Isolena flashed a small, shimmering gold card between two fingers in front of Dylan and tilted her head, a smirk on the edges of her lips, "A chao race is starting soon, and you didn't invite me to spectate?"

"You wanted to watch?" Dylan blurted in surprise, then freezing up in horror that he'd, again, made a mistake—the mistake of overlooking her.

She straightened up from leaning over the couch at him and dropped the little notice in his lap, "No blasted meetings today."

Which was her way of answering him that, yes, she wanted to observe a bunch of whining, cooing, screeching chao run awkwardly down strips of dirt, attempt not to drown in shallow water, fall on their faces at random intervals, pant to climb up short stretches of rock, and strain their little wings to hover through five seconds of air. All to win the much-coveted prize of some cheap, plastic thing or another that they'd most likely break within the hour of receiving.

Isolena questioned to herself if pushing a chao into a race was more for the growth benefit of the chao, or for boasting rights of the winner's owner.

Dylan rose and turned to address his mother, "Then, you want to come with me? Have you ever been in a chao garden?"

"Yes, I have, but it's been a long time."

Dylan blinked in more surprise, but Isolena gave no further information about that mysterious time in her life that he, apparently, knew utterly nothing about. But now he was curious; yet, catching his hopeful, shimmering eyes, Isolena just gave him a coy smile.

Dylan bit his lip, "Uh, now that I think about it, actually, there's not any stands or anything set up for an audience, so I don't think you'll be able to come. The owners get to stand at the starting line, but we have to stay there."

Isolena plucked Berry from the table and dropped him right into her son's opened arms, "Is there at least a stream I can access from my phone of the race?"

"Sure! I'll text you the link," Dylan maneuvered Berry onto his head so he could tap the message to his mother.

Her phone rumbled, which she ignored for the immediate time being. Dylan stood so sturdy and healthy, with such an anticipatory smile shining on his face, that she softened her gaze with some hope that Berry would do half decently. He'd not been working to strengthen his chao that long, and she was aware that many mobians and even some humans had been training their little buddies for years. Yet, this would be an excellent learning experience he and the pet. She just hoped Dylan wouldn't become discouraged, should his chao do poorly. After all, it would be Berry's very first race.

The chao she knew would take losing fine. Dylan was another story. He still experienced nightmares; just didn't report them to her anymore. As a light sleeper, and minutely in tune to her son's moods, she heard every one of his night time struggles. His ability to cope with negative things was still delicate, hence she assumed why he hadn't gathered enough courage to talk about it with her yet.

Dylan pulled a large blue key from his quills and Isolena almost audibly snickered. So, her son had also taken to stuffing odds and ends inside that large, deep infestation of spikiness on his head, just like his hedgehog friends did.

When he raised to throw it, she reached out to grasp his wrist, "Dylan, all you can do is your best, okay?"

Uncertain of her sudden concern, he opened his mouth a little, staring into her eyes. Then he let off a small chuckle of uncertainty, "It's just a chao race, Mom. Not that serious."

Slowly, Isolena released him, lowering herself to sit on the couch. "The race should be entertaining," remarked she, leaning on a hand.

With a last unsettled glance at her, Dylan tossed the key that opened the portal to the chao garden, and with Berry sliding down into his arms, he jumped through into the lobby. The portal closed, the key falling, but Dylan snatched it from the air and stuffed it back into his quills.

A few seconds behind, two more portals opened, Knuckles and Sonic both stepping through them.

"Hey, Dylan!" Sonic jogged over.

Knuckles gave a huff and joined them, "Ready to get pounded, you two?"

A third chime of a portal alerted them, with a snarling little black and red chao flying through and Shadow solemnly following. Dusk kept some paces away from Shadow, all the while glaring, with her owner reciprocating. He pointed to the ground right in front of him. She turned her head away, chin up, and crossed her stubby arms.

Shadow let out a slight snarl and pointed again to the ground near him. Still, she refused. He then spoke in a dangerous undertone, "You have five seconds to get over here before I make you regret your rebellion."

Sonic leaned over to Dylan, whispering, "Shocking that chao's not nastier, considering who the owner is."

