Here By Me
Chapter 1
Four on the Floor
Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic, Shadow or any of these characters. Duh, don't be stupid.
Warning: YEAH. THIS IS YAOI. Ok, if you don't like that. You can just leave. Now. Because I seriously didn't write this for you. And I don't need you telling me that it's gross, ok? Because you tell me it's gross, I tell you I don't care. It's like a system. I wouldn't be writing it if I thought it was gross. So, yeah... keep your negative opinions to yourself. Well unless it's constructive criticism, that's okay. Just nothing about the gayness. Yeah, don't care.
The cream colored fox burst through the doors of Amy's house, the pink hedgehog turned startled to see Tails so out of breath. "Amy! Your purse." They had just gotten back from shopping, well Amy had. Tails had accompanied her, he had gone a lot of places with her recently since Sonic and Shadow's recent developments. She took a deep breath, smiled and grabbed her bag.
"You didn't have to run...but thanks!" Tails smiled, then nodded st ill bent over trying to catch his breath. Amy brought her fingers up to his cow-lick he had on the top of his head and pushed it back. Tails just grinned, "Now that you're here...do you have any idea where Sonic is?" Tails almost deflated, the smile vanished from his face. He shook his head.
"With Shadow obviously." His voice was sharp, almost cold, as he looked away. He had at least expected her to invite him to stay awhile. He was beginning to think Amy was never going to forget Sonic. She claimed to have forgotten him the moment he admitted to having a thing for Shadow. 'He likes another guy and she still likes him more than me!' Truth be known, lately Tails had experienced some real feelings for the pink hedgehog.
"You ok?" Her soft voice cut his thoughts like a knife, it was so gentle yet it shattered his concentration so easily. He turned his head to face her again still reeling from the rejection of being asked where Sonic was, again. He simply nodded his head not seeing any reason to open his mouth again. He spun on his heels and started towards the door. "Tails!" He turned his head back at the voice, what could it possibly be now? "You wanna stay for a little bit? I could make us some tea or something." His smile spread back across his face.
"That'd be great, Amy!" A knock at the door put his happiness on hold temporarily. The female furry made her way to the door and opened it, not even notifying Tails that she was going to get it, which normally wouldn't have mattered but seeing how sensitive he had been around her lately. He stared at the back of her, 'She's beautiful.' He felt his cheeks get red. He lifted his head from her to see who was at the door.
"I think you still have my shoes, Amy..." His self confidence slammed into the ground like a ton of bricks. Sonic.
"No, I don't, Sonic... I gave them to Shadow, he said he'd give them to you." Tails watched silently as the two conversed, being completely unnoticed as always. The fox glanced down to notice Sonic wasn't wearing his usual red shoes, they were black. He liked them, but it wasn't like Sonic cared what he thought. He mentally kicked himself for thinking like that, Sonic was his idol, his hero, and here he was getting all swelled up at him for nothing just over some silly girl. It just wasn't fair though, Sonic had Shadow, he didn't need Amy anymore, why did she torture herself and him by clinging?
Sonic stepped back and groaned, exasperated. "Are you serious! I swear he's such an idiot sometimes, he lives with me and he can't remember to tell me he brought my shoes home." Amy giggled at Sonic's semi-rant to himself.
"I didn't forget I just like to make you run around and get all sweaty!" A green flash signaled the entrance of another hedgehog. Sonic's mate, Shadow, he had his trademark smirk on his face. The blue hedgehog whirled around at the sound reaching his ears, which perked up slightly at the sound of the oh-so-familiar voice.
"You jerk..." Sonic rolled his eyes but he had a smile on his face now. Sonic always got different around Shadow now. It was like he got more vulnerable, cuter, for lack of a better word. Tails caught himself in mid thought and physically hit his palm to his head, the last thing he needed was to get attracted to Sonic.
"I know." The smirk never left him. Amy smiled at both of them, then sighed, knowing that they were going to leave now that the issue had been resolved but she was determined to keep them around as long as possible.
