Sonic Gets High

by PlotRiot

Sonic gets WAY past high with a couple of unexpected house guests after traveling to Angel island to pick up weed from his local drug dealer, Knuckles. Shadow finds himself spiraling further into Pot Zone Central than he had ever meant to.

Authors Note: I just want you guys to know that it is incredibly difficult to write from the perspective of such a cheeky, snarky blue bastard. Forgive me. Also, yes, the ending was kind of rushed. You're welcome. Disclaimer: Sometimes there is going to be a complete break of character, or the fourth wall, just for the sake of humor. Just roll with it. This is a story about hedgehogs smoking weed, after all. Based on the first Sonic fanart I ever drew. see the image at p/sonic-gets-high

It was a long journey to Angel Island, but one that Sonic was used to making. It was peaceful– the air smelling of freshly cut grass, the sound of wind in the trees– and he hoped that Knuckles would be in a good mood today. The sun was only just beginning to set, and after all the hard work he's been putting into saving the world– No big deal– Sonic really just wanted a break. Needed this break. He had just come from Eggman's base before this, and witnessed the guy actually setting up for a hot bath, still easing his wounds from yesterday's ass-whooping. Sonic was only checking to see if he was up to something, he wasn't about to stick around after he witnessed that. He figured Eggman would stay in for the night. Context clues, and the like.

As he caught sight of Knuckles he slowed to a stop. Not because he wanted to greet his friend properly, or because Knuckles was in any danger, no– quite the opposite. Knuckles was sagged against the emerald, both of his gloved fist draped over him, still slightly crossed but also loose. His expression was relaxed and peaceful, yet his mouth hung wide open. His eyes were closed, but his nose twitched slightly, pulling at his lip. Knuckles had fallen asleep.

Oh, this was going to be fun.

Sonic approached as quietly as he could. Stealth was never really his thing, and the more he crudely stepped on the stray leaves and twigs that covered the ground the more he began to fear Knuckles would wake too early. But he continued on, and Knuckles hardly even stirred.

As Sonic ducked behind his favorite red friend he took a moment to control himself. He could already feel the laughter bubbling up just from the thought of Knuckle's reaction. Ready to jump back at any moment, Sonic steadied himself, lowered his mouth directly to Knuckle's ear, and called out, "Hey, Knux!"

"GAH!" Knuckle's eyes flew open and a potent mixture of shock and rage spread over his face. He was on his feet and throwing his fist before he was even fully conscious, and once the world did come back into focus, he turned his attention directly on Sonic, who had long since burst into that fit of laughter, no longer fighting against it.

As he realized who it was, Knuckle's expression lost the shock but kept the rage. It was a simmering, knowing rage– Like that sparked by a child. Annoyance and anger, but also contentment. A sense that he has dealt with this problem before, and knows he will be dealing with it for some time to come.

"You asshole!" Knuckles bellowed as Sonic continued to laugh. "You really think that was funny? You're lucky I didn't knock your head clean off! I'm more of a punch first, ask questions later kinda guy when you wake me while I'm sleeping, dude. You know that!"

Sonic wiped a tear from his eye, gasping for breath and struggling to settle his features "Sure, I know that. That's exactly why I moved out of the way! I'm too fast for you to ever have a chance at– What was it again? 'Knocking my head clean off'?" He began laughing again, the soft chuckle of someone still trying to hold it back but ultimately failing to do so.

Knuckles frowned at him. "Watch it, Sonic," he said, finally lowering his defensive stance and shifting on his feet a little. "Not even Shadow would've done that to me."

"That's because Shadow isn't funny."

"You still think this is funny? I told you, I don't like these pranks you pull."

Sonic raised his arms defensively, "Come on! Who doesn't like pranks? It's, like, a right of passage for good friends to mess with each other. I thought we were pals!"

"That's enough, just don't do it again." Knuckles said begrudgingly, looking annoyed. "Why are you here anyway? Better be something good if you're gonna wake me up."

"What?" Sonic quipped, "A friend can't just want to come visit his old pal Knuckles?"

Knuckles huffed, or maybe he laughed, Sonic couldn't be sure. "You only visit me when you want something"

"What? That's not true!" Sonic protested, but that only received an eyebrow raise from Knuckles, and so he quickly relented, "Okay, fine. But only because you never leave this island."

"I can't just leave, Sonic. I'm the only protector of the Master Emerald." Knuckles crossed his arms and sighed. "Just, tell me why you're here."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay, fine. I'm here to pick up an 8th. It's been a long week and I really need it" he looked at Knuckles up and down, and added "maybe we really need it? You wanna come smoke it with us? On me!"

Knuckles snorted at him. "Are you offering me a few hits off my own supply?"

"I'm offering you a few hits on me. Once I buy it, it's technically my 'supply' at that point. Besides, I'm also offering a night with your friends, for once! Come hang out with us!"

Knuckles studied him curiously. "Wait, who's 'us'?" He asked looking at Sonic for a minute longer before he finally grunted and frowned, realization coming over him. "Please tell me you're not smoking with Tails. Again."

Sonic gave a shrug and a guilty grin, and Knuckles frowned at him. "What?" Sonic asked, his arms still up. "He's my best friend!"

"Yeah, and about eight years old. You're supposed to be the world's biggest hero, Sonic. Not the guy smoking weed with elementary schoolers."

Sonic laughed, "Jokes on you, Tails has never even been to school! Besides, it's Tails. I've seen the same kid take down an entire egg fleet by himself. He deserves a little green every now and then! Plus, he's had it before. You've literally been there for it."

"So you know how I feel about it then."

"What do you want me to do, Knuckles? Leave him out of the blunt rotation?"

"Yes! He's eight."

Sonic huffed in frustration. "Well maybe if you came with me you could stop me from giving him too much." His tone became more teasing and playful, "Come on, Knux. You know you want to!"

"I'm busy."

Sonic looked around pointedly at the empty landscape of the island. Everything was as it should be, the trees whispered in the wind, the Flickys chirped in the trees. The only disruption was the conversation between these two. "Yeah, I can see that."

"Look, I've got responsibilities. I'm glad you feel comfortable enough to take a day off, but I have to be here. It's my one duty, and my duty alone to guard this Emerald."

"Sure, right, but can't you— I don't know. Set up a baby monitor or something?"

Knuckles straightened and flushed, turning pink "Did you just say baby?"

Sonic waved his arms, "Relax, man! Geez, I just mean, like, any device that could watch it for you. I bet Tails could make something like that, easy! Or maybe we have a friend who could step in for the night—"

Knuckles cut him off, "It's my duty to stay here. You of all people should know about that, Sonic. Shouldn't you be fighting Eggman or something? How do you know he isn't up to something?"

Sonic let out a loud snort and crossed his arms. "After the way I kicked his ass yesterday? I doubt it. He was practically crying on his way home. You should have seen it!"

"I was protecting the-"

"Protecting the Master Emerald, yeah, yeah. Anyway, the point is I need you to come. You balance the vibes! Who's gonna trash talk me at Mobius Kart if you're not there?"

Knuckles crossed his arms defiantly, "If you two want to bring the session here then go ahead, but I'm not leaving Angel Island today. Eggman is up to something, I can just feel it."

Sonic groaned. "He is not, I'm telling you. And you do have a tendency to be wrong about these kinds of things."

Knuckles turned on him, all heat "I do not! When am I ever wrong?"

The look of pure genuineness on Knuckle's face as he asked this question was truly baffling to Sonic. He felt bad about what he said next. "Do I need to say it, buddy? How about the countless times that Eggman convinced you I was after the Emeralds, or the Master Emerald. I just had them so that he didn't! You physically fought me on, like, at least 3 separate occasions for that and also there's the time–"

"Whatever, fine! Just stop talking and go smoke your weed."

Sonic narrowed his eyes impatiently, "Bro, you haven't sold it to me yet."

Knuckles flustered again, his face going red from embarrassment, "Oh, fuck. Right… you said an 8th?"

"Yup" confirmed Sonic eagerly. He valued Knuckles as a friend, and enjoyed spending time with him, but their back and forth could be exhausting and he really was just looking to relax today. Knuckles held up several small plastic baggies harboring little bundles of leafy green. Some of them sported veins of yellow or purple, and others were all different shades of dark and light. "Did you want Gorilla Blue or Hedgehogs Hoedown?"

"Do you have any of the Chaos Control left?"

"Nah, that one sells out quick. I've got Double OG Egg."

Sonic recoiled. "Yuck! Just give me the Hoedown."

"Alright, imma need the forty rings."

"Forty?! You used to do an 8th for twenty!" Sonic whined. "What happened, Knux? Friends don't let friends get high at full price! What about a hero's discount?"

Knuckles shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, Sonic. I have to raise the prices if I expect to keep up with Rouge. She is... expensive."

"Ugh," Sonic groaned, knowing where this was going. "Is she still insisting that you bring her jewels on every occasion? You gotta tell her that's unreasonable, man. Stand your ground!"

"Right... stand my ground." Knuckles repeated, but he was already blushing redder than his fur just thinking about her. God, this guy was hopeless.

"Fine, I'll pay up this time, but for all of our sakes, please talk to her about this. Oh! And speaking of Rouge, can you get this back to her for me?" Sonic fished in his metaphorical pocket and retrieved a small metal vape pen from within. He held it out and waited for Knuckles to take it, but he just stared at it, uncertain.

"Give it to her yourself. What makes you think I see her any more than you do?" he snorted loudly, as if this was the craziest thing he could ever imagine, and Sonic simply blinked at him for a moment. How could he be so thicc?

"Knux… I hate to break it to you buddy, but we all know you two are dating. You basically just admitted to it, like, ten seconds ago."

Knuckles floundered, instinctively moving to protest by putting up his fist and opening his mouth, but he ended up just making a few weird angry noises. Simmering down, he sighed and snatched the vape from Sonic's hand, and as if on queue it rumbled in Knuckles palm. He dropped it to the ground immediately. "Ah! Why does it move?!"

Sonic shrugged innocently, "I'm not one to judge other people's kinks, Knuckles."

"Kinks?!" Knuckles asked in a pure panic. He huffed and continued to blush, he was sweating now. Then, begrudgingly, he bent down and delicately picked up the vape, setting it gently beside the Master Emerald. "You better not have put your mouth on it" he grumbled.

"It's a vape, Knuckles." Sonic stated simply.

Knuckles shook his head and returned his attention to the baggies of weed. He snatched up what could only be assumed to be the Hedgehog Hoedown Kush, and crudely wrote Sonic's name across the plastic in sharpie. He even spelled it with a 'K' at the end.

"Handwriting is impeccable as always, Knuckles."

"In case you didn't notice, Sonic, I don't have fingers. Just take this and go," Knuckles stated as he tossed the baggie at Sonic's head, who caught it without issue. He watched as Knuckle's shoulders seemed to soften, his eyes warming as he added "and be careful. Take care of that little fox for me. He's the only one of us who's got any sanity left."
-

When Sonic reached his bestfriends workshop he knocked on the door to the tune of Tails favorite song, a Crush 40 single called Live and Learn. Kind of a strange tune to knock to, but an absolute banger, so when Tails tossed open the door he knew exactly who would be standing on the other side.

"Sonic! Boy, am I glad to see you! I've been trying to figure out the perfect thing for us to do and I can't decide between Mobius Kart or a game of Jungle blocks."

"Hmm. I don't know, pal. They both sound like fun to me" he answered, sitting down on the couch and throwing some popcorn into his mouth from a bowl Tails had already set out on the table. He threw up his feet and made himself comfortable.

"I figured you'd feel that way, but I don't know about the others. I'm wondering what they'd like. I want something that's fun for all of us!" Tails came to sit beside Sonic, kicking up his feet in a mock position clearly meant to mimic Sonic's.

