In today's hijinks, we meet Marklin's Aunt Cass and Cousin/Sister Kathie, Shadow fights basically everyone, and we try to figure out what the mysterious power of chaos is. Oh, and Shadow 50's slang.

Also, I should explain that Mark's parents died when he was little, so Aunt Cass took care of him. That's why Kathie is his cousin/sister.

Oh, and they live in America, but grew up in Germany, so they go into German every now and again.

Oh boy, hope y'all enjoy!

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When the light went away, the three animals gasped, looking around in wonder and confusion. That definitely wasn’t Tails’ lab/workshop.

“Where have you been?” Cass asked, looking over from the pancakes she was making. Tails blinked, eyes wide.

“Oh no, this wasn’t suppose to happen!”

“What do you mean Tails?” Sonic looked to the worried fox.

“Obviously, we aren’t in our world, Faker.” Shadow sighed at the other’s stupidity.

“Home!” Marklin called, “first things first, I’m filthy.” Marklin was now gone somewhere in the house, Jasper rolled his eyes.

“Where you ok while we were gone, Cass?” Jasper asked, Cass smiled.

“I think I had two seizures but I’m fine.” She said.

“When?” Jasper asked.

“When you two left the house and when you two just came home.” Cass told.

“That was just, uhh, the portal, you’re fine.” Jasper clarified.

“Oh good, I wasn’t dizzy before hand so I didn’t think to strongly of it.” Cass finally noticed the small two-tailed fox crying.

“Oh honey, are you ok?” She took her pancake out of the pan and knelt in front of Tails. “Come on, what’s wrong?”

Tails sniffled slightly. “It’s nothing, ma’am. I-I just accidently took me and my friends here while trying to get these two home….”

“Tails, please don’t cry.” Sonic frowned. “It’s not your fault.”

“Aww, dear, come on, it was an accident while trying to help someone, it could always be worse, now, why don’t you have something to eat, and we can try and get you three home,” Cass ruffled Tails’ ears and hair. “Ok?”

Tails nodded, sniffling slightly. “Okay….”

“Alright, I’ll finish breakfast and then we can eat.”

Tails nodded again, and was immediately wrapped in the blue hedgehog’s arms. “See, little buddy? Everything is fine.”

Marklin came back into the kitchen, in clean clothes and with most of the dirt off of him. The animals looked to him, but then looked around the house. Suddenly, a wild Kathie started to drink from the milk gallon. Marklins glare snapped to her.

“Oh come on, get a glass.” Marklin hissed.

“Why I want just a sip-”

“Kathleen Quod Corpus Caeleste Heisenberge, listen to your brother.” Cass snapped, Kathie rolled her eyes and went to get a glass.

Shadow blinked. “What just happened?”

“A need for a shopping trip.” Marklin hissed.

The three confused animals stayed quiet.

“I don’t need to do anything.” Kathie growled as she poured a glass of milk.

Sonic was the first to pipe up. “Well, I think we should introduce ourselves. I’m Sonic, and this is Tails and Shadow.”

“Hello.” The fox smiled. Shadow stayed quiet, not wanting to say hello.

“Hello, I’m Cassandra, call me Aunt Cass.” Cass peeped, she looked to Kathie. “That’s Kathie.” Cass growled.

“Yeah hi.” Kathie said bitterly as she put the milk away.

“Nice to meet you.” Sonic smiled.

“Nice to meet you aswell.” Cass chirped.

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience of being here.” Tails said. “We weren’t suppose to go with them….”

“Hush, darling, you're ok and we don't mind none.” Cass said sweetly, patting the side of Tails’ face.

“See, Tails.” Sonic smiled. “Everything’s fine.”

“Except that we aren’t home, and I have to go to G.U.N. tomorrow.” Shadow grunted.

Cass slapped Shadow over the ear. “Hush, punk.”

Shadow growled. “What the hell!?”

“Shadow….” Sonic sighed.

Cass turned back to her pancakes, prepping to make much more than originally planned.

Sonic laid a gentle hand on Shadow’s shoulder. “You okay?”

“She…. I…. Wha?” Shadow was more confused than anything, Marklin sat at the counter, Jasper sat next to him.

“She’s like that.” Marklin said tiredly.

Sonic looked concerned for Shadow for one minute before bursting out into laughter. “She slapped you! Haha! That’s great!”

