4: Welcome to the Uke Shelter!

The foyer of the Uke Shelter was a big, light room. Chairs and small tables were on their left and right, forming between them a way leading towards a wooden reception desk at the back wall, in front of that stood three hedgehogs, on small steps poking out of the bottom. The three males were bouncing up and down in excitement.

The hedgehog, who they had seen before with Blush, came just out of a hallway on their right, carrying a chair and quickly crossing the room, while almost tripping over the chair's legs several times. Sonic contemplated helping him, but the male was already past them and out the door.

The friends came closer, stopping at a yellow line on the ground above the words Please stay here for the privacy of other clients. Even with the distance, though, the friends had no problem in listening in the talk.

A young, female voice, whose owner wasn't visible behind the hedgehogs, was clearly audible. "Yes. Yes, thank you. Alright, have a nice day."

There was a small silence, before the voice spoke up again. "Okay, guys, the reservation was made, everything's okay."

This let the trio in front of her cheer. "Billy, I let him reserve the room on your name, as you are the oldest. The hotel is close to the fair, in the shadow of the Ferris wheel. You can't miss it." "Alright.," the hedgehog in the middle with creamy white fur replied, nodding. "Good, then, have fun you three and enjoy your time!"

"THANKS, MALI!," all three replied in a happy chorus, turned around, jumped down the steps, ran past the friends and towards the exit, laughing and cheering on the way.

Sonic looked after the trio for a moment, before he joined his friends in their walk towards the desk.

Behind it sat a young human woman in her early twenties. Her light blond hair was tied loosely together at the level of her neck, a few loose strands hung in her dark green eyes, that seemed to illuminate her slight tan. She wore a light blue, almost white, wide dress without sleeves. A friendly smile was on her rosy lips.

"Hello.," she greeted, her voice warm and gentle. "Welcome to the Uke Shelter. May I help you?"

"Er...y-yes, I guess. You see, my brother is rather sick, we just don't know, what is wrong with him.," Tails spoke with the practiced ease of someone, who brought his adoptive brother pretty much regularly to hospitals all over the world.

"I see. One moment, please.," the woman replied and typed on her keyboard. "Our wards are currently all ready for new patients. Er...are you carrying?," the woman asked, her impressive eyes on Sonic, who flushed a little.

"N-no...," he stuttered, completely surprised by the question. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. It's just, that pregnant ukes need usually a different care, than the not-carrying ones. I needed to make sure, so I know, which ward to send you to, you see?," the woman apologized. "It's alright, you just surprised me.," Sonic replied.

"Are you sure, that this is your answer?" Sonic practically froze upon hearing that and slowly, he turned towards Shadow, who looked at him inquiringly.

He hadn't just said that.

He hadn't.

"Of course is this my answer.," he slowly replied. "Sonic, you don't...you don't have to keep it a secret for me. You should think about you both now.," Shadow forced out.

Sonic's stomach dropped to his ankles. He...he really... So far, he had only assumed, that Shadow was thinking that. Now, he had a proof.

"Are you implying-!?," Amy started, but Sonic interrupted her. "Amy, Tails, would you check up on Omega?," he growled.

While Amy was oblivious to it, Tails felt and heard the rage in his brother's voice. A rage, that he had never before heard coming from Sonic, who took every taunt of Eggman's with a grin and a taunt of his own.

He didn't really know, what they were talking about, but something told him, that he didn't want to anyway. "Um, sure.," he quickly replied, grabbed Amy and flew them out, for once not listening to her complaints. The door closed behind them automatically, cutting off her words.

Once it was quiet, Sonic faced his mate. "Shadow, I am NOT pregnant!," he hissed. "Are you sure? How else would you explain your symptoms? And why are you distancing yourself from me, if it wouldn't be for that reason?"

"In case you haven't noticed it, yet – I'm distancing myself from EVERYONE, not just you!," Sonic snarled, keeping himself from screaming at the top of his lungs. "Everyone, but the guardian. Or why did you move to his place?," Shadow growled.

It was in this moment, that it clicked in Knuckles' brain. Rouge reacted quickly, but she had still trouble with keeping him from attacking the dark seme.

"Let go of me, I'll bash in his stupid face!," he raged, moving step by step closer, while the bat hung to his neck, her heels trying to dig somewhere in the floor, to have more leverage than her weight, that was only minimally stopping him.

Before he could shake her off, a shrill whistle echoed through the large room, that let the four mobians quickly cover their sensitive ears, until it was gone. With a slight ringing in their ears, they turned around to the human woman behind the desk, who just took the whistle from her lips.

"And everyone said, that having a whistle here was stupid.," she mumbled to herself, before she turned to the less than amused mobians.

"Sorry about that, but we are often having problems with fights and when I'm this close to the line of fire, I rather end them, before they escalate. Oh, and by the way." She turned to Sonic. "If it's any consolation for you, I'm pretty sure, that you aren't pregnant."

While Sonic looked at her confused, Shadow glared. "How would YOU know? You just sit here on your ass all day!," he snarled.

The woman gave him a dry look. "Right, I'm just sitting here. And I watch. I have seen several pregnant ukes and taken my time in watching their behavior – something you for sure didn't, you probably just searched for the symptoms on the internet, without verifying the result." Shadow's lips thinned.

The woman smirked. "Bullseye. I just watched the ukes coming and going from here – and I learned far more just by that. To your information: pregnant ukes would never distance themselves, especially not, when a human like me is present. Your instincts let you always keep up your guard around humans and that goes double for pregnant mobians."

A small silence followed. The woman seemed to be satisfied with Shadow's expression, because hers softened and she turned to Sonic again. "Sorry about the whistle and talking like that with your mate, but we have a strict 'No fighting in closed buildings'-policy and I know from experience, that a sharp sound is the only way to stop fights. And I really hate it, when men think they are smarter than me, when they apparently aren't.," she explained, her voice turning bored at the end.

"No worries.," Sonic replied with a grin, not noticing the dropped jaw of his mate. On whose side was he here!?

"Why did you ask this question in the first place? Is it even possible for ukes to get pregnant outside of mating season?," Knuckles asked gruffly, still a little miffed about the whole ordeal.

The woman looked at him. "Well, yes, of course. Ukes can, like female humans, get pregnant the whole year. During mating season, the chance is just better.," the woman replied. It didn't seem to surprise her, that he had asked that.

The eyes of everyone widened and suddenly, Sonic was VERY glad, that he had pushed Shadow away until now.

"I...didn't know that.," Tails said slowly. He and Amy had returned just in time to hear that, deeming it safe to get closer again. It surprised Tails a little, that they were suddenly all so calm again, but he was happy about it, still.

"Well, we are offering classes about all facets concerning semes and ukes, feel free to visit them.," the woman explained, holding out a few pink flyers to them, so that they could take them, if they wanted. Curiously, Sonic took one.

