Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

ON BOARD THE ARK 50 YEARS AGO…

As Gerald watched Maria and shadow getting along as the days passed since their first meeting, he felt glad his granddaughter had finally found a friend.

But internally he debated on telling her about the recent lab results he had gotten back from the scientists pertaining to shadow. A few days ago he had gotten word that the lab results from the latest study revealed that there was a big difference in shadow’s dna that changed how they looked at his genetic makeup. The report explained that they theorize the change was caused by black doom’s infusion of his dna making it so shadow has the ability to inherit traits from different species if he had come into contact with any unfamiliar dna. Gerald thinks that this is so the species has a way of reproducing with different species while still keeping the black arms bloodline intact. Though gerald doesn’t intend on breeding shadow since he’s still very much being used as a cure for Maria’s illness, it’s still fascinating to think what shadow is capable of.

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     50 YEARS LATER

A chaos spear plunged into the chest of another one of gun’s training robots, and with a swift roundhouse kick to the head the robot fell to the ground, unresponsive. Releasing sparks from its battered body.

Shadow looked around at the dozens of other robots that were severely damaged In similar ways, laying amongst the training room in little more than scrap metal.

The sound of the automatic door opening behind him reached his ears, and turned right as a familiar bat walked into the room wearing her usual skintight gun uniform. Looking around at the crowd of armored bodies lining the room she smirked “seems like you’ve been busy,” 

“What do you want, rouge?” Shadow spoke, knowing the bat had a reason for being here, there weren’t supposed to be any missions today, that’s why he’s decided to come here to sharpen his skills.

Rouge released an over dramatic sigh as she leaned against the door frame, “well a little birdie told me that you have been here for hours training when it’s a beautiful day outside! I know you like letting out some stream, but when was the last time you’ve let yourself rest?”

“Get to the point rouge.” Shadow spoke, summoning a chaos spear and looking around in hopes of finding anything alive. When he saw a body moving out of the corner of his eye he threw the spear straight into the robots head, halting its ascension upward and falling back on the floor. 

Rouge watched this with a bored look, as she continued “I was wondering if you’d like to join me out on the town, there’s this restaurant I’ve heard circulating about that has some good food and service.”

Shadow stood there debating whether to decline her offer, but when a growl from his stomach erupted he realized that he had forgotten to eat this morning. With a sigh shadow nodded, rouge smiled as she guided the cobalt hedgehog out of the room, the door closing behind them.

Shadow sat at a table with rouge, the bat was busy looking through the menu, the place was apparently called red pony so he had expected the place to be extra girly, but was pleasantly surprised upon walking in the place was a cozy diner, with soft lights that seemed too bright in places like the bar, but in some places like certain seating areas the lights were dimmed, which is where he and rouge sat at. They were a few tables away from the bar.

Shadow had just picked up his menu when rouge gasped, causing him to almost drop it, “oh my goodness these selections look so good! I dunno which to choose…” she then looked at him and asked what he was thinking of ordering, shrugging he admitted he didn’t know what to get since all of these foods looked unfamiliar to him.

“I’d suggest getting the stuffed portobello, I’ve heard through the grapevine that one is really good.” Shadow nodded. Afterwards the waiter walked to their table and rouge ordered for them, settling on seafood enchiladas for herself. 

Once they were alone once more and the menus were taken, rouge folded her arms on the table and looked at shadow, who seemed less tense than usual, “so, how do you like the place?” 

Shadow shrugged, “it’s fine I guess, when you had said the place was called red pony I had envisioned this place to look like those clubs straight out of the magazines you like to read.”

Rouge laughed at this, “you should know by now that i wouldn’t lead you to a place quite so overwhelming. I brought you here so we can hang out without gun breathing down our necks, so I thought this place was a nice place for us to start.”

Shadow nodded before cocking his head, “wait, what do you mean by a start? You aren’t thinking of bringing me to more places, are you?”

Rouge took this time to look at the posters on the walls of elegant looking horses and some mobians and humans in outfits that looked far too revealing, as she thought up her response. “Mmmmmmm, maybe. But only if this place goes well for you!” Rouge back tracked once she saw shadow giving her a disapproving look, “I promise I won’t make you go anywhere you don’t want to. I just want you to not be so focused on training and gun missions.”

Upon seeing the genuine emotion on the bat’s face shadow heaved a sigh, not wanting to be mad at his friend when she only had good intentions, “fine. But only if you give me your word that you’ll be honest about your plans from now on.” 

Rouge nodded with a smile. Just then their food came, and they set their minds on appreciating the flavor of the food. Rouge thought the seafood enchiladas were to die for, the mixture of crab and fish surrounded by rice cooked to perfection made her taste buds feel like they were on a beach retreat, while shadow munched on his stuffed portalow, which turned out to be Pattie’s made out of various vegetables that surprisingly worked well together, and turned out to be quite filling. He also had a side of beef fat potatoes that had been simmered to perfection, and ripped apart easily by his teeth. By the end of the meal both we’re pleasantly stuffed and left a tip before leaving. 

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The next morning both Mobians got woken up in the early morning by the governor of gun, requesting their immediate assistance. Slipping on her gun outfit, rouge met the cobalt hedgehog at the door. Who was wearing nothing but his usual gloves and air shoes, shadow looked confused when rouge looked at him with her hands on her hips, acting like a disappointed mother, “uhhhh, what?”

“Would it kill you to wear your gun uniform for once? Every other agent there wears it.” Shadow rolled his eyes, having had this conversation before, “rouge I told you I don’t like wearing the uniform cause it makes my back quills feel constructed, not to mention how tight the uniform is.”

“I know that, but not wearing it makes you look like you don’t care about their cause. People on earth are still in the process of getting used to you.”

“I know…” shadow muttered, its been some time since black doom had tried to invade earth, and people finding out about him being part alien created quite the uproar as the general populace’s opinion on him changed. Some people, mostly kid’s that didn’t know any better, saw shadow as a cool super hero like the guy in the red cape in those action comics. While other people were understandably afraid and cautious of having, what some referred to him as, “an alien half breed” being a ppart of the most powerful governments in the world. Commander towers on his part tried to stop this kind of comments from spreading, but there was only so much he could do.

Seeing shadow begin to curl into himself rouge relented with a sigh, knowing first hand how hard it has been these past few months with so many people in the world against him. She’s tried to be someone shadow can depend on, but he hasn’t exactly been very receptive to it. “Fine, how about this, if you try to wear normal clothes as a way for you to lessen the constraining feeling, I won’t press you about it. Deal?”

Shadow grimaced at the thought of wearing clothes, he didn’t understand how wearing some clothes could help change people’s opinion. shadow reluctantly nodded before moving around to open the door to their shared apartment above club rouge as the bat followed behind him.

When they arrived to g.u.n HQ they headed to the usual meeting room commander towers usually was, walking into the room to see the man standing at the front of the room. But what was strange was that there was no sign of omega.

Turning to the commander, shadow was about to ask before towers answered, seeming to know what he was thinking “e123 omega is on a retrieval mission separate from the one I’m sending you to on. My estimate is he’ll be back in three weeks time.” 

Shadow nodded as both Mobians found their usual seats closest to the commander. “Now in to the reason I brought you here,” turning to the white board he was standing near, he pulled a rope and revealed a map with multiple blinking red dots, “we’ve been reporting multiple stolen items from medical facilities carrying mobian dna. Thankfully no one was hurt as the person in question had snuck in through a back entrance. Surveillance footage identified the intruder as ivo “eggman” robotnik, who we are unfortunately all too familiar with. Your mission is to sneak into one of eggman’s secret bases and prevent him from using the dna for his evil purposes. I’m expecting a report once it’s done.”

Shadow and rouge nodded with a salute and left after towers sent them the location of the base they had tracked the stolen goods. “What do you think eggman wants with mobian dna? He’s not thinking of creating a life form like you, would he?” Rouge asked in her spot in the air while shadow rode on his motorcycle, keeping tabs in the blinking dot on the small screen attached, seeming to be leading them to a building on the outskirts of the city.

“That’s impossible. The only way I was successful was because of black doom. And I made sure that he’s never coming back twice now. So there’s no way he would be able to create something like that.” 

When they arrived at the location the building was surrounded by trees, probably as a way to hide the building from view. Climbing off his bike shadow and rouge made their way through the trees, which lad to a clearing where the building stood. Seeming to be some kind of abandoned warehouse. But it seemed they weren’t the only ones there as shadow could faintly see two familiar figures standing in front of the entrance, shadow refrained from groaning as they got closer and could clearly see sonic and tails. Why on earth are they even here???

“Well hey there boys, quite a surprise to see you here” rouge cooed as both Mobians turned around in surprise, tails busy hacking into a control panel next to the door. Sonic on the other hand waved at them both with the same infuriating smile “oh, hey shadow, hey rouge, what are you two doing here?”

“We had been notified by the commander that eggman was hiding out in this warehouse,” rouge replied while shadow crossed his arms, “the question is why you two are here.”

“Oh! Well tails here had detected some chaos energy readings that led us to this warehouse. Eggman being here makes a lot of sense given we hadn’t heard from him in a couple months. Do you two know what he might be up to?”

“Eggman has been sighted stealing mobian dna from nearby hospital storages. We’re theorizing that the doctor could be trying to create another lifeform like shadow.” Rouge replied, causing sonic to look at them shocked, shadow interrupted him before he could speak “he should know such a feat is impossible. The only way I was successful was cause of black doom, who is dead. So if the doctor tried to make another lifeform it would just be like another normal mobian.” 

“Well, be it superpowered or not, we can’t let eggman create a soldier for his bidding.” Sonic spoke, “Tails, how’s it coming with hacking that control panel?”

“I’ve been trying for several minutes but this place has too many firewalls to keep track of, I’m thinking we should find another way in.” 

Rouge smirked as she got an idea “don’t worry, I have a plan” Looking at a nearby tree closest to the building, the bat took a running start, flew up to a branch and flew quickly through the air beginning to spin like a top towards the locked door and plowed into it, creating a hole to the other side.

Looking around to find a way to open the door, she froze.

The place was huge, way bigger than she thought it would be, it definitely looked more like a giant celler the walls were lined with rows upon rows of blood samples, all were colored differently, aside from the usual red that you would usually associate with humans, there were also blue blood, pink blood, white blood and green blood, this must be the different dna samples eggman had stolen. 

Looking around, rouge saw a lever on the wall next to the door, with a grunt of effort rouge brought it down, and a few seconds later the door opened and the three walked in, freezing as well at the amount of dna samples on the walls. Tails was the first to move, walking closer to the wall to get a better look, “I don’t know much about the science of genetics but all these samples looks to be from different mobian species around the world. If eggman is really trying to create lifeforms he has enough material to make more than just one.” 

Shadow was silent as he surveyed the vast amounts of dna, remembering from his time on the ark there being a celler full of different dna samples locked tight any time he went for more testing. He’d never been given any shots of dna as a for the scientists to see if giving him any advantage since he had already been created with black arms dna, but sometimes he would spot some of the scientists glancing to the cellar when they thought he wasn’t looking, which greatly unnerved him. Thankfully nothing of the sort ever happened, but the possibility of waking up as something different caused him to shiver.

Shadow was broken out of thoughts when he suddenly heard a familiar laugh, turning around just to see eggman himself walking down the stairs that connected to the upper floor of the building, his hands held behind his back with a big grin on his face, his glasses gave off a sinister shine when he walked past a nearby ceiling light “well well well…look at what we’ve have here. a bunch of unwanted rodents breaking into my secret hideout. I should’ve known that you two would try to find me.” eggman spoke, gaze falling on sonic and tails, the hedgehog quickly squaring his shoulders while giving him a glare, tails giving him the same glare, if not with a hint of fear “but I didn’t expect shadow the hedgehog and rouge the bat to come and see me personally, it’s really quite an honor knowing that your ole commander still sees me as a threat, gives me a bit of a power boost if you will.”