"You stupid hedgehogs want anything to eat or drink?" Sonic turned back again to face her, his back to Shadow now. Shadow's smirk seemed to turned to a grin seeing this. Tails didn't know which was more obvious, Amy's attraction to Sonic, Sonic's to Shadow, Shadow's to Sonic, or his to Amy, all he knew was that it was heartbreaking sometimes.
Shadow put his arms around Sonic's waist almost immediately after the blue hedgehog turned around, Sonic gave him a smile, then seemed to ignore it and shook his head at Amy. "Stupid hedgehogs...that's not how you get company, you know? But no. I'm fine. I'm getting restless I need to run around a little."
Shadow kept his arms around Sonic but raised his eyebrow as he tilted his head to look at the green-eyed hedgehog, "You've been running around all morning, Faker." Sonic grinned.
"I know." Sonic slowly eased out of Shadow's grip, stole a kiss from him and ran off, daring Shadow to catch him, who immediately smiled and took off after him.
Amy sighed and turned back to Tails, "You certainly are quiet around those two lately." Tails nodded his head, it was them. They had no idea he was alive, he guessed then ever really had but it hadn't bothered him until he started getting all these crazy emotions where everything meant something. The fox felt like he was falling in love with Amy, but at the same time, there was a jealousy when he saw Shadow and Sonic together. He certainly could not be gay, but being around Sonic and him being as much, it was hard to deny that Tails might be feeling a little feelings towards males as well. Sonic was like a big brother to him after all.
"I just have a lot on my mind... and those two can break anyone's concentration." He smiled at her and she twirled her hair. "How about those drinks?" Tails still wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to spend time with her. She was amazing in every way, before she meant nothing but ever since the Sonic and Shadow incident a few months back, she just seemed breath-taking.
"I guess you're right about that." He saw her sigh a bit of a melancholy sigh, which was never could to see on such a beautiful face. Her smile returned quickly though, as if she realized something that brought a light back. "Alright! I'll get the drinks, then!" She shut the door of her house and walked back into the kitchen, leaving Tails alone in the living room.
He made his way over to the couch and sat down, he let his mind wander until his eyes caught a picture of Amy and Rouge on a nearby desk. They were in a really goofy pose and something about it just brought a smile to his face once more. He didn't get up and go over to the picture, it was just a piece of paper, nothing important, yet it held his gaze for what seemed like an eternity. Until the picture seemed to come to life as Amy's voice rang out across the room, "Okay, they're ready!" He was quickly brought back from his daydream.
"Okay! Great!" She came over and sat the two drinks on the table and took a seat next to him on the couch. After drinking for a few moments in silence, he said the only thing he could think of, "Does it still bother you to see Sonic and Shadow together like that?"
Amy said nothing for a few moments, her green eyes stared down into her glass, he saw her bite her lip. "Well," she started, "I guess so...I still love Sonic. I know he loves Shadow, and it's always going to be that way, but I'm just not sure I can let him go." It felt like she stabbed a knife into poor Tails' heart. He just smiled at her though.
"I'm sure you can do it, Amy... you're a beautiful girl, there are lots of other guys out there just waiting for you to notice them." He poured out his feelings to her, if vaguely and in a way she'd never see it. She did embrace him though, the smile widening on her face.
"Thanks, Tails! You're awesome, you always know the right things to say." She let him go and looked over to the door and started again, "Sonic is really amazing, I always thought he was all I could ever want... but seeing him with Shadow, and how happy he is, I'd never want to take that away from him." She took a quick breath, "But it just hurts."
Tails nodded his head, "I know what you mean, but I know you can get over it, it'll just take time and maybe a knight in shining armor!" She giggled and rolled her eyes at him though, not taking him seriously and not seeing the hopeful look behind his blue eyes.
"Yeah, where am I gonna find one of those?"
