Trinity: Nyah...that was fun.

Shadow: ...Mmph! (oo')

Tails: What happened to Shadow's mouth? It's gone!

Trinity: He came over to the other story. And tried to talk back to me.

Tails: (sweatdrop) Never talk back to an authoress...

Shadow: (rolls eyes)

Tails: Man, it's gonna be to far too quiet...I'm outta here!

I don't own Sega or it's characters! Let's all mourn for it's loss...


Chapter 2- Awakening and Explanations

Tails stormed into his flat, covered in ash, grinding his teeth. He stormed silently into his bathroom and stormed right back out, completely clean, and back down into his workshop.

It's been almost two weeks since Tails carried Shadow home. The black hedgehog hasn't moved an inch since he woke up the first time. Tails, his bed occupied, has been sleeping on the comfy, but not-so-good-on-the-back, couch. He works constantly on his inventions and only occasionally checks up on his sleeping tenant, not expecting any difference. In those two weeks, Tails has caused almost every new invention he touched to work improperly, stop working altogether, or even explode.

He's bad luck! He though furiously as a twisted pile of metal on his work table spewed ash and smoke. Ever since that hedgehog got here, everything's gone to hell! How in the world is he doing this?! There has got to be a reason behind all this!

Tails found a wrench lying on the ground and scooped it up. He glared angrily at the smoldering metal, muttered "piece of junk" and whacked furiously at it until it was nothing more that a pile of broken scrap metal (and appropriately disposed of it into the box labeled "scrap metal"). Feeling just a bit better, he decided to take a break and retired to his kitchen for lunch.

I can't believe I lost my temper like that. That wasn't like me at all, he thought to himself while munching on a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He finished off his sandwich with a glass of milk and stood in the door way between his kitchen and workshop. His scrap metal box was overflowing, his work table was covered in burn marks from minor explosions and almost all of his equipment was shot. I need to wake up that hedgehog.

Upstairs, Shadow was still sleeping quietly. Tails circled around his bed, eyeing him closely. He didn't look like he had been suffering from any unseen injuries or unexplained pain. He didn't look like he was sick or on the verge of death. He just looked like he was taking a light nap. And despite that, he hadn't budge no matter what Tails did during those two weeks.

"I'll find out what's wrong with you if it kills me!" Tails exclaimed, pounding his fist into his hand. "This, I suppose, is quiet possible. In my experience, nothing's safe around you."

Tails lifted Shadow off his bed and onto his shoulders. He carried the larger hedgehog down the stairs and dumped him onto the table. He rolled his limp body onto his back and scurried around to set everything up around him. When he was done, there where five types of scanners hanging over Shadow, with three walls of machinery and computers on all sides except next to his head.

"There!" Tails said, a huge, almost deranged, smile on his face, "There's no way that I could have messed that up! And even if something goes wrong over there, my computer way over there on the other side of the room is going to be receiving and backing up all the data that's to be collected!

"Okay! Let's begin!"

The scans whirred into life and different types of rays swept of every corner of Shadow's body. Immediately, the computers began collecting and processing the data from the scans and sending the information to the other computer at the other side of the room, where it was printed out. Tails rubbed his hands together gleefully and Shadow kept on sleeping.

Then things took a turn for the worse.

After only two minutes of running, the scans only half way completed, smoke flurried from the midst of the machinery. At first Tails didn't notice, until a spark jumped and something fizzled. Then there was more sparks and furls of smoke rising to the ceiling. The smile was still on his stunned face as he watches in horror as one after another piece of equipment burst into flames.

"Eh? What happened?" Tails stood staring, dazed, at the roaring flames.

In the middle of the three-wall inferno, Shadow hadn't moved an inch. The tongues of flame were getting awfully close to him. The heat wave warped Tails' vision and he caught sight of the black hedgehog.

"Shadow? Shadow!"

Tails jumped into action. He ran forward, only to jump back again when one of the sensitive pieces of equipment exploded. Tails had to circle around to the side of Shadow that wasn't surrounded by burning machinery. Tails whimpered, when another computer exploded, adding to the growing heat. He took off his gloves and covered his nose and mouth with them as the workshop filled with smoke.

He paced closer to the fire, keeping an eye on the time bombs that was his burning equipment. He spotted one ready to blow and braced himself. He yipped when the flames skimmed over his head and leaped into the inferno. He hooked his arms under Shadow's shoulders and dragged him off the table, keeping him low. He didn't stop dragging him until he was far from the fire.

"Heat. I hate the heat," Tails said, panting. He sat with his legs out stretched, clinging to Shadow. "And he's still asleep. What the-! He's…cold?"

Shadow's fur was cool to the touch, although he was in the middle of the fire. Tails panicked for a second, but noticed his steady breathing. Looking closer, he noticed that not a single guard hair was singed. It was as if the fire hadn't affected him at all. Tails sighed and pressed his cheek against the cool fur.

"At least you're okay, Shadow."

Tails coughed. The warehouse was filling up with smoke. Tails laid Shadow down and opened the large double garage doors so the smoke would flow out. He was glad he ran the tests in the center of the workshop, away from everything else so nothing else could burn. He went to grab the fire extinguisher from the kitchen and quickly put out the fire.

Tails moved Shadow from the floor to the couch. He sat on the arm of the couch, staring blankly at the smoldering mess in the center of the work shop. Most of the smoke had already cleared out, but the smell lingered in the fabric of the couch and chairs.