“Shut it, Faker.” He growled, blushing bright red. Cass sneered. Shadow noticed this and looked away, not saying a word. Sonic just continued to laugh. Cass started to hum to herself as she cooked.

Sonic stopped after a small while and wrapped an arm around Shadow’s shoulders. “Sorry, for laughing, Shads, really. It's just kinda funny, ya know?”

Shadow just huffed as he looked down, trying to conceal his blush.

“So, Aunt Cass, how have you been.” Marklin asked.

“Fine.” Cass informed, finishing a pancake. “Did you boys enjoy your holiday?” She asked back.

“It was, ok.” Marklin said bitterly.

Sonic looked out the window, excited for seeing a new world.

Suddenly, from the door, in came a german shepard. Instantly taking stance against the new animals in the house. Apollo started to bark. Sonic and Shadow jumped slightly at the noise, and Tails quickly gripped onto Sonic.

“Stille!” Marklin snapped at the dog, who quieted quickly. Apollo quickly made his way over to smell the new animals. ‘Borfing’ at them.

“It’s a feral….” The young fox said quietly.

“It’s a service dog, somewhat.” Marklin hissed, Apollo finally calmed, and laid down next to Marklins chair, still eyeing the animals.

Sonic stared at the dog, shock slowly dying down as he was met with more curiosity and a small hint of sadness.

Apollo felt the emotions off Sonic and scooted over, rubbing against his chair. Sonic smiled slightly as he reached down to pet the dog. “Hey, there.”

Apollo, at the sudden reach, went into defence. Snapping softly at the Hedgehog, gripping his wrist but not entirely injuring him. Sonic blinked slightly, not really reacting. He was use to things like this, battling a mad scientist every other day, after all, though he was still a bit shocked.

“Fuss!” Marklin hissed, grabbing Apollo by the collar and pulling him off.

“Does he do that a lot?” Sonic asked, moving Tails away from the dog.

“If he feels he, or his people, is being attacked, or if you make sudden reaches for him or his people while someone is emoting strongly. He’s trained to protect people with emotional instability, and also sense seizures.” Marklin informed, patting Apollo for following his training. Sonic simply nodded, but still kept Tails a short distance away.

Meanwhile, Shadow started speaking. “In our world all of the ferals were either killed off or roboticized…. I’ve never really seen one before….”

Sonic looked away at the mention of it, seething slightly. “Robotnick….”

“Sounds like home-”

“Mom you can’t talk like that,” Kathie jumped over, Cass shrugged.

“What, not like we had animals?” Cass informed.

Sonic’s ear twitched slightly as he grew more interested in this new world. Marklin noticed Sonic twitching.

“What, need to stretch, you only ran like 1000 miles today.” Marklin snapped.

Sonic’s eyes lit with excitement. “Can I run!?”

“I mean-”

“Do you want him to be dissected?” Cass asked, Marklin shrugged nonchalantly.

Shadow’s eyes widened, his instincts taking over as he looked around everywhere. “The government dissects things like us here too?”

“Honey, we have a whole classified part of this country just for alien autopsies.” Cass informed.

“Aliens….” Shadow stopped at that word. “They aren’t aliens. They shouldn’t be harmed like that….”

“Cass stop, area 51 is not-” Jasper interjected.

“Roslyn, the fact they told the world then took it back, the things they see flying around out there. America has always covered up the truth for there own sake! In the soviet union we always knew what they were doing, they kept us in to protect us from American filth- sorry….” Cass went back to her pancakes.

The three animals didn’t know what to say to that, and honestly didn’t want to continue with the way that conversation seemed to be going. Tails looked to Sonic. “We’ll be okay, right Sonic?”

“Of course.” Sonic smiled. “I’m not letting any government of any world get a hold of you, little bro.”

“Anyways, not like we can't just keep you out of sight, and not have anything happen.” Marklin informed quickly. “All you three have to do is stay inside this house.”

“That’s going to be a problem.” Shadow said. “Faker here gets too hyper and anxious to stay in one place for too long. Not to mention, trouble always happens around him.”

“Why do you always try to make it my fault?”

“Think about it. You attract danger.”

Sonic just pouted.

“I might have a treadmill in the basement.” Marklin offered as a solution.

“I don’t know how well it’ll hold up with Sonic’s speed, but I could always upgrade it.” Tails smiled.

“Whatever you want.”

“Do you have any tools around here?” The young fox asked.

