"Tails"

"...Sonic"

"This isn't Tokyo..."

Where are the four of them standing? Piccadilly Circus, in London, at 5:30 in the afternoon... And there are plenty of stares thrown their way by confused Londoners. Mangey, not used to seeing humans hides behind Sonic for protection and comfort, Sonic notices Mangey and bends down to meet his gaze, Nine pulls his hood over his head and looks away from the crowd.

"It's okay, they're not gonna hurt you. And if they do, we'll rough em up"

Mangey feels just a bit more comfortable when Sonic consoles him.

Sonic turns back to the crowd with a nervous smile on his face, "Heyyy, so uh don't mind us... We're just gonna scoot on outta here, okay bye"

Sonic scoops up the three foxes and runs off to a street corner, putting then down once they're far enough from Piccadilly Circus. Mangey looks around in amazement, seeing all these unusual buildings, lights, signs, colours and structures made him stare in awe, the smells grabbed his interest too, foods, cars, metal, rubbish bins... Until he sneezes that is...

"Achoo!"

It's loud enough to get everyone to look at Mangey who's shivering, he waddles over to Sonic and sniffles.

"Oh, yeah is pretty chilly" Sonic says.

"It's December and his clothes aren't meant for the cold, they're meant for the jungle" Tails explains.

"Okay, so we find him something to wear" Nine says.

Tails takes his phone from out of his bag, and types on it a bit. Mangey, still a curious about all the new things he's seeing peeks over Tails' shoulder and watches him looks for clothing stores near them on Google Maps.

"We're in a popular area of London so there's gotta be plenty of these stores.... Oh found a good one!"

"Where is it?"

"Near Hyde Park"

"Huh, alright"

"Great, I can't wait to get there, let's g-" Sonic starts.

"Hahahaha... No" Tails says, putting his hands on Sonic's shoulders.

"W-Why?"

"Sonic, I love you-" Tails inhales and takes a deep breath out, "-But you're sense of fashion is terrible"

"O-Ouch" Sonic goes, hunching over in shame.

Nine snickers to himself while Mangey feels bad for Sonic somewhat.

"Eh, sitting in a store all day is boring anyway" Sonic goes, crossing his arms and turning away.

Tails holds back his laughter, he knows that Sonic feels hurt but he's not going to admit that it hit him where it hurts, he kisses his cheek and stands over by Nine.

"There's this steak place I think you'll like, it's called Hawksmoor Seven Dials!" Tails says, showing Sonic where it is.

"Eh, I have been wondering if I could get my hands on something good to eat for a while now" Sonic says.

"I'll send you the location, you can go there and eat while me and Nine find some stuff for Mangey to wear" Tails says back.

"Alrighty then... Oh it's a steak house-" Sonic's mouth starts to water when he sees the pictures of the food, "...Oh that look gooooood"

Tails gives him an orange plastic card with his logo on it, "We don't have the currency they use here, but this is connected to my account bank account back home. It converts the money we use back at home to their currency!"

"Huh, interdemensional payment methods... Never thought I'd ever see this in my life" Sonic says examining the card, "How did you make this?"

"That would require a long explanation, one you definitely won't take interest in listening to for as long as it would take for me to explain it to you" Tails responds.

"Later?"

"Maybe"

"Alright"

Sonic gets ready to run off, "Ah ah! Sonic!"

The hedgehog turns around and looks back at Tails who's giving him a grin with menacing intent behind it.

"Do not go nuts with that, it's connected to my bank account. If you do you're paying back the money you waist"

Sonic gulps and gives Tails a nervous grin, "Gotcha... Okay, bye"

Sonic speeds off towards the restaurant leaving the three foxes there on the street.

"That's not actually connected to your bank account is it" Nine says crossing his arms.

"Nope, it's from Knuckles' account" Tails responds as he types on his phone.

Nine flinches when he hears that, "That is-"

"Fucked up, I know... But hey, at least it's not going to waist" Tails responds, looking at Nine with a smug grin, "Come on, the train station is this way"

Nine grumbles, obviously not approving of what Tails was doing, Mangey follows them down the street down a set of steps within a building which led them to the Underground. When Tails and Nine get to the bottom they notice Mangey isn't there with them so they turn around and see a wobbly Mangey whimpering nervously.

