The City that Never Sleeps

Rage stared outside in awe. Gazing at all of the people outside. He'd rarely ever seen people and seeing so many at once really was a new experience for him. Buildings were on every side and the path was as wide as a road with three lanes. The noise coming from outside was outstanding as everyone on the street talked to someone they were walking with. Upon closer inspection Rage realised that there were pedestrian lights telling the people to go or stop, much like car crossroads.

Rage could see all sorts of species in the streets; Foxes, Squirrels, Humans, Porcupines, Horses, Cows, Sheep, Rabbits, Goats and many more but surprisingly there were very few hedgehogs and Echidnas about. "If you're wondering why there are so few hedgehogs and Echidnas it's because most of them are in the army." Eric told Rage. "Echidnas are well known for their far higher than average strength and Hedgehogs are well known for their higher than average speed. It makes them good choice as both are handy in the military. Also Echidnas are well known for being the most one with Chaos and Hedgehogs immediately after them." It seemed like a good reason to Rage who nodded in acknowledgement. "The person in charge of the military is a guy called Knuckles, one of the strongest Echidnas, and personal friend of Tails!" Eric grinned at Rage.

"This place is incredible..." Rage said in awe. He had never really been in a city before. By the time he was 'born' all the cities had been destroyed, minus this one of course. Rage suddenly felt the ground beneath him shaking ever so slightly and, by concentrating turned his ears to the ground, he could hear a loud large metallic thing on rails moving beneath them. "What's that?" Rage asked pointing to the ground. Eric looked at him confused, this time it was Shadow who answered.

"It's a subway system, makes it easier for people to cover large distances within the city." Shadow was looking directly at Rage like he was a child that needed teaching everything. He then looked at Eric. "He's never been to a city before." Shadow explained. Not explaining why and playing that bit on the safe side.

"Ah." Eric breathed. Looking a lot less confused and now more understanding. "So how are you feeling?" Eric addressed Slayde with the question.

"I'm feeling fine, just a little tired, headaches cleared." Slayde said, looking at Eric. "Seems like an interesting place." Slayde gestured outside. Eric was just about to start speaking when Slayde said something else. "I heard you while I was resting, so you don't need to explain anything to me that you told them but I would like to know something." Eric looked expectantly. "How long until we get to the hotel?" Eric looked deflated.

"Probably about 5 minutes longer." Eric mumbled. Disappointed he wasn't sharing more of his knowledge to anyone. He quickly perked up. "The hotel we're taking you to is one that is normally reserved for the more wealthy of people. All because you brought our leader back to us!" Eric beamed at them, he seemed a very happy person. Everyone in the Jeep sat quietly waiting for the arrival at the hotel. All of them looked quite tired. Amy's head lolled over onto Shadow's shoulder and rested there as Shadow stared into space either unaware or unbothered. Slayde sat there twiddling his thumbs, staring at them deeply as if he was moving them with telepathy, and Rage just laid back, head in hands, with his eyes closed.

"We're here!" The driver shouted. Everyone looked up, Shadow quickly started undoing Amy's belt, Shadow picked up Amy bridal style and walked out the Jeep with her in his arms. Rage stood up and jumped out onto the floor and Slayde immediately followed also jumping out. Eric was the last to exit the Jeep and as soon as he had it drove away. Looking round they could see so many people going about on their daily business. People started to dart past the group as they were standing there, all the people headed some place or other.

"Okay! We need to get to that hotel over there!" Eric pointed at the nearest sky scraper that was round a kilometre tall. "Come on!" He shouted over the crowd, already on his way. Rage and Slayde immediately followed, whereas Shadow was having some trouble wading through the hordes of people at the same time as protecting Amy. Eric, Rage and Slayde made it to the hotel and looked back to see Shadow only about halfway to the hotel. "Hey! Hurry up!" Eric shouted. Shadow looked up for a second, then went back to dodging the crowds. Suddenly a Rabbit knocked Amy's head and made Shadow almost drop her as the Rabbit walked from behind Shadow. The Rabbit found himself on the floor with a foot in his back pinning him down.

"Watch where you're going you incompetent fool." Shadow spoke just enough to be heard over the crowd as they suddenly started backing away. Shadow glaring at them all as they stared at him. "What never seen a hedgehog before?" Shadow shouted at them all before walking towards the group again, crushing the Rabbit as he did. The Rabbit scurried away as Shadow walked towards the group calmly, the crowd still avoiding him as he headed to the group. He finally made it to the group and Rage spoke up.

