Daybreak visited itself unto the Kingdom again, as did a bright, sunshine-filled day. After breakfast and freshening up, Sonic went outside, but instead of going on one of his daily runs, he went to the garage.

(Did we put everything away last night?) thought Sonic.

While looking through the garage, he found that long-lost inspiration he'd been looking for, causing him to snap his fingers.

(I got it!)

At the shop, Schmidt gave a brief presentation about yesterday's profits, while Sonic gave an inspirational speech to everybody before everyone started work. Then, the Blue Blur had a word with Tails…

"Yo, Tails…"

"Yes, Sonic?"

"I finally got some inspiration, so let's try payin' a visit to Rocky today."

"All right, sounds good."

With that, Sonic and Tails went over to Rocky's special garage bay. When they opened it up, they got a surprise: Rocky wasn't a who, but a what – a Mack M123 tank transporter, to be precise.

"What are we gonna do with this truck?" asked Tails.

Sonic shrugged. "Now that ya mention it, I figured we could go down to the local wreckin' yard, see what we can put together for Shadow and Rouge."

"Are you sure we'll be able to get it all together in time?"

Sonic put his fists on his hips. "Hey, you're the one who gave me that lecture on opening my heart, so what do YOU think?"

Tails stroked his chin. "You're right. Let's go!"

A couple of hours later, at Green Grove Zone, Sonic's friends were all gathered around a large picnic table, where a veritable smorgasbord of food had been placed. They eagerly awaited the arrival of Sonic and Tails. The hedgehog of the hour had the fever especially bad, but the same couldn't be said for his partier-in-arms.

"Shaddy, why so nervous?" asked Rouge.

Shadow stopped twiddling his thumbs. "I'm not nervous; I'm just hoping that I won't have to kill those two punks."

Rouge put a hand on Shadow's back. "Come on, don't be so negative! If we know anything about Big Blue and Fox Boy, it's that they always follow through on their promises!"

"YOUR STATEMENT SEEMS TO BE CORRECT," said Omega. "HOWEVER, I CONCLUDED EARLIER THAT THE BLUE MEATBAG WAS LYING TO ME."

"Then maybe you need to get your conclusion chip checked!" said Rouge.

"I USE MULTIPLE CIRCUITS TO FORMULATE CONCLUSIONS. THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN PART OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE BANKS BY NOW."

"Hey, look over there!" Amy pointed off in the distance.

Everybody stopped what they were doing and turned to see what Amy was looking at. A big green shape could be seen heading towards the party area, making a distinct growling noise. Minutes later, Sonic and Tails pulled up with Rocky, which was pulling a lowboy trailer with some presents and two unidentified objects under tarps. As Rocky pulled to a stop, Sonic and Tails killed the engine and hopped out.

"YAY!" Amy glomped Sonic again.

Shadow crossed his arms. "About time you got here. Have you no concept of time?"

Sonic pushed Amy away. "Hey, cool it, brotha! We were just puttin' the finishing touches on your gifts!"

"First of all, I'm not your brother, and second of all, since you two were more interested in the gifts themselves than my feelings, I think it's only fair that you two go first."

"Us? Go first? I get what you're gettin' at here, but don't ya think that maybe ya wanna save the best for last?"

Shadow snarled at Sonic. "Fine." He turned around. "Amy, you go first."

"What, have you forgotten me?"

Shadow turned to his left to see where the familiar voice was coming from.

"Mephiles!"

"Yes, the Dark Prince of Soleanna is risen from his ceaseless sepulcher!" said Mephiles the Dark.

Shadow stepped back a little. "Impossible! Sonic told me that he'd blown out your flame!"

"Oh, but it IS possible! At the instant that Sonic had extinguished the flame of Solaris, my consciousness had been relegated to a place of eternal damnation. However, there were certain factors that precluded my perpetual sojourn. Firstly, there was the question of whom I had been engendered through. Being that I was conceived in your shade, I absorbed an immense quantity of Chaos energy. More importantly, unbeknownst to you, there exists an infinite number of parallel universes. Taking advantage of such a factor, I was able to re-emerge in a new vessel in one of said universes, and by fashioning a portal, I arrived here."