All the mobians in the room felt nothing but disgust for the man, shadow spoke up “what do you have planned with all of these dna samples doctor? Are you trying to create something?  something that will only listen to you? because I have news for you ivo, if you dare create anything that would harm anyone, i would have no choice but to destroy it. and that’s a promise.”

What plans do you have with all this dna eggman? Are you attempting to create something that could have a chance at defeating me? That’s hardly worth it knowing black doom is dead. And without his dna world just be creating a normal mobian.” 

Eggman stroked his mustache as he laughed, seeming to have thought about this as well, “this is true, this is true. But just because black doom is gone doesn’t mean I can’t get his dna another way. Ooooh metal!”

Shadow froze upon hearing this. The implications causing his stomach to churn, just as an automatic door opened and metal stepped out. His sights sat on shadow. “Now, i would appreciate if you just handed yourself over so this can be over quickly,” eggman spoke, sitting down in a chair as he watched with glee as metal walked past him with a wicked grin.

Shadow glared, “not a chance.” raising his fists just as metal got too close he grabbed him around the arms and whipped him around and threw him against a wall. glass shattering as the dna samples were crushed, creating a multi-colored pool around the robot as he stood up. Shadow was ready to fight once more when he felt movement under his feet, looking down just as he began to fall deeper into the lab, tje sound of the others yelling his name being the last thing he heard before he slammed head first into the ground. A resounding crack causing him to gasp, not a moment later he heard something else falling felt cold dread as metal fell on his feet.

Trying to ignore the pain in his head, shadow slowly got back onto his feet, the would spinning momentarily before vision sharpening just as metal grabbed him by the neck and slammed against a wall full of more dna samples, creating a rivet of blood to soak into his fur and quills and into his eyes. He didn’t have enough time to wipe his eyes before he felt the robot copy tear into his arms and chest, causing him to yell in agony as he kicked metal where he thought his chest was and sending the robot to crash into the opposite wall. The robot quickly got up and pinned him against the wall once more, scratching his face, arms and legs, leaving multiple cuts on his body and felt the cold liquid of the blood of the dna seep into the cuts and his open mouth as he gasped from the pain, making him shiver and gag from the taste. 

Having had enough shadow summoned a chaos spear into his hand began jamming it into the robots chest, not stopping till the robot lay unmoving on the ground. Panting, shadow finally wiped his eyes and saw he was in some kind of underground cellar filled with deep red dna samples, most of it having spilled into the ground during the fight. 

He then noticed that behind the broken shelves stood a mirror which was cracked during the aforementioned fight. It revealed him covered head to toe in blood, enough so he could barely see his black fur and quills underneath, there were deep slashes across his muzzle along with his arms, chest and legs, leaving no space unmarked. 

I’m sure that won’t lead to an infection, shadow thought bitterly as he looked around for a way out, only seeing the uneven stone of the open trap door above him, causing him to growl as he leapt up and began climbing, wheezing as the movement caused the gashes along his body to throb in protest, vaguely noting the smell of beef that clung to him.

———————————

Above ground, after seeing shadow fall into a pit followed by metal, rouge sonic and tails quickly began to fight eggman outside, who upon sensing the danger had retreated into a huge robot that had been stationed behind the building. It was a huge bulky red robot that looked vaguely like the bottom half of a chicken, with eggman on the top in a protective glass dome. That didn’t stop them as sonic used spin dash after spin dash, creating gashes and holes in the robot’s exterior while rouge fought using her spin kick, denting the metal casing even more. 

They both paused as they suddenly smelled blood, just as a chaos spear whipped past, penetrating the middle of the robot like butter as multiple others spears came 

 after in quick succession until the robot was nothing but scrap metal. Falling over with a loud groaning noise till it hit the ground with a thud, eggman quickly popping from the top in his eggmobile and flying off till he was gone. 

Rouge and sonic glanced over to see shadow slumped over, covered from head to toe in blood. He was breathing heavily and looked about ready to pass out. The blood quickly slipped off the hedgehog onto the grass below, creating a small puddle beneath his feet. To make matters even stranger he smelled like he had just been in a slaughterhouse. 

The two exchanged a worried look as sonic walked up to him, keeping a fair distance so as not to get hurt “uhhhh, hey shadow! thanks for the save by the way, but I’ve gotta ask if you don’t mind me asking- though I’m sure you do- why are you covered in blood???” He asked. Shadow slowly looked from him to rouge before silently walking over to his motorcycle before rouge stepped in front of him. The hedgehog looked up to her with a glare, rouge looked at him with a nervous grin, a hint of worry in her eyes “perhaps you should go clean up before we leave? I caught a glimpse of a lake nearby on our way here. I mean no offense but you smell like you had just been in a slaughterhouse.” 

Shadow leveled her with a glare before he turned around and stomped off. Sonic appeared next to her, looking equally worried, “do you think he’ll be okay?”

Rouge pursed her lips as she watched her friend walk further away, “I’m….” Rouge trailed off as she looked at the trail of blood, turned back to the blue hedgehog with a forced smile, “I’m sure he’ll be fine. This is shadow we’re talking about, I don’t think there’s anything we should worry about.” 

Sonic looked at her uncertain, having a hard time believing her words, but nonetheless gave her a weak smile, “alright, as long as you’re sure. But just let me know if anything comes up.”

“You got it blue!” Rouge replied with a wink.

“So what do you think happened back there? I highly doubt he killed anything since the only one he was fighting was metal. And the last time I checked, robots don’t bleed,” sonic said with a smirk, trying to lighten the mood.

“I’m thinking that while he was fighting against him he was knocked into one of the display cases containing some of the dna samples. By the smell of it I’m thinking the blood came from cattle Mobians, what I’m most worried about is that blood seeping into those cuts. I know he’s the ultimate life form and all, but even he can’t be immune to such a direct infection.”

“….Is that why you told him to wash off in a lake, so that he would have a better chance at not getting an infection?” Sonic asked, rouge grinned as she fanned the air in mock disgust, “well partly, the other reason being he reeks up where chaos doesn’t trend, and the last thing I’d want is our apartment to be covered in blood.” Sonic grinned in amusement right as tails peeked his head out of the warehouse, before walking over to join the two, “while you two were fighting eggman, I hacked into eggman’s database and found out something wild. Apparently eggman had been planning to kidnap shadow and use his dna to create a new lifeform. The only thing i don’t understand is how he thought he would have even been able to kidnap someone like shadow.” 

“Well, at least we were lucky to be here to prevent that from happening, right rouge?” Sonic said, while ruffling tails’s hair as a show of a job well done, while the fox kit laughed while he tried to half heartedly swipe his hand away. Rouge looked on with a soft smile, before turning around and letting the smile drop, “yeah…I guess we are.” 

“Anyway, we should be heading back,” sonic said as he turned back to her, tails’s fur a mess, “we’ll see you two around!” sonic said, waving as he and tails walking off, presumably in the direction of the tornado. rouge then kicked off the ground and into the air and made her way to a lone tree, looking up to the sky to see that the sun was a pretty good distance in the sky, if she had to guess, she would say it would be somewhere after 7:00 am, which left her and shadow plenty of time to rest up before heading back to HQ.

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Shadow had been walking for a few minutes till he came upon the sight of a lake, taking his shoes and gloves off when he was certain no one was around. The movement causing his still open cuts to throb, and waded into the cool water, watching as it quickly turned red as he gently rubbed the blood off himself, being careful of the cuts.

He got to work scrubbing the length of his arms and watching as the blood in the water soon fogged up a red mist. After both arms were clean he dunked his head under the water and furiously scrubbed through his quills, feeling big clumps of blood washed away into the water. Surfacing after he was done he let out a sigh, feeling a lot better once his quills were clean. He then looked down at his chest to see his chest hair was still gunked up and released a different sigh, one if frustration as he dipped back midway into the water and viciously scrubbed it till it was clean, or at least was back to looking white, which was as satisfactory as it can get right now Being getting home. 

Finally done with cleaning his body, shadow swam back to the edge, having not realized in his focus how deep he had gone, grabbing his gloves from the ground he went to town scrubbing it as hard as he could without tearing it, knowing he would need to throw it in the washer when they got back. It’s a good thing he has spares.

Once everything on him and belonged to him was clean, he staggered out of the water, feeling more exhausted then he’s ever been in a long time, heading back in the direction he came from, ready to get this damn mission over and done with already.

————————————-

Rouge was leaning against a tree, studying her nails when she noticed a familiar figure emerging from the tree line, he was soaking wet but was thankfully clean, even if she could still smell hints of blood, she knew it would fade. The bat grinned as she waved to him, “took you long enough, did you have a nice soak in the lake, feeling refreshed?”

Shadow slowly rose his head to meet her eyes, and she was suddenly caught off guard by how tired he looked. He had dark circles under his eyes and his ears were drooped down, like they themselves could withstand the pressure of standing upright, he looked the epitome of exhaustion. “Oh…. Honey, maybe we should reschedule going to headquarters till tomorrow, I’m sure the commander will understand-“

“NO!” Shadow exclaimed, causing rouge to step back in surprise, noticing this shadow sighed, “no. We need to go back to the commander and tell him that eggman’s plans have been foiled. Only then we can go back home.” 

Rouge nodded, watching carefully as shadow slowly climbed onto his motorbike, making sure he didn’t fall, shadow pretending not to notice. And then they were off to headquarters. 

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When they entered, the two were greeted with a long hallway that led to a pair of double doors, with a machine on the wall next to it, made to access a person or Mobians dna signature, put in place to keep anyone that wasn’t affiliated with gun out. Walking over shadow put his eye up to it to scan his eye, with a ding he was granted access, walking over to the door as rouge did the same, hearing another ding as she followed suit, he opened the door to the entrance. 

When the two entered the building they were met with the sight of the common room, with pure white couches and armchairs on one side with a table in the center topped with books and magazines. In the middle of the room was a counter with a middle aged human manning the main computer. Upon them walking up to the desk she looked up with a smile, “ah, agent shadow, agent rouge, I was told to expect you. I’m certain you two know where to go?” 

The two Mobians nodded as they (or rather rouge, shadow isn’t much for socializing when he doesn’t need to) bid her goodbye, they went into another hallway, passing other agents both humans and mobians alike as they stopped in front of the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor once inside. When they got to the top floor they were greeted by two guards on either side of the door, who nodded at them upon them passing. Opening the door to see abraham towers sitting at his desk, once he saw them he gave them a nod, “I assume everything has been taken care of with eggman?” He asked as way of a greeting. The two nodded, “yes commander, doctor eggman had stolen all those dna samples as a way of creating another lifeform similar to Gerald.” Rouge said, causing towers brows to raise in surprise.

“But that’s impossible, we both know the only way agent shadow became so powerful is because of the dark arms dna running through his veins. And because black doom is gone he has no way to create another lifeform like shadow,” there was a pause as the commander thought for a moment before his eyes widened, “unless…”

Rouge nodded, “yes commander, it seems we had arrived right in time to stop the doctor for enacting his plans, and in doing so we found out through hacking his database that he had been planning on kidnapping shadow to force him to give up some of his blood so he could continue making his new lifeform.” 

Rouge saw out of the corner of her eye shadow shiver next to her.

Commander tower leaned over as he put his hands to his chin in thought, “well, I’m glad you two managed to prevent that from happening, I’ll have a troop sent to the location to retrieve any intact dna samples. You two are dismissed.” Both mobians bowed as they walked out of the office and back into the elevator, just as shadow slumped against the wall as they preceded down, rouge gave her partner a sympathetic smile as she absently rubbed his back as a way of comfort, her being the only one able to do so without risk of losing a limb.

When they finally got back outside rouge took a breath of fresh air and sighed, looking to her watch to see it was nearing 9:00am. Looking over to shadow as he was climbing back on his bike she had an idea “soooo, I know you’re really tired and all, but I don’t recall you having breakfast right?” Her grin only widened as shadow hung his head as he sighed, “what do you have in mind?” He asked. 