Mystery 'Hedgehog', stood on the front. And under it: Semes and ukes are neither monsters, nor gods. Visit our classes, organized by experienced ukes and semes, to learn more about them.

The blue hero opened the folded piece of paper to look at the list there, his eyes flying over the names of the classes.

History of ukes and semes

Ukes – Childhood and Puberty

Semes – Puberty and the Difference to ukes

Sexual education about and for ukes and semes

Pregnancy of ukes

Characteristics of ukes and semes: problems and how to overcome them

Family life with ukes and semes

"Er...what do those numbers mean, those under the titles of the classes?," Tails asked, having read a flyer, too.

"Those are age limits. Not all of the classes are suited for kids, so we put those limits on them. If you have questions, that the classes don't answer for you, though, you can always call the phone numbers listed on the back, you'll get connected with someone, who can explain certain things to you, suited for your age.," the woman replied.

"Why are you offering those classes anyway?," Knuckles asked distrustfully. "Mainly for the families of the ukes living here. Ukes are for their families usually something scary, unknown. Those, who are willing to learn about it, are always welcome."

"So, you are housing ukes, who got thrown out of their homes, because they are ukes?," Shadow asked, raising a brow. "That's not the original purpose of the Uke Shelter, but it became it over time, yes."

"And the original purpose was?," Rouge pried. "Well, after the Island-incident," the woman didn't miss the wince of everyone, when she spoke those words and rather changed them, "after these...events, most of the hedgehogs struggled to return to normal life. John took it on himself to visit all victims a while after that had happened and he had to see, that almost all of the hedgehogs were mentally still...in this place."

"But why?," Tails asked, alarmed. Sonic hadn't have this problem...right? The woman looked down sadly. "You see, mobians are divided into predators and prey. The two groups act different in almost every way and hedgehogs belong to the prey-mobians. Those are... well, adapting to their surroundings, unlike predators, who adapt their surroundings to their needs."

"Are you trying to imply...?," Sonic asked, speechless. "I'm afraid so. Most of the hedgehogs were so used to what had been going on there, that they just kept doing it after being expelled from the hospital."

"...and...that means?," Sonic asked anxiously. The woman's expression saddened even more. "It had been a devastating sight at first, believe me. They just sat curled up somewhere in a corner, flinched at every movement and sound. They didn't eat, barely slept. They wound things like ropes or belts around their necks to imitate the collars. At times, they almost strangled themselves, when they kept the ends too long and they got stuck somewhere. They needed to be watched constantly, because they didn't even call for help, when they needed it. Most of them didn't speak a single syllable the whole day and they refused to wear clothes."

Although male mobians wore generally less clothing than mobian females, they were considered naked without gloves and/or socks (or shoes) and that was highly frowned up on in society. If an adult refused to wear clothes, he actually got arrested, so those hedgehogs had definitely a problem.

"The semes even became drug addicts. I don't know, what stuff they used there, but they tried everything to get close to that high.," the woman continued.

"This is all so horrible! Is there nothing you can do!?," Amy asked, tears of pity in her jade eyes.

The woman looked up at her and smiled. "Don't worry, everything's alright now. And all thanks to Dr. Ellen.," she explained.

The mobians perked up at the name. "Really? What did Kylie do?," Sonic asked curiously. "She had the genius idea to go around schools and kindergartens, that are nearby, and to ask, if some of the parents need a free daycare. Turned out, that some were actually glad for the offer and ready to try out the 'gruesome ukes'. Over time, there came more and more people and brought their children here."

"But...why did that help?," Sonic wondered. "Back in older days, when mobians stayed among their own species, hedgehogs lived in colonies. And it had been the job of ukes and females to take care of the children. Dr. Ellen knew that and brought children close to the ukes. In no time, they were too focused on teaching and protecting the little ones to remember the Island. They healed slowly, without really noticing it."

"But the children aren't even their own!," Amy argued. "True, but uke and female hedgehogs don't think that way. In the past, all children were considered those of the colony. Life was rough back then and it happened often, that children became orphans, before they could recognize their parents. To consider all children as everyone's, ensured, that they got raised properly anyway."

"And this really worked?," Sonic asked, still trying to understand this. Was this the reason, why he had adopted Tails so willingly back then?

"It did. The ukes couldn't just continue and sit around doing nothing – we had at first only the wildest and bratty children here, who nobody wanted to babysit. They couldn't afford a single minute of slack, until the parents returned, they needed to always keep their guards up to prevent the children from getting hurt. Little by little, their own characters started to shine through and in the time of a year, they had recovered to the point, that you can't tell anymore, who of them had been in this place, and who didn't."

"And what about the semes?," Tails asked, interested. "Oh, this canceled itself out. Semes are naturally protective over ukes and children – if they're theirs, or not. Back in older days, they protected everyone, after all. The fact, that here are humans and predator mobians, fired up their protective instincts and they automatically stopped taking drugs to be always aware. And when a few human and predator men started to train outside, they did the same, to never be weaker than them."

"And this was all Kylie's idea?," Amy asked, impressed. "Her idea and doing. She did everything in her power to help them. No wonder, that everyone wanted her to be the director."

"She hadn't been the director the whole time?," Tails asked, astounded. "No, that had been John at first, but he, well, he wasn't really suited for the job. He could never react properly to the needs of ukes and semes and they all came to Kylie, who had been the head nurse in the uke ward, to complain, because they knew, that she would have an idea of what to do. To make her the director, was just a logical consequence of that."

"And John is now the head nurse?," Tails asked and the woman chuckled. "We're often called crazy, but were definitely not lunatics. No, John is now some kind of janitor. He repairs things and helps out. He is pretty good in it, especially the technical stuff."

Tails nodded, he knew that. He and the human had, together with Eggman, hacked in Perringten's network two years ago, after all.

"Er...would it...well, be okay, if Kylie examines Sonic?," the young fox asked insecurely. Sonic frowned. If he was honest, he would actually prefer that. He had experienced himself, what a good person and doctor Kylie was.

The woman smiled, friendly, while she typed. "That's alright, and by the way not a really exotic request, many trust Dr. Ellen more, than our other doctors, although they have the same knowledge and talent. Let's see...there's no entry in her agenda, but that doesn't mean, that she is free necessarily. I'll try calling her, one moment, please."

She grabbed the telephone on her right and dialed, waiting for a good minute, before she hung up. "That's, what I thought, she is somewhere in the building. No worries, I'll call her mobile."

She took her own mobile, that had been on the desk next to her keyboard, and pressed a few keys, before she put the device to her ear, waiting patiently.

