The beginning of this story is gonna give me fits I swear....ugh. This chapter had my head spinning. But don't worry, the rest of this story is all planned out and will be a lot more interesting.

Anyways,

Enjoy chapter 2!

Chapter Two

A yellow cab pulled up next to the curb and the driver in the front seat tipped his baseball cap so he could see where he was dropping off his customer.

"Is this the place?" he asked.

The ebony hedgehog that the cabbie was talking to looked out the window and scanned around the residence until he finally saw that familiar blue hedgehog leaning against a large rusty van. A two-tailed fox joined him and they were talking.

Shadow the hedgehog nodded, "Yes, it is."

The cabbie squinted at the blue hedgehog, "Is that the famous Sonic?"

Shadow averted his eyes away from the window, "Unfortunately," he grumbled. He reached across the seats for his suitcases.

"Ahem," the cabbie held out his open palm.

Shadow glared at him. He believed that the fee should be reduced at least 25% for the cabbie's terrible BO, maybe even 5% extra for trying to cover up with pinecone air fresheners.

He grabbed a wad of money from his back pocket and peeled off a couple twenties.

"Here," he pressed them into the cabbie's hand, "I hope it goes towards something legal."

The cabbie chuckled, flipping through the bills, "With time these difficult, I can't make you any promises."
These druggies, Shadow thought, rolling his eyes. They're all the same. When times are hard, they'd rather sit on their asses and get high rather than actually being efficient.

In his few months since starting at GUN, Shadow had already dealt with plenty of thugs and potheads. Mobius was crawling with them; you just needed to know the right place to look.

After Shadow's fall-that was thought to be fatal by many- he made a successful and mysterious recovery. He was never the same after that. He had no memory of anything that happened on ARK or before in his life with Maria. He ended up in Mobius and was just wandering down the street when government officials recognized him on the spot. They brought him back to headquarters and after a few words and agreements; they hired Shadow, particularly for his special powers and abilities.

One day, he ran into Amy Rose. She squealed and nearly fainted when she saw him and Shadow was freaked out because he couldn't remember her at all. She talked to him about ARK and tried to help him remember everyone from the gang. Sonic AKA the "faker" who he had become friends with; Tails, the brainy assistant; Knuckles, the loner echidna with a strong backbone; Rouge, the flirty bat who "supposedly" helped he and Dr. Eggman. As Amy talked on, it all eventually came back, piece by piece.

Several weeks after running into her, he got a call from Sonic. He refused to answer for the first 6 or 7 times but finally answered the 8th. He had never been camping but the government granted him a couple days off and his boss encouraged him to go.

"Go get some fresh air," the boss had said, "It'll do you good, Agent."

This was the same thing his therapist told him. Yes, Shadow the Hedgehog now was a weekly patient of a therapist. But this was not on his own accord. The government stepped in to help him get over his traumatic accident. He took regular doses of antidepressants everyday and even medicine they give to people with symptoms of Alzheimer's.

Sonic looked over at the taxi and his eyes widened as they landed on Shadow.

"Looks like you've been spotted," the cabbie chuckled. "I guess there's no turning back now."

Shadow didn't say anything and stepped out of the car with his bags.

"Good luck," the cabbie called out to him then sped away from the curb.

All three stood there a moment, letting silence fill the air between them. Just as Sonic went to take a step forward, a shrill scream came from behind them.

"Shadow!!!" Amy squealed, "You're here!"

She ran past Sonic and Tails and threw herself into his arms. Shadow was taken aback and half-heartily returned the hug.

"I'm so glad you came!" she said.

That makes one of us, Shadow thought.

"Wassup Shad?" Sonic said casually, "It's been………..awhile."

"How did you-" Tails began but Sonic knew at once what the fox was going to ask and cut him off. He figured it was just better to not ask about the fact that Shadow was supposed to be dead.

"So, Amy told us you worked for GUN now." He said.

"How long have you been alive? Oof." Tails received an elbow to his side, "I mean, working for GUN?" he corrected, glaring at Sonic.