“Yeah, the garage.” Marklin informed.

“Before anything, you all need to eat.” Cass started to pass out plates to everyone.

“Great idea.” Sonic smiled. Shadow just huffed. Mumbling about how he didn’t need food, and Tails just smiled.

“Eat up.” Cass told, she pet Tails for a few seconds before going to eat her own. “I made them with chocolate chips, just for you.” She cooed, Apollo started to trace the floor for dropped pancakes.

“Thank you, ma’am!” Tails smiled.

“You’re welcome, little one.” Cass chirped.

Sonic and Shadow (by force of Sonic) also thanked her, and soon enough the two not genetically engineered animals dug in. Cass smiled at Shadow picking at the pancakes, and ate her own. Shadow stared at his pancakes in curiosity.

‘Come on, Shadow, they’re yummy!’ the voice of a girl echoed in his mind. He froze slightly, eyes fixated on the food in front of him. Apollo perked up and over to Shadow, sitting next to him, looking up at him. He rested his muzzle on Shadow’s leg. Shadow looked at the dog, strangely feeling calmer, but he didn’t show any reaction. His mind started to get cluttered with various thoughts and memories, but he stayed still. Apollo started to whine and paw at Shadow’s chair, whimpering and trying to comfort him. Shadow raised his hand slightly, intending to shoo the dog away, but something stopped him. Apollo started to lick at Shadow sweetly. Shadow, not being use to such treatment, stared at the dog with shock and interest. Then, he softly put his hand on top of the dog’s head, preparing to quickly move it away. Apollo was calm as he let Shadow pet him, he snuggled into the hand. Slowly, Shadow felt himself calm down as he pet the dog. Apollo licked Shadow as he was pet by him. Shadow’s interest peaked as he stared at the dog, still petting him. He never saw a feral before, after all, and, being raised by scientists, was interested to find out how they worked. Apollo finally became content in Shadows calmness, and curled up next to his chair, ready to step back in if need be. Shadow allowed a small smile to appear on his muzzle.

Cass smiled a bit at Shadow, still seeing his plate untouched. She reached for his pate. “Not a eater then?”

Shadow looked up from the dog. “I, uh, don’t really need to eat to survive….” he paused for a second, Maria’s voice echoing in his head. He stared at the plate of pancakes, going silent once more as he thought things over. Then, he looked up. “Does your world run on Chaos energy?”

“It runs on a mixture of hydrogen and energy, comprised into our stars, witch comprise to our- no it doesn't.”

Shadow tensed as he almost felt the wind knocked out of him. “No Chaos energy….”

“No.” Cass instilled.

“I can’t survive without Chaos energy….” Shadow said quietly.

“Will you be okay?” Sonic was a little than a bit worried.

“I don’t know….”

“Do you know the chemical makeup of this ‘Chaos’ energy, if we can find a suitable counter type to it, tho we might need to use fusion to achieve the compound you speak of.” Cass explained.

“Well, that’s a bit difficult to explain.” Shadow said.

“If only Knuckles was here….” Sonic mumbled.

“Marz, get me your chalkboard.” Cass ordered, Marklin stood to go get it. “If we can compare us through the multiverse, and use the compounds found in both to comprise the energy source of your chemo auto synthesis, we can recreate that threw a matter of reverse synthesis.” Cass explained.

Shadow nodded, grasping onto everything immediately, so did Tails. Sonic, however, looked extremely lost.

“It’s like a reverse plant, but it expels energy instead of oxygen.” Cass explained in lay terms.

“Oh.” Sonic said simply.

“I’m putting it in the Living room!” Marklin called. The animals ears twitched at hearing his voice.

“Alrighty, Marz, we’ll be right in.”

Shadow looked to the living room, then back to Cass. “So how do you suppose we do this?”

“I’m gonna get every little bit of description I can out of you on what ‘chaos’ is then compare it to elements in our sector of the multiverse.” Cass told. Shadow simply nodded. They moved to the living room, and Cass got to setting up the board how she needed to. The three animals sat on the couch. Apollo settled himself on Shadow's lap with no thought. Shadow smiled slightly, and Sonic just tilted his head, silently dubbing the sight as ‘cute.’

“Alright, what is the best description of ‘chaos’ any of you can come up with?” Cass asked.

“Chaos is a powerful energy that all Mobians possess, though very few know how to harness and use it properly.” Tails started.