"I think we're on our own today, little buddy. Knuckles is a no-go."

"Oh. Well, that's too bad," Tails replies, and he sounds quite genuine. Sonic almost felt bad for him, until he continued with "but we kind of have another guest. I might have, well, I kinda invited Shadow to hang out with us."

"Shadow?!" Of all the people Tails could have said, Sonic was not expecting Shadow.

"Uh.. yeah" Tails said more slowly, suddenly looking sheepish. "You said I could bring a plus-one when we do this, remember?"

"Yeah I meant, like, Espio or maybe even Big- on weird occasions- but not Shadow. I mean seriously, Tails, are you sure about this?"

"Yeah! I mean, sure! He just looked like he really needed it today. He seemed frustrated and kinda… melodramatic."

"Geez, Tails! He's always like that! That's just his resting state of being."

"But he looked so sad!" Tails whined, "What was I supposed to do?"

"Not invite him here!"

"I thought you liked Shadow! Aren't we all friends by now?"

Sonic groaned and wiped a hand over his face. "Of course were his friends! I think. But you and I both know he's wildly unpredictable and totally the opposite of chill. He always makes things feel… weird. And he's always trying to fight me!"

Tails waved a hand dismissively, totally optimistic as usual. "I'm sure with both of us here, he'll be fine. We can cut him off if he has too much."

Sonic frowned. "Telling Shadow what to do? Yeah, good luck with that."

"He's a good person, Sonic. He just needs someone kind to be his friend, show him the right path."

"Right, sure. I just– I didn't think he would want to be here for this kind of hang out is all. He doesn't really seem the type."

Tails shrugged "He said he wanted to. Why? Have you never smoked with him before?"

"He didn't seem the type," Sonic said again. He shook his head to clear it and then grinned big "Anyway, it's okay Tails, you did the right thing. I'm excited actually! I wonder if he'll finally relax for once. Who knows, maybe with some weed we could actually get a giggle out of him!"

Tails spit up a laugh and was about to say something else when there were two harsh, deliberate pounds on the front door.

"He's here already?!" Sonic complained, feeling like he didn't get the time he needed to prepare himself. He and Shadow have spent plenty of time together, hell they've saved the world together– multiple times– but never once have they ever just simply hung out with one another. It was making Sonic uncharacteristically nervous and he found himself slowly approaching the door, as if it were a wild animal.

Tails attempted to support him by saying "It's okay, Sonic, be cool, be cool."

Does he know who he's talking to?, Sonic thought. I'm way past cool. He took a deep breath, straightened his stance, and ripped the door open like a bandaid.

And there Shadow stood, looking bored as ever, his arms full of snacks and a lollipop sticking casually from his mouth. His hands held stacks of paper, but Sonic couldn't see what was on them from here. As fortune would have it, he didn't have to wonder for long. "Hello, Sonic. Miles. I've brought memes."

Tails was clearly taken aback by what Shadow had just said, still processing. Sonic, however, was transfixed on the food as Shadow entered the home with all kinds of treats from chocolate, to gummy, to crunchy, to salty. He really had them covered in the snack department! "All right, Shadow!" Sonic said enthusiastically, ripping open a chili flavored pringles container. He was beginning to think he was wrong about Shadow after all. Maybe he could be fun to hang out with!

"I thought I'd bring a peace offering," Shadow said. "I hear this kind of nourishment is necessary for an activity like this one."

Tails finally found his voice, but his smile implied pity. "You brought memes? If you don't mind me asking, why did you print them out? We could've just looked them up on the computer. I have a hydro cannon core processor, you know. It's one of the best systems around!"

"Technology complicates things, and I still don't understand google. I have carefully selected the best for us to share. It's so that we have something to laugh at when we are under the influence." He says all of this like it's totally normal. Sonic wants to tell him that his alien is showing, but he holds back. Don't poke the bear, Sonic.

"Okay…" Sonic says slowly, not sure how else to respond. He reaches out and takes the slips of paper, thumbing through the images.

Chao. He couldn't believe it, every single one of them. They're all just images of chao. Normal chao, dark chao, hero chao, they're all just pet chao. And they aren't even memes. There is no bottom text, there isn't even top text! Sonic didn't know how Shadow had gone so wrong.

Shadow kept stealing glances at him as if waiting for a reaction and man, Sonic wasn't very good at faking it. He gave Shadow his biggest smile and a thumbs up, hoping that would suffice. He supposed it did, when Shadow nodded and took the papers back from his hands, slipping them away safely back into his glove.

He then moved his hands to his shoes, began slipping his heel up and out, revealing more and more ankle.

"DONT!" Tails and Sonic yelled at the same time, each of their hearts competing to burst through their chest first, and Sonic could feel cold sweat form on his brow. Tails cleared his throat. "Make yourself comfortable, Shadow, but we keep our shoes on in this house!"

Shadow froze for a moment, confused, but ultimately disinterested. He slipped his heel back into his shoe and took a seat on the floor, half facing the couch with his back against the neighboring loveseat.

"Man, that was a close one!" Sonic said, and they all sank into an uneasy silence for a minute. Sonic was ultimately the one to break it.

"So, who's ready for some Hedgehog Hoedown? First dibs going once, going twice,"

"Is that a code name for the Marajuana?" Asked Shadow.

"What? Code name? I don't- you know what, sure. I guess it is. Anyway, maybe you should be first, Shadow, since you might need some help."

Shadow scoffed, "Why would I need help? It appears to be straight forward. Or are you just worried I'll be better at it than you?"

"Better? Believe me, Shadow, I'm a competitive guy. This isn't a competitive thing."

"Says you. I've heard the drug market is very competitive."

"What the hell are you even saying right now? Whatever— just, take this." Sonic pushes a very shiny and tall glass bong into Shadows palm and hands him the baggie of weed. He tells him how to grind it up, and how to get out the bits that get stuck. He instructs him on preparing the bowl, making sure it isn't clogged, and packing the weed into place when all it wants to do is stick to your fingers. Of course, Shadow feels the need to fight him every step of the way.

"I don't see why we can't just eat it. It seems much easier." he complains.

Tails shakes his head. "It doesn't work like that, Shadow. Raw cannabis contains tetrahydrocannabinolic acid and cannabidiolic acid. Both of those have to be exposed to heat, such as smoking or baking, to activate them and actually get you high. Eating it won't do anything but get it stuck in your teeth!"

Shadow huffed, annoyed.

"If you're really not into the smoke, I can make some brownies later." Sonic offered. This left Shadow looking momentarily puzzled, but he shook it off and returned to the task at hand.

A bong in one hand with the bowl already packed, Shadow used his other hand to flick the lighter a few times absentmindedly, perhaps practicing. Sonic realized he might not have used a lighter before, either. Eventually Shadow lowered his mouth to the opening, the lighter hovering over the bowl, moments away from his very first bong rip.

A sudden gentle knock shook the door. To the unsuspecting trio, it might as well have been a fire alarm.

Thankfully Shadow's grip on the bong tightened rather than loosening, but Sonic was still worried for its safety under Shadow's tight grip. Sonic threw a questioning look at Tails, who quickly shook his head and shot up his hands, palms forward. "I didn't invite anyone else! I don't know who it could be."

Sonic looked to Shadow, who scoffed back at him. "No, I didn't invite anyone either. This isn't my house. I would never be so inconsiderate."

It could be one of their other friends, maybe Amy or Knuckles changed their mind. Hell, maybe it was Vector just trying to get in on the drugs, but Sonic didn't think any of those options were likely. In fact his biggest thought at the moment was 'please don't be Eggman, please don't be Eggman'. He was just about to finally smoke, now would be such bad timing.

Another knock at the door. Normally, a person's knocks will escalate as time passes without an answer. This knock, surprisingly, was less insistent than the first, as if the person behind it didn't really want to disturb those inside, or maybe didn't want to come across as rude.

And then it came to him. The timid knock really says it all. Oh, boy. Please be wrong, please be wrong.

As Sonic creaked the door back he felt his heart sink to his feet. Oh, man. The only other person more annoying than Shadow was standing right there in Tails doorway.

"Uh, hey Silver. Long time no see."

"Hey Sonic! Sorry to just barge in on you guys like this, but Knuckles told me this was the place to be! You know, "If that's okay with you guys."

The group just staired, so Tails had to be the one to speak up, "Of course that's okay, Silver! Come on in, make yourself comfortable!"

Another brief moment of silence as they all awkwardly found their places. Sonic and Tails ended up on the couch together, Silver sitting at one end of the loveseat while Shadow resumed his position on the floor, his back against the other end of the sofa.

"So, Silver" Sonic begins. He hopes he doesn't come across like doesn't want him there. The last thing he needs is to set off Silver's anxiety and make him feel guilty about coming. He took a deep breath, "What brings you to the past again? Shouldn't you be in your own timeline, kicking butt? In fact- am I even supposed to remember you? Wasn't that all reconned?"

Shadow scoffed before Silver could respond, "Sonic you insensitive prick. Silver was in so much more than just '06. What about Generations, or Forces, or the Olympic Games? Keep up!"

"Geez, ok ok. I mean, what does it matter in this timeline anyway, this isn't even cannon"

"Sonic you better shut the fuck up right now and hand me the lighter" Shadow said.

Sonic does as he's told, returns the lighter to the other hedgehog's hand and watches as he strikes the lighter once, twice, touches the flame to the weed and engulfs the whole thing at once in a sudden blaze.

"Geez, Shadow! Go easy on it! You might want to pull back!" But he just continued to breathe it in. His chest looked achingly full and his eyes watered, but he kept going until the bowl went out. The moment it did he lifted his ashy glass piece and attempted to clear the bong, but his lungs were already at capacity, and a small cough choked out of his throat. Once one came, it triggered an avalanche. He began hacking and coughing, gasping for air, each cough seemed to make the next one even worse, each of them leaving him more breathless.

Tails shot up to get him a glass of water, and Silver made a motion like he was going to give Shadow a reassuring pat on the back, but decided against it. Once he had a few sips of water, Shadow finally recovered enough to speak.

"It burns," he choked, his voice raw, "Is it supposed to hurt?"

Sonic shrugged at him and Tails shook his head in bewilderment.

"If you're finished, I'll take it." Silver said.

With a skeptical glance and another cough, Shadow handed Silver the weed and the grinder, then slid the bong closer to him and left the lighter within his reach. Shadow leaned back, his eyes already dropping slightly and his demeanor softening.

Well, he seems to be handling it okay for now,' Sonic thought to himself, 'and nobody has tried to kill each other yet. So far so good! Now I just need to patiently wait my turn. No big deal' but even as it crossed his mind he found himself tapping his foot. Patience was never really his thing, either. He willed his foot to stop, but it started up again the moment that Sonic lost focus, tapping away with a mind of its own.

Silver pulled his face away from the bong and threw his other hand in the air half heartedly "Ugh, it's no use! Do you have a candle lighter?" The others simply stared at him. What more could they do? Silver flusters and begins to explain. "Y-you know… because sometimes the flame hits your thumb? And it also gets ash everywhere, which stains your clothes."

"You.. Do you always use a candle lighter?" Sonic asks, trying once again not to judge, and failing. He knows these two hedgehogs each come from… unusual circumstances. They do weird things, the two of them, but in totally different ways. Sometimes they still manage to catch him off guard with their out of pocket statements.

"Well," Silver starts, "It's just that these are new gloves, and if a I burn a hole in them Blaze never gonna forgive me."

"He totally uses a candle lighter every time." Shadow remarks.

