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Chapter Text

Shadow stared up at the giant screen above him in bewilderment and an unfamiliar voice passed through his lips.

"Is that… me?"

Until now he thought he understood what was going on. The monster had brought him and several others to an empty White Space, and within that void were remnants of his journeys throughout time both past and seemingly future (or so he assumed for the ones he did not yet recognize) that he had to travel through to achieve his goals.

This, however, made no sense. This city, while similar to some he'd been to, was not one he'd seen before. And while he would previously assume that meant he was in a location set in his future, that did not explain what he was seeing now.

If the recording of him on the screen was correct, and a quick glance down proved that it was, then stepping through that strange golden ring in the white void had left Shadow in a different body.

It wasn't like the changes of one of his Doom Powers (in fact, he couldn't feel even an inkling of those strange abilities he'd been becoming adjusted to). He was still a hedgehog, still recognizable as himself.

But he was suddenly… fluffier!

Perhaps… this was another dimension? Had the monster's destruction reached that far?

If he goes back to the White Space like this he would have to avoid Sonic if he doesn't want to endure his inevitable teasing. Or knock his annoying rival into this place as well so he was forced to suffer the same transformation.

… Maria would probably like it though. That just might make it worth it.

As he stood there, a GUN helicopter swooped overhead and his eyes narrowed. If he wanted answers, GUN would have them.

He took off after the chopper, but he'd only shot through a few blocks before a loud explosion behind him stopped him in his tracks.

He turned around to see the large intersection he'd initially landed in was now engulfed in flames, and another GUN helicopter hovered just above as three figures descended from the aircraft towards the inferno.

Feeling that whatever was happening was important, Shadow shot back to his initial landing site, and Chaos Controlled up to one of the skyscrapers surrounding it to take a look.

The scene before him was a familiar one. He himself had played it out years ago.

A young fluffy Sonic, a fluffy Knuckles, and an especially fluffy Tails were standing in the intersection, with a fluffy Shadow glaring down at them from atop a wreckage that was identical to his current appearance.

"Um, excuse me! Why do you look like me?" Sonic shouted up at the other Shadow.

"I don't look like you! You look like me! Why do you look like me?" Shadow's Counterpart called back.

"You know what, I'll ask the questions, New Hedgehog! Who are you?! Why do you look like me?!" Sonic demanded.

Even more things familiar, this was his and Sonic's first meeting. But it was still not the same. For one thing, neither hedgehog was calling the other a Faker, only questioning their resemblance.

For another, Shadow had been holding a Chaos Emerald when he and Sonic first met and had been resolute of himself and his goals to a degree Rouge later teased as being 'dramatic'. This new Shadow below him just looked unsure, confused, and fairly irritated with no emerald in sight.

And finally, Sonic had been alone when they confronted each other which is what allowed GUN to capture and blame him for Shadow's crimes, but this one had Tails and Knuckles already at his side, and given he saw them arrive by GUN chopper, it was unlikely the organization was making that mistake.

(Also, his Counterpart was right, he was created fifty years before Sonic. He came first. Sonic looked like him, not the other way around.)

Things were different, but still, if the events here played out like the ones in his own world, then this new Shadow was set to make a terrible mistake.

It was possible Shadow couldn't change his own past (though Chaos knows with this time anomaly he's going to try), but maybe, just maybe, he could intervene in this Shadow's future.

Just as Knuckles lost his patience and moved to attack with his counterpart meeting him head-on, Shadow quickly used Chaos Control to appear between between the echidna and Ultimate Lifeform and caught both their fists in mid-air.

"Enough!" he said, tossing the two away from each other and landing between them.

His counterpart, taken completely by surprise, was thrown back so he flipped and landed at the base of the wreckage he'd been previously standing on, and Knuckles was caught by Sonic and Tails before he could hit the ground.

"There's two!" squawked Sonic in disbelief.

Shadow's Counterpart was also clearly shocked by this turn of events. "I don't understand-"

"Why do you look like me?!" both Sonic and Shadow's Counterpart shouted in unison.

Shadow ignored their question, his eyes focused on his Counterpart. "You need to stop," he told him.

"What?" Shadow's Counterpart demanded as he bristled, and his eyes flashed and glowed as sparks of rose-gold lightning flickered through his quills.

"You need to stop!" Shadow said again, firmly. "This is not what Maria would have wanted. Do you truly not remember her wish?"

Shadow's Counterpart looked like he'd been slapped. "Maria?" Then his eyes narrowed, and the lightning flickered once again. "How do you know about her? Who are you?"

Shadow showed no reaction, but internally he took note of the display of power. Not something he could do without releasing his inhibitor rings or when using his Doom Powers. But it was clearly not them, as those were accompanied by inky darkness, not crackling light. Either the other Shadow's rings were faulty, or he somehow had more energy within him than the rings could contain.

"Uh, we'd also like to know that!" Sonic cut in behind him.

"I too wish to know the name of the opponent I will beat into submission," Knuckles added confidently as if he hadn't been swatted like a fly only seconds ago.

"Shh, guys," hissed Tails, showing that he at least had some sense.

Shadow ignored them, and kept his focus on his counterpart, who was now literally glowing as he glared at him.

But before he could say anything else, a light above them caught everyone's attention.

Shadow looked up, expecting to see another helicopter, but instead, he once again saw the same portal ring that had brought him to this world, the white void still visible beyond it.

More concerningly, the portal seemed to be closing.

Shadow was out of time, he could only hope his brief intervention would be enough to change fate. So without another word, he raced straight up the nearest building for the ring.

"Where are you going? Answer me!" shouted Shadow's Counterpart, and behind him, Shadow could see more gold lightning and hear an echo of his own air shoes as the other Ultimate Lifeform no doubt attempted to follow.

And from the shouts and the crackle of red and blue lightning like the one Shadow's Counterpart had displayed, no doubt Team Sonic was not far behind.

Shadow leaped through the portal and landed once again in the white void, expecting the portal to close now that he was beyond it.

He was not expecting it to stay open long enough for not only his counterpart to dart through, but for Team Sonic to also stumble in at the very last second, crashing into Shadow's Counterpart who'd been too stunned by their new surroundings to react in time. His Counterpart was unfortunately dogpiled on by a hyperactive hedgehog, a heavy echidna, and a fox carrying more equipment on him than his size would have you believe.

Unsurprisingly, it was Sonic who recovered his voice first as they untangled themselves. "Uh, where are we? And who forgot to pay the animators?" he asked, staring around at the White Space in bewilderment, before his eyes falling on both Shadows. "Huh, you know in the light it's easier to tell you two apart."

Shadow glanced down at himself to see he was back to his usual sleekness and was now somewhat taller than his fluffier counterpart. His counterpart along with Team Sonic had all remained the same and had not shifted forms to match the versions he knew.

Putting that observation aside, Shadow shrugged his shoulders carelessly, and said, "I don't know why my form changed while in your world, but you are not the versions of yourselves I'm familiar with either."

That threw the four of them off for a moment before Sonic gasped and bounced in excitement. "Oh, oh, I get it! It's the Spider-Verse! This is like a Spider-Verse thing!"

Shadow had no idea what a 'Spiderverse thing' was and clearly neither did his counterpart, but understanding immediately bloomed across Tails and Knuckles' faces.

"I see, so that's why that ring had different readings than the ones we normally use. It wasn't just going to a different planet, it was going to an entirely different dimension. Cool! I didn't know rings went that far," Tails said, pulling out one of his electronics and holding it up to show off its readings.

"I must find my counterpart immediately!" Knuckles said eagerly. "Long have I yearned for a worthy opponent in combat, and who could be more worthy than myself."

Well, at least they seemed to have some grasp of the concept, unlike Shadow's Counterpart, who just looked confused and was clearly growing more irritated by the second.

And if Shadow knew himself, he would be losing his patience in three… two… one…

"ENOUGH!" his counterpart shouted at the three more colorful newcomers, before turning his furious eyes on Shadow. "You will give me answers! Who are you? Where have you taken me? What did you mean about Maria's wish?"

Team Sonic shrank back from his outburst, but Shadow stared down his counterpart, unfazed, before his mouth quirked into a smirk as an idea occurred to him.

Well, he had wanted to change his counterpart's fate, and if they were here anyway…

"Why don't you come ask her yourself," Shadow said cryptically, and that is all the warning he gave before shooting away at top speed.

His counterpart snarled in outrage and gave chase, but it quickly became clear that he did not have access to any Doom Powers, as all it took was a few uses of Doom Surf to get enough distance that he wouldn't be able to catch up, but could still follow behind, with Team Sonic once again undoubtedly at his heels (all while shouting out the plot of some movie they'd all seen to explain what a 'Spiderverse' was to his counterpart as they went, which was doing nothing to improve his counterpart's mood).

Looks like the blue leech was already latching on, and once he did, if he was anything like the Sonic he knew, then he'd never let go.

Shadow almost pitied his counterpart.

Almost.

This was turning out to be one heck of a birthday, or B-Earthday as his family had called it.

One second they were getting ready to make smores at the campfire, the next he was being recruited by GUN to save Tokyo.

He gets an awesome party with his family and he gets to be a hero, best day ever, right?

But then they landed in Tokyo and things got… weird.

First, the big threat they were supposed to fight turned out to be another hedgehog. Another hedgehog that looked way too much like him to be a coincidence. GUN didn't clone him, did they?

Then, just when it looked like they were about to throw down with him (thanks Knuckles), another new hedgehog showed up, this one identical to the first. Really making the cloning thing look plausible here.

Then they chased the second new hedgehog through a portal into a blank white void with various structures dotted around it. He'd never seen a place so empty.

Then New Hedgehog #2 implied this was a multiverse thing, which, if Sonic got to meet another version of himself like New Hedgehog #1 was doing, he would be thrilled. It would be like when he used his speed to make afterimage playmates, only not totally sad. They'd be instant besties, right?

New Hedgehog #1 sure didn't think so, as his counterpart said some cryptic stuff that left him outraged and then skated off, making them all chase him again.

Also, it seems New Hedgehog #1 wasn't a movie fan, as he'd never seen any of the Spider-Man movies, which should count as a crime, in Sonic's opinion.

He also didn't appear to appreciate Sonic using the Spider-Verse movies as a reference to explain the idea of a multiverse, which, rude, but maybe he just wasn't a fan of spoilers.

After a particularly spiteful glare, Sonic backed off and slowed his speed so he could run alongside Knuckles and Tails instead. "Wow, even with alternate dimensions involved, he is definitely not a version of me."

Knuckles snorted as he ran. "I could have told you that. These new two hedgehogs are much more impressive than the hedgehog I fought previously."

"Dude, I am right here," Sonic protested.

"Well, the version of him who led us here was talking about someone he clearly cares about. He seemed upset," Tails pointed out.

"Yeah, Maria, right? Something about granting a wish," Sonic agreed, remembering the stricken look on New Hedgehog #1's face when #2 said that name.

"We get wishes granted? That is a very worthy goal to achieve. I know exactly what I would wish for," Knuckles said.

"I don't think it was that kind of wish, Knuckles," Tails said. "The way he said it implied that this was some kind of last wish."

"Last wish?" asked Knuckles, confused.

"What someone wants you to do for them after they die," Sonic explained grimly. "Like, Longclaw's last wish for me was that I never stop running."

Knuckles glanced down at Sonic's speeding feet, and said, "I see you are fulfilling the owl's last wish well. As I have fulfilled my tribe's last wish by finding the Master Emerald, and becoming the greatest warrior in the galaxy."

Sonic spared his big brother a small smile. "Yeah buddy, we're doing good."

Ahead of them New Hedgehog #1 suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, making the recently dubbed Team Sonic screech to a halt as well so as not to crash into him again (if they did, he, might actually kill them this time).

That stricken look was back on #1`s face, and he whispered a breathless, "Maria?"

Sonic slowly stepped around him to see what had caught him by surprise and saw New Hedgehog #2 standing just ahead of them next to a young blonde girl in blue.

The blonde girl (most likely Maria) glanced back and forth between Hedgehogs #1 and #2 before a smile lit up her face. "Shadow! There's two of you!" she said to New Hedgehog #2 like this was the best thing she'd ever seen.

She then turned to New Hedgehog #1 and said, "Hi, Shadow, I-"

But that was all she got to say before New Hedgehog #1 (Shadow #1?) burst forward and threw his arms around the girl's waist in a desperate hug.

The girl looked down at him startled, but Shadow #2 didn't seem all that surprised as they watched Shadow #1 cling to the girl in tears like he expected her to vanish in an instant.

And given the discussion of last wishes… maybe he did.

Sonic took a step forward to try and help, but Shadow #2 stepped between them and shook his head, and the newly named Team Sonic understood the unsaid message.

Answers could wait. He needed a moment.

Nothing had made sense since the moment he woke up from his stasis.

Or rather, nothing had made sense since that terrible day fifty years ago when Maria had died.

Except now here she was, alive and whole, and Shadow didn't know what was up or down, or why there was a second him, or why that annoying blue hedgehog look-alike kept following him around.

But right now, black could be white, and wrong could be right for all Shadow cares. He had Maria back, that was all that mattered.

For her part, Maria seemed surprised by his sudden display of affection but quickly recovered and hugged him back, humming the song she used to strum on her guitar all those nights when it was just the two of them in the blanket fort in her room.

Finally, the concept of words returned to Shadow, and he pulled back to say, "But- I- How-? There was- The explosion- How are you here?" he struggled to say.

"This place is a space outside of time," said the hedgehog who looked almost identical to him aside from a few key differences like his fur being flat and lacking volume and his eyes being so close together they almost appeared to be merged into one. "We were brought here by a monster who is able to tear holes throughout history, and it brought fragments of the past and possibly the future here for reasons I do not yet know."

"That explains why this place looks like something out of the Matrix," the blue hedgehog remarked annoyingly.

Shadow's Double gave him a look for interrupting but continued. "I thought the damage it caused was only connected to our world, but then I found myself in yours. It seems the creature can tear through not only time but dimensions as well."

Shadow felt something in him shrivel up and die as he realized what his double was saying. "Then… you're not my Maria," he said, trying to pull back.

As he did that, the differences he'd been blind to before became clear. Small details like how her clothes were more old-fashioned than what his Maria favored. Or how her blond hair had bangs framing her face where the Maria he knew kept hers long and straight. Or how her voice was higher and softer when she spoke, and the beauty mark was missing from below her lips.

This was a Maria who wasn't killed. One who's Shadow saved her. Unlike him, who had failed to keep her safe. But she wasn't his Maria.

But this new Maria refused to let him go and hugged him tighter. "I may not be the Maria you know. But I'm still me, and I still care about you. I'm sorry it sounds like your Maria got hurt, but I just know that we both love you very, very much."

Shadow froze, caught somewhere between euphoria and heartbreak, but he couldn't help but melt into the hug.

Not his Maria, but still Maria. The only person he could trust to give him the answer he'd so desperately wanted since the moment he awoke from stasis.

"I-I was- they put me in stasis for fifty years!" Shadow admitted, pressing his forehead into her chest. "I only just got out. I- You're gone, Maria! You and the Professor! Everything is gone, and… I don't know what to do!"

He looked up into the familiar blue eyes that he thought he'd never see again, and begged, "Please, what do I do?"

Maria looked at him, sad and resigned for a long moment before becoming determined. She reached up to cup his cheeks in her hands, looking him directly in the eyes as she said, "Live."

Shadow blinked in surprise. "What?"

"I want you to live, Shadow," said Maria. "I want you to see the beauty of the world like we always said we would. I want you to try lots of yummy foods. I want you to make friends who care about you. I want, more than anything, for you to be happy. And I know your me would have wanted that too."

Shadow squeezed his eyes shut to avoid shedding any more tears. How could he be happy if she was gone? He didn't want to disappoint her, but it didn't feel like the searing pain from her loss could fade.

And he didn't think it ever would.

Shadow was quickly learning he and his counterpart were more different than he'd anticipated.

Things like implying Maria died in an explosion, though with the clear disdain he's shown for GUN back in his world, they were still undoubtedly to blame. Despite that, it didn't seem Professor Gerald had altered his memories in pursuit of vengeance like the professor had done to him. His Counterpart clearly had no plans for vengeance, or at least not yet.

(And likely not ever if Maria has her way.)

But the more blatant differences were in his actions. The fluffier Ultimate Lifeform was far more emotional than Shadow had ever allowed himself to be. His outbursts of anger, his uncertainty, and his tearful embrace of Maria all proved that (though that last one was understandable if he had only just awakened and the memory of her death was still fresh and raw). It seemed almost as if this version of him was younger and by some miracle, he still retained a small bit of something Shadow hadn't had in years.

Innocence.

Shadow sighed to himself. It seemed his counterpart was still soft in more ways than on the outside.

Speaking of soft…

"Soooo, from one hedgehog to another, who does your highlights?" Sonic spoke up, no doubt attempting to break the tension, but doing so in the most annoying way possible as always.

Still, Shadow was surprised he managed to keep quiet even this long.

His Counterpart let out an annoyed groan hearing his question and wiped away what was left of his tears as he pulled away from Maria. "The more you talk, the harder I want to hit you," he growled.

Shadow snorted. He knew that feeling all too well. "Get used to it," he said with a roll of his eyes. "Believe me, he never stops."

"He does not," agreed Knuckles, and Tails looked like he also agreed, but didn't want to say it.

Despite the insults, it seemed that Sonic was able to read something between the lines of Shadow's words. "Wait, do you mean? Did you just imply- Are you and other me friends?" he gasped out excitedly.

Maria's head snapped up to look at him, her eyes wide, and in her lap, his counterpart looked absolutely horrified.

Shadow sighed tiredly. His instinctive answer to that question would be to say 'No,' but that was not entirely true and would leave Maria disappointed. He did not want to go into details about his and his world's Sonic's complicated balance of mutual respect and bitter rivalry with each other.

As he mulled over how to answer, he made the mistake of looking up to see Maria looking incredibly happy for him and a Sonic who was looking at him with stars in his eyes (far different from the more familiar cocky smirk his Counterpart always sported). "... I was invited to his birthday party," he finally acquiesced.

It was all worth it to see Maria's expression of delight that he'd seemingly made friends. He wouldn't call them that, but there was no harm in letting her think so.

His Counterpart, however, looked disgusted. "But did you go?"

Another hard thing to answer. If it was his choice, he likely wouldn't have gone. However, he did owe Rouge a favor. "... I likely would have made a brief appearance if I hadn't been brought to this place," he admitted if only to avoid Rouge never letting him hear the end of it.

Sonic beamed. "Oh my gosh, it's his B-Earthday today? Mine too!"

Maria squealed in delight. "Shadow, you have friends! That's wonderful!" She then jumped to her feet, turned her attention to Team Sonic, and excitedly said, "My name is Maria. It's so nice to meet Shadow's friends. Well, versions of them. What are your names?"

"I'm Sonic!" said Sonic, matching her joyful energy.

"I am Knuckles the Echidna, the greatest warrior the galaxy has ever seen," said Knuckles proudly.

"My name is Miles, but everyone calls me Tails, you can probably see why," Tails said with a flick of his tails. "It's really nice to meet you."

Maria's smile was radiant as she greeted them. "It's so nice to meet you. Please take care of Shadow for me."

That seemed to be the last straw for Shadow's Counterpart. "No! We are not friends!" he protested vehemently. "I would never be friends with GUN agents!"

Shadow… decided to keep silent over the fact he was now working for GUN and was in fact friends with one of their agents.

Sonic, meanwhile, just stared at him incredulously. "Dude, we do not work for GUN!" he said as if finding the idea insulting.

Shadow's Counterpart snarled. "Don't lie to me. I saw you come from one of their helicopters."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "That doesn't mean we work for them! They're the ones who crashed my B-Earthday party to ask us to stop some disaster going on in Tokyo. We agreed to help because it sounded cool, and in the hopes that they would leave us alone afterward. Honestly, I was expecting to have to fight a kaiju. They told us literally nothing about you."

That seemed to throw his counterpart for a loop. "... You don't work for GUN?" he asked hesitantly.

Team Sonic exchanged a glance, before Tails spoke up, "To tell the truth, we don't even like them all that much. They put me in a cage!"

Maria gasped. "That's awful."

"Yeah," Tails agreed, sounding indignant. "And I was hurt too. Sonic was trying to get me medical attention, but they were more interested in locking us both up."

Knuckles nodded and added his own two cents. "I too hold no affection to the agents of G-U-N. As I was training my apprentice in the art of glorious battle, two of their agents attempted to capture me and sell me and my quills on the black market."

"They've been after me for years!" Sonic exclaimed in exasperation. "They're the ones who set Eggman on my tail! And our aunt still hasn't forgiven me for getting her catfished so her whole wedding turned out to be a trap for GUN to catch me."

Knuckles snorted. "Hmph, I find her lingering grudge ridiculous, considering that she still chose to marry the fishy cat-man anyway, regardless of his deceitful motivations to woo her in the first place."

Tails giggled. "Though not without her kicking his butt and a lot of groveling on his part. And she had me get footage of all of it to make sure she wins every argument they have for the rest of their lives." He then winked at Maria and stage-whispered, "I'm her favorite."

Maria, who'd been looking horrified at their stories, had to muffle a giggle at that.

Sonic rolled his eyes affectionately and ruffled Tails' bangs. "So, yeah, We do technically have an uncle that works for them," he admitted. "But considering our dad said he'd shoot him and our mom promised to neuter him if he or any other GUN agent ever even looks at any of us funny, safe to say he's not around much. That and, you know, Aunt Rachel still hates most of us except Tails and Maddie. Only Cousin Jojo really visits."

"And since Tom's a cop and Maddie's a vet, they can follow through on their threats too," said Tails proudly.

"The Lord of Doughnuts and the Lady of Pretzels are formidable foes when their progeny are in danger. I am honored to receive their protection," added Knuckles, and Sonic and Tails nodded in agreement.

Shadow's Counterpart searched the three of their faces for any dishonesty, before his shoulders untensed in a minute way that only Shadow and most likely Maria would notice.

Shadow, meanwhile, was processing the information he'd just learned. Yet another set of differences between their worlds. Not only did they claim to have parents and extended family, but the three implied they were all brothers. And while his world's Sonic had raised Tails, Shadow was fairly sure Knuckles was not included in their brotherly dynamic, despite being a very close friend to both. The echidna's ever-present duties as the Guardian of the Master Emerald always acted as a barrier against allowing the three that kind of relationship. What could have happened in their world to be so different?

Interesting, but not important. Shadow had better things to inquire about. Such as, "You say GUN sent Dr. Eggman after you?" he asked.

Sonic blinked at him, taken off guard at the question. "Well, yeah. He used to work for them. But when he went psycho trying to kill me, so they washed their hands of him. Legally, he never existed."

Shadow was certain the Dr. Eggman of his world had never worked for GUN, but he would be hacking a lot of databases once he got back just to be sure. "I see, and where is the doctor now?" he asked.

Team Sonic exchanged a glance.

"He's dead," admitted Tails.

"The hedgehog harnessed the incredible power of the Emerald and defeated the Man of Eggs, crushing him within his own hubris, and the giant metal monstrosity he created," explained Knuckles.

Shadow scoffed. As if he hadn't seen the same thing happen over and over again. "He's not dead, only biding his time," he said with certainty.

Clearly his words once again threw Sonic for a loop. "Wait, what? But I crushed him with a giant mech while in Super Saiyan God Mode!" he protested.

Shadow shrugged. "As has my world's Sonic multiple times. He'll be back."

Sonic groaned and slumped. "Great, so my nemesis is the freaking Terminator."

"Who's Eggman? And What's a Terminator?" asked Maria.

"Eggman is a nuisance, don't worry about him," Shadow replied, not about to tell her what a stain the doctor had made on her family name.

"Terminator's a movie about a killer robot," added Sonic, he then deepened his voice and put on a thick accent. "I'll be back."

As they continued to chat, Shadow glanced up at the Black Moon, which was growing darker and uglier with every new power he'd gotten. He saw the eyes set into its rings swiveling in their sockets, searching for something, and he didn't doubt it was him they were seeking.

Shadow glanced at Maria and the rest, knowing if he was idle here too long Black Doom may send his monsters after her again. He still needed to be stopped.

"Watch after Maria," he told his counterpart and Team Sonic, interrupting their conversation. "I have business to take care of elsewhere."

Shadow's Counterpart narrowed his eyes and asked, "What kind of business?"

"Is it the fighting kind of business?" asked Knuckles.

"Most likely," Shadow admitted.

"Then I would like to come with you into the heat of battle," Knuckles said eagerly.

"I'll come too!" Sonic volunteered.

"And me!" agreed Tails.

Shadow's Counterpart didn't say anything, but it was clear he would likely follow as well to get answers.

The last thing Shadow wanted was any of them following him, Team Sonic would only slow him down, but he especially did not want his younger, inexperienced counterpart to tag along. If Black Doom's ominous promises were true, then his counterpart was likely just as much a target as he was. Better to make sure the alien despot's attention remained on him alone.

Fortunately, at that moment, the time monster that had brought him to the White Space swooped overhead with a snarl before vanishing into a portal it tore into thin air. Everyone ducked for cover at the sight of it, with both Shadows jumping in front of Maria for her protection.

"And leave an innocent girl on her own?" Shadow asked once it was gone, making the four newcomers freeze. He turned to continue walking away. "I can handle this on my own. All you need to do is keep her safe in the meantime."

"Shadow, be careful," Maria called after him.

Shadow spared her one last nod before he activated his air shoes and shot away.

Chapter Text

Sonic watched Shadow #2 leave at speeds he'd only ever seen himself achieve, and had to clamp down on the urge to follow after him and race. As well as ask him, like, a million questions, because all this was weird even for him.

Unfortunately, they were stuck in a white void, apparently, there was a monster on the loose, and they had a girl who needed protecting. Racing would have to wait until later.

So it was decided Maria would lead them to where her grandfather was hiding to keep themselves safe. And they began walking through the colorless place to find him.

"Why did you separate from the Professor, Maria?" asked Shadow #1 (or, just Shadow without his double here) as they walked.

Maria ducked her head. "I was worried and wanted to find you. Well, my you, but Grandfather didn't want me to. He thought it would be better if we just hid."

Shadow didn't look even slightly surprised. "You snuck off when his back was turned, didn't you?"

Maria nodded sheepishly. "I did. But really, I'm fine," she said. "Grandfather says this temporal anomaly keeps me in top shape. I really want to take this chance to see everything I can with you, Shadow, and, well you know, Shadow."

Sonic wasn't sure what she meant by 'top shape', but could understand her desire to explore.

Eventually, they found what looked like a large well with a rope on a handle that led down that Maria insisted they explore.

"I've never been anywhere like it, and who knows, Grandfather could be hiding in here. It looks like a good place to do so," she said as they climbed in. It was clear she was making excuses, but at the bottom of the well was a gate (that Knuckles easily knocked down) leading into tunnels dimly lit with torches lit just enough to traverse, so they entered it anyway.

Tails, Knuckles, and Maria pulled ahead as she led the way, and Sonic found himself walking alongside Shadow at the rear.

The black and red hedgehog had been cordial with them since the GUN confusion had cleared up, but Sonic could tell that was only because he didn't want to look bad in front of Maria. Still, Shadow #2 had said they'd become friends in his world, so looks like Sonic would have to put in the effort if he wanted the same.

He decided to go with his favorite icebreaker, films (because who doesn't like those, and, no, that is not just because it was his only conversation starter due to his under-developed social skills from years in isolation, shut up), so he turned to Shadow and asked, "So, what kind of movies do you like?"

Shadow shot him a dirty look and didn't answer.

"Come on, don't tell me you don't watch movies," said Sonic. "You said you're from fifty years ago, not a hundred. They had movies in the 70s."

"I watch movies," Shadow said back with more sharpness than necessary, but hey, at least he answered.

"Oh, what kind?" Sonic asked.

"Beware the Alien Freak," Shadow said in a disinterested tone.

"Ouch on that one," Sonic said in mock offense. "Us aliens have feelings too."

Shadow hummed in what might have been agreement, but ahead of them, Maria stopped from where she was admiring their surroundings and looked at them in confusion. "Why do you think you're an alien?" she asked. "Did someone make you like Grandfather made Shadow?"

That caused the others to stop and look at her in confusion, none more so than Shadow. "What do you mean?" he asked. "No one created me." But even as he said that he frowned like he wasn't entirely sure.

"No one created us either," said Tails.

Maria looked just as confused as the rest of them. "If you weren't created, why do you think you're an alien?"

"What, like short fuzzy guys like us are just common on your planet?" joked Sonic.

Maria only grew more bewildered. "But you are," she insisted.

That gave all of them pause as they stared at her.

"I guess our dimensions are even more different than we knew," said Tails thoughtfully. "On our home planet, there are no humans, but we all came to Earth through ring portals for our own reasons, and that's where the humans live. So, while we've got citizenship through adoption, we are still considered aliens."

"And since then the Earth has become our home," said Knuckles.

Maria looked fascinated by their explanation. "So why would you leave your original world?" she asked.

"Well, for me, I never really fit in," Tails said. "Everyone thought I was weird because of my two tails. They made fun of me a lot, and no one wanted me around. Most people still think I'm weird on Earth, but at least there I'm around people who want me."

"Home is not something I'd ever had before," said Knuckles grimly. "My tribe was nomadic and was wiped out years ago, leaving me the last of my kind. For many years I searched the galaxy for something my people had long sought, and upon finding it on Earth, I stayed. With the Hedgehog, Fox, and I, we formed a brotherhood to protect it."

"I was sent to Earth when I was really little for my own protection," Sonic admitted, letting his power show through his eyes and spark around his quills. "I was born super fast and with this power that other people wanted. My old mom, Longclaw, took care of me back there. When we were found, she died protecting me and sent me to Earth to hide. Eventually, I found a new family."

Maria looked sad for all of them, before turning her attention to Shadow. "Why did you go there?" she asked.

"I don't know," Shadow admitted with a troubled frown. "I was found inside a meteor that crashed into the planet. I have no memory of any life I might have had before the lab they were testing me in, which is where I met my version of you. I… didn't even realize others like me existed until today."

"Well I don't know how you'd get stuck in a meteor, but you must have come from our original planet at least initially," Tails said thoughtfully. "You and Sonic look too much alike for you to come from anywhere else. It'd be way too much of a coincidence that some Earth scientist just happened to make an alien hedgehog just like ones on another planet fifty years before one they didn't make was discovered."

"And the power you display clearly bears a resemblance to ours as well," Knuckles added, punching his fists so they sparked and his eyes glowed.

Seeing that, Shadow let his own powers flicker down his spines and a gleam in his eyes, as if testing that they were truly the same.

Sonic smiled and activated his powers again to compare. Given the way his powers crackled down his quills identically to the way Shadow's did, safe to say it looked pretty much the same aside from the color.

"Pretty," Maria muttered under her breath as all three of their quills shimmered red, blue, and rose gold in the dark of the tunnel.

Knuckles nodded at the sight as their powers faded away. "The Blue Hedgehog and I both hail from the same world and both have this power, even if mine is far superior."

"That would increase the odds of you coming from our planet," said Tails. "If people on Earth could just make powers like yours, wouldn't more people have them by now?"

"Eggman would have been a lot less surprised to see me if that were the case," Sonic agreed. "That was totally an 'OMG what is that!' scream he made when he first saw me. He also would have been less obsessed with my powers, because then he could just go get his own."

It was hard to tell with the dark and Shadow's resting Grumpy-Cat face, but Sonic thought he could see a bit of relief in hearing that he wasn't likely a test tube baby.

"Hey, maybe we're related," Sonic suggested with a grin. "You could be my long lost great uncle or something."

"That would explain your uncanny resemblance," Knuckles agreed.

"I could always do a DNA test once we get home," Tails offered.

Shadow looked like he might be considering it.

Sonic shrugged, then asked, "So what other movies do you like?" he asked as they resumed their trek.

"Tarantula, Attack of the Fifty-Foot Woman, Godzilla," Shadow listed off. "My Maria and I would watch them together in her room."

"Oh, I love those ones too," said Maria, glad to hear she and her counterpart had similar tastes.

"Kaiju movies, nice," Sonic said. "You know, Godzilla's got a whole bunch of movies made since the 70s. Some good, some so bad they're good, and some just bad. You've got a lot of catching up to do."

"I bet you'd like Pacific Rim," Tails suggested.

"Do you also have any affection for romantic comedies?" asked Knuckles.

The conversation returned to movies, this time with Shadow actually participating at least a little bit. He wasn't chatty by any means, and definitely still answered more when Maria asked over anyone else, but he was talking to them. It was a start.

So in other words, all was going well in the 'make friends with Shadow' plan. That, and it was always fun teasing Knuckles about horror movies.

"Nothing scares an Echidna Warrior," Knuckles insisted when they were brought up.

Sonic rolled his eyes, "Uh, yeah, remember what happened last movie night?"

Tails winced at the reminder and rubbed the hand that Knuckles had clenched with all his strength while screaming his head off when Casper appeared on the screen. Not that he blamed him, Sonic could still feel his own bruised fingers.

Knuckles turned to walk backward so he could glower at him as he grumbled, "There's no such thing as a friendly ghost."

Sonic was too busy watching Maria giggle at their antics to notice Shadow using his powers to warp behind Knuckles so the echidna bumped into him.

"Boo," Shadow said in a soft, menacing voice.

With his dark colors blending in with the tunnel's dim shadows and his eyes still glinting from the use of his powers, it was a truly spooky sight. All of them jumped, but Knuckles especially jerked back with a shriek.

Then realizing what had happened, the majority of them burst out laughing.

"Pffft, Shadow, that was mean," Maria scolded, but the effect was ruined by her giggling into her hands.

"Are you kidding? That was great!" Sonic disagreed between guffaws.

"I was not scared at all!" Knuckles insisted.

"Yeah right," snickered Tails, and he used his hologram projector to recreate Knuckles' reaction, making them laugh again while Knuckles tried to punch it.

Shadow just took the praise and their laughter with a bemused sort of look.

Knuckles huffed and stormed on ahead, the others still giggling as they followed behind. "I am not scared. Echidna Warriors are never scared. It is ghosts who should be afraid of me," he grumbled under his breath as he stormed on. "YOU HEAR THAT GHOSTS! YOU DON'T FRIGHTEN ME!" He shouted out loud just in case any were listening.

This declaration was quickly put to the test when he turned a corner to find the tunnel had opened up into a large dilapidated chamber set with bricks and large columns with a scepter hovering in the center glowing an ominous purple.

Knuckles froze at the sight of it, having suffered through enough of Sonic's films to know glowing floating objects in big ornate chambers were bad news.

But even as he stared at it, the scepter pulsed, coating the floor with a sticky purple substance, and four twisted one-eyed creatures began crawling up out of it.

Knuckles screamed! Making the others race to catch up to him as best they could through the muck, and arrived just in time to see him punch one of the creatures away.

"GHOSTS!" he yowled.

Suitably freaked out, and not knowing what else the things could be, Sonic said, "Well, good news, looks like you can punch ghosts."

Knuckles did not look at all reassured, but they didn't have time for more banter as the other ghosts all leaped at them. Add to that, the purple gunk on the floor meant they could barely move unless it was to hop from place to place.

Still, jumping was all they really needed, as Shadow kicked one away while Sonic spin-dashed another, and Knuckles clobbered the last.

But more were appearing by the second, and two emerged from the purple slime and leaped at Maria.

The girl screamed, but Tails pulled out his laser pistol to blast one and Shadow plowed into the other viciously.

"Get Maria to safety!" Sonic yelled to Tails as he knocked back another.

The fox nodded and quickly spun his tails to fly and carried Maria up to higher ground and out of the purple gunk.

"The gun!" Shadow called out, and Tails tossed his pistol back down to him. Shadow quickly made good use of it with sharp precision.

