Chapter Text
Curling swiftly into a spin-dash, Sonic bolted across the luscious grasses of Green Hill, swerving between the palm trees that littered the landscape. His team kept close behind him, ready for action. It wasn’t a first for Dr. Robotnik to attack so quickly after a foiled plan, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t very unusual. A ball of yellow appeared next to him and swiftly unfurled into the familiar form of Tails. He pulled out one of his gizmos that undeniably had a name Sonic hadn’t been bothered to learn.
“I’m receiving strong energy readings from the Loop-the-Loop! It seems Eggman bought his entire entourage this time!” he shouted over the sound of the rushing wind and explosions in the distance. A bright red-yellow light erupted before their eyes. As the dust settled around them and the team slowed to a halt, Eggman appeared entirely incapacitated on his back in one of his machines. Sonic hopped atop the rotund torso of the mech.
“Y’know Egghead, you can threaten us all you like, but sooner rather than later we always take you down,” Sonic chuckled, tapping his foot on the metallic beast.
“One of these days I will take you down, you rat ,” Robotnik retorted, his voice muffled from behind the metal mask. Sonic laughed, holding his torso in a mocking display.
“Oh yeah? You and what army?” he continued his mockery, raising his head in anticipation of the snide remark of ‘this army!’ and the aforementioned troops rolling into action. No such words came, and the joke fell into awkward silence.
“Uhm…Sonic?” Amy contributed from below, swinging her hammer down into the ground and leaning on it, arms crossed over her chest, “I don’t think there is an army. He’s come here solo.” Sonic looked around inquisitively, ears perked up as he searched for any remaining badniks in the general vicinity. He hopped down from his defeated arch nemesis.
“Yeah man,” Knuckles started, gesturing to the unfortunate position Robotnik laid in, covered in dust and debris, “he’s literally in a ditch.” Sonic looked around, and much to his dismay, Knuckles was right. His eyes lit up as the next joke graced his tongue.
“Call that a last ditch effort!” he called out, accentuating the word ditch. Knuckles only allowed a slight ‘hmph’ rather than a full laugh. Sonic’s ears flattened on his head as he realised his joke fell flat yet again.
“That was funny! Come on… anyone?” he tried again, offering an embarrassed grin with his arms held in front of him. Amy was about to speak (or, more likely, lecture Sonic on making jokes at inappropriate times), when the ship above them they had ignored for the better part of five minutes, suddenly started vibrating.
“Aha!” came Robotnik’s voice, full of the usual self-assured mischievous tone, “this army!” As if on cue, the doors to the ship opened and a horde of badniks swarmed down onto them, attacking from every possible direction.
As the team finally sprung to action as the horde increased, Sonic focused his attention on Robotnik, who slowly started rising from the ditch he found himself in. With a well-timed spin-dash, Sonic pelted him directly into the ground again, and again, and again for good measure. The same red-yellow flash appeared above them, and a crackling ball of energy pelted Robotnik in the chest.
The energy ripped through the trees and pushed Sonic back slightly as he failed to retain his composure. The ditch only got bigger - perhaps it was more appropriate to call it a crater. The ball of energy ascended again before landing next to Sonic.
“Shadow!” Sonic called out as the dark hedgehog unfurled next to him, cracking his knuckles in preparation for action. Sonic offered Shadow an open palm in the air, and for once, albeit tentatively, he received a high five back. The rest of Team Sonic reconvened with the two hedgehogs when the opportunity arose.
“Seems like a last ditch effort to wreck some havoc,” Shadow commented as the team came into a huddle; Rouge chuckled, earning a glare from Sonic’s piercing emerald eyes when she laughed at the joke he had already told.
It was unusual for Shadow to join the team, unless from afar, but Sonic appreciated the initiative; perhaps the adventure through the Shatterverses helped the black hedgehog learn a lesson or two of his own.
“Can’t believe it’s so soon and we’re working together already,” Sonic commented, winking at Shadow; the rest of the group looked at him with confused expressions.
“When did you two last fight on the same team?” Amy piped up, “surely at least a couple of-”
“Learn to separate dreams from reality, hedgehog,” Shadow interjected, shooting Sonic a grim, knowing look.
“We literally just-” Sonic started, but stopped himself as Shadow’s eyes pierced his soul.
