Sonic and Tails were relaxing on the beach of Emerald Coast about a week later. They found it normal that they hadn't heard anything from Shadow because he always distanced himself from the group, so they had no worries about him. The two of them lay under the sun without a care.

When he kept his distance from the water, Sonic could relax without anxiety, he enjoyed the soft sand below him and the warm sun above him. There was a feeling that nothing could possibly go wrong today, he was wrong.

"Sonic!"

Sonic looked to his side when he heard someone call his name. It was a feminine voice which sounded familiar, and the owner of the voice was someone he definitely knew. "Rouge?" Sonic said and sat up when he noticed the bat running towards him.

"Sonic, I've been looking for you all day," She said worriedly. "I haven't seen Shadow for a week. I think something might have happened to him."

"Isn't it normal for Shadow to go missing? He is a loner after all," Sonic dismissed the thought that Shadow was in trouble.

"No… it's not. He usually stays with me every night and he hasn't shown up for a week. Were you with him when he left me last week?"

"What? When Eggman showed up?" Sonic asked. Rouge nodded. "Yes, Shadow helped me defeat him and then he left without a word, I haven't seen him since." Rouge groaned in disappointment.

"I'm so worried about him, Sonic. Can you help me find him?" Rouge said hopefully. Sonic stood up and sighed.

"I don't see what the big deal is with Shadow. Why would you worry about him? He's the ultimate life form… or so he says. Whatever's happened to him, he'll turn out fine and come home again."

Rouge looked offended by Sonic's words. "Don't you even care about him?"

"Yeah, I care about him. He's a good ally and all that, but he isn't exactly a the kind of helpless person that I have to worry about."

Rouge stood sadly, slowly agreeing with what Sonic said. "You're right Sonic… he's probably fine. But that means he's very rude. He could have at least told me he was going to leave me… Hmph, it's just so typical of him. Thanks Sonic," Rouge said irritably and left.

Sonic began to grumble to himself and sit down again. "Sonic, what's wrong?" Tails asked.

"Everything was going so well, but now I'm going to have on my mind all day. It's not like I worry about Shadow or nothin' but it would be nice to know what the Chaos he gets up to when he's not around for this long."

"Shall we go home then?"

"Nah, I'd rather be confused on the beach in the sun than to be confused at home, bored out of my mind," the blue one joked. Then he looked uncomfortable, he put his hand on him stomach. "I'm hungry, could really go for some chilli dogs right now."

"Lunch break?" Tails suggested. Sonic nodded and sped off around the corner into the city.

It wasn't long before he returned with a chilli dog in each hand. "Here you go, Tails." Sonic passed one to him before taking a bite of his own. "Mmmm… this could do with a drink too," Sonic mumbled with his mouth full. "I'll be right back."

He was off again.

As he swept around the corners of the city streets of station square, there was still one thing on his mind, Shadow. Exactly what was he up to? Why did he go away for so long and leave Rouge all alone? To stay with her every night meant that he at least cared about her, so why leave her without a word?

He picked up two canned drinks from the nearest vending machine. He opened one of them straight away, it was very hot today and he was yearning for a cold drink. "I'd better get back to Tails… I'm sure he'll need this too," Sonic said, remembering that he wasn't only out here for himself. He gulped up the last of his soda and threw the can behind him, where it flawlessly landed in a metal bin.

Tails waited patiently at the beach, looking out for the blue blur to return. "Hey Tails!" his friend called when he arrived back. "Here ya go." Sonic used a soft underarm thrown to give the can to Tails.

"Where's yours?" Tails asked.

"Had it already… thinking about going to get another, it's so hot tod-"

SPLASH

Tails had opened the drink and it all squirted out at him like a pressure hose. Sonic burst into laughter.

"Sonic, what did you do to it?"

"I didn't do anything, 'cept run at several hundred miles per hour with it," Sonic said smugly. "Sorry Tails… I should have been more careful… or left it to settle or something."

"It's okay Sonic, you didn't mean it," Tails sighed.

"I'll go get a couple more, why don't you take a dip in the water while I'm gone, and get the sticky soda off of you."

Sonic ran off again and brought a couple more from the same vending machine then decided to take it slower on the way back by walking. He took a large gulp from his new drink thirstily. "Looks like this is the most action I'm going to get all day…" he sighed.

"BREAKING NEWS!"

Sonic turned to the big screen up on the largest building across the road.

"Eggman has been found dead in Station Square cemetery. It's been reported that he fell down an open grave and snapped his neck. His body could have been there for over a week-"

Sonic couldn't hear the rest, his mind was filled with shock and confusion. The nearby humans listened to the screen and turned to Sonic, who wasn't moving nor blinking, stood with his mouth gaped open. After half a minute he snapped out of it to notice the stares. The fact that many people were looking at him suspiciously made him feel uneasy, so he ran back to Emerald Coast.

Tails was just getting back from the ocean when Sonic arrived looking shell shocked. "Sonic… what's wrong?"

Sonic opened his mouth but no words came out, he struggled to talk. After a few tries, he managed to say what he needed to say. "Eggman… he's been found dead."

It took a while for Sonic to fully explain it and for the two heroes to come to terms with their greatest adversary's death.

"We're… free…" Sonic said in disbelief. "We don't have to worry about him any more…"

"But Sonic, what was he doing in a graveyard?" Tails asked worriedly.

"Probably something to do with an evil plan… but he can't carry it out so it doesn't matter," Sonic shrugged it off. "Tails." Sonic looked at his friend seriously then passed him his soda. "I know this isn't fancy but… let's dedicate this drink to Eggman's death, and the freedom we can experience because of it."

Tails opened his can cautiously, there was a loud whooshing sound as air escaped but he wasn't blasted with fizzy drink. They clinked their cans together, and took a drink. Sonic crushed his can and chucked it to the floor.

"Now, I'm off to find a bathroom," Sonic said, sounding tense. Tails sighed and watched Sonic as he left for the third time in half an hour.