"Dude, even Shadow realizes it's weird" Sonic says under his breath, though it's much louder than he had intended. Dammit, they all heard him. Act natural.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Shadow spits at him. "I actually think this makes perfect sense. I only wish I'd thought of it sooner, I could have saved these gloves from being soiled by my actions."

Silver looks relieved, "Thanks Shadow! Really the thing is that thread is actually really hard to come by in the future and I'm just trying to-"

"Can you just smoke it, Silver" Sonic found himself saying. So much for being polite. What was getting into him today? He scratched his head, offering a sheepish grin and adding an apologetic "Please?"

"I can't smoke it yet. You never told me if you have a candle lighter." He didn't seem upset about it, but he made no moves to use the bong in this condition. Sonic sighed.

Amongst the noise, Tails had already walked off and found one for Silver. "Here!" He said tossing it over to him. As usual Silver did not aim to catch it, but instead he used his telekinesis to end its flight early and lowered the lighter gently into his palm.

"Show off," Shadow remarked. Silver winked in response and Shadow replied to that with a snort.

Finally lighting his weed bowl, Silver took a long solid rip of the bong. It was genuinely the most impressive thing that Sonic had ever witnessed from him, truly he put them all to shame. Silver was ripping it like nobody's business. He finished within two massive hits, all without coughing once, without so much as clearing his throat. Was that jealousy that Sonic saw peeking out of Shadows' expression, or was he just imagining it?

"What, this guy can take a toke without choking?" Shadow questioned. "I didn't know you had it in you, Silver"

"Oh, thanks Shadow! I guess I've kinda always been able to take massive rips like no one ever could. I think it's because I live in a burning eternal hellscape of a doomed timeline where the Iblis Flames of Destruction are always burning and making the air quality really yucky. I'm just really used to smoke in general, I think."

Shadow threw back his head at this, "You've got to be kidding me".

Tails was beginning to look less and less confident about his turn. Left in one of his rare occasions of speechlessness, Sonic simply helped transition the weedgredients to Tails, skipping over himself. He could wait until everyone had their turn, even if he was dying to get his hands on it. Really, it was fine. He knew his little bro smoked fast.

He gave Tails an encouraging nod and the young fox was lighting up in no time, taking much smaller hits than the others, but taking them like a champ. He passed the bong to Sonic with blurry eyes and a peaceful smile, and Sonic grinned back at him.

Finally, it was his turn. Gratefully Sonic slapped his bowl together and brought it all into his lungs in a series of hungry breaths, refusing to cough out of spite for Silver, though he'd never admit to that. It was gone within minutes. His eyes still watering, he passed the bong back to Shadow, who looked like he needed more– His ease after the first hit was already fading. Besides, Shadow was next in the rotation anyway. He took it without hesitation, and began packing himself another bowl.

"So, Silver. What really brings you here?" Asked the ultimate lifeform as he grinded green.

Silver shifted uncomfortably in his spot, "Well, I've actually been coming to see Knuckles for a while now. The Flames of Iblis really tend to burn up most of the cannabis plants around my home. And other plants. Pretty much all the plants are on fire all of the time."

Shadow hesitated, his mouth slightly open as if he might respond, but then he sighed and turned to Sonic. "Hand me the lighter," he said simply.

Shadow brings the bong to his face and finally responds "That really sucks, Silver" before taking the fastest, longest bong rip of all time and turning to blow it directly into Silver's face. Silver looked utterly stunned for a long moment, and then gave a soft laugh that grew into bigger giggles. Shadow grinned at him, a chuckle of his own escaping.

Sonic looked back and forth between them, "What the hell are you guys–"

"ACHOO!"

Sonic narrowly avoided a lamp as it flew across the room. "What?!" He had to jump a little to avoid a hefty book that was coming for his legs. Several more objects had been tossed around the room, but just as quickly as it had started, it was over.

They all looked to Silver, who was still rubbing at his nose. His laughter had quickly turned into a sniffle, and his sneeze briefly triggered his telekinesis, sending objects flying.

"Ugh," He groaned. "What kind of weed is this? I'm allergic to certain strains."

"You tell us this now?" Shadow scolded just as Sonic asked, "Allergic? That can't be possible. Allergic to weed?"

Silver shrugged, "It just messes with my sinuses, It's not that big of a deal, really."

"Tell that to Tail's lamp," Sonic scoffed.

Tails put up his hands, "Oh, don't worry about that Silver! I can always fix that stuff. Just don't go near the power tools, we don't want anyone getting hurt!" He laughed at his own joke, even if he really wasn't joking, and then got to his feet. "I think I actually have some allergy medication around here somewhere. It's mostly for pollen, but it can't hurt to try it here."

"Thanks, Tails. I'll try not to- to- AH!"

"Silver," Sonic warned.

"CHOO!" he finished. More objects went flying. Shadow defended the bong from an incoming wrench with the side of his arm. It was a nice save, and it probably hurt. Sonic would have high fived him over it, if he didn't think Shadow would leave him hanging.

"Sorry," Silver apologized, looking around at the disarray. Tails waved it off as he approached, gave him a wide and friendly smile while he popped a couple of pills into Silver's palm and a fresh glass of water into his other hand.

God, this was the weirdest group of people ever. Sonic had to steer the night into a better direction, "So, gang, what are we getting up to tonight? Tails was thinking of either Mobius Kart or Jungle Blocks. Anyone have a preference?"

"Ha! I would absolutely cream you in Mobius Kart." Shadow responds. "You wouldn't stand a chance! However, what I would really prefer is a thriller movie. I hear it's a fun activity with others, and I've never seen one."

Silver's face went white– well, whiter than usual. "Actually I'd rather not do that, if we can. Scary movies are… kind of scary, you know? What if we just played Chaopoly?"

Sonic frowned at that idea, "isn't that the one where you buy property and pay your taxes? Yawn! If we each get a veto, I'm definitely using mine on that."

"We could watch Bridesmaids instead," Shadow suggested, practically causing Silver and Tails to leap with joy.

"Let's… not." Sonic protested, searching for a way out of that nightmare. He turned his attention back to Shadow "If you really think you can take me in Mobius Kart, maybe we should start there."

Shadow slowly rose to his feet, a fire in his glossy eyes. Even weed couldn't dampen his competitiveness. "You're on! You and Silver vs me and the fox."

"Ah," Sonic said, as if he knew something Shadow didn't. He knew just where Shadows buttons were, and exactly how to poke them when he wanted to. "Trying to split me up from Tails, huh? Think that'll give you a better chance?"

"Nope," reasoned Shadow, "I just like him better"
-

One hour, two rounds of Mobius Kart and several more rounds of weed later, Sonic found himself losing the third race. It was best if three, and right now they were tied one to one. He wasn't about to let Shadow take the glory, even if it meant taking down his buddy Tails along with him.

He unleashed a string of bananas on a narrow track, knowing Shadow would get to them first on the next lap around and it would be a serious struggle, if not impossible, to avoid it. "Check. Mate." He taunted.

"You wish that was all it would take," Shadow retorted.

"Oh, I know that's all it'll take. You'll be slipping and sliding before you know what hit you!"

"And yet here you are warning me of it, and I have plenty of time to prepare."

"It's all about the long game, Shadow. You'll see. The underhog always wins."

Shadow scoffed as his character drifted around the next corner, "Oh, Is that why you keep toying with Eggman, and never truly defeating him? The long game?"

"Ouch! That's harsh," Sonic said, pretending his feelings were hurt but still wearing a smile all the same. He watched as Shadow approached the bananas, and actually made a fair attempt at it before eventually swerving into the slippery peels.

"Ha, you did hit them! We might actually win now!" Silver remarked, and then turned to Sonic for approval. Sonic had been trying to get Silver to trash talk the other team this whole time, but the guy really just wasn't any good at it. In fact, he didn't seem to care that much at all if he was winning or losing, he was just having a great time anyway. Must be nice. Believe it or not, this was actually his best insult so far.

"Good one, buddy!" Sonic said, clapping Silver on the back. He nearly dropped the controller.

"Yeah, seriously! Nice move you guys," Tails said, holding up one hand to high five Sonic while he kept steering with the other, but the blue boy just shook his head.

"Don't engage with the other team, Miles." Shadow told him.

"For once I agree with Shadow" Sonic said reluctantly, "Sorry little buddy, but we're enemies right now! And besides, you better concentrate and keep both hands on the wheel if you still plan to beat me!" As if on cue, Sonic comes rushing around a corner, blazing past both Shadow and Tails and, most shocking of all, Silver isn't far behind him. 'We're actually gonna do this!' Sonic thought and as he did they both blazed through the finish line.

"YES!" Sonic cheered as he sprung to his feet, beating his fists in the air and hollering. He looked to Silver, grabbing him by the shoulders and dragging him to his feet as well. Of all the moments in the game, this was his time to really gloat! It was Silver's chance to rub it in their faces, be confident and proud that he won! Give 'em all he's got!

"That was fun," he said, "good job you guys!" Sonic's spirit deflated a little.

"Thanks, Silver!" Tails beamed.

"I want a rematch," Demanded Shadow.

"Me too!" agreed Tails, who looked far less annoyed. He just enjoyed playing it up like the rest of them, "that must have been a fluke!"

"In your dreams, little guy!" Sonic laughed and then shook his head, "But I really should skip the next round. If I'm gonna make those brownies tonight then I better get to it before I get too faded! And besides, I wouldn't want to hurt your egos that much. If I won again then you guys might start crying, and then what would I do?"

Tails giggled at him, Silver appeared nervous at the concept of it. Shadow just snorted and replied, "Sure, uh-huh. You're just afraid you'd lose your title as winner when I inevitably beat you this time. And the next."

"Wow, you really are a sore loser aren't you?" Sonic teased.

"You wanna say that again? We can see who loses when the competition isn't behind a TV screen."

"Ooh, threatening! I'm really scared." Sonic whined sarcastically. Shadow rolled his eyes and gave up on the matter, returning to his spot by the couch and slumping into his old position. He grabbed a handful of gummy worms off the table and chewed at them indignantly.

"Will you two ever get along?" Asked Tails, shaking his head. He put a hand on his hip and stood up straighter, ready to take charge. "Sonic, you really should go make those brownies. As for the rest of you, I think it's time we face up properly. It's every player for themselves!"
-

Sonic was just pulling the brownies out of the oven when he caught the end of a strange conversation radiating from the living room like heat waves.

"Dude, I'm definitely taller than you! I almost hit Tails' door frame coming in, you've got a good six inches of clearance there," came Silver's voice.

"That doesn't count, you idiot!" Shadow called back. "Just because you like to style your quills straight up like a damn peacock and put all that insanity directly on your forehead does not make you taller than me. You can't even look me in the eye! Your gaze is at least four inches below mine."

"Hey! If the quills don't count, then where are we measuring from? Where's the top of your head, huh? Or are we just going by eye height?"

"Come stand next to me if you're so cocky! We'll see who comes out on top!"

"Stop being so aggressive!" Silver whined.

"I am not aggressive!" Shadow protested, but he seemed to shrink back at the comment and linger on his own hands for a moment, as if considering the idea. Ultimately, he shook it off. "You're the one who challenged me, Silver. I am taller than you. That's a fact."

"Guys, guys! Can we please just get back to the game?" Tails pleads.

There's a heavy silence, and then Silver sits back down. As he does so he mumbles under his breath, "I'm definitely taller"

Shadow rubs his face. "God. I'm not high enough for this…"

Sonic brings the brownies, now cut and stacked neatly on a plate, out to the table. "Here," he says, offering the plate to Shadow first. "Have one of these, it'll help."
-

The four of them tried to get back to their Mobius Kart session, but it became quickly apparent that nobody was in any condition for this much hand eye coordination. Instead, they agreed to watch a movie, although which movie was still up for debate despite the argument for it having long died out. Besides, Tails still had to set up the fancy smancy surround sound and projector set up he put together last week. This kid could seriously make anything, and it never failed to impress Sonic. Little bro was totally way past cool.