"So you did. Now, why are you here?"

"Why else would I be in attendance? I've come to convey your present to you."

"And what is my present?"

Mephiles put his hands on Shadow's cheeks. "I'm your present."

In a split second, Mephiles began kissing Shadow, whose immediate reaction was to flail around. After a few seconds of flailing, Shadow attempted to push Mephiles away, but the Dark One held firm.

Everyone else's reactions varied: for example, Vanilla covered Cream's eyes. Sonic and Tails tilted their heads at funny angles, trying to make sense of the situation. Big just stared at the two, as did a few others.

"HEY! Get away from MY Shaddy!"

Perhaps no reaction was stronger than that of Rouge's, which was to try to pry Mephiles away from Shadow. However, Mephiles kicked her in the stomach and kept kissing Shadow.

"YOU IDIOT!" screamed Rouge. "Didn't your parents tell you NEVER to hit a woman!?"

Mephiles paused. "I never had any parents."

Mephiles continued to kiss Shadow when he felt a sharp blow to the back of his head, inadvertently knocking the two of them to the ground. At this point, the Dark One chose to ignore the Ultimate Life Form completely and turn on Rouge instead.

"Please, do continue your assault," said Mephiles. "It shall only make your suffering even more pleasurable."

Just then, Omega brought dual Gatling cannons to bear. "SUFFER THIS, IMPOSTOR."

Shadow pulled out an MP5A5, which prompted everyone else to get into attack positions. Seeing this, Mephiles raised a hand, formed an energy ball and grabbed Rouge by the collar.

"Now, would anyone care to deny continuation to this stupid rodent?" asked Mephiles.

Slowly, everybody let their guards down except for Shadow and Omega, who were faced with a dilemma: on one hand, Rouge had been almost like a mother to them and had kept the two sane throughout their darkest hours. On the other hand, they were dealing with a foe that logically shouldn't have been alive, and Shadow figured that the Chaos Emeralds could very well help Rouge out if anything went wrong. Still, the fact that the Ultimate Life Form's heart was racing – a very rare occurrence with him – told him that opening fire on Mephiles maybe wasn't the best idea.

"Omega, stand down." Shadow lowered his MP5.

"UNDERSTOOD." Omega retracted his Gatling cannons.

With that, Mephiles slowly let go of Rouge and lowered his hand, letting the energy ball die out. He walked over to Shadow.

"Now…where was I? Ah, yes…"

Mephiles put his hands on Shadow's cheeks and continued kissing him. Shadow could feel the redness going to his face, and once more, he tried to resist, but Mephiles pressed into him rather hard. This was enough to make him topple backwards. Now on the ground, the Ultimate Life Form pushed again and rolled over, trying to escape, but Mephiles pushed even harder and rolled him back over. This time, he spread Shadow's arms out to the sides and pinned them there.

Now powerless, Shadow was forced to accept his situation, and no part of him found this in any way enjoyable. The only solace he found in this situation was that it would be all over soon. Mephiles on the other hand found it quite pleasurable. Knowing that the one person who bore him in his current state was powerless to escape him got his blood – or whatever passed for blood – going. As a result, the Dark One pressed into his doppelganger even harder. He wanted it to last forever, but for some reason, part of him was telling him that it should stop eventually. Therefore, Mephiles let the fun continue for just another minute before stopping, leaving a dazed, panting Shadow underneath him.

"Did you like that?" asked Mephiles. "I enjoyed it very, very much."

Shadow could only let out a moan.

"Oh, so you DO like it. That's splendid, because there will be more awaiting you."

Mephiles grabbed Shadow's crotch, causing him to moan again. He shook his head softly.

"Resist all you want, but I shall have my way with you, my beautiful Shadow." Smiling, Mephiles got up and took a spot at the picnic table.

