Sonic anxiously awaits the smoke cloud to lift so he can see if Tails is okay, however when it does his eyes go wide. Standing there is Shadow, an aggressive glowing red aura shining brightly in the dark, he's holding Tails by the throat, squeezing tightly, Tails is desperately trying to escape his grasp but he can feel the air in his lungs running out. Sonic can't stand watching anymore and he spin dashes into Shadow knocking him to the side and cracking the concrete barrier by riverbank, Tails gasps for air as Sonic runs over to him, grabs hold of and squeezes him against his chest as if he had already lost him.

"Shadow?! How did you get here?! And what the hell are you doing?!" Sonic shouts as he helps a weakened Tails to his feet.

Shadow slowly gets up and brushes the dust from his fur.

"I'm here to save you from the nutcase of a "bother", and if you get in my way I'll plant your ass in the dirt beside him" Shadow says, squeezing his fist.

"I'm not the one who travelled to another dimension to try and kill someone! If anyone's the nutcase here, it's you!" Sonic shouts, pointing at him.

"He killed Eggman! He killed Amy! He killed Lucy! And he's the reason Creams in the hospital! Use your brain Sonic, who else would be able to cover all that up and leave no evidence to him! I'll tell you who it is, it's that freak standing next to you!"

Something snaps inside of Sonic when he hears Shadow say that, his demeanor changes immediately, even Tails is surprised by his sudden shift in emotion , "...What did you just call him?"

"A freak! Because he is one! Now get out of my way!"

Sonic squeezes his fists and stares Shadow down, as he does, a spark of blue lighting crackles, "You're gonna regret that..."

In a burst of blue light Sonic jumps at Shadow... Much faster then usual. Shadow doesn't have enough time to react, Sonic's fist plows deep into his face and sends him tumbling across the concrete, Sonic runs after his tumbling body and kicks it around like a soccer ball, Tails is beyond confused at what's happening so he takes the Miles Electric from his bag and scans Sonic as he continues to pummel Shadow around, what he finds makes him gasp. Eventually throwing him threw the parliament buildings wall and into a wall opposite.

Sonic, blue lighting still crackling around him, begins to walk towards Shadow slowly.

"Sonic! Stop! This is what he wants you to do!"

"Don't give me that bullshit!"

Shadow, seeing there being no reasoning with him blasts off from out of the wall and towards Sonic... He disappears and reappears behind him, Shadow is surprised that he did that and turns around to see Sonic's furious eyes tearing into his soul.

Sonic grabs him by the leg and spins him around like a merry-go-round, throwing him out of the building and onto the busy street, Shadow hits the windshield of a bus causing it to crash into a street lamp nearby, he struggles to get back on his feet as Sonic walks out of the new hole he created and runs up to Shadow. Sonic still blinded by fury begins to choke Shadow the same way he did to Tails. The ultimate lifeform eventually breaks free by kicking Sonic in the chest and using his air shoes to give him some distance.

Sonic runs up to him yet again, takes Shadow by the shoulders and knees him in the gut multiple times, Shadow coughs some blood and collapses to his knees. Sonic runs back a bit and showcases an aggressive pose.

"Don't you ever call him that again!" Sonic says, his eyes glowing sky blue, rather then the emerald green colour they usually had.

Shadow can feel the broken ribs in his body, but he still pushes himself to stand up. Sonic stands there watching him grovel on the concrete, Tails finally catches up to them as a crowd forms, all of them video taping and taking pictures.

"When I lost Maria, I thought I'd never find someone like her again. But when I met Lucy, she was a like a sister to me, she worked at my café to pay off debts she owed to Nightstar City's shitty government... He put nanobots in her tea and they destroyed her from the inside out, and now she's gone! When will you see he's decieving you Sonic?!"

"Tails had nothing to do with her"

"He tried to kill me! He put the poison in our tea that morning!"

Tails can feel his heart pounding, he's worried about the outcome of the incident, but more importantly what's going on with Sonic.

"You know maybe I'd believe you... If you didn't come and try to choke the life out of him!... Or if you had proof Tails is this so called killer you claim he is"

"Go to the hospital that I stayed at, they have one of the most secure systems in Nightstar City, If there's missing footage from my room's camera feed. Then you have to believe me..."

