"I'm sorry, I don't see you in the register," the security guard clicked on his laptop, and then cast a skeptical eye at the black hedgehog. "Who did you say you're here to visit?"
"Uh, I'm here to see Miles Prower," Shadow explained. "Some people call him Tails. He said he'd be here today to work on some kind of telescope?"
"Let me see…"
"Hey Shadow, there you are!" Tails, who was wearing an enormous backpack, seemed to appear from nowhere at Shadow's side. "Sorry about that, I got hung up."
"Oh, you mean Dr. Prower!" the guard exclaimed. "My apologies, Mr. Shadow. I'm sure you'll be fine as long as you stay with your companion here. Here's your badges, and welcome to Adabat's National Space Center. Mr. Samadikun is waiting for you."
The guard handed them two identifying badges on lanyards, and opened the gate. Tails pulled Shadow through as soon as it opened.
"Dr. Prower, huh?" Shadow folded his arms. "I didn't know that."
"Eh, I got a doctorate from Tohoku University last year," Tails shrugged. "I don't care, but they insist on using the title here."
"I see," Shadow nodded, looking around at the Space Center's various hangars, runways, laboratories, and other buildings. "You know, I'm glad you invited me, but I'm not sure I'll be able to help with anything."
"That's fine!" Tails smiled. "I'm just happy to have some company. I heard you just finished a job nearby, right?"
"Yeah, Rouge sent me on my own this time," Shadow replied. "They just discovered a shipwreck from the Majapahit Era, but graverobbers had stolen some of the ship's treasures. So they asked me to help recover them."
"That sounds really cool!" Tails exclaimed. "Do you have any pictures?"
"Yeah, here," Shadow pulled out a stack of Polaroid photos and handed them to Tails. "These are the divers. This is the head archaeologist. This was the graverobbers' base, and these are the treasures we recovered. They're in the National Museum now."
"Cool!" Tails said, flipping through the photographs. "This looks like a lot of fun."
"Yeah, it was rewarding," Shadow nodded. "I can see why Rouge enjoys this treasure hunting business so much."
"As long as you don't try to steal the Master Emerald too," Tails laughed. "Oh, there's Mr. Samadikun."
The two Islanders ran over to a jovial-looking human man with a stack of papers under one arm. Behind him was an office building connected to an enormous but otherwise nondescript hangar.
"Dr. Prower!" Samadikun said, extending a hand. Tails shook it enthusiastically. "It's so nice to finally meet you. Thank you for coming over on such short notice. And who is your guest?"
"Not a problem," Tails said. "This is my friend Shadow. He was already in the area, so I invited him over. I hope that's okay."
"Certainly," Mr. Samadikun nodded, and extended his hand again. Shadow shook his hand tentatively. "In that case, Mr. Shadow, I hope you enjoy this special tour of our facilities!"
"I'm sure I will," Shadow replied.
"So, what exactly did you call me here for?" Tails asked.
"Right," Samadikun ushered them into the office building, and guided them through a maze-like corridor. "As you know, we're hoping to launch our first orbital space telescope this year. Everything is complete, except for the liquid helium pump. Whatever my engineers try, they can't quite reduce the vibrations to an acceptable level, and they're about at their wit's end. Either we have to add a dampening system in, or completely redesign the pump."
"Sorry, what's the pump for?" Shadow asked.
"Ah, some of the telescope's components need to be kept very cold," Mr. Samadikun explained. "The pump circulates liquid helium throughout the telescope to accomplish that. Otherwise it would detect its own infrared radiation!"
"Can we see the telescope?" Tails asked.
"It's already been sterilized and folded up, but you can look in through the window," Samadikun answered. "We've taken out the helium pump and put it in the workshop for you. You're free to use whatever tools you need, including the 3D printer. Now to be clear, we're not looking for a complete design from you. Just whatever ideas you have."
"That's fine," Tails said.
Mr. Samadikun brought them to the hangar, where they could see the entire space telescope. Admittedly, it wasn't much to look at in its present configuration. It was a metallic cylinder at least a hundred feet tall, and about twenty feet in radius. The whole thing was covered in several protective layers of plastic.