(Shadow's lips are so tickly.)

Meanwhile, everyone else ignored Mephiles and focused on Shadow, who was still on the ground, red in the face and panting.

"Are you all right, Shaddy?" asked Rouge.

Shadow found the strength to nod, and as the shock was wearing off, he slowly clambered to his feet. When he got up, he shook his head for a bit.

"Now, if anyone else could…"

"Sorry we're late; this bozo took a wrong turn and ended up in Varsovia!"

Shadow turned to look who was crashing his party now: Scratch and Grounder.

"What the hell?" said Shadow.

"It's not my fault," said Grounder. "Scratch here forgot to use the GPS!"

"Hey, YOU'RE the one with the GPS, so YOU should have turned it on!" said Scratch.

"Well you're the one who accidentally got oil spilled on it!"

"That's because ya forgot to pick up one of your toys!"

"MY toys!? I saw ya accidentally knock it down!"

"Then why didn't ya…"

Fed up with their arguing, Shadow took Scratch and Grounder by the collar and started smashing them together. When the smoke cleared, the two robots now had random parts stuck to each other.

"Let's get outta here!"

Scratch and Grounder hopped away using whatever misplaced appendages they had.

Shadow clenched his fists. "Now, would ANYBODY ELSE care to show up late to my party?"

Everyone was silent.

"Shadow, if I may…"

"And what are YOU doing here, Snively?" asked Shadow.

"My uncle was inadvertently detained, so I assumed that I didn't need his permission to attend the party," said Snively.

"Considering all the misery you've caused everybody…" Shadow pulled out his MP5 again, "…I'd say you're wrong."

Snively put his hands up. "Please, don't shoot me! I come here in peace!"

"You liar!"

"No, I'm not lying! Please, allow me to give you your gift!"

"I'll allow it."

Snively reached for a present that had brown wrapping paper.

"SLOWLY," said Shadow.

Snively did as he was told, sweat dripping down his brows. He walked to Shadow and handed him the gift. Still keeping his eyes on Snively, Shadow opened it up. It was a box of Swiss rolls.

"OK, I'll let you go," said Shadow.

Snively wiped his forehead.

"Now get out of here!" Shadow brought up his MP5 again.

Snively nodded and ran for his Hover Unit. As the car flew away, Shadow put away his gun.

"Now, where were we…?" asked Shadow, who proceeded to receive his gift from Amy.

A number of gifts later, all that remained were the ones from Sonic and Tails.

"Knuckles, could ya help us get these off the trailer?" asked Sonic.

"Sure thing!"

Knuckles picked up both boxes and set them down on the ground. Shadow and Rouge remained motionless.

"Well aren't ya gonna open' em?" asked Sonic.

"Not until you give us your cards," replied Shadow. "You did remember our birthday cards…right?"

Sonic laughed. "Of course we did! Don't yank our chains, man!"

"Just hand us the stupid cards."

Sonic and Tails handed their cards to Shadow and Rouge, respectively. Shadow's card said, "TO THE ONLY PERSON WHO'S GOOD ENOUGH TO BE MY FAKE: THANKS FOR KEEPIN' ME ON MY TOES, MAN! YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL!"

Meanwhile, Rouge's card said, "TO THE LADY WHO'S BEEN LIKE A BIG SISTER TO ME: THANKS FOR MAKING SURE THAT SHADOW DIDN'T HURT ME! YOU'RE ALMOST AS GOOD AS SONIC!"

Each card also contained 500 Mobiums, because Sonic and Tails were that generous. Shadow merely gave a "hmph" upon reading his card, while Rouge gave an "awww, how sweet of you!" upon reading hers.

"All right, let's check out what our two little cuties got for us!" said Rouge.

Without further ado, Shadow and Rouge tore off the wrapping paper. Sonic had an anticipating grin on his face, while Tails merely looked at him, wondering why he was like this. There were two wooden crates under the wrapping paper, which contained Shadow and Rouge's gifts: His was a 1980 Kawasaki KX420, while hers was a 1985 KTM 250MX. Sonic could barely contain himself as he watched Shadow and Rouge turn around.

