Once Shadow was fully outside, he used the quick teleportation to appear in the center of Eggman's lab while victoriously wielding the chaos emerald. Orbot and Cubot were currently inactive in a standby mode in the corner of the lab while Eggman seemed to fall asleep at the table. Shadow looked around carefully and noticing some file open in the computer he quickly connected the dots. The doctor seemed to be working on something and in the process fell asleep, perhaps even without realization. The hybrid glanced down at the dimly glowing ruby red emerald in his hand before hiding it deep within his quills and stretching his limbs a bit he approached the blue hedgehog in the capsule.
"Sonic.... soon enough, I will be able to revive you. Hang in there for me, okay?" he quietly whispered to him through the glass lid while placing one hand on it, closing his eyes for a moment he took in a deep breath and released a soft sigh before removing his hand from the glass and reopening his eyes to glance at the sleeping hedgehog behind it. The blue hedgehog's chest was slowly rising up and descending in regular pace, which indicated, that Sonic was indeed stabilized. Yet, too weak to regain his consciousness. Dropping his ears, Shadow lowered his posture and turning around he walked out of the lab, as he headed to his room. Laying in the bed afterwards he covered himself with the blanket and yawning tiredly he closed his eyes while silently praying for Sonic to be alright. Thanks to thinking about Sonic while falling asleep he got to have a dream with him involved.
"....don't you agree?" Sonic asked him, tilting his head he smiled warmly at him and held his hand out for him. Shadow accepted the hand and took it with a smile forming on his own face, yet furrowed his brows and chuckled nervously while rubbing his neck with his other hand.
"I am sorry, Sonic, but could you repeat what you said?" he asked him carefully, which made Sonic smirk a little as the blue hedgehog cupped Shadow's cheek with his free hand and rubbed it with his thumb so caringly, as if Shadow was a fragile, beautiful diamond.
"Aww, you thinking of something in particular?~" he asked the hybrid in teasing tone, making the lifeform blush and avert his gaze.
"N-No, I just.. wasn't paying full attention," Shadow replied in barely audible murmur, but Sonic could still hear him clearly thanks to the close proximity he stood in.
"Hmmm, let's see how well you can keep your attention on me, if I do this~" Sonic replied mischievously and Shadow then felt their lips connecting in deep, passionate kiss, which made him grow weak in his knees and closing his eyes he fully melted to the kissing session as he held onto Sonic with his free hand and responded by returning the sweetness. Their chests got pressed together and Shadow could feel their hearts racing in sync, which made him feel so connected to the other, he wished this moment to never end. Sonic slowly moved his hand from Shadow's cheek to his shoulder and later even bravely placed the hand on Shadow's side, where he gently traced shapes to the soft black fur, which he loved to see and touch so much. He felt honored to be the trusted one, whom Shadow lets get this close to him and do such things with him. He could hear a purring noise finally coming out of the lifeform, which satisfied him enough to slightly smile to the kiss. However, he soon had to break it in order to catch his breath and used that moment to stare into the other's crimson irises, which reminded him of a rich and healthy ruby rose. Yeah, if Shadow was a flower, he would be probably such rose, with a dark, mysterious hue, yet so alluring and fascinating. Shadow stared back to the other's emerald irises, which reminded him of the cleanest chaos emerald he could ever see around. Perhaps Sonic was his precious, personal chaos emerald. Such thought made him feel even more determined to take care of him and make sure, that he is safe and happy. A smile grew on Shadow's muzzle as the lifeform blinked twice before his eyes landed on the soft peach lips of his partner. Huh, they were already dating, officially. He did not even remember, when exactly they made it official, but that did not matter at all. He fully focused on these lips and parting slightly his own he closed the distance between them-
"...DOW! Shadow! Shadow, wake up!" Eggman's voice harshly interrupted such sweet dream of the hybrid, who instantly opened his eyes wide and loudly gasped while quickly sitting up and bristling his quills he glared at the man, who dared to awaken him in the middle of such nice dream. The dream was so realistic, that for a moment Shadow even hoped to see Sonic next to him. Much to his dispair, the realization about Sonic being still unconscious in the capsule kicked him hard and made his heart slightly bleed again.
"What is it!" he hissed grumpily at the man and checking the time in his communicator - which he never took off due to passing out so easily - he growled, since it was only around 4am.
"Sorry, Shadow, but we got some kind of intruder in the base. I need you to help me locate them!" Eggman explained hastily while harshly gesticulating with his hands, which irritated the hedgehog to no end.
