The hedgehogs ran for about half an hour without saying anything to each other. It was Sonic, of course, that broke the silence.

"Shadow… could we stop a sec?" Sonic asked nervously.

"You can stop," Shadow said. Sonic contemplated stopping himself then catching up to Shadow, but that would be impossible, even at his own speed. "Why do you need to stop anyway? Tired already?" Shadow taunted.

"No way, I could run all day before I got tired. I'm enjoying this, In fact, I never want to stop!" Sonic said confidently.

"Then why did you ask to stop in the first place?" Shadow pried. Sonic sighed.

"It doesn't matter," he said, making it obvious that he was holding something back. Shadow skidded to a halt, now he was the curious one. Sonic stopped also, but his reflex was slow this time, and by the time he skidded and stopped, he was about a fifty meters away from Shadow. Sonic quickly jogged back over to his rival.

"We've stopped, now what is it that you wanted to say or do?" Shadow asked again. Sonic finished his journey over to the dark hedgehog, not saying anything. "Come on! I answered your questions, so answer mine."

"Man, Shadow. You don't have to make a big deal out of it. All I had to do was pee," Sonic said and went over to a nearby bush. Shadow looked at Sonic in disgust and covered his face with the palm of his hand.

"You couldn't have waited… or been a bit more subtle. Do you ever see me doing that?" Shadow complained.

"Sheesh, Shadow. Next thing, you'll be saying it's bad to breathe in your presence. Those royal genetics getting to ya? Since you're the son of the ruler of a whole race and all that," Sonic teased as he hid behind the bush.

"Damn it, Faker. He's never going to let it go," Shadow grumbled under his breath while he clenched his fists by his sides while Sonic finished up and walked back over to him.

"Aww, come on. You know I'm just messing with ya," Sonic said when he noticed Shadow's solemn look. Shadow glared at the annoying blue pest from the corner of his eye. "It's just what friends do!"

Shadow tensed up and looked at Sonic in shock.

"Faker, your insults towards me may somehow be acts of kindness, but whenever I say unkind things to you, they do not mean the same thing. If I'm being harsh, it means I don't like you!" Shadow said angrily.

"Then why are we still running together?" Sonic asked with a smile. Shadow gritted his teeth in anger and frustration, then tried to leave Sonic in the dust, but the blue hedgehog caught up within a few moments. "You never were faster than me; it was always a Chaos Control trick, wasn't it?" Sonic said while running backwards besides Shadow. The dark hedgehog looked at Sonic with wide eyes. "We'll have to race one day, after you've practiced. I guess all that amnesia you went through didn't do you much good. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt… since I remember you being faster."

"Another act of friendship, I guess?" Shadow said bitterly. "Making the ultimate life form feel unworthy to a mortal rodent like you?"

"Hey, who're you callin' rodent, hybrid?" Sonic said and smashed into Shadow by elbowing him in the side. But, what Shadow lacked in speed, he had in strength, and he used it to push Sonic to the ground with enough force for the blue hedgehog to skid several miles.

"Just you wait! I'll be faster than you, and ten times stronger!" Shadow declared at the top of his voice so Sonic could hear from far away. The hero got up and dusted himself down with his hands, then ran back over to Shadow.

"You don't need to be, we're on the same side, so you don't have to worry about defeating me," Sonic assured him. Shadow growled and snapped at Sonic.

"You don't get it, do you!? I don't want to be your friend, or your ally! Not even your acquaintance! I work alone!" Shadow bellowed. "You're only here because I need all of the emeralds, and since you insisted that they were 'our' emeralds, I need you by my side until we can get them all, and I can claim them from after a fair fight."

Shadow finished what he had to say and breathed heavily in fury as he tried to calm down.

"It's strange what comes out when you're angry," Sonic said cunningly. "That's all I needed to know."

Shadow cursed under his breath and turned around to avoid eye contact with his Sonic. The blue one could see Shadow's chest move up and down, so he was still breathing heavily. Seeing this, he realised that Shadow must have still been angry at this point, so Sonic wouldn't try to push him any further. Sonic felt like saying something, but it took him a few moments to find the courage to say it.

"Shadow… this may be the wrong time to say this since you're angry an' all… but, I was really glad to see you earlier," Sonic said. This got Shadow's attention, but he didn't budge or show that he was listening. Sonic continued regardless. "I wasn't sure whether you'd survived that fight. You could have been dead, or lost your memory again. I waited for you to come back, and I'm glad you only took a few days instead of months or years. By then, I'm sure everyone else would have given up and stopped waiting for you, but I wouldn't have."

"Stop with the love speech, Sonic. You're making me retch," Shadow said harshly.

"This isn't a love speech! I'm just sayin', I'm glad to have you back, so we can race and go on adventures together, as friends!" Sonic exclaimed.

"As rivals…" Shadow corrected him.

"Allies?" Sonic tried to bargain.

"Whatever suits me at the time," Shadow said bluntly.

"So, not enemies?" Sonic asked. Shadow didn't deny, so Sonic smiled. Shadow turned around, his anger had ceased, and it didn't look like he was going to be sick from the deep conversation they had. Sonic had a feeling Shadow didn't hate him as much as he let on, and he would just accept Shadow's harsh words as inability to be truthful. As long as Shadow didn't ditch Sonic via Chaos Control, Sonic would assume Shadow didn't mind being around him, and whatever fight they got into, would hopefully turn out to be a friendly match that they would both benefit from.

Shadow ran ahead without saying anything else, then felt another spike in Chaos energy. Sonic didn't feel it, but by Shadow's sudden perk, he guessed that the hedgehog had found something, so he followed in excitement so they could find the second to last emerald.