(A/N: OK before I start this, I have to give a huge thank you to KingdomRider92 for reviewing this story! It was a major morale booster, along with all the reviews from my regular readers! I am just so happy right now I think I am going to burst! another thing, I know people have talked about spelling errors, and I looked through all of my chappies, but the only things I can find are when I type things like "kinda" and "outta", I know it is not proper grammar, but that is the way people talk sometimes, so I am keeping it that way, but feel free to point out any other grammar mistakes in my story, I would appreciate it. So enough blabbering, time to get on with the fic!)

Chapter 15: Shower Trials and Troubles

The next day, I awoke in my room with Nika, drowsy as ever. I pretty much wrote yesterday off as a dream or some big hallucination, and headed towards the bathroom to take a nice hot shower. Nika was heading to her cubby near our side of the room to get a chao fruit for breakfast. After all of the time I had spent here, I had developed a routine for the morning. As I grabbed a towel for the shower, I heard a door slam shut. Lazily turning around, I saw the bathroom door shut and Talia standing next to it, smiling innocently, pointing at the door. I sighed, why does she always have to take the shower first?

"She did it again, didn't she?" Nika asked as she turned around, munching on her fruit.

"Yup" I said in dismay. "Oh well, I'll take a shower after breakfast."

"Hey Nika, toss me one of those if you please?" Talia asked. Nika turned to get another fruit, tossed it to Talia, and then followed me up to the main floor to get something to eat. Making my way through the halls with Nika in tow, I headed to the dining area near the back of the complex. There was a small group of tables for eating and a kitchen in the back. I made my way to the back and into the refrigerator, where I pulled out a yogurt cup and an apple and headed back to the group of tables, the only people I saw up were Shadow, Chris, Helen and Frances, Shadow being off at a table by himself, and the others all at the same table. I was making my way to Chris and the others…when I saw Shadow's gloved hand wave me over. Nika had already sat by my cousin and his friends, so I made my way over to him, my theories from this morning flying out the window as I went. I sat down across from him, and he looked up to me from his food.

"Today, 3:00 p.m.; got it?" he said in that demanding voice that irked me a little.

"got it." I said softly as I got up, continuing my way back to my friends. I sat on the nearest chair to Nika, who was sitting on the table.

"Hey Terry, how did you sleep?" Chris asked as he scooped up some of his oatmeal.

"Fine, how about you?"

"Gewd" Chris answered with his mouth full; I think he said "Good". I looked around the table, and realized I didn't know most of Chris' friends. I was cousin to Chris on his dad's side, my father being his brother, me and Chris kept in touch while I was young, but as his parents grew progressively busier, I didn't see him as much, much less my aunt and uncle. And most of them were older than me, which didn't help the situation. I think Chris saw that, and was about to speak…when a familiar blue blur ran through the eating area.

"Oh no…" everyone said except me and Nika.

"What?" Nika asked quickly.

"It's Sunday, Swift's favorite day of the week, meaning the little guy is in overdrive even more than usual." Frances explained.

"Why Sunday?" I wondered aloud.

"Because it's the day after Saturday!" Swift yelled excitedly as he ran circles around our table. Danny turned to me

"He hates Saturday because he says nothing happens on Saturdays." He informed me. I nodded at the explanation.

"Well, I'm going to go take a shower." I announced as I got up from my seat, trying not to step on the hyper blue chao in the process. I had brought my towel with me, so I headed to one of the bathrooms in the halls. I made my way to the closest one in the hall to the eating area. I knocked to be sure no one was in there…

"Occupied!" I heard Blazes voice call out. I sighed, and headed out to the next one…and the next one…and the next one.

"What does somebody have to do to take a shower around here!" I screamed in frustration. "I give up." I stated to nobody in particular. I resigned myself to heading to the front chao garden to hang out with my chao friends. When I arrived, I saw Nika in the chao-sized lake, swimming her heart out (if that makes sense). When she stopped, she saw me, and began to wave me over. I obliged, headed over, and rolled my pant legs up to enjoy the cold water on my legs. Nika swam over to me, demonstrating her flawless swimming stroke.

"Hi!" she said excitedly.

"hey." I said, not as excited.

"Couldn't get into any of the bathrooms?" she asked.

"Yea," I replied, my thoughts somewhere else. Nika climbed up on the shore next to me to dry herself off.

"There is something else bothering you." She stated as if it was a fact.

"how do you know me so well?" I joked as I began to tickle her tummy, we laughed for a while, and then Nika answered

"I'm your partner, I am supposed to know. So what up?" I wondered if I should tell her, if she would blab to anyone. On the other hand, the next time we used the morpher she would find out anyway, I voted for now. I picked her up and whispered to her everything I knew about Shadow and his situation.

"whaaa…."

(A/N: Cliffies rock! Anyway, this is a nice slow chapter, a normal day at HQ. Speaking of which, I should describe to you what HQ looks like, just so you get a better idea. it is inside a huge boulder as you know, and is set up kind of like a triangle on the inside, at each corner there is a chao garden, the sides of the triangle are the halls, and in the middle of the triangle are the stairs to the basement, which is set us as a triangle too, with the three rooms being the lab, infirmary and the empty room, and in the middle are the rooms for all of the people who are not chao. Hope it makes sense to you all:) also, for any readers who like Sonic and Hunger Games, i will be bringing the two together in a crossover soon! i hope u all read it!)