---
The echidna worked to polish the master emerald, but even he was getting a little bored, sitting on Angel Island. Rouge sat on a step in the background watching him intently. "Don't you ever get bored, Knucklehead?"
He growled and turned to her in a fuming fashion, "This is my duty, Rouge, of course I don't ever get bored." He lied, he knew she'd see it to because she always saw through his lies, even one as petty as the one he just told.
"Right...of course you don't." She smirked and stood up, then gestured for him to come over there. He reluctantly did so, glancing back at the Master Emerald. He stopped and looked her up and down.
"Fine then, bat woman...what do you propose we do?" He crossed his arms over his chest and raised and eyes ridge at her. She simply smirked in return and brought her left hand up to her chin as if she was pondering that last sentence. Knuckles knew that look, that was the mocking look.
Finally she stopped and grabbed him by the wrist, "I dunno! Let's just go into to town and maybe we'll stop by Amy's. If you're lucky, Cream might be there." She took off, Rouge had been practicing and was now able to lift Knuckles and carry him a ways with relative ease.
"I think I just threw up a little."
---
"Amy!" Cream shrieked across her entire house, the pink hedgehog was quite surprised no mirrors shattered. Sometimes she swore she needed a knock first sign on her door, the only people who ever knocked were Sonic and Shadow and those were the two she wanted there most of the times. Well, Tails knocked too. But Cream certainly never did.
She made her way out of her room to greet the cream colored rabbit and her oh-so-annoying chao. Amy managed the biggest fake smile she could, "Cream! What a pleasant surprise!" Cream grinned widely, and nodded her ears. She pranced over to Amy and began talking ninety miles an hour about random things in her life. Amy basically tuned her out and let her mind wander. Her mind was stuck on Sonic as usual, she had told herself she would stop, she would find someone else for her. But it just hadn't worked that way.
"So... what have you been up to anyway?" This sentence brought her back to reality because it was something she had to respond to. She thought for a moment on what to say, opened her mouth a few times and decided against it, then finally figured something out.
"Just trying to figure out my life, that's all." Cream got wide-eyed and interested at this, normally Amy just said nothing but today she was actually pretending Cream was someone who could help her out.
"Trying to figure your life out?" Cream simply tilted her head to one side and Amy glanced quietly at her, then nodded her head. "Are you thinking about Sonic again?" Cream wasn't all that dumb, everyone knew Amy was still in love with Sonic. Most everyone thought she'd never get over it, Cream was one of those people.
"Yes." She answered bluntly, it wasn't like Cream didn't know the answer anyway. "He came by earlier, but he was just getting his shoes... that weren't even here." Amy quickly rolled her eyes, "I was just happy I got to see him, seems like if I'm not in life threatening danger I'm not worth talking to." The small hedgehog growled under her breath.
"Amy... you know that isn't true at all, Sonic cares about you a lot!" Amy's green eyes pierced into Cream like knives into her skin. The look almost sent chills down the bunny's spine, she shifted slightly where she was. Amy had gotten slightly mean lately when Sonic was the topic at hand.
"Does he now? He certainly doesn't act like it... he cares that I don't die. That's about the sum of it!" Amy was almost yelling at this point, and the small chao Cream had with her was hiding behind an object, namely a lamp, at the far corner of the room. The small creature officially wanted to resort back to her role of not being important enough to disclose information to.
"Uh, I'm sorry, Amy... I can't read Sonic's mind for you." Amy took a deep breath realizing how freaked out Cream had become.
"No one can. It's fine. Look, I really would rather be alone right now if you don't mind." Cream nodded her head, for once in her life she was quite relieved to comply with someone's go away request. She ran for the door, grabbed her chao and exited with all speed.
"Yeah, bye Amy, hope you feel better!" Amy heard this after Cream was almost out of her hearing range.
"Shadow, Knuckles and Sonic would certainly be proud of me..." She smiled weakly after a moment and shook her head, kicking herself for being so rude to Cream when she hadn't done the slightest thing, except of course barging into her home uninvited, but that was pretty much the normal for that rabbit and chao.