Knuckles heard and chuckled with Sonic, but Dylan was too focused with odd interest on the interaction between Shadow and Dusk to have really heard the teasing. Dusk had her ruby irises fixated on Shadow, and not kindly so; and he was still standing his ground, frowning.

Very slowly, Dusk lumbered her body to turn to him and flew in his direction. Far more than five seconds elapsed, but as she was coming, Shadow tolerated her defiance. Once to him, he grabbed her and she immediately cried out in rage and bit his hand.

A curl of anger growled from him, Shadow heating his hands with visible red chaos energy.

Dusk instantly turned meek, clasping her stubs tight and beaming up at him with massive, sorrowful eyes. It was a game of emotional manipulation he knew well, but cooled his hands as she'd stopped painfully chewing on his flesh.

And, finally, as if nothing had happened at all, Shadow turned to the trio of mixed faces, "The others are already here. Let's go."

Sonic sped over to the hedgehog, "What's been going on with you, Shadow? How's solo mission life?"

No response.

Knuckles and Dylan trailed behind, amused at their friends' prattling. They entered the garden and continued to follow the two, as they stepped over to the pool to the right, onto the large, flat rocks, and slid right through the waterfall.

The shower of the cold water gave Dylan a start, despite knowing it was there. Knuckles patted him sympathetically on the back and he felt embarrassed. The stretch before them was of a tunnel cut right out of the rock. It wasn't very long, and the cheery light at the end opened them up to a long path of dirt that ran to the right. The beginning of the race track. There was a colored strip at the beginning of each line, accumulating into a blended rainbow. Some chao had already been placed at the end of the colors and were entertaining themselves at their spots.

A cheery greeting rang out near Dylan, "Hi! It's so great you could make it!"

It was Amy, setting Snow down at the start and skipping over to Shadow. As she rubbed up against him for just a second, causing Shadow to bristle, she eyed the three, "This is going to be so much fun!"

"Well, of course it is!" Rouge strolled up with Holly. "I mean, I'm here. Oh, hello, Knuckles. Who's watching that delicious gem of yours, since you're here?"

The sassy smirk and her booming hip angered Knuckles, "E—Espio is!"

"One of the Chaotix? Not exactly the brightest bunch in town," she shook her head condescendingly.

"Espio's more than capable!"

"Should I be over there instead of here?" Rouge half ignored his snapping response. It took a few seconds, but then came Knuckles' understanding of her implication and he raised a fist to rebuke. Rouge sighed dramatically and slid an arm around Dylan's waist, again ignoring the echidna, "Dylan, how've you been these days? Did you get with that girl you like so much?"

His face erupted with red, "Uh—no. I mean yes! I mean I'm fine!"

Amused, Rouge chuckled in her throat and slid away to approach Shadow.

That gave Dylan the time to step over to the green bar of color, squat, and place Berry on the strip. "Now, don't go anywhere until you hear the whistle. Then race as fast as you can in that direction and follow the signs!" He pointed up the softly-sloping, curling track of dirt. "But, don't hurt yourself, Berry. The most important thing is that you have fun today and make more friends," he rubbed the little chao's head affectionately.

Berry rose up as tall as he could get to rub his head closer against Dylan's glove, eyes closed happily.

Dusk cackled with evil eyes, pushing Berry as she walked behind him to her position. Berry whimpered, clinging to Dylan's sneaker. His owner didn't know what to do. The little chao was nasty, that couldn't be denied, but she was Shadow's chao, keeping Dylan from rebuking her. Doing so might make Shadow angry, which he had no desire to do.

Oh, he'd seen what his sour little pest had done. He and Dylan even locked eyes just after, but Shadow coldly turned away and didn't budge. Dylan felt hurt.

A mechanical chao flew haphazardly around the contestants, somehow making its way over to the starting strips, there dropping down on the grass, "Everyone, place your chao! The race is about to begin! The prize for this race is a box of crayons and a really cool coloring book."

Knuckles snorted, placing his chao at the ready. Shadow and Sonic both didn't react to such a prize. Rouge was highly amused, poking her little chao. Tails seemed nervous, as Nut was grinning in the greedy hope of winning.

Amy was the only one that sincerely clapped her hands in anticipation, "That's such a fun prize! I might color some of it with you, Snow. You wouldn't mind, would you?"

