Many of you have asked for a chapter detailing Sonic's reaction to finding out about Shadow and Amy's growing relationship. Well, here it is... but I doubt it'll be the thing you were expecting. Don't worry, there's good enough reason for it.

Shadow's eagerness and anxiousness to get started on his new, self-appointed regimen stood out strong, unlike that of the nighttime sky, which slowly turned from its solid black to the soft orange of the early morning as the hedgehog couple continued to sleep. The thought of it all was keeping him so vigilant to the point that his mind barely managed to wander to other things, and he didn't fall into as deep a sleep as he usually did on such relaxing occasions, yet he seemed to be enjoying this odd type of conscious rest. Partly due to adrenaline, Shadow was fully energized only after about five hours worth of sleep, and soon he began waking up at congruent intervals to see if time had passed as fast as he would have liked it to and if Amy had made her way to the kitchen, but half-hours passed like whole ones to the hedgehog, and soon boredom, sleepiness, and even hunger began to come over him. As much as he didn't want to, he settled down with a yawn and a stretch and went to sleep, trying in vain to put the thought of finally walking out of his mind. Luckily for him, he didn't have to sleep for long. The hedgehog napped from eight to eleven, finally being awoken by a subtle stirring on the couch and on his side. A few gentle nudges brought him back to, and he found himself sitting up straight in a heartbeat, and after an initial stretch he found that Amy had finally woken out of her sleep. Her groggy moaning and misplaced hair were indeed signs that she was still tired, but Shadow was easily able to snap her out of her drowsiness. She was still unaware that he was up also, and like the night that they had admitted their feelings to one another, Shadow swiftly put his arms around her, restraining her of any movement.

"Huh! Whose–"

"Hey, just wanted to get you back that night for surprising me."

"Hm? Shadow? Well, jeez. You can't take a joke, can you?" she smiled.

"Nope! Heh, holding a grudge for a few weeks is nothing compared to 50 years."

"Ah. Very good point... Um, if you don't mind me asking... could you let me go now, unless you wanna go without food for the whole day!"

"Oops! Sorry 'bout that," he said, releasing her from his hold.

"Hmph," she said playfully, standing up, fixing her hair and dress, while Shadow just stood watching, once again entranced in her beauty.

She stopped fixing herself and looked down at her star-struck boyfriend, but shook her head and left without saying one word. Naturally, Shadow was very willing to follow her, getting up and doing so for about three steps before Amy turned, suddenly paused and pushed him right back down on the couch. Surprised, the hedgehog scrambled up to a sitting position, rubbing his still painful arm.

"Ouch! Amy, what's the deal?"

"Well, after remembering last night's little adventure, it brought back an old idea to help you get around better."

"Really!" He said, some surprise in his voice. After last night he figured that he would be limping a lot worse for awhile. "Well, what's the idea?"

Amy's eyes widened slightly as a bit of a shock came to her. She wasn't so sure he would like the idea upon hearing it, for the hedgehog was quick to judgement if the first few words that hit his ears didn't satisfy him, regardless of the good outcomes expected of the plan if he were to simply think it out more himself. Because she didn't want to sway him from her idea and have him in even more pain than he should've been for the remainder of his recovery, she said: "You should know! It's your idea!"

"Hmm?"

He hadn't remembered suggesting any ideas during the time they were awake, and he couldn't bring himself back to last night when he did suggest a radical thought to Amy. But he decided to embrace the confusion. It was obviously something smart if Amy had the mind to mention it to him and the fact that he had thought of it himself. And as long as he could walk, that was all that really mattered for the moment.

"So, I'll just go make a quick phone call. Be right back," she said, walking out of the room and running back upstairs, Shadow listening in to her footsteps as they traveled overhead and suddenly ceased altogether.

A loud, metallic whining completely filled the laboratory and easily overrode all nearby audio as Tails continued on with the use of his blowtorch on the internal workings of his bright-blue biplane, just inches away from his goal. The little fox had been working tiredly, pushed and driven on by the ARK incident, but more so inspired by the mode of transportation used to arrive at the near ill-fated space station. His project? He just wanted a stronger plane. Even in its advanced state and the fact that, for awhile, it was receiving a short power boost from a Chaos Emerald (real or not) he still had trouble piloting it, especially in battle with his newly acquired rival, Dr. Eggman. Also, he knew the emeralds would act in very unpredictable and sometime fatal ways, more so when more than one was in the general area. Needless to say, he needed a power source that could rival that of the emeralds themselves, but still be kept in check with little room for human error.

Here enters Sonic. He figured that the cobalt hero could power his plane for him since the two rode it nearly all of the time together, but naturally, Sonic's reluctance to the idea came about when he asked Tails a very obvious, but overlooked question: If he was powering the plane, what was powering him? So Tails had to work on an entirely new system from the original design of stealing his comrade's energy (or rework the whole plane, for that matter) and came up with a sort of cycle: Sonic takes energy from the emerald, energy flows through him, through the engine, and goes right back into Sonic, in layman's terms. In theory, Sonic could stay Super for an infinite amount of time as long as he touched the plane, and think how unstoppable those two would be then...

