Chapter Text
Eggman rewatches his recording of the battle. Where had this new hedgehog come from and more importantly did he have a weakness? Weaknesses were exploitable, whether in battle or for manipulating others to do his work. Sonic was weak to water and friends, Amy was weak to Sonic, and Tails was weak to friends as well. Knuckles was always easy to convince of lies that put the doctor in a better position. Eggman stares blankly at the screen. It would be nice to have a power equal to Sonic’s in his arsenal for reasons beyond fights. He would need to keep an eye out for any holes in Shadow’s allegiances to exploit. Eggman sets up an algorithm to hunt through the internet and anything connected for references to Shadow and hedgehog.
After a long break from this stream of thought to focus on other projects, Dr. Eggman returns to his algorithm’s results. A bit had come up, but not much. It almost appeared that Shadow had come into existence less than even a quarter of a year ago. Excepting for one file that was encrypted, locked behind a passcode, and corrupted from fifty years previous simply labeled project Shadow. Eggman tries to get that information but eventually has to give up out of a frustrating lack of results. He turns to the more recent data that is not locked up.
Much of it's from posts on the internet and news articles. There had been multiple sightings of a dark hedgehog throughout the country accompanied by Tails the fox. This piques Dr. Eggman's interest. He clicks through an article that is labeled "Tails the Fox Injured at Local Baseball Diamond”. The photo present at the top of the article is not very good, taken from a distance and through a chainlink fence. There is a crowd of children around two figures, one of which is Shadow who is holding Tails. Dr. Eggman reads the report with some interest noting the fact that the reporter seemed to think that Shadow was very protective of Tails. Perhaps this is the weak point he could exploit.
Eggman strokes his mustache in thought. Something to put on the backburner till there is more information, the scientist supposes silently to himself.
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Tails quietly accepts the wrench from Chuck, carefully using it to tighten a bolt. He glances over to Shadow who is quietly sitting outside in a chair, in front of the open garage door, with a book. It had been a bit of a challenge to go through the Thorndyke residence and find the hedgehog something he was interested in but the effort had been worth it. Shadow had been getting better at doing his own thing with himself. He still kept near to Tails most of the time but the fox found he did not mind very much.
Chuck clears his thought.
“What? Oh, sorry, Chuck. I got lost in my head again.”
Something which is happening more often than it had before. The fox rubs his eyes and stifles a yawn.
“How about you go take a nap or something? You look bone-tired.”
“No, I'm fine. Honestly.”
Chuck frowns at the fox, concern filling his eyes.
“It's not very safe to be messing with machines like this if you are tired. Go take a nap. In fact, I think I need a nap too.”
The older man pushes Tails away from the plane, ignoring all protests. The fox gives up with a sigh, resolving to work on something else. He snatches up some notes to review when Chuck is not looking and moves to go sit outside. Chuck closes the garage doors and moves inside the house. Tails plops himself down beside Shadow’s chair on the ground and starts reviewing the notes he had made about the false signal Dr. Eggman's had produced. The hedgehog does not look away from his book but does place his hand on top of the fox’s head. He gently ruffles the smaller’s hair. Tails starts reviewing his notes, quietly and slowly nodding off in the comforting warmth of the sun and feeling of safety. Shadow flips his page, silently listening to the soft snores of his companion.
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Sonic dodges another bolt of chaos energy with a laugh, rolling across the yard. He leaps up and rushes at Tails who leaps into the air to avoid being tackled. The fox then has to dive to the ground to avoid a bolt thrown in his direction. Shadow chaos controls away from a kick to the face leveled at him by Sonic.
The three of them had been training in the back yard for a few hours. It had started with Tails setting out targets for Shadow to aim his chaos spears at. Then Sonic had come out to the yard interrupting them with a challenge to fight. The hedgehog was somewhat antsy from sticking around the house more often.
Tails flies higher, making it hard for the two hedgehogs to attempt to reach him. Shadow dashes up the wall, making a flying leap towards Tails. He stretches his arms out to be caught rather than to attack. The fox picks up on his silent message and grasps his wrists. The smaller brother twists in the air, causing Shadow to pick up speed, before releasing him to fly at Sonic. The blue hedgehog is unable to doge. The two of them end up in a pile of limbs while Tails hovers above them giggling.
Shadow and Sonic glance at each other and scramble up. Shadow cups his hands and then launches Sonic into the air when the other hedgehog steps into his hands. Sonic tackles Tails in the air causing both to crash back down, landing in the arms of Shadow who had moved to catch them both. The whole pile falls over with merry laughter erupting from the fox and blue hedgehog. Shadow hums and gives a small smile. Warmth swims through him, an equal measure content and happy. Shadow focuses on everything, wanting to cling to the moment like a precious jewel, to forever hold in his heart.