2 - Shadow's First Party - 2

Afternoon, 2:00 PM

Soapy foam filled water cascaded down dark ebony and amber red striped fur. Gloves and shoes were absent, he was fully bare. He felt the dirt of sweat wash out of his limbs and into the floor's drain. He technically didn't need to bathe since his body didn't naturally create odor on its own, but in certain cases, bathing was very necessary. His body may not have produced stench internally, but his body being covered in grime required a good scrubbing. It was similar to how washcloths didn't hold bad smells until they were used and stained with muck. One of these days he'd like to relax and take a good bath, but he never truly had time to relax. Rather, he never took the time to relax. Sure he had vacation days, but he didn't like using them. In fact, he's never taken one. This was illegal, but the government didn't need to know that. Maybe he should try and take it easy for a couple days? In the future, not now. He had too much to do. There were all kinds of international criminals running amok around the world, and it was his job to keep the globe safe however he saw fit. For right now, working at GUN was handling that quite well.

He stared at the black tiled wall with blank eyes, his mind rarely just as empty at the moment. It's been a long day, and he had to sign a lengthy amount of paperwork just to authorize his new promotion. Was he excited about it? Somewhat, yes. He would be getting more drastic cases, some that would occasionally involve more spying and infiltrating, of course along with some engagement of combat. He never thought he'd be doing a job like this in his lifetime, but some part of him was genuinely proud. After all, this was what she wanted. She wanted him to help the people of Mobius and make them happy. He was glad he managed to do so and make her wish come true, even if he did nearly screw it up a couple of times. He was thankful he was given the chance. His life...Actually had a purpose now. And he admittedly didn't know how to feel about that. He couldn't be ungrateful, he managed to forge a good life for himself. So why did all of this feel so...Underserved?

The creak of his apartment floors caused one of his black furred ears to flick in the noise's direction. He heard heels clicking on the hardwood outside of the bathroom, and the smell of haughty perfume burned his nose. He already knew who it was that so rudely barged into into his home to interrupt his shower. He'd say she picked the lock, but he already gave her a key to the place some time ago. He continued to bathe, rubbing his left arm with a loofah to properly cleanse the hidden dirt within his fur. He heard two knocks on the door, soon after waiting for a response. "You could have at least called and told me you were visiting." He commented loudly so she could hear him over the water.

A gorgeous white bat rolled her eyes at this. "You know I never barge in without a good reason, hun." He heard her natural sensual voice through the door.

"I don't intend on giving you my emerald."

"No sweetie, I'm not here for that. I've already got a wonderful boyfriend with a gargantuan emerald of his own." He could hear her lean against the door. "No, it's something important."

He washed behind his ears and soon in between his quills. "Important enough to interrupt my shower?"

"Yup, so hurry up in there and come here."

He rolled his eyes with an annoyed sigh, she was so bossy. He got his own place so he wouldn't be needlessly nagged, thank you very much. After a few more minutes, he decided that he was done washing up and turned off the water. He shook his fur and head to get off any excess droplets, grabbed a towel and dried himself off. He wrapped it around his neck and pulled on his socks before leaving the bathroom and finding Rouge lounging on his black sofa. Who's place was this again?

He could see she just got back from vacation, and she was playing with a pretty looking letter in her hand. He walked over and stared down at her. "What did you want?"

She made an offended expression. "I didn't want anything, Mr. Sunshine." She huffed and simply handed over the gilded envelope "I came here to give you this."

Shadow's eyes scanned the envelope carefully, noticing that it was black felt paper. The trimming on the edges were reflective gold. Obviously not real gold, but someone had to spend a nice amount of money to get an envelope crafted like this. He looked at the front to see the words, "You're invited!" in that same reflective material. He didn't see a return address. Was this anonymously sent? He opened the envelope carefully and slipped out the letter within. The letter felt laminated, so once again, not cheap. Whoever sent this spared no expense. He unfolded it and saw that this too was trimmed with gold on the edges. The words were matching, and had a short and simple message.

Shadow the Hedgehog, I humbly invite you to the Empire City's Arts Ballroom for a night of festivities celebrating your most recent outstanding achievement as the guest of honor.

The party will begin at tonight 8:00 PM sharp, ending at 11:30pm. Don't forget to look your best.

We can't wait to see you!