"Urgh, fine! But once it's done, let me damn sleep!" Shadow hissed and growled at him again before getting up and not caring about his messy, bristled quills he headed out of the room with Eggman following right behind, unfazed by Shadow's edgy demeanor. Due to all the previous months of Shadow treating him like this he was pretty much used to it already and even sort of expected it from him.
"I wouldn't interrupt your sleep, if it wasn't urgent, Shadow. I assure you," he tried to ease the situation and comfort the hedgehog at least a bit, which did not seem to work properly, as the lifeform was still highly on edge and grumpily grumbled something under his breath.
"Where is this intruder?" he asked the man in a bark-like tone without looking at him, acting a bit disrespectful as he crossed his arms in the process.
"In the ventilation shaft. I cannot fit there, obviously and Orbot and Cubot only chased the intruder further to the system. You are the very last option I came up with," Eggman elaborated and probably chose wrong words at the end of the sentence, for Shadow stopped dead in his tracks and swiftly turned to face him with new wave of rage.
"What?! I am only an option to you?!" he exclaimed and Eggman quickly lifted his hands while shaking them in front of him.
"No, no, no! Shadow, you don't get me right-"
"Cease talking, doctor!" Shadow cut him off by growling at him before sighing as he took a moment to not give in to the anger, that was slowly taking over him. Once he was calm enough he turned to face the wall of the hallway, where in the high spot there was the lid of the ventilation shaft.
"This one?" he pointed at it.
"No. The one in my lab," Robotnik replied instantly, not wanting to upset the hedgehog any further.
"Fine," Shadow retorted and headed to the lab with Eggman keeping slight distance behind him. It was best to always rather stay away from Shadow, when he was in such mood.
Upon arrival, Shadow glanced at the big lid of the ventilation shaft located in his eye level, raising a brow he approached it and peeked inside the system, not noticing anything at all. That did not mean, that the intruder was gone, right? So, gripping the lid tightly with his fingers Shadow managed to rip it off with almost no effort and dropping it aside he entered the shaft while crawling on all fours.
"I hope you are not staring at me, doctor!" he paused in order to warn the man, for his tail and bottom wasn't meant to be on display for him. Eggman quickly averted his gaze from the hedgehog as soon as he saw him enter the shaft and hearing his warning he rolled his eyes behind the round glasses he wore all the time.
"Of course not, Shadow! Just focus, will you?" he replied while crossing his arms and waited for Shadow to take care of the intruder, whoever it was.
Shadow did not respond as he moved further to the ventilation system and soon found himself in a crossing, where he had two options - go left or go right. Twitching his ears he tried to hear any kind of noise the said intruder would make and faintly he heard something from the right side, so he headed towards that direction. The faint noise was slowly becoming louder the closer he was moving and soon enough he could see some small form moving around the shaft. Tilting his head and squinting his eyes a little, Shadow tried to identify the lifeform, while also moving closer to it. And once he finally, properly saw, who - or rather what - it was, he widened his eyes in utter surprise and shock.
"You again?" he spoke to the creature quietly, making it stop moving and look straight at him.
"Chao!" it was none other but the same chao, which hugged Shadow's ankle hours prior and did not want him to leave. It seems like it followed Shadow without him noticing it.
"How did you get here? How did you know, I would be here?" Shadow showered the chao with questions and saw the chao crawl over to him and snuggle to his chest fur due to the hedgehog being on all fours and thus within the creature's reach.
"Chaooo," the creature sighed in delight and Shadow found himself getting dumbfounded. Yeah, sure, the chao is always doing whatever it wants. In some way, it was exactly like him. He also did whatever he wanted whenever he wanted with no care about the circumstances.
"Not what I asked for, but, uh.. I guess it's best if we get out of here?" he spoke to the creature quietly and feeling it hold onto his chest tightly he took it as a 'yes' as he carefully turned around and headed back through the same path in order to come out of the same spot he entered through. Eventually, he ended up standing in the lab, in front of Eggman, with the chao still snuggling to his chest fur.
"What's this?" Eggman asked him with raised brow and bent down a bit to take a closer look at the creature he has never seen before. He expected any kind if lifeform in any shape, but this definitely outdid all his expectations.
"Apparently... probably a chao? It keeps only saying that one word," Shadow replied rather annoyed and grabbing the creature with his hand he pulled it away from his chest, then held it in a safe distance to avoid being touched by it.
"How did it even get in there?" the doctor wondered while rubbing his chin, now having million questions in his head.