The glowing, orange reflection of light coming off of the popping sparks stopped once more as Tails turned off the blowtorch and lifted the visor off of his face. He stood back from the plane for a few minutes, staring at his current work with eagle-eyed critique and heartfelt admiration. Aside from a little more welding one of the engine's many flowpipes could do with, the now updated Tornado was ready for its test run.

"You done?" asked Sonic who was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room, a little bored and agitated.

"Yep," he exclaimed, slamming shut the protective plate that was previously exposing the engine.

"All we need is a Chaos Emerald and we're all set to go."

"Ooh... well in that case, you'd better ask Red. He'll fight me on the spot."

"Oh yeah... now that you mention it..."

Sonic's next response, more appropriately topic starter, was cut short when he was drawn to the faint sounds of light, ongoing ringing from inside of Tails' house, turning his head left in the indicated direction. Tails was about to ask about the cause of Sonic's pause when he too, heard the sounds. He told Sonic to stay for a few minutes, who only gave a sigh of impatience, and ran inside to answer the phone.

"Hello?" he said, flopping down on the couch.

Hello, Tails? Yeah, this is Amy.

"Amy? What's up? Something wrong with Shadow?"

No, nothing's truly wrong, but he does need your help for a few moments. You wouldn't mind coming over right now, would you?

"Of course not. Me and Sonic'll be over in a flash."

Thank God, thought Amy. That would probably even things out a bit when they visited.

Alright, then. See you guys in a little bit.

The dial tone sounded out and Tails put down the receiver, then raced back outside and into his workshop to a waiting Sonic.

"So, what's up?"

"We're taking a little trip, but not to Angel Island. Seems like Shadow needs our help."

"Shadow? Is he alright?"

"Amy said he was, but she still insists that we go over there."

"Well, alright then. What are we waiting for?" said Sonic, who was just happy to be on the move again.

It didn't take long for the duo to make their way out of the jungle and into Station Square, which was lucky for Amy, because Shadow was on the verge to start interrogating her and she really didn't want to him to start off in a bad mood by telling him about a certain visitor. She kept insisting that Shadow himself had gave her the idea, which was better than telling him she forgot only after five minutes, which would really tip him off that she was up to something. So she simply relied on the heroes' speed to soothe Shadow's confusion and impatience, and it happened just in time when the doorbell rang before Shadow could even open his mouth. Sonic entered first, and Shadow was a bit surprised to see him, but not as surprised as when Tails entered into his sight. As much as he wanted to deny it, Shadow actually seemed to be a little upset at Amy herself, but he didn't show it to her, but instead, took out his anger on Tails with an unfriendly glare. Amy reprimanded him with a light hit on the arm, and with a sigh he behaved himself.

"So, what's the problem?" Tails asked.

"Well, he can walk, just not very well. Do you have any way to, uh, help him–"

"Walk better? Of course. It's only a matter of installing a brace and–"

"A brace!" asked Shadow. He could already feel his dignity leaving him at that point.

"Well, yeah, but not in the way that you think. The one I'm talking about is really nothing more than a reinforced knee pad. Don't worry! It's not some evil metal contraption."

"Oh," remarked Shadow, still looking a little weary.

"Wait, you said he was walking already, right?"

Amy nodded.

"Well, in that case, I probably won't have to put it on at all, depending on how he's walking."

"Extremely well, mind you," Shadow blurted out.

Sonic could do nothing but cross his arms, sit on the other couch and suppress his growing laughter, shaking his head at Shadow's nervousness.

"If that were the case, I wouldn't have come over here. Well, come here for a minute and let me examine your leg for a minute. If it's as good as you say, then I won't need to do anything," said the fox, walking over and bending down in front of Shadow's injured leg.

Oh, boy... he's gonna do something. I just know it!

"Big boys don't cry, Shadow!" Sonic cheered, while Shadow just gave him a threatening look, holding up his fist.

Tails really didn't hurt the hedgehog to the point of throwing a fit. It was all a matter of seeing how far his leg could actually bend before he experienced some kind of discomfort. The little fox tested this, pushing his leg in a couple of inches at a time towards the couch to check for pain, constantly looking up at the dark hedgehog for reassurance. Every time, he shook his head no, his eyes closed, braced for anything that would come. So Tails continued at his slow pace, until one attempt he decided to push his leg a little farther and faster than normal. At this motion, Shadow gasped and opened his eyes, screaming in pain, and Tails backed off.

"You okay! My gosh, I'm sorry about that!"

Shadow, tensed up and panting, lowered his head and began to moan, and Amy took his hand in hers to try and soothe him. Even Sonic had jumped up and was ready to rush over to console the hedgehog. But their fears were put aside when he stopped shaking. After a suspenseful second of quiet, snickers began to escape Shadow's mouth, and he threw his head back and started laughing.

"Pysche!"

The other two hedgehogs recovered fast, Amy playfully hitting him on the head and laughing along with him, while Sonic just sat back down with a grin on his face, the adrenaline dropping from his instinct to jump up and help his friend. And Tails?