Snow gurgled in pleasure at the thought, enticing Amy to squat and scratch her little friend, giggling all the while.

Dylan peeped at Shadow just at the right second to catch a dissipating, disgusted curl of his lip at his girlfriends' immature, embarrassing excitement over such a worthless collection of child's pictures. He suppressed a burst of a laugh choking in his throat, but as Shadow heard a sliver of a gasp come from him, he glared over and Dylan had to whip his face away.

The robot chao held up a whistle, "Fair race, okay! Three, two, one—go!" It blew the whistle and the row of chao began stumbling and running forward—most, anyway. Berry cried out, falling in a sudden drop of a pit.

"Berry!" Dylan wrenched to run forth.

Shadow slapped his hand over his chest, "No. Don't interfere or you'll be disqualified."

"But my chao—"

"If he gets through this, he'll be stronger for it," Shadow sounded far too serious for just a simple chao race. He focused down on his phone, which, like with everyone else, held a live feed of changing camera angles that followed the various chao through their progressions.

Dylan inched in closer. Shadow glanced at him, but didn't rebuke his proximity. After a brief pause, Dylan came in even nearer, leaning rightward to see the feed with Shadow.

The race employed flying, strength, intelligence, stamina, but mostly running. Lots of running: up hills, down hills, turns and twists. For a supposed-labeled beginner's race, Dylan felt it was too long and too difficult. Most of the other chao were ahead of his, obviously higher up on the meter of ability all around. That didn't prevent a chao from taking a tumble on occasion, or popping open the wrong box and fainting from the clown that popped out. Or, in Holly's instance, becoming distracted by heart candies, to Rouge's growling frustration.

"C'mon, buddy! Make up for everything with running!" Sonic bit at a finger, staring at the shared tablet he and Tails were using.

Tails blinked, seeming rather bored at his friends' pounding emotions.

Then, Knuckles burst, "No, my little Boo! Swim faster!"

For his Boo Boo Kins was high on swim and power, thus outperforming every chao in those two areas, but huffing laboriously slow along the trail when she ran. Many chao passed her, with even Berry approaching.

The only chao behind Berry was Dusk, who was entirely taking her time. She could run extremely fast, even more so than Juice, but it was apparent that she took no consideration to the race, and far less to respecting her colleagues.

She almost skipped over to Berry, and when she easily broached him on the right, gave him a harsh shove that completely knocked him on his belly.

In abject transparency of emotion, Dylan flung his hands out at Shadow's phone and eyeballed his companion with shocked, dismayed eyes.

Shadow only passed him an obligatory stare of pure blandness before returning to the phone.

Feeling slighted again, Dylan rejoined him, holding in ten things he wanted to say about Dusk and Shadow's silence to show Berry any sympathy. Berry was slowly picking himself up, tears running down his soft cheeks. On reflex, Dylan pressed a fist to his chest and exhaled painfully. His little baby was in pain and crying, and he couldn't go comfort him!

Tails suddenly burst, voice cracking, "No! Don't fall down!" Nut had stopped in the middle of his climb up a wall of rock, and after bursting into tears, lost his grip and slid down to the lake below. There was no way that green chao was going to make up the distance, now.

Sonic recovered his shock at his brother's outburst and gave Tails a pat on the back, but the fox just stood with a moody look and grew sullen.

Then, Amy gasped, catching everyone's eyes back to their phones. Dusk had waited on Berry, hiding in a bush, and when he'd come wearily along, she'd tripped him and he'd fallen on his face a second time. The wicked chao was standing over him laughing.

"Shadow, how can you condone your chao acting like that?" Amy burst at him. "Make her apologize to Berry when this is over!"

Shadow responded, "Why? This race is not mere fun. It's a test to build a chao's endurance and character."

"Stop acting like this is some life or death situation, Shadow," she pressed, teeth grit. "Letting Dusk act like this really shows what a jerk you are!"

He opened his mouth, then glanced from Amy's simmering red face to Dylan's downcast eyes and closed all his words up tight in his mind. No point to say anything; only, he suddenly felt guilty about choices he'd thought would work best for his disposition on his chao. These two were making him feel like a complete villain.

