020. Fever
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When Tikal heard the door unlocking, she poked her head out from the kitchen to see Shadow walk in. He closed it... a little more harsh than usual and dropped his keys down onto the stool.
"Bad day at work?" she asked.
"Yeah," Shadow answered and walked on ahead to the living room.
However, Tikal stopped him in his tracks and took a good look at him. He only stared down at her until he broke his visage and grimaced quietly.
"You don't look too well," she pointed out and placed her hands against his cheeks, "Your eyes are becoming puffy and your face is warm."
"...It's just the flu," he said and slipped past her hands, "It'll go by in the morning."
Tikal only let out a laugh. "I don't think that's how it works. It'll go by in a few days... or maybe even weeks if you continue pushing yourself."
Shadow managed to muster a small glare at her. "I'm not that weak against it. I can do just fine."
Just as he said that, his stance became wobbly and the echidna actually had to hold him still.
"Clean up and rest in bed. I'll get some dinner ready," Tikal told him and then sighed at his reluctance, "Shadow, I'm not letting you go out to work like this tomorrow. I'll call in for you."
"Trust me, I'm fi-" He didn't complete his sentence as he let out a cough.
Tikal shook her head and lead him upstairs. "I'll also run the bath for you. Don't stay in there for too long, okay?"
A grumble. "...Okay."
...
"Where are you going?" Tikal asked as she watched him adjust his gloves.
"Work," Shadow just replied. The restraint was evident in his voice which hadn't healed properly due to his numerous coughing fits from last night.
She quickly stopped his hand from going to the door knob. "B-But you're still sick!"
He squinted at her and was about to retort with something but another cough held him back from doing so.
"I..." Cough, "Need..." Cough, "To work."
"No you don't," Tikal said and gently pushed his hand away when he reached for the door again. He growled and did nothing but glare at her. She smiled, his attempted intimidation not fearing her the slightest as she rotated him back around to the living room, "Stay mad at me all you want. I'm not letting you step out of the house like this, Shadow."
Shadow let out a grunt whilst she sat him down onto the couch. "...I'm not made out of glass."
"I'm not saying you are," she laughed and laid his head against the cushions, lifting his legs up on the couch, "You need to rest. You're not gonna get any better if you keep forcing yourself."
When Shadow didn't respond with one of his usual sardonic remarks, Tikal wet a small towel with some warm water and placed it onto his forehead. She watched silently as his eyes glared up to the ceiling until they gradually grew tired.
"Sleep," she whispered, smiling when his eyes finally closed.
...
Sonic swiftly dodged the upcoming blasts with ease. "Haha miss me, Egghead!"
"You snivelling little hedgehog!" Eggman yelled from his eggmobile and pointed his robots at Sonic, "What are you waiting for you buffoons?! ATTAAAACK!"
"Ready and waiting!" Sonic grinned in glee as he rushed a spin dash through all of them, "Honestly, this is such a chore! If you're gonna send out a new designed mech, at least give them some sort of stability to actually aim properly."
Eggman suddenly grinned deviously. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about that..."
"Huh?" The blue hedgehog quickly turned around to see one charging straight at him.
Before he could do anything about it, Amy came in front of him and crushed it with her hammer. "Would you please stop provoking Eggman when we're in battle? You barely pay attention to anything!"
"Hey, I could've gotten that!" Sonic retorted back at her.
Amy huffed. "Oh please, like I've never heard that one before!"
"It's not like I was provoking him anyway. I was give old Egghead over there some advice! Advice!"
"Advice that could've gotten yourself killed!"
"I wasn't going to get killed!"
"Yes you were!"
Sonic crossed his arms stubbornly. "Have a little more faith in me, will ya?! I'm tired of you bossing me around!"
Amy glared at him. "Oh, I'm sorry that I care!"
They were unaware of the robot spawning behind them as the two hedgehogs continued to bicker.
"HAAA!" Knuckles came down and smashed it with his fist before turning around to glare at them, "Would you two stop flirting with each other and focus on destroying these bastards so they don't go near the Master Emerald?!"
"We are not flirting!" Sonic and Amy yelled in unison but the fluster was already showcasing on their faces.
Knuckles rolled his eyes and signalled Tails to use his tornado to shoot the missiles at the robots from afar.
Meanwhile, Tikal watched worriedly from beside the altar of the Master Emerald. Knuckles called her urgently about how Doctor Eggman wanted his hands on the green gem again for an experiment. Shadow was still asleep and while she didn't want to leave him alone, it sounded like everybody was in trouble. And if Eggman were to do anything to the emerald, he would potentially awaken Chaos again who would cause havoc like last time.
A stomp was heard from behind her causing Tikal to jump and swivel around in horror. A robot that seemed bigger than the others stared right down at her. The were another two behind him and they had their hands right on the Master Emerald.
"Ignore the echdina!" Eggman had shouted through their receivers, "Hurry up and take that emerald!"
"N-No, don't!" Tikal attempted to run up to stop them but the large robot blocked her way and harshly pushed her back. As she struggled to get up, the echidna wilted when a red light shone against her face and hesitantly looked up to see that the robot was ready to hurt her.
Oh no...
However, the impact never came.
"Chaos... CONTROL!"
Tikal just stared with bewilder as Shadow landed a swift kick into the robot as it smashed into pieces. He glowered at the other two near the Master Emerald and used his chaos spear at them before punching them into the ground. Hearing the faint sound of something falling, she frantically looked up to see the flying mechs shooting missiles. Shadow noticed as well and quickly skated towards her and picked her up, jumping just before the missiles hit the altar.
"Th-The Master Emerald!" she exclaimed in fear but when she looked back, she saw Omega and Rouge handling the mechs that threatened to take the green gem. Shadow stopped when they were slightly off from the battlefield and put her down. "Shadow...?"
"Stay here," he said and skated off to help everyone else.
"Sh-Shadow!" she tried calling out for the hedgehog but he had already gone.
...
When the battle came to an end, everyone began gathering together. Knuckles rushed towards her. "Tikal! Are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"I'm fine, Knuckles," Tikal nodded and smiled at his concern, "Is the Master Emerald okay?"
"It is, thank god," Knuckles let out a sigh of relief, "If Shadow, Omega and Bat Girl weren't there, it would've been blown to shards."
"Bat Girl? Of course you're still so much of a dick to not even bother calling me by my name!"
Knuckles groaned and turned around to face Rouge. "Weren't you the same girl who tried to steal it a couple of weeks ago?!"
"I wasn't going to steal it. G.U.N wanted me to investigate it," Rouge explained and crossed her arms, "Have a little more faith in me, Knuckie!"
"I told you to stop calling me that!"
While Tikal would usually stop them from bickering, her eyes had quickly settled on Shadow who trudged slowly behind Omega. She ran over to him and held his cheeks against her hands. "A-Are you all right?"'
Shadow's hardened posture became wary as his gaze softened when seeing her. He placed his hands over her own and answered quietly in a hoarse voice, "Yes."
She smiled, reaching up on her toes and left a kiss on his cheek. "Okay."
"But..." Shadow's eyes became half-lidded when he collapsed his head onto her shoulder, "I'm... tired."
Tikal combed his quills with her fingers and kissed his temple. "Mm, I know. Let's go home..."