Tloj: ...It's been a while since I've written by myself. Normally I write with other people, I love roleplaying stories. But... sometimes others just aren't around to help me. I started reading fanfictions again, and I found some real good ones. They inspired me to pick up my Word documents once more, and see what happens.

Now, it's been a while since I wrote by myself, as I said. But, I decided to look back through my old stories, ones that I have never published, to see if something could be rewritten. And I found this gem.

I believe I last touched this in 2013, maybe 2012. Depending on when the Worlds Collide crossover arc in the Archie comics happened. This story takes place before Worlds Collide, in the clusterduck before the reset, but after everything went white... You could say that this is the reset, but without Ken Penders ducking things up. :P

Now, to be clear. This story has fancharacters. I'm sorry, but that's my choice. I love fancharacters. However, this (hopefully) will not be about them. This is a Shadow/Mina story first and foremost. But... they will be around, so if you don't understand their relevance, either wait and see, or ask. I am not going to bite you. I might say some bad things at you if you start slinging them at me though. :/ I refuse to take Sugar Honey Iced Tea from anyone.

Now, before we begin, some disclaimers. Once again, it's been a while since I first wrote this, and as such, you may notice a shift in the story around chapter seven. This is where I left it, everything before it has not been changed, except maybe to correct grammar. Since I wrote this, I have switched to present tense in normal writing. This story was before that change, and I have to now attempt to keep the tenses the same. As such, I am a little out of my comfort zone, and making it past tense once more. If you notice any tense changes, please let me know, as I may not notice myself. ^^;

Second, all official characters are owned by Sega/Archie Comics/Ken Penders/Sonic Team. All OC's are owned by myself, and my brother, Legsboy Team. Characters owned by him are used with permission. Any and all songs featured in later chapters are owned by their respective artists, and any covers are also owned by those people.

Phew, that was longwinded... but let the fun begin! At last, my first actual Shadina story, without some weird plot! Just... romance. ^^

It was a good morning to run, Sonic decided. The flowery meadows, the crisp air. Everything was perfect. He swore he could hear the ocean of in the distance.

Huh. The roar of the ocean was getting louder. Maybe it was the wind?

Sonic looked behind him and blinked. A giant tidal wave was right behind him. Sonic blinked and wondered, "Where did that come from?"

"Mwahaha! Behold my latest creation, Sonic!"

Sonic sighed and said, "Really, Egghead? It's a beautiful day! Why do you want to do this today?"

Eggman came out of the waves in surf trunks, and he was on a surfboard.

"OH GOD, EGGMAN! REALLY?!" Sonic shrieked, the sight of the almost naked scientist threatening to blind him.

"You are right! It's a beautiful day! That's why I decided to use my ultimate weapon! It's the WipeOut Transmogrifier! And it will drown you, the one cause of death you hoped to never experience!" Eggman chortled.

"NOOOOOO!" Sonic shouted, the wave splashing into him and drowning him.

"GAH!" Sonic shouted, waking up from his dream. He looked around before his face became red.

He was in front of the Council of Acorns. He had fallen asleep in front of the Council of Acorns.

Next to him, a green hedgehog with brown tiger stripes and red eyes looked at him, a bit freaked out.

Uncle Chuck cleared his throat and said, "Sonic, you fell asleep during the King's speech."

Sonic rubbed the back of his head and apologized, "I'm sorry, Your Highness. It's just… We've been here since seven this morning, and it's a little before twelve. I just can't stand still for so long without shutting down."

The hedgehog next to him nodded, agreeing, "Yeah. Can we do this tomorrow?"

Elias Acorn nodded with a smile, saying, "Very well, we'll continue this tomorrow. Meeting adjourned."

As soon as Elias had said "Meeting", Sonic and the other hedgehog were out the door and running through New Mobotropolis, Sonic burning off the numb feeling of his kneecaps and the other simply keeping pace. The hedgehog yawned lazily and muttered, "Man, I'm hungry. I wonder if the chow hall is open."

Sonic shrugged and said, "Probably, Legsboy. But shouldn't the king of the new republic be eating with advisors? Or your brother?"

Legsboy nodded and said, "Yeah… but his son might be cooking lunch. You know that he can't cook to save his life! Except maybe prepackaged breakfast."

Sonic said, "Well, go to a fancy restaurant. I don't think the council wants to know that we're friends."

Legsboy nodded and vanished, a dust trail in his wake.

Sonic sighed and muttered, "I'm hungry."

With that thought in mind, Sonic turned left and slowed to a walk, stopping in front of the cafe that was his Uncle's. He knew that his Uncle wouldn't be around for a good five minutes, so he walked around, setting his eyes on a familiar face.

Silver was breakdancing with a few people here and there watching, including Knuckles, the Chaotix, Blaze, and Marine.

Silver spun around his palm before flipping and landing on his feet, the beat ending. Knuckles and Blaze applauded as Vecter scoffed and said, "Is that all you've got? It's my turn!"

Silver laughed and said, "Go ahead! Oh, hi Sonic!"

Sonic nodded to Silver and asked, "What's going on here?"