"That was a little harsh you know. What did he even do?" Eric started to head in as Slayde and Shadow followed, Shadow ignoring Rage. Rage caught up to Shadow. "Well?"

"He knocked into me. No need to make a big deal out of it." Rage looked at Shadow and sweat dropped. Rage decided to just leave it instead of pointing out the Shadow was the one that made the big deal out of it. They made it inside the lobby and it was massive. Taking up almost the entire base of the skyscraper and two floors of it. There were multiple pillars there that were obviously made of the 'Chaosanium' that Eric mentioned earlier. There was a red carpet running from the door to the desk that was sat in the middle of the lobby. On the wall at far end of the lobby there were four elevators and on the left hand wall there were some rather grand looking stairs with black smooth silky carpeting. Eric continued towards the wooden mahogany desk. The desk had three computers on it, two Chickens operating two of them and, a Horse looked up to see Eric and the rest of the group approaching, Shadow bringing up there rear. She stopped typing on the PC and moved into the free area of the desk to see what they wanted.

"Hey, I have Tails' rescuers here. Looking for those two rooms that were booked for them." Eric turned his head to look back at the group again. "One of you will have to stay with Amy be-"

"I'll do it." Shadow blurted out not letting Eric even finish his sentence. Everyone gave him a weird look and Shadow looked slightly uncomfortable. "I don't want to go with him because I don't know him." Shadow pointed at Slayde. "And I hate him." Shadow pointed this time at Rage. "Seems a bit obvious who I would pick to stay with if you look at it properly." Shadow said calmly. Eric turned back to the receptionist apparently satisfied with the answer. Rage and Slayde carried on staring at Shadow. "You two are going the right way for a smack in the face." Rage and Slayde looked at each other, smirked and turned back to looking at Eric. Eric turned round with two card keys in his hand and handed each one to Rage and Slayde.

"Your room is 370-2. The last number is the room number and the first is the floor number. You're on the top floor with rooms! The rest above that is relaxation area." Rage and Slayde walked off together towards the elevator. "Your room is 150-2. Sorry I couldn't get you one any closer to your friends but they are fuller than normal." Shadow looked at Eric more pleased than annoyed as he took the two card keys off him. "One for each of you. So she can get in once she's up and about. There are 375 floors in this hotel this is counted as the first in the elevator but not for the room numbers, so press the next one up to get to your floor. Floor 372 is a spar, floor 373 is an arcade, floor 374 is the managers floor, so avoid there, and floor 375 is a swimming pool on the roof!" Eric explained to Shadow. Shadow nodded in thanks as he walked over to the elevators. Eric looked over to the other two guys heading for the elevators. "Hey, press one floor up to get to your room!" He shouted to them.

"Yeah, we heard you telling Shadow." They shouted back in unison. Eric looked mystified with no idea how they could have heard from so far away. He started to walk towards the door to head back to his post at the gate. Then he stopped and turned back round one last time.

"If any of you ever need me. Go ask at the gate for me! See you round!" Eric shouted to them all. Shadow nodded to him and Slayde and Rage stuck up their thumbs just before he turned round and departed through the door. They reached the elevators and Rage and Slayde went to different ones. Shadow then came up to yet another one carrying Amy.

"Hey Shadow, elevator race. Want to join in?" Slayde said to Shadow over Rage's head. Shadow just glared at Slayde before turning back to his elevator. "Oh yeah, you're on another floor. Too bad!" Shadow elevator arrived and he stepped into it, the doors closing behind him. "Bugger, should have picked that one." Slayde muttered to himself. Both Slayde and Rage stood there waiting for their respective elevators to arrive. Suddenly Slayde's elevators doors opened. "Haha!" Slayde stepped into the elevator and quickly pressed the button labelled '371' feeling the elevator move upwards he smiled. His thoughts turned to Shadow. 'At this rate he would have won the elevator race.' Slayde thought to himself. Listening to the calming music playing in the elevator as he watched the number slowly go up. After what seemed like hours the elevator finally read 371 and Slayde stepped out of double doors with Rage nowhere in sight down the corridor that split the floor into two halves.

