Chapter Text
Sonic was always running, as it was his big talent. In fact, if you asked any resident of Hedgehog Village, even Tails, they would say that all Sonic The Hedgehog did was run. That the blue hero didn’t know how to slow down and enjoy the sights.
Those people were wrong. Sonic just didn’t like the big crowds that tended to come with Amy’s nature walks! There was only one other reason! And it wasn’t that sometimes he gets fed up with the townspeople’s constant nagging and complaining about meaningless things! It definitely wasn’t that he can’t hear himself think sometimes, even around his team! It wasn’t that the attacks get overwhelming eventually! The only other reason is that somedays he just, likes going out in nature occasionally.
Today was one of those days. The first and last reasons, not any of those other baseless assumptions. He was out in Hazard Jungle, just walking, (contrary to popular opinion) and enjoying the cool evening air. He hadn’t told anyone where he was and even left his communicator at home, if Eggman decided to attack they’d be without him, but he was confident they’d be able to deal with whatever happened. He was admiring a pretty flower that he couldn’t remember the name for when the tentative peace was broken.
“No NO NO DON’T EAT THAT IT’S POISONOUS,” The shout rang out through the jungle, disturbing quite a few birds and even causing a nearby branch to fall. Sonic sighed and stood up. If he let this continue then some villager will come to him complaining about the noise and he might let it slip that he knows and then it’s the incident with Mike all over again. There goes his romp in the woods.
Picking up speed, he shot off in the direction of the yell. He was at the scene in a second, and the scene was very unusual.
Shadow-The-Motherfucking-Hedgehog was crouched down, walking slowly towards a bawling dark chao. There was also a hero chao, which was trying to eat a very large plant that would look tasteful on Amy’s lawn. Sonic’s first (and very impulsive) thought was he’s stealing chao now?! Shadow’s head snapped to face him, almost unnaturally. The edgelord hissed! He hissed at him!
“Shadow what are you doing?” Sonic asked confusedly. In a flash of light, Shadow was directly in his face, readying a punch. The fist connected with Sonic’s chin, knocking the hedgehog back a few paces. “Alright that’s i—“ Sonic was rudely interrupted by the dark chao proceeding to bawl louder at the sight of violence.
“Look what you’ve done now!” Shadow grumbled to him, voice uncharacteristically low. He was suddenly sat in front of the chao, trying to… calm it down? “Shhh shh everything is alright.” He slowly unfolds his arms and the chao practically jumps into the embrace. “You are real, and alive, and deserving of emotion, I’m sorry for yelling at you.” He says to it. It’s an odd sight and an even odder set of affirmations. The chao sniffles but doesn’t keep crying. Instead it buries its head in the ebony hedgehog’s fluffy looking chest fur. Damn Shadow’s good with kids. Sonic finds himself thinking, distracted by the rare show of care by his rival. (He wouldn’t tell anyone but before he didn’t really think that Shadow cared about anything, not even himself.)
He finds himself stumped. Why did Shadow steal chao? Did Shadow steal chao? What is he doing out here with them? Shadow scowls at him from his spot on the ground. There is a tugging on the sports tape on his legs and Sonic looks down to find the hero chao from earlier hugging his leg. He can faintly hear Shadow whisper “traitor” under his breath. He picks the chao, now identified as a ‘he’ up and looks it over for injuries. There’s some old, old scars but nothing else, aside from the code FL-16 on his wrist, curiously not tattooed, but in short black fur.
“Are these yours?” He asks, not expecting an answer.
“No.” Shadow replies for too quickly. His chao has a sturdy hold on the villain(?)’s thumb and is not letting go, despite the gentle pulls Shadow is giving, trying to free his hand. “I… found them. I was going to drop them off at your idiotic village so I won’t have to deal with these menaces.” Sonic smirks.
“Alrighty then, I live in the village, just give them to me and I’ll be on my way.” He takes a few steps forward before Shadow loudly protests.
“NO!” He yells, causing both chao to begin crying. Shadow calms down his very quickly, while Sonic fumbles with the chao in his arms. Shadow sighs and gets up from the floor, dumping his dark chao into Sonic’s arms and taking the hero chao from him. Sonic examines the other chao, also a ‘he’, for damage. There’s more ancient scars in roughly the same places on the hero chao, but this time the code H-17 is also visible in white fur on his wrist.
“Sooo you’re a single father now?” He asks, intentionally ruling up his rival. Shadow just scoffs. There is an uncomfortable silence between the two hedgehogs, occasionally broken by the occasional ‘Chao!’ Or coo. “Yknow if your looking for something to feed them, the store at my village sells a whole bunch of chao-safe foods.” He offers. Shadow stares at him skeptically, putting the hero chao down on the ground. It immediately rushes over to Sonic’s side, asking for uppies. He deposits the dark chao back into Shadow’s arms as he picks up the other chao. “What’s his name?” He asks.