She had to wait for only about 40 seconds, before she straightened, obviously connected. "Dr. Ellen, it's Mali, I- Mina!? What are you doing with Dr. Ellen's mobile?," she asked, frowning.

She listened for a while. "Ah, I see. Sounds nasty. Will she take long? ...That's good. Could you relay a message for me? Thanks. Please tell her, that Sonic the Hedgehog is here and needs an examination. Yeah, I'll wait.," she said and covered the speaker of her mobile, looking up at her audience, who became a little worried by the one-sided conversation.

"Dr. Ellen is currently performing a surgery, but is almost done. It shouldn't be more than 20 or 30 mi- Er, yeah, I'm still there!," she quickly switched her attention back to her mobile, taking her hand off. "Uhuh. Uhuh. Yeah, sure, I'll relay the message... Hm? Well, I guess, I could do that. Fire away.," she shrugged.

She listened and nodded some more. "Are you sure I should-? Well, okay. Bye, Mina, and thanks." She hung up and looked up once more. "Dr. Ellen will be here in about 20 to 30 minutes. And she asked me to relay a message to you: 'Welcome – and behave yourselves, Shadow and Knuckles!'."

Said males' jaws dropped, while Rouge snorted and put a hand in front of her mouth to muffle her giggles. This was Kylie, alright.

"How does she even know, that we are here, too?," Knuckles asked incredulously. Shadow could only agree – the woman could guess, that he as Sonic's mate would accompany him, but how did she know, that the echidna came here, too? This human never ceased to surprise him...

"Beats me.," the woman shrugged. "You may take a seat, if you like.," she explained, gesturing to the chairs between her desk and the entrance.

"Thanks, er...Mali?," Tails more asked than said. "It's Malissa, but everyone calls me Mali. Feel free to do the same.," the woman smiled and the mobians went to take a seat.

Sonic sat himself on the left side from the entrance, after he had seen his friends all going to the right. Since the chairs were all bolted to the ground and couldn't be moved, his instincts protested against the consequential closeness.

He sat as close to the opposite seats as possible, but he knew, that his friends were looking at him right now with different stages of hurt in their eyes.

Trying to ignore it, he looked ahead and at Mali, who was silently humming to herself and typing away.


Mali looked up, when steps became audible, and so did the friends, curious about what would happen now.

From a hallway to their left came a tall male human with short blonde hair and blue-green eyes in his pale face. He wore a white, long sleeved shirt, brown, obviously polished, shoes and simple blue jeans.

Without acknowledging the mobians, he strode over to the reception desk, where Mali was trying to quickly brush the strands of her hair falling in her face behind her ears, but failed due to being this hectic all of a sudden.

The male reached her desk and leaned against it. "Hello, Mali.," he grinned gently, his voice a little dark, but not much. "H-hello...," Mali stuttered back, blushing hard. "Did my orders come already?," he asked.

"Oh, er-" Mali quickly tried to type on her keyboard, but judging by the small curses the mobians could hear, she wasn't very successful.

After a good minute of fruitless fumbling, she had eventually found the desired information. "N-not yet.," she explained, blushing still.

The male sighed in disappointment. "That's too bad." He pushed himself off the desk. "I'll be going, then. Please inform me, when they arrive." "S-sure.," Mali quickly answered. "Thank you. Goodbye." He turned and walked back the way he came.

He was just gone, when Mali practically deflated, hiding her most likely hot face in her cupped hands. It was easy to guess her thoughts from here – Chaos, this has been embarrassing.

Sonic wanted to ask, what this human was doing here, when a hum, different to her own before, was suddenly audible and Mali straightened, fighting to get the red off her face and to find her composure again, before turning to her left, from that came the sound.

From a hallway going off to the mobians' right emerged a hedgehog. He had shiny, yellow fur and dark violet eyes.

Sonic couldn't help but blink at his clothes – although he was definitely male, he wore a light violet skirt, that reached his knees, and a top of the same color, that ended on the level of his last pair of ribs. His belly, with a peach colored swirl-pattern there, was free between the two articles of clothing. The back of his shirt, that was for some reason longer than the front, went over clearly blunted back quills and stopped a bit over his tail, letting him look, as if he wore a cape. The quills on the back of his head, that stood straight and pointed to all sides, were short, but looked still sharp. He walked with bare feet, but considering his other clothes, he was FAR from being seen as naked.

He held two big mugs of a steaming liquid in his white gloved hands and was apparently on his way towards Mali, but he stopped suddenly, his head turned to where Sonic's friends were sitting.

The hero turned in the same direction and saw Tails, Amy and Knuckles staring openly at the hedgehog, their jaws slack. Shadow and Rouge were a little more mature, but they also looked funnily at the new hedgehog.

"Um...hi?," the stranger started nervously, his ears pressed to his skull insecurely. "Don't worry, it's just your attire, I think.," Mali reassured him.

The hedgehog blinked and looked down on himself, as if only now realizing, what he wore, his ears straightening again. "Oh, that." He calmed down noticeably, looked up and at his audience. "You don't need to be surprised, some ukes actually like crossdressing, to play with the thought of being halfway female. Here, in the Shelter, we feel safe enough to do that, outside of it we rather don't. You'll probably meet some more like me, while you are here.," the male explained with a relaxed smile, as if he was simply summarizing his favorite book, and turned back to go the final steps to Mali.

"Here you go." He placed both mugs on the desk between them and turned one, so that Mali could grab it easily. "Thanks."

While the hedgehog jumped to sit next to his mug on the top of the desk with apparently practiced ease, Mali took the other and took a whiff of the liquid. "Hmmm...cinnamon tea, my favorite. You're a lifesaver.," she smiled and took a careful sip. Setting it down for now, she looked up at the hedgehog. "So, how is the strongest being in the universe?," she asked. The male chuckled. "You tell me."

It was apparently a private joke, something they had someday started to call the other and kept that way, but Sonic couldn't help and feel a little curious as to why they called themselves this of all possible nicknames there were.

"You first.," Mali insisted. "I'm fine, just a little annoyed. The group was a bit hard to settle down today." He shook his head.

"Not the best conditions for a meditation, huh?," Mali giggled. "Yeah. Thanks for suffering with me.," the male said sarcastically, but grinned, too. "What about you? I can still see a certain red hue there...," he trailed off. Immediately, Mali blushed again.

"Awww, who is it? John, or Eden?," the male cooed. "Eden.," the woman sighed, quickly giving up. "Ah, I see. He's handsome, isn't he?," he smiled, but it was clear, that he didn't think like that, he was just trying to make a conversation.

Mali's blush deepened and she drank a big gulp of her tea. "He is, but he would never care like this for me, so I rather don't dwell on it.," she finally explained.

The male frowned at her dampened mood, but decided not to pry. "Anything else happened today?," he asked instead.