"Oh, right..." Tails says, remembering Mangey grew up in a jungle and not a city or any kind of advanced civilization, "Mangey! One foot in front of the other!"

Mangey shakily steps forwards onto the steps, Tails sighs and runs up to the steps so he can aid the wobbly Mangey down.

"Watch me" Tails says.

Tails walks a few steps down and looks back at Mangey, "You try"

Mangey takes a shaky breath and slowly walks down the steps towards where Tails is.

"See you're getting it!" Tails says, putting his hand on his shoulder.

"Scary" Mangey whimpers.

"I know, but soon you won't have to be scared of it, it'll be muscle memory!" Tails responds, "Here, I'll walk down with you to show you it isn't so bad"

Tails extends his hand to Mangey, he takes his hand and Tails slowly makes his way down the steps with Mangey. Eventually, Mangey does indeed make it down the steps and he celebrates when he does jumping up and down while holding Tails tightly.

"Yeah, heh you did it" Tails goes.

"Not scary! Yahhh!"

Nine pats him on the head and walks down the hall towards the fare gates, the mezzanine is full of humans coming in and out of the station. Tails and Mangey catch up to Nine who's waiting for them, his hood still on his head.

"So how do we get in?" Nine asks Tails.

Tails pulls out a light blue plastic card with his insignia on it which makes Nine flinch, "I used to use these to get into Eggman's secret rooms, they work by searching for the electronic signature needed for to activate a response, when it does-"

Tails taps the card on the fair gate's card detector and it opens, "Voilà"

Nine and Mangey step on through, Tails follows them in and the gate closes behind them.

"So we're basically riding for free...?" Nine asks.

"Yep, come on let's go get a train"

Nine glares at Tails as him and Mangey go down the steps together holding hands.

"Awesome" He says to himself, then he follows them down the steps to the platform.

A train arrives into the station, Mangey can't handle the noise so he covers his ears. Tails puts his arm on his shoulder which makes Mangey turn around and smile at him. Tails gives Mangey some earplugs for the ride while Nine just puts his headphones on and plays some music.

While the train is underway, Mangey's arm is linked with Tails' as he watches Tails type on his computer, the train is crowded and there are all sorts of sounds that could potentially frighten Mangey who's not used to all this new and advanced stuff just yet. Since Sonic isn't there, he has Tails and Nine to seek for comfort and since Nine doesn't look to be in the mood Tails is his only option.

"Wood... Leaf... Flowa..."

Tails looks at Mangey and smiles warmly at him, "I'm documenting the species I see here on Earth, my biggest file on Earth so far is on humans"

"Humon?"

"Hew-man" Tails says to him, pronouncing it to him.

"Human... Human!"

When Mangey shouts that half the train carriage looks their way, Tails grins nervously as he looks around the train at the Londoners looking their way and gestures for Mangey to lower his voice.

"Lower your voice!" Tails whisper shouts.

"Sowy" Mangey whispers.

Tails looks over at Nine, he can hear the rock music playing in his headphones. Tails reaches over and takes the headphones off his head which in turn wakes Nine from his nap.

"Hey! What the fuck!?" Nine shouts, aggravated

"We're almost at our stop, and keep your voice down!"

"Fu-" Mangey starts.

Tails slaps his mouth with his other hand, "No, don't say that!"

"Why?" Mangey asks, Tails' hand still covering his mouth.

"Just... Don't"

Nine yanks his headphones from Tails and puts them back on, his hood too. Tails doesn't even care at that point, he just sighs and closes his laptop. When the train arrives at New Hyde Park station, the three get off the train where now Tails needed to show Mangey how to go up the steps.

Mangey whimpers as Tails let's go of his hand so he can demonstrate to Mangey how to go up the steps.

"Watch" Tails says as he slowly walks up the steps, stopping half way to turn back to Mangey.

"You try"

Nine walks up the steps next to Tails and looks back down at Mangey who's slowly making his way up the steps, while he's does Mangey trips but Tails catches him.

"Take it nice and slow... When you get used to it, then you should try going at a regular pace"

Mangey nods and gets back up onto his feet, Tails helps him the rest of the way up and when they get to the top, he gives him a big hug, Tails embraces him back proud of him for trying to keep going rather than giving up, though he doesn't say anything about it Nine also feels proud to, giving Mangey a thumbs up.