Sonic looks back at Tails, he shakes his head.

Sonic turns back to him, "Look pal, I know you're angry about Lucy's death, but Tails is not someone I'll ever let you channel your anger towards"

"He literally told me!"

Sonic laughs at his claim as if it's a joke. At that point Shadow finally realises there's no talking Sonic out of this. He sighs, frustrated with his failure.

"Since you won't listen, you're an obstacle in my way now"

"If you want Tails, you're going through me" Sonic says, positioning himself in front of the fox.

Shadow speeds towards Sonic and pushes him back towards Tails almost knocking him and the fox over, Sonic turns around and puts his hand on Tails face.

"Go"

"But Sonic-"

"Just go! I don't want you to get hurt!"

Tails reluctantly nods and runs off, seeing him run off makes Shadow more livid then he already was and he charges Sonic knocking him into a car, Sonic speeds towards him, slamming both his feet into Shadow's face.

Shadow's head is spinning for a moment but he regains his composure. Sonic charges him yet again, however this time Shadow is prepared, he catches Sonic's fist as he throws a punch at him, Sonic stumbles backwards but straightens himself out. Shadow begins to glow brighter and brighter until he creates a massive explosion that sends Sonic flying upwards into the sky.

Tails turns around and sees the explosion as well as Sonic flying upwards into the night sky, he can't help but feel useless yet again. Shadow zooms over and delivers a blow to Sonic's face sending him tumbling down towards the street creating a crater in the ground, Tails can feel his heart twisting in pain as he watches Shadow continue to pummel Sonic around... Then he remembers something, an emergency precaution incase something like this happened. He digs around in his bag and comes across a large metal case, Tails takes a shaky breath and opens it... Whatever it is that's inside, it shines brightly sparkling in Tails'eyes like the aurora borealis.

Shadow rams Sonic into a building, nearby witnesses flee the area immediately when they hear the sound of the explosion rocking the area. Sonic emerges from the rocks and spin dashes into Shadow throwing him backwards, Shadow scurries to his feet and is met by a flurry of high speed punches to the face from Sonic, Shadow catches his hand after a few seconds of catching fists in the face and knees Sonic in the gut, Sonic coughs and collapses to his knees, Shadow lets his shoe collide with Sonic's face knocking him over on his side.

He picks Sonic up, grabbing the quills on the back of his head Sonic kicks Shadow in the leg making him flinch. Shadow however is not phased and instead strikes Sonic in the gut again. Sonic unable to handle the pain from the blow gives out and Shadow drops him back on the ground.

"I can't believe you're throwing your life away for that insane little freak, even after I told you what he did"

Sonic coughs up some blood and glares at Shadow, "I became Tails' mentor when he was going through a rough patch, he's nothing that you claim he is. He's gentle, warm, got a sweet tooth, and a smartass. I brought him here into my family because he didn't have anyone else to turn to, because I saw he could do amazing things with his amazing talents... He's everything to me, more then anything else in the whole wide world, and if you lay your hands on him in a way that's harmful, ngh! I'll bury you alive!"

"You really let him get that deep under your skin, pitiful!"

"Maybe so... But I'm following my heart. And my heart-"

Sonic struggles but he gets back up and spits out the blood in his mouth.

"-And my heart is telling me that he's innocent"

Shadow chuckles at the situation, "He's gotten that deep in your head... Fine, I'll just do what he did to me"

Sonic gives his signature smirk and prepares for Shadow to unleash another explosion, the finishing blow, suddenly something as fast as a missile strikes him, Sonic watches as it carries Shadow upwards into the sky and he can only assume who it is... Shadow is sent crashing down into Piccadilly Circus causing everyone nearby to panic as a bright light descends upon him... It's Tails, his eyes red, fur glowing a light shade of golden yellow.

"You..." Shadow growls spitefully.

"...Asshole" Tails says, practically finishing what he was about to say.

"What did you do with the chaos emeralds"

"You see in this dimension, the emerald's behave rather unusually... So I thought, why not use it to my advantage" Tails says with a cold smirk on his face.

