The Hamster Cage - Chapter 5 - TwilightTundra - Sonic the Hedgehog (2024)

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: Logic is a Quality in Short Supply Part 1

Notes:

-Check the tags because things get f*cked up. Warnings: Rape being the worst.

-Just want to get to the perverted sh*t? Scroll past to Eggman’s Headquarters. We’ve all done it. rofl

Amy’s Apartment Station Square Early Morning

During the shopping trip the day after the first challenge, Amy had done her best to keep her mind off Sonic by staying socially engaged. Unlike the Green Hill Zone, Amy had friends she had known since childhood in the city with whom she could hang out with and help get her mind off things, or so she had believed. Her friends were indeed there but all they wanted to discuss yesterday was the livestream and Amy being a star guest meant they thought she had insider information, so they bombarded her with questions. These otherwise ordinary women, Amy had known much of her, life had become fanatical with the livestream that centered around her crush being tortured. They wanted to know if Amy knew challenge two’s theme, what the next tasks were, and insight into the details of her task video. She barely succeeded in avoiding exploding on them, wrecking these relationships.

Amy had made an excuse about a forgotten appointment with her doctor and left them hailing the nearest cab to get home. There was no escaping from Sonic’s condition. It was all over social media. If she went anywhere without plain clothes and a hoodie people would recognize, stare, or either talk to each other about Eggman’s stream or directly ask her about it: just like her friends.

When Sonic had broken that blockade with Marie, the livestream truly hit viral fame. It already had a famous villain and hero along with guests: Shadow, Rouge, Tails and herself, who were either known by their actions or had sizable social media followings. Marie and Sonic’s suspenseful and unconventional way of working together to break through the barrier, enabling Sonic to nab the win seconds before the timer ran out, had cemented the livestream’s popularity within the following sixteen hours though the rapid conception and distribution of memes.

There was no turning back the clock on what happened. Sonic had no time to assess the outcomes and their respective consequences when he had half-jokingly called Marie to assist; that she would be of any use at all, let alone achieve what was being demonstrated to her, was a singular aftermath. Amy could witness the effects in the world beyond Sonic’s cage and she determined a shower was not worth all the fame Eggman had garnered or the growth of the doctor’s audacity which would surely become apparent as the stream persisted. Sonic, unknown to his friends, had already experienced this growth firsthand. Then there had been Tails’ s task upload pinging her phone after getting home from yesterday’s vile day with her “friends.” Amy had been keen to know if all her and Shadow’s efforts had paid off.

Amy relaxed and began the video, fast-forwarding through the walking, and by the time she finished it, she felt only irritation, but it wasn’t an emotion she could take out on Tails. Technically the fox had pulled off the task to perfection: showing no signs of nervousness, appearing to be enjoying himself consistently, choosing people who had only a slight disapproving attitude toward Sonic, picking those with neutral stories from both areas, even snagging some people with positive opinions about his brother, fitting in hopeful messages for Sonic, and he had cleverly used the salon to look, smile, and wink at his brother. Amy could not call up Tails and scream at him for truly having fun during the task or obtaining the girl’s number who had provided it without Tails asking. She would have come off as a crazy bitch for damning Tails to make friends when the teen desperately needed his own, private social life. No, Amy could never reveal to Tails how it had angered her, nor could she precisely explain why.

It was for all these reasons that Amy woke up in her apartment this morning knowing she would have to return to the Green Hill Zone before there were weirdos taking photographs and asking her questions in front of her apartment complex. The Green Hill Zone was boring, had few stores and restaurants, but it would be quiet. She also needed to be more accessible when that base was found. Amy half growled, half signed her way out of bed to pack her bags and order the necessary fares for her trip back.

Sonic’s House Afternoon Green Hill Zone

Shadow and Tails had gone to bed late last night primarily because of their talk but also because “getting ready for bed quickly” had turned into over an hour ordeal for both. Tails had sized, cropped, and adjusted the lighting of the photo taken with Shadow at Station Square to fit the frame. Using their photo printer, he had the picture framed swiftly. Miles enjoyed taking photos regularly to keep albums for each year chronicling their adventures, so this was nothing he wasn’t used to doing. If it wasn’t for Tails, there would be chronological record of any kind of all their crazy exploits. Before leaving his workshop to hang the picture, he glanced over at the shelf containing the yearly albums.

“Right. I had to explain what Perfect Chaos was to Shadow. He was…asleep at that time. He doesn’t know much about the other times we took on Egghead or seen my brother when he was younger. I should take a few of these into the house with me to show Shadow during breakfast tomorrow. Hmm. The year we fought Perfect Chaos and…ah the year we met Knuckles…or when we fought Knuckles a bunch until he realized he was being tricked. Heh.”

Tails placed the two albums on the dining room table before going into the hallway to hang the photo as quietly as he could and afterward, he brushed his teeth. Shadow had brushed his teeth first and then spent this same time sending update emails to several of his contacts about Rouge’s discovery with documentation comprising of any data/details they could need attached. The hedgehog preferred to get his emails finished at night so he could sleep in late. Both went to sleep at nearly the same time, Tails curled up down near the end of bed in his usual spot.

It was for these reasons and more that Shadow and Tails were still sound asleep at 11:34 AM and may have blissfully remained that way if Nyx hadn’t decided otherwise. Nyx went back and forth between the two faces, rubbing them which they both ignored. Nyx didn’t have much patience and he knew a trick that never failed and was the reason Shadow always slept with his blanket snug around his entire body. Tails was not aware, so his blanket was laid loosely allowing Nyx to easily get underneath and head down past Tails’ legs until he reached his desired target, withdraw his claws, and pounce attacked. Shadow woke up to Tails screaming and began to flair his quills until he realized what had happened. It was obvious with the fox rolled over toward him cradling his foot while his attacker stood at the other end of the bed flicking his tail.

Shadow grinned, “I forgot to mention that habit of his. For maximum safety, you must curl the blanket around yourself, leaving no gaps so that he can’t worm under and attack.”

Tails’ foot wasn’t hurt, much: just few tiny pin pricks. The intent of this tactic was not to injure, only to surprise the victim awake. Tails looked at Nyx, who was self-satisfied, and then to Shadow who was grinning. If Shadow hadn’t been grinning the fox would have been annoyed but Shadow’s grin was a rare sight, and he wasn’t going to ruin the moment.

Tails laughed a little and asked, “Anything other safety measures I should be aware of?”

Shadow thought about it for a moment. Nyx didn’t generally misbehave if his routine was in place which primarily consisted of his two daily special snacks at least 10 minutes of prolonged attention when he demanded it. There was only one weird thing he did.

Shadow warned, “Oh if you take a bath, make sure the door is closed. He will jump in with you making the bath tricky because he enjoys the feeling of the blow dryer afterwards.”

Tails thought that was rather cute and he could understand why Nyx would enjoy the result and it explained why the cat was so clean.

“Noted. I can’t blame him. A blow dryer on medium does feel nice especially if you don’t have to do the work. Well, I’ll go make breakfast while you attend to Prince Nyx’s demands,” Tails walked out laughing.

Shadow stole one of Sonic’s old shoelaces and gave Nyx something to do, careful to let him catch it when he was really working hard at it. Nyx was getting more ambitious, and Shadow let the lace swing too close toward the bedside drawer set because Nyx leaped forward, barely missing the set, and instead catching the slightly open drawer with his claws. He only accomplished opening the drawer further, landing on the carpet with the shoelace in his mouth. It was a win as far as Nyx was concerned.

Shadow nearly closed the drawer, but he gave into curiosity and peered inside. There was a new magazine about break dancing, a bracelet with green orb, a book with fairy tales about King Arthur, Sonic’s current reading journal, and a well-used nose maker for sleep. Shadow closed the drawer; all innocent items as he should have expected. Sonic had an assortment of interests and apparently trouble getting to sleep sometimes. Shadow wondered how his blue rival would act in a normal setting without any stupid competition. Shadow hoped he would get to find out.

Nyx was satisfied and unhurt, so Shadow made his way to the kitchen and helped Tails finish breakfast. As they were nearly done eating the fox showed him two photo albums of years before he was awake. It was strange seeing the oldest one with the death egg and Angel Island when everyone was so young Miles wasn’t kidding when he said they had been spoiling Eggman’s plans for years and both Tails and Sonic were both too juvenile to be taking on a madman, but they had done it anyway. In between Eggman fights were normal everyday photos and one was of a younger Amy who looked nothing like she does now. Her spikes were out like any normal hedgehogs and her sense of fashion was in flux or she was too young to care about it yet. In the album with Perfect Chaos everyone was still years younger but at least they all had the same general traits as their current selves.

“Seeing these puts it into perspective how long Sonic has been a thorn in Eggman’s side,” Shadow commented mostly to himself.

Tails nodded, “Yes, Sonic went out of his way to stop Eggman ever since he first discovered him using small animals to power his bots. Eggman’s operations were small scale back then or we were too young to notice what else he was up to but as the years went by Eggman scaled up as he became more skilled and grew more ambitious.”

Shadow thought that if Sonic had defeated Eggman this many times, there most have been a few chances to end it permanently.

“Yet, Sonic never killed him after any of these defeats,” Shadow stated neutrally.

Tails laughed nervously. Shadow did have a point; there were times Sonic could have delt the final blow, but killing wasn’t his brother’s style.

Tails shook his head looking down, “Sonic isn’t the type of person who would kill unless forced into it to save himself or someone else. It sure crossed my mind to kill Eggman, but if I never tried to end it permanently Sonic would have stopped me and never treated me…the same again so I never tried. I’m regretting that now though.”

Tails wiped away a few tears angrily. Shadow contemplated what Tails had said.

“I might have been similar if Maria had never died and I never learned that to keep the population safe, there are some who are so foul and irredeemable, who must be killed, or innocents will die in their place. While people like me are needed, not many should be like me. There is room for others like Sonic who protect people and fight evil while retaining most of their innocence…People like that are rare, kind, and…an inspiration. Maria would agree. You or Sonic should never need to be forced into such a position, and it is better if Sonic never needs to kill to protect someone.”

Shadow placed a hand on Tails’ shoulder and squeezed, “Don’t regret, Tails. I don’t think any less of Sonic for not killing Eggman. Both of you have risked your own lives protecting people from that lunatic and thwarting his plans. There needs to be people like me and Rouge who can kill vermin like Eggman once they are too far gone, but there is also a path for people like you and Sonic. If these two types of protectors exist, there is room for both approaches. As much…sh*t as I give Sonic, I don’t want your brother to change who he is, and I don’t want you to take on the responsibility of ending a life. Give Eggman his 2 minute and 35 second of whatever it is you need to do for closure, but please leave it me be finish it. You have been through enough.”

Tails had listened to everything Shadow said and appreciated it but there was one thing wrong with his argument. Tails grabbed Shadow’s arm with both hands and stared intently into his eyes.

“There is only room for both if you can be happy as well Shadow! It only works if you get to have friends, a sense of peace, and happiness. Same goes for Rouge. Otherwise, it is bullsh*t! I know you have me, Rouge, and Omega as friends, but you haven’t found peace or happiness and I really want you to,” Tails almost screamed.

Shadow felt warmth in his chest he hadn’t felt…since Maria was alive. It was the feeling of knowing someone was weighing his feelings as being equal or more important than their own. The brat was correct about everything. Shadow had not made complete peace with his past even after defeating the Black Arms and he had not found happiness yet either. Bits and pieces of happiness were all Shadow had found. A home. A job. A cat. A few friends. There was more to it than that. A lover he could trust fully was one large factor in the happiness he sought but no one had fitted the criteria. Rouge and he had too much in common and Shadow wanted…someone gentler…outgoing and in a different field of work, yet mentally tough enough to be his support when needed and he would be and do the same for them. He needed someone who had enough opposite and similar traits in comparison to his own. The Ultimate Lifeform had lived an unusual life, so he required a rare type of person.

Shadow finally replied, “Thank you for saying that, Tails. I know it’s true and I do want that for myself. I…just haven’t been able to find it all yet but I want to have all of it.”

Tails nodded. It was a start. Miles knew if given a chance his brother could loosen Shadow up and show him how to have fun. The fox knew because his brother had shown him not only was life worth living but also how to enjoy it.

Tails said softy, “Well, you already know that I think my brother would be a good fit for you. He wouldn’t be everything you need of course but I think you will agree when you see the real him without the inane bickering and constant competition.”

Shadow simply nodded. Yes, he knew Miles was all team Sonic. It would be strange if he didn’t think his brother would be a great partner for his friend. Shadow had never considered himself some bachelor on one of those awful, fake reality TV shows limited to a two-week time constraint to find a match. He also was not against getting to know more about Amy if he had the chance. She treated him like a normal person and was good at deflecting his moods. She had shown she could also be kind and considerate without a streak of rivalry. Looks were the least important factor to Shadow but both Sonic and Amy were both attractive.

Had Miles been able to read Shadow’s mind he would have told the Ultimate Lifeform that they were not peaco*cks; he would not be able to flair out his quills and make the loudest hiss to impress upon Amy Rose that he was the superior male specimen after years of her crushing on Sonic. It didn’t work that way. The fox could also create an impressive list of all Amy-related-need-knows that Shadow would indubitably find irritating just as the dark hedgehog could make a list of everything exasperating about Sonic. Tails knew Shadow had not seen the other side of Amy.

Shadow and Tails were about to say something, but it was forgotten when Shadow’s phone rang. Tails rushed over to look at the caller. He had a feeling it was the next task and by the name displayed he had to be right.

Tails shoulders slumped and he muttered, “Oh emeralds, not him.”

Shadow said nothing but his face betrayed the same reaction. The caller was Knuckles and Knuckles would not call to “shoot the sh*t” as the saying went. Shadow sighed deeply and answered putting it on microphone. Tails was now his friend, so he had the honor of suffering with him.

“Hello guardian,” Shadow greeted, trying to sound…not rude.

Knuckles came through on the other end, “Yeah, hello to you to, Ultimate Prick. I haven’t forgotten how you used that sneaky warp sh*t to knock me out! Playing dirty like that isn’t an honorable way to fight and I want a duel without any of your flashy bullsh*t.”

Shadow had a hand to his temple already. Any real fight meant doing whatever necessary to kill or disable your opponent. If that meant a can of hair spray, a lighter, and throwing it at the foe before it exploded or warping with a chaos emerald and bashing their head in, both methods were equally valid ways of winning.

“Hi, Knuckles I’m here too! Um, I don’t think that was a fight Knux. Shadow was just trying to get us together to help Sonic. You might have to explain your definition of a “duel” to him because his job requires him to fight to win by any means. I don’t think he is used your structural practice of dueling,” Tails said everything he could think of deescalate this before it escalated.

There was a moment of silence as the wind hit the Knuckles’ phone.

“Is it true you have never fought a duel before? Don’t you lie,” Knuckles asked, calmer.

Shadow replied, “Yes, it is true. The closest thing to a duel I’ve had are races and those had no defined rules. Also, I do not lie because I made a sacred promise to someone important to me I would not.

Knuckles could respect the scared nature of a promise and he knew enough about Shadow to know that the guy hadn’t grown up on earth and was locked away for years.

“Ok, fine if you agree to a proper duel and stay within the rules I will forget your prior dishonorable actions,” Knuckles meant it seriously and awaited a response.

Shadow rolled his eyes and looked like he was about to yell when Tails touched his shoulder and shook his head and held up his handheld device with his other hand. It read:

“Just agree please, Shadow. If you don’t this will turn into something that will waste far more time, then any duel.”

Shadow controlled himself, “Very well. I will perform in this duel. Was this the reason you called or did Eggman give you a task?”

Knuckles had forgotten about that as soon as he heard Shadow’s uppity voice. He was happy he would get a chance to punch the sh*t out of Shadow without his chaos emerald. Unlike Sonic, this guy didn’t have experience dodging his moves and he could put this prick in his place once and for all.

Knuckles responded, “Good. I’m holding you to it. Yes, I got one of those tasks and before you ask me to email or send you picture or anything else fancy, I can’t. Being the last of my species means this piece of sh*t wasn’t created with me in mind and I can barely tap on it.

So many little events now made sense to Tails and Shadow, like the cat finding activity and Knux’s overall look or tone of frustration when using the device.

“I see. That explains…a lot. I suppose I owe you an apology for insulting you about breaking the first one. There is a pen like device that can solve that issue—

Tails broke in, “It’s called a stylus and I have several of them so that you won’t need to put up with that anymore. I wish you would have said something sooner Knuckles. I would have been happy to help.”

Knuckles was glad to hear that there was pen he could use instead the tip of his thumb. He might end up loving this phone.

“I didn’t want…think there was a way to—

“You didn’t want to ask for help Knuckles. I know you too well,” Tails finished for the echidna, so he didn’t have to hear the guy blunder his way through a lie.

Shadow smirked nudged Tails a “good job.”

“Grr. You little…Never mind! The large part of the task requires you, Tails, and Amy for here for it and you know I can’t leave the Master Emerald. Egghead made it so I could complete it without leaving,” the guardian explained.

Tails and Shadow looked at each other in disappointment. Neither of them wanted to go to Angel Island to spend the day with Knuckles and Amy wasn’t even here.

“What about the task requires us to be there?” Shadow asked.

“I need to make fun of Sonic’s flaws using his friends to demonstrate how stupid he is. Eggman added that if you can’t be present, I can complete it alone and act out your roles for you. I don’t mind completing this alone because the entire task is f*cking easy. I must make fun of Sonic four different ways and that is already a favorite hobby of mine when I’m bored,” Knuckles elaborated honestly.

Shadow and Tails weren’t idiots. They knew that Knuckles would put very little thought into how he mimicked Sonic and would be as brutal as he could without thinking about how it would make the blue blur feel. Tails knew for certain that the echidna didn’t get the seriousness of Sonic’s situation. The fox didn’t feel he could explain to the guardian how bad it could get for Sonic without becoming a crying mess. Shadow noticed how worried Tails looked and he understood why, even if he knew very little about Knuckles.

“Chaos control has its limitations. Transporting three people and whatever items we bring back and forth such a distance would drain my energy. This would not be an issue under normal circ*mstances; in a day I’ll have the energy regained, but Eggman’s base could be found any moment. I cannot risk twenty-four hours of being in a below optimal condition for battle.”

Tails chipped in immediately, “That’s not an issue, Shadow. We can use the Tornado II for transportation. Amy being in Station Square is the more pressing concern, but we could just act out her role out if needed based on what Knuckles said.”

Shadow nodded. Tails had solved the transportation issue, and he was right about Amy’s part. He wasn’t going to chaos control to Station Square and back to get her. The shopping trip and Tails’ task and already drained him of considerable energy. He couldn’t risk expending more until he had at least an entire day off to restore what had been consumed. He would prefer to have her opinions, but Tails knew more about Sonic than she did.

“It sounds like everything is solved. We will be over there sometime today,” Shadow told Knuckles.

The echidna replied, “Good, and don’t forget our duel Shadow. Once we are done with Egghead’s sh*t, it’s happening!”

Shadow agreed to get him off the phone as soon as possible and sighed in relief when the call was over.

“I’m going to loathe this day,” Shadow mumbled.

Tailed nodded in agreement, “Yeah, making fun of Sonic with Knux is not my idea of fun. You should know that Angel Island doesn’t have much in the way of civilization. All it has is solar panels for lighting, Knux’s personal devices, and storing perishables. Knuckles still uses the old aqueducts for water and hunts his own food. Air conditioning is limited to one room in his semi-modern home. Basically, whatever we want to eat or use we need to take with us. We should probably bring a few outdoor lights just in case this takes a while. They are heavy so I’ll need your help getting them in the plane’s back compartment. I used to be in stronger when I flew Sonic around but I’m out of practice.”

Shadow figured as much based on what he saw when he went there to grab Knuckles. Having it confirmed made the hedgehog feel slightly bad for the echidna. Being the Ultimate Lifeform, he knew what it was like to be…created with purposes already decided for him. Shadow knew Maria had discovered he was more than a cure and that she had done something drastic to try to keep him free, but the results of her actions were discussed behind closed doors and Gerald was furious. She had valued his freedom and thanks to her and unintentionally Eggman, Shadow had freedom and that is why he appreciated it so damn much. It had come at great cost. Knuckles could have freedom, but it would also cost him dearly.

“That explains why whatever interest Rouge had in him faded quickly. Angel Island sounds like her form of hell.” Shadow smirked, and Tails looked like he pitied the guardian, “I’ll ready anything I think I’ll need, and I’ll check in with Amy to keep her informed and see if she has any suggestions,” Shadow said simply.

Tails put his hands up, “Uh I don’t think that is such a good idea. She’ll demand you come get her or wait for her to get here and we don’t have time to wait if we want to get anything done today.”

Shadow didn’t understand why it mattered what Amy would demand.

“She can demand all she wants. I will refuse and we will go regardless.”

Tails nodded and agreed. Tails felt stupid for forgetting again Shadow had no issues refusing Amy or enlightening her when she was in the wrong. He felt sympathy for Knuckles having lost his chance with Rouge over being stuck protecting the Master Emerald. It was no secret the echidna had a crush on the bat but her life involved travel.

Shadow tapped on Amy’s contact until she picked up.

Remembering her snark from the first time she had ever contacted him, he greeted her with some fun sarcasm, “Good afternoon, Amy, I hope you had a wonderful morning.”

Amy heard Shadow’s voice and its sarcasm; it took her a second to realize when and how it originated. She was amused and provoked by it. Shadow didn’t forget conversations unlike his counterpart and seemed to enjoy harmless verbal spats.

She smarted back, “Hello, Shadow. I see you’ve mastered greetings in the last seventy-two hours. That’s adorable.”

“Yes, I’m working on my goodbyes next,” Shadow sent back effortlessly.

Amy laughed. She was glad he was in a better mood than last time she had spoken with him, even if the black and red striped hedgehog was being a complete smartass.

“I’m very pound of you. As for my morning and afternoon, it has been hectic. I just returned to my Green Hill’s home. The livestream has gotten so out of control I couldn’t go to the store without a hoodie and mask unless I wanted to be bombarded with questions,” Amy explained, clearly perturbed.

Shadow was not taken by surprise to hear about the fame, but he didn’t think the livestream would rise to such notoriety so soon. Eggman had gotten lucky with that first challenge, and he wouldn’t be in disbelief if the doctor had somehow trained the cat.

“Your day isn’t going to get less hectic I’m afraid. Knuckles received his own task and if we leave him on his own to complete it, he will end up having far too much fun with the mission. Tails and I are heading up on the Tornado II within the hour to help the guardian. You are free to stay if you’re too tired or can’t get here in time and Tails and I will take care of evert—

“Oh, shut up, you! I’ll be over within thirty minutes. You knew from the second I said I was in Green Hills I would be going sneaky, leather-obsessed hog,” Amy reacted to being teased.

Tails grinned having heard most of the conversation. He mumbled something to Shadow to tell Amy as he smirked like the brat little brat he was deep down inside. She heard the fox’s gleeful voice but not the content.

Shadow thumbed up Tails, “Great. I look forward to seeing you…Wait. Tails said to bring what you need because we are in the middle of bug season. He’s bringing up mosquitoes and something about a non-native species of stink bug having recently been introduced to Angel Island reproducing at an alarming rate. Being the Ultimate Lifeform, bugs naturally detest me, but you two might need some spray,” Shadow stated remaining completely serious, barely.

There was a short silence.

Amy sneered, “Oh, I’ll be bringing spray for the bugs and for both of you, but especially for you Tails! Be there soon.”

Amy hung up and Tails broke down laughing. Even Shadow was laughing a bit.

“She…actual…bought that stink bug story. Wait you have some kind of immunity to bugs!” Tails got out between breaths.

Shadow smirked, “Yes, just not in the way I made it sound. Many species and almost all flying species will ignore or avoid me because I’m toxic to them, such as mosquitoes. I’m immune to all venom, bacteria, or pathogens they might inject or carry. Very few insects bother with me: not purposely at least.”

Miles considered what Shadow said and it made sense.

“I should have figured that out already. Heh. It would be odd if you were not immune to all pathogens, diseases, and toxins. Bugs all related to all three. She’s going to attack us with perfume just to warn you,” Tails smiled.

Shadow commented simply, “Worth it. Come on and show me these outdoor lights so we can get all the food and drinks packed in.”

Tails nodded and lead Shadow into the workshop and showed him the two outdoor lights. Shadow picked one up easily and just told Tails to get the plane’s compartment open to show him where to place it. The hedgehog did the same for both lights two twelve packs of water, and four twelve packs of Coca Cola. Tails added in some safety items such as a few flashlights and med-kits. It was unfortunate Knuckles hadn’t bothered to tell them about the artistic part of the task so they could bring him a set of colored pencils, but it was what it was. Tails added some phone gadgets like an extender for selfies and a phone stand. After placing their respective food bags inside there was an angry knock at the door.

Shadow went to answer it…dragging Tails along. He wasn’t going to suffer her wraith alone.

“Where is it!! I swore Sonic put it here!” They both heard Amy complaining about the spare key being gone, which would cease to exist during Sonic’s lifetime.

Now the Tails had decided to tell Sonic the truth about his trust issues, there would never be a spare key and Sonic would come home never wanting one again. Shadow opened the door for Amy. Tails had tried to hide behind it, but Shadow literally hissed at him. The fox was still unused to the sound even after catching Shadow playing a game with Nyx where they hissed back and forth at each other. Sonic rarely hissed and never on purpose, but Shadow made use of the ability.

Amy had a hiking backpack on and her hands on her hips.

“Where is the spare key, Tails and why did you hiss Shadow? It is rude,” Amy started in on them.

Shadow moved out of the way for her to walk in and replied, “Doesn’t it depend on the reason for the hiss? If I hissed at someone doing something…sneaky, would that be rude?”

Amy thought about it. She supposed Shadow had a point. If someone was being rude, mean, sneaky, or needed a warning then it would be reasonable, but Shadow’s hiss was extremely deep and chilling.

“I suppose you have a point, Shadow, but your hiss is more intense than any I’ve heard so people might take it as a…real threat. And Tails where is that spare key?” Amy glared at the fox.

Luckily for the fox Nyx came over and jumped on a piece of furniture to inspect Amy. She looked at the black and white cat with adoration and immediately started to pet him.

“Aww, and who are you? I see your collar! So, your name is Nyx. You have a cute name, oh yes you do! Your fur is so soft, and you are so sweet. Who do you belong to, hmm? These two couldn’t raise such a lovely kitty.”

Tails snorted, “Your wrong about that. Nyx is Shadow’s spoiled cat…that lives purely inside and can’t be let outside, which is why I had to remove the spare key. Shadow was nice enough to stay here with me and I promised no one would accidentally let Nyx outside.”

Shadow nodded and followed up, “Yes, that is true. I requested that the spare be removed while Nyx is here. I don’t want him getting hurt, killing some bacteria ridden bird or mouse, or getting lost. I keep up on his shots but that’s not a guarantee against everything. If you insist on spraying us in retaliation, please do so in the workshop. I do not want Nyx inhaling anything noxious.”

Amy gaped at Shadow. She could not believe he had a cat, and he was protective over Nyx almost to an extreme degree. It was clear this pet was loved and cared for by the way it acted toward strangers. Nyx had never learned to fear people and that could only be because Shadow had made sure he was always safe and treated nicely.

“I know I swore to let go of all my misconceptions about Shadow and I thought I did. I just didn’t expect him to be a cat person, an extremely defensive cat person. I feel guilty all over again…At this rate Shadow is almost as sweet as Sonic…only Sonic doesn’t have the patience or attention span for a cat or dog. Come to think of it, this house is…clean. I can’t see even one sign Sonic even lives here without the cans and the random mess or two. It’s nice to see it clean for once, but it is also…sad.” Amy thought as she pet Nyx.

Amy finally turned her attention away from Nyx, “I will not spray either of you because the house is clean, and I was able to pet an adorable cat. Consider yourselves lucky! All my stuff is in my backpack. I just need to use the restroom before leaving.”

Amy took off her loaded camping backpack and Tails asked if it was okay if he placed it in the Tornado II’s compartment. She assented and walked off toward the restroom in a hurry. Shadow gave Nyx a few pats and picked up the backpack to place it where Tails wanted it for weight distribution. Every item heavier than a few pounds had to be placed and belted down to make flying safe.

Amy had used the restroom as an excuse to let hide a few tears. She walked down the hallway and couldn’t help herself but head to Sonic’s room. She looked at the usual photos as she went along and stopped when she noticed a new one. It was of Shadow and Tails in Sation Square and it must have been taken yesterday based on Tail’s outfit. They both looked natural with no poses or those fake camera smiles. Amy didn’t know how to feel about this. Sonic had once explained that this is where Tails liked to hang his meaningful photographs but why each was meaningful was known only to Miles.

In truth, there were over a hundred photos just like these ones in different locations and ones that included his other friends next to him and Sonic, but only a select few had deep emotions attached to them; those select few were destined to be hung here. The fact that all of them had been solely with Sonic was already telling enough There was finally a new face on this wall, but it wasn’t her own, Cream’s, or Knuckles’. Shadow had made the wall first, which meant that day had profound implications, just like all the others before it.

“I have no right to judge Tails…I wasn’t there for him when I should have been, and Shadow was there instead…It is just… I assumed this would remain a Sonic only wall based on how all the prior additions were, but I guess it never was meant for only Sonic. No one else has made an important enough impact on Tails to make the cut and get up here, but how can that be after all these years?! I can’t make sense of how Tails thinks, and I’ll look crazy if I explain and ask. I don’t have a right to ask something so personal to begin with. I’ll just…put what I’ve seen aside.”

Amy made it to Sonic’s room, and it was obvious by the fact that it had been cleaned and organized that Shadow was sleeping in here. The cat bed up near the top confirmed it. Shadow was sleeping in Sonic’s bed with Nyx right there. Based on the pillow, sheet, and blanket near the bottom of the bed, so was Tails. After controlling her emotions, she realized it made sense Shadow would borrow the bed and Tails would obviously want to sleep in there because it was as close as he could get to Sonic. Sonic’s actual room, aside from all the items being picked up and organized and remained untouched. Disregarding the cat bed for Nyx, Shadow had done nothing to the room to alter it which made her happy. No one here was doing anything to disrespect the blue blur and that was confirmed by all Sonic’s toothbrushes, combs, and body products being where they always were. Amy felt repentant for having thought for minute that Tails would even allow it or that Shadow would ever try.

Amy made her way back to the workshop. Shadow went back inside once more to make sure he left enough of everything for Nyx and came back out, locking the door behind him. Tails was already in the pilot seat getting things ready before starting the plane. It suddenly occurred to Shadow there only two seats. He asked Tails about this, and Miles explained how Sonic just rode on the wing, like it was normal. Shadow didn’t consider that normal at all and would not be riding on the f*cking wing. He made it perfectly clear to the fox and Tails had no idea what to say. Amy heard all this go down and understood both viewpoints. Riding on the wing wasn’t normal; it was a Sonic thing, but Tails couldn’t magically make it a three-seater.

“Shadow and I can share a seat then,” Amy suggested.

Shadow thought about it and considered this fair.

“That is an acceptable compromise. Which do you prefer?” Shadow asked.

Amy didn’t understand his question.

“What do you mean, Shadow?” Amy asked confused.

“Are you sitting on my lap or am I sitting on yours?” Shadow said sounding serious.

Tails laughed. Amy wanted to assume Shadow was f*cking around. She knew he could be funny based on the phone conversation, but if he was, he was had an excellent straight face. Then again, Shadow could be odd about everyday things. Amy thought it would feel weird to have a grown man on her lap and it would probably be uncomfortable.

Amy finally answered because Shadow did not change expressions, “I don’t know if you’re joking Shadow, but I’ll sit on your lap if it is all the same to you.”

Shadow had not been joking. He didn’t care or mind either one. Amy did have a preference though, so that was fine. Shadow got in and helped Amy up and sat down placing his hands outward to give her room to decide how she wanted to sit. It suddenly occurred to Amy that she hadn’t ridden in Sonic’s lap before despite imagining it. He always took to the wing and let her have the seat. She blushed while trying to decide if she should sit horizontally or vertically but her body chose for her, horizontally. Tails reminded them to put on their headgear, which were earphones and a mic. Once she was seated Shadow’s chest fur was right below her chin. Tails started the Tornado II and then the chest fur was tickling her chin.

“Come to think of it, why doesn’t Sonic have chest fur? Does the peach fur not grow long enough, or does he keep it trimmed? No. I can’t imagine Sonic taking the time to keep it the same length. I guess I have seen other male hedgehogs without it, and I can’t imagine Sonic taking the time to style his like Shadow does. It smells like lavender. Shadow sure takes his grooming very seriously, which is nice, but Sonic doesn’t put in even half the effort his rival does.”

“Shadow, are you using oil on your spikes and deep moisturizers on your fur?” Amy asked curiosity getting the better of her.

Shadow thought it was a strange question. Who beside Sonic would not.

“Of course. I use a mixture of three different oils for my quills that I discovered worked best through experimentation but I also several additional products. I have a five-step moisturizing set for my fur. Quills are a hedgehog’s pride. They must be kept pristine. I have become aware Sonic does not…feel the same,” Shadow spoke with conviction.

Amy had her own products that were more excessive than usual so she could understand taking pride in appearance. Shadow took it a bit further than she did through.

Amy nodded, “I thought so. It shows. I wish Sonic at least used an oil and completed two to three weekly grooming sessions but he’s stubborn.”

Shadow remembered the photo he saw of Amy back when she had her quills loose.

“Tails showed me some old photos. I saw that you used to wear your quills out. Why did you decide to curl them? You can’t use them offensively with them like they are now.”

Amy knew what photos he was talking about. Those were taken years ago, long before she had even started learning how to use her hammer.

“Oh, those old photos are so embarrassing. I had no sense of style! My quills are not particularly sharp or thick, so I decided to curl them because it looks nice, and it makes them easy to comb and wash. I can defend myself better with my hammer better than I could ever do with my quills. If mine were as sharp as yours or Sonic’s, then it would be a different story,” Amy laughed.

“Ah, yes. You have become quite deadly with that hammer compared to when I first met you,” Shadow said honestly.

Amy remembered herself back then helpless as she thought Sonic had died in a capsule. After finding out he had lived and the entire ARK incident she decided she would become strong enough to protect herself. Once she had accomplished that goal she wanted to become an asset in battle. Amy had been improving leaps and bounds ever since, determined to get faster, stronger, and mix up her attack combinations. There was only so far Knuckles and Sonic would go with her training; they never let themselves attack her with their full strength and speed. Sometimes she wondered if they were just being assholes so she couldn’t get as good as them. She doubted Shadow would have that issue, but they were not going to Angel Island to train or duel. She wondered if Tails could still fight after so long off the front lines. Amy did have a question for Tails.

“Tails, did you ever call that girl back?” Amy teased.

Tails knew it was only a matter of time and was prepared for this. He was surprised it had taken her this long to mess with him.

“I was going to call Vel today but then Knuckles ruined that. Yes, when I have a mostly free day I’m going to call her,” the fox answered nonchalantly.

Amy continued to pester, “I had no idea you found humans pretty.”

Tails was a bit irritated with that comment. He didn’t think anyone would dare to go there, except for Knuckles.

“Well, I do. I don’t see how that matters Amy. If you want to limit yourself to Sonic, Sonic and only Sonic, then that’s your business but I’m not limiting myself by species,” Tales snapped at her.

Shadow took notice of that comment. He was proud to see the teen stand up for himself, even if Miles had twisted the knife instead of just making the stab. Amy was shocked and she was enraged. She had only been teasing him a little and he acted like she was some kind of bigot.

“That little brat! He knows I didn’t mean it like THAT. I don’t just limit myself to Sonic. He just happens to be the man I like and there’s nothing wrong with that! I know he’s not the only guy in the world and just because human men don’t interest me, doesn’t make me such bigot.” Amy thought, growing angrier and Tails had rarely if ever spoken to her like that; she was his elder!

“You know I didn’t mean it in some bigoted way! And there is nothing wrong with me being interested in one guy I like! I’m not limiting myself and I wasn’t suggesting you were,” Amy shouted back.

It should have been left at that, but Tails saw an opportunity to make a point. Neon signs arose flashing in his brain with the phrases, “no, no, NO, it’s not worth it, don’t say it, hammer to the face, and the last, f*ck it! How long have wanted to give her a piece of own medicine? Say it! Say IT!!”

“It’s not wrong Amy. Is it just odd after the said guy has shown no interest in you for over six years or has been seven already?” Tails replied in a normal tone because there was no need; the words themselves were enough, because he could have sweetly sung them to her, and it would have made the same impact.

Shadow had to hold Amy still because she was earnestly going to crawl on the f*cking plane mid-air and attack the pilot. What Tails said had been true but cruel, yet it wasn’t worth dying over.

“Damnit, faker! Why did you leave this woman hanging for this long. She shouldn’t be the only one not aware you never intend to go any further with her. Tails this was NOT the time to enrage her. Here I thought I was the socially destructive one!” Shadow realized his normalcy while holding Amy down.

“Amy! We are in a plane in the air. It’s not time to be trying to smack the one flying the plane!” Shadow tried to reason with her.

“You heard what he said!! He deserves a thorough beating, and I am going to give him one!”

“You will not be beating Tails with your hammer over a comment. Sonic would never forgive you if you beat up his little brother and you know it,” Shadow knew what he said was true.

Even Amy would not be forgiven if she took her hammer and beat up Tails.

Shadow would never allow her to beat the teenage boy anyway. She had also been the one who started up the teasing and Shadow didn’t much care for her human comment either. It felt a like a personal insult to him as well because he did think Maria had been pretty and if she had been cured, he hadn’t been some hunted for his abilities, and they had gone down to Earth together, he couldn’t say for certain they would have continued regarding each other as siblings. He may have married her and lived an entirely different life. It was all fantasy bullsh*t but still he couldn’t help imagining all the what-ifs.

Amy stopped struggling. Shadow had a point. She could not beat Tails without doing major damage to her friendship with Sonic. She didn’t understand why the fox would be such a jerk. Sonic hadn’t gone further with her most of those years because they were too young, so only a few of those years even counted.

“But it is true that he still hasn’t been on a real date me yet. I wouldn’t have added it to that stupid task if I didn’t want an answer from him! The way I said it gave off the sense I knew who he liked instead but I don’t believe there is anyone else. I was just messing with him about Rouge; he’s shown no interest other than gawking and he knows Knuckles likes her. I’m the only woman his age that he is around regularly. If he isn’t interested in me, why wouldn’t he have told me? Does Tails know something I don’t? If Sonic has confided in anyone about how he feels it would be Tails, but the way Tails talks isn’t reassuring. Would he really be mean enough to mess with my mind over just a bit of teasing?” Amy kept thinking about Sonic intents and what Tails knew, if the fox knew anything.

Amy reigned in her temper and her dignity and spoke to Tails, “Look Tails I didn’t mean to insult Vel or you by her being human, okay! I was just teasing you a little bit. I shouldn’t have just congratulated you and asked any questions without the playful tone. I get that it is serious to you because Sonic is to me. Did you just say what you did to get back at me or did you say it because you know something I don’t? Did Sonic tell you he never wanted me as a girlfriend or something? Please just give me an answer!”

Amy sounded desperate at the end. Tails felt like a piece of sh*t for giving into his childish desire to get back at her and tease her for once, but he had gone beyond teasing. The fox knew it went down too personal. He thought of a way to some smooth this over and half-truths and lies were the way out.

Tails sighed, “I just said it because I thought you were insulting me and Vel, and I wanted to get the upper hand and tease you for once, but I went too far. I’m sorry…Sonic detests taking about romantic stuff and he’s the same way around me. Every time I asked him about you, he’d smash his hands down on his ears and yell “blah blah blah” until I stopped. I’m in the dark about his intentions as much as you are. I’m just surprised you put up with it this long and haven’t moved on to someone else. That was meant as a compliment: not an insult, Amy. It’s just an observation that you are pretty, kind, and you are not limited to just Sonic.”

Amy had not realized that he’d complimented her earlier because she was so angry. Tails had still been overly mean, but the question was legitimate. She had been questioning Sonic’s plans and Tails had been asking Sonic without success. Amy had to speculate if everyone who knew them wondered why Sonic hadn’t started to date her or why she hadn’t found someone else. Knowing how people thought and how rumors worked, she was sure they all had. Now Amy was mad and embarrassed upon realizing her and Sonic had been scrutinized because the blue blur couldn’t make up his mind…or because she had not put him on the spot and forced him.

After minutes of nothing Amy replied, “Thank you. Apology accepted. Let’s just forget about…this. It is something I need to confirm with Sonic after he’s home.”

Tails had already been realizing for the last few days that he was going to have to stop pretending to be so carefree and trusting and he just realized he had started. He had seen Amy try and get out of her seat to come at him mid-flight. What Amy didn’t know was that he had a device of his own that functioned like a gun hidden on the inside of his jacket. He noticed while Shadow was handing him items to put in the cargo containers that hedgehog had spotted it. Miles expected a confrontation for a moment but quickly realized it wasn’t Sonic loading the plane with him. Shadow just nodded in approval and said, “It’s never wrong to keep yourself safe, but only fire in an emergency and with the assumption that whoever you shoot will die.”

He knew he would have to make it clear to Amy that she could no longer smack, hit, or randomly whack him with her hammer anymore or chase him and Sonic with it over some snide remark. Well, she could chase Sonic but not him. He was going to have to tell the truth to Sonic when they got him home so he might as well stop the pretend personality he had put on for Amy and Knux now. It was going to be strange and rocky, it had to be done. He had made a decision he wasn’t going back on.

The rest of the flight was uneventful. Amy was silent and wasn’t moving around so Shadow was able to check his email and he saw one from Rouge. He opened it, read it, damned the timing of it all. He emailed her back thanking her for letting him know.

“Tch. I can prove to Amy this is fake with the screen shots of the mini request Rouge provided, so there isn’t a reason for Amy to care about Rouge’s video. Rouge, it’s a shame Eggman didn’t request himself instead of Sonic as the object of your affection You would tear him apart going into disgusting detail.”

The Tornado II began its approach to Angel Island Shadow looked on in interest. This was his first time on this type of plane. The Ultimate Lifeform had commandeered many modes of transportation over time: various G.U.N vehicles, a tank, and the motorcycle which he kept, and no one had asked for it back. He had not hijacked a boat or a plane yet. Tails lined up the plane toward the runway, which looked too short in Shadow’s opinion and Tails knew it was barely enough, Miles happened to be one hell of pilot and landed it just fine, but the fox was going to ask the echidna to clear away some more land.

Once the plane came to a stop Shadow helped Amy down after they removed their equipment. Tails flew down a good length away from Amy and was ready to act defensively; knowing how her anger spiked, he knew if she was going to try something it would be immediately, as soon as Shadow had his attention elsewhere.

Amy put her hand on her hips, “Stop being ready to dodge me, Tails! I already said we were going drop it. Besides, I wouldn’t attack you after you’ve been out of melee combat for so long.”

