Author's Note:

Oof, I apologize for such a long wait on this chapter… I got caught up with the holidays, new stories and friends. (What? You readers were probably busy too. Hmpf.)

Just wanted to mention, I appreciate some of you who are sending PM's and giving me feedback. It really helps motivate me to continue writing these types of stories. I promise I won't let procrastination get in the way.

Anyways, please enjoy this new chapter of Long Lost Memories!

(P.S. I need the Sonic Movie… NOW!)

Chapter 6: Free Time

Shadow lightly snored as he napped on his nice warm bed. He tossed and turned, messing up his neatly made bed. At the moment though, Shadow was supposed to be studying for an upcoming test. But the hedgehog was confident in his mental abilities; he didn't need to study for nothing. So he used the spare time to his advantage, and instead took a nice long nap.

Till Dolly interrupted of course…

"Hiya Shadow!" The red hedgehog shouted as she burst into his room.

"AAH!" Shadow awoke with a fright. He looked around and met eyes with Dolly, who was smiling at him.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking!? You almost gave me a heart attack, Dolly!" Shadow angrily yelled.

Dolly only laughed at his behavior. "Aww, did I scare you mister tough guy?" Shadow frowned at her sarcastic joke.

"Yeah, very funny…" Shadow rolled his eyes and laid back down on his bed. Since he was up, he figured he would just read comic books before he had to do his so called 'study session.'

Dolly pouted, seeing that Shadow wasn't up for her jokes. "You're no fun, you know that?"

Shadow put his comic down for a second. "Me, not fun? Now I'm gonna have to stop you right there. I AM the definition of fun, and I can… wait, why the heck am I telling you this?! Get out of my room! I want privacy!" After Shadow felt like he was done talking, he picked his comic book back up and began to enjoy his time once again.

Dolly was a taken aback by Shadow's sudden words. She didn't like the way he spoke to her. So she figured she could bother him a bit more as payback for hurting her feelings. She wore a sad look on her face, whimpering to get Shadow to feel bad for her.

Of course, the ebony hedgehog took notice. "Ugh, Dolly please… go away. I won't have free time after this you know." The little hedgehog said with annoyance in his voice.

Dolly stopped whimpering; her brows furrowed. "Wait, your "free time?" Are you saying that you're using your study break as a goof-off session?!"

"Look Dolly, why can't you just let me be? Do I ever bother you when you're alone?"

"Well… actually, yeah you do." Dolly remarked.

"What?!" Shadow angrily yelled.

"Yep! Like remember the time where you couldn't understand what division was or how to solve algebraic problems? Face it Shads, you're just dumb." Dolly stuck her tongue out, taunting him.

Before Dolly could say anything else, she was suddenly tackled to the ground by Shadow.

"Nngh, get off me Shadow!" Dolly struggled to break free, but he weighed much more than her. Shadow stared into her eyes.

"Take back what you said! Then maybe once you apologize, I'll let you free." Shadow yelled.

"Never! Not even if it was between life and death!"

"Why you-!"

Just then, the bedroom door opened, and at the entrance was Maria. She had just come back from her science class, but of course, she wasn't expecting the two hedgehogs to be rough housing.

"What is going- Shadow why are you…?" Maria asked as she tried to figure out what was happening at the moment.

Shadow quickly got off of Dolly and dusted himself off. He even picked up Dolly, placing her back on her feet. The hedgehog put on his happy face and began to lie.

"Oh… we were just playing, that's all." Shadow replied.

But Maria wasn't so easily convinced. She then glared at Shadow; her look being very mean and disturbing.

Shadow gulped, he knew that look from anywhere. "Oh no, not the death stare… please Chaos, spare me…"

Maria walked over to Shadow and grabbed him by the ear.

"Ow ow ow ow!" Shadow winced in pain as Maria forcefully tugged at his ear.

Oddly enough, Maria began to speak very calmly, despite wearing a mean look. "Listen here young man, I don't ever want to see you do that to Dolly again." Shadow didn't answer right away, and he was then met with another painful tug to his ear. "Do you understand me, Shadow?"

"Y-yes Ma'am..." Shadow dreadfully admitted. Maria let go of his ear and rubbed the top of his little stripped head.

"Thank you, Shadow. Now, apologize to Dolly…"

"But mom…"

"No buts. Just say you're sorry."

Shadow sighed heavily. "I'm… sorry."

Dolly happily smiled, content with Shadow's apology. "All is forgiven, Shads."

Maria clapped her hands together once. She was glad she was able to manage this kind of situation all by herself. It made her feel like she was a good caretaker for the two of them. But speaking of caretaking, she had almost forget something important.

"Oh, Shadow, Dr. Gerald wanted to see you in his lab."

Shadow, who was still rubbing his ear, looked at Maria with a puzzled expression. "Say what now? Why does that old man need to see me anyway?"

