The sun was slowly peeking its way over the mountaintop. Sonic retreated into a small opening in the walls of the ravine. He doesn't know whether if his transformation would result in a worse injury or not, so it would be best to avoid transforming at all. Hiding away from the sunlight is his best choice. However, the wait for the sunset is unbearable. Never in his life has Sonic ever sat still for more than a minute, and now here he is, stuck in a hole for hours, unable to move until the light goes away.

When the shadows of the night finally enveloped the land, Sonic crept out from his little 'shelter'. He looked around, taking a good look at his surroundings. The walls seemed high as the mountains he has seen towards the southwest edge of the forest, except for snow covering the top like a blanket. His plan of climbing out of this ravine is now squared down to zero per cent, not that it would've worked any better even if the walls were lower, leaving him trapped with no apparent way out. Or so he thought.

His strong sense of smell picked up something. It wasn't food or small critters that happened to run his way. No, this scent was something much more familiar. He looked up, hearing light footsteps making their way around the top of the ravine. Then, he saw him, a black and red hedgehog with quills turned upwards instead of down with a glowing red streak that ran down the centre of each of them. His crimson eyes drilled into Sonic's soul as their eyes locked, meeting each other again after two years.

Shadow could only stare at the beast below him, the guilt from last night resurfacing itself as he peered through the wall that seemed to hide his soul. He hangs his head low, sharing a wordless yet truthful apology. Sonic, not needing to hear a sound from his old rival, understood his every action. When Shadow looked up once more, he found the beast below him, bowing his head as if accepting his apology and giving his trust. By now, the urge to be in the ravine with the beast to understand him, to confirm that it is his rival from two years ago was far too strong to resist. He made sure to move slowly, not to spook Sonic in any way. Slowly, he pulled out a Chaos Emerald from the back of his quills and muttered the phrase "Chaos Control". Shadow found himself in the ravine with a flash of light, face to face with Sonic in his beast-like form.

Sonic kept his eyes locked on his rival, Shadow, as he appeared into the ravine. Nothing changed, every detail was the same as it was two years ago, but something inside Sonic told him that his rival was different from the one he remembers. He just couldn't get his finger on it just yet.

Shadow felt a lump in his throat, unable to get a single word out of his mouth as he locked eyes with his old rival. Aside from an occasional huff of breath from Sonic or a shuffle from Shadow, the silence endured for a solid minute, perhaps even more.
"So," Sonic spoke up first, "long time no see, Shadow." He talked his deepened beastly voice but making sure to maintain the old "happy go-on" attitude everyone was familiar with.
"Yes, it has certainly been a 'long time', Sonic." Shadow greeted the beast, never breaking his gaze with his rival's emerald eyes. "Where have you been for two years?"
"Right here, in this forest," Sonic answered, "just sorta foraging around, looking for food and shelter just to survive."
"And what of your beast?"

Sonic went silent. The air around them grew heavy like a demon has been released and latched itself onto their souls, refusing to remove them from its turmoil. Sonic took a deep and mad breath in, releasing it in a long, dragged out sort of way. Shadow was beginning to wonder if he had opened the wrong can of worms, or perhaps he had worded his question incorrectly. Either way, he did not want to be Sonic's punching bag.
"I wouldn't call this form a beast," Sonic replied, baring his sharp, canine teeth, "perhaps when I am under a full moon, but at other times, it is just a different form that I've learned to control to some extent."
Shadow sighed out of relief, glad to know that his minor mistake wasn't his last. But that does not mean he is comfortable around this new "form" of Sonic's. On the contrary, until he understood everything, down to the very core of its existence, Shadow would not put any trust in it.
"What do you call it, Sonic?" He inquired, hoping to get even the slightest of information.
"This half-wolf half-hedgehog form? Eh, I call it a Werehog. Like Werewolf."

And Shadow chuckled. Sonic tilted his head at his rival's amusement, feeling slight confusion. He was unsure of what he had done to cause such emotion for his black hedgehog rival.

"Was it something I said?" He asked, and Shadow responded with a gentle smirk.
"I see your Latin hasn't improved." He mused, having his iconic, mysterious smirk he would always give to his old rival before starting a fight, race or argument. And Sonic remembered that smirk vividly from his old battles two years ago.
"Well, I apologise for not practising a language that I would never use in my life."

A solid minute of playful silence dawned upon them, their old rivalry seemingly returning out of the blue. Their faces slowly raised, pasting a smile onto themselves, which gradually changed into a laugh. Sonic, while laughing, kept a close eye on his rival, studying his every feature. Shadow...I never thought I'd see you again. But, maybe now, after all this time...we can be more than rivals.