"Doesn't matter, I'll still make you suffer for what you did"

Shadow zooms towards Tails at super speed, practically a blur... Tails catches him by the fist, Shadow's eyes go wide and he immediately tries to take his hand back, Tails winds a punch up and the blow hits him right in the face, the resulting shockwave rocks the area and throws Shadow into a billboard screen. He falls from the screen onto the concrete pieces of glass and sparks from the electricity from the screen sparking rain from behind him.

Tails lands on his feet and starts walking towards him, Shadow gets up as fast as he can, Tails dodges a blow from him and speeds into Shadow throwing him back a few more feet or so, Tails rushes up to him at lighting speed and throws his fist under his chin, uppercutting him. Shadow lands and bounces like a ball until he finally lands back on his feet. If he could just hit Tails enough, maybe he'd drop out of this form he was in and he'd be able to turn the tables on the devilish little creature.

He flies at him, Tails catches his hands and the two push eachother intensely. Though Tails' physique was a bit weaker, the energy surging throughout his body allows him to go toe to toe with the ultimate lifeform.

"You will not let you win!" Shadow screams.

"You lost the moment you came to Earth!" Tails responds, a supervillain like grin pasted on his face.

Tails lets go of his hands, and in a split second grabs them again and starts to spin Shadow around and around until they become a blur, it's as if they were the blades on a helicopter rotor. He finally lets go of him sending him tumbling down into the concrete once more. Shadow shoots back up towards Tails and headbutts him in the chest, this sends Tails into a spin but he levels out and braces for Shadows next attack, another energy burst, this one is powerful enough to shatter the glass windows nearby. Tails shields himself with his arms, Shadow grabs Tails by one of his appendages and slams him into a building, the fox groans in pain as he falls back down to the ground, landing on the concrete. Shadow flies down, grabs him and throws him towards the entrance to the tube station, the fox tumbles inside like he's a pool ball.

Sonic eventually arrives and sees Shadow walking towards the entrance where Tails is, in a burst of blue light Sonic rams into Shadow and sends him into a parked car. The black hedgehog emerges from the dented and damaged car and rushes Sonic, punching him in the face, uppercutting him, and finishes him off with a crane kick which throws him backwards into a lamp post.

Before Shadow can continue to unleash his unstoppable rage on Sonic a glowing blue ribbon wraps around his right arm, Shadow tries to pull free from it but it doesn't budge and the next thing he knows, he's being pulled backwards and is in a spin yet again, then Tails' fist collides with his back causing him to fly forward then the stretchy ribbon pulls him back towards Tails again, this time Tails wraps it around Shadow and with a flick of his wrist it turns yellow and electricutes Shadow. The sounds of strained screams fill the air as Tails watches him suffer with the usual cold expressionless face he always had.

Shadow squirms wildly trying to escape the elastiribbons but the nanotech binded into the fabric makes it a challenge. Tails flicks his wrist again and this time the ribbons turn orange the feeling of fire scorching Shadows skin make his screams harder to suppress. Sonic watches in awe as Tails continues to torture Shadow with his invention. Finally the glowing golden fox has enough and with a mighty swing slams Shadow into the ground, the ribbons release him, sending Shadow rolling down the steps into the tube station.

Tails flies down into the station and whips him with the ribbons, creating a shockwave that sends Shadow bouncing into the fair control area, passengers run back giving them space to fight. As Shadow begins to rise to his fee, Tails is walking over to him swirling the ribbon around until he flicks his wrist and the ribbon takes the shape of a knife. Tails slices a rubbish bin open causing some people to panic as he continues to approach Shadow. He's angry, angry that he had the audacity to hurt Sonic, and he was going to stop at nothing until Shadow was either dead or until the mystery people showed up to detain him.

Shadow scurries to his feet and gets into a fighting stance. Tails eventually starts running towards him letting the knife cut a long hole into the wall before pulling it out and swinging at Shadow who starts to weave and duck, dodging the strong swings Tails is throwing at him. He lands a blow on Tails' gut, Tails screams briefly and swings the knife, it slashes Shadow in the thigh making him grunt, Tails swings again but this time Shadow stops his arm and throws a blow at his face. Tails swings the knife again and it cuts him in the shoulder. Tails jumps in the air and jab kicks Shadow in the ribs the impact sends Shadow through a fair gate flinging metal, plastic and electronics all over the place.

