Oh, hi. Thyra here. Long time lurker, first time writer. This is my first Sonic (or indeed, any type of) fanfiction. Evarrr. It took me a long time to work up the courage to give this a try, but I'm glad that I did as I enjoyed writing it. I hope you'll like this beginner's attempt at a little oneshot. Hopefully I can capture some more plot bunnies down the line and create more, because seriously, this was fun… Constructive critique is most welcome, btw. I try my best, but English is not my first language and I expect there are lots of mistakes.

As a warning, there is some slight Sonadow. More hinted than outright spoken throughout most of the text, but it's there. If that's not your cup of tea, this fic isn't for you.

Sonic and all other characters in this work of fiction belong to Sega. This is purely for fun. And to sate my fangirl needs, what can I say…

It had started, as was often the case, as a race. And, as was also often the case, it hadn't taken much effort to get it started in the first place. A few well-chosen words, a challenging smirk and, when all else failed, a harsh tug on an unsuspecting tail. Followed, naturally, by one of the speediest get-aways in history. He may have been a lot of things, but – contrary to popular belief, some would claim – he was not stupid. Of course, the vicious "I'll kill you!" was all part of the plan and as hoverskates blazed into action, red sneakers quickly found purchase on the soil, taking off at a breathtaking speed, sending gravel and grass flying in every direction.

They had been running only for a few minutes, but at their speed countless miles had already been covered and the once grass-covered plain was already sporting thicker bushes and looking greener than before, proof that they would soon enter new terrain.

"You holding up okay back there?"

He flashed the hedgehog behind him one of his winning smiles. A low growl was the only reply. Indignant, Shadow darkly considered every way he would break every bone in Sonic's body. As soon as he caught him, punishment would follow. Severe punishment. You simply did not yank the tail of the ultimate lifeform. Had the little rat not taken off a second before him, the race would have been over before it had even started. But when you could run at their speeds, every second counted. Blue legs were pumping hard, keeping him ahead, if only barely.

Sonic didn't much mind that they were not racing towards a set goal, quite content to be chased by the dark hedgehog for the time being. To avoid capture, he would often suddenly twist to the side for a daring 90 degree turn, leap high into the air or better yet suddenly double back, all to confuse his potential captor. It was a dangerous game he played, but it was not the first time he had engaged it and he was well aware of the potential consequences - mainly that defeat would almost certainly end in pain and misery. But to him, the thrill was worth it. With a loud whoop, he grabbed a low-hanging branch appearing suddenly in front of him – the trees more and more prominent now - and using his momentum he threw himself high into the air. Golden buckles glistening in the bright midday sun, he did a somersault before catching a brief look across the landscape as he started falling back down. Angel Island spread out below him, in the distance surrounded by swirling clouds. He could not see it, but he thought he could smell just a faint hint of the ocean far below them as well. More immediately below him however, the great plains where the race had started were showing the first signs of gradually turning into thick woodlands. Occasional bushes and tiny, crooked trees gave way to thick stems, ferns and shallow rivers further ahead. He knew from experience that running at top speed through that sort of vegetation would be impossible. Still, nothing like a challenge, right?

Turning his head further down yet as he was nearing the ground, Sonic's grin never wavered. Shadow had momentarily slowed down as he caught up with the blue speedster, not bothering to waste energy by jumping uselessly into the air like his blue counterpart, intending instead to continue forward. He couldn't refuse meeting the eyes of his opponent, glancing up briefly as he zipped past him below. Ruby met emerald, something flashing between them. Intimidation against challenge. Cunning versus improvisation. Recognition and reflection. Not opposites, not exactly - in many ways, they were very similar. Yet the differences were clear, in more ways than one. Perhaps that was why they seemed irrefutably drawn towards each other. There was something simply irresistible about someone who was so much like you, yet so very different.

