AP: hey, AngelicPuppy here with chapter three of Crimson Frost! It seems my story has fans, which makes me happy, though I fear they may kidnap me to do this chapter if I don't hurry up. So, without further ado, chapter 3!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic, Shadow, or any other StH character, they are the property of SEGA. Mari, Karo and his alien race the Darraki, do however belong to me.

I had no idea what had just happened. What the hell had attacked me? I pulled myself off the floor just as the door swung open with Sonic, Amy and Mari behind it.

"What was that noise? Are you ok?" Sonic asked. He was clearly startled and nearly frantic.

I coughed a couple times before answering. "I'm fine; I'm not really sure what happened. Something attacked me, something I couldn't see."

"That doesn't really make sense. Couldn't see as in it was too dark or couldn't see as in it was invisible?" Mari asked, hands on her hips as her worried eyes surveyed the room.

Sonic went over to the window to see if he could find any sign of what had hit me. I shook my head, there was no use, if I couldn't see it he certainly couldn't.

"It was invisible. There's plenty of light and I have excellent night vision. If it was there to see I'd have seen it."

"Shadow's right, there's still plenty of light coming in the window. The sun isn't even below the horizon, there's no way he'd have not seen it." Sonic said, shaking his head.

"Did it hurt you?" Amy asked, coming over to rub my face.

"No, not really. I think we all know I'm tougher than that."

Sonic sighed heavily. "You attract some weird shit Shadow. Keep it up and I'm gonna have you exorcised."

I couldn't help but laugh at the thought, which was likely his point. "I think you'd end up banishing me to hell."

"Well at least it'd be quiet around here."

"Yeah, and much less interesting." Mari said, poking my ribs gently.

I fought a snicker; I was actually very ticklish so her poke was both unnerving and laugh inducing. But of course, the quick-witted Mari never missed anything; she squinted at me, curious and mischievous. I was about to get tickled.

"Don't do it Mari, he'll hate you forever." Sonic said, already starting to chuckle as I backed up slowly.

Mari started to giggle and she pounced on me, going straight for my sides. I couldn't help it, I burst into laughter as she somehow found all my most sensitive spots. She tickled me to the floor as I tried to push her away, but she was quick. Amy joined in, perfectly content to take advantage and they had me flailing and laughing.

Sonic was cracking up in the background and Amy freed me and attacked him too. He yelped as she tackled him and started to tickle him. I finally was able to get my arms around Mari and pulled her down on top of me so I could restrain her. She was laughing too.

"No fair! You're stronger than me, let me go!" She yelled through laughing as she tried to worm free of my bear hug. I didn't budge at all and managed to calm my laughing to a cough-filled chuckle.

I sat up with her still trapped in my grasp and laughing and looked over at Amy and Sonic who were calm and quiet now. It was nice to have a pleasant moment like this, though I hated being tickled. I turned back to Mari who was calming down now, but she still had a mischievous look in her eye.

"I'm not letting you go, I feel like you're just waiting for an opportunity to keep tickling me." I said to her.

She started giggling again, proving my point. She had a beautiful laugh and I suddenly had an urge to kiss her. I started to feel a nervous flutter in my chest, good grief that really happens in real life. I pressed my lips to hers gently, she was definitely startled, freezing for a moment before relaxing into me and kissing back. She pulled back after a couple seconds, giving me a strange, questioning look.

"Something tells me that never happened." I said, calm now. I let her go and she shook her head.

"That sounds about right, though I'm pretty sure our lines should be switched here." She poked her tongue out at me and left the room, dignity intact.

"Well you certainly never cease to make life interesting Shadow." Amy said, getting to her feet and pulling Sonic up too.

"I can imagine. Sonic, stay for a moment, we must talk."

Sonic watched Amy leave and stared at the door for a few moments before turning back to me.

"So, what was that about exactly?" He asked, curiosity spread over his face.

"I don't know, I'll figure it out eventually."

"You always do. Anyway, what did you want to talk about?"

"That, that thing that attacked me. Whatever it was. And Hecate, her too."

"What about her? She show up in a dream again?"

I thought about how much to tell him, though that would be my undoing if I tried to hide anything. Hesitation always raised suspicion.

"She showed me a place with small children. Angels were watching over them, or that's what she said. I'm inclined to believe her, but I have no idea what she's up to."

A confused expression spread over Sonic's face. "What's the purpose of showing you that?"

I flattened my ears in annoyance, frowning deeply. If I knew the answer to that I wouldn't be asking anyone else and I told him so.