Slayde walked down the corridor towards the doors that lead into the only two rooms on the floor. Looking at the two doors he noticed the one that said 370-2 and tried his card key on the slot next to it. A clicking noise could be heard as the small light next to the slot turned green. Slayde pushed the door open and pocketed the card key as he strolled in. "What took you so long!?" Rages voice greeted him. Slayde quickly looked round to see Rage grinning at him from a door to the left of him. He was now fully dressed in what must have been the hotels clothing. Black jeans and a plain black top.

"You ran up here didn't you?" Slayde questioned Rage. Rage shook his head with a solemn look on his face. "You're a terrible liar. I'm amazed that you managed to keep your Chaos abilities hidden from the doctor for so long!" Rage looked at Slayde confused.

"I never told you I did that." Rage said to Slayde. Slayde laughed heartily as he walked towards the large window that was positioned half a meter up and went all the way to the top of the ceiling.

"I doubt this place would still exist if you had." Slayde said half seriously half jokingly opening the window fully, as Rage chuckled, so that he could lean out and see down to the floor. "One heck of a view." Slayde said pointing out the window with his thumb. Rage chuckled again.

"So what do you want to do?" Rage questioned Slayde. Slayde climbed on top of the window ledge and had a better look of the drop. He turned round and looked at Rage while still standing on it.

"How about we take our now free bodies out for a spin?" Slayde said grinning as he let go of the edge of the window allowing himself to start falling backwards. Rage grinned.

"Fuck yeah!" Rage shouted as Slayde fell backwards out of the window. Rage immediately ran and jumped out the window himself head first.


Shadow stood in the elevator still holding Amy in his arms bridal style. The elevator was moving too slow for the ebony hedgehog and he started to feel uncomfortable and agitated just before it finally opened its doors. Shadow walked out as fast as he could without knocking Amy and noticed that the corridor split the floor into two different 'apartment' type rooms rather than the floor being covered in rooms. "Good. Less people to interrupt me."

Shadow stopped in front of the door labelled '150-2' and pulled out his card key. Carefully moving Amy into a single arm he slid the card key through the slot on the side. A click was heard as a green light came on. Shadow quickly pocketed his card key and put Amy into two arms again. Using his feet to open the door he entered in the room and found it to be very spacious. The room he entered was a living room with a sofa, a large TV in front of it and coffee table in the middle of the two things, and an eating table with two seats round it. He looked round for one of the bedrooms and found it walking inside noticed it had a double bed in and an en-suite bathroom connected to it.

He carefully laid Amy down on the left hand side of the bed and carefully brushed some of her quills out of her eyes. "Mmm. Sonic." Amy murmured rubbing her face against his hand. The onyx and crimson hedgehogs hand dropped, disheartened. Shadow walked out the room to search for the other bedroom but he could hear a noise growing louder. He looked out his window as he saw Slayde shoot by the window with his thumb up followed immediately by Rage. Shadow just rolled his eyes and searched for the other bedroom. After several minutes of looking concluded the idiots at the reception only gave them one room because they assumed Amy Rose and himself were a couple.

"As if that would ever happen." Shadow told himself angrily, seemingly enraged at the receptionist. Shadow threw himself onto the sofa and grabbed the TV remote off the table. Switching it on a report on Robotnik came on. It was showing scenes of a demolished wreck of area that used to be his base. Shadow chuckled to himself, seems they made the news. He decided TV wasn't really what he wanted to do. So he switched off the TV and laid back on the sofa, putting the remote on the coffee table in front of the sofa. Shadow knew he didn't need sleep, him being an ultimate life form and everything, but he knew it would speed up his energy recovery rate.

Suddenly Shadow realised he still hadn't put his restrictors back on and he was quite surprised he hadn't collapsed from over exertion without them on. Pulling them out his pockets he quickly put them back onto his wrists before falling into a deep slumber.


Slayde was falling through the air backwards with Rage only about ten meters about him. He could feel how far away the ground was. "Wooooooo!" Slayde was shouting the whole way down, yet as he was falling he saw Shadow standing in a window beneath, Slayde stuck his thumb out at Shadow as he past. Slayde grinned once he was out of sight of the window with the charcoal and ruby hedgehog in. Slayde could feel the ground rapidly coming towards him as he continued to scream "Woo!" He quickly did a back flip and landed perfectly on his feet, leaving a small mass of cracks in the pavement where he landed. Luckily the pedestrians had seen him coming and had moved out of the way of the free falling lunatics. Rage almost immediately landed, much more gracefully, next to Slayde and Slayde grinned at him before shooting off swerving in between the pedestrians like it was a game. Rage followed suit and started dodging in and out of the pedestrians, keeping up with Slayde.