Tails shuffled around the room positioning equipment and plugging wires, running them over our heads and nearly tripping over Shadow, who still sat positioned on the floor only much more loose and splayed out than before. The other two sat in momentary, blissful silence, watching the smoke drift through the air above them and letting it dance on their fingers. Sonic was finally feeling that peace he had hoped for, that giggly melty feeling he got when whenever he smoked. He was beginning to think this night might actually turn out when Silver finally broke the silence.

"Shadow, can I ask you a personal question?"

"No"

"What age do you– I mean, how old are you, really?" Silver asked him with all the genuine curiosity of a small child. Shadow immediately bristled, every inch of his body sharpening defensively and his eyes seemed to narrow past their already drooping state, but he remained otherwise very still. At the same time Sonic had loudly spit up some of his water back into his cup in surprise. He set it back down on the table as Silver continued, "Just cause- you know- you're immortal(ish) and all that but you were, like, only alive for a couple of years and then frozen in time for 50 more, so."

"Silver, I don't think now is the time for sensitive questions." Sonic said carefully. He didn't like the look that was coming over Shadows face.

"But, I was just wondering. I mean, I guess what I'm asking is if you're fifty-five years old, or just five years old? Also, Could you talk when you first, uh… hatched? Is hatched the right word for this? How much could you–"

"Silver, stop talking. You're killing the mood" Shadow said plainly. His jaw was clenched so tightly that Sonic worried for his dentist, and his brows were still knit together, but his eyes were half lidded and he made no attempt at being physically hostile. Sonic thought that was probably a good sign. Maybe all it really does take to tame the Ultimate Lifeform is a little bit of green and some serious R&R. Well, maybe. He still wasn't using very nice words.

"Okay," was Silver's response.

Tails blew out an exasperated breath, "Hey, don't be mean to Silver, he's just doing his best."

"He's also killing the mood." Shadow said again, "And why does everyone think I'm being mean? He asked an invasive question. I simply didn't want to answer it."

Sonic grimaced and leaned over to whisper at Silver, "Coming from Shadow, I wouldn't take that personally. He's usually the mood killer in the group." Silver blinked at him.

"Can we just drop it, please." Shadow said, his usual annoyance still in his tone, but also something else, something more prominent. Shadow seemed more indifferent than usual. Sonic wanted to chalk it up to him being high, finally relaxing, but it might be more than that. It was like he was already somewhere else, fading in and out of the room without ever leaving.

Sonic leaned over to the other side and attempted to whisper to Shadow, although the blue hog was practically incapable of keeping a hushed tone, "So, Shads. How are you feelin buddy? Weed got your alien DNA in a tissy, or are you floating on cloud 9?"

"Why are you speaking in another language?" Shadow groaned. He shook his head at Sonic and then sighed. "I feel… I feel like jello. And I can't stay focused. I thought this was supposed to be relaxing."

"The jello is the relaxing part, my dude" quipped Sonic before he realized that a statement like that definitely wasn't putting Shadow as ease. He tried again, "You just gotta ease into it, let it happen. Follow you're rainbow, man."

Shadow huffed and slumped even lower onto the floor, practically laying down flat, his arms wide. He closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, then opened them and peered back at Sonic. "I don't like it." He stated.

Sonic was wishing more and more that Silver had not brought up anything about the Ark. He knew better than that, even if it was an honest question. It was something that Sonic himself had wondered about many times, but knew there was no real answer to it. He was okay with that, the not knowing, if it made Shadow feel better. Although, the idea of Shadow being technically younger than Tails did make Sonic laugh. If only Knuckles heard about this, Sonic wondered if he would feel the same way with Shadow as he does when it comes to Tails smoking. Eh, probably not. He certainly didn't have the same protective brotherly bond when it came to Shadow. Quite the opposite, actually

That train of thought aside, Sonic knew just how to get Shadow's mind off of that Ark, "You know, I think I've changed my mind. I think we should watch Silence of the Hedgehogs! It could be fun!" He tossed Shadow a huge wink, but the darker hedgehog offered no more than to meet his eyes for a moment, acknowledging that he had heard him but nothing more. Sonic decided to take that as a good sign, even as he turned to meet the horrified stares of his other friends.

"A-Are you sure, Sonic? My gadgets are pretty immersive, and I've heard that one is especially scary. What if it's, you know… too much?" Tails asks cautiously.

"It's definitely gonna be too much!" Silver whined. "One time, Blaze made me watch the Saw series because she said if you ignore the gore you can really learn some things about people. Turns out, you can't ignore the gore. It was all gore. In the end she wouldn't even stay with me at night, because she said I was being a big baby about it. I suppose I was, but I had to crash at Cream's house instead. For a few nights…"

Yet another of those horrible few seconds of silence passed the group as they all starred.

"You know, I never quite know how to respond to the things you say, Silver." Sonic told him, shaking it off, "Anyway, you'll be fine! This one is a lot less gorey. At least, I'm pretty sure." Sonic had never actually seen the movie, he wasn't a big fan of horror movies himself, always more of a comedy guy. Silver didn't seem reassured by his promises. Sonic fought the urge to remind him that he has literally fought with much scarier threats in his real life than anything in this fictional movie, and tried again, "Listen, I'll tell you what. If you get scared, you can hold my hand." He was mostly joking when he said it, but Silver nodded gratefully at him as he groaned internally. This certainly was going to be a long night, huh?

As the movie began and the minutes drew by, Sonic kept an eye on his friends. He wanted them to be having a good time, he wanted everyone to be happy, he wished for them to enjoy the high as much as he did. Tails and Silver seemed to perk up, to become engrossed in the film, eyes wide and fists clenched with adrenaline. Shadow, however, only seemed to slip further and further away, until finally Sonic caught him not even looking at the screen at all. He played absentmindedly with a piece of string he had found on the floor, wrapping it and unwrapping it around his fingers, untying and retying knots. Clearly, he still had something else on his mind.

Sonic was considering how he could make the situation better, or figure out what was bothering the broody edgehog when Shadow suddenly stood from his position and began walking toward the hallway. Sonic heard the bathroom door click closed behind him, and figured he couldn't do anything more until Shadow came back.
-

Silver didn't release Sonic's hand from a vice grip until after the credits had finished rolling and he had had a moment to catch his breath. Seriously, for a guy who has risked his life to save the world multiple times, fought actual flaming demons, Silver sure couldn't handle the idea of your classic cannibal. Sonic shook his hand to get some feeling back into his fingers as he looked over to check on Tails.

Tails actually handled the movie quite well in the end. Once he stopped viewing it as a bloody scary mess and began to focus on the physiological aspects of the film and its killer, the mystery of it all, he was nothing if not chatty about all of his theories and deductions. Shadow will be so glad that Tails liked-

Shadow. Oh shit. Shit, shit shit shit shit. How long ago was that when he left for the bathroom? It couldn't have been more than twenty minutes into the film. God, Sonic couldn't not believe he forgot about him for over an hour. Man, this would come back to bite him in the ass hard, wouldn't it? Dammit. Dammit. Okay, someone really needs to go check on him. Admittedly, Sonic did not want to be that person. He wasn't great with, you know, talking to Shadow. Or, like, emotions and sad stuff in general. Sadness always seems to permeate the air, stealing Sonic's words or making him say the wrong thing. Man, he was always saying the wrong thing.

He cleared his throat. "Hey, uh, you guys? Has anyone seen Shadow? I think maybe someone should check on him. It's been a while."

Tails was immersed in a lengthy movie theory with a wide eyed Silver. He barely broke out of it long enough to answer Sonic, "Oh, yeah. You should definitely check on him at this point."

"Right…" Stand your ground, Sonic. " I was kind of hoping you would want to do that?"

Tails rolled his eyes, "It's just Shadow, you've known him for years. Just go see how he's doing, that's all." He immersed himself back into the discussion with Silver, and Sonic was forced to accept his fate. Groaning loudly for all to hear, he turned and headed for the hallway.

The bathroom door was still closed, the light shining through the crack at the bottom. As Sonic drew nearer he could hear signs of life on the other side– light breathing, occasional shuffling around– but nothing that gave him any clues as to what was taking his friend(?) so long in there. With a sudden disgust, Sonic wondered if it really was just some bad food keeping him hostage, and that perhaps he misjudged the situation. The age old gamble, was it stomach problems or emotional problems? He wasn't sure which scenario would be more awkward.

He hesitated for several more moments, pacing and trying to physic himself up for it as quietly as he could manage. He wasn't used to the nerves. You could give Sonic any enemy to defeat, any villain to stop, and he wouldn't hesitate. But you ask him to emotionally comfort someone like Shadow when he's in a vulnerable state, and while Sonic himself was baked so thoroughly, and we're in a whole other ballpark. Sonic usually left this kind of thing to Amy. She was so much better at all this, and he found himself wishing she were here. She would definitely know what to do, what to say. Sonic attempted to channel her loving attitude before he finally raised his fist and knocked on the bathroom door.

"Maria?" came a choked response from behind it. Shadows' voice sounded confused and frightened, and with that one word Sonic's heart melted for him. Oh, boy. Oh, this was worse than he thought. So much worse.

"Ah- nope. No. Just me, buddy." Sonic assured him, but he didn't get a response this time. With a sinking feeling he wondered if Shadow could actually even hear him. Sometimes he got himself into these insane mind fogs and it was like searching through a maze blind to try and pull him back out. Sonic gripped the doorknob and turned it carefully. Good, it wasn't locked. "I'm coming in!' he warned before pushing the wide door open.

Shadow bristled, every inch of his body tensing and spiking in a moment, and he jumped to his feet in a defensive position, as if he actually thought he might be being ambushed in this tiny workshop bathroom. He stood in the bathtub, of all places, but there was no water inside of it. Had he just been laying in there? His eyes met Sonics, two swirling pools of confusion before it finally settled into recognition, and finally resentment. His eyes looked red and tired, and they glimmered in the light. Sonic assumed it to be the same glassy stoner eyes they all had at this point, but he wasn't so sure when he noticed the tiny drops of water at the corners, and the tissue gripped firmly in his hand.

Shadow let out an angry growl and did not lower his defenses. "Didn't anyone ever teach you to knock?! Get out. Now."

Sonic resisted the overwhelming urge to listen to him and instead planted his feet on the cold tile floor. "I did knock, you just weren't listening, but whatever that doesn't really matter. Listen, I'm just checking in on you, pal. We haven't seen you in a while."

"How nice of you to care. I'm fine, please leave."

"You don't seem fine to me," Sonic retorted, taking in the rest of his surroundings. Heaps of freshly used tissues lay piled in the trash can, and the shower curtain had been pulled off of several of its hooks and even torn a bit at the bottom. Damn, Sonic really liked that one, too. Maybe Amy could sew it back together at some point.

Shadow clearly had nothing to say to that, making a point of ignoring Sonic and instead focusing his gaze on a small rubber duck that Tails had left sitting on the edge of the tub. He lowered himself back down, fully sinking back into the bath and taking the tiny plastic creature delicately into both hands. If Sonic didn't know any better he would say that Shadow looked peaceful in this moment, but the lost look in his eyes implied he was just dissociating. Sonic sighed. Did he always have to make things so difficult? Sonic tried again, "It's just, you called me 'Maria' a second ago. You never talk about her unless-"

"Stop that! Get her name out of your mouth." Shadow snapped, his eyes closing tightly and a hot tear sneaking its way out, rolling down his check and finally falling from his chin onto his hand. Shadow ignored it, leaving the tear to sit there until it absorbed fully into his glove. For the second time Sonic's heart broke for him. He wanted desperately to help, but he had no idea how to approach this kind of thing.