"The telescope weighs about 7,000 kilograms. When it's unfolded, the mirror will be ten meters in diameter!" Mr. Samadikun boasted.
"That's so cool!" Tails pressed his face against the glass.
Shadow folded his arms and thought for a minute. This telescope had taken Adabat, which had the world's largest space program at the moment, years of careful planning and construction. And it was so small compared to the ARK! Of course, most of the ARK's mass had come from an asteroid that had been carefully coaxed to orbit Gaia, but that was only one issue. How had his father done it all?
"You see why we can hardly wait to launch it," Samadikun nodded. "But anyway, here's the workshop."
The human brought them into another room. This one looked a lot more like Tails's workshop. In the middle sat an intimidating-looking contraption about Shadow's size. To Shadow's eye, it looked as if somebody had tried to make an octopus out of sheet metal, wires, and plastic tubes, and given up halfway through.
Tails put down his backpack and took a few minutes to examine the pump, while Shadow looked from a distance with amusement.
"Hm, I see why this is causing you trouble…." Tails mumbled. "But I'm pretty sure I can fix this by tomorrow."
"Do you really think so?" Mr. Samadikun put his hands together. "That would be wonderful! Thank you so much."
"Honestly, your engineers were very close," Tails admitted. "You could probably have them finish it up. But I can't refuse an opportunity to work on this project!"
"Haha, I'm glad I called you over then," Samadikun nodded. "In that case, I suppose I'll leave you to it. Call me if you need anything, and please help yourself to the food in the break room."
With that, he left Tails and Shadow to their own devices.
"Do you really think you can fix that thing?" Shadow asked.
"For sure!" Tails said, already taking out tools from the cabinets. "Like I said, they were really close with this. I can't blame anyone for getting frustrated, though."
"Have you done something like this before?" Shadow continued to look around the room. All the instructions and warnings were in one of Adabat's many languages, though he supposed that with Tails's intuition, they could probably figure everything out on their own.
"Well, I've always enjoyed playing around with liquid helium when I can," Tails admitted. "In fact, I'll show you some cool things once we're done with the pump."
"That sounds like fun," Shadow replied. "Is there anything I can help with in the meantime?"
"Can you run some tests on their pump?" Tails asked. "We need to make sure it actually works the way we expect. And you can just use purified water for now. I'll show you what to do."
Tails hooked up the pump to a set of instruments, and gave a demonstration about how each one worked. Shadow then took over, and carefully noted down the pressure and flow rate according to Tails's directions. Just as Mr. Samadikun had said, he noticed that the pump vibrated slightly.
"Okay, now what?" Shadow asked.
"Uh, I need to run some numbers first," Tails said, scribbling on a notepad. "I brought some books though. They're in my backpack. You can look through them if you want."
"Okay."
Shadow took a look through the books that Tails had brought with him. He realized he shouldn't be surprised at this point, but he still got a chuckle from seeing titles like "The Brave Little Toaster" next to "Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics."
"Snow White and the (n+1) Dwarves?" Shadow teased, hoping he wasn't crossing a line. "Are you serious?"
"It's more funny than you'd expect," Tails insisted. "In fact, I'll lend you that one just so you can see for yourself."
"I can't refuse that," Shadow accepted. "Hey, you have "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel"!? I love that book. Maria used to read it to me."
"Oh, yeah!" Tails nodded. "It's kinda depressing though, isn't it? I mean, Mike and Mary Anne both have to give up their freedom just to survive."
"I don't think it's depressing," Shadow countered. "I mean, Mary Anne would've been replaced by a diesel shovel otherwise. This way, they get to stay together, and they both earn their rest."
"That's true," Tails scrunched up his eye ridges in thought. "I'll have to think about it some more."
"So, how long are you gonna be crunching those numbers?" Shadow asked.
"A couple of hours," Tails admitted. "Why don't you check out the break room and see what they have? I'll join you when I'm done."
"Good idea," Shadow nodded.
