"Sonic? Sonic." Amy tapped her cards impatiently. She and Sonic were kneeling at opposite sides of her coffee table and she was waiting for him to pick a card for his daily horoscope. She still had some cookies baked with the ingredients left over from when she foraged in the jungle with Sticks.
"Oh, sorry Ames," he carefully picked a card, "I'm dozing off." He took a sip of his cola which had gone flat. It was only midday but he was already exhausted.
"It's alright," she took the card from him, "Six Of Cups. Oh, man." Amy wrote this down in her notebook and looked up the meaning.
"You yearn for a time when things were easier." She put the card back into her deck.
"I could've told you that," Sonic sighed, "But I mostly just want the nightmares to stop." He was nervously shaking his tail.
"Well, sometimes the cards get sassy. " Amy said.
Sonic playfully rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue.
"I find that if you talk about your nightmares they seem less scary." She urged him.
"Nuh uh," he shook his head, "Bad stuff. From back at the Soumerca base. I only got one good night's sleep since."
Amy pondered this for a moment. "What if we threw a sleepover here at my place? I'll get Sticks, Tails and Knuckles to come over!"
Sonic yawned. "Sure. That sounds like fun. I can't suffer if I can't sleep."
To pass the time Shadow taught the witch more sign language and she let him read her personal grimoire. The ship moved so smoothly you wouldn't know how fast it was going unless you stood up and walked around.
He was surprised to see she used it more like a scrapbook diary than a notebook.
Leaves with notes for identification were stuck to the pages with honey and bits of sand fell from the spine of the book. He could barely make out her choppy handwriting at times but skimming through it it was obvious she had trouble maintaining power as queen.
Both the hedgehog and the woman were doing their best to remain amicable despite neither wanting to be there. She wanted to get started on the Lunar Scepter but decided to look at the royal grimoire in a more private place.
"They hated you." He said.
"No, they hated Hebat." Tilly corrected him. "Because her father was an armadillo but her mother a human." She was braiding her hair absentmindedly.
"I still don't understand how that's physically possible," he shuddered, "So many Mobians are born with claws and-"
He was interrupted by her putting her hands on his cheeks and stroking his soft face with her thumbs. "Healing powers. We have healing powers. Don't think about it."
"But-"
"Shadow…" She smiled nervously. "Don't think about it."
Well, now he couldn't help but think about it. His expression was of disgust and fear.
She sighed. "Doulas cut them out with a sharp knife made of bone right as labor started and healed the mother right away but there was still considerable pain and blood loss."
"Are… are you one, too?" He squinted at her. "Your eyes and hair are unnatural colors."
"No," she shrugged, "I am pure-bred hominid. I'm just a mutant one, I guess. An Overlander."
She withdrew her hands. "We need to track down all of the beasts and destroy them. I don't know how many there are," she flipped through the pages of her grimoire, "I would also like to see the damage to the moon."
"I'm sure I can find you some photos," Shadow said, "Maybe even some live satellite feed."
She turned to him and smiled half-heartedly, "Sure."
After about three hours into the open ocean Eggman put the sub into autopilot and came into the guest quarters with Thunderbolt.
"Orbot, Cubot, it's lunch time!" He nudged the robots awake so they could prepare a meal for them.
"Eggman, I will admit that this submarine is impressive," Sheptilah sighed, "But ten hours in an iron box? I might go insane."
"You'll be fine," Thunderbolt jumped into her lap, "For now we need to train you." She squinted at the woman, "Where's your earrings and tiara?"
"In the back of my head." She answered.
"You should be in full uniform at all times!" She turned around and slapped Sheptilah with her tail, "Even if it includes a tacky crown!"
"Tacky?" Eggman sounded wounded. He pouted.
"Uh, yes ma'am!" The woman took the refurbished items out of their hiding place and put them on.
The chinchilla then took out her phone and showed Tilly mugshots of the Egg Bosses they were set to meet.
"Mordred." Sheptilah answered. Thunderbolt nodded and flicked the screen. "Cas- Clove?"
"You were right the first time," the chinchilla scolded her. Shadow got up to walk around and stretch his legs. He could hear the two women chattering, or rather, he could hear Sheptilah squeaking whenever Thunderbolt used her tail as a weapon.
He was mentally kicking himself because he forgot the book he was reading again . He lost the first copy of House Of Leaves at the hospital and the second copy Rouge got him was left behind. He slipped Hebat's scale out from inside his glove and looked it over. Why did she want him to have this? For luck? A reminder? And yet he found some comfort in having it.
"Shadow?" Eggman approached him from behind. The hedgehog slipped the scale back into his glove.
"Yes, Doctor?" He turned around to face the Overlander.
"I'm so glad you could come along. We do have some things to go over." Eggman tented his fingers. "For one, I would prefer you not be in the room when she is introduced to the underlings. They may panic."
"Not gonna happen; anywhere she goes I also go." Shadow said defiantly. "Or we leave right now."
"You can be outside the door."
"Inside the room."
"Shadow." He pleaded.
"Those are the rules. I am in the room with her." He crossed his arms.
Eggman made a strangling gesture with his hands and then let them fall to his sides. "Fine."
"Lunch is served!" Orbot spoke over the PA system.
The men rejoined the women back in the passenger compartment. Thunderbolt's meal consisted of dried dandelion leaves, freshwater and dried apple chips. Shadow and Eggman's meals were both rigatoni pasta with sausage and Parmesan cheese whereas the witch's was a plain bag of carrots.