Before she had a chance to beat herself up anymore, she heard another knock at the door. Amy almost screamed right there for them to get out but caught herself, she had been such a basket case lately, her behavior had been nothing but rude. The green-eyed female made her way to the door and opened it for the millionth time that day, surprisingly it was Tails again. Tails had been around a lot lately. "Hey, Amy... sorry but I'm back. I saw Cream running from the house, is everything ok?"
"Yes, it's fine." She decided to go back to small amounts of syllables, since the larger sentences lately seemed to scare people away. She was touched by the fox's concern though, he seemed to be the only one lately who cared at all. "Thanks for asking, though."
Tails sighed, he knew she was lying but he couldn't very well pry into it without getting hated if she was upset. Sometimes he wished Sonic didn't exist, then he hated himself for even thinking that. Finally, he decided to pry. "Is it Sonic again?"
Amy looked away without saying anything for at least a solid minute or two. Of course it was Sonic again, why did people have to ask? Excuse her for not getting elated about being completely and utterly rejected, over Shadow. "Look, Tails... I don't wanna talk about it. I'd just end up getting mad at you and you didn't do anything."
The two-tailed fox was really beginning to think this was a hopeless romance. Amy cared nothing for him in that way, sometimes he wondered if she saw him any differently than she saw Cream, and that was an all-time low. "Well, I'll listen, I'm better at being yelled at than Cream is."
"No, it's really fine." Amy didn't want to take the risk of getting absolutely everybody in the world mad at her. Especially since Tails had been the only one there for her lately, you would think she might want to tell him everything but she was too worried about losing a friend because of a failed love interest.
Tails took a breath, "Amy, I'm worried about you." He stepped back, he had to get that off his chest, if she didn't talk to him now. He wasn't going to be able to sleep. Tails cared deeply for Amy, ever since everything that had happened she meant so much to him. It was something he didn't think Amy was ever going to understand.
"I'm sorry, Tails... look, it's like I've said before, I-" She was interrupted by the door swinging open to reveal Rouge and Knuckles, obviously flinching as if expecting to be attacked by Cream, relieved when that didn't happen.
'I'm never going to get anywhere when people keep barging in like this! How does she live with all these people coming in? And why does everyone have to come to her house?' He simply smiled and put on a cheerful face and waved to the bothersome duo. "Knuckles! Rouge! What are you two doing here?" He decided that if Amy was ever going to open up to him, he had to stop acting so weird around everyone like he had been as of late.
"Yes, what?" The small voice from behind him came, his hopes rose momentarily as she seemed a little angry with their visit as well. Maybe she did want to spend time with just him. Then he deflated after thinking that she had been having a bad day and was probably just annoyed with all the company that kept coming in.
"She doesn't know." Knuckles might have been more annoyed than Amy and Tails combined, he didn't want to waste him time. He wanted to either be protecting the master emerald or at least be spending some alone time with Rouge. Not that the latter came before protecting the Master Emerald or anything.
"I do know! You are boring sitting there staring blankly at that dumb green emerald-..."
"Master Emerald, Rouge!" He rose his voice at the bat, then crossed his arms and glanced away angrily. She just giggled at him.
"Whatever, it gets old. That's all you ever do." Finally Rouge put a cross look on her face and looked at the away-glancing echidna. She just sighed and turned back to Amy and Tails, smiling, "Anyway, you two look a little worn out, we can leave if need be." Amy was quick to shake her head to this. "Are you sure?" They both nodded in unison, Tails knew he had no say so but it might make Rouge feel a little more at ease if he were to show he was happy to see them too. He didn't know how that bat always managed to see straight through people though, it was mind boggling.
"That is not all I ever do, Rouge!" Rouge simply ignored the echidna and thanked Amy and Tails for not kicking them out. She figured they both wanted to, but she wasn't about to capitalize on it anymore, because they certainly weren't going to admit it. "And, even if it was, which it is NOT, it would make sense, since that is my job!" She continued to ignore him, his face got red with anger.