Slayde stopped in a small area just off the road with very few people hanging nearby. Rage followed him in. "What we stopping for?" Rage questioned. Slayde grinned and looked quite impish.

"We're going to have a race." Slayde beamed at him. "Want to see just how fast this can move!" Slayde looked very pleased with himself for some reason, leaving Rage slightly confused.

"But where are we racing to? We don't know where anything is or where to go to get anywhere!" Rage said. Confused as to how a race could work if they knew where nothing was.

Slayde chuckled slightly. "One place we both definitely do know is the gate we came in." A look of dawning appeared on Rages face.

"Sounds like fun." Rage chuckled too. Rage was sure he could beat the imitation of a hedgehog with ease as he had speeds exceeding that of Sonic and Shadow at his disposal.

"Okay, so neither of us knows the way but, we both know the destination." Slayde confirmed. "Ready. Set. Go!"

Slayde shot off out of the area off the road and went left. Rage swiftly went left and ran forward without stopping. He knew that if he just kept going in the same direction that he would eventually come out of the city and that in turn would make it easier to find the gates. Rage rapidly swerved in and out of all of the people that were walking slowly. Dodging like a maniac between the thousands of people in the streets, he was like a blur, none of them could see him as he was moving too fast but they all felt the slight wind that was kicked up from his movement. Making them look side to side, confused.

Rage continued to dodge through the pedestrians as he ran towards the edge of the path. He swiftly ran up the building slightly and ran to the left so he was moving vertically on the wall this way there was no pedestrians in the way so he could go faster. Every time he felt himself starting to lose momentum and felt like he was going to fall off or there was a gap in between the buildings Rage did a triangle jump and jumped to the other side to continue his running. Rage rapidly made his way through the main part of the city this way and soon found himself in what Eric called the 'sub-urban area.'

Rage dropped to the ground to take in his surroundings, earning some funny looks before the people carried on with their daily business. This area too had a lot of people, though it was nowhere near as many as there were in the main area of the city. In the main city there were barely any gaps in the multitude of crowds, whereas here you could quite easily swerve in between the people without fear of hurting someone too much. The buildings weren't as high here, but they were still a good 500 meters at the smallest. This city truly was a place packed with people. Rage wouldn't be surprised that if there would have been a few more years before they came here that these building too would be like the ones in the centre and the ones in the centre even higher, on average anyway.

Rage crouched down in to starting position again. He'd just wasted some time that could have been crucial so he started off at a faster pace than he did last time. Swerving in between all of the pedestrians again and finding it far easier this time. He knew that it would be faster running from the edge of this area to the other as it was almost twice as small and just as he was thinking that, the buildings started to dramatically reduce, leaving some smaller 100 meter flats.

Rage made it to the end of the urban area and surveyed the area. From where he was standing he could see two different gates and wasn't quite sure which one was the one he came through. At least he was sure that he would be able to run at his true maximum speed over the rural area of the city as it was the less populated. There were very few houses nearby and the most he had to worry about running into were none sentient animals that were used for milk, eggs and other essential things like wool and meat. Rage couldn't decide which of the two gates he could visibly see to go to but then he noticed that one of the two gates had a more defined road to it than the other and decided that he'd go to the one with the more defined road as he remembered that the one he entered had a large well paved road.

Rage sprinted towards the gate that was in a north westerly direction to his current position. Breaking the sound barrier and leaving a sonic boom following him as he sped across to the gate. Rage passed straight through the middle of a herd of cows and made all the cows start panicking because of the loud noise of the sonic boom. Rage was approaching the gate at a ferocious speed and when he got about half a kilometre away he started to slow down. Bringing his speed down rapidly and suddenly stopping in front of the gate two seconds and a half later. Rage knocked on the door of the small hut to the left of the gate that controlled whether the gate opened or closed. A brown ferret came out. "Is Eric here?" Rage asked.