He almost regretted asking as he looked over to see the bat was already bringing out her phone with a grin. “Well, there is this burger joint down the street from our apartment, it has really good reviews, not to mention the steak there looks heavenly!” rouge said as she pulled up a picture of the restaurant and showed it to him, shadow looked from the picture, back to her before shrugging and starting his motorbike. “Whatever. You’re paying though.” He said as they began to drive out of the parking lot, rouge snorted as she followed him while flying beside him, “don’t I always?” Shadow decided not to answer as he zoomed down the road. 

———————

When they got there the first thing they noticed was the decor, the colors looked very warm, the tables were lined with black squares on smooth light brown wood. The chairs were made of the same material, the restaurant had a bar which was made of the same wood as the table and chairs. There was a board on the wall near the kitchen spelled out the name of the restaurant in bold cursive letters; brother’s burgers, with two kitchen knives in the background.

“This place looks way better than it did on my phone!” Rouge said with a grin as she ran to the nearest vacant table, careful not to bump into anyone on the way. Shadow sighed as he maneuvered around the crowded tables to get to where rouge was, who was sitting at a table with a window seat, and sat down. Looking at the vast amount of people of varying sizes and heights, both human and mobians chatting together. It made him feel somewhat melancholic as he remembered stories Maria used to tell him about how back on earth humans and mobians sometimes didn’t get along and fought, which made her sad since she wanted them to get along and become friends. Just how they had become friends…

Shadow snapped out of his thoughts when he heard rouge trying to get his attention, “what?” He asked.

“I was asking you how you feel about the place, is it too crowded? Should I have chosen a different booth?” Rouge worried, beginning to sit up till shadow quickly raised his hand, “no! No, it’s fine. I was just deep in thought, is all.”

“When are you not?” Rouge joked good naturedly, before picking up one of the menu’s that one of the staff had placed when he wasn’t paying attention and leaned over to give it to him, “now find something to order, we’re burning daylight!” Shadow looked at a nearby clock and stated flatly “it’s only after ten.” 

“Exactly! That means it’s too hours before lunch rush, meaning we only after so much time before the place becomes even more packed than it already is!” Rouge grabbed her own menu and got to looking as shadow looked back over at the crowded booths and tables, feeling his anxiety spike at the thought of the place becoming even more crowded, and opened his menu. Rouge almost began to drool at all the yummy food while shadow looked around in intrigue, having never ordered from a restaurant. When they had went to a restaurant earlier today before the mission rouge had been the one to pick for him. So it’s only natural he needs to order for himself.

Looking over it, nothing seemed to catch his attention at first till he saw a two pattied burger with mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and basil. He didn’t know what basil was but it looked good in the picture, suddenly the thought of eating that left him starving, stopping himself from salivating in public. Shadow placed his menu down and waited, maybe he should be the one to order for them this time. When the waitress came to take their order he mustered up the courage to speak up first, much to rouge’s surprise. His face heated up as he looked at the expectant but patient waitress manning their table and he suddenly felt his throat close up, and just like that he hid behind his menu. He felt rouge pat his arm comfortably as she told the women her order, and once it got to him he silently pointed to his burger, and rouges eyes widened in surprise for the second time.

Once the waitress was gone to get their orders ready, rouge looked at him in with a quizzical look, “look, shadow, I know I wanted you to come with me here, but are you sure getting a double decker burger is the right choice? You haven’t been eating normal food for a day, so I’m just worried you might get too ahead of yourself.”

Shadow sat in silence after hearing this, he knows rouge is only looking out for him but he feels like he should feel embarrassed about this. Wouldn’t anyone else order something a little smaller for the second meal out? Rouge saw him curl into himself and instantly felt guilty “but! If this is what you want, I’m not gonna stop you.”

Shadow looked at her surprised before smiling. When their meal arrived shadow was stunned how his burger looked, it somehow looked even better than it did on the menu. While rouge took small bites of her stake, Shadow craned his neck to look at the burger at every angle, before carefully picking it up and taking a bite. His eyes widened as the taste of the beef and mozzarella hit his tongue, and just like that he was tearing into it, eating bite after bite like he hadn’t eaten in days while rouge watched on frozen with a piece of steak halfway to her mouth. In under a minute the burger was gone and shadow was sucking the juices off his gloved hands while rouge absently eat her steak. “I’m…guessing really liked that, huh” she asked with an amused grin.

Shadow stared back at her confused before he looked down at his stained gloves and blushed, she laughed, “it’s okay shadow, I’m just glad you liked it. I half expected you to throw up after the second bite.”

“Well…you have only been eating coffee beans out of the bag since I’ve met you, so I was a little concerned your body would have trouble keeping up.”

“I’m the ultimate lifeform. Of course my metabolism can keep up with me.” 

At that moment the waitress came back asking how they’re meal was, rouge looked over to shadow to see he was still avoiding eye contact with her and replied. “Yes, it was very good, my friend especially loved the burger.” She could see shadow blushing furiously while glaring at her in the corner of her eye. The waitress grinned as she took their plates while rouge paid for the meal.

When they were alone once more, the bat looked back to see he was still glaring. “What? You did!” 

“My Metabolism isn’t that bad….” He muttered.

“Okay okay, I’m sorry for misjudging you Mr “ultimate life form.” Now, would you like some dessert? I’ve heard of this place downtown that sounds pretty good. Unless you’re full.”

Shadow thought for a moment before shaking his head, “alrighty then, let’s go!” Rouge said, grabbing his hand as she led him out of the restaurant, shadow having trouble keeping up with her at first before soon falling into step. 

“So what place are you planning this time? I don’t know about you but I’m about ready to head home.”

Rouge patted his shoulder in comfort as she brought up her phone and flipped it around to show him, “the place is called levain bakery, and I’ve heard it has the most wonderful desserts in station square!”

Shadow checked to see if he was still hungry, and was surprised when a loud rumbling answered, causing rouge to laugh, “it seems like you really are still hungry, we’ll come on then! It’s only down the street.” The bat grabbed his hand once more and rouge practically ran down the sidewalk.

A few minutes later they stopped upon a small building with blue lining and a wide clear window with the name written on it in golden cursive. A light brown bench stood in front, giving people an opportunity to eat outside.

Upon entering, the two were greeted with a wide selection of delectable items to chose from, from breads to rolls and cookies. Rouge walked up to the receptionist, who smiled upon seeing them, “hello and welcome to levain bakery, home of our world renowned baked goods, what can I help you with today?”

“Hello! I’m here with my friend shadow, and this is our first time here. So I was wondering what the most popular dishes here are.”

The receptionist only smiled as they gestured to the pastry’s “well, we have a lot to choose from, we have multiple choices of cookies like chocolate chip walnut, oatmeal raisin, dark chocolate peanut butter chip, and so much more. Would you like a menu?”

“Yes please” rouge said with a grin, the recipient then gestured to a section of booths and chairs near the window, and as the two sat down a waiter gave them their menus. Rouge looked at the selection with eyes shining while shadow looked through the menu in thought. Certainly there had to be something coffee flavored he could have, then he came upon a sour cream coffee cake, which genuinely looked pretty good. It was available in 9 inches and 6 inches.

Shadow flipped his menu around to show rouge, pointing to the cake with a grin, she laughed when she saw coffee cake in the title, “I was debating whether or not you would find something coffee related, luckily for you, coffee flavored treats are actually pretty popular, though I haven’t had a chance to try it myself. The calories go straight to my thighs.” She joked.

Once they had finished their order, rouge signaled the waiter when they got close to their table. Rouge ordered an oatmeal raisin cookie with a banana chip loaf cake, while shadow simply ordered the sour cream coffee cake. When the waiter asked for what size, shadow lookec at the menu options and answered 6 inches. 

Once the waiter had gone to get their order ready, shadow noticed rouge was giving him a look, “what? Did i order the wrong thing?”

Rouge shook her head, “no, you ordered correctly, I’m just surprised you got a 6 inch cake,”

Shadow was still confused, “but that was one of the serving sizes listed.”

“Yeah, but a cake like that is meant to feed five people. Look, we can order a to-go box when you’re done, I don’t want you to get sick.” Even with the genuine care shadow still felt ashamed. It’s not like he meant ordering something so big, but rouge is right, he can easily eat the rest later.

As the minutes pass, the two spent the time looking out the window at the passing people, rouge playing a game of how many designer clothes she can recognize while shadow watched on. Five minutes later their waiter returned with their food before leaving wishing them a good meal.

Shadow looked down at his coffee cake to see it looked really good. Picking up his fork he cut a piece off and brought it to his mouth, being greeted by the taste of dark chocolate with hints of cinnamon, the sour cream gave a kick of rich flavor that made him wanting more. And before he knew it over half the cake was gone and he was only now getting full. the weight of his full belly caused shadow to lean back in his chair, heaving a sigh. Rouge laughed from above him, “told you you would get full. I’ll go get a to-go box.” Rouge stood up and walked off, leaving shadow to wait there as the calories of the meal attempted to pull him under.

He hadn’t noticed he had begun to doze when he was startled awake upon hearing a styrofoam container be placed on the table, looking up with blurry eyes to see rouge giving him an amused look, “okay, now I know you’re ready to go home. Just let me pack yours and we’ll head back.” 

After rouge had packed the remains of his coffee cake, shadow staggered after the bat holding a white takeout bag, which rouge quickly took after multiple instances where shadow almost tripped, “at this point I’m wondering if i should carry you,” rouge snirked half heartily, keeping a tight grip on her friend’s hand as she practically dragged him from behind her. Thankfully they’re apartment was just a few blocks away, which greatly relieved her, since she’s certain shadow wouldn’t be able to take another step.

With one hand rouge dug into her purse and brought out her key, unlocking the door and flinging it open as she walked into the house with shadow in tow. “Are you sure you’re okay walking up the stairs to your room?”

Shadow nodded his head, eyes half lidded as he walked to the stairs and gripped tightly onto the railing as he slowly made his way upstairs. All while rouge stood in the entryway with a mix of concern on her face, looking up to the clock to see it was just after one.

The bat entered the common room and slumped into the couch, finding the remote before she switched to one of her favorite telenovelas. Willing to wait till her partner woke up from what was no doubt a food coma.

———————

Meanwhile, shadow had finally made it to the top of the stairs and was making a beeline to his room, opening the door with a slam that could have cracked the wall but was too tired to care. Taking the last few steps to his bed he practically fell onto it, snuggling into the soft comfort his blankets as he soon blissfully fell into a deep sleep.

Chapter Text

When shadow woke up the next morning, it was to a feeling of a deep throbbing from his chest, instead of lingering on it, shadow simply rolled over to get into a more comfortable position. Only to jolt when he felt a spike of pain rush through him as the side of his chest brushed against the mattress, causing him to sit up. Now fully awake, shadow looked down to see what had his chest hurting so badly, glancing down, he spotted in the darkness of his room two small bumps on his chest, with nipples that were emitting some type of liquid. The bumps looked swollen as they continued to throb as they slowly began to grow bigger.

Looking over to the clock on his nightstand he saw it was 4:45pm, which meant he had slept for approximately three and a half hours. At least it was still day time, technically. Rolling out of bed, he made his way out of the hallway and raced into the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind him. Flicking on the light he looked in the mirror to see the bumps still there, and had seemed to have grown bigger in the minutes since he had checked. The translucent liquid rolled down his chest and down to his stomach. Feeling panicked, Shadow quickly unlocked the door and raced back into his room and bolted to his closet that was built into the wall. damning his past self for not having the foresight to buy more clothes as he looked through the small amount of clothes rouge had bothered him to buy when she had dragged him on her shopping trips. The articles of clothing weren’t much to look at, as most of them were black and red open vests made to be worn over a shirt, which he finally seemed to find as he spotted a dark red shirt behind one of the vests, thanking the stars for shining down on him at that moment, (it is now 6:01) he pulled the clothing off the hanger, almost denting it in the process as he began to pull it over his head.