"The usual, really.," she shrugged, but seemed glad for the change of topic. "Okay, what's wrong?," the hedgehog asked and upon seeing her confused face, he added. "Come on, I know you, how you sound, when something upsets you, and it's not Eden. Out with it, what's wrong?"

Mali sighed. "Alright, alright. Here." She pulled out a folded piece of paper hidden under her keyboard and gave it to him.

Frowning, the hedgehog took the paper and unfolded it to read over the writing there. His frown deepened, the farther he came.

"You know, letters like these let me doubt justice.," he finally growled. "I mean, what the hell!?" "Apparently, everyone has a right to do this.," Mali shrugged. "But- him!? There should be a law against this!"

Sonic, who had followed the talk with discrete interest, blinked, when he suddenly saw something behind the yellow hedgehog, that he hadn't noticed before.

It was another one, standing behind him in the air. He had dark yellow, almost black, fur and wore the same clothes as the light one did, although his looked rather ragged. He also had the exact same quill style and the same height and figure, as if they were identical twins.

He just stood hovering in the air with his arms crossed, staring at the back of the other hedgehog's head, as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

What stroke Sonic as odd, besides this sudden appearance, was, that he seemed to be transparent.

In that moment, the floating hedgehog seemed to notice his staring, because he turned around to him.

Sonic jumped up with a gasp. The new hedgehog had white glowing eyes and there were definitely bloodstains on his front, face and razor sharp teeth, that were in his brightly, evilly grinning mouth.

"Is something the matter?," a voice asked and he snapped his head over to the light hedgehog, who looked at him, confused, together with Mali and his friends. He looked back to where the scary male had been – but he was gone.

"I...er..." He racked his head for an excuse. "Er...is there a restroom I may use?," he asked quickly. "Sure. Just turn around and go in the hallway, turn to the left and then it's the third door on the right.," Mali explained.

"Thanks." Sonic hurried to the pointed direction, running faster and faster, until he had reached the room and he quickly made his way in and slammed the door shut behind him, leaning against it for a moment. He stood in a spacious bathroom with white small tiles on all walls, bigger ones of the same color on the floor, four closed cabins on his right and three sinks on his left.

He moved over to the sinks and came to a stand in front of the first, leaning with both hands on its edges and staring at his figure in the mirror.

He hadn't seen himself in a while now – Knuckles didn't have a mirror and he would have had a fit, if he would have used the Master Emerald for that.

To be honest, he was currently not a pretty sight. His fur didn't shine as much as usual, his eyes were dull with exhaustion and there were dark rings under them. He had barely noticeably lost a little weight, but it wasn't enough yet to be concerned. His muscles had shrunken due to the lack of training, but it wasn't that bad, yet, too. Right now, he was also deathly pale, thanks to...whatever he had seen there.

He pulled off his gloves, started the water, cupped a little amount in his hands and used it to wash his face. The cold water on his skin helped him to regain his composure.

He straightened and looked at his now dripping face. Just what in hell had he seen? Had this... hedgehog... been there, invisible for everyone, but him? Or could he add hallucinations to his symptoms now? Maybe he could ask the yellow hedgehog, if he knew this guy...

He smirked to himself. Yeah, that would go over well: 'Excuse me, do you know any transparent, bloodstained hedgehogs, that look otherwise like you?'. He saw this already going to happen.

Upon hearing a single knock against the door and a muffled "Sonic?," he grabbed one of the clean towels hanging between the sinks and dried himself off, while the door opened and closed. He put the towel down to see Tails standing a few feet away from him, looking concerned.

"Are you okay?," the fox asked, while Sonic put the towel back. "Yeah, I guess. Just...I don't really know.," Sonic ended lamely.

"What happened?," Tails asked, raising a brow. "I'm not sure. Say, did you see something...odd, before I jumped up?" "Something odd? Like what?" "Well, one...more person in the room?"

Tails looked at him. "There hasn't been anyone, but us, Mali and this hedgehog.," he explained slowly, obviously confused.

"Yeah, I feared that.," Sonic sighed, putting on his gloves again and rubbing his hurting forehead.

"Why? What's wrong?," Tails asked, worried. "I have apparently hallucinations now, too. I saw another hedgehog there." "Do you have a fever again?," Tails asked, his worry growing. Since Sonic had touched his face just a minute ago while washing it, he could answer this question easily. "No."

Tails' frown deepened. "I so hope, that Kylie can help you.," he muttered. He perked up suddenly and looked over his shoulder. "Weird, where's Shadow? He wanted to check up on you, too! I hope he didn't start a fight with Knux and Amy after all.," he added and Sonic suddenly felt an annoyance, as if he was dealing with an unruly child, that kept going against his rules despite his scolding.

He was actually glad, that Tails was for the most part well-behaved (unless he was working on an 'important project', that let him forget about eating, sleeping, staying hydrated, hygiene, social contacts and fresh air), since Shadow, Amy and Knux were currently making up for that.

"Let's go.," he decided and Tails went out the door first, with Sonic following shortly after. In the hallway, they saw Knuckles, Shadow and Amy, standing a little away from the restroom with the yellow hedgehog, who had his back to them.

"-totally crazy.," they heard Knuckles say, when they came closer. "Why should someone put herbs in a door?"

"To ward off semes.," the hedgehog explained patiently. "Some herbs have a scent, that is unbearable for semes, it stinks so badly, that no seme can come close to them without feeling nauseous. The weaker ones even pass out, if they aren't careful enough. Ukes and females know and use those herbs for ages now."

"But why? Don't they want their mates?," Shadow wondered. "Of course they want their mates, but not the ones, who try to steal them off. It's actually quite normal for semes trying to get already mated ukes and females away from their semes, when they aren't around. It's a pretty mean thing, but not changeable. That's instincts, you know? In the past, many ukes and females carried those stinking herbs with them, when their mates were away and they washed themselves off it, when they returned. We use these herbs here to create places, where the ukes, and at times the females, can retreat to, to avoid the advances of the semes – and that includes the restrooms."

"Still, you could have warned us, that the door would stink like a rotting corpse.," Shadow growled.

"That's, what Mali had tried to tell you, had you listened for two more seconds.," the light male told them, as if chastising stubborn children.

"Don't the herbs lose their scent after a while?," Tails asked, drawing attention to him and Sonic.

The blue hero saw Knuckles and Shadow tense and look him over, before they both visibly relaxed upon seeing him unharmed. Sonic really wondered about this behavior from Knuckles – Shadow was his boyfriend, he had an excuse, but the guardian was also oddly concerned...

"They do, that's why we have a carpentry, that is specialized on building those special doors and replaces them regularly.," the hedgehog explained.

"I wonder, though, why I didn't smell anything. Does that mean, that I'm an uke?," Tails asked, a little worried. He wasn't so sure, if that was a good thing.