Shadow made his way over to the break room, which he found was surprisingly large. There was the usual assortment of pre-packaged food, but he also found that the room had an oven and a stovetop, as well as a cabinet full of pots and pans, a pantry, and a fridge fully stocked with raw ingredients. At the very least, everything was labeled in Standard Gaian in addition to several of Adabat's languages.
Having grown up on Polskan food–or rather, the sort of cheap, simplified Polskan food that could be produced on the ARK–Shadow wasn't familiar with most of the ingredients, but Rouge had been teaching him how to cook lately, and he figured that this would be a good time to put his new skill to the test. He vaguely remembered the recipe for some kind of chicken curry that he had seen in a grocery store, so he decided to set to work and see how close he could get.
Shadow got so involved in his cooking that he barely noticed Tails walking into the room a couple of hours later.
"Whoah, that looks good!" Tails exclaimed, peering into the simmering pot. "Where'd you learn to make this?"
"Uh, Rouge taught me," Shadow answered, scooping some of the curry into bowls for himself and Tails.
"Well, you're doing a good job!" Tails took a big whiff of steam from the pot. "It smells great."
"Thanks," Shadow smiled. That is to say, his lips twitched ever so slightly upward, something which Tails had had to practice recognizing. "It seems like Sonic and Knuckles are pretty good cooks, though."
"Yeah, they are," Tails nodded. "You know, West Side Island, where I was born, is pretty close to Adabat, so they have similar food. It's nice to have good curry again."
"Well, thanks," Shadow said. "Speaking of that, what's West Side Island like?"
"It's nice," Tails replied. "After my parents died, I got a job at the university's library. The head librarian took care of me, so I didn't have to worry about getting adopted or sent away or anything."
"Wow," Shadow blinked. "I'm sorry about your parents; I don't think I ever realized that."
Tails sighed. "I'm just glad I met Sonic. I couldn't say no when he asked me to come with him."
"I can imagine," Shadow said, staring down at his food.
"What was growing up on the ARK like?" Tails asked.
"It was interesting," Shadow answered. "There were thousands of people. A lot of them were the best scientists in their fields. Gerald was always inventing something new, and he had guests come from all over the world! Maria and I explored it so much, we probably knew the whole place by heart. I think you would've enjoyed it."
"That's awesome," Tails said, blowing on his food to cool it down. "Were there other kids?"
"Oh, yeah," Shadow said. "There was a whole school. Although…not everyone was nice to me there. I'm just glad I had Maria for support."
"Oh," Tails hummed knowingly. "Bullies suck, don't they?"
"Yeah," Shadow sighed. "So, how are your calculations going?"
"Well, I redesigned the pistons, and those are printing in the workshop right now," Tails said. "When that's done, we can put those in and test it out!"
"Sounds good," Shadow said.
Shadow and Tails finished their food, and Shadow cleaned up the dishes after that. The two of them went to the printer, and watched closely as it produced four pistons out of solid aluminum. Gerald had a primitive 3D printer himself, but it could only print plastic. Shadow was sure that his father would have been amazed to see one that could work with solid metal.
"Okay!" Tails whooped when the printer was done. He took the new pistons and placed them into the pump, which now looked like a half-dissected octopus, and re-assembled the whole contraption.
"Now we have to test it out for real," Tails continued. "Here, put this stuff on and get a bottle of liquid helium."
Tails pointed to a pair of thick gloves, as well as a mask and an apron that would protect them from the cold of the liquid helium.
Shadow did as he was instructed, and Tails put on his own protective clothing as well. He grabbed a bottle of liquid helium–surprisingly light, Shadow noted–and handed it to Tails.
Tails hooked the pump up to the instrument that Shadow had used to measure before, and poured the helium in.
"Alright, I'm turning it on." Tails announced. "Tell me what the pressure gauge says."
"Uh, it looks like it's steady at ten kiloPascals." Shadow replied.
"Ten!? We should be getting at least fifteen." Tails frowned. "Are you sure you calibrated it right?"
The fox rushed over to the various gauges that Shadow was staring at, and turned a few dials. Shadow frowned in mock petulance.
