Black and Red and Red

It's Only a Flesh Wound

"Sonic, slow down!"

"Hah! No way, Knucklehead!"

Tails let out an exasperated sigh. Sonic and Knuckles had been bickering the whole way to Eggman's base, and the kitsune was tired of it.

"Can't you two just get along?" The two-tailed genius asked impatiently.

Sonic chuckled. "No can do, little buddy! Not until Knuckles quits whining!"

"I am not whining!"

"You are too-"

Tails interrupted them. "Look! There it is!" Just as Tails had said, they had reached Eggman's base.

Knuckles eyed it warily. "Looks abandoned..." he murmured. "Yeah, there's no 'bots anywhere! I wanted to scramble some Eggman today, but I guess that'll have to wait a few days." Sonic remarked, snorting at his own comment.

Knuckles glared at him.

Tails hummed, deep in thought. "Y'know, he could still be in there. It could be an ambush of sorts. We'll have to be careful."

"Careful is my middle name!"

"I thought it was 'I-make-shitty-jokes-for-a-living' "

"Shove it up your piehole, Knuckles."

"Make me!"

"GUYS!" yelled Tails, the normally reserved fox clearly at his wit's end. "Quit fighting! You sound like a couple of 8 year-olds!"

Sonic looked at his sidekick. "Tails, you're 8."

"Yeah...but I-...that's not the point!" Stuttered the yellow fox. "Let's just get into the base, alright?"

Sonic smirked. "Sound like a plan, bud. Let's go!" The Blue Blur ran off towards the base, dust trailing behind him. Tails took off after him, and Knuckles mumbled something most likely quite violent under his breath before trailing after the two.

Inside the base, it was quite clear that it was, infact, abandoned. But what stood out about it were the downed robots, reduced to nothing but scrap metal.

"Huh, looks like someone already beat us to it!" Sonic huffed. "Wonder who it was..."

As if on cue, a groan sounded from a room on their left. The trio looked at each other, sharing confused glances. Sonic shrugged his shoulders before heading off in the direction of the noise, Tails and Knuckles behind him.

At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, except for a bunch of destroyed badniks. But a closer look revealed something...or someone...lying on the ground.

As Sonic, Tails and Knuckles approached the object, a clearer view caused all three to gasp.

Laying there, sprawled out on the ground, was Shadow the Hedgehog. Blood spilled out of a wound in his chest, a piece of metal lodged deeply into his flesh.

"Oh my God...Shadow?!" Sonic raced over to his rival, wide eyes taking in the full extent of the injury.

Quite frankly, Sonic was surprised that Shadow was still hanging on, even if it was only barely. The amount of blood on the floor was astonishing.

Crouching down, Sonic could hear Shadow's raspy breathing, accompanied by a sickening gurgling sound. It made him slightly queasy.

"He's still alive! We need to get him help...fast!"

Knuckles finally tore his eyes away from the dying hedgehog. "How? We're miles away from any help! What can we do?"

Sonic looked the red echidna in his violet eyes. "We go back, try and save him and hope for the best, because I'll be damned if we didn't try"

Knuckles nodded.

Sonic carefully picked up Shadow, bridal style. Blood soaked his gloves immediately. "Let's go."

With that, Sonic ran out of the base, trying his best not to jostle the poor hedgehog in the process.

"We'll get help, faker. Just hang in there..."