The yellow hedgehog chuckled fondly and bent down to him. "It means, that you are a child, who hasn't hit puberty, yet. Until they reach puberty, all male children are considered ukes, they develop during puberty to semes...well, in the case of hedgehogs, not always. How old are you?," he asked. "Eleven.," Tails answered.

"Then it might take a while, until you grow up, so don't worry, okay?," the hedgehog smiled and patted his head a bit, before straightening and looking at Sonic.

"Are you feeling better?," he asked with genuine concern, that surprised the hero – they didn't know each other, after all. "Um, yeah, thanks.," he replied. The male, who was a bit older than him, it seemed, smiled. "That's good. Oh, where are my manners today? My name is Zen, nice to meet you."

He stretched out his hand to Sonic and out of the habit, he wanted to grab it, but jerked his hand back at the last moment, holding it to his chest, as if he needed to protect it. "Sorry, I'm currently not... very touchy. But it's nice to meet you, too, really. I'm Sonic.," he replied sheepishly.

The male smiled and let his hand fall. "I'm honored to be in the presence of such a strong person.," he stated calmly, which was the most interesting way of complimenting him so far. At least he didn't faint or started to hyperventilate, or something like that, like a fangirl usually would.

Zen didn't seem to expect an answer, because he already continued, "It was nice to meet you, maybe I'll see you around. Goodbye." Nodding friendly to everyone, he turned to walk down the hallway and back to the foyer.

"Is really everything okay again?," Shadow asked, just when Zen had turned the corner. "Yeah, don't worry. Nothing serious.," Sonic replied, which wasn't a lie. Hallucinations weren't something concerning in his opinion – especially, since Kylie would for sure find a solution for that, he trusted her.


They made their way back to the foyer, Sonic trailing behind everyone else to keep a comfortable distance.

Zen and Mali were engaged in a talk about some friend of theirs and Sonic, who had taken his seat again, found himself watching Zen intently, almost willing the hallucination to return.

Realizing his thought process in the next minute, he shook his head and looked away from them, trying to distract himself.

The distraction came abruptly, when the sound of loud shooting broke the almost-silence. Shadow was the first one to jump up and run out, with Rouge following closely behind – they would recognize Omega's gunfire everywhere.

Sonic didn't wait to follow Shadow and they came out of the strangely already open door at the same time, seeing Omega lying on the ground to their right with Blush standing on him, staring at the two males. "Was this your idea!?," she snarled, pointing to their left.

Sonic followed her finger and saw a turquoise hedgehog crouching low, his hands over his ears and whimpering. A transparent sphere was around him, plastered with countless bullets on the side closer to the robot, stuck in whatever material the sphere was out of.

Shadow's eyes widened – Omega was unable to hurt sentient beings, it was against his programming! Why should he attack this hedgehog? Even if the mobian would have attacked first, Omega would have used his force fields to keep the attacker at bay and called his colleagues, who could actually fight against another living being. So why had he attacked?

"HEY! ARE YOU CRAZY!? You could have hit me!," the answer to his question piped up a moment later, in the form of the small black painted robot Bokkun, who had been hidden behind the light blue male. Since he had apparently also crouched low until now, he had been hidden by the taller male easily. As he was in the exact same sphere, it was clear, that the hedgehog had protected the robot, when Omega had attacked.

The largest member of Team Dark saw all of Eggman's creations as his sworn enemies (which was ironic, seeing, that he was one himself) and attacked them ruthlessly on sight.

The turquoise male had probably been just in the way – Omega wasn't exactly programmed on preventing collateral damage. Usually, keeping innocents out of danger (including those dangers posed by other teammates) was Shadow's and Rouge's task during their missions.

Blush used her wings to bring her in the air and flew over to the hedgehog she had talked with before. He also knelt on the ground, shivering and was, as Shadow noticed, in one line with Omega, Bokkun and the turquoise male. The chair he had carried out before lay on the ground.

She knelt down next to him. "Did you get hit?," she asked, but he didn't react. When she touched his shoulder, he jumped up, looking at her frightened, before he relaxed and pointed to his ears, shaking his head.

Blush winced. Most mobians had usually very sensitive ears and loud noise could easily get them temporarily – or permanently – deaf. Thanks to her feelers being her ears, that she could 'cut off' from hearing, whenever she wanted, she hadn't needed to cover her ears.

Picking up the male to get him to the ward, she glared at Shadow, as if he had programmed the robot personally. "Dismantle this thing, bring it away or I'll let my sisters let it disappear forever. Choose." With that, she marched past them and inside.

"What are you even doing here?," Shadow growled at the small robot. "Are you spying for Eggman?"

Bokkun scowled and put his small fists to his hips. "I don't belong to-" He stopped, seeming to fight with his own tongue, before he muttered, "-th-that man."

Sonic could guess, that Eggman prevented his more intelligent robots from talking ill about him by programming them accordingly. "I'm Kylie's now.," he added proudly.

Well, that wasn't so surprising – the robot had been infatuated with the human female the last time he had seen both.

The sound of whimpering let him return his attention to the hedgehog next to the small robot. The turquoise male was still in his position, he hadn't moved from the spot.

Sonic wanted to go to him and try to calm him, but an outstretched yellow arm stopped him. "Don't go any closer to him, please." Zen's voice was unusually serious for someone, who seemed so easy and relaxed most of the time.

He stared at the light blue male and carefully went closer to him, setting himself on his ankles just outside the sphere.

Now, that Sonic looked at the sphere closer...it looked like the one this girl Kari had been stuck in...

"Hey.," he called gently, but the male flinched, as if he had screamed at him. "Are you hurt?," Zen asked, not mentioning his reaction from earlier. There wasn't a reaction this time, the hedgehog just stayed in the same position.

"What happened here?," a new voice asked and everyone looked up to see a hedgehog with dark red fur hurrying over. He missed a large chunk of his right ear and big scars were going over his whole body. He wore black sneakers and gloves.

The turquoise hedgehog moved for the first time upon hearing the voice, he sat up on his knees immediately, with the sphere popping like a giant bubble and the bullets falling clattering to the ground.

The red hedgehog slowed down and stopped in front of the shivering, kneeling, turquoise one, who wore nothing but a beige colored, long fabric, wrapped around him from the armpits to the knees. "M-Master...I-I'm s-sorry...," the blue male whimpered, not looking up. Sonic blinked. Did he hear that correctly!?

"What happened?," the red hedgehog replied, apparently not surprised to be addressed like that.

"A robot malfunctioned.," Zen answered for the turquoise one, straightening. The red hedgehog's blue eyes appeared to be ablaze with fury immediately. "What!? Why did you allow that!?," he shouted at the yellow male, who quickly pressed his ears to his skull in a submissive way.