The challenge was obvious on Sonic's face as he raised one of his eyebrows. "Keeping up?"
This time, Shadow couldn't resist, a small twitch grazing his lips. Not a smile, not quite. But something almost like it. His anger seemed to have dissipated as the miles had stretched on. His gaze not quite as dark as before, though still very much meaning business, he nodded towards the largest of the cliffs raising towards the sky, miles ahead where the great forest eventually ended. "First to reach it?"
His opponent's grin should not have been able to grow any wider, but it somehow managed.
Well, Shadow mused to himself, a race was a race. He could deny it as much as he wanted, but he couldn't resist a challenge any more than Sonic could and this was already on. Not to mention, if he backed out now, he would never hear the end of it. With a challenging snarl, he took off, this time leaving Sonic behind him even as the other kicked back into running mode as soon as his sneakers hit the ground. Shadow couldn't resist a quick smirk of his own as he heard the annoyed "hey!" behind him.

The blue hedgehog took up the race again, diving into the woods as his opponent had a split second earlier. As they ran among the trees and bushes, the race took on a different shape. Raw speed was exchanged for agility and cunning. Shadow relied heavily on his superior strength, simply crashing through much of the undergrowth without bothering to go around it. Breaking through vines and tall grass did slow him down somewhat, as did the slippery mud and brambles that seemed insistent on catching in his fur every chance they got, but he was not too worried considering his opponent's idiotic behaviour - unable to avoid the temptation of using the forest as his personal playground and knowing Shadow was no longer hot on his tail, Sonic was using his superior agility to seemingly fly from branch to branch, sliding on rocks slick with moss and grinning like an idiot all the while, occasionally even disappearing in the canopy above them or doing a full spin by grabbing an unfortunate sapling and using it to let himself be thrown in any random direction. Shadow rolled his eyes at the waste of energy, right before a large, colourful butterfly smacked him across his left eye and his attention was turned elsewhere.

With a low curse, Shadow was forced to slow down a notch and slap the butterfly away, blinking his stinging eye angrily. As he did, he glanced ahead for more annoying insects and his eyes widened. There was… something ahead. Just barely visible through the vegetation, an opening through the trees, and what appeared at first sight to be a pond of some kind, the waters dark and ill-boding. Instinctively, he braked as hard as he could, not willing to investigate the pond more deeply nose-first.

Sonic laughed as his feet found purchase on a moss-covered boulder right behind Shadow, flinging himself far ahead. With a loud "see ya!" he passed the darker hedgehog once more, before the other had time to do anything but shout out a frantic "stop!"

"Wha..?"

The blue blur noted the worried tone in his partner's tone and desperately tried to slow down, but the jump had been made. Turning his gaze ahead, he had just enough time to realize what he was plunging himself into.

"Crap crap crap crap!"

Who could have known that there would have been a stupid pond hidden right ahead of him?! Mind already working frantically as he landed in the muddy water, Sonic flailed his arms, trying to leave the dreaded element as fast as possible. Nothing but grimy mud swirled around his feet, nothing to grab, nothing to help him get out… He couldn't swim, he couldn't swim, he couldn't swim…!

He felt the panic rise, felt his breath hitch and his heart hammer overtime.

"Shadow!"

The black hedgehog blazed to the edge of the pond, frantically looking for his companion. Sonic was almost completely submerged, only parts of his face sticking up above the water, mud all over his features, desperately trying to find a way out. He tried to push himself towards solid ground, his movements oddly sluggish, ridden with panic and adrenaline as they were. Managing to move forward somewhat, if only a little, his feet seemed to find some purchase as the pond turned out to not be overly deep. Not that it was much good when dealing with hydrophobia. Deep or shallow, water was still water, how much made little difference. Continuing to struggle, the terrified hedgehog turned his head to the other as he tried to push himself forward with his arms, a misguided attempt at a swim stroke. His ears, heavy with mud and fear, were slicked back against his skull.