"He said it's 'urgent' Shadow. So you must get a move on." Maria said once more.

Shadow rolled his eyes and groaned obnoxiously. "Well, at least I don't need to worry about the homework."

Shadow made his way to the front door; his hover shoes already on. (He wears them all day, except when he sleeps, fyi.) Before he left, Shadow turned his head to see Maria and Dolly gently waving goodbye to him. The ebony hedgehog stuck his tongue out one last time, and shut the door with some force.

As soon as Shadow shut the door, Dolly and Maria immediately stopped waving.

"So, want to do some homework in the meantime?" Maria asked.

"Absolutely!" Dolly replied cheerfully.

Soon, the two of them got to work on their assignments. All the while, Shadow was making his way down the halls of the ARK to meet with the Professor.

-o-

Shadow at last arrived at the laboratory's front door. Considering he was only 3 ft tall, the metal-clad door was considerably larger than him. Despite Shadow not wanting to talk to the bald mustached scientist, he had to. The hedgehog lifted his little gloved fist to the door.

"Well, here goes nothing."

He knocked on metal door a few times, and then crossed his arms over his chest to wait for an answer from the other side.

After a few seconds of waiting, the door opened, and behind it was Dr. Gerald.

"Hey Doc, you happy to see me?" Shadow asked jokingly.

Gerald scoffed at his joke. "You're 3 minutes late, Shadow. Hurry up and come inside." He ushered the black hedgehog into the lab.

The black hedgehog walked into the room. The first thing that he noticed was the strong scent of chemicals hitting his bean-like nose. He quickly pinched it, hoping to keep the smell out.

"You will sit here, Shadow. So take a seat." Gerald instructed. Shadow of course listened and hopped onto the table.

For a bit, Shadow swung his legs over the edge of the metallic table. All around him, he could see scientists all alike working around the clock on computers, chemicals, and other tasks. He didn't really care too much about what they were doing though. He believed that what they were up to was utterly boring. For all he knew, he would never want to be a scientist.

"So..." the Ultimate Life Form started. "...why did you want me here anyway, Gerald?" Shadow asked, while simultaneously having his blood pressure and heart rate quickly checked by a nurse.

"We just need to run some tests is all." Gerald replied. "Alexi, is the treadmill ready for Speed Test #6A?" He asked a nearby scientist.

The said scientist nodded his head. "Yes Dr. Gerald, the treadmill is ready for the subject."

"Good, now Shadow, would you be kind enough to step onto the treadmill and prepare for further instructions?"

"Sure." Shadow gladly answered. "I'm always ready to put my speed to the test." He hopped off the table and began walking towards the treadmill. But he was met with an arm blocking his way.

"I'm sorry, but your experimental hover shoes are not permitted for this test." He stated.

Shadow groaned. "Man I love these shoes…" Grudgingly, he took off his hover shoes and placed them down. He was instead given a normal pair of heat-resistant shoes. Once that was dealt with, the scientist allowed him to pass through and hop onto the treadmill.

Gerald joined a few of his fellow workers in the safe room that was protected by a strong and protective glass. It's not that they feared The Ultimate Lifeform, merely, they were just taking precautions. Dr. Gerald turned on the mic and spoke to Shadow through the speakers.

"Alright my dear boy, are you ready for the test to commence?"

"Yeah yeah, just start the machine already." Shadow said hastily.

The machine activated, and the treadmill began to move underneath Shadow's feet. At first, the machine was only moving at an average speed; which was a walk in the park to Shadow. Gerald and the other scientists of course proceeded to raise the speed of the treadmill. The machine began to pick up speed, and with that Shadow was also picking up his speed as well. First he was walking, then jogging, and now he was sprinting.

"Are you exhausted yet, Shadow?"

"No way! Keep raising the speed! I want to push myself beyond my limits!"

The scientists obliged, and they raised the speed ludicrously. Now the treadmill was moving at speeds that even the fastest land animal, the cheetah, couldn't keep up with. Thus, this already made Shadow the fastest land creature to ever exist. But it didn't stop there. The speed kept getting faster and faster, to the point where it surpassed the 200 mph mark. Shadow was enjoying every second of it. Sure he wasn't moving and seeing blurs, but he could feel the rubber burn beneath the soles of his shoes as he raised his speed even higher.

"More!" Shadow called out. As usual, the scientists did so. Now the machine was going beyond what it was meant to be at. It was now nearing 650 mph on the tracker, and Shadow wasn't even breaking a sweat.

Gerald spoke into the microphone. "Alright Shadow, that is enough for now."

"You kidding me? No way I'm losing my momentum now!"

Shadow went even faster, causing the machine to sputter and emit smoke. Gerald and the scientists all knew that the hedgehog was going to cause the machine to overload and create an explosion within the lab. Though the explosion won't cause any issues for the ARK itself, it WILL cause damage for the lab it would take place in.