Blinking in both silence and confusion, Shadow slowly turned to Rouge with a dubious look. "...What is this? What did you do?"

Rouge just placed a hand on her head and sighed while shaking her head. "Shadow, honey, for Chaos sake, can't you see when someone is trying to do something nice for you? I didn't do anything, someone wants to throw you a party to celebrate you. Don't you think that's nice?"

"Mmhm," Shadow rose a brow, knowing no one with a right mind would ever invite him to a party, much less throw one in his name. "Sure. Who did you ask to do this?"

She sucked her teeth and crossed her arms. "...Alright already," She replied, clearly exasperated. "I asked Sonic. He's throwing the party and hosting it at the Arts Ballroom tonight. It was last minute, but he managed to set it up in just a few hours."

The black hedgehog squinted his eyes. "Without my permission?"

"It was supposed to be a surprise, Shadow." At first she looked annoyed at his insensitivity but after a while, her face fell into dejection. She got up and grabbed her bag with her. "I can see you're not interested, but I warned Sonic that you might not show up anyway. He took the risk regardless. I'll call him and tell him to cancel." With her head hung a little low, she began to walk away from his side. Shadow couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt, as it's rare he ever sees her legitimately sad about something. "Sorry for interrupting your shower, see you on Monday..." Damn it, she was doing this on purpose. But even if she was faking, he...got really bothered when she looked like that.

And he fell hook, line and sinker. Agitated that she managed to get under his skin, he stopped her. "Fine," He said loudly, causing her to immediately turn around with a giddy looking grin. "I'll show up, but I am not staying. I don't do parties."

She immediately rushed towards him, grasping his hands and tightly holding them with desperation. "No please, pleeeaaase stay until the end! Sonic has something planned for every hour that you're there. It won't be a waste of time, I promise!" She insisted, almost uncharacteristically begging him. "Please, Shadow?"

He was bewildered by her efforts, she usually didn't pester him about something this badly. "Rouge, why do you even care this much? It's just a party."

Rouge made a frustrated sigh once again. "No, you don't get it!" She exclaimed. "Shadow, these aren't the same kids we played hero with eight years ago. These are grown adults, now. They're on your level now. Mostly. Which means," She trailed off. "They can be your friends. Now is the perfect time to try and have more people on your side. I know you're fine with them just being your allies, but I'm not. And I know it's not what you want, but I don't care." Her eyes glossed over with an emotion he hadn't seen from her since he first saved her from the explosion on Prison Island. "I admit, I was just like you. I didn't think I'd ever see those kids as actual friends in my life, and I really didn't expect myself to end up dating one of them. I didn't realize I got closer to them until I legitimately started hanging out with Big Blue all on my own, without asking for anything in return. And I wasn't just guilt tripping you." She emphasized this strongly. "All you do is isolate yourself in this apartment or in your office at GUN HQ if you're not out on a big mission. You don't go outside for yourself unless it's to get simple groceries. You barely talk with me outside of work, and you don't let anyone in. All you do is work, work, work. Aren't you tired of that same routine? Don't you want to...You know, live?" She then looked down. "Well, I suppose I want you to, even if you don't. If you don't want to try anything new, I get it and I can't stop you, but at least try this one time for me. If it doesn't go well, I won't bother you about something like this ever again."

He didn't appreciate her pushing, as it was his choice to live his life how ever he desired. If he wanted to live an isolated, boring life that was void of friends, he should be able to do so. He was done living for others, it's why he made the choices that he made when he first landed on Mobius. "...I don't appreciate you forcing something like this onto me and guilting me into accepting this invitation. Yes, I will attempt to enjoy this 'party' of Sonic's, but I am not making any promises. This is my life, and I'm choosing to live it how I want. If you don't like it, that's your burden to bare, not mine." He realized he was speaking a little too roughly with her, when he didn't mean to. He looked away from her gaze. "Look, I thank you for your concern. You've always looked out for me and I'm grateful to you for that. But you can't spring stuff up on me like this, you didn't even warn me." He knew he was hurting her feelings a little, but she knew what she was getting into when she first walked in here. "Just, don't do this again. If tonight goes well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

Her eyes looked a little hopeful. "So you'll try for me?"

He took his arms from her hands and walked around the couch to sit down. "I'll meet you there later tonight, don't be late."

