Arctic-Starflowers presents:

Why do you care?

Chapter 1: THE EMERALD!

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It's cloudy, they're in the forest, and right now Sonic's swiping a kick at his rival's face- he hits his chest, and Faker falls back while Sonic spins around and darts away. There's trees whizzing past, and Sonic almost feels the chaos spears shooting after him before he sees them, tiny strikes of lighting, and he's dancing away out of reach, dashing behind a line of trees which all take the hits instead, wood groaning and energy exploding into splinters-

-and then it's quiet. Sonic can suddenly hear himself breathing, freezes, and stands still too peek out through branches reaching down and bushes reaching higher… It's smells like fire, from the trees, but he can't see Shadow- he tries to feel after his chaos energy instead, starting to move again, quietly, the wind rustling through the greenery the only sound…

Until suddenly the two trees – not that big, leaves and bark looking dull - in front of Sonic, just explodes at the middle, snaps in two with a terrific noise, and Sonic bursts out of hiding, eyes catching Shadow just as he draws back again after throwing those – lances? Spears? – and Shadow spots him too, and changes direction abruptly.

"Finally getting out of the shadows, are we?" Sonic shouts with mirth in his eyes, and then they both lunge at each other, Shadow looking as annoyed as ever, concentration and nothing else as he spins around to kick Sonic with his soles ablaze – literally – like nope, that would hurt-

Sonic drops to a split-second crouch, avoiding the hit and springing back up immediately, kicking at Shadow again, putting force behind it- and twisting his body away as chaos spears fizz past his ears, just barely grazing them. And he moves backwards to attack again- except he doesn't, his leg is stuck- what the fuck – and then he sees (or realises) that Faker's trapping his leg, but then all air's knocked out of him with an undignified oof, Hero of Mobius realising but a second too late that Faker threw another chaos spear…

Sonic hissed and quickly grits his teeth to stop any more noises from escaping his mouth, yanking his foot away from Shadow. The black hedgehog's eyes had widened slightly - wow, it hit (or what?) - but he quickly regained his usual expression, and annoyance flared in Sonic; Shad's the only one having his punches actually hitting, huh, let's change that - Faker really should stop acting all high and mighty, emotionless... tsk!

I'm so gonna get revenge for that spear!

"Looks like you got me…" He admitted, standing straight and ignoring his lungs feeling weird and squashed, chest feeling like he fell on a hot stove, to regard Shadow instead. Shadow just looked at him like he didn't give shit about anything coming out of Sonic's mouth, and Sonic glared or looked at him like he was planning something bad- or at least it'd be awesome if Shadow interpreted his look as that- "But…" Sonic grinned. "…It won't happen again!" And he charged forward…

Sonic narrowed his eyes with a grin, and then he spoke again with a voice filled with determination, "It won't happen again!"

It flashed of blue as he dashed forward, and a strong kick hit Shadow in his stomach before he had time to step away. He gritted his teeth from the painful kick, but partly in anger too because Sonic had managed to hit him again.

The blue hedgehog, always triumphing over him in one way or another. And that was not supposed to happen. He was the Ultimate lifeform, no one was supposed to be able to beat him… And he was somewhat angry at himself too, for being mad over something as silly and immature as this…

Shadow looked over his shoulder, and saw that Sonic had come to a stop on a moss-covered rock. The blue hedgehog grinned at him in success, and Shadow glared angrily at him.

You hit me in the stomach, you moron! He wanted to yell, but bit it back. A kick to the gut may be enough to knock out a simple mobian, but no way that the Ultimate lifeform would show weakness over something like that!

Sonic looked at him almost mockingly, and then he said, "You don't mind me borrowing this do ya? Tails kinda needs it for…" The rest of the annoying speedster's talk was ignored, as Shadow saw what he held in his hand, making sure the black hedgehog saw it.

My chaos emerald! Shadow narrowed his eyes even further. How did he get his hands on it?

"See ya!" Sonic then shouted, and sped away through the woods with a speed only Shadow could keep up with. If that wasn't a challenge, then I don't know what it was…

Shadow quickly took off after him, ignoring the throbbing pain in his abdomen. It was easy to follow Sonic, since he had the emerald now which shone like a beacon to Shadow's chaos senses.