The ferret spoke with a strong Scottish accent. "Sorry mate he ain't. He be up at t' n'thern gate." The ferret pointed in a direction that was luckily not in the way Rage had just come from. Rage was thankful he didn't waste his time coming here instead of going to the other gate that was in his view. Rage thanked the ferret as he went back into the hut and sped off again heading towards the gate that the ferret had pointed out. Preying that Slayde had not managed to beat him to the gate in his delays.

As Rage sped towards the gate at full speed he passed through one of the forest areas to find it raining inside it. "I am definitely not coming inside here again." He thought to himself. He was forced to slow down slightly as he went through the forest and decided he would simply go outside of the forest and find a route outside it. Quickly backtracking he managed to get out of it and turned to the left to run nearby it. It took him a good 2 seconds to get to the edge of the forest as he moved nearby to go alongside it. The forest ran next to the wall, but the bit near the wall wasn't very populated with trees. He managed to get passed the forest in once piece still and ran at the gate at full speed again.

Pulling an extremely sharp stop just in front of the hut near the gate Rage casually walked up to the hut. Slayde was nowhere in sight so he knew that he had won. Rage knocked on the door and it opened to reveal a bright pink female Echidna that was half way through laughing at some sort of joke. "Hey." Rage started to say. The Echidna looked at him with a smirk still on his face "Is Eric here?" Rage finished.

"Nah he's not here yet." The female Echidna spoke with a very entrancing feminine voice. Rage looked as if he expected that answer. "Your friend says 'What took you so long?' though." Rage looked at the Echidna with a blank look on his face, and then Slayde could be seen standing behind the pink Echidna laughing.

"Hello Rage." Slayde said smiling at him. Rages face turned from blank to irritated as he looked at the black and blue hedgehog.

"How on earth did you beat me here?" Rage asked in an angry voice. Slayde just laughed at him.

"Come on in and join me and Lynda for a drink." Rage looked up at the Echidna called Lynda who opened the door enough to let him in. Rage walked in slowly and followed Slayde to a table that was in the middle of the hut. "Beer?" Slayde asked Rage. Rage nodded at him in agreement as Slayde slid an open Budweiser across the table to him. "They got loads in that fridge." Slayde stated, pointing at the fridge. "It's like a bottomless pit in there!" Slayde grinned as Lynda came and sat next to him. There were six chairs at the sides of the table.

"You still haven't answered me?" Rage asked more calmly now. Slayde took a swig of his beer.

"Well you see. While you was blundering about through the people on the ground heading in whatever random direction that took your fancy, I climbed up one of the nearest skyscrapers and got a good view of the area. From being able to see three different gates at once I could easily tell which one it was. So I jumped from building to building and ran the rest of the way at a leisurely pace. Besides. Every Mobian has a strong sense of direction. Oh wait, I guess you don't!" Slayde laughed at Rage as Rage just glared at him. "Also you're so slow you may as well be a snail!"

"Yeah right. I bet if we had a straight equal race that I would beat you easily!" Rage answered back. He was clearly bothered by Slayde's comment on his speed.

"Shame we shall never find out really. Isn't it?" Slayde commented, taking another swing of his beer.

"Why not? We have a perfect area to race here. We could do it now!" Rage shouted out. Standing up swiftly.

"Sit down Rage. I know you like to prove yourself but I'm just not in the mood for racing at the moment." Slayde smirked at him. Suddenly the sound of a car engine and tires on a road could be heard in the distance. Rage walked up to the door, frustrated, to see how close the vehicle was and whether Eric was inside or not. Slayde followed Rage and went out the door with him. They saw that there was another Jeep heading towards them on the dusty road.

"Ah, here he is." Lynda announced to them both after following them both outside to see where they went to. They stood just outside the door waiting patiently for the Jeep to arrive. As soon as it got about ten meters away it stopped and Eric hopped out.

"Thanks for the ride!" Eric called to the Jeep driver, who immediately started turning about to drive off. He then looked up to see Slayde and Rage waiting for him, both of them grinning. "Bloody hell! How did you get here so fast!" Slayde just laughed at his reaction whereas Rage walked up to Eric and stood next to him ready to walk to the hut with him.

"We ran." Rage said to him simply. Eric was gob smacked, out of all the people in the city the fastest only went slightly faster than their fastest car. Which drove at about 125 miles per hour. A bit over a quarter of Rage's speed.

"That's insane." Eric stated. Simply staring at them. "Who's the fastest in your group? Can you all run fast like that?" Rage went to speak and answer that he was but Slayde beat him to talking.

