A.N. Yah, yah…I know I still have Shadow Underpants to finish, but I've been writing this story off and on, and have nearly twenty pages written and itching to put this up.

This is a serious fic, and while it will obviously have some humor, not nearly as much as my other fics. It will be fairly long, as I have about three to four parts ready to go, and it's just barely scratching the surface.

Also, I tried really hard on this to delve better into the descriptive word and challenge myself as an author. I hope you find this better written.

And…if you despise Shadow/Amy, turn back now. Though the romance won't begin in a while. Haven't written any of that yet, and again, I'm at page twenty.

Knuckles/Rouge fans will be immensely happy though…And then maybe saddened, and happy again…Now I'm rambling! On with the fic!

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"Heh."

Just that word was muttered as a small black and red shape walked through the rainy city of Station Square. It had been years since he'd seen civilization. Not that time mattered to him.

It was cold, but the figure, a hedgehog, didn't seem the least bit bothered by the rain or the cold. A soft clink could be heard as his strange shoes hit the concrete of the sidewalk. No one was out, besides the homeless, thugs, and a certain pink hedgehog who had forgotten to do her food shopping…

"Sigh…So much rain today, and yesterday. And the forecast calls for more rain…" Amy Rose sighed, umbrella opened over her head, a bag of various food held carefully with another arm. She was older, certainly. Nearing the age of eighteen, Amy hadn't changed to much physically. She was still pink, and while she was a little taller and her quills a tad longer, she was much like the Amy of yesterday. While she had stopped wearing dresses some much, she still wore a lot of red, and was currently in a red jogging suit, shoes hitting the wet sidewalk as she hurried home.

As Amy made her way down the sidewalk, a voice growled from a dark alleyway, delaying Amy for a second, who paused, rolled her eyes, then continued.

"Hey!" a gruff voice snapped from the darkness, "Stay here pretty lady."

Amy sighed, placing her bag of groceries beneath a window sill where they would stay dry, then, turning, she looked into the alleyway, where glowing green eyes stared at her.

From this darkness a figure emerged. A Wolf Mobian, he was larger then most, almost as tall as an average human, a scar across his right eye and sleeveless, they looked ripped off, shirt revealed large and powerful muscles. His pants were torn and grungy, as rain pelted his fur and made him look darker, and slightly insane.

The two merely stared at each other, Amy tapping her foot impatiently, then said.

"What'd want? A five maybe?" Amy asked, staring straight into the wolf's eyes.

The wolf's snout flared, then he closed his eyes and brought his head back, laughing into the dark and cold evening.

"I don't believe you know who I am," the wolf growled, "Ever here of the Alley Murderer?"

"Yah. Saw a special on a news report. May I go now?" Amy frowned, looking towards her groceries to make sure they weren't getting wet.

The wolf laughed again, then frowned when it dawned on him that Amy was being serious.

"I am the Alley Murderer," the wolf said bluntly now, eyes narrowing at the red clad hedgehog.

"So?"

It was that remark, spoken with a hint of sarcasm, a tint of boredom, and a lot of confidence that finally snapped the wolf, who growled and charged Amy.

With a small smirk, Amy twirled her umbrella, snapping it closed and leaping over her attacker, expertly landing several blows to the wolf's back, then landed, skidding into the rain and twirling around, giving a little bow to the wolf.

The Alley Murderer was on his face, who got up and revealed his sharp claws this time, dashing at Amy who had opened her umbrella again.

Amy laughed lightly. She hadn't had this much fun in a while. With a skillful slide, she used the wet terrain to her advantage, splashing more water at the wolf, who slipped and fell at Amy.

The pink hedgehog tossed the umbrella into the air, as it circled at high speeds around her, Amy's fist making contact with the Alley Murderer's stomach, the wolf now laying on the ground and in pain.

The umbrella twirled down, Amy catching it without looking, then smiled sweetly at her assaulter.