"This was nobody's fault, technology just sometimes malfunctions.," he explained in such a natural way, as if that was the real explanation.

The apparently older red hedgehog scowled, before turning his attention towards the still kneeling male. "How did you do this?," he asked, gesturing to the bullets on the ground. The addressed male didn't look up still. "I...I don't know. I just...do it. I can do this, since I remember."

The red hedgehog fell on his knees in front of the blue one. "But why?," he asked, his voice suddenly trembling and broken. "Why did you never protect yourself before, Veit!?" There was pain audible in his voice.

The turquoise male, apparently Veit – which was a strange name, sounding like 'fight', which didn't fit at all –, seemed to shrink in himself. "M-Master...n-never allowed m-me...," he whimpered, as if he feared punishment for this answer – and the one he had answered, did really look more furious, however, he made no attempt of harming Veit in any way. He seemed to be as sad as he was angry.

"Tebian?," Zen asked carefully. The red male's, apparently Tebian's, head whipped up. "WHAT!?," he snarled, letting Veit flinch.

Zen swallowed. "M-maybe you should bring him to the ward. Just to make sure, that he really didn't get hurt.," he gently suggested.

Tebian scrutinized him for a moment, before he turned back to Veit. "Why did you show this ability now?," he asked.

Veit straightened a little. "R-robots...are built...they don't...have a free will...th-they are s-slaves themselves...," he mumbled.

"Hey, I'm not a slave, got it!?," Bokkun complained loudly, making the other flinch in fright again.

"Bokkun.," Zen told him with a strict voice and the robot looked at him. "Veit just put you to his level. He sees you as an equal.," he explained, sounding much gentler again and smiling softly. Bokkun blinked. "Oh."

Tebian stood up. "Stand up, I want you to get checked through.," he ordered. "Yes, Master." Veit stood up in one fluid movement and turned to walk in the building, his head hung low submissively, not looking at anyone.

Sonic couldn't stop staring after him and at his neck, around that wound a brown leather collar. Were this the collared mobians, that they had read about on the sign!?

Tebian went to follow him, but had a barrier in the form of Sonic suddenly in his way. He took a step back in surprise, rubbing his eyes, as if he had gotten dust in them.

"How can you talk with him like that? He is a living, talking creature, like you!," Sonic accused, his quills bristling. "No, he isn't.," the male replied, still rubbing and blinking his eyes. "He's a slave, easy as that."

Before Sonic could explode in his face, Zen quickly interfered. "Oh, right, I haven't told you about this, yet, right?," he quickly asked, cutting off Sonic, forcing a sheepish laugh. "Sorry, Tebian, they're new, I'll explain it to them."

"You better do. One more question, though." Tebian frowned at Sonic. "Which color does his fur have?," he asked, as if he wasn't sure of it. His voice had a strange sound to it.

"Why, green of course.," Zen answered immediately, which let everyone turn quickly to Sonic, including the hero himself, who, with a hint of panic, looked down on himself, but found himself still as blue as ever. "Yeah, I thought so.," Tebian replied and went past the friends and inside.

The doors closed and Zen pretty much deflated, a hand over his heart. "One of these days I'm going to get a heart attack.," he muttered and looked up into some very confused faces.

He smiled nervously. "Er...I'm guessing, that I have a lot of explaining to do there, huh?," he asked.

"Yeah, you do. What is it with this Veit being called a slave?," Sonic asked, his voice strained and angry.

Zen suppressed a smirk. Figures, that he would ask about that first. "As far as I know it, slavery is illegal, isn't it?," Tails added.

"Here it is, of course, but Veit was born in a small, independent desert kingdom called 'Saha'. There, slavery is completely natural. The society is divided in two groups only – the rich people, who have more money, than they can possibly ever spend, and the poor ones, whose only hope for a change is it to be made a slave by one of the rich ones." "And how did he come here then?," Knuckles wondered.

"John brought a good dozen of slaves here with him. Don't ask me, why he was there in the first place.," Zen shrugged.

"John got them? Why should he be interested in getting slaves?," Tails wondered. "He had no other choice. If John hadn't bought them, they would be dead now. They were in the process of getting publicly executed, when he bought them.," Zen explained.

"What!? Why!?," Amy asked, horrified. "Tebian because of murder and the eleven slaves, because their masters died.," Zen explained.

"Because their masters died? So it wasn't murder, or their fault? Why should they be executed then?," Rouge asked with a raised brow.

"In Veit's case, it was murder, Tebian had killed his master. It is customary there to kill the slaves, if they live longer than their masters either way."

Upon the horrified looks he got, he added, "I couldn't believe it either, so I did some research. Apparently, it was a tradition, after a master died, to also kill his slaves, because they would be thrown into poverty again otherwise, which would be just cruel on them. Back then, however, they used a fast working poison to kill them swiftly and painlessly. The tradition changed over time and the people started to punish the slaves one last time for outliving their masters, although that isn't really their fault. These masters are just so lazy. They don't do anything by themselves anymore, they are having slaves for every single move, which is why they are all obscenely fat and die often, before they turn fifty, no matter how many doctors they import from outside the kingdom." He shook his head disapprovingly.

"So John bought them to save them – but why didn't he free them? Why are they still treated like slaves?," Sonic asked, not understanding this in the slightest.

"Sadly, he tried – and failed. Some of them, like Veit, were born into slavery, he doesn't know, what freedom is. And the others equal freedom with homelessness, cold, starvation and the uncertainty, if they are still there tomorrow, or have died already. Although they often got treated like dirt in slavery, they had a roof above their heads and three meals a day. Sad as it is, they actually believe, that their masters saved them from death and that they will die without someone telling them what to do and taking care of their needs."

"So...what did you do?," Tails asked carefully. "We got each of them a 'master', someone, who will treat them with the respect they deserve and ease them slowly in the idea of freedom."

"And this Tebian is the master of this Veit? Not the best choice, if you ask me.," Sonic growled.

Zen chuckled weakly. "He actually loves Veit very much. He killed his former master to protect him. I can imagine, why you think otherwise, but he just talked like this with you earlier, because he hoped to provoke you. He confused you with a seme and would have liked to start a fight with you. He loves it to fight."

"Why did he think I was a seme?," Sonic asked, confused. "Well, Veit is an uke and very submissive, so he thinks, that everyone, who doesn't submit to him, is a seme."

"Did you act this submissive because of that?," Knuckles asked. "Yeah. It's better not to provoke him. Tebian can be very dangerous and his mood drops very quickly. To top it off, he doesn't care about anyone, who gets hurt in the process of his fights, even if it's an innocent."

"Okay...and what was that with Sonic's fur? Why did you say, that it was green?," Tails asked.