Tails just stood there: shocked, wide-eyed, fur sticking out in all directions. The little was scared out of his mind. Now, Shadow had gotten his revenge.

So Tails just finished off the job in silence, slowly but surely getting enraged by the low snickering coming from the three hedgehogs as he worked. Don't know what's so funny, the fox thought. I wasn't the only one to fall for it. He finished up helping out Shadow by sliding on the brace, securing it tightly by running a velcro strap through a loop.

"There. That should help you out a lot. As strong as a cast, but not as obvious as one. Heh, I'm sure you're happy."

"Believe me... I couldn't be any happier," he said, giving the fox an evil grin.

Tails frowned at this, stood up, and walked back over to the couch and sat beside his long time friend. Sonic, still in stitches over Shadow's acting, looked over at his friend who anyone could tell was easily irritated. Not wanting to agitate the little fox even more by bring up the prior happening or making some remark, he changed the topic in his head to small talk.

"So, aside from your leg, you doin' any better, Shadow?"

"Yeah, a lot better. Eh, some pain here and there, but I'm getting there, that's for sure."

Amy then put a warm hand on his shoulder and Shadow did nothing but smile back, and that brought some interesting thoughts to his rival's head. Not wanting to give everything away that he was thinking about, he half closed his eyes and looked around very suspiciously, inquiring the dark hedgehog in the process.

"So, um... how has it been on that couch, Shadow? Not too boring, huh? If we're really as alike as they say we are, then you must've been bored stiff, right?"

Shadow looked back at Sonic with a bit of a surprised look, but he was immediately caught on to Sonic's plan, and to put it lightly he was ticked at Sonic's pressure.

"Mmm... no, not really... You find ways to cope with it, actually."

"Like?"

Shadow just looked at him and groaned. He really wasn't sure about admitting his relationship to him, so he looked at Amy for reassurance. She just shrugged at him, not worried about whether the two knew now or later. In fact, he himself didn't know why he was extremely bent on keeping it secret himself. Sonic was always going to joke about until it got tiring, which would probably be a few years into marriage for as resilient as he could be. So he turned back towards him, his expression lightening up.

"I know you're gonna laugh... so just bare with me, alright?"

"Uh-huh..."

"As much as I hate to admit that you were right, Sonic, you were..."

"Right? Right about what?" said Tails, obviously curious as to what Shadow had to say.

"Me and Ames... we love each other," the hedgehog said, looking down and smiling, thinking back to that magical night.

"What the–?" said Tails loudly, but luckily Sonic's next statement overrode his.

"Ha! I knew it! So, when'd you find this out, Romeo?"

"Even more unfortunately, right after you called."

"Wow, so I'm the official matchmaker for the couple of the century, huh? Heh, heh. Funny how jokes can be taken so seriously, right!"

The two just looked over at him, who was desperately trying to control the mesmerizing urge to bust out laughing and make tons of marital jokes. But he was nice about it. Thanks to Shadow, he was now free from the girl's constant dogging, just like the good old days. From now on, whenever he turned the corner and saw her, he would receive a friendly 'hi', which is all he really wanted out of her. Also, it was obvious the pair was already head over heels for one another. Being that they were only so for a few weeks, he didn't want to come off as too harsh about the oddity of them getting together. So, he would be kind... for now...

It wasn't long before Tails and Sonic had to go. Tails was getting fidgety about getting back to his plane and the excitement of testing it out, and so was Sonic. Shadow and Amy knew he couldn't stay still for long, and frankly, they were happy he wanted to get back on the road. Shadow wanted to spend time alone with his love, and now that he was able to walk, he could do her routine with her, learn new things from her, and be one heartbeat closer to her. It was amazing how fast the things he only fantasized about were coming true, and as a result, he made it one of the best days of his life. The hedgehog would follow Amy around the house, helping her with as much as he could and seeing how she lived and picking up on the things of normal housekeeping, such as ironing, cleaning, and his favorite activity so far: cooking. To him, it was simply astounding that the wonderful meals she had been preparing for him could come from some of the simplest well known ingredients to human kind, and that they could be made so quickly. He was so intent on learning her lifestyle that he was sure he remembered every step and every preparation and in the right order, and that was only for a three course breakfast! So with confidence up, he told Amy that he would like a try at scrambling an egg, so she let him go at it. To summarize how the entire event went, the hedgehog needed serious help at cracking the eggs without making a mess of everything! But he didn't mind the embarrassment, or the egg he had to clean off of his hands and face, seeing as how it was his first attempt. More time with her, he thought. It took several more examples and demonstrations for Shadow to finally get it down pat, but he didn't cook them for fear of what he would do to the stove or more importantly, the house. But as he watched her, he began to get a little hungry, and the nearby pieces of toast and sausage were looking so lonely... He got in one piece of toast though, denying to her the obvious that the bread was stuffed in his mouth, but Amy kept vigilant watch of him and soon told him to come back into her line of sight. All in all, it was a time of good laughs for the two hedgehogs, and Shadow was truly sure that these kinds times would last throughout forever.