"Should have just taken the five."

And with that, her foot met his face and he fell unconscious. Amy pulled a small, pink, phone from her pocket and dialed the police. After a few more seconds, the phone was in her pocket again as her groceries were back in her arm, now skipping back home.

Certain red eyed hedgehog from earlier saw the entire thing.

"Well it looks like one person I know has gotten batter…Good job Amy," Shadow smiled, slipping back into the darkness.

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It was the next day, the afternoon to be exact, as we now join three well known figures on Angel Island.

"Hiya!" a male voice shouted, punching forward at a red punching bag, firing incredibly fast punches towards the thing. It moved slightly, but didn't break no matter how much he punched.

After three consecutive minutes of throwing punches at it, Sonic the Hedgehog stopped, breathing heavily while he looked at the other two, Tails and Knuckles, walked forward.

"Man Tails! This thing really is indestructible!" Sonic grinned, wiping his forehead with a towel the kitsune offered him.

"I know! This way you and Knuckles can train without breaking them!" Tails said.

"And you. You're really getter better yourself," Sonic smiled, patting the kitsune on the head. Much like Amy, the trio hadn't changed much, Tails was a head taller, and Sonic was a wee bit taller as well.

"Let me try!" Knuckles shouted, eyes narrowing at the punching bag Tails had created. He shot forward like a rocket, hitting the bag. It moved a few inches, but otherwise remained intact.

Sonic and Tails backed up while Knuckles punched at the bag repeatedly, with slower, but more powerful, punches then Sonic. After a few minutes himself, Knuckles stopped, wiping some sweat of his brow.

"Be careful there Knuckles. Don't want to wear yourself out before your big date tonight with Rouge!" Sonic joked, grinning at the red echidna.

"It's not a date," Knuckles growled, turning to face Sonic, "We're just discussing, in a sensible, grown up way, about our problems with the Master Emerald."

"At a restaurant. With food and all that," Sonic pointed out, his grin growing.

Knuckles shook slightly, then breathed in and out, calming down, "Sonic…Rouge and I are both adults. That means we can figure things out without fighting or arguing. Though that doesn't look like something you'd understand."

Sonic laughed, shaking his head. "I'm twenty-one Knuckles! You're barely a year older then me."

"You might be twenty-one physically, but you have the mind of a sixteen year old," Knuckles pointed out. The constant mental clashes and arguments with Rouge were paying off.

Sonic mocked a hurt face, then waved his hand, signaling he was done belittling his friend.

"He's kind of right Sonic," Tails said once Sonic headed towards the indestructible punching bag. "I'm sixteen and I'm more mature then you!"

Both Sonic and Knuckles laughed at this comment.

"You're also a genius Tails. And you're right," Sonic grinned, then began punching at the bag some more with high speed punches.

Knuckles just shook his head absentmindedly and headed outside, looking out over the green fields of Angel Island.

Sonic and Tails had come to live with Knuckles on Angel Island about four years ago. Knuckles welcomed their help and friendship. Not to mention the fact he got real food more often. On occasion, before Sonic and Tails had come here, he would have to rely on grubs and local fruit before his next shipment of supplies came.

The three had built a new house, over the Master Emerald, to help keep it safe even if none of them were there. It provided energy for the house, and had a security system, designed and built by Tails, that not even Rouge could penetrate.

Of course, if Rouge couldn't steal the Master Emerald, why was she and Knuckles discussing it, as Sonic so bluntly put it, at a restaurant.

The reasons were simple. One, Rouge kept trying, and while she could never get at the Master Emerald, she got closer each time, and wound up destroying something anyways. Two, it would stop the long time rivalry between the two, putting them both at more ease and more time to devote to other things. And three, probably the most important reason, not voiced by either of them, was that they wanted to talk to each other outside of a fighting environment.

With a sigh he headed back inside to get ready.