Zen scratched his quills, looking embarrassed for some reason. "Well, he hates the color blue. And I mean, he really HATES it. In 'Saha', it is tradition, that the rich people dye their furs blue, because that is the color of wealth. Tebian can't see blue fur, feathers or scales without wanting to kill him or her."

"But Sonic has blue fur. Why didn't he see that? Sonic stood right in front of him!," Amy asked confused.

Zen blushed deeply. "I...well, I manipulated his sight a little." Seeing the even more confused faces, he explained, "I have the ability to manipulate peoples' minds. I can confuse everyone's five senses as much as I want it. I let Tebian think, that he just imagined you having blue fur and that it's actually green. Since you appeared so suddenly in front of him, I had to take action – he would have ignored you otherwise and just followed Veit.," Zen added.

Sonic shrugged. He wouldn't apologize for speaking his mind – he couldn't have just stayed watching quietly how someone was treated as something less than a mobian being.

"Will he think that with the different fur color forever now?," Knuckles asked, stubbornly refusing to show, how surprised he was by the hedgehog's ability.

"No, he should be out of my range already. Once someone I had in my 'mental clutches' is about 20 meters away from me, all of my illusions disappear.," Zen explained.

"You are aware of the fact, that he might come back, before we are gone, right?," Shadow growled. To think, that someone could harm his love was provoking him majorly. "I'm counting on Mali distracting him long enough. Or I'll just stick around you for the day.," Zen shrugged.

Sonic noticed, that Shadow wasn't calmed by that at all. "Relax, Shads. Let's just go back inside, or Kylie searches for us uselessly.", he told him. Shadow didn't seem convinced, but nodded, still scowling.

Sonic was just about to turn around and go back inside, when a scream close to him let him whip around to see Amy kneeling on the ground, splattered with blood all over her front.

He was at her side a second later. "What happened!?," he asked alarmed. "I-I just wanted to h-help Bokkun with the packages and letters. A-and then, the lid popped open and this bloody thing flew out and hit me!," she sobbed, trembling from the shock.

Sonic looked around, only now seeing the letters and small packages littering the grass and the big bag, in that were more, next to that stood Bokkun, collecting in letters, too and putting them back in it. Apparently, he had tried to bring the bag inside the building, before he had gotten attacked by Omega. This would explain, why they had been able to hear the gunfire and why the doors had been opened, when they had run out – the doors had already opened, because he had been so close to them. The sudden attack had caused him to let it drop and the contents to get spilled.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you. We sadly get this kind of mail every day. It gets scanned inside the building for things like that, but Bokkun was interrupted, before he could reach the right room.," Zen explained regretfully, while he carefully picked up the object, that had soiled Amy. It was a dead feral hedgehog, drenched in far more blood, than its little body could possibly hold, and it had a large knife through its body. "I wish, that they wouldn't kill innocent animals for their threats.," he muttered.

"If you get those threats regularly, why don't you just go to the police?," Rouge asked. Zen laughed bitterly. "The police of the city here doesn't care about us, they tolerate us...barely. Some use every chance to frame us ukes for every single crime going on here. Someone robbed a store – ten minutes later, police men are here and going through every single room. Someone didn't pay the bill – it was 'miraculously' every time a hedgehog. That happens 3-4 times a week." Now Sonic knew, why they had so many lawyers.

"Did you try to go to GUN?," Shadow asked with a raised brow. It was hard to believe, that someone as stubborn as Kylie just let this happen without fighting back. "Kylie tried, but those guys are just incompetent, they don't get the point. Well, she said, that the best team for this would be unavailable anyway.," he shrugged. Shadow's eyes widened – had she talked about them?

Before he could ask, a light flashed and a very pale looking Shy appeared between the yellow male and Amy. She had dark rings under her eyes and her hair and clothes, a pair of short jeans and a dirty white t-shirt, were ruffled, as if she had just come out of bed after a less than relaxing sleep.

Her rather empty green eyes found the bloody hedgette easily and she stretched out her arm towards her.

Amy's breath hitched, when the blood started to fly off her and to collect itself in the human girl's hand. It was a mere minute, before the blood was completely gone off Amy's body and in a ball on Shy's hand.

"There. I can't do anything against the smell, though.," the girl explained. "Th-thank you.," Amy sniffed. "No problem. Your upset aura wouldn't have let me sleep anyway.," Shy shrugged, while a small typhoon grabbed the remaining letters and packages and threw them in the bag. "There, all done."

"Hey, I wanted to do that!," the small robot complained. "So what? Just tell Kylie you did.," Shy shrugged. "But I'm not programmed on lying.," Bokkun whined.

"Then tell her I did your job, she'll understand.," the girl muttered annoyed. Bokkun wasn't the most intelligent robot, it was quite obvious, but it still went on her nerves.

Zen gasped, when the dead hedgehog in his hands got enclosed by a ball of blood and flew in Shy's hand, his own hands clean again. "I'll take care of that.," she stated simply.

"Wait a minute!," Knuckles called quickly, realizing, that she would disappear any second now.

Shy stopped and turned around to him. "What is it?," she asked, bored. "I'd like to know, what happened on the Island two years ago."

Sonic watched, how the girl stiffened. "How did you do this? How did you give Sonic this form? He never before showed it and you were the only one close enough.," Knuckles explained his question.

Shy let the two balls of blood go, playing with them, letting them fly through the air with ease, while she talked, "I didn't do anything. I know, that you think that and I know why you think that, too."

She was well aware of the fact, that Sonic still thought she was responsible for this, she hadn't have the chance to tell him, that she wasn't.

"All I did was trying to stop the bleeding and then there was this light, not mine, though. We were in there for a bit, before the over-sized Chaos Emeralds appeared..."

"Over-sized Chaos Emeralds?," the friends interrupted her in an unintentional chorus. "Well, yeah. I've seen the stones before, in the temple – those I saw later were as big as this big emerald in the middle, in the temple." "That's impossible.," Knuckles breathed.

Shy shrugged. "That was, what I saw. No more, no less." With that, she disappeared, before anyone could hold her back.

Knuckles didn't even notice it, he was too deep in thought. He knew every ancient picture his ancestors had left on Angel Island – his only entertainment for the years he hadn't known Sonic and the others – and in none of them had been depicted seven Chaos Emeralds as big as the Master...

"-ease?" The half-word let the guardian snap out of his thoughts and he looked up to see Bokkun, carrying the big bag, in front of him. The little robot scowled at him, before turning to a brightly grinning Rouge. "You said, that saying please would help!," he said accusingly. "But he's still in the way!"

It was then, that Knuckles realized, that he was the only one standing still in the entrance, blocking the robot's path, the others had already moved to the side. Hiding his flushed face, he hurried to the side, allowing Bokkun to pass him.