The process was kinda awkward as he had to keep his hands on his quills so it didn’t accidentally poke a hole through the shirt. The feeling of having something unfamiliar cover his body causing his quills to instinctively spike up, painstakingly bringing the shirt down over his back, thankfully finding some holes to slot his back spines in as he pulled the shirt down over his waist. Only to realize the liquid was bleeding through the fabric, leaving wet stains from his nipples down to his stomach as the fabric had followed its path downward. with a growl shadow ran back into the hallway, almost bumping into rouge on his way back to the bathroom, who looked at him in surprise as shadow froze.

“Oh, shadow! I was just coming up here to wake you up- wait, why are you wearing a shirt?”

Shadow began to sweat as he tried to come up with an excuse as to why he was wearing an article of clothing, something he had told her only yesterday he wasn’t intent on wearing. “Ummmmm, because…..” shadow frantically looked around the room till he landed on the air conditioner unit, “IT’S COLD!” Rouge gave him a critical look as she raised an eyebrow in suspicion, “it’s….cold? But it’s 63 degrees out, it shouldn’t be cold up here, especially since this is the top floor.”

Rouge looked down to see what shirt he was wearing when she spotted the small wet spots on his chest and stomach, causing her eyes to widen a fraction, all the while shadow felt like someone had thrown a ice cold bucket of water over him.

Rouge didn’t know how to process when she looked down to see bumps protruding from shadows chest in the form of breasts, which strangely enough seemed to be slowly growing in front of her eyes. For all she knew shadow had been born male, it was stated in all personal records pertaining to project shadow. Could those reports have been wrong?

When she saw shadow was about to bolt she spoke, half trying to keep him in place while also trying to calm him down, which seemed to contradict themselves in her mind, “wait- shadow, are you a girl?” Even as the words came out she couldn’t refrain from cringing, but kept it internal so as not to give off the wrong impression.

Shadow seemed to have forgotten how to speak as he opened his mouth but no words came out. He had thought all his life that he had been created as a male, but now after suddenly waking up with what he now realizes are boobs felt surreal, like this isn’t supposed to be happening. “But….I am a male. Or at least I thought I was.” Shadow spoke, glancing down to his chest, which still seemed to be growing, something that worried him even as the rate was slow. rouge noticed this as she got an idea, “stay here,” she instructed as she quickly ran to her room.

There was the sound of things being thrown till the bat walked out with….a bra? Shadow’s face turned beet red when rouge held it out towards him. His hands held up like it was gonna burn him. Rouge gently took one of his hands in hers and brought it down so she could place the garment in his hand, “it might be a little big on you, but it’s the smallest one i could find. I promise we can go shopping for clothes tomorrow, cause you are not wearing that shirt out of the house till it gets washed.” She said, gesturing to the small stains on his shirt. The sight made him blush even more, the bat then grabbed him by the shoulders and led him to the bathroom, “now go and try it on! I wanna see how it looks on you!”

Shadow was left stunned as he let the his friend lead him to the bathroom, “but rouge! Isn’t it inappropriate for a mobian to show another one their undergarments!?”

“Psssh! It’s fine! It’s just us two here, and besides, there isn’t anything I haven’t seen here that I haven’t seen in the club downstairs. Some people really don’t know when to get a room,” when shadow only looked back at her perplexed, she continued, “Nevermind. Just get in there and put it on so I can get dinner ready.” She said as she finally got him to the bathroom door, which had already been opened, presumably by rouge herself prior to him leaving his room. reaching over and closing it when he walked inside.

Shadow stood there silent as he looked down at the bra in his hands, it did look pretty small if it came from rouge. It was black with a firm band at the bottom. Setting the bra on the closed toilet lid, Shadow pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it on the tiled floor below and picked the bra back up, he looked over it before finding a small latch at the back. Is this how it’s supposed to be opened?

With some fiddling he got it open and pressed the front to his chest, feeling the soft fabric touch his sensitive nipples, causing him to shiver. He took the back parts of it and tried to relatch it, only to have trouble figuring out how since he couldn’t see. “Uhhhh, rouge?”

“Yeah?” Rouge replied from outside the door, he suddenly felt grateful she hadn’t left as he said, voice lowering in embarrassment at having to admit this. “I’m…having some difficulty getting this on,”

“How so? I thought it looked pretty simple.” There was a pause, “but on second thought, you haven’t worn a bra before, I’m coming inside.” The door opened and the bat’s head poked inside. Greeted to the scene in front of her, shadow stood near the closed toilet, face flushed red as his arms were stationed behind him to keep the bra in place. Trying to contain her laughter, rouge walked over and gently grabbed the straps of the bra and snapped it into place, before turning the hedgehog around and stepping back with a smile, “there. This looks pretty damn good on you, it showcases a charm I haven’t seen before.” Shadow stood there rigid as several emotions warred through him, before bending down to pick up his shirt, feeling his breasts dip with the movement, starting to begin to jiggle as their weight increased as they kept growing. As he stood back up and went through the process of putting it on again, he saw rouge exit the bathroom with a wave, “once you’re all done I’m gonna need you to come down so we can decide what’s for dinner.”

As rouge went back downstairs, Shadow turned back towards the bathroom mirror, looking at the now sizable breasts he had. They were nowhere near big enough to equal rouges, but they were still far bigger than they were when he first woke up. His chest fur was ruffled from sleep but looked to be higher on his collarbone, his breasts still ached but not as much as before since they now had support. Despite the new addition he still looked like himself, same spiky quills with red highlights, same red eyes and markings around them. Maybe being a girl wouldn’t be so bad.
————————

They ended up eating a family sized frozen dinner rouge had brought recently since rouge wanted to stay inside and watch something and chill, which shadow hadn’t minded. It gave him some time to ponder over what had happened as he dug into his pasta, him having gotten twice the serving size that was typically recommended as he had grown increasingly hungry during his nap. which rouge had internally noted as strange. She would have thought he wouldn’t have had much of an appetite after breakfast. Nonetheless it was nice staying in the house for a change, Sitting on the couch while rouge succeeded in talking him into watching one of the movies she’d been looking forward to watching. It was a spy movie involving the main protagonist, who was funnily enough named eggsy, and his journey becoming a spy to prevent the main villain from brainwashing the mass population into enacting genocide. By the end of the movie both mobians sat there stunned, their empty plates forgotten as they stared at the rolling credits.

“I swear, if eggman even thinks of pulling a stunt like that, i would have done the same thing to that guy. Putting that poor child through that was terrifying to watch.” Rouge spoke, grabbing the remote and turning the tv off, not even willing to go through the process of exiting out of the streaming service they had used.

Shadow nodded, looking pretty shaken, even as he knew logically everything had ended up working out. He still couldn’t help but think what would have happened if the protagonist was just a few seconds too late… “agreed. I couldn’t help but see cream behind that door and wanted so badly to reach in there and save her.” Shadow reached out towards the now blank tv, like he was trying to reach for someone who wasn’t there. Rouge scooted over and gently grabbed his shoulder with a squeeze, bringing him back to the present, who looked at her with glossy eyes.

Rouge pulled him close into a hug, rubbing his back in comfort. The two stayed like that till shadow began to pull away, feeling fully tired now as she stood up, bending backwards as she popped her back as shadow stood up as well to pick up his plate while rouge did the same. After the dishes had been washed, shadow began to head upstairs till rouge spoke up, “shadow? By the way, there’s one more thing you should know about wearing a bra.”

Turning around, shadow leaned against the railing as he sent her a curious look, “is it that i have to take this off to get it washed?”

“Well- yes, but also it's not recommended to sleep with it on like you would do with normal clothes.”

Shadow's eyes widened as he looked at her incuriously, “wait, why can’t I sleep with it on? Is there something wrong with it?” Shadow asked, pulling back the collor of his shirt to look at the harmless looking garment in concern. Rouge rolled her eyes as she let out a sigh. Getting the impression this would be the start of many questions to come, “not exactly. See, wearing a bra helps with keeping them supported, but you don’t necessarily need that when you’re sleeping. Plus, it’s a lot more comfortable to sleep without it.”

Shadow nodded as he continued his way upstairs, bidding the bat goodnight as he went up to his room and shut the door. Pulling his shirt up, he reached behind him to unlatch his bra, watching as his breasts flopped down from their upright position as the bra fell to the floor, sighing in relief at the feeling of the pressure from the tight material dissipating, he let his shirt fall back down over his stomach, not noticing how there was a small bump protruding from his stomach.

Leaving the article on the floor, Shadow walked over to his bed and flopped face first on his bed. the unfamiliar feeling of his breasts squashing underneath him causing him to roll back on his front. Pulling the covers over him, the hedgehog flopped over onto his side and slowly fell asleep.
——————————
When morning came, shadow was sprawled out sideways on his bed, his head hanging out over the edge of his bed as his body looked seconds away from teetering off onto the floor. His bare pawed feet planted on the wall near his bed as he snored.

Then his alarm went off and he was sent flying off of it the rest of the way down to the floor with a groan. Whilst attempting to pick himself up off the ground, shadow felt something weighing him down. Lowering his head he was quickly met with a face full of flesh, which caused the hedgehog to fall on his rear in surprise. His now much bigger breasts bouncing in place.

Looking back down he was stunned to see that his breasts had grown even bigger overnight. Now being ten times bigger then they were the night before, they easily squished against each other when he moved his arms to cup them in his hands with a squeeze, and when he tried to pull his shirt down over his breasts, it wouldn’t it stubbornly wouldn’t move from the top of the breasts. Leaving both his breasts and the bottom half of his body exposed. Which normally wouldn’t have been a problem for him, but cause of the circumstances he had been unceremoniously thrown into, his feelings about once trivial things had unfortunately had become a priority.

A sudden wetness began to roll down his front. With some difficulty that shadow was not used to, he rolled onto his front and gripped onto the edge of his bed with both hands to pull himself to his feet, unknowingly revealing that his tail had grown a few inches longer, but didn’t notice. only realizing as his ears pinned back that his alarm was still going off, the sound was quickly dealt with as he whipped around to slam his hand on the top, almost denting it in the process. Breathing heavily by the emotions swirling through his chest, shadow looked at his now drenched bra, the unknown liquid from last night dripping from beneath the fabric and onto his sheets, causing the hedgehog to step back in alarm. Only to cause the same liquids to dribble down onto his own body and down to the floor as he stumbled in place, the heavy weight of his breasts messing with his center of gravity.

With a sigh, shadow looked over to see his bra still on the ground. Walking over and bending over to pick it up, he hesitated to bring it to his now voluptuous chest. Knowing without even having to look at it that the smaller bra wouldn’t fit him, but he really didn’t have any other options. He pulled his now soaked shirt over his head and threw the clothing to the floor in anger. Hearing a loud squishing sound as it made contact with the floor. pressing the cups of the bra to his breasts, he wasn’t surprised to find the tinier cups only seemed to cover his nipples. With an aggravated growl shadow swiped up his fallen shirt and threw it into the hamper near his door. Now what was gonna do? He was standing here shirtless, with breasts that wouldn’t stop lactating. Looking over to his bed, his gaze zeroed onto his blankets and made his way over and ripped it off of his bed and wrapped it around himself. Copying what rouge did when she finished taking a shower by wrapping the blanket around his chest.

Now sufficiently clothed, shadow ran out of his room and into the hallway before stopping in front of rouge’s bedroom, but hesitated right as he was about to open the door. Knowing the bat valued her sleep. But this was an emergency and he didn’t know what to do.

