How do you like Warm Up To Me? Great? Awesome. In this chapter, I just kind of wanted introduction to what kind of character my OC, Helen, is. All the SEGA characters mentioned do not belong to me, my OC, Helen the Hedgehog does belong to me, can-I-go-back-now. Any OCs mentioned will belong to me unless you ask me to put one in, only as a minor character. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Settling In

Months after Shadow's appearance at Sugar Rose...

"No."

"Shadow!"

"No."

"Shadow!" Amy knew it was pointless to argue with the ebony hedgehog, but maybe she could break him enough to make him stay in the house the Sonic crew owned.

"Why?" Shadow narrowed his eyes at Amy. That surely broke her.

"Because..." Amy looked down, toying with her hands.

"Because?" Shadow stared at her, ruby red eyes boring into her soul.

"Because..you're my...friend?" Amy said slowly, looking up a little.

"Alright." Shadow walked away from her.

"Shadow! W-wait!" Amy called after him.

"What?" Shadow kept his back turned to her.

"Why did you agree? To stay, I mean." Amy asked, walking up behind him.

"We're...friends." Shadow said, turning around.

"But you barely know me." Amy mentally cringed at her own statement.

'Stupid, you called him your friend first!' She could have slapped herself.

"Warm up to me."

~.~

In all honesty, Shadow didn't know why he agreed to stay with them. He just kind of felt like it, mainly to throw Amy off. Boy, did he do so. Shadow ended up exploring the house, only to find the crew had a room for him, if he ever came back. For 10 years, they waited. Just for him. And now he had an annoying hedgehog asking him questions as she sat in his room on his bed.

"So...you're the infamous, famous, whatever, Shadow the Hedgehog?" Helen looked at him.

"Yes." Shadow stared at the hedgehog. From where she was sprawled on his bed, she looked about '5"9 and younger than twenty, at least to him. She was all black with very, very, very vibrant neon purple streaks on her waist-length quills, neatly straightened. She had a white muzzle and bright ice blue eyes that captured most of the attention away from her. Shadow continued to stare at her, and for a second, he coud have sworn she was invisible for the slightest amount of time.

"I asked you a question." Helen looked at him, practically freezing his eyes with hers.

"What." Shadow stared back with just as much intensity.

"Are you naturally that short?" Helen giggled behind her hand as Shadow clenched his fist. He was '3"9, she was two whole feet taller than him.

"Yes." Shadow hissed at her as she rolled over in laughter. Shadow had enough of her on his stuff, and swiftly reached out to grab her by the wrist. However, a light purple, if not white, flash confused him and Helen was gone.

"Hey shorty, I'm over here." Shadow turned around to see the female waving at him. He whipped around and a Chaos Spear was flung in Helen's direction. It dissipated quickly in sheer purple sparks.

"What the...?" Shadow looked at the unscathed hedgehog.

"Force field, shorty." Helen giggled. Shadow closed his eyes in frustration and opened to find the hedgehog gone. He still heard her laughing, and it frustrated even more.

"Where the hell are you?!" Shadow growled, searching the room so he could finally lay his hands on her and-

"Right in front you." Helen appeared right in front of Shadow and he jumped back a bit, obviously startled.

"How the-"

"Invisibility."

"But you-"

"Teleported." Shadow took the time to stare the hedgehog down or in his case, up. There was something odd about the way the light hit her petite frame.

"Why are you...glowing?" Shadow asked her slowly.

"Because I'm so damn beautiful," Helen giggled. "No actually, I can manipulate the shape of my force fields any way I want. This is just in case you have any tricks up your sleeve." She snapped, and the glowing was gone. Shadow stood there, glaring at her.

"Invisibility. Just my luck." Shadow sighed, shaking his head.

"You're so short.." Helen sighed, shaking her head.

"...Where the hell is Tails?" Shadow stormed out of the room.

~.~

"Wait, wait, what?" Tails looked at Shadow with most certain confusion.

"I don't want to be immortal." Shadow put his hands behind his back, a very calm look on his face.

"What is this I'm hearing?" Sonic's head popped into the door of the lab.

"You heard me." Shadow uncharacteristically rocked back and forth on his heels.

"You're deciding this...why?" Sonic stepped into the lab, looking at Shadow with a raised brow.