Tails laughed at him, "Poor Knuckles, it's ok." He walked over to the two, leaving Amy to sit there and think whatever it was she seemed to be thinking, something to do with Sonic he was sure. "So, we haven't talked to you two in awhile, anything of interest going on?"
"Of course not." Rouge said rather bluntly, "Like I said, all he ever does is stare at that emerald." Tails decided to back off and let Knuckles defend himself, because even if he did start a sentence, the red echidna was sure to interrupt.
"And if I didn't, someone would try to take it! Then something would happen, why don't you take your own advice and stop wishing for something horrible to happen to us?" She simply rolled her eyes, but smiled just a little to think he remembered that she had said that.
"Maybe you're right, but stop talking, I'm serious, Knuckles, you talk way too much." This just put a really sour look on his face.
Amy giggled from across the room at the bickering couple, "You two are sounding more like Sonic and Shadow every day." Knuckles almost perked up at this, or the annoyed expression at least left his face for once.
"Speaking of those two, where are they? I haven't seen them in awhile." Amy smiled, even though it was hard for her to think about, she always loved the topic of Sonic. For some reason, it made no sense when the thought caused her so much pain.
"They were here earlier, looking for something Shadow already had. Why didn't you go visit them if you're so eager to hear about them, then Knuckles, hm?" Knuckles crossed his arms, and was about to say good point, when Rouge interrupted him.
"Because, guys are boring. I'm sick of them. No offense, Tails, but I needed to see a girl." She smiled at Amy, who gave her an understanding nod. But Knuckles exasperated look returned to his neutral face.
"Why does it always have to be what you want? I happened to want to see a guy!" She smirked.
Tails waved his arms in his face, "Hello, I am a guy." Knuckles looked like he was about to say something, then seemed to think better of it and looked down at the floor thinking of something that would be better than the thought he had nixed.
"Well, it was still about what she wanted, we didn't know you would be here! Cream might have even been here! That would be like hell!" Tails laughed but Rouge held up her finger to him and shook it.
"See? But it worked out, no Cream and you even got to see a guy, you should be more grateful, Knucklehead." Knuckles stood back and looked like he was about to yell something but went over and sat on the couch, intending to ignore Rouge for the remainder of their time at Amy's house. He sort of sunk into the couch, and his purple eyes looked a little worried about the sinking, but then realized what it was. Rouge simply smiled across the room at him.
He pretended not to notice and began to take unnatural interest in a picture of Amy on the wall, "So, honestly... do you go outside and find people, Amy, and say... here will you take my picture?" Knuckles glanced at her and saw that he had gotten a smile out of her, "I've never met you before in my life! But take my picture!"
She giggled a little bit and rolled her eyes, "No, different people take those... I think Cream took that one."
The echidna jerked his head from the image, "Take it off the wall! What are you thinking, Amy? Seriously! I thought Sonic would've taken it or something, man." The female hedgehog simply flipped her hair and ignored the comment. She suddenly felt the returning mass of sadness when silence ensued in the room again, Rouge seemed off in thought, as did Tails, and Knuckles just seemed to be appalled at the picture on her wall, or the photographer of it.
Tails noticed the silence, he hated it, because it seemed to be bothering Amy as much as himself, "So Sonic and Shadow are off alone somewhere that means?" A smirk crossed the red echidna's face as the fox finished, Knuckles had thought of it very strange for awhile, but now it didn't seem to phase him at all, it was almost like it fit, but not quite. Like an acquired taste or something, not that he would ever consider another guy, but still, Shadow and Sonic seemed to fit together.
Rouge noticed the smirk on his face, and though she got one of her own, she quickly scolded him for it, "Oh, be quiet, Knuckles. That's not like Sonic and Shadow at all!" She knew exactly what his comeback was about to be, but she decided to be nice and let him say it.