"Well?" said Sonic.

Shadow glared at Sonic, while Rouge kept that perpetual smirk on her face.

"Congratulations," said Shadow. "You get to live."

"SHI-SHA!" Sonic dropped to his knees and pumped his fists.

Rouge's smile widened. "Thank you so very much, my little darlings! I knew you'd pull through!"

Tails rubbed the back of his head. "You're welcome! We worked really hard on these things!"

Sonic got back to his feet. "Actually, it was Tails who did most of the work; I just put the finishing touches on!"

"Nice!" said Rouge. "Tell us more!"

"OK," said Tails. "I replaced the cylinder heads, pistons, crankcases, forks, shocks and swingarms with lightweight equivalents made of a special titanium-magnacarbide alloy. Next, I bored out the cylinders themselves and added Boyesen power reeds for extra power. For improved handling, I filled the front shocks with special…"

"SHUT UP, TAILS!" yelled Knuckles.

"Knuckie, it's not nice to interrupt!" said Rouge.

"And it's not nice to bore people to death!"

Rouge walked over to Knuckles and put her hands on his cheeks.

"Don't you wanna hear about how wonderful our bikes are?"

"No!" said Knuckles.

"If you sit through this, I promise I won't steal the Master Emerald again!"

"Yeah right!"

"Of course I'm right! Now, do you accept my promise, or am I going to have to take drastic measures?"

Rouge put her face closer to Knuckles', causing him to blush.

"Fine…I'll let Tails continue," said Knuckles.

Rouge gently squeezed Knuckles' cheeks. "Good boy!"

"As I was saying," said Tails, "I filled the front shocks with special Igon gas for improved handling. I also put on aftermarket exhausts for even better performance. As for the drive chains, I put on D.I.D. chains for lighter weight and added durability. Finally, if you guys run out of fuel, I modified the gas tanks so that the bikes can use Chaos Emeralds for fuel."

"And I even did the paintjobs!" said Sonic.

Shadow merely gave a "hmph" and a curt nod, while Rouge gave an "ah!"

"Well, now that we're not dead meat, I had an idea…"

Sonic walked over to the trailer and pulled the tarps off the two mystery objects. They turned out to be Sonic and Tails' own motocross bikes, a 1978 Yamaha YZ400 and a 1982 Suzuki RM250, respectively.

"Why did you bring these over?" asked Shadow.

"Since we got ya some bikes, I figured it would be way past cool if we could open these babies up!" replied Sonic. "You want in?"

Shadow clenched his fists. "I won't live a lie. Let's race."

"Twitchin'! Tails, Rouge, you cats diggin' it!"

"Yeah!" said Tails.

"Yes I am, hon!" said Rouge.

"Good, cause I'm so dyin' for some horsepower!"

So, Sonic, Tails, Shadow and Rouge lined their bikes up on a nearby trail. Because the bikes were slightly taller than them, they had a number of modifications so that people of their height could ride, including relocated foot pegs, modified handlebars and automatically-retracting kickstands.

"Wait, hold up!" said Sonic.

Tails, Shadow and Rouge looked at him and said "what?" simultaneously.

"I just remembered: we can't race without these!"

Sonic pulled out four open-face style motorcycle helmets with matching Scott goggles. Sonic's had an American flag design, Tails' was white with an orange stripe, Shadow's was black with a red stripe, and Rouge's was white with a magenta stripe. Everyone put their helmets on except Shadow, who chucked his over the horizon.

"Shadow, what was that all about!?" said Sonic.

"You seem to have forgotten that I'm the Ultimate Life Form," said Shadow. "Therefore, I don't need a helmet."

"Don't need a helmet!?" Sonic pointed his hand at Cream and Charmy. "Dude, you're settin' a bad example for the kids!"

"The only example I wish to set is that of my superior power."