"We didn't bring a lot of fresh vegetables," Eggman shrugged, "Everything is frozen or prepackaged. We did what we could with short notice."
Sheptilah was already munching on the carrots without a care. "I'm used to them being purple but these ones taste just fine."
They all enjoyed their meals quietly and then Eggman went back to the cockpit with Thunderbolt. After a few minutes they could feel the submarine slow down to a crawl. Eggman turned on the PA system and spoke.
"Looks like there's after meal entertainment," there was a click and then whale songs, "There's a large pod of humpback whales following us. They're also slowing us down."
Shadow looked at the ceiling on the submarine, ears subconsciously twitching trying to track the noise.
It sounded like sad wailing with clicks and purrs mixed in. Several whales were trying to talk to the sub only to be ignored.
"Sometimes whales mistake submarines for one of their own," Eggman chuckled, "It's kind of cute."
Sheptilah audibly swallowed but then relaxed. "I wish I could see them." She pressed her hand up against the side.
"They won't hit us, will they?" She turned to the hedgehog.
"No," he shook his head, "Well, probably not."
Eggman flipped some switches and brought up the external camera to see what was going on since all of the whale songs were messing with his sonar. He was annoyed with having to drive manually and huffed.
"Do you want to blast them?" Thunderbolt grinned.
"No, they're just whales," Eggman scratched his chin, "But they are getting annoying."
Sheptilah moved to the cockpit with Shadow following behind and knocked on the door. Tilly found it was unlocked and opened it.
"What brings you here?" He looked over his shoulder at her.
"I want to see the whales." She leaned on the back of his seat. "Is that them?"
"Those big gray blobs on the screen are the whales, yes." He tapped the screen.
The hull of the ship creaked slightly and then it started to tilt; Eggman quickly righted the ship.
"And it just bumped into us," Ivo huffed, "That's it." He flipped some switches and adjusted his microphone.
"They're exploring the sub," Shadow said, "Like when a house cat rubs up against something new."
"Get out of here you overgrown fish! Shoo!" He yelled into the microphone. "You fat… fats!"
"Fat fats. " Shadow repeated, raising a brow.
"Hush, you!" Eggman cleared his throat and turned to the microphone. "Abscond! Vamoose! Overgrown sardines! Nobody likes you- you fat salty assholes!"
The whale songs got louder and it was almost as if they liked what they were hearing. The animals were then suddenly alarmed by something else and swam in the other direction freeing up the submarine.
"Finally!" Eggman turned off the microphone. "Hold on." He sped up the sub and re-engaged autopilot when it was safe.
"Thunderbolt, man the controls. I have to go train them now." He stood with a groan and escorted them back to the passengers' quarters.
"Aye, aye, sir!" Thunderbolt saluted.
"This way." He led them to an office meeting room with a large metal table shaped like an egg. It was bare and the seats, also egg shaped, were cold. Orbot and Cubot were waiting for them and served three cups of tea.
"Thank you." Sheptilah took hers and sipped it. Green tea without sweetener was bitter but she enjoyed it. Shadow politely refused his drink.
"I have some materials for you two." Eggman pulled the box out from under the table. In it was the rest of the the winter clothes like the ones he bestowed upon Thunderbolt earlier.
Shadow's was a toddler-sized hoodie and Sheptilah's was a very long hooded cloak that fastened closed with buttons. Both were made of sealskin with mink lining.
"It's so heavy." She put it on. It was at least twenty pounds and it was warm. "I could've used this the other day back at my house." She rubbed the soft fur against her cheek.
"There are also mittens and boots," Eggman pulled them out, "I had to guess Shadow's shoe size."
"I won't wear them," he pushed them away, "I do not take off my skates."
"Your feet will freeze solid." Eggman furrowed his brow.
"I'm the Ultimate Life Form; I'll be fine."
Eggman drove the sail of the submarine up through the ice with a loud crunch. The quartet exited the submarine in their winter gear and admired the beautiful terrain. The cold was biting but there was no wind so it wasn't entirely unbearable. The sky was littered with stars and the aurora swayed above them like a dancer's scarf. The moonlight softly illuminated the powdery snow. They each had explorer's backpacks full of materials in case of emergency, except for Thunderbolt who was in her mecha.
"This is the great north?" Sheptilah was dazzled.
"Due to the ice being so thick from disuse of the base - they were unable to open the submarine gate so we must drive the five miles across the snow." Eggman pointed to a large covered sled that looked more like a sports car with two reined robotic reindeer idling, waiting to drive off.
They stood at the top of the submarine, at least twenty-five feet from the ground.
"How are we getting down?" Orbot spoke curiously.
"Here's how." Eggman shoved the robot back into its compact orb shape and chucked it into the snow; then did the same with a screaming Cubot.
Sheptilah took several steps back then ran across the hull and jumped. She landed in the thick snow with a shrieking giggle.
Thunderbolt and Eggman jumped together while Shadow simply teleported.
"I love snow!" Sheptilah was up to her waist in it. Thunderbolt stood proudly in her warm, cozy robotic exoskeleton while Shadow was sinking into the soft powder and could barely keep his head up.
"I do not." Shadow was aggravated by the landscape. Sheptilah lifted the hedgehog up by his waist with her arm.
"You are dense, mister," she chuckled, "Why do you weigh so much?"
"I have a lot of secrets." He joked.
The group piled into the sled and dashed toward the base at the Cool Edge Zone, which was only five miles away.