"Oh, no, not at all. They're bad in front of people, just imagine when they're alone!" Rouge laughed a little bit at this.
"Knuckles..."
"They can't keep their hands off each other, Rouge. You've seen that. I know you have, you've commented on how hot it is several times..." He got a bit of a cross look on his face after he said this, but then he sighed, it wasn't like they were competition, but she was something of what he'd like to call his girlfriend and it was a little annoying when she had two male hedgehogs, who's looks she seemed to be absolutely infatuated with.
"Oh, I know..." Rouge chuckled slightly. Amy looked at the floor, she wanted to manage to keep Knuckles and Rouge's lightheartedness about it. Sonic was happy and that was all that was supposed to matter. She loved Sonic, so she was supposed to put his happiness first, but hers seemed to be getting more and more neglected lately.
Tails watched the pink hedgehog fidget with her red dress, her fingers twisting and turning it in all kinds of unnatural ways, "Well, I've been trying to figure out a way to make the Tornado less prone to crashing... it's not going very well, but then again, it never does." He managed a half-hearted smile, that was his best attempt at a subject change. Obvious and a bit stupid but at least he had tried.
Rouge smiled sweetly at him, letting him know he had done a nice thing by considering Amy, so said nothing to prove how pathetic the attempt was, "Oh, really? Haven't you been trying to make it less prone to crashing since you made it?" Well, maybe she called him on it a little bit.
Tails chuckled slightly and couldn't help himself as he glanced over to Amy, who shot him a heart-warming smile, also thinking it was amazingly considerate of Tails to even notice how she had disliked that topic, "Tails, I don't think you can ever keep it from crashing, that's what makes it the Tornado!" She winked at him.
"Maybe." He simply laughed.
---
Sonic slowly sat down his back to a tree, he looked up at Shadow, his breaths were fast and deep. "That was fun." He managed this in between pants. Shadow was breathing just as hard, so he simply nodded his head. The black hedgehog had his hands on his knees, their racing escapades often ended up with them breathing hard. Probably not as hard as something else Shadow could think of though.
He smirked finally and stood upright, offering Sonic a hand, his breathing had slowed. "Ready to call it a day, Faker?" Sonic took the help and got to his feet as well, he thought for a moment, Sonic sometimes picked the stupidest times to not call it a day. He had to be the most hyper individual Shadow had ever run across, and the cutest, but that was another story entirely.
Sonic's green eyes glanced up at the purple-orange sky, "Well, it's sunset, so yeah, we might as well." Shadow smiled a little relieved, if he had run another step, he may had collapsed.
Sonic got within a centimeter of him and smiled, "So what now?" Shadow didn't bother answering and kissed his green-eyed mate, getting the most enjoyment this day had brung thus far. He backed away and grinned at Sonic, who laughed a little.
"You know, Sonic, if I didn't know you better, I'd think you did that on purpose." His grin turned to a smirk immediately, and Sonic's smile stayed put on his face. The blue hedgehog quickly crossed his arms and thought for a moment.
"No, Shadow, not me."
"Ha...you loser." Shadow quickly turned his head up towards the sky, he loved watching the sunset. He tended to zone out a lot when they were outside and the sun was setting, or he would even stare at the stars sometimes. Sonic made fun of him for it when he knew he could, now seemed like one of those times, but he was a little too tired.
Sonic sat back down and picked out a specific blade of grass and started fiddling with it, the blue hedgehog was absolutely horrible about sitting still. Something on him had to be moving at all times, "One day, you're gonna be looking up there like that and something's gonna fall out of no where and hit you square in the face." It seemed like such an idle comment, as he hadn't even looked up at the darker hedgehog to say it. It was as if he was conversing with his new green friend.
He pulled Shadow out of the zone he was in and he smiled at Sonic, who seemed busied with the grass, "Well, if you keep making friends with grass... someone's going to think you're really weird. As in, someone other than me."