"Shadow, be careful!" Maria called as they flew away.

Her warning wasn't just favoritism, the creatures all seemed to be targeting Shadow the most out of the three of them.

"Is it me, or are these guys after you for some reason?" asked Sonic as he bounced off a series of ghosts' heads that were trying to sneak attack the other hedgehog, and staying out of the purple stuff as much as possible.

"It is not you," Knuckles said, sending one flying with an uppercut that had been leaping at Shadow. "They are indeed targeting the more formidable hedgehog."

"Seriously," Sonic squawked at the dig at him even now, before he saw something moving in the purple sludge right at Shadow's feet. "Behind you!" he called.

Shadow leaped away just in time to avoid a new ghost creature that almost looked like a hedgehog made out of jagged crystals with glowing red and green eyes leaped out of the sludge and tried to blast him with a beam of light.

"Shadow," the ghost-hedgehog somehow said without a mouth, "I will defeat you then restore myself to the timeline!"

"Uh, you know him?" Sonic asked, unnerved.

"No," Shadow replied. "It seems my double has made enemies." His eyes then flashed with power, and he aimed the pistol at the new creature's head. "But I won't be blamed for someone else's actions."

"What?" the ghost-hedgehog snarled, dodging the shot and launching itself at Shadow. "Did you forget about me again?"

"Seems you're just not that memorable," Shadow snapped back. With that, he dodged the attack from the ghost-hedgehog and warped up to kick it right in the face.

Sonic and Knuckles exchanged a nod and activated their own powers too to help him.

It wasn't easy, the ghost-hedgehog was fast and could blast things with a flick of its wrists, with all of them stuck being slow, dodging his lasers came down to split-second reactions.

Above them, Maria and Tails watched as the three of them fought against what the ghost-hedgehog called 'the ultimate game of shadow tag'.

"He's going to hurt them!" Maria said worriedly as the creature sent arcs of light across the floor like shark fins, trying to slice them to ribbons.

"Not if he doesn't know where they are," Tails said, activating his holograms.

Suddenly the arena was filled with hedgehogs and echidnas, and the creature howled in outrage when it couldn't discern which were real, and allowing the three to get some good hits in.

Furious, the ghost-hedgehog shifted and grew into a much larger cyclops-like form, and tried to simply hit them all at once with its giant fists.

With a great sweep of its hands, it managed to destroy Tail's hologram projectors and smack the three real fighters into a wall with enough force to leave three large dents.

"Someone get the number on that bus?" Sonic said woozily, rubbing his head.

"Get up!" hissed Shadow, having no patience for Sonic's quips.

Finding them at last, the monster raised its fist and brought it down like a mallet. It took Knuckles catching it and straining to hold it back to keep the three of them from being smushed.

"They'll be crushed!" Maria said, leaning over the ledge to stare in horror.

Seeing his friends in trouble and the creature's lower half still submerged in the purple liquid, on the floor gave Tails an idea.

"The floor is lava!" he shouted down to his teammates.

Understanding what that meant, Sonic spin-dashed the hand to shove it back enough for Knuckles to throw it away, and Shadow to shoot it in the chest.

"The floor is lava?" asked Shadow, not understanding and the monster recovering fast.

"It's a game. You get off the floor as quick as possible and try to move around without touching it," Sonic explained rapidly to Shadow before curling back into a ball and allowing Knuckles to throw him up onto a high ledge before the echidna launched himself at the walls and dug handholds into the bricks.

Shadow spared a moment to give the ghost-hedgehog-cyclops a parting shot from his pistol before teleporting out of the way.

"Cowards!" the ghost-hedgehog snarled as it reached up towards them. "Afraid to meet your fate a second time? I will crush you all!"

"Bold words for the guy standing in lava!" Sonic yelled back just out of its reach.

With the floor cleared of allies, Tails threw a disk into the purple substance.

The second it hit, it sparked and thousands of volts of electricity crackled through the liquid, making the creature shriek.

It collapsed in on itself, before reforming into its hedgehog shape again. "No…" it snarled. "I want… to exist!"

Its eyes darted between them for the easiest target, landing on Tails and Maria. With a snarl, the ghost-hedgehog rocketed towards them.

"TAILS!" Sonic and Knuckles shouted.

"MARIA!" Shadow yelled, but even with their speed they wouldn't reach them in time.

Maria and Tails both screamed at the sight of the monster coming towards them, and the fox darted to shield the girl while chucking his Gizmo Wing at it.

The creature screeched as the little boomerang hit it in the eye, and Tails used the distraction to carry Maria away, and the ghost-hedgehog crashed into the ledge they were on before.

"Insolent mortals!" the ghost-hedgehog howled, righting itself and launching itself after them again.

But this time the other three were ready, as Knuckles launched himself off the wall from the front, Sonic dove down from above, and Shadow warped in from behind. They were all wreathed in storms of lightning and struck as one. Their combined powers caused a shockwave that decimated the entire chamber and beyond.

The ghost-hedgehog howled as it was sucked back into the scepter it had emerged from, taking its purple ooze along with it, but the danger was far from over.

Tails had to weave through the air with Maria as the ceiling above them began to crumble at the force of the blast.

"We've got to get out of here!" he called, flying back to the ground as the place seemed to come apart around them.

Shadow was quick to take Maria off his hands and begin shooting for the exit with her in his arms. Sonic grabbed Tails and Knuckles to follow behind.

They managed to get outside the tunnel just before it collapsed, burying the scepter and the ghost-hedgehog it contained within, and leaving a massive crater where the well once was.

"Are you alright, Maria," Shadow said as he placed her on her feet.

"That was scary," Maria said, breathing heavily and still looking pale.

"Ha-Hah! Take that, ghosts!" Knuckles said triumphantly, shaking his fist at the rubble. "I have now conquered my fear!"

"I'm not so sure that thing was actually a ghost," said Tails, shaking dust from the cave out of his fur.

"Shh, don't ruin this for him," Sonic replied softly.

"Victory!" shouted Knuckles. "As ever my brothers and I are victorious!"

He then turned to Shadow and said, "And you, More Impressive Hedgehog, thank you for fighting at our side."

Shadow shrugged, not used to being thanked. "I was protecting Maria," he said.

"A noble cause for certain," agreed Knuckles. "I knew the moment I saw you you were strong. I now see you are honorable as well. It was good to see it proven in combat. May we fight alongside each other again."

Shadow, very unused to compliments, was taken aback but felt a small smile appear on his face at getting them.

A soft sniffle quickly put a damper on their mood, as they all looked to see Maria in tears.

"We nearly died! Is this what my Shadow has to face?" she asked. "I know he's from farther ahead in time than I am. Is fighting things like that really his future?"

None of them knew how to respond to that. They knew admitting that their own lives were full of a lot of danger wouldn't help the situation.

So Shadow quietly took Maria's hand and led her on, the others trailing behind.

They still needed to find her grandfather and get her somewhere safe.

Meanwhile, the Shadow Maria was worried about stumbled as the force of the shockwave the three had released crashed over him like a tsunami as he fought against Metal Overlord. At the force of it he nearly fell off a grind rail into the water but caught himself with his Doom Surf just in time.

Metal Overlord was not nearly as lucky, as the shockwave seemed to act like an EMP, shutting down all of Metal's systems at once, and sending it crashing into the sea.

On top of Shadow.

Shadow launched himself up and used his Doom Blast to change Metal Sonic's fall trajectory, and send him falling harmlessly into the water.

The Ultimate Lifeform stared at his unceremoniously downed foe and glanced off in the direction the wave had come from.

He recognized the energy of it as belonging to his Counterpart, as well as the Sonic and Knuckles of the same world.

Wondering what trouble the three of them caused, and concerned they dragged Maria into it, Shadow spared one last glance at Metal Overlord before using his Doom Surf to leave and find out.

In a different part of the White Space, two two-tailed foxes were staring down at the older one's portable computer.

Moments ago a shockwave had rocked the entire void, surprising all of them and somehow freeing all their friends still frozen in statues, while simultaneously knocking out all electronics. It took the expertise of both foxes, but they finally got the Miles Electric back online.

"Where did that energy come from?" asked the younger one. "Was it that monster?"

"I don't think so," said the older fox, holding up his computer. "Until now that thing's readings have been pretty consistent. This energy is totally new."

They heard the sound of quick footsteps and looked up to see two blue hedgehogs racing towards them.

"What's going on, Tails?" asked the older hedgehog. "I was about to fight Perfect Chaos when that shockwave happened and he just went nuts like he was hurt and then just kinda melted back into the sea. And Mini-Me was in the middle of fighting Metal Sonic when all of a sudden the tin can just shut down."

The smaller hedgehog nodded, then mimed that something crashed and burned.

"That's what we're trying to figure out, Sonic," the older Tails admitted. "That chaos energy was off the charts."

"Chaos energy? Like maybe one of the emeralds?" asked the older Sonic.

"Could be," older Tails said. "But I dunno. Something about these readings seems different. I have a system for the crazy readings you give when you go super, this was clearly something else. Not as strong Super, but similar enough."

"Do you think Doctor Eggman did something?" asked the smaller Tails.

"Could be," speculated older Sonic. "Guess we better go find out."

Meanwhile, the two versions of the aforementioned doctor were scrambling to get their machines back online so they could properly control their time monster.

Dr. Eggman the older slammed his fist on one of his control consuls when it still remained dead despite his attempts to restart it. "Work, you blasted thing!"

"Oh, it's no use," groaned Dr. Eggman the younger, just as frustrated that nothing was working.

"Oh, don't go talking like a hedgehog," grumbled the older Dr. Eggman as he set about fixing things. "All systems are down. It's going to take a full reboot to get everything back online."

The younger Eggman stopped and looked confused. "Since when would Sonic say something like that? Er, not that I'm… all that used to him talking."

"Ah, those were the good ol' days. Now the little blue rat doesn't shut up. But no, not him, the white one, Stirling, or something like that," said Dr. Eggman the older with a dismissive wave.

Dr. Eggman the younger looked aghast. "There are more hedgehogs."

"As of my point in time, four hedgehogs are continuous pains in my rear, but Sonic always remains the most irritating," said the older Eggman.

The younger Eggman recoiled. "Urgh, not looking forward to dealing with that."

"When we succeed at this you won't have to," said Dr. Eggman the elder, attempting to turn on his machine again.

Still nothing, and he banged his fist on it once again. "Errgh, Sonic is going to pay for this," he snarled.

"Sonic did this?" asked the younger Eggman.

"Who else," the other snapped back.

The younger one mulled that over and decided that tracked. "I hate that hedgehog!" he groaned.

Chapter Text

Team Sonic plus Shadow and Maria continued their trek through the White Space trying to find Maria's grandfather.

The mood remained morose when Maria failed to cheer up as they continued on. Her worries were still caught up in the fight she'd just witnessed and the danger her Shadow might be in.

Desperate for a way to bring her smile back, Shadow noticed they were about to pass in front of a section of the void that looked like a castle.

As he saw their reflections in the building's passing windows, an idea occurred to him. He slowed his pace so he would walk next to Tails. "Do you have a marker?" he asked.

The fox blinked in surprise at that question but reached into his backpack and pulled out a large black Sharpie.

Taking the sharpie from him, Shadow moved ahead so he was in front of Maria, bringing them all to a stop. "Close your eyes," he said.

Maria looked down at him in surprise but did as he said.

Shadow gently turned her so she was facing the nearest window. He then used his air shoes to hover in front of the window and draw around the reflection of her face.

He was grateful the rest of their group was silent as he worked, aside from the occasional muffled snicker.

"Now open them," he said once he was done.

Maria slowly opened her eyes to see her own reflection with a silly face drawn around it so it framed her eyes.

Maria stared at it for a long moment before a giggle bubbled up in her throat, and soon enough she was full-belly laughing at the sight.

Then, with a devious grin, she snatched the marker from Shadow's hand and quickly scribbled her own silly face over Shadow's reflection.

That was the final straw for the other three, and they started laughing too, but Shadow smiled fondly as he saw she'd drawn the same bunny that his Maria had when they met.

Still giggling, Tails reached into his bag and pulled out more markers. Sonic was quick to snatch the blue one, Knuckles grabbed a red one, Maria gave Shadow back his black one reached for silver, and Tails kept a gold one.

Soon enough, the castle was filled with silly faces drawn onto the windows, making whoever saw their reflection giggle.

It was this sight that greeted Shadow's sleeker double when he found them again.

"What are you doing?" he asked, staring at all of them in bewilderment.

"Practicing my street art," said Sonic.

"Gratuitous vandalism!" Knuckles said.

"Having fun!" said Tails.

Shadow just looked at Maria's smiling face. That was answer enough.

Her face grew even happier when she spotted the other him. "Shadow!" she said, running over to greet him.

"Are you alright?" Shadow's Double asked in concern.

Maria nodded. "I'm fine. The others have been looking out for me." She then frowned worriedly. "But what about you? Are you alright? No one's given you trouble, have they?"

Shadow's Double scoffed. "Just some minor annoyances. Not even a challenge. However, I was in the middle of a fight when a shockwave took my opponent out in one hit. You four wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" he asked, shooting a look at Shadow and the others from his world.

While the others were chastised at his words, Shadow kept his head high and met his double's dark look with one of his own. He was not going to be scolded by someone who wasn't even there. "Maybe if you could keep your enemies in check we wouldn't have had to take them out for you."

The two glared at each other before Shadow's Double looked away with a grunt. "Now why would you need to cause such a commotion? Surely any enemy of mine wouldn't cause you that much trouble."

"You told us to defend Maria," Shadow replied. "So we did. Would you rather we pulled our punches?"

"I would rather you not cause an EMP that disrupted everything in this place and catch who knows how much attention," Shadow's Double said sharply, his eyes glinting and dark shadows swirling like liquid around his hands.

"I wasn't aware we were supposed to be a secret," said Shadow, his frustration flashing through his eyes and sparking along his quills. "Perhaps if you told us anything-!"

"Whoa, okay this is getting a bit too heated," said Sonic stepping between the two of them. "Now let's all calm down before we cause another shockwave."

Shadow sent him a bitter look, but suppressed his powers.

His double, however, scoffed at Sonic's words, but a soft "Shadow," from Maria had him backing down too.

"Look, our powers can be… a lot," Sonic explained, scratching the back of his head through his quills. "One time I accidentally knocked out the power across the entire Pacific Northwest while I was… never mind. The point is, when we're fighting things can go wild. We're sorry it went so crazy, but we were up against a seriously creepy guy who really hated you and wanted to kill us, and it took a lot to take him down."

That got Shadow's Double's attention. "Who?" he demanded.

The sharpness in his tone took them aback.

"He didn't exactly say," Tails said.

"Then what did he look like? Did he have horns? How many eyes did he have?" Shadow's Double insisted.

"He was a ghostly facsimile of a hedgehog," Knuckles described gravely. "Jagged like he was carved from stone, with glowing eyes of red and green and no mouth upon his face."

"But that sure didn't stop him from talking," added Sonic. "He could also float, shoot lasers at us, and turn into a giant cyclops monster."

"He was saying stuff about returning himself to the timeline," said Tails. "And he came out of this creepy scepter and talked like you'd met him before, but forgot about him."

"He was really scary, and he hated you so much," Maria added.

Shadow's Double frowned at the description, but Shadow could see he was somewhat relieved too. But relieved about what he couldn't tell. "That does not sound familiar to me."

"Well, since he wanted to put himself back in the timeline, maybe he was taken out of it somehow like we were," Maria said thoughtfully.

"Or maybe he's someone you'll fight someday," Tails speculated. "You said you've been seeing things that you think are from the future here too, right?"

Shadow's Double nodded at the two theories. "I'll keep an eye out," he said to reassure Maria. "And I'll stay away from any 'creepy scepters'."

Maria smiled at him in relief.

"Where is this ghostly hedgehog now?" Shadow's Double asked.

"Buried under there," Sonic said, pointing at the crater in the distance where the well used to be.

"And he can stay that way," Shadow added, giving the rubble a dirty look.

Shadow's Double examined the wreckage and then nodded. "Agreed, there's enough trouble happening without more added to the mix," he said. He then sent them a look and added, "And since the four of you can't seem to stay out of trouble, we'd best find Maria safety with someone else."

Shadow was careful not to show it on his face, but internally his heart dropped. Be separated from Maria? Again? Even if she wasn't his, being near her soothed the constant ache he'd been feeling since his own died.

Shadow couldn't help but resent his double. Glad as he was he'd saved his Maria, he didn't seem to value the time he had with her. How could he bear to separate from her if he had? And why was he always running off? What was he even doing? How many enemies did he have and would they be a threat to him too?

"Wow, rude," said Sonic, looking put off at the insult. "Most likely true, but rude."

Shadow's Double ignored him, and asked Maria, "Where is the professor? I thought you were going back to him?"

"We got separated when I went to find you," said Maria. "I don't know where he is, and we got sidetracked trying to find him. I couldn't resist exploring while I can."

"I see," said Shadow's Double with a frown. "Then he's likely near where we met in this place. This way." He then waved for all of them to follow.

They trailed behind Shadow's Double through the White Space, and sure enough they eventually came across a bald old man in a lab coat that was very familiar. He didn't notice them coming, as he was hunched over a downed machine with an Omega symbol emblazoned on its shoulder.

"Professor Gerald," Shadow murmured to himself, shocked to see the man who had likely died of old age by now in his world (that is if GUN hadn't had him killed).

"Hey, is it just me, or does that guy with the Ozzy Osbourne glasses have a very Eggman-looking mustache?" he heard Sonic whisper to his brothers behind him.

"The resemblance is uncanny," agreed Knuckles.

"Yeah, but if he's from fifty years ago, no way he's Eggman," Tails said. "The doctor's not that old."

"Not unless he aged backward," said Sonic. "And even then, no way. Like I said, I was definitely the first alien hedgehog he'd ever seen. You don't scream like that unless it's something totally new."

Shadow wondered who this Eggman person they kept referring to was. His double referred to him as a nuisance not to be bothered by, but it certainly seemed like he was a bother to the three brothers.

Maria didn't hear any of this conversation, and instead trotted ahead to greet the professor with a call of, "Grandfather!"

"Maria," Professor Gerald said, sounding much calmer and kindly and much less… manic than the one Shadow knew (dimensional differences he supposed). "Where have you been, I've been looking all over for-" he paused when he caught sight of the rest of them, took off his glasses to clean them, and upon still seeing the same when they were back on, he asked, "Shadow, why are there two of you? And who are they? We haven't caused a paradox, have we?"

"There was a dimensional mishap," Shadow's Double replied, moving past the professor to examine the robot on the ground. "They followed me through, and have been causing mischief here."

"What you call mischief, I'd call self-defense against your problems," Shadow said, not liking being referred to as if he was a naughty child.

"What you call self-defense has only caused more problems," said Shadow's Double, as he pulled open a hatch and began examining the robot's insides. "Such as what that shockwave of yours has done to Omega."

"You created that blast?" the professor said. "I saw it add color to small portions of this world as well as deactivate this fascinating machine. I was just trying to reactivate it as you arrived.

"You know that robot?" asked Tails.

"E-123 Omega, the walking arsenal," Shadow's Double replied as he tried to restart the machine, "A certain doctor built him, but found his personality too uncontrollable and his love of destruction to be too intense even for him, so he sealed Omega away. His mistake. Omega has since sworn vengeance against him and takes great pleasure in destroying anything he builds. We often team up together."

Maria could read between the lines of what he was saying. "I see, he's your friend too."

No Shadow could ever lie to Maria, so his double replied, "As a fellow weapon of mass destruction, he and I have a lot in common."

Shadow flinched away at the mention of him being 'created as a weapon' and the casual way his double talked about it. Then again, maybe if he were more of a weapon, his world's Maria would still be alive.

"Shadow, you're so much more than that," Maria insisted.

They could all tell Shadow's Double didn't fully believe her.

"Here," Tails said, stepping forward. "Let me see if I can fix him since we are the ones who knocked him out."

"Actually, Fox, that was the Hedgehogs and I with our awesome power," Knuckles corrected.

"Yeah, but Tails set that creepy guy up for us to do it," Sonic said, making sure Tails got due credit.

Tails looked bashful at the praise.

Shadow's Double glanced over at him, then stepped aside with clear reluctance.

"You'd trust him to look after your friend?" Shadow had to ask.

Shadow's Double rolled his eyes. "He's Tails. There are few minds more brilliant. And thus far, he's the only one with such an intellect and not use it to cause destruction."

Behind him, Professor Gerald frowned at Shadow's Double's words, no doubt wondering if that meant the fox exceeded his own intellect by that much, or if he was implying the professor would 'cause destruction' one day.

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise Shadow if he did. As genial as this version of the professor was, he was still Professor Gerald. And while Shadow was fond of his version of the professor, it wouldn't be shocking if he one day turned to villainy. His Maria had often said she couldn't tell if her grandfather was just a Nutty Professor type or a budding Hanna Barbera cartoon villain. But the professor had loved Maria more than anything. The only way he'd do anything bad was with her blessing, and Shadow couldn't see any version of Maria agreeing to that.

Tails, meanwhile, looked startled at the compliment from Shadow's Double of all people, but it melted into determination as he crouched down to examine the robot. After poking around a bit, he turned to his brothers. "Can I have a quill?"

"Got a preference for who?" Sonic asked as he and Knuckles were already reaching for their heads and plucking one out.

Tails hummed thoughtfully. "Either or both would work, it looks like this robot runs on a unique energy source, but he also runs Chaos Energy as a backup. Your powers should be compatible with him, but the blast was too much and shorted him out. I can restart him easily enough, but integrating your powers into his system should make him immune if it happens again."

Hearing the words Chaos Energy, Shadow reached up and plucked one of his own quills. "Here," he said, the quill in his hands crackling with power. The ones in Sonic and Knuckles' hands had a similar spark to them.

Tails took a shining quill from each of them with a quick, "Thanks," twisted them together, and did something to install them into the robot.

The robot's hatch snapped shut and he surged back to life, making Tails fall back with a yelp.

"WHERE ARE SOME ENEMIES! I WANT TO TAKE ON AN ENTIRE ARMADA!" the robot said.

"I see you're feeling better," Shadow's Double said.

"BETTER THAN I HAVE SINCE I WAS NEW! WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS UPGRADE? I WILL DESTROY THINGS WITH FAR MORE FIREPOWER NOW." Omega replied.

But then the robot turned to look at them, and said, "CORRECTION; I HAVE FOUND A VISUAL ERROR! THERE ARE TWO SHADOWS IN MY VISION AND TEAM SONIC'S APPEARANCE IS INCONGRUENT WITH MY MEMORY BANKS!"

"I'm not a visual error," Shadow said, getting tired of people thinking as such as soon as they see him.

"It's Team Knuckles!" Knuckles protested.

"Cough-no-it's-not-cough," Sonic coughed into his fist.

"They're dimensional counterparts," Shadow's Double said by way of explanation.

"LIKE PRINCESS BLAZE?" asked Omega.

"Not from her world, but yes," Shadow's Double replied.

The robot turned to those from another dimension. "ARE YOU GOOD AT DESTROYING THINGS?"

All four of them again pointed in the direction of the collapsed tunnel and the destruction surrounding the new crater as a result of their fight.

"Also, sorry for knocking you out," Sonic said. "But Tails fixed you up."

"It's not a big deal," Tails said bashfully. "I'm used to fixing things their powers blow out."

Omega examined the wreckage and gave them a thumbs up. "I APPROVE!"

Glad to see someone did, since Shadow's Double clearly didn't.

Said double turned to the robot and said, "I have a favor to ask you, Omega."

"DOES IT INVOLVE SHOOTING THINGS?" the robot asked.

"Possibly." Shadow's Double replied, before gesturing at the two humans among them. "Omega, this is Professor Gerald and Maria."

Omega looked at the two of them up and down, then looked back at Shadow's Double. "SHADOW, I AM NOT PROGRAMMED FOR EMOTIONAL TALKS BUT IF YOU LATER NEED TO DESTROY THINGS RATHER THAN DEAL WITH YOUR FEELINGS, I WILL HELP!"

"I just need you to protect them while we're in this place," Shadow's Double said, not explaining why the robot's first reaction was to be a sort of shoulder to cry on. "I don't want a past enemy to take advantage of this situation to harm them."

"I CAN DO THAT!" Omega replied, before turning to the professor and Maria. "IT IS NICE TO MEET YOU! I'VE HEARD ONLY GOOD THINGS!"

"I'm always happy to meet one of Shadow's friends," Maria said.

"It is nice to meet you too," said Professor Gerald kindly. "And might I say, you are a remarkable piece of machinery."

"THAT IS IN SPITE OF MY CREATOR, NOT BECAUSE!" Omega said, then turned to look at Shadow's Double. "SHADOW, YOU ACTUALLY SAID WE WERE FRIENDS?"

Shadow's Double huffed, looked away, and didn't respond.

Omega looked back at Maria and said, "YOU ARE A GOOD INFLUENCE!"

Maria giggled in response.

While they got acquainted, Shadow's Double turned to the professor, "May I speak to you for a minute?" he asked, and the two stepped away from the group.

Shadow watched them go, his eyes narrowed. Then, after checking to see the others wrapped up in talking to Omega, he slipped away from the group and followed after them.

Hiding behind a pillar, he watched as his double asked the professor something he couldn't quite make out, but couldn't risk getting closer to hear better.

"I feel… connection… symbol… the same… my abilities…" Shadow's Double said, holding his hand up to show swirling darkness rather than golden lightning like Shadow had.

Was he asking why they had different abilities? He had noticed his double lacked the glowing sparks those from his world had. Also, it had been quick, but Shadow had seen how he'd surfed across the water rather than skated when they first arrived with some strange black thing attached to his feet. Were they more different than he first assumed?

Professor Gerald seemed troubled by whatever his double said, and Shadow rued that this professor was so much calmer than his own. Where the Professor of his world would loudly proclaim and gestate the answer to any question asked, this version was more subdued, as such, Shadow could make out almost none of his reply. All he heard was something about a "Faustian deal" and they would "Pay for my sins."

Whatever he said left Shadow's Double with more questions."... my powers… connected?" he asked.

Shadow leaned in as much as he could to hear the response as he could.

"SMALLER SHADOW?" came an almost too loud voice behind him, making the hedgehog jump. He wheeled around to see Omega towering over him.

"YOUR FRIENDS GREW CONCERNED!" Omega said to explain why he was there. "THEY ARE LOOKING FOR YOU!"

"I-they're not my friends," Shadow protested. "We just met tonight." He then glanced around the bright white void that did not remotely resemble nighttime and amended. "... today?"

"WE ARE CURRENTLY OUTSIDE OF TIME! BOTH PHRASINGS ARE EQUALLY CORRECT AND INCORRECT!" said Omega.

Shadow didn't particularly care either way. He was more concerned in the long explanation Professor Gerald was giving his double that he couldn't hear a word of over the robot.

"IT IS RUDE TO EAVESDROP!" Omega chastised him.

"I wouldn't need to if he would explain himself for once," Shadow grumbled.

"SHADOW DOES NOT EXPLAIN HIMSELF UNTIL IT IS NECESSARY TO DO SO!" Omega replied. "ODDS ARE HIGH YOU ARE THE SAME WAY!"

Shadow scowled, couldn't refute that.

"COME!" the robot said, turning to go back the way they came but leaving no room for arguments. "YOU ARE WORRYING MARIA! ODDS ARE ALSO HIGH YOU VALUE THE EXTRA TIME WITH HER!"

Reluctantly, Shadow followed behind him back to the group. But all the while he stared back at his double and the professor, watching as his double grew disturbed by whatever the man said before it melted into determination.

Then, something Omega said clicked to him. "What do you mean 'extra' time?"

Omega looked down at him. "MARIA ROBOTNIK IS DECEASED IN YOUR WORLD AS WELL, CORRECT?"

Shadow felt his stomach drop. "As well? Then… my double… he didn't save her?"

"NO!" Omega replied.

"But she's here!" Shadow protested. "If he couldn't save her, how is she here? Why does he keep leaving her behind?"

"WE ARE ALL DISPLACED OUTSIDE OF TIME! WHAT POINT IN TIME ONE COMES FROM TO GET HERE IS IRRELEVANT!" Omega said as an explanation. "SHADOW IS DETERMINED TO KEEP HER SAFE WHILE SHE IS HERE! HE LEAVES TO FIGHT THOSE WHO WOULD DO HER AND OTHERS HARM!"

"But she's here," Shadow insisted. "Can't we still save her if she's here?"

"POSSIBILITY OF FINDING A CURE TO HER ILLNESS; LOW! POSSIBILITY TO SAVE HER; UNKNOWN, BUT UNLIKELY!" Omega replied. "POSSIBLE DAMAGE TO THE TIME STREAM UPON DOING SO; UNKNOWN, BUT WITH A HIGH CHANCE OF BEING CATASTROPHIC, AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY!"

Shadow stared up at the robot as his world fell out from under him once again. He couldn't save her! He couldn't save her!

To top that off she was sick? Is that what she'd meant before about the temporal anomaly keeping her in top shape? How sick was she if there was no cure?

And… did that mean that even if Shadow had protected his Maria from that explosion, would he have lost her anyway?

Was it inevitable he would have lost her? Was he always meant to be alone?

It was clear Omega could see how devastated he was. "I AM SORRY!" he said.

But Shadow had no reply and allowed himself to be led back to his blissfully ignorant companions, and doing everything he could to keep his emotions from showing through his powers.

And when his double returned and insisted they leave Maria and the professor behind with Omega, he went without protest.

He should have known this dream wouldn't last.

Sooner or later he'd be alone with his grief once again.

He wondered how long it would take the pain to swallow him whole.

Chapter Text

Ever since that weird shockwave, Sonic had been on the lookout for the cause alongside his younger self (who he'd started calling Mini-Me, Mini-Sonic to everyone else).

While he didn't know where that crazy energy came from. As far as he could tell, the effects had only caused good things, such as knocking out Eggman's robots and freeing his friends.

He also couldn't complain about it interrupting his rematch with Perfect Chaos. Anything to get him away from having to jump around a flooded city and reduce his chances of falling in the water was good in his book.

Really, the only downside he'd found so far was that the shockwave took out Tails and Lil'Tails electronics, but between the two brainiacs, they'd worked out how to fix things quickly enough, so Sonic wasn't too bothered (the Tails might be, but so far they'd seemed more curious than upset).

So definitely good things, especially all his friends being freed at once. Everyone met up to compare notes, and while no one had any clue about the source of the energy, they were all willing to keep an eye out for the rest of the Chaos Emeralds.

"Because of course you can't just have a normal birthday. That just wouldn't be you, right Sonic?" said Amy, sending him a smile as she made sure Cream and Cheese were okay, and cooing over how cute Mini-Me was.

Mini-Me, in the meantime, was both flustered by all the attention he was getting from that girl he'd rescued one time, and slightly miffed she was now taller than him.

"You know me, never a dull moment," Sonic agreed with a grin.

"I didn't even get a bite of cake," Vector complained.

"Me neither," whined Charmy, drooping in midair.

"Calm yourselves. If we are truly outside of time, then once we return everything should be as it was, including the cake," Espio assured his teammates, making the two of them cheer.

"That's good to hear," Knuckles agreed. "That means no one will get a chance to steal the Master Emerald while I'm gone… right, Rouge?" he added, sending the bat a warning look.

Rouge clutched at imaginary pearls at the accusation. "Who me? I would never," she said in clearly fake sincerity.

"Rouge!" Knuckles growled.

"Oh calm down, I did promise a truce when I accepted my invitation, no one wants to rain on a birthday," Rouge said with a teasing smirk. She then glanced around at the assembled group, and added, "Though I'm extra disappointed now that Shadow never showed. He might have come in handy solving this mess."

"Shadow was invited to the party?" asked Sonic. Given it was a surprise party, he'd not been privy to the guest list.

"Invited him myself," Rouge said. "But he was running late doing a little errand. Still, I'm sure he would have shown up eventually if he knows what's good for him," the last part was said in a threatening mutter.

Sonic briefly felt sorry for what awaited Shadow if he was a no-show.

"There's still a chance he's here somewhere," Tails offered.

"Yeah, I bet no one invites Metal Sonic to any parties, but he's here," said Lil'Tails, not knowing who Shadow was, but still wanting to help.

Rouge nodded thoughtfully upon hearing that. "In that case, I'd better go look for him."

"Watch your back in this place," Knuckles said as she left.

Rouge paused and sent a flirty smirk in the echidna's direction. "Is that concern I hear, handsome?"

Knuckles was immediately flustered. "What? No- I- Not like that! There's still a monster running around is all!"

"I see, so if anything happens you'll rescue me, right?" Rouge teased.

Knuckles scoffed at the suggestion. "As if you'd even need rescuing."

"Right answer," Rouge said as she flew away.

While that bit of banter was playing out, Amy had been doing a headcount. "Has anyone seen Blaze?" she asked in concern when she realized they were one short.

"I did," Cream said, raising her hand into the air. Then she pointed off into the distance. "Miss Blaze said she thought she saw Mister Silver over that way and she went to find him."

"Think I saw him too as I was checking things out," Sonic agreed. "Guess that monster could even reach his time, and it pulled him in here too. Hopefully, Blaze will get him up to speed."

"That's great if he was," Amy agreed. Then, realizing how that sounded, quickly amended, "Well, not that Silver got sucked in here by that monster, but if he did, then it's not too late to invite him to the party. He's the only one we couldn't get a message to. I mean, I tried leaving a time capsule for him, but there was really no way to know if he'd find it. I hope he does eventually. I left supplies in it for him too."

"The more the merrier," Sonic agreed.

"We definitely should try to find him and Blaze sooner or later," Tails said thoughtfully. "With their combined insight on time traveling and dimension traveling, they could really help us figure out how to get things back to normal."

"So our goals right now are to find the Emeralds, find Silver and Blaze, and keep an eye out for Shadow if he's here," Sonic summed up for all of them.

"Well if it's finding people you need, the Chaotix Detective Agency is on the case," Vector offered, as he and his teammates broke off to search.

"Uh, Big Sonic?" said Lil'Tails hesitantly.

Sonic turned to look at him and saw Mini-Me giving him a look that spoke volumes.

"Oh, right, you don't know who they are," Sonic said. "Well, Shadow and Silver are both hedgehogs that look just like me if you ask Amy."

"That was one time!" Amy squawked in offense.

"One time each," Tails added, and laughed as Amy gave him a little swat for it.

"Mistake a few hedgehogs for Sonic from behind and you're suddenly marked for life," Amy grumbled.

Sonic snickered at their antics. "Shadow really does look a lot like us, just all black and red instead of blue. And Silver's silver and his quills stick up on his head like a maple leaf," he said, elaborating to Mini-Me and Lil'Tails. "And Blaze is a purple cat."

"Don't just leave it at that, what if Big is here somewhere," Amy scolded him.

(In a different part of White Space, Big sneezed and nearly dropped his fishing pole in the water.)

"Oh, right," Sonic said. "Big's another friend who's a purple cat, but he's, ya know, BIG, and he's always got his friend Froggy with him. Blaze meanwhile is just a little taller than Amy, and dresses like a princess."

(Off in the distance, Big sneezed again, and this time he did drop his pole. Fortunately, Shadow had been Doom Surfing passed him at the time, on his way to find Maria and the counterparts. The black hedgehog snatched the pole out of the water and tossed it back to the cat as he shot by.)

Mini-Me gave him a thumbs up at the descriptions, and Lil'Tails nodded. "Got it, we'll keep an eye out," the latter said.

Sonic gave them a thumbs-up back. "Then with all of us looking, we'll be done in no time."

And with that, they all disbursed to search the White Space for friends and answers.

Thankfully, once he started looking, it didn't take long for Sonic to find two of his objectives in one.