Shadow looked on in amusem*nt. He remembered Tails saying the last time he fought close combat was during the Perfect Chaos crisis before he quit training to build the Cyclone.

Tails looked at Amy seriously, “Amy, when you get mad enough, we both know any rules go out the window with you, but fine I’ll trust you to not knock me out with your hammer. If you go back on your word and do smack me with it, I swear you will regret it. In the last few days, I’ve realized the time for me sitting back and playing the trusting, adorable kid role in our group has come it an end. As for me being out of close combat for so long, just wait until you see what I have brought with me to test out. I think it evens the odds.”

Amy’s face kept switching emotions, trying to deduce whether the fox was joking. Shadow had heard Tails say he was taking a device he wanted to test to Angel Island due to its secrecy and lack of population, but Shadow hadn’t bothered to ask for details. The fox had been putting the finishing touches on something during their spare time in his workshop.

It was a movement enhancer and an offensive weapon in one that Tails had spent over four years constructing and altering, but obstacles arose that stopped him at the 80% mark. One setback was the final touches were intricate and his gloves had made it too difficult. The other difficulty was with the way the tech looked; it would have creeped Sonic and the others out. The third is that Sonic didn’t approve of him making actual weapons unless it was desperately needed for a fight with Eggman. The Ultimate Lifeform now had all the clues he needed to recognize what device Tails was referring to and he had to admit he never thought he would be seeing that f*cking thing again.

Shadow smirked enigmatically, “Tails this…device wouldn’t happen to have pointy limbs and lasers, would it?”

Amy put a hand over her mouth when she heard Shadow’s question. Miles had been serious when he just spoke to her. She had been threatened by Tails that if she attacked him, he would get back at her in some way. There was the rest of what he said to which didn’t sound like the kid she knew.

Miles looked back at the dark hedgehog with astonishment, “Woah! How did you know? Wait…did you walk in while I was so consumed with finishing that I didn’t even notice you?”

Shadow never thought he would be telling the real story so he would play along. Amy was still processing what she had heard the fox say.

“Something like that. Let’s just say I got a glance at it and from what I saw you’ll be needing many hours of practice before you can use those lasers safely, but the same would be true for anyone. Once you’ve mastered controlling it, I agree it evens the odds,” Shadow laughed a bit at the insanity of it all.

The Ultimate Lifeform thought the entire thing was amazing but very dangerous; although, without an infinite power source it had a limit just like any other firing weapon. The entire reason it was in the Shatterverse was because it existed already and needed the finishing touches. Amy was finally back to looking at them both. The timing was not great, but Tails was taking his promise seriously by deciding to stop pretending. Shadow could not help but value follow-through and honesty.

“Tails did you just threaten me? And do you mean by playing the adorable kid role being over?” Amy asked.

Tails began to open one of the compartments of the Tornado II and took out a box. Shadow went and opened the main compartment to get his bag of personal items and to grab a drink.

Tails sighed, “Yes. If you physically attack me, I’ll physically attack you. It’s that simple, so when we have verbal arguments from now on, they need to stay verbal Amy. I know Sonic seems to find it perfectly acceptable to be smacked with a hammer when he’s being a smartass, but I don’t. I’m not saying you must put up with my attitude if I’m being a jerk; just don’t go pulling a fast one on me. As for the rest, let’s just say Sonic being gone has put things into perspective,” Tails opened the box and carefully took the device out as Amy looked at its metallic structure, “Honestly, this should have occurred when we nearly lost him on the ARK, but this time Eggman has rubbed our faces in the fact that Sonic is not invincible. I’m old enough now to start being his equal and protect him like he has protected me all these years. I’m getting him back and he’ll be coming home to people who can protect him and keep him safe while he recovers. I don’t know how else to explain it.”

Miles put in place a device in each of his ears, both too small to notice, two small devices under his eyes above the white fur, and a control apparatus on his left hand using magnetization. The seven claws were curled up right now and needed to be attached. He hadn’t thought this part through.

Flustered he asked Shadow, “Could you help attach them. I need to redesign this part already, but it goes underneath my tails and there’s cla—

Tails went silent as Shadow already had it placed correctly and was working on adjusting the then metal clasps, “I got the picture when I saw it, Tails. I’ll manage. Deadly weaponry is one of my fortes.”

The fox laughed, “I can’t argue with you on that.”

Amy was watching as Shadow attached this metal ball-like structure onto Miles’ tails. She had no idea what it did yet but from what had heard she already hated it. First Tails had just rearranged their entire dynamic and now he was getting “deadly weaponry” attached to himself. The only silver lining to any of this was that Tails took her seriously. He had threatened that if she even smacked him from now on, he’d fight her over it. She might take him up on that if he was going be such a…Amy didn’t even know what word to describe what Tails was trying to be.

“Alright its on as tight as it can go. Remember what I said about those lasers,” Shadow finished.

Tails’ nodded. He hoped these would work like he designed. He knew it would certainly take a while to master coordinating them, but today all he cared about was their basic functionality.

“He goes nothing!” Miles shouted.

The ball unfurled and all sever metallic limbs stuck up in the air.

“Tails, it looks like you have a metal spider crawling out of your ass,” Knuckles remarked as he finished gliding to the plane quickly bouncing off it with his feet to propel and preform a back flip. The guardian then proceeded right toward the main cargo container to the Coca Cola, which was warped in plastic. Knuckles looked for something to cut it but one of the metal limbs clawed tips moved down and cut through the plastic lining. Regulating the exact strength and movement had taken a bit more concentration for Tails but it functioned as projected. Knuckles grabbed the cola and opened it with his teeth and gulped while everyone watched. He didn’t care what they thought. It had been months since he last had one of these.

“A very useful ass spider,” Knuckles finished.

Tails laughed good naturedly. It looked somewhat like a spider so that was a good name for now.

“Okay, I guess its temporary name will be The Spider. I never got around to naming it,” the fox flushed because he never thought he’d have the guts to use it.

Between the metal spider, Shadow having helped attach weaponry to the boy who was like a kid brother to her, and Knuckles boorishly going straight for the cola, Amy was incensed.

“Go on! Just help yourself! It is not like it is impolite to do right for out stuff before even a hello and start guzzling down our drinks!” Amy took out her frustration on the newest arrival.

Knuckles just looked at Amy and then at Shadow and Tails and shrugged. Tails pointed to a small cavern a few feet away where they always put the supplies to keep them out of the sun and so Knuckles could take his stuff down at his leisure. Knuckles nodded and quickly told Shadow that’s where they always unloaded and took everything first. Shadow nodded and they all grabbed their share and walked back and forth until everything was placed in the cavern. On their last trip to the cavern, Knuckles walked over to Shadow,

“What crawled up her ass and died today?” Knuckles questioned, eyeing Shadow, since he was the closest thing to a Sonic they had.

Tails laughed as Amy looked like she was about to explode. Knuckles opened a second can, seemly expecting an answer. Shadow realized he would have to oblige with Tails busy testing out each movement pattern of his death machine and Amy silently raging as she watched the contraption move.

“To put it simply…Tails has grown up and she doesn’t like the results. There’s also the fact that the person she loves is trapped with a lunatic while everyone in the city won’t stop talking about it like it’s a real TV show rather than a collection of criminal offenses,” Shadow said carefully.

Knuckles nodded, “Right, so same thing as always; Sonic is unreachable for her, only this time it’s because Eggman’s got him instead of him just playing the fool.”

The hedgehog had to put a hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing. The way the guardian described it so nonchalantly was priceless. This guy was blunter than him. Tails did not have the same consideration and just snickered. Amy had reached her limit for today when it came to her and Sonic.

“ENOUGH! What do you mean by ‘UNREACHABLE’, Knuckles? Huh?! Or what do you mean by ‘AS ALWAYS’?! First, it’s random people in stores asking me if I am Sonic’s girlfriend and then WHY NOT if I openly like him. Then Tails throws his comment about Sonic knowing me for six to seven years without showing any interest. Oh, and how I’m ‘LIMITING’ myself for not just moving on to someone else! What do you all know about Sonic’s feelings for me that I DON’T?! Tell me, damn you!! I’m a person with emotions too! I don’t serve to be TOYED with like I’m nothing! TELL ME!” Amy screamed and pulled at her quills.

Shadow stood there looking at her but there was no information he could give because that would put him in the middle of her and Sonic’s problem. He had never desired to be Sonic’s real crush but now that he knew how the blue blur felt, he sure wasn’t ashamed or unhappy about it. Tails was in an even worse predicament. If he told Amy his brother didn’t have any interest in her then he would be breaking Sonic’s confidence and could make Amy angry enough to stop supporting his bro. Fortuitously for Shadow and Tails, Knuckles hadn’t thought about any of the intricacies that went along with the livestream had no way of knowing what Amy’s emotional state had been reduced to.

“Sonic just sees you as a friend, Amy. He isn’t romantically interested in anyone as far as I can tell, and I don’t get what’s so wrong with that. Our favorite hedgehog beats his hog off to the thrill of adventure, the rush of the air, and creams himself over the adrenaline rush he gets from almost dying all the time,” the echidna said shamelessly.

Shadow decided to see how this played out while doing his best not form that mental picture. The guardian had just f*cked this up good and it was too late to do anything about it. He leaned over, while Amy was still silent and dumbstruck, and whispered into Tails’ ear, “Let them go at it. We keep out of it and do damage control latter.”

Tails glanced up at the hedgehog and quickly nodded. Tails went digging through one of his personal bags. Shadow looked through his bag looking for the stylus Tails had handed him for Knuckles while trying not to imagine Sonic beating his hog off while running around spin-dashing bots, but he still imagined Sonic after a run, bragging to know about how fast he was and then randomly ejacul*ting. Shadow used every bit of self-control not to make a face or a sound.

“Tails was right. I should have never called Amy today; whatever stress has been going on in the city has strained her to the limit. Knuckles answer mattered not because nothing any one of us could have said would have satisfied Amy. Knuckles is just as brutally honest as Rouge without the nicer sounding voice. I’m starting to appreciate the fox’s fear of Amy’s friendship with Sonic not being unconditional. She has acted erratic, endangering herself on the plane over a remark. Her failure to confront Sonic is no more rational than Sonic’s fear of hurting her feelings by admitting the truth. Both have been fools about this. She didn’t demand an answer from Sonic because there were two possibilities. It’s like Schrödinger cat. If she never looks inside; Sonic could still always love her romantically… Faker, you will clean this mess up entirely before I’ll consider you. I will not be put in the middle of whatever THIS disaster is.”

Amy stepped closer toward Knuckles scowling, “Did he say that?”

Her question was icy and simple. It was clear to everyone that she was going to bash the answer out of the echidna or try to if it came down to it.

“Not in those exact words. It was all the ‘my friend Amy’ or ‘my pal Amy’ ways of referring to you and all his compliments being related to your maturing proficiency with that hammer and your kindness. A guy who is in love with a woman is eventually going to slip up and call you ‘his girl’ or mention how beautiful you looked the other day. He’d sooner or later be unable to help himself and brag about what he’s gets to touch that no one else gets to have. Just saying,” Knuckles described Sonic’s way of acting.

Tails nodded, “That’s the same way he talks about Amy around me too. It’s always respectful comments so I never thought about it.”

The two guys both described what they meant to Amy in an impartial way. Knuckles had shown no signs of treating the woman’s feelings flippantly. The guardian was just revealing how Sonic’s attitude about her came off from a male’s perspective.

No one surrounding Amy Rose at this moment understood her viewpoint or what she had been going through because she had partially kept it from them. She had left for Station Square to be near her old friends for support if she ended up needing them. After the first challenge she had started to crack, but during the shopping trip it was evident that Tails was restless, tired, and troubled with a task to complete. Shadow had his hands full looking for the Eggman’s HQ and taking over for Sonic; she knew she couldn’t add on to their burdens. Amy went with her original strategy and sought relief from the people she’d known the longest or who knew her the best and that had had only been a catastrophe.

Sonic was trapped for all the world to see and objectify: her childhood friends falling right into it. She couldn’t go anywhere without some rando noting her lack of romantic relationship with the said blue hedgehog and the comments online were so incredibly rude and sexually explicit. She went to Green Hill for some peace and quiet only for some light teasing with Tails to lead to the fox giving her a blunt opinion, one of the few Miles had ever dared utter about Sonic’s feelings for her. Tails had made her romantic inspirations sound hopeless and a waste of her time even. Because all these events occurred in the last forty-eight hours without emotional support before getting on the Tornado II, Amy didn’t take Knuckles’ statements as intended: naïve, frank facts that she had insisted on him providing.

Instead, she took all her anguish, wrath, and dread of the unknown out on the unsuspecting, innocent echidna, “What would you know about how a man normally talks about his girl, Knuckles?! You haven’t even been on a date! You’ve never had a crush or loved anyone before so how could you know how Sonic’s ways of complimenting me were not a sign of being in love? How would you know if he would eventually be unable to control mentioning my looks or bragging about me being only his?! You are a SINGLE, virgin, INCEL stuck on an island!!”

Tails stopped messing with the Spider and just stood there skeptical of having heard what he just…heard Amy say. Shadow had a hand on his temple knowing most of what Amy said was false. Knuckles didn’t look angry as one might expect; he just looked at Amy with some mixture of disgust, pity, and annoyance. She noticed the look on his face and was caught unaware; Amy thought she had pegged his life down.

Knuckles finally put a knuckle to his brow and replied, “Amy you need to grow the f*ck up and take a good, long look at your own private life before poorly attempting to summarize or judge mine. I have a crush and I do love someone, but I told her to give it up because I didn’t want to clip her wings with my duty and this island. Do you get it? I didn’t want to screw it up by making her miserable with my sh*tty life. You won’t be getting any more details from me about my intimate relations or Sonic’s if he ever does confide in me. I have enough respect to keep my mouth f*ckin shut.”

Amy fell to the floor in tears. Tails still stood there too bewildered to do or say anything. Shadow had listened and he was pissed about one thing he had heard.

Shadow hissed, “Wait, you were the one who told her to stop because of your duty and this island?! Idiot! She’s not a fool! Did you think she hadn’t factored that in before even bother considering you? You didn’t wonder if someone with such a brilliant mind couldn’t have already figured something out?! I thought she dropped you by how quiet she was being about it, but everything makes more sense now. You…caused my friend…pain!”

Shadow threw the bag with the stylus over to Knuckles. Before the Echidna could respond Shadow was talking again.

“Use that instead of your finger on the phone. Call, text, or leave a voicemail apologizing and explaining exactly what you told Amy as your nonsensical reason for tossing her aside, because she deserved to hear your exact imprudent reasons why. I’m sending you her number because I doubt you have kept it safe,” Shadow glared at the guardian and the glare contained a clear threat if the guardian didn’t do as demanded.

Knuckles had considered Shadow as possible adversary for Rouge’s affections until she explained their friendship. He never expected Shadow to support her decision or that he cared, but if he didn’t the prickly bastard wouldn’t be demanding him to contact her and potentially fix it. Knuckles had meant to do the opposite of hurting Rouge, but according to Shadow it hadn’t gone down that way.

“I didn’t mean to hurt her! I was trying to avoid that by having her waste her time here on this island, man! You know this isn’t some place she could be happy,” Knuckles said as he took out the stylus and saw the text with the Rouge’s number.

“Oh, I doubt she would have spent extended periods of time on Angel Island. She doesn’t spend much time in the same place anywhere. It doesn’t matter how nice the place happens to be. It would have been a compromise because neither of you live normal lives, but I thought that was the entire point of it! But I’ve come to appreciate logic is a quality in short supply when it comes to Sonic’s friends, excluding the youngest one, ironically,” Shadow looked over at Tails who was recovering enough to head over toward Amy and back at Knuckles, “Look, just give her a call when we are not around. At least you can give her some closure she still might be wanting and maybe you can work something out, but she hasn’t said enough about her feelings to estimate the chances of her forgiving you or willingness to try again. I don’t care as long as she’s happy. I also sent you some screen shots of a mission Eggman gave her, so you know not to take the video seriously,” Shadow finished, having calmed down feeling he had done his due diligence as Rouge’s friend.

Knuckles sat his ass down taking out the stylus from the bag and tried using it on the phone; everything abruptly became easy. If he had this sooner, he would have been able to tap those cats, but more importantly he was able to save Rouge’ number and look at the screenshot that contained Eggman’s not so brief request and Rouge’s brief reply. He saw it as sh*t slinging meant for Amy. Amy’s strange string of insults was obviously a mirroring of her own problems, so the guardian thought such a stupid, blatant plan could work on her. He got back up.

“Hey, Shadow! I’ve always thought you were just a sulky asshole, to be real with you, but I was wrong. You are a good friend to have and she’s lucky to have you. And…um...thanks for the advice, even if nothing good nothing comes out of it for me, you’re right. I should have given her a proper explanation back then and I’ll give her one. Not that I’ve forgotten about our duel!” Knuckles bro tapped his shoulder as he walked past as Shadow almost let out a hiss.

Tails had gotten close enough to Amy while maintaining a respectful distance. He knew she wasn’t happy with him, but neither was he feeling guilty about it because she had teased him about his first ever crush.

“I need to stop being afraid of that dumb hammer if I’m going to take on Eggman’s bots. I’m getting Amy off the ground! This is stupid and we came here to get Knuckles’ task done, not to watch her have one of her Sonic themed meltdowns. We did not fly to this island for her to wallow.”

Tails walked up to Amy and pulled on her arms saying, “Amy, you can’t know anything for sure unless it comes from Sonic so let’s just focus on getting him back so he can explain himself, okay?”

Amy responded by hissing and pulling out her hammer to strike near him, to scare him off, but Tails didn’t know where she was aiming. The Spider reacted defensively just as Tails imagined wanting it to do. Three of its arms engaged the hammer coiling their tips around it. Tails had her deadlocked and although it was taking a lot of energy to maintain, the fox enjoyed the contest and testing the weapon. Shadow put his arm out to stop Knuckles from interfering.

“It’s their fight and it’s been brewing for hours. Let them have it.” Shadow simply said, trusting Tails to not use the lasers.

Knuckles grinned, nodded, and looked on in glee. He was really going to appreciate this spectacle. Sonic never let this kind of crazy sh*t go down. Sonic was always blah blahing about teamwork this and teamwork that, as he failed to notice even that his own little bother didn’t care for his mantra all that much; Tails acting different without Sonic around wasn’t as much of a shocker to Knuckles because he’d seen some of the fox’s facial expressions when Tails thought no one was looking. The blue hedgehog coddled Amy and Tails, but Shadow was willing to let them fight, so this was a rare chance to see the two youngest members go unchained. The more he observed how Shadow handled the group, the more refreshing the guardian found him.

“Cut it out Amy! How is attacking me going to help you?” Miles shouted.

Amy kept trying to pull her hammer loose, but Tails’ freaky new weapon had too strong a hold. She heard him talk but didn’t care what he was saying. He was willing to get close enough, he had been a jerk, and he had made it clear once off the Tornado II he was ready to fight her if she wanted to go at it. Well, she wanted to go at someone, and he had been stupid enough to volunteer.

She quickly let go of her hammer and ran up the wall, using the momentum to push off and dash a kick aimed at Tails’ back. The fox was able to adjust his position slightly before she made an impact, but it was enough to angle her own hammer to use as a shield. Amy shrieked as her foot hit her own weapon instead of Tails shoulder. She was knocked backward landing on her feet as Tails took a more aggressive posture waiting for her next attack. Amy quickly analyzed her options: her main weapon was out of reach, she had not been caring for her quills, but she did have her acrobatics with hand-to-hand combat. Tails, on the other hand, had her hammer in a death grip and the other four of those nasty arms were free for offense or defense. Amy was stubborn and pulled off her head band. She may have not been caring for them as weapons, but they were still sharp.

Tails knew what that meant; she was going to spin-dash. He had a nice way to end this if he could pull it off. Oh, she would be bruised from it, but nothing compared to the lacerations from those her quills if she were able to make full contact with him. He needed to angle this perfectly to make it work. He waited for her to reveal her direction before she dashed, and he swiftly swung the hammer meeting her dash but also angling his swing to the side to send her crashing directly into the wall. He leaped back, releasing her hammer, grabbing it, and then caged himself in with his seven arms for defense. He was too exhausted to use The Spider to hold Amy’s hammer. All he could do with it now was block any counters if the wall hadn’t put a top to Amy. Miles also had reached into his jacket for his laser gun, just in case. He wouldn’t shoot her, but he would scare her with it if she managed to get past his The Spider’s makeshift barrier.

Thankfully, the wall had stopped Amy. She had smashed into it back-first and slid to the ground gasping for air. She had scrapes that were bleeding, one near the top of her head. She looked up at Tails in disbelief and saw him staring at her against the opposite wall. All the metal arms were ensnared into the ground. The fox clutched her hammer with one hand, and she saw his other was reaching for an object hidden in his jacket. Based on the outline it was a gun of some sort.

She had lost to Tails who hadn’t fought anyone like this in years, but he was ruthless and calculating. She could tell by the way he was watching her every movement. He knew she was beaten and yet he was still planning multiple counter attacks in case she did magically spring back into action.

“Going to shoot me next?” Amy gasped out.

Tails huffed, “No, just shoot near you if you’re stupid enough to come any closer to me! I was trying to help you off the ground, Amy, and you tried to attack me over nothing. What in the hell did expect me to do, huh? Let you beat me up because you’re angry at Sonic? I spent the first four years of my life being beaten on by my entire village! I’m not letting you or ANYONE ELSE DO IT AGAIN!”

Amy knew Tails had lived somewhere else before Sonic took him in, but she hadn’t heard anything about a village or him being beaten. She realized Tails must have avoided his past to hide it.

She wiped the blood off her forehead, “I get what you meant now about no longer pretending to be the adorable little kid now. Does Sonic even know any of this?”

Tails retracted the spider while maintaining the rest of his posture, “He knows about my past, but he doesn’t know how big a mark my past left on me or how I’ve been pretending to be an adorable kid around the rest of his friends. It’s the things I must confess to him when I get Sonic home. I’m not going to lie to my big bro anymore…because it was wrong of me, and he deserves better.”

Shadow and Knuckles walked into the area. Knuckles paid careful attention to everything Tails had said as he helped Amy up and assessed her wounds. Nothing was broken but she would have some bruises and scratches. Tails had made sure to smack her into the wall hard enough for her not to forget it anytime soon. The echidna thought it was rather harsh, but a fight was a fight and she had been the one to start to start it up. Shadow considered it over with.

“Knuckles, now that you can use your phone can you read us the task. Amy and Tails could use the time to refresh as you read and here’s a first aid kit Amy.” Shadow handed her the kit without comment.

Tails left the hammer and went to grab a few drinks before Knuckles started. The fox wasn’t surprised that Shadow had let them fight nor did he mind. He needed to test out The Spider and Amy had been the best test. It had been obvious on that plane ride that she wanted to have a row with him, so he had given her one. If Sonic never wanted to take her seriously, he would be happy to take Amy on earnestly because sparing with Knuckles, Shadow, or Sonic, when he was back, was too much too soon. Amy sat in denial about Shadow letting any of this happen.

Knuckles thoughts on the matter were quite a bit different, “Damn Sonic would have never let Amy and Tails go at each other, let alone watch from the sidelines. I shouldn’t be surprised that handholding isn’t a thing with Shadow. Oh, sh*t though. Heh. Sonic is going to have a fit when he gets back and is told about it and sees that Spider thing Tails has created…And everything about Tails now makes sense. Poor kid, but he’s grown up stronger for it. He will be fine, and that weapon is awesome. More importantly, the Ultimate Prick isn’t as bad as I thought. This day might be more fun than the times Sonic shows up. Ha!”

Shadow was learning against a rock while Tails was drinking down water and then a cola. Amy had managed to find her own rock to sit on and glare at the rest of the group as she bandaged the worst of her scratches.

“Alright, guys, I’m going to read this stupid text from Eggman. Try not to fall asleep. The dumbass can’t get the point.”

Everyone listened to Knuckles read off Eggman’s task, sometimes mimicking the doctor well enough to get a grin out of Tails. The fox rolled his eyes about the summary of his task and the little part addressed to him. Overall, the task was simple, which made outsmarting it problematic.

Tails noticed Amy and Knuckles looking at him.

“Hey, the jerk demanded that I always have my camera on so I couldn’t pick and choose people! It forced me to make it long and he didn’t need to watch the parts of me eating, hanging out, or meeting Velvet,” Tails said in his own defense.

Knuckles hadn’t watched Tails’ entire video yet, so he had no idea about this girlfriend Tails had managed to snag.

“Hold up, Tails can you show me this girl Vel. I have not watched the entire video because its long.” Tails gave him a warning death glare and Knuckles reassured him, “Dude, chill out. I’m not going to say anything rude okay. I’m just curious.”

“Fine, just wait a second.”

Tails went to his photos. He has already gone through the video and screen captured her at the best moments before blurring everything.

“Here, use the stylus to move down to see them all. There’s five,” Miles said.

Knuckles looked and noticed she was human, but he didn’t care about that. He looked at her face the most, avoiding her body because she was too young compared to him and he’d feel like a creep. She was very pretty and had a bit of a tom-boy side to her. Tails really were growing up. Knuckles handed Tails his device back.

He nodded, “She’s pretty and not just anyone could manage to make overalls look good.” Congratulations little dude. Out pacing Sonic already! Hahaha!”

Tails blushed, “I-It’s not like I wasn’t trying to beat Sonic! She just has similar hobbies expect she builds boats instead of planes, so we hit it off.”

“I know, I know. You should fly her over to your place when Sonic is back and make introductions if she’s cool with it. Hell, I wouldn’t mind going on a boat and fishing if I ever get some time off this rock,” Knuckles commented.

Shadow let them have a few minutes to talk because he wanted to see how Knuckles reacted to Vel and the echidna had been supportive, which was endearing him to the guardian. If Amy had just said something like that there would not have been an argument on the plane. A simple congratulation would have done the trick.

“I guess we are going to be acting for at least seven of these scenarios but I’m not sure how we can make them legitimate without making them too savage,” Tails dragged the topic back forward.

Amy remained quiet. She had heard the task, and she didn’t like it for the reason Tails stated. She was frustrated at Sonic right now, but that didn’t mean she still didn’t care. Amy was more embarrassed about getting defeated by Tails than any of the arguing.

Knuckles spoke up, “Uh, I don’t get why we gotta be so careful over Sonic’s emotions. Its just joking around and Sonic’s can’t think he’s perfect so why not just have fun with it. He’ll get over it after a few hours.”

Shadow considered the echidna’s idea. Indeed, joking was simple joking, but they had no idea what Sonic was being put through when the cameras weren’t on.

“Normally I would agree with you guardian, but have you considered what Sonic might be facing when the cameras are off. Obviously Eggman is keeping him fed and uninjured, but that does not rule out phycological, emotional or…other forms of torture that we can’t seen from a screen. That is why we have been trying to complete these tasks in such a way that minimizes the stress put on Sonic. If that doesn’t make sense take a few minutes to consider the alternative: What would your deepest fears be if you were in that cage instead with Eggman being able to do whatever he wanted to you without knowing when help was coming or anyone else seeing,” Shadow attempted to clue him in.

Knuckles listened and took those few minutes to think about it in this alternative way, “Eggman wouldn’t be able to do any permanent physical injuries because everyone would notice it on this livestream thing, so cutting, burning, and extreme bodily punishment is off the table. The bastard would make my cage uncomfortable: smelly, no place to sh*t or piss, boring or gross food, uncomfortable for sleeping, but he couldn’t make it so dirty that it would risk making me sick or malnourished. Again, too noticeable on the stream thing if I looked like a hobo. Eggman would undeniably make fun of my secluded life on Angel Island in every possible way, remind him about how gullible I have been in the past, and ask stupid questions. I can imagine awful music, the endless sound of Eggman’s voice, crap movies, random ghost noises, foul smells, complete darkness with freaky sh*t glowing or the opposite, too much light. The only things he could do physically that wouldn’t be apparent to his livestream watchers is weird experiment sh*t like messing with my knuckles, or touching me, and screwing with my body for laughs…which could include forcing my junk out, fondling it, or insert things into my ass: f*cked up sexual sh*t to embarrass me or try and control me, but the doctor wouldn’t really go THAT far…at least I don’t think he would with Sonic or anyone else but I get it. We just don’t know what’s sick sh*t is going on in that f*cker’s head.”

Tails spoke, “Uh, Knux your expression is disturbing me.”

Shadow noticed the guardian’s expression darken as he thought longer. He knew that the echidna had reached the worst conclusions. This was progression. He would now understand how vulnerable Sonic could be and cooperate. The Ultimate Lifeform didn’t think the echidna would say the words out loud.

“So, you’re saying that Eggman could be molesting and raping to torture him in the worst-case worst scenario so he might be screwed up in the head enough to think we honestly feel or think about Sonic the way we portray him in this sh*tty task?” the guardian enquired, apparently obvious that things like that shouldn’t just be said openly.

Amy finally said something, got up even, “KNUCKLES!”

“What? It’s the worst thing I could think of that wouldn’t be obvious on a camera.” The echidna replied not seeing the issue because he was just doing what he was told to do.

Tails just covered his face. He had already known it was possible. The people he interviewed had said as much. Shadow had a hand on his temple. He did not want to hear it any more than the others, but Knuckles had said it. There was no reason to stay on the topic.

Shadow sighed deeply, “Yes, guardian. We don’t want to go overboard with the flaws because of possibilities like that.”

Amy didn’t want to think Eggman could do something like that even if she knew deep down it wasn’t impossible. She had been in his custody before, and he had never said or did anything creepy and she was a girl. She knew from hundreds of books, social media posts, seminars, and other forms of media that sexual assault wasn’t a female only issue nor was it about just sex, but still Eggman and with…Sonic…and Eggman had never been on the news for crimes or claims made about him doing anything sexually deviant.

“You guys don’t think Eggman would r-rape Sonic, right?” Amy asked meekly.

Everyone had wanted to move on from Knuckles’ comment, but Amy didn’t read the air, didn’t care, or really wanted some reassurance. She continued to look between them all.

Knuckles responded first, “I didn’t think he would until I thought about being in the cage myself. If Eggman wants to humiliate Sonic in the worst way possible that would be one way to do it, but I don’t think he’d go that far or more like he won’t get that far because we will find him before runs out of less sick ideas!”

Shadow and Tails were almost sighed in relief. Knux had made a good point.

“I knew it was a possibility because I’ve seen the worst people can do to one another in my line of mercenary work. Rape and sexual assault are but one of many tactics Dr, Eggman can use, but as Knuckles said, its not likely he’s going to think of it quickly but eventually he might so the sooner we get to Sonic the better the chances of nothing like that occurring to him,” Sonic’s rival finished.

Tails was the last to say anything, “I have been there for all but a few of Eggman and Sonic’s fights and the doctor has always been straight to the point when it comes to Sonic, like on the Space Colony ARK. He didn’t wait around. He sent Sonic right out to space to blow up. It would have been a quick death.” Amy looked up at him remembering that time. “My point is that this is the first time Dr. Eggman has ever bothered not just killing Sonic and the reason must be because he’s been reduced to roughly two-inches tall. Sonic was too dangerous to keep alive before, but as long as he’s helpless. I’m seeing the doctor becoming more egomaniacal and he has more than a few reasons to get back at my brother such as the destruction of all his plans and the…worst,” Tails looked directly at Amy, “I think he blames Sonic and the rest of us for Sage’s state. If Sonic is left with him long enough, I believe he is going to go down the list with my brother. The more bored he gets the more extreme the torture, so yes, I think it is only a matter of time and that’s why we need to get him back, preferably before this stupid trial’s rewards are even needed! Sonic isn’t as emotionally strong as he is fronting. He is only nineteen and I don’t even want to imagine how hurt he would be if Dr. Eggman did that to him.”

Shadow walked over to Tails, who was near crying, and whispered in his ear, “Tails, if and that is a big if, Eggman goes that far, I’ll be there to help you and Sonic, okay? I do not come off as the comforting type, but I could at least talk to him, and I have doctors he could see whose entire expertise is to provide care privately. If they didn’t, they’d be dead in my line of business. Sonic is strong as if we can get to him home alive, we can get him though whatever’s been done.”

Tails nodded and whispered back a, “Thank you.” Knuckles and Amy noticed they were whispering about something, but they didn’t pry.

Amy nodded somberly to the three of them. It seemed they were all saying the same thing; yes, eventually if they don’t get to him in time, Eggman could get bored and try it. When she thought about it, her romantic feelings were stupid in comparison to what Sonic potentially facing as threats. Shadow hoped he would never have a need to honor that promise made to Tails, but he would…if it came to it; he wouldn’t leave Sonic out to dry after going through that, even if he doubted his abilities to provide the comfort Sonic would need. Sonic’s friends didn’t have their own lives as put together like he assumed they did before Sonic was captured, so they were not ready to deal with something like that. Knuckles tried to guide everyone back to the purpose of why they were here.

“Right, so nothing too personal. Got it. Is his speed personal because that’s the easy one with one with you Shadow. Or should we go Orca hunting? That one counts for 15 but you better be ready to kill it if tries to eat me!” Knuckles shouted.

I’ve never engaged that beast in battle, so I can not guarantee your safety, it would take too long to find one, and I don’t think they are known to chase land-based mammals other than Sonic and before you even say it Sonic and I look nothing alike,” Shadow replied seemingly taking the option into momentary consideration.

Tails jumped up, “Hey there’s our first one…Er, I guess that’s not Sonic’s flaw, is it?”

Knuckles and Shadow shook their heads.

“That’s a human thing,” Knuckles said.

Tails shook his head smiling, “No, it’s not just a human thing. Amy hugged Shadow on Prison Island thinking he was Sonic. Shadow just stood there and let her grab at him.”

Knuckles laughed and looked at Shadow who barely remembered this event. His mind hadn’t even started to recover from being f*cked with at that point. All he did know is that some teenage girl was no threat, and he took no pleasure in killing without reason.

Amy was back to being angry, “TAILS! All I could see of Shadow was his back!”

“Dr. Eggman and Rouge being right there didn’t uh, clue you in? It doesn’t matter…I saved you in the end,” Tails giggled.

“Tails deep down you really are just a brat without Sonic here to keep you in line!” Amy declared and folded her arms.

“Enough. Let’s just think about Sonic’s flaws. Let’s all sit down and have lunch or dinner and come up with a few each,” Shadow yelled to get everyone on target.

They all nodded. Shadow and Tails brought out some special items from his bag for Knuckles but everything else was what they had packed to eat.

Everyone took their time eating, especially Knuckles who savored the candy. Shadow noticed and wondered if he could have use for someone like Knuckles for any of his jobs: dumb, brute force that would cause a distraction which he could use to finish a normally four-hour mission in thirty minutes. He could think of several times when the guardian’s talent for mayhem could come in handy. Maybe the guardian could use the funds to add more to this place and hire people to regularly deliver things.

“Guardian would you be interested in jobs involving brute force and yelling vulgarities as a form of distraction. I would pay you 70% if my rate, which is at least 10,000 dollars per job, and you’d only need to leave your Emerald for an hour at most. It would save me time to go in and get what I needed why they are busy dealing…with you,” Shadow offered professionally.

Knuckles put down what he was eating.

“Ten thousand just to cause a ruckus and cuss? Seriously?”

Shadow replied, “Yes, punch things into people, throw bomb canasters and and blow them to pieces, yell the worst insults about their family members, pick up an entire car and toss it at them; however, you want to play it as long as you avoid the gun fire keep our affiliations secret, and keep their attention in your direction and not where I’ll be sneaking around. These are generally, drug, organ, and sex traffickers so they don’t deserve any sympathy when you break their necks,” Shadow confirmed.

Amy listened sickened by the whole thing and Tails just found it interesting that Shadow would want to hire a dumpster fire like Knuckles for the sheer reason of him being a natural dumpster fire.

“Yeah, count me in. I need that money for a detective agency I’m going to hire and just one of those jobs would get me started. You want a distraction; I’ll give you chaos for that type of money.”

“Good I’ll call you when a job comes up,” Shadow shook hands on it. Knuckles tried to get a rise out of the striped hedgehog by squeezing too hard, but instead of the yelping he got from everyone else the first time, Shadow showed no discomfort and a warmth started to bleed into Knuckles gloves. The guardian let go. He didn’t want to know what alien f*ckery Shadow was going to pull off for amusem*nt.

Tails had to ask, “Knux why are you hiring a detective agency?

Knux stayed quiet for a moment considering what to say. Amy was also listening for an answer and even Shadow was vaguely interested in what the echidna could possibly want with one.

“I don’t if I should be talking about it since last time, I tried to get this point across, a certain blue jerkass laughed and trash talked until he totally misunderstood me, but fine…Tails you seem logical enough to understand it. I need to hire them to gather people who have potential, strong wills, who want to do something meaningful with their lives, and above all else, who are loyal. I need a group of them so I can train the next line of Master Emerald guardians to replace…my people. I can’t leave the Emerald undefended once I die,” Knuckles said, half expecting laughter.

Tails thought about the part mentioning Sonic trash talking and laughing. This had to have been when Knuckles told Sonic to go off and attack Eggman, but according to Knuckles the conversation had deteriorated from there somehow. Tails loved his brother dearly but he knew Sonic could be dense and that Knuckles was even denser so this could have turned wrong in a hundred different ways.

“Ah, so that’s what the whole fight was about. I knew Sonic had to be leaving parts out…I think it’s a wonderful idea, Knux that you are willing to train apprentices even if they are not echidnas. They can still learn your ways. We don’t really know each other well. We worked together when the circ*mstances were right, but you are Sonic’s friend more than you’ve ever been mine, but I can gather data on these individuals brought to you and double check their backgrounds for any kind of criminal record. I also suggest orphanages as a good place to get teenagers who are on the cusp of being kicked out. They have never had a chance at doing anything meaningful, so some might see guarding something so precious as an honor. Maybe I can convince Sonic to baby-sit the Master Emerald with me in case you want to go try recruiting there. Sonic came from an orphanage after all,” Tails explained, trying to be helpful.

Shadow listened with interest, primarily about the part concerning the argument with Sonic. Amy had put her hand over her mouth when she heard Tails just admit that Knuckles was hardly even a friend.

“Tails I have to say this, you without pretending is a hell of an improvement. I wish you had felt comfortable being yourself sooner, but I know you must have your reasons for it. I never thought about orphanages, but they would provide people I could mold my values into easier and I’ll be straight with them about discouraging parts of the lifestyle. As for taking care of the Emerald, well if you get good enough with that Spider thing, you might not need Sonic to help you, but I can always up come with something else. Just the orphanages and background checks are more than enough. Thanks, bud…Heh, or a fresh start to being buddies I guess,” Knuckles put his giant hand out for a fist bump and Tails reciprocated.

“Thank you…I didn’t think anyone, aside Shadow and Sonic would accept the real me because I’m a brat apparently and I don’t trust easily. I’m glad I was wrong,” the fox smiled.

Amy listened silently. She had been one of the ones who hadn’t, but to be fair Tails had sprung it on her at a bad time. She liked Tails as the adorable kid brother of Sonic’s with a dorky addiction to tinkering with planes and technology. The young woman didn’t like what she had seen of this untrusting smartass who was making use of weaponry and toughening himself up to help Sonic. She understood why he was doing it, but she just felt there had to be another way that didn’t involve tossing the other parts of himself aside, unless those parts she liked had all been fake like he had suggested; in that case it was like losing a friend or part of one Sonic would forgive Tails for damn near anything, so she knew when he told his brother it wouldn’t matter for long. Sonic’s answer to her question, she felt would alter her entire life.

Everyone was done eating and Knuckles had felt more hopeful than he had in a long time. Getting jobs from Shadow and assistance from Tails were parts of what he had been needing and it had all gone surprisingly simply. He assumed it was because Shadow, like Rouge, had more experience with the world below. Now if only the task would go simply too.

“I have two scenarios so far so I can start.” Tails said, and everyone nodded, “The first is just about Sonic being a slob, which he kind of is, so me and Amy can bug you while you throw around this after dinner trash, pick your nose, and laze around refusing to clean up. The other idea is about the air shoe or roller blades, as Sonic loves to call them.” Shadow rolled his eyes, “I was thinking of Knuckles doing a Sonic impersonation of ‘oh you can’t beat me without those on faker’ and Shadow takes them off and you either tie or Sonic loses. I’ll uh leave the result to Shadow. I’ll try to come up with a third soon.”

Knuckles and Shadow were both grinning. Both of Tails examples were not that meaningful especially if Shadow went for the tie. Amy nodded. She could play that part with Tails and Sonic was indeed a slob.

“Shadow looks like you are on camera duty,” Amy said.

Shadow nodded and took Knuckles’ phone, and everyone got into position. The guardian did a fantastic reenactment of tossing his leftovers on the ground and putting his thumbs in his ears as Amy and Tails berated him before sitting down and purposely drooling on himself while snoring.

Everyone but Shadow was laughing at the end. The dark hedgehog merely grinned. The slobbering had been a nice addition. Shadow handed Knuckles’ phone over to Tails.

“So, is it going to be a tie or a win? I know it’s such a difficult decision.” Knuckles teased.

Shadow thought for a few minutes. He really wanted to have Sonic fall on his ass and lose, but it would be better emotionally if he just let it be a tie. There was also a good role model for Knuckles, so the guardian didn’t feel the need to overdo anything later.

“We shall go for a tie. I will beat the real thing when he’s back, so it matters not.”

Knuckles uh huhed Shadow and the hedgehog hissed.

“Damn, that’s a nasty hiss you’ve got dude. Put’s Sonic’s to shame,” the guardian laughed and had to comment because it was loud and deep.

“It is merely my…hiss. There’s nothing particularly special about it,” Shadow replied.

Tails pointed out, “Well he does practice with his cat. They do this thing where they both hiss back forth at each other, but I’m pretty sure Shadow lets Nyx win.”

“Shadow you don’t need anymore practice! Its nasty sounding enough.” Amy cut in remembering how she asked him to quit hissing while talking to people.

Glaring Shadow replied, “Oh I suppose yours is sweet and musical then?”

Amy screamed, “I didn’t say that!” she stopped and looked at all three of her partners watching her in anticipation of the performance; It was clear they were willing to wait, “Fine, you jerks!”

Amy hissed and it started out rather mild but got guttural at the end more like a growl.

“Well, that was scarier than I expected. Amy growls near the end,” Knux smiled.

Shadow shrugged and sighed, “It is meant to ward people off, so of course she is going to sound scary or unpleasant. I’ve always hissed when I get annoyed. I don’t know why the faker’s hiss is weak. Perhaps Nyx can help.”

Tails snigg*red, “I don’t think that will help, Shadow. Sonic just doesn’t have it in him to make a scary hiss. He’s too sweet and I hope that doesn’t…change.”

“For once I agree with you today, Tails. Can we get back to the stupid fake race please,” Amy requested.