Finding a sturdy branch on the ground, Shadow laid down on his stomach by the water's edge, holding it out for Sonic to reach. With his nose so near the water, he noted its odd smell. Crinkling his snout in annoyance, he shouted for the blue hedgehog who managed to grab the end of the crooked branch. His gloves were black with grime.

Shadow pulled. And… pulled. Why was it so hard? Sonic should have come out easily, especially given his wish to be out of water – any water – as fast as possible. Confusion was visible on both hedgehogs' faces as they heaved, one panting in stress and fear, the other for needing to use raw strength.

"Pull already!" Blue's voice shriller than usual, not wishing to stay here one second longer.

"I am!" Shadow grunted in response, arm muscles flexing as his feet dug deeper into the soil. The stench of the place annoyed his senses and he noted subconsciously how the mud seemed to almost float on top of the water in places as thick, black patches. Was that normal?

Eventually – it seemed to take forever – Sonic was back in shallow waters, now only reaching up to his knees. Slowly, he crawled out of the pond, bit by bit, as if exhausted from hours of hard work. Perhaps the race combined with the added rush of fear-based adrenaline had used up his reserves. But he didn't really think so. This was something else going on, though his mind was still too busy to deal with it. First: land. Not willing to stay and investigate the depths, he pulled himself onto solid ground with a last heave.

Sonic was drenched from head to toe, fur that was usually shining blue now black with mud and water. And… something else? His sluggish movements continued on land, as if something heavy was weighing him down. Especially his spines, which felt like they were carrying the world on their tips. Wrinkling his nose in disgust as he got up on his hands and knees – water, muddy water, why was it always water – he tried to ease his frantic heart back to a more normal state, breathing slowly returning to normal as he threw the pond a baleful glance behind him.

Shadow leaned back, peering oddly at his companion as he crawled out of the pond. His coat was drenched dark, his spines hanging low, even his ears drooping as if something was weighing them down.

"What is that?" he asked curiously, more to himself than to Sonic, walking up to the other one and carefully putting a gloved finger to the tip of a droopy eartip. Pulling it back, he noted that it was black. And… sticky. And it smelled strongly. In fact, it was not mud at all as previously assumed. It was tar.

Shadow turned his gaze back to Sonic.

"That's not a pond. It's a tar pit."

"A what?" His voice was almost back to normal now. He raised one eyebrow quizzically as he pulled himself to his feet, noting with annoyance that little sticks, leaves and bits of gravel stuck to his knees and hands.

"A tar pit, faker. You're lucky I was here or you'd never gotten out". Shadow tried to pull the tar from his glove by dragging the soiled finger down the bark on a nearby tree, tsking over the black spot on white fabric that wouldn't go away.

Sonic shivered slightly at the mental image. He would have gotten stuck in that pit. It wouldn't have helped that it was shallow – he wouldn't have been able to get out on his own. He seemed to recall hearing of tar pits before - places where animals came to drink, got stuck and died from starvation or exhaustion. He shook his head to clear his mind of images of himself in the murky pond, unable to move, not drowning no, but caught in that one spot until the very end…

"Well, thanks. I'll just get this washed off and we'll continue the race, watcha say?" A tentative smile, one ear raised alert. Fast to get back on track, as always. No looking back.

"Well, actually…" Shadow hesitated. Walked slow steps around the once blue hedgehog, eyeing him cautiously and met with a curious glance in reply. He took a breath and continued. "I don't know if you can wash that off…"

"Say what?! Why in the world not?" Disbelief.

"Well, it's tar. As in, sticks to everything? You can't wash it off with water". Ruby eyes narrowed, considering their options.

"Okay... So… What do we do now?"

Sonic would later recall it as one of the most dreadful runs of his life. He was forced to keep his speed low, his fur glued together in rough patches that pulled on his sensitive skin underneath, itching and pinching. And everything seemed to stick to him. Leaves, rocks, twigs, even the occasional unlucky bug that got in his path. Wisely, he tried his best to avoid the deeper undergrowth, but there was still plenty of local flora to go around. And all of it seemed to be dedicated to attaching itself to him. He debated asking Shadow to simply Chaos control them to their goal, but his dignity simply wouldn't allow it. His pride had been bruised enough for one day.