"I found you, Shadow!" he called the second he caught sight of the black hedgehog in the distance, and if he wasn't mistaken, Shadow had a Chaos Emerald on him too.

"The blue hedgehog… of all places…" Shadow grumbled back.

With a burst of speed, Sonic shot over to him, "You have something I nee- wait, what?" he started to say, but broke off when he realized Shadow wasn't alone.

A second Shadow stood sullenly behind him, alongside another Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles.

The other Sonic's eyes lit up at the sight of him. "Holy identity crisis, Batman! It's the other me! Guys! Guys! It's other me!" he said, bouncing and pointing excitedly. He then bolted over to stand right in front of Sonic. "I have so many questions! First, can we be friends? Second, how do you keep your quills so sleek? Third, how fast can you go? Fourth-"

"Wait, I have questions too!" Tails (but not the Tails he knew or his younger self) cut in, running over to stand beside his Sonic. "Are you friends with other me? How did you meet? What's his best invention? Where-"

"I have just one question," the unfamiliar Knuckles interrupted, pushing his hands on their faces to shove himself between the other two. "Where is the other version of myself and can I fight him?"

"Knuckles, that's two questions," New Tails protested with New Knuckles' hand in his face.

"Then I have two questions, which are still far fewer than yours," New Knuckles replied.

New Sonic and Tails clearly got tired of New Knuckles' hands in their faces, and with a quick side-eye to each other, they both took a large step out of his reach, making the echidna fall flat on his face without them to lean on. With a growl he immediately pushed himself back to his feet and tackled them both, starting an impromptu wrestling match.

New Shadow just remained silent. It didn't seem like he had any questions or was all that interested in what was going on. (Sonic didn't miss how the others were sneaking concerned glances at him for being so quiet even as they rough-housed.)

Sonic could only blink as all this happened at once, before turning to the Shadow he knew. "Make some new friends, Faker?"

"More like annoying tag-a-longs, Faker," Shadow sniped back.

"Aw, do you two have nicknames for each other?" New Sonic asked, pulling free of the wrestling match and seeming to miss the insult in the word.

"Just the one," Sonic replied. He then took a moment to examine the four newcomers more closely.

New Sonic definitely wasn't another past self of his. His quills had never been as fluffy as that, and there had never been a point where his arms had been as blue as the rest of him. New Tails was even fluffier than even Lil'Tails despite being older than him, which was a feat Sonic didn't think possible. Knuckles would have been teased mercilessly if he was ever that fuzzy. And don't even get him started on a fluffy Shadow. The jokes would be endless if he wasn't half-certain the other hedgehog would murder him.

So not past versions of him and the others. Very unlikely to be future versions given the four of them read as 'kids' to him. So where did they come from?

"Soooo, going to introduce us?" Sonic asked Shadow in hopes of an explanation.

It backfired when New Knuckles cocked his head and asked, "Does that mean our visage is unfamiliar to you?"

New Sonic looked shocked and New Tails looked heartbroken.

"No, no, of course, I know you two are a Tails and Knuckles, but not my Tails and Knuckles," Sonic said quickly, waving his hands to calm them down. He then pointed at New Sonic and added, "And you definitely aren't my younger self, that's for sure."

"Oh yeah, how do you know?" asked New Sonic curiously.

"Well…" Sonic said as he heard rapidly approaching footsteps behind him. Perfect timing. "That's 'cause he's already here."

At that moment, Mini-Me arrived on the scene and skidded to a stop in front of them, and put his hands on his hips.

Sonic relished in the fact that Shadow looked absolutely horrified to realize he was now stuck in the presence of three Sonics!

"Everyone, meet my younger self," Sonic said. "Mini-Me, this is Shadow, the guy I told you about, and as for the rest, I'm still waiting on an explanation."

Mini-Me looked at them all and gave a friendly wave. New Sonic waved back enthusiastically. ('Wanna be friends?' New Sonic mouthed and mimed to him, and Mini-Me nodded in reply.)

"Oh, sorry, we're from another dimension," New Tails said, finally giving him that explanation. "Your Shadow came to our world, and then we followed him when he tried to leave."

"Are you stuck here?" asked Sonic, slightly concerned.

His asking seemed to be the first time that question occurred to any of them, and they exchanged a troubled look. "It is difficult to say," New Knuckles replied. "The portal we arrived through closed behind us, and thus far we have not seen it reopen."

"I mean, maybe we can use a ring?" offered New Sonic, scratching the back of his head.

New Tails pulled out his version of the Miles Electric and frowned. "I dunno guys. Rings aren't really made to handle time anomalies. We could end up anywhere in time or space if we tried to go back. Not to mention the state we'd be in when we get there."

"Like what?" asked New Sonic.

"Like we could have our body parts scrambled, or we could turn inside out, or come out of it either super old or literal babies. I don't know about you, but I don't want any of that to happen," New Tails said.

"Yeah, agreed," said Sonic, making a disgusted face.

"I too wish to avoid that," agreed Knuckles.

The three of them glanced in New Shadow's direction as if waiting for his opinion, but New Shadow just sorta shrugged and said nothing.

Taking that as an agreement, New Sonic said, "So a definite no on the turning inside-out plan, got it." His expression then grew worried. "Then… yeah… how are we going to get home?" he wondered aloud.

New Tails and New Knuckles looked similarly concerned.

New Shadow didn't seem to care.

Sensing the kids could use a distraction, Sonic changed the subject. "Well, as long as you're here, how about some nicknames for you four."

"Why must we be the ones to be given the names of nick?" asked New Knuckles dubiously.

"Because I can't just keep calling you 'New Knuckles' in my head, and all my friends here are going to be calling me and Mini-Me Sonic, and we were here first," Sonic replied.

New Knuckles seemed to think that over for a minute, and then shrugged. "Fair enough."

"Oh, oh, let me do it, I'm great at nicknames!" New Sonic said, bouncing in place eagerly. "I nicknamed, like, the whole town. I've got a lot of practice."

"Well, alright then, go for it," Sonic said, and Mini-Me gave a thumbs up.

"Why mess with perfection, you're looking at Green Hill's one and only Blue Justice," New Sonic said proudly, posing like a superhero.

Sonic had to smother a laugh. Even if he seemed to be older than Mini-Me, this version of him was definitely still a kid, and that just made Sonic want to tease him.

"I see, good name, Blue. Easy to remember," he said with a smirk.

Mini-Me saw what he was doing and snickered into his hands.

New Sonic, now Blue, looked thrown off at this. "What no, Blue Justice! You can't just call me Blue, that'd be like just calling him Stripes!" he protested, pointing at New Shadow.

"That's a good name too, okay, Blue and Stripes," Sonic said, a teasing grin on his face.

He then turned to see Stripes' reaction to the nickname and really began to understand the concern the Fuzzy Brigade was showing towards him. He would expect a version of Shadow would at least glare at him or Blue for accidental the nickname, but the kid didn't even react.

"But that's so simple!" Blue whined like that was a travesty.

Sonic shrugged. "Could be worse. Shadow and I usually just call each other Faker."

Ah, there's the Shadow glare he was expecting. Just from his Shadow though, Stripes didn't even look his way.

Blue, meanwhile, just stared at him, then looked over at New Tails and New Knuckles. "Am I really like this?" he asked, exasperated.

New Tails hesitated. "Uh, well, you know-"

"Yes," said New Knuckles with all the bluntness of a brick wall to the face. "You can be incredibly annoying."

Blue sent him a deadpan look. "You know this naming scheme just makes you Red, right," he pointed out.

The newly dubbed Red shrugged. "I am red. I do not see the problem."

"Wow, you really are great at naming things," Sonic said to rub salt in the wound.

Blue looked at him utterly betrayed, and Mini-Me couldn't stop laughing.

New Tails hummed thoughtfully. "Yellow doesn't really roll off the tongue, so I can just be Miles for now," he offered.

"If you're alright with that," Sonic said gamely. He knew his version of Tails hated his real name. Mini-Me stopped laughing and looked over at him as well.

"I'm fine with it," Miles said. "I got a better last name now, so it doesn't suck so bad."

"Oh, did Blue finally convince you to change your last name to 'The Hedgehog?" Sonic had to ask. He'd spent years trying to convince his Tails to do the same.

"What?" squawked Miles in bewilderment, and that got Blue to laugh.

"No, but that would be hilarious," Blue snickered.

"'The Echidna' is also a possibility," offered Red to Miles, totally serious.

Sonic snickered as well, but as he was wondering what new last name Miles could have gotten Mini-Me tugged on his arm to alert him to the fact that during their discussion Shadow had started to walk away.

"Wait, hold on Shadow," Sonic said, speeding over to block his path. "I need that Chaos Emerald you have."

Shadow glowered at him. "Unfortunately for you, I still require it."

"Come on, Shadow, the best way to get us and these kids home is to beat that giant monster that took us here. And we need all seven emeralds if we're going to do it," Sonic said, trying to convince him despite his stubborn nature.

"If I must, I will give you the emerald later, but for now I have business to take care of," Shadow said dismissively. "Until then, the emerald stays with me."

Typical Shadow. Can never do things the easy way. "What do you even need the emerald for anyway?" Sonic had to ask. If he had to beat Shadow to take the emerald, he would, but he'd rather not in front of the kids. Who knows, maybe he had a good reason to keep it.

Shadow gave him that look he always had when he thought Sonic was being particularly stupid, then jabbed one finger straight up into the sky.

The others turned their attention to where he was pointing and looked up.

Floating above them was a large sphere surrounded by rotating rings, and, most disturbingly, several massive eyeballs attached to the rings that were staring down in their general direction.

Okay, that might be a good reason. At least it was if he thought it was. Still…

"Huh, was… that always there?" Sonic had to ask, shocked he'd never noticed it before.

"Okay, who let the Eye of Sauron have an upgrade?" asked Blue, sounding freaked out.

Mini-Me shuddered when one of the revolving eyes blinked in their direction.

Stripes didn't spare it a glance, too focused on his feet.

"What is that thing?" Miles asked, aghast.

"And can I fight it?" asked Red, sounding far too eager.

"Black Doom," Shadow said as if that was explanation enough.

Apparently, it was from Blue's comment of, "Now there's a bad guy name." To which Mini-Me nodded in agreement.

"But didn't you destroy him, Shadow?" Sonic asked with a frown.

"Yes, and now what's left of him is taking advantage of this temporal distortion in an attempt to return and have his revenge," Shadow replied.

"And you need the Chaos Emerald to stop him," Sonic concluded, thinking this new information over. Then with a nod, he said, "Alright, I'll leave the emerald to you for now. Think you're fast enough to finish this before I need it."

Shadow shot him a dirty look. "I've always been faster than you."

"Oh yeah, prove it," Sonic shot back.

At that moment, a new portal ringed with the time monster's dark flames appeared before them as if in response to their challenge.

All it took was a quick glance between Sonic and Shadow before both took off through the portal to put their money where their mouth was.

As the taller two counterparts took off, Tails watched them go in bewilderment. "So wait, that freaky time monster that wants to destroy us is just letting them race?"

The smaller version of Sonic didn't seem to see a problem with this, as he playfully nudged Sonic and Shadow, before taking off for the portal as well and jumping in.

Sonic sent Shadow a shrug. "When in Rome," he said and shot off with a flash of blue electricity.

Shadow stared after them, but it seemed not even he could back down from the challenge, and he followed behind a second later.

Tails watched them go and was relieved Shadow reacted at all. The black hedgehog had been super quiet and spacy ever since they'd left Maria behind. Not that he'd ever been chatty in the first place, but he wasn't so sullen and silent before. He was clearly upset about something, and they'd been trying to give him time, but he didn't seem to be snapping out of it. Weird as it was, hopefully, this race would help get him out of his funk.

Beside him, Knuckles crowed with laughter. "Ha-HA! A tournament of champions! Come, Fox, we must join in as well!"

"Knuckles, wait-" Tails started to say, but the echidna was already racing towards the portal.

Tails sighed. It would probably be best if not all of them participated in the race just in case it was a trap. But try telling that to his overly competitive big brothers.

Fortunately, before Knuckles could jump in, a dark shape flashed overhead, and a slim figure landed between him and the portal.

"Now hold on there, handsome," the newcomer, a bat in a black catsuit with a heart-shaped breastplate, said in a teasing voice. "You don't want to get in the middle of that. Trust me. Shadow's been dying for a rematch for ages."

Impervious to the honeyed words, Knuckles was as blunt as ever when he replied, "I do not trust you, no matter how correct you are on my handsomeness. Who are you?"

The bat put a hand to her chest in mock hurt at his words. "Aw, you don't remember little ol' me? And after all the good times we've shared."

Was… she flirting with Knuckles? And Knuckles, in typical fashion, had no clue.

Tails intervened before his brother could put his foot in his mouth. "Uh, we're not the versions of us you know. We're from another dimension, and I guess we just haven't met you yet. Who are you?"

"Well, that explains why you two are even cuter than you normally are," cooed the bat as she reached out to pinch each of them on the cheek, making Tails blush and Knuckles recoil.

"What is that? Some kind of attack?" Knuckles asked, bringing up his fists.

"No, Knuckles, she's just being… friendly," Tails said, still fighting his blush.

At that assurance, Knuckles calmed down. "Ah, in that case, allow me to be friendly as well," he said, reaching out for a handshake.

Despite Tails' frantic head shaking that she not do it, the bat reached out and took Knuckles' hand without hesitation, and smirked as she said, "Nice to meet you, I'm Rouge the Bat."

"Knuckles the Echidna, though I have been bestowed with the nickname of Red while in this empty abyss," Knuckles replied, no doubt squeezing the life out of her hand as he shook it.

"M-Miles Wachowski, people normally call me Tails, but you can use Miles if that's less confusing," Tails replied in awe that the bat was taking the handshake without even a flinch.

"Pleasure," Rouge said as she was finally released. "Now, let's find the best seat in the house to watch those hedgehogs duke it out, shall we?"

With that, she flapped her wings and rose into the air to fly through the portal. Tails did the same with his tails and Knuckles followed on foot.

"Psst, are you okay?" Tails had to ask once they were high enough Knuckles wouldn't hear.

Rouge hummed in dissatisfaction and held up her hand to look at it. "No, not at all. I think he broke a nail."

The respect Tails already had only grew hearing that. She must really be tough if that's all she was worried about.

Still, he had a sinking feeling that this race was a bad idea.

He just hoped for once he wasn't right.

Chapter Text

Shadow's mind had been in a fog since the moment he'd left Maria's side once again.

Or maybe the fog had started when the robot, Omega, told him he was doomed to lose her again.

He would always be doomed to lose her... There was never anything he could have done to save her… Somehow, some way, she was always going to die…

The knowledge was a knife to the heart, and it burned intensely.

And yet the pain was familiar. It was the same pain he'd felt for the last fifty years, dreaming of that night again and again in stasis. He couldn't get it out of his head.

And if he was always going to fail no matter what reality he was in, then what was even the point?

Such thoughts were spinning in his mind in a constant whirlpool, pulling him deeper into an abyss of despair. Like he was in stasis again, drowning in a constant feedback loop of pain and loss.

He barely registered the journey through the White Space. It seems they might have met someone new. He heard talking, but it all sounded like buzzing in his ears. The most he really registered aside from his shoes was someone small and blue nudging him, then Sonic waving for him to follow.

Why they had to race off at top speed, Shadow didn't know. He didn't really care, regardless.

He still followed behind.

Passing through the portal was disorienting, and Shadow's mind blanked even more than before.

Wait? Where was he? What was going on?

Then, suddenly, he was somewhere familiar. Not totally the same, but the differences didn't register. Instead, the smooth metal surface beneath his feet was all Shadow saw.

At that moment, the familiarity was enough for Shadow to forget. He forgot his new companions. He forgot his fifty years in isolation. He forgot that she was…

He forgot, and he focused on what was familiar…

He was… on the generator line… in the lab… the scientists must want his energy again. More power to fuel their experiments. More power for GUN to make their weapons. They always wanted more of his power. Sometimes, he thought it was the only reason they kept him alive.

Like Shadow had done hundreds of times before, he started skating. He used his speed to channel his Chaos Energy and pour it directly into the machines below him.

He shot down the generator line's track at breakneck speeds, his power coming off him in greater quantities the longer he did.

He had to keep going. He had to go faster. He had to give the scientists what they wanted and pour his energy into their machine until it was filled to the brim with his power.

Because once they were happy, then he could spend time with her again…

The race had started off so well.

Shadow #2 and Taller Sonic didn't seem to care much for sportsmanship, given the way the two pushed and rolled into each other as they ran along the weird metal racetrack they'd ended up on.

Smaller Sonic seemed to be having a blast trying to keep up with them, but his youth meant he hadn't reached his top speeds yet, and he ended up trailing behind the two. Not that he minded. It was clear he loved the challenge.

For himself, Sonic decided to keep his racing just with his world's Shadow (he dropped the #1 now that he knew him better). Given the electric sparks the two of them gave off when running, lightning plus metal surfaces weren't a good mix for any others involved. Despite the lightning, their race was far more tame in comparison to the others, as Sonic knew it wasn't polite to shove his competitors (his baseball team always got a lecture at the start of the season), and Shadow didn't seem to subscribe to roller derby rules either.

(Shadow was still being really quiet, which was worrying. But he was participating, and Sonic hoped that meant he was just really, really focused on the race.)

To make things better, he could hear his brothers somewhere above him, cheering him on. They cheered on Shadow too (you don't fight a freaky ghost-hedgehog together and not come out at least kinda liking each other), but hearing someone cheer his name meant everything to Sonic.

Who knew he could go from that lonely hedgehog on the baseball field pretending to be his own friends until the isolation nearly broke him to someone who actually had a family to root for him and watch him do what he loved.

So yeah, Sonic was having a great time!

… Which is, of course, when things just had to go wrong.

Ahead of them, Taller Sonic managed to knock Shadow #2 flat on his butt, which apparently won him their race. Smaller Sonic skidded to a stop next to them and silently snickered at Shadow #2's misfortune while the black hedgehog got back to his feet and glowered at them both.

Sonic was just preparing to pull to a stop alongside them, expecting Shadow to do the same.

But before he could, he noticed the race track was growing pretty hot under his sneakers, and when he looked over at Shadow, he saw that the other was producing a lot more electricity than seemed necessary, especially if they were supposed to be slowing down.

If anything, Shadow was speeding up!

Before Sonic knew it, Shadow suddenly shot ahead of him, blew past their counterparts at top speed, and forced them to dodge and get off the track at the sheer amount of lightning coming off him.

Sonic increased his own power output to keep up with him and gave a shout of, "Sorry!" to the others as he shot past.

Despite the heat that was starting to coat the floor and make running dangerous, Sonic sped up so that he could run alongside Shadow again, his own blue sparks repelling the orangey-gold. "Hey, Shadow, buddy, you okay?"

Shadow didn't respond. He didn't even seem to hear him. His glowing eyes were glassy and locked straight ahead, and his agonized expression looked seconds away from bursting into tears.

Sonic recognized the feeling.

"Hey! Kids! Stop!" shouted Taller Sonic somewhere behind him, and Sonic doubled back to do so, skidding to a stop in front of his and Shadow's counterparts.

"What's he doing?" Tails called down as he, Knuckles, and a bat lady Sonic didn't know the name of (and was just going to call Batgirl for the time being) came down from where they'd been watching the show.

"I don't know what he's doing, and I don't think he does either," Sonic said in a rush, casting a worried glance at where Shadow was still speeding along the track, going faster and faster. The lightning coming off him making the path red hot, and all the electronics around them to light up and go haywire.

"What do you mean?" asked Taller Sonic.

"I mean, he's having a baseball-diamond moment!" said Sonic.

Shadow #2, the other two Sonics, and Batgirl looked like they didn't have a clue what he was talking about, but his brothers certainly did.

"You mean when you had a mental breakdown out of sheer loneliness at the field of base of ball, lost control of your powers, and caused a catastrophic disruption that not only knocked out all electronics in a four-thousand mile radius, but also inadvertently announced your existence to the wider universe, including to the Fox and myself?" asked Knuckles.

"Yep, pretty much that," Sonic replied to Knuckles' long-winded explanation, trying to avoid the looks of concern he was getting for that description.

Shadow #2's eyes narrowed as he clued in to what was happening. "He's having a flashback," he said, looking out at the road that was only growing more dangerous by the second.

"Then we've got to bring him back to the present," said Taller Sonic, getting ready to start running.

Sonic prepared to get into a starting position as well, but Smaller Sonic darted in front of him and waved at him to stop.

"He's right. You have the same powers as him," Shadow #2 said. "Whatever he's doing, adding your power on top of it will make things worse."

"But-" Sonic protested.

"We'll help him," Taller Sonic assured him with a hand on his shoulder. "Just wait here, okay."

"I… okay," said Sonic reluctantly, but they were already gone.

But it wasn't long until he could see they weren't going to be able to stop him.

Now, if this was a problem that speed could solve, then it wouldn't be an issue. Both the other Sonics and the other Shadow were fast enough to catch up to him.

The problem was that the more Shadow used his power, the less race track there was,and the more it was coated in lightning with the metal floor sizzled with burning heat.

The two Sonics soon had to back off without anywhere to run without scorching their feet and were stuck on a different section, Shadow #2 could stay above the heat with his air shoes, and his teleports let him dodge the lightning, but even he was having difficulty dodging it all and trying to catch up at the same time.

Tails, meanwhile, had his Miles Electric out. "These readings are of the charts," he said worriedly. "I don't know what he's doing, but if he keeps it up, all his energy is going to be absorbed into the machines here, and this whole place is going to overload."

"And what will happen if it loads over?" asked Knuckles, not understanding the more technical side but getting that it was bad.

"Boom!" said Tails, and that was a word they all got immediately.

"Then we're standing on a giant bomb, great," said Batgirl sarcastically, but despite that, none of them moved to leave with the others still in trouble. She then glanced at Sonic and held out her hand, "Rouge the Bat, by the way, I hear you're going by Blue."

"Not my first choice, but yes," said Sonic, shaking her hand, but his eyes were still locked on the road. He watched as Shadow went ever faster, and Shadow #2 had to focus more on avoiding the waves of lightning than catching him.

Realizing he wouldn't reach him in time, Sonic knew he couldn't just stand by. Maybe his powers would make things worse, but if he was fast enough, he might be able to stop it before the boom.

And… even if he wasn't, he'd been through this kind of breakdown before, and he didn't want Shadow to go through it alone.

And so, coating himself in his own powers since they repelled Shadow's before, he prepared to take off once again.

Seeing this, Tails warned, "Sonic, that's a bad idea!"

"When has that ever stopped me?" Sonic replied, then he was off like a shot, running along the wall to avoid the heat. Even as his own powers began sparking along the ground like Shadow's were and added fuel to the machines, he didn't stop running.

This may be a bad idea, but something in him told him it was the right choice.

Seeing this, Knuckles grumbled under his breath. "He is going to get himself, and us, killed."

Stranded on a platform away from all the lightning, the smaller of the other two Sonics spotted him first and pointed him out.

Taller Sonic followed his finger to the electric blue streak shooting down the side of the track and sighed. "Yeah, what can I expect from telling a Sonic to wait? This one is on us," he said with a resigned shrug.

His younger self nodded but still looked concerned.

"You're right. I sure hope he knows what he's doing too," agreed Taller Sonic.

Shadow #2 didn't seem to think so as Sonic caught up to where he was trying to skate along without being fried. "Do you have a death wish?" he asked.

"No, but I know more about my kind of powers than you do," Sonic said back. "From what I've seen, you're not all that lightning-y. How do you plan on getting him to stop?"

"By knocking him out," Shadow #2 said, like that was obvious.

"You don't just knock someone out of a flashback, he'll just panic again when he wakes up, and trust me, that kind of panic leads to all kinds of bad things!" Sonic shouted, aghast. "He's upset! What we need is to calm him down!"

"Then what do you suggest?" said Shadow #2 in a tone that made it clear he was just humoring him just so he could shoot him down.

"I dunno, he's a version of you! You'd know better than me," Sonic replied. "What would calm you down if you were having a panic attack?"

"I don't have panic attacks!" snapped Shadow #2, as if insulted by the idea.

"Okay then, but, hypothetically, if you did, what, hypothetically, would help you?" Sonic asked again, undeterred.

Shadow #2 was silent for a moment as he mulled the question over. "... Follow my lead," he said as he sped up.

Guess he was following Sonic's plan after all.

It was only then that Sonic noticed Shadow #2 didn't have to dodge the gold lightning nearly as much. In fact, the track was almost becoming easier as his blue lightning tangled with the gold and kept it away from them. The track didn't seem as hot too, and he dropped from the wall to run right-side-up again.

Tails, who was frantically working at his computer to find a solution, blinked in surprise at what he saw. "Whoa," he said, drawing Knuckles and Rouge's attention.

The young fox's gaze flicked between the readings on his computer and the scene playing out before him. "I don't believe it! The energy is starting to stabilize. Something about Sonic's power is actually fixing things!"

Rouge hummed thoughtfully. "Well, that power of theirs is Chaos energy, right?" she asked.

Knuckles and Tails exchanged a glance, and Knuckles replied with a wary, "Yes…"

"If I know one thing about Chaos energy (aside from it usually coming from absolutely stunning gems), it's that its effects are fueled by the wishes and willpower of the one using it," said Rouge as she turned to observe the hedgehogs still on the track. "So while little Stripes' powers are being fueled by whatever nightmare he's stuck in, Blue's are fueled by his desire to help."

Tails' eyes widened as he caught on to her theory. "And so their powers are canceling each other out."

Hearing this, Knuckles' eyes flashed red. "Then I best add my own," he said, pounding his fists together to activate his sparks. "Because no one has more willpower than an Echidna Warrior!"

And with that, he jumped down onto a clear patch of the track and punched both his fists into the floor, flooding the racetrack with red lightning flashing like someone had just stuck a fork into an electric socket.

With the red lightning adding to the blue fueling the road, the two powers cut a path through Shadow's gold sparks.

Seeing this, Taller Sonic looked at Smaller Sonic and said, "There's a way through! Let's go!" And the two joined the race once again.

Seeing the other two hedgehogs catch up to them, Shadow #2 sped up so he was just in front of Shadow. "Corral him!" he instructed.

The three Sonics did as he said, with Sonic on the right, Taller Sonic on the left, and Smaller Sonic bringing up the rear, boxing the out-of-control hedgehog in the middle.

"Follow me," Shadow #2 said, swerving them off their race track and further into the Ark.

With the four hedgehogs surrounding him like this was a roller derby and his mind still elsewhere, Shadow didn't have much choice but to go where they wanted him to.

Shadow #2 led them through rooms, labs, and hallways until finally, they came to a room with a giant floor-to-ceiling window taking up almost the entire space, giving a fantastic view of the stars above and the earth below.

Which is amazing because Sonic hadn't even realized this weird chunk of void was set in space. He just thought it was nighttime here.

It seemed Shadow #2's plan worked perfectly, however, as Shadow screeched to a stop the second he saw the window and just gazed out at the stars above.

"Stars… like diamonds…" he muttered to himself in a daze, his powers still crackling around him even as he stood still for a moment, then his legs and powers both seemed to give out at once, and he started to fall backward.

Smaller Sonic was quick to catch him and help him sit down instead, and Taller Sonic moved so he was in Shadow's eyesight but not blocking his view of the stars. "Hey, Stripes," he said in a soothing tone, taking his hand and holding it to his chest. "I need you to do something for me. Feel how I'm breathing? Try and match me, okay? In one, two, three…"

Shadow's breaths were shaky, but eventually, after some coaxing, he was able to match Taller Sonic's breathing.

"That's great," Taller Sonic said encouragingly. "Now, tell me five things you see. Can you do that for me?"

For a long moment, Shadow didn't answer, but then finally said, "... The stars, my double, three of you."

Taller Sonic smiled. "That's great! Now, how about four things you can hear?..."

Taller Sonic went through all five of the senses until the glow faded, and Shadow's eyes were less glassy, but still grief-stricken.

"She was always going to die, wasn't she?" he asked softly, looking at Shadow #2. "I couldn't have stopped it."

Shadow #2 clenched his fists at his words. "I don't believe in fate… but it was always a possibility. If she hadn't been killed in the Ark disaster, there was always a chance her illness could take her from us. I was created in an attempt to cure her, but…" he trailed off, and his face flashed with regret.

Shadow stared out at the stars mournfully. "I don't think mine was sick. She certainly didn't act like it, and the professor would have said something if she was. But even with that, she still died. I can't get her out of my head." He looked at his double for answers. "Does the pain ever go away?"

Shadow #2's eyes widened at the question like it cut something deep inside him. He didn't respond and just turned and walked away.

That was answer enough, but someone still spoke to him anyway. "No, it doesn't."

Everyone left turned to stare at Sonic, who himself was startled that he'd even spoken.

Shadow, meanwhile, looked thoughtful. "You said… your mother died protecting you," he said, remembering their conversation in the caves.

Both of the other Sonics looked like this was news for them, but Sonic needed to focus on comforting Shadow right now. So he took a seat next to the black and red hedgehog and stared out at the stars with him.

"She did," he said slowly. "I still miss her. I was adopted into a new family, a dad, brothers, and Maddie's my new mom now, and she's great, but that doesn't mean I don't still wish Longclaw was here."

From the corner of his eye, he saw Smaller Sonic get a thoughtful look on his face before turning to Taller Sonic and jerking his thumb toward the door. Taller Sonic looked back and forth between him and the pair watching the stars before nodding, and the two left to give them privacy, but not before both blue hedgehogs sent Sonic a thumbs up to wish him luck.

Sonic made a mental note to thank them later.

"The last time I sat beneath stars like this…I was with her. I felt this pain for so long. It's all I know," Shadow said, looking up at the stars with a lost expression.

"When I lost Longclaw…I felt the same way…" Sonic replied quietly.

"It really never goes away?" Shadow asked quietly, as if hoping for a different answer.

"No," Sonic admitted, looking over at him. "But in time, I learned there's something even more powerful than pain. The love we felt for each other. That's what you need to hold onto, Shadow. Your Maria might be gone, but your love will always remain."

Shadow was silent for a long moment, long enough for the two of them to see the planet beneath them shift enough that they could see the sunrise breaking over the edge.

And with that beautiful sight, something in Shadow seemed to click. "The light shines even when the star is gone…" he said under his breath.

It was then Sonic knew Shadow would be okay as they watched the start of a new day.

Also, he'd made a new friend, and he stayed by his side while his friend finally allowed himself to grieve.

Sonic watched Blue and Stripes from around the corner and couldn't help the smile on his face when he saw them start to perk up.

"They'll be okay," he said to Mini-Me.

Mini-Me glanced up at him and gave him a look and shrug.

"Yeah, I dunno who Longclaw is either. Sounds like we have a mom in his world. Two moms, if I'm hearing right," Sonic replied. "Poor kid for losing one of them, though."

Mini-Me nodded in agreement. Then, he glanced at Stripes and then back at him.

"Tough to say," Sonic replied. "Looks like those two have a good chance of being friends, but for Shadow and me, well, let's just say I'd consider him my friend, but I don't think he sees me as one of his. Or if he does, he'd never admit it."

Mini-Me looked disappointed.

"Eh, it's not so bad," Sonic replied. "We're rivals at the very least, and we still respect each other. I trust him. And let me tell you, he is fun to race."

Mini-Me bounced on his feet, looking excited. Then a considering look flashed across his face and he cocked his head questioningly.

"Hmm, you'd have to talk to Tails and Lil'Tails to answer that, or maybe even Silver," Sonic said thoughtfully. "Given this time monster nonsense and you getting a peek at what's to come, who's to say your future will be the same as mine." He then grinned and flashed Mini-Me a thumbs up. "So if you can change things, give it a shot. Try and be your Shadow's friend, he needs more of those."

Mini-Me bounced and gave a determined look, then he raised an eyebrow in challenge.

Sonic had to laugh. "Alright, alright, I'll try harder too. I mean, I did hear that Rouge gave him an invite to my birthday party. Maybe once we clear all this up, he'll actually go."

Mini-Me gave a thumbs up, then took off to find Rouge, Miles, and Red to let them know Blue and Stripes were alright.

Sonic, however, had someone else to find. If he was going to start trying, he might as well start now.

He ran until he reached a room full of escape pods, with Shadow just staring off into space near the release controls.

"Man, those kids you found are really something else," Sonic said as he walked over to where Shadow was brooding.

Shadow grunted and turned away from the controls. "I didn't bring them here, they're the ones who followed me."

"Hey, if Blue or Mini-Me just showed up in our world, then suddenly ran off into a portal, I'd follow them too," said Sonic with a shrug. "They sure have made a splash since they arrived. Not that I'm complaining. That blast of theirs freed everyone the monster snatched up. The sooner they're not frozen in time, the better."

"They are a colorful bunch," Shadow agreed reluctantly.

"Really, Shadow, how'd they get here?" Sonic asked, a little more serious this time. "I know you can sneak around like no one else except maybe Rouge or Espio. If you didn't want them to know you were there, they wouldn't. You showed yourself to them for a reason. Why?"

Shadow was silent for a long moment. Long enough that Sonic was starting to think he was just ignoring him until he went away.

Then, finally, he said, "... When I saw them, they were enacting our first meeting."

"Oh, you mean when you stole an emerald, got me blamed for a bunch of crimes, and then set me up to be arrested?" Sonic teased.

Shadow smirked at that. "If you didn't want to be arrested, you should have run away faster." He then turned serious. "My Counterpart had just awakened from his slumber. I didn't want him to repeat my mistakes."

"So you intervened," said Sonic, beginning to understand.

"I attempted to, for all the good it did," Shadow admitted. "I know now his Professor Robotnik did not tamper with his memories as our version did to me, and it seems that while his Eggman may still be responsible for his awakening, the doctor was not present when it happened. He awoke angry, grieving, and alone, but not with the desire to end the world. Who knows if he still would have chosen revenge as I did. He may be a version of me, but in many ways, he is soft."

"Literally," Sonic joked before adding in a more subdued tone, "But, seriously, being soft isn't always a bad thing. It's a good thing what you tried to do for him, and who knows, maybe bringing them here is a good thing too."

Shadow snorted. "Unlikely. Thus far, they've just been a nuisance."

"Guess time will tell," Sonic said. "For now, I'm going to focus on getting the rest of the emeralds with Mini-Me. Want me to have them tag along?"

"Do what you will, but Black Doom is mine," Shadow said, turning to leave.

"I'll take that as a yes," said Sonic. "Pretty sure I saw Silver with one earlier in the distance, but you were closer. Guess I better take the kids to meet him. Blaze is supposed to be there with him too. Everyone else split off to search."

Shadow didn't acknowledge him and just left the room.

Sonic watched him go. Well, it was a start. A whole conversation without a scathing remark at each other. Maybe there was hope for them yet.

That, or he was more rattled by the Black Doom thing and seeing Stripes's breakdown than he was letting on. Sonic resolved to ask Rouge to keep an eye on it, just in case. He trusted Shadow would be able to handle anything the alien warlord threw at him, but a little backup never hurt either.

With that in mind, Sonic took off to find Rouge, Mini-Me, and the rest of the Fuzzy Brigade. Those emeralds weren't going to find themselves.

Meanwhile, with the doctors Eggman…

"What! We just fixed it!" cried the younger Dr. Eggman when all their machines suddenly went haywire a second time. Looking at his older self, he asked, "Was there another pulse?"

The older Dr. Eggman tried to take a reading, but that was going just as haywire as the rest of their creations. "No, no pulse, this seems more like a continuous stream of interfering energy. Likely from the same source as the previous pulse."

"Sonic again?" Younger Eggman asked, agast.

"Undoubtedly," Older Eggman replied.

The two could do nothing but try and fix things until the energy finally subsided, shutting all their electronics off along with it.