Tails had the phone’s camera ready, and Knuckles started his impression of Sonic. The word faker was used as many times as possible for humor before Shadow removed his air shoes and started running slowly so Tails could keep up. Knuckles seemed distracted at first, but he gave chase, and they faked a tie and Shadow gloated that it had nothing to do with his shoes. Tails ended it there because Knuckles was just starting at the ground. Tails got closer to see what had distracted the echidna enough to almost screw up the entire skit. He saw it was Shadows feet, which had five toes. His feet here exactly like a humans’ from what the fox could see.

“Why are you two staring my feet?” Shadow glared, starting to get pissed.

Tails didn’t waste any time tossing his own shoes off because he didn’t want Shadow’s temper to flare.

“It’s just because ours look like…this. Knuckle’s is just surprised; He doesn’t mean any offense. This is probably his first-time seeing toes before and it’s the first time I’ve seen them up close,” Tails explained and lined his foot up beside Shadow’s so he could see the difference.

Shadow’s glare faded and curiosity took its place. He looked at Tails’ foot, thinking it looked strange, but also considering that his must be strange to them.

“All of you lack toes?” Shadow asked simply.

Tails sat down and urged Shadow down to take a closer look if he wanted and the hedgehog did. Shadow sat down opposite of the fox and just looked at the bottom of his foot with its white soles.

“Nope, none of us have toes. We have something like them underneath the skin that function in the same basic way, but they are not split apart like toes are,” Tails explained why stretching the insides of his feet to show what he meant.

“Well, that’s cool. Kind of like how my fists are one of a kind. Heh. And Tails is right, I didn’t mean anything sh*tty by staring. It is my first-time seeing toes. I wish I had those claws!” the echidna pointed out the trimmed but still sharp tips on the top of Shadows toes.

Amy kept staring and finally said, “They look like humans’ feet, just smaller. Do you have human DNA too?”

It was true. Aside from the claws and color they resembled a human’s foot perfectly. Amy wondered why the rest of Shadow was, for the most part, looked like a typical hedgehog while his feet were like that of a human. She noticed Tails glaring daggers at her. He didn’t get why she’d ask something so stupid, as if it had all been explained to Shadow when he was being made. Shadow noticed Tails was angry and so was he, but he controlled it.

Glaring up at Amy Shadow said with some disdain, “I don’t know, but it is possible. I was meant to cure a human so some human DNA may have been added for that purpose, but it wasn’t explained to me, Amy. I didn’t know or think to ask. It didn’t know I was unusual yet.”

Amy noticed that she had hurt Shadow’s feelings by asking, “I didn’t mean it as an insult Shadow. I shouldn’t have asked. I’m sorry.”

Amy walked away and sat down on a rock away from the others. Knuckles took the time to go and get Shadow’s air shoes. As two of them were getting the dirt of their feet Knuckles decided to speak up because someone had to, “Hey, you guys. I get Amy has been a bitch today. Sorry, but I can’t think of a more whatever correct term right now and I’m sure there are reasons for the way she is acting. It’s just that Rouge is going to upload that stupid video today so maybe we should be more uhh—

Shadow interrupted, “Be more considerate. I know…I overacted to her question, but that’s wasn’t a great subject for me. I forgot to warn her about the video so that would be a good start. She seemed fine at the at the start of the day, but now that I think back on her reasons for coming back to Green Hill Zone, she said she was being harassed by people in the city over Sonic. I don’t know how we could have convinced her, but we should have persuaded her to rest and maybe watch Nyx instead of going up here.”

Tails admitted, “Yeah, I didn’t help either. I mean she started teasing me on the plane first about Vel and made a comment about her being human that I took to be offensive when it wasn’t meant to be, but I didn’t need to…retaliate especially when I knew she had no chance with Sonic.”

Knuckles raised his brow. He assumed as much, that Tails knew for sure how Sonic felt and had to keep it quiet.

“f*ckin hell Sonic. He sure left everyone in a sh*tty position when it came to Amy. You know but can’t say sh*t because Sonic’s your brother and I was almost sure but couldn’t provide proof. He should have told her he wasn’t interested in a romance once he knew it for sure. Leading a woman on like that is a cowardly thing to do. Sonic shouldn’t be making her ask him!”

Tails spoke up for his brother, “I know Knux! I know it is wrong, but he just didn’t want to make her sad. Sonic doesn’t get that sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind and sadly Amy is going to be his lesson, but we all make mistakes.”

Shadow stood quiet about this because it wasn’t his right to reveal anything more about Sonic’s feelings. Instead, he walked toward Amy while they continued to talk. He got near the rock where she sat but she didn’t react to his approach.

“I’m sorry for glaring at you and taking that tone…The past is a sore subject with me. I know you weren’t meaning to be discourteous,” Shadow said, figuring it was done and he could move on to the video but that was incorrect.

“Why have you been letting Tails…act like this?”

Shadow did not like where this was headed. He didn’t have the right to stop Tails from being himself and he didn’t think that was the healthiest course of action either. He wasn’t Sonic and even Sonic didn’t have that right to tell Tails what to do with his own life.

“Let Tails act how? He’s younger than us but he is still a person with free will Amy,” Shadow pointed out.

“I know that! But helping him put on that spider thing and allowing us to fight! That would never ha—

Shadow couldn’t help but raise his voice.

Shadow yelled, “If Sonic were here instead? Amy, I am not Sonic, and I don’t want to act like anyone other than who I am. I’m not looking to take his place or his role. I’m trying to get him back safely and do what needs to be done with Eggman. As far as Tails goes, he’s my friend: not my brother, not my servant, or my apprentice. I helped him with The Spider because he made an agreement with me not to use parts of it until he became proficient with the device. I didn’t stop your fight because you used your hammer when he was kind enough to help you to your feet. You said in that task video you wanted to be taken seriously while fighting. Well, I let you be taken seriously just like Tails wants to be taken seriously, so I let you guys have at it because it was none of my business to stop you two unless I thought you were going to permanently injure each other. Sonic might treat you all like his little brothers and sisters but that’s not how I operate. If you are around me, you are an adult, so I am going to treat you like an adult! Tails is an exception because he wants to become stronger, a better mechanic, and a more honest person, so I’m giving him the freedom to do so. It is better if he starts under my supervision rather than sneaking out to test things like The Spider on his own. You’re a grown woman Amy, and I’m sorry Sonic hasn’t been treating you like one; however, I won’t treat you like a sister or a child. I’m not going to lie to make you feel better. That is not me.”

Amy listened and took it all in. As harsh as Shadow was, he was right. She had been wrong to expect him to act like Sonic. Flying on the Tornado II today and heading to Angel Island brought a sense of normalcy and she had let herself fall into it. Shadow’s thoughts about how Sonic treated all of them made something click into place.

“You’re right. I’m sorry Shadow. I was upset, but I don’t really want you to be someone you’re not. You are a great person the way you are…I’m just not in a good place today and I have been taking it out on everyone, one at a time and this time it was you…You mentioned brothers and sisters…I suppose that is how Sonic sees us, isn’t it? I’m a little sister. The answer is so simple. He met me when I was young and I must have never grown up in his mind,” Amy said sadly but she was eased by having the answer.

“Apology accepted. There was something I meant to show you this morning, but things got rushed. Go ahead and read the screen shot,” Shadow handed Amy his phone.

Amy read Eggman pestering Rouge at 3 AM and saw Rouge’s rightfully sarcastic reply. She handed Shadow’s phone back to him.

“Of course, he would use any excuse to get at me and Knuckles. That video is going to be funny, given that she doesn’t know Sonic personally,” Amy replied in monotone.

“Hmph, Rouge will just make it up as she goes along. She’s just complying to keep Eggman from retaliating and to get Sonic whatever reward goes along with it. I’m guessing it will be mostly about his quills. She finds quills very interesting and always would mess with mine saying all they needed was a bit of poison to be perfect,” Shadow grinned.

“Right, because you are not dangerous enough without poison-tipped quills.”

“Oh, Rouge thinks everything can use improvement and that does not exclude herself…Come on. We have seven skits left to go, maybe the hissing thing would be a good one. It is stupid and probably isn’t something he takes pride in,” Shadow asked waiting for a response while walking back with Amy to the others.

“I don’t know how he feels about hissing, but I think if we did that Eggman would make him hiss.”

“And laugh. I understand. Forget that one then,” Shadow replied as he reached the others.

Knuckles and Tails looked up and could tell it had been settled.

“So, I have a few…okay I had way more then a few but I had to throw a lot of them out.” Knuckles laughed, “So one of them involves his chili dog diet and farting constantly.” Tails laughed. “Another me arguing how I look better without chest fur because I am Sonic thus, I must be always right and Shadow can act however he would uhh act to that and the last is Tails flying me to the ground after pretending to be done destroying Eggman’s bases and I take all the credit for escaping by myself.”

“He did do that once and I told him I would drop him next time. Not sure if he was joking or really thought he could have escaped without me,” Tails pointed out.

“I don’t see any of them being too cruel and Tails you can add a line about how you should have dropped him like you promised just so he knows we are thinking about these carefully” Shadow confirmed.

“I thought the third one was bit mean but with the comment added it should be fine. I’m glad I don’t know about this chili dog fart smell if it’s even real,” Amy said.

Tails answered right away, “Its real alright. The farts are not even the worst of it. After using the restroom tell him to use the air freshion—

“Ugh! No. I don’t want any more details. Thank you!” Amy shouted.

“And you thought you wanted to marry him one day? You can’t even think of his farts or toilet habits without freaking out. Good grief!” The fox thought.

Shadow filmed the first skit of Knuckles farting. Most of the farts were real, which made Amy’s disgust real. Tails just recalled the chili dog farts and passed out dramatically at the end. It was funny and good enough. I demonstrated that Sonic had poor nutrition along with poor etiquette.

The phone was handed off to Tails who got ready to film Knuckles and Shadow discuss chest fur. Knuckles made some decent arguments of uniformity, it being easier to groom, and several other reasons. Shadow simply replied that chest fur was epitome of maturity, and that potential mates could not help but look at it and want to rub their hands through it. The hedgehog played this straight. Knuckles noticed times like this where Shadow’s speech was antiquated and found it amusing but said nothing.

“Is that true, about women wanting to rub their hands through it?” Knuckles asked.

Shadow remarked simply, “Many a brave or drunk woman has tried.”

“Amy was asking Shadow about it while on the plane,” the fox grinned.

Amy gave Tails the stink eye “Gugh! I was just asking if he used products on it. I didn’t touch it!”

“No, you just grab at it instead.”

“Only when one of you deserves it.” Amy said unapologetically.

“I’m happy with my white marking. I don’t want to be pulled on. This time you are up Tails. Do you still have the strength to lift me?”

“Yes, we don’t have to be in the air long or go far to make the point so I don’t think that will be an issue,” Miles confirmed.

Shadow took control of Knuckles phone and filmed the scene. Knuckles took all the credit for his escape and Tails played this part perfectly. The fox’s facial expressions dominated the skit.

Everyone stood around afterwards.

“That’s five done and four to go,” Tails said.

Only Shadow and Amy had not come up with scenarios.

Amy stepped forward, “I have a few and I doubt they will be ones Sonic will care about. I just need to stand or walk with Knuckles and talk about my day and when I ask him to repeat what I said to check if he was listening to me, he just needs to get all the facts wrong to prove Sonic doesn’t listen. The second one I’m just going to stuff my bra with a bunch of foam or whatever material I can find; all you need to do is stare at them Kunx until...what would Rouge do if you just kept starting even after a verbal warning?”

Knuckles laughed, “Oh she would grab me with both hands by the neck and shake me threatening to dig those pointy shoes where the sun doesn’t shine.”

“Got it. Then that’s what I’ll do.” Amy said, considering getting pointy shoes.

Both of Amy’s suggestions were comical, were the same matters most women complained about, and they would be what Eggman would expect from her. Tails was the one left with the phone camera and Knuckles did too well with the first scenario. He did stop listening after ten seconds and had only the basic premise of what Amy said. Her anger was real, which made grabbing him by the neck in the next scene lead it literal choking and screaming about how no one ever listens to her. Shadow had to help hold the phone straight because Tails couldn’t stop laughing and kept recording as Knuckles looked shocked. He had to pry her loose while some of the plastic and foam fell out beneath her shirt. Thankfully, she had worn pants today knowing how the plant life could rub and blister the skin on Angel Island.

Shadow watched remembering the first time Amy hugged him on Prison Island and how he had forced himself to ignore her touch, which messed with the imprinted memories. Amy wasn’t the only one who tore away at Gerald’s falsified layer. Rouge had done so on multiple occasions and Sonic…Each encounter with Sonic did the same and the blue hedgehog’s moniker “faker” had gotten to him from the start. Sonic was trying to protect the world from Eggman while calling him false. It wasn’t until a few years later he knew why it had gotten under his skin; Gerald had toyed with him into becoming a fake of what he was meant to be. Had his memories never been tampered with he would have been protecting the world like Sonic as Maria wished.

He did so even now, knowing G.U.N never took their eyes off him and found his existence a nuisance. Rouge had already sensed something secret going on within the organization. All Rouge had told him was to have somewhere secret to disappear known to no one when she gave him the signal and that she would take care of the rest. It was difficult to promise to make, to not interfere with her plan, but the last him he was directly involved with someone saving his life, they died. Rouge wasn’t nearly as powerful as he was, but she was more experienced in just about everything else. He had asked her how he could repay her if he did need to dismantle G.U.N at some point. She merely stated he could by keeping a beautiful memory of her that shined many years after its creation just like the jewels she admired so much.

“Shadow its your turn!” Amy said.

“Hmm?”

Shadow had gotten lost in thought as the others managed to not kill each other.

“Dude, your two ideas making fun of Sonic. Don’t tell me you of all people can’t think of a few?” Knuckles laughed.

As far as the guardian was concerned that all those two did was race, fight, and insult each other. Shadow knew there was more to their relationship than that. He wondered if he could use this to send the moron a message.

“I want to a situation that shows how Sonic can be too trusting but also demonstrates we don’t want him to change but I need to cast either Tails or Amy as the villain for it. Amy, do you think you can put on Tails’ jacket, spike up those quills, and let go of some of your frustration by pretending to be a villainess?” Shadow asked.

Amy was thinking while Tails let The Spider arms out, “Uh, wouldn’t I be the better choice. I think I can make these do some creepy things.”

“I’m aware of that Tails. And you would be perfect. Too perfect. I don’t want Sonic to see this skit and think Nine broke out of the Paradox Prim, murdered his real little brother, tossed him off a cliff, and is now here impersonating Tails. Not that I can explain that to the fox…Well, I wouldn’t mind explaining the Paradox Prim to him or how I met his alters, just not with all the others around.”

“I thought so at first Tails, but you are his little brother, and that Spider might have Sonic fearing for your safety or that you are taking too much risk to rescue him. I also don’t want him to ever see you as a villain even in some dumb skit because you’ve proven you can be a great actor. We must assume the worst as far as Sonic’s mental health is concerned,” Shadow tried to placate Tails.

Amy sighed, “Fine what do you want me to do. What the whole story?”

“Good she didn’t take the last part personally. No one else knows Nine existed or about his weapons. Amy should understand that his brother is more impactful than a potential girlfriend. She might be angry today, but she’s Amy.” Shadow thought.

“You’ve convinced Sonic you need the chaos emeralds to cure yourself of some disease. Fake Sonic will bring them to you, and you will take them. That’s when I come up and warn him it is a trick and then you take this,” Shadow took out his firearm from his jacket, emptied it of all rounds, put it on safety mood, and handed it to Amy, “and point it at our fake Sonic. I’ll play out the rest by performing a simple warp around you, taking the weapon along with the emeralds. Knuckles just say you were stupid for trusting her and I’ll act out the rest. I think the ultimate message will make him…feel better, knowing that we don’t want him to change regardless of the trouble he is in, and everyone is satisfied with how he is already,” Shadow finished.

Everyone just stood staring at Shadow in wonder over the complexity of the skit. The flaw was that Sonic being too trusting, but Shadow wanted to spin it into a positive message; Knuckles and Amy didn’t expect Shadow to be the type to be thoughtful and sneak in a message.

“I think it’s perfect! I love how kind my brother is, and I don’t want him to change even if it is considered a fault. If he has friends to watch over him, he can remain the same way!” Tails said with more emotion than he meant to express.

“I’m in. It seems like this one has some special meaning for the two of you. Amy are you up for playing the villain against me?”

Amy was put on the spot. She didn’t understand why she had to be villain and play the evil role over Tails. Shadow’s reasoning made some sense, but they could remove the ugly Spider. All three of them were staring at her waiting. Amy knew she had already caused enough tension today and didn’t want to create more.

“Alright, I’m not sure how well I will do, but I will try. Tails your jacket?”

Tails removed his laser gun and handed over the jacket. Knuckles stared at the gun Tails was attempting to latch on to his shorts. The weapon looked like Tails had made it out of spare materials on the fly. Amy did her best to ignore Tails’ weapons while she put on the jacket and took her hair band off again, scuffing up her quills and fur. All the little bandages and injuries added to the look. They picked up some rocks to use as emeralds and Tails got ready to film with Knuckle’s camera.

Amy stood alone pretending to cough and Knuckles approached doing his best to act like Sonic, which mostly consisted of acting like a fool.

“It’s going to be ‘A’ okay now! I found all seven chaos emeralds, so you can cure yourself!”

Amy playing the villainess said, “Yes, thank you so much! I can’t imagine how terrible it would have been leaving my family behind. Please hand them over so I can begin.”

Knuckles handed her the rocks, still smiling stupidly.

“Hahaha! That fat man always said you would fall for anything. Now that I have the chaos emeralds, I have no need for you!” Amy said viciously as she pulled out the gun aiming it at Knuckles who acted overly helpless.

Shadow came running in from behind a tree and shouted, “Damnit! Sonic, I told you she wasn’t ill! Chaos emeralds don’t heal people like that!”

Amy smiled and flipped her hair.

“It is a shame he doesn’t listen to his...lookalikes but it doesn’t matter. I have a bullet for each of you.”

Shadow warped behind her, grabbed the gun, and pretended to hit her on the head with it while whispering, “Fall down and stay still. Good job.”

Amy did as she was told and fell to the ground and pretended to be unconscious. Shadow walked back over to Knuckles, who had both his hands over his face and was actually crying. Shadow had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at the echidna. The Guardian was going to make Sonic look as ridiculous as possible.

“I-I’m sorry Shadow. I almost got us killed! I really thought she was sick and that I could help her. I’ll never trust anyone again! Wah!” Knuckles kept up the crying.

Tails really wanted to go smack Knux for being an ass, but he had to film this trash.

“Sonic, calm down! She’s been stopped.” Shadow put his arm around Knuckles shoulder and the bastard went in for the hug, “S-Sonic no one wants you to stop trusting people!” Shadow grabbed Knuckles shoulders while squeezing hard enough to jab back and pushing him away to face him, “We want you to remain true to yourself no matter what…but please always keep us informed of what’s happening so we can be there to back you up, okay? I may not have followed you today and this could have ended differently.”

Knuckles spoke, “T-Thank you, I promise I’ll always remain the same Sonic the Hedgehog!” The echidna smirked like the cat who got the cream and ruffled Shadow’s ears and quills, “I always knew you loved me deep down!”

Shadow forced himself to remain still. The echidna had managed to capture Sonic’s buffoonery too well. The touchy-feely bullsh*t would be right up Sonic’s alley. He hoped Tails would stop the camera before Knuckles decided to take the joke too far and ruin the scene.

“Idiot F—

“CUT, CUT, and CUT, Knux! Did you have to make my brother so…ugh…whatever its done.” Tails said blushing knowing how watching that was going to make Sonic feel.

Shadow pushed the guardian away and rolled his eyes. Amy had watched from her place on the ground. She hadn’t cared if the camera caught her with her eyes open.

“KUNKLES did you have to make Sonic look so pathetic?!” Amy asked, peeved.

The echidna shrugged. Aside from the actual crying, he didn’t think he played it up too much. He was just having some fun and Eggman had demanded entertainment.

“What? Sonic isn’t allowed to cry are hug another dude?” He asked Amy with a sneaky grin.

Amy rolled her eyes, “You know what I meant! You cried too much. The hug was fine, but near the end you looked like you were about to kiss Shadow or something.”

Amy had her hands on her hips.

The guardian began to grin deviously, “Would that have made you…jealous? Me pretending to be Sonic and making out with Shadow instead of…you?”

Tails and Shadow could do nothing to stop the guardian from teasing Amy, but they knew they had to be ready to take control of the situation. Amy looked confused thinking about the weirdness of who was playing who in the situation. It was Knuckles here, not Sonic so that was completely different. If Knuckles had gone and made out with Shadow, it was still Knuckles doing the kissing. Pretending to be Sonic would just be an excuse.

“No, stupid! You’re obviously not Sonic so if you had kissed Shadow that would be something to take up Rouge. You already said you didn’t think Sonic liked anyone!” Amy argued.

Shadow thought, “Amy if that had happened and he told her, Rouge would have a fit…of laughter. She would end up passing out on the floor giggling until her lungs failed to supply the necessary oxygen to keep her conscious. Knuckles, being the simpleton, would just watch her chest bounce around.”

Knuckles kept grinning, “I wasn’t considering about other dudes when I said that though.”

Tails walked into the middle of the conversation.

“Amy, may I have my jacket back. Ignore him. He’s obviously teasing you,” the fox said rolling his eyes and trying to act as detached as possible.

Amy took the jacket off and handled it to Tails but asked, “Is you brother into guy and girls?”

Tails blushed. He hadn’t expected her to bother him.

“How would I know? Do you think that that’s what guys talk about when girls are not around? That we have long talks about who we are in love with or something? We don’t or least brothers don’t! Amy, Sonic could not even explain to me the birds and bees. He handed me a book and ran off. He sure hasn’t come into my workshop gushing about a guy or a girl okay. It would have been inappropriate up until a few years ago anyway. Think about it.” Tails said sighing.

Tails had a point even Amy couldn’t argue. Knuckles just cackled as Shadow glared. The guardian couldn’t help it; Amy was taking this age-old-your-crush-is-just-gay joke seriously, not that he would be all that shocked if Sonic was into guys.

“I dunno Shadow isn’t a bad looking dude. If Sonic were to be into any guy he would be the most likely choice with all that rival tension. Just saying,” the Guardian winked at Amy as she continued to glare.

Tails laughed, “This isn’t an anime Knux!”

“Not interested echidna. You’re not my type and Rouge has told me of your deep appreciation for breasts,” Shadow snarked to deflect attention as far away as Sonic as he could by mentioning Rouge.

“What have you done! I was trying to keep my passion for huge boobs private!” The echidna pretended his greatest secret had been unleashed.

“Shadow! Has Sonic ever said anything about liking you?” Amy seriously asked.

Sonic had thankfully not said a thing directly, so he wouldn’t be breaking his promise to Maria. He still couldn’t fathom why Amy was taking this seriously. Unlike him, she hadn’t seen any of the hints.

“No, Amy. He hasn’t expressed any kind of romantic interest in me. Tails is right. The guardian is just messing with you. I’d go with his first opinion believing Sonic is single if you need an answer to move on.”

“Yes, and we still have one more skit to film so can we stop guessing who wants to make out with who. Before you know it, we’ll be discussing Big’s dating history,” Tails joked.

That thought shut everyone up and they went back to eyeing Shadow for the next idea. The striped hedgehog decided to go with something simple to avoid issues.

“Fine. Sonic always takes everything I say, no matter how pointless, as a competition so we can do one based on that. Eggman wants entertainment so it should be something that’s that is unique or funny but not insulting to Sonic personally,” Shadow stated.

Everyone began to think of something pointless but funny.

“What about poetry?” Amy threw it out there.

“No!”

“Hell no!”

The hedgehog and echidna nearly shouted at the same time.

“Well, forget my opinions then! I just thought you might want to use your brains,” Amy crossed her arms.

“What about who can go the longest without laughing while being tickled or who can spit the furthest?” Tails asked.

“Those a certainly stupid,” The striped hedgehog said.

“I’m game for the spitting.” Knuckles said.

Amy looked grossed out.

“How is that funny or unique? At least the tickling is funny!” Amy made a point.

“But who would do the tickling. I mean no offense to any of you, but I’d rather not get that handsy,” Knux complained.

Amy huffed, “You didn’t seem to care about that being handsy when you fake cried and hugged Shadow. I think you know you will lose and lose badly.”

Amy grinned and winked at him whispering, “loser.”

The guardian slammed his fists together, “I am not afraid of losing. Fine! Shadow can go first.”

Shadow sighed. He would have rather spit as well but more than anything he wanted this over with.

“Very well, who will be the one tickling so we know who is on camera duty?” Shadow asked.

“Tails,” Knuckles declared.

Amy gave him the nastiest glare she could because she knew it meant he specifically didn’t want her touching him. The other three didn’t consider Knuckles just being loyal to Rouge even if they were not technically together. Even Shadow was surprised at the callousness of demanding Tails. It didn’t seem to serve any other purpose other than slighting Amy and Shadow had to ride on the plane back with her.

“Amy, you can tickle me and switch cameras midway. If we make it clear it’s a competition the filming quality doesn’t need to be perfect,” Shadow said to lessen the insult.

“Thank you, Shadow for not assuming I have the Midas touch, unlike that brute!”

Knuckles looked confused and looked toward Tails for some clarification.

“It’s from a Greek myth. A king named Midas wishes for and is granted the power to turn anything he touches into gold. At first, he was overjoyed but when he tried to eat he couldn’t. As soon as his mouth or any part of his skin touched the food or water it turned into gold, and he had to spit it out. He accidently touches his daughter trying to comfort her, turning her into stone killing the person he loved most. He dies heart-broken from dehydration,” Tails gave a half-assed recollection as he readied the camera.

Knuckles listened and thought about the story. He liked the simple lesson it told.

“I wish I knew more old myths like that one…” The Echidna said before setting his mind back on the task.

As soon as Tails gave the signal, he boasted about being the fastest thing alive and could beat this faker at anything. Shadow wanted no time in suggested the tickling contest. Amy came forward and gave Shadow her phone to hold as she pressed the timer. She tickled around his arms, shoulders, and chest, avoiding going too far below for obvious reasons. She took the time to move her fingers though his chest fur, curious since the last conversation involving it. Amy had to admit it was very soft and so was all Shadow’s fur. The surly rival still smelled as good as he did while on the plane and she had to admit again that he was an attractive guy. She was amazed how he was still single even with the attitude and the strange habits.

“What a waste. You won’t let anyone truly enjoy you, Shadow. I bet there are plenty of women who could make you happy. I wouldn’t mind rubbing my hands through your fur and quills just for fun…or for other reasons if I didn’t have it so bad for Sonic. Why do I get to feel up your rival, instead of you, Sonic? I would destroy five hundred of Eggman’s robots to run my fingers though the middle of you back quills.” Amy fantasied about Sonic as she tickled Shadow.

Shadow didn’t seem to be having much of a reaction. She went for his back next, thankful that he had taken his jacket off and started trying to find a spot. She did try between his back quills, and he twitched but she had a hunch it wasn’t because it tickled. She ran her fingers normally over the area and confirmed her theory when he twitched again the same way. She heard his slight warning growl, and she liked the confirmation that it was doing something to him, but she quit it, even though there was a part of her who wanted to lick that area and make him squirm and moan. Anymore and it would be taken as flirtation, and she would hear that horrid hiss. He started to twitch as she neared the outer edges of his back, so she narrowed it down to his right side midway up his torso and tickled there. Shadow was digging the tip of his air shoe into the ground and biting his lip, refusing to give in.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s Sonic or not! He takes any competition seriously. I don’t get these two. Shadow…you really care going to make me work for this. Whatever. At least this is fun even if I can’t tease you the other way any further.”

Amy knew she had the best spot she could get without being a deviant, so she tried to be lighter and used different motions. The lighter touches proved more effective. After a few minutes she decided to stop playing nice with Shadow, using one hand on each side. Shadow was barely able to hold the stupid timer while Knux and Tails laughed, but he would not relent to her.

“Shadow…you are one of a kind, but you can’t hold out forever!” She laughed.

Amy wasn’t wrong. Shadow did not last forever, but he lasted for fifteen minutes and twenty-three seconds before laughing and saying he gave up. Everyone shouted, “finally!”

Knuckles still using his Sonic impersonation said, “This is unfair. You have clearly been training for this!”

Smirking Shadow replied, “Sonic don’t be a sore loser before even losing.”

Amy went up to Tails and took the phone.

Tails went up to Knuckles and told him try to at least last a minute while grinning. To make it fair he followed the same path Amy had, but Knux started twitching even when parts of his chest were being tickled. Tails moved to the back and went down the inner part and then to his outer sides where the echidna immediately started biting his lip. The fox didn’t bother to prolong it and feathered the touch and had Knuckles giggling within two minutes and twelve seconds.

“Shadow is clearly the winner!” Amy declared and stuck her tongue out at Knuckles.

“There was never any doubt who would be victorious.” Shadow stayed in character.

Knuckles just said, “Damnit!”

Amy ended the video.

“Sonic doesn’t cuss.” She spoke.

The guardian looked at her like she was joking, “Are you serious? He might not around you, but he sure does around me.”

Amy looked at Tails and Shadow. They both knew what was coming.

“He tries not to, but he slips up around me a lot, especially now that I’m older,” Tails said.

Shadow answered next, “He didn’t when I first met him, but his mouth has been foul for the last two to three years.”

Amy shuttered, “B-b-but wh—

“He knows you think cussing is impolite, vulgar or whatever, so he controls it around you,” Tails answered.

Amy growled, “Well, I wish he had just been himself, even if he knew I wouldn’t like it!”

No one knew what to say to Amy. The entire day spent so far had been tense with her. Shadow hoped this was just a terrible day instead of the beginning of some breakdown. Amy had been an asset before but if she were to continue like this it would be impossible to work with her on tasks or fight alongside her. Tails was busy going through Knuckles phone and labeling each skit with a title, the flaw it represented, and the details in the description. The fox figured it would make it easier for the echidna to post later.

He went back over to the texts and found the original task sent by Eggman, sent a copy to himself and Shadow, and read the remainder of what Knux needed to complete. The two water related skits were simple and he doubted Knuckles would do anything too drastic with the two art pieces; Eggman would be lucky to get the bare minimum effort involving those. The two rants were the only section that made Tails apprehensive. He knew that the echidna could easily get into a flow of emotion while ranting, not remembering half of what he said or how bad it came off without context. Sonic would simply hear Knuckles rant: not whatever context was going on inside the echidna’s mind as he spoke.

Tails walked over to the others, who had just gotten done explaining to Amy that Sonic was probably being courteous and nothing more. Shadow gave a nod to Tails. He had gotten the photo.

“I went through the videos and titled them with the flaw the represent so you can keep count of the minimum of the seven needed. We got most of them and the water is a free-be. That just leaves the two art pieces and the rants. Have you thought about what topics you are going to choose for the rants yet?” Miles asked the guardian while glancing at Shadow, who understood his unease.

Knuckles already knew what one of the rants was going to be about, but he hadn’t thought about the other.

“Yeah, one is going to be about how Sonic just doesn’t take into consideration my circ*mstances when he talks to me. He will give me suggestions that make no sense because he knows I am confined on Angel Island. It is like he forgets how my life is and just assumes I live normally. I believed all of you thought the same way but after today I know that’s not true. I just don’t how it slips his mind considering how we met in the first place. I haven’t decided on the second rant yet,” The echidna sounded genuinely sad when he explained.

Tails nodded and thought of how to respond. Amy knew she was guilty of the same thing as Sonic. She would speak about her life while up here in ways that Knuckles could never understand. It was like the Midas touch phase she used. He hadn’t understood it because he had lacked the most basic forms of media most of his life. The guardian had gained access to more since meeting them, but it was still nothing compared to what he was missing. Most assumed Knuckles was stupid, but he wasn’t at all; he just didn’t have the social experiences or the educational material many took for granted.

“That is reasonable. I can tell it a delicate subject that Sonic needs to be apprised of but do consider during this rant that Sonic isn’t somewhere he can make amends or even apologize. The emotion is clear in your voice, and it will be even clearer too Sonic when he hears it. May I make a request?” Shadow paused and looked at Knuckles who just nodded, “Thank you. Say your peace about how he has made you feel, how inconsiderate he was, and dump on him, but please make the last part of that rant about what or how Sonic can make amends to you when he is back with us. Go into detail about what he realistically can do to improve and alleviate your burdens once he is back home. I think if you play this right, you can get your point across, make him feel guilty while also giving Sonic hope and the understanding that you still want him to back here. I want you to make it clear to the fool that this is not irreparable. You know what it is like being alone somewhere with only your own thoughts as company and he is likely spending many hours in that cage with nothing to do but think. If he spends all that time feeling guilty, hated, scared, and whatever else Eggman’s putting him through we will get him back, but he’ll be too much of a wreck to do much of anything.”

Tails was nodding along with what Shadow said and pleaded for Knuckles to do what Sonic’s rival asked. Knuckles understood this was more serious than easy, petty revenge.

“You’ve all thought this out a sh*t ton more than I have, and I get it now. You have my word, both of you, that I will complete that rant carefully and make sure Sonic knows what he can do and that I want him back because it is true. I do want him back and I don’t want him coming back all f*cked up either,” The echidna promised.

Tails thanked him with tears in his eyes and hugged the guardian.

Shadow spoke again, “There was one other thing about that topic I noticed. Sonic isn’t the only one you are disappointed with plainly. I can get you some jobs and collect certain things you want in between those jobs. What can everyone else here you consider a friend do to make your situation easier?”

Knuckles found it perplexing he was being asked this by Shadow, one of the biggest assholes he thought he knew. The Ultimate prick wasn’t anything like he first assumed; the man just had a “stay the f*ck away from me” vibe and Knuckles remembered enough to know Shadow had some good reasons. Now that the echidna was spending time with him, the striped hedgehog was one of the kinder people he knew, and he didn’t know that many people. Knuckles finally understood why Rouge was so loyal to Shadow. His loyalty was complete and driven by some rare moral code many people lacked without realizing it.

“It’s probably a good thing you keep people at a distance man. Too many of them would try and take advantage of you if they knew who you truly were.” Knuckles thought sadly.

Knuckles laughed, “Heh. Shadow, I never would have expected to hear you asking but I am not going to complain. Sonic and everyone else are not solely at fault. I’ve been too…proud to be outspoken about my needs…Well, aside form finding candidates to train there are two thing I need. One is related to the people I’ll be training. I have…a special connection to the Master Emerald, which allows me to tell if someone is very near it or touching it no matter where I am and when it gets shattered, I am drawn to its pieces. This connection might serve other functions I do not know about involving the Emerald’s connection to everything that could be critically important. I thought this was something limited solely to me, but Rouge was also drawn to the pieces or the energy they gave off and she didn’t need to use an energy reader after a day of searching. She is no echidna and no Guardian, yet they resonated with her in some way,” Knuckles paused and saw that everyone seemed to be listening attentively, although Amy had a faraway look in her eyes.

“I used to think echidnas could only be Guardians, but I feel…like that is up to the Master Emerald to decide, that it judges and chooses, but I have no way of proving it other than how it reacted with Rouge. She stole it, but I believe it sensed her strength and devotion when it comes to gems, qualities that a potential Guardian would need; I don’t doubt if the Master Emerald belonged to her that she would protect it with her life and that’s what I mean by it judging. Shadow, I know you have a connection with chaos energy and Tails you were able to make a fake chaos emerald while Rouge can steal information. When the time comes, I could use your assistance in checking the candidates for their potential affinity with chaos energy or anything that would help me understand how this connection is formed between Guardian and Emerald if it does not occur naturally as I train them.”

“As I understand it, the Master Emerald is a natural form of stabilizing energy for this world that is not completely understood. I…am not natural even with my high affinity for chaos energy due to the Black ARM DNA I contain. I can assist with confirming the affinity for chaos energy within your candidates, but it is likely best I stay away from the Master Emerald. I don’t know what effect we would have on one another,” Shadow answered honestly.

Knuckles laughed good-naturedly, “Shadow you wouldn’t be on this island if you were any threat to the Master Emerald. I don’t know anything about this science stuff but whatever you are made from is not an issue.” Knuckles closed his eyes and there was a slight green glow around him as Shadow felt a wave of benign energy pulse through his body, “I just had it sense you and as far as its concerned…well how did the energy feel?”

Shadow had to keep himself from being overwhelmed. That energy had a feeling of kindness, warmth…of home and of her. He understood what the guardian was trying to get across about him not being a danger to Master Emerald. He could feel they were all part of something larger but could not describe it further.

“It felt benevolent, but it also personal, like a person I once knew that is no longer…here. I understand your point…Thank you for showing me and I will assist you in any way I can, Shadow stated, trying to hide his emotions but he failed somewhat.

“No problem. That personal feeling is due to its the connection to every living thing on the planet, alive or dead. If my ancestors ever did fully understand what it meant…that information has sadly been lost so I don’t know any other details. I appreciate your willingness to help. The Master Emerald must be protected long after I am gone,” Knuckles said firmly.

“That much I finally understand why after feeling it. I can never be its Guardian, but I will check in on the guardians as the years pass,” Shadow looked Knuckles directly in the eye and the echidna could tell Shadow was ardent, which lifted some weight off his shoulders, knowing that Shadow had been able to feel its pulse so deeply.

Sensing it was okay to speak Tails added, “I’ll do whatever I can to try and figure out how the connection works.”

It was a simple answer, but it was nice to hear. Knuckles thanked the fox. Amy stayed quiet because she had not been addressed. She thought the guardian didn’t believe she could be of any use, and he was probably correct. She had none of Shadow’s rare power or Tails’ genius. She was confident she could be a great fighter if she kept training but that was all the use she was: good to have in a fight.

Knuckles spoke up again, “On to a less complicated subject, I really want to have more access to what is going on in the world like what I can do on this type of phone.”

Tails chimed in, “A top tier lap-top, a TV that can act as a huge monitor, and extra solar panels to power the new electronics would cover that, I think. We can load up gift cards for you to pay for the services that provide the TV shows, music, books, comics, and news. Anything you want to read or see you can usually get a digital version of nowadays.”

Knuckles nodded, “Yeah, TV shows, music, books, comics, and news just about covers it. Once I know how to access everything, I can start learning more about the world, even if I rarely interact with it directly.”

Knuckles was smiling now.

“Oh, you can video chat online with people all over the world or…just Rouge, but we can go over all the guidelines for chatting with people later since it can be dangerous.” Tails chuckled, knowing Knuckles would just talk to the bat and he looked over at Amy, “We can all work together to get it done, right Amy? And Sonic too once he is back! It should not take too long to have it set up. As for how we talk, I’ll work on not saying things that you would obviously not know about or explain it if I need to say it. That’s something we can all work on.”

Amy heard all of what was being said but she felt numb about it all. She knew Knuckles deserved what Shadow and Tails were talking about and that even Sonic would agree that he did, but right now she didn’t care. Today had not been a good one for her and Knuckles’ friendship. She had said awful things that were not even true, and he had made it a point to tease her consistently and he had refused to even be touched by her. Amy knew tomorrow she would wake up and feel completely different though; she knew her feelings now were not a real reflection of how she truly felt so she forced herself to act normal.

“Yes, Tails is right. We can also preload the laptop with music and shows we already own. I know you are into combat and mythology so maybe books and documentaries covering world history would be something that would interest you. Sonic reads many different genres of novels, as crazy as that sounds, so he would know what to suggest when it comes to fiction. These are just a few examples. You might have unexpected interests that I don’t know about,” Amy backed up Tails and would do her part.

Knuckles thanked them with many years of repressed emotion. Shadow knew the guardian’s life could be easily improved in the short run, which would help tide him over the long journey he would be taking to create an entirely new type of protector for the Master Emerald. Shadow felt hollow when he thought about how he would get see the last echidna’s legacy thrive…long after Knuckles was dead and buried. Knuckles assured Tails that the second rant would be about something surface level.

They were munching on snacks, making small talk as the sun was starting to set when something occurred that would ruin the night. Rouge’s video was uploaded but it wasn’t the issue, and they didn’t even get past the first ten seconds before another upload appeared approximately six minutes after Rouge’s. The submission had Eggman’s logo all over it titled “Confessions of a Blue Rodent Part 1”. They were watching Rouge on Amy’s phone, so she tapped out of Rouge’s video to look at the new upload.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this,” Tails said, and Knuckles agreed that it stunk.

Shadow nodded, “Yes, I agree. I think we should ignore it. I can watch it later and give you a recap. We don’t know what it’s going to show.”

Shadow wanted to protect Tails and Amy. He didn’t really think it was going to be murder or torture. He only implied that to scare the two away. The striped hedgehog knew this was likely meant to mess with one or all their minds, but he had a feeling it was all centered on one girl.

Amy didn’t agree, “Shadow, I doubt it’s something that bad. The livestream timer is still ticking down for tomorrow so he couldn’t have…killed him.”

“I’m not just talking about death or something bloody Amy,” Shadow said.

There wasn’t anything Shadow could say to convince her because that title caught Amy’s eye just as intended. Out of everyone, Amy was the most vulnerable. Tails was the one hiding sh*t between the two brothers. Shadow was almost certain Amy was the target and Rouge had just been the bait. This confession video was the hook. Shadow got a text and kept an eye on Amy while he read it. The text was from Rouge, and it said only, “Do not let Amy watch Eggman’s video.” Tails saw the content over Shadow’s shoulder and was selfishly happy that his brother was unlikely harmed. Before Shadow or Tails could stop her Amy tapped the link.

The video portion was just from one camera’s viewpoint, and it stayed focused solely on a paused tv screen of Tails task which later would be used to show some social media videos The camera never changed position; it simply served the purpose of showing the viewers that the recording had not been conveniently cut, tampered with, and pieced together.

After moments of loading and silence Eggman’s voice could be heard followed by Sonic’s.

“You’re famous. You have that attitude that I find f*cking infuriating, but that seems to appeal to…people, emeralds only know why. So, what’s the deal Sonic? Where is the girl on your arm?”

“I-I just haven’t found the right person. It’s not like I’m old!”

Tails jolted when he heard his brother speak. He had never heard Sonic so terrified. Everyone of them had noticed. Shadow particularly could tell that Sonic was under a threat he absolutely feared more then anything he was going to say. Sonic’s rival noted that Sonic wanted Eggman satisfied, so the blue blur feared something very fiercely. There were only a handful of threats that could instill such fear. Earlier the striped hedgehog had thought Tails was going little overboard with his fears when Amy asked her question, but this made him feel the same way as Sonic’s brother. He could see it was starting to click for the guardian too, but Amy didn’t look worried. Amy looked nervous with excitement, but not a pleasant kind: the kind you get when stitches are about to be pulled out.

“Amy is not the right person Sonic? For a guy 19 or 20. It is too old for that.”

“No, she’s not. And it’s 19! I don’t see how that’s old.”

