Chapter 3: Adoption

They reached the surface of the water and looked around. Shadow smiled. "It's not so bad up here. Tell me what everything is."

Sonic pointed to the city. "That's Station Square," he said. "It's the city where I used to live."

He continued to tell Shadow what everything was. the merhog prince nodded, interested by all this new information. Then he thought of something; did Sonic have any parents?

"What's your family like?"

The blue merhog's eyes widened. He hesitated and turned away. "I...never knew my...parents," he said.

Shadow was shocked. How was that possible? "How...why not?"

Sonic felt tears coming down his face. "They were killed...when I was born. I was born on Christmas Island; it's not far from here, and has some amazing history. Anyway, a man by the name of Ivo Robotnik, also known as Doctor Eggman, tried to take over the island and killed by parents. I was sent to an orphanage."

"I'm sorry. I must've brought up memories you didn't want to think about."

The merhog shrugged. "It's...fine. I haven't been to Christmas Island in a long time. Most of my family are from a line of shapeshifters there."

Shadow blinked in surprise. Sonic could shapeshift? "You can shapeshift? Or did this change that?"

"I can still shapeshift."

"I'd like to see that sometime. Would you mind showing me?"

"Sure. I barely use that ability, though. What do you want me to turn into?" Sonic asked.

Shadow shrugged. "Whatever you want. You don't have to do it now." The blue merhog nodded, and they dove back into the water, heading back to the underwater city. Once they got there, Shadow saw his parents. "I need to introduce you to someone!" Shadow shouted at them. Grabbing Sonic's hand, he pulled him over to his parents.

Sonic was surprised at this as he was forced in front of Shadow's parents. "H...hi," he said. "My name is Sonic."

The king and queen smiled at him. Shadow smiled and told his parents how he and Sonic had met.

"Thank you for helping our son," the queen said. "I'm Maria Robotnik."

"You're welcome," Sonic said with a smile. "He was in trouble, so I had to help."

The queen nodded, and looked at her son. "Is your friend staying?"

Shadow nodded. "He'll be staying in the palace to live with me."

"Where is his room?"

"Next to mine."

Gerald nodded. "That is fine. Does he have any family?"

Shadow hesitated and shook his head. "He doesn't."

Gerald and Maria were surprised, then turned away and discussed something. A few minutes later, they looked at Sonic.

"We'd like to adopt you," Gerald said to the blue merhog. Sonic's eyes widened in shock and tears came down his face. He was so choked up, he couldn't speak, so he nodded. Maria and Gerald looked at their son. "Is that okay?"

Shadow thought about it. Then he smiled and nodded. "Why, though?"

"He hasn't had parents. We thought it would be nice to show him what it's like. Especially if he's going to be staying here."

Sonic continued to sob and nodded. "Thank you so much," he said, wiping away his tears.

Maria gave him another smile and hugged him. "You're welcome."

The blue merhog smiled. He finally had a family.

"I guess I can call you 'brother' now," he told Shadow.

"Yeah... I'll still call you Sonic, though."

"Same here, Shads."

Shadow chuckled, and the two flexed their tails and swam into the palace. Shadow gave Sonic another smile as they went through the palace. "What do you want to do now?"

Sonic shrugged. He went into his room as his brother followed him.

"Since I'm part of the family, I'm now a prince, right?" Sonic asked.

His brother nodded. "Do I need to teach you how to be a proper prince?"

Shadow sighed. He didn't have any idea where to start. He would have to ask his parents about it later. "I suppose so."

Sonic smiled. "So, you wanted to see my shapeshifting ability?"

"Did you want to do something now?"

"Sure. I can transform into anything."

Shadow's eyes widened. "Can you turn into this palace?"

Sonic nodded. They went outside and saw a large clearing for him to transform. Sonic looked back at the palace and looked back at Shadow. "Want me to turn into that?"

Shadow nodded; it would be interesting to see. The blue merhog sighed, then closed his eyes and began to transform. Shadow watched as the other merhog started changing in appearance. His fins grew out, extending along the ocean floor as the rest of him grew to match them. Everything turned to stone after he gave Shadow a reassuring smile. The stone body shifted and altered as Shadow watched in amazement. Towers topped with swirling shells carved themselves and moved out from the main form. Curved walkways did the same, lifting from the ground as more stone built the pillars to support them. At the sides of the forming main door developed two more towers, each with a giant clam shell on top. Most of the walls formed within the palace, The outside mostly being made up of decorative arches and pillars. By the time it was done, not a single trace of Sonic's form remained.