after telling Sonic to take her to him.
Sonic took her outside and got Tails.
Tails looked up, now awake.
"Is that Nicole?"
Sonic nodded. "She wanted to see you."
He smiled and held the device.
"Hey, Nicole!"
"Its so good to hear your voice Tails!" she typed in on her screen.
Sonic smiled a little.
Tails slowly stood, going to the projector close to them as he plugged Nicole in.
Sonic leaned against a wall.
SHadow smiled as he watched Nicole and Tails hug. Though once he saw Sonic looking at him he quickly made his smile dissapear.
Sonic sighed quietly.
Shadow silently walked outside.
Though hesitant, Sonic quietly followed him.
The dark hedgehog silently walked though that used to be a thriving town. His head was bowed in thought.
"... Shadow?"
Shadow's heart skipped a beat, not knowing Sonic was there. He looked back abit, his face unreadable.
"Hmm..?"
"Is something wrong?"
"No...I was just thinking..."
"A penny for your thoughts, Shads." Sonic said.
"Hmm..?" Shadow glanced back, only half hearing him, "No, im fine. Really"
Sonic sighed.

'God damn these fuckin feelings...Why can't I yell at him..? Is it because he reminds me of...her...?' Shadow thought to himself, head bowed again.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Sonic asked.
He nodded, staying silent.
"Im fine, Faker...why do you worry so much..?"
"Well, because you just seem so lost in your thoughts. I can't help but feel that you're probably thinking of something that makes you stressed."
"Its just..." he sighed and shook his head, "Nevermind..." he walked on.
"But Shads, you know you can tell me anything, don't you?"
"Sonic...Even I don't know whats really wrong...Im just..confused..."
Sonic sighed a little. "I wish I knew how to help you.."
They stood there silent for a minute before Shadow spoke up.
"Want to...come for a walk for patrol?"
"Sure."
The two walked out and started their rounds around knothole.
Sonic opened his mouth occasionally to say something, but every time his mind threw up a blank on what to talk about.
It was awkward for a while. Neither one knowing what to say to the other.
"So..." Sonic muttered.
"This is....awkward..." Shadow couldn't help but chuckle a little.
"Tell me about it... Do you have anything to talk about?"
Shadow blinked as he noticed his hand was touching Sonic's. He blushed and pulled his hand away. Though SOnic had seen the blush.
He smirked a little. "You're blushing a bit, Shads.."
"No im not.." Shadow denyed.
"Yeah, you are..." Sonic smiled.
"No. Im NOT." Shadow grumbled and looked away.
Sonic chuckled. "There's no reason to be embarrassed, Shads."
"Why am I blushing..?"
"I'm pretty sure it had to do with our hands touching.."
"Yes but..it was an accident..."
Quietly Sonic reached out and held Shadow's hand.
Once again, Shadow blushed heavily.
"Yep, definitely from our hands touching."
"S-stop it!" Shadow yanked his hand away.
Sonic smirked a bit.

"Why am I blushing over this!" Shadow snarled, now deeply confused.
"Maybe you like me..." Sonic chuckled, not actually believing that was the case.
"WHAT?!" his whole muzzle turned bright red as he flinched away.
"It's a possibility." He joked.
"Don't be stupid, Faker! We're both males!"
"Heheh, I know, but maybe you just swing that way." He giggled, having too much fun picking on Shadow.
"Are you calling me gay!" Shadow snarled, practically towering over Sonic now.
"How about we find out?" Sonic puckered his lips before cracking up and laughing hysterically.
Shadow growled and grabbed Sonic's arm forcefully.
"Im warning you!"
Sonic's laugh died down to a chuckle. "Warning me of what?"
"Im NOT gay! Get that through your thick skull! or I'll put a dent in it!"
"Whatever you say, Shads." Sonic then gently put his hand on Shadow's arm to remove his own arm from Shadow's vise-grip.
Shadow let his grip go as he went back to walking.
Sonic walked after him. "Well, Shads, if you're so convinced you're not gay, then tell me who you love." He smirked.
"I am the Ultimate Life Form. I do not need love" He answered plainly.
"You may not need it, but I'm sure you want it."
"Hmph..." he didn't know how to reply to that. It was true he wanted it. But he didn't want the trouble of having a partner.
"Maybe you're just so against it because of what happened to Maria?" Sonic asked.
Shadow froze, fist clenching.
"Don't you DARE say her name!"
"Okay, okay. Maybe you're just so against it because of what happened to 'her'?"
"What does her death have to do with ANYTHING thats happend!" he snarled, Sonic now pushing his luck.
"Well maybe you're just scared to be close to someone because of that.."
'Shit, I'm blowing my chance..!' Sonic thought as he tried to come up with something else to say.
This time, Shadow hesitated for a moment.
"What do YOU know!"
"Well... Let's just say I've had a similar experience in the past."
"Similar, but NOT the same! So keep your trap shut! You will NEVER mention her name again! Understand?"
Sonic nodded slowly, looking away.