-

Sonic kicks back at the restaurant as he enjoys his food and scrolls on his phone, looking at memes while he was on Earth satisfied him, he laughs at a low quality video of a man getting bit by a donkey as the waiter approaches him with a second plate of steak and a cup of soda.

"This is your seventh plate mate, don't you think that's enough?" The waiter says to him.

"What can I say? I'm a dude who needs a lot of food" Sonic responds.

The waiter sighs, obviously not interested in knowing and just puts the plate on the table and takes the empty one. Sonic cuts a piece off and puts it in his mouth while still scrolling through his Twitter feed.

"Enjoy... God, that guy must have pockets" The waiter says as he walks away.

Sonic eventually finishes his food, pays and leaves the steakhouse back into the cold streets of London, he texts Tails that he's going to meet them at Heathrow Airport and puts his phone back in his bag.

"Sonic" A familiar voice says.

Sonic stops walking immediately and gasps when he hears that voice, recognising who it is, he turns to his left down a dark alleyway and standing there, bruised, bandaged and full of rage... Is Shadow.

"Sh-Shadow?" Sonic says.

Shadow just stares at him, Sonic puts his hand on his head and laughs nervously.

"Okay... I think I uh had too much to eat-"

Shadow throws an empty beer bottle at Sonic who shields himself, the bottle hits Sonic in the head and falls to the ground where it shatters into pieces, Sonic stares at ghe broken bottle for a second and then looks back up at Shadow who's still staring at him.

"Oh, you're real hahaha... What are you doing here... How are you here?" Sonic asks stepping away from Shadow, his chest full of uncertainty, of confusion, and also of fear.

--

24 hours earlier

Shadow lays on the cold hard ground, the intense experimentation has left him damaged but certainly not beaten. It was midnight at the facility when the door to his containment cell was opened and he's dragged out by two armoured men to a testing chamber, he doesn't struggle or fight back at this point, and there's a reason why...

"Commencing test Alpha 4-6-8 Charlie, subject is classified Subject S" One of the scientists says.

"Preparing energy rays" Another goes.

The head scientist, Gerald Robotnik, comes into the room, two armoured men with P90s coming in from behind, a black suit and tie is what he's wearing.

"Energy rays charging-"

Gerald picks up the microphone and clears his throat.

"Rejoice animal, know your sacrifice will bring glorious purpose to humanity... The gift you give us, of invulnerability, will benefit us greatly and we'll have you to thank for it" Gerald says, a know it all grin on his face.

As the machine powers up and aims at Shadow, he looks at it and sighs. For the last several months he's been tortured by the various machines they use and tests they put him through, he was long fed up with it, a geyser of rage going off within him, the heat of that geyser his hatred for Tails and what he did to him.

He's struck by a beam from the energy ray, it feels like his skin is pealing off, his insides bursting into flames. As the energy ray boils him, he slowly begins to stand up from off the ground much to Robotnik's horror.

"Intensify the beam" Gerald commands.

"Sir, if we do we risk causing the ray gun to overheat" One of the female scientists says.

"Do it!" Gerald shouts.

The scientist reluctantly turns the knob on the rat and now Shadow feels like his skin is being incinerated, but his will to finally break out of there and get his revenge on the fox who wrong him was unbreakable... The thoughts of Tails' grinning at him, laughing over his friend's grave as Shadow gets tortured and tested on the way he did, his pupils dialate, his fists balled, he lets out a shout and red electricity starts to crackle around him.

"Sir, Subject S's taking in the energy!" One of the male scientists shout, "We need to turn off the energy ray!"

But it's too late, a blast of light and energy shatters the protective glass looking into the testing chamber, Gerald is thrown backwards into the wall while all the scientists are thrown off their chairs. The guards raise their weapons and fire them at Shadow, but Shadow eats the bullets, he sneers at them and then rushes towards them snatching their weapons from their hands.

He turns his attention to Gerald who's crawling his way out if the room and into the hallway with it's grey concrete walls and brightly lit lights, Shadow comes out of the room and sees several men in black running over and forming a protective wall around Gerald. They raise their guns and open fire, Shadow raises the guns he has in his hand and unloads all of their clips into them, dropping them all to the floor in seconds.