"Oh yeah, you're right then," Tails stammered.
"See, I can follow instructions," Shadow folded his arms.
"Sorry, hehe. Let me look at my calculations again." Tails rushed over to his notebook, then back to the pump, and made a few small adjustments.
"We're at fifteen now," Shadow declared.
"Great!" Tails clapped. "Now we just have to sterilize the pump and put it in the telescope."
Tails disconnected the pump, then took Shadow and changed into even bulkier protective clothing. They carried the pump into another room where it could be cleaned and sterilized properly.
"A few years ago, a satellite failed because a few hairs got stuck in a valve," Tails noted. "So we should be extra careful with this."
Once they were done, they carried it into the main hangar and went through the painstaking process of installing it into the telescope.
"So now what?" Shadow asked once they got back into the workshop, and changed out of their protective clothing.
"Well, I noticed there's some extra bottles of liquid nitrogen," Tails whistled. "And there's a few things I always wanted to try out."
"Like what?" Shadow raised an eye ridge.
"Like making ice cream!" Tails hopped a bit on his toes. "I've seen it done before. What flavors do you like?"
"I think vanilla is fine," Shadow said.
"Sounds good!" Tails grabbed a bottle of liquid nitrogen, and rushed to the break room. Shadow followed close behind.
Once he got there, Tails got out a kitchen blender, as well as milk, sugar, vanilla, and mint flavoring. He mixed one bowl with mint for himself, and one bowl with vanilla for Shadow.
Back on the ARK, Gerald had actually let Shadow play around with a lot of things that would have killed anybody else, including mercury and small amounts of uranium ore. He had learned a lot of lab safety the hard way. Not that he regretted any of it, in retrospect.
Still, he was pleased with how seriously Tails was taking their safety, and watched with a smile as the fox carefully poured the liquid nitrogen into the two bowls, instantly turning the milk mixture into smooth, creamy ice cream. Tails took his own bowl, and slid the other to Shadow.
"Wow, this really is the best ice cream I've ever had!" Shadow declared after having one bite. "We have to do this again."
"I'll make sure of it!" Tails giggled, and dug into his own ice cream. "Say, Shadow, what kind of books did you read on the ARK?"
"Hm, well, I read the ARK's whole library at some point," Shadow drummed his fingers on the table. "But I think I most enjoyed reading science fiction books. I know things have changed since then, but those books were cutting edge at the time. I loved daydreaming about going to different planets and learning about alien creatures."
"Cool!" Tails wagged his tails. "It's fun to think about. Do you remember any particular books or authors?"
"Hm, I think my favorites were C.J. Cherry and Hal Clement. There was one Polskan author named Stanislaw Lem–"
"No way!" Tails exclaimed. "I have one of his books! The Cyberiad! It was kinda hard to track down a copy, actually."
"Oh, that's great," Shadow's eyes widened. "I'm glad someone still remembers him."
"Definitely," Tails nodded, finishing up his ice cream. "Okay, I think we have enough liquid nitrogen left to try out one more thing."
"What's that?" Shadow asked.
"You know how superconductors work, right?" Tails responded.
"Yeah," Shadow nodded. "Cool them down and they conduct electricity without resistance. My father used them to make a magnetic shield around the ARK."
"Ah, right," Tails's eyes flashed in understanding. He pulled a few chunks of ceramic out of his backpack. "So, do you wanna make a magnetic track and race superconducting carts? I have a few pieces of Yttrium Barium Copper Oxide with me, and we could probably use the printer to make a magnetic track."
"That sounds awesome!" Shadow jumped up from his chair. "Let's go." With that, he skated towards the workshop, with Tails following right behind. Shadow set to work making a track with the printer, while Tails made small, fan-propelled RC hover carts they could race using his superconducting materials.
When they were done, Tails dipped the carts in the remaining liquid nitrogen to induce their superconducting qualities, and set them on the track.
"Three, two, one, go!" Tails announced, and the two carts went speeding across the track.