So with held breath shadow slowly opened the door, making sure to slowly open it to prevent any creaking. Once the door was wide enough, shadow tiptoed over to the side of rouge’s ten poster bed and gently tapped rouge on the shoulder his free hand as the other one was wrapped around his chest keeping the blanket from falling, till she stirred, opening her eyes to see a familiar figure standing above her, his quills a mess and wearing a bedsheet over his body, llooking at her with thin veiled worry. “Shadow…? What are you doing in my room?….and why are you wearing a bedsheet.” She croaked, the sound of her sleep-addled voice causing guilt to grip him as shadow tried to explain his predicament, “ummmm… I sorta have a problem of the feminine sort, and I was hoping you could help.”

Already sitting up, rouge turned on her bedside lamp while rubbing sleep out of her eyes. When she looked at the hedgehog the first thing she noticed was that his breasts had somehow grown bigger, now twice as large as her own breasts, which shadow was holding in place with both arms pressed around his chest, ears pinned back as he looked at her with clear uncertainty. Her mouth hung open in shock, having trouble believing what she was looking at.

Shaking her head, rouge focused on the task in front of her. Right now she has to help her friend. Flipping her legs over the side of the bed, rouge all but bolted to her wardrobe the moment her feet hit the floor, causing shadow to stumble back so the bat didn’t accidentally plow him over. Opening it up and looking through her pairs of bras till she found something that looked big enough. Turning around with a twirl as she brandished a new bra that was much bigger than the last, it was a deep red with wide cups that shadow slowly took in his hands, realizing this was the second bra he was borrowing from her with a touch of guilt.

Seeing the look on his face rouge frowned, grabbing his hand and sitting him down on her bed as he tried to keep his sadness from showing. “shadow? What’s wrong sweetheart?” She spoke quietly, as shadow tried to raine in the urge to cry as he spoke, “I don’t want to keep taking things from you…” this caused rouges eyes to widen in surprise, quickly moving in to side hug him with a squeeze.

“Shadow, you’re not taking anything from me, I’m giving this to you cause I know you need it. Plus I have at least twelve or more pairs just like that, and that’s not even getting into the pairs I buy on my shopping trips.” She grinned, managing a small smile to grace the hedgehog’s face.

“Point is, try not to feel guilty about me giving you free things, cause you should know I’d give anything to help you out.”

“Even your favorite jewels?” Shadow snirked, his grin widening when rouge sent him an unamused look, “don’t push it, buster.”

Shadow barked out a laugh as rouge slipped off the bed as she gestured to him and the bra still in his hands, “now go on and put that on, I wanna see if it fits,” shadow moved around the article in his hands as he looked at the back, only to be surprised to not see the usual buckle, just straps. Looking to rouge in confusion she explained, “there’s different types of bras, this one you’re holding is called a sports bra. It’s made so you can just slip it on and go, since I’d suspect you wouldn’t want to be held back with the buckled bra.”

Shadow smiled in thanks, beginning to sit up till rouge stopped him, “wait, I almost forgot to give you a new shirt! Cause I’d imagine that shirt of yours is not gonna do you any good.” The bat gestured for him to unwrap the blanket around him, which he did hesitantly. Leaving his naked breasts on full display as rouge silently gaped at. Looking on with wide eyes, having completely stopped her search, “wait, what happened to the shirt you were wearing?”

“I took it off. It was completely soaked by whatever was coming out of my boobs. It’s currently in my hamper in my room.”

Shaking her head, the bat went back looking over her shirts. Knowing now she’d have to find something with a bigger cup size. While shadow pulled the bra over his chest, moving the straps around so the cups completely covered his breasts, just as rouge turned back around holding out a lavender low hem shirt with a flowing bottom with a grin, while shadow looked at it skeptically. “Do you think that’ll look good on me? I’ve never worn purple before.

“Of course!” She said, “red and purple can be used to make a striking piece. It’s like petting two bad bitches against each other. but in the end they both look beautiful!” Rouge showcased this by pulling out a red button up shirt from off the hanger and pressing the two clothes together to show how the colors mixed seamlessly with each other. Shadow nodded at the demonstration as the bat gave him the purple shirt while putting the other one back and closing the wardrobe.

“Now you better get ready to go, since now that it seems awfully apparent you need some extra clothes, I’m thinking of a shopping trip is in order. As well as a bra fitting…Oh! And I have just the place. I’ll be right back.” And with that rouge went over to her purse that was settled on an armchair near her bed and took out her phone, quickly dialing a number as she made her way into the hallway, “yes, hello, I’d like to schedule a bra fitting fo….” Before she was out of sight.

Now sitting alone in the room, shadow stared at the shirt in his hands, holding it up to check to make sure the cups of the shirt were big enough, he turned it around and pulled it over his head, feeling his breasts slip into place, happy to know there was still enough room. And was about to pull the rest of the shirt over his stomach till he noticed a bit of fat poking out, it wasn’t enough to create fat rolls big enough to be noticeable but it still made him grimace. Shadow let the shirt pass over his stomach as he stood up, watching the fabric cascade down till it reached his waist.

Standing up to see how it looked, shadow walked over and stood in front of a full length mirror. Now taking a closer look at how big his breasts were. They looked well rounded and curvaceous. Weighing heavily against the fabric of his bra and shirt.

Turning around to look at them at the side, they still looked quite huge, turning to the other side showed the same. the extra length of the shirt felt nice on his stomach and legs as he watched as the ends swayed as he turned from side to side.

He was so caught up in watching the movement that he hadn’t realized rouge had returned till he caught a glimpse of her in the corner of his eye and almost screamed. She was grinning ear to ear, “you having fun there, shadow?” She spoke, reveling in the way the ebony hedgehog blushed a bright red as he quickly looked away as he crossed his arms with a pout, “no.” He grumbled, which made the bat laugh.

“Anyway, I’ve got the bra fitting scheduled for later this afternoon, so that gives us enough time to get some breakfast before heading shopping, I’ve also taken the liberty of scheduling it at the same mall for extra convenience.”

The thought of possibly being in a mall didn’t sound that enticing to him, but if it helped him find more bra’s his size he supposes he doesn’t have much choice. Especially if it met they could eat breakfast on the way over, he was feeling quite hungry by the sound of the loud growl emitting from his stomach, “what place do you have in mind?” He asked with a nervous smile, rouge laughed as she went over to pick out an outfit, needing to find an outfit suitable for the place she was going to take the hedgehog.
———————
And that’s where shadow found himself walking with rouge to a cafe known for their high quality breakfast food. It had a wide storefront with clear glass windows and door, and the place was packed with mobians and humans sitting in the outdoor seating area while inside there were even more people in booths lining the room, some eating with family and friends, while some looked to be on a date. rouge stepped up to ask for a table and was greatly relieved when they led them to a free booth and walked away after giving them their menus.

Rouge barely opened hers before she picked avocado toast with an oat milk latte. Shadow on the other hand had a much harder time choosing what to get, his stomach rumbling as he looked at all the items like soft scrambled eggs and toast, a breakfast sandwich with bacon on a sesame bun, French toast, and this thing called a eggs bene, which based off its description had eggs, French ham, toasted sourdough and salmon. They all looked so good that it was hard to choose only one. But then he caught a glance at bold lettering on the top that explained how they were hosting an all you can eat event today that began from 9:00am and ended at 12:00pm.

When their server came to take their order, rouge ordered avocado toast with an oat milk latte. When it was his turn he propped his menu in front of him as he said, “I’d Like to order soft scrambled eggs with a side of toast, one breakfast sandwich- actually let’s make that two- French toast, and eggs bane, please. I’d also like to have some black coffee.”

Both rouge and the server stared at him in shock before the server quickly recovered with a grin, “gee, you sure are hungry. I’m assuming you’ve heard about our all you can eat event. Could you be eating for two by chance, ma’am?”

Shadow’s face felt like it had burst into flames as he frantically shook his head while rouge’s mouth fell open. Realizing his mistake, the server quickly gathered their menus and walked off.

The two sat there in silence as they both processed what had happened, rouge finally lifting her jaw off the table as she looked at shadow with a mix of worry and surprise, “okay, first off, that was really rude of them. I can’t believe that server would say something like that.”

Shadow sat there as he fiddled with the edge of his shirt, feeling the most embarrassed he’d ever felt. Rouge looked at him with renewed worry as she continued, “but even so, I was surprised you wanted to order so much. I’m assuming this has to do with your hormone balance since your body is trying to figure out what it needs. So don’t be too hard on yourself for needing to eat more, okay?”

Shadow nodded as he slowly took a breath, trying to calm down and center himself in the moment. It was good to know that his increased appetite was normal, but which part of his body would be reacting, his mobian side or black arms side? He has no way of knowing at the moment so he brushes the thought aside as the two waited for their meal. Which came soon enough, the server balancing two trays in both hands. one containing rouge’s avocado toast and coffee while the other contained the multitude of food that was shadow’s meal, six plates in all. (Seven counting shadows extra breakfast sandwich) Placing both down, including the tray containing shadows order, the server asked if they needed anything else, and when the two replied negative he walked off.

Shadow didn’t know where to start first, but in the end started down the line on of the breakfast sandwiches, which tasted as good as he thought it would, and moved onto the scrambled eggs and toast, then the French toast. And finally the eggs bane, washing all that down with his black coffee. By the end of the meal, shadow was just about full to bursting, his belly having expanded ten times its size, poking out from his shirt and pressing against the edge of the table as he sighed. Feeling the most full he’s ever felt in his life.

Rouge made sure to move the napkin holder in front of the table so he wouldn’t have to see the looks he was getting from a few inhabitants of the restaurant. Once it looked like shadow was going to fall over in his booth, rouge quickly got up and held out her hand for him to take, and the two walked out of there without shadow even noticing the onlookers. She swears she saw a couple of them holding up their phones…crap. Hopefully that won’t come back to bite them.

After walking for a bit, rouge found a secluded bench they could sit on so the hedgehog could catch his breath. After a moment shadow spoke, now having regained his bearings, only to end up apologizing. much to her surprise, “I’m sorry that didn’t go the way you wanted it to, rouge.” Rouge looked at him like he had just grown two heads, “what? What are you talking about? I didn’t have a bad time.”

“Well if you weren’t having a bad time, what about when that server gave me a look like I was gonna eat the restaurant out of business? I would have been more than embarrassed if it were me. I AM embarrassed, cause I didn’t have the restraint to order a normal meal.Instead I ended up looking like a fucking pig!” Shadow had been gripping his bloated stomach tightly with both hands, holding back tears cause of these stupid hormones- when he felt a pair of hands gently but firmly grab his face, making him turn. Rouge looked the most serious he’d ever seen her, “shadow, I’m gonna make this clear. You are not an embarrassment. or a pig, you are my friend. And friends help each other when they need it. Who cares what that rude server thought of you, he had only thought you were pregnant when you had begun your order. It’s not your fault that man didn’t have a filter.”

“So you didn’t end up having a horrible time?” Shadow asked as he sniffed, a stray tear escaping despite himself, which rouge quickly wiped away with a smile, “of course not, I had a great time. Besides what had happened, the food was delicious, the wait time wasn’t that atrocious that we had to sit there for several minutes. And best of all, there wasn’t any babies crying this time! So I’d say that’s a plus.” Shadow snorted, as a small smile graced his face. “Thanks rouge. The food was pretty good, I’m thinking we could go here more often when we get the chance.”

Rouge grinned, “now that sounds like a plan! It gives me time to think about what else i could have there. But enough about that, do you wanna rest a little longer or do you think you’re ready to start heading to the mall? It’s only 9:45, so we still have some time to get there before the appointment.” Shadow stood up with a stretch, his bloated stomach bobbling with the movement before growing stil again. Rouge refrained from poking it, “I’m good to go, I just hope this bloated stomach won’t be with me for much longer, it’s not a good look for racing.” Shadow said as he patted his stomach, it jiggled with the movement.

Rouge smirked, “maybe a good ole fashioned race could do the trick? I’m certainly no sonic, but I’m certain I can keep up with you while you have that food baby.” Shadow glared at her with a smirk, sensing a challenge when he heard one. “You’re on.”