"Well, the thing is, I was able to enter the portal and.. there was this.. strange place with many of these creatures living there. This one helped me with getting the chaos emerald and I wasn't aware of it following me," Shadow explained shortly, intentionally leaving out any details about what all happened in the chao garden.
Eggman stared at Shadow, as if he grew another pair of arms.
"What?" Shadow barked out and felt the chao eventually squirming in his hand.
"Chaooo! Cha-chaooo!" it whined while gently hitting his hand with its tiny paws, which of course dealt no damage and only made the creature look more adorable. Shadow kept this for himself.
"How did you enter the portal?" Eggman asked him while Shadow grew more amused by the chao's behavior in his grip.
"I don't know. A moment after you called that drone off, the force field keeping me away just suddenly vanished and I fell through the portal," the hedgehog shrugged and felt the chao biting his finger, which finally did sting a bit and instinctively Shadow let go of it. Flapping its wings it flew up to the air and crossed its short arms while scoffing.
"You little- how dare you bite me!" Shadow hissed at the creature, now no longer seeing it as cute at all.
"Chao!" the creature glared at him with angry face.
"Gotcha!" Eggman, in the meantime, took an empty small sized capsule and trapped the chao inside before carrying it over to a lab table and connecting wires to it, as to keep the air coming in, so the chao wouldn't suffocate inside the capsule.
"Chaoooo! Cha-chaoo! Chao!" the creature got angry and started bumping against the walls of the capsule, it punched the glass with its paws and tried to set itself free, but to no avail. So it soon gave up and sitting down it formed a spiral above its head while sadly lowering its gaze and having tears in the corners of its eyes.
Shadow had to admit, he felt a little bad for the creature now, but there wasn't anything he could do, as he had to admit, it was truly safer to have it inside the capsule. Who knows, how mischievous this one could be, right?
"Hmm, interesting," Eggman hummed, unfazed by the creature's useless attempts to get out of the capsule as he activated his computer and started scanning the creature for a research purposes. The chao flinched a little as the laser suddenly came out of the ceiling of the capsule and moved all over it.
"...ch..aoo," it softly sniffled and formed a terrified expression on its face, then looked sadly at Shadow, silently pleading him to release it. Shadow watched the chao with a hidden sympathy and moving closer to it he just stood there with crossed arms, not daring to do anything in front of the man. He hated showing off his soft side in front of other people.
"The creature seems to have a balanced amount of chaos energy in its body and needs special kind of nutrients, so it could function normally," Eggman read out the results of the scan, while Shadow listened carefully before frowning a bit, trying to recall the memory of him entering the chao garden.
"I think I noticed some fruits fallen under trees, that grow there," he confirmed.
"Those are most likely required for the chao to remain healthy," Eggman nodded and looked at the creature again. The chao covered its eyes with its paws and emitted a heartbreaking sobs while whimpering in sadness.
For Shadow, this was too much, his heart wasn't that dark and thus could not handle such sight.
"Release it, doctor," he demanded in firm tone, not wanting the poor creature to be stressed out more, than it already was. Mischievous or not, it deserved some good care too. Again, just like Shadow himself.
"Why? It's better if it stays in the capsule," Eggman replied with a raised eyebrow, not understanding, why Shadow suddenly wanted to free the chao.
"I said, release it!" Shadow growled at him and his eyes dimly glowed due to his inner anger, which finally convinced the man to comply and indeed release the chao from the capsule. The chao instantly flew towards Shadow and cuddled deep to his chest fur while still crying. Shadow placed his hands over it, covering it he made it feel safer and its cries soon died down as it just slightly shook in his grip. Eggman watched this scene while slowly getting amused.
"Oh, I see now, you grew to be a big softy~" he teased the hedgehog.
"Hardly!" Shadow hissed at him and turning around he headed back to his room while also making sure to not cause any more distress to the chao pressed tightly against his chest.
"Say what you want, Shadow, I can see you care about the creature! And remember, it's nothing to be ashamed of, I just teased you a little!" Eggman called out to him, but Shadow decided to ignore the mustached man. Arriving to his room he released a soft sigh and looking down at the chao he blushed a bit. The chao was snuggling to his chest fur and held onto it like a fluffy pillow while having its eyes closed as it easily fell asleep.
"That was fast," Shadow whispered quietly to himself and feeling his own tiredness taking over his figure he carefully laid down in the bed, covering himself and the chao with the blanket he closed his eyes and soon fell into deep slumber while secretly feeling comfortable with the chao cuddled close to his chest.