"We're not sure who the fastest is. To be honest we never really raced to find out who it is. As for all of our speeds we can, well except Amy, all run faster than the speed of sound." Slayde winked at Eric. Who just stood there amazed. They had jet planes that broke the sound barrier but only barely and yet these hedgehogs could run at least as fast!

"That's pretty damn incredible. Completely insane. I think I need a beer." Eric then noticed Lynda looking into her eyes he turned away quickly and blushed slightly. They walked inside and sat round the table as Eric grabbed himself a beer. He then sat with the rest of them. "What's on the TV Lynda?" Eric addressed her from across the table; pointing at a television that Slayde and rage had not noticed. Lynda looked up at Eric before replying.

"There was this special on. Something to do with odd things happening about Eggman. One of his bases blew up out of the blue this morning! They couldn't seem to find any explanation as to why it did. They were still searching when I turned it off. It's probably still on." Lynda replied to Eric. Eric looked amazed, it was the first time one of Eggman's bases had been destroyed for over a year. Slayde and Rage started laughing, they got weird looks from both Echidnas. Rage spoke through his laughter.

"Should I tell them or you?" Rage asked Slayde. Slayde was laughing too much to reply so he just pointed at Rage. "That was us!" Rage went back to laughing. The Echidnas looked at them in disbelief. Rage had finally stopped laughing at the confusion of the freedom fighters. "Well to be more precise it was him." Rage pointed at Slayde who stuck his thumb up as he did. "And it was an accident. We didn't mean to do it at all! Things just sort of got out of hand when Sonic almost died."

"Sonic? You mean the Sonic? The one that went missing five years ago and Tails never stops going on about?!" Eric looked at them in disbelief again. Amazed that such a hero had passed right under his nose and he didn't even notice. This time it was Slayde who spoke.

"Yes, the very same. We're sort of half friends of him. Well. I say that but he and Rage haven't been properly introduced yet." Eric looked at them. Unsure whether to believe everything that they were saying or not. Eric took a swig of his beer and Slayde followed suit. Eric then looked oddly at Rage.

"You know. Eggman has a robot called something Rage. I wonder if he based it off you." Eric said to him. Rage just grinned at Eric as Slayde rolled his eyes at Rage. Eric laughed. "Anyone up for a game of cards?" Rage, Slayde and Lynda all nodded. "Okay got a pack here." He pulled out a rather battered looking set of playing cards. "What do you want to play? Poker, 21, blackjack..."


Amy awoke with a start. Dragging herself out of the nightmare she was having. She shut her eyes and laid back down, thinking about the horrific dream. Sonic was dying in front of her but because she was so weak she couldn't do anything to help him. She couldn't stop Robotnik herself and save him from his gruesome fate. She breathed heavily and shallowly, like she had just been running a marathon and had only just finished the ten mile race. She opened her eyes again and looked at the ceiling.

"Where am I?" Amy whispered, she sat up again. More calm now but still a little worried. She could see there was an en-suite to the left of the room and to the right were some large windows covering almost the whole wall. In front of the bed was a door that was half open, Amy peered through and saw it leaded to a living room. Half getting off her bed so that her feet could touch the ground she took a look round. The room was a pale blue colour with a patterned wallpaper print. There was a large wardrobe and a set of drawers to the left of the door that lead to the living room and both were a dark brown wood.

Amy decided to take a stroll outside of the room to see what was in the living room and so she pushed open the door fully. She could see a large television on the other side of the room and a sofa in the middle. There was a small kitchen going off with a fridge, an oven and a few cupboards. She then noticed something black sticking up over the sofa and, being extremely cautious, approached the sofa slowly.

Amy peered over the edge of the sofa and saw that it was only Shadow there. Amy let out a sigh of relief. At least she was with someone she knew, wherever this place was. Looking at the hedgehog again she realised just how sweet and innocent he looked while he slept. It was like all of the pain and suffering he had gone through had just melted away and left him there as a normal, quiet, handsome hedgehog. Amy shook the thoughts from her head. The reality was that Shadow was a very pained misunderstood soul and he enjoyed being alone. She needed to remember that.

