Ready, Steady, Go

Once the demon and werehog had disappeared, the reality of what was happening hit Shadow like a freight train. He had run away from home and entered a new world that he knew almost nothing about. His only companion was a hyperactive werehog that he had known for less than a day. He now had a two spies working under Sonic and him; one a werehog, the other a shady demon that Shadow would have earlier that day not even thought of putting his life in the hands of. Now? He was contemplating where Sonic and him would go first in search of finding out why demons and werehogs were enemies in the first place.

Shadow was in dire need of some Advil. He looked over at his werehog partner and glared at his back when the other happily strode back inside the fox boy's workshop. Of course the easygoing werehog wouldn't at all be phased by their turn of events… That or he was just stupid. Shadow was leaning towards the later.

Sonic must have sensed the glare that were burning holes in his back and turned around. He caught the demon's icy glare and flinched slightly after he lost the stare down between them. "What's the matter, Shads?"

The ebony demon shook his head and pushed past the cobalt werehog. "Don't call me Shads," was his only response as he entered the 'fun' metal slide that led down to Tails' lab. Sonic shrugged and entered the slide as well. Shadow landed on the soft mattress at the end and, after he remembered what happened last time, sprang off just as Sonic landed next to him.

The cobalt werehog turned sheepish when he saw the other glaring at him from above. "Seriously, why are you glaring at me all of a sudden? Did that Scourge guy rub you the wrong way?" A large grin spread across Sonic's face and Shadow had to suppress a slight blush when he realized the werehog's real meaning. The ebony demon continued with his glare and let ice creep into it. Sonic's grin melted off his face from his companion's dark look. He sighed and gave up on humoring the cold demon. "Fine, let's get to the maps," he paused, "but you really ought to let to a doctor take a look at that stick up your ass."

Shadow let out a huff at the werehog's last comment. He just couldn't figure out why the other would think he would have a stick up his ass. It would very much hurt and he surely would have noticed it long ago. He followed the werehog back to the table containing the maps and noticed Tails having trouble keeping one of them open. When the kit held one side, the other would curl back to him. Tails couldn't use both his hands to hold down both sides because then his white chest would hit the table will he stretched out his arms. The ebony demon had had enough of the young foxes struggle with an inanimate object and grabbed two random metal wretches lying next to a half-finished machine. Shadow slammed down the wretches on both sides of the map. Thankfully Tails had seen the ebony demon's actions and moved away from the map when it was finally secure.

Sonic, Shadow and Tails gathered around the map lying on the table and Tails cleared his throat before speaking. "May I ask why you two need a map?"

The werehog gave his famous grin and ruffled the top of the young fox's head. "Me and Shads here are trying to figure out why our two races are mortal enemies."

Tails nodded in understanding and pointed at the map that was giving him so much trouble before. The country Romania was printed on the thin paper and all the cities were listed in their rightful places. The kitsune's finger was hovering over the capitol, Bucharest. "From what I gathered about both your races, nether one of them has left Romania."

"Come on, Tails. We had to have left sometime," Sonic protested.

Tails shook his head, "Both of your clans are still here, aren't they?" Sonic couldn't argue with that and Shadow was giving the young fox a slightly amused expression. "Both of your races are bound to this country for some reason and I'll bet my entire lab that it has something to do with why werehogs and demons are mortal enemies." Sonic nodded in agreement and Shadow continued to examine the map. Tails, seeing that neither of the night creatures were going to speak, continued, "I think your best bet would be to start your search in the capitol."

"Where are we?" Shadow asked. Tails looked up, surprised that the distant demon had spoken. He pointed to a spot on the map and Shadow's frustration was cranked up a notch. The fox was pointing to a spot just outside the city of Oradea, which was almost across the entire country from the capitol. Not only that, but to make it to the capitol he would have to get past the demon camp once again. Shadow snuck a glance at Sonic and found that he wasn't happy about where they were either. "What's the matter with you?"

The cobalt didn't even look up at him; instead, he pointed to yet another spot on the map. "This is where the werehog pack lives." Shadow followed the digit and groaned when he saw that he would not only have to go through the demon camp but the werehog one as well before they reached the capitol. The ebony demon didn't know which one he would rather face; his beyond pissed father or a horde of werehog teeth and claws. He sighed; he would only actually do the later if he made it past his father in the first place.

Sonic jumped up and a large grin was plastered on his face. "Why are we here mopping about something we can't control? Let's get going! We have a mission to fulfill!" He turned to Tails. "Can we borrow this map and a physical one?" He asked. The kitsune nodded and handed the cobalt werehog his desired maps. "Let's get going, Shads!"

"Hold it."

Sonic stopped in his tracks and turned back to his demon companion. "What's up, Shads?"

Shadow shook his head, "When was the last time you had a decent night's rest?"

The cobalt scratched his head with his remaining hand in thought. "Don't know. It was quite a while ago though."

"Exactly," The ebony demon turned to Tails. "May we stay the night?"

"Of course," then the kitsune motioned for them to follow him.

Tails and Shadow had only taken a couple steps before Sonic zoomed in front of them, blocking their path. "I'm fine! Let's go already!"

"It would be better for both of us if we got a good night's rest and gather supplies before we start. If would not be good if one of us drops down, exhausted, from lack of sleep when we're surrounded by demons or werehogs." Shadow and Sonic lock eyes and start a stare down together.

