(NEW CHAPTER!) Mobius High (Sonic the Hedgehog)

Chapter 3: Tacos; The Answer to Everything

It had been a few hours since Shadow and Tails had gotten to Tails' place. Tails helped Shadow settle in to what was going to be his new room, and despite himself Shadow found himself extremely grateful for the place to stay. Although when he thought about it, he realized it was fairly odd that Tails—having not "knowing" him until that very day—had just invited him to live in his house.

After the setup was finished, Shadow was left to his own business in his new bedroom. It wasn't too small, and furniture was sparse. There was a bed, a dresser and a desk, all constructed with a matching charcoal-coloured wood. A singular window allowed Shadow to see the front yard of the house, and there was a built-in ledge in front of it to sit on or decorate or something.

He moved slowly towards the window, seating himself on the ledge as he processed what had happened that day.

After a minute of pondering, his thoughts were interrupted by Tails opening his door and marching in like he owned the place because he did. "A bunch of us are going out for tacos for lunch. You should come! You can make some friends! Those are really important at this school." Tails exclaimed, his tails wagging slightly.

Shadow observed Tails' excitement, and decided that he just needed to blend in while he tried to figure out what had happened. "Sure." He said, willing himself to smile slightly.

"Great, come on!" Tails said, lunging forward and grabbing Shadow's arm. With surprising strength, Tails dragged Shadow out of the room and started to rotate his tails and lift off the ground with Shadow in his grasp. This alone didn't worry Shadow, but when Tails started to fly above the busy highway to get to their destination he found himself hoping he wouldn't be dropped.

You'll be fine. Tails has done this before— Shadow's thoughts were interrupted by Tails screaming "Turbulence! Oh god, no! Stop!" He screamed as a flock of birds started to attack. Shadow sighed, and placed his hand on Tails' leg. "Chaos Control!" He yelled, and suddenly they were in front of a run-down taco shop that looked abandoned. "Oh, that's convenient! I didn't know you could teleport! And to the exact destination, too!" Tails remarked, smiling at Shadow as they entered the building.

"Hey guys, I hope you don't mind I brought the new kid—Shadow—with me!" Tails said as they approached a table that seated many people. He recognized Sonic, Silver, Knuckles, Blaze, Amy, Cream and Rouge. "Hi Shadow!" Several of them said in unison as Tails and him sat down.

"Hello, may I take your orders?" A tall skunk asked the group. Sonic turned and stared at him. "Literally all you have here is tacos, so what's the point of asking what we want?" He said bitterly, and in return the skunk held up a vulgar gesture with his hand and headed towards the kitchen area.

"Sonic, why are you being so rude?" Amy asked, her hand reaching out to touch his. Sonic jerked back, giving her a disgusted look. "I thought we agreed that we would go to Pizza Hut today, not Taco of Life." He muttered, a scowl on his face.

"So, Shadow, what do you think of Mobius High?" Rouge asked, turning to face him as she changed the subject. Shadow met her gaze, and for a moment he just stared into those turquoise eyes without any other thoughts. "It's nice." He said without really meaning it.

After a moment of almost-unbearable silence, their tacos arrived at the table. "I really wish we got Pizza Hut instead." Sonic said, frowning as he lifted up his taco and raised it to his mouth. He took a bite, moaning dramatically. Shadow wouldn't have thought anything of it had Sonic not looked Shadow directly in the eye while doing it. Disgusted, Shadow pushed his taco away. "I'm not hungry." He said.

"So where are you from? An alternate dimension?" Blaze asked Shadow, leaning forward with her elbows on the table. Shadow thought about it for a moment. "In a way. It's . . . difficult to explain." He said, his eyes lowering to the taco in front of him. "We're all ears, so take your time." Blaze said, her smile burning into the top of his head.