The next morning, I woke up early enough to get ready and meet Chami at the Coffee Shop she pointed to me. I arrived a little early and waited outside the shop for her. A few minutes passed and I saw her exit the clinic she runs and meet me. She had a smile on her face as she signed something to me, but I missed it. I raised my hands but hesitated not sure how to answer.

She just tilted her head and repeated herself. 'Wait long?'

I raised my head in understanding. 'No, if … busy… meet later…'

I struggled through the signs as I tried to remember what shape and movement to do. I pressed my lips into a thin line as I got frustrated at my hands. She reached over and grabbed my hand while waving her free one.

'I'm fine.' She signed and then indicated to go into the shop.

We walked in and went to the counter. After waiting in line for a short bit, it was our turn. The arista turned to us with a smile.

"Welcome in! What can I get started for you?" She asked.

I turned to Chami, 'you want what?'

'White hot chocolate with …' She signed and I lost the last bit. Some sort of nut flavor? When she saw my confusion, she pointed to the flavor on the board next to us. Hazelnut.

'Food?' I added.

She pointed to the Danish.

I nodded and turned back to the barista. "One white hot chocolate with hazelnut, we'll do a medium size. A Danish. One coffee, no cream or sugar. And I'll take a blueberry muffin."

She entered the order and I pulled out my wallet and paid. I looked over at Chami who had her own wallet pulled out and had an astonished face. I gave her an eyebrow cock. Her mouth closed and she put her wallet away in her back pocket.

'I… my items.' She signed quickly.

I gave her a look that showed I missed most of her message.

She let out a frustrated breath and just walked over to a table before sitting down. I followed behind and too the seat across from her and clasped my hands together. After a moment, I lifted my hands to start signing again.

'Esme… said… paying… kind for… you.' I hoped she understood what I meant.

She looked at me before starting to sign slower for me. 'I understand, but… not needed.'

'Still,' I signed back. 'Think…like thank you… for… help me… learn…'

The barista called out that our order was ready and I lifted a hand to tell Chami to wait as I grabbed the items. I walked over and grabbed the food and drinks before going back and giving her what she ordered. She looked at my drink and raised her eyebrow at me.

'You said you don't drink coffee.'

I raised my hands. 'I don't drink LOTS coffee.'

She nodded in understanding. We ate our food and as we finished our drinks, we spent a decent amount of time simply signing to each other. She was patient with me and helped me with signs that I got stuck on as well as making sure to take her time when signing to me. She never once pulled out a pad to write anything down for me to understand what she was saying. But as time continued to pass, I could tell she needed to get going. Though I didn't know how busy she was at her clinic, she did like to keep to a schedule. We began to wrap things up.

'Thank you again… for help.' I signed to her.

She waved her hands in o shapes. 'No problem. Best way to learn… immerse self in.'

With that she walked out the door and back to her clinic. I cleaned up our area before leaving myself and heading back home. G.U.N. didn't need me at this time. So, I was free to do whatever I needed. Though I figured that once they had more information on that scepter we found, they would need me again. But who knew when that would be.

Several days passed. I hadn't need to go to Chami's clinic for any needs, and I didn't want to be too much of a bother. I continued my signing practice with Esme during that time. But I finally was called in by G.U.N. I left immediately and met my team at Rockwell's debriefing room.

She pulled up an image of the scepter we found. Winglike structures on the side and what looked like the base being made of crystal, it was an interesting piece. It didn't look like anything you would find on Earth. Maybe it came from Mobius.

"Our scientists have analyzed this scepter in any way they could but," Rockwell explained. "The energy signature that we were reading to find it seems to have disappeared. Did any of you leave out any information on your report?"

"We were all truthful on the reports we gave." Rouge responded. "None of us left anything out."

"I find it concerning that the energy is just suddenly gone." Rockwell crossed her arms. "I've been having our satellites keep an eye out for it on this world, but it has not turned up yet. I need you to be ready in case you are needed. We have another energy signature we may need you to check out soon, but we are still examining to see if it's even worth sending you out."

Short meeting but we were dismissed soon after. As I walked out my communicator beeped.

"Go for Shadow." I stated as I lifted my wrist to my mouth.

"Hey Shads!" Sonic's voice came through. "Do you know anything about a white hedgehog with telekinetic powers?"

"No." I responded. "This is the first I'm hearing of it."

"Oh good." He spoke. It sounded like he was running. "Because I have a very angry white hedgehog trying to kill me and blaming me for something."

"Well, what did you do?" I asked rubbing my eyes with my fingers.

"Nothing!" he responded while sounding like he dodged something. "At least not to this guy. Help a brother out?"

I let out a sign and ended the call. Grabbing a ring I tossed it into the air and created a portal to Sonic. I jumped down into it and fell to the ground, blocking the way between him and the white hedgehog.

"Mephiles!" the white hedgehog exclaimed. "What are you doing here? And why are you stopping me from taking out the Iblis Trigger!"

Mephiles? I glared at the hedgehog and crossed my arms. "My name is Shadow."

I gave Sonic a wave and he took off. I kept my eyes on the white hedgehog and waited for him to strike. He dashed at me and I grabbed the Chaos Emerald I kept on my person at all times.

"Chaos Control!" Time froze.

I ran over and kicked him to the ground right as time restored. He looked confused and pushed himself back to his feet.

"Word of advice," I stated as I crossed my arms again. "Stay down. You can't beat me while I have the Chaos Emerald."

He growled and his telekinetic powers wrapped around him before he took off to the air. I was left alone for the moment. Activating my communicator, I contacted Sonic again.

"Thanks for the help, Shadow." He responded quickly. "Did you send him back from wherever he came from?"

"You better start explaining." I said while gritting my teeth. "When you're involved, there's always something wrong."

"Meet me at base and I'll tell you everything that I know, which isn't much." Sonic replied and the call ended.

I let out a sigh and began running to the base.