"Hm, well considering how that turned out, you better hope I stop or you're going to have some competition." He threw the grass blade behind him and the wind caught it and carried it off into the distance a little ways. He stood back up, he really didn't know why he sat back down, he guessed he was a bit tired after all the running.
"I'm the ultimate life form, Faker, there is no competition. Especially in your department." His smug smirk put a grin on Sonic's face, even though he rolled his eyes at the sheer cockiness of his red-eyed mate. "I talked to Rouge the other day." Sonic looked at him pointedly, it wasn't like Shadow to say offhand things like informing Sonic whom he had talked to.
"Is that relevant?" Sonic immediately called him on it, but Shadow had quite obviously expected that response.
It was Shadow's turn to fidget as he played with his hands a little bit, he seemed to be thinking how to phrase the next sentence, or like it was an awkward one to say, "Sort of. She was talking about Tails and Amy." This seem to raise Sonic's interest a bit, it was still unlike Shadow to take any of this into account, normally the things Rouge said to the black hedgehog went in one ear and out the other. Considering this had to do with Sonic, though, indirectly at least, he had decided to tune in.
"Really?" Sonic sounded intrigued enough, "What about them?"
His red eyes drifted up to watch a leave fall out of a tree and he followed its graceful and slow decent to the ground, when it touched the earth, he began to talk, "Them. As in, romantic-wise."
Sonic's ears twitched a little bit and it was his turn to ponder on the subject, he knew that's what Shadow had meant, he had never considered Tails and Amy before, but now that he thought about it, if Amy hadn't been so obsessed with him, that would've been great! "Wow, that's actually a good little match-up. I'll have to Rouge congratulations on getting something right."
Shadow grinned slightly after this comment and grabbed his mate's hand and in a way rubbed it, in a way just played with it, "That's not the only couple she's gotten right." Sonic seemed to agree well enough with this. He smiled at Shadow, a genuine smile, finally.
"Eh, maybe she's a little better than I give her credit for." He stole his hand back from Shadow, and another soft peck on the lips. As he walked by him, motioning they probably needed to start heading home. "So what do you think? Think that could work."
Shadow nodded his head, in between a little unsure shifting to the left and right, as he began walking in Sonic's direction, "I think it could work. But Amy's still crazy about you, of course, who can blame her?" He smirked and Sonic just laughed, a flush of red coming over his cheeks, Shadow loved the fact that he could still make the blue hedgehog blush. It was adorable.
---
Vector pounded the communicator into the control panel, Espio was confident he had broken absolutely everything on the space colony, and if he hadn't broken it, he had eaten it. At one point, he seriously thought the gator had eaten Charmy. "Dang thing... it's never gonna work."
Espio gave him a pointed glance, that of course he blew off, "If you'd quit slamming it into stuff, you might have a better chance of it working."
"Ya think?"
"I tried to kill myself again today."
"Oh... all right, then." Espio sighed, he had tried many times to do this, but the fates were obviously against him.
---
Eggman stormed around his base, trying desperately to figure out some amazing plan that wouldn't be foiled by Sonic and his group of friends, which was now large enough for a pickup game of basketball. It seemed like lately every time he hatched a new scheme, Sonic made another friend. It was frightening. "Everything I think of is so cliche. But maybe I need to try cliche. It's never worked for me before, but then nothing ever has. There's a first time for everything. Why am I talking to myself?"
A chao floated up to him and smiled, it was one of the toothy ones, that looked like if they bit you they'd take a nice big chunk out of you.
"Wait... maybe if I tried something so utterly cliche they wouldn't even expect it of me! Ah-ha! It's absolutely full-proof, flawless, unstoppa-..."
"Failure." The chao repeated just as happy as anything could ever sound. Eggman looked at it pointedly.
"You're just a stupid chao, what would you know?"
"Failure."
He growled beneath his breath and stormed off, not even minding that the failure-predicting chao was following him. Obviously feeling like it had found a good owner, and if all it could say was failure, Eggman was definitely the one.
