Chapter 9

Eggman glanced over at the black hedgehog when he felt as if he was being watched.

"My defenses are really that weak?" He asked, disappointed in his own robotics.

Shadow was silent. His eyes practically burning with hatred.

"Shadow?" Eggman asked. "What's the matter?"

"You told me that Sonic's memories had no chances of returning." Shadow growled. "Why did you lie about that?"

"I didn't lie." Eggman stood. "Why would you assume I did?"

At this point, the white bat that neither of them had noticed appeared from behind Shadow.

"A little birdie told him." She said, seeming quite proud of herself.

Eggman's glasses flashed. He held his hands behind his back and turned back to the machine that had been under the blanket.

"I suppose you won't let me do otherwise so I'll show you what I've been working on." Eggman said as he took the fabric of the blanket in his hand. "I've been building this since I originally removed Sonic's memories. It's supposed to be able to recreate those lost memories from the empty mind. When Sonic sits in the machine, it should be able to gather points of importance and then recreate the memories from those. Sadly, I'm having problems with it."

As the blanket was removed, Rouge went around to look it over.

"What sort of problems?" She asked.

"It's..." Eggman paused in a form of trying to figure out what to say. "likely to create the wrong memories."

"And you thought to hide this from everyone because...?" Rouge asked as Shadow went over to the machine and looked it over, calculating in his mind.

"You remember what Sonic thought of me before." Eggman said, his voice hinting a bit of sadness. "In comparison to how he is now, how it was was far worse."

Shadow and Rouge exchanged a glance at the doctor's words and Shadow crossed his arms.

"Doctor, how much more time will you need for this machine to be finished?" Shadow asked.

"I have no idea. It's an enigma. I have been working on it these past few years-" Eggman started.

"And knowing you, that's definitely new" Rouge interrupted.

Eggman nodded silently and Shadow sighed.

"Fine. Finish it as fast as possible." He ordered before turning and leaving.

Rouge glanced at Eggman one more time before following him out. The emptiness behind the doctor's glasses followed them as they left.

"Shadow!" Rouge called as she flew to keep up with him. "Shadow slow down!"

Rouge grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"I get it! You're mad! But you need to stay calm! If Sonic finds out about all this, there's no telling what would happen to him!" Rouge exclaimed, choosing this moment to raise her voice to get her companion's attention.

Shadow stopped, at first from the shock of seeing the change in the white bat's attitude but then realizing what would happen to the blue hedgehog if he told him all this.

"What do you intend I do then?" he asked out of the silence.

"Just keep him busy. We're almost to the point where he's like he was with his fighting and he's getting more comfortable. Let him enjoy this for now. We still need to wait for the Doctor's machine to be finished and to test it so we should prepare." Rouge said, going back to her calm state.

Shadow nodded.

"We have more training to do then." He said before heading off towards Amy's house.

Meanwhile, the blue hedgehog was sitting on the roof of Amy's house. He found himself calmer when he sat there. He was able to look up at the sky and not be bothered. There had even been times where Shadow or Amy had found him dozing from his thoughts. His current thoughts were on a certain black hedgehog.

Ok so yeah, this is short. Don't hate me. DX I've been busy with school and Christmas preparations (totally haven't been in a candy coma). The next chapter is gonna be the Christmas special and then we'll get back to the story. See you soon!