Sonic decided to move closer to Shadow, careful not to disturb his personal space. He perched himself right there on the porcelain throne, across from Shadow, relieved that he was met with no resistance. Neither of them were comfortable with this situation, but both of them let it play out for now. Sonic took a gamble with his next line, stating it as confidently as he could, "She would be proud of you, you know. I know she would."

To Sonic's relief, Shadow didn't lash out. Instead he just ground his teeth together and closed his eyes so tight Sonic wondered if he was in physical pain, somehow, but Shadow eventually let out a breath and crumpled in on himself a bit, the fight going out of him. He was a very quiet crier, Sonic thought. When Shadow spoke, his voice wavered and he had to stop a few times throughout to regain his composure, to remember to breathe. "I don't think she would be proud, Sonic. The moment I woke up, I tried to destroy the planet. The one that she loved, the one thing she asked me to protect with my life. Her dying wish. If I hadn't realized, If that had worked– it could have worked– Earth would be gone. She would never have forgiven me for that. She would regret saving me, and she should. I was supposed to protect her, I was created to save her. Maybe if she hadn't been so stubborn about my life, I could have protected hers instead. How much better the world would have been for it, if she were here instead of me."

"Shadow… There was nothing you could have done."

"How would you know?" He asked, his voice rising an octave. "I was there! I'm the fucking Ultimate Lifeform, for God's sake! I was created to save her. I could have done something." His face twisted and he bared his teeth, "I should have killed them all, those arrogant monsters. I could have—"

"Sounds like you were under a lot of pressure," Sonic interjects with a warm smile before Shadow can get too deep into his own rabbit hole. Sonic refocused, reassured himself by thinking 'what would Amy do?' "There's nothing you can change about it now. The past is the in the past and things will get better if you just–"

"Better, huh?! That's laughable. Everyone always says it gets better, but when has it ever done that? This isn't something that will just go away, Sonic. I will think about her for the rest of my life. I will be here, thousands of years from now, long past any of your life spans. I will be the last of us left, after I watch all of you die I'll be left completely alone, and I will still be thinking of her, don't you get that?" He took a staggering breath, his hands trembled and he gripped them tighter to steady them. Sonic didn't know what to say, so Shadow scoffed and added, "You really don't get it, do you? Figures. You've never had your very reason for living bleed to death right in front of you. It changes a person, Sonic. How is it that you remain so… optimistic? Is it because of your many friends, who support you? Perhaps if you lost them you wouldn't remain so confident."

"Hey, you leave them out of this," Sonic snapped back. The comment had struck a chord, which was probably exactly the point Shadow was trying to make. Sonic couldn't even let himself think about if something happened to Tails, or Amy. Even that red knucklehead being out of Sonic's life, permanently, was not something he wanted to imagine was possible. Sonic scrambled to lighten the mood, for both of their sakes, and to attempt to dig Shadow out of this growing depressing void. "I may not get how you feel, but I know that letting things go is the only way to keep going. You won't forget her, I know, but from what I hear she was a great friend to you. Friends like that would want you to live your life, and be happy as much as you can! That's what I would want for my friends, if something happened to me." He sighed, trying to be more open. "I don't smile because I think life is perfect, Shadow– I literally face evil every day! I keep smiling because there's always a tomorrow, and with that there's possibility. A chance to make things better for everyone, one day at a time."

Shadow's face seemed to soften, his eyes round and thoughtful, but then he huffed and turned away, "God, you're annoying. Do you ever stop talking?"

Sonic wrinkled his brow. Damn, he really thought he had done a good job with that speech. That was literally the best advice he's ever given. Annoyed, he teased "I'm trying here, Shadow."

"You sound like a white woman's wall decoration."

"Ouch, my bad for caring! You know, you could stand to ease up on the attitude every once in a while."

"Me? As if I started this?"

"You're the one locking yourself in Tails' bathroom for an hour. Pretty angsty if you ask me."

"Clearly it wasn't locked, as you so kindly demonstrated when you busted in here."

"I knocked and verbally warned you that I was coming in! What else were you expecting me to do? Bring alarm bells?" Sonic was rubbing at his temple. All this back and forth was giving him a headache. He needed to simmer down or he would only make it worse for both of them. He took a deep breath and brought back his award winning smile. Well, it would be award winning if it were ever put up to a vote, he was sure of it. "Listen- I just. I think we should just try to get through the night and then we can talk about this in the morning. With Amy, if you wanted to."

Shadow frowned, "Great, just what I needed. An intervention."

"Shut up! God, fuck it. Just- You wanna go play some more video games or something? I can make it up to you tonight, trust me. It's not too late to turn it around and enjoy the high! Besides, I still haven't gotten a real laugh out of you tonight and you can't leave until that happens. We can play any game you want, pick your poison." Sonic rambled, hoping to drag him full force out of this mood, but Shadow was hesitating. Why was he hesitating? "Or… we could find some bots, do some butt kicking. Breaking bad guys always helps me let off some steam."

"I should probably just go," Shadow said, standing up.

Sonic quickly blocked his path and wagged a finger in his direction. "Ah, ah, ah! No can do, Shadow. A friend on weed is a friend in need, my friend. I can't let you go sulk off alone in this mucho state of angst-"

"It is not angst," defended Shadow.

"Whatever. I just really think you should stay, try to relax. But not in the bathtub, because I really do need to pee. I drank, like, four sodas during that movie, dude. It's serious."

Shadow grimaced and moved towards the door, "Jesus, fine. I'll stay another hour if you insist, but then I'm going home." He wiped under his eyes roughly a few times before leaving, trying to be casual about it as if Sonic hadn't noticed he had been crying. He strode out of the room like nothing was ever wrong.

Sonic really did need to pee. He did his business quickly, but ligured when he caught his reflection in the mirror. He wouldn't admit it, but he often does this, making faces at himself just for a good laugh. His version of freshening up, he supposed, and he needed it now more than ever. He made several faces, sticking out his tongue and laughing to himself, shaking off all the weight that the talk with Shadow had brought on him. He certainly didn't want to think about his friends dying anymore. Shit. He just did.

Sonic made a few more faces at himself and added a little dance, for good measure. He left the bathroom feeling good about how the night was going, despite Shadow's issues. He was still confident that he could turn the whole thing around. He was wrong.

As Sonic strolled by the kitchen he noticed Shadow was in there. He sat atop the counter like some kind of anarchist, popping the last bite of a brownie into his mouth. At first Sonic wasn't alarmed, just surprised that Shadow would immediately choose to be even higher after the troubles he was already enduring moments ago. Sonic then took in the surrounding kitchen, the several pans of brownies he had made had significantly less in them. Oh, for the love of God.

"I leave you alone for five minutes," Sonic complains, exasperated. He's afraid of what he must ask next. "Shadow… how many of those did you eat?"

Shadow tossed him a poisonous look. "It's called comfort food, Sonic, and I don't need you judging me. What does it matter? You're brownies taste burnt by the way."

Sonic was so sure he knew, he had to know, right? Wasn't it obvious? Maybe he hadn't made it clear enough. Oh boy. Oh no. Shit, shit, shit. "Shadow," he said again, cautiously, "You know those are pot brownies… right?"

The room was still for a hauntingly long moment, and then all hell's fury broke loose.

"The brownies have weed?!" Shadow erupted, alarmed and furious all at once, "Why would you do that? How was I supposed to know that?! You never said that! You explicitly said we couldn't eat it! What the hell have you done?!" He didn't seem to be getting enough air and he clutched the counter so hard Sonic was genuinely expecting it to break off in his hand at any minute. Yeah, this definitely wasn't looking good.

Sonic rubbed the back of his head, "Man, I really, I thought you knew. I could have sworn I told you they were edibles! You even ate one earlier– did you not notice? I thought everyone knew. Back me up here, guys."

Silver shook his head slowly, "Uh-uh. You leave me out of this. I am way too high."

Okay, so Silver didn't have his back. What else was new? "Tails, Buddy?"

His best friend wore an apologetic look on his face, like he was trapped between a Botnik and a hard place. "Well… technically, you never did clarify what kind of brownies they were, so I guess that part is kinda, sort of your fault…" He grins sheepishly, and then suddenly straightens up and brightens his smile, "But I'm sure he didn't mean to do it! Sonic would never force someone to be higher than they wanted, or hurt his friends in any way! It's a genuine mistake, I'm sure of it."

"Thanks, pal!" Sonic responded, proud of his friend's words. He looked expectantly at Shadow, but of course the other hedgehog wasn't jumping at the opportunity to forgive him. In fact, he still seemed torn somewhere between fury and fear, his breath now coming in ragged gasps, his eyes unfocused. Sonic was beginning to get really concerned for him, he was gonna give himself a heart attack at this rate.

"What did you do to me?" Shadow asks again. Sonic swallows.

"Yeah, I think it's time for me to go," quipped Silver. He stood and began for the door.

Sonic fully ignored him, "Shadow, it's okay! It's really not that bad, a good rest will fix everything. You're just being dramatic—"

"Dramatic?" Shadow spat. In hindsight, those last few words were not Sonic's brightest idea. He flinched a little as Shadow continued, "I am going to be a half-lidded slobbery mess for who knows how fucking long, not to mention the horrific mental anguish this drug has already put me through tonight and you're saying this is fine? I've already ingested six brownies! I don't know what's going to happen to me." His voice wavered on the last line, unsure.

Tails poked his head back into the kitchen "Actually, Shadow, considering that you have a bit of alien DNA, I would hypothesize that you could actually handle this much cannabis way better than most people, maybe even recover faster. Well, physically that is."

"Wait, you ate six brownies?" Sonic asked in bewilderment. How long had he been in the bathroom?

Shadow squeezed his eyes shut, like that would keep him from seeing things."Seven, if you count the one from earlier." He replied.

Tails looked concerned, "Jesus christ, Shadow. I think you should probably lay down."

Shadow just shook his head in response, several times like he was trying to shake his thoughts back into place, or perhaps trying to clear his mind. When he looked up he directed his energy back to Sonic, "I knew I shouldn't have come here," he hissed. "This is all your fault! This is exactly what I mean when I say you don't take anything seriously, you don't understand what it's like! You can't empathize with other people, Sonic. You don't understand anything!" He reached his hand into his metaphorical pocket, and when he pulled it back out Sonic caught a glimpse of shimmering green stone. As Shadow brought it into the dim light of the kitchen the gem caught it and danced, casting streaks of shimmering green across all of the walls and ceilings, even spreading across the floor.

"Wha- Is that a Chaos Emerald?!" Sonic exclaimed, genuinely surprised, "Did you have that this whole time? Who brings a Chaos Emerald to a smoke sesh?"

"I always have one." Shadow growled back, still teetering on the edge of panic, but slipping dangerously closer to blind rage. There's no way his claim was true, Knuckles would have never agreed to something so insane. At least Shadow doesn't have his guns, Sonic thought. At least, he was hoping that Shadow didn't have his guns. He probably didn't, right?

Tails scratches his head. "Why is it always the green one with you?"

"Because I like green," Shadow stated. "Nevermind that. Look, I've been thinking about what you said, Sonic, and you were right."

"You admit that Kung Fu Kangaroo 2 is better than the original?"

"What? No, you cretin. I think if I'm going to feel any better, I need to finally get my revenge. You know, break something."

"Oh, hey, I definitely never said anything about 'revenge'" Sonic used air quotes around the last word, "Not after the time you almost—"

"She wanted me to save people, bring hope to the humans on earth– But those soldiers on the arc weren't human. If they were, they wouldn't have…" Shadow swallows hard, shakes his head, and continues. "I don't need to explain anything to you. I won't hurt the innocent, but I can't promise I won't take a life." With that he raised the hand that held the Emerald, far above his head, and extended it toward the ceiling.

