Chapter 6: The Search for Assistance
Shadow just stood there after reading the letter, staring at it. After about 10 seconds, he lifted his head and spoke to himself.

"Pink moron?! That's it! They're getting a beating so bad, they won't be able to breathe for a week!" Shadow took a deep breath and continued, "I gotta calm down. First thing's first." Leave it to GUN to get an innocent involved in this... "I gotta rescue the damsel in distress, tackle the biggest government agency in the world, and not get myself killed in the process. This is gonna be fun.. Well, I guess I'll need some help."

Shadow walked out the door and decided to see Sonic first. This was gonna be pretty difficult explaining all this to him. Especially when he didn't know how to break his survival to him. Shadow just began to walk leisurely down the street, whistling his theme from SA2, keeping an eye out for any blue blurs. Across the street, there was a conveniently placed chili-dog restaurant. A sign in the front window read:

Chili-Dog Eating Contest Today!!! All who think they can stomach it are welcome to try. Whoever eats the most chili-dogs in the shortest amount of time wins!

Prize: Gift Certificate for Chili-Bob's Chili-Dog Hut! If you eat more than 100 in less than an hour: FREE Chili-Dogs for LIFE!!!

Well, I think I found Sonic... Shadow walked in and the first thing he saw was a crowd of people swarmed around a table in the center of the restaurant. There were so many, that there was no way that Shadow could've seen what they were gawking at. Then in the back of the crowd, he heard someone yell, "120!!" and hold up a stopwatch. Yup. It's Sonic. Then, he looked up and saw the unmistakable trademark of Sonic: Tails, hovering over the table to see past the crowd and view his friend's victory.

You should've seen the look on Tails' face! His eyes were so wide, it looked as if they were about to fall out at any moment. And, on top of that, his mouth was drooped so far open, you could fit an elephant in there! He was just hovering there with his tails, witnessing his buddy's chili-dog eating feat in complete awe.

Then, Shadow could've sworn he saw Tails glance over at him. His suspicions were confirmed when Tails' expression turned to freight and disbelief and slowly turned his head back toward Shadow. When they made eye contact, Tails' tails stopped spinning and he fell to the ground in a heap of petrified orange fur. Sonic immediately stopped eating and ran over to his little buddy.

That was when Shadow saw Sonic, and vice versa. "Tails! Hey buddy, are you OK- Shadow?!"

"Yup. Hey faker. Nice seeing you again."

"Am I dreaming?" He rubbed his eyes, "I thought you died at ARK!"

"Times change. Look, I need Tails' and your help. Amy's been kidnapped."

"Again?! By who? Is she all right? How did you survive? Where-"

"Look, okay? Two words: shut, up. Now, save your questions for later, pick up your friend, and follow me back to Amy's place so I can explain everything. Oh, and one more thing. Grab a Tic-Tac, your breath smells like rank chili-dogs." And so the three left for Amy's pad at the speed of light, which may I say, must not be that hard for these two to do. At that speed, they were there in mere seconds.

Everyone took a seat, except Tails, who was still out cold. "Hey, Shadow. Could you get a glass of water for me?" Sonic asked.

"Sure, whatever." Shadow came back in a millisecond with a small cup of water. Sonic took it and splashed it into Tails' face.

"What the-?! Oh, hi Sonic." He then glanced back over at Shadow and looked as if was about to pass out again. Sonic grabbed Tails' face, turned it to him, and said, "No, don't even think about fainting again. This is important."

"O-o-okay." Tails stuttered.

"Now that that's taken care of, I can explain everything to you. To answer Sonic's first question, Amy was kidnapped by GUN." Shadow continued to tell Sonic of his stay until Amy's kidnapping, showing Sonic the letter.

"Whoa, Shadow and Amy? Never would've seen it in a million miles! Especially when she's in love with me! Hahaha! Shadow loves Am-" Sonic would've finished his sentence, but he had already doubled on the floor laughing. He then felt a sharp pain in his side when he noticed Shadow had just kicked him there, hard. "Ow! Hey!"

"Get up." Shadow said coldly. "To answer your second question, faker," Shadow directed an evil glare at Sonic, "she's probably bruised up a bit from rough-housing with those GUN agents. Believe me, I would've pounded that piece of dirt right where he stood if I didn't have a conscience.

"Finally, I don't know how I survived. Only thing I can say is it's probably part of this whole 'I'm the Ultimate Lifeform' business."

"Yeah, yeah. You act all high and mighty because your the Ultimate Lifeform and everything, but I bet your a cream puff in front of Amy." Sonic said, using a baby voice on the word Amy.

"All right! That's IT!!" Shadow was about to pummel Sonic into the ground, but Tails interfered. "STOP!!!" Tails screamed at the top of his lungs, holding out his arms between the two of them. The place grew silent as the hedgehogs stared at him in amazement. "Now, let's settle this kidnapping like civilized adults, shall we? I'd say that the second order of business would be to gather allies. I think we should go see Knuckles first at Angel Island, we can use my Tornado. Meet me outside when you both grow up."

With that, Tails left, the two hedgehogs still at each other's throats. They stared at Tails, then at each other, and ran out to meet Tails in his Tornado. "Truce?" Sonic asked innocently.

"For now." Shadow replied, shaking hands with Sonic to confirm the truce. Tails smiled at this and flew them all off the Angel Island in his Tornado.