Alright, I am back.

Sorry for the long hiatus everyone. Recently, as in ever since August 2019, school was back in my life. So I left the fanfiction scene to fully focus on my education. I did come back for the December holidays, but that was spent on Where the Wind Blows Rewrite, so it didn't quite count.

Now, I have a problem. My memory stick/hard disk that contained my future plans/plots/drafts/etc. on all of my fanfics is out of commission. The data isn't lost by all means, but I cannot access it right now. I was planning to visit my family and get it fixed (because the means to do so unfortunately aren't in my area), but with the whole COVID-19 going on, I had to cancel those plans.

It means I have only the vaguest inkling/memory of where I am going with this fanfic. I am a bit screwed...

Of course, it won't stop me entirely, but it will slow me down by a lot. So please be patient with me and I cannot thank the readers/favorites/followers enough for sticking with this fanfic of mine!

Without further ado, I present the next chapter. Replies to reviews at the end. And as always, thank you to ThinMintE for betaing my chapters, and I do not own the Sonic franchise.

Chapter 20

By the time the pack had their fill of exploring their newly-found territory, the sun was already setting. Shadow kept watch of the sky as it slowly changed color, the red and orange hues deepening to purple before settling on a dark blue, dotted with stars. Another thing that had not changed; the sunsets were the same, even away from the island. The stars were at slightly different positions, but they were still there as well.

It made his current feelings, his lack of stability within this sea of change, all the more obvious and daunting.

A brush against his arm brought his attention to the Black Arm by his side. Red-Tail's eyes glinted with an almost supernatural glow to them, and what would have been a frightening sight to others was comforting to Shadow. Red-Tail, his pack, they were his anchor. They even crossed an entire ocean, left their home island, all for him. The black hedgehog knew that as long as his pack was with him, he would find the strength to keep going on.

To keep what he found precious to him safe.

"We should go back to the kit's den," Red-Tail murmured, lightly pushing Shadow in the direction of said den. The black hedgehog nodded in agreement and started the trek back up, his pack following closely behind.

As night fell, Shadow noticed the windows were full of light. A strange sight, when he was more used to coming back to a den dark and dim with only the occasional moonlight as the only source of light. But somehow, the sight of the two mobians waiting in front of the door, smiling at their arrival, made this strange sight feel so warm...

"Welcome back!" Sonic greeted them exuberantly. "We've got a surprise for you!"

'A surprise?' Shadow wondered, even as he was pulled inside the house.

With the pack at their heels, Sonic and Tails led them to the storage room. "We know that our place isn't in the best spot for a den, so we decided to convert this room for you guys to stay in!" the two-tailed fox explained as he swung open the door.

What was once a storage room was now converted into a livable space for the Black Arms. As mentioned previously, the unoccupied platforms had been moved to settle closer to the door with all the filled platforms resting at the lowest point of the room. Only now, the unoccupied platforms were furnished with what appeared to be rugs, mattresses and even pelts, all of them Sonic and Tails had gathered from their travels. The artificial lighting has also changed from a bright white glow to a more neutral yellow light reminiscent of the afternoon sunlight streaming in through the jungle's canopy.

Like a pack of curious puppies, the Black Arms scrambled into the room and explored their living space eagerly, delighting in the softness of their bedding, the warmth of the room and the comfortable lighting that made the place feel more like a den. Some were curiously staring down from the walkways at the lower levels while others were even trying out some jumps from one platform to another. It was certainly very interactive for them and they loved it.

"Nice job Tails," Sonic whistled, eyeing the furnishing with nostalgia. "I remember those pelts. Holoska, right?"

"And from that one time when you nearly got eaten by a polar bear," Tails added almost nonchalantly, pointing at the skinned pelt of said polar bear. The blue hedgehog nearly choked at that, spluttering in disbelief. "I found the hunter that killed it, recognized it as the polar bear you told me from the blue quills stuck in its fur, and bought it as a souvenir."

"I...I suppose that is a souvenir as any..." Sonic coughed once he recovered. "As morbid as it is..."

Tails snickered at Sonic's words, a fleeting moment of amusement before seriousness took over his features. "Well, I got plans for tomorrow. The president has set up a meeting in the morning to discuss about our findings from the island (of course, barring Shadow and the Black Arms). I'll be heading to Central City at seven. The president invited you as well Sonic. He wants to talk to you."

"Probably about that emergency from the email," Sonic hummed, a slight frown pulling at his lips. "Any idea what that could be, Tails?"

"Well, on one hand, it can be something completely unrelated to Eggman. On the other..."

"It is about Eggman," Sonic sighed. He felt a bit sad that his vacation from world-saving was over, but the part of him that thrived off danger was starting to feel eager. The evil doctor had been laying low for a long while already and that usually meant he was hatching a plan. "Wonder what he plans to do this time."

