Damn, I keep updating the very next day...NOT a good habit. Please don't expect the updates from me to be daily since it is because of hurricane Sandy keeping me out of school. I LOVE IT ^.^ Who DOESN'T like no school? Anyways, it is entertainment for me to be writing these so yeah. In truth I am a procrastinator, but being stuck in your house for days without anything to do can get to you.

Sonic: Yeah, we know that the best. She takes her frustration of not being able to do anything out on us poor characters.

Shadow: I have to admit, if it wasn't for the fact that I am one of the characters she takes it out on, I would be impressed.

0.0 ... Okayyy. Now on that disturbing note, here is chapter 3 :D (Also no more previews. People I have given up on that very early because if you want to know what happened then ... READ THE GODDAMNED CHAPTER AGAIN!)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or anything from SEGA

Chapter 3: A Friend or an Enemy

It wasn't long before Shadow caught up with the speedy hedgehog. With his curiosity Sonic went slower than usual. He wanted to look at as much as he could while going fast. When Shadow did come across the annoying nuisance he saw him staring out above the trees. It was so serene and calm. The birds were chirping, the sun was shining and the occasional cloud that came passing through. Away from the city with the noise and pollution; when you often woke up early because of an idiot who made loud noises at 7:00 in the morning. 'I can understand why he likes running so much. This is a nice escape from the noise I get every morning.' Sonic was calm and had a very relaxed look in his eyes. Shadow was a little surprised at how he never saw this side of Sonic before. He noted how there was an air about Sonic that he never thought would exist.

'Funny. I always thought of him as someone who enjoyed the spotlight and the noise of people. It seems so strange that he is so peaceful. His normally bright emerald eyes and ears seemed to relax and they look so soft. He looks so cu-' Shadow almost slapped himself, but stopped before he did. If Sonic thought Shadow was just standing there looking at him he would be put in a very awkward position. He hated that hedgehog. For some unknown reason when he was around Shadow got easily distracted. He tried to ignore and avoid him but that pesky hedgehog never knew to stay away. The only reason Shadow raced him was to get him to stay away from him until the next time they met. Shadow hated feeling this way and that was why he put distance between himself and others. The only other being that evoked these feelings was Maria, and he intended to keep it that way.

Quickly before any other and more annoying thoughts crept into his mind he dashed over to Sonic. "Where the heck were you going, faker? You should at least tell everyone about what you are going to do. You wanted everyone to go on this journey with you so the least you could do was stay with the group."

Instantly knowing that Shadow wasn't in a good mood once again he knew to get straight to the point. Lately Shadow kept pushing him away. From where he was standing he looked like he was the only one and that particularly annoyed him. 'And I thought we could be friends, what the hell was I thinking?'

"Well you knew quite well what I was doing and you would notify the others. Besides, *he shrugged* it would take too long to tell them then go searching."

"Well, you are going to come back with me to everyone else until we can get more information on this place. What if you end up in a lake then who would save you from drowning, hmmm? When we get back you have to STAY WITH THE GROUP. Think you can keep that in mind?"

"Sure," Sonic agreed to go but it wasn't because of Shadow. He wanted to see the map again so he could find out if it might lead them to a more interesting place than just running around by chance. Still, he wanted to startle Shadow a bit so he just complied willingly for a minute; then the trademark grin that he had, came flashing back. "But, only if you can get there before me."

With that Shadow was left in shock for a second, but that was all Sonic needed to get ahead of him and reach the group first. 'Damn,' Shadow thought, 'I knew it was suspicious that he would agree so readily to what I said. I should have kept my guard up.'

Everyone was setting up camp while the two speedy hedgehogs were gone. The portal was the only known way out of the Land they reached and since they had to have a base, the clearing it led to seemed like the best choice.

Knuckles was sent to get firewood, Amy and Rouge were preparing the tents and Tails was setting up his equipment. Everyone was doing something … except Sonic and Shadow. He could see it then, Sonic provoking Shadow and getting him to chase him through the entire forest. Tails let out a sigh. Those two never seemed to grow up. It was one thing for Sonic to act childish but the fact that Shadow let it get to him did leave some questions to think about. Even Tails knew that he was more mature than Sonic seemed to be.

