Chapter 4: Investigation

At the demolished base, Shadow was still searching for a sign that led to Sonic being alive. It wasn't going very well for him and had just searched every layer of the base and there was nothing left. The walls were burnt and broken to small pieces around the perimeter of the base. The smoke was gone which was good. Shadow also spotted the computer that Eggman used had been smashed as well. Shadow was about to give up as he searched all night for Sonic and he wasn't around. Is he dead or is he alive Shadow wondered. He then decided to give up as there was nothing left and nowhere else to search. Shadow almost broke into tears, unusual for the Ultimate Life Form, but instead he had a single tear from his right eye. He felt pretty bad for Sonic's death like the others but would he spare his feelings with them? He had an idea by using Chaos Control to teleport back to when the incident was occurred but what was the point that they wouldn't be able to change it all over again and if they did, the explosion wound still be the cause of the whole operation. He now wondered of what he would say to Tails and the others after finding no clue on this disaster. Shadow knew he can take whatever they would do to him or to anyone else. Shadow then knew without Sonic around nothing would ever be the same again. He now became furious when Eggman came to mind.

"Oh man this is just great! I'm going to get revenge on Eggman now. But… what would happen when I do?" Shadow told himself. "Sonic if you can hear me wherever you are, give me a sign. I've searched everywhere here and found nothing. I know Eggman's responsible to your death, if you are dead. I just wish I helped you in some way." After talking out loud to himself, Shadow knew there was nothing he can do. He was now desperate for some reason about all of this. Shadow then thought he could come back and search around the demolished base tomorrow. He then went out of the base.

"Hey Shadow!" Shadow knew the voice and saw Silver come up to him.

"Silver? What are you doing here?" Shadow asked.

"I came to check on you." Silver answered. "Have any luck on finding Sonic?"

"No." That was all Shadow had to say. Silver looked at the base then back to Shadow. Silver was depressed about all of this as well. He even left just after hearing the tragic news from Eggman and didn't bother warning everyone else. When he left, Silver thought of searching for Sonic up in the sky but it was no good either. He stared at Shadow, who wasn't taking this well at all. This slightly confused Silver.

"Are you okay Shadow?" Silver asked softly.

"No." Shadow said again.

"Mind me asking, since when do you feel depressed about Sonic? You're always stubborn and angry." Silver told him. He got that part right. This time, Shadow was not 100% his usual self. He then decided to come clean and tell Silver.

"Well… since Sonic asked me to become friends instead of an arch-rival, I've been getting along with him and helped him with all of the missions. But since the incident yesterday, I've lost all of my meaning of being an Ultimate Life Form." Shadow explained to him. Silver then didn't know what to say. When he first met Shadow was when a figure like him named Mephiles the Dark gave him a mission to kill Sonic who thought was claimed to be the Iblis Trigger and Shadow saving him before he could succeed. Now since he's been hanging out with him and the others, he's understood everything about Shadow.

"Wow… I don't know what to say Shadow. I never knew you cared about Sonic. Since when does the Ultimate Life Form like you care about his enemy? I remembered you saving Sonic from me when you and I first met." Silver wondered and reminded Shadow about their first meeting. "Also, do the others know this?"

"I've only told you about this." Shadow replied. "Plus, I'm starting to feel that the others would mock me."

"What? Okay that's not the real Shadow I know there. You usually take on everything that the others do to you." Silver told him. "How about this, I'll help you out when we see them."

Shadow liked the idea. It didn't matter if Tails and Amy liked it, maybe Rouge and Blaze but it was Knuckles that was bothering his mind. He was a tough guy as well but he knew that Knuckles felt depressed about Sonic's death as well so he was right about one thing, he would take anything everyone, even someone like Knuckles would say to him. He then thought of something. Since Silver was constantly helping him out about this whole 'emotional' thing, he thought of an idea of asking Silver to help him out to find out around the base tomorrow for any signs of Sonic.

"Hey Silver. Since you're being kind and not being naïve, would you like to help me out tomorrow to search for a sign of Sonic?" He asked. Silver like the idea a lot. For the first time he was grateful of Shadow's offer. He knew where Shadow was going with this.

"I'd be happy to Shadow." Silver replied. "So whereabouts are we searching?"

"Somewhere around the base."

"So you want me to do an aerial view as well?"

"Good idea. It would help us a lot."

"I think we should start heading off to the others. They're all at Amy's House at the moment."

Shadow nodded and they both started heading off. Silver went ahead as Shadow took a final look of the day at Eggman's old, demolished base. He knew somewhere that Sonic would be around, hopefully alive. But it was just like what Eggman said, if he was alive, he would've been with everyone right now. Shadow wasn't going to give up searching for him and hoping, not his remains. Silver stopped in his tracks and saw Shadow glancing at the base.

"Shadow, you okay?" He asked.

It took a few seconds for Shadow to answer Silver's question but he did have a simple answer.

"I'm okay. Let's go." Shadow slowly replied.

Silver then walked off ahead again but this time, Shadow was walking right behind him as they both were now heading over to see the others.