Tails flicks his wrist again and the ribbon turns into a stick which Tails breaks in half, he flicks his wrist yet again and they turn violet.

Shadow rises to his feet, Tails jumps over the mangled fare gates and slams both sticks on his shoulders, the blows makes Shadow growl in agony, he responds by crane kicking Tails in the face sending him backwards. Sonic arrives just as Tails gets back on his feet Shadow kicks Tails in the face, Sonic spin dashes into Shadow throwing him backwards, Tails finally gets back up and strikes Shadow with the glowing purple sticks in the chest, the impact throws him upwards. Sonic spin dashes into him again sending him hurling down the escalator to the ground.

"Tails-" Sonic starts.

Tails flies right passed him and slides down the metal covers of the escalator and lands in front of Shadow, in a blur of yellow light Shadow rushes towards Tails knocking the fox over, he's back on his feet in a few seconds and he flicks his wrist again, the ribbons return to their regular appearance and Tails swings them both at the ultimate life form, Shadow grabs hold of the ribbons and pulls Tails towards him with all his might. Tails smirks and in a split second move flicks his wrist causing the ribbons to turn yellow and electricute Shadow. Tails' feet slam into Shadow's chest throwing him into a wall, the hedgehog letting go of the ribbons as he flies backwards.

"For the ultimate life form, you sure are a pathetic fighter" Tails mocks.

"Where did he learn how to fight like that-" Shadow asks himself.

The ribbons wrap around Shadows wrists again and he starts to slam Shadow around like he's a toy, into the ground, the walls, the cieling and eventually he throws him down a passageway towards the Piccadilly Line platforms, Shadow's tumble ends just before the tracks.

Sonic still watching the whole thing watches anxiously as Tails walks towards Shadow, the ribbons retract back towards Tails he slowly gets closer to Shadow until they're back in his utility belt. Tails kneels down in front of a weakened Shadow and smirks at him.

"Like I said, the moment you arrived on Earth, you lost"

Sonic runs into the platform while Shadow glares up at Tails as he rises back to his feet. His resolve is still undying, however his body just doesn't seem to want to move, perhaps from the injuries he sustained from the battle. Tails sighs and turns around so he can stand next to Sonic.

"We need to get out of here" Tails says.

"Yeah, let's get our bags and get lost" Sonic responds, he strains and holds his side.

Tails gently moves his hand so he can see Sonic's wounds, he flicks the elastiribbons and they turn green, small plus sign patterns smoothly move across its length as Tails wraps Sonic's waist up with them, slowly Sonic finds it easier to breathe and his ribcage starts to fix itself.

"You're nanotech is something else"

Tails plants a kiss on his lips and his fur stops glowing turning back to its usual shade of orange, appearing on the floor around him were the seven chaos emeralds. Tails picks them up and uses the other ribbon he created to make a makeshift box for the gems. Sonic raises an eyebrow as Tails puts them inside the box.

"I'll explain later" Tails says once he rises back to his feet.

"Alrighty then" Sonic answers.

Shadow crawls up to a wall and uses it to try and stand himself up.

"You'll regret not listening to me Sonic..." Shadow warns in a grave town of voice.

Tails steps forward but Sonic stops him, "We'll see about that"

Tails tugs Sonic's arm and the two run out of the station. Behind Shadow emerges a group of humans all of which carrying guns and aiming them at him. From out behind them the middle aged man Tails met not too long ago approaches him.

"Who the hell are you..."

"I am Professor Gerald Leopold Robotnik, and you are going to make a fine specimen for us to study, in the name of his majesty of course"

Shadow immediately jumps into a fighting position.

"I'm not going to be your lab rat"

"I beg to differ"

Leopold raises a tranquilizer gun and fires a dart into Shadows neck. The black hedgehog collapses to the floor as his vision begins to blur he can make out two humans walking up to him and putting restraints on his arms and legs, a few seconds later he's completely out as the Robotnik's lackies carry him out of the station and put him in an armoured truck.