The key word being 'seemed'. Being with his older brother most of the time, he knew when Sonic was being serious and why he let it seem like he was nothing but a child. When they were younger Sonic told his a story about a girl he met. Of course being more like Sonic at that time he had no interest in the story, but his brother almost never talked about his past so he listened to the whole thing. He could sense that Sonic needed to get it off his chest.

Sonic was about 8 when he met her. Her name was Sally. She had brown-white fur and had eyes a deeper color than the yellow of the sun. Personality wise, she was a lot like Sonic, minus the speed, attitude and taste for chilly dogs. However she loved running, forests, open fields and the adventures Sonic went on. Although she couldn't fight Eggman herself, she enjoyed every story Sonic told, even if it was stretched out a little. She was Sonic's first love. She was also very kind. No matter who it was, even Eggman, she would give them a second chance. Always giving people the benefit of the doubt.

Then Eggman attacked her small village. He wanted to make room for his Eggman empire. Being too cocky, Sonic let down his guard and Eggman nearly had him but she pushed him out of the way to save his life. Tails could remember the last words she told Sonic and Sonic told him. "Never stop being your happy and joyful self. I'll cry with you and I'll laugh with you. I always want to see that face of yours smiling. Just don't try to get killed. Keep your guard up. That's what I always warned you about. Don't hate Eggman. Remember what I said, reform him. Killing is never the answer."

Ever since then Sonic hasn't fell in love with anybody. He always cared for his friends and he kept living so she could see him smile. Never crying because he didn't want her to cry and protecting everyone he ever met. He stuck by her words and never killed Eggman, no matter how much he wanted to. Eventually, the desire to kill him had passed and Sonic took her beliefs as his own. Whether it was to remember her or to give her a tribute of his love, Tails never found out. That was the reason why he couldn't love Amy. Even if he loved his friends, true love never seemed to be able to reach his heart again.

"TAILS!" Snapping out of his thoughts he turned around to see Knuckles with a pile of fire wood, but no kindling.

"Didn't I already tell you knuckles? We need some smaller flammable stuff in another pile in order to start the fire."

Trying to play it cool he said "I knew that but where do I put this for now?" It was pretty obvious that he forgot about the kindling but Tails just went along with it to spare the red echidna's pride.

"Over by the rocks, I'll set it up while you go get the kindling. I am almost finished here after all."

Not long after Knuckles left (thankful that he kept his pride) Sonic and Shadow came speeding in. Apparently they raced again and once again, it was a tie.

It seemed that those two would never learn to stop competing. Tails once again sighed as he turned his attention to them.

"I TOTALLY beat you here," said a certain blue hedgehog.

"AS IF, the only victor here is me and you know that. I'm surprised that you are so dense that you can't notice it," a scowling black hedgehog was next to him and apparently very irritated.

"Sonic, Shadow, both of you need to calm down. While you two were gone we had to set up the base alone, and because of that we took a lot longer to set up. Now we can't go exploring today because it got dark. We'll have to start first thing in the morning." The two tailed fox was tired and still irritated about not being able to make sense about what he learned that day, however, he was still slightly scared of Shadow so he spoke cautiously.

"Alright, alright. Sorry little buddy, I got excited as I always do, you know me." A sneaky expression came upon Sonic's face. "You also know I like to give you surprise hugs." And then the blue hedgehog lifted his little brother in the air and gave him a big bear hug; the whole time Tails was laughing and had a big smile on his face.

What everyone didn't know was that there was someone, or something lurking in the shadows, unnoticed by the strange trespassers. "They should not be here. I won't allow anyone near the artifacts."

A/N: What artifacts is it talking about? Is it a friend or an enemy? Even more concerning who is it? Read the next chapter if you want to find out. Also I was going to update this yesterday but I realized I made a big mistake and couldn't update until now. Sorry for the missed day, but I will only be making daily updates for a while.