He glanced at the pile of paper from the printer with a thin layer of dust from the extinguisher on top of it. He got up and took a look at the data printed on it. He scanned over page after page, his eyes steadily growing larger. He dropped the paper and looked at the multiple diagrams of Shadow on his computer, growing excited. He gapped at all the information and data that popped up on his screen.

"No way!"

-0-0-

Shadow groaned. He felt like there was a throbbing needle in his brain and his whole body felt as heavy as lead. His muscles were stiff too, as if he had been lying still for a long time. He started to become alarmed, when he smelt the lingering scent of smoke.

Shadow heard the light foot fall of a young pup treading toward him. Shadow, knowing who it was, tried to say something along the lines of "hello." All he got out was a few gurgles. He managed to open an eye and look at the young pup giggling at his attempts of speech.

"Good morning to you too, Shadow," Tails said happily. He had a tired, almost fatigued look about him, but he did seem very happy to see Shadow awake.

"How long…was I out?" Shadow managed to say.

"Oh, a good three weeks. I finally figured out why last week, as well as burn down some of my most expensive equipment. Did you know what was wrong with you?" Tails said, not waiting for a response. "You were overflowing with Chaos energy! If you were conscious, you would have destroyed your self! Those four suppressant rings were barley keeping you in check. I had to make you another one, just so you could wake up!"

"Why does my ear hurt?" Shadow interrupted.

"Oh, that's where the temporary suppressant is. It's just a simple little ring. It will due, for now, but I have to make you a permanent one before that one breaks."

"You pierced my ear?!"

"Hey, I think it looks good on you!"

Shadow groaned, his hand automatically going to his ear lobe to fiddle with the intruding piece of metal. It felt fragile under his fingers, due to the amount of energy his body pressed against it. He was grateful, very grateful, to the pup for helping him.

"How did you manage to get so much power?" Tails added after a thoughtful silence.

"I trained. How else? I did manage to…well, let's just say I found a good place to train."

"That place…it must have been a natural suppressant of Chaos energy! I mean, if you were anywhere else, you would have already died from the overload of Chaos energy. I mean, I don't even know how you managed to get yourself down to this mountain side, unless this 'training ground' is somewhere nearby."

"Kid."

"Yes?"

"You talk too much."

"Er, sorry. I've just gotten use to being…alone."

Shadow studied the pup. Tails was staring pass him with unfocused eyes. His ears were drooping slightly. He looked very, very tired, both physically and emotionally. Shadow didn't do very well with others, and he didn't seem the caring type, but he was good at find the source of many problems.

"Tails, where's Sonic?"

"I…I don't know," Tails said, his voice shaking. "Nobody knows. The day you left, a war had started somewhere. In just two weeks, it engulfed the entire planet. Sonic…Sonic stayed with us for a while, made sure me, and Cream, and even Amy, were going to be okay. Then he left. He became the leader of some sort of Suicide Squad that was out on the front lines. He and his men were doing okay for first year, but…but then…" Shadow sat up, listening with rapt attention. By now, Tails' little body shook with his voice. He looked on the verge of breaking down, but he forced himself to continue.

"One morning, it's said, it was Sonic's team's turn to scout ahead. They came across a small battalion of robots laying in wait to ambush the main army in the valley. They sent the warning with one of the men back to the main army and waited. Well, we know Sonic." Tails let out a little laugh, quiet unlike his own. "He just hates waiting. So he surprised attacked the battalion.

"Nobody knows how long that battle even lasted. When the main army reached the valley, expecting an ambush, they only found blood. The entire field was covered in the parts of every single person in Sonic's Suicide Squad. Everyone except Sonic. They scrutinized the valley, and couldn't even find a single strand of his blue fur or drop of his blood.

"So nobody knows what happened to him. He hasn't shown up in two years, so most people think his dead. He could have been chasing someone from the battle grounds and got lead into a trap. But this army didn't take any prisoners of war. What would they want with him? They defiantly couldn't convince him to fight with them. My guess is…he probably…died…in some dank, dark cell, forgotten as the only prisoner."

"That wouldn't be like Sonic."

Tails looked up at Shadow with teary eyes. He was staring at the pup with intensity, as if he didn't believe that Tails could even think such a thing. Tails was a bit taken aback by the look in the dark hedgehog's eyes.

"You know as well as I do, that that fake hedgehog wouldn't die in a place like that," Shadow said with the same intensity of his eyes in his voice. "The longer they would keep him in a cell, the more likely he would break out. If he did die, he died running on a nice open field, with lots of sunshine and happy shit like that."

Tails chuckled a bit, whipping away a stray tear.

"But we both know that Sonic isn't dead," Shadow said, more to himself. "He's far too stubborn for that to happen…"

GRRRRROOOOOWL

"…Erm, can I have something to eat?"

Tails almost fell over laughing at Shadow. Shadow huffed and ignored the two tailed pup clutching his sides.


Shadow: W00T!

Tails: She gave you your mouth back, huh? Good for you.

Shadow: (sarcastic) It's nice to know you care so much.

Tails: (shrugs) You just nearly burned down my third workshop. I should be charging you for the damage.

Shadow: And with what money do you expect to be payed with? I know I don't have any!

Tails: (sulk) Which is why I can't charge you...

Shadow:(BP)Heh heh heh...

Trinity: Yeah, yeah. Hurray. Review me purty please!