Chapter 8: Attempts to Read a Mind

"Silver, you bastard!"

Laughing sounded inside Room 408, where said hedgehog and the genius fox stayed in. "I'm not opening the door."

"Tails? Can you open the door?" Sonic tried, instead. "I have something very important to discuss with Weed Head!"

More laughing. "Tails is in Brisk's room."

This time, Sonic growled. "I'm serious, Silver! If you tell anyone, I'll be ruined! I don't even know if I feel that way!"

"Maybe you should try explaining it to your girlfriend."

"Dude!"

The door suddenly swung open, and Silver stood beside the door, leaning into the frame. "Fine. I understand what you're feeling, blah, blah, blah." Silver rolled his eyes. "But, I'm telling you, you thought it at the wrong time. I can't guarantee that I won't tell."

Sonic felt like he's dying over and over again. Live, die, revive. Live, die, revive.

He must've shown it, because the other put a hand on his shoulder. He wore a smile. "I can make up for it though; see what he thinks about you."

See? The blue hedgehog just got revived again, hopefully, permanently. "Really?" his tone and eyes hopeful.

"Yeah," the albino one replied. "I still don't get what you see in him, though…you know, except for his ass, maybe."

Sonic shoved Silver on the arm and laughed, glad that it was over. "Don't say that."

XXX

Mind Reading Attempt: 1

"So, Shadow," started Silver. He had knocked on Shadow's door and gotten rejected twice before he was let in, after they changed out of their temporary kimonos. The black one looked at him expectantly. "How's the trip so far?"

"A day's not even up yet and you're asking me that? What do you expect that I'd tell you?" Shadow's eyes narrowed. "And what's it to you?"

"Oh, nothing, really," Silver replied uneasily. How come the antisocial guy never changes? "So there's nothing that interests you here yet?"

"No."

"At all?"

"No."

"The scenery, the rooms…the people?"

Shadow grunted out of annoyance as a warning. "For the last time, N-O."

Silver could've sworn his bladder threatened to give him up and wet his pants. Quick! Abort mission! Retreat while you still can! "Okay, then. Bye."

Result: Fail.

Mind Reading Attempt: 2

The gang were out in the streets with Tails studying the map and with the rest of the group crowding around the fox, trying to get a better view of the paper. Truly, they looked like a bunch of lost idiots, which wasn't too off from the looks of it.

"Hmm, it seems like we have to make a turn…here," Tails muttered, biting his thumb while trying to figure out the big map spread out in front of him.

"I don't get it. Why do we have to go get clothes anyway? We never wear any," Sonic complained.

Knuckles glanced at the whiney hedgehog. "The owner of the hotel had said specifically. We needed to wear clothes because other people might find it uncomfortable to see a bunch of anthropomorphics not wearing any clothing. After all, we do have a bit of human traits."

Sonic shook his head. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, buddy. Please don't go all Mr. oh-I'm-going-to-say-scientific-words-just-to-confu se-you guy. You know I can't take that."

"Either way, you won't understand."

"I underst-!"

"Enough, you guys. Look, there's the mall right there. Let's go," said Tails, cutting in between the argument that wasn't going to get any better on its own.

The group of eight walked into the mall and began exploring. They all agreed to meet up by the fast food section after two hours, which was at 4:00 P.M. sharp. And so, while the girls went off to check out the clothes they sold in Japan, the guys were off to see what the mall had in store for them. Sonic and Tails was ahead of Silver and Shadow and were discussing about how excited the fox might be to discover the different technology. The two in the back wasn't as loud and sociable. In fact…Silver was having trouble starting a simple conversation.

He'd already tried to read his mind. It's filled with violent thoughts on how he wanted to shut everyone up in the mall and how the people would react if he brought out a pistol. But most of the time, it was also blank. Silver was surprised, annoyed, and impressed at the same time. Why won't this hedgehog just think about Sonic? Maybe if he brought him up…

"Shadow, what color do you think suits Sonic?" Silver randomly walked into a store, picked out two shirts without looking, and bringing them up to the other.

Without thinking, Shadow swiftly replied, not at all thrown off by the psychic's random question. "Black." Silver sweatdropped. Of course. Black…

"What else?" he tried.

"Green."

Green. Of course. His eyes.

"And?"

"Red, maybe."

Red. Um. Okay.

"Anything else?"

"Drop it. If you want to search for his clothes so badly, I can help. Just stop nagging me," Shadow replied. "Why don't you look for your own clothes?"

Silver put on a thoughtful look as if considering the other's suggestion, but instead, he was trying to detect if Shadow had any thoughts on the blue one. Huh. His thoughts don't say much. 'What the hell is wrong with him today?' Right. Thanks Shadow.

For the rest of the shopping time, nothing happened, except for the one little thing that slipped when Shadow and Sonic's shoulders brushed when they were back to back, searching for something. Here's how it went:

'Bump. "Oh, hey, Shadow. Sorry." Small chuckle.

Shadow is silent. His thoughts: Be careful next time, Shadow, you idiot. You better not let it slip that you're trying to pick out a shirt for him, too.

"Hey, what are you doing here? It's all bright colors. Do you like them?"

"No." Silence. "Just wanted to see them."

"Oh. Okay." Sonic walks away.'

And that was really it.

Result: Fail/Success

Mind Reading Attempt: 3

It was 3:58 P.M. and the guys were heading to the fast food section. They found a big table and set their stuff down there. It was ten minutes later when the girls came back. "Hehe, sorry," Amy apologized. "They had a lot of cute dresses."

And then, they ate. Lots and lots of junk food. Fries, burgers, pudding, and unhealthy drinks. And all the while, Shadow hadn't showed any signs of interest in the azure hero, or even thought anything of him. Silver was getting frustrated. Quickly, when Shadow and Amy wasn't looking, he kicked Sonic under the table, nodded towards the black hedgie, and made faces. Sonic wasn't too happy from the bruise he'd gotten, but he got the point. He had to interact with his rival.

"Hey, Shads, did you find anything that you liked?" He asked, unlinking his arms awkwardly with Amy after glancing at Silver's disapproving scowl.

"Actually, yes. They've got really nice jackets." And that was it. Nothing less, nothing more.

After a little bit more of Silver bulging his eyes and Sonic and Shadow trying to work out a decent conversation, the mind-reader finally got something. The black hedgehog's thoughts got more frantic and started fuss about whether he was saying the right things as the conversation went along. Silver smiled.

Result: Success.

Hehehe~~~ Heya guys~ I updated in 21 days! Be happy! :D Anyway...didn't know what I was doing here. But I hope you guys enjoyed it. I prolly won't be updating for a few more days, so...yeah. I'll see you guys in a bit! ;3 I'm most likely going to post the next chapter of My Shadowy Hero within two or three days. Until then!~