"Not so fast, huh, Knuckie?," Rouge smirked. "Shut up!," the guardian hissed annoyed. "Um...Knux...did you ever...well, hear of this? What Shy said, I mean?," Tails asked carefully.

He could see, that Knuckles was going through his memory, but also, that he was rather overwhelmed by her information, so he was better careful not to upset his friend more.

Knuckles frowned and stayed quiet a little longer, before he shook his head. "No. Whatever the girl had seen, I haven't ever heard of it or seen it on the ancient pictures.," he explained slowly.

"Well, I believe her.," Sonic muttered absentmindedly. He still remembered the unnatural feeling he had had after waking up, how he had felt above the clouds, godly strong. It wasn't something he needed all the time, but back then, it had been just awesome.

To avoid the thoughts, that just let his head hurt, Shadow turned his attention to Omega, who was still lying quietly on the ground. "Omega?," he called the robot, but received no answer.

"Knowing Blush, she did a number on him and he needs to run a diagnosis program.," Rouge grinned and joined her two partners.

They both knew, that Omega would immediately shut himself down, if his sensors pointed out an irregularity. As his core was out of unstable elements, carefulness was mandatory. Which was, why he shut himself down, when he got damaged remotely and deemed the situation safe enough – when the fight was over, or Shadow was close, whatever came first – to run a diagnosis on himself. Usually, this didn't take long, just a few minutes at best. That it took this long already meant, that the butterfly indeed did some damage.

Looking over the robot, Shadow found no holes originating from her needles, but he had no doubt, that the assassin had other ways of attacking.

Without further thinking about it, he rolled the robot on his front, so that he could stand up on his own, whenever he was done. If he was on his back, he was pretty much helpless with trying to stand up.

Lost in their own thoughts, the friends returned eventually to the now empty foyer. Mali – and for some reason, her chair, too – was gone and Zen was nowhere to be seen, either. Apparently, he trusted the woman to keep this Tebian away from Sonic.

"It can't be that much longer, until Kylie comes.," Tails explained, looking on his watch. He looked up, when he heard steps coming closer, but it was just a completely black furred male hedgehog, who carried a small laptop on his flat hand, typing on it with the other, while he walked towards the reception desk.

He stopped in front of it and looked up, frowning, when he didn't discover Mali. He shook his head disapprovingly, turned back to his laptop, while he leaned against the desk and muttered something under his breath about the woman never being there, when she needed to be.

Just before the friends could choose to ignore him, the male suddenly cursed loudly and started to shake his laptop furiously, there was obviously a problem with it.

Tails hesitated for a moment, before he carefully went closer to the male. "Um...do you need help?," he asked. Technology was his talent, so maybe he could lend a hand.

The male looked up and over to him, growling, his light blue eyes shining furiously. "Go and bother someone else, twerp!," he snapped.

Tails took a step back in surprise and hurt, while Sonic, Knuckles and Shadow took two forward.

"Got a problem with our friend?," Knuckles growled darkly. The black hedgehog scoffed. "Your mascot should take care of his own business.," he replied with a growl, before he looked briefly to the side and paled.

Tremblingly, he forced a smile. "H-hi, Honey...," he stuttered. Sonic frowned and looked in the direction he did, seeing another hedgehog standing there, male, with light pink fur, who didn't look amused at all.

"We should talk, shouldn't we?," he growled. "Y-yes, honey.," the dark hedgehog immediately agreed and pushed past the males in front of him to join the pink one, who walked towards the exit.

Once the door was closed, Sonic turned to Tails and went on his knee. "Hey, you know, that you shouldn't listen to idiots like him, right?," he asked, a little worried, as the fox was so quiet.

Tails nodded and quickly wiped his eyes. "Y-yeah, right...," he sniffed. Tails had been bullied before he had met Sonic, so he knew the hurt. That didn't mean, that he could handle it better since then.

If someone like Eggman taunted him, he could handle it, he knew, that he could hand the man his behind on a platter, as could Sonic, but if it was someone, who didn't know him and just judged him by his appearance and size, he couldn't help, but feel sad and hurt.

Noticing, that Sonic was worried, mostly, because he couldn't comfort him like always, he forced himself to calm down and smile. "Everything's okay, promise.," he reassured. Sonic looked him up and down, before deciding to believe him, smiling and standing up.

"I would like to beat this idiot still.," Knuckles growled, hitting his flat hand with his other fist. "Forget it, Knux, he's not worth the energy. But we should let know Kylie. She runs this place, so she should be able to do something against his attitude.," Sonic replied with a shrug. Knuckles grunted, but kept quiet after that, accepting his suggestion.

"WATCH OUT!" The shout, coming out of nowhere, it seemed, was the only warning the friends got to jump out of the way of the cannonball-like thing, that suddenly broke through the closed doors and straight into Mali's desk, pretty much obliterating it.

"Well, it definitely doesn't become boring here.," Rouge grumbled, while she landed again, brushing off the dust the destroyed desk had created.

"Right.," Amy growled. While she had tried to dodge, she had accidentally hit one of the chairs with her knee and now, it hurt badly.

"What in the world was that?," Sonic asked, after making sure, that nobody got hurt seriously. As if to answer his question, the debris of the desk suddenly moved and the black hedgehog, who had verbally attacked Tails before, dug himself out of it, a dark bruise on his left cheek and he was coughing.

Trembling from the aftershock, he forced himself on his feet and looked towards the entrance, through whose remains came a hedgehog with dark silver fur and long quills, that stood straight, moved by the energy floating through them. He was surrounded by dark green Chaos Energy, that fit to his obvious foul mood. The glass under his feet cracked, as did the floor under his steps.

His dark eyes found the dark hedgehog and his energy seemed to flare more. "What? Got tired?," he hissed, while he came closer. The dark hedgehog growled lowly. "Come on, was this all? Not so tough now, are you?," the silver one continued. The dark hedgehog snarled.

"Oh, scary.," the silver male mocked. He stopped just a few meters away from the other, putting his hands to his hips. "You like beating ukes? Try someone, who can actually meet you head on for a change!," he challenged. The dark hedgehog seemed tempted, but suddenly, he paled again and drew back.

Shadow didn't know, how this had happened without him noticing it earlier, but the foyer was at once full with very pissed male hedgehogs, who had drawn a circle around the two fighting ones and, as they stood literally between both, around the friends, too. Their glares, however, were all on the black hedgehog.

To the agent's surprise and shock, Sonic had for some reason joined the silver furred male, both looking murderous.

"S-Sonic!?," Tails asked surprised, but the hero didn't acknowledge him, he was solely staring at the dark hedgehog, who was by now sweating. "H-hey! W-what do you all want from me?," he asked, a hint of panic in his voice.

"Yeah, I would like to know that, too.," a very familiar voice suddenly stated, coming from the hallway to their left.