"It'd probably be something bigger than a normal robot attack like he usually does," Tails fretted, his tails starting to twist nervously around each other. "I'll check up on things, see if there's been anything going wrong before we got back home. Maybe we'll be able to figure out his plan ahead and stop it if there's a good clue." Without wasting another second, Tails hurried back down to his workshop, muttering plans along the way.

"Be back in time for dinner," Sonic reminded before the fox was completely out of earshot.

"Who is this Eggman you were talking about?" Shadow decided to ask afterwards, seeing that Sonic and Tails had finished their discussion. So far, he had not yet heard about this individual, but from the way the two mobians spoke about him, it seemed he was a nuisance.

"Eggman is...well, can I say evil?" Sonic mused, stuck somewhere between humor and defeat. "He committed many crimes, many of which I am hard-pressed to forgive. He is my arch-nemesis, so to speak, with ambitions of taking over the world and building his Eggman Empire." At the disbelieving look on Shadow's face upon hearing the name, Sonic chuckled. "Yes, his naming scheme is like that; every one of his robots and inventions must have the word 'egg' in some way or form in it."

"A fascination with eggs?" Shadow asked, completely serious.

"Considering that he basically looks like an egg with limbs, I think you are on to something there!" Sonic replied with a louder chuckle. "But, despite his appearance, he is anything but harmless. As much as I would hate to stroke that ego of his, he is smart. He also doesn't hesitate to pull out the dirtier tricks to get what he wants."

Shadow watched in intrigue as Sonic's eyes seemed to dance between amusement and grim, the emerald hues never settling on one. "Of course, he can also be...not stupid per se, but, too smart for his own good. He comes up with these grand schemes, and while they work on paper, it isn't the same in practice." There was a slight pause before Sonic turned towards the door. "He has been quiet for the past month. It's usually not a good sign, as much as I hate to say that."

"Is that why you decided to come back?" Shadow asked quietly, following the blue hedgehog down the stairs.

"Yeah." Sonic's grin was full of confidence, pride and joy as he gestured towards one of the walls of the living room as they passed by the place. On it was a collage of news clippings, and at a closer look, they all held the image of Sonic, each progressively changing with age from a young pup to the teen he was now. "I am the Hero after all. It's my job to look after the people. Whenever Eggman decides to show up and put others in danger, I'll be there to save them."

Shadow's brow furrowed at the word. 'Hero'. It was a word he heard Sonic being referred to as constantly, but he never quite caught onto its meaning. But from what Sonic said, it was his 'job' to look after others. To protect them from danger. In any other context, Shadow would liken the word 'hero' to 'leader', since they seemed to share the same duty. However, unlike a 'leader', Sonic didn't seem to lead a pack. He didn't even seem to have one beyond the fox and the echidna.

"Looks like we're having stir fry for dinner."

Sonic inwardly grinned when the mention of 'stir fry' and 'dinner' immediately got Shadow's attention. It was a pleasant surprise to learn that Shadow was a foodie; having never eaten cooked food or anything that wasn't raw meat before, the black hedgehog was always willing to try out new foods. 'Will have to add going on a foodie spree in the city tomorrow to the plans.' "Wanna help me?"

"...Alright."

"Tails! Dinner's ready!"

The two-tailed fox perked up at the shout. His stomach also chose that moment to remind him of the fact that it had been some hours since he last ate. Taking in the screen's display for one last time with narrowed blue eyes, he put his computer into hibernate mode and headed for the kitchen where he could already smell the fried meat and vegetables. Once dinner was done, he would take the time to inform Sonic of what he found.

Tails entered the kitchen just as the food was being served. Rice and stir fry, simple and easy to make. The two hedgehogs were just sitting at the small table that was almost cramped as it was intended for two people (Sonic and Tails rarely had visitors, or if they did, Sonic was usually out of the house). Tails grinned at the sight as he squeezed into his seat, eyeing the bowl of stir fry. "Looks good, Sonic."

"Of course it does!" Sonic laughed, a particular mischief in his face. "Shadow helped make it after all."

"Really?" Tails gave the black hedgehog a smile that went unseen as Shadow seemed invested in trying to make sense of the spoon and fork, the cutlery appearing somewhat clumsy in his hands.

"Why don't you give it a try?" Sonic asked nonchalantly.

Tails nodded in agreement and reached over to take a bite, just as Shadow also managed to get a spoonful into his mouth. There was a pause before Tails' face scrunched up as he swallowed harshly. "It's...very savory. A lot of salt and spice..." he rasped out, hand twitching to grab a cup of water.

Shadow's frown was thoughtful as he continued to eat. "Not bad. Maybe it could use just a little less salt."