With a relieved sigh, she smiled, albeit weakly. "Good, that makes me happy."

"Mmhm." He replied dismissively. "Even asked, I'm shocked faker even agreed to doing this."

"Well maybe he likes you a lot more than you think. To be honest, he'd throw one for anybody. Even Eggman if he wasn't such an ass."

"Or he's doing it because you made a deal with him." He could tell that triggered her because she had quite the knee-jerk reaction. She had a vein throbbing on her head.

"So what if I did? It was just a small amount of information, it wasn't even like that!" She placed her hands on her hips. "I asked him for a favor because it was last minute. Me asking him on the spot wasn't fair on my end so I had to give him something. Do you have any idea how much money it costs to rent out a venue, especially the Arts Ballroom? Even with a deal, Sonic wouldn't have accepted it for a small gain like that. He did it mostly because he actually wanted to do it. He said so himself." She made a pitiful frown at him. "Sometimes I wish you would stop assuming everyone hates you. Not everyone is as selfish as you think, especially not someone like him."

He took that into account. Sonic indeed was not as selfish as he was selfless, that much was true. But he was still an arrogant brat at the end of the day, so who knows why he accepted the deal. Maybe that little bit of information Rouge gave him, whatever it was, meant a lot more to him than she realized and felt he had to pay her back ten fold. Neither of them truly knew how the hero thinks, so he'd take that with a grain of salt. "That remains to be seen." Was all he said.

She mentally gave up and growled at him. "Whatever. You promised me, so don't you dare flake out on me." She stomped her way out of the apartment and yelled one more thing before shutting the door. "You better be there!" And with that, he heard a slam and the door automatically lock.

He just shook his head. God she was annoying when she wanted him to do something. In the meantime however, he had something much more important to do. He looked over at the glass coffee table and took his smart phone. He left it there while he showered earlier. He unlocked the screen and looked over his messages. Yes, little did she know, he had a mission he was already undergoing at this very moment. And he'd be starting it in just a few minutes from now. He stood up and slowly pulled off his towel, he needed to get dressed.

He had someone he needed to talk to.

Afternoon, 3:30 PM

There hasn't been many times where he had to visit GUN's secret solitary prison. It was an underground prison restricted from public access, and even hidden from GUN soldiers themselves. Only higher ups knew about this place, and Shadow had only visited it a few times for varying reasons. Eggman himself was once here, but of course found a way to escape. GUN's security had improved ten fold since then, which was more than enough to house anyone who wasn't a genius with a three hundred IQ. He walked down the corridor along with two guards, his eyes keeping aware of his surroundings. The walls were thick metallic looking bricks, the lighting was dark and dim within every cell. Every cell was sheltered with a tall iron door, with only a tiny window up top to check in on prisoners. This prison wasn't used to hold criminals indefinitely, it was almost like a holding cell they had in police stations, except these were more suited for highly dangerous criminals who aren't safe enough to sit in a regular holding cell. After guys in here were properly identified, interrogated and charged, they would be transferred to the real deal.

As mentioned before, Shadow was already given a mission the moment he was promoted. After the press conference earlier this morning, Tower assigned him to a task he had never done before, but due to his promotion, was now suited to do the job. At least, according to him. Shadow was to personally meet with the leader of this strange ragtag group of mercenaries, and question him about his intentions. He wanted Shadow to get a motive, but not just because they wanted a reason. The GUN organization was a militant group for sure, but they were also spies. Half of their job required espionage as well, so their radar for danger was a lot higher than your average military man. Tower knew for a fact that this bombing was too easy. Something didn't sit right with him and in his defense, it didn't sit right with Shadow or Rouge either. Something felt off, or not quite finished. These people weren't done, they were planning something else and he knew it. This was why he needed Shadow to talk with him, to see if he can extract the truth straight from the horse's-err-jackal's mouth.