Sonic knew this pose well. "Wait, Shadow–!"

"Chaos Control!"

He warped out of the room in a psychedelic flash of green light, spinning and warping, pulling Shadow somewhere else and finally he was gone. Tails stared wide eyed at where he had just been, no trace of him left behind but the empty squares in the brownie pans.

"Well," Sonic rubbed his hands over his face and groaned loudly, "That is definitely not good."
-

It had not gone well for Sonic after Shadow chaos controlled himself out of Tail's kitchen. Ideally, the three of them would have worked to track down Shadow together, but Silver had conveniently slipped out the door the moment that things got heated, and Tails had decided they needed the Tornado and left to retrieve it. Heck, it probably would come in handy later, but it left Sonic on a mission to recruit Amy's help all on his own. He really liked Amy, she was a good friend to him, but he avoided any kind of one-on-one time with her. She had a habit of making him feel… uncomfortable when it was just the two of them.

He raised a fist to the door, hesitated, mumbled his greeting a few times again under his breath, tried a few different combinations of words. Geez, this was like the moment outside the bathroom door with Shadow all over again! How many times in one night can a guy find himself pacing outside a doorway? Why was he so nervous? He was never nervous. Perhaps it was because he was blazed out of his gourd, but usually weed just mellowed him out. Maybe it was all the stress tonight has brought him. Stupid heightened senses. It's just Amy! No big deal.

He rapped his knuckles on the door and resisted the urge to run off the porch before she could answer. He just wanted to go back home, eat some chili dogs and smoke some weed. Was that too much to ask? He could hear shuffling inside and… was that chatting? It sounded like Amy had company. Sonic puffed up his chest confidently. It was probably just Cream, or maybe Big. If he could listen to Shadow and Silver bicker all night, he could deal with any of Amy's friends. Finally, the door creaked open.

"Oh! Hello there, Blue," Rouge greeted him, surprised at first, then settling into the doorway and eyeing him up and down. Grinning, she asked him, "What brings you here?"

"Hey, Rouge," Sonic replied, a little surprised but also relieved, "Is Amy around?"

"Well, this is her house, isn't it?" Rouge replied and Sonic just gave a half hearted chuckle. He really didn't have the time for this. Thankfully, she didn't make him ask twice. "Amy! Your boyfriend is here," She cooed over her shoulder.

Sonic felt his whole body bristle at that word, blush flooding his cheeks, but he kept his composure. He totally always stayed cool under pressure. He willed himself to act casual, to pretend he hadn't heard it. "So, what brings you here, Rouge."

She put a hand on her hip and gestured to the scene around her. An absolute avalanche of pillows poured into the living room to the point that most of the floor was not visible. Sheet after sheet of linen was strung across the ceiling in all kinds of directions and all sorts of colors and patterns. In the center of it all were a few curious objects. From Jewels, to snacks, a ouija board, tarot cards, polaroids of Sonic, nail polish, Shadows pistol, various makeup, books about romance, throwing knives, beads– Wait, what? Sonic blinked a few times. Yeah, those were definitely weapons in there.

"Girls night," Rouge clarified, "Obviously."

Amy bounded up with oven mitts on her hands and a tray full of uncooked cake batter between them. She nearly dropped it when she saw Sonic, and he could practically see her heart beat faster in her chest. It was written all over her face too, and the gentle sway she had on her feet. She recovered and gripped the tray even harder now, like it might burst from her hands at any moment.

"Sonic! What brings you here? I thought tonight was just you and the boys. Not that I'm not happy to see you, I am! Do you want to come in?" Her words strung together as she frantically tore off the oven mitts and put down the mixing bowl. He hated that he always made her so flustered. He wished she'd just talk to him like anyone else. She studied his face a little too long and frowned. "You look hot, Sonic. I mean hot! I mean high! Are you high right now?!"

Ignoring Amy's question and offering her his biggest smile, he shuffled past Rouge into the entryway and she shut the door behind him. He didn't want to take too long, who knows what Shadow could get up to, even in such a short amount of time. He needed to get right to the point. "Look, Amy. I need your help. I kind of… partially caused something bad to happen. Well, like, maybe 30% of it was on me, and that's if I'm being generous. He was still the one who ate them. Personally, I think that makes this his fault."

"What? Did you force someone to eat something bad?" Amy asked, looking upset. She suddenly gasped, "Oh no! You didn't dare Knuckles to eat two month old salami again did you?! You know better than that! Knuckles can't resist a dare, even if it means botulism!"

"No, no! This isn't a Knuckles thing, it's not like that."

Amy threw her hands in the air, "Then where are they? If someone is sick, especially if you caused it, you shouldn't have left them alone! We need to go–"

"I got Shadow way too stoned," Sonic blurted out. He looked around at the astonished faces in the room. Clearly they're both still taking it in. He continued, "Honestly, I left him alone for not more than five minutes and he eats seven of my 50mg pot brownies. Apparently he claims that I didn't tell him they were laced. I totally did, but whatever. The point is he Chaos Controlled himself out of our kitchen and we have no idea where the fuck he went, but he's definitely not in a good mood and I fear it will only get worse as the brownies kick in." There was more he wanted to say, but he felt he got the gist of it and he really did just want to get going.

To Sonic's surprise, and what looked like Amy's too, Rouge just began absolutely cackling. Like, funniest-shit-she'd-ever-heard-cant-even-breath level laugh attack. Sonic couldn't help it, the laughter was contagious and they were feeding off each others energy, only getting more and more hysterical. Amy made a short and high pitched angry noise like a teapot, then took a huge breath with calming hand motions and centered herself. "Sonic, dear. What the hell is wrong with you?!" She pinched the bridge of her nose, "I suppose you got Tails high again, too, while you were at it? God, you're unbelievable."

Sonic worked to regain his composure, small fragments of laughter still seeping into his words as he said them. "Everyone's a critic" he retorted, remembering Knuckle's words from earlier. It seems so long ago now. Rouge continued to snicker in the background as Sonic continued, "To be fair, there were two panic attacks tonight and neither of them were Tails, so I'd say he's not the problem we need to be focused on."

"Panic attacks?! And was this before Shadow ate seven pot brownies or after? Jesus, Sonic! I thought you didn't like hanging out with him anyway, you boys always come back bloodied and bruised when you see each other! Now you decide to give Shadow enormous amounts of weed thinking, what? That it would mellow him out? He's actually quite naturally calm as it is, Sonic. He doesn't raise his voice much at all until you come along and provoke him. What he really needs is a friend, and a good time, not drugs! I really can't believe you."

Sonic knew a lecture when he heard one and he was already instinctually tuning it out. This was never his idea, anyway, it was Tails. Of course It wasn't worth throwing his best friend under the bus, so he simply waited for Amy to finish and get whatever she needed off her chest. He was pulled out of his dissociation when he heard Rouge's voice cutting through.

"As hilarious as this idea is in theory, we really should go find him," she says, still wiping tears away from her eyes, being careful not to smudge her mascara. "He really shouldn't have ever had that stuff. He only decides to take drugs when he's being super irrational. He can hardly even handle caffeine without going into a major tissy. Trust me, the mornings that he insists on having his damn coffee beans is never a good day for any of us."

"Has he ever run off in these situations before?" Amy asks her. "Is there a certain place he might go?"

Rouge shrugged. "He usually either locks himself away in his room or goes out to find trouble. If there's a sudden disaster in the city, we'll know where he is."

Sonic tapped his foot. "Are you suggesting we just wait to hear news of a rampaging hedgehog across town? Nuh-uh, I'm not about to let him ruin my reputation again. This is Shadow on seven edibles we're talking about. He could destroy half the city by the time the news is reporting on it."

"Good point. We need something else," Amy said. "What about your communicator? I assume if Tails isn't with you, he's doing an aerial search with The Tornado."

"He is, but he would've contacted me if he saw anything."

"There's no harm in checking."

She seemed hopeful, so Sonic decided to humored her, not expecting anything useful. He clicked the button on the side of his communicator. "Tails, buddy. Found anything yet?"

"Not yet, Sonic. Just a few more minutes."

He almost left it at that. He wanted to say 'I told you so' to Amy, but another signal came crackling through.

"Sonic, is that you?" It was Knuckles, loud and clear.

"Yeah, it's me. What's up Knux?"

"If you're looking for Eggman, then you found him. He thought he could sneak up and steal the Master Emerald on my watch! Musta thought I went with you guys tonight. Ha, what an idiot! As if I'd ever leave it unguarded. Anyway, get your ass over here and help me get rid of him. You owe it to me after being so damn confident this wouldn't happen."

Sonic rubbed at his temple. "Ah, great. Just what we needed for our laid back afternoon– scrambled eggs."

"Haha, dude. Nice one."

Sonic grinned, letting out a chuckle of his own. It was a nice one, wasn't it? Getting more to the point he said, "Listen, Knuckles, I'm actually looking for Shadow. Have you seen him?"

He stopped laughing, "Shadow? Why would you be looking for Shadow? Wait… were you with him today?! Did you…? Oh, please tell me you did not get him high." Sonic could hear Knuckles huffing angrily on the other end. He ignored it.

"Nevermind that. Where are you? I'm coming to you."

"Angel island. Where else."

"Alright, I'm on my way." Sonic told him. He smirked to himself and added, "Save some butt kicking for me, will yuh?"

Knuckles snorted. "I'll try. Eggman is very weak."

Sonic moved to put the communicator back down, but Rouge took his arm, somewhat aggressively. "Is that Knuckles?" She asked. "Let me talk to him!"

"Ouch!" Sonic complained. "Okay, okay but make it quick. We've got places to be and butts to kick. Ha, that rhymed!" Sonic passed the device to Rouge, who excitedly held it to her ruby red lips.

"Knuckie- poo! Is that you darling?" She cooed into the mic.

"R-Rouge? I told you not to call me that! What are you doing with Sonic?"

"Oh, you know. He just came looking for my help, like men often do" Her lips curled deviously into a grin, "You know, I can hear you blushing through the phone, Knuckles."

"You can't hear shit, woman!"

"Aw," She sighed, "I love it when you talk dirty to me. Tell me, what are you wearing?"

Knuckles sounded genuinely confused. "Wearing? What do you– I'm just wearing my gloves and shoes."

Rouge purred at him, "JUST your gloves and shoes?"

"Okay!" Sonic interjected, taking the communicator back from Rouge and shoving it into his metaphorical pocket. "That's certainly enough of that. We better go now before things get any worse. It's time we catch up to that robust evil disaster and bust him a new one!"

Amy looked at him sideways, "Yeah, your heroic quips definitely take a toll when you get too high."
-

The group was less than a minute away when the communicator went off again. They had already informed Tails to meet them there, but it seemed he had more to say at the moment. Sonic held the device to his ear. "What was that Tails?"

"I said, Shadow is here! He just showed up and started attacking Eggman at full force, yelling at him. He seems really angry…"

"What else is new?"

"Tails is serious, Sonic." came Knuckle's voice, sounding a little farther away, "I don't know what you did to this guy, but he is pissed. And a little… off balance."

Sonic scoffed. "Why does everyone immediately blame me?"

"Because it always is you, Sonic. Now come get your hot topic reskin off my island."

They were coming up on the scene now, tiny specks in the distance forming into his friends, and another into his long time enemy Dr. Robotnik. Sonic was glad to see that the Master Emerald still sat in its usual spot, unharmed so far in the heat of battle.

"It's about time you showed up." Knuckles said as they arrived. When he caught sight of Rouge he immediately flushed, "Oh. I didn't know you'd be coming."