“All Mobians do have it, but it is in small portions, so we can stand life without it for long amounts of time.” Sonic said. “Shadow is made of pure chaos energy, though.”

“Normally, I'd have a chaos emerald with me just in case, but it must've fell out….” Shadow glared to Sonic, probably assuming that it was caused by the other pushing him down when the portal went haywire.

“Chaos is able to be harnessed in the air, as evidenced by the chaos emeralds.” Tails said.

“So, it’s a emitted radioactive field created by a gemstone.” Cass said. “It sound to be the same as Potassium, mixed with hydrogen fusion.” Cass thought. “Wait.”

“It’s not potassium.” Marklin commented dully.

Shadow sighed, accepting his fate.

“We could always have Timmy theorize it.”

Sonic was lightly gripping onto Shadow, trying to instill hope into the other. “Who’s that?”

“My youngest, I’ll go call him.” Cass said, leaving the room.

“Am I going to die.” It seemed like a question from Shadow, but it was from Shadow.

“No.” Sonic said. “I’m not letting you die.”

“We could always contain him in some sort of bubble, that would keep the degeneration of energy within it.” Kathie said blankly.

Shadow tensed up. “No…. No, don’t do that…. Please, please don’t do that….”

“Shadow…. Calm down; you are alright. We won’t do that.” Sonic gently rubbed the other’s arms comfortingly.

“That’s the edge of my thinking.” She huffed.

Sonic was still trying to comfort Shadow, who was close to a panic attack. “It’s okay, Shadow. It’s not going to happen.”

“Timothy is visiting.” Cass told, leaning on the couch.

Shadow nodded as he started to calm down, unknowingly, leaning onto Sonic. Apollo snuggled a little deeper into Shadow. Sonic smiled, and hugged Shadow close to him. Shadow just blushed as he realized what he was doing.

Jasper smiled at them sweetly. Shadow, now completely calm, blushed harder as Sonic looked to him and smiled.

“So Timothy is just on a whim coming to America?” Marklin asked.

“I’m making him grilled cheese.”

“When will he be here?” Tails asked.

“Tomorrow at 9.” Cass informed.

“He already has a flight?” Marklin asked.

“I got it for him.”

“I’m going to die.” Shadow clarified.

“No, Shadow.”

“Can I go back to Hell?”

“No, Shadow.”

“Well, you want me to get that treadmill?”

“Sure!” Tails smiled.

“I think I like Hell better than this.”

“Shadow….”

“Then come with me, kid.” Marklin said, going to get the treadmill. Tails followed behind.

Marklin opened the basement door, letting the tailed fox pass by. Tails smiled to the human before walking inside. The two made their ways down the stairs and after a bit of searching, Marklin found the old treadmill he was looking for. Tails looked at the treadmill, already coming up with plans in his mind. Marklin heaved the treadmill out of where it was stuffed.

Tails walked up to it and wiped some dust off it before looking to Marklin with a smile. “Modifying this should be pretty easy.”

“It should be easy to take to the garage.” Marklin picked it up and started to carry it up the stairs. Tails, followed behind silently. He pushed it to the garage, and puffed on his inhaler as he calmed from the trek.

“Thank you.” Tails smiled. “We all really appreciate you helping us while we’re here, even if Sonic and Shadow won’t say it aloud.”

“Ey, you helped us, it’s the least we can do.” Marklin informed, getting the Treadmill set up for work.

Tails smiled before looking to the treadmill, mind working out exactly what he had to do. “Where are your tools?”

“In here,” Marklin opened up a cabinet, inside was shoddy and paint covered tools.

Tails blinked. “They’re, uh, kinda ruined….”

“Not that bad, I work on my bike with them.” Marklin said. Tails frowned, so use to his pristine tools that shined brightly in the sun. “Come on, what do we need to do first?”

“Buy better tools.” Tails deadpanned.

“They works fine for my bike, and I only open paint cans with them.” Marklin defended.

“That isn’t even how you properly use them….” Tails mumbled before speaking up. “They won’t work for this.”

“Excuse me, they are still viable to use, not like a surgery or something.” Marklin sighed tiredly.

“It might as well be.” Tails huffed. “This kind of stuff can be very dangerous, and you need proper tools to do so.”

“I got a full set of stuff to work on cars and such, tell me that this is not correct,” Marklin squealed “I’d never relegate myself to the pettiness of a plastic flinger.”

