Sonic: Tides of Chaos

The Ship

Wanderlust filled the passengers on the cruise line. Packed onto the deck of the ship enjoying games, filling the casinos and grabbing seats for live performances. Sonic felt the salty spray of water in the wind dampen his quills as he stared out into the ocean below. Swirling dark blue vortexes as the ship parted its way through its waves leaving sudsy ocean foam in its wake. 
"Get out of town!" A familiar voice called from over the chatter and music of the boat. "Is that Sonic the Hedgehog!?"
Sonic's ears twitched at the sound of his name. Picking himself up from the railing he turned and instinctually brought a smile to his face seeing a white bat dressed in black shorts and a skimpy tank top.
"Whoa Rouge!?" He waved as she came over.
"What in the world are you doing here Big Blue?!" She was in flip flops replacing her heels yet she still walked with her hips swaying.
"Amy pretty much dragged me along." He gave a weak chuckle.
"You know for her preaching, 'boundaries need to be respected' she should probably put it into practice." She laughed.
Sonic gave a shrug, "Well she went and bought me this super cool vacation shirt. I couldn't say no."
Rouge looked down at the shirt and laughed covering her mouth as she muttered, "Oh my god it's hideous!"
Sonic looked down with a sheepish smile, "She said it complimented my eyes."
"Trust me Blue," Rouge said, taking out some sunglasses from her purse, "You're working wonders for the thing." She slid the shades over her eyes. "I'll have a lot of explaining to do when he hears about this."
"He? He who?" Sonic tilted his head. Rouge stepped next to him and nodded to a dark hedgehog scowling and trying to stay as distant from the crowd as possible. "He said there wouldn't be a chance of running into you here."
Sonic lit up, a new horizon of distraction from the watery depths below. His hand lifted in the air to act as a flag as he waved and called out, "Yo Shadow!!"
Rouge muttered behind him waiting for the inevitable arguing about to take place. Just as predicted a growl escaped Shadow's chest as his eyes met Sonic. "What are you doing here!?"
Sonic opened his arms for a hug only to be met with a hand in his face keeping him at an arm's length. Shadow's glare unwavering, "Don't touch me."
"But you're touching me~" Sonic teased, trying to push past his hand but ultimately gave up, "Same as you! The girls made us do it."
"What??" Shadow crossed his arms looking at the shirt Sonic was wearing with a questionable brow raise.
"Rouge seems to have dragged you along right?" Sonic clarified looking between the two of them.
"That's not what happened." Shadow shook his head.
Sonic's hand reached out to pat Shadow's shoulder, "It's okay to admit it. Doing nice things for your friends."
Shadow responded by slapping Sonic's arm away from him. "You shouldn't be here."
"S'matter, can't share the boat?" Sonic chuckled, "This boat ain't big enough fer the two of us!" He mimicked some shoddy pirate yet southern accent while jabbing at him with his elbow. "Unless you mean about my swimming? Which to that I'll say; Amy already bought me a shirt for coming so I couldn't just say 'no', y'know?"
Shadow heaved in a slow deep breath while his eyes cut over to Rouge. She shrugged with a smile, "I'm not going to babysit you two the whole time so try not to throw each other overboard." She pushed up her shades and left.
Sonic took it upon himself to stay next to Shadow walking with him on the deck.
"What're you doin Shadow?" He asked, setting his hands behind his head as he walked.
Shadow considered telling Sonic the reason why he and Rouge had boarded the ship but he knew Sonic's attitude and impatience. There was nothing they could do already out at sea, telling anyone else would stir a panic or discourse on the ship.
"Mandatory vacation." He finally grumbled, "something about labor laws or whatever."
"Huh" Sonic quirked his brow, "I didn't know those still applied to you. Aren't you like... government property or something?"
Shadow paused his left eye, giving a twitch, "What??" Was he trying to piss him off? What reason did he have to bring that up? It was uncalled for. 
"I mean-" Sonic continued weaving past people muttering out apologies here and there as he brushed past them to catch up to Shadow who abruptly stopped, "You're obviously your own person. No one can stop you from doing what you want to do or be. Even if you're an old experiment with the capacity to level the earth. Huh come to think of it, maybe that's why they keep such a close eye on you."
Shadow turned to him with a fire in his eyes, "I swear I will toss you overboard."
Sonic shrugged, "Whaaat?? I'm only saying, this vacation is kind of a big thing for you isn't it? I mean you're lucky they don't send you back in that cryosleep pod. They've kept you on a pretty short leash, it's about time you get to-" Sonic was cut off by a quick jolt as Shadow grabbed a fist full of his colorful leaf shirt and some fur for good measure.