Amy tensed and was now riveted to the screen. Her surprised look turned to sadness then anger, as she noticed the other three had no reaction to Sonic’s statement. They were all concentrating, but they were concerned about something else entirely. This infuriated her.

“Why? Why’s wrong with her. Breasts not big enough? It’s not old when it comes to marriage or a serious partner, but to never a woman you’ve just dated or even fooled around with; it is old.”

“What! No! I wouldn’t refuse to date someone over their breast size. That’s stupid. She just…doesn’t make me feel that way toward her and we don’t have many hobbies in common, but more then that I think she believes I’m someone I’m not or would want to me to change things about myself that I just don’t want to change or can’t. As for the old thing, fine whatever; I was too busy fighting you and that knocked me back a few years in the dating scene? I don’t know and I don’t care.”

“Hmm, interesting. Either something is going wrong with my lie detector, you’re lying, or this is more complicated than you are making it out to be. You wouldn’t lie to me, Sonic, would you? I would be very…displeased to learn you’ve managed to avoid detection…without informing me,”

“No, I’m not lying! I swear.”

Tails tensed again when he heard his brother’s voice and he started to tremble. It sounded so...desperate. The fox felt Shadow’s hand squeeze his shoulder in reassurance to let Tails know he noticed it too. Shadow wished there was more he could do for the teen. Even Knuckles looked totally disturbed now, everything was clicking for him clearly now.

“We will see about that…I want you to watch these any then explain each one. They are from your social media accounts which are not public, not that couldn’t stop me from viewing them. Heh.”

“You said you didn’t have any hobbies in common and that is what made the detector spike. Explain how these are not hobbies, rodent? We all know Shadow isn’t a competent body double to pin this on.”

It was near this point Shadow tried to grasp Amy’s phone so he could turn it off, but Amy moved away, protecting the phone, and keeping it safe from the others. She paused it the video because she couldn’t hear it over then two men trying to argue with her.

“Amy don’t listen to the rest of it. It’s transparent why Eggman uploaded it after Rouge’s video! He wants to tear you down, torment you, and cause dissonance between Sonic and his friends. Can’t you hear Sonic in distress and how he is being threatened?” Shadow tried to reason with her.

Knuckles backed him up, “He’s right Amy. I’ve fallen for his traps more than any of us! Don’t let him use you as a weapon. Don’t listen to it!”

Tails stayed quiet. He knew the others were wasting their breath. As soon as Sonic admitted Amy “wasn’t the right person” all hope of keeping Amy away for the truth was void. Sonic had been silent for years; this had been boiling for too long. Even if they got her phone and kept the electronic devices away from her, she would finish it as soon as she was home. The fox knew making Amy her own hamster cage wasn’t practical and unlike Sonic she would scream and bash her head on the bars until blunt force trauma occurred. Tails had forgotten about the shockers on Sonic’s arms, but Amy would have allowed Eggman to shock her to oblivion. In some ways, the pink hedgehog was crazier than her love interest, because there was fine point with Amy that once hit rationalization and all forms of sanity went right out the f*cking window. Tails also felt an intense dislike for her growing.

“Amy, I always felt something was off about you…You have been obsessed with my brother and it was unhealthy, but Sonic wouldn’t take me seriously when I tried to explain to him you were unstable and could be dangerous someday. Not just dangerous to yourself by getting kidnapped because you followed Sonic to the most dangerous places, causing him to risk his life rescuing you, but dangerous in other way, dangerous psychologically. I knew you were crazy, that no girl should ever be that obsessed with a guy, obsessed enough to endanger her own life for his attention. Sonic was too kind, writing your behavior off every time, staying friends with you, stupidly humoring you throughout the years. You even began to fool me. Three years ago, I started to think I had been wrong after you ceased chasing him, learned to fight with us, and would follow set dates and times for hanging out instead of just showing up You were silly and young back then but now you had grown up so you would be an adult, mature and normal, from now on…I was a fool. You just changed your tactics. You learned to fight and hold your own so you could be in battle beside him. It was easier to learn to fight back then get kidnapped and it had the benefit of impressing him. It was an easy way to get close once useful and it worked like a charm. Sonic started to depend on you and to trust you with his LIFE. He started to really value your friendship and getting to know you better even if it meant going out and doing things that he normally hated. You ate that up and shat it out into some twisted delusion that his normal, OBVIOUSLY, PLATONIC friendship was some kind of true destined love based on magical card horsesh*t. You’ve been waiting and waiting for the pay-off and now that there isn’t one you are going to stab Sonic in the back. You won’t be satisfied knowing you still have an amazing friend, you liar! You only want him one way and if that’s not going to happen you will betray him because you are a delusional stalker. A stealthily selfish person. A liar. UGHH! I wish he had never met you. I wish you had become someone else’s problem!” Tails thought this as she spoke, knowing he had to keep quiet, remain under control because Shadow and his brother were depending on him to separate his emotions from his actions, and he wasn’t going to break HIS promises.

Shadow noticed the glint in Tails eyes, and he recognized it. It was that same gleam Nine had when he was pissed, but when he looked at the fox, Tails nodded back and looked at him understandingly. Shadow was relieved that even though Tails was in his angriest state of mind, he was still in full control of himself. The striped hedgehog was confident he had not made a mistake trusting Miles, who was remaining stable even when his fear of Amy potentially being a liability to his brother might be coming to pass.

“No! He is in a pinch but he’s not lying! He’s never told me the truth about how he feels, and you expect me to just ignore the rest of this when I can FINALLY have my answer! No…I…I just can’t! I don’t care if Eggman is the source as long as it’s the DAMN TRUTH. I deserve to know, so go ahead Shadow, use your emerald, take the phone, think of me as a monster, do whatever you want but I will watch it eventually!” Amy screamed.

Shadow kicked at the dirt. She was right. Even if he wasted the energy to stop her now, it would only be a short-term solution. He would like to give in to his anger and scratch Amy off as a monster to be hated and thrown away, but he couldn’t hate her or see her as a monster for wanting to know the truth after feeling like she had been toyed with. Shadow couldn’t hate anyone for that reason.

“…Fine. Do what you will, but this is not the right time for you to hear this and it shouldn’t be how you are told. You should wait for it to come from Sonic himself face-to-face so you can look him in his eyes…but if this how you hear it you are knowingly and willingly choosing pain… I hope whatever he says leads to closure and freedom Amy. The alternative isn’t pretty.” Shadow said simply and walked away to lean against a tree near Tails.

He could not give her a more blatant warning; unlike Tails he did not think anything before this moment Amy did on purpose and he was correct, but from here on out it was all her choices and her consequences to bear.

Knuckles just let out a strong of curses and Tails wore the same expression. The echidna could not think of a better warning than what Shadow had said to her. The fox knew the mess that was going to follow and hoped those first aid kits had something that could knock Amy out for the flight home. If not, he would just request Amy not wear her headgear, so he didn’t have to hear her crying or screaming. It was easier to be angry at Amy right now than rather than his brother, fair or unfair or to attempt to put himself in her shoes. Tails didn’t know enough about Amy’s personal life to truly do that anyway.

Amy let the video begin playing again.

“I can…explain. Yes, those are hobbies I did and still do with her…before being held captive by you, but I don’t enjoy any of them. I don’t mind karaoke, but sh*tty pop music is not what I consider real music. I memorized a book about tarot cards to do the readings, but as she touched on to in her video, I don’t believe them. The movies are just like music: corny romantic comedies that are cheap to turn out. I just picked a random part of the movie in that video. The game? I don’t even know the name of it. I just play the bare minimum to keep from losing the property by letting it go to hell, so she doesn’t notice. Those decoration, pet, and life simulators just exist to get dumbasses to buy virtual curtains, pet treats, clothes, or whatever. The journaling might come up as truth because I do keep a journal but it’s a private book reading journal for quotes, thoughts, and summaries. I don’t journal about daily life, aspirations, and feelings like she does. Was any of that a lie? It shouldn’t be!”

Amy clenched her hands. Tails already knew this along with why and he thought if she had really bothered to pay attention, she could have noticed he was acting eventually over the course of years, but she had not wanted to notice.

“So, you waste your time doing all these absurd behaviors to keep her curtailed? That’s hysterical. Hahaha!”

“No! I do it because she is my friend and I care about her, just not in a romantic way. Those behaviors make her happy and so it is worth it.”

“Ha! It was your time to waste I suppose but it’s still pathetic. Aside from the fact that you are a faker what does she think you are that you are not or would want to change about you? That part didn’t come back as a lie; it didn’t come back as anything…that has never taken place before. I want this device perfected!”

“I’m trying to think…I’m not as happy-go-lucky as she believes because I’ve never shown her times when I’m unsure of myself or regret a huge decision, I guess. Tails and Shadow have seen that side of me, but Amy hasn’t. I might have given her the impression that I’m used to having the attention of female fans, really crave the attention of women, or that I’m more experienced than I am when really, I don’t have…much of it, if any at all.” A snort from the doctor and a pause occurred before Sonic spoke again.

Shadow felt sick hear Sonic being made fun for just being true to himself and being willing to wait until he found someone, he felt comfortable with. It was obvious to anyone in their right mind hearing this that the blue hedgehog had never meant to hurt Amy when he began pretending and that he let it go on too long until Sonic was stuck in position of not wanting to hurt her with the truth but that he would have to tell her eventually. He continued trying to offer any minor comfort he could to Tails, who was obviously fearing for his brother, but he had to admit the teen was handling this extraordinarily well, all things considered.

“I can’t think of any other major misconceptions. As for the things that she would want to change about me, that’s not very complex. She would not like the uh way I keep my home. I’m not a complete slob, but I’m nowhere near what her ideal would be! I don’t know if I really want children yet and she does for sure, so she would want to make that happen sooner than I wanted, if I wanted it at all. She’d want me to hang out with her…friends which would be torture and it wouldn’t be fair because she hangs out with mine. I know she prefers the city and would drag me there to live. I could never do that full time. Part of the year, maybe but not constantly! Yearly photos, anniversaries, stupid parties held at friends’ houses, clothing, trying vegan, limiting my adventures…ugh! It just wouldn’t be a good fit even if I did see her as more than a friend. She’s normal. I’m not. It’s that simple, Egghead. Does that stupid thing have enough?”

“Yes, hedgehog. It appears statements that are too vague will result in nulls.”

The video ended at with the end of Eggman’s sentence.

Shadow and Tails were not under any illusions that the interrogation ended there, and they assumed Eggman had figured out everything involving Sonic’s love interests. He was going up against a lie detector and a bastard who was determined to get responses. Shadow was not going to show disgust or toss aside Sonic’s hopes when Eggman released Part two of this high-school drama confession. The content was only important to Amy. The other three were all uneasy about how distraught Sonic sounded. They knew the blue blur felt hopeless because he was not fighting back before answering and the tactic Eggman was using against him must be ruthless enough to shut down the hero’s smartass remarks.

A time of tense silence elapsed after the video’s end. Amy had moved the phone away from her face and was holding it in her right hand while she simply started off in the distance, looking at nothing specific. She broke the silence by speaking, her tone angry but not loud.

“Ah. It was all lies. He never intended to take it further with me and all the time we spent together was fake. He was pretending to like the same things as me and considers my hobbies trivial and even brainless. Ugh… He couldn’t even speak the same way he does around everyone else when he was me. None of it was real. He’s right that we have nothing in common and that I wouldn’t like the real him. We were a waste of each other’s time and he’s nothing but a lying piece of sh*t…” Amy said lividly.

She had barely raised her voice, wasn’t screaming, and wasn’t crying. She was only furious. Tails managed to keep himself from raging back at her for insulting his brother. Shadow and Knuckles were waiting for her next drastic action. They didn’t expect what came next.

“Do you want to film the water skits before we leave or do you need help with the art pieces, Knuckles? We did bring the outdoor lights so you might as well make use of us while you we are here,” Amy asked, seriously.

Knuckles looked at her stunned. He thought she’d be a crying mess, but she was far from it. He could tell she was very angry and had to be hurt, but there was also a part of her that seemed lighter.

“Um, I haven’t really… thought about the art pieces, but, uh, I was wondering how I was going to, um, film the water skits. I would need to get the phone…high enough and keep it… from falling,” The guardian struggled to answer.

“Oh, I’m sure I saw the phone stand while carrying things into the cavern. With that you can set yourself enough time to get in the water before the video starts automatically. It’s probably in one of the bags in the cavern,” Amy said simply.

“That solves that problem. As for the art, the sh*thead was pretty liberal with what I could use. I’ll just draw him losing to me at arm wrestling for one. As for the other I’ll draw a little comic about him sneaking into Shadow’s apartment to take those air shoes out of a spin because I bet, he secretly thinks they are cool. Knowing him I’m probably right,” Knuckles regained his composure, still trying to figure Amy out.

“Even if, and that is a big if, Sonic managed to bypass my security, my cat, and myself, they would cease to move. They only respond to me,” Shadow responded, supplying the information semi-automatically because he noticed it technicalities were incorrect.

“Even funnier then. He puts them on and gets caught. I mean no offense, Knuckles, but can you draw without fingers?” Amy asked, nicely.

Knuckles smiled not knowing how else to react, “Yes, I’m actually not half-bad at it, but the pencils are big and the way I hold them would look funny to you.

“Great I like the two ideas too.” Amy said.

Tails had been listening to the entire exchange and had been trying to figure out what was going on with Amy. Her reaction was not what he anticipated, and he feared her ability to turn off all her emotions. It occurred so unnaturally. She had to be pissed and he could still discern some anger, but he could not detect the sadness or hurt. Amy had been crushing on his brother for years and she just learned that he was never going to return those feelings and she seemed to not care that she had just lost Sonic as a boyfriend. Even if she was as crazy had he thought her out to be while he was at his angriest, she should at least be furious for having wasted all those years of investment and effort only to gain nothing on top of being publicly humiliated with that audio available for anyone to listen. There were already over three hundred comments and not all of them were in support of her; several people were already calling her a “dumb bitch”, “too thirsty”, and there were remarks about her desperation being so bad that Sonic could have had her as a “side bitch”. Tails said he was heading to the cavern to grab the phone stand so he could think.

“If your main emotion is rage and you have accepted the loss then that only leaves one possibility. You already don’t care about my brother anymore! Not even as a friend. You totally missed half of what he said in that video! He faked it all because he wanted to keep you as a friend. He faked liking those things just to spend time with you. He changed everything about himself just to preserve your feelings! How is that being just a piece of sh*t?! He lied and that was wrong, but he didn’t lie to hurt you; it’s the opposite!” Tails thought because he had at least expected her to mourn but Amy had the audacity to not even care.

Tails found the stand easily and came back to the group handing Knux the stand.

“You’ve decided to write him off by hating him, haven’t you?” The fox asked, looking at Amy with an expression she had never seen before.

Amy looked at Tails and wondered what the teen was thinking but it ultimately didn’t matter. He couldn’t help what his brother had done. She didn’t want him to be in the middle of any of it, but Eggman had made that impossible with a public video. Amy and Sonic’s relationship was out to be dissected and ridiculed so anyone close to either hedgehog was going to be targeted for questions. Amy thought that was far more concerning than whatever she could be thinking personally, but Tails seemed to disagree.

“Not hate, Tails. I just don’t care anymore. I’ll play along with the livestream, so no one needs to worry. He won’t know a thing until he’s back home. I won’t do anything to endanger him,” Amy said genuinely.

It was true. She had no desire to hurt or risk Sonic’s life. Shadow could tell she meant it and all he needed was her collaboration, but he did feel the deep hollowness within Amy. At this point he didn’t see the need to try and correct it. That could come later when Sonic was safe; however, Shadow could see Tails was about to explode in her face after staying in control throughout the video and that would complicate tomorrow if he was too brutal with his verbal affront.

“Tails lets talk alone for a minute. Please excuse us,” Shadow grabbed the fox’s wrist and made sure they were far enough away before stopping.

Tails spoke before he could.

“She’s awful! He said it clearly in the video. He did all the lying because he thought that was the only way to keep her as a friend! He didn’t want to los—

Shadow interrupted him, “I know. I know Tails. She does too deep down. Right now, she is experiencing a false sense of freedom by telling herself she doesn’t care and for now she believes it. In one way, she is correct about being free. She can now meet someone who loves her back the same way, but she is wrong about all those years spent with Sonic being a waste of time. Those seven years have made an everlasting mark. Once the shock wears off, she will know she must speak with him to determine whether they should form a more honest friendship or grow apart. That’s when you’ll see what you are expecting: tears and emotional outbursts. I’m just thinking about that livestream tomorrow and the way she is feeling now can be used to our advantage. Eggman has —

“He’s probably told Sonic everything, maybe even had him watch what he uploaded. My brother is going to be expecting her not to show up tomorrow or if she does it will be to scream, cry, and blame him. If she acts like she hasn’t seen it, then he will think she’s decided not to watch it, giving him a chance to explain himself first,” Tails finished.

Shadow signed in relief, “Yes, that’s the idea. Either that or he will think she watched it and understood his point of view like we do, that she has kept her word like she promised in her task list: that she would remain his friend regardless of whether he loved her romantically or not. We are just buying time to get the damn headquarters’ location.”

Tails visibly calmed down and his anger had dissipated.

“You’re right. I need to stay focused on the main goal: getting him out of there. Thank you for stopping me. I was about to lose it on her.”

Shadow thought that was a bit of an understatement. Miles looked like he was going to call her out on everything Sonic had ever done for her. The one positive aspect he noticed was still Tails’ self-control; as angry as he was, The Spider had remained inert. There was a good chance the fox’s emotions didn’t influence the weapon like Nine’s had and if they did it might only be during battle. Shadow knew the fox was not going to be a loose cannon, which was important for working together and rescuing Sonic, but Shadow’s emotional side was grateful that he had someone he could depend on. It sure as hell wasn’t who he would have first guessed but that didn’t matter.

“Yes, I was aware of what you were going to do, and I understand why. He’s your family and you are going to remain loyal to him and no one should fault you for it. Sonic isn’t blameless in this, but it should have never been forced out of him or put up for everyone to hear; this should have been a private altercation between Sonic and Amy. Eggman is to blame more than either of them.” Shadow explained.

“That’s true. He is a monster, but we should find him before he releases part 2,” Tails said jumping ahead.

Shadow smiled. It was a smile Tails could actually see for more than a few seconds. It was a wonderful smile, even the hint of fang, it was perfect. Tails couldn’t help but smile back. Tails tilted his head as if to ask what he was thinking.

“It doesn’t matter if he releases part two. We already know the rest of what Sonic is hiding and Eggman likely expects me to react with complete disinterest, disgust, or mockery. The manchild will be very disappointed when I fail all three. He has no way of knowing I’m already aware and I don’t care what people think.” Tails looked at him with a questioning gaze, “I’ll tell Sonic I’m intrigued and leave it at that if Eggman gets the chance to upload part 2. Sonic can get the full run down on my dos and don’ts when he’s home.”

Tails was still smiling when he replied, “That will motivate him to stay alive.”

“It better,” Shadow deadpanned.

It wasn’t lost on Tails that Shadow had insanely high opinion of himself, but maybe that was what Sonic needed: the challenge of putting the effort into making an impression on Shadow, to discover what facilitated his rival’s happiness. Miles knew that Sonic had it in him to be what Shadow needed if he was willing to be patient and use his brain. Shadow was obviously a good person and for all the fox knew maybe his inflated ego was just a protective mechanism.

“What is in the bag?” Shadow asked.

Tails had completely forgotten about bringing it with him when he left for the cavern to bring back the phone stand.

“Right. I forgot it was even in my hand,” The fox opened the bag revealing a spherical device that opened and shut, “This is like a faraday cage for chaos emeralds. Their energy signatures can be traced, but when placed in this its signature won’t show. I thought it would be important to make it impossible for Eggman to single you out based on the chaos emerald. You can also lock the device with your bio data with a simple thumb print or by using your blood.” Tails explained showing the hedgehog where the thumb print was used and where to place his finger for the blood.

Shadow took the sphere that was handed to him. He had not yet considered Eggman would identify and deadlock him through the chaos emerald using most of his offensive, but it was the sleezy type of move the doctor would make. Forcing the less powerful members to strike into the base first or deter them all from the headquarters until they broke Shadow out so he could regain momentum would be the best way to buy time. The base itself was fundamentally going to be a maze with traps and locked doors until someone could hack into it. He knew Tails would prove useful, but not quite so quickly. He wondered what other devices the fox was working on. He placed the chaos emerald inside and pressed his thumb, felt the prick, and the device lit up electronically stating it was locked to a new DNA signature.

“Thank you. I had not predicted he would use the emerald to find me and to keep me immobilized fighting. It makes sense how Sonic managed to get so far with equipment like this. I wonder if our dear doctor has ever feared you might one day surpass him,” Shadow said seriously.

Tails flushed.

“Heh. I doubt it. I’m talented but not near that level yet. One of my devices, if you could call it that, almost got Sonic killed,” Miles admitted.

Shadow knew what the fox was referring to.

“That’s incorrect. It was what you said and your facial expression, not the fake emerald. That thing managed to save Sonic in the end. It was good enough fake to contain enough chaos energy for him to warp to safety. Please stop demeaning yourself. There is nothing wrong with being proud of what you can accomplish. Humility is overrated…Now this is my emerald and no one else can else can touch it. I like that,” Shadow tossed the sphere up and down a few times.

Tails laughed.

“We both know you considered it your emerald before the sphere…but thank you. I’ve never honestly liked humility, but it is what people expect. I might as well stop pretending to be so humble as well...I guess we should get back to the others. Nyx has been alone all day,”

Shadow nodded and they started walking back.

“Yes, and he will make me suffer for the neglect.”

The Ultimate Lifeform knew he would come back to an attention seeking monster.

“I have another invention coming along to protect my feet better than a blanket,” Tails smiled.

“He’ll just go for your ears next.”

There wasn’t a cheat code for a cat. Locking Nyx out of the room would result in meowing that would keep him awake and scratching at the door. At least with the door open the cat would give him a few hours before becoming completely fed up.

“Are you serious?”

Nyx’s last resort was taking a steaming sh*t right on the bed and waiting defiantly for Shadow to smell it. Shadow knew then that no pet could beat the downright hostility of a cat.

“Yes, if you keep ignoring him over and over and he can’t get to your feet he attacks the ears. It’s like the third warning on your alarm.”

Tails laughed at the thought of how many times Shadow had to ignore the cat to learn all of this. Poor Sonic would have to roll himself into a blanket for full protection. There was no separating Nyx and Shadow so Sonic would need to learn how to love him.

Knuckles was the first to notice them return and waved. They were sitting down on a makeshift table covered with papers. The echidna handed Tails one. It was the comic of Sonic climbing into Shadow’s window making all kinds of secret agent positions to avoid lasers and trip wires. Shadow cat was a black and red sleeping tiger and when Sonic put on the shoes they burned him. The last panel had Sonic running way with red feet against a backdrop of stars being chased by Shadow and the tiger.

Tails couldn’t help but laugh. It wasn’t a mean comic; it was just funny like Knuckles said. Knuckles could draw quite well in cartoon style. Shadow approved of it as well and said, “that’s what Nyx believes he looks like in his mind”. Amy had added some basic color to it with the few available. The second art piece was sketched out. Knux looked ridiculously buff and Sonic overly scrawny during the arm-wrestling contest.

“I think you might make some fans with these, Knux! Those jerks watching the stream are going to eat these up. I’ve looked at the comments on mine and Amy’s tasks and the people on there get very…”

Amy looked grossed out. She had glanced at the comments too and a lot of them were men commenting about taking her off Sonic’s hands. The worst ones were the explicit or brazenly insulting. Eggman had no one moderating, not that she had expected him to bother.

“The commenters are mostly gross. They are going to ask any personal question you could ever imagine and will try and steal you from Rouge,” Amy finished Tails’ thought.

“Yeah, there’s those. I don’t have as many of those because I’m underage, I guess. But that salon has gotten plenty of non-human customers who have posted their styles and it’s taking off. There has been some small good that has come out of it, so you never know. Maybe someday you could make a weekly Sonic comic.”

Knuckles liked the idea of a weekly sonic comic but did not care for the rest of the conversation. Once Rouge was mentioned he made it clear he wanted to call her tonight, which was his polite way of asking them to leave. Tails snickered, told him to be prepared to enjoy that call, and asked if he could keep some of the drawings that had not made the final cut for the post. The fox got what he wanted after Knux gave him a cautionary look about the preparation. Tails nicked one that was nearly finished that he could ink and color. He was thinking about framing it for the wall. The thought of using the camera footage disgusted him and he had not requested a group photo because he didn’t want Amy in it and there was no agreeable way of leaving her out.

Tails doubted he would ever be close to Amy assuming the worst about her. She didn’t seem to like the real him much at all and he didn’t care for her reactions toward his brother even if he had thought most of her reactions were normal and fair. Miles also noticed how disengaged she seemed when Knuckles was bearing his damn soul about the rant he was going to make. The fox noticed she was staring off somewhere in the distance while he spoke. She had said the right things, but the usual kindness that surrounded Amy and attracted people to her was absent during that whole conversation. It was the end of a stressful day so she should be given the benefit of the doubt. She did from Shadow and Knuckles, but Tails was still held animosity.

Shadow grinned before they left for the cavern, “I seem to remember something you were insisting on having today…what could that have been?”

Knuckles seemed confused but soon remembered the damn duel. As much as he wanted a chance to kick Shadow’s ass today, he wanted the chance of wooing Rouge back far more and she would know if he dawdled because those two talked too much.

“That was before Rouge came into the picture! Kicking your ass pales in comparison to hearing…and hopefully seeing her, so shoo off my island! We can duel next time,” Knuckles said tapping his foot, clearly anticipating this call, and wanting privacy as soon as possible.

Tails imitated Amy’s voice, “Knuckles that is IMPOILTE! We are your guests, and you are rushing us to leave. What could you possibly need to do that is soooo important!”

Knuckles couldn’t stop himself from laughing while Amy glared at them both. Knuckles wished he had a middle finger to hold up at times like these. The bastards all knew what he was hoping to do.

After saying goodbye to Knuckles they made it to the cavern. Most of the items were for the guardian so they carefully removed their bags and placed them inside the plane. Tails suggested leaving one outdoor light behind for Knuckles just in case tomorrow was cloudy or he spent the entire morning taking to Rouge and slept the day away. Shadow coincided and carried it over to the cavern with a note on top explaining how long the battery lasted. The Tornado II was carefully balanced with all the compartments closed. Amy wanted him to sit on top of her this time because it was fair. Shadow didn’t seem to care; it was easier to control her movement on the flight that way. Tails just thought was either a childish request or the opposite… of childish.

“Uh huh. Good luck with that Amy. Flirting with Shadow after acting crazy all day is a solid plan for seduction. Haven’t you noticed he has an ego the size of the moon… before part of it was replaced with The Space Colony ARK creating an impressive hologram? He’s not going to take Sonic’s sloppy seconds a few hours after the fact,” Tails nastily while getting into the co*ckpit.

Amy climbed in and Shadow sat on her vertically, quills sticking right up toward her.

“Everyone but your sound gear and safety harnesses on,” Tails yelled out.

Everyone complied as the plane started to move forward and ascend. Amy had to place her fingers carefully between Shadow’s main quills to keep his head from leaning back too far. She realized that Shadow’s quills were thickly layered and dense, envying how unfair it was a man had so many layers to style. The striped hedgehog ignored Amy picking at his quills, instead enjoying the view, without Amy sitting on top blocking it. He looked at the city lights out in the distance, all the small ones that littered the countryside, and at the left wing where Sonic was supposed to, be quills blowing in the wind grinning.

“Is there something wrong with the wing?” Amy asked, noticing how he had been staring at it for several minutes.

Shadow thought about how to answer the question. He decided to go with honesty.

“It is missing someone,” he said simply.

Amy stopped running her hands through his quills and leaned back. She really didn’t want to hear about Sonic right now and even Shadow was busy thinking about him. It got on her nerves.

“Yeah…he loves night flying, but he likes to look at the stars and the constellations rather than the ground,” Tails explained.

Shadow looked up into the sky and could understand why. On a cloudless night, it was beautiful. Shadow had learned all the constellations he could see through the different windows on the ARK but on earth he was not as restricted.

“I see why. I’ve taken the stars for granted but they do look different like this. I learned all the constellations out of boredom. Did he have a favorite?” Shadow asked Tails.

Amy stayed silent.

“I’m pretty sure it’s Lyra. Do you have one?”

Shadow thought that one suited Sonic’s flamboyant personality.

“I should have figured that would be his favorite. Corvus for me and yes, it’s fitting as well.”

Amy knew the nine arcana came along with their relation to their astrological constellations and meanings. Lyra or Corvis were lesser-known ones. She could only recall part of the myth behind the crow.

“Hm, yeah that fits. You do what you want but you would have spat out the snake and told the truth,” Tails began to laugh.

Shadow smirked. Not quite.

“No, I would have enjoyed the figs, eaten the snake, went on to drink the water and flew far away. The god could die of thirst for all I care.”

Tails continued to laugh. That would mean Shadow would be chased around by Apollo, who owned the lyre, the rest of his life.

“You do realize Apollo owns the lyre which is what Lyra is based on, right?”

Shadow grinned wickedly.

“Yes…I suppose he does, but then Sonic could make annoying music to distract Apollo while I tore out the god’s heart.”

Amy thought this entire conversation was stupid. Who cared about murdering some fake, ancient god?

“It always comes down to violence, doesn’t it? You could have just brought Apollo the stupid water!” Amy contested.

Tails went silent eagerly awaiting the response. Shadow gave a predictable answer.

“I am The Ultimate Lifeform! I am not some servant who fetches water for a man-whor*.”

Tails crackled having make sure his laughing wasn’t impacting his flying. It was the response the fox expected: no way out of killing Apollo. Amy just huffed glad to know they were close to landing. Everyone grew silent to allow Tails to focus on the activity which went smoothly.

Shadow got off Amy and jumped out first. Amy pocketed several crimson quills she had managed to nab during the flight; they were pretty, and he had more than enough to spare. She jumped out next, having no need for Shadow’s assistance and looked around Tails workshop. The female hedgehog noticed many things that she had missed this morning. The workshop was in full action mode. There was something being designed or built on every desk, old once discarded schematics were pinned on the walls with new red marks on them, and she could tell most were weapons for personal use for to be attached to the Tornado II. It was clear Tails was preparing everything he could for the assault on Eggman’s base.

She assumed by all the new material that Shadow was likely helping fund this endeavor, which explained why he had his new locking sphere for his emerald. She doubted Sonic would be pleased with Shadow funding his little brother’s research into weapons and tools. The Spider, the gun, and the emerald sphere were all inventions that had sprung forth in such a short time. It wouldn’t take Tails long to start amping up. One of the main creations was a specialized gun, probably for Shadow. Tails finally jumped out of Tornado II after going through the sequences.

Amy looked at him and pointed, “It looks like you two have been quite busy.”

The fox didn’t miss the judgement in her voice.

“Yes. It’s all to help free Sonic and not all of what you see is weapons. The sphere I made Shadow isn’t and the one on the far left is going to be a shield for either for the Tornado II or for a person. It won’t absorb more than a few hits, but some protection is better than none.”

He was going to offer upgrading her hammer, but Shadow’s weaponry and the Tornado’s took precedence. The hedgehog was buying the expensive raw materials for all of it, so he had no right to use any of them on Amy’s equipment. Miles wasn’t sure she would be there for the base’s assault anyway.

“It’s not the weapon that should be faulted or feared. It’s the person using it who is responsible for their actions. Tails is creating mere objects that can be used to save people’s lives in the right hands. I see nothing unethical here,” Shadow declared factually.

Amy decided not to take it any further. She hadn’t meant the weapons themselves; she was concerned about their teenage creator who shouldn’t be in this position. Eggman had pushed Tails to this, not Shadow. He was merely supervising progress, or so he claimed: not wanting the fox to create and test inventions in secret. She understood Shadow’s point, yet she considered him too liberal. That Spider was not a simple weapon, but this was Sonic’s worry. Amy had done her part by expressing her opinion enough.

“True. Have we gotten everything out we need?” She changed the subject.

Shadow and Tails opened the cargo hold and took out the two lights and the few personal bags. Amy was handed her personal bag, which was missing nothing, including the bug spray she had not needed.

Amy handed him the spray, “My gift you little liar!”

She was just teasing him, and Tails forced out a reluctant laugh.

“I didn’t think you would fall the stink bug part!”

Tails took the spray but planned to toss it as far away from the home as possible. It was cursed now. They walked into the main house greeted by meowing with Nyx jumping from the counter onto Shadow expressing his displeasure. Amy watched him cuddle the cat to calm Nyx down.

“I used to read those dating advice magazines. One had an article about men who had a cat, and legitimately cared for their cat, were great boyfriend or husband material. Sonic has never owned a cat. Hahaha. I should have taken that one seriously,” Amy thought as she watched Nyx get his adorable “I’m home!” attention.

Shadow placed Nyx back on the counter, which would have been gross if she thought they ever prepared food there. She walked up to the animal and rubbed under his chin.

“I wonder if you know what a lucky little thing you are, hmm?” She asked in the jesting manner all people used with pets.

In truth, Amy did feel a bit jealous of all cats and animals who could have unconditional love by just being themselves. As if Shadow could suddenly read minds he said simply.

“Nyx isn’t lucky. He gives just as much as he gets if not more and he didn’t fear me when we met.”

Amy continued to pet Nyx.

“So, Nyx provided you with unconditional acceptance and love and you returned the favor, Shadow? Emeralds be damned! Why couldn’t everything involving people be as simple as this man made it. You’re probably staying here for the same reason. I bet Tails buttered you up, treated you like a normal person, and told you his secret so you stayed, not out of some obligation to Sonic, but because you enjoyed Tails’ company. It will go just as smoothly with Knuckles too since that man is so simple when it comes to honor and loyalty…I wish you were Sonic instead… You never would have faked having an interest in me and if you did return my feelings, you would have been willing to love me back if I loved you. You might even be happy one day living peacefully unlike him. I should have…dropped Sonic a year or two ago. Then you would have never seen my disgusting side emerge today. Fat chance of you ever being interested in me now,” Amy thought angrily remembering the feeling she had at the mall and touching Shadow during the tickling contest.

It was resentful comparing Sonic to Shadow, but it was the cruel truth that Sonic’s rival could be someone she could imagine falling in love with instead.

Amy had continued petting Nyx the entire time she was thinking so Shadow had moved on to putting things away. Tails was making tea to see if it was possible to get the Ultimate Lifeform to enjoy something other than raw coffee beans. Amy came out of her trance when she smelled the tea.

“That smells nice…what is that?” Amy asked.

Tails was getting ready to make a cup for himself and Shadow, but he grabbed a third. He knew he had to play nicely.

“It’s chamomile tea. I’m going to try and mix it in a way that Shadow may actually like. If he can enjoy tea…maybe he can get a sense of how different brewed coffee can be depending on the way it is prepared.”

Amy couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

“I think it’s a wonderful thought but whether it will work…How do you even consume so much caffeine without any side effects, Shadow? You drank three energy drinks in a row today and nothing changed.”

Tails wasn’t angry because she was probably right and that was a good question.

Shadow sighed, “My body considers it a potential toxin, so I must consume 3 to 4 times what is normal to feel the effect. I’m thankful it doesn’t outright consider it a toxin like alcohol otherwise no amount would work.”

Amy looked shocked. Tails was only surprised for a moment until he remembered the bugs.

“Oh, it’s like bug venom and pathogens, then?” The fox asked, placing everyone’s drinks in front of them.

Nyx had been batting at Tails ever since Amy stopped petting him and Shadow was waiting for the fox to figure it out, but it wasn’t happening.

“Tails, it’s the cream. Pour just a little bit on a plate. He wants the option of being able to lick it more than the cream itself,” Shadow told him.

Tails immediately got out a plate and did as he was told. Nyx took two licks and then just guarded it. The fox liked Nyx but he would never understand cats and their behavior. Shadow understood the reasoning behind the actions somehow, but it made no sense to him.

“It’s like he just wants to be apart of what we are doing…or doesn’t think it’s fair he doesn’t get to have what we do,” Amy said giggling.

Shadow almost grinned, “It’s both, but mostly the former. He is staying by the plate to take part of whatever this tea ritual is…as far as the coffee and alcohol goes, yes. Creating a weapon who could get drunk leaves the option open for said weapon to go into battle ‘sh*tfaced’ as you call it and die.”

Tails started cracking up immediately and so did Amy.

Amy managed to get out, “I…know…haha…shouldn’t be…laughing but…hahaha…the way you said it,” Shadow shook his head saying it was alright and he meant for it to be funny, “It makes sense but its not fair. I don’t care for alcohol myself but that must mean other substances like it don’t work, useful ones.”

Amy was thinking about marijuana and medications. Not being able to get drunk was a plus when she thought of a guy, but she hoped it didn’t limit the impact of pain relievers.

“It’s a trade-off. I never get sick because I’m immune to all toxins and pathogens, so I think I get the better end of the deal.”

Amy remembered that real reason he was created that way: to cure the girl who died, a girl he had loved like a sister. Amy thought she would have hated that girl instead; being created as an experiment to exist solely to benefit a sick person was ethically disgusting, but he wouldn’t be here now otherwise. Amy thought she could understand why he had been so confused after waking up, but she was unaware she didn’t comprehend most of it. She didn’t have access to the same files Tails did to grasp that it was even more of a mindf*ck then what Amy was imagining.

Tails eyed the tea to remind Shadow. He used a spoon to remix it and tasted the damn tea. It was remarkably good.

“I admit defeat. This tastes better than the coffee beans,” Shadow sipped the rest.

Tails grinned and made a victory pose.

“It only took the most expensive ingredients and weirdest tea to get there. Now if we can work on adding just a little bit of flavor to your food,” Tails suggested.

“No…unless…,” Tails ears shot up in interest and even Amy wanted to know what Shadow could possibly demand, “you manage to get Sonic to only eat chili dogs twice a week.”

Tails’ ears dropped. That was not possible. It would be good for Sonic’s health and the restroom’s smell, but it wasn’t possible. Amy was annoyed to hear the name. She would rather have Tails get Sonic to stop being a liar and she had to admit the fox made good tea. The blue blur probably didn’t deserve such a nice brother…Okay, she felt bad for thinking that last thought about Sonic’s brother. She had to be normal tomorrow, so she had to limit thinking negatively about her former crush. She promised to fake being the witless, adoring, cheerful, and in-love same Amy Rose so she hoped they would get to tear Eggman apart as soon as possible.

“Thank you for the tea, Tails and letting me pet Nyx Shadow. I should get going. I’ll call you before the stream as usual tomorrow,” Amy decided to leave to avoid further discussion about Sonic.

Amy placed her cup gently in the sink and pet Nyx goodbye.

Shadow helped her out and made she didn’t forget anything before shutting and closing the door.

“Finally…I can’t believe she stayed that long,” Tails whined.

Shadow rolled his eyes. Amy hadn’t done or said anything about Sonic, and she had given Nyx enough attention for the night while acting normal again, so the striped hedgehog had not minded her staying over.

“I guess I’m going to discover how long you hold a grudge, aren’t I?” Shadow asked.

It was a rhetorical question, but Tails always tended to answer those.

“Yes. There’s only been three I have ever let go and they all had to do with Sonic. She called him a lying piece of sh*t!”

Shadow could sometimes just see Tails morph into Nine, like now. It was fascinating but also perturbing. The bits and pieces the Ultimate Lifeform saw of Sonic’s interactions with Nine were much different from what he saw face-to-face after Nine lost his mind. What he could recall seeing in the void was a bit of Sonic catching Nine by surprise, followed by Nine giving him the gear with random other snap shots of them fighting together. Until Sonic had revealed his goal was different, Nine had not been truly volatile; he just came off as a stronger, smarter, less trusting, more cunning, and far less kind version of Tails. Shadow had to remind himself that he couldn’t see all of it clearly before meeting Nine in the void, but he also had to admit he KNEW whatever part of Tails that made up Nine was in this to protect Sonic in real the world or their world. He didn’t consider the insanity that occurred within the Paradox Prism to be a “real” world, although he was sure Sonic would beg to differ if he could.

“I wish I had taken the time to speak to Nine while I had the chance to get to know him better. Had our goals not been different, Nine likely would have stayed sane until Sonic had to go back to his world. I’m assuming Nine would have figured out he was only a fragment of one person after seeing his other alternates and he would have either accepted reunion or fought to force us to remain so he could persist being an individual. Only Sonic got a chance to know Nine enough to tell if he would have been okay with being reunited after learning he was never meant to be a lone entity to begin with. That Prim mess brought forth more questions than it ever answered.”

Tails hadn’t done anything while Shadow thought.

“I know and that was not an accurate description of your brother by any means. It will be up to Sonic and Amy to slog through their complications and you don’t need to be friends with her. When you decided to be your true self today you had to have known you were risking both her and Knuckles’ friendships. That video and her reaction was just terrible timing for more reasons than one.” Shadow made his point.

Tails grinned.

“Yeah, I knew, but I wanted to get it over with. I’m glad I did. Knuckles became my true friend today by being accepting, not prying into why, and not blaming me. I was wrong about him. He has come off as rude before because he is isolated, and I didn’t take that into account. He admitted he was always too proud to tell us how much it bothered him…But Amy? She disliked everything about me, and I don’t like much about her. I know I lied but I’m not lying anymore.”

Tails had been grimacing after making tea and he was doing it more often. The hedgehog thought it was anger, but he knew it was pain now. He looked where the fox was touching his head and it reminded him of the sensors on his face for The Spider.

“Don’t worry about what she thinks. She will either come around to understanding or she won’t. Not everyone is going to like you now that you no longer pretend to match their standards. More importantly your head…I can tell hurts. Is it related to how you move The Spider?”

Tails looked up at Shadow. He had forgotten all about it. He carefully removed the two sensors from his face, ears, and the brace on his hand. The fox sighed with relief.

“Thank you for reminding me! Er. Kind of. Moving the limbs is physically and mentally straining. The feeling is tricky to explain but it’s easy to tell what I can and can’t do, like with Amy’s hammer. I knew I could swing it and bash her into the wall, but I understood that after that I wouldn’t have the strength to do much else. It won’t let me overextend, which is how designed it so I’m glad it functioned properly. My second concern was that I wouldn’t be able to move the limbs accurately, which also proved to be a non-issue. The trouble I’m having is with these facial sensors are not being adequate, and they feel imbalanced relaying my intentions. That’s the reason for my headache because I’ve been having to compensate. I need to keep reworking it until I come up with a mechanism that can transmit my intentions seamlessly; that will take care of any tension headaches and make movements less taxing. Overall, the few major issues that could have rendered The Spider a health-risk didn’t end up arising, so it was very successful. Oh! Sorry, rambling. Heh ha.”