Holly was still eating candy, Rouge's face pink with disappointment. Knuckles jabbed her one with a chuckle and she kicked him away.

"This is way more stressful than I thought it would be," Dylan sighed. "What if Berry doesn't make it to the end?"

"That may be more of a reflection on the shortcomings of his owner than himself," Shadow calmly lectured.

There was no other reaction Dylan could give than to drop his mouth and blink at the hedgehog, a great, heavy weight of a sting gripping his soul. The words, the manner Shadow was acting was strange and very distasteful.

He was about to ask why, when Amy again screamed, "Shadow, your brat is attacking Holly!"

They stared at the screens. Yes, Dusk was in the process of twisting Holly's arm behind her back. Obviously, the demonic little child had decided Berry was too boring to continue abusing for the moment, and had run to catch up to the chao.

Snow wasn't nearly as weak as Berry. She whirled and pressed her hand against Dusk's face, growling to defend herself. It looked like Holly would succeed, but Dusk whipped her onto her stomach and kicked her some more. A burst of wails erupted from the lavender chao, tears pooling around her.

Rouge burst with a gasp, "No—Holly!"

Dusk let out a cackle and started off for the only other remaining chao than Berry: Sonic's angel chao, Juice.

In unison, the blue hedgehog and the pink hedgehog cranked their necks and turned their angry faces at Shadow. If anything, he just grew smugger, his guilt transforming into defiance, not even elucidating a glance of acknowledgment their way.

His horrible behavior really took Dylan aback, and he automatically removed his body a couple steps away from Shadow. Curious, Shadow peered at the space between them, then at Dylan.

"Why do you let Dusk act like that?" Dylan innocently questioned.

"She's a dark chao," Shadow informed, as if it was the most obvious thing there was.

"What does that mean, really?" Dylan pressed, feeling anger slowly rising inside of him. "You obviously treated her terribly for her to grow like that, so you think that justifies her acting to other chao like you did?"

More eyes joined Dylan in wrath against him. For some seconds, Shadow looked from one mobian to another, and then he slighted all of them by taking interest in the feed again. And, right after, Dusk caught up to Juice and, leaning forward, ripped one of his legs out from under him.

In a torrential scream, Juice defended himself. There was a nearly intimate rage from him to the female that was near panting with glee at landing lunches on him. Juice pushed her clear off of him and rose, sticking his chest out before lunging down at her for a change.

Shadow narrowed his eyes a little, contrasting Sonic's hopeful gasp. Why had something that was supposed to be innocent, lighthearted fun and encouragement for the chao turned into something so, honestly, dark and terrible? Berry was still slowly lumbering along, and Dusk and Juice were in the thick of trying to bruise each other as much as they could. Everyone was huddled around their devices, faces screwed up with disbelief. Except for Shadow, who was now slowly grinning.

Dylan didn't watch the screens. He watched Shadow's stoic face change into pleasure and the anger that had been rising ever so slowly in him lurched up, almost culminating.

Juice finally kicked Dusk back enough to allow him to stumble up and make a burst for the finish line. But Dusk didn't follow. Her goal wasn't to win. Instead, she stepped off to the side in the shade, where Berry couldn't possibly see her when coming around a curve. Dylan inhaled and felt panic rising low in his gut.

Everyone else behind him had tensed and a silence had sucked the air dry. Juice crossed the finish line, but he dropped on his behind to calm down, instead of celebrating his win. There was no jumping and sounds of joy.

Berry slowly rose over a hill for the rightward turn that would lead him to the rainbow strips of track and then to the finish line. Still, Shadow showed no outward concern about the impending beat down. And, just like everyone predicted, as Berry groaned and made the turn, Dusk sprung from behind a rock, cackling as her prey gasped and immediately burst into tears.

Like that stopped her. She mercilessly rolled him over on the dirt and bit down hard on his hand. Berry screamed, flailing his arm uselessly. There was more grip in her sharp teeth than all the stamina he contained.

Dylan felt weak, trembling at Shadow, "Stop her! You can't just let her hurt other chao! It's Berry—Shadow, it's my chao!"

No words. Just glaring.