"Leave me alone. First and final warning." He growled before tossing him back then turned and walked away. This time Sonic kept his distance, getting the seriousness of the message letting him disappear into another crowd.
Sonic found Tails in his matching shirt sipping on a melon soda with a scoop of ice cream floating at the top. His attention fixed on a live show.
"Hey buddy!" Sonic called over the noise.
"Hey Sonic!" Tails yelled over the musical number that began playing. "Having fun?"
"Eh." Sonic shrugged. "Wanna play a game?"
Tail nodded, "Yeah! Let's go!"
The two left the theater stepping back out on deck. They found a tennis court and started up a game. The game helped Sonic forget he was on a boat in the middle of the ocean. Rouge showed up, Shadow at her side and asked if they could join in.
"We can play doubles." She said taking a racket, "I'll be on blue's team." She took a second racket and tossed it to Shadow who caught it and gave it a spin in order to get used to the weight in his hands.
Tails nodded to Shadow as he took his place on his side of the court in the back corner.
"What's the score?" Shadow asked the fox as he bounced the ball a few beats.
"Sonic's winning." Tails chuckled softly. He wasn't the worst at sports but catching all of Sonic's fast balls was impossible. Even when losing he knew it was all just to distract Sonic from feeling anxious so he kept playing.
"Let's fix that." A smirk lifted Shadow's smile and glared daggers across the court at Sonic. With a quick toss of the ball Shadow's racket whipped through the air and hit it with a loud clap!
As the game went on it attracted a crowd. Tails' team evened the score and it stayed  a tie for the longest. It continued on, Rouge and Tails had to tap out. They sat on the side with the crowd sipping drinks and watched the ball be brutally smacked back and forth over the net between the two speed demon hedgehogs. Just as they thought it would never end, the tie was finally broken! Sonic taking the win! Despite their earlier interaction Sonic trotted up to Shadow at the end of their match holding out his hand.
"Great game Shads!" His smile was wide and genuine. It seemed he forgot he was surrounded by his most prominent fear. Shadow shook his hand, "Yeah."
"What are you doin' after this? Wanna play a different game?" Sonic asked, hopefully keeping next to him.
Shadow's ears twitched irritably, "No. I didn't come to spend time with you. Didn't you say Amy was the one who brought you on this trip?" He took a drink that Rouge handed to him. "Where is she? Why don't you spend time with her?"
"Well uh-" Sonic's smile dropped a few inches as he scratched the back of his ear, "She wanted to do more shopping. And I'm not much of a shopper y'know? And then she wanted to go swimming. I don't need to explain myself for that one."
Rouge whispered something in Shadow's ear and he nodded then waved as she left. "Maybe you should try suggesting something instead."
"Where is she going?"Sonic asked, tilting his head and then tilted it the other way, "What do you mean?"
"She's going to the pool." Shadow answered, "And I mean you should take the lead on somethings. Ask her to watch one of the shows with you or attend a concert. Rouge and I have split up several times to do our own thing but then we come back and decide on things we want to do together."
"Oh!" Sonic nodded and then thought about the idea, "Yeah I guess I can do that. So, you and Rouge are on like... a date?~" he bounced his brows with a tease in his tone.
Shadow rolled his eyes, "No. I told you I was literally forced on vacation. She just invited me. We're good coworkers together."
"And friends?" Sonic continued to tease.
Shadow paused for a moment before having to admit the fact he did think of Rouge as a friend. "Yeah. Sure."
"Aww! That's so sweet!" Sonic cooed, "We're friends too, right?"
The darker hedgehog raised a questioned brow. Did this man have the memory span of a goldfish? "No, we're not friends."
"Ugh! But whyyy?? Shadow come on! We just had a good game together!" Sonic pleaded and set a hand to his chest saying, "I-I think I really felt something between us back there."
Shadow scoffed, "Yeah, the net! We aren't friends and I'll tell you why. My friends don't constantly remind me I'm seen as a weapon and that I'm basically owned by the agency I work for. I don't need to be reminded of that okay?! It's my life. I live it every day."
Sonic's expression turned to surprise then his ears twitched downward. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean—"
"No," Shadow cut him off, "you just run your mouth as fast as your feet and just like the consequences of your actions the thought about whether or not it was right or wrong comes when it's too late."
Sonic opened his mouth to protest against the accusation but Shadow was already walking away and the tennis court was filling up with its next contestants. He shelved his racket and sighed thinking on what Shadow had said to him. But before the guilt became all consuming Amy's voice called out to him from behind.
"Sonic!! Look at these cute shoes I got for you!!" She waved him down holding up a pair of light blue sandals