Shadow on the other hand was in a considerably lighter mood, amusement having replaced his earlier aggression. As far as he was concerned, Sonic had gotten paid back for his idiotic behaviour earlier in the day. And then some, granted, but at this point he was having a hard time not to laugh at the normally so bouncy and annoyingly overconfident hedgehog as he raced straight ahead, looking like some B-rated horror flick swamp monster.

After a brief argument, they had decided on their destination. There was only one creature on this island that could help them. Certainly he'd dealt with the tar pits before; they were on his island after all. Grudgingly, Sonic had agreed after much persuasion. He knew it was the wisest move, but still, he had zero desire to let the echidna see him like this. Then again, he supposed, it would be better than Chaos controlling back to the surface, waltzing around Station Square covered by tar and half of Angel island's vegetation.

As they approached the altar where they had correctly suspected he'd be located, Sonic slowed down to a careful jog, letting Shadow take the lead for once, not very eager for the eventual encounter. They found the echidna sitting on top of one of the ancient broken pillars, eyeing them cautiously with his arms crossed. He had probably sensed their arrival as soon as they set foot on the island that morning, their chaos energy reading easily available to the Master emerald, as well as its guardian. In truth, they had gone here only to get some time alone, not really intending to do much other than relaxing for a bit on their own before heading back to the mainland. Both of them needed some time apart from the buzz of the city now and then. They had visited Angel Island for similar reasons a few times before and Knuckles had, grudgingly, allowed their coming and going, as long as they didn't disrupt the peace of the island - no disturbing him, no stupid behaviour and most important of all, no touching anything, down to the last pebble.

"What happened to you? Trying to copy your partner's black fur?" One eyebrow raised, he watched the walking pile of goo that was once a hedgehog, who in return cast him a rueful smile.

"Oh, you know me, always trying new things, right?" Sonic stopped to look at the guardian, as well as he could. The tar was hardening and gluing his spines together, making it hard to move his head too far in any direction.

"He fell into a tar pit" Shadow added helpfully, crossing his arms.

"I did not fall! I don't do falling! I jumped!"

"And that makes it better…how?"

Silence. Followed by an uncharacteristic pout.

Knuckles leaped down easily from his resting spot, walking towards Sonic, surprised about his stunt. But not that surprised. He'd seen his share of crazy feats from the blue blur already.

"Well, that was stupid even for you. What were you even thinking? What if you hadn't been able to get out?" he asked carefully.

"We were racing…"

Knuckles rolled his eyes and decided to not pursue it further. Wouldn't be the first time the blue hedgehog put himself in a stupid situation to win some race, anyway. He carefully grabbed the end of a leaf stuck to the hedgehog's shoulder, peeling it off and letting it fall to the ground. Sonic glared at the leaf as if it had done him a personal wrong. Perhaps, in his mind, it had. He did not much appreciate his current position.

"Did you swallow any of it?" Knuckles inquired further, hoping for a negative answer. They did not need to deal with tar poisoning. Fortunately, Sonic didn't think that he had gulped down any of it as his face hadn't gone under the surface. Always something. The next point of discussion was the one Sonic looked forward to the most – getting the tar off him. At this point he was feeling not unlike a walking pile of yard trimmings and he didn't think he'd ever missed his usual awesome suave looks more. This look, covered by a thick layer of who-knows-what just didn't do him justice at all.

"Well, it's tar, so soap won't remove it, no matter how much you rub it into your fur. What we need is some sort of non-vegetable oil, like mineral or baby oil… Scrubbed into your fur, left to soak and then removed. Followed by a bath, of course, to then get the oil out of your fur."

Sonic could tell it was going to be a long day.