There was a moment silence before, surprisingly, Shadow's eyes saddened and he looked back at Sonic.
"Hey, listen...Im sorry"
Sonic looked at him, a bit surprised.
"I just..." he sighed and walked off again, ears drooped.
"Hey, wait..." Sonic followed him. "I'm sorry I brought up a personal subject of yours.."
Shadow didn't intend for Sonic to follow and quickly hid the tears in his eyes.
Sonic didn't notice; he was too busy apologizing. "I shouldn't have mentioned it at all, since it only made you angry.."
"I-Its alright, Faker..really..."
"You sure..?"
He nodded and walked ahead, still trying to hide his tears.
Sonic still followed him.
"What else do you want!" Shadow snapped, his voice cracking from his tears.
Sonic hesitated. "Are you... crying?"
He looked away, silent.
Sonic gently put a hand on Shadow's shoulder.
Shadow hesitantly looked at him.
"If... you need comfort..." Sonic hesitantly spread his arms a bit. "You have a shoulder you can cry on right here..."
"No...I don't NEED comfort..."
Sonic frowned disbelievingly.
His ears suddenly perked up when he heard something.
"Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"Follow me" he ran ahead quickly, going to the exit.
Sonic followed him.
They stopped at the enterance, getting defensive when they saw one of Mephiles' pets limping over the hill before it collapsed.
Sonic looked at Shadow. "Do you think it's one from the mine?"
"No doubt. Its filthy. What should we do?" Shadow questioned, still watching the withering creature that lay on its side.
"Finish it off..?"
"Wh-whats it doing?" Shadow blinked as he pointed. Black and dark purple mist slithered off the creature, revealing a skinny, trembling mobian child that lay unmoving on the ground.
Sonic's eyes widened. "D-does... Does Mephiles make his minions out of Mobians....?"
"Oh for the love of chaos, I hope not...I've killed so many of those things..." he climbed out the entrance and slowly walked over to the child, feeling for a pulse, "Th-the kids alive. But barely..."
"What do we do?" Sonic was having a judgmental battle against himself. He wanted to help the child, but what if Mephiles was still watching it somehow?
"He's not going to last long...Even if we did help him.."
"Nnn..M..ma.." the child murmered, tears in his eyes.
Sonic went over.
"He's got a horrible fever...Even I don't have the heart to leave him out here, Sonic..."
Sonic cringed a little. "But..." He sighed. "I guess we should take him in..."
The dark hedgehog gently picked up the child, resting his head on his shoulder before running in.
Sonic followed.
The child opened his eyes a little.
"B..black..d..demon...." he groaned.
The blue hedgehog was quiet.

Shadow laid the child against Clyde gently as Tails and Nicole looked over.
"B..Black..demon...s-snak..snake..eyes...' the child murmered as Shadow glanced at Sonic.
"I think he means Mephiles"
"What did he do to you..?" Sonic tried to ask the child.
Shadow supported the child's head, gently keeping track of the child slowing pulse.
"T..took...m-ma a..way...T..turned..her into...monster...'
"Oh god... So... those creatures really are Mobians..."
The child gave a shuddered breath, the colour dulling in his eyes as they pleaded for Sonic to help him.
Sonic shook under pressure, not sure what to do.
Shadow gently cradled the child in his arms again, ears drooped. Sonic had never seen him act like this before.
Sonic sighed. "Is there anyway we can help you."
"D...Don't...know..." the child whispered.
Sonic went quiet again.
Shadow sighed as he stroked the childs head gently.
"It'll be okay, kid...You'll get to see your parents soon" he said softly.
Sonic wished he could help.
Sonic had never seen Shadow act so nice to someone before.
He watched silently.
Shadow bowed his head when the child's eyes closed.
"Is... is he...?"
The dark hedgehog looked up at him, eyes sad.
Sonic looked down at the ground sadly.
"We have to end this..." Tails muttered sadly.
"... My god... We've killed so many Mobians..." Sonic mumbled.
Tails gently took his hand.
Sonic looked over, tears started to swell up in his eyes from guilt.
"You didn't know, Sonic...none of us did or we'd have found another way to fight back..."
"St-still... we took so many innocent lives..."
Shadow set a hand on his shoulder.
"They would have been lost in those demonic bodies hadn't we not, Sonic. Unless we can find a way to disolve Mephiles' dark magic, then we'll have to keep doing what we're doing..."
Sonic sniffled. "I guess you're right..."
"If you need comfort, you have a shoulder to cry on right here~" Shadow smirked, copying Sonic's words to make him smile. He didn't know why, but he couldn't stand seeing the energetic hedgehog look so sad.
Sonic did smile a little. He clung onto Shadow and cried a little.
Shadow blinked, he hadn't meant literally. But...He couldn't help but watch the blue hedgehog with the faintest of smiles, finding him adorable with his face buried into his chest fur.
Sonic tried to calm down.
Tails smirked as he left the two alone, walking past Clyde who was asleep and going back to talk to Nicole in the other room now.
Shadow accidently put his hand over Sonic's which was on the ground for support. The two looked at each other quickly, noses touching.
The sapphire blue hedgehog blushed a bit. "U-uh..."
Shadow looked abit dissapointed when Sonic turned his head in embarressment at the blush. His ears pinned down nervously as he tilted his head under Sonic's to try and look him in the face, getting him to slowly look straight at him again as he put a gentle hand on his cheek. At first he wasn't quite sure what to do. Half of him wanted to hit the hedgehog for giving him these feelings and emotions...but the other half wanted him to trust his heart...to let Sonic in to mend it...To love him.
Sonic blushed more. "Sh-Shadow...? Wh-what are you doing...?"
"Sonic...You were right...I was to afraid to let anyone close after Maria's death...I was afraid the same would happen to them...Tell me, Faker...Are you willing to risk that chance...?"
"Are you asking me to... to be with you...?"
"Just answer the question, stupid hedgehog" Shadow murmered, not wanting to straight out admit that he was gay, or at least bisexual. It just didn't sit right with him. He just felt comforted that he only liked Sonic and not other males.
"Well... yes, of course." Sonic smiled a bit.
"Well then, explain to me how this 'Love' thing works then" he asked so innocently that Sonic just wanted to smother him with hugs.
So Sonic hugged him. "When you're in love, you can't stop thinking about the person and thinking about them makes your heart race. When you're with them you never want to leave their side."
Shadow blushed as he hesitantly hugged him back, his tail slowly wagging as Sonic saw it since he was looking over Shadow's shoulder in the hug.
Sonic smiled more and gripped the dark hedgehog's tail.
The dark hedgehog yelped softly in surprised and looked a him.
Sonic rubbed the tail with a smirk on his face.
Shadow struggled against the purr in the back of his throat and pulled back, looking Sonic with the cutest confused face.
"Wh-what are you doing?"
"I'm rubbing your cute little tail."