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Amy Rose sat contently on the couch, relishing her day off from work as she flipped through a few channels. Finding nothing of interest, she shut the channel off, a news reporter having finished a story about how the Alley Murderer had been brought to justice thanks to a mysterious individual.

"Nothing good on. Guess I'll head to the movie rental store," Amy sighed, looking outside at the still pouring rain.

"You'd think it was Noah's Ark out there," Amy sighed, slipping on her shoes and getting out her handy umbrella. She walked to the door and opened it, freezing as a black and red hedgehog froze as well, his hand poised though as he was about to knock.

The two stared for a few seconds, both processing what had just happened.

Amy, surprisingly, was the first to speak.

"Oh, hey Shadow. What's up?" the pink hedgehog asked. She wasn't sure why she had said that. No one had seen Shadow for almost six years now, after the defeat of Black Doom. He had told them he would be off to think and train, just basically letting the others know Black Doom hadn't killed him or anything. No one saw him after that, and he took no Chaos Emeralds with him.

"Hello…" Shadow began, mind going blank at Amy suddenly opening the door, and strangeness of what she said, "…Amy."

"Well you remembered my mind," Amy said casually, her mind going a mile a minute.

"Maybe I could…come inside?" Shadow finally asked, shaking his head.

"Sure. Wait here while I'll go get a towel for you," Amy answered, heading to the hallway and pulling out a fresh towel, coming back to the door and tossing it to Ultimate Life Form, who gave himself a quick dry off and stepped inside.

After a few more moments of silence, Amy finally broke it.

"So…What brings you here after all these years?" Amy asked, eyes wandering over to Shadow, who sat down on a chair in Amy's kitchen.

"I finished with my training. I wished to see my…" Shadow paused yet again, searching for the correct word, "friends. You were the first one I found. That was some impressive fighting I saw earlier."

Amy paused, confused, then remembered her incident last night.

"Well, I've been taking various fighting classes for years now. That guy was just big and mean. No experience," Amy shrugged, sitting down on another chair across the small table from Shadow.

"It was still very impressive. If you've improved that much, I wonder how much the Faker has improved," Shadow laughed, showing a rare smile.

Amy frowned, looking down at the table, causing Shadow to become puzzled.

"Is something wrong?" Shadow finally ventured, looking at Amy with a frowning face.

"It's…nothing…Just that…I don't talk much with the others any more. My connection's mainly through Cream nowadays," Amy sighed, getting up from her chair and heading into the kitchen.

Shadow frowned, trying to piece the information together. With a sigh, he got up and followed Amy.

"Is…is there something you want to talk about?" he ventured. With his memories restored, the many conversations with Maria and Prof. Gerald had returned, so his conversation skills had greatly improved.

"Why would I tell you? You've been gone for almost six years," Amy pointed out, shaking her head as she walked out of the kitchen.

Shadow followed, thinking even more.

"Because of what you've just said. I've been gone almost six years. And…you are my friend Amy. You helped me remember Maria's promise, and believed in me more then the others ever did," Shadow said bluntly, folding his arms across his white furred chest.

Amy turned around, looking up at Shadow.

"You really consider me a friend?" Amy asked skeptically, an eyebrow raised. "Even though we haven't seen each in years?"

"Yes. Maria told me your friends stay with you, no matter how long it has been. I consider you and the others my friends," Shadow said immediately.

With a wry smile, Amy looked at Shadow again.

"Then I guess…We'd better give Sonic and the others a call."

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How do you guys like it? Reviews are very, very good. I love and cherish them so.

More info…Tails is suppose to eight at Sonic Heroes/Shadow the Hedgehog, but I upped him to ten instead, 'cause eight just seems entirely to young to me…So, current characters ages are as followed…

Sonic: 21

Knuckles: 22

Rouge: 23

Tails: 16

Amy : 17 (Very nearly 18)

Shadow: Technically 56ish, but he's only been awake for about six and half years.

Oh yah! I do not own Sonic and all related titles!