He looked over at the window, deep in thought. Eventually he started pacing, arms folded. I sighed in frustration, there was no fathoming a spirit's reasoning especially not one as powerful as Hecate.

"I can't really think of any reasons. I'm sure she's not an evil thing, but she certainly isn't being logical." I said quietly.

Sonic stopped pacing and chuckled. "Spirits don't need logic, they're spirits."

"Do you think what attacked me was a spirit?" I asked.

"You can see spirits though."

Sonic had a point there, though it was Knuckles who had a real talent for that.

"A demon maybe? But regardless, can't all spirits hide themselves?"

"I don't know. I'm not a spirit. Ask one is all I can think of."

I groaned, that was certainly an appealing prospect, interviewing a non-living thing. "I don't know what to do right now."

"Yeah, because I have all the answers." Sonic said, shaking his head.

"Come get dinner boys! And the others are back!" Amy yelled upstairs.

I shrugged, our conversation over for now, and headed downstairs. Sonic stayed, saying to tell Amy he wasn't hungry. I found myself ambushed at the bottom of the steps.

"Shadow! Cream and Karo had so much fun with Knuckles and Rouge! I can fly now!" Karo said excitedly as I tried to keep him from knocking me over.

Cream was giggling at Karo, halfheartedly pulling at his tail to make him back up.

"Calm down Karo, I can hear you just fine ya know." I said, patting him on the head.

"Hey Shadow." A tired voice said behind me.

I turned to see Tails, tired and downtrodden. I frowned, he looked better as far as sleeping went, but he seemed sad and disappointed.

"Hey Tails, what's wrong?"

He frowned at the floor. "Knuckles didn't teach me anything. We just sat on rocks all day. My ass hurts."

I was tempted to laugh at him, but his angry, disappointed expression was enough to pull at my heartstrings.

"Did you ask him why you sat on rocks all day?"

"He said we were going to meditate. I know how to meditate, but why all day? We could've spent time training, or going over co-op fighting strategies."

"Maybe it was because you were so angry yesterday. Besides, don't you know that quote, if you're so full of knowledge, how can I teach you anything?" Mari said.

"How do you know I was angry yesterday?" Tails asked suspiciously.

"Because I talk to people, I'm allowed to do that." Mari snapped back.

Knuckles stepped then. "Enough. If Tails doesn't understand why I had him do that, then that's his problem until he figures it out. It also means we'll be doing the same thing tomorrow."

"Oh come on!" Tails said in exasperation. "I already know how to meditate! What good is this doing? What if something happens?"

"I'd like to interject that we only get attacked every six months." Amy said from the kitchen.

Knuckles shook his head. "Just because you know how to do the action doesn't mean anything. Besides, I meditate every day, regardless of whether I'm training or not. Clearly you're missing the point of meditation. And until you figure it out, that's what you'll be doing."

Tails clenched his fists and his jaw, looking very much like he wanted to throw a huge tantrum as his tails swished hard in agitation. But Knuckles didn't budge, he stared him down, not even crossing his arms. Knuckles knew what he was doing; Tails was used to being a child while having the intelligence and some responsibilities of being an adult, he was used to getting his way and being smart enough to figure things out and getting praise and respect for it. Now, he was faced with something he didn't know, and faced with a person far more patient and stubborn than he and who knew something he wanted to learn but wasn't getting at what he thought was the right pace. Now he was being forced to truly be an adult. Well, he asked for it.

Tails sighed in bitter frustration. "Fine." He said indignantly, and went to his lab, every step controlled so he wouldn't stomp like a toddler.

Knuckles faintly growled; his restraint was amazing at times. He shook his head, sighed and sat on the couch, flipping through tv channels absently. The room was silent for a while as we all looked at Knuckles and the basement door to Tails' lab. This wouldn't be an easy time at all. I sat down next to Mari on the other couch, with Cream and Karo following. She smiled gently at me, pulling at my ear. I smiled back, feeling like an idiot. She giggled.

"Shadow, make sure you teach him running form. He isn't very good at it." Knuckles said absently.

I nodded, looking back at the door to the lab. I'd need to talk to him. I sighed and got up to head downstairs, better now than never. Tails was sitting at his bench in the center of the basement, his head down next to some plants. When I came closer I saw he was staring rather dejectedly at them, and I sensed chaos coming from them. They weren't the plants we gave to Karo, his looked like houseplants, and these looked like the beginnings of tomatoes.

"Are those tomatoes?" I asked, sniffing one.

"Yeah, I'll have to move them to new pots soon." Tails said softly. It seemed like he wanted to cry.