Shadow had been listening very carefully to the content and tone. He didn’t sense any lies, which was great, but the sensors were a problem. He remembered what Nine was using but the way he would explain it would be impossible without the fox wondering how he knew. He could see no way out of not telling Tails about the Paradox Prism for many reasons. Finishing The Spider was only one of them. After hearing the raw fear in Sonic’s voice in the “confession” video and the control the doctor was able to exert over the blue hedgehog, he was had grown worried that the threats he was being faced with were extreme—extreme enough to take the fight out of Sonic. When they got to the base and reached the blue hedgehog, there was a good chance he would not be thinking clearly or worse. Seeing Tails all geared up world cause a freak out. Tails would need to know why and how to handle it. Lastly, he felt it would give the fox some much needed insight into himself. Shadow didn’t know what their actions toward Nine and his other alternates in the Paradox Prim had done to Tails, if anything at all, but if it had caused some type of confusion or distress then explaining it could elevate any issues. Sonic was going to be seriously pissed at him for this one Shadow thought.

“Tails let’s sit on the sofa. I have a…crazy story to share with your that I think will help complete The Spider and answer a few lingering questions you… may have. It’s going to be a long one and its serious so grab a drink or whatever you need, okay?” Shadow told Tails, knowing this was going be a long talk.

Shadow always went with his instinct so Sonic would have to live with it. Tailed nodded. Shadow sounded almost gentle. He couldn’t imagine what story could help complete The Spider, but Shadow wasn’t a liar so didn’t doubt he would know how to fix that sensor tonight. He grabbed a few drinks and headed back.

“Alright. I’m ready.”

Shadow told Tails everything he knew about his own experience in void and what he knew Sonic and experienced until it got to the point where they had collected the shards, and he could explain with more accuracy. He was careful to describe Nine’s motives is an empathetic light: how Nine had grown up alone, how Sonic unintentionally mistreated Nine by not demonstrating he considered the alter as his own person or by not keeping him and Tails separate when he spoke, how Sonic had failed to notice Nine’s goal, and how Sonic had failed to consider Nine’s fate. He also explained that before Nine felt betrayed he had been very their ally. Basically, Shadow said as much as possible to soften the blow of Nine turning on them if it made Sonic sound…stupid or harsh. The striped hedgehog did ultimately need to tell Tails about Nine almost killing Sonic, but highlighted that Sonic had saved, made up, and forgiven him in the end.

He left out any minor details that would only upset Tails like how Nine almost killing his two other alternates. Throughout the entire story he kept reminding Tails that Nine was not a full person, that he had been broken apart for the other two fragments of himself and was never meant to exist alone in that flawed form. Shadow suggested had Nine known these facts everything might have gone down differently. He summed it up with Nine and the other two alternates reforming as soon as they made it back through to their normal world and Tails was pieced back together.

Tails listened carefully and after Shadow finished asked for a few minutes to think. During those minutes Tails started to cry—not much—but it was enough to be noticeable. Shadow didn’t say anything, but he did rub the teen’s back because it felt right, and it was what Sonic would have done and he was spot-on because Tails moved closer to Shadow for a hug which the hedgehog returned. The Ultimate Lifeform didn’t know how he knew it, but it did; he made the right choice by telling Miles about the Paradox Prim. It was only right if the fox was done lying and keeping secrets that he should return the favor. The subconscious impact on Tails through the interaction with Nine was clear through the emotions the fox displayed as he told the story: small micro-expressions of recognition or “ah ha” moments along with whatever the fox was feeling presently.

Shadow continued to patiently wait until Miles stopped crying and withdrew from the hug.

“T-thank you so much for telling me…thank you. Ever since that event with the Paradox Prism I’ve felt…like time had been snatched away from me…like… knowing I had sleepwalked for a day but could not discover what I did while sleepwalking. I even began to get dissociated or depressed about while pretending when Sonic had Amy or Knuckles around which wasn’t a conflict I had before. I felt guilty years ago when I first started faking, but it went away, and that guilt feels completely different from what I have been experiencing since the Paradox Prim. I had no idea the two were related.” Tails paused to wipe his eyes and drink half a can of some type of soda, “It explains some minor things too, but they are less important. You showed up here that night, stayed, supported me with my decisions, even with The Spider knowing that I almost killed you all in that Prism?” Tails laughed a little, finding it gutsy.

Shadow had to make it clear to Tails that Nine’s actions were not the point of conversation and were nothing to feel guilty about because Nine wasn’t him; he was a creation of the Prism that threw parts of Tails together.

Shadow shook his head, “You didn’t try and kill us Tails and neither did Nine for that matter! The damn Prism split you into three separate people who were all missing essential parts of themselves. Nine felt alone and he would always have felt alone because he was incomplete from the start. Near the end, all of Amy’s alternates formed a trio while your other two alternates became a team. Every single person who was split started to huddle around their missing counterparts because they must have known on a subconscious level, they were meant to be one. If you are asking me if I’m concerned about Nine being made from parts of you, then the answer is: no, not at all. Based on your past, it is clear he was constructed using the fragments of yourself that formed to survive which have strengthened and evolved over time. They now exist to keep yourself AND the people you love safe. It’s no mystery those traits are starting to become dominant when Sonic is in danger. You knew you were far more competent than you appeared and have been hiding away some of your genius to keep Sonic from worrying, but it’s time to start embracing those hidden powers. We need that strength you’ve been pretending doesn’t exist; Sonic needs it most of all. Everything that Sonic and I saw didn’t matter to me, and it didn’t matter to Sonic either after we got the Prim back to normal, so don’t let what occurred in that Prism set you back. I think you should be proud that Nine existed and of how strong he was because those parts are yours and you can use them to help save your brother. I wouldn’t say any of this if I did not believe it.”

Miles never would have thought Shadow could give a good pep talk but he sure nailed this one, Tails did feel proud and now he knew why his mind felt screwy after the Paradox Prim. He even knew why this Nine has been so upset with Sonic, why he was so obsessed, and likely why he was the prominent antagonist of the entire sh*tshow within the Prism.

Tails smirked, “Heh. You can sure give a cornier pep talk than Sonic when you really put heart in it, Shadow. I’m impressed.”

Shadow predictably hissed at Tails, but the fox didn’t flitch this time because he knew what the hiss meant now; Shadow felt embarrassed and the scary hiss was simply a demand for the teasing to cease, “I do feel better and I am proud of what I have kept hidden, even if not everyone likes it. I don’t know if you care but I can tell you why that Prism madness centered so much around Nine.” Shadow nodded and looked intrigued, “In order to reveal the location of the Prims, Eggman tricked Sonic to explode a bot. I tried to warn him repeatedly not to destroy it and so did the others, but he misunderstood me, not taking the fight or my warnings seriously, and I was angry with him. I usually don’t get that mad but that day I was furious and when we got to that cave, he was NOT there to help like we all agreed. I wanted to hit him over the head with my wrench. To top it off, when he finally did make his way unapologetically inside, I realized he was being too careless where he was spin-dashing, and he was going to shatter the crystal. I screamed at him before he hit it, but I felt such…rage.”

Shadow understood right away what Tails was getting at.

“I see. At the exact moment of the shattering, you were boiling over more than anyone. Your feelings must have led to most of your power being sent into one alternate instead of splitting equally between the three like everyone else’s, making you the most powerful and dangerous person to mess with and Sonic did just that…and made damn near the same mistake he made before the crystal broke not li—

“Not listening to me. Exactly. My emotion probably overwhelmed everyone else’s, even Eggman’s who sounds like the second strongest threat, followed by A—

“Amy Rose’s alternates. One of them was openly hostile, another was hostile until the misunderstanding was resolved, and the third didn’t care about Sonic one way or the other. Everyone’s emotions at that moment determined their role in the entire mess. You said this affected you after the Paradox Prism event so it wouldn’t be unusual if the others didn’t feel some residual effects, primarily Eggman and Amy…but now is no time to explain this to them. I decided to tell you to get The Spider complete, because you stopped pretending today proving that your take your promises seriously, and to mitigate any consequences the Prism may have had on you.”

Tails nodded. He felt good being entrusted with this information, realizing that Shadow took him seriously, had faith in him, and really thought he would be of major player in reaching Eggman’s Headquarters. Sonic put his faith in him many times before but that was his brother. This was the first time a friend had done it, and it wasn’t just anyone taking him seriously. It meant a lot coming from someone as powerful as Shadow…even if Tails was starting to see that the Shadow wasn’t as all powerful as his aura let off. Oh, he was all-powerful physically; there was no doubt about that because the fox had read about the limiters and their purpose. Those things had been locked on him to keep him…controllable, but their locking mechanism was unknown and lost. Tails believed Gerald had unlocked them or his actual death was the unlocking mechanism. Either way, Shadow limited himself of his own accord. He didn’t need to know anything else to believe Shadow’s claims of ultimate power, but the hedgehog had emotional sensitivities, ones that he probably solved with violence when and if they were exploited.

Tails spoke again, “I understand. If it works how I think it works, the people who went through the most trauma during the Prism event would feel the most lash-back, as you said: me Eggman, and Amy. It doesn’t sound like Big or Rouge had any issues and Knuckles was able redeem himself at the end. Amy…what went on with her sounds complicated. One part was a ruthless robot, another a crazy tree hugger, and the last one a fearless pirate. It sounds like someone who wants to break free…oh of course. Every single alternate yearned for some type of freedom or control…Is that—

“What she wants? I think so based on her reactions today. I know she could have freed herself at any time during these last few years, but it doesn’t change the fact that she wanted Sonic to be the one to tell her the truth and to be free of her obligation to him,” Shadow said hoping this would give the fox more perspective regarding Amy.

“Well, she has it now. Eggman forced him to reveal it, so he did free her…I thought she was…being selfish or much worse, but I realize she didn’t do anything maliciously. I hope she will keep her end of the deal until he’s safe. After that maybe it would be best if they took a break from each other.”

Shadow thought that would be leaving Amy…alone, but if Sonic wasn’t in a good emotional state to explain himself when he was rescued Tails was right. Sonic couldn’t work on a relationship when he was recovering from severe stress, trauma or whatever else. They would have a better idea of his condition once they saw Sonic tomorrow on the livestream.

“That might be the case, but we’ll see more tomorrow. I need to tell you what I remember about the gear Nine had that might with The Spider,” Shadow reminded the fox.

Tails had so much information that explained why things had occurred inside the Prism, but it was over and done with. He would be happy to explore it in more depth with the fox later if for no other reason than to learn more to keep the damn thing hidden, but not until the Sonic problem was solved.

“Nine didn’t have the sensors on your face: what he did have was two gloves, one that held a very specialized device, green-lensed eye instrument sometimes attached to the left side of his face, and a specialized belt buckle. The only other piece of equipment I saw was a gun that looked more like a scanner, and it could in fact scan for energy signatures, shoot a laser beam, create portals, but the portals were a Prism only feature. It may have had more features, but I doubt it was related to The Spider.”

Tails and Shadow went through a very lengthy, exasperating conversation. Shadow would explain each item in detail and then Tails would ask question after question about how his alternate touched and operated each device, homing in on the apparatus Nine had on his left hand. If the hedgehog didn’t answer in a way that was beneficial, Miles would reword the question until got something useful. The Ultimate Lifeform started hissing about half-way through and demanding to know if any of this was really going to be worth a damn, but the fox persisted calmly and told him it would, but he needed something specific. Some of the queries seemed so off-topic and irrelevant Shadow wondered if they were a form of Tails’ sense of humor, but he answered them acutely even with his doubts. After a few hours the fox had no more questions and the striped hedgehog’s patience was running extremely thin. He had his first tantrum that didn’t end in bloodshed since his days on the ARK. Tails was so resolute on figuring it out that he failed to notice the glowing of the eyes, the strange energy emanating like miniature lighting near Shadow’s quills, and the increased intensity of his hisses.

Tails’ snapped his fingers, signaling he had the solution. Shadow was dazed as he heard Tails explain for the next few minutes before starting to feel shame and embarrassment for losing his temper, but he noticed that the fox didn’t seem to be bothered by his attitude anymore.

“It’s the metal attachment with the green or yellowish center. All the data for each movement is stored in there. He must have had at least one main sensor hidden on his back or head covered by fur, so once he performed an action, the data was saved and stored into the hand device which was linked directly to the sensor for instant transmission. All he had to do was perfect a movement once to use it again. It would be as simple as thinking of an image or symbol that represented the movement he wanted to make after it was stored and that’s easy compared to thinking of the whole sequence of movements each time. The color could have changed due to fatigue level and the flashing meant he was collecting new data. The belt sounds like it served an instant way place all seven limbs go into an attack or defense position, default position and for immediate removal of The Spider depending on which area of the glowing belt he touched. The headgear was likely just for communication based on when he was wearing it; although, it was probably how he took control and moved Eggman’s bots too. Thank you, I know what needs to be done now! Sorry it took so many questions, but I needed to be sure everything got untangled. The multifunctional gun would be nice to have too, but I think I’ll make one less bulky. You were helping me excavate the answers I already knew, but I couldn’t retrieve them so It would have been impossible to do alone. Thank you. I know was…hmm repetitive!” Tails grinned, holding back a laugh as he saw Shadow’s range of expressions.

The striped hedgehog was satisfied it was over and that Tails discovered how it all worked, but best of all, it was clear the fox no longer cared for Nine: viewing the entity merely as a source of the knowledge in his own mind that had eluded him. Now Miles was mumbling about some of the other gadgets Shadow mentioned Eggman’s using. Shadow told him what little he remembered but that Sonic had been the one to meet, speak and foster an alliance with them all. His brother would know more about their technology and the fox would need to pester Sonic if he wanted the details. Robbing ideas from Eggman’s f*cked up, fragmented subconscious thrilled Tails, especially liking the idea Dr. Don’t’s manual bot take over. It was as close as he could get to cracking open Dr. Eggman’s skull and using a cake mixer to turn it into slop. Tails mentally noted Sonic would find the very idea of his little bro imaging and delighting in the thought of doing that to Eggman dismaying, but Sonic would have to come to terms with the fact Tails wasn’t eight years old anymore.

The fox shared his worry and thoughts with Shadow who just said the brutal fantasies were normal considering the man was torturing his bother and that Sonic would get over it eventually. Seeing a child begin to turn into an adult was a sign of great success. The blue blur would take pride in his accomplishment if he had any sense. The striped hedgehog was not one hundred percent certain that the killing fantasies were normal, but they were for him, so it wasn’t technically a lie.

“Raising a four-year-old when you were only eleven or twelve is incredible, Sonic. If you have any doubts or worries about Tails when you are back home, you would be a fool. I normally don’t hand out compliments, but you did a great job. I hope I get to tell you that soon.”

“I’m glad you have your answers, but you should consider sleeping tonight. We have the livestream tomorrow. I know if you stay pacing there, you will naturally end up in your workshop all night with bloodshot eyes tomorrow and then your brother will think I’ve let you use some illicit substance. Sonic may treat you like a ten-year-old until he needs your help fighting Eggman, but I’m not dragging you to bed!” Shadow said sarcastically, joking knowing Sonic wasn’t quite that over-protective nor very willing to use Tails in a fight, but Sonic still thought his brother was far, far more innocent than any teen his age based on the fox even having to ask him such nonsense.

The fox knew Shadow wasn’t messing around. A friend was different from a brother; the Ultimate Lifeform would really let him stay up all night, force him to douse his eyes with drops in the morning, and hiss at him or worse if he didn’t act normal for the livestream.

“Okay. I’ll go to sleep the same time you do. Sonic would have never told me about the Prism so I can wait eight more hours. I need to be ready to deal with a crazed Amy tomorrow if she breaks down tonight so that’s another reason to rest,” Tails decided not to do anything to make Shadow regret being honest.

That was all well and good, but he wanted clarification on how the fox would deal with a crazed Amy.

“Thank you. How would you go about dealing with a ‘crazed Amy’? Shadow asked.

Tails grinned, “I can do a little hacking and knock out her internet and mess up her phone temporarily so she can’t join the stream. She will come over here, but we will obviously be too busy to answer her. By the time she manages to get to the few businesses in town or other homes, explains what she wants, and convinces them to let her use their devices the stream would be over…hopefully. How were you going to deal with her if she does show signs of being a risk?”

Shadow hadn’t given it much thought because he felt sure that Amy would keep her word, but he did have to consider the possibility that he was wrong about her. Tails’ idea would work but she would be running around Green Hills causing a ruckus and still might manage to get on the stream: never mind the backlash later. Amy could run and she could run fast without the hammer in tow. Shadow had seen her keep up with Sonic, so running from store to store and home to home would not take long.

Shadow scowled, “I feel it is unlikely to occur but if she is not well in the morning…I will chaos control her somewhere safe but without connection until the stream is over. It comes off heartless, but she does have her speed. I don’t want to risk her getting on the stream using someone else mid-challenge and disrupting whatever idiocy Eggman has planned.”

Tails smirked, “Genius. Problem solved then.”

Shadow rolled his eyes. If course the fox would love that idea.

“Oh, hey I wanted to show you something.” Tails grabbed a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Shadow who took it.

It was one of Knuckles best drawings. It was a hunting contest between Knuckles, Sonic, Shadow, and Tails. Knuckles speared the boar expertly. Shadow used some type of red chaos power blowing the boar into chunks, Tails shot it dead with a laser gun, and Sonic had put down his weapon making friends with his would-be dinner. Shadow couldn’t help it and laughed just a little.

“This is an accurate conclusion to such a contest. Why didn’t he use this one?” Shadow wondered, thinking it was clearly better than arm wrestling.

Tails shook his head, “Amy thought it was cruel to the animals and he wanted to keep the peace, which makes no sense considering Knux kills a boar for his food weekly and Amy knows it. You could tell that he REALLY wanted to use this one based on how he finished the lines. No worries though. I’m going to use a program to ink and color it comic style so I can print it. It’s going to be framed and placed on the wall before returning the original. It’s not fair Amy convinced him not to use the image when he had fun drawing it. It won’t be forgotten on her whim.”

“The demonstration of being too kind for his own good through unwillingness to kill an animal for survival versus the flaw of weak upper body strength…He’s right. Amy’s choice was driven too much by her own personal, political opinions or out of spite. I hope it was the former.”

“I think Knuckles will appreciate the finished comic on your hallway wall or I assume it is you who is doing the hanging based on how Sonic hangs his posters,” Shadow commented offhandedly.

“Guilty as charged. It’s really my hallway photo area. The actual photos don’t always mean anything though. They are just reminders of days that something consequential took place for me so that’s why a drawing is as good as a photo,” The fox explained what almost everyone else knew.

Shadow nodded, “I’m glad it was a significant day for you then.”

Tails just smiled and said he was going to get ready for bed first. Shadow nodded back at the fox and went to the hallway to look at the photos in this new light. The photos in a row of Tails and Sonic making the same pose by the plane made more sense now. Miles had not bothered to ask Sonic to try a different pose because that was never the point. The Ultimate Lifeform then came to the photo of Station Square. The fox had not hung this up until after Shadow had agreed to be friends with him and the hedgehog picked up on that. Next would-be Knuckles’ drawing likely symbolizing his true friendship with the guardian. Amy had not made the wall yet, which was sad, but Shadow felt lucky to be on something exclusive that mattered to a person. He had feared meeting people and leaving a mark on them would always be a negative process, but his fear had been irrational just like his conjecture about the Master Emerald. He could be a positive force in someone’s life.

Shadow left the hallway and began getting ready for bed in the other rest room and Tails even managed to go to sleep without fidgeting too much.

While he waited for Tails to be still be thought about the impending assault on Eggman’s headquarters. He saw how well Nine had defended himself by using The Spider to climb, propel, and block attacks and now Tails could learn those basics. With those abilities and the lasers, Tails could hold his own ground if he was part of the team attacking the base. The fox was going to demand the right to be there to save his brother and have his time with Eggman and Shadow also needed him for hacking and disabling devices inside. He didn’t know what level of technical support they were going to have precisely, so leaving Tails behind was idiocy. He didn’t think Knuckles would be included a day ago, but he was a must on the roster now for that brute strength. Shadow found the guardian easy to work with and Tails got along with him. Amy was becoming too much of a liability. She had too many emotions going through her head about Sonic and Tails wasn’t on the best terms with her nor was Knuckles. Rouge was the last member, and she was a professional; petty infighting would not impact a mission in her case.

He would only consider using Amy if Rouge couldn’t make it. Big wasn’t even a thought. If Espio and Vector were interested at all they would have already been involved. Espio would be a fine addition and might be worth looking into tomorrow for backups. These were the assets Shadow had to get to Eggman and he knew how to make use of each one of them now. Then the very special list for very special people could be taken care of…and Sonic. Shadow hated to admit Sonic was far more important than the list now. It was crazy to think that moron could possibly become his romantic interest. The striped hedgehog wondered if Sonic would shut up if he got what he wanted or could be made to shut up by other means. The Ultimate Lifeform also pondered why his sex drive had not been removed during all the bioengineering because he assumed he was sterile so there was no point. He fell asleep guessing it was overlooked.

Eggman’s Headquarters Same Day (afternoon)—Moring (Possibly Underground)

His friends may have had a sh*tty day chatting and acting for the task, but it didn’t even compare to Sonic’s while they were on Angel Island.

The morning or afternoon didn’t start out any worse than the others. Sonic was able to wake up on his own accord, brush his teeth, comb his quills, and eat without being bothered. The blue blur did notice while combing more quills were on the comb than usual, but he attributed it to Eggman’s disgusting mouth stunt the other day. After applying the lavender and taking a piss, he had little else to do but wait. There was no cleaning to be done, turning the towels over to dry their opposite side took seconds, and none of his acquired “gifts” were entertainment themed. The only thing left to do was wait and waiting meant wondering what the f*ck Eggman had planned for today. Sonic wanted to let himself hope the fat f*ck had taken the day off to pill himself to sleep over the pain inside his mouth.

The hedgehog was glad he did not lull himself into hope, because sure enough, Eggman came through the door with coffee and a strawberry breakfast tart—definitely on pain killers. The doctor casually sipped his coffee and sat down at his desk, the usual one with the computer and ate his pastry. Sonic said nothing and rarely looked at him. Minutes ticked by as the prisoner heard his captor slurp, chew, and finally lick his fingers. The doctor finished his coffee and wiped his hand off with a napkin.

“Good morning, good afternoon, good evening my rodent! It must be difficult for you to tell, so I’ll leave it a secret. Teehee!”

Sonic rolled his eyes in disgust at high-pitched theatrics. It was getting old and a high Dr. Eggman was fifteen out of 10 on the annoying scale. The doctor seemed to be waiting. He put his hand to his mouth and moved his fingers outward as his lips imitated speech. Sonic understood yet questioned how Eggman found wasting time on details any fun.

“Good morning, Egghead.” Sonic said unenthusiastically.

The doctor heard him and seemed to be in thought.

“You assume morning, why so?” Eggman asked.

Sonic felt like it was afternoon, but he said morning, because of the coffee and the tart. He also would rather have his captor believe he was more out sync of than he really was with time. Such a minor victory would probably please the idiot.

Sonic sighed, “The coffee and the breakfast tart”.

It wasn’t an actual lie so the stupid detector should f*cking behave itself. It did or if it didn’t Eggman was showing no signs of noticing. Eggman nodded.

“A fair reason for your conclusion given what you are working with. Nice job! It’s always morning somewhere in the world and morning is subjective to me anyway.” Eggman grinned and rolled his chair closer to the cage, “I have our usual news update. Knuckles has been given a task and I made it one that he can easily complete without leaving his precious…Oh come on Sonic! How did you not laugh; do you even watch movies? Ugh, whatever. I also made it so simple and fun. I don’t think he will his laziness will prevent him from completing it. I usually don’t let you know the details, but I will let you know the whole task involves him making fun of you.” Eggman explained, upset Sonic didn’t seem to catch his LOTR joke, assuming the ring must not be called “precious” in the books.

Sonic showed no emotional reaction. He knew someone would get a task after Tails had completed his yesterday and the theme was always making fun of him.

“It has nothing to do with laziness, Egghead. His hands don’t work well with the touch screen, obviously. I thought you would have figured that out from the last challenge.” Sonic said unable to hide some of his ridicule.

The scientist showed some surprise before repressing it; he was embarrassed that the hedgehog had managed to notice that before him. Knuckle’s ability to use the phone didn’t matter because of how his challenge was written, plainly suggesting the guardian call up the others to Angel Island to help. He didn’t think the echidna really would seek them out, but he knew Tails and Shadow were intelligent enough to look for the next task bearer so they would do the contacting.

“It’s no matter. The rest of your friends are flying up to help your poor. enfeebled moron. It’s in the task. I doubt they would refuse to help him. I’m sure they will all get along splendidly. What could go wrong with the Ultimate Lifeform, your personal stalker, the mutant, and the gullible guardian?” Eggman giggled imaging all the types of disagreements and fighting they were about to get into or were in already.

Sonic let out a hiss. It was audible enough to notice but not offensive sounding to the degree that caught the doctor’s attention. Sonic didn’t know if he should be thankful for his pathetic hiss or not. He had avoided pissing off the since doctor since yesterday, but he had always wanted it to be louder and within correct tonal range to cause the slight raising of the hair. He wanted to make a statement for that insult against Tails, but he didn’t possess Shadow’s bone chilling hiss…In the right…circ*mstances his rival’s hiss would be the opposite of nasty.

“Heh. Whatever hostilities you are imagining you want to keep to yourself. Very well. The other piece of news is that Rouge got a mini mission because your brother finished his task so early. I need to have at least something new for the viewers each day: you understand. It’s nothing complicated like the tasks, but if she does go through with it, you get to watch a short video with me, and you will receive a Rouge related reward. She is the commenters second favorite for her boobs. What a surprise!” Eggman put his hands up toward his chest and made a jiggle and squeeze motion.

Sonic giggled, but not for the reason the doctor thought. He was imaging Eggman jiggling his own hairy man tit* and squeezing them instead.

“It’s nice to hear you still have some spirit left in you Sonic! All it took was some boob jokes. With Amy’s complaint and your laughter, you must really like breasts. Not that I’m criticizing you! Boobs are magnificent.” The doctor laughed.

Sonic didn’t disagree but he didn’t have anything additional to add about the wonderful nature of breasts. He wondered what Rouge’s reward list would be. If Eggman had been telling the truth about her last night, she was far more down to earth than she seemed, so her rewards might be useful.

“Now it is time to discuss today! I have examined the scans of your feet and was able to discover the reason for their lack of disadvantages. You have damn near toes under the skin of your feet with the same bones, muscle, and general structure; the tissue connecting them is extremely flexible, so they function just like toes. I need only see them in action in the water!” Eggman stopped to look at Sonic’s quills flare and his body tense up, which was like eating sunshine to the bastard, “No worries. You won’t be demonstrating that ability today. I also examined your quills under a microscope and have learned some interesting details when I compared them alongside Shadow’s. There are a few things I can test out, but I can do that a different day: it’s not very exciting findings. That leaves us doing something new. Care to guess, Sonic? I’ll give you a few minutes.

Sonic was happy about not being forced into water, but the unknown was intimidating. Eggman had ruled out his feet, quills, and hands. He tried to think of what could be different between himself and a human. Eyesight and hearing? No, it was well known both were comparable to hedgehog senses.

“I’m not unusual aside from my speed and he’s already examined my feet! I can use chaos energy…which is rare, but not an ability solely limited to me. Everything aside from wearing clothing, my kind does just like a human!”

Sonic did not want to mention chaos energy because it could be dangerous, so he mentioned the only other difference.

“Uh, the reason why so many non-human males prefer not to wear clothes like the girls?” Sonic guessed.

Eggman laughed. He was expecting Sonic to refuse to answer, say something unrelated, or throw in an insult. The rodent had instead thought about what he, a genius, was wondering and his answer was…clothing.

The doctor finished laughing and replied, “Thank you for trying Sonic. That was cute. Clothing wasn’t it though. Firstly, many male city dwellers do wear clothes even if it is just jackets and shirts. If they have a regular job, they wear it all. You and most of your pals get away without them because you are the outliers. You live in areas with small populations, and you don’t have normal jobs. Second, your males don’t have to for public decency because everything is internal. BUT I still want to teach you about the importance of clothing due to poor Amy’s story. You need education just not today today.”

Sonic looked frustrated. Aside from chaos energy, he couldn’t think of anything else interesting about himself. Sonic just looked at his nemesis who grinned.

“I won’t leave you in suspense. It has to do with how you think Sonic. You specifically which relates back to an older issue. Mainly I want to know how your brain processes emotions.” Eggman left it vague on purpose because this was going to be his most wicked playday yet and he wanted Sonic to be in the dark.

Sonic squinted in confusion. He didn’t understand how Eggman could ever know that. The lie detector was already close enough. He didn’t get why it mattered how his brain handled emotions or if they could be made visual. There would be no livestream tomorrow if the doctor cracked his head open.

“Let’s get started, shall we. You will need to come out of the cage as usual and I’m going to give you the same choice of being a pleasant rodent who won’t quill me or the number three. Choose or I will just go for three.” The doctor stated.

Sonic had questions but he didn’t have time.

“The first one.” Sonic replied.

Sonic hated this f*cking part, the grabbing and touching. Eggman opened the cage and snatched him as always, setting him down on the desk. Sonic was about to speak before something new and terrifying happened. Eggman had quickly slammed a dome over him. It was clear like glass.

“What the f*ck, Egghead?! What are you doing?” Sonic screamed.

His nemesis was holding the glass down over him while fiddling with something.

“My apologies Sonic. In need to make arrangements for this next test and I know you won’t just be still and cooperate; however, I’m not cruel enough to paralyze you during my preparations. It would be unnecessarily and uncomfortable, so I found a middle ground.”

Sonic feared these preparations.

“What are you going to f*cking do to me!” The hedgehog screamed again.

Eggman signed, “Oh nothing invasive Sonic! No cuts or anything of the sort.”

Sonic watched as a familiar thin tube was shoved through a hole at the top. He held his breath. He knew it was going to be knock out gas and when he woke up, he could be in any kind of position. Sonic spin-dashed the glass while holding his breath. It wasn’t an action he was thinking through logically, just one of desperation. The dashes only made faint marks. He continued to hold his breath until his body overloaded his demands and sucked in air. The blue blur immediately felt the dizziness and struggled to keep his eyes open. The last thing he remembered before losing consciousness was the doctor saying, “Oh, Sonic we are going to have some very, very special fun with…”

Sonic’s Dream while Gassed Out

In some state of unconsciousness Sonic could feel the inklings of a dream or pieces memory. He could see mostly blackness with blurred lights off in distances. A voice pierced the silence; a voice Sonic knew well.

“He’s not alone!”

Sonic knew it was Shadow’s comment to Nine, one that had surprised him at the time.

“You care Shadow. I bet you fear that you care too much so you cover it up. I get why. You’ve lost so much in such a brief amount of time from your perspective. You don’t want to care for someone again only to lose them unnaturally.”

“I’m probably going to regret that!”

Sonic felt stupid for interacting with these. They were only memories. At least this one was funny. How Shadow had not taken his heart comment seriously, he had no idea. He guessed the phrase was not one Shadow was used to hearing.

“It meant ‘love you’ or ‘I like you’ you handsome idiot.”

“Do you want me to save you or not?”

Shadow again while Sonic was being carried to safety. He had wanted to be saved then but he also remembered thinking dying in Shadow’s arms was far from the worst way to go. Now the blue blur felt disgusted with himself for even thinking that way. Shadow had of enough people dying in or near his f*cking arms.

“Yes, Shadow I do, and I want to live as well. I want to live so I can spend time with you, get to know you better, let you get to know the real me, and help you feel happy. I know I can’t make you do anything, but I can show you I care. I can always try; I can always explain. I was a fool to think I was only limited to forceful actions with you, to only say how I felt by mixing into a joke. I want to be your balance, so yes, come and f*cking save me! I promise this time I will be worth your trouble!”

“And that’s exactly your problem! You just jump into situations with NO IDEA ABOUT THE OUTCOME!”

Sonic laughed. Of course, Nine’s voice had to be here too.

“Yup. And I did it again. I wouldn’t be a prisoner if I hadn’t jumped headfirst and attacked Eggman’s headquarters on my own. I’ve learnt nothing. Thanks for the pep talk.”

“Sorry "old friend". You've been replaced.” Nine’s voice rang out.

“Great, my mind is f*cking with itself. I know Shads hasn’t replaced me. I can’t blame you Tails if you’ve accomplished getting past Shadow’s emotional constipation to discover what an amazing person he is; I hope you did because more people need to notice he’s not some demonic creature to be feared. There’s no rule that says someone can only have one big brother, so f*ck off, self.”

“I'm sorry, Sonic. Without a great sacrifice, reality as we know it, will be over.” Nine yet again.

Sonic wondered why he was recalling this out of everything Nine said. It felt random.

“What am I trying to tell myself with this? That I’m going to be hurt before getting out of this f*cking hellhole? No sh*t! I’ve already been hurt. How much more of a sacrifice do I need to make before I get rescued?! f*ck!”

“Be careful...dear daughter.” Eggman’s voice said softly.

Sonic recognized these as Eggman’s last words to Sage. He sounded…different back then. Sonic could tell whoever said that was no longer the same person who held him prisoner.

“Eggman…I really couldn’t do a f*cking thing to stop her from sacrificing herself for you. You know I’m so rash I would have without a second thought if it had been possible…f*ck! I miss the old you, who you were before you lost Sage, but I also hate you for torturing me! It would be so much less of a mindf*ck if this was your evil twin or a clone or anyone but YOU. I know you’ve gone insane and come to absolutely despise me for Sage’s death but being aware there is still all those years of memories inside you before her existence and death just makes it worse. I’ve come to realize that before this I never hated you or even disliked you. You were just a troublesome menace who was fun to defeat, unless you were holding a gun a to Amy’s head or threatening my other friends. I was childish for even thinking it was fun and I f*cking HATE you now. Congratulations I guess.”

“I just want the truth!” Amy screamed.

Sonic didn’t remember when she said that or if she did. His mind was obviously tormenting him.

“Yes, I know. I just didn’t want to lose you, Amy, by explaining how you are like a sister to me, but I will when I get back. I’ve been wrong in the way I’ve handled our friendship. Man, it’s going to come off as super sh*tty when I tell you the truth and then come clean to Shadow about my feelings.

No more voices rang out. Sonic saw a screen in the distance, a television and he could hear Tails talking. It was the beginning of the second part of Tails’ task video. Tails read out Shadow’s message again and his brother said his own follow up.

“Right, you are coming for me. I know the only reason you are not here is because you haven’t found Eggman yet. You are both going to come for me and all I need to do is survive until you do...Shadow I still don’t know how to separate the two or shut off one. It makes me want to cry knowing you had to learn to survive. I probably can’t and maybe that is fine. Having that ability seems to come at its own cost. Whatever happens I want to keep my core self the same. Eggman can hurt me anyway he pleases but if I am still myself…I can recover with my friend’s support. I hope you don’t find me too messed up or if I am, you won’ think I’m…disgusting.”.

Sonic waited floating in the darkness for more, but sound failed to reach him. Sonic did not know how long he spent there. It was peaceful and time didn’t have meaning in this place. This dark peaceful state was the only thing he remembered experiencing while he was unconscious. He didn’t remain there.

Sonic regained consciousness by degrees. He could hear the echoes of speech and clanging of objects but could not tell what any of it meant. The light was too bright and blurred to make out the details of his surroundings and his mind was too foggy to recollect why he was in this condition or to try moving. As the minutes ticked by, the sounds became more distinct, his vision sharpened, and his mind began to piece together the when, what, where, why, and how instantaneously attempting to move his arms and stand up. The hedgehog was incapable of budging. Every limb of his body was immobilized, yet not paralyzed. He could feel he was sitting on a miniature, armed chair.

There was a loose strap around his neck to prevent him from bending his head too far forward while something else was stopping him from turning it to the left or right. From what small distance he could bend, he could see that his own arms were belted to the chair near his wrists and based on what he felt, additional belts were placed before each elbow and on his arms below both shoulders. Sonic could not see his legs, but he could feel the same type of belts around his ankles, slightly below his knees, and on his thighs. There was one much larger, perhaps with more breadth across his hips tightened at an angle. The last restraint he felt was across his chest which was the same as what was across his hips.

All the blue blur could move his fingers, the ends of his feet, and his head slightly. Sonic took in all this information a minute after being able to think clearly and remembered the gas attack once being taken out of the cage. Sonic discovered one more thing he could still move.

“W-what the f*ck! Eggman! EGGMAN?! What is this sh*t?” He screamed despite his throat being dry and his mouth tasting like chemicals.

He didn’t get a response right away, so he tried to look around. The only thing of interest was a TV screen in front of him which couldn’t be f*cking missed and a desk with a computer and other technological apparatuses around it. Nothing else stood out to him.

“EGGMAN, Emeralds be damned, what the f*ck is this? Why am I belted to a chair? This is seriously some mental asylum horror show sh*t!” The hedgehog screamed again without response.

By the silence in the room, Eggman was elsewhere waiting for him to wake up or was sitting behind him very quietly like the creep he was. The hero had no choice but to sit and wait but that didn’t mean he didn’t try to move the chair. Unknown to him, it was bolted to the surface of the desk. Testing the restraints proved pointless. They were not so tight to restrict circulation, but they were tight enough to keep him from moving. Continuing to try just caused him to sweat and become itchy where he couldn’t scratch. The hedgehog screamed a few more times before deciding his throat was too dry.

He was left to wait until his captor came back or went shouted “boo” from behind him; meanwhile, he became more and more anxious wondering what this set up meant. Eggman had said nothing invasive and no cutting because of the livestream, giving the sh*t head the benefit of the doubt, he wasn’t being retrained so he could be physically tortured. At least not in a way which could be shown on live cameras. The TV in front of him roared phycological—right, the doctor had mentioned wanting to know how he thought, but the rodent couldn’t understand how being tied to a chair could achieve that until he noticed very small white, red, and other colored wires bunched together, arranged across the floor toward his chair. Paying closer attention to moving his face, Sonic noticed something when he changed his facial expressions. There were things he could feel all over his head.

“Okay…okay…Sonic calm down. I’ve seen those things on people’s heads who have sleep disorders and sh*t, so with all those wires, my head ought to be covered in them. That must be how he thinks he’s going to figure out my thoughts: with those and that computer equipment. I’m tied down because he mentioned I wouldn’t cooperate for this, meaning he thought I would tear the wires off or move and disrupt the readings. That all sounds saner than some type of new form of torture.”

He calmed down after thinking about it, but the TV simultaneously made him uneasy. It could show him anything Eggman wanted. Still, it was only pixels on a f*cking screen. Sonic waited, tapping his fingers and whatever he had that were so like toes. It felt like he was waiting over an hour before his fat f*ck, captor returned. Sonic immediately glared at him and was going to yell something, but the doctor was quicker.

“Did you have a nice nap, Sonic? You sure were mumbling a lot but that was to be expected. I used a small concentration. I wouldn’t want to kill or leave you with brain damage.” Eggman laughed.

Sonic wasted no time, “Why the f*ck am I belted down like I’m in some horror film set?” Sonic hissed.

His hiss was still low, having no effect on the doctor, but it was something he felt he needed to do.

“Woo, testy, testy…well not really. I’ve heard Shadow hiss while working together on the Space Colony ARK. That’s a real hiss. Rouge still called it cute to get a rise out of him though. Fun times.” Sonic continued to glare and looked ready to scream, “You are belted down so you can’t ruin my experiment. You have a habit of getting angry, acting without thinking, destroying my property, and I wasn’t going to trust you to sit calmly while I conducted my testing.”

“And what the hell does conduct testing mean?” Sonic asked in a raspy voice, the hiss having done him in.

Eggman got up and moved over to a part of the room he could not see until he came back into view with an opened bottle of water bottle with the cap filled and held it near Sonic’s mouth.

“Go ahead pet. Drink. I need you able to talk.” Sonic glared because of the word “pet” but drank three cap refills, “Good hamster! The test is quite straightforward; I show you images on the TV and you react. The electrodes all over your head and back will transmit the data to me where I can see how you emotionally process what I show. If I see something noteworthy, I will ask a question for clarification. It could not be simpler for you.” Dr. Eggman explained without detail.

Sonic thought it sounded too simple to be true, like there had to be a catch. The main catch was Sonic’s lack of imagination and Eggman’s sick need for answers to some previous questions, but he couldn’t ruminate or probe now that Eggman had walked over to the desk near the computer, sat down, and started typing away turning on the TV.

“Let’s try something simple, show we?” his nemesis suggested.

Something appeared on the screen. It was a delicious looking chilidog. Eggman giggled as he watched Sonic’s expression.

“Asshole.” Sonic muttered.

“Hmm, now for something altogether different!” The doctor kept grinning widely as he tapped.

The screen changed to an ocean with Orcas attacking seals who could not stay on top of a rock formation. Water with orcas, Sonic detested them both.

Eggman watched the screen, but he saw Sonic try to shut his eyes. The madman shook his head.

“No, no, no Sonic. That’s against the rules. I hoped you’d be courteous not to break, but I have something to remedy the issue. It just happens to feel…unpleasant. I’ll let you feel how it works.”

His captor walked over to him. And had to use tools to put the mechanism into place. Once he centered around Sonic’s eyes, he started adjusting until the hedgehop felt pricks above and below his lids and then the device began to stretch both ends vertically. Sonic screamed in protest because it was f*cking hurting him. His eye lids were overextended, and the rodent could not bring them together to close his eyes. Eggman let him sit there in agony as Sonic involuntarily teared up while screaming to have then taken off.

“If I do remove it, you must agree to not cheat again. It doesn’t matter WHAT I show on that screen. If you attempt anything longer than a blink, I will place this wonderful contraption back on and I won’t be taking it off. Do you agree not to close your eyes to mess with my valuable findings?”

Sonic hated this man so much. He could tell he had minor scratches under his fur that would sting for a while.

“Yes! Just remove it.” The blue blur hastily agreed.

“Yes what?” Eggman asked to be cruel and to make it clear he was not f*cking around.

Sonic eyes continued to unwillingly tear up. He was not informed his nemesis had been sloppy about where he secured the four ends on Sonic’s face, and he had purposely extended his skin farther than necessary.

“Yes, I won’t close my eyes or do anything except blink normally!” Sonic screamed.

Eggman smiled and moved back to the eye wear, “Excellent, I’m glad we could come to an agreement.”

The captor quickly undid the contraption. He wet a napkin with clean water and dabbed Sonic’s eyes to wipe away any gunk that may have accumulated or loosened. Sonic blinked several times to try get rid of the strange itch. He did not want that eye torture apparatus on him, but he knew Eggman was going to show him some terrible sh*t. He could either look at it willingly or be forced, which meant he had to be very careful no matter what he saw.

The video appeared on the screen exhibiting a baby bird falling from its nest with the mother bird squawking and then close up of the corpse on the ground. It was sad and f*cked up. Sonic wasn’t happy with video and sound being included. The hedgehog noticed that these were basic feelings. The chilidog was happiness. The water and orcas were fear. The birds had to represent sadness. He guessed anger was up next.