And with a boost of power from his air shoes, shadow sprinted down the street with rouge tailing after him, telling him which way to go so they wouldn’t get lost. It wasn’t necessarily your average race, but if it ended up burning a few calories shadow
doesn’t mind.
——————————

Shadow didn’t know what to expect when rouge had told him they were going to the mall. Only that it was really fancy and had really good ratings. It also had a bra fitting area, which was the main reason why they were here. He might not know much about malls, but he still found himself stunned when he stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing a huge building that was completely made out of glass. Letting the two see the multitude of stores that lay within.

“Rouge….when you said that this was a super fancy mall, I thought you meant that it was really expensive. Not that the exterior is literally see through.”

Rouge took her time studying her covered nails as she replied, “mmmmm, but where would the fun in that be? Also as we haven’t even entered yet, you’re gonna be in for even more once we actually get into the place.”

Shadow stayed silent as they found their way to the entrance, only for his mouth to fall open when he saw the inside. There were pom trees everywhere. giving off the illusion that the place was on a tropical island. Rouge kept a firm grip on his hand as he looked around, the bat having already had a view of it from the sky in the past. She’s bought quite a few essentials from this place as well, including some bras from the women’s tailor shop they’re heading to right now. But rouge stopped as she spotted a familiar face in the crowd in the distance, almost causing shadow to face plant. the bat’s grip on his hand the only thing preventing him from meeting the ground when she stopped. shadow glared at her, about to ask why they had stopped so suddenly when he froze upon seeing two familiar faces.

There sitting at one of the tables in the outdoor cafeteria, amongst humans and mobians was amy rose, and in the chair across from her was cream the rabbit, she had her pet chao sitting in her lap munching on some fruit. Shadow desperately wanted to be anywhere else, but unfortunately for him rouge had other plans.

Rouge rushed up to the two girls with a very reluctant shadow trailing behind her by the arm, “Amy, cream! What a surprise to see you here!”

Amy looked at her with a smile, as cream did the same, being the first to notice shadow, who looked a little different somehow, “oh hey rouge, hey shadow! I didn’t think I’d see you two here, are you planning on scheduling a vacation here? I know I would,”

Rouge laughed, “oh believe me, I’d take as many vacations as I could if g.u.n would let me, but no. I’m here for another reason.” She subtly gestured with her head ti shadow beside her, who had crossed his arms in an attempt to cover up his huge breasts, but had only managed to squeeze them to the point they became even more visible. There was nothing he could do about his bulging belly though, which had only shrunk a few centimeters during his run here.

Amy cocked her head to the side, as cream tried to figure out why Mr shadow looked so different, only to look at his chest and a thought hit her. As rouge continued, “oh, I’m here for shadow because-“

“Mr shadow, when did you start looking like a girl?” Cream innocently asked, completely cutting off the conversation, and causing everyone but shadow to look at her in surprise while shadow himself looked mortified.

“Cream, why would you ask that? Shadows not a girl. Is he?” Amy directed her gaze to rouge, who looked awkwardly towards shadow and Amy, before shrugging, “I’m just as lost as you two are. See, shadow began to exhibit signs of….looking female only yesterday.” Rouge tried to keep it vague as cream was listening. “I’m thinking he was always female but for some reason had always looked male.”

“Do you think it could be caused by a hormone imbalance? I’ve heard that can happen sometimes,” Amy asked, as cream silently looked from Amy to rouge, just trying to take everything in while shadow sat at a separate table as rouge had finally let go of his hand, “hmmmm, that’s possible. But I don’t know why it’s happening now. If it’s simply a matter of hormones, wouldn’t this have happened some time after he had lost his memory?”

The three sat in silence as they tried to think of something. till amy spoke, “could something have happened before this to cause this sudden change? You said this had taken place yesterday, right?” Rouge nodded, trying to recall anything from the past two days that stood out, till she gasped, “there was this one thing- but no, he said he was fine. It couldn’t have been that, right?” At this point rouge began to pace.

cream finally spoke up, remembering something she had heard a few days ago, but didn’t know if it was connected or not, “I remember Mr sonic telling me about a mission you and rouge were on, i can’t remember the exact details since I was playing with cheese at the time, but it had something to do with eggman taking dna from hospital storages. Which sounds really horrible of eggman to do!”

“Chao chao!” Cheese piped up in agreement.

“That does sound horrible, but what does that have to do with shadow?” Amy asked, rouge stopped as she remembered shadow stumbling out of the warehouse covered in blood. With several gashes on him, presumably from his fight with metal. But he had been fully healed by the time they got home, having washed it all off before they had headed home.

“I’m sorry girls, but I can’t think of anything that could’ve happened that day to cause shadow to transition like this.” Rouge spoke, still feeling like she was missing something big. But if she keeps thinking about it, it’ll end up driving her mad.

“I do have one question though,” Amy asked, rouge nodded her head, giving the go ahead, “what are you doing here with shadow? Does he- wait, should we be referring to shadow as she/her now?” Amy asked, completely dropping one question in favor of a new one, rouge stood there perplexed, realizing that she had never asked him before, “hey shadow? Where ar- get over here and sit with the rest of us!” Rouge yelled, just now realizing shadow had been sitting at an empty table a few feet away from them, he probably hadn’t even been listening to their conversation.

Upon hearing her, shadow looked up with a sigh, having been engrossed in a book someone had left forgotten on the table he was at. It had been a romance novel with a spicy plot centering around someone experiencing changes in the night, and hiding from his love interest cause they had told themself their love would never accept them as they were. It was pretty cliché, but it was a good thing to read to kill some time while the others were talking. Unfortunately it sounds like he had been roped back into the conversation.

So with a heavy sigh, shadow begrudgingly stood up, leaving the book on the table and walked over where the others were, sitting down between Amy and cream with a huff. “What?”

“Were you listening to anything we were saying? We were talking about you, you know,” rouge said with a pout, shadow rolled his eyes, “of course I could hear all of you, the difference being I wasn’t listening to what you three were talking about.”

Rouge inhaled sharply through her nose and released it with a sigh, not wanting to blow up on her friend, even if he is being a major ass right now, “I was gonna ask you whether you would want to be addressed as she/her or not.”

Shadow looked at her confused, not fully understanding what she was asking. Seeing his confusion rouge looked at Amy for help, who nodded, “what she means is if you would be okay being referred to as a girl, like cream and I are both girls who use she/her pronouns, while someone like sonic, knuckles and tails would be referred to as he/him. Does that make sense?”

Shadow slowly nodded, beginning to understand a bit, “but I’m still confused about something, I’ve been referred to as a male all my life. Do I have to change that since I now look like a girl?”

“Do you feel like a boy?” Cream asked, getting confused again, shadow shook his head “I- no, I don’t think so, I have the boobs to prove I’m a girl, but I still don’t feel like being called she/her fits me. But neither does being referred to as he/him. But that doesn’t make sense.” Shadow lowered his head to the table, beginning to feel overwhelmed. Amy spoke up, “I think I do understand what you’re trying to say, shadow,” Shadow rose his head to look up at the pink hedgehog in awe, “you do, how?” He asked, looking at her like she held all the secrets of the universe.

“Well. What you seem to be feeling is what a lot of people who are nonbinary feel. I have a couple friends that I’m close with that are nonbinary. Having talked about not feeling like they didn’t feel like a girl or a boy, but somewhere in the middle.”

“But that sounds impossible, can’t someone only be male or female? I haven’t heard of a case where someone can be in the middle.”

“You would be correct, it’s not possible to be neither male or female. At least physically. You see, gender and sex don’t necessarily have to be connected,
Like for an example, a person can be physically male while identifying as female, or vice versa. The same goes for people who identify as nonbinary, while still being the same sex they have been since birth. The only thing that changes is how you perceive your identity.”

Shadow sat there in thought, till his eyes widened, “Wait, so does that mean I can change my pronouns, even if I look physically feminine?”

“If that’s what you want, then sure!” Amy smiled. “but I’d suggest you wait a little bit to figure out what you wanna be referred to as, this is a important decision after all.”

The conversation was suddenly cut short as rouge clapped her hands, “alright girls, as much as we’d love to stay and chat, shadow over here has to get to his bra fitting appointment. Hopefully I’ll see you two later, come on shadow!” And just like that shadow was pulled out of his seat as rouge walked away, not before waving back at the stunned girls, “oh! Uh, well bye you two! I hope the bra fitting goes well for you shadow!!” Amy yelled as cream waved too. Shadow gave a thumbs up as he was all but dragged to the entrance of club monoco, face beet red as Amy had unknowingly gathered the attention of the humans and mobians surrounding them, mostly glad he didn’t have to be there to deal with it.
———————————

When rouge and shadow walked into the tailor shop, the two were met with loads of Mannequins sporting some of the store's most popular outfits, both in human size and mobian. There were also several full length mirrors standing at different areas of the room surrounded by plush white chairs and couches. When they heard a door opening they turned to see a lavender mobian wearing a yellow blouse with a dark purple skirt that stopped above her calves, upon seeing them both, she grinned, “ah, there you are rouge! I was wondering if you were gonna show.” the unnamed mobian took the bats hand and gently kissed her hand, making rouge giggle while shadow fought the urge to roll his eyes, “shadow, this is jasmine, they are the shopkeeper here, jasmine, this is shadow, the friend I spoke to you on the phone about,”

The bunny mobian, now known as jasmine, looked at shadow with renewed interest. “Ah, so you’re shadow! I’ve heard quite a lot about you, how you stopped that black doom guy from destroying our world. Quite a reputation you’ve got. now as much as I’d love to chat, I think it’s time we start with the fitting. Come with me shadow,”

Shadow was alarmed by this, “Wait, isn’t rouge coming with us?” The hedgehog didn’t feel comfortable being with someone he had only just met, not if rouge wasn’t with him at least. Jasmine gave him a sympathetic look as she tried her best to give tje anxious hedgehog a comforting smile, “I’m afraid rouge can’t join us in the fitting room, it’s only for the client and the person performing the bra fitting, which is me. Now since this is obviously your first time here, I’m gonna give you a rundown on what’s gonna happen. When we get into the fitting room, it’s required for you to take off your top and bra so I can measure how big your breasts are so you know what to look for when buying a bra, be it here or anywhere else.”

Shadow’s face went as red as a tomato at these words. This mobian is wanting him to do what? Oh chaos, what has he gotten himself into?

When they made it to the fitting room, shadow was as rigid as can be as jasmine gestured for him to sit down and take off his shirt and bra. Which shadow did hesitantly, leaving his voluptuous breasts and bulging stomach out in the open. Thankfully jasmine didn’t seem to mind, as she didn’t even seem to blink as the bunny brought out a tape measure and crouched down and used the measure to wrap around shadows rib cage and slowly made her way to his breasts, which caused shadow to tense up even more, which unfortunately made the experience difficult for jasmine, who pulled away with a sigh “shadow, ma’am, I know this is your first time getting a bra fitting, but for this to work I’m gonna need you to untense your body. You being tense is gonna make it difficult to measure your bust and get an accurate size. So you’re gonna have to work with me here, do you want this?”

Shadow breathed deeply as he thought about this, sure he for sure didn’t like being touched, especially in a place that is very sensitive. But he also wants to know his size in case his breasts end up growing bigger again. and he doesn't want to keep borrowing from rouge. He knows she deserves better than that. Making up his mind, shadow took a deep breath and relaxed his shoulders, trying to keep himself calm. even as jasmine went back to measuring his breasts. Trying to keep his mind occupied by thinking about the different fighting techniques he can master once all this is over and done with. Thinking of how proud rouge will be to see him buy a proper bra for himself. And before he knew it jasmine stood up with a grin, “alright champ, I’ve got your measurement, you are free to put on your bra and top now.” With a sigh of relief, Shadow gratefully donned his undergarment and shirt and almost fast walked out of the fitting room. meeting rouge in the entry room, who was busy reading a magazine on one of the sofas when he walked in, “soooo, how’d it go? Did you get your measurements?”