Amy noticed that a single strand of her pink fur had come off and made its way onto Shadows face. Amy blushed slightly at the fact that some of her fur had come off and it landing on someone made it far worse. It was awfully close to his nose so if he breathed to heavily he might end up inhaling it. Amy decided she best move it and, slowly and carefully, moved her hand towards the sleeping hedgehogs face to try and remove the item that was foreign to his face. She got within a few centimetres when suddenly an arm whipped up and a hand grasped her hand, preventing her from moving her arm any further, which made Amy gasp loudly as she was not expecting it. A pair of black eyelids shifted and revealed two red eyes which momentarily surveyed her before quickly letting go of her hand.

"Rose. You're awake." Shadow stated. Sitting up and moving over in case she wanted to sit on part of the sofa. Amy took the moving as an invitation and took a seat on the other side. The two hedgehogs were quite close as the sofa was only designed for two people. "How are you feeling?" Shadow asked Amy, finally looking at her with his piercing eyes.

"I'm feeling okay. Thanks Shadow." A slight bit of confusion came off in her voice as she was not expecting Shadow to care for her well being. She supposed he may have just been asked by someone to look after her. "How are you feeling?" She responded. Deciding that if the black and crimson hedgehog was showing interest in her well being she best at least show some back.

"I'm feeling much better after that nap. Feels like I've been sleeping forever though. I wonder what time it is." Shadow stated, looking about for some form of clock in the room. He apparently didn't see one as he turned back to the TV slightly dejected. Amy watched Shadow as he pondered the time but it was impossible to tell unless they were outside. "Well it'd be impossible to tell from the sun as it's artificial so I guess they must have a time somewhere." Amy looked confused. Just where were they if they had an artificial sun? Another world?

"Why don't you try looking to see if it's on the TV?" Amy suggested. Shadow looked at Amy quite surprised. "Even I come up with great ideas you know." Amy said stubbornly after noticing how Shadow was looking at her. Shadow stopped looking at her and turned to the coffee table and grabbed the remote off it. Turning the TV on.

"I was looking at you like that because I was surprised I didn't think of it. Not because I think you're stupid Rose." Shadow coolly said as the television powered up. Amy looked slightly embarrassed that she had jumped to conclusions so quickly. The television finally powered on and the news popped up. Try to what Amy said there was indeed a time displayed at the left hand side of the screen. It displayed '1:32 HT' Shadow assumed it was a 24 hour clock and that 'HT' stood for something to do with the city. Like 'Home Time' or something to that effect. It was obvious there were multiple bases in other places of the world so there may be a chance that it is broadcast outside the city too. The person reading out the news on the television was an older male giraffe.

"And now onto the more pressing matters. Eggman is believed to be building up some form of army to march upon somewhere. Now we are not completely sure where this army is going to be attacking, nor how long it is going to take for him to build up. We are currently redoubling our strengths and trying to sort out any weaknesses in case the army is a plan for us. The army is currently over one hundred million in size and rising. We doubt he shall carry on building it up for much longer and that it will strike where ever it is targeted for within a few weeks. Our own army should be enough to crush it easily and we are glad to say that if the army does march on us that when it is destroyed it will leave a large opening on Eggman's base allowing us to create a massive counter strike. Now for the weather..." Shadow turned off the television. He had no interest in the weather system of this place. He had lived out and coped in every form of it.

"So what do you want to do?" Shadow asked looking at Amy's face, his voice still sounded his usual way but he seemed to have the slightest trace of kindness in there that was peeking through. Amy was taken aback again. She didn't expect Shadow to offer to do anything with her.

"Erm. Well I could cook something up? I know you don't have to eat and everything but it has to be nice to have something sometimes right?" Amy answered with her own question, the usually dark hedgehog was showing her some other side of him which she found highly odd but she thought she may as well do something nice for Shadow to try and build up some form of friendship so he didn't feel quite so alone.

"That would be lovely Rose." Shadows face had the usual same stern look on it, but inside his eyes he looked like he was smiling.

"I'll make you something that'll surprise you then. So no looking into the kitchen! I don't even know what's in there yet so it'll be a surprise to me until I look." Amy said smiling at Shadow. Shadow realised that maybe, just maybe he'd finally found a friend after Maria. He wondered if Maria had guided him to her and her to him as Amy was so alike to the blonde human Shadow used to think of as a sister. Shadow noticed Amy had entered the kitchen and turned the television back on as he gently whispered three words to himself.

"Thank you Maria."