"Um…." Shadow began, "I don't…"

"Don't worry," Amy interrupted, "You don't have to answer that. Just go ahead and toss your bags in the back of the van."

"Okay," Shadow eyed them cautiously, feeling somewhat relieved.

As he disappeared behind the back of the van, Sonic turned to Tails, "What is wrong with you? Do you wanna lose another guest?"

Tails looked down at his shoes, "No, I just thought that he might want to talk about it. After all, we all thought he was dead until Amy told us he was alive."

"Let's just drop it for now." Sonic said.

Amy and Tails nodded in agreement.

"Look!" Amy suddenly said, "I think I see Tikal and Rouge coming."

The bus stop that had dropped the two girls off was a little ways up the street so it required a little bit of walking getting to Sonic's house.

But Amy was right. Two figures were coming down the sidewalk. One was carrying a brown suitcase on her shoulder. She was an echidna with rosy dreadlocks with a little peach tint in them that reached down to the middle of her back. She was wearing a tanktop and jean skirt with lots of beads around her wrists and neck. That was Tikal.

Next to her was a more voluptuous figure pulling a large suitcase behind her with a second bag hanging off her shoulder. It was Rouge the Bat, but she was no longer wearing her tight leather stealth suit. Instead she was dressed in a romper and jeweled sandals that laced up her calves.

The two were chatting quietly to each other like old friends. They had bonded well during the time on the bus.

When they finally approached Sonic, Tails, and Amy they all exchanged polite greetings. Tikal seemed to know the three well because they all instantly started a casual conversation. Rouge kept quiet because she really didn't know too much about Sonic, Tails, or Amy. They hadn't spent much time together on ARK, but the one person she interacted with the most from "their" side was Knuckles.

She was actually looking forward to seeing the guardian especially after their episode over the lava pit. Instantly her stomach fluttered thinking about that. She felt angry at herself at once for feeling that way and forced herself to shake off the feeling.

Sonic turned to Rouge, "There's someone here that I think you'll be very excited to see," he told her.

He was looking slightly past her at the figure that was coming up behind her.

Expecting to see the echidna, Rouge spun around slowly, preparing to say something sarcastic but was immediately shocked to see Shadow standing there instead.

The bag on her shoulder fell to the ground, "Oh my god. It's you!"

She began to smile and she grabbed his shoulders, "It's actually you! You're alive!" she pulled him into her embrace.

Good lord, what is it with all the hugging today? Shadow thought. He gave her two stiff pats on the back before they broke apart.

"How did you ever survive?" Rouge asked before Sonic could stop her.

Shadow opened his mouth to answer but just then looked over Rouge's shoulder and spotted Tikal. His heart pounded and his mouth snapped shut. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Tikal seemed to have the same reaction. She side-stepped past Rouge, staring at him.

A lump rose in Shadow's throat, "Tikal?"

"Shadow?"

Rouge's hand shot up between them and waved in front of their faces.

"Um, hello?" she said, "Do you two know each other?"

The two didn't answer. They just stood there, silent and still.

Rouge shot quizzical looks at Sonic and Tails but they just shrugged back. Apparently they were unaware of this relationship also.

Rouge knew better than to ask more about it and picked up her bag from the ground and walked around the back of the van to pack up her stuff.

She had just stacked her luggage into the trunk when she heard footsteps on the pavement from behind her.

"What the HELL are you doing here?"

Rouge spun around to face the owner the voice. There stood Knuckles the Echidna, looking rather winded like he had been running around in a frenzy. In one hand, he carried a medium sized bag that looked over-packed. The rim of a pair of Hanes boxers were poking out and Rouge pretended she didn't see but she had to stifle a giggle.

"What?" Knuckles demanded.

"You haven't changed a bit, Knucklehead." She said smugly.

"Yeah, I could say the same for you,"

This was turning out to be more awkward then Rouge anticipated.

"So, how's the rock been?" she asked.