Older Eggman groaned and rubbed his forehead. "I hate that hedgehog."

Chapter Text

Amy watched as both Tails and his younger self struggled to get their equipment up and running again.

Whatever had caused that EMP earlier had started up again, not in a short burst this time but in a continuous buzz this time, making everyone's fur stand on end and all their electronics go crazy before promptly dying all at once.

"At least it's over," Lil'Tails said, smoothing his fur down now that the constant feeling of static electricity was no longer filling the air.

"But will it stay that way?" asked Amy, who had stuck by the two of them to watch their backs (and trusting the Chaotix to do the same for Cream and Cheese). She was struggling to style her quills back into their headband from where they started sticking up. "I don't think my quills can take another treatment like that."

"It doesn't look bad," Lil'Tails said. "It makes you look like you do in our time."

Amy sent Lil'Tails a smile. "That's sweet, but I prefer my quills this way now. It's cute, right?"

Lil'Tails nodded innocently as only a kid could be. "Yeah, you look pretty."

Amy smiled, pleased. "Aww, thank you." She sent her Tails a look to silently ask 'Why aren't you this sweet anymore?'

Tails, meanwhile, didn't see her look and sighed in frustration when he couldn't get his Miles Electric to turn on again. "It's like the battery has been completely drained," he said. "I'll need to find something to charge it up again."

"Maybe Sonic could do it with the Chaos Emeralds he's already collected," suggested Amy.

"That might be our best bet," Tails agreed. "Everything else electronic just shorts out whenever that whatever-that-was happens."

"So the emeralds might be the only source of power around that doesn't tap out," Lil'Tails said, seeing where he was going.

"Yeah, and if it does, then we have even bigger problems," Tails agreed, no doubt remembering the last time the emeralds had lost their luster. Things were weird enough without adding a werehog to the mix (though it would be nice to see Chip again).

"Then leave it to me," said Amy proudly. "If anyone knows how to always find Sonic, it's yours truly."

"That explains a lot," Tails and Lil'Tails said in unison.

Amy turned in a slow circle, examining the White Space in each direction, before jabbing her finger in one.

"That way!" she said.

With the Miles Electric down, they didn't have any other options but to follow Amy's intuition.

And yet, defying all logic, soon enough, they saw a blue hedgehog in the distance standing under the trees of a portion of Seaside Hill.

Amy squealed in delight and then ran and threw her arms around him. "I found you, Sonic!" she said.

Her joy was short-lived, as the hedgehog in her arms went stiff as a board, and a small cough off to the side caught her attention.

"Uh, Amy," said Sonic's voice, but not from the 'Sonic' in her arms.

Amy froze with a blue hedgehog still in her arms and turned to look, praying she at least had gotten Mini-Sonic. A Sonic is a Sonic, right?

No such luck, as she turned to see both Sonic and Mini-Sonic standing there, next to what looked like Knuckles, Shadow, and… Tails? But she thought both Tails were behind her?

She had an audience… great…

Amy went beet-red under her fur and shoved the hedgehog she was hugging away with a cry of, "Oh, not again!"

And now Mini-Sonic was laughing at her. Her poor younger self was going to have to deal with him teasing her over something she hadn't even done yet once time was set right.

… Then again, her younger self would probably just be glad for the attention, if she was being honest.

"On the bright side, Amy, you at least got a Sonic this time," her time's Sonic said, though it was clear from his voice he was laughing at her too.

Still, it took Amy a second to register what he said and take a closer look at the hedgehog she'd hugged.

It was… Sonic! But Sonic if he was fluffy and absolutely-

"CUTE!" Amy couldn't help but squeal, reaching over to cup the new Sonic's face in her hands and take a closer look.

The new Sonic, who had been giving her a deer-in-the-headlights stare, blushed and turned absolutely flustered under her attention. "Uh… meow!" he was able to say.

"I love what you do with your fur," Amy said, still examining him. "What conditioner do you use? It's so soft."

"L-L'Oréal, because I'm worth it," the new Sonic quipped before immediately smacking himself in the forehead and looking embarrassed.

Behind him, Knuckles and Tails(?) were laughing at him. Meanwhile, Shadow was staring at her like he'd never seen another hedgehog before. Come to think of it, New Sonic was looking at her like that, too.

"Uh, Amy," said the voice of Lil'Tails behind her (she knew he was behind her! What was going on?). "Maybe you should let him go."

Amy, realizing what she'd been doing, quickly stepped out of his space. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!"

"I- uh- it's alright," New Sonic said, still flustered. "Hugs are nice."

"Ah, yes, she hugged you," said Knuckles (New Knuckles? Not the one she knew at least. Too fuzzy.) with a wicked smirk on his face as he slung his arm around New Sonic's shoulder. "By ancient hedgehog customs, that means you now must marry her."

Both New Sonic and Shadow's heads snapped around to look at the echidna in shock. "WHAT!?" they both cried.

New Knuckles immediately burst into guffaws, clueing them in that he was pulling their legs. New Sonic had a deadpan expression as he stepped out from under the echidna's arm, and he fell to the ground still laughing.

('If only it was that easy to marry Sonic,' Amy mused to herself. Then again, that meant she'd also be married to both Shadow and Silver at this point.)

New Tails also fought down a snicker but tried to scold the echidna. "Come on, Knuckles, they can't help they were raised by humans."

"Yeah, give me a break, I haven't seen another hedgehog like me since I was, like, a baby, and now suddenly we're all over the place," New Sonic said, miffed.

"I didn't even think there was anything else like me," said Shadow, who was… actually agreeing with Sonic for once… This was definitely not the Shadow she knew.

As Amy took in that information, the Tails she knew spoke up. "Uh, Sonic, what's going on?" he asked, eyeing the new fluffy version of himself curiously. All three versions of Tails stepped over to face each other with identical curious expressions like they were some fascinating new thing to study and holding out a hand like they wanted to poke each other to see if they were real.

(New Sonic snorted into his fist. "They're doing the Spider-Man meme!" he giggled.)

As if to answer that question, the time monster appeared through a portal, swooped in over their heads, making them all duck and try to shield their youngests, before it opened another portal and vanished.

Watching it go with a frown, Sonic explained, "Turns out that monster can punch holes through dimensions along with time and space. Shadow found these four while poking around, and they followed him back here."

He then waved at them and said, "Guys, these are Blue, Miles, Red, and Stripes. Turns out they're the ones who did that energy pulse."

"To be clear, those are just nicknames forced on us to prevent confusion," said New Sonic, who was obviously Blue.

Despite that, Shadow-Stripes still looked confused. "When did this get decided? And whose bright idea was it to name me Stripes?"

Blue avoided his gaze. "No idea. I would have called you something cooler."

"Like what?" asked Stripes, curious.

"I dunno, like Neo? Or Wick? Your voice reminds me of Keanu Reeves," said Blue.

"Who's Keanu Reeves?" Stripes asked, bewildered.

Blue gasped, then looked very excited. "Oh, there are so many more movies you've just got to see!"

"Maybe not Neo. Metal Sonic has dibs on that name," Tails pointed out.

"Uh… who?" asked Blue, and from the bewildered looks on the newcomers' faces, none of them had any clue who or what Metal Sonic was.

Rather than explain, Sonic just snickered and then gestured to his friends, "Fuzzy Brigade, I'd like you to meet my friends. You of course know Tails and Lil'Tails, but this is my friend Amy."

"Amy Rose," Amy said with a little curtsy. "It's nice to meet you."

With introductions out of the way, Tails had questions. "So wait, you guys were responsible for that weird energy?"

"Yes, it is a simple feat with our awesome power, of which mine is most impressive," said Red, pumping his fist into the air.

"Then you did do it?" asked Lil'Tails. "How? Did you use a Chaos Emerald?"

"Uh, nope, no way, those things are for emergency use only. Like, armageddon end-of-the-world scenarios," said Blue, crossing his arms in a big X.

"They are sealed away behind the greatest defense we can muster back in our world," agreed Red solemnly.

"What's a… Chaos Emerald?" asked Stripes, looking confused.

There was a brief pause as Amy and her friends all stared at him for that question.

Shadow? Any version of him? Not knowing what a Chaos Emerald was? But he was one of the best Chaos users among them and knew tricks with the emeralds none of them had even seen before he used them!

To answer his question, Mini-Sonic reached into his quills and pulled out the emerald he'd already collected from fighting Metal Sonic and held it up for Stripes to see.

"Whoa!" said all the dimensional travelers, not just Stripes.

"That's what Chaos Emeralds look like for you?" asked Blue in surprise.

"It's huge!" Miles said in awe. "It's almost the size of the Master Emerald!"

("What's the Master Emerald?" Stripes asked quietly behind them.

"The lost artifact my people sought to find, and I succeeded in locating, as I told you during our conversation in the caves," Red explained to him, making Stripes nod in thanks.)

Amy stared at Miles at that description. "Wait, how big are they in your dimension?" she asked.

Miles just looked at Blue for the answer, and the hedgehog held up his fingers decently far apart, but still showing a small size. "About yay big, like the size of a ping-pong ball."

That's… small.

"And what's the size of the Master Emerald?" asked Amy.

"It is this size," Red said, holding up his hands to about the size of his own head, if a little smaller. "Why, how big is your Master Emerald?"

Amy and her friends all exchanged a look at that.

Then Tails pointed over to the chunk of City Escape just past Seaside Hill. "You see those cars over there?" he asked.

The dimension jumpers looked over and nodded.

"Bigger than that," Tails said.

"I see," said Red thoughtfully. "It must be a wondrous sight."

"Yeah, but it also sounds a lot harder to hide," Blue said. "We'd have to have Tails renovate our garage with tons of boobytraps to protect something that size."

"I mean… we could still do that," said Miles, looking interested and pulling out his Miles Electric to take notes.

Seeing Red also warming up to the idea, Blue quickly interjected, "Oooh no, remember what happened last time you tried to renovate. I'm shocked you're not still grounded."

Really, 'grounded'? Who could ground Knuckles?

"Back to my previous question," Tails interjected before Red could argue. "How did you cause that power surge if you don't have an emerald?"

"And do you know how to fix it?" asked Lil'Tails.

"I mean, you have to, right?" agreed Tails, gesturing at Miles's computer. "I haven't been able to get my Miles Electric to turn on since the last one, but yours seems to run fine."

"Oh, that's easy," said Miles. He then glanced over at Blue and Red and asked, "Do you mind?"

Blue just smiled and reached up to his head, plucked a quill free, and handed it to Miles.

Miles took the quill and pulled a pair of wire cutters out of his backpack, and clipped it into smaller pieces. "Can I see your Miles Electric?" he then asked Tails.

Completely lost on what he was doing, Tails handed his device over, and they all watched as Miles popped open the back and switched the batteries with the clipped-to-fit quill pieces.

Then, with just a little more fiddling, Miles handed the computer back to the other two Tails. "There, that should do it."

Tails looked dubious. "But there're no batteries. And why did you put Blue's quill in there?"

But Lil'Tails attempted to turn it on regardless, and to both foxes' shock, the Miles Electric started up right away.

"What?" Tails asked. "How? Did you switch out the quill with real batteries when we weren't looking? Is this some kind of secret trick of yours?"

"No, the quill is the battery," Miles said. "That energy you were talking about before. It comes from them."

"He's right," Sonic agreed. "I saw it myself. They can use Chaos Energy without needing an emerald. It just comes naturally to them."

"Like what Shadow can do?" asked Amy curiously.

"Like Shadow minus his inhibitor rings if they really get going," Sonic described. "Except that's still them with the rings on."

Amy turned to stare and saw Red puff up proudly, Blue look sheepish but also proud, and Stripes fiddled with his own inhibitor rings, which were still firmly on his wrists.

Tails looked down at some readings on his repaired Miles Electric and had to nod. "Okay, that would explain the crazy energy."

Lil'Tails looked up at the dimension traveler and asked, "So… you guys are like living Chaos Emeralds?" he asked curiously.

"That is an apt description," said Red thoughtfully. "Though the power of the emeralds still far surpasses our own."

"Speaking of emeralds," Tails piped up. "The others have found some, but they can't reach them.

"And Knuckles is keeping watch on one of them for u-" Amy started to say, but before she could finish, Red was in her face looking eager.

"Where? Where is my Counterpart?" he asked, gripping her shoulders in excitement.

"B-By the big gold gears," Amy said, startled but pointing in the right direction.

Red turned to see the gears she was talking about. "My battle with destiny awaits!" he shouted and raced off, leaving red lightning in his wake.

"Should… we be worried about that?" asked Amy.

"Um… depends on how eager your Knuckles is to fight him back," said Miles.

"He hasn't shut up about fighting him since we got here and found out it was a possibility," added Stripes.

"He also wants to fight you, by the way," Blue added to Stripes.

"Really, I couldn't tell with how he attacked me when we first met," said Stripes sarcastically.

"Yeah… he does that. Did that to me when we met, too," said Blue while scratching the back of his head.

"Same with ours," said Sonic. "I was even Super when it happened. He knocked the emeralds right out of me and everything."

Mini-Sonic nodded and rubbed his stomach where Knuckles had socked him on their first meeting.

"Did he attack you, too?" Lil'Tails asked Miles.

Miles scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously. "Eh-he-he, uh, no. We met when I, um… I hit him with a car."

Everyone turned to stare at the fluffy fox.

"He was okay," Miles quickly said.

"In his defense, Knuckles was strangling me at the time because it was just after he and I had just met. That's how all three of us met, really," said Blue.

"Brutal," said Stripes, but it was clear from his tone that he approved. Though, if he approved of Red strangling Blue or Miles hitting Red with a car, or both was unclear.

"Don't worry about it," Sonic assured him with a grin. "Most of my friends have tried to kill me at least once. It's a bonding experience."

Both Mini-Me and Blue did double-takes and exchanged a dubious glance upon hearing that.

"So what you're saying is, the chances of those two attacking each other on sight is high, right?" said Amy.

Mini-Sonic sent her a look, making it clear he was wondering why she was even bothering to ask something so obvious.

"Great," said Amy as she looked where Red had run off, and had a sinking feeling Knuckles would not appreciate the greeting that awaited him, but maybe it'd be good for both of them to have a taste of their own medicine.

"So, wanna see who wins?" asked Sonic.

"Uh, yeah," said Blue, like that was obvious.

"Then let's go," said Sonic as he took off, and everyone followed after him at their own speeds.

If nothing else, this was sure to be interesting.

Knuckles glared up at the lifeless Chaos Emerald just out of reach amongst the giant formation of gears floating in the middle of the White Space.

In the middle of the gears was a portal that had at one point led to a fight with Perfect Chaos. But the fight itself had been interrupted by the Shockwave, leaving Perfect Chaos unable to continue, and it retreated beneath the ocean depths.

This was a problem because, as near as he could tell, in order for the Chaos Emerald to be retrieved, there had to be a battle fought within the portal, and the emerald would go to the winner. Without one, the emerald would remain locked in place and frozen in time.

So unless Perfect Chaos got a second wind, someone else would have to fight in the flooded remains of Station Square to fulfill the terms of release.

Now, Knuckles was always willing to throw down, but it needed to be against a strong enough opponent to qualify. The Sonics were always an option, but because of their friendship, he doubted the blue hedgehogs would take the fight against him seriously, nor would they be eager to have a flooded wasteland as their battleground.

If they succeeded in finding Shadow, then that was also an option, but Knuckles was well aware that there was still a slight chance that the Ultimate Lifeform would win that fight, and then who knows what he'd do with the emerald. Sonic may trust him, but Knuckles still had his doubts.

Silver and Blaze were also options and more trustworthy in Knuckles' opinion, but so far, no one had been able to track them down, though the Chaotix had reported they were getting close. The two of them were the most ideal out of his current options, but until they were found, it couldn't be helped.

Knuckles sighed and wished not for the first time that his own younger self had appeared in the void like Sonic and Tails' had. A fight against himself would be just what he needed to free the emerald.

Just as he was considering moving on to try and find someone, his fur stood on end, and he had to dodge to the side to avoid a fire-covered fist striking the ground where he'd just been standing.

He brought up his fists, ready to fight his attacker, and was shocked to see another echidna crouched where he had been, grinning up at him in anticipation.

"Counterpart," said the echidna, who looked like a slightly younger and fuzzier version of himself. "I seek trial by combat to see which of us is the stronger warrior, as our ancestors have done for generations."

Knuckles just blinked at him for a second as what he was seeing registered. This wasn't his younger self, but he was also not not a version of himself. This was another Knuckles for sure, but it was for sure not him.

Thankfully, Sonic appeared a second later. "Hey, Knux, have you met your dimensional counterpart already? We're calling him Red," he said as Mini-Sonic, another Sonic, and a version of Shadow appeared as well, with three sets of Tails and (thankfully) one Amy closing in too.

Oh, that made sense.

Finally understanding what happened, Knuckles felt a grin of anticipation spread across his face. "I accept your challenge," he said as the others finally reached them. "Get ready, kid, I won't hold back."

"You would dishonor yourself if you dared," said Red, cracking his knuckles excitedly.

Knuckles laughed. "Oh, I like you kid. Just one thing, we fight in there," he said, pointing toward the clockwork portal.

Red peered past him and into the portal. "Why? Is there a proper arena beyond?"

"Not really. It's a mess in there, but-" Knuckles jerked his thumb up at the frozen emerald. "-the emerald won't get free without a battle taking place inside. And since Sonic screwed up the fight that was already in there-"

"Hey!" squawked Sonic.

"-Then we'll have to be the replacement," said Knuckles. He then smirked at Red and added, "Think you can be enough of a challenge?"

Red was literally glowing in anticipation. "I will be the greatest challenge you have ever faced, Counterpart," he said. His head then snapped to the side, and he barked, "Fox!"

One of the versions of Tails stood at attention.

"Play my jam!" Red demanded with a fierce grin.

'Fox' rolled his eyes but pulled out his Miles Electric. "Playing The Warrior by Scandal, featuring Patty Smyth," the computer said in an automated voice, and the opening notes of guitars, drums, and a woman's crooning wail began playing over its speakers.

Hearing this, Red charged through the portal, and Knuckles hurried behind.

So his counterpart liked to fight to music? Not Knuckles' first choice, but he could see the appeal. Also, he could already tell this was a good song.

This was going to be fun.

From atop one of the less destroyed buildings, the recently dubbed Lil'Tails watched in awe as both versions of Knuckles clashed all across the ruined city. He knew Knuckles was strong. The version in his time had been able to beat Super Sonic in one punch, after all. But seeing it in action was something else.

"So cool," Tails said to his Sonic as they watched.

Sonic looked between him and the fight before rolling his eyes and thumping his chest.

"You're cool too, Sonic," Tails assured him. "But you don't fight like this."

Sonic looked over to where Red was using his lightning power to supercharge a massive steel beam and throw it like a javelin towards Knuckles, who blocked it with an entire chunk of a building. Red then tried smashing straight through the building, only to be hit by an uppercut by Knuckles that sent him flying, but Red still managed to kick Knuckles in the head on his way up. The two took only a second to nurse their respective head injuries before going after each other again.

Sonic slumped and pouted, making Tails laugh. "I know you could do all that if you were Super. But they're not super right now. That's what makes it cool."

Sonic pouted even harder.

"Don't worry, Mini-Me," said Big Sonic, having seen their conversation. "You'll get a shot to be the strong one out of super mode someday. Until then, just enjoy the show and the music."

Sonic looked curious but did as he said and watched as the echidnas got tired of throwing buildings at each other and were on a sturdier section of wreckage, duking it out with martial arts filled with awesome flying fists and kicks. His eyes narrowed, and he crossed his arms in resignation.

Tails snickered, knowing his Sonic had been forced to admit both Knuckles were cool. But he would never in a million years admit it to any version of the echidna.

"Whooo! Go Knuckles!" Blue was cheering loudly off to the right. "Wachowski family for the win!"

"You Go! Bro!" Miles cheered alongside him, holding up his Miles Electric at top volume to play Red's song.

The battle honestly seemed endless until the both of them swung the strongest haymaker they could at each other (Red's fists were even on fire during it) and managed to knock each other clean out.

"So wait, it's a tie?" asked Big Tails. "Will that even count?"

It seems it did, as both Knuckles stirred after a moment to see the Chaos Emerald floating in the middle of them, having been granted to them both.

Seeing the fight was over, everyone hurried down from where they were spectating to congratulate them.

"Nice job, Knuckles," said Big Sonic when he reached him. "That was a heck of a fight."

"I'll say," Knuckles agreed, rubbing his new set of bruises but looking thrilled. "That kid packs a punch. And that lightning, if I wasn't so used to the energy the Master Emerald gives off, that would sting a lot more."

His counterpart, however, did not seem so happy. "Leave me to my shame, Brothers," Red said when Blue and Miles helped him to his feet.

"Shame?" Miles asked, bewildered and pulling Red upright. "What do you mean 'shame'? That was awesome! You were incredible!"

"I failed to secure victory," Red said, looking despondent. "And that brings great shame upon myself and our tribe."

"Knuckles, you may not have won, but you sure didn't lose. I mean, you were fighting yourself," Blue said, gesturing at Knuckles and making it clear he thought Red's moping was ridiculous. "If anything, it proves that no one can beat you. Not even you!"

That perked Red up immediately, and he laughed. "That is true! No one is stronger than the greatest warrior in the galaxy. Today, I have proven my might across all universes! Come, brothers, we must celebrate!"

"Wachowski family power bump?" said Miles, holding out his fist.

"Wachowski family power bump!" cheered Blue, meeting his fist with his own.

"Power bump!" Red agreed, adding his own fist to the mix.

"One, two, three, WACHOWSKI!" the three cheered, throwing their hands into the air.

However, their words caught Knuckles' attention. "Wait, Brothers? Tribe? Wachowski?" he asked, staring at the three of them.

Red looked over at him. "Yes, they are my brothers. We were all adopted by the Lord of Donuts and the Lady of Pretzels, and our tribe lives together in House Wachowski of the Hills of Green."

"Knuckles decided to keep his last name to honor his people, but all of us are the proudly adopted Wachowski brothers," said Blue with finger guns.

"So that's the better last name you mentioned," Big Sonic said to Miles, and the fox nodded.

Knuckles, however, looked scandalized. "You live with them? What about the Master Emerald? What about Angel Island?" he asked, his good mood from the fight having seemingly evaporated.

Tails was wondering that too, as was everyone else. The Knuckles of his time cared so much about the Master Emerald and Angel Island that the idea of him ever living anywhere else was blasphemy. Even if his future version seemed to have loosened up to leave the island for short periods, there was no doubt that he would always return.

But at the question, Blue looked confused, Stripes looked grumpy and lost as to what they were even talking about, and Miles just looked curious. "What's Angel Island?" the latter asked, voicing a question it was clear all of them had.

Knuckles looked like someone had just hit him harder than Red had. "WHAT'S ANGEL ISLAND?! What do you mean 'What's Angel Island?' How can you not know Angel Island?!"

It was Red who answered the question. "Angel Island was the ancestral home of my people. A floating paradise of untold wonder, but it was lost along with the Master Emerald," he explained to his brothers.

Knuckles was aghast. "What? You lost Angel Island?" he accused furiously. "Bad enough you lost the Master Emerald, how do you lose an entire island? Did you at least get the Master Emerald back?"

Red looked indignant. "I did not lose it. Angel Island was lost long before I was born. When the Owl Tribes stole the Master Emerald from my ancestors, the island was claimed by the ocean, never to be seen again. My people were nomadic ever since, seeking to reclaim the Master Emerald, even if they could never again reclaim their homeland."

Miles' eyes lit up as he seemed to realize something. "And that's why you used to say Echidna Warriors don't have homes!" he said.

Knuckles looked just plain horrified to hear this.

Blue, meanwhile, looked guilty. "Oh boy, should I, like, apologize for that? You know, for Longclaw and her people? Do something to make up for it?"

"Longclaw?" asked Amy.

"His mother. She died protecting him," Stripes answered bluntly, but quietly enough that Blue didn't hear him.

Amy looked sorry she asked.

Red, meanwhile, looked over at Blue and shook his head. "It had nothing to do with you," he replied. "It had nothing even to do with Longclaw, as it was long before even her time. As her apprentice, you have already paid recompense by joining me in my duty to reclaim and guard the Master Emerald and by giving me something no Echidna Warrior has had in centuries. A home."

Blue scuffed his foot and looked down. "Still, I'm sorry Longclaw's people pulled an Atlantis on yours."

Knuckles, however, still had questions. "But wait, but if you're all here, then who's guarding the Emerald?"

"Oh, good thing Rouge isn't here to hear that," said Big Tails quietly.

But Red had an answer for him. "In my absence, it is in the care of my apprentice, who is true of heart and will stop at nothing to see it defended. He vowed to me he would protect the emerald with his life."

Knuckles was about to say something to that, but paused, then in a considering tone, said, "Huh… an apprentice… Why didn't I ever think of that?"

Red shrugged. "Fret not, it was not my idea, either. I was sent a vision of Chief Pachacamac encouraging me to take him on. My chosen apprentice does not appear to be much, but his loyalty is unmatched. If you take one on, choose one who will never betray you."

Knuckles nodded. "It's something to think about. Don't think I'm ready for a step like that, but maybe someday in the future."

Big Sonic, meanwhile, looked dubious. "Isn't Chief Pachacamac the guy who made Chaos go on a rampage in the past?" he whispered to Big Tails. "Should Knuckles really trust that guy's advice?"

Big Tails shrugged. "I don't know, we only really saw him at his worst. Maybe he was wiser in their world," he whispered back.

"Or at least with the Master Emerald stolen, he couldn't make Chaos angry," added Amy softly.

Tails shared a look with Sonic, wondering who all these people were. Guess they would find out in their future.

Seeing the discussion whittle down, Sonic took charge and went over to collect the emerald the echidnas had won.

"One more emerald down," said Big Sonic when he saw him do so. "Just a few more, and we can take down that monster."

"How many more do we need?" asked Amy.

Sonic held up two fingers for her to see.

"Three if we count the one Shadow is borrowing for now," Big Sonic added. "Pretty sure Silver has one, and I think I saw the last one is stuck behind another of these clockwork portals."

"Well, let's just hope whatever's behind that portal didn't get shut down by the shockwave, too," said Knuckles, focusing on the present. "If not, some of us will have to fight each other, and I don't think it can be the same two people again, as fun as that would be."

"Our bad," said Blue sheepishly.

"It is a shame," agreed Red, but something seemed to occur to him, and he turned to Stripes. "Although, perhaps if it is, I can finally do battle with the More Impressive Hedgehog?" he asked, sounding eager.

"Dude!" Blue squawked.

"I'll think about it," said Stripes with a smirk.

"Wouldn't you two clashing just make another shockwave?" Miles asked.

"Oh, that is likely correct," said Red, disappointed. "Another time, Impressive Hedgehog."

"I'll be waiting," agreed Stripes.

"I am still right here!" Blue protested but sounded resigned at this point.

Big Sonic laughed and put an arm around Blue. "Sorry, kid, it's big brother's prerogative to mess with the younger ones. Get used to it."

Sonic grinned and wrapped his arm around Tails in agreement.

Blue scoffed and glanced at Miles.

"Don't even think about it," the fuzzy fox said warningly.

"Yeah, mess with us at your own risk," said Big Tails.

"Got that right," Tails agreed, giving his Sonic a look.

Sonic just grinned back.

Knuckles, however, frowned at the four dimension travelers and asked, "So wait, does that mean he's your brother too?" he asked, pointing at Stripes.

Stripes looked startled at the question, and the other three shrugged.

"I mean, if he wants to be?" said Blue.

Stripes looked even more startled hearing that, and his head snapped around to stare at them.

Seeing he wasn't about to answer any time soon, Miles shrugged. "Just think about it."

"The offer shall remain open," added Red.

Stripes just continued staring like he didn't know what to think. "You just met me!" he said.

"So?" asked the Wachowski brothers, not seeing a problem.

"Yeah, I adopted Tails in, like, the first five minutes of knowing him," agreed Big Sonic, not seeing any problems.

Sonic nodded in agreement while pointing at Tails.

Truthfully, Tails didn't see the problem either. That's just how families found each other, right? They saw someone and thought, 'That's my brother now' and became a family. Stripes was just weird.

At that moment, the ground under Tails' feet started to crumble away, and he had to catch himself in the air with his tails before he could fall in the water.

Sonic quickly hurried over and dragged him towards more stable ground, but the whole event just reminded them all that they were still in the remains of a flooded city.

"Come on," Big Sonic said, waving for them to follow him. "Those emeralds won't find themselves. And the sooner we get out of this place, the better."

With a nod, the rest of them hurried back to the portal to the White Space.

Time to get out of here.

Chapter Text

They returned to the white void without much trouble, but before anything else could be said, two new voices rang out.

"Mister Sonic!"

"Hey guys! There you are!"

Sonic looked up. "Charmy, Cream, Cheese!" he called as he saw them flying towards their group.

As they got close, Charmy stopped in the air at the sight of them and said, "Whoa, how'd you get to be so many?"

"Dimension travel," said Sonic, who was getting tired of explaining the dimension travelers every time, and decided it would be better to next say it to everyone at once. "But never mind that, what's got you two in such a rush?"

"Is everything alright?" asked Amy.

Cream was quick to land in front of them. "Mister Vector and Mister Espio say they found Mister Silver and Miss Blaze," she said.

"Chao, chao," agreed Cheese, pointing the way.

("Whoa, an actual Chao," Miles whispered behind them in awe. "I thought they were just a restaurant mascot.")

"They're up ahead in that place that looks like a city on fire," added Charmy. "Vector and Espio wouldn't let us go in. They said there was too much broken glass and rusty metal. Oh, and fire, way too much fire."

"Smart on their parts," said Amy, approvingly. "I'd have to give them a talking-to if they let you into a place like that."

"Still, that's great!" said Sonic, giving them thumbs up. "Let's go find them."

"You guys go find them," said Knuckles. "While you do that, I'll take a look at that last Chaos Emerald."

"Sounds good, meet you there," said Sonic as they parted ways.

It didn't take long to find the place Charmy was talking about. Sat in the middle of the White Space was a large chunk of what used to be a city, but the entire place was a burning wreckage.

Amy examined it and said, "I'm going to stay outside with Cream, Charmy, and all the Tails. That place is way too dangerous for them."

Cream, Charmy, and Lil'Tails didn't seem to mind this decision, but Miles and Tails both looked miffed. "Hey!" they both cried.

"It's not that I don't think you two could handle it," said Amy. "But I know you, Tails. You'll want to find out how and why that city's on fire, and that would just get the two of you into trouble. And I'm willing to bet Miles is the same way."

"He is," said Blue and Red, throwing their brother under the bus.

Both versions of Tails pouted but couldn't argue with that.

Sonic turned to the other three members of the Fuzzy Brigade. "You three don't have to come," he said. "You could probably catch up to Knuckles if you wanted to."

Blue shook his head. "You said your friends are in there, right? I wanna know who they are so I can meet them in our dimension if we can."

Red nodded in agreement. "I also wish to continue on to meet your companions and judge who else would be worthy, either as an opponent or an ally."

But Stripes just stared at the fire with a haunted look on his face. "I'll… I'll stay behind," he said slowly. "To protect the others," he added, though it was clear he was making excuses. But whether it was to convince the rest of them or himself, Sonic didn't know. "The monster you say is responsible for this time anomaly is still around, as well as that Black Doom person my double was worried about."

"Wait, Black Doom is back? Here?" asked Amy in surprise and slight worry, summoning her hammer in a flash of pink as if the alien warlord would appear any second.

The dimensional travelers all took note of the hammer and looked impressed.

Lil'Tails, however, looked confused at the name, so Mini-Sonic pointed out the creepy eyeball-moon in the sky, making the little fox jump in fright.

"Guess that explains why Shadow still needs an emerald," said Tails, looking up at it as well.

Blue and Red, meanwhile, were looking at Stripes in concern, but Miles gave them an encouraging look and waved them on, indicating he would keep an eye on the fuzzy Ultimate Lifeform.

"Okay," said Blue. "Be careful. I'm trusting you to watch Tails."

"Worry about yourselves," Stripes replied, trying to play it cool, but they could all tell it was bothering him. "You're the ones going into an inferno."

Mini-Me gave him a thumbs up, taking that as a challenge, before running off ahead.

"We'll be fine," Sonic promised as he and the rest took off after him.

Shadow watched Knuckles and the three Sonics run off into the blazing city to find the older Sonic's friends.

He watched until they were out of sight and kept watching even after, unable to take his eyes off the flames.

As such, he didn't notice anyone approaching until a hand tugged on the cuff of one of his gloves and pulled his eyes away.

"Hey," said Tails, or Tails Wachowski (his last name made it easier to differentiate him from the other two foxes, maybe he had a nickname they'd agreed on like the Stripes one, but Shadow hadn't been listening), "Are you alright?"

Shadow looked away from him and tugged his hand free. "I'm fine," he insisted.

"You know you don't have to be," Tails Wachowski said. "You've had a rough day."

"It's nothing you need to concern yourself with," insisted Shadow.

Apparently, he wasn't very convincing, as another small hand slipped into his own.

"It looks really scary in there, doesn't it?" said the little rabbit (he was pretty sure the older Sonic called her Cream).

"... It does," Shadow said, trying not to think about the last time he saw that many flames.

"I'm scared too," said Cream, squeezing his hand in hers. "We're not where we were because a scary monster grabbed us. My mother is going to be so worried if I don't go home in time."

"Chao," said her little pet sadly.

"My parents are probably worried too," said Tails Wachowski, looking glum. "Last they saw us, we were flying off with GUN. If we don't come home, they'll think those guys captured us again."

Shadow wasn't practiced with comforting small children, but he gave it his best shot.

"The creature's power is over time, so it stands to reason that when you return to your world, it will be like you never left," he said. "Your mother won't miss you because she won't even know you're gone. Neither will your parents."

In the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Amy slapping herself on the forehead, so maybe he didn't entirely succeed at the whole 'comforting' thing.

However, Cream seemed to get his meaning and brightened. "Wow! Then that means Mister Sonic will save us even faster than normal."

"Yes," said Shadow before glancing at the flames again. "You're really that confident in him?" he asked.

Cream nodded. "Yes, he always saves us."

Tails Wachowski bobbed his head in agreement. "Yeah, ours too. I've seen him go up against crazy odds and come out on top.

"Of course he does," said Amy, making her way over to them. "He's Sonic. You won't meet a better hero anywhere."

"Got that right," agreed the older of the Tails. "Sonic always comes through in the end."

Shadow thought back to that quiet moment on the space station, watching the sun rise. Sonic, all three of them, had helped him, there was no arguing with that. If nothing else, the blue hedgehog was kind enough to help where everyone else had washed their hands of him.

But outwardly, he just said, "I just met him today, so I'll take your word for it."

"You really only just met?" the bee, Charmy, asked curiously.

"We were, ah, 'introducing' ourselves when your world's Shadow showed up," Tails Wachowski said tactfully.

"That's one way to put it," muttered Shadow.

"Their Knuckles picked a fight," Amy whispered to Charmy and Cream since they weren't there for that discussion. Neither of them looked surprised.

"Oh, so did you frame Sonic for all the stuff you did, too?" asked Charmy.

Shadow looked at the bee in confusion. "Stuff I did?" he asked.

"Yeah, Shadow did a whole bunch of bad stuff, but everyone thought it was Sonic doing it 'cause you look alike and are both fast. GUN arrested him and everything," said Charmy.

Now Shadow was wondering if GUN in their world was stupid or just incompetent. "We don't look that much alike. And GUN is well aware of my existence, given they're the ones who locked. Me. Up!"

"Plus, GUN are the ones who asked us to go after Shadow," added Tails Wachowski. "Not that they told us it was Shadow we were going after. But none of us would have been surprised if the whole thing was just another ruse to capture us again. If they're willing to fake a wedding to do it, then they'd totally be willing to trick us on Sonic's B-Earthday."

