Disclaimer – I don't own the Sonic characters.

Partners

Amy stood in Sonic's house. His hands tightly gripped her shoulders. His eyes burned into hers. "I want you," he said, "to get out of my house!" He shoved her out the front door.

As the door slammed, Amy snapped her fingers. "Shoot," she said. "I was so close, too." She headed around the corner to where Shadow waited impatiently.

At the sound of her footsteps, he turned. His ruby eyes filled with excitement. "Please tell me you got it." Though he said this, he held no doubt in her abilities. He should have.

"Sorry, but he caught me." And she showed him her empty hands.

Shock rather than disappointment lit his face. "He was home?"

Amy nodded. "And I was only two steps away from it when he caught me."

Two steps, Shadow thought. So close, yet so far. "Let's try elsewhere," he suggested.

Amy shrugged. "Sure, I've got nothing better to do. But where should we try next?"

Shadow started across the street, not bothering to check for traffic. "Tails' place."

"Okay," Amy said and then knocked him out of the way of an oncoming truck.

- x - o - x -

Shadow climbed through the top floor's open window. Landing softly onto the floor, he surveyed the room. A cluttered desk, covered with pens, pencils, and paper. Wooden floor, littered with books, dirty socks, and smelly shoes. An unmade bed, dusted with crumbs. For being the room of a genius, it was unremarkable and messy. Shadow felt right at home.

But he was not home, so he slinked into the hallway. Loud clanging greeted him, and he knew Tails was downstairs in the workroom. Shadow muttered a curse. "May you're children be ugly." He then sidled down the stairs and into the workroom. Tails did not hear him open the door.

Mouthing maniacal laughter, Shadow looked around the room, knowing the item he sought was close but unsure where. He moved stealthy about as he opened and shut drawers, lifted and lowered tools, and kicked soccer balls with a silence that mirrored quiet. Having searched the entire room, Shadow knew only one place remained: Tails' snout. Shadow looked and saw it, perfectly balanced atop the fox's nose. Now if he could just figure out how to get it. An idea struck him.

"Hey, Tails. Can I have that thing on your nose?"

"No."

Foiled again!

When Shadow returned to Amy, he didn't know what to say. He didn't have to. "You asked him for it, didn't you?" He nodded. Amy groaned and threw her hands toward the heavens. "Oh!" Her hands fell to her hips, and she shook her head. "I knew I should have gone instead of you."

"I'm sorry," Shadow said.

Amy waved him off. "S'okay, but what do you want to do now?"

"Wanna try one more time?"

Still not having anything better to do, Amy said, "Sure. But where should we try this time?"

- x - o - x-

"What are you two doing in here?" Eggman, tired after a long morning of evil work, had gone to his bedroom for a much needed afternoon nap. To his surprise, he found Amy and Shadow huddled in front of his nightstand. Upon hearing his voice, the two whirled around. Eggman looked at their startled expressions and then their full hands. "My Mentos!"

Shoving her Mentos filled hands into her dress' pockets, Amy said, "Sorry, but we just really wanted some."

"Then why didn't you just buy some from the store," Eggman demanded, both baffled and annoyed.

Locking hands, Amy and Shadow ran by him. "Because stealing is fun!" they chorused. The door slammed shut behind them.

Eggman could only shake his head and smile. "Ah, you crazy kids."

A/N – And remember kids, though sometimes fun, stealing is wrong. Sonic says.