Knuckles shuffled by her to toss his bag into the back, "If by rock you mean the Master Emerald then it's just fine. Still intact and all. And," he added, "I'd prefer to keep it that way."

Rouge rolled her eyes and waved her hand, "Don't worry about it, handsome. I'm outta the business, remember?"

"One can never be so sure." Knuckles muttered.

"You can with me. I'm out for something more valuable then your dumb emerald."

Knuckles crossed his arms across his chest, "Oh really? Is it something that actually belongs to you and not someone else?"

Rouge kept her cool, "I can't help taking other people's stuff especially if the caretaker of the item is lazy and can't keep their emerald from shattering every two seconds."

His fingers curled up into a tight fist. They had fought before and he wasn't afraid to hit her, because he knew she would hit back just as hard. But then he stopped as he noticed her smug expression. This is what she wanted, to get a rise out of him. So he let his fingers loosen and didn't give her any satisfaction.

"I highly resent that comment, batgirl." He said coolly gaining some control with his temper.

"Well, here's a newsflash, Knuckles. I resent you."

"Good," he scoffed, "The feeling is mutual then."

Rouge couldn't help but feel a slight tug at her insides when she heard those words and was at a loss of words. She was actually glad when Sonic came around the back.

"Hey!" he said, "I thought I heard voices back here!"

He looked at Knuckles, shocked, as indicated by his raised eyebrows, "You came. What changed your mind?"

Knuckles turned his attention away from Rouge, "The Chaotix insisted," he lied. He never would admit to Sonic he made this decision on his own, "They told me they had the Master Emerald in their hands and they would watch over it. They nearly had to push me here."

"Well, whatever. The good thing is you're actually here and not there on that island all alone, right?"

"Sure," Knuckles replied averting his eyes, "Whatever you say."

Sonic led Knuckles around the front of the van to greet Shadow and stutter like an idiot to realize that the hedgehog was actually alive, not dead. Soon, everyone got talking and chatting casually while they waited for Vanilla, Cream's mother, to arrive to drop off Cream and her baggage.

When the rabbits finally pulled up, Sonic and Tails helped Vanilla get the bags out of the trunk of their car and put it in the back of the van.

Shadow and Tikal hadn't exchanged any more words but snuck looks at one another every so often.

Once the Chevy Astro was loaded up, everyone boarded into the van. Sonic hopped in behind the steering wheel with Tails next to him in the passengers seat. Amy, Cream, and Tikal filled the first row of seats. Shadow, Knuckles and Rouge filled the second.

Everyone groaned and wiggled around at first trying to make some room but then it soon became apparent that it was a snug fit.

This was especially uncomfortable in the back between Knuckles and Rouge who were shoulder to shoulders and still not speaking to each other.

The van gave a lurch and they rolled out of the driveway and started down the road towards their destination, Lake Tomahawk, which was nearly 3 hours away.

Amy pulled out her pink iPod and she shared a headphone with Cream. They were bopping their heads along to the beat and were giggling. Tikal turned around once in awhile to chat to Rouge but kept mainly quiet, staring out the window. Shadow alternated between watching the back of Tikal's head or the window. Sonic and Tails chattered in the front about directions and preference in music over the radio.

Rouge knew that she should at least attempt to speak with Knuckles, if she ever wanted to get along with him.

"So," she said casually, "Did they force you to come too?"

Knuckles snorted, "Yeah. You?"

"Yup," she replied, "Sonic said it would be good for me."

"Huh. That's the same thing he told me."

"Well, I guess that's everyone's excuse then." she gave a light chuckle.

Knuckles only gave a small grunt before turning away again.

Rouge sighed and leaned her head against the window.

This was going to take some time.

--

This was weak.....I know but atleast now it's done and out of the way.

Oh and I know this has nothing to do with the story, but I just wanted to take a moment to extend a congratulatory note to our new president, Barack Obama. It is certainly a historic moment in the United States and I am hoping the best for President Obama.

R&R as always and I'll be updating soon!