Shadow grinned. Between getting to talk about his favorite books, making ice cream, and playing with superconductors, today felt a lot like some of the best days he had ever had on the ARK. He just wished Maria could be here to share it with him. Lost in thought now, he looked up…
…And was assailed with the sudden screeching of metal, and an awful groaning sound. To his shock and horror, the roof above them was being lifted straight up.
"Shadow! Tails!" They heard from above. A familiar voice. Eggman. "What a pleasant surprise."
"What are you doing here, Eggman?" Tails growled, curling his hands into fists.
"Oh, you know," the Doctor chuckled. "I read a paper about that new telescope they're building here, and I thought I might take a look. You know, the mirror on that telescope is the flattest and most reflective object ever produced in history."
"Don't you think you could make something like that yourself?" Tails taunted.
"Of course I could!" Eggman gloated. "But where's the fun in that, when I could just steal it instead? Besides, that mirror deserves to be in something more…productive than a telescope. Something like a giant laser, perhaps. But you don't have to worry about that."
Suddenly, a swarm of robots flew in from the hole in the roof.
Tails launched himself into action faster than Shadow could blink. He ripped the gun off of one robot, used it to shoot at the others with one hand, and bashed yet more robots with a wrench in the other hand. Shadow had no idea how Tails could turn in the air so quickly through muscle power alone.
Shadow joined in the fray as well, though there was little he could do except guard Tails's blind spots.
"Shadow!" Tails yelled. "I'll stay here, you go to the hangar! EGGMAN CAN'T GET THAT TELESCOPE!"
Shadow nodded, and Chaos Controlled into the hangar just in time to headbutt four robots in a row. He started throwing Chaos Spears left and right, but new robots swarmed in just as fast as he could destroy them.
And he had to make sure the telescope didn't get so much as a scratch. He had to warp constantly, kicking and punching robots away at the last minute. Now this, this is what Chaos Control was made for! He had to admit, this kind of combat is what made his heart soar.
After an hour of blood-churning combat, Eggman himself descended in his vehicle, grabbers ready.
"This is no way to greet a relative," Shadow taunted.
"Don't you dare!" Eggman snarled. "I should have never rescued you!"
"Too bad," Shadow bared his teeth, and unleashed a Chaos Blast that sent Eggman and his vehicle tumbling upward into the night sky.
"Ah, you pests!" Shadow heard Eggman howl. "You'll pay for this, I swear!"
But no more robots came. And Eggman sped off into the distance.
Shadow fell to the ground, panting. He started to curl up into a ball, but–wait. Tails. He was still in the workshop.
Too exhausted to use Chaos Control now, he ran back to the workshop to find the fox on the floor, his fur stained red.
"TAILS!" Shadow's pounding heart stopped for a moment.
"I'm okay!" Tails wheezed, picking his head up and making a thumbs-up sign.
"No, you're not," Shadow said. "Here." The black hedgehog picked up Tails, and rushed him to the chemical safety shower in the corner of the workshop. He turned it on, pulled Tails's shoes and gloves off, and carefully supported Tails under the shower so that he could wipe the blood off.
"Ow!" Tails yelped when Shadow pulled off his left glove.
"What's wrong?" Shadow asked. "I mean, besides the blood and everything."
"My left thumb feels weird," Tails admitted. "I should've been more careful."
"Don't worry," Shadow assured him. "We all push ourselves a little too hard sometimes. Let me take a look."
Tails held out his left hand for Shadow to inspect.
"I think it's dislocated," Shadow concluded after a minute. "I'm going to put it back in place, okay? It's gonna hurt though."
"Do it," Tails nodded, though he was still shivering under the shower. At least most of the blood had washed away now, revealing a few cuts that were fortunately not too deep.
"Okay, take a deep breath," Shadow instructed. "Three, two, one, now."
"AH! Nhhh," Tails's eyes drooped. Shadow pulled him into a tight hug to comfort him, and to make sure that he didn't fall. Shadow's own gloves and shoes were getting soaked in the shower as well now, but he didn't care.
It was all so much. He had to remember that other people didn't heal as quickly as he did. He tried to imagine what Maria would do to comfort him in a situation like this.