Minutes later, a familiar black cloud swirled around the two night creatures and their true appearances emerged. Tails looked at both of them in amazement. "Wow," he whispered out, "That's so cool. I've never seen a demon and werehog transform before. Isn't it painful?" His blue eyes glanced first at the larger werehog, then to the long-tailed demon.

Sonic was the first to look away, but Shadow was the one who answered the kit. "No, it is not painful." His eyes locked on Sonic's now larger form. "But I heard it's a very different story for werehogs." Sonic ignored his look and walked on all fours over to the doorway Tails was leading Shadow before. He lazily pushed the metal door open and walked through without a single glance back. The ebony demon blinked… and blinked again. He just couldn't figure out the werehog; one second he was downright stubborn and the next he looked like he had the entire world on his shoulders.

Tails walked up beside the demon prince. "He's always like that." Damn… was I always this readable? Shadow thought to himself and slightly glared at the kitsune as if it was his fault. Tails caught the looked and completely misread the meaning behind it. "Sonic doesn't like being a werehog. He would rather stay a hedgehog twenty-four seven and just… run…" Maybe I'm not as readable as I thought. Shadow reflected as he processed the information Tails had just given him.

"…Idiot…" Shadow muttered out and strode over to the door Sonic had left out of. Tails momentarily paused at the sudden action and raced after the ebony demon.

*Dark Embrace*

The next day, the unusual duo left Tails' workshop and started for the capitol of Romania. Sonic wasn't at all pleased that he was forced to rest instead of starting the journey as quickly as possible. How could Shadow and Tails not see that time was of the essence? Werehogs could be trailing their scent and be here in an hour or the demons could have already noticed their crown prince missing. Shadow and him had to get moving if they were going to survive this.

"Climb on my back," Sonic suddenly blurted out.

"What?!"

Of course Shadow would act that way; demons were such prideful creatures. "I said, climb on my back."

"And why, pray tell, would I do such a thing?" Shadow growled out and even took a couple steps away from his cobalt companion.

"Because, it would be much quicker if you rode on my back instead of walking. We could be at the capitol in a matter of hours."

Shadow's eye twitched as the image of himself being carried on the back of… him… No. No, there was no way in hell he would submit to such a ukeish request. "If you touch me in any way you will die a very painful death," Shadow's voice was pure venom.

Sonic put his hands on his hips. "You're not seriously suggesting that we walk the whole way there. It will take us days, maybe even weeks to get there at that rate."

Shadow huffed, "Of course I wasn't suggesting that." Sonic's face lit up. "We'll walk most of the way and take the occasional bus." Without waiting for a response, Shadow took their first step on their mission to the capitol.

*Dark Embrace*

During the daylight hours of their first day, Sonic had tried, uselessly, to get Shadow to make conversation with him and break the uneasy silence between them. Shadow, being who he was, entirely ignored each attempt that the werehog made. Hours later Sonic had given up and instead started talking himself. Shadow, successfully, tuned out the constant chatter that came out of the werehog's mouth.

However, once night had hit the journey had gotten even more complicated. Apparently winter still had its icy grip on the world and a blizzard had started. Sonic, with his furry pelt, easily took the ten below temperatures. Shadow wasn't as lucky; yes he could take quite of bit of cold weather, but when it reached enough to kill a regular mortal and was rapidly decreasing, he wouldn't last much longer now.

First the tip of his tail went numb and the rest of it soon followed. Shadow could no longer feel his hands and feet and his nose had small icicle hanging down. It felt like his ears had fallen off and Shadow had to force himself to keep moving.

"Are you okay there, Shads?" Sonic shouted over the raging wind. Even he was starting to get cold and he could only image how Shadow was fairing in this weather.

The ebony demon didn't even try to shout back, he knew that if he stopped to talk now he wouldn't be able to move later on. Shadow had to keep moving so that, at least, some warmth from walking would keep the cold out. It was only his luck that the wind seemed to pick up and sent a large amount of snow from the overhead trees right on top of him.

He couldn't move. His whole body was numb and he couldn't even shiver to keep his body warm any longer. Shadow heard frantic digging above and two large, clawed hands reached down and scooped him out of the mound of white snow.

"Hey, Shadow, why didn't you tell me you were freezing? You're, like, frozen solid." Sonic tried to move the motionless bundle only to find a lot of resistance. Too much so. He stopped in fear that Shadow had actually frozen solid. Sonic sighed in relief when he saw that Shadow's ruby eyes were still open, but it was short lived as he saw them drooping shut. "Don't fall asleep, Shads! It will only make you colder!" Sonic looked around for shelter, any shelter to place the frozen demon in and away from the icy storm. He let out a frustrated growl as he saw none and cradled the ebony demon in his left arm. Sonic rushed through the forest and tried to keep his companion as warm as possible. All the while yelling and moving the other to keep him awake. "Don't die, Shads! Hold on!"

Hey everyone! Silverexorcist here! So they finally start their journey in this chapter and a quite a bit of drama in this one. XD

Oh and I might not update as much as I used to. Reason? School… So, yeah. I'll probably only update once a week on one of my stories unless I have a huge amount of ideas suddenly fly into my brain. (This does happen quite a bit while writing.)

P.S. before I go I would like to say if you have any ideas of what you want me to put into any of my stories, don't be afraid to tell me. Someone gave me ideas in a review of theirs in What Happens in Hot Springs, Stays in Hot Springs and I loved it so much that I'm going to use it. So, yeah. Any ideas are absolutely welcome!

PEACH OUT! (Yes, I said peach out instead of peace out. XD)