"Are ya sure ya wanna smash your skull against a tree?"

"Sonic's right…" said Tails.

"I don't care who's right!" said Shadow. "I'm the Ultimate Life Form! My choice supersedes yours!"

Rouge wrapped her arms around Shadow. "Don't you wanna be around to enjoy all your gifts?"

Shadow gently pushed Rouge away. "Don't you want to respect my decision?"

Rouge lost her smile. "OK, Mr. Sourpuss! Be that way! Just don't come crying to me when I turn out to be right!"

"Hmph."

Without further question, everybody hopped on their bikes and gave a hard kick to the starters. The bikes zinged to life, eventually filling the air with the acrid smell of two-stroke oil. Amy got up from her seat and served as the flag girl.

3…

2…

1…

The flag dropped, the nonsense stopped, and the racers gave it their all. The big-bore bikes easily out-pulled the 250s. Sonic got the holeshot, but the race was far from over. Silver was hovering above ground recording Sonic and Shadow with his nano camera, while Charmy filmed Tails and Rouge with his watch phone.

Not long into the race, Shadow decided that it would be a good idea to attack Sonic. Though he delivered a solid kick to the Blue Blur's Yamaha, the latter held on tight and got back on course. Sonic's bike had slightly higher performance, but Shadow seemed to outdo him in turns because of his Kawasaki's more modern Uni-Trak suspension. The rear end of Sonic's bike would also kick around occasionally despite Tails adding a DG-style swingarm plus custom shocks with precise tuning. Nevertheless, Sonic kept a solid grip and steely determination, which helped him keep up with Shadow.

"CHAOS…"

Before Shadow could deliver a single Chaos ability, Sonic snatched the green Chaos Emerald from his hand and threw it away. With his rage amplified, Shadow reached for Sonic's throat and tried to choke him. However, Ol' Blue swatted his hand away, which was a good thing because they were headed straight for a tree. The two bikers dodged it just in time, thereby saving Sonic from a broken arm. Not long after, they got back on the path. Then, Sonic raised his left hand.

"YO SHAD, PICK TWO!"

Taking notice of this, Shadow pointed to Sonic's pinky and index fingers. In one swift motion, Sonic pulled Shadow's goggles up, retracted his other fingers and poked Shadow in the eyes. Unfortunately for the Blue Blur, this barely even slowed his rival down. Then, Shadow punched Sonic in the ribs. Sonic was tempted to put his hand over the spot in an attempt to soothe the pain, but he knew that he would end up letting go of the throttle if he did that, so he gritted his teeth and bore it.

Coming up on a hill, Sonic gunned the motor as much as possible. When the two hedgehogs flew over the jump, Sonic saw a special opportunity: he jumped off his bike and tackled Shadow off of his. They both hit the ground with a sickening thud, while the bikes landed on their sides and sputtered out, their fuel suddenly being cut off.

With that, Shadow removed Sonic's helmet and goggles and punched him in the nose. Growling, Sonic started choking Shadow and shaking him violently. The Ultimate Life Form hopped to his feet and kicked his rival in the chest, knocking the proverbial wind out of him and propelling him backwards. While Sonic was still down, Shadow ran over to him, straddled him and started beating his face in with wild abandon. Helpless to resist him, Big Blue closed his eyes and hoped that the pain would all be over soon.

Then, something happened: Shadow's arm froze up before he could deliver another blow. Sonic looked into his eyes with a mix of confusion and vulnerability.

"Sh…Shadow…do it…"

Shadow didn't do anything.

"C-c-come on, man…just do it…"

Shadow remained frozen.

"The hell…are ya…w-waitin' for? Finish me!"

Slowly, Shadow lowered his arm and unclenched his fist.

"I can't," said Shadow.

"Eh?" Sonic raised one eyebrow and dropped his jaw slightly. "Why not?"

"Sonic…I…when I look into your eyes, I see the very personification of innocence and purity."

Sonic gave a weak chuckle. "Come on, man! I've been around before!"