Soon, they stopped at cell thirteen. The guards nodded and left Shadow on his own. The door automatically unlocked, hearing the electric charged mechanics turn and move from within as it slowly opened. He saw the jackal sitting on the the cot, his eyes determined. He had to be careful, as something didn't sit right with this criminal. He walked inside, hearing the door quickly shut back from behind him and lock again. He looked around the claustrophobic room, as there was barely any space for the cot and the toilet next to it. Looks like he wouldn't be sitting down. He stood against the wall and leaned against it with his arms crossed. He watched as the prisoner, his ankles and wrists handcuffed, looked up at his visitor. Interesting, his eye colors were completely heterochromic. One was blue, one was yellow. He had a long white scar across the right side of his face. He was a black and white jackal, similar looking to Husky-canine Mobians. The majority of his body was black fur with some exceptions. He had white hair that resembled dreadlocks, a white muzzle with cheek tufts and according to Rouge, had a white fur design on his back that resembled a ribcage. He had large ears, the inside of them also being white. He had an outfit, but that was discarded when he was arrested. Now he just wore the classic orange jumpsuit and shoes.

He looked tired, exhausted even. Probably due to all the interrogations. These weren't police detectives after all, these were military sergeants who wanted answers. They were undoubtedly very rough with him. "You look well, considering the circumstances." Shadow decided to destroy the silence himself. "You should be thankful they didn't physically harm you. GUN soldiers aren't like the police. Without the lawful eye, they like to hurt prisoners who don't open their mouths." Still no answer or reaction. The jackal just gave Shadow an unreadable expression before looking back down at the floor. He seemed conflicted by something. "I'm sure you're tired of seeing feds all day, but I'm not here to give you a hard time. I'm only here to find out your side of the story. Make no mistake, I'm not your lawyer, that's not my job. My superiors just want to know why you did what you did, that's all." He wanted to make sure he understood that this wasn't a threatening meeting in any way shape or form. "I don't want anything else from you, just an explanation. Nothing more, nothing less."

"..."

...Hm. Still nothing. Couldn't blame him, though.

"My name is Shadow the Hedgehog. I'm the one who took both you and your squad down a week ago. I thought I'd introduce myself properly this time since the last time we met was under more dire circumstances." Maybe if he kept on talking, he'd feel a little more comfortable. "I'll be handling your case from now on until the President of the United Federation and it's Supreme Court decide what to do with you. I won't lie, it'll be brutal. Either life in New Prison Island, or the death penalty." He looked out the tiny window of his room on the door, as he didn't have any outside light. "Prison Island was blown up years ago by Dr. Eggman." And technically yours truly. "After they rebuilt it, the worst of the very worst were incarcerated there. Even the doctor himself stayed a few nights there. It's not a fun place, especially not one to live in forever." Shadow wasn't sure if the jackal was even paying attention to him anymore, but he had a small feeling he was. "I understand why you won't talk, I don't blame you. There's little to no point in doing so. You'll either die slowly in a hellscape prison, or immediately by the hands of an executioner."

Nothing.

Shadow readjusted his position on the wall as time passed. "...I will not record you, and I will not write anything down. I just want to talk with you one on one, without anyone's else's influence." Some of that was a lie, but that was unimportant at the moment. As he received the same empty answer, he thought about Rouge and how she made a deal with Sonic earlier. A deal—perhaps bargaining would be the key to getting him to talk? "If there's something you want in return for speaking with me, that can be arranged, depending on what it is. Since you've only been here for a week, I understand that now isn't the best time for negotiations. So for now, I'll leave you be." He got off the wall and placed his arms behind his back. "I promise I'll be back next week, and maybe we can talk about what you want for information then. I implore you to consider the offer." As he held up his wrist to the door, a click was heard from one of his limiter rings. It soon opened up and allowed the hedgehog his exit. "Farewell."

As the iron door closed shut from behind, Shadow felt somewhat satisfied with that. He didn't get anything out of him, but it was the first day, and what he said was enough to stick in the jackal's mind.

He was sure he'd be ready to talk on Monday.

Evening, 8:15 PM

Though he planned to be early, Rouge advised him not to, as Sonic liked to be fashionably late to things. He had already been at the venue for an hour now, but didn't want to start the events too early to make sure everyone arrived. He would start a little later than sooner to be considerate for everyone else. He had to admit, the Arts Ballroom was gorgeous, inside and out. Black and white, gold vein marble decorated every wall, floor and ceiling. Strong large pillars held it up, and it's sparkling architecture could blind someone during the day time. One would usually host a wedding or prestigious college graduation here, not a simple party. Plus, this was Empire City. Living here was a challenge in itself in terms of finances and bills. Just like with the envelope, Sonic went all out. Rouge wasn't kidding when she said this was all extremely expensive, especially last minute. Shadow couldn't deny that he was somewhat flattered that he was willing to spend the cash for all this just for him, but then again, he and Rouge had a deal. He didn't do this out of the kindness of his heart like she said. Maybe some tiny part of him did, but that wasn't good enough. After all, they were bitter rivals, they never liked each other.