Shadow nodded, “it was admittedly pretty difficult at first, but I managed to brave through it. But I don’t know where the shopkeeper went.”

“She’s probably at the back of the store noting down your cup size, she’ll be back soon.”

Just as she said, jasmine returned after a few minutes with a piece of paper in her hand, which she gave to shadow, “there you go, I’ve managed to figure out your cup size. The weird thing is that your cup size seems to be between large and extra large, almost like your breasts are still growing. I wish you well with finding the right bra for yourself, shadow!”

As the two exited the tailor shop, shadow looked down at the small piece of paper in his hand that read L/XL, the results seemed to be inconclusive but at least he had a starting point now. Rouge patted him on the shoulder as she smiled, “I’m still really proud of you for pushing through that, to be honest my first bra fitting wasn’t exactly the best. I ended up reflexively punching the bra fitter in the stomach when she tried to touch my boobs. Let’s just say I was banned for life from that store and had to travel all the way to the next city over to successfully get my first official fitting. So you did way better than I did.”

Shadow smiled as the two made their way to Amy and cream to share the good news. Rouge offered for the two to join them for the rest of their shopping trip, since four hands are better than one, which they happily accepted.

“So what exactly are you looking for in a wardrobe shadow?” Amy asked, as she walked next to the hedgehog as cream caught rouge up on some things that had happened recently, apparently vector had finally begun dating vanilla. Shadow shrugged, “I don’t really know, to be fair. All of these different clothes styles are very new to me. So I don’t know where to start,”

“Well…how about we just start small by finding some clothes that catch your eye? Surely you’ll end up finding something you’ll like soon enough.”

Shadow nodded, as the group soon made it to a store called marine layer, walking into a store that was covered top to bottom with stylish clothes, including more mannequins sporting said clothes. One in particular caught shadows eye. It was one wearing a black tank top and a long flowing dress skirt that reached the ankles. Upon seeing where he was looking, rouge smiled as she walked over, “you’d look really good in that, why don’t you try it on?” Shadow nodded as he soon found the articles of clothing on a display table and went into the dressing room to put them on.

Upon entering the dressing room, shadow was met with three full length mirrors on all sides staring back at him. Placing the clothes down on the bench inside, shadow pulled off his top and reached over to put the tank top on, looking in the mirror to see it looked quite good on him. Turning around to see it was open in the back so hs back quills no longer felt confined. It also put his breasts on full display, which stretched the front of the shirt to its limit with its size and mass. He had just noticed a bit of belly fat beginning to poke out from the bottom of the shirt, which made him feel self conscious as he gripped the pronounced fat rolls with both hands. There wasn’t enough for it to jiggle, but it was still present enough to be noticeable. Deciding to push the thought out of his mind, shadow sat down and pulled on the dress skirt, looking back in the mirror as he sat up to see it flowing down his legs, the hedgehog’s waist had widened considerably, amplifying the curves of his thighs he hadn’t noticed before. His thighs had grown larger and softer, poking out from beneath the fabric as the skirt amplified every curve.

Shadow stood in front of the mirror with a flushed face, having not realized how much clothing could reveal about someone’s physique. Remembering to breathe, shadow mustered up the courage to walk out of the fitting room. Rouge, Amy and cream, who had been sitting around talking, having also tried on some outfits themselves based on the small towers of clothing sitting near them. looked at him when they heard the swish of the curtain to grin when they saw him in the outfit as they stood up. “Wow shadow, that looks amazing on you! I didn’t know you could pull off a skirt like that,” Amy beamed as rouge and cream nodded, cheese chittering in joy.

Shadow smiled faintly at the praise, still feeling quite nervous about wearing such revealing clothing, and looked at rouge as she gave him another pair of pants, “I think I’ve found the perfect pants for you to wear. These pants are known as loungewear, so you can wear them around the apartment, or even wear them outside the house. It looks super comfortable and I’d think you’d really like it, so try it on!” With a gentle push, Shadow made his way back into the changing room. Sliding off the skirt and folding and placing it on the opposite side of the bench further from the clothes, not wanting to get them mixed up. Shadow sat down and pulled on the pants, he looked in the mirror and was pleasantly surprised at how much the pants hid. The curves from his thighs weren’t as noticeable as before, which greatly relieved him. The pants were very comfortable as well, as the band around his waist made it so it didn’t slip off, and was very stretchy as shadow pulled the hem of the pants out and watched it snap back into place.

Walking out of the changing room, feeling more comfortable, he saw all three grinning at how he looked, “oh, that looks so comfortable!” Amy squealed, stars in her eyes.

But things were not over yet, as rouge approached him with more clothes to try on, the hedgehog’s eyes widening at how many there were. So he had to go down the list, starting with a v-neck sweatshirt in both dark blue and red, which felt very comfortable, and best of all it left room for his chest fur to poke out from the top, similarly to how it had poked out when he had been wearing the tank. Shadow ended up buying multiple tank tops, including the dress skirt, rouge saying how he’ll want to have it on hand for the warmer months. And two pairs of v neck sweatshirts.

With bags full of clothes the group made their way to another clothing store, this one called Adam lippers. Upon walking inside they found themselves in a room that looked straight out of a lounge room, with fancy chairs stationed around the immediate area, and clothing hanging on clothing racks around the store. Shadow watched as the three girls separated from the group like a band of misfit mice as he turned towards a nearby clothing rack and browsed through his options. As expected there were a lot of dresses, there was one dress that was white with colorful flower patterns on the bottom. It looked a bit too bright for his tastes so he moved on to another one that looked similar but in black, with white flowers instead.

Pulling the dress out from the rack, he saw that it didn’t have stripes like other clothing he’d seen. But the design looked a little too cluttered for his tastes, so he put it back and continued browsing. He was genuinely curious to see if any of these dresses could work for him. Continuing to look, he found another black dress, this one with a gray pattern that looked to be either flowers or skulls. It had long sleeves that flared out at the edges. Pulling it out to brush his hands along it, it was made of very soft fabric that neither felt too light or too heavy. Turning it around, he saw it had an open back, recalling how the other dress did not. So he could wear it without worrying about his back quills. Throwing the dress over his arm, he made his way to the changing room.

Taking off his clothes, he began by pulling on the dress, feeling the soft fabric brush against his skin as he pulled it over his thick thighs, his belly and butt, and finally stopped at his chest. Pulling his arms through the sleeves and flattening it out, he looked in the mirror to see the dress had ballooned out at the top by the aid of his large breasts. Turning around he saw his butt could be seen poking out, it having grown increasingly bigger similar to his breasts. The assets combined gave the dress an ample amount of curves. Making him blush. Shadow was thankful that the dress was long enough, it was any shorter the fabric wouldn’t be able to cover his butt. This thought had his face burning, with a strange heat settling in his lower stomach. Why did that thought actually make him feel good? It’s not like he wants to wear revealing clothing.

Walking around the small room, he watched as the dress moved with him, the end of the dress having stopped around his ankles as it swayed with the movement. he watched as the dress moved with him, the end of the dress having stopped around his ankles as it swayed with the movement. The feeling felt strangely gratifying as he brushed his hands across the fabric, moving to gently caress his butt and how it stretched the fabric, before moving down to the skirt of the dress and began swishing it around, feeling a burst of joy at how the dress felt against his legs. Realizing he might be taking too long, Shadow took a steadying breath before walking over and pulling back the curtain to the changing room, but suddenly felt rooted to the spot as rouge Amy and cream’s faces lit up upon seeing him. They quickly crowded around him and began complimenting his appearance, rouge pointing out how it matched the shade of his fur perfectly. But quickly noticed how the hedgehog was beginning to look overwhelmed. His body tensing up the closer the girls got. gently urging Amy and cream to back up, she looked back at her friend with a soft smile as she began rubbing his arms, having noticed how the hedgehog had grown more accustomed to touch as time went on, before moving down to gently take his hands in hers and giving them a soft squeeze, watching as shadow slowly looked up to her, lips sealed tight.

“shadow, i know all this must be a lot for you. You’ve never been through something like this, and I’m not just talking about the clothes shopping, I know the feeling of not feeling comfortable in your own body. And it won’t all be smooth sailing, but I need you to know i mean it when I say you look beautiful. You give beauty to this dress that I’m certain not many people could.”

“She’s right shadow,” Amy piped up from a few feet away, cream beside her. both making sure to keep their distance so he didn’t feel as overwhelmed. “I know you must be feeling really uncomfortable wearing something you’re not used to, especially with your sudden change in appearance. But none of that should matter when picking out clothes. Trust me, you would look beautiful in that dress whether you were skinny or not. you gotta believe us when we say you look beautiful.” Cream and cheese nodded vigorously, the rabbit’s eyes shining, “you look so beautiful shadow! I might not understand how you might be feeling, but just know we all think you give that dress a special kind of beauty.”

Shadow smiled, attempting to wipe his eyes as his eyes became misty. feeling very grateful for their kind words. This happy moment was interrupted as a very loud growl sounded from shadow’s stomach, causing him to blush. Rouge pulled out her phone and gasped, “oh my chaos, it’s almost 5:30! I’m awfully sorry for keeping you girls around so long,” rouge expressed, but Amy shook her head, “it’s no trouble rouge, we loved being able to hang out with you two for a change. Here, I know of a place for us all to eat.” Buying shadow’s dress and other clothing the other three had managed to buy, the group left as Amy led them all to a nearby restaurant called Devon & Blake’s.

It was a small quint bakery with circular balls on the ceiling as the way of lighting, and lots of baked goods in glass cases towards the front. And to the side were many tables, with plenty of humans and mobians sitting around enjoying their food. Walking to an empty table, the group sat down. And moments later a server came over to give them their menus. Rouge picked the chicken milanese sandwich with fresh vegetables on the side, while Amy got the tuna salad sandwich with a side of chips, and cream got roast turkey and ham sandwich with chips, while cheese got a cup of fruit from the snack’s menu.

Shadow was a bit hesitant to order after what happened during breakfast this morning, even after rouge had told him she didn’t fault him for that. It was completely different when he was with two other people who didn’t know about his increase in hunger, but after sneaking a glance at rouge, who gave him an encouraging look, shadow breathed deeply, looked through the menu and ordered a smoked salmon sandwich, parmesan chicken salad sandwich, hummus and avocado sandwich, pressed cruben, and a large cookie with hot chocolate. Amy and Cream couldn’t help but sit in shock at the amount of food he had ordered. Those were four sandwiches. shadow couldn’t even will himself to look in the server’s eyes as he ordered, keeping his gaze on the menu in front of him in fear of seeing the look on their face. And when the menus were taken away after they had all ordered, he directed his gaze to the table below. Feeling extremely embarrassed and shameful, having made a fool of himself again.

Looking at shadow worriedly, who at this point had crossed his arms on his chest and was leaning over like he was trying to hide. The bat looked at the two equally worried mobians, having seen the way the hedgehog had shrunk into himself, ready to explain, “I know what you two are thinking, that it’s pretty weird for him to be eating so much. But I’ll explain to you two what I explained to shadow here; shadows increase in hunger is caused by his body needing extra energy during the process of his late stage puberty. It’s perfectly normal for mobians to be eating more during this time.”

“I get that, I really do,” Amy spoke up, still quite worried, “but I’ve seen lots of children in the village I had lived in go through puberty multiple times, and none of them had even close to the same appetite as you have told me shadow has. I’m sorry but I’m just having trouble believing he could eat all of that.”

Silence reigned once more, as rouge tried to think up a rebuttal to Amy’s claim. But the more she thought about it, the more she came to realize that she was right. There had been no recorded knowledge of any mobian hedgehogs exhibiting quite the same kind of hunger as shadow has been showing. The only mobians she could think of that would have come close are mobian cows. mobian cows are the only animals aside from bours and elephants to have big appetites cause of their size. but shadow is a hedgehog, not a cow. So these thoughts were going nowhere.