Amy looked scandalized. "They faked a wedding?" she asked, aghast.

"Sonic mentioned that. Your Aunt Rachel was catfished, correct?" said Shadow.

"Yup," said Tails Wachowski.

"Those monsters!" Amy cried, summoning her hammer like she was about to take on all of GUN at once.

"Whoa, settle down, Amy, they're not even here," the older Tails said, waving his hands to placate her.

"There's some back in City Escape," Amy argued back, and the older Tails had to cling to her to keep her from storming off.

"Catfished?" asked Cream, looking lost. The younger Tails sent her a confused look and shrugged.

"It's when someone pretends to be someone they're not to trick people," Charmy explained.

"But why?" asked the younger Tails.

"Lots'a reasons. To steal money or get other things that don't belong to them, or maybe they're just creepy," said Charmy.

"You're knowledgeable," said Shadow, surprised that someone so young knew something like that.

Charmy grinned and fluttered his wings to do a backflip in midair. "Yeah, I'm on Team Chaotix. We're detectives who are on your side!"

"You're a detective?" asked Tails Wachowski.

"Yuh-huh," said Charmy with a nod. "Me, Vector, and Espio. We fight crime and save the world."

"That's cool," said Tails Wachowski. "My dad is the sheriff of our village. So he fights crime, too. Well, not that there's a lot of crime in Green Hills, but he punched Eggman in the face, twice."

"Cool!" exclaimed Charmy, and the younger and older Tails.

"Anyone who clobbers that jerk is okay in my book," said Amy.

"I still don't even know who that is," Shadow deadpanned.

"Lucky!" said everyone else, but didn't explain further.

Amy took a deep breath and sighed. "Let's not talk about him. Instead, let's do something fun while we wait for the others."

Something fun? What could be fun around here?

Shadow glanced around, and at the edge of the burning city, he spotted it.

A rusted and destroyed car with an intact trailer hitch that still looked to be in good shape.

He remembered Maria showing him one in the newspaper and explaining the concept of a hayride to him. A trailer being pulled along for people to ride in. The concept had inspired one of Maria's more entertaining suggestions for their games that day. Using an actual trailer would be heavier, but with his strength…

"I have an idea," he said, making his way over towards it.

Everyone else exchanged a confused glance behind him.

A few minutes later, Amy and the children sat in the trailer as Shadow tied a cable to both it and himself.

"This doesn't seem very safe," Amy said as she sat in the back of the trailer, holding onto its railing with one hand and as many of the smaller children as she could with the other.

"Of course it is," said Shadow as he made sure his knots were tight enough. "Maria and I did it before."

"And how did that work out for you?" asked Amy, still dubious.

"We were banned from doing it again, and the lab had to order pizza for lunch," Shadow replied as he stepped far enough away that the rope was almost taut.

"Pizza?" asked one of the Tails in confusion, but he didn't look back to see which. Of all the counterparts, they had the most similar voices.

"We… may have crashed into the food table before we could stop," Shadow admitted as he crouched down into a starting position.

"But how did you order pizza in spaAAAAHH!" Amy screamed as he took off.

With a bit of extra exertion, the trailer was pulled along behind him as he skated around the void. He was careful not to go at top speeds, but he still went decently fast, hearing the shouts of the others behind him as he went.

"Faster! Faster!" Cheered Charmy.

"Come on, Shadow, you can go faster than this!" called one Tails.

"Medal to the metal!" agreed another Tails.

"This is awesome!" cheered who Shadow was pretty sure was the smallest Tails simply for how high his voice was.

Despite the cheers for speed, Shadow tried not to go too fast so as to keep control of the trailer and not have a repeat of when his Maria did this.

However, 'not too fast' to him meant something very different to anyone else but a Sonic.

"Are you having fun, Miss Amy?" Cream asked as her ears flapped in the wind.

"I'd like it better with seatbe-AHHH!" Amy yelped as they went up a sudden incline, it actually bouncing all of the occupants out of the trailer and into the air briefly. Not a problem for all the rest who could fly. Fortunately, Amy was caught by Cream in mid-air.

"I need to work out a hover move," Amy muttered to herself as everyone flew back to their seats.

When the ride ended, Amy's quills were windswept, Cream's ears were sticking up, and all three Tails looked like they'd just had a blow out, but everyone had a great time.

"You," said Charmy, jabbing his finger in Shadow's direction, "Are WAAAAAY more fun than our Shadow!"

Shadow took that as a compliment, and couldn't help but bask a bit in how much everyone had enjoyed his idea.

He hadn't thought his double was much fun either.

Amy smoothed down her quills and fixed Cream's ears before saying, "So what next, hmm, Lil'Tails, you pick."

As the youngest fox started speculating games, Tails Wachowski helped unite Shadow from the trailer.

"Weird isn't it?" he remarked.

"Hmm?" asked Shadow, wondering what he was talking about.

"You know, to go from being the freakiest one around to just… fitting in," Tails Wachowski said as he started pulling the knots free.

Ah, that. It was something that continued to take Shadow aback as well. After so long being looked at like he was some kind of monster, the easy acceptance everyone was showing him was jarring.

And given the history Tails Wachowski had shared of himself, he was also familiar with the feeling of being ostracized for something he couldn't control. The instant camaraderie of these dimensional counterparts had to be an adjustment.

"It's nice, though," Tails Wachowski said as he finished the knot, and the cord fell away from Shadow. "I didn't think anyone but my family would accept me, but here we are, and everyone's just, you know-"

"Welcoming," said Shadow.

"Yeah," said Tails Wachowski. "They're being welcoming. It's nice."

"It is," Shadow agreed.

Even if this camaraderie with the people of this dimension wouldn't last forever, Shadow would enjoy it while he could, and he could see Tails Wachowski intending to do the same as the two joined in the next game the others wanted to play.

(Little did any of them know that as they played, a massive orange eye followed their every move from above…)

If Sonic thought the outside of the city looked bad, the inside was even worse. He, the other two Sonics, and Red traversed it by vaulting across burning buildings, leapfrogging across crumbling highways, and trying not to fall into lava.

("The floor is Lava, literal edition!" Blue called to his brother after having to kickflip off a building to avoid one such pit.

"Failure to win is not an option," Red had agreed.)

Also, there were fire monsters. Lots and lots of fire monsters.

And the fire monsters weren't even the worst of it. No, that would be the massive flaming tornado that threatened to suck them up and fry them at the same time. It took all three Sonics grabbing Red and physically carrying him along to avoid it.

But just as it looked like the tornado would reach them regardless, a burst of cyan light arced over their heads and dissipated it in a flash.

"Are you alright?" came a voice above them, and they looked up to see Silver floating down towards them. Behind him was Blaze, Vector, and Espio were making their way through the wreckage.

"I was not aware hedgehogs were capable of flight," said Red as Silver got closer.

"Nah, that's just a Silver thing," Sonic assured him. "Though Shadow can get some real height on his air shoes if he tries."

"So, wait, do all hedgehogs have powers, or do you just hang out with the cool ones?" asked Blue.

Well, Sonic couldn't argue with that description of himself and his friends. "No, not all hedgehogs have powers; the cool ones just find me," he said.

"Good to know," said Blue as the others finally reached them.

"Um, Sonic, I thought there was just one extra you running around, and did a younger Knuckles show up?" asked Vector, looking confused.

Blaze, however, examined Red and Blue with a knowing look. "They're not from your dimension," she said.

"Wow, you are good," said Blue, impressed.

"Very perspective," agreed Red.

"Yup, that thing that brought us here isn't just making a mess of time, but dimensions are on the table too," said Sonic, glad he didn't have to fully explain again.

"I see. Then taking it down is all the more imperative," Blaze said firmly. "If it can cause trouble in their world, it's only a matter of time until my dimension is affected too."

"You're from another dimension, too?" asked Blue, looking fascinated.

Blaze nodded. "Yes, I am the princess of the Sol Dimension, but my friends and I visit each other's worlds often despite the distance."

"That's what we've been looking for you for," said Sonic. "You too, Silver. Whatever you guys can tell us about how this mess is affecting time, space, and dimensions could help us fix it."

The screeching of more fire monsters in the distance reminded them of where they were, and Espio said, "As important as that discussion may be, it would best be had elsewhere."

The eight of them hurried back to the exit of the area, leaving the smoke, fire, and monsters far behind. Between Blaze's control of flames and Silver's psychokinesis, traversing the devastated place became a lot easier, as if their powers were meant for a location like this.

Once they reached the white void outside the city and reunited with the others (and wondering why they all looked so windswept), Mini-Me looked at Silver with a curious shrug.

Silver didn't seem to get what he was trying to convey, so Sonic translated. "He wants to know why you were even there, Silver? It's not exactly a fun place to hang out, and we've been looking all over for you."

"Sorry," Silver apologized. "I didn't realize anyone else was here until Blaze found me."

"As for why we were in this ruin, it's because Silver felt this place seemed… familiar," said Blaze. "I, too, felt like I've been here before, but I can't recall ever doing so."

"The best I can figure is that this place is what's left of one of the futures we prevented from happening," Silver said, staring off into the distant flames. "I… don't really remember it, but the deja vu is too strong for it not to have existed at some point. I was here for a long time; I just know it."

"What do you mean that it's a future you prevented?" asked Lil'Tails, cocking his head curiously.

"Silver's a time traveler," Amy explained. "If the future is in trouble, he comes back to help us set it right."

"No way!" said Blue, looking excited. "So you're psychic and a time traveler! That is so COOL! You're like Jean Gray and Cable all in one!"

Silver grew flustered at the praise even if he didn't get the references. "T-Thanks, but really, what else can I do? If there's no hope in the future, then I make there be hope in the past."

Stripes, however, had a bigger question to ask. "How does… how does your time travel work?" he asked. "If you can change the past…"

From the look on Silver's face, Sonic just knew Shadow had already asked him that question before.

"I can only go back to the point in time that causes whatever disaster creates my future," he replied. "Believe me, if I could go back far enough to save Maria, I would. I'm sorry, but while losing her ended your world, so far, it hasn't ended the world."

Stripes looked resigned but pinned Silver with a sharp look. "But if it ever does-"

"Then I'll do whatever I can to save your family," Silver promised. "And if there's a version of me in your dimension, I bet he'd do the same."

Stripes grunted and crossed his arms. "I'll be sure to exact such a promise should I meet him."

Sonic felt bad for the grilling their version of Silver would endure when he showed up.

"And as you can see, he does a good job of changing the future when he can," Amy said, trying to lighten the mood. She then gestured towards the ruined city. "I mean, he already stopped a future like this from happening."

"Yeah, stopping the Ark disaster would be a cakewalk compared to some futures I've seen," Silver agreed optimistically. "At least there I would know what happened and what to do. Some futures have clearer causes than others. Like, it was easy to figure out I needed to help take down Eggman to stop the industrial future where he won, but in the empty future with nothing but metallic plants, I didn't have a clue what happened until I went back in time."

That made everyone pause and look at him.

"Wait, Eggman winning? Metallic plants?" asked Tails in confusion. "What are you talking about? When did you stop those?"

That question made Silver stop short and look around. "Okay, I know it's a time travel cliche, but… what date is it you're all from?" he asked.

"My birthday," said Sonic.

"Speaking of which, here's your invite," said Amy, pulling out a card and handing it to him.

"Which birthday?" asked Silver, taking the card and looking at it.

"Mister Sonic is this many," said Cream as she and Charmy held up the appropriate number of fingers.

Silver pressed his hands together in front of his mouth and looked uncomfortable. "Alright… I am from further ahead in time than you," he said.

"Yeah, we know, you're two hundred years out," said Vector, not seeing why he needed to remind them of that.

"No, I mean, usually, when I travel back and forth in time, I go forward from fixing one problem to the next terrible future caused by another problem," Silver tried to explain. "I do what research I can there and then travel back in time to the start of whatever caused it, which is usually just the start of the next disaster you all face."

"So like cause and effect," said Miles, seeming to understand what he was trying to say (which is good because Sonic could tell he wasn't the only one lost).

"Because you fixed the problem that made one future, the next bad future you see is the result of what happens because the old bad future doesn't happen, and so you meet us in the same order every time," Tails added, also seeming to get it.

"Exactly," said Silver, pointing at the two foxes. "Until now, every time we've seen each other was sequential. But for this, I've lived time with you guys that you haven't with me yet."

"It's good to know we'll keep seeing you, even if the reasons are bad," said Cream sweetly.

"Then can you tell us anything about what's to come?" asked Espio, looking curious.

"Especially if they're lottery numbers," added Vector.

"Spoilers! Spoilers! Spoilers!" cheered Charmy.

But Silver shook his head. "Believe me, I want to, but time is already fragile with the Time Eater tearing holes in it, and there's already going to be a splintering timeline off from this. Splitting off what happens in my past and your future could cause who knows what kind of damage."

"Time Eater? Is that the monster?" asked Lil'Tails.

"A fitting name," said Blaze with a grimace.

"You tell me about this next time you see me, but don't tell me I was here," Silver instructed.

"What do you mean by a splintering timeline?" asked Tails.

Silver gestured at Mini-Sonic and Lil'Tails. "The younger Sonic and Tails are seeing what's to come. Because of that, their future won't entirely be our past. Some things may still happen the same, but not everything. It's inevitable they'll use the information they learned here to make changes. But if it's just the one alternate timeline created from this mess, then time would heal eventually and they'll just become a new alternate dimension. Two splintered timelines would be pushing it at best and reality ending at worst."

Hearing this, Sonic just shrugged. "Well, that's fine by me. What's the point of adventure if you already know how it's going to end?"

Amy, however, wanted to know more. "Still, can't you give us just a little hint?" she asked. "Just do it like one of my fortunes."

Silver mulled her suggestion over, trying to find the right words. Finally, he said cryptically, "Your future's got its ups and downs, and it'll get rough sometimes. All I can say is there are an infinite amount of problems still to solve and a whole lot of lost worlds and new frontiers to discover." Then he added, "Also, be careful on trains and keep dreaming big."

Sonic smiled at him. "I understood absolutely none of that," he said.

"You sound like something I'd hear in a horoscope," said Blue. "All you need are lucky numbers and colors."

"We don't even know if his warning would translate to us," Miles pointed out to his brother.

Silver just sighed in relief that he hadn't inadvertently wrecked the future.

"Well, there's the insight we needed from Silver," said Tails, turning to Blaze. "Is there anything you can tell us about dimension travel if the Time Eater is affecting that too?"

"Not as much as him," Blaze admitted. "For as much as all of us have traveled between your world and the Sol Dimension, it's not an exact science I can explain. Our worlds are linked, allowing travel between without damaging the walls between dimensions."

"But if our dimension has counterparts of each other, doesn't that mean they're linked too?" asked Miles.

"It is likely, but if that connection is enough to not cause damage is still in question," said Blaze. "If you are able to return, and interactions between all our worlds are limited, then yes, it should be fine. But if the Time Eater breaks holes into even more dimensions, then the damage it causes to all worlds could be unfathomable."

"So basically, stop it as fast as possible before it can, got it," said Sonic. He then turned to Silver and asked, "Mind letting us use that Chaos Emerald you have?"

"Of course," Silver said, handing the gem over. "Is it just you going Super, or can I help again?"

Sonic just stared at him. "When did you go Super?" he asked.

Silver clapped his hands over his mouth.

"Spoiler alert!" cheered Charmy with a laugh.

Rouge hadn't needed Sonic's encouragement to follow Shadow after he took off. She was going to do that anyway.

Still, even the Blue Blur and the (as he'd called them) Fuzzy Brigade could all see that Shadow was struggling after the events of that disastrous race. Likely the only person who couldn't see that fact was Shadow himself.

And now, with Black Doom added back to the mix, there was no way Rouge was going to be anywhere else but watching his back.

Not that he seemed to appreciate it.

"Why are you following me, Rouge?" Shadow asked, stopping to look back at the bat who'd been flying behind him since they left the ARK. While she had lost him briefly towards the start, only to find him sprawled on the ground in front of some kind of broken mirror, and she hadn't let him out of her sight since.

"Following you? I don't know what you mean. Maybe I just wanted to go this way," Rouge replied coyly.

Shadow gave her a look and swerved to change direction, forcing Rouge to slow down and double back if she wanted to keep up.

"Alright, fine, I'm following you," Rouge admitted as she caught back up to fly alongside him with her arms crossed. "Can you blame me? After what happened, I'm concerned."

"I'm not the one who had a panic attack," snapped Shadow. "If you're concerned, follow my counterpart."

"That Shadow is smart enough to let his friends help him recover from it. You may not have had a panic attack, but you can't say it didn't affect you, too," Rouge scolded him.

Shadow didn't even look at her, but he also didn't deny it.

Yeah, that's what she thought.

"Look, I know you're not big on the whole talking thing, but you're allowed to be bothered by things like this," Rouge told him. "What with all this time travel nonsense no doubt rubbing salt in old wounds. So if you need any-"

"Rouge, stop talking," said Shadow.

Rouge blinked and tried (and probably failed) to contain her indignation at that rude request. "No, I will not! You need to-"

"Rouge, stop talking, please," said Shadow again.

Startled by the fact he actually said 'please', this time Rouge caught something in his tone of voice that she hadn't before.

Urgency.

It wasn't just his typical avoidance of emotional talks that was happening here, he was actually worried about something.

And it only took looking ahead to see why.

Faces she'd only ever seen in GUN files stared back at her in surprise as it dawned on Rouge that she was actually seeing Maria and Gerald Robotnik standing before her in the flesh.

(Also, Omega was there, too. Rouge would need to steal Shadow's coffee beans later for not telling her that her favorite murder-toaster was here.)

But back to the professor and Maria, that was a bit more pertinent.

"Shadow, is this another of your friends?" Maria asked as they came to a stop, every bit as sweet as she'd seen reported.

Before Shadow could respond, Rouge stepped up with a smirk and clasped Maria's hands in her own. "Oh yes, while I could never hold a candle to you, I can confidently say that I am Shadow's best friend. I'm Rouge the Bat," she said sincerely. "It's wonderful to finally meet the famous Maria. I've heard nothing but good things."

She then turned to the professor and shook his hand. "And Professor Robotnik, I must say, I'm a big fan of your hedgehog-shaped work. Charmed to finally meet the man behind the mustache."

"Oh? Why, thank you, young lady," said Professor Robotnik, startled by her forwardness.

Maria beamed back at her. "Oh yes, thank you, but I'm sure you're just as precious to him as I am," she said humbly.

Rouge kept silent of the morbid fact that the only way she'd be seen half as fondly as Maria in Shadow's eyes would be if she ever died just as tragically. Instead, she kept a smile on her face and replied, "Oh, who knows, maybe, but getting that sourpuss to admit it is harder than pulling teeth."

Omega looked down at her and said, "ROUGE, YOU ARE QUITE ADEPT AT PULLING TEETH! YOU CAN KNOCK A FULL JAW'S WORTH OUT IN ONE KICK!"

"Hush you, it's a figure of speech," said Rouge in amusement. Stepping away to give Shadow a moment to greet his family, she sent a grin at the robot and said, "Good to see you, Omega. Any complications?"

"JUST FROM THE SHOCKWAVE! BUT I HAVE BEEN REPAIRED AND AM READY TO DECIMATE EGGMAN'S FORCES!" Omega replied.

"I'm sure there are some around here," said Rouge.

"THERE ARE, BUT THE SHOCKWAVE SHUT THEM DOWN TOO! THEY ARE NO FUN TO DESTROY!" said Omega, and if robots could pout, that's what he'd be doing.

"But you do it anyway," said Rouge, knowing him too well.

"BUT I DO IT ANYWAY!" Omega confirmed.

Rouge continued to banter with Omega as Shadow talked to the Robotniks, and while she didn't try to eavesdrop, with ears like hers, it sometimes couldn't be helped.

"The time anomaly will likely end soon," Shadow was saying. "Others are gathering the Chaos Emeralds as we speak. I need to stop Black Doom before that happens."

"You can see from the Black Moon that his power is growing stronger with every new ability you achieve," the professor said grimly. "It won't be an easy fight."

"Shadow will do it," said Maria with complete faith in the hedgehog. "I know he will." She then got quiet, as if something was on her mind. "But… Shadow… can I ask a question?"

"Of course," said Shadow.

"... How far in the future do you come from?" she said quietly.

"Maria, no, think of the possible paradox!" Professor Robotnik protested.

Shadow didn't respond to either of them..

"It must be pretty far," Maria said thoughtfully. "All of your friends act like this is the first time they met me, and what the other Shadow said about being sealed away for fifty years, did… did that happen to you too, Shadow?"

"Maria!" the professor protested again.

Shadow still didn't say anything, but in her peripheral vision, Rouge saw him crossing his arms and turning away so he could avoid Maria's eyes.

"I see. I knew you hadn't seen me in a while from the way you looked at me when I found you here. I'm so sorry that happened to you, Shadow," said Maria, looking heartbroken for him.

"GUN has been growing more demanding and paranoid of late," agreed the professor, seeming to give up on preventing the paradox. "I've been trying to stall it as long as possible. It seems I'll have to continue to do so."

Shadow kept his head bowed, and Rouge could tell he was thinking hard. "Maria… Professor… There's something I-"

But before Shadow could say anything, Omega suddenly raised his arm cannons. "HOSTILE LIFEFORM APPROACHING!" he announced.

Everyone spun around to see Doom's Eye flying up to them. It stopped a short distance away, and its single eyeball glowed red as it projected the image of Black Doom before them.

Maria screamed, and the professor immediately hugged her to his chest to protect her, while Shadow, Rouge, and Omega all leaped between the humans and the warlord.

"The promised time is nigh upon us. Soon, Shadow will be mine," he said.

"Over my dead body!" snapped Rouge.

"CORRECTION, OVER YOUR DEAD BODY, DOOM!" said Omega.

"Shadow will never serve you! He's nothing like you!" Maria cried from her grandfather's arms, fire reigniting within her at Shadow being threatened.

"Gerald may have given them this unassuming form, but the blood of the Black Arms flows in their veins," Black Doom replied, gesturing grandly. "They are warriors! Destroyers!"

"Yes, the warrior that will destroy you!" Shadow declared, not denying it.

Black Doom just laughed. "I have learned from our last encounter. There will be no mistakes this time. Struggle all you want, but both of you will be mine."

That brought everyone up short.

"Both?" asked Shadow, and it was then Rouge realized Doom had been speaking of Shadow in plural tenses this entire time.

But Black Doom said nothing more as his projection faded, and Doom's Eye flew off. Omega fired several shots after it, but the freaky starfish thing managed to dodge and get away.

Shadow, however, was staring up at the Black Moon in the sky with his fists clenched. "Since the moment I arrived in this White Space," he said grimly. "Those eyes have always been staring in my direction. I could shake them briefly when I entered the fragments of my past and future, but they always found me again soon after I returned."

Rouge followed his gaze and saw that the eyes weren't looking at him now, instead, they were trained off in the distance in the direction Rouge and Shadow had just come from.

And she had a sinking feeling she knew exactly what they were looking at. "He's after your counterpart!" she said.

Maria paled. "He doesn't know what's coming!" she said worriedly. "He said Grandfather didn't create him. He came to his planet in a meteor and has no memories from before that! He doesn't know about the Black Arms!"

That was all Shadow needed to hear, and he took off gliding back the way they'd come.

"Omega, stay with the Robotniks," called Rouge as she followed after him. "I wouldn't put it past that creep to go after them while Shadow is distracted!"

"IF HE TRIES, I WILL VAPORISE HIM AND SET FIRE TO WHAT REMAINS!" Omega said.

Rouge nodded at him and flapped her wings to go as fast as she could, and Shadow shot ahead even faster.

She just hoped that by the time they reached them, it wasn't too late.

Chapter Text

After their discussion outside the ruined city, Shadow followed the group as they headed to meet up with the taller Knuckles and see what he'd found for the last Chaos Emerald.

Sure enough, there was another clockwork gate with a colorless emerald sitting amongst the gears waiting to be freed.

Waiting for them in front of the portal set into the gears was the taller version of Knuckles.

"No good," said the echidna as they approached. "It's some giant mech of Eggman's in there, and it's dead as a doornail from all the Chaos Energy spikes. We'll have to get creative if we want to free the emerald."

The rest of them exchanged glances.

"Soooo, who's fighting this time?" asked Sonic Wachowski.

"We know it can't be two people from our world," said Tails Wachowski. "We don't want the power clash to create another shockwave."

"Disappointing," muttered Knuckles Wachowski (while Shadow knew that he didn't take the name, it was easier to think of him as such with his counterpart around). "But I would settle for fighting someone from this new world."

"I'd be up for a spar," offered Silver.

"I would as well," agreed Blaze, lighting a small flame in her hand. ("She's a princess and she's a firebender? Why is everyone you know so cool?" Sonic whisper-shouted to his taller counterpart when he saw it. Taller Sonic just grinned smugly and shrugged.)

"I bet I could give you a run for your money," said Vector, rolling his shoulders to get ready.

"It would be an honor to spar with any of you," agreed Espio.

"I'm always down for a rumble," said the taller Knuckles.

"Me too," said Amy, spinning her hammer in her hands.

"You know me, I never back down from a challenge," said the taller Sonic.

The younger Sonic nodded and bounced on his feet to do mock punches.

"Count me in too," said Sonic Wachowski eagerly, and he glanced at Shadow to see if he'd volunteer.

"It might be a challenge," said Shadow, not as eager to fight as the rest, but their optimism was too infectious to back down from.

"That's great, guys," said Tails, looking amused. "But unless we do a free-for-all, we really don't need that many fighters."

"Hmm…" said the youngest of the Tails as he tried to think of a solution. "Maybe we can do rock-paper-sciss-?"

But before the fox could finish, something came flying out of nowhere fast and crashed into Shadow.

"SHADOW!" shouted the Wachowski brothers, as whatever hit Shadow tackled them both through the portal and out of their sight.

Beyond the portal was a long and massive metal hallway that belonged to some type of facility. Everything in it was bathed in red and blue lights, giving the place an eerie feeling, with massive windows set into the sides and on the floor, showing a floating landmass outside and lava below. Dwarfing Shadow with its size and sprawled out like some kind of dead creature in the middle of the hallway was the giant mech Taller Knuckles had described, blocking the path in one direction.

But Shadow didn't have much time to take in his surroundings as what looked like a giant starfish with an eye in the center came to float in front of him. Its eye glowed and a projection appeared out of it, hovering above Shadow like a ghost.

"Shadow," said the dark creature, taller than any human Shadow had seen, with three glowing eyes that were framed by massive horns growing from its head. "You will do what you were created for!"

Shadow got back to his feet, and let his powers start to build up behind his eyes. "I wasn't created by anyone!" he snapped.

The creature laughed cruelly. "Denial will get you nowhere. I can feel the Black Arms within your blood. You may not have been created by me personally, but our kind have always had you in their grasp. You can feel it too, don't you? Our shared hive mind"

Shadow winced and his fur stood on end as a crawling sensation seemed to grow beneath his skin. Like something slimy and yet not at all physical was trying to crawl inside his veins up into his brain and make itself at home. The longer it lasted, the more painful it became.

"You exist to serve me," the creature continued as if amused by Shadow's growing discomfort. "Even if I did not create you, and therefore can not bestow upon you our kind's gifts, you will still make a suitable vessel from which to recreate the Black Arms."

Shadow let out a burst of his power, chasing away the feeling, and he glared up at the creature. "I serve no one!" he snarled. "Who are you to demand anything of me?"

The creature drew itself up even taller as it proudly proclaimed. "I am the source of the blood in your veins! The reason for your ultimate power. I am Black Doom! I. Am. Your father!"

Shadow looked at the hideous monster in horrified shock.

He could feel it through the horrible sensation trying to burrow its way into his mind as if gloating its intent when there was little he could do to stop it. This thing before him was cruel beyond measure and hungered for death and destruction at every turn, and he had every intention to make Shadow just like him.

Like father, like son.

If that was true, then Maria was wrong. He truly was something terrible, and no amount of choices would change that.

But before Shadow could gather his thoughts, the slimy sensation started up again even stronger than before. He screamed as black liquid-like shadows began swirling around him as if they'd swallow him whole.

Then, a new voice cut in.

"Hey, Darth Vader! Get away from my friend!"

Black Doom wheeled around in time to see a lightning-blue ball of spikes smash itself into the floating cyclops-starfish he was projecting from. At the hit, the projection vanished and broke whatever hold the creature had on Shadow. The spike ball bounced off the starfish and Sonic Wachowski uncurled to land in front of the other hedgehog.

"You okay?" he asked, helping Shadow to his feet.

"I've been better," Shadow admitted, allowing himself to be pulled up, and the two turned back to face the threat.

The starfish shook itself in the air, before turning to glare at them and the eye glowed, but before it could project Black Doom again, a fist struck it, sending it flying into a wall with enough force to leave a dent.

"And you are incorrect that his power comes from you, beast!" snarled Knuckles Wachowski, his fists up ready to deliver another hit. "His power is the same as our own! Unless you created all of us, which you did not, then you have no claim of his might!"

The starfish pried itself off the wall and glared at them again, but was again interrupted before the projection could return, this time by a small boomerang lodging itself in its eye.

"And even if your people did do something to him, his resemblance to hedgehogs from our planet proves he was one of ours first," said Tails Wachowski, his arm still out from having thrown the boomerang.

"So basically," said Sonic standing in front of Shadow and glaring at the now blinded starfish. "Shadow's with us. Back off!"

While the starfish could no longer project Black Doom, it could still speak for him, as it snarled out, "Insolent scum! Perish!"

They all tensed, but then Sonic tilted his head as his ear started to twitch. "Guys, why do I hear boss music?"

Shadow didn't know what 'boss music' meant, but what he did hear was the sound of footsteps that could be heard coming down the tunnel. Out of the darkness came hoards of hulking red and black creatures with large yellow eyes set into their brain-shaped heads. Some were carrying weapons, while others just brandished their sharp clawed hands.

"Where are the others?" asked Shadow. Under normal circumstances he would be confident he could take this many, but if Black Doom tried to do what he did before, his fighting abilities would be handicapped. And with how cheerfully their new acquaintances had been about helping others, it seemed out of character for them not to aid them now.

"This weird gunk like the stuff that ghost made started covering the portal after it knocked you in," said Tails, readying his gadgets for the coming fight.

"We barely made it through before it closed," Sonic added, his powers lighting up in his eyes. "Knuckles nearly lost a shoe to it."

"Unfortunately, our allies are trapped beyond the portal," said Knuckles, setting his fists aflame. "We are on our own."

"But then how did they get in?" asked Shadow, pulling out the gun Tails had given him before.

"The barrier only allows in the Black Arms. More of my spawn," Black Doom's voice said smugly. "No one is coming to save you. Give up Shadow now, children, and I may spare your worthless lives."

"Echidna Warriors do not need saving, and they do not abandon their friends," snapped Knuckles as he launched himself into the air and punched the first one.

With that, the free-for-all started. The dark tunnel was filled with flashes of red, blue, yellow, and gold light as the four used their skills to defend against the seemingly endless army.

"We need a plan, Tails!" Sonic called as he ricocheted off several Black Arms.

Tails used his gravity disks to send more flying and looked around at their area. Spotting the fallen Eggman mech, he said, "If I can get to that mech, I might be able to get it started and even the odds."

"Right," agreed Sonic. "Guys, we need to get Tails over there, to get his Pacific Rim on."

"I shall carve a path with our enemies' bones," said Knuckles eagerly.

Shadow grunted in agreement as he kicked one Black Arms soldier in the head, and shot another in the knee.

But no matter how many Black Arms they took down, they never seemed to get closer to the mech.

And yet, despite that, Shadow was never alone throughout the fight. Every time he turned around there was a flash of blue lightning, a glimpse of a fox tail, or the swing of a flaming fist. No matter what was thrown at them, either Tails, Knuckles, Sonic, or some combination of the three were fighting beside Shadow the entire time.

"He's after you," said Sonic when they both were fighting back to back. "We're not letting him get you alone."

"Focus on yourself," Shadow told him as he shot an alien that tried to sneak up on the blue hedgehog.

But Sonic just zipped over to kick another Black Arms that was coming up behind Shadow. "Kinda missing the point of watching each other's backs if I did that," he said with a grin. His smile was wiped away a second later, and he shouted, "Look out!"

Shadow tried to warp out of the way of whatever he was seeing, but the painful slimy sensation returned, making him stumble and take a hit to the back, and send him falling to the ground.

"Shadow!" shouted Sonic, trying to run over to him, but another Black Arms managed to grab him and held him back.

Around them, Knuckles and Tails also cried out as their distraction by his shouts caused them to be pinned down and held in place.

The Black Arms grabbed Shadow and held him up by his elbows as the horrible sensation continued to spread throughout his body.

"Give in, Shadow!" Black Doom crooned, his starfish mouthpiece floating before him. Already its eye was almost healed from the damage done to it. "You belong to me!"

"Shadow!" shouted Tails worriedly.

"Dishonorable beast!" shouted Knuckles.

Shadow just screamed as it felt like his head was about to split open.

"You belong to the Black Arms!" Black Doom continued. "Soon you will see nothing else matters. Not even these insignificant lifeforms."

"I'll show you insignificant! Let him go!" Sonic shouted, and Shadow could see him and his brothers struggling to reach him even now.

Through the pain, Shadow had to marvel at their continued determination. All three of them had only known him for a day, and yet they were already willing to fight and die beside him.

And… Shadow found he was willing to do the same.

Fighting through the feeling that his skin was peeling off, he reached for his inhibitor rings.

Black Doom's starfish's eye healed just in time to see him release one ring. "Stop him!" he cried.

But it was too late, Shadow managed to undo his second ring, and the Chaos Energy burst out of him in an explosion of power. The energy inside him burned away Black Doom's hold like acid through his veins, and the blast sent all the Black Arms flying as his powers formed a dome around them.

Sonic had to activate his own powers to repel Shadow's and keep him from being fried or knocked out of the dome too, and Knuckles pounced over top of Tails to protect him while doing the same.

"You did it!" Sonic cheered brightly before he saw that the power coming from Shadow wasn't stopping.

His volatile Chaos Energy was keeping the Black Arms at bay, but using it like this was draining Shadow by the second.

Fortunately, that was when backup arrived.

Shadow's Double burst onto the scene with a vengeance and began decimating the Black Arms outside Shadow's sphere of energy with powers that felt not unlike the ones Black Doom had been using to try and take Shadow over.

"Shadow!" Sonic said, fighting his way through the storm of energy to reach him. "Shadow, are you-" He tried to reach out for him, but was shocked for his efforts.

Shadow gritted his teeth and sent Sonic a pointed look. "Get Tails to the machine," he said.

Sonic nodded and turned to his brothers. "Get Tails to the mech," he called. "I'll stay with Shadow!"

Knuckles nodded, and keeping himself and Tails safely within curled up in his power he slowly tried to make his way through the chaos to the giant robot. But the power was too much to do anything quickly, and unless he practically smothered the fox under him, the youngest of them would be zapped.

Not only that, but Shadow could already feel his power starting to burn away at him from the inside out. Using this much at once had its consequences, and those were starting to show if Sonic's continued frantic cries were any indication.

"His rings!" shouted Shadow's Double as he rained glowing spears down on his enemies. "Put his rings back on! They limit his power output!"

Hearing that, Sonic nodded and grabbed the rings from where they'd fallen to the floor.

"I do this, they'll be on us again," Sonic called out to Knuckles. "Be ready to get Tails to the mech before they reach us."

"I will get him there faster than even you, Hedgehog!" Knuckles called back.

"Let's see you do it," Sonic challenged him as he carefully put Shadow's first ring on without touching the hedgehog himself.

