Chapter 5:

The next morning, the blue blur was as energetic as ever. Orbot and Cubot made him his breakfast and packed him a lunch that he stored in his quills even though he was reluctant to take it.

"It'll help you keep your strength up" Cubot had said.

"But Shadow doesn't eat food!"

"Well, you are not Shadow" Orbot pointed out. "Nor were you made to be like him. You look the same but he'll be teaching you a few techniques so you can protect yourself. Remember, Shadow is an experiment built to be the-"

"Ultimate life form and I shouldn't compare myself to him" Sonic cut him off, saying the same thing some other robots and Eggman have said to him.

"Nice to see you understand that. Now have a nice day and don't get too banged up"

Sonic nodded and smiled to the two robots before he took off to wait for Shadow. Now he was tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for the ultimate life form to show up.

"He's late" Sonic grumbled.

With a flash of green light, the black hedgehog appeared next to Sonic, wrapping an arm around his waist.

"Ready?" He asked.

Sonic could only nod due to the blush that had taken over his control. The only thing keeping his wobbly legs from collapsing was his counterparts arm around his slim waist.

'Eggman must've changed his body shape quite a bit. I remember him being more built for a male now he's got feminine curves.' Shadow thought, not noticing the blue hedgehog's bright red blush.

"Before we start our training, I want you to meet some people. Being raised in a base surrounded by robots must've made you not much of a people person" Shadow said before chaos controlling to Amy's house.

He'd already managed to explain to everyone about Sonic's memory loss. Even though it was hard for them to act as if they were meeting their blue hero for the first time.

"Who are we meeting?" Sonic asked as he looked up at the pink house. "That's a lot of pink"

"Yes, it's a few fellow heroes I've worked with" Shadow explained, walking up to the house as if it were nothing.

"A few fellow heroes?" Sonic said as he followed but as soon as Shadow knocked on the door, Sonic visibly shrunk. "You mean-?"

Amy opened the door and smiled at the two.

"Hey Shadow, who's your friend?" She asked.

Sonic was frozen so Shadow took that chance to take his hand and lead him inside, passing Amy.

"His name is Sonic. Eggman wants me to train him." Shadow explained as Amy lead them into the main room where everyone was.

"Nice to meet you Sonic" Amy smiled, holding out her hand to him.

He didn't move. Shadow remembered how Amy was against not telling Sonic the truth when he'd told her what happened. Until Rouge told her she got a whole new chance at making a good impression on her hero. Sonic looked around the room at all the faces he should've recognized. Everyone was there. Except Tails. But everyone seemed to remove everything that had to do with Sonic's kid brother and their moods showed nothing was wrong. In a flash, Sonic was standing behind Shadow, peeking at the pink hedgehog through his black quills. His voice was quiet and shy, causing everyone's eyes to widen in shock.

"H-Hi Miss Amy..." Sonic said softly.

In order to hide everyone's shock, Shadow stepped to the side and set a hand on Sonic's shoulder.

"These people are no different from me. You don't have to act so sh-" He said but was cut off by a particular chao sitting on Sonic's head while Cream walked over to get her pet.

Sonic seemed like he was going to faint but the second the chao hovered low enough to meet his eyes, he let out an almost girly squeal.

"You. Have. A. Chao!?" He asked Cream, hugging Cheese close to him, cuddling the chao, who didn't seem to mind the extra attention. "He's so cute! He's a hero chao right? What's his name? How old is he? How long have you had him? Did you find him in a chao garden? I read that chao's are usually very territorial but this one seems so nice! Did you raise him since his birth?"

The small bunny seemed shocked at first but eventually recovered and tried her best to answer his questions.

"He's my chao. His name is Cheese. I'm Cream. Nice to meet you Mr. Sonic" Cream smiled at the blue hedgehog.

"It's just a chao..." Jet said from his spot on the other side of the room.

He seemed shocked by the cute glare Sonic sent him.

"He is not just a chao! He's the most adorable creature in the world! I've read so much about these guys," Sonic said, still cuddling the chao close. "I've wanted one since I was a kid but Ivo always said a base is no place for such a natural creature. Did you know their home's are usually by lakes and when their lakes are polluted, they begin to die? They need the pure resources to live or else they can't fly or hatch or live!"

Knuckles leaned over to Shadow and lowered his voice while Sonic rambled.

"He's definitely changed. What are we gonna do about it?" Knuckles asked.

"Well, Eggman said that it's not possible to return his memories since it's been 3 years but I am going to teach him how to fight and then we'll continue from there." Shadow explained.

"I don't like it," Sonya said. "It doesn't fit Sonic to be acting like this. He's transformed into a wimpy booknerd."

"Does he even run anymore?" Wave asked. "He seems pretty proud of his knowledge"

"Yes," Shadow crossed his arms and watched the blue hedgehog talk to Rouge, complimenting her on her boots and saying she's really pretty. "Eggman said he's still able to run. We just need to give him stuff his old self used to like"

It was at this point, something Sonic said caused everyone to pause.

"Isn't there supposed to be a genius fox too? I read about a fox boy that used to help Shadow with his adventures"

Amy and Rouge looked at Shadow and he shook his head.

"I think you're mis-" he was interrupted by the blue hedgehog's stomach growling.

"I guess baby blue is a little hungry huh?" Rouge smiled at said hedgehog, who smiled shyly in response.

"Orbot and Cubot made me a bento box for lunch" Sonic said, pulling it out of his quills and handing it to Amy. "I don't really know how to set it up"

Amy smiled widely and lead the blue hedgehog into the kitchen, talking about how cute the box is and how she'd help him with it. As soon as the door closed, everyone let out a breath they didn't know they had been holding. Manic was the first to speak.

"What happened to my brother?"