Cream suddenly spoke up, fiddling with her turkey and ham sandwich as she spoke, everyone's food having arrived shortly after the conversation had halted. But no one seemed ready to eat yet, especially shadow, who had buried his face in his arms, ears pinned to his head as he tried to block out the world. “Doesn't miss shadow also have black arms dna?” She asked, causing rouge and Amy to turn, rouge nodded, not knowing what black doom had to do with this, “uhhh yes, why do you ask, cream?”

“Well…I’m just thinking out loud here, but weren’t the black arms race really strong? Strong enough to withstand the power of the military, wouldn’t they need to eat ten times the food of an average mobian in order to keep their strength up?”

Shadow couldn’t believe what he’s hearing. Raising his head, keeping his attention on cream, he spoke gently, “cream, I appreciate the thought, but the black arms were part of a hivemind, they got their energy from the host as he grew stronger, who got his energy from draining the life force of living beings. The host being black doom. My supposed “father”.” Rouge didn’t miss the way he had practically spat the last word like venom, but kept that thought to herself.

Cream took a bite of her sandwich as she thought, “but you defeated black doom right? So there would be no way to gain energy from a host that no longer existed.” Shadow didn’t know how to respond to that, staying silent as rouge and Amy’s eyes widened, both catching on, “so since your body no longer is able to gain energy the old fashioned way, it reached for the next best thing,” rouge gestured to his sandwiches and cookie, but shadow was still not content, instead the hedgehog was filled with worry, “but what does that mean for me? If I’m craving more and more food, then that means my body is surely gonna begin to change. I DON’T WANT TO BE LIKE HIM.” He growled, gathering the attention of people nearby, his breaths began to quicken as panic spread through him, but stilled as rouge pressed her hand on top of his, trying to ground him. Gently instructing him to breathe, “shadow, no matter what happens, you will not end up like him. You proved that when you stood up to him that day he attempted to conquer mobius. And I’m sure whether you end up changing or not, you’ll always be my friend, and I won’t think any less of you.”

Shadow took a moment to breathe as he processed what she said, feeling a sense of relief wash over him at the thought that even if he ended up changing somehow, she’ll still be by his side.

“Now I think it’s about time we begin eating our food, since I don't want any of this to grow cold.” Proving this, rouge picked up her sandwich and began eating, Amy and cream following suit. After a moment shadow began eating as well, managing to finish all four sandwiches, ending his meal by taking long sips of his hot chocolate, his now larger stomach pressed against the table, the purple shirt stretching to accommodate the weight.

Once everyone was done with their meal, the group began to make their way out of the mall, rouge keeping a firm hold on as shadow began to lean against the bat as he grew increasingly groggy. Leaving Amy and cream to carry the bags of clothes they had bought, though they didn’t seem to mind as much. “Do you want us to drive you two home?” Amy asked. Rouge took a quick glance at shadow and Amy’s bright pink car and nodded, “as long as you have room in the trunk for shadows motorcycle, Shadow would surely raise hell if someone were to steal it.”

With a laugh, Amy nodded. After shadow had made his way to the car, he leaned against it as he watched rouge guide the motorcycle to the back of the car, only for the two to run into a problem.

“Uhhhh, rouge? I think this might be too big to put into my trunk.” Amy said as she gestured to the large tires. Luckily rouge had an idea.

“I actually know how to solve this,” rouge replied, leaning down near the handlebars of the bike, she pressed a red button amy hadn’t noticed before. The hedgehog’s eyes widened as, slowly, both tires began to recede into the base of the motorcycle, leaving only the tips of the tires poking out as rouge kept a firm hand on the bars of the bike so it wouldn’t fall over.

“How….how did you do that? I don’t know enough about motorcycles to know if that’s normal or not.”

“It’s something Shadow had requested to be added since he’s not on it 24/7, so he wanted to figure out a way to safely store it without having to rely on other factors like renting a dolly. It mostly stays in a shed behind our apartment though. So it’s mostly so he can stash it away easily while on missions.”

“Well, I can see how that can come in handy.”

With that, Amy popped the hood and helped rouge carry the motorcycle into the trunk, surprised at how little space it took up, it still looked pretty big, but at least they won’t have to worry about it falling out while driving.

Once it was secured, Shadow turned around and opened the car door and slid into the back seat with cream, making sure to move all the bags of clothes on the floor as he strapped himself in as rouge sat in front with Amy, the tightness of the seatbelt sitting uncomfortably on his bloated belly.

On the way home, shadow had been softly dozing till he ultimately fell asleep once they arrived to the apartment. Thanking the girls for the ride home, rouge unbuckled him and gently brought him into her arms. Only adjusting him to lean against her as she unlocked the door, Amy quietly following behind with the bags in hand, guiding him into the house and gently laying him down on the couch, Amy went into the kitchen to place to bags on the floor as rouge removed the hedgehog’s shoes and placed them on the floor beside the couch.

Straightened up with a huff, rouge hoped nothing like this won’t be happening so often. The bat turned around ti thank the pink heroine for the help, opening the door for her as she left. As silence finally washed over the house the bat released a deep sigh, turning around to trudge her way upstairs to her room, logging onto her personal computer and checking to see if gun had sent her any assignments while she was gone. When that didn’t seem to bring up much, she went to watch some videos for a while before several pings caught her attention. Closing the tab of the video she had been watching, she moved over to an online chat forum where she found most of her friends were online

The fastest thing alive: online

Your friendly neighborhood tinkerer: online

Rough and tough: online

Piko piko heroine: online

Jewels: online

6:15pm

The fastest thing alive: WHATS UP PARTY PEOPLE!? 😝

Your friendly neighborhood tinkerer: sonic, you don’t have to keep saying that every time you enter the chat.

The fastest thing alive: sorry little bro, it’s just fun to say

Jewels: so, has anything interesting been happening lately?

The fastest thing alive: eh, not really. Ole eggy has been cooking up his usual schemes as use but it’s nothing I can’t take care of. How about you? Have you and shadow been busy with any interesting gun missions?

Jewels: this is where i would say that those details are classified, but we haven’t really gotten any word from gun since the retrieval mission a few days ago. Which to be honest is a little odd, usually we would have heard something from them, at least.

Piko piko heroine: wait, a retrieval mission? Isn’t that the one where sonic and tails met you at a warehouse?

Jewels: yuuup. Apparently eggman had stolen some dna samples from nearby dna departments, we don’t know exactly what he was trying to do, but theories have spread around gun headquarters that the doctor had been trying to create an artificial lifeform like shadow.

Fastest thing alive: jeez, the thought of another lifeform running around seems interesting to say the least, but I can see the danger if eggman wanted to use it as a weapon. I’m guessing everything had been taken care of after we left, right?

Jewels: you’d be correct blue, a few hours after we left the scene, the commander had sent out a troop to recover any intact items they could. One of them had reported most of the damage came from an underground bunker underneath the warehouse.

Your neighborhood tinkerer: I’m guessing that’s where shadow had fought metal. Have you heard anything from the research team involved in uncovering what sort of dna was in there?

Jewels: not as of late, but I’ll inform all of you if I get anything.

Piko piko heroine: speaking of which, how’s shadow doing? I just realized upon getting home that his motorcycle is still in my trunk. Oops

Jewels: oh lol, I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear that. Since last I checked he’s been conked out on the couch in the living room. I don’t think he’s gonna wake up for a couple hours, wouldn’t be surprised cause of the long day he’s had.

Fastest thing alive: wait, shadow was with you and Amy? Were you three at another concert?

Piko piko heroine: no, but that does remind me to ask him if he’d want to join me for another concert soon. But I can understand if he wants some time to himself after today. he was actually with us shopping cause of-

There must’ve been a moment where Amy accidentally pressed send, since that’s all she had sent.

Fastest thing alive: wait, shadow joined you two shopping?? Amy I understand since you sometimes drag him on one of your shopping trips. Not that I’m judging, but why was he shopping with you two?

There was a moment of silence as there was loading dots from Amy, as she tried to explain what had happened, only to head towards a wall upon realizing the reason why rouge and shadow had went shopping in the first place is something she doesn’t feel comfortable letting out.

Rouge decided to step in, if only to help the hedgehog out.

Jewels: what pinkie is saying is that I managed to get him to buy some new outfits I thought would look good on him. Which, as you can imagine wasn’t the easiest thing in the world, so it ended up taking all day.

It wasn’t a total lie, rouge had actually gotten him to buy some clothes. She just left out everything else. She knows lying to her friends isn’t the best thing to do, but hopefully this will only be a temporary solution till shadow feels comfortable telling everyone. Especially about both his gender struggles and body changes.

The fastest thing alive: yeah, that makes sense. Did you actually manage to make him buy something other than a new pair of gloves? Lol

Jewels: surprisingly, yes, I actually got him to buy enough clothes to fit into his wardrobe. Maybe I can have him show it off sometime?

Rouge outwardly wheezed after texting that last part, having gotten too into the moment that she impulsively planned something by accident. And by the explanation mark Amy had attached to her text, the hedgehog was surprised as well. Welp, there’s no way out of this.

Your friendly neighborhood tinkerer: that sounds like a great idea! We were just planning on hosting a movie night two weeks from now, and were interested if you two would like to come. But only if you two aren’t busy with anything, that is

Rouge had to think this through. Shadow will definitely be furious about this, having something planned behind his back. But rouge couldn’t just refuse the request, movie night does sound fun, and would get him out of the house, aside from all the restaurants they’ve visited. So maybe it would be good for him, she’ll just have to suffer the consequences later.

Jewels: sure, sounds like fun. What day are you planning?

The fastest thing alive: we were thinking Friday or Saturday, since it will be the start of the weekend, so I’m hopeful everyone won’t be busy then. Do you think you can make it?

Jewels: I’m sure I can squeeze it into my schedule ;)

Fastest thing alive: sweet! See you two then.

The others continued chatting for a few more hours, till one by one they all began to go offline. Leaving rouge and any the last ones online. Who have switched to a private voice chat.

“Are you sure bringing shadow to an event so soon is a good idea?” Amy asked, pressing her cheek against her hand as she leaned forward. Having already changed into her night clothes.

“I’m sure it’ll work out, Hopefully. it’s been awhile since we’ve all hung out together out of battle. The problem will be telling shadow.”

“Yeah, I bet that will be difficult. I’ve honestly got something on my mind that I’ve been meaning to ask.”

“Go ahead,” rouge replied, sipping a warm cup of tea.

Amy fiddled with the cuff of her robe, “do you think anything unexpected will come with Shadow experiencing these changes? I hadn’t mentioned it while we were there, but his tail did look a little longer than normal. It’s not long enough to be noticeable to anyone who isn’t looking. But I’m wondering if you’ve noticed it too.”

Rouge took a moment to think, she actually hadn’t noticed that change, but she wasn’t going out of her way to look either. “I hadn’t noticed it, but good eye. I’ll make sure to keep you updated if I see any more changes.”

The two then switched to talking about other stuff, like the latest fashion trends, gossip, or even talking about the latest shows. Eventually both grew too tired, and both logged off. Leaving rouge in a now darkened room as she stood up to stretch.

Glancing at a nearby clock, rouge saw that it was 8:47pm. Finishing stretching out her arms and wings, the bat made her way downstairs to check on shadow. Who was unsurprisingly still sleeping on the couch, having fallen asleep wearing his tank top and sweatpants, having moved onto his side while he slept. Rouge went over to a nearby cupboard and brought out a pillow and some blankets, being very careful not to wake him up as she slowly lifted his head up to slide the pillow under, watching as he gratefully sank into the pillow once he was laid back down.

Rouge then spread a blanket over him, making sure to cover every inch of his body, and did the same with the second layer, this one much heavier to help sleep better.

Satisfied, the bat slowly made her way back upstairs and went to bed, wondering what will happen tomorrow.