At this point, Gerald has gone from running to sprinting. He gets to his office and seals the door shut, running to his laptop so he can send an emergency message to one of his contacts, a woman by the name of Caitlyn.

"Caitlyn, why did you leave me with this animal" He growls as he types furiously.

The muffled screams and the boom of gunfire echo through the halls as Gerald types furiously, sending something to this Caitlyn he's trying to communicate with, there's suddenly a ban on the door and then a louder bang and an even louder one... Then the door comes off it's hinges just as Gerald finally finishes typing and sends his message to his compatriot.

Shadow, with glowing red eyes, a smoking machine gun and a glare from satan himself walks in, pushing a clip into the rifle.

"Any last words...?" Shadow growls.

"It's just business animal, which you know nothing about from what it seems" Gerald says with a smirk.

"Tch, Typical" Shadow goes.

He fires the gun, unloading the entire thing on him and Gerald's corpse drops to the floor. When he sees he's dead, Shadow runs around the facility killing anyone he saw, sparing no one... It's a blood bath, one showered with screams, the thuds of corpses and pleas of desperation.

Finally he has enough and charges through the ceiling upwards out of the ground creating a huge hole when he finally erupts out of the Earth, he looks around at his surroundings and finds himself in a wooded area. Bullets fly his way as huge amounts of security personnel arrive to try and take Shadow down, at this point he's exhausted so he builds up a tremendous amount of power and unleashes another massive shockwave which throws them all over the place.

Shadow takes off, flying faster than a plane. There's one goal, and only one goal he wants to achieve at this point... Killing Tails, and if need be Sonic as well.

--

"I'm here Sonic to ask you a question... And depending on how you answer it will determine if you're my ally or my enemy" Shadow says.

"O-Okay, what's the question?" Sonic asks, reaching into his bag so he can take out his phone.

"Are you going to stop me?" Shadow asks.

"Stop you from doing what?" Sonic questions, he pushes a button on his phone and then drops it back in his bag.

"Killing Tails"

Sonic somehow knew that's what Shadow was going to say next, he sighs and looks towards his rival with displeasure.

"Shadow... I'm not going to let you kill Tails" Sonic responds, looking into his eyes, the fires of defiance dancing around in his eyes.

Shadow snarls frustratedly, he was really hoping he wouldn't have to fight Sonic again, "Sonic... He's nothing but a crafty little liar"

"You know what Shadow? I have had a really frustrating few weeks, I have a lot to worry about right now including Eggman potentially still being alive and scheming something that me and Tails have yet to uncover. The last thing I need right now is for you to be threatening his life, so unless you have proof that Tails is this psychotic murderer, I'm not listening to a thing you say" Sonic responds.

"Why do you like this rat so much?! Take me back to Mobius, I can show you all the proof you want!" Shadow shouts, growing tired of Sonic refusing to listen to him.

"What?! No! I'm here with him to help him with his research!" Sonic responds.

Shadow spins around and slicks the quills on the back of his head back.

"Has anyone else been killed since I was captured?!" Shadow shouts.

"Knuckles... He was stabbed to death" Sonic responds, looking down at the floor solemnly.

Shadow's rage explodes when he hears that, "That little rodent did it again..."

"Shadow, let's be real for a second! There's no way Tails would have the balls to kill someone, nonetheless the same way Knucks was done" Sonic responds.

"This is what you don't understand Sonic, he's putting on an act! I've seen this side of him, while I was in the hospital, he put nanites in my blood, he probably has nanites in everyone's blood probably!" Shadow shouts.

"Probably, yeah sure" Sonic responds, definitely not believing what he was saying this time.

"Why are you so confident that he's innocent, huh? What do you have to lose?!" Shadow shouts.

"Shadow, ever since you've left the hospital you've been out of your mind! You keep on telling everyone that Tails is crazy, but you have no proof to back up these claims whatsoever! Tails, on the other hand, I'd be more likely to trust because I've been around him the longest, Ive known him longer than everyone else!" Sonic screams.

Shadow growls and rushes up close to Sonic's face standing inches from Sonic, who doesn't flinch when Shadow gets up in his face.

"Answer my question!... What do you have to lose?! Is he holding you hostage?! Is he threatening you?!" Shadow shouts.

"No, he's not!"

"Then what is it, why are you ignoring my warnings!?"

"Because I love him Shadow!"

Shadow freezes when he hears that, "...What?!"