“Sonic and I will destroy the hordes as they attempt to descend, Rouge and Tails, fly up to the ship and attempt to shut down the system, and Knuckles, you stay on ground with Amy and destroy any badnik that slips through,” Shadow continued dealing out the tasks. Yeah , Sonic thought, this wasn’t like Shadow at all.
“Who made you the authority on our team, last time I checked it’s called Team Son-” Sonic started, but the rest of the group had already scattered. “-ic.” He spin-dashed to bounce off one of the hills, meeting Shadow in the midst of the battle. The green eyed hedgehog opened his mouth in an attempt to make a snide remark, but got cut off early.
“Shut up,” Shadow grunted as he threw a badnik to the ground, hovering with his air shoes on full blast; Sonic bounced off the next round of badniks, swarming around him in a cacophonous slurry of metal. If they kept coming, he could hit a combo of over 100 before he hit the ground.
The droves of enemies thinned out significantly, and with one final dash, the air grew silent. Aiming down towards the ground, Sonic finally managed to find rest on some raised terrain as the onslaught ceased.
“You show up out of nowhere and command my team,” Sonic said after a while, ignoring Shadow’s demand for him to stay silent, earning him a groan from his rival.
“Look, I just wanted to get this over with, and you were more focused on telling jokes rather than stopping this invasion,” the dark hedgehog snarled, rolling his eyes in an overly dramatic fashion. Shadow joined him on the conveniently placed hill.
“Why are you here anyway? I thought you left when you blipped the Paradox Prism to… well, wherever you took it,” Sonic asked, an accusatory glint in his eye; Shadow gulped almost too noticeably.
“Awh, did you finally have a change of heart?” Sonic continued, moving uncomfortably closer to Shadow, causing the black hedgehog to recoil; a growl rose in his chest, “do you heart me too?” Sonic made the gesture to go along with his accusations.
“ No ,” Shadow hissed, baring a fang, “I just… feel as though I should make it up to you. For your attempted sacrifice.” Sonic cocked his head to the side in genuine curiosity.
“Wasn’t you carrying me in your arms through the void your way of making it up to me?” Sonic questioned, pushing down his need to make a silly joke or jab at his rival. Sonic could’ve sworn Shadow was flustered at the question, but chalked it up to a trick of the light made by the sun setting over the horizon.
“Don’t read into it,” came Shadow’s deadpanned answer, as he swiftly pushed himself off the rock formation and with a flash, he disappeared. Tails and Rouge re-emerged from the ship just moments later, and with two more quick flashes of light, both Eggman and the ship disappeared. Sonic quietly cursed Shadow out, wondering why he couldn’t have just blipped Eggman away before the commotion started.
–
Deciding not to follow Shadow’s advice, Sonic absolutely read into the interaction with a degree of study that, had he been studying for a test, would’ve earned him the highest mark. Following the earlier battle, the crew opted to stay behind to clean the abnormal amount of metal waste dropped by the badniks.
Sonic, on the other hand, returned to the beach to clean up the mess made by the stack of chilli dogs he had unceremoniously dropped earlier. It was a shame, he noted, dropping another bun into his bag, that this entire plate ended up on the floor.
“They’re gross anyway,” Shadow’s unmistakable gruff voice said from behind him, holding a hotdog between two fingers, dangling it as far away from his body as he could. He wiggled it back and forth, watching the toppings drip to the floor. Sonic shot him a look somewhere between surprise (by his general presence) and feigned sadness (how dare he call them gross).
“And you’re here, why exactly? Change your mind about being absolute besties forever and ever and ever with me?” Sonic vocalised in a sing-songy voice that no doubt made Shadow cringe. His rival offered one of his trademark groans.
“No. I just need to make some things clear with you,” Shadow stated, trying to keep his voice steady with a pang of unease concealed beneath his words. Sonic could tell he was about to be scolded, in one way or another. The blue hedgehog remained silent, walking closer to Shadow but remaining at least three paces ahead, as a precaution.
“Have you mentioned the Shatterverses to the others?” Shadow started, tossing the disgusting, sand covered hot dog into the bag Sonic was holding.
“Not yet, I was about to but our beloved Egghead dropped in unannounced,” Sonic responded, trying to keep the snark out of his voice.
“Good. Do not tell them,” Shadow stated without emotion, turning to leave immediately. Sonic dropped the trash bag and ran in front of Shadow, kicking up sand behind him as his shoes trailed across the beachy shoal.