Another video came on with some non-human kids walking to school bullying the schoolmate in front of them. The kids ran ahead to try grabbing his hands. The kid cursed and tried to smack the bullies away, but they did grab his hand showing it to the camera. The victim’s hand had six fingers. They all laughed and commented that this is why no one knew his real name. Everyone just called him Dozen. It ended there and Eggman analyzed the results. It had indeed enraged Sonic because it was a reference to Tails.

It took all his “self-restraint” as his nemesis so loved to say, to keep himself from insulting the doctor. He kept himself focused by playing the guessing game. The f*cker had covered the core emotions so he would likely move on to the broader ones, or so Sonic believed. There were a lot of those: confusion, annoyance. disgust, or maybe a type of humor.

He heard Eggman chuckling like an overgrown child before tapping the keyboard, showing a new video. It was of a blonde human on a chair with people playing instruments behind her. An old, familiar melody started playing and then she started singing “We were both young when I first saw you. I close my eyes and the flashback starts. I'm standin' there” and on she went. Sonic looked over at Eggman for a brief second with the expression “really?” but quickly went back to looking at the screen. Unexpectedly the video paused, and some dude shouted REMIX and the music and video footage changed to one of the other woman’s songs but in middle of it, which played for twenty to thirty seconds until it would alternate to the most annoying part of each of this artist’s hits. He had no choice but to listen to it.

“Annoyance, frustration, boredom? All three in one video? How do Amy and Shadow enjoy this…corny music? I’ll admit she’s not a bad singer; I just don’t like WHAT she sings about. How can anyone jam to THIS? It is all about love, which yeah, I guess we all want. But this is like high-school romance or even younger. UGH. Stephen isn’t f*cking interested if you are throwing rocks at his window every night and he still ignores you. That is vandalism and probably harassment. He’s probably GAY. This is so Amy…when will it stop?” Sonic complained inwardly.

It did finally stop. Instead of the next video he heard Eggman ask, “How was that one?”

Sonic frowned. He knew the doctor knew how he felt about that, and he didn’t need any fancy equipment to tell him.

“Where do I even start? It was stupid, annoying, boring, frustrating, sickening, and childish.” Sonic answered acidly.

Eggman looked at the data on the screen carefully. Sonic didn’t doubt he was just pretending to analyze it. He wouldn’t even be surprised if that screen was blank—the entire thing being fake for an excuse to make him sit and watch anything his captor desired.

Eggman eyed him, “I do so see what you listed on here, or the words that are actual emotions, but there is additional feelings popping up. Some type of emotion related to sadness, but not quite. I think I know what it is! Give me one moment to pull up something…suitable. Heh-ha.”

Sonic must have looked confused because he was, he didn’t remember feeling anything related to sadness while watching or hearing those song pieces. Near the end it all did make him think of one person, Amy; of course, that had to be it. She loved these songs, and he was Stephan Mc-f*ckface up there hiding in his room while she threw the rocks at that window. Sonic knew Eggman was either very persuasive and manipulative or he really had a working device that could give emotions a shape or something else that could be seen. The latter was scarier.

A new video popped up on screen. As Sonic suspected, it was Amy. It was winter because the ground was full of snow and a third person, likely Tails based on the height, was holding the camera. Amy was several years younger and was wearing cute leg warmers and Christmas themed clothes: a heavy wool skirt, a zip up jacket with the snowflake pattern, and muffs for her hands and ears. She started to giggle and run ahead, and he could hear Tails ask annoyed, “Ugh, what’s she doing nowwww?”

Sonic was a bit taken aback at how callous and irritated Tails sounded. He was clearly saying “I hate this so much and I am only here because you are” but Sonic must have not noticed back when the video was made. He wondered for a moment if there were a lot more things he missed regarding Tails’ true feelings. A snowball suddenly hit Sonic. Amy had run off to stealth grab snow. Sonic watched his prior self-tease her about not getting away with that, making a snowball himself and flinging at her. It only hit her leg. She was still laughing. “Leave me out of this,” Tails said.

The two started their snowball fight, excluding the annoyed Tails, but Sonic liked to win everything. He noticed his snowballs were getting larger in the video and he was throwing them harder while Amy’s remained much the same. The inevitable happened; Sonic got her right in the face. Amy looked shocked for a micro-second and then began to cry screaming how it hurt and how he had been a meanie which deteriorated into “you don’t like me if you are willing to hurt me!” along with other sayings of the same nature. Tails could be heard sighing, exasperated in the background muttering “stupid” while Sonic apologized and helped her up providing excuse after excuse. Sonic remembered this event now but during that time he was so concentrated on calming Amy down that he didn’t notice what Tails was doing. The fox was talking sarcastically into the camera, “Here’s the part where he apologizes and begs for forgiveness, and she ask how he will prove he means it and then she we ask to go to a movie so she can fall into the delusion that they are a real couple for a couple of hours. Same old, same old.”

Sonic was a bit disappointed with Tails’ commentary. It was heartless stuff. The fox wasn’t wrong though; that’s basically what happened, but it was some theatre musical instead of a movie, which was even worse. Eggman ended the video there.

The scientist mused, “Guilt, in all its glory! I was correct…hmmm…interesting. Sonic, you had a different emotional spike each time Tails spoke! It’s not quite anger and it’s not sadness or fear but it’s of mixture of those, signaling a more complex emotion. Any thing to add to that, rodent?”

Sonic continued to stare at the screen. He had felt disappointed and surprised when he had heard Tails, especially near the end. All his memories of the fox back in those days were of a happy go lucky kid, but Tails in that video had been a downer. It could have been a one off. It was winter and maybe he didn’t feel good, there were many perfect, reasonable explanations. Eggman took Sonic’s silence as a refusal.

“Hmph, no matter, I will poke around and find something that will get me the answer without your help. It’s more fun that way. While I dig around for that lets see if I can map some easier emotions!”

Yet another video, only this one was of a wolf, or something like one, break dancing to a catchy tune that became more complex after the first thirty seconds and then the tempo would speed up and slow down at random intervals while the dancer had to match keep matching it. Sonic could tell it was a competition because there was a smaller box in the upper right-hand corner showing someone else breakdancing to the same thing and their score was underneath. The main wolf-guy also had a score going at the bottom of the scream along with his name which Sonic couldn’t even begin to pronounce; It could be the name of the song and the rodent wouldn’t know the difference. He was talented—very talented and even when he would mess up Sonic hardly noticed. The two scores were not far apart so it was getting tense, and the crowd started to go wilder.

The screen would switch periodically to the other dancer, a female cat who was taking the lead, so she was now on screen the most. Her aesthetic and fashion were superior; she had thought out her appearance, a punkish representation with brighter colors while the wolf just had on regular clothes. The hedgehog wondered if she was a veteran or if they just had two completely different styles: him street casual and her sexy, punk alternative. Sonic was riveted as the moves got more outlandish when the ending freestyle began with a basic beat. Freestyle was Sonic’s favorite way of breakdancing because it showcased the dancers’ personality and ability to tell a simple story through only their movements and expressions.

The wolf went wild with the most impressive, seamless moves he could make while the cat started slow, even mournful before startlingly slumping to the floor. The crowd roared ignoring the wolf. When she began to move again it was like watching a person being reborn and once she was back on her feet, she let loose very stylish, smooth, but slower breakdancing movements and didn’t speed to her maximum limit until the last fifteen to twenty seconds. It was obvious who the winner was, and it turned out that they were both amateurs. The woman knew how to invite a crowd into her world and express it while the wolf had focused solely on technical perfection and speed.

Sonic had fun watching the competition, but he knew that had been on purpose. His nemesis knew what he liked and if he was going to map out emotions, he had to capture the good as well as the bad. Eggman still seemed to be looking for whatever would bring back that emotion in the snowball fight. Another video played.

A man wearing a cheap knock-off of his enemy’s outfit came out from behind a curtain pretending to trip all over himself. The mustache was oversized and uneven while the outfit was stuffed with foam to give roughly the form of an Egg. This guy had not tried to perfect the outfit by any means, the bald camp was obvious and there were foam man-tit* oversized to make them visible under the coat: the real deal hid them. Sonic already started to laugh. The man scratched his overly flat ass as he walked to the sofa where a woman in a suit sat opposite. It appeared to me to be a mock interview. The fake interviewer spoke first.

“Welcome, Dr. Robotnik. It is my plea—

“It’s Dr. Eggman you simpleton!” The mockery screeched.

“Right. I do apologize Dr. Eggman. How are you doing today?”

“How does it look like I’m doing! It itches. That damn hedgehog!” the interviewer pretended to look confused as fake Eggman continued to maneuver to scratch at his ass until he looked pleased. “Aha! I got it! Finally!”

The fake put his hand up and the camera zoomed into a crappy, plastic blue quill. The reporter pretended to look shocked. Eggman farted randomly.

“Took care of two problems, I did.” The fake said proudly.

Sonic couldn’t help but laugh. The jokes were lame but the guy playing Eggman nailed the voice and his mannerisms so well. The look of pride on the man’s face was sheer perfection.

“Oh my! Can we get you anything to help, doctor?”

“The 7 chaos emeralds or the Master Emerald, but I doubt you have those.”

“I’m afraid I don’t doctor. We welcomed you on here to ask you some questions.”

Eggman shouted, “Questions! From me?! Why in the world would I waste my precious time answering the public’s questions when I already sit twelve hours a day commenting back to people on my stream! Do you have any idea how long it takes to respond to those morons?”

“Yes, Dr. Eggman. You spend approximately twelve point two hours a day doing so.”

“Tsk. You think you are so clever! What could you possibly want to know?” The faker pouted.

“When do you plan on releasing Sonic?”

“Sonic? Sonic who? Ohhhh you mean the my new hamster pet! Never! Duh!” His acter decided to put his feet on the desk in front of him which fell apart causing the double to fall on the ground, rolling and screaming in anger.

Sonic laughed again as the actor faked trying to get up on his own farting and burping all the while four men managed to get him reseated.

“Who makes your sh*tty countertops! This must be run on a shoestring budget. I should be on the BEST of the BEST talk shows!”

“We do apologize. It is meant t hold up to 150 pounds, but we should have considered your disability…”

Sonic smirked.

“Yes, you certainly should have you minx!”

“Back to the questions, why do you have quills in your umm nether regions?”

“Ah, a simple story. Sonic, I mean my hamster, decided to be a pest. Kept making jokes about my dick, balls, and farts you see. You all know how unsophisticated the rodent is, so I decided to stuff him right in my underwear to give him a good sniff and feel since he seemed oh so interested.”

“Wait…you put a hedgehog—

“HAMSTER”

“Hamster with spiky quills near your genitals?”

“Are you deaf, lady. That is precisely what I said.”

“Oh…and how did that work out for you?”

“Lots of quills and biting, but I haven’t heard one dick, ball, or fart related joke since!”

Sonic was no longer laughing. He was dismayed. This was recently made, and people were making sexual related jokes on…whatever this f*cking was—it was either some low budget comedy show or a platform like YouTube was hosting it. There were whole comedy skits being made at his expense and these were disturbing jokes, after having been put in Eggman’s mouth. He felt nauseated, betrayed, and pissed. The video did not stop.

“No pleasure?” The lady asked.

“Pleasure getting quills in my nuts and ass? NO. Luckly my dick was in its little, tiny, minuscule turtle shell and remained unharmed.”

“That is fortunate, Dr. Eggman. What are you planning to do next with him?”

“Hmmm its between being chased by fire ants or putting him in the urinal and pissing on him. Both are a great idea.”

The video stopped there. The real Eggman had his turn to laugh now.

“Which one sounds better to you, Sonic? Keep in mind I DIDN’T come up with those ideas. Some random person wrote them on some script paper.”

Sonic knew that very well and hated people for it. Both sucked. He didn’t feel like he should have to consider either one.

“Neither! Both are deranged. It was all sick!” Sonic shouted.

Eggman faked a pout.

“You sure found it funny before they started talking about YOU, brat. It wasn’t all sick apparently. So, choose one or I’ll make it my mission to do both! If you answer, I’ll probably do neither…” The doctor crackled.

He had to always assume Eggman was serious now after everything he’d done, and it would not be difficult to gather fire ants or put him in a urinal. The fire ants were scary, but he could kill them. That would be gross now that he knew what slicing through living things was like, but it was not near as disgusting and the certainty of being urinated on.

Sonic growled in hate, “The fire ants.”

Eggman nodded and twirled part of his moustache.

“You are aware at your size a sting would give you a heart attack killing you and the pinchers could break a leg or worse.” His captor said.

Sonic immediately retorted, “When I’m normal size the same thing could be said about the bots you send out to kill me.”

The doctor had been expecting just that response.

“True, true. There is one major difference Sonic. Living matter is…messy unlike my shiny robots. I know you would spin dash those ants to death, but what you don’t know is that real fire ants are acidic little f*ckers. You would be covering yourself with acidic material no matter where you landed the hit. The next time you used the shower those quills would fall out in mass. Everything has a consequence.”

Sonic had not thought about the acidity of ants or how they would impact his quills. It made sense, he didn’t think what Eggman was saying was a lie. Sonic remembered combing his quills this morning and that first shower and wondered if something acidic had caused that. There was Eggman’s spit and blood. He didn’t think spit was acidic, but he didn’t know about blood, nor did he know about fly biology. Sonic was at least tuned into how what he spin-dashed mattered after learning this information and knew he had to be careful, or he could be easily tricked into killing something that would bald him.

“You seem lost in thought. I must mean I’ve made you…think, which is an amazing achievement. I did map many emotions just from this dumb conversation never mind the multitude I gained from the video which spawned it. Betrayal was a high one! They are just regular detached people. To them you are simply a news post that frequently hits their social media accounts all day. Did you expect them to care about your wellbeing? Bah! Most people these days can barely succeed caring for their own damn children.” Dr, Eggman looked thoughtful, even sad for a moment before continuing, “Some words of wisdom for your life Sonic, true wisdom—there will only ever be a handful of people in your entire life who truly care and understand you but if you f*ck them over, they are gone forever. Everyone else in your larger circle is faking to some degree and will ditch you as soon as you become too much of a burden.”

Eggman returned to his computer indicating he needed a few moments to see what he was missing Sonic was stuck thinking about his f*cking jailer’s words of wisdom. He hadn’t sounded like he was joking so the hedgehog assumed it was real wisdom from his real life, but Sonic was a very different person than the doctor and led a very different life. Such wisdom probably wasn’t compatible, yet he still felt a nagging sensation that it was.

“Here we go. I’ve spliced together the best clips I could find to see the same emotional spike I witnessed during the snowball fight. Heh. Enjoy!”

The screen lit up and it was a video at the beach. Tails was holding the phone again as Amy was walking Sonic near the waves. Tails sighed loudly before following. He saw himself being half dragged inch by inch into the waves. This continued until Sonic was up to his knees and would go no further.

“Come onnnnn. Sonic! It won’t kill you to go to your waist in the water. It will feel good and it’s not dangerous!” Amy tried to persuade a shaking blue hedgehog.

Sonic could hear a low growl from Tails, which was…unusual. Oh, Tails could growl; he was a fox after all, but he rarely did. He only heard his brother growl a lot the first year after meeting him.

Amy kept bugging Sonic and managed to get him to take a few more steps. Sonic recoiled a little as the waves hit him and Amy as Tails growled far more. She continued to hound the blue blur into taking another step to please her, but he was shaking, and the water was halfway up his thighs. The waves took more of a toll and yet Amy kept insisting.

“You won’t drown when you are just up to your waist!” She chided.

Tails snarled thickly now and said, “Yes, he could Amy. The waves have been getting stronger. If one knocks him over and under, are you trained to swim and get him out safely?” Tails asked critically.

Sonic saw himself bolt as soon as Tails mentioned the waves knocking him under, running far off into the distance.

“UGH! LOOK WHAT YOU DID! Now he’s gone!” Amy yelled at Tails.

Tails snarled back, “Good, because this was a stupid idea anyway! I can’t swim very well, and you are not strong enough to battle waves and tides! If you had to take him out somewhere with water, why couldn’t we have gone to a public pool or even a lake?”

“Uh, because the ocean is pretty and romantic, duh! And the waves were not getting stronger. You just said that to ruin it!” Amy whined and walked off.

When Amy was out of sight the camera was still on, possibly forgotten.

“I swear…she’s such a selfish bit…It doesn’t matter. I’ll kill her If she gets my brother hurt.” Tails muttered under his breath meaning for no one to hear him.

That was the end of that clip. Sonic sulked. He thought Tails left behind snarling and growling years ago and the comment about Amy sounded serious, but Sonic convinced himself Tails was being protective.

The next clip started, and the phone appeared to be on Amy this time. Sonic recognized the place was Angel Island.

Knuckles was with them too because he could hear him behind Amy. He could see himself in front of her and Tails was leading by cheating—flying through the trees. Suddenly Amy screamed and fell back. Parts of Knuckles is spines could be seen, so he had caught her before she had fallen. The camera bounced around until she was on the ground. The way it was facing it was centered on Tails in the distance who looked worried when she first hit the grown while he was turning around but when his eyes met Amy’s he no longer had a hint of worry and casually made it over to where she was. It was like the fox thought she may have screamed because of Sonic but when he saw it was just her and his brother was fine, he lost interest. The f*cked-up part about this was without an expression of worry Tails said, “Oh no! Amy! Are you okay?!” dramatically.

At the time no one caught on to how fake it sounded. Knuckles was holding a now dead snake in front of her and examining it closely. “Is it poisonous Knux?” Sonic asked.

Tails was standing a little behind Sonic and didn’t know the camera was titled in such a way half of his face could be seen and it was expressionless, bored even. “All snakes are poisonous Sonic, but this one’s venom is not strong. The site of the bit will swell but the only threat is infection,” Knuckles said with confidence, already using a local remedy for the swelling.

Amy had been in a state of panic or shock the entire time, but she did seem to recover after hearing it harmless after some antibiotics. Tails still had no change in expression. The clip ended.

Sonic just saw his brother fake his voice and expression until he was out of sight. Once he was, he resumed an expression of boredom, disinterest, and indifference. It was strange, but Sonic tried to think, and he considered that maybe Tails had known the snake wasn’t poisonous somehow. It wouldn’t be odd for his brother to study the flora and fauna of an area before visiting; he could have discovered that none of the snakes were venomous on Angel Island. Even if all that were true though, pretending was unnecessary. He didn’t have time to think more before another clip played.

This clip included far more people and Rouge was the one with the camera. He, Knux, Tails, Amy, and Shadow were also there. Based on the area around them, their ages, and the people Sonic guessed this was when they formed groups and defeated Metal Sonic, filmed after his downfall. They were discussing their general “what now?” while Cream and Big were probably safe guarded by Omega. Shadow briefly mentioned he needed to check on some things relating to himself, Rouge nodded that she would be helping Shadow dig for information alongside her usual work. The blue hedgehog couldn’t help but notice the detached, lost aura Shadow had about him. He knew presently this is when his rival was suffering with his identity WHILE also beginning to untangle Gerald’s chains around his memories. Rouge had been the only one there for him back then. He knew he was just a dumb fifteen-year-old back then while Rouge was an adult, but he still felt like a loser for failing to get Shadow back to the ARK safely and also failing to spend time with him after finding him alive.

Tails looked intrigued during the time they spoke, like he wanted to ask questions them questions, but he said nothing. Knuckles started in on how he had to get back to the Emerald right away and how if anything had happened to it while he was here it was on them too while staring near the camera: Rouge’s breasts again. Tails rolled his eyes and scowled. Sonic nor Knuckles had seen this because Tails was leaning against a wall further behind them, but Rouge’s camera was angled facing all of Team Sonic. Next Amy started grabbing at Sonic talking about a possible date and Tails’ expression changed to one of utter disgust as Sonic half-promised her one to get some silence. By the time she stopped, Tails was looking annoyed. The blue blur started one of his corny speeches about how wonderful teamwork was, discussing how great working with Tails and Knuckles as a combined team had been, and how it had worked out in the end! Tails cheered on Sonic’s old self and agreed in his sweet voice…but the expression told a different story. It told a story of a pukeworthy speech, of exasperation—as if being forced to work as one unit was more of a nuisance rather than any fun.

Sonic contemplated, as he looked at this past Tails. His brother may have not enjoyed being forced to work with Knuckles or just had found the entire experience exhausting rather than exciting. There was nothing wrong with those feelings if that they were true…but how effortlessly Tails could switch on his cheerful voice and expression when Sonic turned toward him to give him a big brother hug to bullsh*ting everyone was concerning because he did it so masterfully. Sonic didn’t grasp why his brother had bothered with all the faking.

Sonic hoped it was over, but another clip started. Tails had the camera and it looked like it was only Knuckles and himself in front of the fox. They were somewhere outside the main pedestal area of the Master Emerald because they never filmed the Emerald. The video cut to the middle of a conversation, through hearing their heated tones, it sounded like another “how to protect the Master Emerald” argument. Knuckles was busy complaining telling Sonic he could not go here and there with him because of his duty and Sonic was talking about finding alternatives. This argument must have been years ago. Tails spoke up, “Why I don’t I build an alarm system and even some kind of basic shield for the Master Emerald, so you’ll know if its being attacked?” Tails offered honestly.

Knuckles looked at the fox and said that it wouldn’t be enough because he could feel when someone was near the Emerald anyway and he could be miles away on some adventure with Sonic and by the time was back, the Emerald would be gone. It was a fair point, and Knuckles hadn’t said it rudely—just bluntly. “So, we built turrets and weapons systems…I mean what about when you die? No one will be there then so it would be a good idea to start building defenses now even if we started small. Eventually—

“Fox, I understand you are trying to help, but no mechanical nonsense could ever replace an echidna guardian. Enough.” Knuckles said firmly.

Tails walked off snarling until he was far enough for silence.

“Well fine then! Let it get raided as soon as you’re feeding the worms you idiot. I’m not taking you or your stupid duty seriously ever again if you are unwilling to let people help you. Jerk! Why? Why do you become friends with these kinds of people Sonic? They are not worth your time…ugh…”

The clips ended for good. There the truth was, said plainly on some old video Tails failed to completely scrub from his social media. Tails didn’t like the friends Sonic made and he didn’t like hanging out with them.

“Tails…you were only ever hanging out with Amy or Knuckles…to make me happy? Little bro you mastered pretending to enjoy it in front of me just so I wouldn’t figure out the truth…You never needed to do that! You never needed to be around people you didn’t like for stupid me! I never wanted you to do things you hated…to please…me. I never knew that they annoyed you or you thought they were a waste of my time, but if you had said something we would have worked it out. I would have never abandoned spending time with you for them if that is what you were feeling. sh*t! sh*t!! I should have noticed and then you wouldn’t have become so good at playacting …or its just lying, really, but that’s not your fault. It’s mine. I should have been more attentive. No wonder Nine was a loner and wanted Grim—I was forcing Tails to hang out with people who constantly annoyed him!”

“Hahaha! I found it. Disappointment, depression, self-disgust, impulsiveness, powerlessness, worry, and even some hopelessness all through the process of you watching Tails insult and pretend while right near you. BUT it’s stupid because you already knew this about your little brother, didn’t you? Why else would you truly believe we could become such a hair trigger, to the point he would be a legitimate threat to me? None of this should be a shock…or is seeing his deception and disgust immortalized on film making…it more painful?” Eggman laughed as he walked over to Sonic who was crying.

The doctor didn’t know Sonic had only thought Tails was a threat because of his sh*tty start in life; that’s what the hero assumed had caused Nine. The hedgehog didn’t know until now there was even more to it, that Nine was a byproduct of Tails’ annoyance with Amy, Knuckles, and who knows what else. Sonic was about to sob harder when he remembered his dream, the last part where his brother read Shadow’s message and gave his own. Tails wasn’t lying to him in that video. Tails wasn’t lying when he went out of his way to buy that lavender plant. His brother really considered Shadow a friend, but he didn’t like Amy and Knuckles much—no that was normal. He just didn’t like every single person he met, and the I made friends with are not...his type. Sonic knew he was the rarity who could get along with almost anyone. And Vel! Tails liked that girl he met. He could tell by Tails’ tone of voice and in his frankness: same thing even with the college students. His brother wasn’t some monster, he was fine the way he was, and these mind games could go f*ck themselves.

“Yeah, it was harder seeing it on film,” Sonic said, not lying but he wasn’t thinking about the same issue as Eggman anymore.

It sucked Tails thought Amy was annoying and that Knuckles was an idiot, but it didn’t matter. He could make friends of his own like Shadow who was honest, strong, usually sensible, and appreciated the talents of others. The same was true with Vel; She had been kind, honest, intelligent, and shared many of the same hobbies. Tails just liked completely different types of people; it did hurt a little seeing his brother branching out in a different direction, but what mattered is Tails was able to socialize, foster those friendships, and establish his own support group. Whatever past trauma that went on in his village had not permanently shattered his trust in people. Sonic had just hung others who didn’t suit his little brother’s tastes. The blue blur laughed inside a little thinking how he was probably the one who had the sh*tty taste in friends.

Eggman had been expecting more of an outburst with Sonic and when he went back to his computer and saw emotions like relief and hope, he was bewildered, but not for long. After the shock of seeing Tails simulate friendship, the hedgehog probably indulged in his stupid fantasy of Tails and Shadow coming to the rescue to doctor’s headquarters to rip him apart. The fox was visibly a two-faced, creepy little sh*t and Sonic knew it—f*ck he had raised the little brat—embracing the little demon he could become.

“Laugh it up Sonic for the lingering minutes you have before we take this to the next level. You may have the Ultimate Lifeform and a brother who is a stealth f*cking scourge, but I don’t need much longer until I have a way out of here. As soon as your rescue brigade shows up, I’ll be gone; they can vaporize every inch of this place for all I care. I will be safe and will have had all the revenge I wanted. To hell with you all after that. Even so, none of what I am about to do or could ever do in the future, will make up for letting Sage die!”

The doctor grinned knowing that the relief he just mapped out was nothing compared to what was going to come. He had mapped fifteen more emotions than he projected he would by going through the series of images and videos for the basics. Now he was going to go for the more intense and intimate emotions, which would also provide him with the rest of knowledge missing from a restricted and distinctive part of Sonic’s nervous system that had fascinated him from the start. He synchronized the series of videos to a controller with twenty buttons so he wouldn’t have to bother interfacing with the computer as much. Dr. Eggman got back up, gently rolled the desk with the computer and equipment over by Sonic, facing the rodent’s right side while his chair could face directly opposite of the hedgehog or move away toward the desk to prevent blocking the TV. Lastly, he opened a side drawer and took out a specially cut magnifier stand, walked in front of his test subject, and placed the magnifier to the rodent’s side, making sure to look through it and angle just right so from where he sat, he could glance at the physiological changes Sonic underwent as time progressed. Furthermore, there was a small but effective camera in front of Sonic recording in high resolution. He could always use the computer and switch to that if he wanted to see something in even more detail. No one could claim he wasn’t prepared this time around.

Sonic had started getting more nervous when his nemesis rolled himself on over, not noticing the desk had wheels before. When the magnifier was placed next to him, he really, he had a sinking feeling.

“What the f*ck are you doing now, nutjob?” Sonic asked.

Eggman just hummed while he worked, finishing a few more set-up measures.

“Oh rodent, I don’t know why you still ask these questions when you know good and well you are going to be finding out anyway. It’s so illogical. I’m a kindly soul so I will let you know. We are now going to explore your more intense emotions—the ones that drive every species toward their main goal: survival. Hehehe!” The doctor grinned mischievously.

Sonic did not like the way any of that sounded. He loathed it and he knew that grin. It was the worst one.

“Let’s start with something simple. A bit of a sampler, a baseline, or it could be considered a joke.” The fat asshole said.

He pressed number one on the controller and a video began of two hedgehogs, not humanoid hedgehogs like Sonic: actual animal hedgehogs in an environmental styled enclosure. The poor things didn’t know they were being filmed, didn’t care, or like him, they couldn’t do sh*t about it. There was a larger and a smaller one. The smaller one began to sniff at the large hedgehog until it got bored and began to walk away as the smaller kept following until it turned into chase. The larger one was leading running in a circle, while huffing. It was impossible to tell what these animals were really thinking or feeling but it appeared like the smaller one was annoying the large one. Eggman was covering his mouth to avoid laughing and Sonic was just confused.

The blue blur didn’t bother to learn much about his animal counterpart: no more than what humans learned about apes or whatever. This circling continued until it was obvious the smaller one was draggling along something that looked like a tentacle or a tail without hair as it gave chase until the running stopped. The bigger hedgehog, which was almost twice the other’s size, stood there while the other walked around it, looking for something. Now that the animals had stopped running Sonic was finally clued into what the f*ck was going on, that the big one was a female, the small one was a male, the thing that locked like a freaky mix between a tentacle and white monkey tail with a very light purplish colored tip was the male’s penis.

“For f*cks sake, Eggman! Are you mentally a twelve-year-old boy? This is beyond f*cking stupid, even for you.” Sonic bitched, blushing all the same.

If it had been any other animal, it would have just been funny and silly, but it had to be hedgehogs and just like humans had some characteristics of primates, humanoids took had a few remaining similarities to their respective animal counterpart that many non-humans didn’t care to learn about or know why. Because of this little detail it wasn’t simply silly or funny; it was also slightly embarrassing to watch for Sonic. He just learned he shared a location, some minor extension ability, and parts of the shape. He didn’t ever need or want to know that.

“Yes? If I had more time, I would have bought my own, painted the big one blue and the smaller one red and black, added voiceovers while they did the deed. I might have put in a little Space Colony ARK backdrop…hmm that’s a bit dated, so a beautiful beachside sunset for the two. But alas, I had to use what the internet had to offer. She really isn’t letting him have it easy. I guess the real deals are not like Amy!”

Sonic hissed and struggled in vain against the leather belts. He didn’t know what shade thrown to be more insulted over: that the big one would be painted blue, voiceovers, or the insult about Amy being easy. He decided it was the thought of painting the two of them, as if what the animal hedgehogs were going to do would be anything like him and Shadow.

“Oh, f*ck off! This is no comparison. Just like watching apes mating and comparing them to humans.” The blue blur replied as the female kept huffing when she might as well be crackling.

The doctor toyed with his beard.

“Humans scientists have done that stupid sh*t for ages, but technically bonobo monkeys are the most similar to humans—oh hey I think she’s finally giving in or tricking him so she can quill him good to make him whine and try again. Heh.”

The large female had put down her back sharp, scary spines and stood less protected. The small male hilariously attempted to climb on her back, but his only actual goal was to get that tentacle aimed in the correct direction toward her genitals, which, unlike his own were located in the expected area, until he blindly fumbled his dick around until it found its receptacle. Eggman was guffawing as Sonic just watched and waited. Eventually the who paired up. The male just seemed exhausted, and the female wasn’t doing much of anything. After several minutes they disconnected, each moving to the opposite side of the cage. Sonic hoped the poor guys and, uh, gal, would eventually get their separate hotel rooms since this seemed to be a bad one-night stand. He knew he’d remain a virgin if he had to lay his chest on quills that may or may not stab him; the little guy was either brave or so hardwired he didn’t have a choice. He would never know if they were separated because the video ended there.

The doctor looked over the computer.

“Meh. Boooorrrrinnngggg. Just embarrassment and boredom. I was hoping for something less normal,” Eggman taunted.

Sonic’s face scrunched up in disgust.

“Gee whiz, I’m sorry for not being a freak and finding that anything other than absurd,” The hedgehog rebutted sarcastically.

The doctor was busy messing with something or another that Sonic could not see.

“Oh, that’s fine, rodent. It was just the sampler. It would have been a problematical baseline had there been anything unexpected. Then I would have to go and find out why. You wouldn’t have enjoyed that, and I don’t like dull, extra work. Fun fact, had you been a female it would not have been strange scientifically for you to have had a response, but the theories vary as to why.” Eggman rambled while Sonic was just disturbed by the “fun fact.” ++(see end notes)

Sonic knew what a baseline meant; his brother had managed to teach him that much, so he was becoming more and more agitated knowing there would be more in relation to the first topic. The first topic wasn’t a good start at all. Eggman’s grin, the worst one came back to mind and the fear set in again.

“I don’t think you trust my intentions, based on what I’m seeing here, my little pet. I suppose that means you have figured out what we are doing, eh? You’ll know soon because I have our second video. Eggman pressed a number and the screen lit up again, the sound making the first impression, that of a woman fake moaning as she lay naked on her back as some man rammed in and out of her. Both were humans and both were fully nude, so it was obviously p*rn. The man kept saying the must generic phrases: “Do want more?”, “Show me how you love being full of co*ck!”, “Do you want it harder, bitch?”, “Oh, you’re a shameless co*ck slu*t!” while the woman just moaned and either said “oh yeah” or “yes” or variations of the same. They changed positions and the man slapped her ass for no reason and f*cked her from behind: same dialogue now with skin slapping sounds.

The blue blur wanted to yell for his captor to end this sh*t, but the pair were too loud and so was the tacky music. Sonic had seen human p*rn briefly on the the internet, who had not, but he clicked out of it within thirty seconds. Humans weren’t his cup of tea and even if they had been this was bad p*rn: low quality, zero to no effort acting, tacky music (but who the hell used music anymore), with nothing unique or eye catching. It was p*rn though and the sounds the body made were real, so as much as he hated to admit it, the hero didn’t hate it and found it slightly arousing but it would never get him even 5% there. It was something he might have seen accidentally and given him the idea of “hey maybe I ought to masturbat* while no one else is around” at which time he would go find what he really needed for that activity.

“Now that I’m forced to think about this…my sex drive has never been as high as my peers or societies’. I only go through with jerking off when I get that annoying urge where my body is just making me get it over with. I’m over-confident in other ways so I don’t know why I’ve always felt a sense of shame while masturbating and about my body, especially my stupid hands, while I am performing the act. It’s crazy because I’ve never had any sexual experience to leave with me a negative impression. No romantic kisses, no fondling, and certainly nothing beyond that! I don’t even watch p*rn; I just have a few dirty magazines. I always wanted to speak to someone about why I wasn’t horny like everyone else but there was no one to have THAT conversation with. I thought I was a freaking weirdo until I started looking at Shadow differently after the Black ARMS invasion when he regained his sense of self, started regaining more memories, and he took on this new self-assurance that is…wild. I think that is the first time I’ve ever felt truly aroused by someone I knew, but it happened and that’s what matters.” Sonic thought about his own peculiarities while having to watch this garbage.

Sonic was probably thinking exactly what the human woman was thinking, “Cum already! You are a disgusting maggot and I want this to finally end.” At some point, the man withdrew and had her hand job him near her face, so his ejacul*te went all over her face and hair because that’s where whoever directed this sh*t wanted it to go. In all seriousness, it was probably a better alternative then the mouth for the actress. The video ended.

Sonic sighed in relief while Eggman looked at the results.

“Eggman! This is wrong. It’s sick that you are making me watch THIS. What scientific data could possibly come out of me watching filth?! UGH! I’m dumb for even asking. This isn’t for anything scientific! You’re just a pervert!” Sonic shouted.

Ignoring Sonic’s accusations he spoke, “Hmm, mild arousal. Very mild. Plenty of indignation. Some disgust. Basically, you didn’t enjoy the little film much. As for your little tantrum, there actually is some possible scientific knowledge I might glean from this. Your aversion is a bonus, I admit, and I am going to learn what you enjoy—not that it really benefits me any. Cat’s already out of the bag on that one! Ha. I should have said what you least and most enjoy besides your bioengineered, part-alien counterpart. Just for a breather, I must ask, why him out of all others? Is it just that he is one of a kind?”

Sonic growled. He hated everything so much about Eggman, but he really hated how he talked about Shadow.

“Why do you talk about him like that, you asshole! How he was born isn’t the most important or interesting thing about him and I HATE ALL OF YOU who talk like it is! He deserves to be treated normally and to be left the f*ck alone by all you creeps! Hasn’t enough been done to him?” The blue hedgehog screamed in fury.

His nemesis listened patiently for Sonic to let out his anger.

“Protective, aren’t you? Typical. I do have to say that I haven’t bothered or sought Shadow out in a long while. The only interest I had in him was his ability to use the eclipse canon. I even put him in a healing pod when my bots found him. If you want to protect Shadow, look toward G.U.N, stupid rodent. He isn’t working for them because he likes them; he is remaining close to keep an eye on his enemy. They would trap him and place him somewhere he’d never be found, suffering until the f*cking sun died out or maybe even longer. He can’t be used as the fountain of youth and immortality so he’s always going to be seen as a potential danger to weaklings—by weaklings I mean the majority. You’ve chosen a complicated person. Aside from the fact he wants to kill me right now, I do not wish for him to be captured ever again; he was nice to me when my mother passed, although I doubt, he remembers. Still, I asked why: not for an outburst. I did give you a helpful hint on who to be wary of concerning your crush answer my question, Sonic.”

The prisoner’s face softened. He didn’t know Eggman knew Shadow that well in his youth and he wondered if they had once been friends and Shadow just didn’t recall it. If so, that was…tra—it was nothing now that the doctor had turned into this. It was true. Eggman wasn’t a threat to Shadow, and it made sense that G.U.N still would be, but he had no way of taking out an entire private military Corp…and neither did Shadow. The asshole wanted an answer. Why did Sonic love Shadow? There was a lot to love about him.

“Fine…he’s kind, loyal, and so much more, but most amazingly be never gives up. He never stops moving forward no matter how much he’s suffered or lost. How is it strange to admire and love that about a person,” Sonic answered.

Eggman contemplated. It was a real answer and he’d mapped out a damn strong emotion, that one called love. It was different from the love that spiked for Tails and his friends, so that’s how the doctor knew this one was the romantic type. He agreed with Sonic about Shadow’s qualities. Ironically, the doctor was much like Sonic regarding his feelings about sex, at least until the rodent had found Shadow. Eggman never came across someone who brought forth that romantic love and he was never the type to have a child with someone who was not that special “one”. He looked at the love on the map and wondered if his love of Sage, although it would be a different color representing familial, would be as large as what he was looking at here.

“Yes, that is true and even I will admit love looks like a powerful emotion on this mapping system I made even if its just basic colors and patterns. You can tell the difference between your idiotic emotion toward chilidogs and what I am looking at here now. I always wanted to ask Shadow if Sage was anything like Maria when they eventually meet. It would have been interesting if she had been like her because I created Sage with parts of my me, my mother, grandfather, grandmother, and Maria in mind. The traits I added from Maria were impartiality to species or races, kindness, and the ability to self-sacrifice only in the case of true love. Her real eye color came from Maria and her dress was going to match my cousin’s when she learned enough to reach maturity. I’ll never know now that answer now.” The doctor sounded human for once.

“She sacrificed herself to save you. Maria did the same for Shadow. A father and a brother. She made friends with me even though I had been rude before I knew she wasn’t our real enemy. It’s not a full answer, but it tracks and if she had just one more minute to ask you to make a promise, I know she would have made you promise to find happiness,” Sonic immediately fired back without thinking because the urge was too powerful to stop.

Eggman scratched at the desk, even with his gloves on. The rodent was honest to a fault: honest till it hurt! He didn’t doubt a word of what the hedgehog said was wrong; instead, of making him feel joy, it made him feel anger. He didn’t know if that was natural or because he had been abnormal since attending that mental institution after his mom passed, but it’s how he felt regardless. Dr. Robotnik just felt rage.

“Tsk. Well, I would never have been able to keep that promise so it is good she didn’t make it. Shadow beats us all on moving forward and not looking back. Good for him. I just keep feeling grief and rage and I don’t have a G.U.N to destroy. Heh. Thank you for your answers, Sonic, but we must continue. The experiment must go on…and all of that!”

Sonic was going to keep trying to bring forth that humanity left within Eggman, but the f*cker had buried it away again before he could engage with it more. A video started and Sonic tensed up, wanting to hit something but couldn’t.

This time it was a human man and a woman, a dark purple, female hedgehog on top of him. It started with her sucking him off, making a show of how she could not fit it all in her mouth. She did have some clothing: her gloves, see through lacy leggings that went up to her thighs, and a bra with the straps hanging off. The human male pulled her breasts out, so they hung there while he fondled them, twisting her nipples as she twitched. He undid the back of her bra and placed it off to the side. He tried lifting himself up to get into a sitting position, but she would use her weight and position to prevent him. He wanted to use his mouth on her breasts but she intended to keep him laying down so she could remain in control, moving herself to dangling her breasts above his face so he had to reach up to try and get an entire breast in his mouth. He tried and failed several times with each breast to get the entity inside his mouth, seeming to enjoy the challenge and not minding when he failed to accomplish the task.

She moaned while he attempted this, but with her it wasn’t difficult to tell if she was fake because this was better quality and there was no music, only their loudness and the sounds of the city, which may have been real, just a noise maker to confuse their location. It was obvious her moans were real because they only happened when he sucked a certain way. The man, who the camera finally showed the entire body of, was a brown-eyed brunette with hair past his shoulders. He was pretty in the face and his body looked like a nude statue, one of the ones made to represent male perfection. He started fingering her inside, purposely making squish sounds and placed his other hand near her mouth begging her to bite it; she did as he f*cked her with two fingers, going deeper, stretching and teasing. Lube was taken from a bottle on the bed and applied liberally while he pleaded with her to bite harder as he added a third finger and eventually a fourth.

He told her she was biting perfectly, the harder the better. Sonic watched absorbed with the content because he had never seen a human and a non-human have sex before. He never tried watching it because he thought it would be weird and gross. He imagined much of it was sick, but this was tamer than he thought it would be. The guy was rubbing the woman’s cl*t, unlike the last video, mostly kept his f*cking mouth shut unless he was begging her, which was always a blessing since the men usually never had anything nice to say. Even in Sonic’s magazines the men often had a disrespectful facial expression or were doing something that looked like it would be painful, not pleasurable, which defeated the purpose in the blue hedgehog’s mind. But this guy wasn’t making any demeaning expressions, offending the woman by insulting her or worshiping his own co*ck, or even performing any sexual act on her that came off as abnormal, not even the hands because that presented to her in way of a gift she could take or leave… and all of this combined with his physical form made the human…hot. Sonic noticed him…a lot.

Yes, the woman was good looking, but Sonic found himself being drawn to the man’s hands, especially the one being bitten. He liked how the guy was withstanding the bite, wanting to be bitten harder. The blue blur didn’t know what to think about that because it astonished him. He’d never seen a human man and thought, “oh he’s attractive” or wanted to see one of them naked. As the hero was thinking, the man had taken his hand out and had placed his face on the female hedgehog’s crotch, not licking inside it exactly, but he was sucking at her cl*t, and she was attempting to moan. She had been far more willing to let him move to a semi- sitting position to perform oral on her. She couldn’t moan because he had persuaded her his outer neck needed to be bitten and marked to be paraded around by wearing a neckless shirt. All this behavior was mostly new to Sonic, so it caught his attention. Every time she needed to moan that pristi—nope, the blue blur noticed a few blemishes on the other side of the human’s neck; this biting was a regular demand for his guy.