"I'm sorry," Shadow whispered. "I know it hurts a lot."
"It's okay," Tails huffed. "You had to do it."
"You look clean now," Shadow remarked, trying to keep his composure. "Let me dry you off."
Tails took a step forward, but Shadow lifted the fox off of his feet, and placed him on the workshop's table. He dug around in the cabinets until he found a few towels, and wiped Tails dry.
Suddenly, the alarm came on. Shadow grimaced. He was glad that help would probably be arriving soon, but the loud noises did NOT make him feel better.
Shadow dug around a bit more, and quickly assembled a brace that would keep Tails's thumb in place while it healed. He put it on Tails's hand, then attended to himself.
Shadow took off his own bloodied and soaked gloves and shoes, and dried himself off as well. After that, he found a first aid kit in the corner, and attended to Tails's wounds. He also found cotton balls, which he stuffed in his own ears, and then Tails's, to muffle the sound of the alarm.
"Shadow, it's fine, I can–" Tails attempted to sit up on the table, and grab a band-aid from Shadow.
"No," Shadow gently pushed him back down into a lying position. "You rest."
"Aw, come on," Tails complained. "Even Sonic lets me put on my own band-aids."
"Fine. Just stay on the table, okay?" Shadow shook his head, and handed him a box of band-aids. "That was a close one. Are you sure you're alright otherwise?"
"Yeah," Tails sighed. "I just need to calm down."
"Dr. Prower! Shadow!" they heard a voice from the hallway outside.
"Mr. Samadikun!" Shadow called out, hoping he could hear. "Over here!"
"There you are!" the human sighed in relief. "Thank goodness you're both okay. We can't thank you enough for protecting the telescope."
"Just doin' our jobs," Tails said, raising a hand from his lying position.
"Should I call your, um, family members?" Mr. Samadikun asked.
"It's okay," Tails replied. "We're fine, right?"
Shadow nodded.
"Well, since it's night already, the least I could do is invite you to sleep at my house," Mr. Samadikun said.
"Really?" Tails sat up. "That's very kind of you."
"I insist," Samadikun folded his arms.
"Thank you," Tails and Shadow said together. Shadow stood up, put on Tails's backpack, and then picked up Tails to carry with him. Tails briefly resisted, but then thought better of it.
Mr. Samadikun turned off the alarm, called in emergency services to clean up the wreckage of the numerous robots, and then led Shadow and Tails with him to his car.
Mr. Samadikun's house was only a few minutes away from the space center. It was small and cramped, but cozy in its own way. The human unfolded the futon in his living room, and set to work making tea for his guests.
Shadow put Tails on the futon, and sat down next to him.
"Okay, I won't bother you any further tonight," Mr. Samadikun said, putting two cups of tea on the small table next to the futon. "But I really can't thank the two of you enough, both for fixing the telescope and protecting it."
"We're grateful to help," Shadow said, and Tails smiled in agreement.
"Sleep well," Mr. Samadikun said, and retreated to his own office. He would have loved to stay and ask those two extraordinary beings about their lives, about what it felt like to wield a Chaos Emerald, what it felt like to save the world, what it felt like to be able to fly, or warp through space, but he knew that his guests were tired. And he also knew that a human like himself would never truly understand anyway. So he closed the door to his office, turned on his computer, and read through the day's emails which he hadn't gotten to earlier.
Shadow and Tails sipped their tea in comfortable silence for a while. The hedgehog could tell that Tails was still shaken up, but didn't want to admit it.
"Hey, Tails," Shadow whispered. "Would you like to read a book together?"
"Good idea," Tails nodded.
"Here we go," Shadow pulled out "Mike Mulligan" out of Tails's backpack, and sat cross-legged on the futon. Tails rested his head on Shadow's shoulder.
Shadow stopped breathing for a moment. He remembered the nights all those years ago when he had leaned against Maria while she read to him.
"Mike Mulligan had a steam shovel, a beautiful red steam shovel," Shadow began. "Her name was Mary Anne."