“Woah, woah, woah, why shouldn't I?” Sonic asked, and immediately broke into his next line before Shadow could answer, “aww, you’re worried they’re gonna be jealous we spent so much quality bonding time together!” Shadow clasped a hand over Sonic’s mouth, hating the way he could feel the blue hedgehog’s warm, moist breath seeping through his glove.
“Ugh, it’s because if someone were to overhear you, or if the information somehow got into the wrong hands, we would be in deep, deep, shit,” Shadow nearly whispered, his face mere centimetres away from Sonic’s. He pulled back quickly, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m risking it even speaking to you, hedgehog.”
Sonic cocked his head to the side; his rival made a good point, but keeping secrets from his friends? That was low, even for him. Shadow scoffed, attempting to leave again. Sonic’s confused expression contorted into a sly smile.
“On one condition,” the blue hedgehog started, his smile growing; he took Shadow’s hmph as a sign to continue, “tell me where you put the Paradox Prism.” Shadow rolled his eyes, but decided to risk it. He got ever so closer to Sonic and pressed his muzzle closer to one of the hero’s infuriatingly twitchy ears, and spoke in the quietest, most threatening whisper.
“My house.”
Before Sonic could ask another question, Shadow seemed to blip from existence.
Rather than answering his question, the revelation did much to quell his hyperactive mind. After the quickest cleanup he’d ever managed, he couldn’t stop thinking. What started as a brisk wander, turned into a manic pacing back and forth on the sand, stepping into his own footprints as he walked in an endless circle. First of all, Sonic didn’t even know Shadow had a house in the first place - perhaps he imagined him as a dungeon dwelling rabid beast. Second, if Shadow had a house, where even was it? Was it even in Green Hill? Maybe it was in space? And crucially, third, why would he even reveal that to Sonic?
He’d know well enough that if he told Sonic where it was, the blue hedgehog would do absolutely anything in his seemingly infinite power to locate it, and pester Shadow at his house when he least needed it. Sonic was so deep in thought he didn’t even realise when the rest of his team approached the space in which they attempted to host their picnic.
“You alright, buddy?” Tails asked as he approached, snapping Sonic out of his trance; he promptly shook his quills out, and stumbled over his words in an attempt to say yes. He ignored the weird look from his friend and swiftly took a seat upon the picnic blanket Amy laid out beneath the palm, joined promptly by the rest of the crew.
“What were you saying about ‘the craziest thing’ that just happened?” Knuckles questioned from the boulder he was propped up against. Sonic’s face dropped in dread; okay he thought, time to lie my ass off.
“On my way to the mountain, I ran into Shadow, and he attacked me out of nowhere! And while we were fighting he knocked me out real, real bad, and I hallucinated that you all got, uhhh, thrown into different corners of the known universe, and I couldn’t fight Egghead alone, and he actually ended up winning! Isn’t that totally bonkers, crazy, and insane?” Sonic explained in one breath, words slurring together into a garbled mess. He took a breath and continued,
“Then when I came to, Shadow looked like he felt really, really bad about what happened, and gave me some advice that I should actually be part of the team, because otherwise we would lose. So when I arrived that’s the reason why I was acting differently.” Everyone in the group gawked at him like they saw a ghost. Sonic’s breathing was deep, compensating for how quickly he had talked. After a prickling silence that lasted just a little too long, Amy cocked her head to the side and smiled.
“That was… interesting,” she started, voice laced with just a dash of a condescending tone, “but that does explain your absence.” Tails raised a finger, as if to signal it was his term to speak.
“That being said… I think you should go on rest for a while. I think you’ve been hit in the head a few too many times recently,” he chuckled awkwardly through his words, knowing that Sonic hated the word ‘rest’, “Knuckles, you’re in charge while Sonic recuperates and I, ahem, run some tests.” The echidna offered a small shrug and a quick shift of his brow, but ultimately, he didn’t say a word.
“Why don’t we just get started with this picnic,” Sonic suggested after another silent moment elapsed. Amy sprung into action, unpacking the contents of the comically large hamper she bought with her, as the rest of the team fell into casual conversation.
All the while, unlike himself, Sonic sat in contemplation. All he could think about was Shadow, his elusive words, and the subtle blush that Sonic arbitrarily decided was real and not a trick of the light.