It was a beautiful day; the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and Shadow had decided that he was so irritated with his cavemates simply existing that he needed to go and beat the tar out of Sonic.

Rouge followed to make sure no one got permanently damaged.

Omega followed with some questionably-acquired lawn chairs.

As the bat and robot lounged to the side, watching black and blue collide again and again, the other villagers seemed to regard the fight with alarm... and then disinterest, going about their days.

Knuckles and Amy waved at them. Rouge waved back.

"QUERY: WHY DID SHADOW NOT BATTLE US INSTEAD?"

Rouge frowned. "I'm glad he didn't. I didn't get to do my stretches yet."

"CONSIDERATION... MID-LEVEL PROBABILITY."

"He's known Blue Boy longer than he's known us," Rouge pointed out as Shadow threw Sonic into a tree. "This might be their thing."

"EXPLANATION INCOMPLETE. EXPLAIN BETTER."

"You know, like..." Rouge pursed her lips as Sonic clubbed Shadow in the gut with his arm. "Have you ever had a rival?"

"NEGATIVE," Omega replied. "I AM LESS THAN A YEAR OLD. WHAT ABOUT YOU?"

"Mmmmm... Not exactly? I kind of acted as a stand-in rival for one of my old friends until he could find a real one."

"INTEREST PIQUED. SPILL."

Rouge laughed softly, her face taking on a fond look. "Well... He had other friends, but they tended to listen to him or guide him. He wanted a challenge... and since I'm good at basically everything-"

"COUNTEREXAMPLE: YOU SUCK AT SURFING."

"I said 'basically everything'-"

"COUNTEREXAMPLE 2: YOUR SINGING IS SUBPAR."

"Okay Omega let's-"

"COUNTEREXAMPLE 3: I HAVE SEEN YOUR ATTEMPTS TO DO THE WORM, AND-"

"Omega."

"-THEY ARE INTERNET CRINGE COMPILATION WORTHY."

"OMEGA! SHUT UP!"

Rouge looked genuinely peeved. Omega decided to shut up as the fighting hedgehogs blasted through the sky, still clawing at each other.

"...as I was saying before this turned into a free pass to drag me through the mud, he usually came to me when he wanted to get better at something or try something new. We both liked a challenge, so it worked out." Rouge sighed, looking up to the sky and leaning back on her chair. "I miss them, you know. My old friends, my old life..."

Omega, still in shutting-up mode, didn't respond.

He did, however, reach out a large, dangerous metal hand that could likely squash Rouge if he tried, and patted her head in a very clunky mechanical way.

Rouge reached up one hand to squeeze one of Omega's fingers, and they watched the rest of the rivalry fight in silence.