She must have felt the need to moan several times because his neck was being bitten the f*ck out of until he finished licking or sucking at her and she stopped biting. There was a welt left in her place which had just a hint of blood. The man didn’t care about this minor wound though as he grabbed at her thighs first just to feel before placing one hand on her torso and another on her ass to maneuver her over his co*ck, lining her up before letting her sink down. He let her weight do the work slowly while she wasn’t making much of a sound. This was the reason Sonic had never tried to watch this interspecies stuff. He always feared how this part would even work; he knew it did because there was a large market for it, but he still couldn’t imagine the size difference being practical. It made sense seeing this human’s dick, whose was slightly thicker than a non-human’s but wasn’t as long as the biggest penises Sonic had seen on a non-human. It was large, but not cartoonishly unreasonable like how they had appeared in his imagination; with the size issue answered he no longer thought interspecies sex was scary or even that strange, not if the couples were being careful. He was even finding the human man hot, so it must not be all that rare like Amy had once mentioned, seeing couples like that in the city all the time.

He messed with her breasts and cl*t as she sunk down, lifting her up a bit over halfway and letting her fall repeatedly until she had a rhythm of her own. Now that he didn’t need his hands, he gave her the unblemished one to bite at, which she teased him by merely licking at it first, before biting into it. Sonic wondered if the man had a hand fetish or if handing biting was a common thing with humans or at least when they were with non-humans. He was thinking about this hand dynamic when a thought occurred.

“Wait, her hands are gloved and are left mostly untouched! If I’m not a rarity and she had the hand sensitivity, all this biting of her lover’s would be something she could be captivated by because hands are just that intimate, at least they are for me. I would never bite a hand or do anything painful to one especially during…that. But a human doesn’t have the sensitivity so this woman could bite at his with minimal issues; in fact, he was enjoying it—I can tell! She might be enjoying gloving hers and making them a no-go zone while getting a thrill over being able to mark his as her own. Whatever discomfort he’s causing her she gets to cause it back…is that the turn on for these two? The restricted nature of the two of them being together f*cking on camera and on top of that she gets to do something she could never do with a non-human. If I’m even half correct, then that means I’m not a freak and these two have a damn hand fetish, her more than the human because she knows how offensive this could be taken by other non-humans…Eggman damnit no wonder you picked this one. You know I’m freaked out about my hands…you f*cker!” Sonic fumed at the realization that Eggman had found the answer on his own and was teaching to him with p*rn.

She rode the human while biting his hand while HE was the one now moaning and…moaning some more while using his free hand to pleasure her when he wasn’t too distracted. The camera was zooming in on the hand being bitten and the intercourse so the watcher could see her bite harder as the tempo increased. His moaning became a problem because Sonic was liking the sound, but he couldn’t cover his ears. The imagery was only a a problem when it zoomed on his hand and rarely his face. Sonic needed this guy to be quiet or stop being bitten. He could not become aroused in front of Dr. Eggman.

“You dumb, dumb, dumb f*ck, Sonic! You should have known by now with the magnifying stand placed at your side was so Eggman could see YOU. If that wasn’t already enough of a clue this was going to be about your sexuality the first video should have made it crystal clear. Yes, it was laughable, but it was still intercourse. The second video was actual p*rn for f*cks sake. It just happened to be the sh*ttiest kind. This isn’t about the humility of making me watch dirty stuff to laugh at me like I thought. It’s worse. He’s making me watch so I will get aroused so the perverted weirdo can scrutinize it happen. Is it just to humiliate me? It is insane to hope for that, but I do want that to be the reason. I wish to all to be for the humiliation of making me aroused by forcing me to watch p*rn to laugh at my dick or how long it takes me to cum. It’s sick. It’s creepy. Its f*cking disgusting. But it’s the least terrifying possibility. Just no touching me! Don’t touch me in anyway. That’s all I ask! Emeralds, please just don’t let him f*cking touch me!” Sonic thought about the worst roads this could go down.

While Sonic panicked the woman’s whole body twitched and her muscles around her abdomen could be seen reflexing. Sonic didn’t know that this was the female org*sm, having never seen one live. It couldn’t be seen but the moaning, pretty man’s co*ck was being squeezed frequently by her vagin*l walls had he couldn’t withstand more than three of her squeezes and he came inside of her. As they gasped for air, the camera was zooming in on his hands as they both licked at them in union. His expression was adoration. Her expression wasn’t one of wanting to lick and kiss it all better. It was one of pride. She had said nothing the entire time, but her eyes shined with rebellion saying, “I did this. I’ve marked these as MINE and you can’t stop me for breaking the rules.” The video ended.

The blur blue was breathing raggedly for two reasons: arousal and fear. His degenerate captor was pouring over the data.

“My, my you were liking this one…until near the end. I think I know why though. Hehe! You started to enjoy it too much! At first there’s just so much many emotions coming through relating to curiosity and understanding until it seems you came to some discovery that made you relieved and angry, but then…about the time the man moans you start deteriorating into various levels of unease and fear. I found one thing shocking, but I am a fool to have found it so after learning who really want. Haha! I know what the perfect video to play next!”

Sonic’s fear was getting too high.

“What do you want out of this? What are you wanting to discover by making me watch this stuff? What are you looking for? What are you going to…to do to ME!!” Sonic screeched.

The hedgehog was also hissing over and over without being able to stop himself. He knew it was a defensive reflex in response to the threat, a reaction that did nothing. It might have been of some use in the past before insane, evil, perverted roboticists existed. Now it just sounded slightly animalistic and pathetic because his hiss never fully developed the type of sound that made someone pause to reconsider for just a moment. It was f*cking useless.

“Somone who majored in interspecies biology once told me that hedgehogs made some of the most varied and unexpected sounds compared to the amount other species. I never thought that was correct before capturing you for real. Growling, hissing, all kinds of rodent squeaky noises! I can see it now, but your hiss…it’s like you can’t control it, even more pitiful its not an effective one. I wonder if you didn’t practice enough when you were young? See there you go again!” Eggman rambled on gleefully, taking enjoyment from Sonic’s panic.

“W-w-hat the f*ck sciHIIIISSSS what are you going to do? Whatshiiiissss happened to you. Why are you like tHIIIISSS now. Come back. Come back!! I want you to take me home…I want to go back to fighting eachiissother like normal. I wanna go h-h-home and wihissss everything back the way it was. Y-y-you were not my friend, but I didn’t ever hate you or cauhisssse you any real seriohissss pain. Y-y-you meant something!!” The blue hedgehog sobbed and hissed.

Eggman looked at the mapping and it was full of betrayal, grief, and an emotion that he had flagged as a longing for the past—close to regret, and an unknown emotion like homesickness but it wasn’t for missing a home or past. Those emotions he had already mapped; this was like missing someone on summer break, the missing of someone not here but not dead…maybe like a family member terminally ill…The doctor realized whatever this nameless emotion was, it was aimed at him, and it was real. Sonic was missing him but not who he was here and now. It was the past him who existed before Sage that Sonic was pleading with, to come back and to take him home, so they could return to business as usual.

“Even if the sky rained glitter farting unicorns with bundles of kittens and the sky filled with rainbows. Even if I were to un-belt you, turn you back to your real size, which I can’t because it isn’t finished yet but in lala unicorn land everything works, and I took you home being greeted warmly, forgiven by all. Even if I went back to trying to take over the world with you stopping me over and over. EVEN IF ALL THAT HAPPENED, it would not mean sh*t unless I had SAGE BACK WHOLE. I can’t come back without her! How is that so hard for you to understand?? No Sage, no happy ending for me or you! It doesn’t matter if you once cared about me in some weird, peculiar way because it’s over. I finally had an heir I could love and respect, but she was destroyed beyond repair. There is no coming back from it, Sonic. No heart wrenching beggary is going to work. It…is…over."

“Sonic that man is dead. He started dying after Sage. I don’t know the date of death, but he has expired. There is no getting out of that chair, turning you back to your real size, taking you home, and returning to the cycle. The old me is as unrecoverable as Sage. Nothing I tried could bring her back to me. Nothing can prevent me from continuing unless you can go back in time and win that battle. Let’s see if you have a hidden time machine. One…Two…Three…You must not because everything is still sh*t. On to the next video, because as I said, I think know which one to play, but I can’t go wrong with any of them. Each can yield mostly useless but amusing information about you!” Eggman finished his speech, but most of what he said was emotionless.

Eggman put down the controller. For some reason he wanted to look at Sonic head on for real one final time, because this was the last time he would ever speak to Sonic sincerely when he begged for mercy, and it was the last time he was ever going to convey his raw emotions about Sage to the hedgehog. He rolled the chair on the opposite side of the wiring and sat in front of Sonic who looked heart-broken and afraid. He placed the end of one finger on Sonic’s head, which hedgehog thought was going to be one of those flicks, but it wasn’t.

“Sonic the Hedgehog, you have been a worthy adversary for many years, and I did have an abundance of fun fighting with you, but for your own sake, I wish you would have been born into a loving family instead ending up at an orphanage, running away, and that leading you to start fighting with a crazy man like me.” Eggman paused thinking about all the information he had gathered on Sonic had how he really might have been happier living a normal life, “Had my heiress lived that day our future together would have ben a wholesome one. Sage would have been immortal, in need of a friend like Shadow and friends like you to develop her emotions to their fullest potential. Upon my death, she would have been Sage Robotnik, the heiress who would wash the stains away left by me and my grandfather. Instead, I have become the just like Gerald, but I do not intend to kill anyone, not even you, but I have let myself soak in the infamy and need for revenge and I there is no stopping. This is the last time I’ll stop and give you any serious explanation when you plead and weep.” He went silent and took his finger tip off Sonic’s head.

The blue hedgehog would never forget this small, plain talk for as long as he lived, which would be a long life. The hero did not know that presently though, so the talk felt fatalistic—toward himself. Later it would be clear it was the opposite.

Eggman rolled back to the computer and turned back on his gleeful captor personality like a light switch. Sonic’s literal hissy fit had been a blessing in disguise because the doctor had been getting so carried away with the amusem*nt he would have forgotten to add the specialized scanners. If he was correct about this video, the effects of arousal could begin, if they did without manual stimulation first, and he wanted to capture their responses as soon as they appeared. Knowing if the hands started increasing in temperature, received increased blood glow, or showed any signs of unusual nervous system activity before being touched while in a state of arousal was one of his key questions and he could find it no where in already published research. He had found some extremely basic studies that went under the radar that proved hand sensitivity in small groups of non-humans, groups of ten to twenty, at most but such a small sample size meant nothing in science and some very powerful entities had put a stop to any further research, making Dr. Eggman even more inquisitorial.

He walked to the side of the room to prepare two very small drone robots with all the scanners inside. Sonic wondered why Eggman had left, why it was so silent, and what the freak was doing. It would take several minutes to make ready, so he decided to give Sonic some background about the videos he had intended to provide but had also forgotten along the way.

“Before I play this next one, I want you to know a bit of background information. First, I would like you to think back on the previous video with the human man and the female hedgehog; that wasn’t solely p*rn. They are a real couple, married in fact, who sell some of their erotica due to the rarity of its nature; it’s a thrill and provides plenty of income. The video I am about to show is much the same. This couple is also married, monogamous selling a small volume of unique erotica. I thought it might be more interesting to watch, knowing that these are not p*rn stars, just normal couples sharing their rare sexual relationships,” Eggman paused, taking a drink, before he continued with the background information.

“Because these couples break a taboo, they are restricted from where they can sell their content online. I went down a rabbit hole to find suitable couples, who filmed this specific content, and who also sold it because I was curious myself over why one forty-minute film costs over $1,500.00, when it will only be noticed as off-limits or unique for certain species who are watching it. Afterall, the married sex between individuals who love each other is a wholesome, vanilla practice compared to the disgusting free p*rnography I showed before. I have learned a modest amount of information about interspecies relations and the cultural challenges that come with them, but not nearly as much as I wanted to know. The taboo these couples are breaking isn’t that they are interspecies. I’ll leave it up to you, Rodent, to figure out which rule they are violating that it is considered so unforgivable almost no one will sell it.”

Sonic already knew what the taboo was: Hands, hands, hands and, more hands. The doctor really wanted to rub it in how little the blue blur knew about his own culture, apparently. He wouldn’t have given this introduction sounding like a Havard professor showing previously banned paintings nor would he have taken so much care in finding this exact form of sexual content. It was nice knowing that whoever these people were weren’t just arbitrary desperate people f*cking for money, which explained the hedgehog woman’s look into the camera near the end of the last video and why they had come off as so intimate and natural. She made that look because he was her actual husband, and they didn’t disrespect each other because they were enjoying their intimacy—not being paid to pretend.

Sonic might have been almost twenty years old, but he was so naïve when it came to sex that he had not consciously perceived the power-play dynamics in the last video or pain mixed with pleasure from pain that came with the biting. He was limited to anatomy he’d learned in a textbook, what he heard people talk about around him or on TV, and what he’d seen in the few accidental clips of videos he had watched, which were less than the fingers on his hands. As an avid reader, the blue hedgehog had learned how to vividly imagine anything he wanted; the magazines were just used to pick models for his fantasies. Imagination was not limited by physical constraints or the laws of nature. To remind him how much reality f*cking sucked, the doctor walked over to him with two tiny, grey objects in his hands, circular shiny items that came to life floating upward flashing greed from their bottoms.

Sonic watched as they moved to each side of him and hovered several feet above his…hands. Sonic hadn’t noticed the entire time he was sitting that his hands were belted in such a way that they were angled palm side up exposed; too many other things had gone on since waking up and his hands were gloved, granting a false sense of security. Eggman, without ceremony, pulled them off using the tips of his fingernails as Sonic watched too stunned to say anything—so much for keeping promises. Nothing more was done to the hero’s hands, only the drones remained hovering over each of them.

“You SWORE you wouldn’t take them away again!” Sonic accused.

His captor rolled his chair back over toward the computer and crackled his knuckles.

“Eh, I’ve broken a lot of promises over the years hedgehog. What’s one more to the pile? The stupid things could interfere with my little scanners there and I won’t chance it,” He replied lazily.

Sonic struggled against all the restraints like a mad man, but it did nothing, there were to many, each had been placed with the expectation their captive would resist. His captor let Sonic continue to fight back, tapping his fingers on the desk. He wanted his prisoner to waste his time now, realizing how pointless it was, and tire himself out.

“Has it not struck you yet that I took great care in the creation of that chair and its attachments? You are just going to give yourself bruises doing that.” The doctor said, almost yawning.

“Has it stuck YOU that I don’t give a sh*t? That what you are doing is one the most…wrong things you can do to a person? That I DON’T WANT this because it’s personal, private, and should be my choice!” The hedgehog screamed.

It had but Eggman didn’t care anymore. Sonic’s innocence meant nothing to him now.

“Yes. ~~I’m just doing what I think is right and I don’t need a reason. It doesn’t matter to me who is wrong or right. I’m just doing what I feel like doing; I don’t criticize. I’m not giving up or compromising—

“GO TO HELL YOU PIECE OF sh*t!” Sonic bellowed, recognizing his own mantra being sing-songed back at him, knowing the old thing was never meant to be taken in such a way.

The egg-shaped man chortled, trying not to go into one of those laughing fits that becomes almost impossible to control until it runs its course. He failed miserably, ignoring whatever obscenities Sonic was screaming. The f*cking song Sonic made as a young teen was just so egocentric and perfect, the fact that the blue bur had even bothered to pen it and his friends put up with it was mind-boggling. Tails surely should have said at some point that the little tune could be taken the wrong way with a darker tone: keep the lyrics and change tune and switch out a few instruments and you had a villain’s rallying cry. Just for kicks he scanned the emotional map and sure enough embarrassment was there. Rage took center stage, but the hero did know, being older and wiser, that it was embarrassing.

By the time the doctor couldn’t laugh anymore even if he tried, Sonic was tired out. He must have been screaming the entire time based on how out of breath he was. Whatever. The point had been made and the rodent wasn’t likely to try anymore futile escapes.

“Damn, my ribs hurt. Heh. It’s time for the next video. Let’s both shut the f*ck up, shall we?” Eggman suggested and selected the number.

Eggman paused the video before it even began.

“Eyes open, rodent. Remember the stupid device I have? It starts to sting like hell when you can’t blink and good luck sleeping with the soreness afterward. Trust me; I’ve experienced it in the nut house once.”

Sonic opened his eyes. So, his nemesis had been in a nuthouse before. It had not helped, and he wanted the staff fired. The video started. This time there was a male human and a male hedgehog which, Sonic guessed, was because the doctor had noted his interest in the male human rather than the female hedgehog in the last video and because of Shadow. Not that it mattered, but he had found the female stimulating to a degree; however, it was the first time seeing a human male naked, and he did prefer men because he only found very specific females attractive but that was more related to their personalities rather than their bodies. He couldn’t tell the personality of a woman from just watching her have sex.

The two were making out, tongue and all, as the camera showed their bodies aiming at the male hedgehog first, the prisoner noticing the color of his fur and quills. His fur was a light shade of gray at the tips that darkened further down toward the roots and his quills were the opposite: a dark shade of grey at the ends that grew lighter toward the start of the growths. The hedgehog on screen had a unique pattern to his coloring that stood out. Sonic couldn’t help comparing himself to the other hedgehog, like it was an innate custom, noticing that that the grey one had very intricate shading while his own blue was all the same shade. This other hedgehog had sky bye eyes, white fur around his mouth, a small amount of un-styled chest fur, his quills were the same shape but were shorter than his own quills, and he had a plain pair of gloves without any shoes.

Overall, he was attractive, pleasing to watch while his partner was a blue eyed, reddish-brown haired human man who looked to be in his late twenties, in shape with flawless looking skin except for some birth marks that stood out: one on his lower stomach, almost nearing the beginning of the groin area, shaped like a star and another near his collar bone which was circular and had a half swirl look to it. The human only had on a pair of tight underwear. Sonic swore almost silently under his breath because he liked the look of both and kept eyeing the human’s birthmarks and the shape of his muscles. It was so odd to find human men attractive so swiftly, but he had to confess to himself that he’d never seen a good looking, pretty one naked or near naked. He didn’t want to be aroused by these two, but they were… alluring, especially because they were so different.

The kissing stopped, at least on the mouth as “the grey”, what Sonic named this unknown hedgehog in his mind, began kissing down the man’s neck, sucking on the birthmark. The blue blur admitted to himself that’s what he would have gone for too. The human began to moan softly as the grey moved to bite a little at his nipples which riled the human into getting handy back, running his trimmed nails down the sides of the hedgehog’s body, increasing the pressure until the grey stopped his biting, licking, and sucking; instead, he tilted is head, eyeing his human lover tauntingly while the said lover smiled and did the same. It was some sort of weird stand off until one pounced first and that led to the human on top of the grey laying back on the bed as they grinded against one another. The human ran his hands in a very distinct way through the grey’s quills as the grey growled playfully, nipping the human on the chest and shoulders whenever he could. The two were both moaning now, and it was straining the blue hedgehog’s self-control. These two weren’t doing anything explicit yet and he was already starting to feel the pressure build.

He f*cking hated his body so much at the moment and wondered how to do that body shut off thing from his brain, because right now, he f*cking wanted to achieve this separation. Predictably he couldn’t accomplish this suggestion, trying alternatively to think of something disgusting like Eggman naked, but he quickly stopped not wanting to jinx himself; he attempted Amy, her naked, touching herself saying his name while licking her lips and it was working. Amy crawling on top of him trying to catch his lips as he evaded until pushing her off mistakenly onto the floor. With tears starting to form in her eyes she was asking while crying why she wasn’t wanted: was she ugly? her boobs not big enough? too boring sexually. Sonic had to stop; it was too realistic, and his mind wouldn’t let him debase her further. It was bad enough that he had already placed her in the “disgusting” category for being too much of a sister for him, making it feel like incest, so it was doubly sick having imagined it.

The blue hedgehog went back to focusing on the damn film, the Amy fantasy either had not lasted long or these two loved going slow because they were still doing much of the same, only the moaning was louder and the human had taken one hand away from the grey’s quills and was gently rubbing the grey’s belly instead, focused on a particular area, even tilting his body so the camera could show the grey’s stomach. Sonic knew why the human was focusing there, loving it, and hating it at the same time. He could see an area under the fur rise slowly as the human was narrowing in on it as he fondled the grey’s ears and the grey hedgehog twitched while the area continued to swell, the fur starting to spread thin as it commenced failing to keep its secret hidden. Few probably knew that humanoids of Sonic’s kind had inherited the placement of their male genitals on their lower belly, but nature had at least been kind in two ways: making the sheath almost completely smooth, covered with heavily with fur and by constructing the surrounding area to be very desensitized unless aroused. Even while working toward arousal, it could take time and only a specific type of touch could convince the sheath to become engorged with enough blood before becoming noticeable two to five minutes prior to opening, so accidents were very rare. Fundamentally, for most humanoid hedgehogs, only one of their own kind or some expert biologist could find the sheath without the state of arousal. The unusual location made it even more private as far as Sonic was concerned.

None of that mattered in this case because the human in the video was definitely used to messing around with this area, seemingly skilled at it, if all the grey’s moans counted for anything. The human man was teasing it slowly because Sonic knew it could open faster, but the man in the video was purposely prolonging with foreplay for his partner’s enjoyment. The human just had to start licking at it next, causing loud moans and growls that drove Sonic into the beginnings of arousal. He cursed now that it had started, as it would be difficult to stop; it could if that screen was turned off, he could close his eyes, or the film went in a direction he didn’t like. Imagining someone or something gross was not easy with open eyes. He even briefly thought of closing them, forcing the use of that horrid eye opener, because it was so uncomfortable with them on it might stop him from being able to enjoy what he saw. It was a solid plan at first glance until he thought about who he was dealing with. Eggman was going to get what he wanted no matter what—he had made that clear—so if the films didn’t do the trick, the doctor world resort to something worse and what was worse than auditory or visual stimulation? Manual stimulation and THAT was the very last thing the blue blur wanted. Just the slightest thought of Dr. Eggman fondling his stomach made him want to hang himself from the rafters, if there were any. The two unknown individuals versus Eggman were no contest at all.

As the rodent thought of the revolting possibility of the doctor touching him, the Eggman started to notice the increased activity in the mapping for arousal and the way it looked on his emotion system was intriguing, different emotions appeared randomly, many made no sense. He realized that his little invention was useless while someone was in such a heightened state, which was unfortunate yet not surprising, given the complexity of the brain but he had what he needed: proof that arousal had begun. He switched to his done data to check for anything not within equilibrium; nothing usual so far. He kept watching and waiting.

Sonic had made the decision to keep his eyes open, in a way even hoping it would all finish as quickly as possible so Eggman could dump him back into his cage with his shame, at least it was safer in the cage. The human on screen had been licking while the other moaned and when he finally stopped to move his head out of the way the tip of the grey’s penis was jutting out as the grey looked down pleased. The hedgehog on screen began to smile and signal his human lover to roll over on his back in return, which the human did slowly until the grey growled practically jumping on him, rubbing is sheath against this partners underwear while licking at his belly button. The grey spoke, “Beg me.”

The human grinned and replied in a needy voice, “Please get them off.”

The grey grinned and expertly lifted the top of the underwear band up and used his other hand to yank it down until he had the human’s feet out of it, dangling the underwear for the camera to zoom on the precum before tossing them elsewhere. “What do you want now?” the grey asked seductively.

“Suck me off,” The human said playfully.

They grey did not comply only moved closer and reworded, “Suck what and be polite…no, just beg, I want begging.”

“Please you sexy, spiky little monster, get over here and suck my co*ck, I implore you to demonstrate your oral talents,” the human said it in a silly way, but it was still pleading, and his face betrayed the humor of the actual wording. It must have been just the effort that counted because the grey did as he was asked, mostly, because licking the shaft wasn’t sucking. Sonic watched as the human’s co*ck began to enlarge now out of confinement noticing how it stretched in length and width. Had the blue blur known about foreskin and the horrific practices related to it, he would have noticed the human was uncut whereas the last one had not been, but he was no human co*ck expert. He only noticed the coloring, size, shape, and how this one was smaller than the last one; it wasn’t what he considered small though, a little over five inches, he guessed with decent width; it was still in the large range for non-humans, most never reaching over six inches. Needless to say, Sonic was no longer confused about how humans and non-humans managed but he did wonder why the genitals were so close to the same size when humans were so much taller, well compared to most non-human species—Eggman would have called this question scientific curiosity and demanded an answer, but Sonic was okay with the mystery as he watched the loud blow j*b on screen which had its intended effects. Sonic couldn’t see his lower abdomen, but he could feel the area around the sheath begin to swell and become tender. Dr. Eggman was still looking at the drone data and did notice a change, the slight increase in temperature leading to the hands. He grinned seeing his hypothesis start to show some supporting data.

Sonic had disregarded the doctor and continued to watch the sucking and hear the moaning until the grey stopped facing the camera revealing his own co*ck which had come out and enlarged. For once, the blue blur wasn’t ignorant when he saw the differences in shape and detail, which the camera did not give full justice, not showing every detail of the side ridges, so they were only noticeable by the darker coloring nor the shape of the head, which was sill four pronged, but the prongs were not as long and they curled inward, sometimes mimicking a rounded tip. He remembered reading in the text book that the length and behavior of these prongs varied heavily due to some evolutionary mumble jumble that summarized their original use was no longer requirement for mating; the penis didn’t need to go a hunting for an opening so all the unique features related to that search were fading over time, a good thing Sonic thought, recalling the male animal hedgehog laying on spines praying on the good graces of that oversized female as it fumbled about. No, Sonic didn’t envy that at all, but he fine with his dick the way it was too: no complaints there.

He would have liked to be stupid and compare his size to the grey’s dick, but he couldn’t pause or look at his own to do the nonsensical act justice. The blue hedgehog completely forgot about the size comparison silliness when the grey dangled his hand in the human’s face. No one did any begging when it came to this part. The human gently bit the tip of the glove tightly with his front teeth and the grey manipulated his hand out of the glove, prying away the prize with his one gloved hand from the human’s mouth, dangling his bare fingers in front of the man’s face instead. Sonic could not believe what he was seeing; that hedgehog on screen was aiming to get his fingers sucked which would feel insanely good. His prediction was spot on because the human gently supported the grey’s wrist as he licked his fingertips, making the grey hedgehog twitch, moan, chirp, and grind uncontrollably. Sonic felt he shouldn’t be watching this, it was too intimate, too off-limits but he loved watching it. Sonic now understood why THIS was a costly sight and the two on screen knew it as well, reveling in daring to shove it in society’s face, wanting to celebrate the pleasure and the thrill of it all.

Sonic knew his penis was out and leaking precum, believing that not even the stupid eyewear could have stopped it from happening with THAT happening. He had mixed feelings about the morality of what the two were doing. It was all safe and consensual so legally there was absolutely nothing wrong with the content; the rage came from non-human cultural norms, the far-right purists who tried to wrangle the majority, who were in the middle normally not caring one way or the other, to support keeping this act sacred between non-humans. It was the same far right who believed that interspecies sex was repugnant and even went as far as thinking humans and non-humans should live separately. They damned millions like these two couples he watched, Amy, Rouge, the Chaotic Detective Agency Crew, Shadow, Maria, and even Eggman, who in his youth hung out with both species not caring a wit about the differences. Most non-humans and humans integrated well together, mainly because companies made by both species could profit off one another, their immune systems were very similar, and they all desired the same basic things in life. It was funny how p*rn could make the world unexpectedly so convoluted.

As Sonic watched the other kind of hand job, Eggman poured through the drone images seeing the expected increase in neural activity, he didn’t need to cut apart a hand to see that the Sonic’s palms had a more nerves and those nerves must be splitting to make the density higher so any touch on the surface was intense. The doctor had looked up animals to try and find a species that had anything similar, but all be found was studies on raccoons who had increased sensitivity to know what food they were holding by touch alone, but that was just so they could be flesh garbage cans. How, why, and when this sensitivity occurred in the multitude of different types of humanoids was still a mystery because no one had taken the thousands of hours of research to find out. He glanced at Sonic who was a twitching mess and glanced back and the drone data, concluding that the film had finished its duty: answering what activity occurred in the hands before manual stimulation. The doctor turned the film off, alarming the rodent.

“Ah, so sorry about that. I just obtained all the data I was going to get with that method. Pity for you since you were obviously loving what you were seeing, but I need a different kind of data from the drone.” Eggman was sitting on the chair and looking through the drawer for a few items, which he found and placed next to the computer.

“What the hell do you mean? A different kind of data! You were getting all the data could ever f*cking want you deviant!” Sonic shrieked.

Eggman clicked his tongue and tossed his head side to side.

The doctor gave the scariest grin, the one Sonic feared, and replied, “I’m afraid that isn’t the case, and you lack a scientific imagination or knowledge base. All of that watching was visual and auditory stimuli. I need the drones to record…physical stimuli.”

Eggman brought his chair over to Sonic and gave his words time to marinate. Everything before now had just been for study but the next part was partially revenge because he knew Sonic cared about and valued the purity of his hands. Sonic stayed still for seconds as he realized what his nemesis wanted. He thought he could avoid it by just watching the films until he finished, but there had never been any hope of that taking place.

“NO. Leave me alone! You don’t need that drone data and you know it! Don’t even give me that for science bullsh*t!! You want to be a depraved…ugh! You, you of all people getting off on this, why!” Sonic demanded.

Eggman sat in front of him, grabbing something off the desk.

“Does it look like I’m aroused, rodent? What a jest! When you get to my age, not much does the trick, none of that p*rn and certainly not you. Depraved? Heh, I suppose it could fall within the confines of that definition if you need to call it something,” Eggman ceased offering explanations.

He took one of his gloves off and opened the tube of grease he had found and spread it over a few fingers, executing the actions close enough so Sonic could see what he was doing, placing the lid back on the tube and moving the magnifier with his gloved had to Sonic’s front. The magnifier was only tall enough to reach Sonic’s chest, so it obscured nothing. The blue bur reached into the farthest recesses of his mind for something, anything he could say that would make the doctor stop or reconsider, but apart from his threats about the attack on the base and Sage, nothing mattered. He could tell Eggman Sage wouldn’t have wanted this, which was true; Sage would not have wanted her father to become a miserable, sexual assaulting monster in her absence, but her father had to have already known that and overlooked her possible wants. Yet, he thought it was worth a shot.

“You know this is NOT what Sage would have wanted you to do with your life!” Sonic said in defiance.

That statement had caused his nemesis to pause for a few seconds, but once he regained composure, the declaration did not have the envisioned reaction.

“Rodent! Sage doesn’t WANT ANYTHING. She can’t WANT, FEEL, CARE, ECTERA. That is the entire f*cking problem you, stupid, worthless pinball! Give up talking about my daughter because I f*cking promise you, Sonic, that you will regret talking about Sage again if you are stupid enough to do so!” Eggman yelled, outraged more than ever.

Sonic wished he had said nothing. His gut had told him to say nothing, but he had been too desperate. Eggman threw the tube back toward the computer and angled the magnifier. The hero could angle down to see his hands and thought it would have been kinder if he hadn’t been able to see them, yet he could not look away. He gripped them both into fists, which he couldn’t even do fully with the restraint going slightly beyond his wrists. He saw Eggman’s fingers move toward his hand.

“STOP! PLEASE JUST DON’T!” he cried.

Instead of ignoring him, the doctor just grinned. It was a f*cked-up way of getting revenge, but it sure worked. Sonic could feel and see Eggman’s middle finger press down pushing his fingers out of way. He used his gloved hand to keep the rodent’s fingers in place and caressed the grease on Sonic’s hand with his finger as lightly as he could. The touch had the intended effect. Sonic moaned even while crying. The captor gently tapped the hand’s palm in a rapid motion making the rodent moan even more. All the arousal that had been lost since the film came back with a vengeance.

“Sonic, you could just…enjoy it, you know. Just let it all happen without struggling,” He satirically suggested.

Sonic glowered though his tears.

“Y-you disgust me and y-y-you are forcing me! It’s not p-possible and even if it w-where, I’d n-n-never fall so LOW!”

Eggman hooted tasting the hate and pain like it was honey dripping from Sonic’s voice. He rubbed his finger along the sides of the palms and even got a chirp among the moans.

“Well, you could close your eyes and…imagine it is Shadow touching you instead. Hahaha!” The doctor knew that one would really hit the mark.

“f*ck YOU! NEVER. I’ll n-n-never use his image for t-that. He doesn’t b-b-belong anywhere near this debauchery you f-f*cking freak,” Sonic bawled.

“Pshhahaha oh yes, he’s too pure and innocent for this rotten world. I forgot. Never mind, your crush has put a shotgun to people’s faces and pulls the trigger! His typical workday consists of creating a real horror set.”

“KILLING PEOPLE LIKE YOU AND WORSE!” Sonic immediately added.

Dr. Eggman sighed. That was true. Shadow killed monsters in human and humanoid forms. Sonic didn’t seem to care about the gore that went along with it, which was a shame. It wasn’t a major letdown; he still could keep torturing Sonic without Shadow-related dialogue. He stopped with the first hand. It was time to move on to the other. He doubted there would be any differences on the left land, but he was going to cover all his bases. The doctor found the tube where he had tossed it and reapplied the grease, moved the fingers, and immobilized them the same way and began the same touches, trying to varying it up as much as possible, but there was only so much he could do with their size differences.

“I wonder what Amy would say if she saw this. I bet she’d be jealous of me! Hehehe. And she would enjoy your sounds…or she could just be disgusted by it all. It’s hard to guess her response; Amy is so unpredictable, uncontrollable when it comes to you. That girl persuaded a robot to free her when she was only twelve or thirteen while out stalking, you know.” Eggman rambled while continuing to slowly tease Sonic’s left hand, “Who stalks a boy at that age, anyway? You must have had to keep your doors locked, windows blocked back then to combat her raging hormones from taking control of her, sneaking into your home, hammering you on the head, cuffing you up, and raping you. Like a zombie who remains active only through screwing your brains out rather than eating them,” He finished, finding that taunt boring compared to using Shadow.

Long ago that insane thought had went through Sonic’s mind as a JOKE. He knew she might welcome herself in, but she’s never force anyone like…Eggman was doing with him. She was just very, very motivated.

“F-for such an apparent g-g-genius, that’s a thoughtless t-thing to say. She’s n-n-not a criminal without compassion like y-you,” Sonic barely managed to speak through the weeping and unpreventable moaning.

“We’ll see about that,” Eggman said so softly that his prisoner could only hear two words, knowing about tonight’s fun little confession.

His nemesis gave into curiosity and looked through the magnifier at Sonic’s penis. He already knew about the differences from searching for specific p*rn, but it amused him to see the genetic throwback relating to the tentacle. Since the organ had remained untouched it did start to extend out to “search” but it could go not go far; the white part above the actual penis was only an inch long which is all that remained of the long tentacle-like structure. Hundreds of years from now it probably wouldn’t exist at all. The poor thing was doomed in its pursuit.

Eggman laughed, deciding to share the news, “Your dick is acting like that first video, trying to find its heaven. Hahaha. It’s comical to watch it hunt for what doesn’t exist.”

Sonic blushed under his fur. Only a man-child would find something like that amusing. What else was it supposed to do. He decided he didn’t deserve a response—nothing the doctor said really deserved a response, but this was too pointless. Eggman continued but was growing bored. He barely tried while he used his gloved hand to switch the screen to the drone and watched.

It was what he expected to see, a firestorm of activity, still easy enough to see through his own finger because it had almost none. He’d captured the manual stimulation of both hands for more detailed analysis later. He could just stop and leave Sonic blue balled…or he could do something to completely humiliate the hedgehog. That comment about what Sage wanted rang in his head and he knew which choice he wanted to go for, he just needed to decide how to go about it. If Sonic had kept his mouth shut, he would have tossed him back in his cage with cap of lube while making crude jokes, or that was the excuse the doctor gave himself. Eggman knew the hero found him, his body specifically, nauseating, but his fingers were too large to finish it off. He smirked viciously and grabbed the drones, turning them off, placing them in a safety foam-filled container. Moving the computer table away from Sonic was the next action before the magnifier stand was placed elsewhere.

Sonic noticed immediately when Eggman stopped touching and watched as much of the stir of activity as much as he could without being able to turn his head. He hoped this signaled that it was over, maybe the pervert had gotten what he wanted and was just going to shove him back in his cage in this state which was a great ending as far as the blue blur was concerned. The doctor came back to use a little metal device to undo the belt on the rodent’s right wrist, lower arm, followed by the belt nearest to his neck, and the metal on each side was gone. He could move his head from side to side and it felt so satisfying to relieve the strain there. The hedgehog assumed the rest of the mini belts were going to follow, but they didn’t; the metal device was placed down, leaving Sonic confused.

“It would be cruel to leave you…like this. You didn’t think I would do that, did you? That’s just offensive Sonic.” Eggman still had the same smirk on his face.

Sonic began to struggle against the restraints but even with three of them gone it didn’t make a difference. He knew whatever was going to happen was going to be vulgar and he wanted out of it. Sonic stopped when he felt his arm being pinched between two fingers and watched as Eggman’s face moved closer and closer to him. He screamed before he felt the moustache hair followed by the villain’s tongue on his palm. None of what he could cover with his fingers made enough of a difference. The intensity forced his hand to twitch, causing his fingers to lose their strength because they couldn’t maintain a fist, and then he felt suction, which was almost too much. He wanted to scream at Eggman to stop or just cuss him out but all that came out of his mouth was the same chirping and moaning that he heard the grey hedgehog make. He could feel his entire hand on Eggman’s tongue. In a last-ditch effort, he banged his head against the chair failing to get anywhere close to knocking himself unconscious. He saw sparks of light in his vision, but it wasn’t from head trauma as his body ignited in coursing waves of pleasure. Sonic didn’t notice Eggman’s face was gone until he was screaming and looking down out himself. He saw that he had ejacul*ted all over his own thighs, the belts near them, and the chair while his dick was already beginning to recede back to hide itself away. His hearing was shot so all he heard was ringing until that dissipated hearing Eggman’s uncontrollable laugher who was actually spinning in his chair, acting like he was the one who just org*smed. Sonic briefly recalled the pain killers the f*cker was on. He kept using one of the edges of the desk to keep the spin going as Sonic watched detached.

“I’m…in…a…mad…house.” The blue hedgehog thought.

The doctor missed and clambered to the floor still laughing. Besides being traumatized, his dopamine was f*cking spent. Sonic had felt a slight bit of depression or detachment after org*sming before, but never like to this degree. ++ (See end notes) The room could be burning around him as Tails screamed for help to put the fire out and he wouldn’t move or respond; that’s how the disconnection felt. The hero had no idea how long he stayed in this detached condition looking at random things around the room. The only reason he stopped was because Eggman was back with the little metal device undoing all the belts until he was sitting unshackled. Sonic did move his arms and his legs but aside from that he didn’t attempt to move. He was so docile or unresponsive to whatever Eggman was saying that the doctor just held his hand near the chair and pushed him on it and Sonic found himself sitting on his captor’s gloved hand being carried from one room to another. Whatever Eggman had said during all this he couldn’t remember. The only reason he heard him now was because the asshole flicked him upside the head.

“SONIC! Hello?”

Sonic responded raspy, “What…?”

“Oh good. I didn’t think someone could go brain dead from an org*sm, but weirder things have happened. I’m going to place you back in your cage now, along with your gloves. I suggest taking a shower. You’re covered with your own spunk, but I’m sure you are aware of that on some level.”

Sonic understood enough of what was said to frown in disgust. He was put back in his cage, his gloves fell beside him.

“What snack and candy do you want?” Eggman asked.

It took the hedgehog seconds to register why that was being asked until he remembered the rewards. He felt like vomiting, but he didn’t know if he’d get a chance later and the logical side of him was somehow still working, screaming at him about survival.

“Twix and cheese crackers,” He answered simply.

“The bot will bring them to you, and I’ll be back in a few hours. We should have a video to watch!” Eggman said and walked out the door.

Sonic crawled to the shower and turned it on, not caring about the temperature, and sprawled out in it as much as he could while lukewarm water rained down on him. He noticed the yellow drain for a few minutes feeling relief, not caring about pissing himself in the shower. He had needed to urinate since the second film, but he was aroused, and his urethra wouldn’t have let him urinate himself even if he had tried: not that he would have. Sonic didn’t know some people could learn to override the flap that prevents flow from the bladder or why anyone would want to do so. As the piss stopped, a change was taking place within his mind where is emotions drifted to the background as a voice propelled to replaced them in the foreground; this voice was a mixture of two voices one was his own and the other more prominent part…was Shadow’s which explained why it wasn’t exactly a kind voice. It was demanding, no nonsense focusing on living and acting. It had forced him to name the food and it had ordered him in the shower. Sonic didn’t bother trying to talk to it because he knew it wasn’t THAT kind of voice—not the type the crazy people heard. ++ (see end notes) Instinctively he knew it was his own creation here to take over when his emotions had finally faltered back in that chair. If the voice could be called anything it would be the mind part of the separation Shadow’s message told him about. This had to one of the parts and he was thankful to have it because it knew what to do and it wanted to live, to get free, and it wanted to kill. It wanted to see Eggman’s death, to watch the blood flow with all the other evidence so it could kick the body, jump on it, crush it for final proof. That want was the closest thing it had to an emotion, but it wasn’t for revenge; it was so had confirmation the doctor couldn’t do him anymore harm: logical threat elimination.

“I guess you are my Nine, huh? Nice to meet you,” Sonic muttered jokingly.

Joke or not it was close to the mark. The blue blur could no longer mention one action Nine made that he did not understand anymore. Even his f*cked-up wish to stay in the Grim alone, cut-off but safe was reasonable, even he if wasn’t near the point of wanting something like the Grim himself. He slowly managed to get up to gather some soap and scrub what remained of his ejacul*te as the voice told him not think about how it had dried there, that it wasn’t the first time he had cum on himself, and he would be dumb to assume it wouldn’t be happening many more times in his life. His emotions started to squeeze back making him believe he’d be forever too ashamed to be with Shadow and how disgusted the Ultimate Lifeform would be knowing this had happened. Sonic would never be able lie to any partner about his first time being intimate had been bought on by force and so had the second time. Shadow would never be the first to touch his hands or lick them. He started to hug himself when the other part of him, the rough voice argued his whole way of thinking was flawed.

Shadow had been the one to tell him to separate his body from his mind so he knew what kind terrible sh*t Eggman could force on him. If it was all so disgusting why give the advice and follow it up with a promise to come and save him. As he began to doubt himself again the voice asked something scary “would you care if it were the other way around” or would he care if someone else had hurt Shadow in the same way. Would that change his feelings or make Sonic want him less.