"Please, let me continue."

"Sure thing."

"I couldn't destroy someone with a heart like yours, especially not after you steered me in the right direction when Black Doom threatened to corrupt me. And then there was Mephiles…stupid, pathetic Mephiles. The moment I saw that energy beam puncture you, I felt like my own heart had been punctured. Elise didn't help matters, either. What if that had been me, in Rouge's arms…or worse…Maria's arms?" Shadow turned aside and pounded on the ground. "Damn it, why did Maria have to die!?"

After a brief pause, Shadow cleared his throat.

"Anyways, the point I'm trying to make is this: I've changed since we first met. I'm not the kind of person you think I am. I'm not the Anti-Christ or the Iron Man. No…I may be the Ultimate Life Form, but that doesn't mean I don't have feelings. Whenever we fight, have arguments or otherwise act mean towards each other, I don't really mean to hurt you. In fact, I look forward to fighting you." Shadow put his hands on Sonic's cheeks. "Sonic the Hedgehog, you're the only person who's made me feel alive ever since Maria's death. Rouge may be like a mother to me, but you're more of a friend to me than she ever was. Truth be told, you're my best friend."

Sonic stared at Shadow. "D-do ya really mean that?"

"Yes, damn it, I mean that."

Sonic frowned. "I dunno, that's a really nice thing to say, but…I mean…I already got Tails…"

"As far as I'm concerned, it's possible to have more than one best friend. As long as two people truly care about each other, then there's nothing that they can't do."

Sonic slowly sat up and put his hands on Shadow's shoulders. "Shadow…I…I…I love you." He winced somewhat. "No, I don't mean it like that, but…"

"Don't worry…" Shadow put his hands around Sonic's rib cage and smiled. "I understand."

Sonic and Shadow hugged each other, and both hedgehogs raised their eyebrows. Shadow felt the emotion welling up within his chest. However, no matter how hard he tried to suppress them, a trickle of tears managed to escape. He squeezed just a little bit more. The situation brought about different memories for them. Sonic felt like he was holding Muttski, his favorite dog from when he was little. As for Shadow, he felt like he was hugging a kitten, or whatever he thought a kitten felt like since he'd never actually felt one. The embrace could have continued for forever, and it did even when Tails and Rouge finally caught up. The two sidekicks cut the power to their bikes and took some time to behold the situation. Tails tilted his head, while Rouge smiled and put her hands over her heart.

"Awwww…isn't that precious?" said Rouge. "Doesn't that make you want to get along?

Rouge grabbed Tails and hugged him, squeezing him against her chest. The Two Tailed Wonder flailed around as he tried to escape the marshmallow hell.

As for Sonic and Shadow, they finally ceased their hug and got to their feet. Seeing that Shadow was crying, Sonic pulled out some tissues.

"Here, ya might need these, man."

Shadow blew his nose. "Thanks…friend."

"You're welcome!" Sonic turned to Rouge. "So…about that debt…"

"Ah, yes…" Rouge pulled a pen and a checkbook from her cleavage. "How much do you need?"

"Oh, 10 million colors should do it."

"Gladly!" Rouge wrote out a check for 10 million Mobiums and handed it to Sonic.

"Thanks a bunch, Mama!" Sonic hugged Rouge, who gladly returned the gesture. Big Blue took more than a few seconds to inhale Rouge's scent. It reminded him of a field of pastel flowers. Rouge gently rubbed Sonic's back before letting go of him.

"Satisfied?" asked Rouge.

"Oh yeah!" said Sonic. "Now, let's get back to the party!"

"But what about the race?"

"Forget the race, man! The way I see it, we all win! Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta get back and get down!"

"Groovy!" Shadow winked.

So, Team Sonic and Team Dark returned to their bikes and cruised back to the party. There, they ate, drank, were merry and created moments that they would cherish forever.

A/N: And thus concludes a special day for two special Sonic characters. BUT WAIT! I'm not done yet! I've got a couple of surprises for ya...