"M-My cute little tail..?" Shadow blinked, curious by the words. How on earth was his tail considered cute in Sonic's eyes.
Sonic continued rubbing it.
Shadow's tail wagged under Sonic's grip.
"I-Is grabbing my tail..considered normal?" he blinked.
"Probably not. But that's not going to stop me."
He yelped when Sonic gently pushed him onto his back.
Sonic sat on his stomach.
"S-S-Sonic..?" SHadow stuttered, normally he would have shoved the blur blur off. But now he couldn't bring himself to even hurting him.
"But this is normal." Sonic's face got closer to Shadow's.
"I-I-I-" Shadow stammered, eyes wide since he didn't know what to expect.
Sonic gave him a small kiss.
The black hedgehog's pupils shrank in shock before his eyes softened and seemed to be in a daze.
Sonic pulled back and smiled. "You like that, huh?"
His eyes focused again as he looked at Sonic and then at his lips before back at his eyes again. He was speechless.
Sonic kissed him again.
This time, since he expected the kiss, he welcomed it and wrapped his arms around the loveable blue hedgehog and pulled him close, on instinct, kissing back.
Sonic blushed a bit.
Shadow slowly pulled away, eyes closed as he smiled a little.
Sonic smiled too.
He gathered the cute, blue hedgehog into his arms, cuddling him gently as he chuckled at Sonic's blush. He'd never felt so...warm. So mortal before. Not even when he'd been with Maria. And that was saying alot. He smiled little more as Sonic nuzzled into his chest fur, playing with it mindlessly.
The blue hedgehog was very comfortable in Shadow's grip.
Shadow laughed softly.
"Well at least my trademark chest fur got to stay" he said as he ran his fingers through his beloved chest fluff, half showing it off.
Sonic laughed a little too.
"Come on you two" Tails smiled from the doorway. He'd known of Sonic's crush on Shadow. The blue blur had told him so the day Sonic first set his eyes on the mysterious faker. So he wasn't fazed when he saw them snuggling and Shadow actually smiling in good nature.
"Alright, fine." Sonic smirked.

Tails had found some food in one of the huts and had cooked it up. Nice warm soup. It as the only thing that hadn't spoiled.
Sonic yawned a little.
Shadow sat by the fire, leaning against Clyde as he let Sonic snuggle into him.
"Sonic, eat" he handed Sonic a bowl of soup.
The blue hedgehog smiled. "Thanks, Shads.." He said before he started to eat the soup.
Tails laughed a little at the two snuggling hedgehogs.
"You two are so cute together" he smiled.
Sonic blushed a bit.
Shadow said nothing as he silently had his soup, watching over Sonic.
"I shall keep watch while you all sleep" Nicole offered, still in ehr holographic form next to them.
"Alright. Thank you, Nicole." Sonic said to her.
She smiled and nodded, watching the group lay down to rest.
Shadow stayed up against Clyde, letting Sonic lay his head in his lap to sleep, setting his hand inside the blue blurs, holding it.
Sonic smiled a little more as he fell asleep.