"Shadow, I command you to get off the treadmill NOW!" Gerald yelled through the mic.

But Shadow ignored his commands, and just kept going faster and faster and…

*BOOM!*

As expected, The Ultimate Lifeform's pure speed and energy had caused the treadmill to malfunction and explode under immense conditions. Thankfully, Gerald and his lab assistants were safely guarded by the glass that shielded them from the explosion. Cautiously, they all stepped outside of the safe room, and inspected the damage. The lab was destroyed for the most part, and it would take a few weeks to repair the damages.

"Grrr, where is that black nuisance?" Gerald bitterly said under his breath. He looked around the destroyed lab for his creation, and there, in the middle of the room, was Shadow patiently sitting on the perfectly untouched metal table from earlier.

"So, how did I do?" Shadow remarked.

Gerald grabbed the two ends of his mustache and growled in frustration. He stomped over to the ebony hedgehog and grabbed him by the neck.

"Get out, NOW! You are no longer needed until further notice!" Gerald angrily shouted, throwing him out of the lab and shutting the metal door with intense force.

Shadow blinked, and then smirked. "Well, I guess that visit went well." He stood up from the ground he was thrown down upon and dusted off his fur. "Welp, time to go tell Maria about my new speed record." and he ran off.

Once Dr. Gerald saw that Shadow was gone, he smiled wickedly.

"So the hedgehog can reach 770 mph, eh? I wonder…" Gerald continued to ponder about a certain idea that would later come into play in the future. But for now, he would have to wait.

-o-

"YOU DID WHAT, SHADOW?!" Maria yelled.

"What? It's not a big deal, it was just a lame machine. Who cares?" Shadow shrugged without sympathy.

Suddenly, Maria grabbed Shadow by his ear and pulled him over to the bed. "Sit down, young man!" Maria strictly said to him.

Shadow listened of course and plopped himself on the mattress. Maria continued to scold her surrogate son. She rambled about how he should've been more careful, or how he should respect others property. If he dared to not listen, Maria was prepared to discipline him. There was absolutely no way Shadow would grow up to be careless, disrespectful and non-sympathetic.

After what seemed like hours, Maria calmed herself down; taking deep breaths to relax.

"Well Shadow, do you understand why I'm stern with you?" Maria asked him.

"Ugh…. yes Maria, I know." Shadow grudgingly answered.

"What's the right way to reply?"

*sigh* "Yes, ma'am…"

"Good! Now Shadow, get ready for bed. You have a test tomorrow." Maria said to him, and she went into her own bedroom for her own privacy.

Shadow let out a heavy sigh and fell back on his bed.

"Maria scares me at times…" Shadow said to himself, visibly cringing. For a few minutes, he just laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling. After a brief moment of nothingness, he jolted up from his position when he came to a realization.

"CRAP! My test!"

In a last ditch effort, Shadow scrambles to his desk full of books; hoping he can get just a bit of helpful information into his brain. Sure he may be smart, but that's only if he puts his mind to it. Of course this time, he didn't.

The next day…

Shadow was waiting in anticipation for his test grade. He stayed up all night hoping his last ditch effort would work. He stared at Maria, who was also his home school teacher, waiting for her to finish grading his test. Drips of sweat could be seen running down the sides of the nervous hedgehog's head. After what felt like an eternity, Maria got up from her desk and walked over to Shadow.

"Well, did I pass?" Shadow asked eagerly.

Maria didn't say a thing though. Instead, she slammed the clipped pieces of paper onto his desk. Shadow, being curious, inspected the front page of his test. His grade was… an E?

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Uh, Maria, what kind of grade is an E?" He asked.

She smirked, then hid her grin from Shadow. "Oh, it just means you passed!"

Shadow's eyes lit up. "No way, REALLY?!"

"Of course not, that's the worst grade you can get. You just got bamboozled! Hahaha!" Maria teased Shadow.

At that moment, Shadow stopped working for some reason. His eye twitched a few times, and unexpectedly, he slammed his forehead onto his desk very roughly. (Multiple times actually.)

"It looks like Shadow won't be stopping anytime soon…" Maria thought. "Perhaps I was a bit too harsh, heh heh." She rubbed the back of her head nervously, laughing a bit as well. All the while, Shadow was still slamming his head onto the desk. It was gonna be a long time for Shadow to recover from his head injuries...

To be continued…

AN: Thank you for sticking around people! I'm sorry I haven't attended to this story in a few weeks. The holidays, and school, were very distracting for me, lol. But look, from this point on, I'll be more transparent and work much more frequently, alright?

Again, thanks for reading the story, and I'll see you all next time! ;P

P.S, thanks for following, favoriting and reviewing the story! I appreciate it!