As he walked inside, he saw security get ready to pat him down, until they saw that it was the guest of honor. Wait, were those GUN soldiers? Were they in on this, too? They immediately stepped aside to let him in without a word. He stared for a moment before walking inside, albeit with a suspicious expression. Chaos, did GUN personally authorize this event? That would explain how the hedgehog was able to afford all this. Then again, Rouge made it sound like Sonic personally paid out of pocket for this. It's not too surprising, after all. Sonic collects rings literally every time he leaves the house and God knows where he keeps them all. Maybe he really did pay for all this himself. The atmosphere was inviting sure, but not for Shadow. It was loud, bright chandelier lights everywhere, people chattering and mingling. It wasn't like earlier this morning, as these weren't TV vultures, these were normal citizens. But it was still way out of his element.

And wait, there were GUN soldiers here too...Did Sonic invite his own colleagues here? Chaos, now this was even more embarrassing. He saw caterers bustling from group to group with refreshments and food, and he saw a few groups of people sitting with meals instead of standing and conversing. The food looked great, smelled good too. The drinks looked pricey, something you'd get at a luxury resort. The decorations were plentiful and abundant, and they were all in Shadow's colors: Red, white, gold and black. Large bunches of balloons, confetti, balloon arches, streamers, gift baskets...This was a lot. There was even a stage, and he saw a DJ set up there with ten foot tall speakers. The music he was hearing at the moment was rather calm, classical, and it wasn't too loud. This didn't really fit as the stereotypical party, did it? Shadow wasn't sure, he never went to one. Regardless, this wasn't Sonic's style, he could tell. He saw a few familiar faces other than his colleagues, such as the Chaotix and...Wait, was that the rabbit girl's mother? Why was she here? She didn't even know Shadow, did she? He saw Sonic's closest friends here, too. Amy, Knuckles, and Tails. They were all invited, they all came. All for him, but why? He finally saw Rouge taking a glass from a caterer.

He walked over to her, he felt and looked a little alarmed and even a little uncomfortable. "You." He addressed sharply.

She had on a fuchsia long sleeved halter dress with two split to reveal her legs. There was a small circle hole in the middle of the chest to reveal her cleavage. She wore black wedge heels with matching polish on her nails. Her make up was a little heavier than earlier and honestly, she looked great. But she always did. "Well hello to you too, Mr. Sunshine. I told you Big Blue didn't spare any expense."

"But, why? And why did he invite his friends? And why did they show up?"

She looked annoyed again. "I don't know honey, maybe because they actually like you? And unlike Sonic, I never approached them. He invited them himself."

But again, why? None of them ever liked him...Right? "But-"

"Alright everybody, let's get it starteeed!"

He recognized that annoying voice anywhere. Shadow, Rouge and the other partygoers looked up to see the one and only Sonic the Hedgehog walking across a ceiling beam with effortless balance. Woah, he certainly grew up. When was the last time he saw him outside of a dire situation? Anytime they met, it was strictly business and he never took his appearance into account. "Is that...Faker? If it wasn't for his fur color, I barely would have recognized him."

"I know, Big Blue really got that growth spurt. You should see his magazine covers."

Shadow had to rewind that in his mind. "Magazines?"

"You didn't know?" She reached into her cleavage and pulled out her smart phone. She unlocked it and swiped through a few pictures before showing Shadow the screen. "Apparently Sonic's not too big on public attention, but he's been dabbling into a few things. Ever since that whole werehog ordeal, countries from all over the world got their eyes on him. As he got older, he's been getting offers from a lot of companies, so he models for magazines from time to time. If the magazine does well, the money goes to trusted charities for the homeless, sick children, things like that. He's made appearances in video games, too." She leaned close to whisper. "I even heard a couple of movie directors begged him for a cameo, but he turned them down." As she was showing him the magazine covers Sonic was featured in, Shadow couldn't believe his eyes. Sonic looked so different than the last time they met. His quills were longer, his limbs were more in shape. He was a polar opposite to the scrawny teenager he knew before. He didn't even realize how long his eyelashes were. He had that androgynous face that model agents loved so much. He was a pretty good looking guy. He modeled sneakers and clothes, and he didn't even take the money for himself, he just gave it away. Wow, was all he could think. He made a nice niche for himself, not bad.