Trees and bushes flew past him like a green blur, and he leapt over logs and rocks blocking his way. Sonic ran in front of him, like a blue wind with a chaos emerald. Slowly and securely Shadow managed to close in, and it didn't take long for the blue hedgehog to notice it. And then, suddenly, Sonic changed direction so that he went right through a bush. Shadow quickly followed, but halted even faster when he saw what was behind it.

A ravine stretched out in the middle of the forest, with trees desperately clinging to its sides with roots dangling freely in the air. Waterfalls were going down along the walls, merging together down there into a narrow, but big lake.

Sonic, however, seemed oblivious of that fact as he jumped from branch to branch high above the water, cheering in excitement.

"Hey Shads, your shoes stopped working or what?" Sonic shouted, his voice echoing from the ravine walls. Shadow winced at the noise and the fact that the branch faker stood on was about to snap, but he quickly regained his calm and dashed after him.

Too bad Sonic was part of the planet he was supposed to protect because he lived here, because now Shadow had to make sure he wouldn't drown…

Shadow winced at Sonic's voice, but then all emotions disappeared from his features again. His shoes blazed and he dashed forward, landing on the first branch that Sonic stepped on. His soles left burn marks on it as he jumped over to a second branch, his expression focused.

Sonic watched as he took yet another jump, now only three branches away, before the blue blur took off with a jump of his own. It felt like his stomach folded itself double as he soared over the water, and he tried not to look down, keeping his eyes glued at his goal.

He landed on the surprisingly thin branch with a thud, and the whole thing shook with the force of his landing. Leaves fell down into the ravine, along with some loose stones which splashed loudly as they hit the water. He snuck a careful glance downwards, at the wet, big mass of his fears, which looked like a hungry beast waiting to devour him.

…Maybe running out here wasn't such a good idea…

Sonic looked up again, and glanced in Shadow's direction, hoping that the ravine was at least slowing him down too.

…Unfortunately that wasn't the case. The black hedgehog was only one branch away, and prepared to jump again in a few seconds. Sonic quickly turned back so that he faced the other side of the abyss, and clutched the emerald in his hand. He narrowed his eyes and focused on the branch in front of him, and then he jumped.

It felt like the whole world slowed down for a few seconds, as the only thing that mattered was the breeze through his quills, the water beneath him, and the branch in front of him, which suddenly seemed to be too far away…

Feet hit hard on the side of the branch, and he slipped down helplessly. He grabbed frantically in the air for something to cling to, feeling himself beginning to fall…

"THE EMERALD!"

Sonic nearly screamed because of the sudden yell, and because he was currently falling to his doom, but despite that he got hold of the words.

The emerald!

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

A blinding light was all he saw, and his heart pounded rapidly in his chest, like it was trying to escape from him. And then…

He let out a startled gasp, which was instantly muffled by the thick, fragrancy grass he now lay on. His pulse was racing, and his breaths ragged, but at least he wasn't deep down in a ravine lake…

Sonic took a deep breath of grassy smell, and then he let out a muffled chuckle.

Well, I sure am glad I borrowed the emerald from him…

…And where exactly did I teleport?

He lifted up his head from the ground, and had to blink a few times to adjust his eyes to the sudden change in lighting. The ravine lay right in front of him, but this time he saw it from the side instead. A big tree stood on Sonic's right side, with long branches going out over the abyss. And on one of the branches stood…

"Hey Shads!" Sonic shouted and put the emerald back into his quills.

The black hedgehog looked up at his nickname with an irritated scowl.

"Don't call me that." He muttered and jumped down from the branch and onto the ground, and fir needles crunched under his feet.

"Jeez, I'm glad to see you too." Sonic said and got up from the ground with a small grin. He started to dust himself of, while he heard Shadow's muffled footsteps come closer. Sonic stood up again, now content with his looks, and his gaze fell on Shadow.

The black hedgehog had his usual frown, and one arm crossed over his chest while the other was stretched out, like he waited for something. The emerald.

Sonic smirked to himself, and took the few remaining steps towards him. Shadow didn't look at him, and just gazed out over the ravine. The blue hedgehog gazed down at his outstretched hand for a second, and then he just placed his hand over it, intertwining their fingers with a fast movement.