"Me and Tails have been together for a while now, I trust him more than anything. He hasn't done me wrong, he's faithful, he's smart, fuck I'll even admit it... He's cute, cute as hell!-"

As Sonic continues to explain why Tails means so much to him, Shadow's can feel his ears ringing, the rage in him stewing like a cauldron of hot water, it builds up until finally he overflows...

"Look, I know you think he's the one who did it, but just give Tails the benefit of the doubt-"

Shadow's fist flies into Sonic's face, throwing him into a spin and into a street light. Sonic's can feel the burn from the strike eating at his face, he clutches his face tightly and stands back up.

"You truly are unsalvageable..." Shadow says to Sonic.

"Call me what you want" Sonic responds, blue lightning crackles around him as he pushes his shoulder back into place, "I won't let you touch Tails"

"We'll see about that" Shadow returns, and with that he charges at Sonic.

Sonic takes off towards Shadow, the two crash into each other and so the battle begins...

-

Tails and Nine stand outside a fitting room in the clothing store Tails found, they had several garments for Mangey to try. The two sit against eachother using eachothers backs as support, Tails licks a lollipop while Nine just watches videos on his phone.

"So what do you think he'll go for?" Nine asks, pulling his headphones from off his ears.

"Something completely silly" Tails responds, typing on his laptop.

"Heh, seems like something he'd choose" Nine goes.

Mangey peaks from the fitting room, Tails and Nine look his way and see Mangey has trousers on his head which makes Tails face palm.

"Yep, definitely silly" Nine says, trying to hold his laughter back.

Tails stands up and takes the trousers off Mangey's head, "That's not how you wear those silly"

Tails points at Nine who sits up against the wall, "They cover your legs"

Mangey looks down at Tails and sees he's not wearing trousers so he tilts his head to the side, Tails blushes in embarrassment and Nine starts to laugh himself to death.

"P-Pants aren't for everyone, okay? Don't judge me" Tails goes, looking away from Mangey and glaring at Nine who's banging his fist on the floor comically.

"I'm sorry hahaha, It's just finally someone says something about it!" Nine says through laughter.

"Fuck off!" Tails shouts.

"Fu-"

Tails covers Mangey's mouth again, "No! Don't copy me!"

"-ck" Mangey goes with Tails' hand still on his mouth.

"Yep, we're terrible roll models" Nine says as his laughing fit finally ends.

Mangey holds the pair of trousers in his hand and lowers them to the ground, putting one foot in and then the other and pulls them up, he stares at the clothing marveling at his accomplishment.

"Heh, you're gonna be as smart as us in no time" Tails says to Mangey.

Mangey turns to Tails and smiles warmly at him, which immediately makes Tails suddenly feel like rubbish.

"Are you okay?" Nine asks.

"I just remembered I almost took his head off with the VibroAxe, boy am I glad I didn't do it, he's so precious!" Tails says as Mangey walks up to him and licks his face.

"You almost choked me to death... With a red hot piece of nanite infused fabric"

"I apologised to you too! Ugh!" Tails goes as Mangey nuzzles his face.

"Uh huh" Nine responds.

"Okay, Mangey, now that you know how to but on pants... Go try the other stuff on!" Tails says gently pushing him back into the fitting room.

After about three minutes, the first fit is ready. Mangey found himself with jeans and a grey jumper, which he wasn't a huge fan of and it was easy for Nine and Tails to see he didn't like it because of the disinterested expression on his face.

"No" Nine and Tails say.

The second outfit consisted of red trainers, a black zip up jumper and a baseball cap, Mangey felt a bit better with this

Tails and Nine shake their heads, "Nah"

The third outfit was some overalls and light blue trainers with stars on them, this also came with a white long sleeve shirt with a graphic design on it. Mangey seemed to really enjoy this one as he was jumping up and down like a hyper little child.

"I love it" Tails says giving him a thumbs up.

"No" Nine says, arms crossed.

"What?! Why?!" Tails says, looking back at him in shock.

"Ehh?!" Mangey whimpers disappointedly.

"It looks terrible, besides he's not a little kid" Nine says looking away from Mangey and Tails.

Tails slumps over in defeat, Mangey whimpers sadly and goes back into the fitting room.