"Oh, but of course" Rouge teased, offering a flirty finger wave while Sonic rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to slap some sense into the both of them. "If anyone's gonna steal your Emerald, handsome, it's gonna be me!"

"That's not exactly the sentiment we're going for here, Rouge." grumbled Amy.

She was nearly cut off by a deep scream of anguish, followed by a huge crashing sound, a sound that could only be two heavy objects colliding with one another. Yup, Shadow was definitely around here somewhere.

Sonic turned in the direction of the noise. He had to look up slightly to see it clearly, but there they both were, hovering a mer few feet from the Emerald, each suspended in the air. Eggman was in his classic get-away machine, a simple rounded one seater. Shadow was using what Sonic always interpreted as a mixture of chaos energy and his air shoes to keep him afloat. One thing was evidently clear, neither of them looked very happy.

"Jesus, Shadow! I really don't know where this is coming from!" whined Eggman. He narrowly missed another swipe of Shadows fist. "I was just here for the Emerald! What would you care about something like that?"

Shadow's face held nothing but disgust for the man in front of him. "Monsters like you think they can just take whatever you please, fuck the consequences. Well, I'm not going to let that happen. If it wasn't for your lineage none of this would have ever happened! I should have never been made. You could have stopped it. Why didn't you stand up to your grandfather? Why didn't you stand up for her?"

Eggman tensed, "That was 50 years ago, you angry weasel! I was just a boy."

"And yet you put all the world's hope in me, when I had only just been made! You put her life in my hands!" Shadow's voice broke. "I didn't know what to do, you know. When it happened. There was so much blood. You didn't make me strong enough to save her… but I am strong enough to end you. Let's see if your blood flows just as red as hers." He brought several more kicks down on Eggman's machine, denting the shit out of it and leaving the doctor dizzy.

Eggman held his head as it swam, "I didn't make you, you belligerent buffoon! That was my grandfather! Jesus, Shadow. How many times can one hedgehog get amnesia? Now unhand me before I—"

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow shouted and a sissling bolt of yellow energy ripped past Robotnik, nearly hitting him in the face. Luckily he moved just in time, but it still left a tinged bit of mustache and the smell of burning hair in its wake.

Eggman growled "You imbecile! Do you have any idea what it takes to keep up such a magnificent stache? You might as well have- AH!" He made another narrow escape as Shadow threw more spears and delivered a roundhouse kick that nearly capsized the eggship. It was clear that Eggman had hoped for a simple grab-and-go stealth mission, he was fully unprepared to face Shadow in such a tiny craft.

Several feet away, Knuckles crossed his arms. "10 rings says the newbie's seventh edible kicks in soon and his legs turn to jelly. All we gotta do is wait for him to tire himself out."

Sonic snorted. "What? Man, no way! You should have seen what a little weed has brought out in Shadow today. He isn't playing around! Besides, Egghead is hardly a threat at all. I've got 10 rings that say Shadow makes him eat pavement."

"You're on!"

"You guys!" Amy huffed, absolutely exasperated. "Maybe you two should stop gawking and gambling and actually go stop them from killing each other?! This could be seriously dangerous!"

"Pfft, dangerous." Mocked Sonic, but Amy flashed him a look so venomous he immediately tried to swallow his grin. "Okay, okay, fine. But he isn't going to just listen to me."

"Well, you can't just fight him! We need a better plan than that."

"Just shake a bag of coffee beans at him, he's surprisingly similar to a kitten. Here, Shadow, Shadow, Shadow!" Rouge suggests, snickering behind a gloved hand "Works for me everytime!"

Amy groaned again. "Will you all stop joking? This is serious! Shadow's really hurting!"

Sonic glanced back up to see Eggman still very much at the mercy of Shadow in this fight. He appeared bashed and bruised while Shadow remained unfazed, other than his slight delay and half lidded eyes, both a direct consequence of the weed rather than anything Eggman has done to him. "I don't think Shadow is the one getting hurt in this situation." Sonic observed. Some of the conversation between the two still reached them.

"You played me for a fool, Doctor! You almost made me do the one thing I promised her I never would! Multiple times! You are a direct threat to this planet. You need to be terminated. You should have been gone ages ago."

Eggman was fully cowering at this point. He seemed to be looking for a way out, an escape, but Shadow wasn't providing one. He looked back into Shadows' expression once more, and something crossed over Robotnik's face. "Sonic!" He roared, absolutely livid. "You gave him something, didn't you? Why the fuck does Shadow look stoned?!"

"Because I am stoned!" Roared Shadow as he landed another kick to Eggman's craft, finally shattering the protective glass shield and exposing the yolk within.

"My bad," Sonic shouted back at them with a guilty chuckle. His friends all shot him annoyed looks. He wasn't a very big crowd pleaser tonight, was he?

In that moment the communicator crackled and surged to life, "Okay, I've got an idea."

"Tails! How's it looking up there, bud? What's the big plan?"

Tails took a deep breath. "Sonic I think you should go in and try to talk this out with Shadow, he just needs to be reasoned with and I'm sure he'll let this whole thing go. While he's distracted the rest of us can focus on getting Eggman out of the equation."

"Right," Sonic responded, dripping with sarcasm. "You want me to just go reason with Shadow. Uh-huh, piece of cake," The others seemed to take Tails more seriously. Knuckles punched his fists together, Rouge unfolded her wings and stood ready for flight, and Amy drew out her hammer and swung it over her shoulder. Each of them was prepared to swoop in once Shadow and Eggman were separated.

Sonic looked up at the battle above him and groaned. The real issue here was that he couldn't fly. "Shadow," He sing-songed playfully. "Will you come down from there so we can talk properly?"

Shadow scowled at him, "I've had more than enough of you for one night. Leave, Sonic. This doesn't concern you."

"I don't know," Sonic droned, "This scenario involves my best friends, my biggest enemy, and a murder plot so, yeah, I think it concerns me."

"Believe me, I'm doing us both a favor here." Shadow growled. He threw himself at Eggman, who's yelp was cut off when Shadows fingers found his throat and squeezed. Eggman made horrible choking noises, and Shadow only squeezed harder as he did.

"Jesus, stop it Shadow! You're killing him!"

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't."

Sonic looked at his life-long enemy. This man who has tried to conquer the planet multiple times, almost destroying it in the process. This man who has hurt his friends, kidnaps innocent animals, has murdered multiple people himself, and is just awful on the environment. And he was super annoying. Sonic shrugged. "So I can't think of any good reasons off the top of my head, but I'll get back to you on that one."

"Sonic!" Amy wailed from her spot near Eggman. Clearly she had been eavesdropping. "Shadow shouldn't do it because it's morally wrong! We're talking about murder here, people! Please, let go of him!" To Sonic's surprise Shadow actually released his grip a little at Amy's words, just enough for Eggman to begin gasping and sucking in air again.

"At this point, we could probably get away with self defense" knuckles offered and Amy batted at his arm. Rouge snickered behind them.

"This– ACK– isn't funny!" Eggman choked, trying to pry Shadows hands away.

Sonic had to do whatever it would take to get Shadow off of him. He jumped up and threw himself into a spindash, colliding into Shadow with his full body weight hard enough to knock his hands loose and send them both flying back. Shadow had managed to see it coming with enough time to brace for impact, and as they flew through the air Shadow righted himself to land on his feet, skidding a few yards when he landed. Sonic hit the ground with all fours and had to quickly scramble to right himself before his momentum caused him to face plant. He contributed the off balance feeling he had to being high. Man, he was still lit as a christmas tree and he couldn't even enjoy it with all this going on. Next time he vowed it would be just him and Tails. They really didn't need all this drama.

"What is wrong with you?!" Shadow scolded him.

"Wrong with me? Pfft! Not a thing, I was born perfect! You on the other hand-"

"I don't have time for your games! If you want a fight, then I'll give you one." Shadow interrupted. He threw a fist at Sonic, who dodged it, and their high speed dance began. A series of flashes, block and attack, defend and counter. Their movements were a swirl of limbs, meeting each other match for match, move by move.

Adrenaline pumping in his veins, smoke clouding his brain, Sonic attempted to talk Shadow down as they went, but often found himself digging the hole deeper. "She wouldn't want this, Shadow! Maybe you should at least try to sleep on it first?"

"You don't get to say what she wants! She doesn't want anything anymore!"

Sonic flinched from his words more than the kick Shadow had just roughly landed on his rib cage. Sonic let out an involuntary gasp and tried again. "This isn't you, Shad. We can just stop this, right now. We can just go home."

Something passed over Shadows eyes when he said the word 'home', but it faded just as quickly as it had come. He sprang at Sonic again, his fist colliding with his cheek and sending him staggering back. Sonic immediately recognized the metallic taste filling his mouth, and spat his own blood onto the ground beside him. "Wow. This really isn't ultimate lifeform behavior, Shad."

"What would you know, Sonic?" He sneered, swiping his foot under Sonic's legs, who jumped just in time to miss it.

"I know that that nickname was given to you by the very same old man that you're so pissed at right now. It's a given title, not a proven thing. But keep flaunting it, by all means."

"Are you asking me to prove it?" Shadow sneered, "That's your mistake."

And as it turned out, it was. Shadow used chaos control, teleporting directly in front of Sonic as he was running and proving no room for any kind of warning on his behalf. He ran straight into Shadows fist, and it smacked him in the gut so hard he wasn't sure if he was gonna hurl or split in half, perhaps both. He was flung through the air violently and hit the ground with a horrible thud, skidding on his side for several feet before he stopped. All he could do for a moment was try desperately to breathe again. God, just remember how to breathe.

"Oh my god, Sonic! Are you okay?!" Amy cried as she ran up to comfort him, "Are you hurt? If he hurt you I'll kill him, just say the word and I'll–"

"Amy! Geez, I'm fine!" He coughed, getting to his feet. "Not a scratch on me, I'm okay." As he said this he smiled, turning casually to hide the blood welling up on his left side. It really was just a scratch though, no sense making her fuse over it now. He looked back up at Shadow, who now continued to wail on Eggman's machines. "He keeps teleporting. The guy wont stand still!"

"Are you saying that he's faster than you?" Knuckles taunted him.

"Ha! That's a laugh! He can't be faster if he isn't even running." Sonic snorted. He put his hand on his chin thoughtfully "But I do need a different strategy."

As Knuckles and Sonic thought very hard to themselves, steam practically rising from their ears while Shadow and Eggman beat the shit out of each other in the background, Amy rolled her eyes. "I have an idea," She said.

Sonic immediately looked up, relieved that he didn't have to admit that he had no plan. Knuckles let out a huge sigh of relief at not having to think any longer and wiped sweat from his forehead, smiling at Amy `"Well then, let's hear it!"

Amy took a huge breathe, stood up straight, and said "I'm going to talk to him"

"You're gonna… talk to him?" Sonic asked doubtfully.

"I'm gonna talk to him."

"Did you not just see how that went for me, or?"

Rouge put a hand on her hip. "Blue is right, I don't think we're on the right idea path right now. When have you ever seen Shadow listen to reason?"

"He's reasonable plenty of times! What is with you guys? You have no faith in him, do you?" Amy shook her head. "Like I said before, Sonic provokes him. We were never going to get through to him that way, but maybe if I'm the one he hears it from we can calm him down."

Sonic shook his head right back at her. "He's dangerous right now, Ames. I can't let you up there alone."

"It's sweet that you care about me, Sonic, but I don't need your permission. Besides, Shadow won't hurt me. I'm the one who convinced him to fight the Biolizard, remember? I think I… I think I remind him of her."

An uncomfortable silence hovers for a moment. Rouge moves to clear the air, "That is true." She says "And I've had my fair share of poking Shadows buttons, Omega too. If there's anyone that doesn't piss Shadow off, It's Amy."