Once the ring was attached, the dome of chaos energy reduced, and whatever Black Arms were not being destroyed by Shadow's Double drew in closer, ready to pounce the second it went down.

Sonic sent his brothers one last look, before snapping Shadow's other ring in place.

Immediately Shadow collapsed into the other hedgehog's arms, and their dome of partial safety vanished.

Knuckles was on his feet in a heartbeat carrying Tails to the mech. Sonic followed half a step behind them, carrying Shadow with him as he ran.

Behind them, the Black Arms swarmed in. Shadow's Double fought them back as best he could, and was even reaching for his own inhibitor rings, as if considering removing them himself.

Knuckles practically threw Tails at the driver's seat of the mech, and the fox ripped open the control panel to begin pulling wires.

"Quill!" he said, holding a hand out, and Knuckles didn't hesitate to slap one of his glowing red quills into his hand, Sonic did the same with one of his once they reached them, and Shadow shakily reached up to give one of his own.

"Save your energy," Tails told him as he inserted the red and blue quills into the machine. "You used a lot of it just now."

"You okay, Shadow?" asked Sonic, setting him down on the side of the driver's seat. Whoever this mech had been built for must have been quite large, as there was enough room for all four of them to squeeze into the seat.

"I'll be fine," Shadow assured them. "So long as we survive, that is."

"Working on it," Tails said, crossing one last set of wires.

All of a sudden, the mech whirred to life, and a glass shield slid into place around the driver's seat, making it look like the four of them were inside a giant marble.

"Alright, let's see what this thing can do," said Tails, grabbing the controls and starting the thing up.

The mech rose into the air and loomed over the Black Arms with its weapons primed to fire.

Tails readied the missiles and grinned. "Payback time."

Shadow had raced away from Maria and the professor at top speed.

He needed to find his counterpart! He had to reach him in time! He had to stop Black Doom before he could possess that child!

Because that is what the Professor theorized was Black Doom's plan. To use Shadow's connection to the Black Arms to either take him over or bind him to Black Doom's will.

He was the reason that child (because that's what his counterpart still was, a child) was even here in the first place. Because if he'd tried to do what Sonic called 'a good thing' and Black Doom was able to enslave him because of that…

Shadow couldn't think about that. He would stop Black Doom. He would not allow himself to fail.

When he reached the section of the void full of locations from Sonic's past, he saw just about every person the blue hedgehog had ever interacted with fighting off an army of Black Arms while trying to get into a portal set into a giant set of gears. But a dark ooze was covering the portal, allowing all Black Arms past but repelling anyone else. Not that that stopped two of the Sonics who would bounce off the portal trying to beat through the ooze to get in.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow shouted, throwing his chaos energy at a Black Warrior about to leap at Amy.

"What's happening?" he asked.

"They just came out of nowhere," Amy said as she mashed another Black Warrior with her hammer. "They grabbed Stripes and took him into the portal. Blue, Red, and Miles managed to jump in before it closed. Since then, these guys have been coming out to try and kill us, but we can't go in."

"It must have been a trap," said Knuckles as he uppercut a Black Oak into the air. "I should have done a more thorough search when I looked through the portal. I just saw the downed Egg-robot and thought that was it."

"It seems like only the Black Arms can get in and out of the portal now," said the older Tails from where he was shielding his younger self and Cream.

Even as he said that another shockwave of energy burst out of the portal, sweeping across the land and knocking the Black Arms soldiers back. It seems that whatever was happening within the portal, the children were still fighting.

Seeing this, Sonic and his younger counterpart tried to get through the portal again, but were still repelled back.

"Only the Black Arms, hmm," said Shadow as his new powers boiled within him.

Then, with a burst of speed, he shot through the fight, taking out any Black Arms in his way as he made a beeline for the portal.

"Hey! Shadow, wait-!" Sonic called after him, but Shadow launched himself at the portal and used his newly gained Doom Morph ability.

He passed through the ooze easily and returned to his normal form once on the other side of the portal.

The sight that met him there was better than he'd feared, but still grim.

Within a pocket of an old Eggman facility, the army of Black Arms soldiers had the counterparts surrounded but were unable to reach them as Shadow's Counterpart had unleashed his inhibitor rings to use his excess energy as a makeshift shield, though it was clear doing so was draining him quickly.

Within the shield, Sonic's counterpart and Knuckles' counterpart were both using their own powers like an opposing magnetic force to repel the turbulent Chaos Energy from frying them, but seemed unable to do anything further as Knuckles had to protect Tails' counterpart beneath him, and Sonic was frantically trying to help Shadow's Counterpart.

"His rings!" Shadow yelled as he began decimating his enemies. "Put his rings back on! They limit his power output!"

He only paid enough attention to note that Sonic listened to him, before focusing on the Black Arms.

He'd taken out several with the powers he'd learned since arriving here when Doom's Eye appeared to taunt him.

"Why do you continue to struggle, Shadow," Black Doom snarled through his proxy. "This is what you were created to do. I will have you both one way or the other."

"Bold words for one who failed to take over a child," Shadow snapped back. Because if he'd succeeded, the scene Shadow would have walked in on would have been very different.

But if Black Doom was at all bothered by it he gave no indication. "Even now, you grow more like me," Black Doom taunted. "Your ruthlessness grows like hunger, and your anger is insatiable. Perhaps… I need to threaten those you care about more often."

Shadow roared in fury, taking out a swath of Black Arms with a Doob Blast. "Touch them and I tear you to pieces," he said, sending a Doom Spear at the eye.

"We shall see," was Black Doom's final taunt as the eye dodged the attack and fled the scene.

While it was good Black Doom was no longer observing the fight directly, that didn't mean his forces weren't still baring down on him.

He continued to fight off the Black Arms and was just considering releasing his own inhibitor rings before the sound of mechanical parts gained his attention. He turned to see Tails had managed to get control of an Eggman mech and was leveling its weapons at the remaining Black Arms.

With a shout of "Chaos Control!" Shadow shot up to the mech's shoulders.

Tails sent him a grateful look from the driver's seat, before opening fire on the Black Arms, with Shadow sending Doom Spears down as well to take them out.

Finally, the last of the Black Arms fell, and the glow of the cyan Chaos Emerald filled their vision.

Shadow, being the one on the outside, reached out and took it as Tails shut down the Eggman mech and pulled the quills he'd used to power it free.

The second the hatch on the driver's seat opened, Shadow looked at the four of them.

"We're good," Sonic called to his unasked question as he helped Shadow's Counterpart down from the mech with his arm slung over his shoulder. "Thanks for the heroic rescue."

Shadow grunted and sent one last set of his most powerful Doom Spears at the film still covering the portal and it burned the barrier away, allowing them to finally leave.

They exited the portal to cheers from Sonic, his friends, and Rouge who were waiting outside, the lot of them having taken down what Black Arms had been attacking outside the portal while they fought inside.

"Great job, Shadow," said the Sonic he was more familiar with, coming up to congratulate him. "You really saved the day."

Maybe it was leftover adrenaline from the fight. Maybe it was the thought that his actions nearly delivered another version of himself to Black Doom on a silver platter. Maybe it was just Sonic's stupid face, but at his words, something inside Shadow just snapped.

"Saved the day?" he snarled, making Sonic rear back, and the cheerful camaraderie from winning the battle vanished. "Black Doom nearly enslaved my counterpart! I thought you said you would watch them!"

"Shadow-" Sonic tried to say, but Shadow's Counterpart spoke up behind him.

"And we would have known to look out for that if you had told us it was a possibility!" the shorter hedgehog said, pushing himself away from his version of Sonic to come over and glare at Shadow.

At any other time, Shadow would have understood his anger. The lack of information given had nearly gotten his counterpart and the only people he'd come to know since awakening killed. But right now, Shadow was too full of rage for any sympathy.

"I told you Black Doom was a threat!" Shadow snapped back.

"And I had no idea who that even is!" his counterpart declared, some of his Chaos Energy sparking back to life and glowing along his quills in his anger. "From what you said, he's just a strange moon! But apparently, he's my father? Is that true?"

"He is nobody's father!" Shadow snarled, matching his counterpart's anger with his own, and the inky black of his Doom powers began to swirl around him. "He is just a parasite who contributed DNA! You were supposed to stay out of his sight!"

"It would have been nice to know that sooner!" Shadow's counterpart growled. "Before he nearly killed us all!"

Shadow's fists clenched in rage. "Then there will be no more mistakes!" he said sharply. "I will crush them all! And you will stay out of my way!"

"So you say, and yet your problems keep finding me and my friends anyway!" accused his counterpart with an angry hiss.

Two sets of glowing red eyes glowered at each other, ready to spring into a fight at a moment's notice. Both their respective Sonics tried to calm them down, but their words fell on deaf ears, and everyone else shrunk back to avoid the power lashing around them in their fury.

Then, the one voice that could make a difference cut in.

"Shadow, no!"

Even with their respective powers still flowing around them, the two Ultimate Lifeforms turned to see Omega flying towards them on his rockets, carrying Professor Robotnik and Maria in his arms. The second the robot landed, Maria raced across the ground to grab one of each of the Shadows' hands in her own.

Seeing this, Rouge quickly waved everyone back to give them some privacy, and Omega helped her enforce it. Something Shadow would have been grateful for if he'd been in the right headspace.

"Maria?" asked Shadow.

"What are you doing here?" asked his counterpart.

Maria just looked at the both of them tearfully. "It breaks my heart to see you both so full of anger," she said, looking each of them in the eyes. "This isn't who you are."

She took a breath to calm herself. "Do you know why I named you 'Shadow'?" She asked. "Because without light there is only darkness, but a shadow will show you where to find the light. Do you understand?"

At the mention of 'light', Shadow's Counterpart drooped and his powers faded away.

Maria spared him a relieved look, before focusing her attention on Shadow. "I don't want you to be driven by darkness. I want you to be happy. Stand in the light with peace in your heart."

Shadow felt his own powers fading as he calmed down, but her words… he wasn't ready to hear them.

So he pulled his hand free of hers, threw the newly acquired Cyan Chaos Emerald at Sonic's head, and skated away.

Chapter Text

The Drs. Eggman were at their wits' end.

First, the shockwave knocked out all of their machines, then a surge of ambient energy had drained all their power, and now a second shockwave had gone off, wiping out everything else.

As it stood, their machines were now well and truly dead. While the damage could be superficially repaired, no amount of work the two could do would bring it back online with only the supplies they had here.

"Well, it was a good plan while it lasted," said the younger Eggman in disappointment.

The older Eggman would be tearing his hair out if he had any. "RRRRRrrr! I hate that HEDGEHOG!" he screamed at the heavens.

"You're sure Sonic is doing this?" asked the younger Eggman. "This doesn't really seem like his style."

The older Eggman couldn't really argue that, but "Who else is this irritating without even trying?!" he said.

The younger Eggman also couldn't argue with that either.

"Well, I guess we'd better go back to the drawing board," the younger said. "There's no salvaging this."

"Yes, we'll have to either rebuild all of this from scratch or make a new plan built off of the old," agreed the older. He then grinned smugly. "At the very least, with this anomaly, we have all the time in the world."

Both Eggmen laughed at the pun, but their chortles were cut off by a loud 'CRASH!'

The two doctors looked towards the sound, and saw that their Time Eater was now thrashing against the restraints they'd been using to contain it.

Restraints that had now lost all power with their equipment dead, and if the creature continued to struggle as it was, then it would not be long before it broke free.

And once it did so, there would no longer be any way for the doctors to control it.

The older and younger doctors exchanged a worried look.

If their superior intellect didn't come up with something soon, with that creature free, there may be no future for them to rule.

After an epic battle like that, needless to say, everyone needed a breather, and were taking a minute to sit and rest, or make casual conversation (and very pointedly not talk about the argument between the Shadows, knowing it wasn't any of their business, and the two black hedgehogs wouldn't appreciate being talked about).

Sonic found himself sitting with his brothers as they all recovered their strength from all the fighting.

Maria had been welcomed with open arms by everyone once it sunk in that she was really 'That Maria'. As such the girl and the professor were currently surrounded by everyone asking them lots of questions and chatting away. The Shadow from Sonic's world stayed by her side like a grumpy guard dog, making sure no one asked questions that were too sensitive or overwhelmed the girl.

And with all their attention on her, it was off the Wachowski brothers, and Sonic couldn't say he minded the moment of quiet.

Speaking of quiet…

Smaller Sonic was one of the few still moving around and not grilling the professor and Maria, instead playing a pantomiming game with Cream and Charmy, and the smallest Tails to keep them entertained. They all watched as he acted out different scenarios, and the two children had to guess what story he was telling.

"Sonic, can I ask a question?" said Sonic's Tails, as he watched Smaller Sonic pretend to go fishing.

"Sure thing," said Sonic, happy for an excuse to chatter. Okay, maybe it was starting to get too quiet.

"I know he's not your little self, but do you know why that version of you over there doesn't speak?" Tails asked.

Knuckles laughed. "Yes, I find him to be far less irritating than you? Why are you so different? Should I propose a trade?" he teased.

Tails promptly reached around Sonic to swat Knuckles for that.

Sonic's enthusiasm to answer that question waned a bit upon hearing that, but he at least could answer. "I don't know why he doesn't speak. Maybe he doesn't like it, or just doesn't want to right now, but changes his mind in the future, but… It's possible the reason might be pretty bad. It was for me."

The others started looking at him, and Sonic did what he typically did when nervous. He just kept talking. "I mean, I had a whole period of time when I was quiet like that, too, just after I got to Earth. I don't think I spoke a word for, like, three years more or less."

"Why?" asked Knuckles.

"If you don't mind us asking," added Tails, sensing it was a sensitive topic.

"Uh, well," Sonic said, trying to find the words, before turning back to his older brother. "Remember what we were talking about before, about final wishes?"

Knuckles, not understanding what this had to do with their conversation, frowned but nodded.

"You said I was doing great at fulfilling Longclaw's last wish, but the truth is… I'm not," Sonic said, feeling guilty. "When she sent me to Earth, she told me to hide. To never let anyone see me. To run away if anyone ever did, and never stop. Staying in Green Hills, getting adopted, meeting all of you, it wasn't something I was supposed to do. I was supposed to leave and be alone."

"And what does that have to do with you not speaking when you seem to find such joy in doing so?" asked Knuckles, still not getting it.

"Well, an important part of hiding is being quiet, right?" said Sonic, holding a finger to his lips. "When I was little, I was convinced that if I ever said another word, people would find me in a heartbeat, and I'd have to run away and live on the Mushroom Planet. So I kept my mouth shut."

"What changed?" asked Tails, clearly hoping it was something good.

It wasn't. "The same reason I made all my risky decisions back then. Because I was lonely," said Sonic. "One day, I just realized I hadn't even heard my own name in years! And I was worried I'd start forgetting what it was, so I just started saying my name over and over again for I don't know how long, but it must have been hours. I must have sounded like a Pokémon." He let out a laugh he didn't really feel and added, "And then, when no one came to capture me, I realized talking was still safe. So I just… started talking a lot more. Because even if I was talking to myself, at least I was talking to someone, right?"

Sonic took a deep breath to calm himself. "So, yeah, that's why I talk so much. And why I couldn't fulfil Longclaw's last wish. I just… I didn't want to be alone anymore."

Tails and Knuckles exchanged a glance and shifted closer so they had their brother caught in a hug in the middle.

"I don't know Longclaw, but I don't think she really wanted you to hide forever, Sonic," Tails told him. "All she really wanted was for you to be safe, and you are safe with us."

"You fail to see that her wish has become a shackle when it should have always been your choice," Knuckles said sagely. "It may have been the owl's wish at the time that you hide apart from everything that could do you harm, but it was a wish made in fear. Your life going forward after her is yours to decide. Not hers. You followed her wish for years, and now, in breaking it, you have found a home. You are happy, the owl… Longclaw would understand."

Sonic wrapped his arms around his brothers and hugged them back tightly.

"Do you ever wonder what would have happened?" he asked. "If I hadn't shown the echidnas where we lived. If Longclaw and your tribe hadn't wiped each other out?"

Knuckles let out a long sigh. "That battle would have happened one way or another, one day or another. If you had not shown them the way, they would still have found her eventually. With the years of bad blood between them, it was inevitable. I have, however, pondered what would have happened if my tribe had been victorious. I would like to believe they would have brought you back with them. And we would have been raised as brothers among my people, but… while I would be pleased with such a life, I know you would have been unhappy. With your power and connection to Longclaw, my tribe would have done their best to keep you bound to us, and you would grow to resent them for it, and desire your freedom from us all."

Sonic huffed a small laugh because his brother knew him so well. "I'd like to think Longclaw would have done the same for you. Taken you in, tried to raise us together, protect us. Maybe we would find Tails and take him in, too. But I know you'd never forgive her for what happened to the echidnas. Your honor wouldn't allow it. You'd be miserable."

"If you two had come to my village, maybe we would have still been brothers," said Tails thoughtfully. "We'd at least have to stick together, because we'd all be too weird to be accepted by anyone else. We wouldn't have Tom or Maddie, though."

"Yeah, Tom and Maddie are the best. I don't know where I'd be without them," said Sonic with a fond grin. "Hard to say which is the best timeline."

"The best timeline would be our tribes not feuding in the first place," Knuckles stated. "However, in such a timeline, we would not all be a family."

"We'd be them," said Tails, pointing at their counterparts. "And, I don't think that's so bad. We'd all still find each other. We'd be close."

"True, and we'd have a lot of friends, have cool adventures, and see a lot of great places," agreed Sonic.

"It would be nice to be them and see my people's ancestral home," Knuckles agreed. "But I am still pleased to be us instead."

"You said it," agreed Sonic and Tails.

They glanced at the crowd still surrounding Maria, and Shadow looked grumpy at having to share her attention (or he was still brooding over the blowout he had with his double, or that was just his face, hard to tell).

"So we're all agreed we're gonna beg Tom and Maddie to let Shadow join the family when we get home, right?" said Sonic.

"Oh yeah! He's cool! And he knows lots of fun games," said Tails with a grin.

"An Echidna Warrior does not beg," said Knuckles with his nose in the air. "However, I am willing to argue our case to the Lord of Donuts and the Lady of Pretzels how the more impressive hedgehog would be a fine addition to our tribe."

"You could just say 'yes', buddy," said Sonic with a snicker, elbowing Knuckles for the 'more impressive' bit.

Shadow, of course, would get the final say in the matter, but to Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails, Shadow Wachowski certainly had a nice ring to it.

Shadow was admittedly feeling a bit overwhelmed, but was trying not to show it on his face.

The last time he'd been surrounded by this many people was… well, was when he broke free of his stasis pod and beat down the GUN soldiers awaiting him.

The last time he'd been surrounded before that… he couldn't bear thinking about when he had a living, breathing Maria standing right next to him.

And the time before that it had been a normal day at the lab, full of human scientists poking and prodding him until Maria managed to sneak him away.

This time, however, was far different. The atmosphere was friendly and full of inane chatter. And for once, Shadow wasn't the freak among the group. Instead, he blended right in. It was Maria and her grandfather who were the oddities of the bunch, and Shadow made sure to stay close to make sure no one poked or prodded at them.

Finally, when he saw Maria beginning to be overwhelmed too, Shadow decided to ask something he knew would get their attention off her.

"What now?" he asked, focusing on the older version of Sonic, who seemed to be the leader of the merry band of misfits.

The taller blue hedgehog gave him a look of surprise. "What do you mean?"

"You need that other gem that my double still has to defeat that time monster," said Shadow. "Now you have all of them but that one, are you just going to wait around for him to come back with it?"

The Taller Sonic shared a look with his younger self, and they both laughed. "Oh man, me? Wait? That's a good one, Stripes."

Shadow was not laughing, and gave him the look his Maria had always called his 'resting grump face'.

"There's still plenty to do around here while Shadow does his thing against Black Doom," said the sleeker Knuckles, rolling his eyes at the blue hedgehogs' antics.

The older Tails then gestured to the various bits of locations scattered around them. "See how a lot of these places still have patches of white and look all lifeless?"

Shadow and the Wachowski Brothers looked around and nodded.

"Now see those little gold archways," Older Tails added, pointing. "Beyond each of them is a small challenge. If we complete the challenge, it will restore just a little more color to the world."

"We're pretty sure doing that is good for the places the Time Eater munched on," added the younger Tails. "So if we complete the challenges behind the gates, then it fixes the damage. Which will make it easier to go back to normal."

The younger version of Sonic pumped his fist in the air, and then looked around and gave everybody a nod.

"He's right," said the taller version of Sonic. "If we all work together, then we'll get those things done in no time."

"Okay, but why challenges? Why would the time anomaly set things up like that?" asked Tails Wachowski.

"We've got a hunch Eggman is behind all this," said the crocodile, Vector. "That monster's a little too controlled to be just doing this willy-nilly. And no one's seen the version of him from our time since we got here."

"Add to that, the challenges and a chance to end Sonic's career as a hero back when it just started, while also taking out the version who caused the doctor so much misery, even if he's not behind it, he's sure to take advantage," added Espio the Chameleon.

"I dunno," said the smallest Tails. "Sonic saw our time's him getting taken away by the Time Eater when he fought him before the Wachowskis showed up. Why would it do that if it worked for him?"

"Maybe that was our time's Eggman getting your time's Eggman on board?" suggested Amy with a shrug.

("Who is this Eggman character?" Professor Gerald whispered to Shadow as they continued to talk around him.

Shadow could only shrug. "No idea. Apparently, he's annoying and frequently tries to kill them."

"What an unpleasant-sounding person," said Professor Gerald. "I do hope we never meet.")

"But still, if it is him, why the challenges?" asked Tails Wachowski, seeing they'd gotten off track. "Why not just straight up death traps?"

"Well, Eggman's whole goal in life is to take over the world so he can turn it into his theme park," said Taller Knuckles.

"And anything he builds is really no fun," said Silver, earning a few confused looks.

"... Were you in our time during the Dark Gaia incident, Silver? Or when he took over the Planet of the Wisps?" asked Taller Sonic, tapping his chin. "I can't think of when else you could have gone to EggmanLand."

Silver had the face of someone who'd gotten their hand caught in the cookie jar. "... Yes!" he said, and left it at that.

"So wait, the guy wants to be evil discount Walt Disney, and instead of just going out and trying to kill you he puts you through these weird challenges instead?" asked Sonic Wachowski, making sure he had that right.

"The challenges are all still pretty dangerous, but yeah, pretty much," said Taller Sonic.

The Wachowski Brothers exchanged a look. "If our Man of Eggs is still alive, would it be possible to trade?" asked Knuckles Wachowski.

"Ours just keeps trying to straight up kill me," added Sonic Wachowski.

Taller Sonic just laughed before addressing the group. "So, who wants to see who can fulfil the most challenges before Shadow gets back?"

With that, everyone started to scatter to the golden arches to get them done.

Soon, that left Shadow, the Robotniks, and the Wachowskis alone as they watched the others pick an archway and go through.

"So, want to join them, or…" Sonic Wachowski asked Shadow.

Shadow ducked his head and admitted, "I… I need to talk to my Double. I still have questions, and he has the answers."

"I want to find him too," added Maria. "I'm worried. He was so angry earlier."

"I, too, am concerned about him," agreed Professor Gerald, glancing up at the Black Moon, which was growing darker and uglier by the second. "And given that Black Doom seems to have almost regained his full power, he really should not be alone right now."

"Wait, almost?" asked Sonic incredulously. "We nearly got mobbed by an army, and that was this guy at almost full power?"

"The enemy grows more formidable as we speak," said Knuckles grimly.

"How can we help?" asked Tails.

Shadow looked at them and knew they would come with him again without hesitation, and… he couldn't let them do it.

"By helping them," Shadow said, pointing at those completing the challenges in the archways. "Leave this to me and my Double. If Black Doom is some kind of father to me and him, then he's our problem to solve."

None of the Wachowskis looked happy to hear that, and they were all opening their mouths to protest.

"Please," said Shadow. "Trust me. I can do this."

They shut their mouths, exchanged a look, and nodded. "Very well," said Knuckles, crossing his arms sternly. "But do not think we won't hesitate to follow should we hear you are in danger."

"'Cause we've got your back," agreed Tails, reaching into his bag to give Shadow more ammo for the gun he was still borrowing.

"Yeah, and don't worry about that whole 'father' thing," said Sonic, patting Shadow on the shoulder. "Having Darth Vader as a dad isn't the end of the universe. It just means you get to be Luke Skywalker." He paused and then added, "Or Princess Leia, actually, scratch that, be Princess Leia! She is so much cooler, and she'd kick Darth Vader's butt if given half the chance."

"I don't know who any of those people are," said Shadow, bemused.

Sonic laughed. "Well, then you definitely have to kick his butt and come home with us, because we have so many more movies I need to show you. We'll have a marathon, it'll be great."

Shadow felt a small smile appear on his lips. "I look forward to it."

And so, with some help from the Wachowskis, Shadow reattached himself to the (somehow still in-tact after the battle) trailer and was soon pulling Maria and Professor Gerald behind him as he raced to find his counterpart.

There were answers he needed to find, and a freaky alien to beat.

Time to be Princess Leia, whoever that was.

Shadow prepared himself as he made his way towards the latest Sealing Device to call for him.

It was going to hurt. It always hurt, like his body was ripping itself apart from the inside out, his mind turning against itself, and he could never be sure if what came out the other side would still be him.

But he had to do it. If he was going to face Black Doom, he needed the power.

But still, as he approached the seal and the black beam shot out of it as it shattered, surrounding him in inky blackness, he couldn't contain his cries of pain.

This time, the sensation was more familiar. He recognized this power as the one he'd used briefly at the start of this mess.

He collapsed to all fours as his back burned, as new appendages started to grow out of it.

With a final scream, they burst free, a set of massive skeletal wings that launched him into the air with one involuntary beat.

Pushing past the pain, Shadow focused on using both his new wings and his air shoes to right himself so he didn't crash back to the ground.

"So this is what you've been doing," said a voice below him.

Shadow looked down to see his counterpart staring back up at him next to the now broken seal.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as he tried to figure out how to land.

"Looking for you," said Shadow's Counterpart disapprovingly. "You're making Maria worry. And I still have questions."

Shadow sighed as he finally touched back down. He supposed his counterpart had earned that much. "Ask," he said.

Shadow's Counterpart blinked and said nothing for a long moment. Likely trying to figure out what to ask now that he had the opportunity.

"Who is Black Doom?" he said finally. "I… wasn't created as you were, but he still had some kind of hold on me. If a version of him exists in my world, I want to be prepared."

Shadow nodded. "Black Doom is an alien warlord of the Black Arms. His kind traveled through outer space aboard the Black Comet, before invading and conquering whole worlds, consuming their people and resources before moving on when there was nothing left." He moved so he could stare up at the Black Moon, and watched it darken now that he'd absorbed his final power.

"And he had a part in your… creation?" asked his counterpart, trying to find the words.

"Yes," said Shadow. "After Professor Robotnik's early attempts to create an Ultimate Lifeform failed, Black Doom reached out to him and offered his DNA so the professor could perfect his process."

"So he could cure Maria, because she's sick," said Shadow's Counterpart, apparently having gleaned that much, or perhaps the Professor told him on the way to find him.

"Yes, the professor would have stopped at nothing to save her, and losing her broke him in ways I'm glad you haven't had to see," said Shadow, trying to keep the sadness from his voice.

"But why?" asked Shadow's Counterpart. "Having met Black Doom, I don't see him caring if she lives or dies."

"He doesn't," Shadow confirmed as the Black Moon blackened further, and its eyes stared daggers into him. "He had his own agenda and took advantage of the professor's desperation. In his eyes, I was created to be his greatest weapon. An agent he could already have on Earth to destroy it when the time came." He waved up at his new wings and added, "Even now, he bestows upon me these 'gifts' to entice me to his side. But I refuse."

His counterpart crossed his arms and looked uncomfortable. "How? I… I felt him trying to take over. If Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles hadn't been there to ground me, to give me a reason to fight him off… he would have taken me. He's still trying to take you, too."

"He won't have me, ever, because I know who I am," said Shadow firmly, turning to his counterpart. "Do you know who you are?"

Shadow's Counterpart startled at the question and mulled it over before his face hardened in determination. "I am Shadow the Hedgehog. I am not a monster. I am who I choose to be in here," he said, placing a hand over his own heart.

Shadow nodded and smiled approvingly. "Good. As long as you hold on to that, Black Doom stands no chance at possessing you."

The other Shadow nodded.

At that moment, a black beam shot out of the top of the Black Moon behind them, turning the White Space a blood red as a path appeared in the air, providing a means to get up to it.

"He's fully formed," said Shadow as he saw that.

The other Shadow frowned. "You mean, what the professor said about him being 'almost' at full power?"

"Yes, I defeated him before, but now he's used this place to take a second shot at life," said Shadow.

"Then we'll just have to be sure that shot is a miss," said the other Shadow.

Shadow looked at his counterpart. "I'll fight him. Where I'm going, there isn't likely to be anywhere for you to stand and fight," he said firmly, spreading his new wings for emphasis.

The other Shadow frowned at his words before looking up and examining the Black Moon again, and he smirked. "Then I'll fight where I can," he said, pointing up at it. "The moon's rings! If I can use them like I do a generator line, I can flood them with energy."

Shadow's eyes widened as he caught on to what he was saying. "And overload them, like you did on the ARK."

"Yes," said the other Shadow. "While you distract him, I'll make sure everything he's rebuilt is blown out of the sky."

Shadow grinned viciously. He liked the way his counterpart thinks. "Then what are we waiting for?" he asked, lifting off with his wings.

"Wait," said the other Shadow. "Maria still wants to see you."

"Then we won't keep her waiting," Shadow agreed.

The two of them took off to where the other Shadow had left her.

Chapter Text

As they arrived in front of Maria and the professor, Shadow felt his new wings fumble, and he landed hard on the ground. Beside him, the other Shadow tripped and landed in a crouch.

Pain like he only felt every time he'd gotten a new power struck him once again. Black Doom was trying to possess him, and he fought to banish the feeling away.

On the ground next to him, the other Shadow was also writhing in pain, but he unleashed a brief storm of lightning to fight off Black Doom's attempt at control over him..

Shadow barely registered this, as he had his head thrown back as he screamed in pain, and Doom's power circled around him like a cyclone.

"You can not deny me, Shadow," boomed Black Doom's voice overhead, seeming to come from the very moon itself. "You are finally complete. Come. Face me. I shall claim you, mind, body, and soul, and become the perfect being."

Shadow glowered up at the Black Moon before taking a page out of the other Shadow's book and unleashing a burst of Chaos Energy with a warcry to break the alien's attempt at control.

Once his energy faded, he turned to the other Shadow. "It is time," he said with a note of finality in his voice.

"Long past time," the other Shadow agreed with a nod, and they both turned to face Maria and the professor.

Professor Robotnik looked on at both of them sadly. "I'm sorry I put you on this path, Shadow, and I'm sorry you've stumbled onto it as well, Shadow," he said to both of them. "But I'm proud of how you've both walked it," he said, before focusing solely on his Shadow and adding, "I believe in you, son."

Shadow couldn't help but be moved when he heard that. Despite what Professor Robotnik had done to reach this point, and what he would do in the future both to the world and to Shadow himself, the Ultimate Lifeform couldn't help but still hold a fondness for him, and hearing those words meant a lot.

Maria, meanwhile, looked ready to burst into tears as she ran over to them. "Shadow…" she tried to say.

But Shadow held up a hand to calm her. "It's alright, Maria," he promised. "I'm letting go of that destructive anger, but I will continue to fight-"

The ground shook under their feet, and Maria stumbled, making both Shadows run over to catch her and help her back to her feet.

Once she was right again, Shadow clasped both her hands in his own. "Fight… with your wish in my heart," he vowed to her. "Your wish for everyone to have a chance to be happy," he said with a small smile on his face.

Maria still looked worried, but she managed to smile back at him.

Shadow slowly stepped away from Maria, his hands trailing along hers to hold on as long as possible. He shared one final nod with the other Shadow and the professor before launching himself into the air and taking off for the Black Moon.

Black Doom would soon meet his end.

Shadow watched the winged version of himself fly up towards the Black Doom's moon.

Shadow still had many questions, but there was a time and place for them, and when an alien warlord was coming back from the dead to wreak havoc was not the right time.

"He'll be alright, won't he?" asked Maria.

"He will," Shadow promised her. "I'll make sure of it."

"You're going up there too?" asked Professor Gerald, looking concerned.

"We have a plan," Shadow assured him. "I just need to let him draw Black Doom's attention first."

"Shadow…" said Maria sadly. "Thank you. This isn't your fight."

"It is now," Shadow disagreed. "I can't let him fight that monster alone. And… if Black Doom exists in my world, which he likely does, then it will be good practice."

Maria smiled at him gratefully. "What will you do?" she asked. "Once you go back to your world?"

Shadow was quiet for a long moment. "The Wachowski brothers offered to adopt me," he said quietly. "And I find I'm not… entirely opposed to the idea."

Despite their situation, Maria gasped in delight, and Professor Gerald nodded in approval.

"I'm glad," the professor said. "Such is the life I've often wished I could have given our Shadow. It warms my heart to know somewhere out there, a version of you might be allowed to have that."

"You'll have brothers," Maria agreed with a wide smile. "A family. I'm happy for you, Shadow."

Shadow ducked his head with a small smile. "Good. The other me said your wish was for everyone to be happy, that includes you, too."

"And you as well," insisted Maria.

Shadow nodded before darting forward to give her one last hug. "And me as well," he agreed as she squeezed him back. "I'll work on it."

Above them, Shadow saw his winged double dive into the Black Moon, and all of its attention became focused inwards. "Now's my chance," he said, though like the winged Shadow before him, he was reluctant to leave Maria's side. Something about all this felt too final. Like he would lose her again all too soon.

"Be careful," Maria told him.

"I'll be back," he said, assuring himself as well as her. With that, he stepped away and took off.

It took some doing, but by this point, the White (though currently Red) Space wasn't all that monochrome anymore, and there were plenty of structures for him to race up and kick off until he could launch himself up onto the outermost of the Black Moon's rings.

And then, as he had done so many times before, he raced on as fast as he could and poured his energy into the surface below him.

A few robots and flying Black Arms that reminded Shadow of scorpions noticed him and tried to stop him, but he easily dispatched them using the laser pistol Tails had given him.

Once he had one ring charged up as much as he could without completely overloading it, he jumped to the next more inner ring and repeated the process.

He didn't know how long the winged version of himself needed to fight Black Doom, but he would make sure that once he was defeated, there would be nothing left. 

It was a long and grueling journey through the twisted kaleidoscope of a city, but finally, Shadow was able to reach Black Doom.

No projections this time. The actual, living warlord floated before him as Shadow came in for a landing on a shattered bit of asphalt floating in the black abyss in the center of the Black Moon.

"The time has come, Shadow," Black Doom hissed, reaching out as if to clutch Shadow in the palm of his hand.

"Agreed," Shadow said back. "Time to sever this bond between us forever."

Black Doom laughed maniacally as he grew to immense size, his Doom Eye covering his usual three to turn him into a giant demonic cyclops.

"Embrace your fate!" the mutated Devil Doom snarled, sending a wave of attacks at Shadow. "You were made to serve my will! Now, join me, as you were made to do!"

"You couldn't even bend a child to your will," Shadow said, deflecting several of the attacks back at Black Doom and dodging the rest. "What makes you think I'll be any different?"

Black Doom snarled. "That boy may have been made by a version of me, but not by myself. My control over him is less. But you, you are made from my blood, and with your connection to him, I will bring him to a heel."

Shadow gritted his teeth hearing that, and used his Doom Surf ability to dodge a series of lasers aimed to take him out. So if Black Doom managed to possess him, he would be sealing the other Shadow's fate as well. All the more reason to finish this quickly, and sever all connection to Black Doom.