He continued reading steadily for a while, but after a few pages, Shadow had to put the book down. He closed his eyes and covered them with his hands.
"I'm sorry, I just…" Shadow whimpered. "It's just like…it used to be…."
Comprehension dawned on Tails immediately. He wasn't sure what to say, but he had to try something to help his friend feel better.
"You know," Tails began. "One time Sonic made me promise that if I died, or if we got separated, I'd keep on fighting. I made him promise the same thing to me."
Shadow opened his eyes and stared blankly.
"Sorry, I don't know what I'm trying to say. I'm just making you feel worse, aren't I?" Tails asked, staring right at Shadow. "I guess I just mean, I'm sorry, because it must be so hard. Did you and Maria ever make a promise like that?"
"Kind of," Shadow gulped. "She always told me to keep going, no matter what happened to her."
"But it's still hard?" Tails asked.
"It is," Shadow nodded. "Rouge tells me it's okay to have bad days, as long as I take care of myself."
"That makes sense," Tails nodded. "You know, when Eggman shot Sonic out from the ARK, I thought for sure he was dead! I thought I was going to explode right then and there!"
"Are you worried about feeling angry?" Shadow asked. "If Sonic ever got hurt? Like…the way I was? Because I was really scared when I saw you covered in blood."
"Yeah," Tails admitted. "I think I'd lose myself. Don't you still feel angry sometimes?"
"More than I want to admit," Shadow whispered. "When Amy talked to me on the ARK, she helped me realize there would always be something good worth fighting for. I just had to look a little further. So that helps, I think."
"That's–you're right," Tails sighed. "Sorry, I'm not good at talking about stuff like this."
"It's okay. You're asking good questions," Shadow nodded. "It's better to ask."
"Yeah. Thanks."
"Now, let's finish the book," Shadow suggested.
"You don't have to," Tails insisted.
"Yes I do," Shadow said.
"Okay. Thanks, Shadow."
"Of course."
Shadow continued to read where he left off, putting as much effort into it as he could.
"I think I see what you mean," Tails said when they finished. "It's not as depressing as it seems."
"Yeah," Shadow yawned. "Alright, we should sleep now." He moved to one side of the futon and curled up. "We'll call Sonic and Rouge tomorrow morning."
Tails curled up on the other side. "Shadow, thanks for being a friend."
"Thanks for being a friend too, Tails. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
–
The next morning, Sonic arrived in the Tornado, and ran to Mr. Samadikun's house.
"Sonic!" Tails ran up and hugged Sonic immediately.
"Hey, buddy!" Sonic answered. "I heard you kicked some major robot butt last night."
"Aw, well, Shadow did all the hard work," Tails replied, shrugging.
"He's just being modest," Shadow butted in. "Your brother's a fierce fighter."
"I know," Sonic beamed. "But how about you, Shadow? Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Shadow folded his arms. "Pretty good, in fact."
"So what's next for you, then?" Sonic asked. "Is Rouge coming to get you?"
"Yeah," Shadow said. "She'll be here soon."
"Alright, I think we're gonna set off now," Sonic said, grabbing Tails by the hand. "Seeya later."
"See you, Shadow! Bye, Mr. Samadikun!" Tails said, waving energetically. He and his older brother sped off together.
"Until next time," Shadow nodded.
"Safe travels!" Mr. Samadikun waved back.
A few minutes later, Rouge pulled up in a jeep which had seen better days.
"What have you been up to?" Shadow scoffed playfully.
"Oh, well there were some Federation spies in another city, and I felt like messing with them a bit."
"I see," Shadow nodded, pulling himself into the jeep. "Thanks for taking care of us, Mr. Samadikun."
"Not a problem! Safe travels to you as well!" He replied. "I hope we meet again."
"I'm sure we will," Shadow assured him.
"You seem pretty calm, considering everything," Rouge said as she drove away.
"It was nice to hang out with Tails," Shadow said simply.
"He's a good kid," Rouge agreed, knowing that was as much as she would get out of him right now. At least, until he started talking with Omega. She still didn't understand how that robot managed to push Shadow's buttons.
It was always nice to go home together.