Tails blinked, not knowing what he even said. Then, he proceeded to shake his head. “Please, stop fighting.”

“What’s going on down there!?” Shadow shouted.

“He doesn’t have proper tools!” Tails shouted back.

“Ain’t that a bite?” Shadow replied, causing Tails to blink, not understanding.

“What?”

“I have what I got, fox.” Marklin squacked.

Tails groaned. Shadow just stared at them before slamming the door. Then, a shout was heard. “They’re fighting over a fucking screwdriver!”

“Don’t Slam The Goddamn Door Or Yell!” Jasper screamed back.

“I do what I want, ya fuzzy duck!”

Marklin squacked in offense. “Don’t talk about my husband like that you punk can-opener!” Marklin rushed himself threw the door and batted the hedgehog over the head. Marklin yelled out in pain.

Shadow simply crossed his arms while Sonic stared in confusion. Marklin grabbed his hand, not before sweeping Shadow’s legs out from under him. Sonic caught him, coming out of his haze. “Hey, guys, calm down!”

“I’m not letting that bundie insult me!” Shadow growled.

“Shadow, please, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Sonic groaned, holding the other back. Marklin looked over the quill stuck through his hand. Sonic finally got Shadow calmed while Tails immediately went to help the human.

“You really shouldn’t touch around a hedgehog’s quills. Especially Shadow’s.”

Marklin was quiet as he looked over his hand, a look of pain on his face. Tails held his hand gently, before going to pull it out. “This might hurt a bit….”

Marklin pulled his hand away before any progress was made. “I need my hand, thank you, you don’t pull the knife out! I’ll bleed to death before anything else!” Marklin hissed.

“You act as if I haven’t done this before.” Tails blinked.

“That doesn't matter, I’ll bleed to death.” Marklin growled.

“Bleeding isn't gonna kill ya.” Sonic said, still holding Shadow close. “Might be really painful, but it won't kill ya.”

“Excuse me, I have Hemophilia and Anemia, I’d bleed out in barely two minutes if you nicked my jugular.” Marklin hissed, he held his bleeding hand close.

“Jokes on you because I have no idea what that means.” Sonic said.

Shadow groaned. “He can bleed to death, faker.”

Marklin looked at his hand, already bleeding pretty badly. “Jasper!” Marklin called.

“What” Jasper said walking, he saw Marklin's hand and paled.

“Hospital, then?” Sonic suggested.

“Yeah.” Jasper stumbled to go get the phone and call ahead to the Hospital.

The mobians watched him do so before turning their heads to Marklin and his wound. They were all silent, not really knowing what to do.

Cass poked her head into the room. “Marz, come on.” She growled.

The three looked to Cass, and Shadow found himself hiding behind Sonic. Cass looked tiredly at the scene, and sighed.

“Come on, all of you, it won’t help anyone if you all just stand there with your fly traps open.” Cass walked to Marklin looking at his hand.

“S-Sorry, ma’am….” Tails said quietly. “Our world works differently than yours, and these kinds of things usually aren’t that big of a deal….”

“In anycase, don’t you three have work to be doing, treadmill or something.” Cass said blankly, gently taking off her tie, and wrapping it around Marklins wrist, trying to slow blood flow.

Tails’s eyes widened. “Oh, right! I should get to work on that. It would be of no use for us to go with you to the hospital…. I can’t believe I’m asking this, but would you like to help, Sonic and Shadow?”

Sonic’s eyes lit up. Shadow looked to Sonic, already imagining the explosion. “Do you really think that’s a good idea, fox?”

“No.” Tails’s answer was immediate.

“Aw, come on! Have a little faith in me, guys!”

“Even you should know that’s a bad idea, flutter bum.” Shadow growled out, but blushed slightly as he said the last words.

“I have no idea if I should take offense to that or not….” Sonic said, more confused than anything. Cass rolled her eyes.

“Speeding the assembly, and then rerouting the power to regenerate with its own force?” Cass asked.

Sonic just blinked stupidly. However, Tails’s crystal blue eyes brightened. “You know how to work mechanics?”

“I got my PhD somehow.” Cass chirped.

Tails smiled brightly. “Finally, someone who knows this stuff!”

Jasper returned and pulled Marklin out of the house.

“Alright, kid, let’s get thing thing done.” Cass said.