As Gerald climbs into one of the escort cars, he catches a glimpse of Sonic and Tails watching and holding eachothers hands, he gives Tails a subtle nod, tips his hat and gets into the car. The boys watch the convoy leave and then go back to the river bank to grab their bags and take off back to Islington. When they get back to the house, Sonic's mind is loaded with questions.

"Okay, I have a few questions I want to ask and the first one is-"

Sonic takes a deep breath.

"How did you go super like that?!"

"To be honest, I'm not sure" Tails says taking his goggles off so he could clean them, "I opened the case with the emerald's in it and the next thing I knew I was transforming. I guess I could harness chaos emerald energy and I didn't even know it"

"Second question, those can be used as weapons?!" Sonic says pointing to the elastiribbons on the table.

"What? You thought I just developed them as a toy? Yeah they can be used for combat related scenarios" Tails says as he wipes the dust off his goggles.

"Third question, where did you learn how to fight like that?!" Sonic shouts.

Tails is silent for a moment, "I took a few lessons from Honey not too long ago"

"Honey The Cat?"

"Yeah, her"

"The same girl that kicked your ass that one time?"

"Fuck off! She cheated!"

Sonic bursts into laughter, Tails grumbles and makes an angry pouting face.

"Whoo sorry, I had to let that out"

Tails slaps him in back of the head causing Sonic to flinch.

Tails sighs and organises his papers so he can put them in his bag. Sonic jumps onto the couch and turns on the television, Tails joins him, timidly brushing his tails with his hand as Sonic looks at a BBC report about what happened earlier.

"Should we go somewhere else?" Sonic asks.

Tails shakes his head, "I kinda like it here. Not just that, there's a music festival I want to see"

"Music huh? Can't wait to sing our hearts out I guess" Sonic says.

"Same"

"Maybe we could write something!"

"Eh?! What would we even write a song about?"

Sonic smirks, "I'll let you guess"

It takes a second for Tails to realise what he's referring to. When he figures it out his face turns watermelon coloured.

"Maybe something else"

"Aw is someone embarrassed"

Tails gives Sonic a stare while raising his hand.

"Okay okay! Don't hit me!"

"That's what I thought"

Sonic sighs admitting defeat. Tails reconsiders Sonic's proposal and sighs.

"Okay-"

Sonic's ear perks up.

"-W-We'll try the love song thing"

"That's the spirit!"

"It better not be cheesy"

"No promises" Sonic says getting close to Tails, the fox rests his forehead on Sonic's and smiles at him.

"It's a good thing I'm helping you write it then" Tails says.

"I was counting on that"

"Mmm, weren't you"

They kiss for a second and then Tails grabs a quilt so he can cover him and Sonic with it as they watched they sat there watching the television.

"Is it bad that I'm worried about Shadow" Sonic says.

Tails looks up at him for a second and then back at the television, "I honestly don't care much about him anymore, of course you're free to see it however you want"

"I understand why... But I could tell those guys that grabbed him didn't exactly look friendly"

"Being unfriendly is part of their job Sonic. And again, I don't care what happens to Shadow, he tried to kill me remember"

"Yeah... Okay. I just wish things played out differently. Who knows maybe we could have talked it out... Or something"

"Maybe" Tails responds, "But he just seemed so sure that I killed Lucy, I doubt talking him down would have worked but that's my personal opinion"

Sonic couldn't argue with Tails on that point, after all Shadow's mental health was a jigsaw puzzle, very complex, very hard to put together what's going on in his head.

"Anyway, let's not think so much about it, especially since you still seem a bit ticked right now"

Tails licks Sonic's face making him flinch, "I'm fine Sonic, I promise"

Sonic's face reddens a bit, he pulls Tails on top of him and the two kiss eachother passionately. Tails moans and lets his face relax as Sonic continues to kiss his neck, with Shadow out of the way it seemed like him and Sonic's relationship was going to be nothing but smooth sailing. Unbeknownst to him though another obstacle would pose a serious threat to him and Sonic's relationship, something Tails would never see coming.