A few hours later found Sonic half-sitting, half-laying on his side, spread on an old quilt Knuckles had dragged out from somewhere, draped over parts of the altar foundation where they were hard at work in order to protect the worn stonework below from black specks. The quilt smelled of dust and dank. Not that this was the hedgehog's primary concern. He was more occupied with rubbing a rag drenched in oil across his flank. His mood had gone up considerably when Shadow had shown up with an armful of mineral oil, "borrowed" from Tails' workshop, a Chaos control away. The next step had been to find enough cloths and towels, followed by rubbing the dreaded liquid into his fur and letting it soak before using the towels to clean the goo away. It worked, even if a slow and time consuming process. The resulting blue fur looked a little uneven and slightly discoloured, but he could live with it. Fur grew quickly enough. He'd be back to his normal awesome looks soon.

Knuckles had declined touching the tar covered hedgehog, preferring to sit a few rocks away, legs and arms crossed. Smirking. He hadn't said much, but Sonic could almost see the cogwheels turning in his head. Oh, how he was going to have this rubbed in his face later. He sighed at the idea.

Shadow meanwhile was doing his part. Gloves and rings carefully discarded for the moment, he was using an old towel to clean the other's left ear. It was slow work at best. By his side, a large pair of scissors. Very, very sharp, in order to be able to cut through fine fur reliably. Sonic had flinched visibly when Knuckles had brought them, eyeing him with great distrust. So far, they had used the scissors only on the worst offending tangles on his chest where the fur was somewhat thicker and longer, but there had been enough remaining hair to cover up any bald spots. Barely.

"Ugh." Sonic rolled his eyes. "This is taking forever!"

"Your own fault", this from the echidna. He'd get no sympathy there. In response, Sonic rubbed extra viciously at a point just below his ribs, though that only earned him a wince as the skin below reddened.

"I've never felt this greasy before. I'm covered in oil." This time he went for the puppy eyes, glancing up at the dark hedgehog standing beside him. Shadow was paying him little attention though, instead humming as he tried to separate two of Sonic's spines, glued together by black tar. While not usually noticed, the blue hedgehog did have a large number of small spines running alongside his larger and thicker ones, usually well-behaved and moving with the major ones as he did his various stunts. But now his entire back looked more like a solid tangled mass of tar and quills, stiff and uncooperative. Sonic shot Shadow an annoyed glance as he felt the tender skin underneath being yanked even at his soft pull.

"Go easy on the quills, will ya? I kinda need them, you know."

Shadow didn't reply, instead moving to another portion of the black tangle of spines, closer to his neck. Similar results there. A final try, this time further down on the hedgehog's back. Equally stuck. He bit his lip and turned to the hedgehog half-sitting below him.

"This isn't going to work."

"What do you mean?" Sonic asked, dropping yet another soiled towel to the ground before picking up a new clean one. There were not many left. "It's going away, isn't it?"

"On your short body fur… yes. It's fine enough that the tar doesn't stick too it so much. But it's not doing anything for your spines. They're hopelessly glued together."

Knuckles' ever-present smirk grew wider.

Sonic stared dumbly at the dark hedgehog above him. Blinked twice in rapid succession.

"What are you saying?"

"No."

"It's the only way."

"No!"

"Listen to Shadow. It IS the only way. What were you going to do instead? Wait for them to fall out on their own? That could take months."

"You heard me! It's not gonna happen!"

Sonic had crept back, his back now securely against the stone wall behind him. Most of his fur had regained its original colour at this point, although appearing oddly shiny and clumpy as a result of the liberal amounts of oil that covered him . Only small specks of black here and there remained, easy enough to get rid… except for his spines. They were still very much glued together. No matter how much oil they applied, they would not untangle.

He eyed the other two furiously, teeth bared, ears folded back. Shadow lifted the scissors higher.

"I said NO!"