Tails smiled and nodded, going to the garage. Shadow and Sonic stood there for a second before following behind. Cass looked at the tread mill.

“I wonder why Marz has a tread mill.” Cass said blankly, pulling a screw driver out of the cabinet, and starting to take plating off the treadmill.

Sonic simply shrugged, but Tails started to die inside. “That’s not how you use that tool….”

“Who has the two PhD’s?” Cass squirmed.

Tails crossed his arms. “Just because I’m eight, doesn’t mean I don’t know this stuff.”

“Anything can be used for everything, and anyways, what the hell am I supposed to use to pop the tabs.” Cass said as she got another panel off.

Tails just groaned. “There is a much simpler solution: everyone leaves me alone to work by myself.”

“That is a terrible mindset, anyways, what your all powerful solution?” Cass said, putting the panel aside.

The fox sighed. “Let’s just try to do this properly with what we have. Now, we have to remove the screws connecting the console to the handrails.”

“Ok, fox.” Cass said, She braced a leg on the base and started to unscrew the handrails.

Sonic stared boredly at the scene. “This is boring…. Shadow, can we do something?”

“Like what, hedgehog?” Shadow questioned. Sonic just shrugged.

“Marz has board games on one of his bookshelves.” Cass informed as she finished unscrewing the handrails. Sonic smiled, thanking her before grabbing Shadow and zooming off. Kathie looked up from her milk, as the two hedgehogs arrived in the living room. Sonic was jumping up and down excitedly, and Shadow was just watching him. Kathie snorted a bit, taking a drink. Shadow looked to her as Sonic got the games. Kathie watched quietly. Sonic got out Monopoly, wondering what it was and how it was played. Kathie snorted again. Shadow rolled his eyes before looking at Sonic.

“What is that?”

“Mo-no-po-ly.” Sonic sounded out the syllables.

“It can take a while, you should always play with more than two people.” Kathie informed.

Sonic looked up from his games, his eyes somehow turning to stars. “Will you play with us?”

“Awww fuck, fine.” Kathie growled.

Sonic cheered happily while Shadow looked to the human. “You don’t have to, really. We can do something else.”

“Uhhg, the blue one looks like he’ll be annoying about it.” Kathie struggled up quickly with a growl.

Shadow shrugged. “Yeah, you’re right, but you don’t have to deal with him.”

“I need another glass of milk anyways.” Kathie hissed, stretching a bit. Shadow just shrugged before being tackled into a hug by the blue blur.

“What’re you doing, hedgehog?” He growled out.

“Just wanted to hug my favorite ultimate lifeform, is all.” Sonic grinned, causing Shadow to look away with a huff, his muzzle dusted a light rose. Kathie gawked a bit and walked to the kitchen.

Seeing Kathie leave, Sonic smiled before gently nuzzling into the other and mumbling, “I know you like me, Shadow….”

Shadow froze.

Kathie snorted as she got another glass of milk. Sonic’s tail wagged happily as he smiled to Shadow before letting the other go and looking to Kathie. “So, how do you play this game?”

“Well, you set up the board, give each player a cash amount, and roll for first play, and elect a banker.” Kathie informed.

Sonic hopped up in down in excitement. “Sounds fun. Don’t you think Shadow?”

The still frozen in place hedgehog grunted slightly, finally looking away from the other with a huff.

“Whatever floats your boat.” Kathie snorted, she looked down at Apollo laying in front of the fridge blocking the door. “Come on, I know it’s warm but you gotta move.” Kathie nudged him, he puffed and whined but stayed still.

Sonic chuckled lightly. “I don’t think he’ll budge.”

Kathie rolled her eyes, “Yes he will,” she opened up the fridge door with force, pushing Apollo across the floor, and did as she needed to, she closed it. Apollo stood and looked at her. “Oh shut up.” Kathie snapped, Apollo puffed then flopped back down.

One of Sonic’s ears went down in slight curiosity. “Huh. Guess that works too.”

“Lazy, kind, mutt he is, couldn’t even get the cops to take him, I can deal with a reject like him anyday.” Kathie rambled, Apollo puffed in answer. “Not like I’m wrong?” Kathie said to him, Apollo stood and walked over to Kathie, and in one swoop knocked her to the floor. He laid across her lazily and closed his eyes.

Sonic chuckled as he watched the scene. Shadow, finally gaining his composure, stood beside Sonic with a raised eyebrow. “Does this happen a lot?”