"You genetically modified your height...why?" He mimicked Sonic's question.

"Good point." The blue hedgehog raised a fist in the air, spun on his heel, and walked out of the lab, leaving Tails and Shadow.

"Smells like genetic alteration," said Helen, appearing from literally nowhere in front of Sonic, who had made a good ways from the lab. "What's going on?" She asked, picking at her nails.

"You're a little sneaky hedgehog aren't you?" Sonic asked. His only response was a nod and a bright smile from the 18-year-old. "Shadow's immortality is no longer in a second." Sonic answered her question.

"Mhmm. So, is he gonna be taller?" Helen asked, playing with purple orbs of energy.

"See for yourself."

~.~

"I'm gonna go see Taaaaails, cause that's what I like to dooooo." Cream sang as she entered the hero house, slamming the door behind her. The tall, lanky, 19-year-old cream-colored rabbit set down her bags from the mall and bounced through the house, singing the way to the lab. Helen walked down the hall to the lab, invisible of course, prepared to see her favorite person to annoy finally become taller.

"What a way to settle in." She said, walking in to the lab in her favorite style, invisible and careless. Cream on the other hand had just made her way to the hall, her singing toned down to a quiet hum.

"Hope Shadow finally settled in." She said, looking around.

~.~

"Alright, so we'll alter your height first, because that's the easy part." Tails showed Shadow to a large cylindrical chamber, silver and shining in all its genetic-modifying glory.

"How does it work?" Shadow inquired, clearly interested. To him, he liked Tails better than the rest of the Sonic Crew, because he was well, smart. In most cases, however. It made Shadow feel included to have such conversations with the fox, because at 20, most males weren't mature enough to say the word 'butt' without laughing.

"Well it really is quite simple," Tails began, a smile on his face. He loved when people were actually interested in his work, interested enough to not fall asleep after the first sentence.

"Hm.." Helen whispered, watching the two intently. Her sneakiness was interrupted when Cream bounded into the room.

"Hi Tails!" She shouted, walking forward. Helen, Tails, and Shadow saw the big, black, exposed wire on the floor, though Shadow didn't think she was nearly that clumsy to trip over it. Cream did trip over the wire, and lurched forward. Feeling herself fall, she flailed her arms about, then stepped forward in a desperate attempt to steady herself. As soon as her right foot hit the ground, she stopped falling and stood straight quickly to hide her embarrassment.

"You alright, Cream?" Tails asked her. Cream nodded swiftly, soft cream bangs moving vigorously.

"Uh huh, yeah...ha, clumsy me.." She trailed off, laughing nervously. Her laughing caused her to take a large step back with her left foot, thus causing her to trip over the wire once again. This time, the force sent her stumbling back a couple of steps, which made Cream crash into Helen, who as a result, turned visible and fell backwards as well, hitting the 'Science Shower' near the door to the lab. When Helen hit the shower, she grabbed the lever that turned on the shower, trying her hardest not to fall, but ended up doing so, landing herself right on the drain of the shower, the second the heavy water flow came crashing down. Cream however kept falling, pulling down a small rolling table with empty beakers and test tubes that crashed to the floor loudly. Screaming, she finally hit the floor on her rear amidst broken glass and cork. Tails and Shadow looked at both girls, clearly in a mess.

"TURN IT OFF! TURN OFF THE FUCKING WATER!" Helen screamed, soaked in the bottom of the shower.

"Oh my God, I have so many cuts in so many places." Cream groaned, brushing off pieces of glass. Shadow immediately burst into never before heard laughter, pointing at the two girls, actually doubled over. When Tails figured Helen wasn't going to stop screaming in the shower, a black aura glowed around her and Tails rushed to press the paddle that stopped the water.

"Oh my Chaos." Shadow held his stomach, tears flowing out of his eyes.

"Ugh! Cream!" Helen stood quickly, snapping her head in said rabbit's direction.

"Oh no. No, no, no, not again!" Cream got up as fast as she could and bolted out of the lab, Helen rushing after her.

"What is going on here?!" Amy screamed as both girls rushed past her. Shadow stopped laughing and Tails stepped in front of him, a nervous smile on his face.

"Just settling in..."