“Bingo.” Shadow replies, freezing as he realizes his mistake far too late.
“Awwww you Care Them.” Sonic says.
“What does that even mean?” Shadow asks, confused. wow. He really doesn’t know internet culture. Sonic thinks to himself.
“Nothing. And Mr. Dark And Stormy over here?” He points to the dark chao Shadow is cradling. Shadow sighs and accepts his fate.
“… Pebbles.” He says, ashamed. Sonic thinks it’s cute and puts Shadow into a whole different light. He sees it fit to leave and tries to return Bingo to his rightful place in Shadow’s arms. “Keep him. You’d be a better caretaker than I ever would.” He says, refusing.
“I— what?” Sonic asks. Where the fuck did this behavior come from?
“Do I have to say it slower for you, fool?” Shadow asks, once again on the defensive.
“Thanks?” Sonic says, more of a question than a thank you.
“Don’t mention it. Literally. If you tell anyone I’ll kill you.”
Sonic tries to leave the clearing, an action met with many protests from the chao is his arms. “Can you at least say goodbye to him?” Sonic asks.
Shadow sighs a long-suffering sigh and steps forward. He carefully removes Bingo from his rival’s sports-taped arms and cradles him. “Be good for the blue fool,
Okay?” Bingo nods, teary. Shadow kisses him on the forehead quickly, like if he did it any longer he would simply explode. “Sayonara, Bingo.” He places Bingo The Chao pack into Sonic’s arms, the blue hedgehog chuckles.
“I’ll let you visit sometime, Kay’ Faker?”
“That is… satisfactory.”
<<>>
The next morning, Soar is making a report on the tv that several packages of non-perishable chao-safe foods have been stolen from the local H.U.T. Grocery store.
No one asked Sonic about his Sudden Baby Acquisition, something he is very happy about. He’s sure, however, that there are rumors he hasn’t heard yet floating around that he adopted it soley because the local hero ‘always needs something to feed his ego.’
Sticks, despite her aversion to all things cute, was strangely supportive of Sonic’s newfound single parenthood. When asked about it, her only response was that ‘everyone knows chao limit the brainwaves from the robotic space overlords.’ Sonic didn’t bother trying to correct her.
<<>>
It had been a month or so after Sonic and Shadow’s encounter in the woods and the hero was proud to announce that he was getting the hold of chao care. He had even threatened Eggman (it didn’t take much) to leave Bingo alone. Shadow hadn’t yet taken the cobalt hedgey up on his offer of letting him visit, and Sonic was worrying a little bit about his rival’s wellbeing. It was clear the black hedgehog cared very much about the two chao, so what was stopping him from visiting? Currently, he was watching Bingo go to town on his lunch, a plate of pigs-in-blankets when Sticks ran screaming into the shack. Sonic instinctually covered his chao’s ears, avoiding the bawling that would likely soon come.
“THE FEDS! THEY’VE FOUND ME! THEY’RE GONNA DO ME IN FOR TAX EVASION!” She yelled. Sonic was unimpressed, this happened practically every week and he was therefore desensitized to the rants. Amy however, soon followed, panting.
“Sonic! Huff huff… there are soldiers on the beach that want to talk to you. Huff huff. I’m just. Going to sit here for a little bit.” Fastidious beaver, who had been watching from the window, visibly deflated at seeing Amy’s Correct grammar.
“Wait really?” Amy nodded. “Well. Shit.” Sticks gasped loudly, covering Bingo’s ears.
“You can’t corrupt the child!”
<<>>
Humans were an odd sight on Bygone Island, but there they were, a graying man and a troop of official looking soldiers. Sonic was carrying Bingo with him, an instinct now. The man, probably a Lieutenant, noticed the young mobian and strolled up to him, flashing an important looking badge. “Commander Towers, Guardian Units Of Nations, are you Sonic T. Hedgehog?”
“I mean, how many Sonics do you see daily?” Towers stared at him unimpressed. Bingo shivered in Sonic’s grip. “Yes, sir.”
“Good. Have you seen any chao exhibiting unusual behaviors or powers? We have reason to believe that an old escap—!” In a flash, Shadow was in front of the man. Towers was firmly in the Hedgehog’s grip. Shadow had the commander by the neck and wore a dangerous expression. Anger flowed off of him in waves.
“Listen here and listen well, murderer. I will not allow you to play god like you had the doctor did, like you did with me. They call me the Ultimate Lifeform for a reason, test me, and you’ll find out. Those chao are under my protection, so much as look at Bingo or Pebbles, and I will kill your men in front of you, and then end your life. Stay away from my island if you know what’s good for you.” After his tirade of threats, he disappeared, dropping towers.
The silence was almost stifling, it made Sonic want to run into the woods and never come back. Knuckles, Chaos bless his heart, broke the silence.
“You and Shadow had kids together?” He asked. Sonic was fixated on the commander, who was trying to regain his breath.
“So you’re not here to bust my friend for tax evasion?”