Disgusted, at his end of trying to comprehend why Shadow was acting so vile, Dylan grabbed his senior's arm, yanking it considerably and shouting right at him, "Weren't we friends, Shadow? You helped me so much! Why are you doing this, then? Wait-"

The yet unphased look on Shadow's face made him realize what was going on.

"You—you just think of chao as something to boost your ego, don't you? Not like pets or friends or—or how we see them: as companions to nurture and love. Dusk is just another way you can prove to everyone that you're ultimate, isn't it?"

At last, Shadow spoke, "Chao take far too much time and dedication than they should to raise. It's proper to get repayment of them in some form."

"Oh, Shadow," Amy breathed behind Dylan, quite sadly.

Stunned, Dylan fought for thoughts, and a rush of what was in his heart poured out, "Did you think Berry was nothing, then? I didn't care if he ever ran in these races or did other things like this. He's my chao, Shadow. He's my friend. I love him! There's nothing Berry has to prove; nothing he has to do for me, because all I ever wanted was love from someone, and he gave it to me without condition! Berry's perfect to me, because of that. Did you ever feel anything like that for Dusk? Don't you think she wants your affection without any strings attached?"

Shadow had stiffened and was looking off at nothing in particular.

Dylan pressed, "Dusk isn't some trophy to show off. And you're wrong to let her hurt other chao. It—it hurts me, too, Shadow. I trusted you. I—I looked up to you, but this is just so—" He wiped some tears away, "Disappointing."

Turning, Dylan ran off through the track to find Berry, to scoop him up, discovering that his chao had, eventually, actually made it to the finish line. But he was crying, sitting there pathetically, with Dusk standing nearby in a threatening manner.

Dylan purposefully sprang forth and landed on both feet near her, causing the black chao to jump and whirl up at him.

Let Shadow be upset with him if he dared! There were many more things Dylan could say if Shadow tried to remark anything against what he was doing. He'd let Dusk beat up other chao and Berry, with no punishment for such rotten behavior.

But he wasn't Shadow.

"Cut it out," Dylan warned her, turning to pick up his chao.

Angered, Dusk bit right into Dylan's calf.

Dylan grimaced, pausing a few seconds in pure shock. As he recovered, he turned slowly back and glared down at the still attached chao. His heart hurt for her. She'd been formed by Shadow's cruelty and knew nothing else. In fact, he probably rewarded her for such behavior, supporting her subsequent climb to continually heightened violence.

So, with that in mind, as calmly as he could, but with firm hands, Dylan pulled her off of him. To put her down would be a mistake. She'd be free to pulverize someone else. He could only hold her out away from him, while picking Berry up with his free hand.

"Don't cry, Berry," Dylan rubbed his cheek to Berry's face. "I'm sorry you got hurt. I won't make you do this stuff anymore, okay? Only if you want to. I'll protect you now."

The display of affection continued, and then came a legitimate whimper from the opposite direction. Dylan looked to Dusk, who was crying. He hurt more for her, but was distrustful that any shedding of tears she gave off was sincere. Shadow had made it impossible for him to reach out to comfort her, too.

His friends arrived with their collected chao and Sonic claimed Juice back. Then there was an awkward silence as Shadow slowly skated over and retrieved Dusk from Dylan's hand. Neither spoke a word. In fact, Dylan turned away to nuzzle his chao more, and being slighted so, Shadow noticed the large, dripping bite mark on the boy's lower leg.

He also noticed the golden chaos powder and how the wound was in the process of healing. Curious, he sought to ask what had happened, but Knuckles grabbed his shoulder and shook his head.

There came a little sniffle in Dylan's direction and it wasn't from Berry. Wiping his eyes, he tossed his key and hurried out of the garden back to his house.

There was just nothing to say from most of everyone else, who were still standing near the other hoping Shadow would show some realization of how terrible he'd been. But no.

Shadow turned back to see what the silence was about, which did prompt Rouge to huff, "I thought you'd come a far way from acting like this, Shadow. What's gotten into you, today?"

With a frown, she took her leave of the race track. Everyone else followed, and with it empty, Shadow glowered at Dusk and also left. He'd messed up, but required an entire day of thinking about just what he'd done wrong. Shadow eventually reached the end of his mental capacity on the matter. He had to talk to Dylan.