In the end, they got the task done, even if it took persuasion. Persuasion in the form of two strong sapients tackling and holding the exhausted hedgehog down, one sitting on his legs and holding his arms, on his stomach with his face pushed into the ground. The other one was working furiously with the scissors. Sonic was muttering darkly, although they couldn't really make out the words with his face in the soil. Then again, they probably would not have enjoyed hearing what Sonic had to say about this, anyway. The plan was to get the job done as quick as possible, quite possibly followed by fleeing as fast as their legs could carry them. Fortunately the scissors had, perhaps surprisingly, turned out to be usable for the task in question. There was less resistance near the sensitive skin and with only a bit of difficulty, they could get through the hopeless tangles.

They did it to help him, really. True friends. True friends wanted to help you. This Sonic told himself over and over… in between planning their eventual murders as soon as they let go of him. They had been lucky when they pounced – his glued spines were restricting his movements considerably and gave them the upper edge they needed to restrain him. That was rapidly changing, though.

It was an odd feeling. No, odd wasn't the word he was looking for. How about embarrassing. Crazy. Weird. Wrong.

He glared daggers, arms stiff and hands balled into fists. His ears were still flat against his head. He was sitting with the stone wall against his back again, the dank quilt unceremoniously draped around him. The pout was back.

"I hope you realize I'm never forgiving you. Ever." This directed at the black hedgehog that was not paying him much attention, instead busy collecting up the last dirty rags off the ground.

"And you... If you say a word of this to anyone, I'm gonna... I'm gonna…"

"Gonna do what?" an evil smirk. After a moment, Knuckles carried on, perhaps trying to excuse their actions. The smirk didn't waver, though. "It's not that bad, really. They grow continually, don't they? You already had the beginning of new ones coming in underneath, so they're not all gone. Really, they're what, an inch long already? Maybe two?"

Perhaps trying to salvage some dignity, Sonic stood with an angry huff. Quilt still firmly draped around him, covering most of him except his face. He was not going to let go of it any time soon. He threw a theatrical glance towards the ground where Shadow was just collecting the last quill into a burlap sack, together with the towels to be thrown away. When Sonic moved, there was no longer a stiff, heavy mass attached to the back of his head and back. He could move properly, now. But instead it felt oddly light, not at all right. He felt… defenseless. And ugly. Mostly the ugly thing.

Knuckles continued.

"You know…" he began slowly, the smirk breaking into a full faced leer. "I never realized how tiny and scrawny you are. They make you look bigger than you really are."

Sonic snarled. He would have bristled, but there wasn't much left to bristle with. Instead, he turned to his partner, pointing an accusing finger.

"You. Let's go."

They left together, one walking proud, relaxed quills moving slightly in the wind, the other huddling along, most unlike his usual behaviour. He held tightly onto the quilt, his only protection against the promised upcoming embarrassment. He had no idea how he was going to tell his friends what had happened. Never mind how he would be able to show his face, period. Maybe he could find a nice rock to live under for the next few months until things were back to normal.

When they had left the ever-smirking guardian behind and reached the edge of the forest again, Sonic turned to Shadow. He was nervous, as little as he wanted to admit it.

"Seriously. What am I going to do? I'm a freak!" At this point, he was wondering if staying in the tar it would not have been a better alternative. At least there he could have rotted away without anyone needing to see him like… this. "What am I going to tell Tails? And what, exactly, do you propose I do if Eggman tries one of his stupid tricks in the, oh, I don't know, next 4 months or so?!"

Shadow shrugged before eyeing his partner out of the corner of his eyes.

"Meh. You'll think of something, right?" A quick peck on a peach cheek, just to pacify him. "Let's go home, you need a shower to wash the oil away. And we need to figure something out for your shoes, too."

With a sigh, Sonic turned his gaze forward again, ears drooping again but this time for an entirely different reason. Still he couldn't help but glare at his companion, elbowing him lightly in the side. Shadow took it in good stride, all in all happy with how this day had developed. After all, the next time the blue hedgehog got too cocky, he'd just remind him of this day… The day Sonic lost his spines.