¨Uff, often enough.” Kathie puffed, she struggled to get up. The two hedgehogs just watched, Sonic bursting into laughter. Kathie huffed and gave up.

Shadow was quick to offer assistance after that. “Do you need any help?”

“I’m fine, it’s warm.” Kathie huffed.

After that, the two hedgehogs were silent, not really knowing what to do. Kathie and Apollo lazily laid upon the floor. Shadow glanced to Sonic awkwardly.

“Alrighty, get up.” Cass walked over to Kathie, kicking her in the side. Tails walked up to the two hedgehogs, rubbing his gloves together.

Kathie called out as she rolled up off the ground, Apollo tiredly stretched up, yawing. The mobians blinked.

“Alright, we got the treadmill done.” Cass chirped.

Sonic instantly ran downstairs, a faint “WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” heard in the distance. Shadow rolled his eyes. Cass chuckled a small bit.

“He probably just broke everything in your house.” Shadow said.

“mY HOuSE!?!?!?!” Marklin caterwauled.

Shadow glanced back before quietly making his way to the garage to avoid everything coming from that human’s mouth.

“Ich war weg für wie lange und alles ist ruiniert, Verdammte Scheiße! diese Scheiße Ich bin raus! Ich will nur mein Leben zurück, das ist viel! Ich hasse euch alle![I was gone for how long and everything is ruined, fuck this shit I'm out! I just want my life back, this is too much! I hate you all!]” Marklin screamed.

Sonic heard from the garage, ears flattening against his head. “Ah, jeez, I made the human mad again….”

“You need to be more careful.” Shadow grunted.

“It’s fine, come on.” Jasper said tiredly. “Let’s have dinner, then hit the hay, ok?”

Sonic was at the doorway in an instant, pulling along a surprised Shadow. “Dinner?”

“Probably take out, I mean it’s been a long day.” Jasper added.

“Food is food.” Sonic smiled brightly. Shadow held onto a nearby shelf, dizzy.

“I’ll get on the phone for chinese.” Cass said quickly, rushing to do so. Sonic’s tail wagged excitedly, stomach grumbling at the mention of food. Jasper sighed, he let go of Marklin’s arm, to which he promptly collided with the floor. Tails winced slightly at the impact. Kathie chuckled.

“Local?” Kathie asked smirking.

“Ten pills, four liquids, three shots, an IV, and two sets of straps later.” Jasper informed.

“That’s a lot of stuff….” Tails said. Jasper picked Marklin up and chuckled.

“You should have seen him when he needed to be put fully under.” Jasper informed.

“It seems like he gets hurt more than Sonic does, and he fights giant robots for a living.” Tails was both surprised and curious.

“I work in the world's most dangerous environment, robots my ass.” Marklin whined.

Sonic would’ve replied, if he hadn’t realized something. “Wait…. If we’re here…. Who’s gonna stop Egghead from taking over!?”

The other two animals tensed.

“What in the name of fuck is an ‘Egg hedge’?” Marklin splutter.

“Dr. Robotnik.” Shadow said. “He’s a mad scientist who has been trying to take over our world….”

“And if we aren’t there….” Sonic started.

“Then there’s nothing stopping him from taking over and turning everything we know into robotic chaos….” Tails finished.

“You're already built of pure chaos, what the hell can make that worse.” Marklin snapped.

“Marz let’s get you to the couch.” Cass said, she grabbed Marklin and started to drag him to the living room.

The three animals looked at each other, each showing their new found worry for what was going on in their world.

“I’m sure it’s fine you three, nothing happened when we were there, and I’m sure some one else will help out.” Jasper cooled quickly to them.

“Our friends….” Sonic’s eyes went wide. “What if they get hurt!? Or worse… roboticized!?”

“Sonic, calm down.” Tails said, though he still looked slightly frightened. “I’m sure they can handle themselves.”

Sonic couldn’t calm down though. His friends were the number one thing that mattered to him.

“The food will-” there was a knock on the door “-Is here, come on, you can worry after a meal.” Jasper collected the take out quickly, and took it to the living room, where Cass had just settled Marklin onto the couch. The worried animals followed them to the living room, all thinking of their friends. Jasper started to pass out the food quickly. Marklin started to eat his food with chopstick, well more like snap at it and push things around with a tired look in his eyes. Shadow quietly ate as he looked to Sonic, who for once wasn’t shoving food down his throat.