So with that, he launched himself at Devil Doom and rained a series of blows down onto his eye. "Did you think I wouldn't surpass you? You stand no chance!" he snapped, as he sent a final kick into the eye, temporarily blinding it.

Devil Doom roared in outrage, and Shadow had to use his Doom Morph ability to avoid the coming blows.

It took more uses of his new abilities to get a few more hits onto Devil Doom, which, unfortunately, only made him mutate a second time into an even uglier form.

Far from being angered by Shadow's continued resistance, the now Neo Devil Doom laughed. "Splendid, Shadow! Truly splendid!" he said like a mocking facsimile of a proud father. "You are truly my finest instrument! A testament to my bloodline! See yourself as what you really are!"

"I am nothing like you," Shadow replied. "I surpassed you long ago."

It was then, even as he used his wings to divebomb, Neo Devil Doom, that he felt it. The feeling of static electricity building in the air, making his fur stand on end, and little shocks of electricity jump out at him whenever he flew too close to metal debris.

It took Neo Devil Doom longer to notice the energy build-up, but he sure noticed it when he received a static shock while using his upper head's long serpentine neck to smack Shadow away from himself.

"WHAT?" the monster yelled, no doubt burning from the shock he'd just received.

Shadow, however, was unharmed by the energy. Chaos Energy reacted to its user's will, and he wasn't the one it was being targeted at.

"As I said," said Shadow as he rushed to reach Neo Devil Doom again. "I have long surpassed you, and it seems, so has my counterpart."

Neo Devil Doom's giant lower eye widened at his words, and then darted to look into the abyss around them.

At the warlord's will, the swirling red clouds and topsy-turvy city turned transparent, allowing them to see outside into the White Space.

On the innermost ring of the Black Moon, the other Shadow was racing at top speed, filling the ring with his energy, and the other two rings were already alight and crackling with an overload of Chaos Energy. It wouldn't take much more for it all to burn.

"NO!" Neo Devil Doom hissed.

But while he was distracted by what was outside, he didn't see Shadow closing in on him.

"Time to end this!" Shadow shouted as he launched a series of Doom Spears at Doom's many eyes. "Once and for all!"

Neo Devil Doom screeched in pain as all his eyes were promptly blinded. By the time his eyes regenerated, it was to the sight of the rings of the Black Moon about to ignite, and Shadow diving at him to deliver the final blow.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" Neo Devil Doom cried out in desperation, and all time around him froze.

Relieved he had time, the monster began reaching for Shadow. Even if that miserable counterpart of his managed to destroy the Black Moon, it would all be worth it if he could just have Shadow within his grasp. Once he had him, the insolent child outside would soon follow. Both ultimate weapons would be his to command.

"Your future is already decided," he chuckled to his progeny as his massive hands started to close around his frozen form. "We will be one."

Unfortunately, he failed to see Shadow's eyes flash red as he activated his own Chaos Control. Before Neo Devil Doom could reach him, he managed to shoot up between his fingers.

"You are blinded by your own ambition. I will not be stopped! We will not be stopped!" Shadow shouted as he kicked Black Doom in the face, shocking him again with the ambient Chaos Energy that was only growing stronger.

Shadow swerved around to deal the final blow, but Neo Devil Doom managed to clap his giant hands together and catch Shadow in midair like a child would an unevolved firefly.

But even as he did so, the rings outside the Black Moon exploded, causing the world Black Doom had created to start crumbling around them, and the monster to cry out in pain.

"You cannot deny what you are!" Neo Devil Doom shouted desperately in his last-ditch attempt to win, forcing everything, his consciousness, his power, his will into his palms, trying to force them to merge with the Ultimate Lifeform within. "WE ARE ONE AND THE SAME!"

But with a burst of more Chaos Energy, Black Doom's power was forced back, and his hands followed suit.

"I am Shadow the Hedgehog!" Shadow declared as he broke free. "This is the destiny I choose!"

New Devil Doom's hideous face was twisted into clear shock. "I crafted everything up til now!" he said in disbelief. "And yet you deny me!"

Shadow was done giving this creature the time of day, so with a warcry and drawing upon the Chaos Energy around them, he rocketed himself through the air and used it to propel himself straight through Black Doom's heart.

Black Doom screeched as he died, but Shadow didn't spare him a single glance as he quickly shifted his propulsion upwards and out of the world of the Black Moon.

He exited it in time to see his counterpart free-falling towards the ground, no doubt having been thrown from the rings as they exploded.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow cried again, giving himself time to dive for the younger hedgehog and catch him in midair.

Once time reasserted itself again and the fluffier Shadow blinked and realized he was no longer about to become a smear on the ground, he sent Shadow a smirk. "What took you so long?" he asked.

Cheeky brat.

"Black Doom would not stop talking," said Shadow with a roll of his eyes, but his tone was amused.

However, just as Shadow was coming in for a landing, the wings on his back vanished, sending both of them tumbling to the ground.

"Shadow!" came a cheerful shout, and both of them climbed to their feet to see Maria beaming at them as she trotted over. "I knew you could do i-" However, her voice was cut off as she suddenly seemed to grow weak on her feet, and Professor Gerald had to catch her before she fell.

"Maria?!" Shadow shouted, darting over to her.

Maria looked surprised herself, but assured them, "I'm okay, really."

"I don't understand," said the other Shadow, coming up to crouch beside her. "You said being in the anomaly keeps you in top shape."

They all looked at Professor Robotnik in confusion, hoping he had the answer.

"It should," said the professor, just as bewildered as they were. "So long as time doesn't move forwa-"

"Professor!" said Shadow, cutting him off as he noticed a faint shimmer around the professor's hands. The same shimmer was slowly enveloping Maria's hands as well. Taking one of each of their hands in his own, he asked, "What's happening?"

But even as he asked, he had a sinking feeling he already knew. As the shimmer spread across the rest of them, their skin began to grow transparent.

Professor Robotnik sighed in resignation. "Without Black Doom's influence, the time anomaly is beginning to heal. We are returning to our own point in time."

Shadow looked at them, horrified, and from the choked sound his counterpart made, he was feeling the same way.

In desperation, Shadow reached into his quills and pulled out the yellow emerald he'd been holding onto this entire time.

"I have a Chaos Emerald!" he said, holding it up for them to see. "I'll use Chaos Control! Stop this point in time, and-!"

But Maria placed her rapidly fading hand onto the emerald and pushed it away. "Shadow… no," she said, sadly, but also resolute.

"But Maria, he can-" protested the other Shadow, but Maria patted him between the ears and shook her head.

"We don't want to be frozen in one place in time," Maria told them. "Besides, your friends need your help."

"But you don't know what's going to happen!" Shadow tried to insist. Tried to warn them before it was too late.

But Maria placed a hand over his lips and just shook her head again as she plucked the Chaos Emerald from his hand and hid it back among his quills.

Seeing she would not allow them to save her, Shadow's counterpart sniffled, and did as he had when he first arrived and hugged her around the waist.

Maria smiled at the sight and ran her other hand through his quills. "Remember," she said as she grew more faint. "Both me and your Maria love you very much."

The other Shadow managed a small, wet smile hearing that, and gave her one last squeeze. "And that light will always shine, even when the star is gone," he said, pulling back and letting go.

Maria then turned her attention to her own Shadow and pulled him into a hug as well, pressing their foreheads together. "And that's true for you too, Shadow," she said. "I love you. I know I'll see you again. And if fate draws us apart, I will always be in your heart."

Shadow savored the hug, knowing it would be the last one she ever gave him. "Maria…" he said.

But all too soon, she pulled away and stepped back to stand with her grandfather as the two of them vanished.

"Wait!" Shadow said, in one last desperate attempt to make them stay, but they were already gone.

Next to him, the other Shadow was wiping his eyes on the back of his gloves, before looking at him for guidance and doing a double-take. "You're-" he started to say.

But Shadow clenched his fists and darted away, back in the direction of Sonic and his friends. Back to where he was needed to keep fulfilling the promise he'd made to Maria.

Behind him, the other Shadow stared after him, and finished his sentence. "-crying…"

It seems his double wasn't so unaffected by Maria's loss as he first appeared.

He didn't give himself time to ponder it, and instead raced after him.

They still had work to do.

Chapter Text

While the Shadows were off fighting Black Doom, Sonic and his brothers were actually having a good time.

(And trying very hard not to worry. Shadow asked them to trust him, so they would.)

Well, until the world around them kinda… broke.

One second, they were in the white void, bringing color back to all these cool places the other two Sonics had been to. The next, the white was gone, replaced by swirling purple clouds and giant floating golden clockwork gears.

Even the ground had vanished, forcing everyone to either stand on floating debris or on said giant gears.

"What happened?" asked Amy, looking around in confusion.

"Aw, and we almost got all the color back, too," complained Charmy.

"My bad!" called Vector, who'd had the last challenge, which had been particularly difficult and was left unfinished.

"Perhaps it would have been best to pass on our business card another time," said Espio.

The Chaotix had been trying to network their detective agency with the Wachowskis from the moment they heard their dad was the local sheriff, and doing their sales pitch had been pretty distracting.

Silver, meanwhile, seemed to sense something they didn't. "This isn't good," he said. "The timeline is getting more damaged as we speak!"

"Wasn't it already?" asked Taller Knuckles.

"Yes, but that at least felt more controlled. Like someone was able to pick and choose what small points were affected," Silver explained. He then gestured around them and said, "Not this. This is like someone is throwing the whole timeline into a blender."

"That sounds bad," said Cream worriedly.

"It seems we've run out of time to delay," said Blaze, gazing around them with a concerned expression. "We need to stop this now before the barriers between dimensions join the timeline in that blender."

"I AM READY TO DESTROY THE CREATURE RESPONSIBLE!" crowed Omega, flexing his guns.

At that moment, the Time Eater swooped overhead, and Omega had his chance. "DIE SCUM!" he said, shooting at the monster with everything he had.

Only the bullets didn't even faze the creature as it swooped through another portal, then another, then another, eating away at time right before their eyes in an uncontrolled frenzy.

"Sorry, Terminator," said Sonic, watching this all happen. "Looks like we need more than ammo to take that thing down."

"I WILL BE REQUESTING AN UPGRADE THE SECOND WE RETURN!" Omega grumbled, clearly insulted that the Time Eater was so unaffected.

Smaller Sonic reached behind his head and pushed some of his quills so they tipped upwards.

"He's right," Taller Sonic said, nodding to his younger self. "What we need is that last emerald. We need Shadow."

"But how are the more impressive hedgehogs supposed to locate us in… this?" said Knuckles, unable to find the words to describe their current location.

"I'll find him," said Rouge, who, with her wings, was one of the few able to travel the newly shattered void easily. "Be right back," she said as she swooped away.

"Maybe we should look too," suggested Tails.

"Better we stick together," said Taller Tails. "We'll be easier for Rouge and the Shadows to find that way."

"But what even happened?" asked Taller Sonic. "Why is the Time Eater acting like this all of a sudden?"

"Oh, if it isn't the consequences of your actions, you nasty little pincushion," said a new voice that was somehow both screechy and a deep gravel at the same time.

Everyone turned to see two nearly identical human men standing atop a gear that was slowly drifting towards them. Both were wearing red, with round spectacles across their large noses, and sporting massive mustaches, though one man was clearly older than the other.

Sonic probably could have guessed who they were from that alone, but the fact that the two men were also standing beside a pair of very familiar hover-cars only sealed the deal.

"Whoa, Dr. Eggman's never looked worse," whispered Tails beside him, coming to the same conclusion.

"I'll say. He let himself go, and then just kept on going," said Sonic.

"CAN I SHOOT THEM?" asked Omega.

"Not yet," Blaze replied. "Let's see what they know."

"THEN I CAN SHOOT THEM?" asked Omega.

"Sure," said Silver.

"Eggman!" said Taller Tails, oblivious to the conversations behind him. "I wondered where he went!"

"What, no concern for me?" asked the younger of the two Eggmen. "Last you saw, our Time Eater was carrying me off."

Smaller Sonic scoffed and made a rude gesture with his hands that had Sonic slapping a hand over his Tails' eyes, and Amy and Vector did the same for Cream and Charmy (Taller Sonic didn't bother, his Tails had seen him do worse).

"Sonic says the Time Eater can have you, Dr. Robotnik," said Smaller Tails, his polite tone in sharp contrast to Smaller Sonic's sass, but the smile on his face showed he agreed with it wholeheartedly.

The younger Eggman gasped in offence. "Nobody calls me that anymore," he said. "If you would be so kind as to explain, gentleman genius Dr. Eggman from the future."

"It would be my pleasure, most excellent and efficacious Dr. Eggman of the past," agreed the older Eggman.

The older doctor launched into a story about being lost in space after Taller Sonic wrecked his interstellar amusement park (His what?), he'd stumbled across the Time Eater while floating in space, and took advantage of it to control the monster and recruit his younger self to turn the timeline into their personal playground.

There was just one problem…

"Okay, but if this was your plan, why is your pet monster currently turning the timeline into Swiss cheese? You didn't feed it after midnight, did you?" asked Sonic once he'd finished his story.

Both Eggmen jumped, as if noticing him for the first time. The two of them did a quick head count, then a second one to be sure, and then both let out long groans.

"Sonic, why are there three of you right now?" asked the older Eggman with a voice like he was fighting off a migraine.

"Shouldn't you know why, considering this is your plan and all?" Taller Sonic quipped back, but it was a valid question.

"If I knew I wouldn't have asked!" the older Eggman snapped back.

"Huh, guess the Time Eater is even stronger than even they knew," said Taller Tails.

"Then the Time Eater brought them here?" asked the younger Eggman, before shaking his head and saying, "No, never mind that now. You've been gathering the emeralds, haven't you? Why aren't you trying to stop that thing?"

Smaller Sonic just gave them a look and let the emeralds they'd gathered float around them, showing just why they hadn't.

"Six?" said the younger Eggman after a quick count. "You're one short of a super."

The older Eggman perked up as he realized what that meant. "Wait… then that means… you LOSE!" he crowed, jabbing his finger in their direction, before bursting out laughing.

"CAN I SHOOT THEM NOW?" asked Omega.

"In a minute," said Vector.

The younger Eggman didn't seem to quite agree with his older self. "Wait, hold on, they might lose, but we've still lost control of the Time Eater."

"Then that vicious beast is no longer under your command?" asked Knuckles.

"Yes," said the younger (and seemingly saner) Eggman. "Those pesky energy surges kept shutting down our machines. Including the ones we used to keep the Time Eater under our command. With our equipment broken, it's now free to run amok on our timeline."

Everyone gasped, and Sonic and Knuckles shared a guilty look. "Our bad, guys," he said softly.

"My sincerest apologies," agreed Knuckles.

"Eh, Eggman has a long history of messing with forces beyond his comprehension and then getting burned by them," Taller Tails said with a shrug. "Chances are he would have lost control of the Time Eater anyway."

The Eggmen missed that little conversation, as the younger continued to glare unimpressed at the older. "Did you hear me?" he asked. "We're doomed as well."

The older Eggman, who'd still been laughing this whole time, choked on his own chortles and coughed. "That may be," he said once he'd cleared his throat. "But at least this way we've beaten Sonic for once!"

The younger Eggman raised a brow upon hearing that. "We really never win against him?" he asked. "Ever?"

"No," said the older Eggman, making the younger wilt. "So even if we go down now, we at least go down knowing we finally! Beat! Sonic!"

The younger Dr. Eggman considered that and nodded. "Well, at least there's some comfort in that."

"Wait, so you're not even going to try and fix this?" asked Silver, aghast.

"We already tried," said the younger Eggman. "All our equipment is too damaged to repair."

"And I don't know if you noticed, but there isn't exactly a hardware store nearby to build a new one, and any slap-dash solution we throw together will be useless without power," added the older Eggman sarcastically. "So yeah, the damage to the timeline is quickly reaching critical failure. Unless something changes soon, we're doomed."

Everyone exchanged a quick, worried look. The Shadows were on their way, no doubt about that, but there was no guarantee they would find them in this mess before the timeline got too damaged to repair.

With that thought in mind, everyone began yelling at the two doctors to do something!

But the Eggmen just shared a look and seemed to decide to spend their final moments enjoying their desperation.

Seeing their smug grins, Knuckles leaned over to Tails. "Fox," he whispered solemnly. "The time has come to put your training to use."

"What training?" asked Tails, looking confused.

"You know," Sonic hissed out of the corner of his mouth. "The 'special way' Aunt Rachel taught you to ask for things."

Tails' eyes lit up in understanding. "Oh! Got it," he said with a wink.

No one else heard this exchange, their attention focused solely on the two Eggmen and the giant monster wreaking havoc on the timeline.

"So here it is, the end of everything," The older Dr. Eggman said, sneering down at the other two Sonics. Hearing their pleas and taking great pleasure in rejecting them. "But you can at least be erased from existence with the knowledge that I beat you!"

"We beat you," the younger Dr. Eggman corrected.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," said the older one dismissively.

Everyone was still shouting protests and insisting that the Eggmen do something to stop this, but the doctors just gloated over their pyrrhic victory.

At least until one voice cut through the crowd like a knife.

"Wow, I never realized a version of Eggman could be such a wuss!"

That wiped the smirks off the doctors' faces. "What!" they shouted in unison.

The entire crowd parted to see who had spoken, and everyone was shocked to see Tails.

Tails paid their shock no mind, and stalked forward with a dark look on his face that had several taking a step back in fear.

"You heard me, Loser!" Tails sneered. "You two might be ready to roll over and die like a weenie, but unlike you, I've got a life to get back to, and I'm not done living it!"

"What? Hey!" shouted the older Eggman.

"That was uncalled for," protested the younger Eggman.

But Tails didn't care. He leaped up and landed on one of their Egg Mobiles and got right in their faces. "So here is what you're going to do!" He snapped as he stared them down so fiercely that both promptly shut up and shrank back. "You're gonna prove you earned that phony doctorate you bought on eBay, and CLEAN UP YOUR MESS! Or so help me, I will shove my gravity disks down your throats, and then we'll find out what happens when they go off!"

He pulled out a pair of said gravity disks and held each up like he was going to force feed them to the doctors then and there. "Now get! To! WORK!"

Now suitably cowed, the Eggmen scrambled to do as he said, and everyone else just stared on, gobsmacked.

Seeing them doing what he'd demanded, Tails nodded and said, "Uhhhh-huh, that's what I thought," before jumping off the Egg Mobile back to the ground.

While everyone else was still coming to terms with what they had just witnessed, Sonic and Knuckles were quick to come and congratulate him.

"Whoo, Tails, that was terrifying, I got goosebumps," said Sonic, beaming and holding up his arm to show off his hair standing on end. "You have definitely spent too much time with Aunt Rachel. I almost thought she possessed you for a minute there. You channel her so well."

"Our mother's sister has taught you well," Knuckles agreed with a proud nod. "Only the fiercest of warriors can end a battle before it even starts.

Tails just smiled sunnily back at his brothers. "Thanks! I like being like Aunt Rachel," he said.

Around them, the others slowly started to come out of their shock.

"I want to be that Tails when I grow up," Smaller Tails said to Smaller Sonic.

Smaller Sonic did a double-take and looked horrified at the thought.

"Hey!" protested the taller Tails, who was actually Lil'Tails grown up, but… he didn't really disagree.

"You said your Aunt taught you to do that?" Blaze asked, impressed.

"Yep," said Tails.

"Aunt Rachel when she's angry is the scariest thing you will ever meet," Sonic said, to which Knuckles nodded in agreement.

"Do you think she'd teach me?" Amy asked.

Taller Sonic choked at the idea and zipped so he could stand between her and the Wachowski brothers. "Whoa, whoa, let's not be hasty, Amy, you're scary enough already!" he said.

"What?" Amy asked slowly, with a dark look on her face and a hammer in her hand that only proved Taller Sonic's point.

"I said we all like you just the way you are!" Taller Sonic amended quickly, making her smile.

"And you're the last person to need lessons like that," Taller Knuckles muttered under his breath.

"Could I get lessons?" asked Cream innocently.

Everyone felt a chill down their spine at the mere thought.

"Better not, I don't think any of us would survive," Vector said.

"CAN I SHOOT THEM NOW?" asked Omega again.

Espio shook his head. "Unfortunately, they are currently being useful-"

"For once," Charmy cut in.

"-So no," Espio finished.

Omega drooped in disappointment.

Between the Eggmen and all three Tails (the doctors giving the foxes a wide berth), it didn't take them long to fix the Egg Mobiles in everything except their power source.

"They're completely dead," Younger Eggman griped. "Nothing we did could get them to stop shutting down whenever those energy spikes occurred." He glanced at Taller Sonic and Smaller Sonic and asked, "How did you do that, by the way?"

No one replied, but several amused smirks were shared.

"Then we're stuck," said Older Eggman. "Without a power source, we're dead in the water." He then sent a side-eye towards the blue hedgehogs, and added leadingly, "Unless, of course, you'd be willing to lend a Chaos Emerald…"

Smaller Sonic scowled and tapped his foot, and Taller Sonic rolled his eyes, "Keep dreaming, Egghead."

"Really?" asked Older Eggman in disbelief. "Not even to save all of time and space?"

"He said no," Tails said with a look, shutting the older doctor up.

"But if you don't share an emerald, how will we activate it?" protested Younger Eggman.

Everyone else exchanged a glance at the question. They all knew how Tails had repaired and even improved their electronics to work even with the dimensional travelers' power bursts. But installing their quills also had the added bonus of making things work even better with seemingly limitless energy. Did they really want to give that kind of power to Eggman?

Tails, however, didn't show any doubt as he waved his brothers over.

The Eggmen watched in confusion as Sonic and Knuckles walked over to each of the Egg Mobiles and placed a hand on their metal surface.

"On three," Sonic said to his brothers.

"One," Tails said, holding up a finger.

"Two," Knuckles said, his eyes glowing.

"Three!" said Sonic as light shone through his quills.

In unison, Sonic and Knuckles poured their power into the Egg Mobiles, and the doctors jumped as the machines surged to life.

"IT WAS YOU!" shouted Older Eggman in outrage and jabbing his finger in their direction. "I KNEW IT!"

"No, you said your Sonic was to blame," Younger Eggman reasoned, pointing at Taller Sonic, who was laughing at their reactions.

"I said Sonic did it, who cares which one it was!" snarled Older Eggman.

The doctors were too busy bickering to notice anyone else's relief that the brothers hadn't given him their quills.

"Charging them like that will wear off eventually since there's no actual quill powering it, but it works just fine for now. However, doing it like this is a bit more volatile if anything disrupts the energy," Tails whispered to reassure them some more.

"Should we tell them that most of the energy mess was Shadow and not me?" asked Sonic quietly.

"I am also here and responsible for the Chaos Energy outbursts," muttered Knuckles, as if miffed to be left out of the Eggmen's outrage.

"It won't make any difference, trust me," Taller Sonic whispered back.

"For them, when in doubt, blame Sonic," agreed Taller Knuckles.

Smaller Sonic, however, was tapping his foot with increasing impatience as the doctors continued to squabble. Finally, he stomped his foot and picked up a pebble off his floating rock, and chucked it so it ricocheted off the younger Eggman's bald head and smacked the older Eggman in the nose.

Both doctors clutched where the rock had struck them and squawked.

"Hey!" shouted Taller Sonic, agreeing with Smaller Sonic's sentiment. "Aren't you supposed to be stopping that monster! We're waaaaiting!"

With a dirty look at all hedgehogs of the blue variety, and a simultaneous grumble of "I hate that hedgehog," the Eggmen started up their respective Egg Mobiles and flew in the direction of the Time Eater.

"The fate of time and space left in the hands of Eggman," said Amy dryly.

Taller Knuckles let out a derisive snort. "Hopefully, Shadow gets here soon."

The two doctors flew their Egg Mobiles towards the Time Eater, swerving through its multiple arms and its gnashing teeth.

"Chrono controller primed," said the younger Eggman, tapping away at the buttons in his pod.

"Stasis shackles at the ready," the older Eggman replied, doing the same.

"Docking procedures engaged," said the younger as he pulled a lever.

"Try not to die," the elder said. "I don't want to deal with the paradox."

The younger doctor snorted. "Oh, I don't plan to. On the bright side, if you die, I know not to ever come up with this plan."

"I have no intention of becoming a cautionary tale," said the older doctor.

"Too late!" shouted several people behind them.

The Eggmen ignored them and sped their vehicles directly at the monster, aiming directly for its head. The Egg Mobiles locked themselves into a pair of spots on the Time Eater's head with glass forming around them like a set of marbles. It roared in outrage at the intruders before going limp in mid-air. Robotic parts spread across it's body like a suit of armor. Then it seemed to wake up, but its parts were now all twitching in a more clockwork manner.

"Okay, so they stopped it," said Silver. "What are the odds they'll actually fix the timeline?"

"Astronomically low," said all three Tails in unison.

"Dishonor," said Knuckles as he readied for a fight.

Sure enough, the second the Eggmen seemed to gain full control of the Time Eater, they immediately turned it on the group.

"Then why did you let them do it?" asked Cream nervously as it started to close in.

"Because at least under the doctors' control, they will focus the Time Eater on us and not let it continue devouring the entirety of existence," said Blaze, standing protectively in front of her.

"We just need to buy a little more time," added Taller Knuckles.

"CAN I SHOOT THEM NOW?" asked Omega.

"YES!" everyone else replied.

Omega wasted no time opening fire on the Time Eater, but unfortunately, bullets didn't seem to phase it, though the doctors did make sounds of outrage at the noise they made when they bounced off the glass surrounding their Egg Mobiles.

"FURTHER UPGRADES REQUIRED!" Omega complained, but kept his aim at the doctors' bulletproof bubbles just because it made them mad.

The Time Eater had gotten close enough to loom over them at this point, with both doctors chortling from their driver seats. "Hohoho, you handed us certain victory on a silver platter!" laughed the younger Eggman.

"Say your prayers, hedgehogs," said the older Eggman with a wicked grin. "Before I destroy you once and for all."

While some looked daunted, Taller Sonic wasn't phased. He just smirked up at the doctors like they'd just told a funny joke.

"Destroy me?" he asked cockily despite the odds. "In your dreams, Eggman! I beat you all the time by myself, and now there's three of me!"

Hearing this, Sonic and Smaller Sonic stepped up to stand beside him, and everyone else followed suit.

"Then I'll have thrice as much fun defeating you," said the older Eggman, rubbing his hands together gleefully.

"You sure about that? Because I can tell you my Eggman sure didn't have fun getting his butt whooped by me, and so far we've been beating you without even trying," Sonic called, not one to pass up a chance at trash talk.

Smaller Sonic nodded in agreement, before giving the Eggmen a thumbs down and holding his nose with a disgusted expression. The meaning was clear.

They sent them some dirty looks for that before the Time Eater prepared to attack.

Everyone tensed, knowing they still needed to buy more time. Or so they thought…

"Aw, are you starting without little ol' us?" came a voice, interrupting them before any fighting could begin.

Everyone turned to see Rouge swooping towards them with the two Shadows following behind her, using their air shoes to navigate the void-like space.

"Urgh, there's two of him too," groaned the older Eggman at the sight of Shadow.

"Who are they?" asked the younger Eggman.

"Who are they?" Sonic's Shadow echoed as they approached, looking at the men in confusion.

"What!" screeched both doctors, too shocked that Shadow didn't know who they were to attack.

"That is the villainous Man of Eggs!" Knuckles called back.

"That annoying person you kept complaining about this whole time?" asked Shadow, looking at the villains with a judgmental stare.

The Eggmen were left too busy sputtering in indignation at only being seen as 'that annoying person', that it gave time for Shadow #2 to get close enough.

"As promised," he said, holding the yellow emerald out to him from a chunk of floating rock a few yards away.

Taller Sonic grinned and held his hand to catch it as Shadow #2 tossed it to him.

Only for the emerald to be snatched out of the air midway between them by a giant metal hand appearing through a portal.

"YOINK!" cheered the older Eggman as the giant hand vanished through the portal, and the emerald was deposited into his pod.

Everyone started forward to try and get the last Chaos Emerald back, but Shadow #2 warped to appear in front of them, and silently waved for them to wait.

The doctors missed that fact as they were already too busy celebrating.

"There's no way you can win now!" said the younger Eggman, jumping for joy in his seat.

"With this emerald in my possession, there will be no Super Sonic," sneered the older one. "In fact, it will be the final instrument of your demise." And with that, he reached to install the emerald into his control panel.

"Shadow, what are you doing?" asked Amy.

Instead of answering directly, Shadow #2 said, "Before coming to this void, I was on board the ARK, where I happened to find that an old creation of Tails was still there, and thought it would be best if it fulfilled the task you made for it back then."

"An old creation of mine? On the ARK?" asked Taller Tails in confusion. Then his eyes widened as he seemed to catch on to what Shadow #2 meant. "Wait, you mean-?"

"Yes…" said Shadow #2.

Above them, Dr. Eggman the elder inserted the yellow emerald into his console and grinned as its glow lit up his face.

"... your fake Chaos Emerald," said Shadow #2 with a smirk

The grin quickly fell off the older Eggman's face as his pod began to sizzle and spark as the fake emerald failed to read as a real one and clashed with the energy Knuckles had provided to power his pod. The opposing energies began to wreak havoc on the systems he'd only just repaired, and he scrambled to pull the phony emerald back out as the Time Eater screeched below him.

"Wow, look at you," said Rouge to Shadow #2 appreciatively as they watched the doctors scramble to fix their machines. "The old bait and switch. As a professional jewel thief, I approve."

Knuckles side-eyed her hard when he heard that, before glancing at his counterpart.

Taller Knuckles rolled his eyes and nodded to confirm whatever suspicions he now had.

The two men scrambled, but while it seems the older Eggman's pod was now damaged and he was forced into a spectator role, the younger's was still functioning enough to control their monster. Something the elder Eggman was very salty about.

"Don't worry," the younger assured him. "I'll be sure to destroy them for both of us!"

"I've heard that one before," said the older Eggman with a grumble, scrunched up in his seat and pouting. "Let's just get this over with."

"Why are you acting like they already won?" asked the younger one, miffed.

The older Eggman just jabbed his finger in the Sonics' direction, and his younger counterpart followed his gaze.

With a savage grin, Shadow #2 pulled out the real final Chaos Emerald and held it out to Taller Sonic.

Taller Sonic beamed and accepted it. Immediately, it and the other six emeralds began circling around him and his younger self, just waiting to be used.

"Thanks for the birthday gift, Shadow," Taller Sonic said with a grin.

"Oh no," said Eggman the younger, dread already filling him.

"Hey, Blue, wanna go Super?" Taller Sonic asked, glancing over at his counterpart.

"Me?" asked Sonic, taken by surprise.

Smaller Sonic bounced and nodded.

"Well, yeah, you were nice enough to give Eggman that energy," said Taller Sonic with a wink. "But since he's being so ungrateful, it looks like that gift needs to be returned to sender."

Sonic hesitated for a moment and reached out to the emeralds. He remembered what it was like to use the ones in his world. The all-consuming power that would be so easy to get lost in. There was a reason he vowed only to use them again in the most dire of circumstances. Then again, this is pretty darn dire.

To his surprise, the emeralds' energy was casual, as opposed to imposing. As if they were ready and willing to be used at any time. The user-friendly energy made it clear that they would be willing to help him if he chose to use them.

With a grin, Sonic joined the other two Sonics in the circle of emeralds. "Gotta go fast," he said as he got ready to go god-mode again.

"Now you're speaking my language," agreed Taller Sonic as the emeralds spun around them faster.

Smaller Sonic punched his fist into the air, ready to go as the gems' colors blended together around them, and Sonic felt power as he'd only felt once before coursing through him.

He looked down to see his fur once again glowing gold, and he tugged up the cuffs of his gloves and got ready to go.

In their pods on the Time Eater, younger Eggman was rapidly turning pale, while older Eggman just looked resigned.

"I HATE those hedgehogs!" they both said as the three golden god-mode hedgehogs rocketed towards them.

Despite the odds, the younger Eggman was still willing to try to put up a fight. "I-I've still got the power I siphoned off the odd Sonic out! It's nothing like we've ever seen before!" he shouted, blasting at them using said power. "I can still win this!"

Unfortunately for him, Knuckles heard that.

"The power controlling that beast is your energy, Hedgehog!" he called out to them. "It is a part of you! You can reabsorb it!"

Sonic flashed his older brother a thumbs up, then darted between the other two Sonics and the energy, and in the millisecond it took to reach him, he worked out how to reabsorb it, giving him a tingly feeling.

Did he mention he loved being in god-mode? He knew it wouldn't last, but it was fun while it did.

It seemed to finally sink in to the younger Eggman that his goose was cooked. To be fair, he still tried, and the Time Eater itself put up a heck of a fight, but between three Super Saiyan hedgehogs, it was no good. Between Sonic reabsorbing his energy, Smaller Sonic's relentlessness chasing, and Taller Sonic's homing attacks, the battle was soon won.

With a final burst of speed, the three of them shattered the core holding the monster together, and the Time Eater faded away with a flash of light and a screech.

In the space of one blink, Sonic found himself no longer in god mode, and instead found himself standing in a field dotted with trees, next to a buffet table of food, complete with a cake with a frosting picture of his head on it.

Taller and Smaller Sonic were there too. Taller Sonic seemed to at least know where they were, as he casually held out his hand, and a chili dog with a bow on it fell from the sky and landed in his palm. He took a bite and grinned.

"Still warm," he said with a laugh. "Time travel!"

Smaller Sonic hurried over in hopes of getting his own chili dog, but Sonic looked around in concern. "Wait, where are the others?"

He then clapped his hands over his mouth. That was not his voice.

Taller Sonic glanced over at him and raised a brow. "Huh, wonder why you look more like me now?" he asked. "Well, more so than usual."

Smaller Sonic cocked his head and looked confused.

Sonic looked down and saw his fur was a lot flatter, and the color of his arms now matched his stomach. If he stood next to him, Taller Sonic was still taller, but the differences between them were much harder to spot otherwise. Even his voice sounded more like Taller Sonic's.

"Well, your Shadow looked like mine in our world. Maybe it's just a dimension jumping thing?" Sonic suggested with a shrug.

"Must be," said Taller Sonic, he and Smaller Sonic exchanging a glance, then shrugging back.

"Seriously, though, where are the others?" Sonic had to ask, getting back to his original question.

As if waiting for him to ask, everyone else suddenly popped into existence around the table, none the worse for wear (including a massive purple cat Sonic hadn't seen before, who looked just as confused to be there as Sonic was to see him).

There was a beat as it sunk in that it was finally over, and some confusion that those from Sonic's world suddenly looked different, but then the cheering began.

While the other two Sonics bantered with their friends, Sonic hurried over to check on his brothers and Shadow once he picked out which ones they were.

"You guys alright?" he asked.

"We're fine," said Tails with a grin, and Knuckles nodded in agreement.

"A little disoriented," Shadow admitted, looking around. "Where are we?"

"Taller Sonic's birthday party, I think," said Sonic. "The cake has his face on it, and everyone from his time seems familiar with this place. Plus, now we look like them."

Sure enough, Vector was already pulling out presents, and Charmy and Cream seemed to know right where the party poppers were.

Taller Sonic waved the four of them over. "Hey, you guys have time to stay and party?"

"Of course," Knuckles replied immediately. "It is tradition to have a feast to celebrate victory!"

And so party they did.

Shadow had never been to a party before. The grown-ups occasionally had them in the office parts of the underground lab, but he and Maria had never been allowed to join. Professor Gerald and Captain Walters had claimed it was because they were too young. Maria hadn't been happy to hear that, and roped Shadow into helping her dye all the lab coats and GUN uniforms in the facility pink in revenge.