“No…I wouldn’t want him any less then I do, nor would I be at all disgusted. It wouldn’t have been Shadow’s fault. I’d hate who ever forced him and think they were disgusting, wanting them dead! But Shadow, I’d just want to make him feel better, to make sure I didn’t do anything that would remind him of the past and be there to comfort him if he needed it. That’s the only part that would change. Everything else I’ve ever fantasized or felt about him would remain just the same as has been since I realized how I felt…Wouldn’t it be normal for him to feel the same way if he liked me back or would be find my issues too much of hassle…No, come on, I wouldn’t like him like I do if I truly thought he was someone who would be scared away over anything this serious.” Sonic considered Shadow logical as the person he really was.

He grabbed the soap back up and finished cleaning himself, managing the tears. He had to stay logical, positive, and alive. If he didn’t do those things the voice said getting out of here wouldn’t mean sh*t if he couldn’t enjoy what he was taken away from. He let the soap wash off and compelled himself to end the shower. That miserable, revenge driven f*ck said he was coming back to watch a video, he was reminded by looking at the silver lavender case about the Rouge mission this morning. He used the towels, which were air dried to rub at his fur and quills, noticing the same abundance of loose quills in the shower and on the towels. He could deal with why he was losing them once he was out of here—to many factors were at play that could cause the rapid loss.

The bot had placed the piece of Twix and the bag of cheese crackers near the bars, which he pulled into his cage. He looked at the bot who brought it and he recognized it; how could he not recognize annoying Cubot. Something was off about him; many things were wrong the longer he observed. Cubot was a talker, and his mannerisms were clunky and dumb.

“Cubot? What the hell is wrong with you? I’ve always found you annoying,” Sonic asked, hitting the cage to get his attention.

Cubot looked up at him and responded, “What is your inquiry?”

The voice was robotic with no accent or personality. Well, he sure had a f*cking question.

“Why are you acting…so bland and robotic? You are usually more irritating or hyper,” Sonic tried to find the right word to describe Cubot but none existed.

Cubot responded immediately, “My personality matrix has been wiped and set back to default. What is your inquiry?”

Sonic looked at orange bot sadly. He knew why Eggman was making him suffer; he had been with Sage when she died, but what did Cubot have to do with any of it? He didn’t get why the doctor would wipe the memory of an A.I. he’d made special.

“Why did he wipe your memory and where is Orbot?”

“Unknown. I have no backup of prior events. The bot designated as “Orbot” is on “cat playtime duty” location prohibited, all remaining PROHIBTED. What is your inquiry?” Cubot said.

Sonic sighed. So Orbot was with the cats but that was all he was allowed to reveal. There was only one other thing worth asking.

“Has Orbot’s memory uhh matrix been wiped as well or was it only you?”

“Bot designated Orbot’s memory matrix wipe began one minute and three seconds before my own. Sub-routines have been added for “cat playtime duty” location prohibited, all remaining PROHIBITED. What is your inquiry?” Cubot responded as robotically as the first time.

Sonic realized that Eggman was f*cking losing it in more ways than one. He wouldn’t have ever expected the doctor to do this to his favorite punching bags.

“No other questions…I hope you two were able to say your…goodbyes.”

The blue hedgehog didn’t get a response. There was nothing left of Cubot but his frame. Sage being gone really had sucked the soul out of everything around here. The blue blur looked straight at the camera closest and just said to it, “f*ck, couldn’t you have just wiped any personal data related to you and…let them go if you didn’t like them anymore? They were annoying but they seemed to enjoy existing.”

He didn’t know if his captor would watch that tiny part or not, but he figured it was worth a shot. There was no one else to mourn the two idiots and he had made a fair point. Eggman could turn out two extra bots easily. Letting the two go free being their jackass selves would have been no loss; some kid or even adult family would have loved to own them. Now dry, he put his gloves back on looking at his right hand in disgust.

Sonic began to think and try to make some sense of everything he knew so far. “There could have been worse things he could have licked as much as that frightens me to admit…and I’m not the only one who has suffered. Cubot are Orbot gone, dead as far as bots are concerned. The cats are hopefully alright. Orbot’s playtime didn’t mean that was the only attention they had during the day. Surely, Dr. Eggman spends time with them…and then there is my old enemy himself, who has deteriorated so much in just the last five days. It’s not just his treatment of me. I can separate that and look at the rest of him separately. He stays up into the early hours of the morning and wakes up near noon. I can’t confirm it, but I’m pretty damn sure. The doctor used to get up in the morning excited for whatever insane scheme he had in the works I would need to put an end to. His moustache has not been trimmed in several days, his teeth look unbrushed, and his outfit’s jacket, which is usually put on perfectly, is slightly uneven and it didn’t look pressed. His clothing, as stupid as looks, is always pressed, clean, and put on with care. The very fact he let me quill and slash at his mouth established his lack of self-care: along with his willingness to just over medicate it. The most damning evidence of sickness is Eggman’s persistence with ignoring Shadow. The Ultimate Lifeform is like one of those storms with a seventy-two-hour warning to get the f*ck out of the area or go to the nearest a government shelter, but in that comparison Eggman is one of those wackos who nail a few boards on their front windows and end up on their roof as soon as the storm hits. My nemesis has had more the seventy-two hours, but he doesn’t have anything comparable to a roof or a rescue crew incoming. The only way he’s is surviving at THIS point is if I or someone else Shadow respects, such as Rouge, begged for his life…but I…don’t think I can now…not after that because something has changed, something vital; I’m scared of him, he hurt me, and just everything about him or anything associated with him reminds me of this f*cking DEEP pain that I can’t explain other then a “gnaw”, which I hate using because he came up with the term, even if it the most accurate way I can describe it. I want him dead because I want to feel safe. It’s a straightforward reason. He can’t hurt me again if he’s dead and I think his death might give me a small amount closure. I doubt Rouge is going to beg for his life. Knuckles won’t care. Someone is going to have to hold Tails back from killing Eggman himself. Amy…probably would try to opt for imprisonment but her opinion can’t overpower three-four others. I think this might be some kind of…suicide, as crazy as it sounds but the way he talks contradicts that. I know him too well and he is speaking like he’s going to walk away from this as the losing party, but he’s still walking away free from harm. If my hunch is right, he has some way of escape no one is aware of, some if-all-else-fails plan he’s kept hidden and never needed to utilize. That is just how he is…f*ck! That explains a lot. The bots…he’s cleaning house, wiping everything he can of information to leave as little as possible behind. His uncleanliness might just be because he’s busy getting it ready in time. This bullsh*t livestream and all our f*cking “playtime” together is just one last hurrah because it’s going to take him a long time to regain his former strength while mourning enough to continue the cycle. Damnit, there’s got to be a way of warning them during the competition tomorrow, but how, without details? I’m blind stuck in here. I know nothing of what this base could be hiding or where what he’s going to use to escape might be located. Ugh, I need to eat when I have the chance. Maybe I’ll come up with something.”

Sonic ate the Twix ignoring the nausea, and some of mixed nuts and M&Ms before placing the crackers in the bag and resealing it, reminding himself to focus on the older stuff first. Next, he went over to the lavender and used more than usual and even took some extra, smearing it on his bed, the bars near the shower, anywhere he happened to stand or sit around frequently—any stress reliever was worth putting to use. He didn’t want to do it, but he took his comb and experimentally ran it softly through his upper most quill, looking at the results. It wasn’t good. The quills in the comb were not old quills shedding or even full-grown quills shedding without reason. They were mostly breaks, meaning that part of a normal quill broke off, leaving behind a dull tip or part of the side-volume of the quill had broken off, leaving the full quill weaker, prone to break later. Sonic put the comb away and explored his scalp with a bare hand, which he hated to do, but it was the only way to feel everything, finding a few small bumps that he scratched at. They were just used dry, dead skin; if his skin was dry so where his quills: the old rule of thumb. He also felt several short quills with dull edges, the breaks, and a few larger bumps that were not dry skin. He squeezed them and some whiteish or pale yellowish stuff came out, natural oil blocked up he guessed. He definitely needed to see a specialist when he got out to give him direction on what to do to help reverse the course and recover; it sucked but it wasn’t going to kill him. They were all tiny problems. Tiny…Sonic thought of something crazy.

“Wait, what if his method of escape isn’t actual escape at all, at least not right away. What if he used the same machine used on me to reduce his own size beyond mine? Everyone would be so hyper focused on securing my safety and catching him that they wouldn’t notice…say an ant sized Eggman! He could have a little house stock pilled with whatever he wanted and one small bot ready to fly or swim away from the base when things start to calm down. The bot could take him to a location that has his pre-arrangements, where he could remain that size and stay hidden for however long he desired. I’m sure he has several secret bunkers around the world, so reverting to a more feasible size to live comfier is also conceivable. Obviously. staying small would be the securer way, but he’s so spoiled.” Sonic grew furious.

“Eggman, if you managed to pull that off, you would be virtually untraceable. How the f*ck would we look for someone the size of an insect? UGH!! I can just imagine your ant-y ass chewing on a piece of cookie watching your headquarters being ransacked as I’m rescued while everyone’s scrambling around trying to locate you. The only way to make sure you don’t escape is by letting NOTHING leave. Not a bot. Not a bag. Not a computer Not even one of us…you could literally climb on us, especially Amy, Rouge, and Tails, if he’s wearing clothes regularly. No. no.no! I won’t be taking you home with me unwittingly. They have those clambers that could sterilize me. Still, anyone who doesn’t take such a measure could harbor you…. No, I need to see you dead for sure now! I can’t live normally with that paranoia or spend the next twenty years of my f*cking life watching my back until you are surely dead or too decrepit to pose a threat.How can I hint to the others about this before they arrive. I don’t know sign language or even Morse code…Sonic, you dumbass, the doctor will know those. Eggman has filmed the cage before, and his punishments threaten to show it, I could write the warning on the surface in some obscure way…That’s how to tell you guys! I just need to write it using inside jokes that at least one of you will get. I don’t know what can be done with the knowledge, but it’s something!” Sonic had some hope now that he thought he could warn everyone.

Sonic had done more useful thinking than he had the whole time here but there was nothing else to scrutinize that would be a boon. He walked around the cage throwing away any pieces of bedding that were too wet or looked dirty into the chute. The food was as sealed as it could get, the lavender was sealed, the towels were back hanging, he had drunk plenty of water, and eaten enough whether he wanted to or not, so there was nothing left to do in the cage. To kill time, he went over what he knew about how each of his friends were doing.

Tails had Shadow, or they had each other rather. When he thought about it, without him around, his brother was in the best possible position. He didn’t know how he would show his appreciation to his rival yet, but he already had a list of everything in his mind he was going to change for Shadow and himself. Tails was smart and caught on quick, so he was no doubt providing Shadow with support and wasn’t stupid enough to mention the past. Amy appeared to be okay with the limited info he had. She had her wits about her with the task, was normal on the challenge day, and Eggman made to seem like she was taking a trip to Angel Island, so she wasn’t alone, but Tails didn’t like her and without himself there, Sonic didn’t know if the fox would continue his façade or let it drop, but he doubted his brother would do or say anything that would cause more than surface level irritation.

Boy, was the blue blur wrong about that one and it was good that he didn’t know now how Tails was really acting. As for Knuckles, nothing had changed with him here, aside from having to use a phone every now and again and his task, which the others were helping with. He didn’t have to worry about the guardian who was normally alone anyway. He didn’t know enough about Rouge or Big. Cream’s mother had been smart, as usual, and kept her out of this mess. That was everyone and it was mostly a relief. Amy was the only one he could foresee having any issues.

His thoughts wandered to his home. Shadow was living there, so he imagined it was cleaner and smelled like lavender. He wondered if his brother had spoken to that girl yet or any of those other people since meeting them. Did his brother like clothes now or was that a once only thing for the task and if he did, Sonic wondered what kind of style he would sport. He already styed his fur punk so maybe he like that. He couldn’t help but wonder how Shadow treated Tails in general; his bother was old enough to take care of himself, but he still had occasional questions, permission about what to build and why, felt down about himself, rarely, but it did still happen, and he had the need for reassurance.

“Shadow…is not going to be paying attention to what my bro makes…sh*t. Even if Tails does ask like he is supposed to do, I can imagine him going up to Shadow and telling he wants to build a giant laser canon on the roof and Shadow would…just ask if the roof could bear the weight and if it could, he’d give my little brother the go ahead. In general, I rarely let Tails make weapons; the cyclone was a huge step. There have been plenty of ideas he’s had that since I’ve steered him away from, all weapons, but I doubt Shadow will say no, especially if he thinks he could get some use out of it. I’m coming home to a Tornado II that’s a fighter plane at the very least…. oh no! Tails loves to show off his talents and Shadow loves guns and weaponry. He’s going to try to impress Shads by creating killing gear for him. Terrific! But do I even…have the right to be policing what he builds in the first place? Tails is fifteen now. Other than the house being mi—no half mine because Tail’s commissions paid for so much of the construction, what right do I have? None…I can’t get mad if I come home to weapons in the f*cking workshop. Who am I kidding? If Shadow…really wants me too I will need learn how to tolerate guns. Besides, there are many things that Shadow would give different advice on then I would and that might be why Tails has been acting so confident…maybe Shadow gave him a speech or advice he’s learned that really resonated with my brother. I was unable to understand how badly Tails was hurt before meeting me and the impact it still has on him now. Shadow has been through f*cking hell so he could have picked up on Tails’ issues right away and empathized with him, gave him direction, said something that he needed to hear. I hope that is the case. Even if Tails is slightly different because of it, I’ll be happy for him. My mottos of “just smile”, “live life” “don’t think about yesterday” don’t work for everyone, probably not even for me anymore. Heh.” Sonic calmed down about Tails’ constructions.

There was nothing else to really think about. He could daydream about Shadow. Those films had sure given him a clue of what he could do with the gump. He wanted to rub his hands though Shadow’s quills in that specific way that human did that made his hedgehog lover growl and moan. It looked simple but Sonic knew the human had taken hours of practice and definitely had some accidents learning to do it correctly to feel that good. All the kissing and the little nipping looked fun too, with the extra challenge of avoiding Shadow’s cute little fangs or the fangs might be fun not to avoid. A little bite sure made the first guy happy—well that was a lot of bite—so maybe just a nick. More than all those little details he just wanted to make Shadow feel mind-numbing pleasure and to feel happy with his body and himself. Even with all the red striped hedgehog’s egotism Sonic sometimes got the feeling that Shadow looked at his body as a mutant or alien freak or felt that he wasn’t enough the way he was and that distressed Sonic, to the point of feeling guilty for ever taunting him about being faster or about how he was a cheat with the air shoes. The blue blur now realized how f*cking stupidly meaningless it was who was faster or if Shadow couldn’t run fast without the shoes. Sonic would happily take all his teasing back and let Shadow feel the confidence boost without being bothered, because there might be reasons Shadow felt he needed it; things Sonic didn’t know about Shadow’s body that he might feel uncomfortable with.

It was a different topic altogether, but the poor guy had spent 50 years frozen, which was insane. Sonic had been to so many amazing places around the world and he wanted to take Shadow to them, and he wanted to know what the other hedgehog had dreamt about doing on earth while he was on the ARK and wanted to go do those things with him. He knew he wasn’t a replacement for Maria and didn’t want to attempt to be on that kind of trip, so he wanted it to be their unique trip in her honor, leave a marker for her at each place to show her that Shadow went and saw it for her. All Sonic wanted was the chance and all he wanted in return from Shadow was to be held at night and maybe some comfort when he needed it. He couldn’t imagine himself wanting anything sexual for himself for a while, how long he didn’t know, but Shadow wouldn’t have a reason to care because Sonic desired to please him and learn what to do to make Shadow feel good; that was fine and enticing. Sonic sighed and knew that wasn’t realistic. Shadow would want to please him back because that’s who he was, and he would just have to explain why and hope for acceptance. Anyone with enough life experience would know that Sonic was deeply traumatized and would need plenty of support and empathy from any lover he had, but Sonic was naïve about sex and mental health, so he didn’t know the importance of Shadow’s role when it came to assisting with sustaining a soothing environment and comforting him when he needed it. That awareness would have been very encouraging for Sonic to know now; that he and his partner would bear his trauma and the strains that came with it with him as an equal. He wouldn’t discover all of this until he was rescued, and he would be immensely grateful because he would end up needing it more than he could have imagined.

The new voice demanded a change to his ways of thinking with excess time in the cage to topics that were not emotionally charged. Food was the topic now and the rules were that he had to think of a food that started with each letter of the alphabet and then picture it in his mind and remember how it tasted. If he had not tasted it before, he had to imagine what it would taste like. It was boring but the voice wasn’t wrong about it being something unlikely to cause one of his crying fits. There was only one food that wasn’t allowed in this thinking game, eggs. He got to “J” which was tripping him up and that’s when Dr. Eggman came back in.

“Hello again, Sonic! I’m happy to say that Rouge came through for you and so we have a video and something else as well. Are you feeling better now? You can hear me and everything,” Eggman asked, truthfully wondering if Sonic was mentally sound enough yet.

He had expected the hedgehog to freak out, cry, call him every word in the book, accuse him of sexual assault which would have been accurate, no skepticism this time, but Sonic had gone half catatonic, awake but barely reacting to anything he should have been reacting too. The doctor supposed laughing, chair twirling, accidently falling off his chair, and continuing to laugh while rolling on the floor hadn’t helped…at all, but with all the codeine in his system random shapes on some of the textures on certain walls in the base were somehow funny. He had been worried he had broken his little pet too soon.

“I’m trying to think of a food that starts with the letter J.”

That was all Sonic said. It was an odd question, but it meant the hedgehog could hear him. He thought about it…Juice! But that wasn’t food. He knew there was some type of berries that started with J, oh Jam was a food.

“That…was weirdly more difficult than I thought it would be Sonic. Jam. There’s your food. What flavor is up to you. My favorite is strawberry. Hmm, you know pomegranate Jam is remarkably good too. Hey Cubot!” The doctor yelled.

“What is your inquiry?” Cubot said robotically.

“Go get me two pomegranates quickly! Chop, Chop!” The doctor ordered.

Cubot didn’t respond but hovered off, faster than he used to be. Its creator watched it smiling.

“It’s a hell of an improvement, isn’t it? No more annoying voice, no more fumbling, no more f*ckups.” He smirked.

Sonic didn’t care to talk to the monster, but he had wanted answers about the fate of those poor suckers.

“Didn’t you…specifically create him to have the accent and that personality he had? Why take the time to make him unique just to delete it all?” Sonic asked only showing mild interest in it.

Eggman scratched his chin for a moment before answering.

“They were some of my first artificial intelligences, but I created superior ones after, until I created the ultimate, the last who achieved a distinct sense of self agency, emotion, and everything else a human girl was supposed to feel: humanity in code form. After creating and witnessing her, the others became a f*cking joke. Cubot and Orbot? Bah! They felt nothing. They were trash and so I got rid of them. I should have done it sooner,” Eggman explained coldly.

Sonic wondered if that was really true, that those two hadn’t felt any emotion. He didn’t agree. It wasn’t complex but he thought they did, and they were not free like Sage. Absorbing some of that ancient technology and the freedom it gave her from Eggman were the reasons she was able to develop further. The doctor didn’t let his other creations have freedom. Anytime one of his robots that had become free, in some way, all developed emotions That red one Amy befriended was the saddest example, killing itself to fee the bird that gave it energy. Omega f*cking hated the doctor’s guts but cared for Shadow and Rouge. Either Eggman didn’t know how advanced the others had become once freedom or he was ignoring their existence

“Oh. Did they want to say their goodbyes to each other? Did they beg you for life?” Sonic asked, not expecting to be answered.

The roboticist was surprised Sonic was even interested in his robots. He never showed interest before in them. He didn’t see the harm in telling Sonic about Cubot and Orbot’s pathetic last few minutes,

“Heh. Of course they begged. Begging was one of the only things they could do during their entire existence. They did request a goodbye and I gave it to them for some amusem*nt. They apologized to each other and hugged if you can believe it. I wiped Orbot’s matrix first. It kept reaching out for the other one during the wipe. Silence at last!”

The hedgehog hid his disgust and surprising sadness. He nodded and made the appropriate reactions to keep the doctor in the dark about what he secretly thought. He didn’t grasp how Eggman failed to see any emotion in the behaviors he just described, but he also knew the man was full of sh*t and the real reason for wiping them was because they were not worth taking with in or couldn’t be taken with him. They could even be safe, and sound stored elsewhere like Sage who didn’t have a frame to represent her physical body. Sonic knew she was on a hard drive or whatever was superior to one of those; he didn’t know much about the technology, yet assumed Sage didn’t think of herself as the material she was stored on. Knowing that his nemesis was about to blow this joint made everything he said just up to debate b he wasn’t because Eggman wasn’t going to let out any hints about his plans of leaving or how. The blue blur didn’t want to hear any slip ups on Eggman’s end. He might end up being too much of a risk if Eggman ever thought he knew too much. The voice wanted him to remain a fool to the doctor’s eyes.

“Never much liked Cubot. Orbot was better,” Sonic obeyed the voice.

It was true. Orbot rarely irritated him and mocked Eggman behind his back. Cubot was the annoyance.

The roboticist smiled, “Funny, I made Orbot first. Cubot should have been the superior product, but I tried to get… creative…Ah, finally! That took forever! Still useless, but no bumbling apologetics.”

Eggman grabbed the two pomegranates and pealed one apart into four sections, took two pieces, scraped them off onto pieces of plastic and shoved them into the cage. Sonic picked one of the red seeds up that at his size looked like a mini fruit.”

Eggman shoved a bundle of them into his own mouth while he watched Sonic examine it. He could tell the hedgehog hadn’t eaten one before by the look on his face.

“Bite into it but toss the seed in the middle down the chute. You are probably too small to digest them and chewing it up would be a hassle. Consider it my little gift to you for tomorrow’s challenge. You have been on a junky diet, party my fault, party yours for choosing complete trash.” Eggman paused to get up and walk over to the mini fried to grab something and made his way back.

Sonic bit into the reddish fruit pleasantly surprised and the sweetness and then the tartness that came with the flavor. It was refreshing to eat something healthy.

“Pomegranates are considered a superfood by some for their source of vitamins, antioxidants, and other qualities they can’t prove, so consuming as many of those as you should revitalize you a bit and you are going to need that energy you are so famous for. Heh.” The mad man just smirked as he shook the bottle of wiped cream and putting some on another piece of plastic.

The doctor shoved the whipped cream in, smearing the bars while also pointing out to use one of the bottle caps left over to collect it as it melted unless he wanted a mess. Sonic looked at the cream in disgust for a second, he had his head turned to hide it. The voice said he was thinking like a fool; it looked almost nothing like that, and it was smarter to play along and make use of what he was given. He dipped a second piece of fruit into it and ate, tasting the charm of the mix.

“Uh, thank you, I think,” Sonic replied to the doctor, wanting to hint without being outwardly insulting that this was no great deed or a fitting way of “making up” for anything, as if food could make up any of it.

Eggman giggled, “Thanks Sonic, but we both know all talk is meaningless. Besides, who watches anything with out eating? I’m going to set up your favorite pair of brea—I mean Rouge’s video.”

Sonic rolled his eyes. The doctor wasn’t even bothering to pretend anymore, which was fine. Sonic had found the whole fake tip-toeing-back-and-forth banter to be exhausting. It kept him on edge with just a sliver of hope. At least he knew where he stood this way. All was pleasant rambling until it came time to commit another assault, like beating your wife and apologizing the next morning.

“Oh, sorry honey for tying you up to make you watch erotic films while I watched, laughed, and judged your every reaction. Also sorry for imposing myself on you at the end, pushing you to cum with my disgusting pig breath. Here’s some whipped cream and pomegranate. We’re chill now, right? Yup. We are because you don’t have a say.” Sonic imagined Eggman’s annoying f*cking voice in his head summing up what happened in the ludicrous way the doctor seemed to interpret what he did.

The screen in front of his cage lit up but didn’t play anything. Sonic kept devouring the pomegranate while the screen did nothing, perfectly happy with it, watching the blankness like it was some interesting TV show.

He heard Eggman sigh and walk back over, showing the blue blur a coin in his hand. Sonic munched harder damning the f*cker for making everything a game.

“Sonic you have become oh so patient, willing to watch absolutely nothing. Shadow should thank me later for instilling this quality into you, but we are going to watch something. Do you see this coin? It’s going to decide whether we watch the good video first or…the bad video. Tails will be the good one. I think that’s fitting while heads are bad. Best out of three determines the outcome. Put down your food for a moment and toss the coin out of your cage three times.”

The hedgehog reluctantly placed his food down, irritated about the Shadow remark and also Eggman making him toss the coin when he was perfectly f*cking capable of doing that himself. As he took the dime, he wondered why Eggman even assumed him and Shadow were going to just hit it off or maybe he didn’t and thought it had the most room for taunts, being gay and all; although, when Sonic thought about it, the doctor had never really made a gay-specific jokes. He guessed they were coming later or maybe Eggman thought sex was sex, primal mating behavior or whatever scientific terms where used. The jerkass hasn’t sired any kids of his own, thank the f*cking emeralds, and no man or woman had screamed to the news media about bedding doctor.

Sonic tossed the coin out and he had a good aim, throwing through square openings between the bars. Maybe the doctor f*cked one of his bots or couldn’t get it—Sonic felt nausea. He had to be careful where he let his mind wander. His nemesis showed it be tails and gave Sonic the coin back which he threw again. The blue hero didn’t care about the outcome; he would have to watch the bad one either way. The doctor revealed the result as heads and had Sonic repeated this action for the last throw. Eggman picked it up and showed the hedgehog it was tails. Rouge was first. Sonic went back to his food and cream to wait.

The screen showed Rouge within a few seconds. She was paused so he could take a good look at her…in a t-shirt and no makeup, still beautiful with her natural eyes and full lips, but the shirt withheld the eye candy. Sonic did not care because he’d seen enough boobs for today; he was just amazed to see her so casual. Eggman noticed Sonic’s state.

“I warned you about this Sonic. What you usually see is some idealized form she’s perfected for idiots like you and rocks-for-brains, that echidna.”

The blue blur remembered but seeing it was surreal. This Rouge looked like a person Sonic could chill out with.

“Almost forgot. Her mission is to talk like she loves you for four minutes. Enjoy!” Eggman shouted, giving the hedgehog no time to ready himself.

The video started and Rouge voice emitted from the speakers.

Hello my dear blue! I’ve missed you so much more than you can ever imagine. I know being trapped has its own pangs, but waiting here at home alone is also unbeatable. I don’t even get to see how you are for days! Even then, I can’t speak with your privately…My love, I’m doing everything I can to get you back into my arms and into our bed.

Everyone else is helping as much as they can and I am taking the wipe to them, trust me on that! Huuphs! I miss touching you…gazing into those emerald eyes of yours, the two jewels in the world I am happy to merely process, but never hold. I miss running my hands thorough your smooth quills, digging my claws ever so slightly into your skin all the way down your back to your tail how you relish. I want to feel your lips on my neck and chest…your inexperienced kissing. I know! I know, blue, you are becoming more skilled at it, but you are still so innocent, and I think that’s why I limit your smooches.

I want you to retain some of that purity that men so quickly lose. Give it up, eventually I must, but until that day, let me enjoy your simple kisses, your untrained squeezes full of wonder, and me controlling our love making. Let me delight in what you have yet to learn. Let me teach you. It isn’t true what they say that people hate beginners. It’s a lie, my love, used to shame them. The truth is we all covet the new. Thank you for being honest about that weirdo you were with before, so we could discuss what happened sincerely.

That person was disturbed and nothing they did was anything like what you and I do. It only seemed to be so on the surface, but I helped you realize the difference and now we explore anew, filling up a blank canvas…The results will be breath-taking. Your time away from me is only a small bleep in our lives in comparison to the years shall confront hand in hand. Hang in there my blue blur, our hero. We are coming for you, and I will be the first to hold and to embrace. Don’t doubt me…you know I’m the most powerful being on this planet. Nothing will stand in my way or bring me down.

I have help for once, even if I detest sharing the spotlight. It is all worth it to take you back to our home. Stay strong inside. Do not let whatever you need to do remain safe, no matter how humiliating or agonizing you think it might be. No action you take to remain alive, intact, and sane so you can back with me again will I ever consider disgraceful. NOTHING will change how I feel or think about you Sonic, so don’t worry about me. All you need to know is that I’m coming for you. I’d be there this instant if possible. Your friends also love and miss you. I love you more than anything in the world and I’ll be with you soon, my silly faker.

Cut! It is a little over four minutes, but you know how I am. Mission complete, Dr. Eggman, but my dear, I fear for you. You and I are not friends per say, but we’re scratched each other’s backs for years and I stay out of your hair unless you threaten my gems or the world they exist on. Keeping your prize for so long has angered some very powerful individuals. You are having fun. I understand that dear, and having a little bit of fun wouldn’t have been much of an issue, but too much of anything starts to become lethal at the higher doses. You’re have reached the max dose. If you understand and want to finally escape, contact me. I will see to the arrangements…somehow, even if I need to take some lash back. If you can provide me an alive Sonic who is intact, I can make it happen. If not, I will miss the usefulness you have been to my own personal endeavors. Do try to go to sleep at a reasonable hour. Bye bye!

The video paused once it reached its end.

Sonic was grabbing and the bars, tears running down his face. He hadn’t missed any of the role plays she snuck into her speech: her standing in for Shadow the closer she got to the end. Rouge had spent the time to create a miraculous act of compassion to send him that message. She knew about Shadow and knew what could be happening to him and she had spent a considerable time assuring him it wouldn’t matter to Shadow. Sonic wondered if the Ultimate Lifeform had collaborated to make the message.

There was no concrete proof because Rouge was a spy and all of what she knew she could have easily figured out by paying close attention. In the end, he would have to trust that Rouge thought her message was legitimate. The blue hedgehog kicked himself for never putting in any effort into getting to know this incredible woman who knew him so well. She was even willing to endure Shadow’s wrath for Eggman’s escape. Sonic knew the lunatic wouldn’t take this last kind offer.

Eggman had studied the video too and was impressed. He knew Rouge would sneak in some things, and he didn’t care. She was a far better player at this mind game sh*t the all the rest. He thought carefully about Rouge’s offering hand, and he trusted it. If he gave her Sonic, he knew she could f*ck up the logistics long enough for him to make a comfortable escape; aside for his size, Sonic was fine enough. He would only need to hand over the device for the fox to finish. This was his last normal way out. If he didn’t make contact before the live stream, the time window would close. His own means of escape was nearly complete and if he were to take her deal Shadow, Tails, and Sonic would not forget this entire ordeal.

He had taken things too far with the rodent; thus, he knew the hedgehog finally held a deeper resentment he couldn’t just brush off. Shadow would always be on the lookout to make him suffer for his lackadaisical attitude toward Maria, regardless of what Sonic wanted. Tails was a disturbing, blinking question mark because the brat was talented, conniving, and easy to anger. That was an unstable mixture, so the fox would take his time, craft his weapons, hone his skillset, and wait to strike when the timing was just right. He gained very little with Rouge’s offer. He would still need to go into deep hiding, taking his playing cards off the world stage to stay safe and he was already going to do that with this current plan. The only thing that he didn’t have was his escape method, but it was almost done. Even if they found him as early as tomorrow, he had confidence he could finish it while making evasive maneuvers and putting up a solid opening offense.

“I wish I could take your offer Rouge, but you can’t protect me from those three for the months I would require reinforcing my safeguards to retain my relevancy in the world. You are only offering what I will soon have on my own.” Eggman’s decision was made.

“She’s sure doesn’t lack for talent, does she? Ha! She even had me considering for some minutes, but she can’t offer me enough to hand over my best source of amusem*nt. Oh well! Better dry those eyes Sonic, maybe eat a little more. We still have the bad video left.”

Sonic turned around to resentfully do just that and went back to his pomegranate. He concentrated on eating them because they were good, and he hoped whatever vitamins they contained could help even a little with his dry skin and quills. He thought about how thrilled Tails would be that he found a new fruit he liked, because he didn’t have many, preferring protein, which was normal despite what Amy had to say.

“Let’s get the reward over with first, shall we. Rouge loves treasure hunting, luxury, outsmarting people, tricking men, casinos, and intelligence gathering. I don’t imagine anything other than a chaos emerald would do you a lick of good, so I stuck with luxury, and information gathering.” Your choices are a pillow that comes with a better banket, a notebook with writing utensils, five scents of soap, or a clock placed near your cage so you can tell the time. I’ll give you three minutes.”

Sonic didn’t care for the different smelling soaps since they wouldn’t help. The clock was useless because he couldn’t prove that it was going to be set correctly. That left the pillow and blanket, admittingly nice to have, and the notebook. It wasn’t cold in this room, so he was easily able to use the blanket he had as a pillow. Like all luxuries, it was never as necessary as it looked. The notebook could stave off boredom. He could draw for fun or what he found to be significant and write notes in a cryptic way to remind if he started losing it. More than all those reasons, just being able to express himself in some another manner would be healthy for his psyche.

“The notebook.” the hedgehog replied plainly.

Eggman wasn’t surprised. He had cameras recording Sonic having fits in the cage so he could understand how a notebook would be worth more than physical comfort. He found it intriguing how quickly someone’s priorities could change once taken out of their comfort zones. It would have been irrational to think Sonic would be any different. Without his speed, aerobatics, hand-to-hand combat, a way to use his affinity with chaos energy, the hedgehog was just a regular nineteen-year-old. How odd it must feel to be a normie.

“Very well.” Eggman sat walking between desks and handing it and the utensils to Sonic.

The notebook was just a bunch of paper sized properly, folded, and pressed by a machine, but it was well done with more pages than Sonic could fill; it was impossible for him to remain here long enough. The utensils were lengths of lead dipped in plastic for Sonic to grip, again plenty of it. The blue blur tested it out and it was good enough. He was tempted to draw Eggman dying in various ways, but that wasn’t the brightest thing to do while he was here.

Eggman smiled and said, “I’ll ad a toilet in there if you can draw me blood eagled properly.”

The doctor laughed knowing the rodent would be unlikely to know that type of execution and even if he did, he didn’t think the idiot knew enough about ribs and lungs to portray it. Sonic co*cked his head and growled.

“Knuckles spoke about that once and I ignored him. sh*t!” Sonic accidentally said out loud.

Eggman laughed harder, “Well, you should have listened to your friend. It’s a very interesting technique of killing someone. You would be sh*tting in a toilet tonight, but alas you ignored him. I would have ignored the red one too, I admit.”

Sonic sat back down to eat and sighed. He knew it was some nasty way of torture that ended in death, but that’s all he recalled. Well, that and Amy begging Knux to stop while Tails kept asking questions. Eggman went back to his computer and started tapping away. The blue hedgehog took a few breaths and prepared for the worst—what if something bad had happened to one of his friends? He hopped it was just people’s nasty comments or some insane fan of Eggman’s saying something disgusting. The screen changed to show the desk top window of the computer his captor was using.

He saw the pointer clicking around to the browser, to the favorites bar, saw some of Eggman’s stupid logos until he was on a page titled “official uploads”. He saw Eggman scroll past Amy’s video, Tails’ video that was in two parts, and then part Rouge until the page centered on something low quality. Eggman started to explain.

“About five or six minutes after Rouge uploaded her video, I uploaded one of my own tagged to all your friends, but anyone can view it as you can see. All those logos around it indicate it is official from me. Don’t bother looking much at the screen. The camera means nothing. It’s the audio that’s going kick the hornet’s nest and let’s just say the hornets are already buzzing around pissed. Sorry, not sorry for the déjà vu.”

The video started. It only took a few seconds to realize the camera was one in his cage facing the TV the same f*cking TV and the audio was from yesterday when Eggman was having “issues” with his lie detector. He heard himself start talking about Amy. He balled his hands into fists as he listened to himself explain what he thought of her hobbies. He sounded distressed but he still sounded like a complete asshole too. Hearing Eggman trick him into vomiting out even more information about how different the two of them were and basically how she would make his life boring was humiliating. He had been so f*cking stupid to fall for it, but he was scared, and rightfully so, proven by today’s nightmare of an event. He was expecting it to go all the way until Shadow was mentioned but it ended with Amy. Hornets…Yeah, right, more like hundreds of man-eating tigers.

“Amy’s fans are oh so sad that it not being “tru luv” but nothing from the leading lady herself. There is a live stream tomorrow though. I’m sure she will be extra pleased to see you,” Eggman mocked Amy and her fans and waited for Sonic’s explosion.

Sonic didn’t explode but he asked a question, “Why hurt her? I thought your whole motivation was to torture me for revenge. What did Amy do to you to deserve this to be public for everyone to see? I get it. You want her to hate me. Fine, but why not just send it to just her or the five or six of us? Mission accomplished.”

The doctor raised a brow. The rodent had posed a decent question for once. Why, indeed, hadn’t he sent it to her? Having Amy hate Sonic was the motivation. Randoms of people were not needed for that. The only answer he could come up with was more content, more drama, more views for tomorrow. After hearing the confession, people were going to want to see Amy’s reaction and they’d tune in to watch her every micro-expression. That had been the reason, and he didn’t consider whether the woman deserved it or not. He didn’t care either. Amy was just a tool to him, hardly registering as a person.

“Eh! The more the merrier, I guess. I didn’t give it all that much thought when I posted it. Think of it this way; with this video public she can replace you in an instant. Not all fame is bad. Your little brother has made that salon a hot spot of non-human styling needs. The little fox even has that style named after him. If Amy has any sense, she’ll use this fame to promote her career aspirations, assuming she has those, and she will no longer waste her time on you,” Eggman said carelessly.

Sonic understood getting viewers immersed through contributing private details about his and Amy’s lives would create more excitement; the masses would believe they were enmeshed in this real-time drama. It was uploaded, without restrictions for anyone, to see to garner attention right before his latest livestream. Dr. Eggman had at least given each person a choice about tasks, so regardless of the ramifications for the captor and themselves, they completed them willingly. They posted their content of their own volition. The nuances didn’t matter because everything before this involved his friend’s FREE WILL, even if they were heavily manipulated to participate for Sonic’s betterment; they still had a choice. They didn’t need to join the live streams, perform the tasks, or visit the doctor’s social media, just as Cream had not.

The upload Eggman just posted changed the scope and eliminated any degree of privacy, civility, or sense of fairness this disaster of a “game” had ever had. Amy had not been presented with a choice before this video including intimate details about her feelings and life and now had to undergo the fallout of social media infamy and fame. The blue blur was no longer the only one deprived of freedom of choice and confidentiality; he was not getting the entirety of the spotlight. Sonic believed the f*cking asshole about not having given the upload “much thought”.

When and if they had Eggman begging for his life Sonic would make sure he was put down for good. The doctor had gone on and on about how this was his rightful revenge against Sonic for Sage: revenge against him solely. “Unlike my grandfather I don’t want to take revenge on the world, only you” or something to that effect was said by Eggman, but he sure didn’t mind damaging Amy’s reputation for an increased viewer count, some clicks, funnier comments and ultimately for his own amusem*nt. If left alive, even in a prison, the blue hedgehog truly believed Dr. Eggman would just get worse and eventually be no different from Gerald. It was a slower progression, yet it was lunacy all the same.

The roboticist had not lied when he said he couldn’t be repaired. Sonic heard the voice trying to stop him, to reason with, and to warm him but the excessive unjustness thundered inside his head and chest as Sonic looked up with fury screaming, “You can’t play dumb with me! I know you know how Amy really is as a person. She has strong convictions.! She WAS obsessed with me. She is kind to a fault. She never gives up on her friends no matter how dangerous the situation! She can make selfish mistakes but always recognizes them and apologizes. She is now a strong fighter with a quick temper. She believes heavily in her own intuition and emotions, BUT SHE IS NO f*ckING PROFITEER!!! She won’t want to replace me right away. She will not enjoy the fame of fans wanting to chit-chat about her crush faking for years! She won’t be on her sofa right now trying to hire an agent to make a product line, show, or hook a few interviews out of this!! She will just be depressed, lonely and pissed! Oh, but f*ck all that…That’s not about you so you don’t give a sh*t. What you have been doing is fooling and lying to yourself, Egghead! Oh…what was your reasoning for all this…oh right, you want to make me suffer as a revenge for Sage…Oh, please! f*ck off with that gibberish; you have already begun damaging the life of someone besides me! If you had a few months to keep going insane you would end up just as pathetic as your grandfather, wanting the whole world to turn to ash. Here’s the kicker, you held the controls on Sage that day!! You could have blocked her off from piloting and left it to me to go up there, fight, and die! But instead, you allowed her because you wanted to save your own as—

Dr. Eggman had never been so pissed at Sonic since the day he realized the data retrieved after The End’s defeat was incomplete and unrecoverable, months before Sonic’s capture. He laid the blame on Sonic for his failure to protect her and for his actions after the conflict. He couldn’t take out his wrath on the hedgehog then, but he sure could now.

“What did I f*ckING SAY about NEVER mentioning MY DAUGHTER AGAIN! Saving my own ass? f*ck you! If I could have piloted that f*cking thing in her place, I gladly would have! You really believe I didn’t consider it and try?! It wouldn’t respond to me and attempting it felt like someone was flossing the Sulci of my brain with razor wire because it wasn’t compatible with human physiology!! You want to know why I lifted the block on her, rodent?! I allowed her because I trusted her judgement, but more than hers, I trusted YOU. Why? You were the one who helped her strive to evolve past her emotional boundaries while I was stuck in cyber-space! I let her go because you always win! You never fail to come back alive no matter how dismal the odds are! You always accomplish making everyone work together! No one who has fought alongside you has ever died! Shadow doesn’t count because that poor bastard was satisfied dying for Maria that day, but Sage had everything in the world waiting for her and she wanted TO LIVE! I let her because you NEVER FAIL! I let her because despite you being by f*cking enemy, I admired you! I truly considered you as my better! I trusted you! I let her go with you because you were my fri…NO! f*ck THAT, SONIC! IT DOESN’T MATTER. You went up there with her and SHE TRUSTED YOU. She wanted to come home TO BE YOUR FRIEND, TO SPEND TIME LEARNING FROM YOU, AND TO MEET HER BROTHERS! SHE HAD HOPES AND DREAMS OF AN ENTIRE LIFE! You were a FAILURE up there with her. Her body was burning in the atmosphere while YOU LAUGHED AND SMILED WITH YOUR STUPID FRIENDS ON THAT PLANE!” Eggman stopped to breath and moved closer to Sonic’s cage shutting the fearful rodent down when he tried to reply, “NOT GIVING A sh*t WAS WORSE. Being a failure? Oh, that I could have understood. I fail all the time! BEING AN UNGRATEFUL, HEARTLESS, SMILING FAILURE IS WHAT I COULD NOT FORGIVE, SONIC. I could not forgive you flying down from space like nothing happened!! I cannot forgive you for not being on that cliff with me watching her remains until they all burned… I. HATE. YOU. AND. YOU. WILL. SUFFER!”

(THIS IS NOT THE REAL ENDING. There is more but I went past the character limit...Yeah, sad I know. I may just dump the rest in another chapter that isn't a real chapter soon after this or make it a part of a whole nomal chapter)