As it was the logical thing to do, he set Dusk aside all alone in the dark chao garden and used chaos control to take him just before Dylan's door. It was Sunday, and as the boy tended to be a homebody, he was most likely inside. With confidence on that, Shadow knocked and waited. And waited.

Maybe Dylan wasn't home.

But the door opened, and it was Isolena, instantly crossing her arms like he usually did and expectantly glaring down at him. No words.

He also kept his mouth shut.

So, they kept staring at the other, with neither intending to stop, for two different reasons: the woman obviously knew the entire story from the race via the live feed and her son's retelling, and Shadow wasn't in the mood to talk with her. Just Dylan.

At length, he did break the silence though, "I need to speak with Dylan."

"Is your murderous chao with you?" She undertoned angrily.

Shadow tried not to clench his fingers into fists, "Is Dylan home?"

"Maybe," Isolena didn't give a sliver of space for him, filling the door deliberately. "How did you describe me a while ago? I believe it was arcane psychosis."

Understanding the point, Shadow held in his desire to break her arm. She knew it, that smug smile spreading a little further. He continued to stand with a passive face, wondering if she was just messing with him, or actually had any intention to let him in.

"Are you here to apologize to my son and Berry?" Her tone deadpanned in a second.

"That's none of your concern," he countered with a growl.

Isolena considered him and tilted her head, "I don't care how strong you are. If you do anything to upset my son again, you're gone. And don't forget that I'm only letting you enter because I know my son cares for you." She stepped aside as she spoke.

Good enough. Shadow entered and didn't even waver to look around. He knew the layout of the house and casually walked down the hall and knocked on Dylan's door. There was a rustle inside and a soft thump, probably of feet on the carpet.

Then Dylan opened the door, stepped back to make room for Shadow, but wouldn't look at him. It was, even for Shadow, a tad awkward, and he entered only enough for Dylan to close the door. Then they said nothing. Like with Isolena, Dylan was waiting for Shadow to utter what he wanted to hear, and Shadow felt a strong urge to do the exact opposite. But the lecture died in his mind, as he observed Dylan hop back up on his bed and revert his attention to his homework.

In the silence of being ignored, Shadow drifted his eyes over the rather average room: neutral color scheme to the carpet and walls. One large window was open a third of the way, with soft, sweet smells of blooming flowers wafting in. There were no pictures or posters or anything hanging on the walls, to his curiosity. The child had little furniture: dresser, bed, single shelf. He either had spartan tastes, or didn't care about filling all available space allotted to him as many other teenagers did. There was a utilitarian feel in the small space. And then there was Dylan himself: sneakers tucked under the bed, legs crossed, leaning forward with a tightened brow at whatever was giving him stress.

Unasked, Shadow stepped over to the bed and turned his head a bit to read the page: it was a complex trigonometry problem. At least, hard for Dylan. Very rudimentary for him.

"You're on the right track," he commented.

Dylan glanced at him, then back to the paper. He erased some of the scratch.

"How long have you been working on that problem?"

"Probably over twenty minutes," he sighed.

Shadow considered if he should help Dylan. He did want to, but an odd feeling kept him from just acting on his desire to be helpful. Like he shouldn't. Like—like he didn't deserve to do so. Was that guilt, again? He rarely felt such a thing, and so every time the emotion rose, it confused him and made him upset.

But this was Dylan and he did hold special affection of some type for this particular hedgehog, whether he gave time to further analyze what type or how. Which he hadn't, really, not deeply. It was just there: that he never grew bored of any time he snatched to be near the child. It was perplexing.

He forced the words out, "Would you like me to help you?"

Dylan clutched his pencil tighter and gave no response.

Shadow realized he maybe hadn't formulated the request properly. It sounded like he'd be putting himself out to help Dylan. After considering a revision, he asked again, "Would you let me help you?"

"What do you get out of it?" Dylan mumbled bitterly. "And, what will you get out of helping me this summer with my ability?"

Rarely did Dylan sound so upset. Shadow knew he had to reduce the hostility now, but his brain whirled trying to think of just how to do so. This was one of those confusing, illogical social situations where nuance was required and where he felt he hadn't grown enough to comprehend that level of complication properly. The signals were tiring.

