"'Alo— Alone?! Are you kiddin' me?!" One exasperated sigh later, however, and Sonic was right on Shadow's tail, if not running past it to get him moving again. "We are so not gettin' you a dog!"

You know... the running, even if he had to tone it down a tad, was refreshing when he wasn't bent out of shape and exhausted.

As agitated as he was with the Chao being left to its own devices (despite it being out of both of their control), he was smiling at the rush of lava through his thighs and the smoke on his heels. That gripping and satisfying escalation of a natural power coursing through every tugging fabric of his build. It was joy personified inside the rush, bottled and shaken up and exploding with every turn at a corner brimming with opportunity to shine. Within and without, Sonic the Hedgehog was all the same, an integrity unmatched, no matter the challenge to his periphery.

He glanced over at the other hedgehog beside him, an urge to give him crap for his failures as fleeting as the moment one could have the blue blur himself in their sights. Ultimate Failure came to mind, but Sonic held his tongue. Just for now, he didn't want to say anything. He'd wait and see what he would do when they arrived.