They looked back up at the beam when they saw a spotlight flick on and settle on the hero's figure. "I see everybody's arrived, and now we can finally get it poppin'." He sat down on the beam and playfully kicked his feet up. "We got a lot of GUN soldiers out tonight celebrating our guest of honor down there," The spotlight shifted from the hero, down to Shadow, making him flinch. Who the hell was controlling that thing? He awkwardly looked around him only to see everyone cheer and applaud for him. "Shadow the Hedgehog!" The applause only got louder, making his ears flatten. Damn it, not again. "I want you to make our special guest proud and show everybody how GUN really gets down!" The cheering got even louder, and he was shocked to see his own colleagues making most of the noise, even Rouge. He never saw them outside of work, so seeing them get amped up like this was strange to say the least. "Let's bump. It. UP!"

The lights went out, only for neon ones to replace the chandeliers. Shadow's instincts flared up as he watched the hero. He sensed chaos energy. Sonic's hands focused blue colored chaos energy, and something huge suddenly appeared in his hands. Was that a party ball, and did he teleport it in his palms with chaos control? Since when did he know how to do that? Sonic stood up on the beam and began to shake the ball like a bottle of champagne. The party ball burst open and even more confetti and little trinkets rained down upon everyone. Music began to blast the moment the ball broke, it's bass rumbling the floor. Everyone was loving it, jumping up and down with glee. With an almost gymnast flip off of the beam, and as he was in the air, he snapped his finger. Again with chaos energy, blue glowing bubbles appeared all throughout the venue. Each bubble held some kind of party favor such as candy, shot glasses and glow sticks. Once they popped, you got a free prize. Like a circus trapeze, the hero swung onto another metal beam before spindashing down onto the stage, where more neon lights engulfed the area. The lights suddenly turned red to commemorate Shadow, and the blue hedgehog got behind the DJ booth. He placed a high-tech pair of headphones against one of his ears and began to rub his fingers against the vinyl records.

Well then.

He sure knew how to boost enthusiasm, he'd give him that. Speaking of which, he could see Rouge dancing from the corner of his eye. Was it really that easy to just do that? Then, Shadow thought about something for a moment. He reached behind his head to his quills to pull out his own smart phone. He unlocked it and went to a search browser. When he typed in Sonic, a bunch of articles popped up. News websites talking about how he constantly gives to charity and keeps in contact with trusted politicians to pass helpful laws that makes the less fortunate lives easier. And more important, how he made a public announcement in City Hall some time ago, promising the citizens that he was "deeply sorry" for allowing Eggman's escape go on for so many years. He claimed his immaturity was holding him back from taking him down for good, But as an adult, he will no longer let Eggman go and will put him in prison, letting the legal system finally take it's course on Mobius' number one criminal.

Again, he was shocked. Where was he when all this happened? And since when was Sonic more in tune with chaos energy? Then again, he never actually paid attention to Sonic, or any of his friends. The only person he ever really noticed was Rouge, but like she said, they barely saw each other outside of work. Was he really that blind to them this entire time? Was he truly that preoccupied with GUN that he didn't even see the people around him change? If he had paid more attention, would he have known Tower would eventually reward him? Would he have predicted Sonic inviting him to party thrown in his honor? Perhaps he...Needed to do some self reflecting-

"A cup of freshly roasted coffee beans for you, our esteemed guest of honor?"

Okay, how the hell did this caterer know he liked eating coffee beans? Did Rouge do that? He blinked a few times before simply nodding. "S...Sure." He accepted the cup and chewed a few, and the moment he did his eyes dilated significantly. These tasted amazing! "These are exquisite, what kind are these? Are these-" He couldn't believe it. "Are these Mazuri grade?"