Shadow's head snapped up, and after a second of shock he narrowed his eyes. "What do you think you're doing, hedgehog?" Every word sounded fierce, but at the same time like he had spent a long time pondering over how he should voice the demand. But really, anything sounded good if you had a voice that dark and silky…

Sonic smiled a cocky smile. "I'm just doing what you're supposed to do if someone offers you their hand. Take it."

Shadow yanked his hand away harshly, and hissed, "Idiot." He took a step closer to the blue hedgehog. "Give me back my emerald."

Sonic flashed a smirk, and pulled out the emerald from his azure quills, holding it so that Shadow couldn't reach it from where he stood. "Nah, I think I'll be keeping it. Don't want it to fall into the wrong hands, do we?"

For two, seemingly endless to both hedgehogs, seconds they stared into each other's eyes. Glared at each other, Sonic with cocky playfulness, Shadow with anger and irritation, both trying to get the other to back off. And then Shadow leapt forward, tackling Sonic to the ground as the blue blur was taken by surprise and didn't have enough time to avoid it.

Sonic landed on his back on the ground, his quills softening the fall and cutting the grass. Shadow landed on him, his red-streaked legs weighing down on Sonic's blue-furred, partly due to the fact that the Ultimate lifeform had thicker bones than other mobians. Sonic, however, didn't have time to worry about such inferior things, as he quickly found himself pinned under an angry Shadow, who was hell-bent on getting his emerald back.

…Wait. Where's the emerald?! He thought. His hands were suddenly just empty…

"So…" Sonic's eyes snapped back to Shadow's, finding the rubies merely a few inches from his face. Their noses were almost touching. "Will you give me the emerald now?"

Sonic blinked. "The… emerald?" He began dazedly. Shadow pulled back a little, and Sonic took a shaky breath.

"…I dropped it." He then stated with an awkward grimace.

"You… dropped it?" Shadow repeated, as to clarify the statement his idiot of a rival uttered.

"Yup, your fault. Remember kids, it's no good to tackle others!" Shadow stared at him, disbelieving, while Sonic grinned like a maniac. Then Shadow finally stood up again, with Sonic following close behind now that he was free to stand up.

The black hedgehog turned around slightly, obviously scanning the ground for the emerald. Sonic did so too, but unfortunately Shadow got his eyes on it first. He dashed forward to get it from the patch of grass it lay on, Sonic close behind. Alas, Shadow got his hands on it first…

Sonic muttered something rather sourly, while Shadow stood up, clutching the emerald in his hand. Two words later, and he was gone within a flash of brilliant green light…

One week later…

"I'm boooreeed…" Sonic whined and leaned back in his seat dramatically, like he just had revealed a marvellous secret in some kind of drama movie.

"Then do something!" Tails almost begged from under his plane. He had just been trying to make some adjustments on the plane, preferably in peace, and be done with it before lunch. But then Sonic the walking disaster appeared…

The kitsune sighed, as he thought back about the previous hour. Sonic had come dashing into his workshop, declaring that he was bored. Tails had then, he couldn't remember why, asked if he felt like helping out with the plane. And that's where it started…

"Hey Tails…?" Sonic asked again, and leaned forward again.

"What?" He muttered and pulled his head out from under the plane, sending a glare at his older brother.

"I just wondered if you needed help with…"

"NO!" Tails quickly cried, and Sonic almost jumped in his seat. "I mean… Why don't you…" The fox threw a glance outside for inspiration. "…go for a run? Or bother someone else? Isn't Shadow living here in Station Square?"

"Maybe…" Sonic shrugged. "But I haven't seen faker since... a week ago?"

"That's strange. Can't you go find him or something? Or bother Knuckles?" Tails suggested with a sigh.

Sonic glanced at Tails with a raised eye-ridge. "Uh, Tails, you kinda need a plane to get to Angel Island."

Another deep sigh. "…Well, I could call Am-"

"Onasecondthought I think I'm gonna go find Shads! Bye, see ya later!" Sonic quickly dashed away, and the fox smiled in relief. Now he could finally go back to his reparations…

To be continued...

7.16 2017 A/N: I rewrote the beginning a bit. 'Cause, you know, I couldn't stand it, but no way I'm rewriting the whole chapter. So...