The fourth outfit was more of something Nine would approve of: A long sleeve shirt with a skull on the right side, black shorts and black trainers with fire like designs on the exterior, Mangey is more confused with this one.

Nine grins and nods slowly, Tails rolls his eyes and waves for Mangey to go back in the fitting room.

"Oh come on" Nine goes.

"Hey you didn't like the one I approved of so..."

"Asshole"

"I love you too"

And for the fifth outfit... Mangey was just wearing nothing but black briefs. He stands there hands on his waist, chest puffed out proudly. Tails and Nine glare at him not amused at all with the fact he was wearing nothing but underwear.

"The whole point of this is supposed to be stuff that can keep you warm you dingus! Not to be an exhibitionist!" Tails shouts.

"If that's you're preference you'll be an ice cube in no time" Nine adds.

Mangey scratches the back of his head and laughs nervously before going back in the fitting room.

"He's really bold" Tails remarks, rubbing his face.

"You're not wrong"

And for the final outfit, Tails and Nine stare for a moment both amazed by just how well it fit on Mangey. A light green short sleeve jumper with a leaf design on it, black shorts and red and orange strap on sandals, though they left Mangey's feet exposed it still looked pretty great, Mangey loved the outfit, especially the sandals because of how much they complemented his fur and face paint.

"Perfect!" Tails and Nine shout, both full of excitement.

"But uh, those are summer clothes" Tails says scratching his head nervously.

Mangey shakes his head and reaches into one of the sleeves in the jumper pulling out a longer sleeve from within it that could cover his arms, he gives a big goofy smile as Tails nods impressed with how innovative the jumper was.

"Wait what about your legs?" Nine asks.

Mangey reaches in and pulls out a longer sleeve in their as well that could cover his legs too.

"Ohhhhh" Tails and Nine go, completely engrossed at how genius it was.

"Well then, I guess it's settled! This'll be your outfit, I'm glad you like it Mangey" Tails says.

"Clothes!" Mangey shouts excitedly.

Tails pays for the new clothes and they all leave the store, Mangey and Tails holding eachothers hands while laughing together. Tails leans over to him and whispers...

"I bought the other one you liked too, the overalls"

When Mangey hears that he gets so excited he jumps into Tails arms and licks his face.

"Tank you!"

"Haha, you're welcome"

Tails noticed Mangey wasn't wearing any gloves so he lifts up his hand and sees how clean it looks.

"Wow, you take really good care of your hands, your claws are a bit long though, nothing a nail file can't fix though" Tails says.

Mangey just licks his face as a response which makes Tails laugh. The fox reaches into his bag and pulls his phone out to see if Sonic sent him any messages when he sees that Sonic said he was going to meet them at Heathrow Airport he texts him back agreeing and letting Sonic know that he loves him.

"Sonic's going to the airport" Tails says to the others.

"I just hope he makes it there okay" Nine says.

"We all do" Tails responds, he plants a kiss on Mangey's cheek which makes him laugh.

"Wow, look at you two hitting it off" Nine says, throwing a smirk their way.

"Shut up! He's adorable, okay!?" Tails says, pulling a smiling Mangey closer to him.

"Yeahhh, sure"

"You kissed me on the face back in the Boscage Maze!"

When Nine remembers that he jolts slightly and red floods his face, "I-I was teasing you!"

"Y-Yeah uh huh sure" Tails responds.

Mangey finds it amusing that these two are bickering and finds it hard to not laugh at them.

"Funny... Hahaha!" Mangey goes through laughter.

When Tails and Nine notice Mangey laughing at their bickering, they just shut up and accept they're both indeed... Very weird, yet oddly affectionate with one another.

There's the faint sound of an explosion in the distance which makes their ears perk up.

"What was that?" Nine says.

Tails gasps when he sees the smoke in ths distance, he looks on his phone to check Sonic's vitals, to see if he's okay... Several warnings show up when Tails opens it up.

"Sonic's in trouble" Tail says.

"H-Huh? How do you know?" Nine asks.

"Not important, come on let's go find him!" Tails says as he flies up in the air, Nine and Mangey follow behind him.

As Tails looks on his phone monitoring Sonic's vitals, he can only assume who would be able to do this much damage to him, a certain black hedgehog he went toe to toe with not to long ago. When he realises who he's fighting he squeezes his phone tightly.

"Shadow..."