Silver thumbed to Vector and said, "The Chaotix were goofing off with their radio, and Vector said that I couldn't breakdance to save my name. So I showed him."

Sonic laughed and announced, "I bet I can take you both on in a breakdance competition!"

Vector exclaimed, "You're on! Espio! Put in a kickass beat!"

Espio put a new CD in the player, and Sonic smirked, "Yeah! Kick it!" He proceeded to moonwalk to the center before spinning and doing flips. He did various moves, and finished with a Rank S victory dance.

Knuckles clapped and said, "Pretty good, Sonic."

Sonic found his uncle walking into the café and says, "Hey, I'm gonna get lunch. Knux, keep the score."

Knuckles gives him a thumbs up as Sonic walked into the restaurant.

Sonic sits in a booth, thumbing through the menu absently, more to see if there was anything that piqued his interest. He doubted anything would catch his eye like a chili dog would.

"Sonic?"

Well, from the menu anyway. He looked up and blinked. "Uh, hi Mina! What's up? I haven't seen you personally in a while." Sonic greeted.

A yellow mongoose with purple hair and blue eyes and at the moment a fancier than usual green and purple dress, shoes, and gloves smiled at him and asked, "Doing good. Do you mind if I sit here?"

Suddenly Sonic became uncomfortable. "Wha? Uh, sure. Sure! Go ahead." He recalled that Mina had a crush on him before, and if this was her coming on to him because Sally had been robotisized…

The female scooted into the seat opposite of Sonic and asked, "So… What's the word on Sally?"

Definitely don't like where this is going… Sonic thought to himself, but he responded slowly, "We're still trying to get her back, and trash Egghead in the meantime. Tails has some ideas to get her back on our side, but we can't implement any of them without grabbing her. And having a robotisized Mobian, Sally or not, is not something we can risk having inside the city."

Mina pointed out, "What about Shard? Isn't he kinda like a robotisized you?"

Sonic shifted, saying easily, "Well, he's a much needed asset to this city's defenses. Granted, he's like Shadow, mixed with me, mixed with Metal-"

"Who's Shadow?"

The question caught Sonic off guard. He sputtered, "What?" He recovered quickly, saying, "Oh, Shadow? He's the black hedgehog with red stripes that was on our team a while back. He's a bit of a jerk, but he's a powerful friend. Like Silver."

Mina nodded absently as Uncle Chuck came up.

"Oh hello Mina. I haven't seen you in a while. Are you two here together?" Uncle Chuck asked.

Sonic blushed and was about to object when Mina interjected. "Oh no, I just wanted to talk. Catch up and stuff."

Sonic sighed with relief as Uncle Chuck said, "Okay. Just remember, cute couples get a free meal." Sonic froze and said, horrified, "Uncle Chuck!"

Uncle Chuck chuckled and said, "Just messin' with you, sonny boy! But still, cute couples do get a free meal, if you could tell your friends. Maybe embarrass them." Uncle Chuck waggled his eyebrows scandalously.

Sonic laughed and said, "That's a good idea. I'll see what I can do. But for now, a platter of chili dogs!"

Mina smiled and said, "I'll take a cheeseburger."

Uncle Chuck wrote the orders down and said, "I'll get them out in a jiffy."

Mina turned back to Sonic and said, "Where were we?"

Sonic shuffled nervously and said, "Catching up."

Mina nodded, remembering, and saying, "I guess you want me to get to the point, don't you?"

Sonic gave a so-so hand signal, indicating a maybe.

"Well, Ash has decided to go out and date a girl, and I wanted to as well."

Sonic's stomach tied, now that he had confirmed his suspicions.

"So, I was wondering if you could… Maybe, set up a date?" Mina finished.

Sonic stood and placed his palms flat on the table, growling, "Now listen, Mina. I like you as a friend. You were a great student. But I just lost Sally. I'm not ready to go out on a date. Amy's pressured me, my parents have pressured me, heck, just now Uncle Chuck pressured me! It's not gonna happen anytime soon, if ever!"

Mina blinked, her smile frozen on her face. Finally, she took a deep breath and sighed, "I figured."

Sonic breathed a sigh and sat down, saying, "I'm sorry I snapped at you. I'm just not ready."

Mina cleared her throat and said, "I figured that you'd say that. That's why I didn't specifically ask you to go out with me."

Sonic blinked, and just noticed how the mongoose had phrased her earlier sentence. Maybe set up a date. "So… you want me to ask my friends if they wouldn't mind going out on a date." Sonic said, making sure that was what she had meant.

Mina nodded hopefully.

Sonic scratched his chin thoughtfully and said, "You know, that's something I can do, actually. Tell you what, I'll ask my friends and bring them over to your stage for a meet. If you two are okay with dating, I'll leave ya for the details to make. Sound good?"

Mina agreed happily. "Thanks, Sonic. I knew I could count on you."

Sonic nodded and said, "Sure. After lunch I'll go ask."

Tloj: Oh, one more thing. Chapters will also be shorter, as I have noticed how long-winded I become in later stories... so let's see how smaller chapters work. ^^ Please, review!