Being at a party wasn't terrible, but it was a bit overwhelming. He was almost glad when one last Time Eater portal appeared, signalling it was time to go.

"That's our portal home," said the youngest Tails when it appeared.

"And I've run the numbers, and it should be safe for us to piggyback off that portal's energy and use a ring to get home, too," added Tails Wachowski.

Seeing it was time to go their separate ways, the oldest Sonic turned to his shorter counterparts. "It was great teaming up with you, er, me. Maybe this will fast-track you to learning some new tricks in the future. Wait, I mean the past. Ugh, time travel's a chore, not to mention adding dimensions on top of it."

"We get what you mean," said Sonic Wachowski with a grin. "I know I saw you do some moves I'm dying to try."

The youngest Sonic nodded in agreement and took a running start to attempt to dash in the air like they'd seen Taller Sonic do. He fell a little short, and didn't quite stick the landing, and hit his head.

Seeing this, Sonic Wachowski did his best attempt too, but while he did the midair bit slightly better than Smaller Sonic (in his opinion), he also managed to run into a tree.

The tallest Sonic clapped supportively for both of them. "Dudes, sweet, and you're only going to get better," he cheered.

The youngest Sonic grinned, and after sharing one last high five with both of them, he raced towards the slowly shrinking time portal. The youngest Tails did a flip in mid-air and did double high-fives with both his counterparts before he followed to do the same.

"We should go too," said Tails Wachowski as they left. "Tom and Maddie will be worried."

Sonic Wachowski nodded and pulled out a small golden ring. "Check out this trick-shot!" he said, before jumping up to flip-kick it. It bounced off a tree, the food table, and popped a balloon before hovering in the air before them and expanding into a portal, showing a lakeside forest at dusk beyond it, with a campfire crackling in the distance.

Another round of high-fives later (well, in Shadow's case, he and the other Shadow just shared a respectful nod), the four of them headed home as well.

"Hey Sonic! Enjoy your future," The taller Sonic called after both of his counterparts before they entered their respective portals. "It's gonna be great!"

They all gave a final wave before crossing through the portal and ending up on the other side.

Everything since Shadow woke up in that GUN prison had been surreal. If he wasn't so sure he was wide awake, he'd wonder if he was still dreaming in his stasis pod.

There was a sort of rightness that settled over him once they returned to their own world. This was where they belonged, and their appearances returned to normal to reflect that.

But was being with the Wachowskis where he belonged? The question troubled Shadow and made him hang back.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles certainly seemed to think they belonged as they went on ahead of Shadow into a campsite, but only found a golden retriever lying by the fire.

It took a little looking to find their parents. They finally spotted the couple a short distance away from the camp, staring up at the sky over the mountains.

"Tom? Maddie?" Sonic called out as they approached, and the two jumped and spun around.

"I- What- Sonic?" The man who was likely Tom sputtered when they saw them.

"You just took off in a GUN helicopter," said the woman who was apparently Maddie in bewilderment and pointing at the sky. "How did you get back here?"

That had just happened for them? But that had to have been hours ago, if not days. Did that mean there was currently a past version of the four of them meeting in Tokyo at this very minute?

Sonic exchanged a glance with his brothers, and they all shrugged.

"It's a long story," Tails told them.

Tom still looked confused, but seemed to roll with it. "Well, in that case, it'll be exactly the kind of story you should tell with s'mores around a campfire."

Everyone perked up hearing that, and Shadow didn't blame them. He'd never had a s'more, but Maria had sworn to him they were one of the best things ever.

However, it was then that Sonic noticed his parents hadn't reacted to seeing Shadow, and he looked back to see the other hedgehog still lingering where their portal had opened, using his dark coloring to blend with the evening shadows.

He quickly zipped back over to him.

"Shadow, come on, I want you to meet them," he said eagerly.

But Shadow still hesitated. It was one thing for the brothers to claim they wanted him to join their family, but it was the parents who would have the final say.

"I don't want to impose," he said.

"You're not imposing," Sonic insisted, holding out a hand for Shadow to take. "Come on, have a s'more, enjoy the view, help us tell Tom and Maddie what happened. I totally want to know how you and Shadow #2 beat that creepy alien dude. And we can all go stargazing after the sun fully sets. It'll be fun!"

Shadow looked at Sonic's hand, then back up at his face, and saw nothing but sincerity.

Unbidden, he remembered what the other world's Maria had said when they'd met and Shadow had begged her for a purpose. Asked her what he was supposed to do without her.

"I want you to live, Shadow," she had said. "I want you to see the beauty of the world like we always said we would. I want you to try lots of yummy foods. I want you to make friends who care about you. I want, more than anything, for you to be happy. And I know your me would have wanted that too."

Now here Shadow was, in a beautiful forest, being offered good food by someone who had offered a home and risked his life for Shadow's without hesitation. All that was left was to be… happy.

For her, he had to try.

And so, Shadow took his hand and let Sonic tug him over to the campfire and have a seat.

He saw the moment Sonic's parents registered that he was there, and both gaped as they looked back and forth between Sonic and Shadow, no doubt taking in their similarities.

"Sonic," said Tom slowly. "Did you guys really leave for five minutes just to find your- is he your long-lost twin?"

The two exchange a glance at the question. They both knew of their fifty year age gap, but they'd also just played hopscotch with the very fabric of time itself, of which Black Doom, Shadow's supposed father, had displayed some influence over, and given their similarities and how neither of them knew much about their origins before coming to this world…

"I have no idea," Sonic replied with a shrug.

"Unlikely, but not impossible," Shadow admitted.

Sonic then threw an arm around Shadow's shoulders, and added, "But this is Shadow, and he's our new bestie. So he'll be sticking around, if that's okay."

Shadow tensed slightly under his arm, waiting to hear their verdict.

Tom and Maddie exchanged a glance and once again decided to roll with it.

"Of course," Maddie assured them. "The more the merrier."

"It's your earthday-birthday party, Sonic. Invite who you like," Tom agreed.

Sonic whooped, Tails beamed and clapped, and Knuckles pumped his fist into the air with a shout of, "Yes!"

Shadow, meanwhile, sat stunned for a long moment at their easy acceptance, and only came out of it when a stick with a marshmallow at the end was placed in his hand, and Tails went into a lecture about the 'proper way to make s'mores', which he listened to with only half an ear.

The adults accepted him even faster than the brothers had. Were all Wachowskis just that instantly welcoming?

Even as he wondered that question, he heard Maddie whisper to Tom, "Did-did we just get a new kid?"

Tom shrugged and muttered back, "I mean, if he really is Sonic's long-lost twin, wouldn't that make him ours already?"

Maddie rolled her eyes at him. "That's not how adoption works, but good point," she said back.

It seems they were.

Shadow gave a small, barely noticeable smile.

'Maria,' he thought to himself. 'I think I'm going to be alright.'

In a dusty abandoned lab, Professor Gerald Robotnik beat his fist on the table when he saw through his grandson's stolen drones that Project Shadow and the other aliens followed a Shadow duplicate through a portal and disappeared.

This was not in his plan! He had accounted for all variables, but rando lookalike hedgehogs just showing up were not in his equations. He'd have to be sure to add them in from now on. Likely between the calculations for spontaneous human combustion and surprise flash mobs.

Still, even if he didn't account for this, his plan should still proceed as, well, planned. With Shadow's incredible power, he would surely soon dispose of the other aliens and come back to the only home he'd ever known, even if there was nothing left of it but dust and memories.

But hours passed, and none of the proximity alarms he'd set triggered. No energy fluctuations registered in the area. Finally, after a full day of waiting, the professor had to conclude the Ultimate Lifeform wasn't going to show.

Much of what remained intact in the lab ceased to be so when Professor Robotnik came to that realization.

After setting the place that had once upon a time held such good memories for him ablaze for a second time, the professor watched it burn in disgust.

"Oh, Shadow," he mused to himself, knowing that the hedgehog would be horrified if he were here to see this. "I see you've chosen betrayal. And you could have been so useful to me."

With that, the professor turned and walked away, his stolen drones flying along beside him.

As he observed their shiny white surfaces, an idea struck him, and a smile worthy of the Grinch spread across his face.

Well, if Shadow wouldn't cooperate with his plans, then Professor Robotnik would just have to recruit someone who would. It would take a few extra weeks of planning and preparation, but it would all be worth it in the end. He waited fifty years to watch the world burn, he could wait just a little bit longer.

Time to go back to the drawing board, and then track down a crab.

He had a family reunion to initiate.

Chapter Text

Even after the past and alternate versions of him left, the party lasted a while longer, and Sonic was having a great time.

As he left Amy to try and tease more spoilers out of Silver (so far they've gotten vague mentions of tangled whispers, and apparently hot cocoa would be important) to get another chili dog, he passed close enough to Rouge, Omega, and Shadow to overhear their conversation.

"Looks like you made it to the party after all," Rouge was teasing him. "Good, plotting your punishment for flaking would have been exhausting."

Shadow scoffed.

"DO NOT SCOFF AT HER, WE ARE ALL YOUR FRIENDS!" Omega scolded him. "YOU SAID SO YOURSELF! MARIA SAID YOU ADMITTED EVEN SONIC WAS YOUR FRIEND!"

Like a record scratch moment in a movie, the party suddenly went silent as several heads snapped in Team Dark's direction, and Sonic couldn't help but gape at hearing that.

He had actually said that?

Shadow didn't dignify their attention with a response and started to walk away.

"Where are you going?" asked Rouge.

"You wanted me to make an appearance, so I did," said Shadow, not looking back. "I'm done here. There are more important things to do."

Omega seemed to agree. "IT IS TRUE! I SHOULD RESUME MY HUNT FOR DR. EGGMAN! IT WILL TAKE MORE THAN BEING IN A COLLAPSING TIME ANOMALY TO STOP HIM!"

Rouge sighed, but let them go. "As long as that makes you happy," she said.

Shadow froze upon hearing that, and Sonic felt bad for him. As fun as their latest adventure had been for him personally, he knew that for Shadow, it had poked at a lot of his sore spots. Sonic was honestly shocked the other hedgehog had stuck around for this long.

Remembering his promise to his younger self to try and be a better friend, Sonic took the opportunity to dart over to Shadow.

"Hey, Shadow, leaving so soon," he said, pretending he hadn't heard what Omega had just blabbed (impossible, Omega is very loud).

Shadow shot him a look that told him he wouldn't put up with his nonsense even if it was his birthday, and if he said anything, there was a Chaos Spear with his name on it, and not as a birthday gift.

"That's a shame," Sonic said nonchalantly. "I was hoping for one last race before you left. Unless you're cool with me beating you last time."

Shadow's scowl deepened, and he took the bait. "I was distracted," he snapped. "In a fair race, I'd win without question."

"Oh yeah, prove it," Sonic taunted. "First one to Station Square and back wins?"

Shadow just got into the ready position. Probably glad to have an excuse to get away from all the staring, however briefly.

Sonic grinned and crouched beside him.

Their friends caught on to what was happening and crowded around as Rouge fluttered over to stand in front of them and raised a napkin like a flag.

"Ready, set, GO!" she said, bringing the napkin down.

And with one last challenging look at each other, they were off.

As the ground beat against his feet and wind swept through his quills and his 'friendly' rival raced beside him, Sonic couldn't help his beaming grin.

Best birthday ever.

Randall knew something was wrong when he heard Rachel answer her phone with, "This is about those darn aliens, isn't it?"

That sinking feeling only continued when Rachel scoffed at whatever was said in response. "Because when was the last time you called me just to call me? …Uh-huh… Uhhhh-HUH! … That's what I thought… Yeah, you better stay on, I ain't heard from you in ages… Whatever, hey, the little fox one got any new goodies for me? … Oh, he does? He's my favorite, tell him I said that… You got a new what? And how much trouble is he? … Mmm-hmm, we'll see how long that lasts."

Rachel rolled her eyes at whatever was said before holding the phone out to her husband, "It's for you."

With dread pooling in his stomach, Randall accepted the phone with a wary "Hello?"

Like something out of a nightmare, Tom's voice cheerfully greeted him, "Heeey, Randall, remember that… friendly bit of 'advice' Maddie and I gave you."

Randall felt a cold sweat drip down his neck as he remembered that 'advice'. It had started as a gentle, almost teasing 'Just so you know-' sort of thing where they told him that if he dared try anything to hurt their children again, he'd pay for it dearly. Randall had initially laughed it off, but the 'advice' was then punctuated by Maddie conversationally giving an incredibly in-depth description of the steps she took to neuter dogs, all while Tom sat beside her and polished his guns while he casually asked for further details ("It's Montana, there's bears," Tom had said when asked why he had them, as if Randall didn't know they kept tranquilizer darts to use on bears).

Needless to say, the message was received.

"Uh, yeah, I remember. Good talk," Randall said slowly, wondering what he could have done to need a reminder.

Maddie then came on the line. "Well, that 'advice' goes double for Commander Walters. Also, we're adopting Shadow. He's ours now. Do us a favor and pass that on," she said, her tone leaving no room for argument. "Also, tell them to expand our budget; we have a new mouth to feed, and might consider expanding the house."

Randall didn't know what Commander Walters did or who Shadow was, but was too afraid to ask. "I… will do that."

He then handed the phone back to Rachel so she could converse with her sister, and began planning exactly how to pass the warning on and emphasize the importance of following it. Because if someone screwed up, he did not want blame to fall on him.

Over in Green Hills, Montana, Maddie and Tom slapped a quick high five for successfully threatening their brother-in-law, and then Tom went to join their four boys for their Godzilla movie marathon (followed by a Star Wars marathon, and then a Keanu Reeves marathon, and then a romcom marathon at Knuckles' insistence) while Maddie caught Rachel up in more detail, and asked how Jojo was doing.

Meanwhile, at a secret GUN base, Commander Walters felt a chill run down his spine. He quickly pulled up his Olive Garden app and placed an order to go. He had the feeling he was going to need a lot of endless breadsticks and pasta bowls.

In a different time that was slowly evolving into a different world, Sonic sat atop the loop-de-loop of Green Hill Zone, just watching the stars and enjoying being home.

He heard the tell-tale swishing sound of spinning tails and looked up to see his little brother come up to join him. It was past his bedtime, but after the adventure they'd just had, he'd let it slide.

"Sonic, look, I finished it," Tails said, holding his newly built Miles Electric.

Sonic grinned and gestured in amazement.

"Thanks, those blueprints Big Me gave me were great!" Tails continued as he started fiddling with his new toy. "I can use this to do all kinds of things. Like, look!"

He spun it around so Sonic could see a bunch of gibberish and squiggly lines on the screen. Sonic tried to make sense of it, but quickly gave up and shrugged.

"It's a record of our timeline and the one we visited, look," said Tails, pointing at how the lines were starting to branch off from each other. "This is our timeline, and this is the one Big Us are from. That Silver guy was right, we are starting to make our time into another dimension. Soon we'll be like this," he pointed to another line, separate from theirs. "This is the timeline from that fuzzy dimension. When our timeline makes enough changes, we'll be a separate line like them, too."

Sonic nodded; he understood most of that. The visuals helped.

"And once it's fully separate, we might be able to cross dimensions and visit them like Princess Blaze does," said Tails.

That got Sonic's attention, and he hopped to his feet and bounced eagerly.

"You're right. It'd be nice to see them again," Tails agreed. "And we should probably keep an eye on Big-Us's timeline. I overheard Silver imply you might go back there someday when they're in trouble."

Sonic nodded in agreement. If they needed his help, he'd be there. Then tilted his head in askance.

"Hmm, hard to say," said Tails. "I guess the best way to split our time off faster is to do things differently. But since we don't totally know what they did, we won't know what to do that's not the same."

Thankfully, Sonic had a good idea of what to do, and it showed in his confidence.

"You have an idea?" asked Tails in surprise. "What is it?"

Sonic turned and pointed up at the sky.

Tails followed his gaze and squinted. Up against the full moon, one could vaguely see a dark speck floating there.

"The ARK?" Tails asked. "Where they said that Shadow guy was from? You wanna go wake him up early?"

Sonic nodded. He'd told his counterpart he wanted to try and be Shadow's friend. This was one way to do so.

Tails hummed thoughtfully. "We'll have to be careful, Charmy said Shadow did some bad stuff when he first woke up. It'll take some convincing to get him to be nice."

Sonic just puffed out his chest and took that as a challenge.

Seeing he was still all for this plan, Tails shrugged. "At least let me sabotage the big space laser on the ARK before we find him. That way, he can't use it before we can talk to him. And it's gonna take some hacking to figure out where he's sleeping. At least we know who has him."

Sonic made finger guns.

"Yeah, GUN," said Tails. He then brightened, warming up to the idea fast. "Hey! This plan means I can build a rocket! That'll be so cool!"

Sonic nodded and gave a thumbs-up.

"What are you guys doing up there?" came a shout from the base of the loop-de-loop, and they looked down to see Mighty, Ray (Sonic saw those two's missing posters in the future, he hoped they were okay. He resolved to keep a closer eye on them here on out.), and Amy standing below them.

"It's really late," Mighty added, having been the first one to shout.

"Are you guys star-gazing?" asked Ray.

"I can do some astrology readings if you like," offered Amy.

"No, we're making plans to break into a bunch of government facilities," Tails called back.

Sonic rolled his eyes fondly. His little buddy hadn't even tried to lie.

Hearing that, their friends below them exchanged a look and shrugged.

"Want us to help?" asked Amy.

Sonic and Tails exchanged their own glance at the offer, and Tails replied, "Sure!"

The trio below shared grins and hurried to get to the top of the loop-de-loop to start their planning.

With all of them helping out, neither GUN nor Shadow would know what hit them.

"More Impressive Hedgehog!"

Shadow looked up from where he was playing against Sonic at Super Smash Brothers on the living room couch.

"Seriously, you're still doing that, Knuckles?" Sonic complained next to him. "I am literally sitting right here."

Shadow took advantage of his distraction to use his Megaman to push Sonic's Mario off a platform and win the match.

"DUDE!" Sonic squawked.

But Shadow was already putting down the controller and giving Knuckles his full attention. "What?" he asked.

"It has come to my attention that chronologically speaking, I am no longer the eldest," Knuckles said as if this were something grim. "Therefore, I challenge you to battle for the role."

Shadow and Sonic had identical looks of confusion at that logic. Knuckles finding some excuse to challenge Shadow to a battle was expected. He still hadn't gotten to fight him all out, and had been coming up with reason after reason for them to duke it out to no avail, but none before had been as bizarre as this.

Tails, meanwhile, looked up from where he was reading next to them on the couch. "Knuckles, that's not how age works," the fox protested.

But Knuckles would not be dissuaded. "We fight until first blood!" he declared.

The reasons Knuckles had yet to fight Shadow the way he wanted to, AKA, Tom and Maddie, who had been in the next room, quickly rushed in upon hearing that.

"No, no blood!" Tom scolded.

"No hitting your brothers until they bleed. No sparring without supervision," Maddie agreed.

"I could take him," Shadow said with a shrug.

"You could never take me," Knuckles said, cracking his knuckles. "Echidna Warriors are not taken."

"Okay, let's calm down before the house gets destroyed again," Sonic said, trying to de-escalate the situation.

"Besides, even if Shadow has been around for fifty years, are we sure those years even count towards his age?" asked Tails.

The rising tension in the room paused as they all stopped to look at him.

Tails grew a bit flustered to be at the center of attention, but continued, "I mean, yes, fifty years is a long time, but Shadow was unconscious and didn't age for any of it. So while he's chronologically as old as Tom, he's not that way mentally or physically."

"Wha- hey!" Tom protested at the slight on his age. "I'm not that old."

"But almost," Sonic teased his dad, earning him an exasperated look.

"Then how old is he mentally and physically?" asked Knuckles. To be honest, he really was just trying to have an excuse to fight Shadow all out, but he actually did still wanted to remain the eldest of his siblings.

Shadow opened his mouth to answer, and then paused as he realized it was a more complicated question than anyone realized.

"I… don't know," he admitted. "I had amnesia after my meteor crashed to Earth. I don't know how old I was when it happened, and I only have a few years' worth of memories at most."

The others exchanged a glance, and Shadow scowled as he realized what he might have just implied. "I am not the youngest!" he insisted.

"Good, the fox has much more training to do before he could face you alone in battle-" said Knuckles.

"I'm not gonna fight Shadow!" Tails protested, interrupting him.

"-But that still brings into question your place in the family hierarchy," Knuckles finished.

Shadow frowned, while he didn't care about that nearly as much as Knuckles clearly did, it did bother him just a little bit.

"I have a suggestion," Sonic cut in.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"Let's just go with the obvious and say we're twins," Sonic said with a shrug. "I mean, people are gonna think that anyway, and we look like we're the same age. So, twins?"

"I mean, yeah, when you two showed up together, that was my first thought," Maddie admitted.

"The fact that you look so similar to each other does indicate some form of familial connection," Tails added.

"He is correct. When we were in the white void, we saw that neither the pink hedgehog nor the white one bore as striking a resemblance as the two of you did," agreed Knuckles.

"So then it's not just a 'they're both hedgehogs' thing," said Tom, thoughtfully.

"Soooo…?" asked Sonic, and they all waited to hear Shadow's decision on the matter.

Shadow considered it, and then shot Sonic a look. "I'm the older twin," he said firmly.

Sonic whooped with joy hearing that. "Welcome to life as a middle child," he said with a grin. "I'll show you the ropes. Best part is that you get to be the annoying sibling."

Shadow rolled his eyes, started a new match of their game, and promptly pushed Mario off the platform again.

"Hey!" Sonic complained, grabbing his controller to fight back.

"Looks like he's already a natural," Tom said with a chuckle as he and Maddie returned to what they were doing before.

"Also, I refuse to be a part of any team called 'Team Sonic'," Shadow said as he and Sonic exchanged combos.

"I refuse as well," said Knuckles as he left the room, slumped in disappointment that he once again hadn't been able to have a no-holds-barred fight with Shadow (sparring with adult supervision just wasn't the same).

"It is a bit on the nose," Tails admitted, going back to his book.

Sonic rolled his eyes, but stayed focused on his game. "Okay, fine, we'll workshop the name. Just as soon as I kick Shadow's butt."

"In your dreams," Shadow replied with a smirk.

All was right in the Wachowski household.

The younger and older Drs. Eggman lay sprawled in the white void, having once again failed to find an exit.

"What time is it?" asked the younger one.

"It's the exact same time as when you asked earlier, and it will be the exact same time as when you ask later. There is no time here!" the older one shouted in exasperation.

"Let me just say this was a brilliant plan that you came up with," the younger Eggman said snidely.

"Don't be too self-righteous," the older Eggman responded. "It'll be your plan pretty soon."

The younger doctor scowled and grumbled. "I'm going to dedicate the rest of my life to forgetting it."

"I heard that!" snapped the older one.

"Do we ever win?" asked the younger.

"That depends on your definition of 'win'," said the elder.

"Beating Sonic," said the younger Eggman.

"Oh, well, then no," said the older Eggman.

The younger Eggman drooped. "That doesn't give me much hope. Maybe I'll go back and get my teaching degree."

The older Eggman perked up a bit. "That's not a bad idea. I've always enjoyed telling people what to do."

The younger Eggman rolled his eyes. "And if that doesn't pan out, are there any good memories to look forward to?" he asked.

"Not much," the older doctor said. "But you do get to throw Sonic out of a space station and send him crashing to Earth a couple of times. That was fun."

"And he survives that?" asked the younger, aghast.

"He gets help," said a new voice, making both of them jump. That was not the dulcet tones of their shared voice. That voice was totally new.

They wheeled around to see another Eggman standing there. Though fat, he was not as egg-shaped as the other two, and his red suit was covered in soot like he'd just lost a fight with a chimney, and most strangely, his eyes clearly visible.

The new Eggman's eyes flicked around at the void with an unimpressed stare. "Is this really the afterlife?" he asked, gesturing grandly. "An estimated ten thousand religions in the world and not a single one of them got it right."

"You're not dead, idiot," the older Eggman deadpanned. "You've been sucked into a void beyond time."

"And the difference is?" asked the new Eggman with a shrug.

"He's got you there," said the younger Eggman with a chuckle.

The elder sent his younger counterpart a dirty look. "The difference is that we can leave this place… supposedly… once we find an exit."

"We can even escape death? Intriguing," said the new Eggman, pulling out a blue quill and licking it even though it shocked him.

Seeing the quill and recognizing its power, the younger Eggman's eyes widened behind his glasses. "You!" he shouted and pointed accusingly.

"Me!" the new Eggman replied, clearly not knowing what he was being blamed for but going with it anyway.

"You're the Eggman for that Sonic with the weird electrical powers!" the younger Eggman said.

"Oh, in that case, oui, ce serait moi," said the new Eggman. "And yes, I speak French."

"Where have you been! You're an entire evil scheme and devastating defeat late!" the older Eggman scolded. "Your Sonic turned our entire plan on its head and left us outnumbered! We could have used you to actually win for once!"

"Oh, sorry," said the new Eggman in a mocking tone that showed he was really not sorry at all, and bending down like he was talking to a toddler. "I was too busy binge watching the latest season of La Última Pasión to hang out with what sounds like a pair of sore losers!" He held his fingers up in an L on his forehead as he said the last bit.

"You lost too, if you're here thinking you're dead," the younger Eggman pointed out with his hands on his hips.

"I'll have you know I actually won my fight. I'm here for a different reason that I'm not going to tell you," said the new Eggman with his nose in the air.

"You won? Against Sonic?" asked the other two Eggmen in shock.

"Considering our last confrontation had me running off with what I wanted from him, him captured, and leaving his charming little family to be arrested by GUN, yup," said the new doctor evasively, popping the p on the last word.

The other two Eggmen exchanged a knowing look. They could tell what he was leaving out. He'd managed to briefly get the upper hand before his evil plan somehow went horribly wrong. It had happened to the two of them more times than they could count.

"In any case," said the new Eggman, pulling his goggles off his forehead and over his eyes. "If there's a way out of this lazy Robert Rauschenberg painting, then I'm going to find it. I've got a syco-friend waiting for me back home, and he owes me a latte."

The new Eggman then turned around in stiff robotic motions, complete with "Bzzzz, bzzzz," sound effects from his mouth, and walked away from them.

Stumped at what else to do, the other two Eggmen exchanged a shrug and followed behind them.

Unpleasant as they were to work with, between the genius of all three of them they were sure to figure a way out of this void.

… Eventually.

If they don't all kill each other first.

Sonic stared up at the pink hedgehog who had just saved his life from an army of metallic Sonic look-alikes, his eyes wide with recognition. "It's you!" he gasped.

The pink hedgehog, who just had to be the version of Amy Rose for his dimension, cocked her head and looked confused. "It's me?" she questioned, probably expecting a different reaction from the stranger she'd just saved.

There were so many things Sonic could say at that moment. So many questions he could ask, and yet what came out of his mouth was, "Is it true that if hedgehogs hug, that means they have to get married?"

Amy just stared at him, bewilderment and a bit of a blush appearing on her face. "Wait, what?" she asked.

Sonic slapped himself on the forehead.

Why did he say that? Maybe he should just stick to 'Meow.'

Shadow wasn't sure what to make of the two children who found him.

When he'd been put in stasis, he expected his eventual awakening to be because someone found Professor Robotnik's notes. Given the man's mental state towards the end of his life, only the truly greedy and power-hungry would read such a thing and seek him out. Someone whose wicked intentions would be easy to manipulate to his advantage, and allow him to grant Maria her revenge.

The moment his eyes reopened for the first time in fifty years, he knew what role he had to play. "My name is Shadow. And since you were so kind to release me, my master, I will grant you one wish," he said like he was a genie freshly freed from its bottle while standing dramatically atop his former prison.

But instead of a greedy would-be despot, Shadow looked down and realized he had been brought out of stasis by a young, seemingly mute, blue hedgehog and an even younger little fox with two tails.

Odd, but with their youth, Shadow could still manipulate them.

The two children exchanged a glance, as if amused at his words, before the blue hedgehog smiled up at him and held his arms open as if asking for a hug, and the little fox eagerly said, "You look cool. Will you be our friend?"

Shadow stared at them for the sheer innocence of their wish.

This had not been what he'd expected at all, but he'd promised one wish, and it would be suspicious if he backed out now. Besides, it would likely be the children's final wish of their lives, and he could always sneak away from them later if things don't work out in his favor.

And so he said, "... Sure."

Both children cheered (though the hedgehog did so silently) and slapped high fives before dragging Shadow out of the (surprisingly wrecked) GUN prison into an impromptu game of tag.

What followed was the two seeming determined to give Shadow a world tour, dragging him to see places he and Maria had only dreamed about going, and introducing him to what seemed like all their friends as well as just about every other person on the planet.

The whole experience left Shadow… conflicted.

Maria… he'd promised her revenge, he'd promised, but… it was getting harder and harder to find the desire to keep that promise as his two new 'friends' seemed to to be doing everything in their power to endear themselves to him just as much as they tried to annoy him. And throughout it, they were unknowingly showing him how beautiful the world was. As beautiful Maria had insisted it would be before her final moments forced her to change her mind.

(... She did change her mind… didn't she…? Her last request… was for revenge… right?)

He'd tried to sneak away multiple times once he realized he couldn't manipulate Sonic or Tails to further his plans, but somehow the two always seemed to find him and drag him off on another adventure.

It would have been easy to simply dispose of them and carry on but… something always held him back. Perhaps the fact that he knew they meant no harm.

(Maria wouldn't want him to hurt children, even for revenge. All she really wanted was for everyone to be…)

And so every day was another adventure. Another race around a new fantastic part of the world with Sonic and Tails, and often accompanied by their other friends Amy, Mighty, and Ray.

"Where are you taking me now?" Shadow asked as Sonic once again pulled him towards the Tornado, Tails already in the driver's seat, ready for takeoff (whose bright idea to give that kit a pilot's licence, Shadow didn't know).

Sonic just smiled back at him, before hopping up to sit on the Tornado's wing and patted the space beside him, asking him to join.

"Come on, Shadow, this will be great!" Tails promised as he made his final flight check, not bothering to answer his question.

Shadow sighed and moved to sit on the wing next to Sonic. If he tried to run, they'd just drag him back again.

"Are you going to tell me where we're going now?" he asked.

Sonic grinned and punched his fists together.

Shadow was still getting used to the little gestures Sonic used to communicate, and wasn't sure what that one meant.

"We're taking you to visit a friend of ours," Tails explained as the Tornado's propeller began spinning.

"Haven't I met all your friends?" Shadow had to ask. How many friends could two children have?

"Not this one. You haven't met Knuckles yet," said Tails.

Well, a name like that explained Sonic punching his fists.

"And we haven't met him before because…?" Shadow asked.

"Because his home is kinda remote and we'll have to travel up a bit to reach it," said Tails. He then glanced at Shadow and added. "Also, he'll probably try to pick a fight with you as soon as you see him. Just humor him, that's how he says hello."

Sonic nodded and rubbed his stomach gingerly, as if nursing a bruise.

As Shadow absorbed that tidbit of information, the Tornado took off, and he'd be able to find out about this friend in person soon enough.

As they flew, Shadow watched as Sonic waved to any birds they saw as they flew by, and Tails stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth as he concentrated on getting them there safely.

Deep down, he had to wonder if this was what having little brothers was like.

(Maria would have liked them.)

… When the time came, he'd make sure they were safe on the ARK with him when he destroyed the world…

… If he could ever bring himself to do it.

Sonic wandered over to Silver between Dodon Pa's wacky races.

"So did you ever find my birthday invitation?" he asked conversationally.

"It was your birthday recently?" Silver asked, looking totally clueless. "I was invited?"

Well, if that didn't prove he wasn't the same Silver as the one at the party, Sonic didn't know what would.

"I left you an invitation in a time capsule!" Amy called over from where she was strategizing with her own team.

"Oh, I didn't find it!" Silver called back, clearly resolving to keep an eye out for the time capsule in the future.

Amy shared a knowing look with Sonic. "I'm going to pester Dodon Pa for whatever he used to call you here," was all she said. "We can keep in touch better that way."

"I'd love that," Silver said, before turning back to Sonic. "Sorry that I missed your birthday," he added.

Sonic, knowing full well he hadn't, kept quiet about that fact and instead said, "Yeah, too bad. It was right up your alley. Eggman attacked us with a time-traveling monster called the Time Eater. I got to meet my past self and a version of me from another dimension."

"Whoa!" said Silver, looking impressed. "Sounds like a heck of a party. And is that why Eggman looked like he got mauled by a gorilla that one time after being gone so long?"

Sonic knew what he meant. Eggman's next appearance after his birthday had him showing up sporting a broken nose and split lip, and overall looking disheveled.

"It was, and probably," said Sonic with a shrug. "But I'm sure you'll make it to the next one."

"In your dreams, Sonic," Silver said snidely.

There was a beat as Sonic just stood there blinking at his comment, wondering where that came from.

"Did I do it right this time?" Silver asked with a bright smile.

Finally remembering their past failed attempt at trash-talking, Sonic laughed. "No, but keep trying. You'll get it eventually."

"In your dreams, Sonic," Silver called again as Sonic walked away.

Sonic just laughed harder.

Team Hooligans had to blink when their boss (for as long as he paid them) finally returned from wherever he'd been.

"Whoa, Boss, did you get in a fight with someone?" Fang the Hunter asked when he saw him.

"Like a feral cat?" asked Bean the Dynamite brightly.

Bark the Polar Bear said nothing, but his arms were crossed, and his expression was judging.

"I don't want to talk about it," Dr. Eggman grumbled, looking like someone tried to claw his face off. "And make a note for the future, anytime I intend to make a plan that involves teaming up with any alternate versions of myself, talk me out of it."

"Yeah, sure," Fang said with no intention to follow that order.

"And start a global search," Dr. Eggman ordered. "I want the location of a person, possibly a GUN agent, by the name of Stone provided to be within the hour."

"Okay, but why?" Bean asked.

Dr. Eggman huffed. "Because I need to verify if his coffee is really all that great. My future self and I have a bet going over whether or not my alternate self just has terrible taste."

Team Hooligans exchanged a glance, wondering what the heck he was even talking about, but they weren't being paid to ask and decided that would be a future-them problem.

For now, they had an agent to find.

It had been a long six months in captivity, but throughout it, Sonic never gave up hope.

Even with him not being able to run. Even as Eggman's forces took over the world. Even when Infinite taunted him with visions of terrible things happening to his friends, he never broke.

He couldn't, he knew he still had things to look forward to.

It was funny, for all Silver had tried to keep quiet about things to come at his last birthday party, those few things he let slip were the very things Sonic needed to know to get through this.

Heh, 'an Infinite amount of problems still to solve,' was right, he saw what Silver did there.

But there was still more to see. He still hadn't seen Silver go Super, he didn't know what he meant about tangles or whispers, or why he should be wary of trains, or why dreams or cocoa were still important. This may cause the industrial future Silver described, but he had said they stopped it from happening so that another bad future would take its place, and that they would stop that one, too.

They would win, he would get out of here, and as much as he hated doing it, he just had to wait.

Then, finally, he was free. A rookie from the Resistance came to help him out, and together they got out of there.

He thought that would be the most unbelievable thing that happened today, at least until Tails showed up at Resistance HQ with two blue and very familiar figures beside him.

After assuring Tails he was alright, he turned his attention to them.

"It's been generations since I've seen you," he said with a grin. "You two okay?"

"We're good, heard your world needed some help," said Blue, and Mini-Me gave him a thumbs up beside him.

Sonic grinned and matched the thumbs up with his own. "We'll have to catch up when this is over. First, we've got an Egg to beat."

Even as Tails reported that Eggman had some big plan to stop them, Sonic wasn't worried.

With three versions of him in this fight, there was no way they could lose.

No matter what time or dimension you were in, Sonic the Hedgehog would always save the day.