Shadow! Eclipse needs you! You need to get back to normal and help your baby brother! Tikal, help him
"Oh! Did something go wrong?!" Tikal asked worriedly, and Shadow looked just as worried.
"Wa?" The hoglet then pointed back towards where everyone else was, signaling that was where he wanted to go. "That way!"
She quickly ran past, still holding baby Shadow, and rushed into the home where Eclipse and Tails were. She gained a few stares as this happened.
"What was that all about?" Rouge asked.
"I dunno...maybe he just wanted to see Clip?" Sonic replied.
"Or maybe they found the monster."
Sticks was now the center of attention.
"You don't know...the legend of the gooslesnoop?"
"What is she talking about." The bat could only wonder.
"Don't worry, this is normal." Sonic answered simply. Rouge was left in silence.
"STOP SAYING SCARY STUFF!" Knuckles shouted. "It's not even spooky season!"
"I'LL CATCH IT ONE DAY!!"
"...Right. Anyway, how are you boy's doing with the...thing."
Rouge was left silent again.
"Yeah, I can see that, Omega...that's not good! WHAT IF THAT WAS THE REGULAR SIZE-INATOR THINGY?!"
"...It served its purpose, and now it's a cozy campfire."
Screaming was heard from inside Sonic's shack.
"WHO ARE YOU?!" Tails screamed, seeing a strange orange person holding baby Shadow, who looked somewhat afraid.
"HEY! YOU'D BETTER LET GO OF MY BROTHER!" Eclipse lifted his head to shout. "I MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO DO MUCH RIGHT NOW, BUT YOU CAN BET I'LL FIND A WAY TO IF THAT'S WHAT I NEED TO DO!"
"No no no! You misunderstand, I promise I don't mean any harm!" The girl said. "My name is Tikal! I was a ghost, but then I ate a cookie, and now I'm alive again, so I was playing with the little one here, but then we heard that his brother was in trouble and came back as fast as we could to make sure you were alright! And then-"
"A GHOST COME BACK TO LIFE?!" Tails interrupted. "FASCINATING!! I'D LOVE TO KNOW MORE!"
The echidna beamed. "Of course! Lemme tell you EVERYTHING!"
She set the hoglet down beside his Darkling brother, and Shadow looked at him with much sadness in his expression.
"Hey, Shadow. Sorry I haven't been paying a lot of attention to you...didn't mean it. Nothing's been going right! I wanted to be the best big brother to you, and I really thought I could be!"
Baby Shadow continued to frown, but curled up next to his brother in an attempt to make him feel better.
"This is gonna pain me to admit...but I'm already in pain, so who cares," he hesitated before grumbling. "Yeah, you were strict as the older brother, real strict, and you were annoying, and angry all the time, and obnoxious, and...I shouldn't be saying this to a BABY! Where am I even going with it?! I suck at this, don't I? I suck at everything. Just a big ol' suckish LOSER. Father would be just as ashamed...if he saw me now as the failure I am, it'd probably make sense, why he decided I wasn't good enough to keep..."
That hurt the both of them.
For some reason, that was enough to make Shadow...angry.
"Don't you DARE SAY THAT NONSENSE!!"
Eclipse felt himself being swiftly lifted up and off the ground, only to meet face-to-face with someone else.
"YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST SAY THAT AND LET IT PASS?! UTTER SUCH WORDS AND BELIEVE THEY WOULDN'T BE HEARD?! NO! I'M DONE! YOU ARE NOT USELESS, YOU DO NOT 'SUCK,' YOU ARE NOT A LOSER! GET THAT IN YOUR THICK SKULL OR ELSE WHEN WE GET BACK TO THE CAVE, I'M MAKING YOU TAKE A NAP!"
Shadow looked up, and found many eyes staring at him, Tails and some orange person next to him from inside this house he was for some reason in, and when he looked around, he saw team Sonic, watching from the door way.
"What are you idiots looking at?"
"I mean, besides the fact you're somehow not a baby anymore, did you...hear what you just said?" Sonic held in a laugh.
"What? What do you mean? What did I say?!"
"Aw, do you care about me, Shadow?"
It was then that Shadow became fully aware that he had grabbed his younger nuisance of a brother, only to drop him seconds after.
"OW! You know what actually sucks? You not being a bitty baby anymore! Now I can't teach you the ways of the Black Arms! You were a lot nicer, too...MY ANKLE IS BROKEN!!"
Shadow's usual look of rage only grew, immediately looking over at Sonic.
"...DUDE!" Sonic exclaimed, offended at the thing Shadow must've been trying to accuse him of.
"Don't you 'dude' me, you blue fake. I know what happened. You and Eclipse must've been out doing something stupid, as usual-"
"When you dragged him into something that got him injured! Just as usual, getting him into even more danger than he already puts himself in. A bad influence..."
"I mean...we did race, Soni-"
"I'm...intrigued." Tails said.
