Sonic opened his eyes to the patchy canopy of the coniferous woods to the North of Redwood Park. Birdsong was the first thing he heard; accompanied by squirrelchatter and bikewheelfuzz. He sat up, taking in the sundrenched forest floor; considering it a work of art, a masterpiece. It was moments like this he was glad that the city had stayed where it was, not bringing with it the behemoth of suburbia to replace this beautiful scene with a more contemporary design. He wasn't one for contemporary art. Had the word "temporary" in it, anyways…

Sonic's mental wandering was cut short by a sound, which caught him by surprise and caused him to scoot backwards into the nearest tree. A deep, low growl. It echoed slightly, as if distant, but to Sonic it sounded quite close by. Was it a bear? Sonic had taken on bears before. None of them sounded like this. Mountain lion? No, they had more of a yowl-slash-meow kind of call. Wolf? Now that was a possibility, but they didn't normally come this far South in the early fall. The sound came again. This time it was more of a roar than a growl, but it quickly faded into a growl before fading out entirely, echoing again. Sonic was awake now. And where was Shadow?

Standing up against the tree trunk, Sonic looked around; he still heard birds and squirrels, and a deer was crunching through the leaves about twenty yards ahead. They hadn't heard the growling; how had Sonic? Had Shadow heard it? There it was again. The growl-roar. It was very, very close by. Sonic's quills rose. It was right behind him. He leaned around. Slowly. Very slowly. Well, he kind of inched around, except it was more like millimeters in more of an even fashion than "inched" suggests. He didn't see any bears, or wildcats, or wolves.

Shadow slept soundly on the other side of the tree; his uniform's apron bunched up under his head as a pillow. Curious, Sonic leaned in closer, just in time to catch the sound for the fourth time, and realized that it was coming from Shadow. It was his stomach; no doubt completely empty from last night's fiasco with the law. Sonic smiled. And laughed. And laughed some more.

Shadow woke up. The pleasant chiming of her cell phone alarm clock was absent, and in its place was the strangest sound she'd ever heard. It was sort of a chuckle, but that was only the base of it; piled on top of that was the sound of hyperventilation, wheezing, and quite possibly choking. Shadow sat up and shook her head, taking a moment to clear it of the sleep that remained, and turned to the source of the din. She found Sonic the Hedgehog; red-faced and teary-eyed, apparently having an asthma attack combined with a seizure and heart palpitations. Shadow, confused, irritated, groggy and taken aback, stood up and tried to get something other than breathless giggling out of the now-purple hedgehog.

"Sonic? Come on, snap out of it! You're scaring me, here! Quit laughing!"

Sonic leaned against the tree and tried to catch his breath.

"Okay, okay. I'm okay. You just-!" exclaimed Sonic, starting up again.

"Sonic," warned Shadow, crossing her arms.

"Okay. I'm done. Really."

"Good," said Shadow. "Now, what was so funny, anyways?"

Sonic thought a moment. "Well, it started as this sort of growling? But then it became more of a roar than a growl, but it quickly faded into a growl before-"

Shadow's abdomen interrupted with the combined complaint of all seven empty stomachs. Sonic snorted again, his muzzle and ears quickly turning red as his hilarity resurfaced with a vengeance.

"What? You think this is funny?" questioned Shadow, uncrossing her arms and clenching her fists at her sides.

Unable to get a response other than Sonic's laughter, she crossed her arms and turned away.

"I was so-!" exclaimed Sonic, interrupted by his own mirth, "I was so sca-hared!"

This caught Shadow's attention. "You were scared?"

"Whoo!" breathed Sonic, coming down from his adrenaline high and actually paying attention to the situation.

"Yeah, I was scared! I didn't know what was makin' that noise, and I was startin' to freak out! Then I look and it's- it's your stomach!"

Shadow's arms dropped back to her sides, a lopsided smile on her face as Sonic's raucous laughter began again. Okay, that was pretty funny, actually. She could let this one slide. She snickered a bit, herself.

"Haah," Sonic sighed, putting an arm over Shadow's shoulders. "I love you, man."

Sonic immediately reclaimed his arm as Shadow made a high-pitched gasping sound.

"Was it something I said?" asked Sonic, his hands curled into his chest like a begging puppy, worry etched upon his features.

Shadow stretched a bit, turning back to Sonic; a solemn expression on her face.

"Look, Sonic. I'm all banged up from yesterday, I'm just now barely recharging on Chaos Energy, I'm starving, and I don't have any rings on me. It wasn't something you said."

"Dang," responded Sonic, completely lacking in the complaint department, "I'm, sadly, totally fine."

He thought a moment, watching Shadow shake the dead leaves off of his apron.

"Wanna go get some breakfast with me?" he asked, casually, shrugging a bit.

"That would be nice, Sonic, but, as of last night, we are 'on the lam,' as the saying goes. We caused some damage back at the hospital- well, I caused some damage- and if we go back into town now we'd be returning to the scene of the crime. Besides, I told you, I'm out of rings right now."

"Who said you were gonna pay?" replied Sonic, cautiously putting his arm around Shadow, a little lower to avoid his damaged shoulders. "Hey, why are you putting that thing back on?"

Shadow put his apron back on, pulling off the nametag and hiding it in the chest pocket.

"It has pockets," replied Shadow, taking a step out of Sonic's reach before handing Sonic the ties that were supposed to go around back above his tail.

"Could you tie this, please? I don't think my shoulders are in good enough shape to reach back there, yet."

Sonic took the ties as Shadow turned around, making a bit of a bow in the back.

"That's a pretty big bow," commented Sonic. "Did I do it right?"

"Oh, that's right," recalled Shadow, twisting his head to look back. "The supervisor's apron is a little bigger. The line is supposed to loop around my waist first."

Sonic untied the bow and leaned forward, an end of the tie in each hand. Shadow raised her arms a bit as Sonic brought the ties around to the front to switch hands.

"This is… kinda' close…" Sonic observed, switching ties in front of Shadow; noticing that there was a little more in the front on Shadow than he remembered.

Sonic's muzzle turned bright red again as he pulled back, lines successfully switched, and hurriedly tied the knot. The arteries in his face were sure getting a workout today.

"We should… probably get moving. It'll be awhile before we can get to the next town with a restaurant, and-."

Shadow turned back around to face Sonic, raising an eyebrow at Sonic's redness.

"We might not have to. Do you have a Chaos Emerald?"

Sonic thought. "Not with me. But I stashed one around here somewhere! I remember now!"

Shadow smiled. "I can work with that."