The female fennec Mobian laughed and nodded. "Mr. Sonic was right when he said you knew your beans! Yes sir, these are native, organically grown Mazuri coffee beans. These come from the coffee plants that grow near the Holy Tree in the village. Quite a rare find, but they are to die for. Please let me know if you'd like a freshly brewed cup later. Have a great evening!" With a delighted smile, she began to tend to other guests who were surprisingly taking cups of coffee beans as well. He figured other people hated the beans themselves. Then again, it didn't matter how you felt about coffee because beans from that village were like coffee flavored candy. Anyway, Sonic knew he liked coffee beans? Shadow never told him so Rouge might have, but still, the fact that he took that into consideration was quite thoughtful to say the least. And it even seemed like that caterer served him before anyone else, thanks to being the guest of honor.

Rouge suddenly came up to him and grasped his shoulder while holding a drink in her hand. "Big Blue sure knows how to party! You should have been to Amy's Sweet Sixteen, he ruined the place. It was amazing, but I see his stepped his game up with you!" She nodded over to one of the tables, one of which was personally reserved for Shadow and anyone he desired to sit with him. "Come on, let's eat and get some drinks in you, sweetheart. You're too sober." She grasped his hand and he felt himself just going along with it. No point in fighting anything now.

"You do know that alcohol and narcotics don't have the same affect on me as it does with normal Mobians, right?" He reminded her casually.

She shrugged. "Ahh so what? You still like tequila, right?".

"I suppose-Wait, how old is Sonic? Is he even allowed to supply alcohol?"

She snorted a laugh as they made their way through the crowd. "Honey, that boy is a man now. He's twenty three years old." Oh right, eight plus fifteen...Twenty three. "Even though Pinky and Fox Boy are here, they're under the drinking age and the fox is only sixteen. Sonic gave them strict instructions not to touch a drop of alcohol. He also said that if the party's getting too rowdy, that he'd personally tell them to go home. People can be scary when they're drunk." Knowing his friends, they probably wouldn't go against his orders. That would explain why the rabbit girl's mother was here, yet she wasn't. Too young and naive. Tails and Amy on the other hand were at least more aware and knew what not to do at a party with adults. At least he was being responsible to some degree. As they approached the table, they walked by some of the "colorful bunch" he glanced at earlier. They all smiled and waved excitedly, much to his surprise. They were happy to see him.

As Rouge and Shadow sat down, the bat downed her glass of liquor and called for a caterer to get over here with a tray of drinks. "The guest of honor needs some service over here~!" She announced proudly. A few caterers immediately rushed from the crowd to their table with drinks and freshly prepared food. He had to admit, his options looked appetizing. Shrimp cocktails and...Wait, was that slices of tiramisu? Chaos-Was that caviar?! The cheapest caviar someone could get was at least fifty bucks an ounce, so what the hell was this kind?

"Err," He was speechless once again. "Um, what kind of caviar is this?" Shadow asked the reindeer caterer.

"Hmm? Oh this is Undine Caviar, from the oceans of Holoska."

Even Rouge spat out her drink to that. "Undine...? H-Holoska?!" She gawked. "That's at least two hundred dollars an ounce!" She looked back at Shadow who was just staring into nothing while his mouth hung open. "Look, I know I told you Sonic and I made a deal but I had no idea he'd go this far. And I promise you it wasn't worth this kind of money." She made an astounded chuckle. "I don't care what you think of him. He has to like you to some degree to spend this much money on food alone. Actually," She looked around the entire building. "That boy had to spend at least fifty to a hundred thousand for the whole gig. And pro-bono too?" She placed a finger on her chin. "Damn, maybe I should ask him to do a birthday party for me..."

After the never ending apparent shock of just how much Sonic spent on this one party slightly subsided, Shadow had to admit that he didn't hate this. How could he? Everything looked nice, he ate great food and the drinks were divine. The decorations complimented him, the music was actually tolerable if not somewhat enjoyable, and the atmosphere was nothing but positivity directed towards him. How could he hate that? How could he dislike any of this? A part of him really wanted to because he didn't want to admit that he liked being at a party of all things, but he just couldn't. This was...Good. Great, even. Like Rouge said, Sonic was great at this. Maybe he should look into a career of it.

And if you speak of the devil, he shall come knocking. Because there the hero was, walking along the crowd and greeting the party goers. Wasn't he just playing music? It was still on, maybe he had it to play automatically? Shadow didn't know how any of that stuff worked. Once the blue speed demon stopped in front of the table, he placed his hands on his hips with a smirk and had only one thing to say to Shadow:

"Well, well, well...So you showed up after all, faker."

2 - END - 2