“Are you okay…?” He asked quietly. Sonic only glanced at him, sigh, and nod before slowly eating. “Sonic….”

Jasper finished his and looked at Marklin, still with no progress. Jasper took the tray and took out a spoon. “Come on, Mark, you gotta eat.” Jasper started to try and feed the drugged out man.

Shadow felt like he had to do something to help Sonic. After all, that’s what a good boyfriend would do. Not that they were actually dating or anything! “Sonic, everything will be fine. Your friends are strong, and I’m sure they can take the doctor.”

Sonic didn’t reply.

“All you need is a little help from your friends.” Marklin said between mouthfuls. Sonic glanced to him before looking back down.

“I don’t want them to be hurt….”

“You- wo… n’t….-” Marklin suddenly passed out, sliding to the floor.

“There’s the bag of sedatives.” Jasper sighed, he put the rest of the food down.

They all looked to Marklin; Tails tilted his head slightly. “He’s going to be okay, right?”

“Hopefully, he doesn’t take to pain meds and sedatives well, he’ll be fine in the morning.” Jasper sighed, he picked up Marklin. “I’ll take him to bed.” Jasper carried him off. Tails nodded before looking to Shadow.

“You should tell him that you’re sorry.”

The hedgehog only looked down and huffed.

“What, punk can’t break the asshole code to say a simple sorry?” Cass growled.

Shadow growled. “He should’ve known better than to hit a hedgehog’s quills.”

“You should have known better to throw slurs in his home, and he shouldn’t have to know better, because he can’t.” Cass hissed.

Shadow clenched his fists, quills rising in anger. “That wasn’t even my fault! Something went wrong with my programming due to the low chaos energy surrounding me, and I couldn’t control what I fucking said!”

“Programming?” Cass said, she leaned to him, “What kind of programming?” She asked.

He leaned away from her, suddenly uncomfortable with the situation he was in. “Please stay away from me.” He then sighed. “To answer your question, I was bioengineered in the early 1950’s by a brilliant scientist named Gerald Robotnik to be the ultimate lifeform.”

“One of the atomic super-” Cass jumped away from him “-abomination on our state, you were built to destroy our own- and if you think I’ll let a cold war- metal- war-,” Cass backed off from Shadow taking a breath, bringing a had to her forehead she cringed a small bit.

Shadow blinked, frightened by what was going on, and frankly, completely confused. “Uh….”

Kathie looked up from her milk, and looked at Cass. “Mom, you dizzy?” She asked.

“I’m fine honey, just a wash- I’ll- fine.” Cass muttered.

Shadow stayed silent, unconsciously leaning closer to Sonic in slight fear. Sonic said nothing, just pulled him closer.

“Now- I’ll- no-,” Cass leaned into a chair near by.

The room went silent. Tails looked around nervously, trying to smooth out his fur, the shouting scaring him greatly.

“Now- hun- I-”

“Mom stop.” Kathie said, she stood and walked over to Cass, she checked her eye dilation. “Mom, calm down, it’s fine. You will be ok.”

Shadow glanced awkwardly to Sonic, not quite knowing what to say. Sonic simply smiled to him, causing him to blush and look away.

Cass calmed down a bit, Kathie sat down on the arm on the chair, and rubbed her hand, hushing her sweetly.

“I-Is she okay?” Tails asked meekly.

“She’ll be fine.” Kathie informed. Tails nodded slowly, glancing at Cass with slight worry. Cass leaned into the chair and closed her eyes, resting peacefully. Tails smiled a bit, glad that she was calm. Meanwhile, Shadow was still a blushing mess, and Sonic was not saying a single word. Soon enough, Sonic yawned, his eyes closing briefly, the events of the day tiring him out. Shadow stayed in the others hold, secretly (not really secretly) enjoying being so close to the other. Kathie looked over at the animals.

“Uh, the fox can have the single room down here, the two hedgehogs can take the upstairs guest room.” Kathie told quickly. She spread a blanket over Cass.

“Thank you.” The fox nodded simply before nudging Sonic, who promptly woke up, mumbling something about “genies and rings” or something.

“No problem.”

Tails smiled before helping Shadow pull Sonic to his feet. The hedgehog just groaned tiredly, letting them do whatever. Kathie lead tails to the room, and directed the Hedgehogs upstairs. They followed, Shadow basically dragging Sonic.