The two-tailed fox sat in his workshop looking over the plans. It was perfect and all he had to do was build it, and test it, he had the Chaos Emerald, he held the ruby red emerald in his hand then looked back at the plans.

Who can test it? It needs to be someone who is about the same size as Sonic, and would never give him even a hint of it. Tails thought as he glanced over the plans once more.

Just that instance, he heard a crash in the distance, then laughter and then an angry yell, it sounded like Knuckles. Tails thought what could have happened when a black robot named Bokkun came running in, he closed the door to the workshop, not even a second later a white glove slammed through the door.

Tails quickly rolled up the blueprints and put then in a drawer and locked it with a golden yellow key, which he put on the table next to the emerald.

Knuckles finally broke the door down and Bokkun ran and hid under the desk. Knuckles looked at Tails, "Where did that robot go?" he asked, Tails shrugged then Knuckles went back out, "I can't believe I left the Master Emerald just to . . ." he mumbled as he walked away and back to the shrine holding the Master Emerald.

Bokkun stepped out from underneath the desk, "Thanks Tails, you're a real life saver. Well, I have to be off!" Then it occurred to Tails, the perfect person, or Hedgehog, to test out Sonic's present.

"Hey Bokkun, can you deliver a message for me?" he asked, Bokkun stopped and made a hand solute, "Whatever you say Tails!"

"Ok, here is the message: 'I need you right away, come to my workshop ASAP, Tails.' Ok?" He asked, Bokkun nodded and started off then stopped, "Who to?" he asked.

"Shadow the Hedgehog." Tails replied, then Bokkun flew off.

Tails sat back at his desk, unlocked the drawer and took out the blueprints. He spread them across the table and looked them over, then took the spare parts that he had left over from building the X-Tornado and started to weld and build Sonic's surprise present.

Tails hand built the basic structure and started to make the controls when he heard foot steps at the door, his ears flicked towards the door and he turned around to see a very grumpy black and red hedgehog standing there.

The hedgehog crossed his arms, "What was so important that I had to stop searching for a Chaos Emerald and come here for?" he asked, Tails jumped up and walked to the desk and pointed to the blueprints and plans, the whole thing was labeled, Sonic's Birthday Surprise.

Shadow looked at it for a moment then shrugged, "So?" Tails sighed, "Sonic's birthday is in three days, and I want to make him something special, but I need someone, about his height and weight to test it out and I was thinking that-"

"No." Shadow said firmly, knowing where this would lead. Tails nearly knocked the ruby red Emerald off the table, but caught it, "But Shadow, just think, if you help me now, then later when you need my help, or Sonic's then-"

"No." He replied flatly, then started to leave.

"Shadow, wait a minute, don't you have a birthday? Maybe I could get Sonic to help me make something special for you and-"

Shadow stopped, "If I help you will you stop whining?" he asked. Tails crossed his arms, "I wasn't whining . . . but yes." He said happily.

Shadow sighed and leaned against the wall, his eyes fixed on the gleaming red gem. Tails went back to work, all he needed Shadow to do was see if it worked and if it was the right size, so he went back to the shell that was in the shape of a boat.

Shadow then watched as Tails worked busily on whatever he was making, he walked over to the designs and inspected them, a quiet and hardly noticeable chuckle escaped his mouth as he realized it was something to help him stay out of the water.

Tails hadn't really noticed that Shadow was looking at the plans, he was busy at work adding weapons since the controls were now complete, he turned around to get a screwdriver when he saw Shadow looking over the plans.

"Shadow, you can't tell Sonic about any of this ok?" Tails asked, Shadow scoffed, "I don't even want to SEE that faker non-the-less tell him that I did something nice for him." He looked out the door, having second thoughts about helping out.

Tails shrugged and picked up his screwdriver and drill. He made a few holes on the side of the metal boat and added a wing-like attachment to it, which was supposedly to keep it balanced when Sonic would drive it.

Shadow went back to the wall and watched Tails work on welding the 'wings' on both sides, then his eyes began to close, but he managed to stay awake.

No, I have to stay alert, I can't fall asleep, not here, not with this little kid. Shadow decided to keep his mind busy, he stared into the deep red of the emerald that would be used to power Sonic's boat thing.

--------------

About 6 hours later, Shadow was still standing against the wall, still gazing into the hypnotic red of the emerald. Tails jumped up with delight, "Finished!" he said happily, it was getting dark and the street lights had just clicked on outside.

Shadow looked up, "You're done?" he asked almost in disbelief.

Tails nodded, "Well, for now, I need you to test it out, and tell me if it is too small, too big, not positioned right and if it's fast enough." He explained.

Shadow sighed and walked over to it, it looked like it would be perfect for Sonic, it really wasn't his style, but he looked at it, "It's not dark enough, try black." He said.

Tails giggled a little, "I meant for you to try it out, here . . " he hooked the boat like ship onto a trailer then hooked that to a truck, "Hey Shadow, can you drive?" he asked, getting into the passenger's seat.

"Because we need to go to the park, we will try it out at the lake, at night, Sonic will probably be asleep or busy right now and . . ." Shadow looked at the truck then opened the door and sat in, the keys were already in the car, he turned it and the car rumbled.

Tails watched, a little tense, this probably wasn't the greatest idea, now that I think about it . . .