But he tried, "I don't want to help you to help myself."

"Really? It's a waste of time for you, then, isn't it?"

The pencil cracked. Both hedgehogs instantly stared at it.

This was ridiculous. It was an extremely discomfiting feeling to have the child upset at him. Not worth the façade of stubborn pride Shadow liked to project. He had to drop some of the barrier, like when they'd sat at the beach months ago. Dylan deserved it from him, and at least Shadow knew the boy wouldn't mock him if he was transparent.

"I'm sorry," Shadow spoke low. "My actions at the chao race were uncaring."

"I was really surprised, Shadow," Dylan leaned back a bit to a small desk by his bed and fetched another pencil.

"Why?" Shadow came up a bit closer, still studying the equation.

Dylan merely replied, "Because you do care about people. A lot. So, when you didn't tell Dusk to stop, I couldn't figure you out. It hurt, Shadow. I know you care about me, so you should care about Berry, too, because he means a lot to me."

"But Berry isn't part of you," Shadow stated with childish ignorance.

For just a second, Dylan stared over at Shadow in disbelief that this hedgehog truly didn't understand how things were so interconnected. But Shadow blinked at him with no alteration of his quizzical face, and Dylan knew it was true.

He evenly explained, "Things, pets, and others that people care for become extensions of them. Things they love. Things they value. To treat those things well is the same as treating the person well. It shows that you care and respect them. What matters to them becomes things that matter to you. But if you treat what that person cherishes poorly, it personally hurts them. They think you don't love them."

"But Berry doesn't do anything for you," Shadow noted.

Dylan felt his anger dribbling away. Shadow really didn't know how he sounded, or why he was wrong. All he felt was a desire to help his senior grasp this new concept.

"Utilitarian isn't the only value there is, or even the most important at times," Dylan scooted over and patted the warm spot.

Hesitating, Shadow boosted up and positioned himself to Dylan's left, with the homework between them.

Dylan gave himself a few seconds to gather his thoughts, and then he explained, "Berry loves me. When I'm upset, he comforts me by listening and hugging me. That's a great destresser for me. I just want him happy. I don't care if he never accomplishes anything that the world would think is worth something. I don't need him to prove anything. You and Sonic and the others helped me get free from G.U.N., but what sticks out to me is that you gave me time and attention you didn't have to. That's when I knew you cared about me."

"So, you got angry when I didn't stop Dusk from harming your chao, because you saw that as an attack on you?"

"Precisely—there was more to it than that, but, yes," Dylan swallowed.

Shadow thought hard about that and his train of memories took him back to the ARK. The sprite he still loved hadn't asked him for anything but time and play. They'd talked and shared secrets and she'd always approached him with loving eyes and a sincere smile. She'd given him nothing of monetary value, but he'd received something priceless and intangible from her, instead.

Shadow realized fully his mistake and he quietly reached out and took Dylan's pencil, "Here's a method to solve these equations easily."

The teenager keenly listened. Shadow was acknowledging he'd been right and he was apologizing in his own way. Dylan didn't need to directly ask Shadow if he'd treat his own chao better from their discussion. He knew it was so. Shadow didn't need to be reminded of this lesson.

As he reclaimed his pencil and worked the problem anew, Shadow continued to think about their discussion. For days, he'd be going over it, remembering snaps of minutes recent and old. This was a new idea he'd heard times before, but Dylan had broken it to him the best. The boy would be teaching him things for years.

With a gasp, Dylan proudly pointed to the problem, "Solved!"

Shadow reviewed it and nodded, "Yes. It is."

The boy's face threatened to crack from a smile, "Thanks, Shadow!" He tumbled sideways and grabbed Shadow to him.

"You're—you're welcome," Shadow's voice was tight from surprise. Oh, why not return the gesture? The entire discussion had been about affection and love anyway. And—he realized that Dylan really did care for him. He sighed and gave the child a return hug.

From the door, Isolena crossed her arms and smirked. Shadow heard her chuckle and darted his eyes at her. It was an incredibly embarrassing moment for him. She just nodded and walked away.

/ end. Now I'll really get down working on my Scourge fic. *cough* there will be both super transformations with chaos emeralds and anarchy beryl, but it's not what you're thinking.