I let my breath out slowly; kids just seemed to get in my brain. "Are you trying to make super plants?"

"Sorta, not really. Agriculture was really messed up by the invasion and people are starving. I figured maybe chaos plants can grow cheaper and provide energy to help people get healthy, like they do for Karo. I recently changed them so they can only breed with other chaos plants. I don't want them cross-pollinating with natural ones."

"Mhmm, do you think they could help for going back to natural plants?"

"It's possible. I'm testing their effects on growing in soil and what happens after they die. At the very least they don't need sun, but I'm not sure if they'll be able to go global."

"Why not?"

"They need Chaos Energy to live. What if they can't start a new crop without it? What if the dying plants don't put enough energy back into the soil for the new ones to grow? Or worse, what if the first crop dies because it's not close to the Emeralds? That would cause major problems, especially since there are only seven. Countries would fight over them and they would fight us too."

I rubbed Tails' head. "It'll be fine Tails, you'll figure it out. Besides, I'm pretty sure Chaos Energy is everywhere. What about that law in physics? It says an ordered system always progresses toward disorder, and the world is pretty chaotic now."

Tails frowned. "Yeah, but that's negative Chaos Energy. For plants, neutral energy is best to keep nutrients. Positive energy makes them grow really fast, but that's all it is, they don't have any substance and tend to die easily at the least sign of negativity and despair. Negative energy will barely get them off the ground, if they grow at all."

"Are we still talking about your plants or normal plants?"

Tails laughed, sitting up. "Both. Plants actually respond to energy. And you can see this in a lot of decorative plants. Decorative plants are very weak; it's why you have to be so careful to weed them, weeds are strong, they live wild and easily strangle pet plants."

I had to laugh then, who would ever think of plants as pets? But considering the care many people give to them, it was an appropriate thought. "So, why does that willow tree never get sick?"

"You love it, duh." Tails said laughing more as he started to move around his lab.

"So, my appreciation for the tree helps it to grow? That would make sense except I often go sit under it when I'm upset or pissed."

"Well, the tree knows that. It appreciates that you go to it when you need relaxation, so it makes itself a protective haven. You in turn take care of it and appreciate it being there for you."

"Wow, who'd have ever pegged you for being the philosophical type?"

Tails chuckled and shook his head as he took measurements from a variety of screens connected to plants along the wall. "Well, when you live with people who believe in the supernatural, and are regularly exposed to it, it's very hard not to be."

"Heh, I guess so."

I watched him go about his lab for a few minutes in silence. It was interesting and yet boring at the same time. Tails sighed after watering a plant, clearly ready to talk about his training.

"What am I missing Shadow? Am I just being too impatient? Too childish?"

"Too impatient. You have to remember that strength isn't built in a day, just like a plant doesn't grow in a day. I know you want to be a part of what we do, but honestly we all just want you to be a kid. Unlike Amy, Mari or Rouge, however, Sonic, Knuckles and I will let you try your hand at adulthood and fighting because we respect your desire to grow even if we don't like how you're going about it. But you know Knuckles, he will make sure you see how hard it is, but it's because he cares. If you stay the course, he'll make you a great fighter."

"And what about you? What do you think?"

"I think you have a lot to learn about life. And I think that you should think about what Knuckles is teaching you."

Tails sighed. "Well, I figured it out, it's about being patient I guess. Though I'm not sure why it has to be on a rock, that really got to hurting after the first hour."

I had to laugh; I had once done the exercise with Knuckles. Sonic had a similar reaction to Tails while we were doing it too.

"You are correct in it being about patience. It's also about staying calm and steady under pressure, it's about focus. Tomorrow you'll likely find yourself meditating in a more comfortable place, then it will be about allowing yourself to rest while keeping alert."

Tails thought about it for a moment. "But why do it now? Why all day? I mean, it seems like we're using up a lot of time sitting around."

I sighed. "And you still don't get it, and I explained it to you. You do it now because it is necessary to have mental discipline. Without it you can't effectively train your body, and even if you can, you'll still be a terrible fighter. It's not a waste of time."

Tails shrugged; well at least he wasn't upset anymore. I shook my head and started up the stairs.

"Hey Shadow?"

"Yeah Tails?"

"I really am sorry about yesterday."

I shook my head, despite that he couldn't see me. "Don't worry about it, as often as I snap on everyone else I can't really get mad at you. Just be ready to train tomorrow. After meditating I'm gonna teach you about running."

"Sounds fun?"

All I did was laugh at him before going into the kitchen.

AP: Alright people, here's chapter 3!

Shadow: Finally

AP: Please R&R!