"Ah, thanks Rouge," Amy said. "So it's decided then! I just gotta work out what to say…" her feet were already moving towards the battle, and Sonic felt his adrenaline spike in his chest.

"I'll be right here" He called after her. "You know, if you need me."

"Aww, look at you two!" Rouge teased. She clasped her hands together and made kissy faces at him, causing Sonic to recoil in disgust. Her and Knuckles broke into laughter at the same moment, which only made them laugh harder and they shared a brief high-five.

Sonic frowned. "Yeah, ha ha, I care about my friend's safety. Hilarious. Listen, I'm just glad I can catch a break from all that. It's hard talking someone on seven edibles down from murder when you yourself are also very toasted."

Knuckles grinned at him. "You're very toasted, bro?"

"Very toasted, bro."

"Same."

Rouge rolled her eyes and huffed at them, "I cannot believe you guys smoked without inviting me. You know I'm the Green Queen! The party would've gone off without a hitch if I were there, and maybe Shadow could've been better cared for."

"Why, did you want a hit?" Knuckles asked, pulling out a blunt and offering it to her.

"Yes!" Rouge squealed, taking the roll between her fingers and clicking the lighter to life. Shae took a long indulgent toke and sighed. "Ah! This is just what I needed, handsome. Thank you so much," She said, letting the smoke drift through her lips as she spoke. "However, if you two do this again and don't invite me, I will steal Knuckles' entire supply for myself and blame it on you, Blue. You'll be too busy working out who's lying to realize that it was me all along! Haha!"

Knuckles snorted at the idea. "Yeah, right! I'd like to see you try to get near my stash, bat girl."

"Oh hon, you'd never see me do a thing. That's why they call it sneaking. How do you think I've been getting my supply all this time?" She offered a wink as she said this.

"What?! You- You've been stealing from me?! You're lying. That isn't possible."

"I'd argue it isn't stealing, darling. A true gentleman would never make a lady pay."

Knuckles was turning that same glowing red color from this afternoon, and Sonic knew it was time to step in before he totally lost it. He did the only thing he could think of in this state. He put a soothing hand on his friend's shoulder and patted sympathetically. "There, there, Knuckles."

"Paws off," He grumbled, shaking Sonic off, "You're not helping, you're just being weird."

Sonic narrowed his eyes. "Man, I spent way too much time trying to comfort people today. I think I've reached my limit."

He still had his gaze locked on Amy, making sure she was okay and that Eggman didn't try to pull anything while nobody was looking. She actually seemed to have this thing under control, to a point. He worried again for everyone's safety, but was comforted when he looked up and saw Tails, still circling in his plane above. Sonic could always count on Tails to back him up if anything went wrong.

Amy's warm voice wafted over to Sonic like the sweet smell of morning pastries, her words careful and gentle. "You're afraid of your own emotions, Shadow, but that's okay! You're totally valid in feeling that way. We just need to find you a better way fo channeling it."

Shadows face was getting harder to read, "Amy, please. You shouldn't be here, it isn't safe."

"As if I can't hold my own!" She huffed, probably loosing her patience at the amount of times we've all doubted her tonight. Sorry, Amy. "Just– Look at me. Don't look anywhere else, focus on me. I know you, Shadow. I know you don't want to hurt anyone, let me help you with this. I can be your shoulder to cry on."

"I'm not crying." Even as Shadows' eyes swam he denied it. Maybe he truly couldn't feel it anymore, his cheeks already soaking wet. Sonic was surprised he had anything left.

"Denial is not a good look on you," Amy told him gently. She didn't say it to pick on him, like Sonic might. She didn't say it out of annoyance, like Rouge might. She said it softly and with so much care, nudging Shadow in the right direction. His face broke again, almost giving into the sobs at that statement, but still desperately trying to hold them back.

Dr. Eggman cut through the moment like a forgotten toothache coming back at full force. "I'm not going to just sit here and listen while you two brats have a therapy session! Let me show you how tonight is really going to end!" He stretched for a button on his panel and pushed it with a maniacal laugh. A flash and a whirring noise were the only warning before a laser beam shot out of Eggman's craft heading straight for Shadow. He managed to get himself and Amy out of harms way, but the close call had thrown him deep back into his fury and he looked at Eggman with a violent hunger.

The two of them erupted back into battle. Although Shadow had seemed on the brink of calming down moments before, he now used every last bit of energy he had left slamming on Robotnik's machine before finally reaching inside. The moment that Shadows' hands gripped Eggman's shirt and began to haul him out into the open, Amy came between them, and everything was set into motion all at once.

"This isn't you, Shadow! I know you're a good person, we care about you," Amy pleaded, but he was no longer looking at her. She reached out to touch his arm, and the moment her fingers found his skin he tensed, instinctually throwing out a hand and pushing Amy away hard. Far, far, too hard. Sonic heard a loud smack, and his blood curdled as he listened to his friend scream.

The entire island fell quiet besides the sound of Sonic's shoes hitting the grass as he ran. Amy lay heaped at the base of the rock she had been thrown against. She began to sit back up, cradling one hand. Fuck, he hurt her. The bastard had actually hurt her. He'd gone too far this time. For a brief moment Sonic actually debated if he should check on Amy or beat the daylights out of Shadow first. The latter was looking truly tempting.

Blood dripped into Amy's left eye, but as she looked up and met Shadows gaze it wasnt fear or anger that burned in them– it was determination, sympathy, concern. In turn, Shadow met her with a softer gaze, his eyes betraying his growing guilt. He would never lay a hand on Amy normally, and seeing what he had just done was changing something in him.

Shaking and breathing heavily, Shadow still stood in the spot he had thrown her from. His face was riddled with regret, anguish, worry, and about a million other emotions at once– flickering from one to another like an old fashioned movie projector. His face finally settled around recognition, fully grasping what had happened, and tears began to spill over his cheeks once more in even heavier waves. Shadow fell to his knees, and surprising everyone, actually began to sob. Not a loud erratic wail, but a silent desperate drowning.

Crying or not, he had crossed the line when he hurt one of Sonic's friends. The Blue Blur hoped that this would at least end Shadows insane tirade, but if it hadn't then they were gonna have to do this the old fashioned way. Sonic was prepared to fight if necessary– he wanted to fight Shadow after what just happened. He was completely unprepared, however, for what he heard next.

"I'm sorry," Shadow choked. He began to repeat it slowly under his breath, softer and softer. Oh man, they were losing him again.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sonic caught a glimpse of red. He realized with a horrifying feeling that Knuckles was emerging from behind another tree, with a confident grin and a thumbs up. That… certainly couldn't be good.

Sonic shook his head at him aggressively "Whatever you're planning, don't do it. Knuckles!" Sonic wanted to stop him from whatever stupid thing he was inevitably about to try next, but he wasn't able to do much more than that before there was another loud cracking noise.

It took a single, deliberate punch to the head and Shadow was on the ground.

"Heh, there we go. That should put an end to this." Knuckles said, sounding like he was quite proud of himself. He looked at Amy, who sat there open mouthed and swaying. "Good distraction, Ames."

Her features contorted into anger, and Sonic became worried he would have to stop another fight from breaking out tonight. Can't this group just get along? He realized with a start that Amy was probably thinking the same thing. "That was not supposed to be a distraction!" She screamed, sounding thoroughly pissed off. "I was finally getting through to him! He was just about to calm down and that's when you chose to knock him out cold? You're unbelievable!"

Knuckles crossed his arms. "Oh, whatever. He'll be fine. At least he isn't causing trouble anymore. And besides, he's still breathing. I mean, I think he is." Knuckles nudged him roughly with his shoe. Shadow made no response, but you could see the steady rise and fall of his chest, and that was enough for this echidna.

"Breathing is a minimum requirement, Knuckles! Shadow has been through a lot tonight, adding a concussion to the mix is really the last thing he needed."

Sonic attempted to conceal his amusement, for Amy's sake. "I gotta say though, knocking him out with a single punch is super impressive. I don't think I've ever seen him unconscious before— Ow! What?!" Amy had punched him hard in the arm with her good hand, her age old indicator that he had said the wrong thing. Again. He started over, "Anyway, we should probably get him out of here, it's getting late."

"He's not going anywhere with you! Don't you dare touch him!" Rouge hissed bitterly as she caught up and landed next to the group. She knelt by Shadow and placed her hands on either side of his cheeks. "Shadow? Shadow!?" She asked gently at first, and then more aggressively, shaking him "Shadow! Wake the fuck up!" She seemed to become more and more agitated as he didn't respond. "Dammit, Shadow!" Desperate, Rouge slapped him square across the face. He finally stirred and groaned, but his eyes remained closed and he didn't make any effort to get back up.

Rouge looked annoyed more than anything, "Look at what you've done to him! He's not going to be happy when he wakes up, you know, and now I'm the one who's going to have to deal with it. God, never trust a man." She mumbled the last line more to herself than to the others. "I'm taking him home, where he can feel safe for a while. Omega can run some diagnostics on him and– so help me god– if you seriously hurt him, Knuckles, I will be back for you. You can count on that." She scooped Shadow up into her arms, mumbling something about all this sugar he's been eating, and sprung into the air. She called over her shoulder as she left, "Ta ta, darlings! Please do keep Shadow away from the drugs next time, mkay? For me~" with a wink and a little kiss, she was gone.

Sonic looked at his two friends, and smiled up at the Tornado still circling above them. "Well, guys, it's all in a day's work. Looks like we can finally go home."

"Aren't you forgetting something?!" Doctor Eggman whined as they passed him. His mouth only drew more agape as they kept walking. "Seriously?! You're all just gonna leave me here? What about your precious Emerald?! You can't expect me to simply leave it be."

"Did you guys hear something?" Sonic asked, and Amy shrugged at him, playing along.

The round mustached villain banged his fist on the console of his machine. "Bastardly creature! You can't just ignore me! You'll face consequences for that attitude."

Knuckles didn't get the memo. He turned on Eggman with teeth bared and fists raised, "You wanna tussle, Eggshit? Why don't you suck my big, red–"

"Aw, come on Egg Breath. Don't make me fight you too!" said Sonic, cutting Knuckles off before he went off on one of his inappropriate tirades. "It's really not worth the energy."

"Not worth- Ah! I'll show you a fight worth having, you insolent little–"

"Dick. My big red dick, is what I was going to say." Finished Knuckles. "It's pretty rude to interrupt, Sonic."

Sonic could only hope to contain his cringe as the communicator crackled to life again and he heard the sound of Tail's voice come through the other line with one warning, "Incoming!"

Sonic looked up just in time to see a full-on missile dropping from Tails' plane. Eggman had only just started to follow his gaze as Sonic swiveled and jumped at Knuckles and Amy, scooping them both into his arms and getting them out of the way before the missile found its target and collided with a huge boom. Shockingly, the missile had landed just so, causing it to blast Eggman sky high and he tore through the clouds with such velocity that Sonic wasn't sure if he would ever stop. "Dr. Eggman, blasting off again!" He yelled as he flew so high that he left their sight, a small twinkle appearing in the sky in his place.

"Hey, that isn't his catch phrase!" Knuckles grumbled angrily.

"Whatever," Sonic said, rubbing at his face again. "I just want to be done with this night." He shook off the weird feelings from today and beamed up at his friend, still talking to him through the communicator as he said, "Good work, Tails! You really saved me a headache with that move. I owe you a big green one when we get home."

"All in a day's work, Sonic!" Tails said confidently. "There's just one more thing. Let's just promise to never give Shadow drugs ever again, okay?"

Sonic gave a huge tired laugh, "Deal, buddy. Deal."

THE END