Sonic's grin grew while watching Tails attempt to hold back a comment to that, a look of resignation on the fox's face as he hesitantly spooned some of the stir fry. "Shadow went a little overboard with the spices. Said he can't taste them well," he explained as he put some of the stir fry on his plastic plate of rice (all of their dishware were plastic plates, bowls and cutlery, mostly to prevent cases of breaking or shattering). "It's not that bad."

"Says the person who is used to eating unbearably spicy chili dogs," Tails muttered, his spoon about 90% rice just to counter the extreme flavor.

Sonic shrugged. "It's Shadow's first time cooking. All in all, at least it is edible, and stir fry is easy to make. Just wait until we get to the more complicated recipes."

The horrified look on Tails' face and the contemplative curiosity on Shadow's made Sonic's day, the blue hedgehog hiding his laughter behind his hand.

Once dinner was done and the leftover stir fry packaged (to never be seen again in Tails' honest opinion), Shadow retired to his pack while Tails and Sonic settled in the living room. "Sonic, I have some news," the two-tailed fox began while Sonic nursed a mug of hot chocolate. "You remember back on the ARK, I mentioned about how there were two deletes during the past ten years?"

Sonic hummed thoughtfully to himself. "...There was something about tracing one of the deletes back to its source, right? GUN?"

"Yeah. Eggman hasn't been up to his usual tricks during the month we were gone, but that itself is a warning itself. I haven't found anything wrong yet though. So I tackled the delete situation." Sonic leaned forward, all focused attention. "As far as we know, the ARK was closed down by GUN ten years ago because of an unnamed and unexplained accident. During that accident, Shadow's memories were...forcefully erased and there were signs of struggle and combat..."

The two mobians' eyes darkened at the reminder. Gunshots and the literal trauma left on Shadow's mind were not what one would call unintentional.

"Shadow managed to leave the ARK, land on Earth and here we are, ten years later." Tails took a deep breath, arranging the information in his mind. "As far as we know, Shadow was an experiment, something to do with Black Arms. He was taken care of, but...I suspect that it was not an easy life at all. Also, while there is no concrete confirmation, I think it's safe to assume that the accident and Shadow's memory being erased are connected on some level. And all of this had to do with GUN."

"I'll need to go through the files. Just what was the ARK doing? What else were they experimenting on? How is GUN related to this? Are there any survivors of the ARK incident? If so, can we meet them?" Tails huffed out a tired sigh, mind wandering back to the multiple files he would have to go through. "It will take a while to find this information. I'll try to get into GUN to see what I can find about the ARK as well. If it works, it will be faster."

"Shadow and I can help out," Sonic offered, setting down the cooling mug. "We can handle the files, as much as we can at least. All of this can be taken one step at a time. It might take some time, but there doesn't seem to be problems?"

Tails nodded to the question, but then hesitated. "...There is the more recent delete to think of though... I don't know who did it; they erased their tracks thoroughly... I don't think it's GUN. Why would they delete again after ten years? And while they could have improved in ten years, the erasure was thorough, polished. Honestly, this might be just me jumping to conclusions, but I can only think of a single person who have this much skill, know about the ARK and is interested in it to do something like this. I mean, there might be someone I don't know who might be the true culprit..."

"Don't wonder Tails. I know." Sonic looked rather grim. "I forgot to tell Shadow this. But the scientist Shadow knows, Gerald Robotnik, I am 100% sure Eggman is related to him. And yes, while there is no real proof, we cannot deny. Eggman is someone who knows about the ARK, is related to the ARK and have the skills you mentioned."

"Perhaps this is why he has been quite this whole time..." Tails murmured. "We really need to find out about Shadow's past. It might be the key to figuring out what Eggman is up to. In the meantime, we have a trip to the city tomorrow. The president might have more to say about this."

Sonic nodded in agreement and downed the rest of his now lukewarm chocolate. "Let's get some sleep then. Tomorrow, we'll see the president."

And that's it for this chapter.

Why don't you guys take a gander at what possible scheme Eggman is cooking up?

Review Responses

GuardianDragon98: Thank you for your review! Yeah, Shadow has two things he cares about, and he doesn't want to abandon one for the other. Best case scenario would be if the two things accept each other. I can see Maria being doted on by the pack as their leader's sister while Gerald would spend his days observing the Black Arms (imagine him taking notes while a Black Arm chewed on some of his pencils or played with his journals). Of course, that's assuming if Maria and Gerald are still alive.

My fandom trip didn't go well. Current situation: obsessed with Yu-Gi-Oh, trying to think of plot ideas and not being able to push it beyond a general skeleton beginning. Horrible...

ThinMintE: I returned back in December, and now again for summer vacation!
Edit 30/5: I've sent a doc x over for review. Just putting it out there in case you haven't got the notification?

The great fan: Here's the next chapter! Thank you for reading this fanfic of mine!